Archive for category: Derek Llambias.

Joe Kinnear: It’s time for the playground bullying to end

June 25th, 2013 | 103 Comments |

Joe Kinnear - Newcastle United.
Kinnearophobia is really getting out of hand now.
It’s time for this ridiculous circus to end.

Criticism is one thing, but what has Joe Kinnear supposed to have done to deserve the vilification which has been heaped upon him in the last few days? Has he renamed the Newcastle United’s stadium the Joe Kinnear Arena? Has he sullied Newcastle United’s name by associating it with the UK’s most infamous loan shark? Is he swallowing the club’s identity by turning it into a gigantic free billboard for a retail chain so tacky it makes Poundland look like Harrods?

No, he has come in as a Director of Football to help with recruitment and act as a bridge between the football and the non-football sides of Newcastle United, something which might even turn out to be a good thing. Oh! and he has also given a couple of interviews containing some admittedly ill-chosen words since his arrival. That’s about it really.

All the important, substantive things mentioned above, things which have affected the very fibre of the club have been forgotten now in an orgy of blind hatred for one man who caused none of it. (more…)


Has Joe Kinnear made us forget the real problems at Newcastle United?

June 18th, 2013 | 69 Comments |

Joe Kinnear - A lightning rod?
Joe Kinnear – A lightning rod?
Last season seems like a dim and distant memory now.

Things like a sixteenth placed finish, Alan Pardew’s abysmal tactics and even more abysmal excuses have all been completely forgotten. Forthcoming delights such as the arrival of Wonga and all the opprobrium that will bring have been completely forgotten too, all because of a few interviews from Joe Kinnear as Tyneside finds itself once more in the grip of “Kinnearophobia.”

Is it pure genius?

Strangely, the “local” Mirror Group media, the Chronic and the Journal, have seemingly abandoned their usual sycophancy to the current regime, and have happily been laying into Newcastle United’s new Court Jester at every opportunity. It’s almost as if they’d been given the go ahead to be as brutal as possible by Newcastle United’s Managing Director, Derek Llambaisie Llambias.

Personally, I do not share the antipathy to Kinnear held by many fans, and some of the stuff has been shameful, like the headline in another Newcastle United blog which read “Gan On Kinnear – Have Another Heart Attack!.” I’m not as horrified at his appointment as some claim to be and have alot of respect for what he has achieved in his football career in the past. (more…)


Kinnear – Why is there still no official confirmation from Newcastle United?

June 17th, 2013 | 113 Comments |

Uncle Joe: Why no word from the club?
Uncle Joe: Why no word from the club?
Since yesterday evening, there has certainly been no shortage of statements from Joe Kinnear on being appointed as a new Director of Football at Newcastle.

Like his new colleague Alan Pardew, keeping his mouth buttoned has never been one of Kinnear’s stronger points, though even he has surpassed himself this time with a verbal Tsunami of what he is going to do at Newcastle United over the next few months.

However, at the time of writing, there hasn’t been one word of confirmation or denial from Newcastle United.

Bearing in mind Kinnear’s previous, the club could perhaps be forgiven for not arranging a full press jamboree with Simon Bird in attendance to unveil their new key member of staff. However, at the time of writing, there hasn’t even been a small announcement in the news page of Newcastle United’s official website. Is it just me or is this rather odd?

To borrow the words of Marvin Gaye “What’s going on?” (more…)


Newcastle United’s full accounts online and broken down

April 13th, 2013 | 10 Comments |

Newcastle United accounts.
NUFC’s latest accounts: Turnover up, profit down.
As many of you out there will be aware, Newcastle United recently announced their figures for the year ended 30th June, 2012. This corresponds to our second season back in the Premiership which, of course, is last season.

In the last few days the accounts were finally made public thorugh Companies House, and as usual, I obtained a set there to publish online here. You can peruse these at your leisure by downloading them from the link below:

Newcastle United 2011-12 accounts.

Below is a fairly easily digestible (I hope) breakdown of those figures.

Profit.

Profit declined by 96% from £32,619,000.00 in the last set of accounts to £1,365,000.00 in the latest.

Revenue.

Total turnover is up by 5.4% from £88.5 million to £93.3 million. (more…)


How the Wilfried Bony to Newcastle United story started

March 26th, 2013 | 149 Comments |

NUFC Blog's latest blog on metro.co.uk is out now!
NUFC Blog’s latest piece on metro.co.uk is out now!
This is a fairly brief note to let you all know that my latest blog for Metro.co.uk is now published.

Entitled “How the Wilfried Bony to Newcastle United story started,” it takes a look at how a piece on this site extolling the virtues of Vitesse Arnhem’s prodigious striker eventually led (via the Telegraph) to a full blown Newcastle United transfer rumour which even incurred the wrath of Derek Llambias according to the Journal (which made my day incidentally).

It is not a rare occurence by any means, with so called journalists from virtually all the major media organs constantly taking their inspiration for specious transfer stories from the most unlikely sources, then trying to give them a veneer of respectabilty by using stock phrases such as “sources close to the club,” “it is understood that…” or whatever. (more…)