Next permanent manager?Nicky Butt has recently called for Chris Hughton to be made permanent manager of Newcastle United, but what are the options?
Apparently Derek Llambias will shortly be reviewing the positions of Hughton and Calderwood in light of our great start and Nicky Butt hopes that their positions are made permanent until the end of the season. Butt said:
“The team is showing there is belief here, and Chris and Colin deserve the job now.
“Hopefully they get it and that will mean we can all concentrate on the job in hand.
“People keep looking at us and say ‘they still haven’t got a proper manager’ even though Chris is acting manager.
“He’s not done anything wrong, but he hasn’t been named as boss.
“So it would be nice to see Chris get the job.”
Personally I don’t want to see a manager appointed ‘for the rest of the season’ – I’d rather see someone appointed for 3-5 years. The frequent changes of manager have been one of Newcastle’s main problems and one of the reasons why we were relegated last season. We need to get away from this short-termism. (more…)
After reading Stardust’s “Red Bus” post recently… I had in mind to do a moment by moment de-construct of Ashley’s two year term. Then Hugh posted, what I consider to be, one of the finest, most considered, most literate blogs I have ever read on Ashley’s tenure, making most of what I’d planned to say redundant.
The problem I now faced was I had a lovely image with nowhere to, legitimately place it?
In order to bring down the maximum amount of rhetoric from all posters (who have me down as some kind of belligerent, bigoted, nightmarish, ignorant lunatic)…I thought I’d post it here….with no proper justification whatsoever.
The reason being…..I thought I’d captured a likeness, of both Mike and Del, that really did them justice. (more…)
Both good and bad?When Mike Ashley rode into toon he took the Freddy Shepherd Gang by surprise. Shepherd claims he was ambushed while he lay incapacitated on a hospital bed and before we knew it rumour quickly became fact and Ashley had bought Newcastle United, not exactly with a suitcase full of money but without any of the this due diligence nonsense that troubles most businessmen.
Thus began a new era in the club’s history and it’s one that has managed to divide fans almost throughout. The partisan divisions – often drawn along the lines of Ashley v Keegan – are, in my opinion, unnecessary. I believe it’s perfectly possible for a person to do some good things and some bad things and I don’t believe Mike Ashley is any different in that respect. With rumours once more circulating about the sale saga nearing a close I wanted to try and take a balanced view of Ashley’s time at Newcastle.
One of the main things I thank Mike Ashley for is prising the club away from Freddy Shepherd. I’ve heard arguments suggesting that we wouldn’t have been relegated if Shepherd had remained in charge and maybe that’s true, but I believe the club would have been in dire straits financially. (more…)
The Messiah.First of all this is not some kind of clever backlash at the recent posts from Bowburnmag or Excelsior designed to get people reading and commenting on this article. It is something I’ve been meaning to write for sometime now, but I’ve never had the time.
For sometime now I’ve been a bit confused over peoples thoughts that somehow Kevin Keegan taking up to £10,000,00 out of NUFC is a good thing. I just can’t see any sensible scenario where NUFC being left £10,000,00 less in the kitty is some how for the best. Am I missing something here? Have I not spotted some tiny detail that explains all of this? I really don’t think I have, but I am willing to be shown what I’ve missed, so I too can finally see why this is a good thing to happen to a club that needs every penny it has.
My personal opinion on the matter is that it is not a good thing, that Keegan wants to take £10,000,000 out of the club. How can it be? Ashley won’t invest any money, so we need to hold onto what money we do have, so we can invest it in the team. £10,000,000 would get some cracking players to boost the squad for a Championship promotion campaign. I also think a lot of people don’t realise that it isn’t Mike Ashley being taken to court, it is Newcastle United Football Club. Just think about that for a moment. (more…)
Rumours "not true"According to The Chronicle, they were contacted by one of their ‘usually reliable sources’ who said that one interested group had reached written agreement about buying the club and ‘other sources’ close to Sheard’s American bidders said that the deal is close to crossing the finishing line.
Both Derek Llambias and Seymour Pierce deny these rumours though, simply stating that they’re “not true”. Jonathon Brill – Ashley’s excellent PR man – just said that “talks are ongoing”.
Whilst I know the press do manage to bribe secure reliable sources sometimes, they don’t appear to have done so when it comes to anything to do with the Toon takeover situation.
The whole thing has be plagued by one unreliable rumour after another and it hasn’t been helped by the blatant publicity-seeking exhibited by some consortia under the guise of supposed bids.
My guess is that Sheard’s bid is a non-starter, just like those of The Profitable Group, Graham Roberts and Freddy Shepherd. In fact I think Moat’s bid is the only one that’s likely to be (or have been) a serious contender. (more…)
