Moving on from the last chapter in out one year retrospective, we come to the end of October. With the club still in a state of flux, now departed midfielder, Nicky Butt, was calling for the permanent appointment of the then caretaker mananger, Chris Hughton. Of course though, back in those days there was still one giant figure in Newcastle’s history looming over the position, despite having it already at the time of our relegation and things not working out. I am of course referring to Alan Shearer, who many still presumed would be the choice of a new owner, an owner who never came. So we come to another story by Hugh de Payen which tackled the issue of our next permanent manager. It was titled “Next Toon manager: Shearer v Hughton.“. Despite the title though, he also looks at other options for the position. It’s an interesting read for many reasons, not least to see how much things have changed since those days. (more…)
Before I begin with the second instalment of our little retrospective, I would like to thank all those who left such wonderful comments about the blog in the first instalment yesterday, and indeed, everyone who has stuck by the blog in general.
I left the first part of this retrospective with one of our stories (by Geordie Deb) written in the aftermath of the sad death of Sir Bobby Robson, as it seemed an appropriate point to finish on. It is now time to move on, mostly through speculative tosh and non stories regarding Ashley’s second attempt to sell the club, as the publicity hounds seeked to captilise once again on one of Newcastle United’s sorrier periods. Of course, there was also the great exodus of supposedly top players at the club which relegation and lesser income streams brought. We saw the departure of Duff, Beye, Bassong, and of course, Michael Owen.
As I hinted at in the previous chapter, this period also saw the emergence of Chris Hughton as a leader under the most testing of conditions as Newcastle got their season in the Championship underway. Both of these facets were kind of hinted at in the first story I have included by someone who was undoubtedly one of our best writers, but who is sadly no longer with us, Hugh de Payen. His small news article on the 29th August last year, “Fire sale over, says Hughton“, seems to hint, albeit faintly, at some kind of ‘turning of the corner’ for the club, with Hughton succesfully calling for an end to the fire sale, and though much depleted in terms of ‘big names’ a greater collective spirit seemed to be emerging, a spirit which barely existed in the previous season of emnity and flux. (more…)
Bank owned @ St James' Park?Things never run smoothly at Newcastle do they? Come on, you can admit it, it’s ok. And some interesting revelations today have ensured that the tradition unfortunately continues.
The Guardian have managed to track down some of the inner workings of what is going on behind the iron curtain, with the focus yet again being on the financial side of the club.
In quite stunning fashion, The Guardian have revealed that Newcastle no longer own St James’ Park, or the training ground, or the youth academy. They have also revealed that all the money owed to us from the sale of players such as James Milner and Obafemi Martins has already been borrowed against and is due to be repaid as and when we recieve it. (more…)
NUFC is one year old, and what a year it has been for Newcastle United! June of last year may have seemed like a strange time to start a ‘blog about Newcastle United, a time when the club had just been relegated, but at least no-one could blame us for being ‘glory hunters’!
It all started on June 1st with a simple welcome blog from myself, but this particular story won’t be a exercise in navel gazing about our own little website, it will be about a turbulent year in the history of our great club, as viewed through the lens of some of contributors, past and present.
Though relegation would hardly seem like the perfect time to ‘kick off’ with the site, there was of course much to write about in the crazy world which is Newcastle United. Mike Ashley caved in to fan pressure once again, and attempted to sell the club for a second time while it was being ripped apart by turmoil.
The first story I have chosen in this trip by memory lane was by ex-contributor, ‘Stardust’ on June 2nd, which covered a statement on Ashley’s second attempt to escape from his Geordie hell with little embellishment. Sir John’s statement cover quite a few of the issues of the time nicely. (more…)
Ashley needs to play his part now.Reports at the weekend from a certain news outlet claimed that Newcastle had been in touch with them to clarify any rumours about transfer speculation, and whilst they were at it the club casually clarified that “no new capital outlay” actually meant no money to spend.
Now of course this has played right into the hands of some who choose to believe what the Sunday Sun publishes, and has raised fresh doubts and given a new avenue for criticism towards the club, despite an official statement saying that the club would not be confirming or denying anything unless it came through official channels, a fact that appears to have been forgotten by quite a few people. When it suits eh? (more…)
