The NUST's Malcolm Shiels, Steve Hastie and Mark Jensen. The Newcastle United Supporter’s Trust have recently completed the first phase of their “Yes We Can” campaign, a 6 week “education” programme.
Now, they have embarked on phase two of the campaign. On the NUST’s website. It says of the new phase that they are:
“…setting out our plan that will lead to negotiations with our club on a ‘fan led movement’ that will bring about new ownership with as little pain as possible for both sides.”
As a part of this launch of the second phase, NUST Spokesman, Mark Jensen, said in an interview on Friday that this phase would:
“Convince serious figures in the financial community that Newcastle United, run properly, is a viable, long-term investment”.
He then added on the January transfer window: (more…)
Bottle half full?Following on from the theme of the hour, I thought I’d spread the joy a little and reiterate the news in The Journal that Chris Hughton is apparently relatively happy with what he’s currently got at Newcastle. Considering the concerns of fans about our strength-in-depth, that might come as a worry.
Particularly when all the noises over the last few months have been about not panicking in into getting loan deals and signing players for the sake of it. And Hughton himself said it was about working to a plan for the January transfer window, so we had probably all hoped that the plans were in place, but it seems like there is a bit of backtracking.
Speaking about the January transfer window, he had this to say:
“I would like to have the same numbers for the second half of the season,”
“But where we are at the moment, I am very very happy with the squad. I do not feel I need to add an awful lot.”(more…)
Inexplicable joy!Late last evening I wrote the following –
“Mike Ashley will be a happy man after Newcastle managed to move on Geremi as early as the third day of January. High-earner Geremi has only made nine appearances for us this season and Turkish side, Ankaragücü have signed him on an 18-month deal, where he’ll join former Aston Villa and Manchester City forward Darius Vassell. Geremi played for another Turkish side, Gençlerbirliği in the late ’90s before he joined the Galaticos of Madrid.
Although there’s nothing on our official site, the Ankaragücü website announced earlier this (Sunday) evening that the signing is confirmed although it’s not yet clear whether they’ve paid anything for him. And Geremi will not be available for his new club, until after the African Nations Cup, in Angola this month.
Signed by Sam Allardyce in 2007 and even installed as captain, Geremi’s contract was due to run out in the summer and it will be a surprise if we have managed to persuade the Turkish side to part with any sort of substantial fee. Indeed the very fact that we have cleared down, in the region of £50-£60k-a-week wages will be a blessed relief to the board. And hopefully as a consequence that will kickstart activities, and money can be reinvested more effectively in this January transfer window. (more…)
Ready to prove himself?Amidst the many transfer rumours on the go at the moment is some managerial speculation, as the Dail Mail writes that Newcastle legend, Alan Shearer has put his name forward for the vacant managerial post at Sheffield Wednesday.
‘Big Wednesday’ was an American coming-of-age film portraying the ‘growing-up’ of a group of young surfers, dealing with the changes in their lives, and contemplating ‘the mythical day when the greatest, cleanest, most transcendent wave of all will come’. And maybe Shearer’s ‘Big Wednesday’ is close, when he finally gets chance to prove his managerial credentials, or not.
Some will argue that Shearer has already had his chance and proven that he’s not up to task, having singularly failed to have the impact we were desperate for in our relegation run-in. And it was ultimately under his guidance that we dropped like a black and white stone to the depths of the Championship.
But he was undoubtedly given an almost impossible task, as the damage was arguably already irreversible. Morale was shot, and the league position was damning when he took over. However, even his most resolute supporters were disappointed that he failed to inspire any sort of reaction from the hapless squad, and arguably the one thing we expected in abundance from Shearer, was inspiration for the troops. Though they may stop short of laying the blame squarely at his door, one win in eight was disastrously short of what we all hoped for. (more…)
Inexplicable joy!Mike Ashley will be a happy man after Newcastle managed to move on Geremi as early as the third day of January. High-earner Geremi has only made nine appearances for us this season and Turkish side, Ankaragücü have signed him on an 18-month deal, where he’ll join former Aston Villa and Man City forward Darius Vassell. Geremi played for another Turkish side, Gençlerbirliği in the late ’90s before he joined the Galaticos of Madrid.
Although there’s nothing on our official site, the Ankaragücü website announced earlier this (Sunday) evening that the signing is confirmed although it’s not yet clear whether they’ve paid anything for him. And Geremi will not be available for his new club, until after the African Nations Cup, in Angola this month.
Signed by Sam Allardyce in 2007 and even installed as captain, Geremi’s contract was due to run out in the summer and it will be a surprise if we have managed to persuade the Turkish side to part with any sort of substantial fee. Indeed the very fact that we have cleared down, in the region of £50-£60k-a-week wages will be a blessed relief to the board. And hopefully as a consequence that will kickstart activities, and money can be reinvested more effectively in this January transfer window. (more…)
