Llambias: no. NUST: Yes We CanEver since Mike Ashley first put Newcastle United up for sale there have been rumours of various fan buy-out schemes for the club. The latest of them was probably that Graham Roberts nonsense, which I took a particular dislike to and refused to waste electrons on. However, it seems that the results of the Keegan tribunal have prompted a second stream of enthusiasm for these schemes.
The Newcastle United Supporters Trust is launching on Wednesday 7th October at the Newcastle Civic Centre and it claims to have £20m in pledges with which it hopes to buy a stake in the club.
The NUST is also backing the ‘Yes We Can’ campaign, which has the support of City financial institutions and has used new pensions legislation to entice 483 x £20,000 of investment (nearly £10m) and has a further 202 members committed to signing up.
Neil Mitchell, Chair of NUST, said:
“Realistically, we’re looking to buy a stake in the club, though we don’t think buying it outright is unrealistic in the long term. With the takeovers at an impasse, we’re looking to raise funds to help a new buyer. We want to give supporters a voice, something they’ve not had in the past.” (more…)
At least £6.6m downI must admit when I first read the Keegangate tribunal report I was staggered that Keegan had actually claimed £25m from Newcastle United. But as the Keegan-bashers grasped at that one remaining thing to hit him over the head with (I’m thinking about articles like this one in the Daily Mirror) I began to think about it some more and have now come to the conclusion that Keegan was actually robbed in all this.
First and foremost we have to bear in mind that Keegan has done nothing wrong. The tribunal ruled that he was constructively dismissed and was forced out of a job he didn’t want to leave.
So what would you estimate that has cost him? First of all it’s cost him the £8.6m outstanding on his contract, which is easy enough to calculate because it’s all down in black and white on the contract. Then there’s his claim for ‘stigma damage’. I do think that’s a fair claim because, let’s face it, this isn’t going to have Premier League teams jumping over themselves to employ him. It doesn’t matter that he’s innocent in all this – mud sticks. (more…)
Constructively dismissedThanks to Stardust for posting the breaking news about Keegan winning his constructive dismissal case against Newcastle United. However, I just thought I’d try to distil it into something more manageable and article-shaped.
In the simplest terms Keegan was constructively dismissed and has been awarded £2m as a result.
The player that kicked all this off was Nacho Gonzalez. Keegan was asked by the club to sign the player to ‘do a favour’ to two South American agents. No one from the club had actually seen Nacho play and all Keegan had to go on was a couple of YouTube videos. Keegan refused to sanction the signing of the player but the club went ahead and signed him anyway.
This was what tipped things over the edge but the bigger underlying issue was that Keegan was being denied the final say on transfers.
Keegan’s contract wasn’t totally clear on whether or not he had the final say on transfers, although it did contain a clause to the effect of “performing the duties expected of a Premiership manager“. (more…)
Sallying forthAfter much speculation about who will be Newcastle United’s next manager, Alan Shearer has finally been appointed …
… as Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland. His job will be to stand in for the Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland – currently the Duchess of Northumberland – when she’s away slaying insurgents elsewhere.
The role of Lord Lieutenant was created by Henry VIII in a rare quiet moment between marriages and beheadings and its purpose is to command the local militia in times of emergency (such as relegation).
The appointment means he’s a representative of the Queen and will have to start saying things like “mine wanges werken me full wo“, although in the end Shearer settled for saying:
“I look forward to assisting the Duchess of Northumberland in her official duties.”
The first of those duties will of course be to take command of the Toon Army when Barry Moat buys the club in a few days/weeks/months/years (delete as applicable) time.
Spiderman 2 - the return of JonasJonas Gutierrez joined Newcastle United for £2.5m in the summer of 2008 and he’s contracted to us until 2013. We could well have lost him this summer but Maradona, who says Jonas is the 3rd name he automatically puts on his team sheet, told him that playing in the Championship wouldn’t affect his chances of playing for Argentina.
After the QPR game, Jonas told The Chronicle:
“I know that I must do much better and that is certainly my aim. I want to create more for the team and score some goals – it’s what I’m trying to do every game.”
So what do we think about Jonas?
He came in for some stick last season for two things mainly: failing to deliver a good enough final ball and failing to score himself. Personally I’ve always been a bit sympathetic towards Jonas because I think, even through the nightmare of last season, he was one of the players who put in a bit more effort than most. (more…)
