Carroll speaksApparently the Sheard-fronted US bid is in trouble. According to The Chronicle, the talks between the bidders and Seymour Pierce broke down after the US consortium failed to provide proof of funds. That’s not quite the end of things though as Derek Llambias has been teleconferencing with them, although no progress has been made.
In my experience teleconferencing takes a bit of getting used to. It’s all too easy to assume the mentality one does when watching television, forgetting that with a teleconference the people on the screen can actually hear what you’re saying.
I can remember a colleague of mine coming into the teleconference room, pointing to the screen and saying (I remember the phrase exactly even though it was 20 years ago): “who’s the fat, spammed-up, centre-parter?” and a small voice came out the speakers saying “my name’s Ian actually.” I was incapacitated with laughter for most of the rest of the conference.
So for that reason alone I predict the US bid has had it, leaving Barry Moat as the only viable candidate to take over the Toon at the moment. (more…)
Marlon King - latest targetIt’s handy this emergency loan system. I’m not sure exactly what we did to qualify, which is apparently dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but it seems we do. That means we can bring in any number of players on a maximum 93-day loan at any time from a week after the transfer window closes until the 4th Thursday of November.
The Mirror is reporting that our latest target is Wigan’s Marlon King. The striker was loaned out to Hull and Middlesbrough last season and doesn’t look like he’s going to command regular first team football under Roberto Martinez. King’s strike rate has been roughly a goal every 3 or 4 games in a career that has seen him signed by Barnet, Gillingham, Notts Forrest and Watford prior to his transfer to Wigan.
King is no stranger to controversy having spent 5 months in prison in 2002 for handling a stolen car and he allegedly nutted Dean Windass in a casino in November 2008. In fact he’s due in the Crown Court on October 26th this year on charges of sexual assault and ABH after he pleaded not guilty at a Magistrates Court in April. (more…)
'Alf', apparentlyAccording to The Mirror, we’re going to sign Marlon Harewood on loan from Villa next week.
It was rumoured that Harewood was a target for us on transfer-window-close-day but the signing failed to materialise.
Apparently he was also a target for Hull (who isn’t?) but they failed to bag the striker too, and now it seems Hughton is keen to snap him up as an ’emergency’ loan.
Harewood started his career with Forest, scoring 55 goals in 196 appearances and then he moved to West Ham in 2003 for a fee of £500,000 where he scored 47 goals in 142 games.
In July 2007 he was transferred to Villa for a reputed £4m fee but he failed to secure regular starts and O’Neill used him mainly as a ‘super sub’. (more…)
Is it really a year?It was about a year ago today, just after the 2008 summer transfer window closed, when Newcastle United went into the free-fall it has yet to recover from.
To be fair, the club wasn’t exactly setting the world alight before that and, arguably, the last period of stability ended when Sir Bobby Robson was given the sack. Freddie Shepherd had been spending the club into debt and had installed the revolving door for managers with both Roeder and Souness serving for less than a season before Shepherd settled on Sam Allardyce.
Then along came Ashley. Initially he was partnered by Chris Mort, who had helped Ashley with the takeover, and in January 2008 the pair sacked Allardyce, sensationally appointing Kevin Keegan as manager. A lot of people felt Mort was a good communicator who built important relationships with the fans, keeping them informed of the goings-on at St James’s Park and setting up things like the Newcastle United Foundation to bring the club into the community. Mort left in June 2008 and was replaced by Derek Llambias and thus began the regime of ‘Dastardly and Muttley’ at Newcastle United and it has been like Wacky Races ever since. (more…)
Harris talks but says littleAccording to previous press reports, Newcastle United’s £39m overdraft facility with Barclays Bank ended on the 31st August and unless some other agreement was reached it was going to be renewed with only a £10m limit, in line with Barclays’ policy for Championship clubs.
If reports that the club owed £20m on that overdraft facility are true, then Ashley would have needed to pay off the other £10m by August 31st.
Barry Moat was apparently in the process of trying to negotiate some sort of deal with Barclays, which would allow the club to maintain a working overdraft facility higher than £10m and thus put him in a better position to take over the club.
I therefore wonder what happened with that, not that I’m expecting to hear anything from the club about it. (more…)
