Waiting for another bite at the cherry?It’s a debate that’s raged for months but I thought I’d raise it again simply because the end may be nigh, one way or another. Who wants Alan Shearer at the helm? All in favour, say wheyaye. OK, a little more serious then, why is there even a debate?
I’m reasonably certain an overwhelming majority would have been either fully in favour or at least apathetic to his permanent appointment before his brief and ill-fated sojourn into the managerial hot-seat. So partly the reason more supporters are against the idea is due to the fact that Big Al fairly spectacularly failed to save us from the drop. What portion of blame you attribute to him is also very debatable, though to my mind he’s pretty blameless.
However, there’s no getting away from the facts, he failed to do what many hoped and secretly believed he might do. That was to re-unite the dressing room and galvanise this stricken club. Alas, despite his monumental presence on the field during his playing career, Shearer wasn’t able to transfer his influence on the dressing room sufficiently to prevent the inevitable slide.
Supporters on the flip side of the coin will take umbrage at that view and will point to the very word ‘inevitable’. They would argue that nothing and nobody could have prevented our demise once we hit the final straight and that our place in The Championship was booked long before Big Al was given the opportunity to try and turn it all around. So are these people blinded by regionalist bias and a weird penchant for the messianic? Is he really only the right man for the job because he’s ‘one of us’? (more…)
Time to say goodbye?Well if Carlsberg did a line in anti-climax then today’s official statement would be a great start. A collective holding of breath over the weekend, enough to cause a Toon Army Tsunami on release, had us all exhaling in disappointment at the progress report announcing that….well there is no progress really, just another extension on the deadline. But we’re used to it by now, right?
Nothing to report then? Well not strictly true, depending on how you interpret the message and it still managed to get tongues wagging. The statement reads as follows –
NEWCASTLE United Football Club confirms that it has extended its deadline to Barry Moat to table an offer for the Club.
The extension has been granted in order to allow Barry Moat and his advisors to conclude funding arrangements with Barclays, current bankers, for the continuation of last season’s £39m facility.
This would allow a formal offer to be tabled
So what does it mean exactly?
Well crucially, it potentially means Moat can’t be too far away from the finishing line if his business plan has enough credibility to get to this stage. The key word in the second paragraph is conclude, which suggests there is merely a decision left to be made by Barclays on whether or not they will continue to allow the overdraft facility based on Moat’s business plan. (more…)
