An unlikely story That’s what The Daily Star claims anyway.
Basically what they’re saying is that Moat can’t get the money together to buy the club but Ashley plans to take the club off the market and appoint him as chairman. Moat will then apparently appoint Shearer as manager and take charge of the day-to-day running of the club with Ashley taking a back seat.
The Star then goes on to say that Shearer plans to bring £6m rated Michael Chopra back to the Toon as his first signing.
And all this will happen within the next 48 hours.
The Star’s short article contains no direct quotes from anyone, not even from unnamed ‘sources’ or ‘insiders’, so the temptation is to treat the story with as much scorn as the one about Naughty Noirin’s views on how to save Big Brother (not that I’ve read it of course). (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…)
The hopeful faithfulYoung or old, lad or lass, living just round the corner or at the other side of the world, if you’re a Newcastle fan then you’re in all the way. Over-the-moon one minute and kicked in the teeth the next, you learn to deal with adversity early on or you sink with the tide of pessimism. That’s what being a Mag is all about, it’s what being a football supporter is all about. Dealing with the swings and roundabouts and dealing with the cliches (ahem).
Life as a Newcastle fan is never dull and the last two years have been a prime example of how the club can leave you in despair. It brings out the best and worst in us. It means so much to us that it fills almost our every living moment and not least our dreams of future glory. Yet we find ourselves with the soul of the club ripped out and fans fighting amongst themselves, such is the torment of recent events. And still inexplicably, the fans with no reason other than the love for their club turn up in their thousands. Pilloried for their loyalty but proud of their faith in something which will always mean more than winning trophies and trading one-up-manships with rival supporters. (more…)
Shola: Chuckle Brothers love in.Newcastle United hat-rick hero, Shola Ameobi, has issued a plea to stick with Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood in the dug-out.
Speaking in the afterglow of his hat-rick demolition of Reading on Saturday, which he dedicated to his mentor, the late, great Sir Bobby Robson, Shola said:
“Chris and Colin have done some fantastic things in what is an impossible situation” adding “If the owner doesn’t sell the club we’ve got two guys there who we believe in.”
“There’s been a lot of turmoil upstairs and it’s something we as players can’t do anything about. All I have seen is that the lads really respect Chris and Colin. It’d be great to have a manager but if that doesn’t happen we have got two guys there who can lift us and get us winning games to get back into the Premier League. I’ve seen a response. Even players you’d assume wouldn’t want to be here.”(more…)
Will Toon be walking in a Kinnear wonderland once again?In an interview with the BBC’s ‘Radio Five Live’, Joe Kinnear has sensationally claimed that Mike Ashley has offered him another two year contract at the club, and added that he is “mulling it over”. He also added that it would still take another three months to fully recover from his triple heart bypass, performed after he complained of severe hypertensive symptoms during last season’s visit to West Bromwich Albion. Joe said:
“I have been offered a two-year contract and it is something I am mulling over at the present time.
“I have told Mike I am not going to go back to football for at least another three months and we will look at the situation then.
“I told him I would refuse to go back for pre-season friendlies as I was not up to it for medical reasons.
“I needed to take time out and re-assess the situation and take it from there. But obviously in another three months the picture might be completely different.
“In the meantime if Newcastle feel the need to go and get another manager then so be it.” (more…)
