Smith to Blackburn?The Chronicle reports that Big Sam might be taking Alan Smith off our hands. However, he may only take him on a season long loan at Blackburn because he’s nervous about Smith’s £60,000/week wages, which is annoying because it was Big Sam who signed him for us on that wage.
At the bottom of The Chronicle’s article there’s a quote from Jonathon Brill, Ashley’s PR man, about the sale of the club: “There are a number of interested parties and there are no deadlines imposed by anybody,” he said. If Ashley is hoping his PR man is enhancing his image with terse statements like that, he’s wrong.
A club spokesman apparently also added: “I’m afraid there is no further news regarding the sale of the club.”
Today’s player complaint is from Steve Harper who tells The Journal:
“The players are very disappointed with the situation. Obviously what happened at the back of last year, to fall a goal short was demoralising.
“Players like structure and discipline and at the minute the structure is up in the air. The players don’t know whether they’re going to be here or elsewhere come the start of the season – none of us know at the moment.(more…)
Shearer - in the dark?Good morning. A lot of the papers are simply following up on the club announcement that Joe Kinnear will definitely not be reinstated as manager, perishing the thought that anyone would suggest such a thing. That’s except for The Mail of course, which is where the rumour got its foothold in the national press – they have conveniently ignored the club announcement and decided to say nothing.
Louise Taylor can never seem to resist writing some gloom about Newcastle though and her article in The Guardian bleats on about stalled sales and the club’s lack of communication with Shearer about things. There’s nothing new in the article so she tries to spice it up with quotes from ‘a source close to Shearer’, who says:
“Alan is completely in the dark.
“Alan is in talks with the BBC at the moment. He currently has one year left on his contract with them and they want to keep him but they also know how much he loves Newcastle and are being extremely understanding.” (more…)
Joe relaxing as usualNewcastle United have released a statement on the official website to quash rumours in the media about the return of Joe Kinnear as manager at the club.
The Daily Mail (shudders) had suggested an announcement could be made today but the club has been swift to refute this with the following statement:
“Reports in the press this morning that Joe Kinnear is to be appointed as Newcastle United manager are not true.
The position remains that the Club is still in the market to be sold and is still negotiating with prospective buyers.”
It’s particular behaviour really, all things considered. It’s difficult to know what to read into it but why would the club feel inclined to refute spurious rumours all of a sudden? They undoubtedly realise what the reaction would be to such an appointment but then so much cr*p has been written recently they’d have to keep coming out with these statements on a regular basis. And do they really care how the fans feel or what we’re thinking? Surely, they’re just trying to get out of dodge asap? (more…)
Is Joe to return?The Daily Mail is reporting that Joe Kinnear is to return as Newcastle manager and that a takeover is not imminent.
The Mail claims this ‘exclusive’ but doesn’t reveal any source of their information and has no direct quotes from anyone about this, so it’s probably worth treating this report extremely cautiously.
The Mail suggests that an announcement will be made today, so we should know soon enough if there’s any truth in this or if it’s the usual garbage from bored reporters.
There are many rumours circulating about potential announcements today and for all I know some of them may be true. But beware rumour-mongers. They are much more often wrong than right and bear in mind that Ashley’s abysmal communication skills probably means he’s good at keeping a secret and ‘leaks’ to junior members of the SJP hierarchy – which is often where the rumour is said to originate – are unlikely.
The Chronicle reports that another Newcastle player – Jose Enrique this time – has decided to vent his spleen at the current disharmony at the club. It’s the standard sort of stuff, so I’ll just pick one quote from Jose: (more…)
Here 'til January?We’ll start today with a piece from the Guardian by Louise Taylor who suggests that the club might not be sold this summer. The reason for this, she claims, is that the due diligence process has revealed troubling facts about the club’s financial liabilities. The club’s ever busy ‘source’ has been pontificating about matters again, saying:
“The process is moving extremely slowly, there is still genuine hope of a sale but it’s not looking imminent. Newcastle comes with a lot of baggage.”
The article goes on to suggest that if the club isn’t sold before the August transfer window closes then it would not be sold until the January transfer window opens and Ashley would have to continue as owner in the interim.
Michael Owen finally admits he didn’t ‘do his bit’ for us in an article in The Express. He says: (more…)
