ackas

"I'm a fahkin football managah"! http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...pur/8958654.stm Redknapp said on Tuesday: "It was a last-minute job. I think he was going to Bayern Munich on Monday for £18m and suddenly he became much cheaper. "They let me know around 4pm (1600 BST) that he was available for £8m and, for that money, he is a top player who will definitely improve us. The fee has come crashing down because the deadline is so close." However, Real's statement said: "It is absolutely false that Real Madrid received a 21m euro (£18m) offer from Bayern Munich for Van der Vaart. "In fact, the German team never showed an interest to sign the player, so the allegations made in England have greatly surprised us." Hmmmm....

funny that, even at 3-1 down I was still not expecting to lose. Very enjoyable game. Krul had a bad night. 3 poor goals to concede, though it was never a penalty. Simpson and Kadar looked like they had only just met, which is to be expected. Enrique is class. Raylor isn't. Butt is too old. Guthrie, Geremi and Nolan played well. LuaLua was hit and miss. Ranger was never a threat. The Huddersfield centre half had him in his back pocket. Ameobi put in another quality performance. The team played better once he came on. Football is fun again this season. Even when we went 3-1 behind I thought that the whole crowd still had belief.

Something about the club being sold next week I would guess

Did you see the game? I did, and he was mediocre, couple of nice touches second half on the right wing, but not a bad start, just average. Coloccini in the first half, oh dear, that one where he had the ball and the black bloke was nearly through but he wouldn't slide oh dear. You could argue that he was worried a mistimed tackle would end up with him sent off, I think it was more due to the fact he's shite. I was saying to the kid next to me £70k a week would probs = the accumulative wage of the owls starting 11. Steady is better than Ryan Taylor I suppose. I didn't think he was up to much and looked a bit of a liability but give him a chance and he might come good Shola, Saylor and Enrique all looked good last night. At times Shola looks like Pele in this league... Coloccini picked up after the break . Simpson was ok. Raylor is terrible. When he has the ball he keeps running past it and having to come inside. Lack of pace and ability. Jonas did nowt other than occupy some space. Nolan and Smith worked hard, as did Carroll. Good crowd and good atmosphere. If we don't sell anyone else I feel optimistic about our chances even if the fat prick stays and Hughton/Calderwood remain in charge.

I never said that, because (as, previously, stated) I was not there, so could not pass judgement on this, particular, incident. You, however, seem happy to continue making a prat of yourself, despite having the same restraint. C'est la vie! Looks as though the other side of the story is getting into the papers: - http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-...-name_page.html

Or they may have to still pay him £100m. I would presume that any potential buyers have noticed the Martins sale and will want the money accounted for. Unless Ashley is selling the club to himself and no due diligence is taking place.

If I'm buying a car, and the price is agreed, I've looked at it, expressed an interest to buy it, and then the seller takes the seats out..... do you think that car is now worth exactly the same as before? this is an indication of 1 of 2 things 1) the sale of the club is concluded and the new owners have given their blessing 2) there is no longer a formal bid for the club Actually its an indication of 1 of 3 things, number 3 being a shit analogy... We have a large overdraft and running costs that are above our income. Selling an asset reduces the overdraft and narrows the gap between costs and income. How is that anything like buying a car??? Does it though? Or does it pay off a bit of Assley "debt" (that the club owes him)? It would depend on the arrangement with the bank with regards to the overdraft. It would also depend on what arrangement has been agreed between any potential buyers and the fat one. If they need to pay him £100m on buying the club then using the Martins money now would mean they only need to pay him £91m...

If I'm buying a car, and the price is agreed, I've looked at it, expressed an interest to buy it, and then the seller takes the seats out..... do you think that car is now worth exactly the same as before? this is an indication of 1 of 2 things 1) the sale of the club is concluded and the new owners have given their blessing 2) there is no longer a formal bid for the club Actually its an indication of 1 of 3 things, number 3 being a shit analogy... We have a large overdraft and running costs that are above our income. Selling an asset reduces the overdraft and narrows the gap between costs and income. How is that anything like buying a car???

That's the problem at the moment, at best it will go towards bringing the cost of the debt he's trying to sell down, but more likely it will just disappear al la the Milner £££'s. I would love someone to explain to me how you can remove £9m from a company that is deeply in the shit and has a rumoured £40m overdraft???

I think what is more likely to be holding things up is the price of the club, the size of the overdraft and the debt owed to Ashley. Keith Harris being away for a long weekend isn't going to hold up anything at all.

Totally agree. I reckon from the age of 5 to 14, 95% of my living thoughts were about football. Even worse though are blokes who just don't like football, I haven't got one male mate who is a football hater, I don't think I could have neither. How can you have a mate who doesn't like football? Makes you wonder whether football will enter a supporters decline in the next ten years or so as kids nowadays dont play it like we used to. Days for us used to be a lickabout in the playground, twice a day. Run home, get changed and straight onto the field for two hours. Finishing off after tea with an hour or so of head tennis in the street. School holidays just meant two 4 hour long games followed by tea and twice as much head tennis. Nowadays you dont see kids knocking a ball around in the street. In the summer holidays this no word of a lie, we used to play football, at least 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, I bet people think am kiddin. 3 pots in, heads and volleys, world cup singles, beat the keeper, magic, magic days, some kids still have them but it's not the same, they all have play stations and are spoilt little cunts. I had a computer but it was secondary to playing football. You could guarantee on any given day we could get 10-30 kids for a game, within a 3 to 4 age radius of me. Today there are few kids playing and it's heart breaking. The likes of Steven Gerrard, Rio and Lampard are my generation in 10 years time, if you think the conveyor belt of young talent is shite now, I think due to the fact we've become a nation of fat lazy kids, we'll be lucky to produce world class stars. Kids looked better cos we were all fit as fuck, you're only talking 20 years ago here. Spoilt cunts the lot of em. All I ever wanted was me BMX, match and shoot once a week, and enough for 10 packets of stickers. Sad how lifes went down hill since then in the name of progress. eh? thats a canny stereotype that like, the only reason you dont see kids playing football is because people have so many cars in the street in not possible to play football there anymore, get yourself to your local field in the summer and you'll see them. all kids are spoilt little cunts? wtf what a shitty post They are in general little fat spoilt cunts. The fields where I live were teaming with kids, you might see a fatha and son having a kick around now and that's it. When you're a youngun like you, you're not going to notice the difference because you never seen what it used to be like. Thing is, these days, kids football is a lot more organised. When I was a kid you had a school team at under 11 and then some local sides. For each age group there was a team from Wallsend, Montagu, Crammy Juniors, Bedlington etc... I took my young un to trials at a few places at the beginning of the summer, he is going into the under 10 age group. North Shields had enough kids for 7 teams. They couldn't take all of them as they didn't have enough coaches. My young un is going to play for Crammy Juniors and they are putting out 5 sides this season at under 10's. Most clubs are running at least 2 sides at under 10's. Stevie, you are so right and equally so wrong. Kids aren't out playing on the fields and messing about. A lot of them however are playing organised football every weekend and training at least once a week. The kids these days are no different. They are as football daft as we were. What has changed is the parenting.

In terms of seismic levels of surprise, Tuesday morning’s ‘development’ that the Profitable Group has withdrawn its interest in purchasing Newcastle United is right up there with the following sensational breaking news story: Britain can be a bit rainy. This is not a setback and nor should it be a cause of particular anguish because, put brutally, you cannot withdraw from a race you have not entered. Which is not the same as saying that events at St James’ Park are running smoothly. While the sale of the club drags on, the start of the new season is now hurtling towards us - 11 days and counting - and we hardly need to trawl through that familiar, depressing list of concern. But for the sake of recent coma victims or the masochistic, here goes; an absentee owner, no manager, no buys, no sales, a 6-1 defeat at Leyton Orient. The position Newcastle find themselves in has barely shifted within the last fortnight and it is a desperate one. Negotiations with interested parties are ongoing, but the proximity of the Coca Cola Championship must surely serve to focus the minds of those involved. Soon we will be caught up in the maelstrom of matches and a transfer window which would be a crucial factor for any new custodians of the club will be nearing its conclusion. We know that the extent of Newcastle’s overdraft - which is said to stand at anywhere between £35m and £40m - has tangled matters and that advice given to Mike Ashley by Seymour Pierce, the bank charged with selling the club, to reduce it by selling some high-earning players has not yet been taken. We know that after a short break, Keith Harris, Seymour Pierce’s executive chairman, returns to his desk this week. It has been stated in this space previously that a useful rule of thumb during the whole takeover process has been to give least attention to the companies or bidders who make the most noise. There are reasons for that, from the very real presence of confidentiality agreements with preferred bidders, to the more general theory that serious candidates simply do not need to whip up publicity. From the start, the Profitable Group - and they have not been alone - have not been shy in announcing their intentions, yet it is understood that while they made contact with Seymour Pierce, they never provided the necessary guarantees proving they could afford Ashley’s £100m asking price. For that reason, they were not provided access to the data room in which Newcastle’s troubled finances were laid bare. It scarcely matters whether Profitable had ambitious ‘plans’ for Newcastle, whether they spoke to Alan Shearer about his prospective appointment as manager, because from the viewpoint of those involved in the sale, they were never viable, substantive candidates, which is why they have not been mentioned here. For whatever purpose (motive in this whole issue would be an interesting, separate debate - why the hell did Ashley buy Newcastle in the first place?), they have effectively added to the confusion and instability surrounding the club. Only one group of people have suffered from the debacle and it is the same group as always; the club’s supporters. From Ashley and Derek Llambias, Newcastle’s managing director, they have heard next to nothing, genuine bidders are unable or, at this stage, unwilling to comment publicly and those who have broken cover have merely contributed to an interminable farce. In the meantime and with no public face to quash them, rumours spread across Tyneside. Will Ashley cut his losses and seek to place Newcastle, with their crippling wage bill, into administration (something which is being discussed openly at the club’s training ground)? Will the banks demand that a portion of the club’s overdraft is repaid at the end of this month, obliging Ashley to either pour in more of his own money or take a more drastic step? How will it all end? Will it? Until something changes, Newcastle cannot hope to set their own agenda. Is a 6-1 hammering at Brisbane Road a bigger sign of decline than an earlier 7-2 victory at Darlington a suggestion of uplift? Is the fact that 25,000 season tickets have been sold an indication of draining support or, given the context, a remarkable demonstration of loyalty? For now, everything at St James’ Park is viewed within a prism of disillusion. The recent takeover of Southampton showed that from a position of apparent despair, redemption can follow very quickly. There are absolutely no guarantees that something similar will happen at Newcastle (and the longer the wait goes on, the less likely it must become), but, equally, it still could. At present, fans can do little other than cross their fingers and ignore all the froth. The arrival of Leeds United on Wednesday for a pre-season fixture that is unlikely to sit comfortably in the friendly categorically will be another moment of psychology. There are parallels between the clubs which those of a black and white persuasion will not wish to contemplate but probably should, because Newcastle have consistently demonstrated that things can always get worse. But the Profitable Group are not another symptom of it; they are an irrelevance. http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/200...s-critical.html

Ok, Barcelona are one of the biggest clubs in the world, with worldwise support, a glittering hsitory who can attract the world's top players with their reputation. We're not. Ownership structure is some way down the list of differences here. Do all of their supporters agree on everything?

Ok, so explain Barcelona then? Aren't they the champions of Europe or something?

Too much quite frankly. Simply due to the fact at the moment they don't have the support of our fans. Personally I don't think 10% is enough. Also nobody is going to give the fans a stake. They are going to have to get organised and grab a slice themselves. If a fans collective did manage to raise the finance from its membership and own part of the club, then you would have two choices. Either be part of it, in which case you would have a say in who represented you. Or not be part of it and don't have a say. Having the support of the fans doesn't even come into it.

Looks as though others are thinking along these lines as well: - http://www.true-faith.co.uk/tf/editorials....B1?OpenDocument The governance of all football clubs leaves a lot to be desired but surely a relationship between any new owner and the NUSC would be a radical and welcome move in the right direction. It would help heal the fracture there has occurred under the Shepherd-Hall and Ashley regimes at NUFC and allow the whole club – owners, directors, managers, coaches, players and supporters to move forward together. Why not give/sell supporters a meaningful 10% stake in the club and allow the authority of that stake to be exercised by a fully elected and accountable NUSC? This is a huge opportunity to build meaningful trust beyond the platitudes we usually get. Will a new owner be bold enough to take it? Can the NUSC accommodate this into its aims???

And then our running costs come from where exactly? From the income that the club generates. The income the club generates doesn't come close to covering running costs man It does if you don't spend all of it. You're either extremely thick or a WUM with a bit of brain. What's it to be? Eh? I'm neither of those. I don't understand why we have to rely on some Billionaire/Millionaire businessman/consortium to front our club. The resources available to a well run and successful NUFC would dwarf most other clubs in this country. Have a look at our revenue. It is more than enough to build success on. We just have to stop spending all of it on players like Viduka, Geremi, Owen, Duff, Barton, Smith...

I don't want to be represented at the board level. I want the board to represent me. If you change your aims then I will sign up.

And then our running costs come from where exactly? From the income that the club generates. The income the club generates doesn't come close to covering running costs man It does if you don't spend all of it.

If the NUSC is to become anything meaningful then this is an opportunity for them. OK, now I'm actually concerned that you might be being serious.... There was a BBC documentary about Barcelona, which followed Joan Laporta after he was elected as President. Its probably available on YouTube. I can't think of any reason why the Barca structure wouldn't work when applied to our club. Obviously its a bit more complicated than me rolling up to the training ground tomorrow and having a word with Derek and Clive. However I would have thought that the NUSC would be an appropriate vehicle to see if this is a goer. Or are we all just going to sit around waiting for another Ashley to turn up???

If the NUSC is to become anything meaningful then this is an opportunity for them.

If the money isn't there then we don't spend it. Isn't that part of the reason we are in this mess??? It might mean that we have a spell where we struggle while we shake off the hangover of the debt burden that we have been struggling with for the last few years. In the long term though, the income that we generate will stand us in good stead.

And then our running costs come from where exactly? From the income that the club generates.

Think about it... If the club can be had debt free for £80m then that is 40,000 fans paying 2 grand each. Isn't Barcelona owned in this manner? Wouldn't something similar work for our club?

His legs are too heavy. He is 40 though...