Darkzzz_ Posted 13 September 2008 Posted 13 September 2008 Just as you think supporting Leicester is bad, spare a thought for Newcastle fans. My god that club is a shambles.
Jimmy Posted 13 September 2008 Posted 13 September 2008 Keegan's replacement is Keegan. Brilliant. I imagine Ashley still likes him as a manager and realises he's cocking it up. It wouldn't surprise me if he's saying "you've got total control, want your job back?" well if he sacked Wise and his mate on the board in the 1st place Keegan wouldn't of walked
Tilley Posted 13 September 2008 Posted 13 September 2008 Just as you think supporting Leicester is bad, spare a thought for Newcastle fans.My god that club is a shambles. 2-1 at home to Hull, deary me.
dandannieldanok Posted 13 September 2008 Posted 13 September 2008 Just as you think supporting Leicester is bad, spare a thought for Newcastle fans.My god that club is a shambles. I have no sympathy for them whatsoever.
Tilley Posted 13 September 2008 Posted 13 September 2008 Newcastle fans are still there, & protesting. How annoying are they.
Narborough Bod Posted 13 September 2008 Posted 13 September 2008 Newcastle fans are still there, & protesting.How annoying are they. Yep, always pisses me off how everyone thinks the toon army are wonderful, great fans, loyal support. City away in the late 80's / early 90's with less than 15k at St James Park - arseholes.
Darkzzz_ Posted 13 September 2008 Posted 13 September 2008 They do proclaim to be a massive club. They really are nothing at all. They are a mess and I am so glad I don't follow that club.
Matt Posted 13 September 2008 Posted 13 September 2008 They do proclaim to be a massive club.They really are nothing at all. They are a mess and I am so glad I don't follow that club. So do some of our fans...
Simi Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 I respect Toon fans for protesting, nice to see a bunch of fans sticking together and fighting for what they beleive in. Better than lying on their arses and accpeting it in my view.
Joe. Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 Ashley Puts Newcastle Up For Sale. Getting out whle he can then, taking the easy option instead of trying to rectify it.
Flynny Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 Anyone actually read his statement? He's been made out to be an arsehole expecting top 4 football on a shoestring in the media over the past year or so - that doesn't actually seem to be the case at all.
Simi Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 Getting out whle he can then, taking the easy option instead of trying to rectify it. You really think the Toon fans are going to give him the chance to do that mate? I doubt it. His ideas and the managers crossed paths, he's lost the whole thing now and is doing the right thing.
demon_dog Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 Ashley's put the club up for sale. According to sky sports news a consortium have put in an offer, 6 bags of crisps and 2 bags of salted peanuts. Probably be turned down though. Ashley would probably want a few barrels of beer instead. *Mods please merge if already mentioned*
Brainy Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 I have enjoyed sport since I was a boy. I love football. I have followed England in every tournament since Mexico '86. I was there to see Maradona and his hand of God. I know what it means to love football and to love a club. I know how important it is to other people because football is so important to me. My life has been tied up with sport. It was the passion that I felt for sport that helped me to be successful with my business. That success allowed me to mix my passion and my business. I bought Newcastle United in May 2007. Newcastle attracted me because everyone in England knows that it has the best fans in football. When the fans are behind the club at St James' Park it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It is magic. Newcastle's best asset has been, is and always will be the fans. But like any business with assets the club has debts. I paid £134 million out of my own pocket for the club. I then poured another £110 million into the club not to pay off the debt but just to reduce it. The club is still in debt. Even worse than that, the club still owes millions of pounds in transfer fees. I shall be paying out many more millions over the coming year to pay for players bought by the club before I arrived. But there was a double whammy. Commercial deals such as sponsorships and advertising had been front loaded. The money had been paid upfront and spent. I was left with a club that owed millions and part of whose future had been mortgaged. Unless I had come into the club then it might not have survived. It could have shared the fate of other clubs who have borrowed too heavily against their future. Before I had spent a penny on wages or buying players Newcastle United had cost me more than a quarter of a billion pounds. Don't get me wrong. I did not buy Newcastle to make money. I bought Newcastle because I love football. Newcastle does not generate the income of a Manchester United or a Real Madrid. I am Mike Ashley, not Mike Ashley a multi-billionaire with unlimited resources. Newcastle United and I can't do what other clubs can. We can't afford it. Newcastle fans made their feelings known before the 2-1 defeat to Hull I knew that the club would cost me money every year after I had bought it. I have backed the club with money. You can see that from the fact that Newcastle has the fifth highest wage bill in the Premier League. I was always prepared to bank roll Newcastle up to the tune of £20 million per year but no more. That was my bargain. I would make the club solvent. I would make it a going concern. I would pour up to £20 million a year into the club and not expect anything back. It has to be realised that if I put £100 million into the club year in year out then it would not be too long before I was cleaned out and a debt ridden Newcastle United would find itself in the position that faced Leeds United. That is the nightmare for every fan. To love a club that overextends itself, that tries to spend what it can't afford. That will never happen to Newcastle when I am in charge. The truth is that Newcastle could not sustain buying the Shevchenko's, Robinho's or the Berbatov's. These are recognised European footballers. They have played in the European leagues and everyone knows about them. They can be brilliant signings. But everybody knows that they are brilliant and so they, and players like them, cost more than £30 million to buy before you even take into account agent commissions and the multi-million pound wage deals. My plan and my strategy for Newcastle is different. It has to be. Arsenal is the shining example in England of a sustainable business model. It takes time. It can't be done overnight. Newcastle has therefore set up an extensive scouting system. We look for young players, for players in foreign leagues who everyone does not know about. We try and stay ahead of the competition. We search high and low looking for value, for potential that we can bring on and for players who will allow Newcastle to compete at the very highest level but who don't cost the earth. I am prepared to back large signings for millions of pounds but for a player who is young and has their career in front of them and not for established players at the other end of their careers. There is no other workable way forward for Newcastle. It is in this regard that Dennis and his team have done a first class job in scouting for talent to secure the future of the club. You only need to look at some of our signings to see that it is working, slowly working. Look at Jonas Guttierrez and Fabricio Collocini. These are world class players. The plan is showing dividends with the signing of exceptional young talent such as Sebastien Bassong, Danny Guthrie and Xisco. My investment in the club has extended to time, effort and yet again, money being poured into the Academy. I want Newcastle to be able to create its own legends of the future to rival those of the past. This is a long term plan. A long term plan for the future of the club so that it can flourish. One person alone can't manage a Premiership football club and scout the world looking for world class players and stars of the future. It needs a structure and it needs people who are dedicated to that task. It needs all members of the management team to share that vision for it to work. Also one of the reasons that the club was so in debt when I took over was due to transfer dealings caused by managers moving in and out of the club. Every time there was a change in manager millions would be spent on new players and millions would be lost as players were sold. It can't keep on working like that. It is just madness. I hope that all the fans get to read this statement so that they understand what I am about. I would not expect all of the fans to agree with me. But I have set out, clearly, my plan. The fans want this process to happen more quickly and they want huge amounts spent in the transfer market so that the club can compete at the top table of European football now. I am not stupid and have listened to the fans. I have really loved taking my kids to the games, being next to them and all the fans. But I am now a dad who can't take his kids to a football game on a Saturday because I am advised that we would be assaulted. Therefore, I am no longer prepared to subsidise Newcastle United. I am putting the club up for sale. I hope that the fans get what they want and that the next owner is someone who can lavish the amount of money on the club that the fans want. This will not be a fire sale. Newcastle is now in a much stronger position than it was in 2007. It is planning for the future and it is sustainable. I am still a fan of Newcastle United. We, my kids and I, have loved standing on the terraces with the fans, we have loved travelling with the away fans and we have met so many fans whose company we have enjoyed. We have absolutely loved it but it is not safe anymore for us as a family. I am very conscious of the responsibility that I bear in owning Newcastle United. Tough decisions have to be made in business and I will not shy away from doing what I consider to be in the best interests of the club. This is not fantasy football. I don't want anyone to read my words and think that any of this is an attack on Kevin Keegan. It is not. Kevin and I always got on. Everyone at the club, and I mean everyone, thinks that he has few equals in getting the best out of the players. He is a legend at the club and rightly so. Clearly there are disagreements between Kevin and the Board and we have both put that in the hands of our lawyers. I hope that all the fans get to read this statement so that they understand what I am about. I would not expect all of the fans to agree with me. But I have set out, clearly, my plan. If I can't sell the club to someone who will give the fans what they want then I shall continue to ensure that Newcastle is run on a business and football model that is sustainable. I care too much about the club merely to abandon it. I have the interests of Newcastle United at heart. I have listened to you. You want me out. That is what I am now trying to do but it won't happen overnight and it may not happen at all if a buyer does not come in. You don't need to demonstrate against me again because I have got the message. Any further action will only have an adverse effect on the team. As fans of Newcastle United you need to spend your energy getting behind, not me, but the players who need your support. I am determined that Newcastle United is not only here today, but that it is also there tomorrow for your children who stand beside you at St James' Park. Mike Ashley.
act smiley Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 Anyone actually read his statement? He's been made out to be an arsehole expecting top 4 football on a shoestring in the media over the past year or so - that doesn't actually seem to be the case at all. To be fair the media coverage is all over the place with this, Mike Ashley's press statements etc. always aimed at a long-term building process and a shorter term aim of hopefully UEFA Cup qualification, which is pretty much in line with most Newcastle fans aims and pretty much what Keegan basically said last season was the goal. Unless its a case of one thing to the press another in private, that doesn't seem to have been the sticking point. The statement does seem to be an attempt to deflect the criticism of forcing Keegan out in favour of Wise onto "but look, I've been responsible!" and he's definitely done Newcastle a favour prior to the Dennis Wise escapade, but when you've got a manager of the class of Keegan at somewhere he's so loved, forcing him out in favour of Dennis Wise is monumentally stupid.
Flynny Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 To be fair the media coverage is all over the place with this, Mike Ashley's press statements etc. always aimed at a long-term building process and a shorter term aim of hopefully UEFA Cup qualification, which is pretty much in line with most Newcastle fans aims and pretty much what Keegan basically said last season was the goal. Unless its a case of one thing to the press another in private, that doesn't seem to have been the sticking point. The statement does seem to be an attempt to deflect the criticism of forcing Keegan out in favour of Wise onto "but look, I've been responsible!" and he's definitely done Newcastle a favour prior to the Dennis Wise escapade, but when you've got a manager of the class of Keegan at somewhere he's so loved, forcing him out in favour of Dennis Wise is monumentally stupid. So he's supposed to uproot his entire medium-long term plans for the sake of a pretty good manager, who, by the sounds of it, was aiming higher than Ashley and not the reverse as has been suggested since Keegan made his comments about the top 4? The only mistake he's made is underestimating the sentiment of the fans. The problem isn't "Dennis Wise", Wise is just head of an entire branch of the club that seems to have consulted Keegan to a minimal extent. I'd be interested to see how Keegan responds to this statement.
Manwell Pablo Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 So he's supposed to uproot his entire medium-long term plans for the sake of a pretty good manager, who, by the sounds of it, was aiming higher than Ashley and not the reverse as has been suggested since Keegan made his comments about the top 4? The only mistake he's made is underestimating the sentiment of the fans. The problem isn't "Dennis Wise", Wise is just head of an entire branch of the club that seems to have consulted Keegan to a minimal extent. I'd be interested to see how Keegan responds to this statement. Ashley's an idiot if he thinks his "management structure" could of ever worked. There's one man in charge of a football club at playing level and that's the manager. And it's one thing appointing someone to interfere with the managers job, appointing a prik like Dennis Wise to interfere with the managers is just unacceptable. Directors of Football, Executive Cheif Scouts etc don't work at all, we've seen it at countless clubs, we've seen it here ffs. And it drives me mad when people bring up Arsenal to try and back up their decisions to bring in these kind of people. Arsenal do not use this structure and never have, Arsenals scouting structure is was setup and is overseen by Arsen Wenger, yes one man cannot possible run a top flight football team and scout the world for top players, however a manager can delegate to a world class scouting crew where he wants them to go and what he wants them to find. They then report back to him, he then looks into the player further if he's interested, he then makes the signing. How can you possible have someone signing players for a manager? he knows what he wants, what style he wants to play, what kind of players he needs, not Dennis Wise. So you see it's not just about a losing a good manager, It's about the way he was treated and about the way his replacement will be treated, to be honest he is better off well out of it and he knew that which is why he's gone. He's statement is well written and he pleads his case as best he can and I think the fact that he can't take his kids to a footy game is disgraceful, but at the core he's got it wrong and nothing he cans say can change that.
lildave3 Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 Getting out whle he can then, taking the easy option instead of trying to rectify it. Fair play to him, he knows he's not wanted.
Joe. Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 Fair play to him, he knows he's not wanted. True, and fair play for listening to the fans but selling up isn't/wasn't not the only option for him. Obviously it is now after what he's said today, but he could have stayed and fought if he'd changed his infrastructure within the club, getting rid of Wise for a start. It was inevitable things were going to turn sour when you have a manager in place who doesn't have the control he should have had. I can see views from both sides though, and it probably is for the best to be fair.
syston_fox Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 I almost feel sorry for him. The guy followed his dream of buying the club he loves and it's backfired on him meaning he probably won't be able to go to games like a normal fan again without receiving hastle.
Craig Posted 14 September 2008 Posted 14 September 2008 I almost feel sorry for him. The guy followed his dream of buying the club he loves and it's backfired on him meaning he probably won't be able to go to games like a normal fan again without receiving hastle. I think i'm right in saying he's a Spurs fan?
Jay Posted 15 September 2008 Posted 15 September 2008 I think i'm right in saying he's a Spurs fan? Not sure but it certainly isn't Newcastle!! He doesn't have any affiliation with the club, it's certainly not a club he loved obviously just wanted to make money, his favourite player was Dennis Wise hence giving him a job and is responsible for Sports World and Lonsdale Clothing therefore in my book he deserves everything he gets. For someone who says he has invested all this money in the club he doesn't seem to have signed that many players and so on, I think his intention all along was to buy it and sell the club for a profit I have mixed emotions though on one hand I think Newcastle fans always moaning and will never be happy on the other hand I think good for them!!
Narborough Bod Posted 17 September 2008 Posted 17 September 2008 read this and loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle4761813.ece
davieG Posted 17 September 2008 Posted 17 September 2008 read this and loved it, loved it, loved it, loved ithttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle4761813.ece I'd have been more convinced if he hadn't said "Dennis Wise is not an evil dwarf" which he clearly is!
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