The 08/09 Newcastle United FC Thread

[troutman]

Tough to stay enthused when the Big 4 dominate in revenues and player signings.

Michel Platini is actuallly suggesting today that European football institute a salary cap.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...&feed=football

Uefa is again seeking the help of Europe's political institutions to become a central regulator for football which could see the introduction of a continent-wide salary cap.

Its president, Michel Platini, will meet with the council of ministers for European affairs in Brest over the weekend and will outline his vision for a strengthened Uefa licensing system that would give football a greater degree of legal certainty in an attempt to reduce the instances of clubs challenging associations through the courts. With France taking up the presidency of the European Union over the next 12 months, Platini believes his project has a strong degree of success despite the independent sports review that was set up by his predecessor, Lennart Johansson, being scotched by the European Commission.

Platini is also attempting to convince football of the merits of the plan and at the inaugural meeting of the European Club Association yesterday he called on Europe's most successful teams to sign up to the stiffened licensing arrangements. "I'm not an authoritarian and whatever we do in terms of licensing, debt and salary caps will be implemented through the strategy council and members of the football family," Platini said, in a clear message that he accepts that with power would come added responsibility.

http://blog.canoe.ca/thefull90/2008/...lan_won_t_work

UEFA president Michel Platini means well. He really does. He's tried to reopen European soccer to the former communist nations. He's tried to erode the power of the G14 clubs. He's trying to get clubs to use more domestic talent.

Now, he'd like to see a salary cap adopted by leagues throughout Europe. According to UEFA's directive, the cap would see salaries limited to something like 55 to 60% of a club's revenues.

Like his other initiatives, the intentions are noble. And wholly unworkable. Platini wants to be the honest broker, but he's dealing with corruption on all sides. What good is a salary cap tied strictly to each club's revenue when European clubs are notorious for filing incomplete and inaccurate financial reports? If a club needs to break the cap, all it needs to do is fudge the books and, voila, all of a sudden the salaries are back in the 55-per-cent limit.

[troutman]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/0...wcastle_keegan

Keegan started his second spell in charge of Newcastle only seven months ago, but Sky Sports News reported Tuesday that he had been fired.

Angry fans were gathering outside St. James' Park to protest the apparent decision.

Keegan had been retired from coaching at the professional level until the Magpies persuaded him to return last January. But he grew frustrated at his lack of influence over transfers, including losing James Milner to Aston Villa last week and failing to secure several other players.

http://www.nufc.com/

SkySports running that Keegan has been sacked - no official confirmation from either KK or NUFC as yet.

Tuesday morning brought widespread but unconfirmed claims of problems behind the scenes at SJP, with movement on the betting exchanges following rumours that Kevin Keegan had walked out on the club.

Tuesday's Daily Mail carried a story about the manager's future being "in the balance" following "a summit with the club's hierarchy" on Monday.

The inevitable club insider line is trotted out to describe that meeting as "‘very important but not related to transfer business’ and "a heated discussion".

Update:Club statement
Pick the bones out of this:

Newcastle United can confirm that meetings between members of the Board and manager Kevin Keegan were held both yesterday and today.

Kevin has raised a number of issues and those have been discussed with him.

The Club wants to keep progressing with its long-term strategy and would like to stress that Kevin is extremely important, both now and in the future.

Newcastle United values the effort and commitment shown by Kevin since his return to St. James' Park and wants him to continue to play an instrumental role as manager of the Club.

For the avoidance of doubt the Club has not sacked Kevin Keegan as manager.

[vanisleflamesfan]

I used to live in the building immediately beside St. James Park, but this Saturday will be one match day when I will be glad to NOT be there. It could be an ugly scene when 50,000 angry Geordies show up to voice their... ummm... displeasure over the board's recent antics.

But that aside, there is still a match to play.

'Temporary' coach Hughton admits he is uncomfortable with the prospect of leading the team into a hostile ground. Link

New striker Xisco to see first action with the Toon. Link

Howay the lads!

[Kipru]

Well I am not really a Newcastle fan , but since Millwall isnät in the premiership I have to root for NCU, mainly because the beer and the guys from the series Auf wiedersehen pet.

Has anyone joined the fantasy game at http://fantasy.premierleague.com/? It would be cool to get a CP league together.

[cheevers]

Originally Posted by Kipru

Well I am not really a Newcastle fan , but since Millwall isnät in the premiership I have to root for NCU, mainly because the beer and the guys from the series Auf wiedersehen pet.

Has anyone joined the fantasy game at http://fantasy.premierleague.com/? It would be cool to get a CP league together.

Wow a Millwall fan. How many people have you killed?

[ricoFlame]

Hey! Hull City in the lead on a penalty! good stuff.

EDIT: 2-1 Hull City. rough one for the magpies.

[SebC]

Wouldn't a salary cap tied to individual club revenues mean the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor? A club with low revenues would no longer be able to invest in players first to increase its revenues, the revenues would have to come first. On-field performance should dictate revenues, not the other way around. I mean obviously you don't want owners perpetually losing money because ownership is a hobby to them, but I wouldn't want to eliminate the ability of teams to invest in players first and then recover the cash flow later through the improved performance those players bring.

[troutman]

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is ready to sell the troubled club following a series of protests by angry supporters.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ed/7615618.stm

"I'm now a dad who can't take his kids to a football game because I am advised that we would be assaulted," he said.

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has discovered that in today's Premier League it is not enough to be an ordinary billionaire owner, you have to be a multi-billionaire.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7616401.stm

Mr Bedi says: "I would not say Newcastle United's value is more than £250m, maybe up to £300m, depending on how the debt is positioned now".

So, who would want to buy such a club, which has made a habit of limping from crisis to crisis?

Quite a few is seems. Even loaded with debt, the club is still a potentially attractive proposition and has been linked to a number of potential suitors at home and abroad.

[Locke]

Thats really sad. I feel bad for his kids.

[vanisleflamesfan]

The latest Newcastle 'interim' manager Joe Kinnear hints that the team will be sold in October and that the new owners would like to see Kevin Keegan back as manager with Toon legend Alan Shearer also coming in.

Link

I suppose the Magpies have to do something to put butts back in seats after only 44,000 showed up for Kinnear's debut as 'interim' manager; a huge 2-1 loss to Blackburn... the horror...

[Bagor]

The Nigerian consortium hoping to buy Newcastle United has told the BBC it has presented its bid to the club.
The group is one of several thought to be interested, but is the first to announce it has tabled an offer.
The man fronting the bid, UK-based businessman Chris Nathaniel, refused to confirm the size of the offer. "We can't at this stage, that's confidential between ourselves and Newcastle, but a bid was put in on Friday evening," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/7641893.stm

I believe the bid entails that Newcastle first gives the Nigerians their bank's name, telephone, account and fax numbers so that they can transfer the funds accordingly.

[Locke]

I hope they get bought soon, they are in some serious relegation trouble at the moment.

[KevanGuy]

A Nigerian consortium...only in the Toon...only in the Toon. Pretty tough to get excited for the sames since KK left.

[chris_yk]

Thought today's game was worth a mention in this thread.. As a Mackem it's been a long wait for a result like this, way too long, and what a game it was! Closer than it should've been.
Things really aren't looking too good for the Mags at this point

[Locke]

6 points from 9 games is abysmal.

I feel bad for mags fans, this season might be a relegation battle which, for such a storied team is sad to see.

But....when the transfer window opens up and Owen is looking for a place...hmmm.....could you imagine a Torres and Owen combo now that hes back and fit?

[KevanGuy]

Watching the games this season hasn't been much fun. I was pretty excited heading into the summer, seeing what KK would do for the club. And then it all went pear shaped.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by KevanGuy

I was pretty excited heading into the summer, seeing what KK would do for the club.

Not trying to be smart (because you're a mod), no seriously, but I don't get what there would be to get excited about.

IMO Keegan has always been over-rated, a whiner and a quitter.

OK when he has a big budget, but when he has the same resources as everyone else he's a proven failure.

[vanisleflamesfan]

Originally Posted by chris_yk

Thought today's game was worth a mention in this thread.. As a Mackem it's been a long wait for a result like this, way too long, and what a game it was! Closer than it should've been.
Things really aren't looking too good for the Mags at this point

I kept telling myself that all it would take to set this season back on course was a big win over Sunderland... *sigh*.

[I wanna be like Miikka]

Just picked up tickets to see Aston Villa v Newcastle next week, should be a good one!

[Locke]

They're playing against W.B.A right now, Barton scores off a penalty, 1-0 Mags.