The circus continues

So after months and months of would-be and could-be new owners and managers, Newcastle United are still manager-less and run by a couple of prats who know only how to ruin a club and piss off the most loyal fans in the country. Now the latest news to hit the streets is of the manager's job being offered to Chris Hughton. Not that I have anything against Chris Hughton, quite the contrary, but as a Newcastle fan I always look to the future. It's a shame our owners don't.

Chris Hughton has done a remarkable job given the circumstances of his position; caretaker manager with an owner who wants to sell club and players. The club would have shifted Hughton if he was out of contract. That's why he got the position - nothing to do with his footballing ability. Tightpants Ashley did say giving Shearer the job was the best thing he did at Newcastle, however Houghton had taken over before, whilst in a dire position, and played Man U, Arsenal & Chelsea. Although we didn't get anything out of these fixtures we played some good football and took the game to these top 4 clubs; something that we haven't seen at Newcastle for a long time.

For the present Hughton is well placed but if we do want to get back to anywhere near where we used to be, we need a manager of a different class. Hughton has done fantastic considering players sold by Ashley and only a few loan signings brought in.

What message does this send out to the fans? Does Cashley want to stay or does nobody want to buy at the asking price? Maybe he is trying to scare people into buying a dying unrealised giant of English football. The longer we go without the right man in charge and with Ashley at the helm, the closer we are to oblivion. The last few games have been rocky as we have been beaten by Forest and Scunthorpe; this is bound to happen though in the Championship. You can't go all season without losing when you support the Toon.

"The longer we go without the right man in charge and with ashley at the helm, the closer we are to oblivion"

But things must change soon and for the future, imagine if Hughton gets the job and leads us back to the Premiership? I imagine another Glen Roeder scenario, i.e. where he does well and we feel he should be given a chance even though deep down we know he is not up to it or not ready for the challenge. Why not get the right manager in place now and build? Why? Because Fat Rash still wants out and Hughton would be the easy choice again less money paid out in contract payments etc. He only cares about how much money he can claw back from the disastrous few years on Tyne side. Will he be spending money in January to give the team a lift and a better chance of promotion? If he does I can guarantee it will be loan players again whether with Houghton as manager or not. The cheapest solution is the one for the fat boy from the South and this will continue for the near future. Meanwhile Newcastle slips further into the coma that labelled them the sleeping giants not that long ago. The best we can hope for now is a return to the Premiership and following that, survival. We won't be the club Keegan had but just another club to make up the numbers.

We need a chairman /owner to come in with a good manager and have a crack at playing football and get the fans back in the stadium so we can put this living nightmare to rest. Ashley is not welcome nor has he been for some time but he still persists like that turd that never flushes

Pic sourced from, King Features Syndicate

Who gets the Newcastle job

Chris Hughton quotes, Monday:

"I am honoured to be offered the job (of full time Newcastle manager), we are still in negotiations, it is something we hope will get resolved.
"I've always felt that the manager's situation was an issue, but not the most important one. Getting results has been the most important thing.
"Once we have got Scunthorpe and Doncaster out of the way, we will have discussions with Derek Llambias.
"It will involve moving from caretaker to manager on a full-time basis. They have indicated to me that they want to turn it from a temporary role to a permanent one.“For myself really it’s recognition of the job I have done and the club feel it only right and fitting that somebody who has done the job I have done for the period I have is recognised that way.”
“The decisions on which players to bring in have been my decisions. I have been backed with the players I have wanted to bring in.”

Words to wise

Wise words from The Mirror's Simon Bird


I'd love to see Dennis Wise return to management and get just what he deserves.
Dennis Wise fears his managerial career may have been wrecked by his experience at Newcastle.
Let’s hope not.
I’d love to see Dirty Den back in a job.
I hope he lands a chairman who then decides to appoint a Director of Football above his head, and deliberately misleads fans about the scope of his role as a “public relations exercise.”
I hope Wisey then draws up a list of transfer targets that are ignored.
I hope he argues his case, and is treated with disrespect and disdain, by a bunch of cronies who are supposed to be the club’s crack transfer delivery team.
I hope Wisey is then told to sign a little known South American player that he doesn’t want, and has never heard of.
In the ensuing row, I hope Wisey’s told to check the player out on YouTube.
I hope he is told that the decision is out of his hands because instead of signing players for playing reasons (an old fashioned concept I know) this deal is for “commercial reasons“ as a “favour“ to some agent pals.I hope Dennis then feels the need to quit, because his working conditions are impossible, being asked to manage players he didn’t want to sign.
And then I’d then love to see him keep quiet, with the sort of dignity Kevin Keegan did for 15 months, before the full grubby truth of the shambles emerged in a court room.

Earlier Dennis wise spoke about his time at Newcastle on sky sports news who seem to be holding his and rashleys hand on this matter.

Wise claimed that a settlement offer was made to KK before the tribunal:

"There was an offer put in by Mike I believe, and it was probably more than what Kevin got.....to settle it, yes....for more than the two million yes.
"So one of them must be lying, unless Keegan was offered somewhere between £2m and £4m and Wise is dealing in semantics. Given that the club openly admitted they twist the truth as an "exercise in public relations" then Wise's version of events seems to lose credibility.
He also reinforced the line about the inflated sums that KK's legal team had gone looking for:
"Mike was worried....when someone is suing you for £26m...
"And the A word almost inevitably made an appearance when Wise was asked what would have happened to his former employers had KK received a larger award:
"Maybe administration"
As for his own relations with KK, Wise ventured that:
"It was a difficult situation."
Wise also confirming that Ashley sacked him when Alan Shearer was brought in as Newcastle manager, but still referred to the club owner constantly as "Mike" and appeared ultra-sympathetic to him.
That's hardly the stance of a disgruntled former employee, but there again being paid to pick out signings by watching YouTube is hardly the most taxing of roles....
Wise attempted to downplay the impact of the Nacho Gonzalez deal, claiming that it was for the greater good:
"The long-term idea of the relationship (with two agents) was we were going to get first option on the best South American kids.
"That was important to Newcastle. Mike knew everything about it. He was fine with it. Every deal that went through the football club he knew. It's his money and no one else's. It was all done the right way.
"When Wise was asked for his opinion of what Mike Ashley's next move at SJP would be:
"I think he will hold onto the club until they are promoted. I think they'll go up this year, I genuinely hope they do, then Mike will take a decision next summer.
"So, still no mention of the other signings of interest that took place, such as Xisco and Fabio Zamblera - or indeed why the list of transfer targets KK prepared including the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger wasn't acted upon.

We also wonder whether this was a grammatical or a Freudian slip from Wise:

"The club never paid any money to no agent."
After Sky's coverage of the tribunal verdict when they appeared to do little more than push the club line, their cozy chats with Wise look to be more of the same thing.

It's little wonder that the club feel no need to comment on the matter, when others are happy to do it for them.

From nufc.com

NUFC Toon Talk with Steve Wraith

Monday 6pm-8pm (gmt) you can listen to a NUFC talk show by Steve Wraith, a Newcastle United fan. The show is for Newcastle United fans world wide & has now been running about two months. It is a valuable radio for those exiled from the north east. It helps us keep in touch and gives you an opportunity to voice an opinion about Newcastle United related issues. Steve is doing a great job and is worth a listen for any Geordie home or away. If you want to listen it's only on Monday evenings but you can also download missed shows on itunes so you're never going to miss a trick and all you have to do is follow the link below.
http://www.facebook.com/toontalklive

Bristol City (h)

The first 0-0 draw for Newcastle came at the weekend against a hardy if not lucky Bristol City team led by Gary Johnson. Newcastle had plenty of opportunities to win the game however the stand in goalie Dean Gerken made a string of blinding saves while the woodwork came into City's defence on a number of occasions. The late call for a penalty seemed a cert but the referee was the only man in the ground not to see it, even the City manager thought it was a penalty. A point is better than nothing though and we still sit on top of the championship with a 3 point lead.

Chris Hughton who has won consecutive Manager of the Month awards now thought we should have collected the 3 points and was disappointed with the result but he was very happy with the team performance. If we carry on playing the kind of football we are playing then it's only a matter of time before we are celebrating our return to the top. It's easy to get carried away though at this stage and to hold on to the top spot for the whole season will be a decent but expected achievement.

Over 43,000 watched the 0-0 draw and about 3000 travelled up from Bristol to help them on.
Marlon Harewood, Peter Lovenkrands and Jonas Gutierrez all started the game after a few reshuffles and it was the former who seemed in the mood to score after only 8 minutes when he struck the post. It was a long afternoon for the City fans who had to put up with a barrage of toon attacks but in the end they came out of St James' with the widest grin.