Crisis? What Crisis?
Anybody waiting for a crisis to unfold was left disappointed after the "showdown" talks between Kevin Keegan and Mike Ashley in London.
In a nutshell the Toon hierarchy sat and discussed transfers, pre-season plans, the mistakes made from this season and the way forward for all things black and white.
Nobody was shown the door, and nobody had their bottom smacked leaving KK and Co to concentrate on finishing the season with a bang.
Chairman Chris Mort simply said after the meeting: "It was a good meeting. It was both productive and constructive."
Mort's deputy Derek Llambias was present as well as Dennis Wise and Tony Jimenez.
So any rumours that it was all about to kick off have proved unfounded.
However, whether we all live happily ever after remains to be seen.
Then again this is Newcastle United.
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Lee Ryder - Proudly born and bred on Tyneside, the Chronicle's chief sports writer has followed the fortunes of the club over the last three decades as a Toon fan and football writer.
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Ok, Time to stop beating around the bush, we have some serious re-building to do in the summer and I hope Kevin Keegan has the answers to the million dollar question- How much money is in the kitty for new players.
Since Mike Ashley has bought the club, his spend (In the transfer market) has be minimal, so this summer should provide the first acid test of how much he wants to thrown at the club.
I donâÂÂt class the money he has used from his personal fortune to clear Newcastle UnitedâÂÂs debt as legitimate to say we are actually free from debt, as we still owe somebody (Ashley) the money if he ever walked away God forbid.
Lee, maybe you could answer me one question, seen as your supposed to be a man âÂÂin the knowâ as it were- It was rumoured that there was money for Kevin to spend in January if he needed to, is this true? If so, surely that could be bumped onto any funds made available anyway.
Secondly, Clubs in the Premier League get ã30m, just for finishing bottom of the league, rising by a million per place you finish- Is THIS true? As Newcastle should be entitled to at least ã35m in that case.
If true- this isnâÂÂt Ashleys money so should be the bare minimum for any summer transfer spending, if Ashley doesnâÂÂt want to put any more of his own finance into the pot, then whilst I would disagree with the decision, I am not the one to tell a billionaire what to do with his money.
So, lets say, the pot is ã40 million- ItâÂÂs my opinion only, that we need a left and right back as cover, a left winger, a central midfielder and a striker- this would match up with Kevin Keegans assessment of getting around 4-5 players in over the summer. A central defender is also a probability.
My own choices would be Peter Crouch (ã9m- âÂÂcos Rafa Benitez is out of his tree to value him at ã15m) John Arne Risse (ã8m) Moutinho (ã14m) Aaron Hughes (ã3m) coming in at a spend of ã34m. With only a centre back needed.
The players are my own personal preference and would dramatically improve the squad, whilst also filling it out a bit. If we also got a centre back in, (Micah Richards for ã12m anyone?) we would have a nice selection headache at the back and a great reason to be optimistic regarding goals.
Of course any spending over ã35m would be down to how much Mike Ashley wants to put in himself- Like IâÂÂve said, IâÂÂm not the one to go around telling a billionaire how to spend money, but Top 6 is certainly achievable next season- I even predict Arsenal and Liverpool to have bad seasons- so itâÂÂs up to us to be the more shrewd (And adventurous) of the chasing European pack. . .
I Trust Kevin Keegan.
Paul.
Not really a surprise is it? To me it was always a case of until I see something in the news that KK has actually walked/been sacked it was always gonna be a meeting about next season and transfers and call BS on the tabloids. Would like to hear more than "it was a good meeting" which may or may not come to light in time but for the meanwhile i'm happy and if KK and Wise are keeping their cards close to their chests regarding transfers then all the better, we've already lost Modric and probably McGeady by stating our interest, its not worth losing every player under the sun. On another note, did anybody actually think that Ashley might actually agree with KK? At the present time, and for the foreseeable future their are too many teams scrapping over a few top level players, we have Owen, Spurs have Berbatov, Man City Petrov etc all the while the big 4 can just pick the cream of the crop and throw the scraps to the uefa cup battlers. People say that we could go on a major spending spree of say 200million and buy a league winning squad, sorry Chelsea beat us to it and even if we had 200mil, could we really spend that much? I don't see us finding 200m worth of players out there that would want to move to Newcastle, and Chelsea have a little thing called geography on their side, even though London semms like a s***hole to me (and yes i have been there a few times). All in all to create a great squad again we need to rebuild our reputation ala Spurs and get those domestic and Uefa honours coming in while climbing as far up the league as possible, which is probably what MA and KK agreed on.
I never had any doubt the meeting would be about transfer budgets and targets rather than a "Crisis Showdown" as the southern papers would have us believe! Keegan knew exactly what he was saying, and I'm looking forward to some interesting signings this summer! Would have liked Crouch but at $15 million I think Rafa is having a laugh!!
Hopefully we'll finish the season with a win against Everton and then start next season really strong! On that subject Lee, in your article "Let's finish with a Bang - Taylor" you state that "fans are hoping for the club's first final-day victory in 20 years" Didn't we smack Nottingham Forest 5-0 at St. James' on the final day the season Keegan left and Dalglish took over?? I think the goal difference from that game helped us finish 2nd on goal difference ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool to qualify for the Champions League in the first season it was open to any team other than the Champions!?!
Howay the lads!!!
The really annoying thing about this weeks goings on is that the only man at NUFC that i really trust is the man who made the knee-jerk comments,KK.I know he is a man of dignity,integrity and honesty and after all is said and done hes probably not far from the truth,even though we dont wanna hear it(i was gutted by the way).But to tell me that the rest of the powers that be really have the club at heart more than he,is nonsense(i hate dennis wise after being a mag for so long,and i think a lot will agree).Just can we stop being a laughing stock to the papers???? why "summon"KK london and let the world know all our business.TOON FOREVER......MAGPIE RANGER.
Crisis? of course, there is no crisis talks. What was the media thinking? Are they blind? Are they stupid? Or is it just plain ignorants? NO, its their way! The deformity of being a reporter is to bring a report, whether you like it or not, true or false, stupid or smart. You either expand those few words or get fired!
The showdown was a complete misunderstanding to the world but to the supporters of toon, it was all too predictable. Not even Ashley's that thick as to sack a manager for a few stupid, trivial report. As predicted, they are there to discuss future plans which has nothing to do with KK's contract until the next three years.
So...how about that, British news media? What is your story now? 'Newcastle showdown talks a fake'? 'Ashley sacks himself'? 'Alan Smith voted best toon player since Titus Bramble'? or will it be 'Micheal Owen promoted to chairman'?
We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that Ashley's fortune is now very much linked to how financial markets perform. Given what's going on in the markets, it may be the case that there simply isn't quite the level of money there for big, big spending (for all we know KK's comments after the Chelsea game *may* have been prompted by him being told to lower transfer target expectations).
That said, I think there are plenty of good quality targets out there (Ashton, Bullard, Riise etc)that won't cost an absolute fortune and will take the club forward for the next season.
We simply won't attract big names to Tyneside until players (and more importantly agents) see the club as the next big thing. Right now, we're not so expectations need to be set for 08-09 to be about Top 10 and trying to be top of the 2nd tier (e.g. Everton, Spurs, Villa, City etc) of the most boring great league in the world.
As Mort said, this is a long-term re-building project that won't happen in one summer.
KK's target as expressed by Ashley is "win something". With the players and resources available that won't be the league any time soon (so that's why KK said what he did about Chelsea's bench), but with some shrewd purchases, motiviation and a bit of luck it might be a League or FA cup (who knows, maybe even the UEFA Cup in KK's last season).
I think we can breath easily for another few weeks until Keegan goes off on one again.
For "one in the know"such as yourself,
Lee,to say that KK's talk in London with the rest of the power holder's, were not of the panic variety,might be true,but the fact remains that he was dragged down there to a meeting,whilst having to rearrange everything else before what is still an important match.
The message that I took from that was
one of "You do our bidding,when we shout for you Mr.Keegan"
I hope that you're right and that I'm 100% wrong,but just as we seem to be heading in the right direction,and at last talking of how to get the right players that we need to get us into a possible European spot next season, along comes a cross beteween a cloak and dagger mystery and the dreaded soap opera that we've had to endure for what seems to have been an eternity.
KK was right in saying what he did and most fans will back him and indeed applaud his statements,because they know that he understands what this club means to them,and all the free pints down the Bigg market won't change their opinion of their original Toon hero.
The media coverage of the so called "crisis" talks was absolutely ridiculous, in particular the Daily Mail, in Saturdays rag their coverage of the talks, said things like KK has to drop Owens wages by ã20,000 per week Keegan has to toe the line amongst other things, where they were privy to that info is anybodys guess, Talksport took a similar approach Mike Parry said "There must be a crisis, why would Ashely call KK down to London if there was not. Failing of course to realise that Ashley, Wise, Jimenez and the new vice Chairman all live in London so obviously it was easier for KK to go the the mountain.
there wasnt a crisis because mike ashley isnt stupid enough to make this into one.no way after the compensation he had to give fat sam would he contemplate a ten mil payoff to kk.
all kk said was what we all already knew that to challenge for the title would take a ridiculous amount of cash even more as we cant offer euro football so to get any top players interested we are going to have to give stupid money contracts
there will be money available just dont think it will be as much as we all hoped but you can bet it will be a lot more than most have to spend this summer
steve....i totally agree with you that wise being anywhere near our club leaves a bad taste and if as we are lead to believe modric was at the training was that only so jimenez could give him a lift to meet his mate ramos
mr patterson....again we agree..crouch i think with martins and owen playing off him would be a great buy as would riise but if richards leaves city it will be for one of the big 4 richard dunne is the alternative as we need an experienced head alongside taylor
but who knows mike ashley might still come up with all the funds keegan wants big name signings everyone happy and united and silverware beckoning the end of next year....but we all know that things going smoothly aint what the toon does..and really it wouldnt be newcastle without something going on behind the scenes
BRITISH BY BIRTH
GEORDIE BY THE GRACE OF GOD
Why did Ashley buy the club in the first place? If it was just to get a quick profit he must first make it more appealing to another buyer. Hes done that by wiping the debt off but it seems a daft way of going about it. (then again hes a billionaire, he knows better than most)
He may also have bought it for his own entertainment, he seems to enjoy going to the games but surely he can see that the current squad is by no means capable of mounting a challenge in the league. So what is he going to do about it? Spend some money on players worth watching, that entertain and can take the club up the league or will he give a bit of cash and hope KK can weave magic on incapable players.
I think he will give KK the money he wants for the right players. Im still wondering what wise does to earn his no doubt high salary?
For too long we've bought over rated players on huge wages that never live up to their reputations. It cant and shouldnt continue. This is where the scouting system should come in, to identify players that are cheaper but have the credentials to become top players. Easier said than done but we'll see how all the new cogs in the machine work together in the summer. Kept thinking KK should do a Bob Geldoff and say to Ashley 'give us your f@@@@@G money'.
Crisis?? Give me a break!!
Remember the Allardice days? Now THAT was a crisis. I wonder what the score in the Chelsea game would have been had Big Sam still been at the helm?. Celebrate the Chelsea result. It is the litmus test of how far Newcastle have come. Keagan will re-invent the team, his straight talk is part of the process.
The view from this side of the pond is very upbeat. I'm actually looking forward to next season and with hopeful anticipation this time, and not morbid curiosity.
Hell! Crouch is worth every penny of 15 million if Rafa won't let him go for less. Viduka's finished and Crouch is pound for pound better than him anyway so snap him up, he'll prove his value in no time at all, and some. Paul P's right in Crouch, Moutinho, massive shout for Aaron Hughes who can play anywhere in defense and my shout, nay scream for Gattuso. He would be instant hero for attitude and no little skill. We must go for these targets with " intent " to get them whatever cost, it would send message to top 4 that we're in business. Any other surprise that Wisey and co. come up with is a bonus, but these mentioned players are a must get, no messing about. I trust Keegan. ( you might have started a slogan here Paul )
It was te National papers (not helped by your own Mr Oliver who whipped this non-story into something supposidly major.
The meeting was always going to be about evaluating this season, assessing what is needed and producing a longer term strategy for the future.
Whilst we would all like to see money being spent, we have to remember the previous slapdash approach to spending and no coherent long term plan for sustaining the growth and development of the team and squad.
Who are we likely to get this year with no Euro place to entice them? Hopefully we can get into Eurpoe at the end of the coming season, so we will have a much stronger hand.