Ashley has obviously had the email....................

apparently a NIGERIAN consortium are interested ! It could all end in tears

 

Makes you laugh though ..........

.......... they want to bring back Keegan ............... and make Yakubu their first signing

But what if Keegan doesn't want Yakubu?

Isn't that why Keegan left in the first place, cos somebody else was buying and selling his players?

The world's gone mad

 

RE: Makes you laugh though ..........

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/sep/23/newcastleunited.premierleague?gusrc=rss&feed=football

It's a joke.

 

From BBC Football Gossip column..........

........ A Nigerian consortium planning to bid for Newcastle needs to raise an "extra £50m to £100m" to buy the club, with owner Mike Ashley holding out for £400m. (Daily Mirror)

If successful, they would make Everton striker Yakubu their top target. (Daily Mirror)

The consortium would also aim to bring back Kevin Keegan as the club's manager. (The Sun)

 

They just need his bank account deta-ils and so-rt co-de to wire de monies.

 

RE: From BBC Football Gossip column..........

Jesus, I thought that must've been a windup. It turns out you couldn't actually make it up.

 

LOL nt

 

Then they can release the funds from the account of the head of the consortium who died 2 months ago.</p>

Salutations Mr Ahsyel.
</p>

 

That would be amusing. Do those fat work shy geordie ***** not realise that without Ashley buying their club administration was loming...

 

even after reading this I guess most of them still didn't get it......

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. </p>

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. </p>

</p><table width="231" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 5px"></td> <td class="sibStdQuote">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> 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 &pound;134 million out of my own pocket for the club. I then poured another &pound;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. </p>

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. </p>

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. </p>

</p><table width="226" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right"> <tbody><tr><td> <div>
<div class="cap">Newcastle fans made their feelings known before the 2-1 defeat to Hull</div> </div> </td></tr> </tbody></table> 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 &pound;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 &pound;20 million a year into the club and not expect anything back. It has to be realised that if I put &pound;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. </p>

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 &pound;30 million to buy before you even take into account agent commissions and the multi-million pound wage deals. </p>

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. </p>

</p><table width="231" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 5px"></td> <td class="sib606">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> 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. </p>

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. </p>

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. </p>

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. </p>

</p><table width="231" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 5px">
</td> <td class="sibStdQuote">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> I have put Newcastle on a sound financial footing. It is reducing its debt. It is spending within itself. It is recruiting exciting new players and bringing in players for the future.

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. </p>

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. </p>

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. </p>

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. </p>

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. </p>

</p><table width="226" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right"> <tbody><tr><td> <div>

</div> </td></tr> </tbody></table> 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. </p>

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. </p>

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. </p>

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. </p>Mike Ashley.

 

You can try and point it out but their reply is usually "Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeegan".

Actually one of my mates who is a Toon fan wants to get relegated this year so that they can regroup and their knobhead fans will realise the consequences of their actions.

 

all is not lost however.............

<table border="0" class="contentpaneopen"><tbody><tr><td class="contentheading" style="width: 100%">NEWCASTLE FANS CALL FOR THE REANIMATION OF JACKIE MILBURN </td> <td align="right" class="buttonheading" style="width: 100%"> </td> <td align="right" class="buttonheading" style="width: 100%"> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> var sbtitle=encodeURIComponent("NEWCASTLE FANS CALL FOR THE REANIMATION OF JACKIE MILBURN"); var sburl=decodeURI("http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headlines/newcastle-fans-call-for-the-reanimation-of-jackie-milburn-200809151252/");var sburl=sburl.replace(/amp;/g, "");sburl=encodeURIComponent(sburl);

NEWCASTLE United fans last night warned the club's potential buyers they must invest heavily in the reanimation of 1950s hero Jackie Milburn.
</p>

<div align="center" style="float: right; width: 270px" class="mosimage"><div align="center" style="text-align: center" class="mosimage_caption">If corpse reanimation fails the fans want this photograph brought magically to life</div></div>Milburn spearheaded the club's triple FA cup success in 1951, '52, and '55, but his form dipped dramatically following his death in 1988.

Bill McKay, vice-chairman of the Toon Army supporters club, said: &quot;It can't just be the reanimation of a badly decomposed 64 year-old, he needs to be brought back to life at his 1951 cup-winning best.</p>

&quot;By my calculations they'll need a vast laboratory filled with nuclear reactors and about 100,000 of the world's leading bio-geneticists if 'wor Jackie' is going to be fit for second half of the season.</p>

&quot;We're talking at least &pound;6.5 billion, but if they're not willing to spend that kind of money on something as straightforward as corpse reanimation then they shouldn't be allowed to own a football club.&quot;

McKay is also demanding the forced return of Alan Shearer, Paul Gascoigne, Malcolm Macdonald and Peter Beardsley all of whom will undergo a rejuvenation process involving a funnel, 28 pints of olive oil and a series of potentially fatal electric shocks.

Meanwhile manager Kevin Keegan has promised to return to the club, but only if Milburn's reanimated corpse does not turn into an evil, black-eyed zombie intent on eating the brains of the senior coaching staff.

He is also demanding an &pound;8 billion time machine so that he can assess the form of the entire 1955 squad and then have any player he likes reanimated at will.

Keegan added: &quot;Newcastle United is a big club on a par with Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal, the only difference being they haven't won anything even remotely important for 53 years.&quot;</p>

 

the truth hurts..............

<h1 class="heading">Newcastle United fans are the club's biggest problem</h1> <div><div class="article-author"><div class="float-right padding-left-9 bg-fff"><div class="article-portrait-image"><div id="dynamic-image-holder"></div><div class="article-portrait-image-text-container"><div class="padding-left-right-10 padding-bottom-7"><div class="padding-top-5" id="dynamic-image-photographer"><p class="x-small color-999">(David Rogers/Getty Images)</p></div></div></div><div class="article-portrait-image-text-container"><div class="padding-left-right-10 padding-bottom-7"><div class="padding-top-5" id="dynamic-image-description"><p class="small color-666">Newcastle supporters, instead of being angry with Ashley and Wise, should take a reality check</p></div></div></div><div class="pagination-container" id="pagination-container"></div></div></div> <span class="byline"> Matthew Syed </span></div></div><div id="region-column1-layout2"> div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited { color:#06c; } <div id="related-article-links">

Here is a message for the <font size="3" color="#ff0000">whining, whingeing, self-pitying, self-indulgent and deluded fans on Tyneside, otherwise known as the Toon Army</font>: Kevin Keegan is not the Messiah; Alan Shearer is not an aspect of the trinity; Mike Ashley is not the Devil; Tony Jimenez is not on the secret payroll of Sunderland; and Dennis Wise is not an evil dwarf. </p>

Newcastle United are not a &ldquo;massive&rdquo; club and do not have a divine right to remain in the Premier League; St James' Park is not the world's greatest stadium; and, in case you were wondering, your team will not break into the top four any time soon, with or without Ashley, Keegan, Wise or any of the other men who are heroes, villains and sometimes both in the febrile imaginations of the world's most whimsical supporters. </p>

Oh, and you are not the most loyal, valiant and wonderfully dependable fans on the planet. Check out the attendances when Newcastle were languishing in the second division at the start of the 1990s and you will get the measure of the myth that has clung to the black-and-white-shirted men and women for far too long. That's right, they were often much fewer than 20,000 and with the Gallowgate end partially deserted. Is that what you call loyalty? </p>

The banners castigating Ashley for being a southerner during Saturday's comically self-important protest were the final straw for many of us who have long endured the tedious soap opera on Tyneside. That and the ill-informed, conspiracy-laden and melodramatic messages posted on the dozens of message boards that these fans seem to spend their lives reading. </p><div class="float-left related-attachements-container"><div class="related-attachements-side padding-top-7 padding-bottom-10 padding-right-7"><div class="padding-bottom-5 padding-top-3">
</div></div> </div>

Where is the gallows humour, the sense of irony, the satirical edge? Where is the old-fashioned self-mockery that characterises most other groups of English football fans when their team are having a bad time of it? </p>

The only way that Newcastle fans are ever going to be truly happy is when they have formed a collective to buy the club and have made a pig's ear, as they inevitably would, of a kind that would make Freddy Shepherd's last remaining strands stand on end. When they have rehired Keegan to manage the team, Shearer to be his assistant and the ghost of Jackie Milburn to do the scouting. When they have got control of the club and discovered that their own volatility makes it practically ungovernable. </p>

Sure, passion and commitment are great things and we all know that in a big city with only one football club, there is bound to be a siege mentality and more than a little self-absorption. But many Newcastle fans have turned navel-gazing into an art form. They need to get out more and discover that their beloved club, who have not won a trophy for decades, are virtually unknown beyond these shores. They need a little perspective, not least in terms that passion does not equate to knowledge, nor does enthusiasm equate to expertise on how to run a football club. </p>

This is a group of fans who agitated for the sacking of Sam Allardyce after only six months because the football was not pretty enough, even though he had put in place a much-needed science support structure and cleared out the dead wood from the Shepherd era. These are fans who want nothing to do with Ashley because he is from &ldquo;down South&rdquo; and because he insisted on a continental scouting system to support a manger who, by his own admission, had not attended a live match for three years and so was the last person who could have done the scouting job. </p>

Sure, mistakes were made by Ashley, not least in the appointment of Keegan - something that was bound to end in tears - and in spheres of responsibility not being properly spelt out to the main protagonists. But let's get real. The fundamental problem with Newcastle is no longer the corporate management, but those who used to be described as the club's greatest assets: the fans - or at least those who are making all the noise at present. </p></div></div>

 

RE: the truth hurts..............

Do you have a link to that? It's spot on.

 

best fans in the world newcastle fans

 

Where's that from paul?

I think it's spot on.

 

The Times.....................

Matthew Syed</p>

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/newcastle/article4761813.ece</p>

</p>

</p>

 

Yay !

Every word bang on the money.