First off, apologies for lack of posting recently. I went back to my old town and had archaic internet connections. To be honest, it wasn’t worth the hassle to fire up the computer.
Anyway, some developments on the Newcastle front have caught my eye. First off, a man called Charlie Chawke from the old Drumaville consortium who ran our neighbours from hell Sunderland has announced he is putting together a consortium in an attempt at a bid for Newcastle United. I remain very sceptical at this news. Not because of the chap’s Sunderland links, but I think it might be a red herring. I don’t think Chawke has the commitment or the finances to mount a serious challenge. It seems to be a bit of posturing on Chawke’s front.
Also, bizarrely, Newcastle United’s game against FC Utrecht has been cancelled because Sunderland are playing in the Amsterdam Tournament on the same weekend. The KNVB and the F.A were worried that some Sunderland and Newcastle fans might bump into each other on the ferries and flights over to the Netherlands. Honestly, It seems ridiculous. I mean, how many fans were they expecting to travel over? Secondly, surely this kind of thing should of been sorted out before? And thirdly, this problem could of been sorted out with a small amount of either policing or monitoring. I mean, lets put this into context. They are two friendlies 30 miles apart which are going to have a minimal amount of support. Crazy decision.
Anyway, Newcastle United have rescheduled the Pre-season plans and now face Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road on the 25th July. That’s unless it is cancelled because some Blyth Spartan fans are hanging around because they have been to some obscure friendly in Basingstoke.
And lastly, Jermaine Beckford’s agent Nick Rubery was found guilty of some serious flirting last weekend in a press statement in the Yorkshire Evening Post. He came up with this original chat-up line….
But it is certainly true Newcastle is still a seriously attractive option for Jermaine. They are a big club, with a fantastic tradition and history and any player would love to play at St James’s Park
Hopefully, Jermaine and Newcastle will get to first base soon.
£100 Million or O.N.O
£100 Million. That’s how much Newcastle United are valued at by the board and thats how much they want. In a statement released today by the NUFC board, Newcastle United Chairman Mike Asley has decided to cut his losses and leave the club which he has so nearly brought to it’s knees.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that Newcastle United have been on sale. They were on sale for lengthy amount of time during the season in a fruitless attempt to flog them to anybody who had an inkling of interest in taking them over. However, this time, things are different! We have actual bonafide interest as potential investors realise that Newcastle United are prime to mould into any shape they want, although the shape of a sinking ship is probably not the best way forward.
Many media outlets have reported that Freddy Shepherd is ready for a return to the board as he puts together a bid with a consortium. This development doesn’t look good on paper, seeing as the books before Mike Ashley took over were in a perilous state. However, if the consortium has substancial financial backing, then Shepherd’s former vice like grip on proceedings at Newcastle United might be stripped back. The other possible option is the supposed interest from a party in Oman, who are based in Dubai. We’ll see how that one pans out…..
He could return
The Daily Telegraph wrote an interesting article in this morning’s paper about Newcastle United “drifting to oblivion“, however it offers no direct quotes. Instead, we get a “senior source” telling us that Alan Shearer’s getting restless with the lack of progress and that Newcastle United are a rudderless ship at the moment.
In fact, many articles and rumours this weekend have said that Alan Shearer is looking at other possible avenues for his managerial career, including Southampton, Celtic and West Brom all being mentioned as possible destinations. Seriously though, I ask you, why would Shearer go to Southampton who are on the brink of meltdown and couldn’t afford his wages? Also, why would he go to West Brom, who offer nothing that Newcastle can’t?, and why would Celtic put their proud club in the hands of a man who has managed 7 games? The answer is, they wouldn’t and neither would Alan. For me, these stories are dead rubbers.
The Alan Shearer stories though bring you back to the sale of the club. Clearly, Newcastle are in limbo, they want to sell the club and start afresh. They want to employ a manager for the long term but don’t want to commit to anything until something is concrete and they want to do it right this time. No poor decisions, no hurried sales or buy-outs. Which is all fine, but I worry, that when this is all done and dusted and we have the infrastructure in place, will it be too late to rebuild?