Kitman

I thought this thread was about sheep. Imagine my disappointment.

Hoy him out. Let him take a wage cut if he agrees with the move, he's not been worth 6,000 quid a week let alone 60,000.

Bruce is a Man U loving turd, always has been. I can't stand him for loads of different reasons, never have, he's where he belongs now. Delighted this closes the door on him ever managing us and I expect he'll pipe down now about his "love" for us.

Fooked as things stand. But things might change. [clutching at straws]

Until he put together a 5 year plan and appointed his ace casino manager to run the club in his absence

No point in wallowing in the past. Appallingly written OP by the way.

Runny eggs, sausage, chips for me with HP sauce. All of which are available in NZ, only the sausages are generally gash.

Depressing. We can't afford to hang around.

Adams would be a bonkers choice. When he was at Portsmouth he reminded me of Blakey from On The Buses, and managed like him too from all accounts.

Two million seems a bit high for Ameobi. Mind you a round of drinks and 20 Rothmans seems a bit high for Ameobi tbh.

There's a sense of deja vu with all of this.....the same lack of urgency every transfer window.

I'm an out of town Keegan bandwagon jumper.

As stated above he's an impulsive bloke. He's also a risk taker. I also think like most self made men he's incredibly vain and was probably feeling bullet proof at the time. He'd plainly not thought it through and thought it would be a bit of a laugh.

That's difficult to imagine

Classy

I expect Barca's structure was set up back in the first half of the 20th century or before, when football finances were very different. It's just not practical these days imo. We can't compare ourselves to them for all sorts of reasons but iirc the Catalans were originally a separate nation culturally and language-wise to the rest of Spain and have never fully supported the Spanish state. They were persecuted by General Franco in particular. Real Madrid was the state's football team and were funded by the govt to beat everyone else. Barca were the focus and outlet for Catalonian resistance to the fascist state and Madrid's attempt to impose its culture on them, hence the hatred between the two clubs. Barca was/is the sporting centre for the region and is a sporting club of many sports with football the most important. Sir John tried to make us out to be the Barca of England with his Geordie Nation rhetoric and at one time his vision was for a similar sporting club - rugby, ice hockey etc. It all fell through due to lack of money/interest. I'm sure there'll be some who will argue the cultural similarities but I don't see it myself. In our case you could say football's a religion but in Barca's it's deeply political too.

Because they know what they're doing?

Looks like their cashflow is in good shape as well. It was always a worry they'd get their shizzle together sooner or later, and we've put it on a plate for them really. We've got to raise our game now, starting with Ashley out and mega-wealthy uber-billionaire consortium in. Then decent manager, transfer budget of 50m and storm to CCC title with record points tally. Following season we make attack Europe in our black and white Panzers! * Goes back to crack pipe for another rock *

I'll be disappointed if Bruce goes there, I reckon he'll do OK for them. However the upside is that he'll never ever manage us now.

Who knows who we might get but I'd rather take my chances on new owners. If he can sell up quickly, I'd be happy. The worst thing of all would be for this to drag on.

I think the story is bollocks. Even if it was true I can't imagine why he'd want to join us.

In a just and fair universe the players would contribute to the redundancy settlements. A month of little Mickey's wages would help for starters

The bitter reality of Newcastle United's relegation from the Barclays Premier League struck home in brutal fashion yesterday, when it emerged that 120 members of the club's administrative and commercial staff are set to lose their jobs. More than one third of Newcastle's non-footballing employees will leave St James' Park as a consequence of the severe cost-cutting programme initiated by Mike Ashley. The redundancies are a painful illustration of the club's demise under Ashley's ownership. While there is optimism that Alan Shearer will agree to lead his home-town team in the Coca-Cola Championship next season, the context is of a club in the throes of contraction. It offers a partial explanation for the painstaking nature of discussions between Shearer, Ashley and Derek Llambias, the Newcastle managing director. According to their last published financial report, the club's annual turnover of £100 million includes a wage-bill of £74 million, figures that were viewed as close to unsustainable in the Premier League, never mind the division below. Shearer will be expected to preside over a mass exodus of high-earning players - Michael Owen and Mark Viduka are out of contract and will leave, while Joey Barton will surely follow - but he is fighting to retain a backbone of established players. Understandably, the negotiations have been intense, but Ashley must realise that support for Newcastle will haemorrhage if Shearer is permitted to leave the club. Disillusion with the sportswear retailer is already entrenched and the prospect of further job losses in a city suffering from the economic downturn will not add to his popularity. With Newcastle's first-team squad due to return for pre-season training on July 1, time is of the essence and Shearer is eager to set about his task. -------------------------------------------- From The Times/Caulkin

Owen will do what's best for Owen and his England career. I think he'll go and it would be best for all concerned if he did imo. Thank god he won't be here next year. The worst signing we ever made, considering wages plus fee. The overall cost must be over 30 million. We could have bought 4/5 excellent players for that kind of money. Yes, terrible with hindsight. I thought it was a good signing at the time though. I can't see the club wanting him to stay anyway, we need to trim the wage bill. Ditto Viduka. Luxury players.

If Shearer's manager, I think he'll sell him for what he can get, probably to Blackburn. I can't see him tolerating Barton after what he did. Plus he's a heed-the-ball who's run out of second chances and he won't ever take a pay cut. Sell sell sell.