Park Life

You're demented Nicos. We'll lose the next 3 games straight and then it will be down to beating Blackburn at home in March. April is a good month reg fix and we might nick 3 wins.

Tbf to the press it is rather a strange bunch of characters and they have been given rather spurious titles.

Of course once a club starts to show serious ambition and organisation (often beginning with a top tier manager that players associate with success) good purchases attract incrementally better purchases. But we haven't really shown this we've bought questionably in recent history and in dribs and drabs, with no real sense of direction (high manager turnover?). Slowly but surely and perhaps in the form many will find hard to palette I feel some kind of direction is taking shape.

Good post. We need to spend big if MA is at all serious. I don't think we will spend big, I think 2/3 good players will be added. It will come down to how much power KK has over the owner.

He's just starting his head games early is all. What he says is "true" (as much to him as anyone else - would he have the same success anywhere else, or if he came back after 11 years to ManUre? Probably not), but really it's just irrelevant. There's no mystical power or universal truth saying Keegan can or cannot be successful (as, more, or less) than he was before... it just depends on so many things. He doesn't see us as any kind of threat. I would imagine he's planning to make it stay that way too. We do that ourselves.

It's from the Teddygraph.

He's just starting his head games early is all. What he says is "true" (as much to him as anyone else - would he have the same success anywhere else, or if he came back after 11 years to ManUre? Probably not), but really it's just irrelevant. There's no mystical power or universal truth saying Keegan can or cannot be successful (as, more, or less) than he was before... it just depends on so many things. He doesn't see us as any kind of threat.

Newcastle's Wise men just hangers-on By Michael Henderson Last Updated: 1:37am GMT 01/02/2008 Have your say Read comments What do you mean, Dennis Wise isn't the right man for Newcastle United? Now that Fred Karno has gone to that great circus in the sky, Lord Charles has mislaid his monocle, and Sooty can no longer work with Sweep owing to 'irreconcilable differences', the cabbies' pal is just about the only man whose feet are big enough to fill the boots that Mike Ashley has made for him. Football fans' forum Newcastle homepage Experience, aptitude, suitability, promise: all the qualities one looks for in scholarship candidates may be found within his lean and hungry frame. He took Leeds United down last year, but has apparently grown tired of day-to-day management (after all, he's been doing it so long) and would prefer to return to the South-East, particularly if some kind employer trebles his salary. And Newcastle fans wonder why so many people the length and breadth of the kingdom are hooting at the folk who run their club! Dennis Wise: Newcastle's new executive director (football) The joke may not be shared by Kevin Keegan, a king who must realise that his crown and sceptre offer little protection against the courtiers who occupy such important positions. What, he may wonder, are we doing with an 'executive director' (Wise's title) who is responsible for spotting and recruiting players (from an office in London) when he was restored to the throne two weeks ago with a promise of absolute power? It had to be absolute, otherwise he wouldn't have returned. What are they doing with a London friend of Ashley's, one Tony Jimenez, filling the unspecified role of 'fixer', not to mention a 'technical co-ordinator' who may have something to do with scouting? It's clear as an old-fashioned pea-souper. The game changes, but change does not always betoken improvement. When Keegan made his name at Liverpool three decades ago, Bill Shankly had no use for co-ordinators or executive directors. Whenever he wanted to discuss something, a player to bring in or one to ship out, he talked it over with Bob Paisley in the time it took to sup a brew. Football, for those men, was in the blood, and the records of Shankly and Paisley are there for all to see, just as the feats of Busby and Ferguson are available for consideration. And those of Cullis, Nicholson, Catterick, Revie and Clough. They were - in Ferguson's case, still are - football men, which is not necessarily the best thing to be in the modern game. advertisement Ashley made his mint from flogging sportswear. Jimenez, we are told, sells properties. Expensive ones. Lots of 'em. They belong to, and understand, the world of finance, and evidently like to hang around football clubs, and the people who play for them, as many rich folk do. It does not follow that they know the first thing about football. Indeed the recruitment of Wise to such a senior position suggests that Ashley's knowledge of the game could be written in capital letters on the back of a Metrolink ticket. His offer to Jimenez suggests that he wants a friend to hold his hand. These are not steps of a confident man; more like steps in the dark, undertaken in faith. Newcastle fans like to think of their club as a big one, and they are entitled to their opinions. Stand back from the canvas, however, and the picture looks very different. What outsiders see right now is a club run by London-based business people for whom football appears to be a fashion accessory, where jobs are given to pals, and pals of pals. Two weeks after the restoration, Keegan may not be a wiser monarch. But, where the manners of the modern game are concerned, he is considerably better informed.

What did you make of the Giles Barnes offer? I don't know Parky as I'm not speculating on figures like everybody else. Oh. Has there actually been official combination that it was £1.5 million, or is this just a figure from the press? I'm being honest here as I've just been glossing over most of the posts in the past few days. Well Jewell said the offer was derisory or something and yes he was quoted by the BBC. Are you a fucking Law Lord or summat?..Will you be needing posts in triplicate before you deign to comment and will the EU special affairs committee have to be informed of your relpy? You big flounce.

What did you make of the Giles Barnes offer? I don't know Parky as I'm not speculating on figures like everybody else. Oh. Has there actually been official combination that it was £1.5 million, or is this just a figure from the press? I'm being honest here as I've just been glossing over most of the posts in the past few days. Well Jewell said the offer was derisory or something and yes he was quoted by the BBC. Are you a fucking Law Lord or summat?..Will you be needing posts in triplicate before you deign to comment and will the EU special affairs committee have to be informed of your relpy?

What did you make of the Giles Barnes offer? I don't know Parky as I'm not speculating on figures like everybody else. Oh.

I mentioned this figure a couple weeks ago on N.O. taking into account the current market and some people seem shocked by it. Reg the OP sides re-build when they gain promotion to the PL not visa versa. IMO the current football model especially the PL is wholly driven by speculation, as many as a dozen sides are hoovering up whatever talent they can attract and yes some have leap-frogged us. The patient re-building model is not pertinent in this environment as you fall behind season by season and the downward spiral gives the club even less opp to compete for good players (this is in affect already). Mort is a steady chairman but not an instinctive one. Maybe the eye of Wise is needed.

Clearly we did try for some players, but it was a strange kind of trying especially in the GB case. Putting aside his attributes, we must fancy him to some degree and he widely considered to show promise...But £1.5m? Don't buy the right leg of a decent footballer never mind a whole one.

What did you make of the Giles Barnes offer? The thing I would like to know is why other clubs weren't prepared to pay what Derby wanted for him? Especially Sunlun who don't seem to mind paying over the odds for lesser players (that's assuming Barnes is as good as some are leading us to believe). Who can tell. But for me it was a strange one, ie. Did KK really want him? Or was he already on some kind of shortlist because if KK really wanted him I find it strange the club wouldn't add another million to test Derby, which leads me to believe he was already on a shortlist or someone else's idea hence the bargain basement bid (£1.5m). I like many accept the idea that Jan (reportedly) is a difficult time to re-build a side, yet I find it a total mystery why even one player couldn't be found to give the side a lift, struggling as it is to perform. I'm not saying we are going to get relegated but it might be closer than many think.

What did you make of the Giles Barnes offer?

He'll score a few goals.

My daughter reckons we should have signed 'Papagino'. Sounds like a great player to me. **I think it's German for parrot.

Is the Pandev actually any good?

Great. We're in for the biggest cunt on offer. Sorry.

I did have a little fantasy a few days ago that KK bored at looking at endless dossiers just said get me Benzema and Diego!!! Ah well.

Making a cup of tea for me and the 4yr old and watching childrens telly.

Nitey night.

Apparently Liverpool have been offering Kuyt and Riise around. Can't say we've been involved mind.

Look at your list properly. Carrick? Bridge? Garay? Richards? Sissoko? Elmander? Van Der Vaart? Deco? SWP? Berbatov? Modric? Realistic? Of the rest, some chose other clubs over us, others are players people would be horrified if we signed. It wouldn't be if whoever from the club said there wasn't £90/£100 mill etc available, theres players out there if the price is right and look where we are in the league with the coming fixtures, talk of KK being out the game for 3 years, well surely Terry Mac and Pearson etc etc would've told him the score?, even Ashley has stood and watched it, thats why I'm beginning to wonder if Ashley does not trust his money in anybody elses hands. Ashley is worth £1.9billion in assets. He has recently shelled out £200m quid. That doesn't mean he has another £50m lying in a Northern Rock account ready to be spent, does it? He's not all cracked up to be what everbody thinks then I still think we will be spending £50m this summer, but that will be money we'll have earned. I'm just not sure Ashley has a piggy bank with much left in it at the moment. Not totally sure anymore about figures like that if I was honest. I was working on getting £32m for finishing 5th bottom + the rest from season ticket sales. I don't know about taxes, but we will also be getting money in from match day receipts, merchandise and player sales to cover wages etc. If Ashley & Co want this club to go anywhere I reckon £50m is a must. And I would think KK would think the same! Well of course you're right. Anyone know what happened to all that extra telly money last summer? Above the normal telly money that is.