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Kevin Keegan Resigns as manager


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Keegan wanted to ‘spend like Mourinho’

Newcastle say they gave Kevin Keegan a £12m budget – and he came back with a £200m wish listJOE LOVEJOY

NEWCASTLE UNITED lost patience with Kevin Keegan because they told him to manage the team in the style of Arsène Wenger and he wanted to do the job like Jose Mourinho. With the credit crunch looming, Keegan was given a £12m transfer budget in the summer, but produced a wish list that would have cost more than 10 times as much. His nominated transfer targets were David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry.

 

Tony Jimenez, Newcastle’s vice-president overseeing recruitment, instead proposed Samir Nasri, before he joined Arsenal, Sebastian Schweinsteiger of Bayern Munich, and Espanyol’s Valmir Valdo. The last straw, which led Keegan to walk out, is said to have been the sale of James Milner to Aston Villa, which the manager sanctioned on the basis that Schweinsteiger, who starred for Germany at Euro 2008, would be signed as a replacement. Newcastle agreed a deal with Bayern, only for the midfielder to turn down the move. The Sunday Times can reveal that neither Keegan nor Dennis Wise, the executive director with whom he fell out, were the original choices for their respective jobs. Club owner Mike Ashley wanted Harry Redknapp as manager and Terry Venables as his eminence gris, but both rebuffed him.

 

Anxious to set the record straight over the reasons behind Keegan’s departure, the club issued a statement yesterday refuting many of the claims made on his behalf. The most crucial of the points it makes is that Keegan accepted the job last January in the full knowledge he would have to report to a director of football and to the board. The statement insists that Keegan had specific duties relating to training, coaching, selection and motivation of the team and that he was allowed to carry them out without interference from any board member. It continues: “It is a fact that Newcastle is a business and operates, like all businesses, with financial constraints . . . and those constraints inform its transfer dealings. The structure at [the] club is clear and has been from January 16, 2008.”

 

A boardroom source told The Sunday Times last night: “Kevin says a manager should have the right to manage, and nobody would disagree with that, but not to manage regardless. In any business, people have to manage within the constraints and budgets applied by their company. Kevin couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do that.

 

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“Right from the start, at his interview for the job, it was made perfectly clear the way the club wanted the job done. There was not going to be a Chelsea scenario, with Newcastle paying big money and massive wages for established stars. The club was going to be run like Arsenal, and the emphasis would be on scouring the world for the best emerging young talent, like Arsène Wenger has done with Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor. We talked of building the club up over three to five years. Kevin took the job on those terms.”

 

Against that background, the directors were gobsmacked when Keegan came up with the names of Beckham, Ronaldinho, Lampard and Henry. “It was so bizarre,” our source said, “that I wondered if he was doing it on purpose, to try to get sacked. There was no getting through to him. What he wanted would have cost the club £200m in transfer fees and wages, and he had been told that he had around £12m to spend. We have been looking for a centre-half. Kevin’s suggestions were Jonathan Woodgate, Sami Hyy-pia and Richard Dunne. Where’s the residual value in them?

 

“On the Milner issue, the truth is that Kevin sat in on a meeting where the sale was discussed. Kevin r e c k o n e d J a m e s w a s w o r t h £7m-£8m, and the plan was to use that cash to buy Schweinsteiger. Jimenez did the negotiations with Villa and managed to agree a fee of £12m. Everyone thought it was too good to turn down, so the deal was done. Unfortunately, Schweinsteiger then said he wouldn’t come.”

 

The board reject suggestions from the Keegan camp that they tried to sell Michael Owen behind the manager’s back. Our source said: “We definitely didn’t try to sell Michael and didn’t speak to any club about him. On the contrary, we have made him a very good offer to stay. It is an extended and improved contract, the richest ever offered to any Newcastle player. He has sent a letter back, saying he appreciates the offer, and talks are ongoing.”

 

Newcastle on the attack last night as Keegan row hots up

 

Anxious to set the record straight over Kevin Keegan’s departure on Thursday, Newcastle issued a statement late last night refuting many of the claims made on his behalf. Attempting to counter ‘inaccurate reporting of factual matters and inaccurate allegations’, the statement says:

 

It is a fact that Kevin Keegan, on appointment on January 16, 2008, agreed to report to a director of football and to the board. He worked within that structure until his resignation. As manager, [he] had specific duties in that he was responsible for the training, coaching, selection and motivation of the team. He was allowed to manage his specific duties without any interference from any board member

 

It is a fact that Kevin Keegan agreed only to deal with the media [about] matters relating to the team and not to communicate about the acquisition or disposal of players

 

It is a fact that Newcastle United Football Club is a business and operates, like all businesses, with financial constraints [that] inform its transfer dealings. The board have a responsibility to ensure that the club is able to meet its commitments, which include the wages and the transfer fees for players

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Newcastle: there was no getting through to Kevin Keegan

 

NEWCASTLE UNITED hit back hard last night at claims that they had forced Kevin Keegan to resign, criticised his approach in the transfer market and said he had refused to abide by the terms on which he took the job.

 

The board, who are suing Keegan for £2m for alleged breach of contract, issued a strongly-worded statement, insisting that he had been allowed to manage the team “without interference”, and that he had agreed on his appointment in January to report to a director of football.

 

The statement accused the League Managers’ Association, who are acting on Keegan’s behalf, of “giving rise to a misleading impression” among the club’s fans. One of the directors told The Sunday Times last night: “Right from the start, at his interview for the job, it was made perfectly clear to him the way the club wanted the job done. There was not going to be a Chelsea scenario, with Newcastle paying big money and massive wages for established stars.

 

“The club was going to be run like Arsenal, and the emphasis would be on scouring the world for the best emerging young talent, like Arsène Wenger has done with Nicolas Anelka, Patrick Vieira, Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor. We talked of building the club up over the next three to five years. Kevin sat there, agreed and took the job on those terms.”

 

Instead, told in the summer that he had a budget of £12m, Keegan proposed signing David Beckham, Ronaldinho, Frank Lampard and Thierry Henry. “It was so bizarre that you had to wonder if he was doing it on purpose, to try to get sacked,” our source said. “There was no getting through to him. What he wanted would have cost the club £200m in transfer fees and wages, and he had been told over and over again that he had around £12m to spend. It is common knowledge that we have been looking for a centre-half. Kevin’s suggestions were Jonathan Woodgate, Sami Hyypia and Richard Dunne. Where’s the residual value in them?

 

“On the James Milner issue, the truth is that Kevin sat in on a meeting where the sale was discussed. Kevin reckoned James was worth £7m-£8m, and the plan was to use that cash to buy Sebastian Schweinsteiger [from Bayern Munich]. Tony Jimenez [vice-president in charge of player recruitment] did the negotiations with Villa and managed to agree a fee of £12m with them, which was brilliant. Everyone thought it was too good to turn down, so the deal was done. Unfortunately, Schweinsteiger then said he wouldn’t come.”

 

The board reject suggestions from the Keegan camp that they tried to sell Michael Owen behind the manager’s back. Our source said: “The situation is clear. We didn’t try to sell Michael or speak to any club about him. On the contrary, we have made him a good offer to stay. It is an extended and improved contract, the richest ever offered to any Newcastle player. He has sent a letter back, saying he appreciates the offer, and talks are ongoing.”

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle4693003.ece

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Wait a minute, how long has this statement been public? Long enough for these articles to be written or have the press been given these early along with a raft of anti keegan bullshit on the proviso they print it.

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Times

 

Read this and weep some more.

 

I hope for the sake of my opinion of Keegan it is all bollocks.

This is what I'm scared of, what is going to be the reaction if Keegan has acted like the petulant child these reports suggest, instead of the martyr we expect/believe him to be?

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Wait a minute, how long has this statement been public? Long enough for these articles to be written or have the press been given these early along with a raft of anti keegan bullshit on the proviso they print it.

 

According to Skunkers, the times article appeared 11 minutes before the club statement.

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Wait a minute, how long has this statement been public? Long enough for these articles to be written or have the press been given these early along with a raft of anti keegan bullshit on the proviso they print it.

 

Not being funny mate, but those articles would take less than half an hour to clip and construct from the foundations of tomorrows pieces. They're not exactly insightful beyond the stock quotes that they're all running

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Wait a minute, how long has this statement been public? Long enough for these articles to be written or have the press been given these early along with a raft of anti keegan bullshit on the proviso they print it.

 

The statement appeared on nufc.co.uk at about 21:40.

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So they're trying to completely discredit Kevin Keegan's business acumen? If that's what the real Kevin Keegan was like, why did he not drag us under in the past, or Fulham or with more relevence, Manchester City?

 

What's more - if this is what they really thought about Keegan, why did they release that first statement on Tuesday evening stating that he was very important in their eyes to the future of the club?

 

I don't know my football club any more... and I want it back.

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Times

 

Read this and weep some more.

 

I hope for the sake of my opinion of Keegan it is all bollocks.

This is what I'm scared of, what is going to be the reaction if Keegan has acted like the petulant child these reports suggest, instead of the martyr we expect/believe him to be?

They are talking shit to make him look daft man. The press statement is a pack of lies which contradicts what they have said in the past, and to say things like kevin wasnt allowed to comment to the press about signings or players we sold - come on man its a fucking joke!

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I love how they think telling us that the summer transfer budget was 12m is going to get us on their side. Quality.

 

Not to mention they neglected to point out that our net spend was nowhere near that.

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Times

 

Read this and weep some more.

 

I hope for the sake of my opinion of Keegan it is all bollocks.

This is what I'm scared of, what is going to be the reaction if Keegan has acted like the petulant child these reports suggest, instead of the martyr we expect/believe him to be?

They are talking shit to make him look daft man. The press statement is a pack of lies which contradicts what they have said in the past, and to say things like kevin wasnt allowed to comment to the press about signings or players we sold - come on man its a fucking joke!

I'm just worried is all mate. :D

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Wait a minute, how long has this statement been public? Long enough for these articles to be written or have the press been given these early along with a raft of anti keegan bullshit on the proviso they print it.

 

According to Skunkers, the times article appeared 11 minutes before the club statement.

 

Which proves beyond fucking doubt that they're using the press as a platform to make Keegan look like a patsy...

 

They're trying to fucking hood-wink us and there's more holes in their plot than in our back four (particularly the left flank!!)

 

Utter cunts - I hope to fuck they get their just deserts.

 

EDIT: Hang on a fucking god-damn minute - didn't we actually make a bid for Woodgate? Which, if we did, totally goes against what they've said about ignoring Keegan's desires for players with no residual value!! How they thought we were going to improve with absolutely no investment is well beyond me.

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Times

 

Read this and weep some more.

 

I hope for the sake of my opinion of Keegan it is all bollocks.

This is what I'm scared of, what is going to be the reaction if Keegan has acted like the petulant child these reports suggest, instead of the martyr we expect/believe him to be?

They are talking shit to make him look daft man. The press statement is a pack of lies which contradicts what they have said in the past, and to say things like kevin wasnt allowed to comment to the press about signings or players we sold - come on man its a fucking joke!

I'm just worried is all mate. :D

 

 

You aren't the only one, the pictures of Vittere and Jiminez at the Stoke match makes you think that this system was planned or in place when Keegan signed.

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Times

 

Read this and weep some more.

 

I hope for the sake of my opinion of Keegan it is all bollocks.

This is what I'm scared of, what is going to be the reaction if Keegan has acted like the petulant child these reports suggest, instead of the martyr we expect/believe him to be?

They are talking shit to make him look daft man. The press statement is a pack of lies which contradicts what they have said in the past, and to say things like kevin wasnt allowed to comment to the press about signings or players we sold - come on man its a fucking joke!

I'm just worried is all mate. :D

Worried about what? Keegan is far from perfect but he isnt a stupid man, which is what this lot are painting the picture of.

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Wait a minute, how long has this statement been public? Long enough for these articles to be written or have the press been given these early along with a raft of anti keegan bullshit on the proviso they print it.

 

According to Skunkers, the times article appeared 11 minutes before the club statement.

 

Which proves beyond fucking doubt that they're using the press as a platform to make Keegan look like a patsy...

 

 

And given the fact that up until this point they've given very, very little to the media makes it all the worse.

 

Publish the statement on a Saturday night when the papers have already gone to print with no time for Keegan to retort, very good.

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Do they really think trying to destroy the character of a man who saved us from going out of business is going to win us over? Are they really that fucking stupid???

 

He was our manager for 5 years you fucking retards - we know what the man is about...

 

I feel like my club has been stolen - and this might be a heat of the moment emotion, but i really don't want anything to do with it while that fat cockney cunt is still at the helm.

 

I've never said that about the club in nearly 30 years :D

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