Scottish Mag 3 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Kevin Keegan might claim otherwise but he must have realised he was trading one soccer circus for another when he accepted the invitation to return to Newcastle United. He will no doubt insist he went back for all the right reasons - his passion for the club, his passion for the supporters who will forever regard him as their Messiah. 'I have unfinished business here,' he declared in January, and some of us even believed him. But it was as much because his own business in Glasgow was struggling that he suddenly answered Mike Ashley's call; that he traded serving cappuccinos to customers at his soccer circus for an opportunity he never imagined would come. He had not attended a football match in three years, so disillusioned was he with the game. But the chance to escape waiting tables and wipe out his money worries with one quick signature proved impossible to resist. Money was the main reason why he clung to his job these past few turbulent months. The old Kevin Keegan would have walked the moment he realised he had no control over the club. The moment, back in January, he realised Dennis Wise had been appointed director of football without his knowledge. After the defeat at Arsenal that followed, he did not even realise Wise was sitting with his new employer in the stand. Ironic, really, that another resounding defeat at Arsenal, only last Saturday, should prove to be his final game in the job. Keegan had appeared to be putting up something of a fight. His players and some of his staff will insist he was determined to succeed in his mission to restore some pride to a shambles of a football club, and that is to Keegan's credit. But he never quite made the stand he perhaps should have done, publicly declaring as recently as last week that it was his decision to sell James Milner when everyone, the fans included, knew very well it was not. Only a week or so earlier, he had insisted he had no desire to see the talented 22-year-old winger leave. While Keegan spent seven months enduring what amounted to a very public humiliation, Ashley has turned Newcastle into a laughing stock. The club resembles one of his chav-tastic sports stores, where everything is available at a knockdown price. It was when Keegan realised that everything was up for sale that he declared he could no longer continue. He thought they were only trying to sell Michael Owen, Joey Barton and Alan Smith behind his back, when in fact every member of his squad was available during what remained of the transfer window. First came the blazing row, now the inevitable split. Ashley is an embarrassment, living proof that money cannot buy class. Take his appearances, beer in hand, in his King Kev shirt and his attempts to ingratiate himself with supporters by waltzing into their favourite bars, all the while letting it be known that he is open to offers for their club. Keegan certainly failed to see Ashley for what he is. 'He's very unassuming and if we get this place going, we will have the best owner in this country,' said Keegan. 'I say that: the best.' That was in January. By May, his tone was rather different. 'We're a million miles away from challenging for the League but if my owner backs me, and I have no proof that he will, we want to try and finish fifth,' he said. 'But I get on great with the owner because I never speak to him.' By then Wise and Tony Jimenez, the club vice-president who is in charge of player recruitment from his office in London, had already started making changes without consulting Keegan. Chris Hughton was appointed as coach. Players, some of whom Keegan had never even heard of, started to arrive. Players Keegan had never even seen, Nacho Gonzalez and Xisco, were bought on Monday. They are not players Keegan wanted but players who had been identified by Jimenez and Wise. At the same time, much to Keegan's dismay, there was no apparent desire to retain players he wanted to keep, most notably Owen. Ashley responded to those comments from Keegan in May by calling him to a meeting in London. There, Keegan was told to put up and shut up and for a while it seems he did. In January, Keegan had spoken with such enthusiasm. 'I think I am the best qualified person to do this job,' he said. 'I know what the fans want, what they like. This is a very special club and that is something people outside this area don't really understand. No other manager they could have spoken to knows this club like I do. There are lots of questions but I already know the answers.' He will no doubt now accept that he did not know all the answers, that he never anticipated how difficult it would prove to work for a man like Ashley. But here's the truth of it. Keegan was a busted flush after quitting in ' that Wembley toilet, a broken man when he eventually walked away from Manchester City and someone we are unlikely to see in football again. He only came back for the money and was only invited back because Ashley saw it as a fast route to earning the trust of the supporters. He never has, of course, because the supporters are not fools. They know Ashley is responsible for the sorry state their club is now in, just as they know, deep down, that Keegan was anything but a saviour. http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sport/footba...ated-owner.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottish Mag 3 Posted September 2, 2008 Author Share Posted September 2, 2008 Elma (who is meant to be ITK) earlier in the day over on Skunkers posted this - "Haven't heard he's definitely gone....huge row yesterday afternoon when Ashley threatened to sell the lot of them. Can't see how KK can stay to be honest and wouldn't blame him." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asprilla 96 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 What a shit article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asprilla 96 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 I should clarify....not because there aren't some half decent points, more because 75% of it seems to have been written by that little paper clip helper in word: "Are you writing an article about Newcastle United?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 I refuse to believe Keegan took the job in anything other than good faith and commitment to the cause. I agree with the Ashley bits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaser 1321 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Does Kev really need the money? I can see that theres probably some truth in that article but also a lot of it which is ridiculously embellished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 31593 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 If anyone has been humiliated it's Ashley who appears to have had to make a massive u-turn and grovel to get Keegan to stay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Given that Ashley's plan was to have a chairman run the place and take a back seat I wonder how happy he is with the amount of his time the club is taking up and whether he's happy to let his other business concerns take a back seat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asprilla 96 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Given that Ashley's plan was to have a chairman run the place and take a back seat I wonder how happy he is with the amount of his time the club is taking up and whether he's happy to let his other business concerns take a back seat. I sincerely hope he's far from happy and will learn his lesson by reappointing Mort and Keegan and buying everyone in Newcastle a box of Mingles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Given that Ashley's plan was to have a chairman run the place and take a back seat I wonder how happy he is with the amount of his time the club is taking up and whether he's happy to let his other business concerns take a back seat. I sincerely hope he's far from happy and will learn his lesson by reappointing Mort and Keegan and buying everyone in Newcastle a box of Mingles. I was wondering more about him considering cutting loose altogether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asprilla 96 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Given that Ashley's plan was to have a chairman run the place and take a back seat I wonder how happy he is with the amount of his time the club is taking up and whether he's happy to let his other business concerns take a back seat. I sincerely hope he's far from happy and will learn his lesson by reappointing Mort and Keegan and buying everyone in Newcastle a box of Mingles. I was wondering more about him considering cutting loose altogether. That'd work too! I don't care so long as we get Kev back. Fuck me it's pathetic....I'm a grown man... :angry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaser 1321 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Its a shame Mort left, as he seemed to be doing a canny job of it while he was here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasepud 59 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Given that Ashley's plan was to have a chairman run the place and take a back seat I wonder how happy he is with the amount of his time the club is taking up and whether he's happy to let his other business concerns take a back seat. I sincerely hope he's far from happy and will learn his lesson by reappointing Mort and Keegan and buying everyone in Newcastle a box of Mingles. I was wondering more about him considering cutting loose altogether. That'd work too! I don't care so long as we get Kev back. Fuck me it's pathetic....I'm a grown man... We still get the Mingles though dont we? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fop 1 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Its a shame Mort left, as he seemed to be doing a canny job of it while he was here. I guess Mort was maybe taking some/a lot of the friction out of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asprilla 96 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Its a shame Mort left, as he seemed to be doing a canny job of it while he was here. I guess Mort was maybe taking some/a lot of the friction out of things. A diplomat with his head screwed on. Every organisation needs one IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Its a shame Mort left, as he seemed to be doing a canny job of it while he was here. I guess Mort was maybe taking some/a lot of the friction out of things. A diplomat with his head screwed on. Every organisation needs one IMO. Mort had that about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggiespaws 0 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 A shite article written on half-truths and assumptions. Clearly written from the perspective that KK was the rag-girl plucked from the slums by the handsome Prince Mike, only to find out that the ugly sisters Dennis and Tony wanted the Prince and his castle for themselves. Fairytale-tastic. Much like the article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 A shite article written on half-truths and assumptions. Clearly written from the perspective that KK was the rag-girl plucked from the slums by the handsome Prince Mike, only to find out that the ugly sisters Dennis and Tony wanted the Prince and his castle for themselves. Fairytale-tastic. Much like the article Clever analysis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggiespaws 0 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Would have Mort back in a heatbeat btw. Always liked him. In fact, it all seems to have gone downhill since he returned to London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Would have Mort back in a heatbeat btw. Always liked him. In fact, it all seems to have gone downhill since he returned to London. Exactamundo. Clearly a very professional and honest operator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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