Ashley / Llambias --- Zero credibility

[Christmas Tree 4919]

Sir Bobby Robson's spirit fires Tyneside

George Caulkin, August 3, 2009

 

Events have been so baffling, and the mood so uncertain, so corrosive and so sour, that perspective has been difficult to embrace. For supporters of Newcastle United, it has been a tailspin sort of summer, crammed with disillusion and decline, but a reminder of something precious, something close to being lost, came with a juddering thump on Friday morning. In death, Sir Bobby Robson directed a football club back towards its heart.

 

It felt necessary, vital. So much about Newcastle in recent months has been associated with bedlam and farce and humiliation, that fans could be forgiven for questioning the purpose, the fabric of their relationship. And then something happens to make it surge through your veins. At St James’ Park over the weekend, as tributes to Sir Bobby were left at the Leazes End, you could feel the pride, the atmosphere, the warmth.

 

What a club, what a city. If that strikes you as unashamedly sentimental, then so be it; it is. In circumstances such as that, gazing around an empty, evocative stadium and across a lush expanse of green, you can only scour memories and reflect on your first visit there, the ties of family and friendship and collective experience, the meaning of it, the point. It was Robson’s last, powerful gift to Newcastle.

 

A club is nothing without its soul and bonds are frayed on Gallowgate.

 

A region that has reinvented itself after losing its heavy industry remains defined by its association with football, but the jumble of mismanagement, jarring decisions and vacuous ownership means that the sport’s most elastic loyalty is in danger of snapping. For some, perhaps, Sir Bobby’s passing will serve to emphasise all that has dissipated on Tyneside.

 

Yet, for others, it will be a source of emotional renewal and if Saturday’s first match of the season away to West Bromwich Albion — one of the clubs Robson represented as a player — is transformed into an occasion of resonance then, you never know, it may help to propel the club on their perplexing voyage. Doubtful, but who knows; hope is not plentiful, but it is all there is. How else to explain the purchase of 25,000 season tickets?

 

Newcastle have been up for sale for £100 million since the confirmation of their relegation to the Coca-Cola Championship. They do not have a permanent manager, in spite of Mike Ashley stating that “bringing Alan Shearer back to Newcastle United was the best decision I have made”, and the assertion of Derek Llambias, the managing director, that “we want Alan to be manager 110 per cent”. They have zero per cent credibility.

 

Shearer, who led the team for their final eight fixtures in the Barclays Premier League, remains eager to resume his duties, but, having spent the past two months awaiting news, he is now on holiday in Portugal with his family. Barring rapid and dramatic developments, Chris Hughton will again be in the dugout at The Hawthorns and the pitch will be populated by a familiar group of underachievers.

 

Shearer intended to build a squad around the likes of Steve Harper, Steven Taylor, Sébastien Bassong and Nicky Butt, men of character and resilience. But no new players have been bought and only Obafemi Martins has been sold. The review of all playing matters at Newcastle, conducted by Paul Ferris last spring on Shearer’s behalf, has not been implemented. Limbo. On hold. A stopped clock.

 

And yet the cast list has still been exotic. We have read about Iranians and Malaysians, Americans and Irishmen, South African diamond billionaires and Geordie consortiums, including one featuring Freddy Shepherd, Newcastle’s former chairman. We have seen the club invite bids on their official website, heard from jubilant hoaxers in Sunderland. There has been the sound of helicopters thudding over the training ground.

 

All of it has fizzled out into nothingness. According to those close to the sale process, the Malaysians Llambias showed around St James’ Park, bumping into a group of visiting school-children, never made contact with Seymour Pierce, the investment bank charged with selling Ashley’s stake. Others, such as the Singapore-based Profitable Group, did not prove they had the necessary funds to buy the club, but generated a lot of publicity.

 

There is no mouthpiece or figurehead at Newcastle, so information is gleaned elsewhere. The understanding remains that Keith Harris, the executive chairman of Seymour Pierce, who has returned from a short break, is in painstaking negotiations with two or three serious groups, but the pace of talks is desperately slow. It is understandable, given the black hole at the centre of the club’s finances, the £67 million annual wage bill and the diminishing assets.

 

We know that one of the groups involves Shepherd and there is a belief that another emanates from the United States, but when it began due diligence, a confidentiality agreement was reached. The position could still change quickly, but the more time elapses, the more that optimism ebbs away. Rumour has filled the vacuum: that Newcastle will be placed into administration, that a £40 million overdraft is complicating matters, that Shearer will walk away, that Joe Kinnear will return.

 

All of it has been denied.

 

No one knows anything, from Shearer down. Here is an extract from a recent conversation with a Newcastle player:

 

Question: What have you heard?

 

Answer: Nothing.

 

Q: What have you been told?

 

A: Nothing.

 

Q: What’s the mood like?

 

A: It’s all right. It’s obvious which lads want to go and who wants to stay.

 

Q: So what do you think?

 

A: Well, what do you think? It’s a mess, isn’t it? Shambles.

 

Soon enough, however, all this unreality will be irrelevant. In five days’ time, the games will be upon us, the tumult will begin and a long, sapping spell of known unknowns put to one side.

 

Whether good or bad, Newcastle will be a team again. Since their 1-0 defeat at Villa Park on May 24, nothing has changed, but everything is different.

 

Robson the manager would have been getting twitchy now. See that grass, smell the liniment. Time to get on with it.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle6736658.ece

[The Fish 11063]

<H1 class=heading>Sir Bobby Robson's spirit fires Tyneside</H1><H2 class="sub-heading padding-top-5 padding-bottom-15"></H2> Events have been so baffling, and the mood so uncertain, so corrosive and so sour, that perspective has been difficult to embrace. For supporters of Newcastle United, it has been a tailspin sort of summer, crammed with disillusion and decline, but a reminder of something precious, something close to being lost, came with a juddering thump on Friday morning. In death, Sir Bobby Robson directed a football club back towards its heart. It felt necessary, vital. So much about Newcastle in recent months has been associated with bedlam and farce and humiliation, that fans could be forgiven for questioning the purpose, the fabric of their relationship. And then something happens to make it surge through your veins. At St James’ Park over the weekend, as tributes to Sir Bobby were left at the Leazes End, you could feel the pride, the atmosphere, the warmth.

 

What a club, what a city. If that strikes you as unashamedly sentimental, then so be it; it is. In circumstances such as that, gazing around an empty, evocative stadium and across a lush expanse of green, you can only scour memories and reflect on your first visit there, the ties of family and friendship and collective experience, the meaning of it, the point. It was Robson’s last, powerful gift to Newcastle.

 

A club is nothing without its soul and bonds are frayed on Gallowgate.

 

function slideshowPopUp(url){pictureGalleryPopupPic(url);return false;}A region that has reinvented itself after losing its heavy industry remains defined by its association with football, but the jumble of mismanagement, jarring decisions and vacuous ownership means that the sport’s most elastic loyalty is in danger of snapping. For some, perhaps, Sir Bobby’s passing will serve to emphasise all that has dissipated on Tyneside. Yet, for others, it will be a source of emotional renewal and if Saturday’s first match of the season away to West Bromwich Albion — one of the clubs Robson represented as a player — is transformed into an occasion of resonance then, you never know, it may help to propel the club on their perplexing voyage. Doubtful, but who knows; hope is not plentiful, but it is all there is. How else to explain the purchase of 25,000 season tickets?

 

Newcastle have been up for sale for £100 million since the confirmation of their relegation to the Coca-Cola Championship. They do not have a permanent manager, in spite of Mike Ashley stating that “bringing Alan Shearer back to Newcastle United was the best decision I have made”, and the assertion of Derek Llambias, the managing director, that “we want Alan to be manager 110 per cent”. They have zero per cent credibility.

 

Shearer, who led the team for their final eight fixtures in the Barclays Premier League, remains eager to resume his duties, but, having spent the past two months awaiting news, he is now on holiday in Portugal with his family. Barring rapid and dramatic developments, Chris Hughton will again be in the dugout at The Hawthorns and the pitch will be populated by a familiar group of underachievers.

 

Shearer intended to build a squad around the likes of Steve Harper, Steven Taylor, Sébastien Bassong and Nicky Butt, men of character and resilience. But no new players have been bought and only Obafemi Martins has been sold. The review of all playing matters at Newcastle, conducted by Paul Ferris last spring on Shearer’s behalf, has not been implemented. Limbo. On hold. A stopped clock.

 

And yet the cast list has still been exotic. We have read about Iranians and Malaysians, Americans and Irishmen, South African diamond billionaires and Geordie consortiums, including one featuring Freddy Shepherd, Newcastle’s former chairman. We have seen the club invite bids on their official website, heard from jubilant hoaxers in Sunderland. There has been the sound of helicopters thudding over the training ground.

 

All of it has fizzled out into nothingness. According to those close to the sale process, the Malaysians Llambias showed around St James’ Park, bumping into a group of visiting school-

 

children, never made contact with Seymour Pierce, the investment bank charged with selling Ashley’s stake. Others, such as the Singapore-based Profitable Group, did not prove they had the necessary funds to buy the club, but generated a lot of publicity

 

 

 

There is no mouthpiece or figurehead at Newcastle, so information is gleaned elsewhere. The understanding remains that Keith Harris, the executive chairman of Seymour Pierce, who has returned from a short break, is in painstaking negotiations with two or three serious groups, but the pace of talks is desperately slow. It is understandable, given the black hole at the centre of the club’s finances, the £67 million annual wage bill and the diminishing assets.

 

We know that one of the groups involves Shepherd and there is a belief that another emanates from the United States, but when it began due diligence, a confidentiality agreement was reached. The position could still change quickly, but the more time elapses, the more that optimism ebbs away. Rumour has filled the vacuum: that Newcastle will be placed into administration, that a £40 million overdraft is complicating matters, that Shearer will walk away, that Joe Kinnear will return.

 

All of it has been denied.

 

No one knows anything, from Shearer down. Here is an extract from a recent conversation with a Newcastle player:

 

function slideshowPopUp(url){pictureGalleryPopupPic(url);return false;}Question: What have you heard? Answer: Nothing.

 

Q: What have you been told?

 

A: Nothing.

 

Q: What’s the mood like?

 

A: It’s all right. It’s obvious which lads want to go and who wants to stay.

 

Q: So what do you think?

 

A: Well, what do you think? It’s a mess, isn’t it? Shambles.

 

Soon enough, however, all this unreality will be irrelevant. In five days’ time, the games will be upon us, the tumult will begin and a long, sapping spell of known unknowns put to one side.

 

Whether good or bad, Newcastle will be a team again. Since their 1-0 defeat at Villa Park on May 24, nothing has changed, but everything is different.

 

Robson the manager would have been getting twitchy now. See that grass, smell the liniment. Time to get on with it.

[Christmas Tree 4919]

Cheers fishy

[Craig 6700]

Cheers fishy

 

 

Last time I do anything for you...

[The Fish 11063]

you even removed the annoying code bits that I missed.

 

Maybe it's because I'm adorable?