Keegan's got £2m

[Giraffidae 0]

hopefully this will destroy Dennis Wise’s reputation (!!!!!) in the football world once and for all.

 

“Check him out on Youtube, he’s pukka” :icon_lol:

[NJS 4377]

I think the press will take the huff that they were misled by the club's lies - something anyone with half a brain realised anyway.

[Jimbo 175]

From the Mirror:

Kevin Keegan has done much good for Newcastle. But with this one act of folly he has shown that money is his god

 

By Brian McNally

 

Published 14:49 02/10/09

 

Kevin Keegan may have been declared the winner in his battle with former employers Newcastle United.

 

But in many respects he has come out of this grubby affair as a loser.

 

He claims that his case for constructive dismissal was brought to restore his reputation, but the staggering claim for £25million compensation has left even his most fervent admirers on Tyneside struggling to defend his actions.

 

There is absolutely no doubt that Keegan was treated despicably by owner Mike Ashley and his cohorts, but the outrageous extravagance of his claim has left him looking as much a user as the despised Ashley.

 

The Toon Army looked on Keegan as a man of the people- as one of them. They know differently now.

 

Their illusion has been shattered into a thousand pieces by a man whose greedy demands are proof that he cared more about cash than the club he publicly professed to love.

 

No one would deny him the right to clear his name or prove that he was the wronged party. But the sheer scale of his attempt to profit from his treatment is breathtakingly extravagant.

 

Down the years Keegan has done much good for the Magpies. But with this one act of folly he has shown that like many in football, money is his god.

 

The details of this sordid affair make sorry reading for the Geordie faithful who were already well aware of the squalid regime that Ashley and his right-hand man Derek Llambias operate and the lies that they have peddled.

 

But until today they believed that King Kev had their best interests at heart.

 

Now they have 25 million reasons to doubt him as the credibility of Newcastle United once again lies in tatters.

 

Are they having a laugh?!

 

McNally is another one 'bought' by Ashley then?

 

Can't wait to hear what Simon Bird has to say, or Henry Winter for that matter

 

 

Henry Winter via Twitter:

 

Good tribunal verdict on Keegan. He makes point (+ £2m) about manager's right to pick transfer targets and Toon are not too hit financially

 

 

Keegan's statement is magnificent! How can Dennis Wise work again in football? Keegan claims Toon bought Gonzalez as a favour to two agents!

 

Simon Bird via Twitter:

 

#keegan has won a devastating victory against ashley and cronies exposing #newcastleunited as liars

[ewerk 30550]

What I find a little odd is why the cockney mafia didn't just say to KK, we want to sign Gonzales in order to curry favour with some very useful South American agents. It'll cost us £1million quid and he's only around for a season. It could potentially be very beneficial for the club.

 

That actually seems like a reletively sensible thing to do.

 

More likely that Wise & Co. were forcing him on Keegan as Milner's replacement while Keegan was looking for someone who wasn't a crock of shit.

 

I reckon Keegan would have accepted him as an addition to the squad rather than instead of a quality player.

 

No. His own statement says:

 

I resigned because I was being asked to sanction the signing of a player in order to “do a favour” for two South American agents. No one at the Club had seen this player play and I was asked to sign him on the basis of some clips on You Tube. This is something that I was not prepared to be associated with in any way.

 

Aye, he was being given Nacho as a replacement for Milner and he clearly didn't want him, no doubt he had his own replacement in mind.

[donaldstott 0]

I think the press will take the huff that they were misled by the club's lies - something anyone with half a brain realised anyway.

 

I can't believe that the club openly invited that the findings were made public, it hardly puts them in a good light!

 

Having said that, I'm sure they are very happy about the £2million settlement!

[Tooj 17]

From the Mirror:

Kevin Keegan has done much good for Newcastle. But with this one act of folly he has shown that money is his god

 

By Brian McNally

 

Published 14:49 02/10/09

 

Kevin Keegan may have been declared the winner in his battle with former employers Newcastle United.

 

But in many respects he has come out of this grubby affair as a loser.

 

He claims that his case for constructive dismissal was brought to restore his reputation, but the staggering claim for £25million compensation has left even his most fervent admirers on Tyneside struggling to defend his actions.

 

There is absolutely no doubt that Keegan was treated despicably by owner Mike Ashley and his cohorts, but the outrageous extravagance of his claim has left him looking as much a user as the despised Ashley.

 

The Toon Army looked on Keegan as a man of the people- as one of them. They know differently now.

 

Their illusion has been shattered into a thousand pieces by a man whose greedy demands are proof that he cared more about cash than the club he publicly professed to love.

 

No one would deny him the right to clear his name or prove that he was the wronged party. But the sheer scale of his attempt to profit from his treatment is breathtakingly extravagant.

 

Down the years Keegan has done much good for the Magpies. But with this one act of folly he has shown that like many in football, money is his god.

 

The details of this sordid affair make sorry reading for the Geordie faithful who were already well aware of the squalid regime that Ashley and his right-hand man Derek Llambias operate and the lies that they have peddled.

 

But until today they believed that King Kev had their best interests at heart.

 

Now they have 25 million reasons to doubt him as the credibility of Newcastle United once again lies in tatters.

 

Are they having a laugh?!

 

McNally is another one 'bought' by Ashley then?

 

Can't wait to hear what Simon Bird has to say, or Henry Winter for that matter

Caulkin's piece will be the business.

[Barney 0]

I resigned because I was being asked to sanction the signing of a player in order to “do a favour” for two South American agents. No one at the Club had seen this player play and I was asked to sign him on the basis of some clips on You Tube. This is something that I was not prepared to be associated with in any way.

 

 

 

 

Wotcha Kev? Check out this Sarf Amerikin-tasty little playa.

 

lol

 

 

[Nyff 0]

5.2 The Club admitted to the Tribunal that it repeatedly and intentionally misled the press, public and the fans of Newcastle United.

 

Needs to be made into a banner that does.

[Craig 6682]

5.2 The Club admitted to the Tribunal that it repeatedly and intentionally misled the press, public and the fans of Newcastle United.

 

Needs to be made into a banner that does.

 

Indeed - far more appropriate than "Cockney Mafia Out"

[peasepud 59]

5.2 The Club admitted to the Tribunal that it repeatedly and intentionally misled the press, public and the fans of Newcastle United.

 

Needs to be made into a banner that does.

 

Indeed - far more appropriate than "Cockney Mafia Out"

 

How about we merge the two into "Lying, cheating Cockney mafia out"

 

[snakehips 0]

Could it possibly be that the Tribunal were playing safe with an award of (just) £2m ?? Any more and it could have snowballed on and on, with the Club challenging every decision. £2m is a good wedge, which surely Keegan will be happy with. And, most importantly for me (and most rational fans imo), the case has been proven in Keegan's favour. The judgement and award means, unless LardAsh decides to play silly buggers, that everything is sorted (bar the question of interest) and can be put to bed.

 

For me, the above is probably nearer the truth, which blows out the water the pathetic argument from some quarters of "Keegan didn't get what he wanted, nar, nar, blah, blah, blah".

 

 

 

You're once, twice, three times my Keegan. And I lo-ove you.

[Wally McFool 0]

Caulkin's piece will be the business.

 

and here it is.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle6858679.ece

[JUICE690 0]

Just saying if you want to know the full picture you need to read the actual findings.

 

 

That quote in particular can easily be take wildly out of context.

 

No, you're being a contrary prick is what you're doing.

 

 

I crave attention and a girl to kiss

 

PM From Phil:- You sad pathetic fuck-wit, get a life.

 

 

Bit of sand in the vag Phillip?

[Andrew 4747]

[Tom 14011]

Well in Kev!

 

Buy some multipack crisps with that!

[Sonatine 11361]

From the Guardian...

 

Kevin Keegan's case at Newcastle sheds light on the grubby deals we seldom see

 

Newcastle's signing of a player as a 'favour' to his agents is reflective of the grimmest whisperings about how football really works

 

Today's decision by the Premier League's arbitration panel that Kevin Keegan was constructively dismissed at St James' Park in September 2008, and should receive the maximum £2m compensation allowable under his contract, has shone a blinding light on the farcical insides of Mike Ashley's Newcastle United. The key finding of this published judgment, by a legal tribunal including two QCs, is astonishing.

 

Newcastle United, then a Premier League football club, signed a player on loan, the Uruguayan Ignacio González, whom not one person at the club had ever seen play, as a "favour" to two South American agents. "The loan deal cost the club nearly £1m in wages," the judgment records, "for a player who was not expected to play in the first team."

 

This is the sort of deal which is rumoured and whispered about in the grimmest conversations about how football really works, yet here it is, advocated by key Newcastle people, including Ashley himself, as a valid way to do business.

 

Some interpreted Keegan's exit as another walkout by a man with a tendency to flounce, but the judgment vindicates him as a man of pride and principle. As the manager he was not prepared to sanction that signing, which was being urged on him by Dennis Wise, the man Ashley appointed as executive director (football).

 

The judgment throws up a motley cast of characters arrayed against Keegan, a Newcastle legend as a player and manager, whom Ashley brought back in the hope of reproducing the renaissance of Keegan's first spell. Ashley bought Newcastle then appointed inexperienced people to key positions because, it is said, they were his friends and he trusted them.

 

Tony Jimenez appears in the judgment to remind us of his short-lived term as vice president (player recruitment). Jeff Vetere, formerly a scout for Real Madrid, Charlton and West Ham, had joined in January 2008 as Newcastle's technical co-ordinator.

 

The roles of these men combined with Wise, the judgment tells us, into a "structure" which Ashley's people carefully explained to Keegan would be "the continental model" for how to run a football club. The executive director (football) would be on the board and the manager would report to him.

 

Keegan's argument was that was all very well, but according to the terms on which he took the job, he had the final say on all signings. Then on 30 August 2008, two days before the transfer window closed: "Mr Wise telephoned Mr Keegan and told him that he had a great player for the club to sign, namely Ignacio González."

 

Keegan found that even Google had no information to impart on González, so Wise told him some footage could be found on YouTube. Keegan looked. "He found that the clips were of poor quality and provided no proper basis for signing a player to a Premier League club," the judgment states. "Moreover, no one at the club had ever seen [González] play."

 

After that, the judgment records: "Notwithstanding that [Keegan] made it clear not only to Mr Wise but also to Mr Jimenez and to Mr Ashley that he very strongly objected to the signing of Mr González, the club proceeded with the deal. The club did so, according to its witnesses who gave evidence, because it was in the club's commercial interests to do so. The 'commercial interests', according to the club, were that the signing of the player on loan would be a 'favour' to two influential South American agents who would look favourably on the club in the future."

 

Keegan suggested to the panel that the transfer was "improper and irregular", although the panel found that the club did not pay the agents, and it was not suggested it breached Premier League rules. Most importantly, however, it agreed that Keegan left because he believed, with justification, that his role as Newcastle's manager had been fundamentally undermined with the González deal.

 

Newcastle, in the detail, put forward an appalling argument. The panel decided that when they appointed Keegan as the manager they did guarantee him the final say on transfers. This conclusion is based partly on what the club itself said in public. The judgment quotes Wise twice, Ashley's first chairman Chris Mort, and Lee Charnley, the club secretary, making press or website statements to that effect.

 

Yet the club told the tribunal that these statements, that Keegan had the final say, were "simply untrue" and that those officers of the club made them as "nothing more than an exercise in public relations". The panel found that explanation "profoundly unsatisfactory".

 

Keegan had a contract worth £3m a year, rising to £3.2m then £3.4m for the following seasons. After Newcastle United signed a Uruguayan player whom nobody had seen play, to do a favour to two agents, he walked away. This legal judgment concludes that decision was fully justified, and poses howling questions of Ashley to which, characteristically today, his Newcastle United was making no comment at all.

 

Edited October 2, 2009 by Sonatine

[ohhh_yeah 2964]

I resigned because I was being asked to sanction the signing of a player in order to “do a favour” for two South American agents. No one at the Club had seen this player play and I was asked to sign him on the basis of some clips on You Tube.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.2 The Club admitted to the Tribunal that it repeatedly and intentionally misled the press, public and the fans of Newcastle United.

 

 

FUCK OFF ASHLEY!!! FUCK OFF!!!

[The Fish 10849]

A simple chant of "5 point 2" would suffice iyam

[Phil 6]

Just saying if you want to know the full picture you need to read the actual findings.

 

 

That quote in particular can easily be take wildly out of context.

 

No, you're being a contrary prick is what you're doing.

 

 

I crave attention and a girl to kiss

 

PM From Phil:- You sad pathetic fuck-wit, get a life.

 

 

Bit of sand in the vag Phillip?

 

 

Fuck off you prat!

 

You never add anything of worth to any debate.

[TheMoog 0]

Just saying if you want to know the full picture you need to read the actual findings.

 

 

That quote in particular can easily be take wildly out of context.

 

No, you're being a contrary prick is what you're doing.

 

 

I crave attention and a girl to kiss

 

PM From Phil:- You sad pathetic fuck-wit, get a life.

 

 

Bit of sand in the vag Phillip?

 

 

Fuck off you prat!

 

You never add anything of worth to any debate.

 

Ironic...

[Phil 6]

LOL @ Armchair Pundit!

 

 

I recieved a barrage of insults because I pointed out people needed to read the actual tribunal report and not just Keegans comments.

 

 

Irony is your signature. Update it you look stupid.

 

From the Keegan tribunal: QUOTE

5.2 The Club admitted to the Tribunal that it repeatedly and intentionally misled the press, public and the fans of Newcastle United.

 

 

In case you are actually 'that' stupid, that is a quote from Keegan about the report.

[acrossthepond 877]

[Jimbo 175]

Damning verdict on Mike Ashley era is there for all in black and white

 

 

George Caulkin

 

The full, extraordinary details were documented in black and white. Welcome to Mike Ashley’s Newcastle United: a club where senseless transfers can be conducted as a “favour” to South American agents; where directors tell a baffled manager to look up his new signing on YouTube; where officials consistently mislead supporters “as an exercise in public relations”.

 

The chaos that has blossomed since Ashley bought Newcastle in 2007 — a billionaire benefactor promising “a bit of fun” — was exposed in brutal fashion yesterday. Even the legalese of a Premier League arbitration panel’s report into Kevin Keegan’s departure could not cloak some devastating findings. Their assessment produced a verdict of constructive dismissal and a vindication of the former manager’s point of principle.

 

To see it in print felt like a return to the maelstrom of transfer deadline day last year. After confusion regarding the delineation of duties between Keegan and Dennis Wise, the club’s executive director (football), the catalyst was the mooted loan signing of Ignacio González, a Uruguayan midfield player, from Valencia. The three-man independent arbitration panel, chaired by Philip Havers QC, took up a scarcely credible story.

 

“Mr Keegan was unimpressed and told Mr Wise that he did not think the player was good enough,” the panel reported. “Mr Wise then told him that the player was on YouTube and that Mr Keegan could look him up there, but he [Keegan] found that the clips were of poor quality and provided no basis for signing a player to a Premier League club. Moreover, no one at the club had seen him [González] play.”

 

In spite of Keegan, the deal was completed. “The club did so, according to its witnesses who gave evidence before us, because it was in the club’s commercial interests to do so . . . that the signing of a player on loan would be a ‘favour’ to two influential South American agents who would look favourably on the club in the future. The loan deal cost the club nearly £1m in wages for a player who was not expected to play for the first team.”

 

Keegan was left with no alternative. “I do not believe that there is any manager in football who could have remained at the club in the light of their conduct,” he said. “This is something that I was not prepared to be associated with in any way. The club knew that I objected strongly to this transfer and were aware that by continuing with it I was likely to feel that I had no option but to resign.”

 

The last 12 months have not been kind to Keegan, whose reputation has been targeted by some toxic leaking while he waited for his case to be heard. Amid the club’s painful descent towards relegation, the arrivals and departures of Joe Kinnear and Alan Shearer, the ugly headlines and poor results, his motives for walking away have been questioned. He has been painted as embittered, compromised and a serial quitter.

 

Finally, he has been able to address the issue. “The decision to resign was one of the most difficult that I have ever had to take in my life,” he said. “I believe that anybody who knows me and my attachment to Newcastle United and the North East in general will understand how difficult this must have been . . . I felt that I had no option but to resign from the position as manager of the club that I love.”

 

That decision initiated a lengthy legal battle between Keegan and Newcastle, with the former arguing he was effectively dismissed and the latter responding that he had breached his contract. The key issue was whether Keegan knew when he returned to Tyneside for his second stint in the dugout that he would or would not be responsible for acquiring new players.

 

Wise and Chris Mort, who was Newcastle’s chairman when Keegan was hired in January 2008, had both said publicly — Wise through the club’s official website — that Keegan would be the final arbiter on transfers, but in front of the tribunal the club argued the opposite.

 

“The club’s explanation for these statements, which, on their case, were simply untrue, was that they were nothing more than an exercise in public relations carried out so as not to undermine Mr Keegan’s position and made necessary, in the first place, by statements made by Mr Keegan himself to the press,” the panel reported. “We found this explanation to be profoundly unsatisfactory . . . we do not understand why the club could not set out publicly and truthfully what they maintain was the true position.”

 

Or as Keegan put it: “The tribunal’s decision makes it clear that I did have the final say on transfers and the club’s allegation that I did not, which was publicised widely at the time of my resignation and subsequently, was simply untrue. The club admitted to the tribunal that it repeatedly and intentionally misled the press, public and the fans of Newcastle.”

 

Other inconsistencies were highlighted, from Kinnear being appointed under the same “continental” structure as Keegan, yet being wholly responsible for transfers, to the “lack of clarity” and “confusion” in the club’s evidence. A letter to Keegan from Derek Llambias, the managing director, dated September 4, 2008, promised that “no player will be bought for the first team without your approval, save of course for commercial deals”. Wise denied that Keegan ever had the final say.

 

Newcastle are top of the Coca-Cola Championship and face Bristol City at home today. In difficult circumstances, a pared-down squad has unearthed unity and spirit, but that heartening response to demotion is balanced by the continuing presence of Ashley and Llambias at the club. A takeover cannot come soon enough. Yesterday, the hierarchy issued a short statement. “The club will be making no comment on this matter,” it said. Nothing else would have been believable.

 

Can you believe it, there are still some of our 'fans' who are supporting Ashley?

 

This is such a damming indictment on the current incumbents at SJP that the only reason I can assume they even went to the tribunal was to reduce the amount they would have to pay to Keegan.

 

The devious and murky underhand dealings, the barefaced admittance of lying to the press / media and us their customers is shameful.

 

I am glad you have picked up on the difference in the roles of Keegan and Kinnear. That was the first thing that struck me too.

 

The sooner Ashley & Co get out of the club the better.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

From the Mirror:

Kevin Keegan has done much good for Newcastle. But with this one act of folly he has shown that money is his god

 

By Brian McNally

 

Published 14:49 02/10/09

 

Kevin Keegan may have been declared the winner in his battle with former employers Newcastle United.

 

But in many respects he has come out of this grubby affair as a loser.

 

He claims that his case for constructive dismissal was brought to restore his reputation, but the staggering claim for £25million compensation has left even his most fervent admirers on Tyneside struggling to defend his actions.

 

There is absolutely no doubt that Keegan was treated despicably by owner Mike Ashley and his cohorts, but the outrageous extravagance of his claim has left him looking as much a user as the despised Ashley.

 

The Toon Army looked on Keegan as a man of the people- as one of them. They know differently now.

 

Their illusion has been shattered into a thousand pieces by a man whose greedy demands are proof that he cared more about cash than the club he publicly professed to love.

 

No one would deny him the right to clear his name or prove that he was the wronged party. But the sheer scale of his attempt to profit from his treatment is breathtakingly extravagant.

 

Down the years Keegan has done much good for the Magpies. But with this one act of folly he has shown that like many in football, money is his god.

 

The details of this sordid affair make sorry reading for the Geordie faithful who were already well aware of the squalid regime that Ashley and his right-hand man Derek Llambias operate and the lies that they have peddled.

 

But until today they believed that King Kev had their best interests at heart.

 

Now they have 25 million reasons to doubt him as the credibility of Newcastle United once again lies in tatters.

 

Are they having a laugh?!

McNally is a sad little fat man with an axe to grind. Pretty sure he fell out with KK years back when he worked for the Sunday Sun. He's never got over it.

[Kryten 0]

From the Mirror:

Kevin Keegan has done much good for Newcastle. But with this one act of folly he has shown that money is his god

 

By Brian McNally

 

Published 14:49 02/10/09

 

Kevin Keegan may have been declared the winner in his battle with former employers Newcastle United.

 

But in many respects he has come out of this grubby affair as a loser.

 

He claims that his case for constructive dismissal was brought to restore his reputation, but the staggering claim for £25million compensation has left even his most fervent admirers on Tyneside struggling to defend his actions.

 

There is absolutely no doubt that Keegan was treated despicably by owner Mike Ashley and his cohorts, but the outrageous extravagance of his claim has left him looking as much a user as the despised Ashley.

 

The Toon Army looked on Keegan as a man of the people- as one of them. They know differently now.

 

Their illusion has been shattered into a thousand pieces by a man whose greedy demands are proof that he cared more about cash than the club he publicly professed to love.

 

No one would deny him the right to clear his name or prove that he was the wronged party. But the sheer scale of his attempt to profit from his treatment is breathtakingly extravagant.

 

Down the years Keegan has done much good for the Magpies. But with this one act of folly he has shown that like many in football, money is his god.

 

The details of this sordid affair make sorry reading for the Geordie faithful who were already well aware of the squalid regime that Ashley and his right-hand man Derek Llambias operate and the lies that they have peddled.

 

But until today they believed that King Kev had their best interests at heart.

 

Now they have 25 million reasons to doubt him as the credibility of Newcastle United once again lies in tatters.

 

Are they having a laugh?!

McNally is a sad little fat man with an axe to grind. Pretty sure he fell out with KK years back when he worked for the Sunday Sun. He's never got over it.

 

he scribbles for the mirror whilst Caulkin scribes for the times...............i know who i would choose to read whilst i'm curling one out in Starbugs bog