So Alan Smith never got transferred from Newcastle United in the end a week last Monday then, despite that damning film evidence from Sky Sports News where we saw him on his mobile phone. You can only think that was he was actually ordering an early taxi for "The Messiah". Although with Kevin Keegan's managerial record in his second spell at St James' Park reading won six, drawn six and lost nine, I'm certainly not sure that his continued God-like worship on Tyneside is justified. It really has been nothing short of a farce down the A69 in recent weeks, with the latest news as I write this being that Toon owner Mike Ashley has issued a statement saying that he is prepared to sell the club just 16 months after his £134.4m takeover. Perhaps the most disappointing thing about it all as an outsider looking in are Ashley's comments that : "I am now a dad who can't take his kids to a football game because I am advised that we would be assaulted." Ashley also making comparisons to our opponents today with the words : "It has to be realised that if I put £100 million into the club year in year out then it would not be too long before I was cleaned out and a debt ridden Newcastle United would find itself in the position that faced Leeds United. That is the nightmare for every fan. To love a club that overextends itself, that tries to spend what it can't afford." Isn't that just the problem with the Premier League now though, a club that has average crowds of around the 50,000 mark, the third highest in the division, is unable to compete without a rich owner chucking in unsustainable amounts of cash. One thing this certainly tells you though is how good a manager Arsene Wenger is, when he is the only gaffer at the very top level to actually just about break even on his transfer dealings. Back to Newcastle, and it would seem it was the Arsenal model that Ashley was looking to follow, only for the get results this very second business to get ahead of him. That being the slightly contradictory message from Newcastle fans that Keegan can have all the time in the world, but Ashley has to spend huge amounts of money now in order to get the club up at the top end of the table. Mentioning Leeds once more and it seems to be the appointment of Dennis Wise as Executive Director (football) in January this year that has pushed Keegan and then the Toon Army over the edge. Wise being joined at the time on the board of Directors by Jeff Vetere who took up the role of Technical Co-ordinator and Tony Jimenez (Vice President (Player Recruitment). After Keegan's departure the Newcastle fans have been vocal in wanting to get rid of what they have been calling the "Cockney mafia". The London link, along with Wise, Vetere and Jimenez, being further strengthened by now departed chairman Chris Mort and new managing director Derek Llambias. Mort having been on secondment at Newcastle for almost 12 months from law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, while Llambias is known to Ashley through the exclusive Fifty London casino. Keegan, and understandably so, wanted to be in charge of the players he brought in, the friction between him, Wise and Ashley seemingly stemming completely from that. Then came the Joey Barton return at Arsenal which Ashley apparently disagreed with, and I have to side against Keegan on this one as well. Bringing him back into the side before the FA hearing was a PR disaster, only exacerbated by Barton's first challenge nearly snapping Samir Nasri in half. The departure of Keegan (again) leaves Newcastle looking for a new boss (again). The names of Paul Ince (how,why?) and Gus Poyet are seemingly being pushed to the front, although their connections with Wise are hardly going to help placate the Toon Army. It does make you wonder about the future of a new incumbent as well, if Ashley sells would a new owner try to get Keegan back (again, again) in order to get the fans on his side straight away? Funnily enough if I had to choose them a new manager then I would pick a man who has also just left his Premier League job because of players being transferred against his wishes. Step forward Alan Curbishley, who came close to being England boss just two and a half years ago, at least his appointment would ensure that all those "Cockney Mafia" placards don't go to waste. |