Het Newcastle United topic: De supporters komen in opstand!

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Keegan alsnog weg bij Magpies

Newcastle United mocht dinsdagavond dan wel naar buiten treden met een ontkenning van het ontslag van trainer Kevin Keegan; twee dagen later is het huwelijk tussen beide partijen alsnog beëindigd. Keegan geeft zelf tekst en uitleg via BBC Sport. “Ik heb ontzettend hard gewerkt om een andere weg in te slaan met het bestuur”, zegt de 57-jarige oefenmeester. “Helaas heeft het niet zo mogen zijn. Het is mijn mening dat een trainer het recht heeft om de club te managen en dat de club een trainer niet mag opzadelen met spelers die hij niet wil. Ik had geen andere keus dan te vertrekken.”

Newcastle United heeft het vertrek van zijn trainer nog niet bevestigd via de officiële kanalen. In Newcastle stond Keegan sinds januari aan het roer. Hij volgde toentertijd Sam Allardyce op, die de club niet naar grotere hoogten wist te brengen, en loodste de club naar de twaalfde plaats in de eindrangschikking.

De voormalig Engels bondscoach was begin jaren negentig ook al werkzaam op St. James’ Park. In zijn eerste seizoen flikte hij het al om de club van de First Division naar het hoogste Engelse niveau te loodsen, waarna hij er nog vier jaar de scepter zwaaide.

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Boze Newcastle-fans gaan protesteren
Mike Ashley kan zich opmaken voor een heet middagje op St. James' Park. De Newcastle United-eigenaar is zaterdagmiddag het lijdend voorwerp van protestacties van boze Newcastle United-fans.


The Toon Army is boos omdat Kevin Keegan, in Newcastle beter bekend als King Kev, en The Magpies afgelopen week besloten uit elkaar te gaan. Volgens de BBC staan er voor, tijdens en na de thuiswedstrijd tegen Hull City vijf demonstraties op het programma.

De politie van Northumbria heeft inmiddels besloten extra agenten in te zetten om alle protestacties in goede banen te leiden. "We zijn op de hoogte van de acties die staan te gebeuren. We zullen er voor zorgen dat deze rustig en veilig verlopen", aldus een woordvoerder van de politie.

Naast Ashley is ook technisch directeur Dennis Wise het mikpunt van de fans. Beide heren hebben het advies gekregen de wedstrijd aan zich voorbij te laten gaan om zo hun veiligheid niet in het gedrang te laten komen.

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'Keegan verzoent zich met Newcastle'
Kevin Keegan staat mogelijk voor een spectaculaire rentree bij Newcastle United. Volgens Sky Sports heeft de coach met voorzitter Mike Ashley gesproken over een terugkeer.

Beide heren zouden vanmiddag in Londen in gesprek zijn getreden. Keegan stapte afgelopen week op omdat hij boos was omdat hij zich niet serieus genomen voelde. Daarnaast zag hij sterspeler James Milner kort voor het sluiten van de transfermarkt vertrekken naar Aston Villa, terwijl er geen vervanger kwam.

Behalve Keegan worden ook Gus Poyet en Paul Ince met de vacante managerspost in verband gebracht.

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Op zaterdag 13 september 2008 11:51 schreef Fortitudo het volgende:

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deze actie komt jaren te laat, maar het is nog steeds terecht
[..]

als dit echt zo is

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Mike Ashley statement
Read Newcastle owner Mike Ashley's reasons for wanting to sell the club in this lengthy and emotional 1,644-word statement released on Sunday.

Ashley and his board have come under fire since manager Kevin Keegan resigned earlier this month and fans staged protests before, during and after Saturday's 2-1 defeat at home to Hull.


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I have enjoyed sport since I was a boy. I love football. I have followed England in every tournament since Mexico '86. I was there to see Maradona and his hand of God. I know what it means to love football and to love a club. I know how important it is to other people because football is so important to me.

My life has been tied up with sport. It was the passion that I felt for sport that helped me to be successful with my business. That success allowed me to mix my passion and my business.

I am not stupid and have listened to the fans. I have really loved taking my kids to the games, being next to them and all the fans. But I am now a dad who can't take his kids to a football game on a Saturday because I am advised that we would be assaulted.

Mike Ashley
I bought Newcastle United in May 2007. Newcastle attracted me because everyone in England knows that it has the best fans in football. When the fans are behind the club at St James' Park it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It is magic. Newcastle's best asset has been, is and always will be the fans.

But like any business with assets the club has debts. I paid £134 million out of my own pocket for the club. I then poured another £110 million into the club not to pay off the debt but just to reduce it. The club is still in debt. Even worse than that, the club still owes millions of pounds in transfer fees. I shall be paying out many more millions over the coming year to pay for players bought by the club before I arrived.

But there was a double whammy. Commercial deals such as sponsorships and advertising had been front loaded. The money had been paid upfront and spent. I was left with a club that owed millions and part of whose future had been mortgaged. Unless I had come into the club then it might not have survived. It could have shared the fate of other clubs who have borrowed too heavily against their future. Before I had spent a penny on wages or buying players Newcastle United had cost me more than a quarter of a billion pounds.

Don't get me wrong. I did not buy Newcastle to make money. I bought Newcastle because I love football. Newcastle does not generate the income of a Manchester United or a Real Madrid. I am Mike Ashley, not Mike Ashley a multi-billionaire with unlimited resources. Newcastle United and I can't do what other clubs can. We can't afford it.


Newcastle fans made their feelings known before the 2-1 defeat to Hull
I knew that the club would cost me money every year after I had bought it. I have backed the club with money. You can see that from the fact that Newcastle has the fifth highest wage bill in the Premier League. I was always prepared to bank roll Newcastle up to the tune of £20 million per year but no more. That was my bargain. I would make the club solvent. I would make it a going concern. I would pour up to £20 million a year into the club and not expect anything back. 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.

That will never happen to Newcastle when I am in charge. The truth is that Newcastle could not sustain buying the Shevchenko's, Robinho's or the Berbatov's. These are recognised European footballers. They have played in the European leagues and everyone knows about them. They can be brilliant signings. But everybody knows that they are brilliant and so they, and players like them, cost more than £30 million to buy before you even take into account agent commissions and the multi-million pound wage deals.

My plan and my strategy for Newcastle is different. It has to be. Arsenal is the shining example in England of a sustainable business model. It takes time. It can't be done overnight. Newcastle has therefore set up an extensive scouting system. We look for young players, for players in foreign leagues who everyone does not know about. We try and stay ahead of the competition. We search high and low looking for value, for potential that we can bring on and for players who will allow Newcastle to compete at the very highest level but who don't cost the earth.

606: DEBATE
If he'd have come out with something like this sooner it may never have come to what it has.

Mirandinha
I am prepared to back large signings for millions of pounds but for a player who is young and has their career in front of them and not for established players at the other end of their careers. There is no other workable way forward for Newcastle. It is in this regard that Dennis and his team have done a first class job in scouting for talent to secure the future of the club.

You only need to look at some of our signings to see that it is working, slowly working. Look at Jonas Guttierrez and Fabricio Collocini. These are world class players. The plan is showing dividends with the signing of exceptional young talent such as Sebastien Bassong, Danny Guthrie and Xisco.

My investment in the club has extended to time, effort and yet again, money being poured into the Academy. I want Newcastle to be able to create its own legends of the future to rival those of the past. This is a long term plan. A long term plan for the future of the club so that it can flourish.

One person alone can't manage a Premiership football club and scout the world looking for world class players and stars of the future. It needs a structure and it needs people who are dedicated to that task. It needs all members of the management team to share that vision for it to work.

Also one of the reasons that the club was so in debt when I took over was due to transfer dealings caused by managers moving in and out of the club. Every time there was a change in manager millions would be spent on new players and millions would be lost as players were sold. It can't keep on working like that. It is just madness.

I hope that all the fans get to read this statement so that they understand what I am about. I would not expect all of the fans to agree with me. But I have set out, clearly, my plan.

Mike Ashley
I have put Newcastle on a sound financial footing. It is reducing its debt. It is spending within itself. It is recruiting exciting new players and bringing in players for the future.

The fans want this process to happen more quickly and they want huge amounts spent in the transfer market so that the club can compete at the top table of European football now. I am not stupid and have listened to the fans. I have really loved taking my kids to the games, being next to them and all the fans. But I am now a dad who can't take his kids to a football game on a Saturday because I am advised that we would be assaulted. Therefore, I am no longer prepared to subsidise Newcastle United.

I am putting the club up for sale. I hope that the fans get what they want and that the next owner is someone who can lavish the amount of money on the club that the fans want.

This will not be a fire sale. Newcastle is now in a much stronger position than it was in 2007. It is planning for the future and it is sustainable.

I am still a fan of Newcastle United. We, my kids and I, have loved standing on the terraces with the fans, we have loved travelling with the away fans and we have met so many fans whose company we have enjoyed. We have absolutely loved it but it is not safe anymore for us as a family.

I am very conscious of the responsibility that I bear in owning Newcastle United. Tough decisions have to be made in business and I will not shy away from doing what I consider to be in the best interests of the club. This is not fantasy football.


Newcastle fans reacted angrily after Kevin Keegan left the club
I don't want anyone to read my words and think that any of this is an attack on Kevin Keegan. It is not. Kevin and I always got on. Everyone at the club, and I mean everyone, thinks that he has few equals in getting the best out of the players. He is a legend at the club and rightly so. Clearly there are disagreements between Kevin and the Board and we have both put that in the hands of our lawyers.

I hope that all the fans get to read this statement so that they understand what I am about. I would not expect all of the fans to agree with me. But I have set out, clearly, my plan. If I can't sell the club to someone who will give the fans what they want then I shall continue to ensure that Newcastle is run on a business and football model that is sustainable. I care too much about the club merely to abandon it.

I have the interests of Newcastle United at heart. I have listened to you. You want me out. That is what I am now trying to do but it won't happen overnight and it may not happen at all if a buyer does not come in.

You don't need to demonstrate against me again because I have got the message. Any further action will only have an adverse effect on the team. As fans of Newcastle United you need to spend your energy getting behind, not me, but the players who need your support.

I am determined that Newcastle United is not only here today, but that it is also there tomorrow for your children who stand beside you at St James' Park.

Mike Ashley.

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Smith uitgeschakeld met stressfractuur

Newcastle United hoeft dit kalenderjaar niet meer te rekenen op Alan Smith. De 27-jarige aanvaller heeft een stressfractuur opgelopen in zijn voet en moet zeker drie maanden revalideren.

Voor The Magpies is dit een nieuwe tegenslag. Newcastle zit sinds het opstappen van Kevin Keegan zonder manager en staat ook nog eens te koop. Smith (foto rechts) moet onder het mes en zal volgens Sky Sports dit jaar niet meer spelen.

De voormalig spits van Leeds United en Manchester United kon dit seizoen nog niet op een basisplaats rekenen en leek voor het sluiten van de transfermarkt zelfs te azen op een vertek.

Newcastle United gaat zaterdag met assistenttrainer Chris Hughton aan het roer op bezoek bij West Ham United. Op Upton Park zal manager Gianfranco Zola voor het eerst plaatsnemen in de dug-out van de thuisploeg.

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'380 miljoen voor Newcastle United'

Newcastle United - Volgens de BBC zou een Zuid-Afrikaans consortium dichtbij een overname van Newcastle United zijn. Jonathan Cleland, aanvoerder van het vijf man sterke groep, stelt dat de deal voor 80% rond is. Volgens Joe Kinnear, interim-manager bij Newcastle, zijn er inderdaad gesprekken gaande.

telegraaf

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Joe Kinnear: Which one is Simon Bird [Daily Mirror's north-east football writer]?

Simon Bird: Me.

JK: You're a c*nt.

SB: Thank you.

JK: Which one is Hickman [Niall, football writer for the Express]? You are out of order. Absolutely f*cking out of order. If you do it again, I am telling you you can f*ck off and go to another ground. I will not come and stand for that f*cking crap. No f*cking way, lies. F*ck, you're saying I turned up and they [Newcastle's players] f*cked off.

SB: No Joe, have you read it, it doesn't actually say that. Have you read it?

JK: I've f*cking read it, I've read it.

SB: It doesn't say that. Have you read it?

JK: You are trying to f*cking undermine my position already.

SB: Have you read it, it doesn't say that. I knew you knew they were having a day off.

JK: F*ck off. F*ck off. It's your last f*cking chance.

SB: You read the copy? It doesn't say that you didn't know.

JK: What about the headline, you think that's a good headline?

SB: I didn't write the headline, you read the copy.

JK: You are negative b*stards, the pair of you.

SB: So if I get a new job next week would I take the first day off? No I wouldn't. If I get a new job should I call my boss and tell him I am taking the first day off?

JK: It is none of your f*cking business. What the f*ck are you going to do? You ain't got the balls to be a f*cking manager. F*cking day off. Do I want your opinion. Do I have to listen to you?

SB: No, you can listen to who you want.

JK: I had a 24-hour meeting with the entire staff.

SB: Joe, you are only here six weeks, you could have done that on Sunday, or Saturday night.

JK: No, no, no. I didn't want to do it. I had some other things to do.

SB: What? More important things?

JK: What are you? My personal secretary? F*ck off.

SB: You could have done the meeting Saturday night or Sunday. You could have had them watching videos, you could have organised them.

JK: I was meeting the f*cking chairman the owner, everyone else. Talking about things.

SB: It is a valid point that was made in there. A valid point.

JK: I can't trust any of you.

Niall Hickman: Joe, no one could believe that on your first day at your new club, the first-team players were not in. No one could believe it in town. Your first day in the office.

JK: My first day was with the coaches. I made the decision that I wanted to get as much information out of them.

NH: But why Monday, no one could believe it?

JK: I'm not going to tell you anything. I don't understand where you are coming from. You are delighted that Newcastle are getting beat and are in the state they are? Delighted, are you?

NH: Certainly not. No one wants to see them get beaten, why would we?

JK: I have done it before. It is going to my f*cking lawyers. So are about three others. If they can find something in it that is a court case it is going to court. I am not f*cking about. I don't talk to f*cking anybody. It is raking up stories. You are f*cking so f*cking slimy you are raking up players that I got rid of. Players that I had fallen out with. You are not asking Robbie Earle, because he is sensible. You are not asking Warren Barton? No. Because he is f*cking sensible. Anyone who had played for me for 10 years at any level ... [but] you will find some c*nt that ...

Other journalist: How long is your contract for Joe?

JK: None of your business.

SB: Well it is actually, because we cover the club. The club say you are here to the end of October, then you say six to eight games which would take it to the end of November. We are trying to clarify these issues. We are getting no straight answers from anyone. How long are you here for. It is a dead simple question. And you don't know ...

JK: I was told the length of contract. Then I was told that possibly the club could be sold in that time. That is as far as I know. That's it finished. I don't know anything else. But I have been ridiculed. He's trying to f*cking hide, he's trying to do this or that.

There follows an exchange regarding the circumstances under which Kinnear had met the owner Mike Ashley and executive director (football) Dennis Wise.

Steve Brenner: (football writer for the Sun) We are all grown men and can come in here and sit around and talk about football, but coming in here and calling people c*nts?

JK: Why? Because I am annoyed. I am not accepting that. If it is libellous, it is going to where I want it to go.

Newcastle press officer: What has been said in here is off the record and doesn't go outside.

Journalist: Well, is that what Joe thinks?

JK: Write what you like. Makes no difference to me. Don't affect me I assure you. It'll be the last time I see you anyway. Won't affect me. See how we go at Everton and Chrissy [Chris Hughton, assistant manager] can do it, someone else can do it. Don't trust any of yous. I will pick two local papers and speak to them and the rest can f*ck off. I ain't coming up here to have the piss taken out of me. I have a million pages of crap that has been written about me. I'm ridiculed for no reason. I'm defenceless. I can't get a point in, I can't say nothing, I can't do nothing, but I ain't going to be negative. Then, half of you, most of you are trying to get into the players. I'm not going to tell you what the players think of you, so then you try and get into them in some way or another, so I've got a split camp or something like that, something like that. It's ongoing. It just doesn't stop.

Journalist: It's only been a week.

JK: Exactly. It feels more like a year.

Journalist: It's early days for you to be like this.

JK: No, I'm clearing the air. And this is the last time I'm going to speak to you. You want to know why, I'm telling you. This is the last time. You can do what you like.

Journalist: But this isn't going to do you or us any good.

JK: I'll speak to the supporters. I'm going to tell them what the story is. I'm going to tell them. I don't think they'll interpret it any different, I don't think they'll mix it up, I don't think they'll miss out things. I mean, one of them last week said to me ... I was talking about in that press conference where you were there, I said something like "Well, that's a load of bollocks ..."

Journalist: "Bollocks to that" is what you said.

JK: Bollocks to that. And what goes after that?

Journalist: That was it.

JK: No it wasn't, no it wasn't. What was after it? I don't know if it was your paper, but what went after it?

Journalist: I don't know.

JK: It even had the cheek to say "bollocks to Newcastle".

Journalist: I didn't write that.

JK: That was my first f*cking day. What does that tell you? What does that tell you?

Journalist: Where was that? Which paper said that?

JK: I've got it. I can't remember. It was one of the Sundays, not a Saturday. It was a Sunday.

Journalist: But you didn't say that to the Sundays, you said that to us. That was during the Monday press conference.

JK: I'll bring it in and show it to you. Why would I want to say that?

Journalist: Are you saying that someone has reported you saying "bollocks to Newcastle?"

JK: Yes. Lovely.

Journalist: I don't know who's reported that.

JK: I'll tell you what, I'll bring it in.

Journalist: That's obviously going to damage you. That's not a good thing. But I don't think someone's done that. We have to have some sort of relationship with you.

JK: So have I. But I haven't come in here for you lot to take the piss out of me. And if I'm not flavour of the month for you, it don't f*cking bother me. I've got a job to do. And I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. I'm not going to spend any more time listening to any crap or reading any crap. Stick to the truth and the facts. And don't twist anything.

Journalist: You know, you know the game ...

JK: Of course I know, but I don't have to like it.

Journalist: Today we'll print the absolute truth, that you think we're c*nts, we can all f*ck off and we're slimy. Is that fair enough?

JK: Do it. Fine. F*cking print it. Am I going to worry about it? Put in also that it'll be the last time I see you. Put that in as well. Good. Do it.

Much, much later after long discussions over whether Kinnear had promised Alan Shearer and Kevin Keegan would be returning to the club

Press officer: Let's get on to football. Let's have an agreement that everything said so far, if anyone has got their tapes on, it's wiped off and we're not discussing it.

Journalist: But that's what Joe has said he thinks of us.

Press officer: I'm saying don't push it. Let's accept what's been said and try and move on.

Journalist: Move on to not doing any more press conferences?

PO: No, to doing something now.

Journalist: What, one press conference only?

(Silence)

Journalist: Any knocks?

PO: Come on, let's go football.

Journalist: What are your plans for training in the next three days? How's the training going?

JK: It's going very well. No problems at all.

Journalist: Enjoyed getting back in the swing of things?

JK: Absolutely. I've loved every moment of it.

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Teleurgestelde Given vindt dat hij weg moet bij Newcastle

02/01/2009 09:38

Shay Given lijkt aan te sturen op een vertrek bij Newcastle United. De doelman liet dat donderdagavond via een verklaring van zijn zaakwaarnemer Michael Kennedy weten.

'Shay is erg teleurgesteld na de slechte prestatie van de ploeg tegen Liverpool van afgelopen weekeinde', verwees Kennedy naar de 5-1 nederlaag op Anfield. 'Het was hét dieptepunt in zijn voetballoopbaan en een prestatie die hij niet wenst te herhalen.'

'Na de club elf jaar loyaal te hebben gediend, voelt Shay zich verplicht zich te beraden op zijn positie gezien de interesse die in hem is getoond door Manchester City, Arsenal en Tottenham Hotspur', verklaarde Kennedy, die niet bevestigde of de clubs zich al officieel hadden gemeld bij Newcastle.

'Toen hij in 2006 zijn contract met vijf jaar verlengde deed hij dat met het vooruitzicht dat de club zou meestrijden om grote prijzen. Maar gezien de huidige prestaties, en de nabije toekomst met alle rumoer binnen en buiten de lijnen wijst alles op een strijd om te overleven.'

Given is al sinds het seizoen 1997/98 vaste waarde in het doel van Newcastle United. De 91-voudig Iers international kwam in de zomer van 1997 over van Blackburn Rovers.

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Shearer sets Magpies home target

Newcastle manager Alan Shearer believes his side need to win their last three home games to avoid relegation after their 1-0 defeat by Tottenham. Darren Bent's goal after 24 minutes was enough to leave the Magpies four points from safety, with five games remaining. They now face Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Fulham at St James' Park.

Shearer said: "We'll be expected to win those and we have to, starting with next Monday against Portsmouth. My attention's now on that must-win game."

The former Newcastle captain said his players lacked urgency and revealed he was concerned with the concentration of his team.

"I've said to them I'm very pleased with the second half but give me an explanation why there's no urgency like that from minute one," he stated. "We have our own ideas, our own theory as to why but we have to start games in the first minute like we finish them in the last 30 minutes. I've asked them for a reaction at half-time and they gave me it. Effort-wise I've got no complaints. You've seen the urgency, you've seen spark and belief that they can pass it around. I want to see that for 90 minutes. Then we'll have the chance of taking three points instead of one or none. I still believe we have got enough."

Substitute Obafemi Martins provided an attacking spark in the second half and went close with two gilt-edged chances, while also having an effort ruled out for handball and a penalty shout turned down by referee Mark Halsey following a challenge by Jonathan Woodgate. But it was Bent's first-half goal on the counter-attack after a Newcastle break that proved to be the match-winner.

Newcastle started the match with three centre-backs in defence, a strategy Shearer said was forced upon him - with the two strikers who came on after an hour not fit to start the match.

"We didn't have an option. We haven't got a fit left-back and our only option was to throw Martins and Mark Viduka on in the second half."

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Op zondag 6 januari 2008 16:41 schreef DANILXL het volgende:

Hou dit topic van de wederopstanding van NUFC in de gaten!!

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Op zondag 24 mei 2009 20:18 schreef borisz het volgende:
Tijd om eens flink schoon schip te maken en compleet vanaf 0 beginnen op te bouwen.

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Op zondag 24 mei 2009 21:17 schreef Ofyles2 het volgende:

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Joey Barton als eerste eruit zou ik zeggen.

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Op zondag 24 mei 2009 22:43 schreef mcyodogg het volgende:
Mike Ashley's investeringsdroom is weer een paar kilometer de afgrond in geduikeld