Official Premiership 2008/09 thread

[The Future]

Oh, fuck you Terry.

Now we'll have a second-choice central defence for the United game next weekend as well. Oh happiness and joy.

Yeah but United wont have Vidic either so I guess it's even.

[therockbox]

I love Sammy Lee.

[britneyspearsisgod]

Ashley puts Newcastle up for sale

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has said he is prepared to sell the club after weeks of turmoil at St James' Park.

Ashley has come under criticism for the way he has run the club, notably the way he allowed Kevin Keegan to leave.

Keegan left his position as manager on 4 September, claiming he had no control of transfer dealings at St James' Park.

"I am putting the club up for sale. I hope the next owner is someone who can lavish the amount of money on the club that the fans want," said Ashley.

Ashley missed Saturday's home defeat to Hull as Newcastle fans staged a number of protests in and outside the ground.

The protests criticised Ashley's ownership of the club and after just 15 months in control of Newcastle he has decided to sell his stake.

Ashley issued an emotional 1,644 word statement on Sunday in which he spoke of his pride at owning the club.

"I bought Newcastle United in May 2007," said the statement.

"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."

Since taking control of the club Ashley has made a point of standing with the fans, rather than sitting in the director's box.

He also always insisted that he would listen to the fans as part of his running of the club.

And it was this 'special' relationship with club that partly led him to pursue Keegan as a replacement for previous manager Sam Allardyce.

Ashley eventually got his man, with Keegan returning to the club in January 2008, but his second tenure as manager lasted just eight months.

Keegan left citing boardroom differences much to the annoyance of the 'Toon army.'

Most of that annoyance was directed at the club owner and his executive director (football) Dennis Wise resulting is Ashley special bond with the fans disintegrating.

"I am not stupid and have listened to the fans," the statement added.

"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."

Ashley bought Newcastle for £134.4m last year and has poured millions more into the club.

In the statement Ashley revealed just how much he has spent in his tenure at the club but insists he didn't buy Newcastle to make money and won't leave them in the lurch.

"I paid £134m out of my own pocket for the club," he said.

"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."

He added: "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.

"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."

CREDIT: BBC Sport

You got your wish Newcastle fans. Now... which country shall produce an obscure billionaire to buy the club? I'm going outside the box and saying Nigeria

[Crybaby Bunting]

This morning I was thinking to myself when they showed pictures of yesterdays protests that this would never lead to anything, just look at the Liverpool protests. For him to cave in so easily seems weird, some crazy Newcastle fans have got their wish but is this really the best thing? Sure a billionaire owner would look good on paper but lets just remember Thaskin Shiniwartwa who was rich when he went to Man City, had he not sold the club when he did it'd have had to resort to selling players to balance books and WOULD have done a Leeds.

This doesn't look like a smart move for anyone, on the plus side we could get a perfect chairman but the negatives far outweigh the positives. What if he messes up everything that Ashley has done for the club in the space of a few weeks?

[J.Vengeance]

The other question is who will want to own the club when the said person does one thing the fans don't agree with and they chant sack the board?

I don't blame Ashley for wanting to sell, protesting his ownership is one thing but hearing the fans chant "He's Bald, He's Crap, He's A Fat Fucking Twat" at the match yesterday makes me feel sick to be newcastle fan.

It's not the players, owners or managers, the biggest problem facing newcastle is the fans itself.

[Lineker]

Newcastle should do an Ebbesfleet and then get relegated in successive seasons. I think this would make everybody happy.

My money is on Moldova.

EDIT: The Mike Ashley statement in full.

Edited September 14, 2008 by Roman Pavlyuchenko

[-A-]

This morning I was thinking to myself when they showed pictures of yesterdays protests that this would never lead to anything, just look at the Liverpool protests. For him to cave in so easily seems weird, some crazy Newcastle fans have got their wish but is this really the best thing?

I'm sure this seems like it's hopping on today's pro-Ashley bandwagon, but he never seemed like he was just in it to make a name for himself or a quick buck. He's not a Newcastle fan, but he's a football fan and I think he actually wanted to own his own successful club, not promote himself for other business reasons or sell-up for a profit. He might not have invested as much as Abrahmovic, but he doesn't have as much as Abrahmovich and he's got Newcastle into a stable position with a stronger squad of players than when he came.

He put into place a system which many fans don't agree with, but only with the intention of earning success for Newcastle - he doesn't have another agenda. He wouldn't have hired Keegan if he wanted to make a quick buck. In fact, he wouldn't have bought Newcastle with very little idea of what the financial situation was if money was his only objective. These two actions, with perfectly reasonable objectives, didn't work out. Keegan couldn't accept players being brought into the club that weren't his signings - that much is pretty certain. A portion of Newcastle fans can't be bothered to see anything except Keegan vs. Wise and the fact that the success of the club is on the line is totally irrelevant. If Ashley was in it for the adulation, not the money, then he'd logically want to sell up. The 50k attendance on Saturday proves that Newcastle's bottom line won't be affected, but the protests proved that his ability to be an appreciated chairman would. Gillette and Hicks don't really give a shit because they're just in it for the cash and publicity, but I think that's not the case with Ashley.

[ONO]

The fact that he would even buy into a club with hundreds of million pounds of debt says it all.

[Pesci]

I can see why the fans were angry, but to say they've overreacted is the understatement of the Century. How do they expect this to help anything? Throwing their toys out of the pram whenever somebody who pours hundreds of millions into a club makes a decision they don't agree with isn't exactly gonna stand them in good stead.

[hugobomb]

BUT NEWCASTLE ARE A TOP FOUR TEAM!!!!!!

At least according to their fans anyway. Someone said it a while ago, a lot of Newcastle fans have such a big team mentality and refuse to accept the fact that they are a mid-table side these days. If they get over this, we may see a manager last more than a year in the job without being treated to abuse because he hasn't gotten them into the top four within six minutes of taking over.

[Farmer Reil]

In other news, John Terry is fucked. Turns out his straight red was for 'serious foul play', not a professional foul, so whether or not he was the last man becomes irrelevant. Whether or not it was 'serious foul play' and deserved a straight red is very debatable. However, straight reds can't be downgraded to yellows, they have to be either overturned or not. Terry'd have to prove that he didn't even warrant a yellow card.

Which, let's face it, isn't going to happen.

However, it must be noted that these are only the Premier League's rules. We all know John Terry isn't subject to them, so it's anyone's guess as to whether it'll be overturned or not I guess.

Edited September 15, 2008 by Farmer Reil

[Liam]

Sometimes, the way the FA works confuddles me......no matter how they contextualise his red card, it shouldn't have been one, so it shouldn't matter. It should be downgraded, and he shouldn't be suspended.

A lot of people are discussing 'serious foul play', with regards to the 'rugby-like tackle' Terry performed.....seriously, it was no different from a lot of the other cynical tackles that you see when someone has got the measure of the defender and got past them, Simunic's shoulder block on Walcott being a recent perfect example....which are generally an automatic yellow card.

Edited September 15, 2008 by rvdwannabe

[Baddar]

Yeah, fact is, you see what Terry did pretty much every week, in most games, in the Premier League. There's always cases where a player is held back to stop his run and the offender gets a yellow card.

Sucks to be Terry though. I doubt it'll be overturned due to his challenge being worthy of a yellow card. I suppose what this will do is prove that this stupid rule needs reviewing. At the moment, it gives referees the ability to send off any player when their challenge only warranted a booking.

[Gazz]

Craig Fagan is one hard bastard!

Turns out that tackle from Guthrie actually broke his leg. The fucker got up to his feet to try and knock Guthrie's block off! Now thats tough.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Newcastle isn't a sound financial investment at all.

I can't see big businessmen from abroad coming in because often they're interested in money and making a big name for themselves. With Newcastle they'd have to pour so much into the black hole underneath the club before they could lay ANY groundwork.

Sadly for Newcastle I think they're screwed for a long time.

I'm not sad about it

[Baddar]

Craig Fagan is one hard bastard!

Turns out that tackle from Guthrie actually broke his leg. The fucker got up to his feet to try and knock Guthrie's block off! Now thats tough.

Just saw the tackle on Youtube. What a dirty bastard.

[King Ellis]

Newcastle must be collecting these cunts, when are they signing Ben Thatcher?

[Pesci]

lol, Spurs.

[Turbo Yannis]

God, how shit have Tottenham been tonight? :/

[Cabral_]

Yeah, fact is, you see what Terry did pretty much every week, in most games, in the Premier League. There's always cases where a player is held back to stop his run and the offender gets a yellow card.

Sucks to be Terry though. I doubt it'll be overturned due to his challenge being worthy of a yellow card. I suppose what this will do is prove that this stupid rule needs reviewing. At the moment, it gives referees the ability to send off any player when their challenge only warranted a booking.

Maybe the FA have been clocking up all those John Terry handballs that the refs miss