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Mystery for Magpies (From The Northern Echo)
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Mystery for Magpies
9:06am Tuesday 5th August 2008
PRE-SEASON is supposed to be a time when plans come together, but as Newcastle United’s players and officials returned to English soil yesterday following an unsuccessful Majorca Cup campaign, uncertainty was once again the order of the day.
On the field, weekend defeats to both Hertha Berlin and Real Mallorca provided further evidence of the problems facing manager Kevin Keegan as he prepares for the opening game of the Premier League season in 12 days.
And away from the action, a further raft of takeover stories asked renewed questions of Mike Ashley’s long-term ambitions for the Magpies.
Summer is traditionally a time of speculation, but only at Newcastle does that stretch to who will actually be in charge of the club when the new season begins.
Sporting his seemingly ubiquitous replica shirt in Palma’s ONO Estadi, Ashley briefly broke his long-standing silence to claim he was “going to have a bit of fun”
during the coming campaign.
Whether that “fun” involves selling all or part of the club to new investors remains to be seen.
While Newcastle officials were quick to rubbish weekend reports linking Ashley with Reliance Communications, an Indian telecommunications company owned by Anil Ambani, the sixth-richest man in the world, and Profitable Group, a Singaporebased investment company that employs former Liverpool midfielder Steve McMahon, talks aimed at attracting potential investors are clearly ongoing.
Ashley has previously admitted that he would benefit from outside investment – “if we had some multi-billionaire that wanted a stake in the club, it would help” – and having spent more than £210m to buy Newcastle and clear the club’s debt, city sources claim the sportswear magnate is struggling to commit any more capital to the purchase of new players.
Securing additional investment is proving difficult, though, and after talks with an American company, Inter- Media Sport, collapsed last month, the latest names to have raised supporters’ hopes on Tyneside appear no more likely to make a formal offer for a proportion of the club.
An official statement from Reliance Communications said: “The news report is completely false and baseless.
There are no such plans.”
Representatives of Profitable Group refused to comment, but sources claim that if any interest exists, it is tentative at best.
That would mean Ashley starting the new campaign as Newcastle’s sole owner, but while the takeover speculation is hardly beneficial, an acceptance that there will be no new injection of funds is arguably just as worrying.
Only two new players have arrived at St James’ Park this summer, and while Argentina international Fabricio Coloccini is expected to become the third when he completes a £9m move to Tyneside this week, the lack of depth in the current squad is a major cause for concern.
Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Real Mallorca saw Newcastle field Alan Smith as a lone centreforward – the striker has still to score a senior goal more than a year after moving from Manchester United – and the Magpies’ bench comprised Fraser Forster, Frank Danquah, Ben Tozer, Mark Doninger, Ryan Donaldson and Jonny Godsmark.
The likes of Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Nicky Butt should all be available for the August 17 opener against Manchester United, but after missing a significant chunk of the pre-season schedule, it is questionable how fit they will be.
Neither Owen nor Martins are expected to play in tomorrow’s friendly with PSV Eindhoven, meaning Saturday’s game with Valencia will provide their only opportunity to warm up ahead of the daunting trip to Old Trafford.
“People will look at the situation and make their own minds up,” said Keegan. “But our job is to try to fulfil all the promise we’ve got in the squad.
“We don’t know and neither do the other teams what lies ahead for us in terms of injuries, suspensions and luck.
But I’m really looking forward to the start of the season.
“It’s a very tough league, the Premier League. But at this stage there’s no reason why we can’t have our dreams.
“We might do better than a lot of people think – we might not do as well as we think we can. That’s the fascination of a season. But with everyone fit, we have a very strong squad.”
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Your Say YourNorth-East
aTOONb, Newcastle says...
10:15am Tue 5 Aug 08
However, my main gripe with this and many other pieces written recently about NUFC is the supposed lack of depth in the current squad - have any of the tabloid hacks taken time to consider the actual squad we have prior to writing these comments?
Current squad possibilities:
GK
Given, Harper, Krul, Forster
LB (we are light in this area)
Enrique, N'Zogbia (cover), Duff (cover)
CB
Taylor, Faye, Cacapa, Edgar, Bassong, Coloccini (when he arrives)
RB
Beye, Bassong, Coloccini (when he arrives),Taylor, Geremi
LW or RW (all comfortable on both)
Duff, N'Zogbia, Milner, Guiterrez
CM
Butt, Geremi, Barton (when available) Guthrie, Milner (plays here for England U21), Smith
FW
Owen, Martins, Viduka, Smith, Ameobi, Carrol
Not to mention of additional players such as Lua Lua, Tozer, Kadar, Donninger etc.
So- we have good cover in all areas, what we actually lack is some outstanding players for certain areas, like Keegan has said all along; we could buy players for any position, but this is entirely pointless unless they are better who we already have.
Would the journalists have been happy if we had spent money on Sidwell, El Hadji Diouf, Cattermole, Chimbonda, Tianio, Malbranque and any one of hundreds of other players who would not have enhanced our squad?
If you have nothing positive to say, then stay quiet, PLEASE.
Terry Tibbs, Lagos says...
4:24pm Tue 5 Aug 08
Ok the squad isn't as big as we like but over at SAFC they shell out on second rate premiership reserves or players who've been available all summer yet no one seems to want to have a go at Keane, a man who wasted around £40m on rubbish last year. Your reporter talks of NUFC's lack of fire power but at least we have THREE strikers of proven quality to come in, SAFC have one at best (although based on goals not even one). Meanwhile down at the boro we have a club who've brought in two players no ones heard of & are going into the season without a number 1 shot stopper, yet again not a peep from said reporter.
The facts are all three NE clubs could do with quality palyers being added to the squad, some need more quality than others but the constint jibes aimed at NUFC are becoming a little tiered so why don't all you so called sports writers try getting some facts correct before printing a story & why don't you give all the NE clubs equal backing instead of waiting for them (or NUFC) to fail. & yes NUFC will finish above the others.... Again
obadavezmartins, leicester says...
5:23pm Tue 5 Aug 08
since King Kevs last stint in charge we now have a manager who doesnt buy for the sake of buying. He is buying quality. other managers in the past say they wernt but they always did in te end. Lokk at the players he has got...(guthrie) hes for the future,tho he will give something to the team this season with his passing and drive.(Bassong) also,tho he was the only bright spark from mallorca.(Guiterrez) he is a gem, and will have a gud season,owen and martins he be on the scoresheet alot more with him around and there is (collicini) u dont play for AC Milan,Deportivo,Athl
etico Madrid and Argentina without having something about you.Newcastle have done a great bit of buisness to get him and for all the toon army fans that havent seen him will be sining his name come the end of the season as him and talor could be the center back partnership for the next 7 years...so 4 good players in there own right.Terry Tibbs is right. we could have done a what big sam and glen did before and buy players for the sake of it but its about bettering the squad and these 4 players will.once collocini is in we need another creative midfielder and a big striker to complement oba and owen and we will have more than enough to challenge for europe,the fans need to get behind them through the good and bad as they have a huge effect on the players just look at the atmosphere at the arsenal and sunderland home games,the boys gave it everything.....come on the toon!!!!
steve gibson, riverside says...
10:14pm Tue 5 Aug 08
But I suppose I'm talking rubbish and SMITH will fire you into Europe!
yaigy, morecambe says...
1:22am Wed 6 Aug 08
aTOONb, Newcastle says...
9:41am Wed 6 Aug 08
So, what's your point?
Anyhoo, shouldn't you be more concerned about what's happening at your beloved M'bro than criticising NUFC and bigging up the dog lover?
obadavezmartins, leicester says...
3:44pm Wed 6 Aug 08
adbitter,connolly and miller. 5 players who newcastle would not even consider signing,compared to our squad players lua lua,cacapa,geremi,ca
rroll and smith.which has a mix of youth and experience and quality.all of these players would have a place in both sunderlands team and boros.....
Your sayYour North-East
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ourman, Newcastle says...
9:27am Tue 5 Aug 08
So despite denials from both parties, depsite not one quote from a named source in any newspaper and despite there not being a single shred of evidence for these "talks" you say they are "clearly ongoing".
How do you reckon that then?
Surely for this to be a genuine newspaper story then either Ashley or a represenative would have to be pictured with a potential investor. Or perhaps there could be paperwork that came to light.
But no. Nothing. Not one scrap of evidence and yet you still feel that it is reasonable journalistic practice to parrot national newspaper claims.