May 2007 Archives

So the club Freddie Shepherd insisted was impossible to buy last week is, well, not impossible after all!

United's chairman apparently feels has been stabbed in the back as he was completely unaware of the Hall Family's intentions to sell to their shares to Mike Ashley. When you think Freddie found out the news he had become the target for a hostile takeover from his hospital bed after a bout of pneumonia and a collapsed lung, that's gotta hurt.

Mind you if Freddie is reluctant to relinquish control of Newcastle United, he can at least comfort himself with the fact that, if and when he does sell his 29% stake, he will have become a multi-millionaire overnight. Not quite selling the family jewels, but almost as lucrative.

A new manager was enough to suggest an exciting new dawn at Newcastle United, but a new chairman as well, that really is something to get excited about isn't it?

Did anyone see Sven-Goran Eriksson on the BBC's new "hard-hitting" sports show Inside Sport this week? Wasn't it great to see the balding one again, all those memories of quarter-final penalty shoot-out defeats, it almost brought a tear to my eye!

He had a snazzy pair of blue-rimmed specs on and he ummed and ahhed a lot and said absolutely nothing as usual. My personal highlight was Gabby Logan’s attempt to prise some secret information out of him about whether he has a job lined up for next season

She asked him the same question - who are you going to manage next - in different guises five times - and got the same answer - I’m not telling you - in five different ways. Great stuff. It was kinda painful to watch, but fun nonetheless.

With only the FA Cup and Champions League finals to come before the season officially ends, the North-East transfer merry go-round is already threatening to spin out of control and take some innocent bystanders with it.

That reminds me, when does the Hopping’s Fair hit Newcastle Town Moor? I always enjoy the fairground experience, being ripped off by stall owners when trying to throw a soft ball at a pile of blue-tacked-down tins before throwing up candy floss-tinged sick after a ride on the Waltzer!

All the fun of the fair indeed, but the merry-go-round I’m talking about, obviously, involves football transfers. Although it has to be said, you are always in danger of being ripped off and some pieces of business - such as Michael Owen’s departure or Manchester United’s refusal to let Johnny Evans play for Sunderland next season - can make you feel a little nauseous!

So "Sam the Man" is finally here and he is excited about the prospect of unlocking Newcastle's potential to compete with the best in the Premiership.

He’s not the only one, of course, because similar words and phrases have tumbled out of the mouths of everyone who has sat in the manager’s chair for the first time since Joe Harvey guided the club to that Fairs Cup success everyone keeps harking on about in 1969.

We know Newcastle have the potential to compete with the biggest clubs in the country, the problem is, with the odd exception of the Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson years, they have failed miserably to do that.

The thing that amazes me most about the Michael Owen saga - even more than the fact Newcastle would actually agree to a sale clause almost half the size of the fee they paid for him two years earlier - is how much the rest of the country wants the England striker to dump on the Magpies.

It's incredible and has revealed the sort of bitterness and jealousy normally reserved for teams who actually win things, not one which constantly under-achievers and has a nasty knack of pressing the self destruct button.

My word, Big Sam hasn't even signed a contract at Newcastle and, as far as we know, he hasn't even agreed to come to St James's Park yet, but already the big lad is facing a few problems.

To coin a phrase used by others in the media, it is the "worst kept secret in football" that Allardyce is going to succeed Glenn Roeder as United manager.

But even before he has got his feet under the table, before he has unwrapped his new blue tooth headset and before he has given the usual new manager's press conference about unlocking the potential at one of the biggest clubs in the country, Allardyce has some transfer speculation to deal with.

Bank Holiday weekends are always profitable for taxi drivers, so many revelers, so many places to go - but there were so many being called for at St James's Park on Saturday night they must have struggled to cope with the demand.

In fact, while taxis were being enthusiastically called for by fans for Freddie Shepherd, Glenn Roeder, Kieron Dyer, Titus Bramble and various others members of the Newcastle first team, I'm not sure how many turned up to get in them.

Mind you, it did not take long until Roeder was hopping into his and, as far as I'm concerned, it was the right decision at the right time. His managerial record always suggested he wasn't up to the job and so it proved.

It can't be easy for Glenn Roeder at the moment. His team are playing like they want him to lose his job and Sam Allardyce is linked with his position in a different newspaper, radio and television show every day.

As for Sven-Goran Eriksson, well he’s bored apparently and would consider a top job in the Premiership, so you have to assume he’d want to sit in the St James’s Park hotseat if Roeder does get the chop from Freddie Shepherd.

It is a messy and confusing business, although it is clear Roeder is not sitting securely at the moment. When Newcastle were knocked out of the Uefa Cup back in March, Shepherd was quick to insist his manager was safe, but is that still the case?

First the good news. Michael Owen is back and he looked fit and well at Reading, if not entirely match sharp after almost a year on the sidelines.

But that, I'm afraid is where the good news ends. Newcastle were, as has become the norm away from home this season, limp, lethargic and lightweight.

It begs the question, having waited for 15 months to start a game in a black and white shirt, what must Owen think now he's back? What have I done perhaps!