Chris Hughton Faces Up to the Premiership Challenge

I’ve not even seen a glimmer of either Mike Ashley or Llambias this summer and I guess that’s a good thing. Past years have seen the national papers loaded with pictures of our infamous owner and chairman with unflattering headlines but not this summer. Thankfully, they’ve learned a few lessons of past and ducked behind the big chairs in the boardroom. Either that they are keeping out of the way of fans who still bear a grudge.

Minus Dennis Wise, Hughton has been rightfully given the reins for picking the new talent in the team. His astute guidance through dark times led us not only with a stronger and united team but a trophy winning one finished top of the Championship table. Well, we all know the situation regarding finances in Newcastle so it’s no surprise that transfer budgets are low. In fact, I was surprised there was a budget there at all but we busted Championship attendance records at St James’ so that would’ve meant something to the club coffers.

The existing squad looks good. We have several players who have rejuvenated during the Championship campaign. Our strikers look good with Ameobi, Carroll and Lovenkrands leading the pack. Coming back into the side is Xisco, whose signing controversially caused the rift between the board and Keegan back in 2008. Whether or not he’ll be able to prove his worth with Hughton will be under scrutiny from fans. Who knows? He could turn out good if given the chance.

In midfield, Kevin Nolan, the top player in the Championship looks like a good bet for putting a top class performance again this season. Defence wise; still a worry but we did have an unbeaten home record last season which sounds good but it seems when mistakes happen in defence they tend to be sloppy mistakes. Fat jokes aside, Campbell looks a good choice to tidy things up for our promotion season but Taylor needs to come back from his shoulder injury sooner rather than later.

Other names to look out is Danny Gosling who still carries an injury from his last few days at Everton. James Perch is a versatile player swapping roles in defence and midfield. Expect hard work from these two in the coming season.

Overall, I’m hoping the team would draw on the confidence gained from the Championship and move beyond. The Premiership is obviously a different set of circumstances – tougher opponents for one and it just so happens that Man Utd away is our opening game. As Barton says, players should thrive on those kinds of opportunities. He’s right and Newcastle don’t need to shy way from these matches. There’s no reason or need to slide back into self-pity this time. No fan is expecting a high finish, at least I’m not. In a way it’s another season to do well and build a team to keep us in the Premiership for many, many years to come.

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Using Barack  Obama inspired slogan ‘Yes We Can‘, the NUST has asked fans to delve deeply in their pockets and pensions to fund a move to take over the club. Bearing in mind that the asking price is £80m (or there abouts), it’s a big ask and we’ll need more than the support of Jimmy Nail or Sting to reach that figure. Here’s where I think Ant n’ Dec can lend us a few bob! I have a new programme idea which they can front just by seeing Ashley’s attics for the past couple of years – It’s called ‘I’m a Clueless Idiot…Get me Outta Here!’

Personally, I need to know a little more about the NUST since they were formed last year. I’ve attempted to open dialogue with the Trust before with an unenthusiastic response from them. Mainly I want to know about how they want to co-ordinate the online effort bringing all bloggers together around the Yes We Can campiagn. They have already got connections with the fanzines like  The Mag but I think they’ve been a bit quiet in getting blogs on board. I’m talking about clickable banners/icons to place on sites, articles for us to publish etc. Without some substantial online visibility, can this campaign stay the course until the summer of next year? I hope so.

For one moment, let’s say the NUST and us fans own NUFC. Who’s going to sit at the top? Where’s the main source of revenue going to come from? The fan base will have to keep the club’s engine ticking along. Do we have a rich enough fanbase in a climate of economic downturn! That’s a scary thought to me. Sometimes running a club from a fan’s point of view may not always deliver. Let’s face some facts – would we be in the same position in the Championship if Shearer was manager? Hypothetical question I know.

After losing several players over the summer, the club is still dealing with Premiership style wage bills to fund our promotion battle. What’s worrying is that Penfold-lookalike, Llambias is still unhappy with the wage bill which could hint at a further cull in January in favour of loan signings. Names touted is Jonas Gutierrez and possibly rumours that Alan Smith (who has been a shining example of a  player so far this season) who could head for the exit.

Llambias explained further of our plight:

Of relegation: “It’s been extremely painful – it was a shock, it was unthinkable,”

“We did have a business plan in place at the time that we just put into a cupboard, because we thought we never needed to use it.

“We’ve had to move on since then and it’s given us an opportunity to bring the wages down to an acceptable level in the Premier League, but not in the Championship.

“We’ve got the highest wage bill in the Championship and that will increase over a period of months to make sure we give Chris (Hughton, the manager) and the team 100% to get us to where we belong.”

He continues…

“We’ve dropped from £100m revenue to £50m. A good chunk of that is TV money from the Premier League – £40m. We get a parachute payment of £12.5m.

In the Championship itself you get £2.4m income. You get a drop in your season tickets, attendance and retail – it all drops.

“That shortfall needs to be made up. Mike is picking the shortfall now and it’s very, very difficult, but we’re getting through it.

“We purposefully kept a nucleus of the team we felt could take us up. It’s working and we’ll add to that.”

This is basically Llambias on the offensive. Us fans have given the board plenty of stick and deservedly. We understand that the Club needs money in this situation and so far, the squad is delivering results with what players we have. Maybe a little scrappy at times but we are sitting pretty on top of the table and a win against lowly Peterborough wouldn’t do us any harm. What we object to is the dumb decisions which the board subject us fans to. Naming sportsdirect.com@StJamesParkStadium sounds just wrong and really convoluted. No thanks Llambias, but fans would stick to St James’ Park.

In a statement, he said:-

“We are just looking to explore and maximise all our revenues.

“We’ve got a great opportunity at the moment because our sponsorships are coming to an end.

“So we have a kit sponsor, we have shirt sponsors and then we have stadium-right sponsors.

“So our intention is to put a package together that would include, for instance, stadium rights with a jumbo screen included in that sponsorship, which is great for the fans as well.

“Our intention is to have, for instance, sportsdirect.com@St James’ Park.

“We were never going to lose St James’ Park, it was always going to be @St James’ Park.

“The Gallowgate already has sportsdirect.com.

“We are going to follow that through and take it to the rest of the season as a showcase to whoever is out there who would like to buy the package.”

Well, that clears it up Derek, a few days after when everything kicked off! Pretty typical of the current board room. They claim that they understand the history of the club but the handling of this issue has been once again, shoddy and disrespectful to fans. It’s laughable!

 ”He’s keen to run a football club.

It didn’t work out when he tried to take over Sheffield Wednesday but feels he has something to offer Newcastle.

 He’s got serious backing and is in negotiations with Seymour Pierce.”

We shall see but his bid comes very late so that calls into question as to why now and not several weeks down the line? Very odd.Barry Moat on the other hand is probably having all sorts of problems with Barclays. Barclays are still looking to reduce a £39m overdraft and that would mean shrinking an already small side further. I’m not that optimistic about Moat’s chances as each day passes.UPDATE: It is worth noting that it is NOT Sheard who is buying the club but he’s acting on behalf of an unnamed American client. Hmm, mysterious.

The summer campaign has been over shadowed by the sheer and damn-right incompetence of Ashley and Llambias. Content with feeding false stories about non-existent bids and due diligence, they still have nothing to show. I’ve deliberately kept silent during these rumours as to be quite frank, I’m sick of hearing them and I’m sure other fans are. I’ll gladly leave the rumour stories of this and that consortia or that rich diamond geezer from Dubai to other blogs. I get the distinct feeling that these are all a ploy to drum up interest. Until I hear something solid written in the BBC perhaps, I’ll be happy to comment. Six weeks ago I was hoping that Ashley would try to get back on track with an apology and then some start of rebuilding a shattered club (ie. installing Shearer and getting players in and out). That would be the brave thing to do. Instead, we got the apology and immediately after the club was put on the sale in a rushed manner with a call to email offers! By now the general thinking is that everyone wants to see the back of Ashley as soon as possible. However, is this ever going to happen anytime soon?

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Harper has already voiced his concern saying:

“We want it to be resolved so we know where we are and where we’re going because at this moment the football club is dying a slow, painful death. For five or six years now it’s been a gradual slow implosion. The situation is very, very frustrating for all of us. To be fair to Chris Hughton, Colin Calderwood and the lads, we have made the best of what is a dreadful situation. But at the moment the club isn’t rebuilding – it’s in a state of limbo and that is no good for anyone.”

Nicky Butt said:

“The season is going to be a tough one. It’s a very difficult league we’re in now. Things won’t be as easy as maybe some people think they will be in the Championship.

“It’s going to be a massive challenge for us but hopefully it’s one that we’re going to be able to match.

“I think it’s well documented that the club needs a bit more strength-in-depth. But it’s frustrating because time is running out to bring in players.

“It’s ideal to get players in early doors so that you can bond with them, but it’s frustrating when you are still waiting and almost falling behind other teams.”

Others have voiced their opinions as well such as Taylor and Nolan. Some players have clearly had enough with Beye being the latest to say he wants out of the mad house. As for the fans, well, it says something when season ticket sales has been the worst for 20 years.

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Amidst the shocking news that Michael Owen had been snapped up by Man Utd last week (fans there expecting the worst). Is Fergie going a bit senile in his old age and not remembering the fact that Owen was mostly injured throughout his four years here? Who knows. Perhaps a little light will finally switch on in Owen’s brain and finally someone will get to see him actually score something. Transfer activity in Newcastle itself is shockingly static at the moment. The team is stuck in limbo whilst the incompetent ones decide what’s going on amoungst themsleves.

So far, the picture is still as unclear as ever, so fans have some more frustrating hours to endure with only lass than a month before the first ball is kicked in the Championship.

News from what we hear suggests that the books have been upon for potential buyers and Mike Ashley has reportedly been in optismistic mood. The various consortias are unfortunately not allowed to disclose anything about their intentions so all info coming out still remains highly speculative. This all leaves the fans and Manager-in-waiting, Alan Shearer in the same frustrating situation.

In the meantime, the transfers still go ahead with Bassong increasingly looking likely to move on. The funny (if I can call it that) thing is that when the pre-season friendlies kick off next month, we’ll probably still get to lumber out the team that lost to Aston Villa potentially.

Hopefully, it will be a short time longer before someone can definitely tell us what’s going on in regards to the sale.

Consortium’s will also be asked if they want Alan Shearer as manager of the club. This raises the possibility of that Llambias may knock out a deal with Big Al before any sale has been finalised!

Llambias said recently:

“There could be some movement regarding Alan Shearer before the end of this week or early next week.

We will not be making any decision on Alan as manager, that is not up to us, that is down to the groups buying the club. If they want to appoint him, then it’s up to them. “

Call me a little cynical but I know its season ticket renewal time and saying all this sounds great. The sale of Newcastle United wouldn’t be that quickly. I’m hoping by the end of this week we’ll have a clearer picture of what will happen regarding the takeover.