I honestly can’t speak highly enough of the man for his efforts on Tyneside. I was too young to remember him as a player for United, but his first stint as manager of NUFC was magical and whilst people will undoubtedly remember results like the 5-0 thumping of Manchester United the foundation for such results was put in place a few years previously when Keegan saved us from slipping into the third tier of English football for the first time in our history.
Sir John Hall has said that the club may well have folded had such a scenario occurred and the elation, joy and relief amongst the crowd when David Kelly scored that goal against Portsmouth to save us was up there with some of the best atmospheres I can remember.
Fast forward 12 months and a 7-1 thrashing of Leicester on the final day of the season put the icing on the cake of an incredible promotion season. Newcastle United were back in the big time, in a young Premier League, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Eventually Keegan left the club nearly five years after his appointment, and what a five years it was. Those memories were more than likely the catalyst to the excitement experienced when he returned to manage us for a second time in in 2008, 11 years after his departure first time round. However harmony didn’t last long and Keegan and Ashley soon fell out before going separate ways in very dubious and contentious circumstances which ended up with Keegan making a claim for constructive dismissal against the club, a claim he subsequently won.
Relations between Ashley and Keegan are obviously not great and Keegan has voiced those opinions on occasion. Not directly, but indirectly he has questioned the club which is of course his right to do, in much the same way we all have a right to question things.
And that is exactly what Keegan has done again. Speaking at a Soccerex event in Manchester, Keegan was asked about United and what the summer may hold. His reply has annoyed me a little:
“Some [players] will move on and I think that’s what Newcastle want. I think they are a selling club. They didn’t give Ba the sort of security in his deal,” said Keegan.
“I think they are going to move players on and if they can keep Graham Carr and he can keep finding them, I don’t think the Geordies care whose name is on the back as long as they come and play well and give their all.”
“I know Graham Carr very well and I employed him at Manchester City, He knows the French league and it is a good policy because they get very good quality players in who want to prove themselves in the Premier League.”
Praise on one hand, criticism on the other. It’s the label of us being a “selling club” that has annoyed me though. A lot of fans used to throw it around but when you look at the deals we’ve actually done there aren’t many that we either couldn’t do much about or haven’t benefited us in some way. Just look at some of the most recent ones…
Demba Ba: The one Keegan mentioned had a clause put into his contract due to his dodgy knee which has so far been fine. It wasn’t just with us where there was clause though as one was present at Hoffenheim which eventually allowed him to move to West Ham, where another clause saw him move to us. Anyone see a pattern here?
Andy Carroll: Yes the decision to sell so late in the window without a replacement was a bad one, but for £35 million could we really turn it down?
Jose Enrique: Had issues, was nearing his contract end and wouldn’t sign another. What do you do? Keep an uninterested player and let him go for nothing at the end of his deal or try and recoup some cash for him?
Kevin Nolan: The one that got away for me. He would still be good for us but he wouldn’t be guaranteed a starting spot and couldn’t get the kind of contract, cash or assurances he wanted whilst at Newcastle. Basically a move suited al parties.
Joey Barton: Had one good season for us out of four and was a liability in fairness. Released on a free, his Twitter shenanigans were funny but also disruptive and I’m glad he’s not our problem. His actions since leaving us have done nothing to change my mind on that one.
Leon Best, Peter Lovenkrands and Danny Guthrie: They would have been handy to keep around in all honesty but only because areas of our squad lack depth. Guthrie wouldn’t get anywhere near the first-team these days barring a central midfield injury crisis, same with Best and Lovenkrands who would just beef up our bench which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
My point being is that it’s easy to say we are a selling club, but it’s wide of the mark. We got good money (in my opinion) for all players who left for a fee and those who left for free were surplus to requirement in one way or another.
Whilst I’m aware that we’re always open for business, I’m also aware that we’ll only sell of the offer is right for the club. Keegan might be right and we might let some players go, but it’ll be for top whack which doesn’t make us a selling club although at least he does at least realise that the squad will be replenished.
I just think Keegan’s viewpoint is outdated on this subject. I love the bloke but realistically, barring a couple of clubs at the top of the footballing pyramid, ALL clubs are selling clubs in one way or another, and it doesn’t have to always be a bad thing.
I realise this is a divisive issue here and that I’ll be cutting close to the bone with some folk for disagreeing with Keegan and discussion might get a bit heated so please respect others opinions and keep abuse to a sane level whilst conversing with each other. Here goes…
What do you think of his statement?
Bloody hell Toonsy, you have gone and pulled the pin on this grenade mate 🙂 🙂 🙂
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Hopefully he will be right and we sell Simpson, Williamson, Perch, Ameobi, Bigirama, Anita, Santon, Gosling and Obertan, keep the rest.
Robert(Quote)
A bit of a sensitive reaction. We are a buying and selling club. We trade in players. Always have, always will. No different to Manchester Utd. That’s football. You could read it as if it’s pejorative, but I think I know what he means.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Agree with you completely. Enrique we arguably should have tied down sooner. Big fan of Nolan but as you say, he would have been faded out the firsr team and wouldnt have warranted the contract he wanted.
Spurs are our aim, its the only way we will make top 4, if we get top buck for our players and improve with the replacements then i’m more than happy.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
We’ve sold Ba and not shelled out any money to replace him even though we desperately needed to, and have gambled big time on Cisse staying fit and on form. It will take money to get in a quality striker of Ba’s calibre. To that extent KK is right. We’re different to Manchester Utd in that respect, as I couldn’t see them doing that. Of course, often, on you’re way up, you need to take a few gambles.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
People seem to think this is a negative thing.
We get good players cheap in their prime and sell them on a few years later for a huge profit. It goes in a constant cycle. How can anyone in their right mind see that as a negative thing? Though funny how the only big player we have sold is Ba for a nice profit. Even though we had no choice but to sell him.
“They didn’t give Ba the sort of security in his deal,” said Keegan. In other words we didn’t give in to his demand for a massive wage demands. Again a good thing.
I’m not sure if he is trying to have a go at the club or praising them for the way they operate.
Santii(Quote)
Santii – It’s a balancing act. The theory behind it is great but eventually we need to settle on a nucleus of players if the team is to grow together. I think we could be at that stage now but of course that will depend if we sell in the summer. If we constantly evolve the team then we just end up becoming less of a team if you know what I mean? I think it makes sense 😆
But yeah I’m not against the philosophy at all. I just think it needs to be used cautiously which, at the moment, seems to be the case.
toonsy(Quote)
We probably could have done better in our efforts to keep Ba and Enrique, but the rest ,,, meh.
Kevin Quitter(Quote)
KK’s words need to be taken with a grain of salt. He still has the dirts on with Mike & Dekka so he isn’t going to be too flattering with his statement. I think he needs to move on to be honest, he comes across as bitter even if he may well not be.
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
So many threads today I can’t keep up….
“Toonsy
toonsy
April 12, 2013 at 13:48
JJ – Ola John is Dutch isn’t he? Either that or Tim Krul went to the wrong country when he said he played with him in the international team 😆 ”
I only saw the colours I didn’t take notice of the direction the lines were going 😆 – Smartarse 😉
B&B
From the way I understood what Pardew said, Marvaeux is carrying a slight injury, or returning from injury. That was the reason he didn’t start yesterday.
JJ(Quote)
He’s not out of touch with us, just out of touch with football is run in general. Only City, Chelsea and QPR are different to the rest of us, some happen to have a bigger name and more ambitious owners (liverpool) and some assemble good teams and turn a profit (us, arsenal) most of the rest attempt to run at an even keel, and some because of shocking management and terrible players have to be spoonfed cash injections regularly (Villa, Sunderland)
He’s always been a little out of touch with the world, but we have history with managers with very similar traits…doesn’t change what he did for us, but now I don’t pay him too much attention, same goes for Shearer (except in a footballing sense, not management…)
Newkie(Quote)
Aussie – You’re pretty scathing today, cobber! I’m in good company with KK so it’s okay. 😛
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Ba was the only contract we messed up with IMO. Not saying we shouldn’t have sold, just that we should have made much more money off the back of him. I would have hoped Llambias would have seen the danger of the clause, maybe he did and he tried his best, who knows? Still, hopefully they will learn this lesson as we almost did the hard way..
Newkie(Quote)
GIVE OVER Robert @2!! Get rid of Anita, Bigi and Santon?? Aye, and sign Messi, Ronaldo and Bale I suspect!?
Eddie Yates(Quote)
Daft Hapeth!
Eddie Yates(Quote)
Mind you do have to credit the club, wasn’t long ago we had the wailings after players were sold. I myself was very disappointed with Barton/Best departures altho in hindsight, Barton deserved it.
I remember all those championing guthrie though saying we’d be fools to let him go…and look at him now.. Ready to lead the promotion charge from the bench.. 😉
Newkie(Quote)
i wouldnt say hes out of touch ,he just has an opinion and says it how he sees it ,ide say he still has as much love for newcastle as most Toon fans ,LONG LIVE KING KEV 🙂
batty(Quote)
Keegan hasn’t changed one dot. He’s always been ego driven and I’ve never forgiven him for that helicopter ride out of Toon. The entertainers were great times then he spat his dummy again on some dubious issue.
georgio(Quote)
Exactly Toonsy yeah that makes perfect sense.
I agree with Aussie. Keegan does always sound so bitter when he talks about the club. He always tries to get a wee dig in about the board as well
Santii(Quote)
Toonsy ,you are on form today mate with all these threads. I think KK is still a little narked with Jabba ,I kinda get that ,but he won and got his cash so needs to move on now . I see what he is saying but other than Carroll ,I wasn’t overly upset at any of the others leaving and even Carroll was too good to turn down .As for Ba ,well nowt could be done about it really ,one of lifes harsh lessons .It’s no good KK saying he didn’t get security as by that he means silly wages and we really cannot go down that route again . Maybe in time we will become a mega rich club who can chuck silly wages around if we get bought by some oligarch or Arab royalty ,until then we have to do a balancing act , sell ,invest progress as it were. I will always respect and love KK ,he so nearly did it for us but in this instance I feel he is wrong.
b&b @5 ,Yes I agree we still need a Ba replacement ,though I think they thought Goofy would help bridge that gap ,he is technically a striker after all. Don’t forget they brought in Debbie ,Sissoko ,goofy ,Mbiwa and Haidara for a combined value of around £16/17M in january ,so they did put their hands in their pockets albeit late in the day. The real test comes next summer for owner and manager, with our newbies and no Europa ,barring serious injury to key players there can be no hiding place.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Kim – I just hope I haven’t exhausted my writing juice when I try tomorrow 😆
toonsy(Quote)
I think Remy was supposed to be the Ba replacement and maybe we couldn’t get any good value for our other striker targets.
It seems the club know how badly we need another striker and will get one in nice and early in the summer (I hope). Remy maybe.
Santii(Quote)
We are a selling club. Demba Ba put a clause in for West Ham, Hoffeinheim and Newcastle. He did not put in a clause for Chelsea. There’s a clear difference.
Jose Enrique ran his contract down for Newcastle, he wouldn’t do the same for Liverpool. There’s a clear difference.
Kevin Nolan can make unrealistic wage demands for clubs like Bolton or Newcastle, but not if he was at Manchester United.
People who astutely point out that ALL clubs buy/sell are missing the point. Football is a pyramid hierarchy, and we’re pretty high up compared to most European clubs. Teams like Liverpool and Spurs are not far above us. Likewise Chelsea and Manchester United are not too far above them.
Clubs will always sell upwards, and in that sense we are a ‘selling club’ when it comes to big teams. Ie. we sell to them despite not wanting to sell.
That’s my take on it anyway.
Omario(Quote)
Toonsy have you been on speed or something i just seen the amount of articles you put out today 😀
Santii(Quote)
“I was too young to remember him as a player for United”…yeah right! 😆
I agree with B&B, we are a “buying and selling club” as is every club, it’s the way it works.
richietoon(Quote)
Any news on Steven Taylor? Will he be back for Sunday?
Santii(Quote)
Santi @26 I bloody hope so mate.
Toonsy@21 😆
Question ,Who is the most offside striker in PL this season?
KIMTOON(Quote)
Santii…He should be, he only popped out for the paper 😆
richietoon(Quote)
Kim…There’ll be hell on if it’s not Cisse 😉 I’ll say RVP, just a guess though.
richietoon(Quote)
Jelavic 42 o/s , Benteke 41 ,Rvp 33, Holt and Lukaku 30 ,Torres ,cisse ,Lambert 27 ,Suarez 26 and Kone24
Interestingly Lukaku was offside 30 times in 12 starts !
KIMTOON(Quote)
Kim – Benteke?
toonsy(Quote)
Kim – You need to delete that. Stats get in the way of slagging Cisse off so please get rid 😆
toonsy(Quote)
Anyway, off to work. A leisurely stroll up to Amsterdam in Friday evening rush hour. Delightful. Laters 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
Toonsy ,I was quite shocked at that too.
KIMTOON(Quote)
MICHELLE 12 hope your reading kims post at 30 ,admit your wrong and ile call begdaves wet kipper off
batty(Quote)
Toonsy you on the baccy run agen lol
batty(Quote)
Batty 🙂
KIMTOON(Quote)
The only thing I will say about Cisse’s offsides is that you can take them in relation to him being forced to play out on the wing, which accordingly people use to excuse him for not scoring. I just try to be fair in my judgements and judge a players performance by what I see. I said it would be good for Cis for Ba to be out and I didnt want a striker to replace him or challenge in Jan because I thought he would be better with faith than competition.
He is proving that as he is scoring goals-he is still not at his best, but when he is and is slotted ahead of our best line up and we learn how to use him to his best, we will be a great side.
Oh and I suppose I should congratulate Toonsy as well, about time you pulled your finger out! ( I would use a smilie here, but they dont work in work apparently..
Newkie(Quote)
In addition a lot of Cisse’s recent offsides are because Sissoko steamrolls forward with his head down and then, if he does pass, its too late. Still think he would fit us better at CM, esp when tiote is out injured or out of form. Allows us to get the real flair like benny or marv on and give cisse better supply.
Newkie(Quote)
As Batts said he is entitiled to his opinion, and when the club have said several times that they will sell for the right money , then that would give me the same impression.
Yeah KK does have a big problem with the board but then I would say after they tried to destroy him he has a right to be well fuked off with them .
Big Dave(Quote)
we will see alot more of cisse now benny is back 😉
batty(Quote)
agree with dave ,and i suppose people forget what ashley did to him ,sell millner yes but not replce him as promise discace ,i see sum say he is bitter well not as bitter as some on here hypocrits
batty(Quote)
Kim and Toonsy,
Its clear to me from watching him that Cisse doesn’t wander offside that much. Sometimes yes and occasionally it seems careless, but not excessively,
JJ’s analysis of the offside goals was correct. If Ameobi left one he wasn’t off and if the other one had been touched on he would have been onside for that too.
These are the margins he plays at because that is the type of chances he creates.
His scoring record is really rather good as is his shots to goals ratio.
The other criticism often made by the ill informed is that his general play is terrible, yet he was involved in some very good play the other night and has been in many of our recent matches.
He did a spectacularly good chest take down followed by a one touch through pass on the right wing the other night.
Some ‘fans’ have never forgiven poor old Papiss for Demba Ba being a bit of a mercenary and upsetting morale.
Some just appear to like trying to sound controversial for the sake of it.
Some just don’t appear to see the continous contradictions in what they are saying.
You are right though Toonsy. Trying to reason with the unenlightened lynch mob IS as productive and enjoyable as banging your head off a brick wall.
Pootle(Quote)
Yes he is out of touch. We are all stakeholders in Newcastle united, the owner, fans team and employees. We are not all equal however. Those with the highest vested interest should be the ones making the big decisions purely based on their stake in the club. We have seen in the past when Ashley listened too much to the fans and made decisions thath they wanted made how wrong things went. Relegation ring a bell.
Keegan was a man particularly driven by his own messianic delusions from his prior stint here. He really did think it was all him and not the fact that we had fantastic players in those days.
He wants to keep the status quo, afraid of change and being a buying and selling club it’s not a bad thing. This spending spree in football clubs is just like the banking crisis. One day it is all going to come crashing down and those that played it financially safe will be the ones left standing.
Keegan is not cut out for this era. He was perfect for the 90’s now the business side dominates and Keegan is no business man.
michael12(Quote)
fatty has **** all over 2 of the greatest legends the club has and will ever see ,but i do think it was more lambarse when it came to king kev
batty(Quote)
michelle Keegan was a man particularly driven by his own messianic delusions from his prior stint here. He really did think it was all him and not the fact that we had fantastic players in those day you meen the fantastic players keegan brought some on the cheap he had and has always had an eye for a decent player
batty(Quote)
Lets hoy the kitchen sink at Sunderland. It would be good for everyone’s morale if we battered them out of sight.
————————Krul———————-
Anita—–Williamson—–Yanga Mbiwa—Guttierez
————————————————
—————Sissoko—–Cabaye————–
————————————————–
Ben Arfa———-Marveaux———-Gouffran—
————————————————-
———————–Cisse———————
The thought of the attacking potential is actually making my tiddler twitch! 😳
Pootle(Quote)
michelle Keegan is not cut out for this era. He was perfect for the 90′s now the business side dominates and Keegan is no business man.you meen like rob lee cheap as chips and loads more ,even shearer as a world record repaid us in full and more
batty(Quote)
Oops. I put Anita in but I meant Simpson.
Pootle(Quote)
Don’t listen to him Batts. He’s trolling, trolling, trolling yeah.
Keegan had ‘fantastic’ players like Lee Clark, Robbie Elliott, Keith Gillespie, Paul Bracewell, Brian Kilcline, Scott Sellars, Steve Watson, Liam Brady.
I mean this is practically a World XI quality bunch of players here. Keegan didn’t have to do anything to get them playing as well as they did.
Pootle(Quote)
@Pootle
Looks a nice team apart from Williamson. Just tell them 3 attacking midfielders to do what they want, they would rip Sunderland a new one
Just once i would like to see an attacking mentality from start to finish. We need to stop worrying about what they are doing and let them worry about us for a change.
Santii(Quote)
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<, thinks keegan needs to stfu
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
TAE why ? Do you think he shouldn’t have and if asked express his opinion 😕
Big Dave(Quote)
<<<<<<<<<<< this dude here is starting to lose any respect i had left for the dude
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Santii @ 51
Yeah, obviously Taylor for Willo if he’s fit but otherwise that team.
And I also agree that I would like to see attacking team told to go out and absolutely destroy the mackems.
Pootle(Quote)
@ BIG DAVE
hes starting to sound like a bitter little toad to me find most of his comments unconstructive most of the time now
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
tae bet you king kev will lose loads of sleep over that @54 😆
batty(Quote)
and also he knows how to get a team playing ,even his 2nd time in charge we shot up the table after being in trouble 😉
batty(Quote)
@ BATTY
but we did not win it did we buddy
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
TAE but he is just as entitiled to express his views as you or me, actually probably even more so, and it’s not as if he has said owt bad
Big Dave(Quote)
tae ❓ did not win what ?
batty(Quote)
Pootle@47 😆 you can get cream for that mate.
KIMTOON(Quote)
There can be no dispute KK was a legend end of ,as a player and a manager. But he is wrong for saying we are only a selling club as many PL clubs sell to progress or sell because they can’t turn down a good offer,even Arsenal and Spurs for instance. I do think he’s still bitter which I understand as he was shafted but now he’s got his money and day in court he must move on. To be fair he never said owt all that bad anyway. 😉
KIMTOON(Quote)
only 1 of the players mr keegan thinks we going to sell, my moneys on only collo leaving, then most will see what **** mr keegan is chating
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Keegan is a polarizing figure for us. Always has been and always will be I think. As toonsy says though that first time round as manager was brilliant. His approach to the game was refreshing and he really did entertain. I can’t see why he wouldn’t be angry with Ashley and Derek, who wouldn’t be? He won the court case easily so enough said about that. We do sell as all teams do but our timing on bringing necessary players in has been poor. Last summer wasted meant this season was wasted. Surely nobody can argue that getting 35M for Carroll was a bad idea? Look at his injury and goal scoring record since. Ba was probably never going to be happy here, he wanted more money plain and simple. I would rather focus on the future. Next season will be decisive for Pardew. A bad start will finish him. We need a striker, another CB, and another decent winger. Get us back in the top 8 or you’re on your way out Pardew I’m afraid. Yesterday Cisse was offside at least 5 or 6 times. It’s just not going to work out often enough unless he can learn to watch the line. Ben Arfa’s impact was immense. We must keep him in the side. Marveaux was very noticeable when he came on as well.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
tae keegan did not win what 😕
batty(Quote)
@Pootle: 55: Could not agree more. sort of like Guardiola and Barcelona being tipped as one of the best managers. His successor a man not heard of before is doing equally as well if not better. Is he too one of the worlds best managers?
The biggest test is either if you can span generations and complete playing staff changes over a period. If a manager can replicate that success then credit if not then the likely hood is it is his team. Keegan had relative success with the teams he managed after Newcastle but nothing outside of the leagues of Big Sam Allardyce
michael12(Quote)
@ BATTY
did not win the league and blew a 12 point lead
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
tae because if your talking about the prem man u pick up the most points in there last 14 games than he has any other4 season 😉
batty(Quote)
I cant understand how he is wrong when the club themselves have said several times that if the money is right they’ll sell 😕 does that not prove he is right ? Because I believe the same will happen.
Now it would be different if they never came out and made that clear but they have 😯
Big Dave(Quote)
<<<<<<<<<<<<<, and this dude here still rembers the doughnut slumped over the barrier at liverpool,what message did that send to the players we lost the league in that moment in my opion
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
tae any other season we would of held on ,most points they ever won in the last 14 games ever 😉 how many point did man u blow with 8 games to go last season ❓
batty(Quote)
We must move some players on to improve but the players I’m thinking of won’t bring in a lot of money. For me Obertan has to go, and Willo as well. We spent the first half yesterday with Cabaye sitting deep to make sure Willo didn’t mess up. He isn’t good enough for a top 8 Prem team period. I would also move Gosling out, and Jonas although he has improved recently he is probably near the end (one more season possibly?). I think it’s also possible we’ll sell Santon if the price is good enough. Defensively he is often a liability and Haidara looks decent. There are several other fringe players and older players that will probably move on soon as well. I would like to see a very active summer for us as last summer should have been.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
<<<<<<<<<<, also still rembers mr keegan blowing a gasket with his fergie rant on sky sports news how embassing was that
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
TAE well IMO if it wasn’t for him we probably wouldn’t even have a club and certianly not a prem club so for that I think he is entitiled to his opinion even if it hurts, he has done more for us than anyone else.in the modern era
Big Dave(Quote)