NEWCASTLE UNITED’s takeover by a consortium including the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, Middle East expert Amanda Staveley and the Reuben brothers may have collapsed, but the club remains up for sale and there is a chance the transaction could be rekindled. If that is the case, the controversy over Saudi Arabia, with its suspect […]
NEWCASTLE United are still waiting for their proposed takeover to go ahead, a transaction that will surely herald a new direction for one of the English game’s great underachievers. The sale to the Saudi Arabian Private Investment Fund looks set to go ahead – regardless of misgivings about the Middle Eastern state’s human rights record. […]
IT’S a sign of the times, has a hint of double standards about it, and confirms the shallow nature of football with its mislaid moral compass. There’s no shortage of superlatives to describe what Newcastle United could achieve under their new ownership, but equally, there’s no lack of scepticism about the nature of the regime […]
WHY would anyone invest in football? Historically, the game has failed to provide even a modest return and often, the club owner has merely been the scapegoat for disappointed fans. Although football has changed and, at the highest level, clubs are making profits, owners are rarely appreciated and certainly not liked. The number of clubs […]
NEWCASTLE UNITED’s fans are incredible. Just consider the club’s honours list: last trophy of any significance, 1969; most recent FA Cup triumph, 1955; last league title, 1927. They haven’t had much to cheer about, but they are intensely loyal, passionate and mostly, very well behaved considering that the river Tyne, in football terms, has been […]
NOBODY had really heard of Joseph Kevin Keegan before August 1971. He had previously tried his luck with Coventry City and Doncaster Rovers before signing for Scunthorpe United and had barely appeared on the radar screen of the big clubs. Apart from Liverpool, who had something of a track record in unearthing lower division gems. […]
NEWCASTLE UNITED fans like to think of their club as one of the truly big footballing institutions in the country, and in terms of the Magpies’ support, heritage and potential, they are not too far wrong. But the problem is that Newcastle’s glory days are now more than half a century away and the era […]
NEWCASTLE UNITED owner Mike Ashley has finally had enough, putting the club up for sale, which will please many of their supporters, but could perhaps be the catalyst for the Magpies to move into the “bulge bracket” of European football. If you made a list of under-achieving clubs in Britain 20 years ago, Chelsea, Manchester […]
YOU have to feel for Newcastle United’s fans. As loyal as a Labrador, but rarely do they get chucked a morsel from the table. They trotted up to Craven Cottage on the opening night of the 2016-17 season, forced into Friday night football by the broadcasting gods, and no doubt they were still arriving back […]
