Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan was apparently behind the decision not to make any major signings in January, even though Mike Ashley had provided a war chest of transfer funds to Kevin.
Mike Ashley – war chest available to Kevin in January and this summer
The People reported yesterday that Mike Ashley was willing to give Kevin millions of pounds to bring in new players during the January transfer window, but Kevin didn’t find any suitable players to sign and decided to wait until the summer.
Kevin also thought the players he had were of good quality, if only he could get the best out of them. That money will be made available for strengthening in the summer. The People reports that Mike Ashley moved tens of millions from his own account into a transfer war chest for new manager Keegan in January.
If we can avoid relegation and even start winning games before the end of the season, the risky decision of changing managers in January will have paid off.
Kevin will know exactly which players he wants to let go and will get massive help from Dennis Wise and his staff, on who is available to bring in. Then next season can be a season of potential accomplishment, and not yet another rebuilding season.
We’re not sure of how much Mike is providing, but in a way that’s irrelevant because money will be made available for those players Kevin wants to buy. We’re absolutely sure Mike and Chris don’t want to go through another season like this one. We certainly don’t. 😀
Amounts of £50M are probably not unreasonable if Kevin wants 5 world class players brought to the club, and we think Mike and Chris will ensure the money is available.
The way the lads played on Saturday will ensure us safety, that’s for sure, and then Kevin can bring some big players into the club.
We’ll start all over again in August, but this time hopefully we’ll be a strong team playing good attacking football, and win more games than we lose.
Comments welcome.
47 comments so far
Mson
Mar 24, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Comment #1risky move not to take in 1-2 good players imo
Greek Toon
Mar 24, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Comment #2I read that Ashley has lost tens of millions betting on the performance of HBOS. We should not assume that a great lot of cash will be made available.
Greek Toon
Mar 24, 2008 at 10:21 AM
Comment #3By a lot of cash I mean relative to what other clubs will have to spend, which is what counts.
toonhitman
Mar 24, 2008 at 10:38 AM
Comment #4lets hope ashley comes good ,i hope keegan can attract top players to the toon
Cyprus Mag
Mar 24, 2008 at 10:46 AM
Comment #5I feel very positive about this report. My concerns, as I have said previously, are – can we attract top players? and what will be the reaction of our fans if KK is not able to attract enough stars?
Punk Skunk
Mar 24, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Comment #6What the hell is a ‘war chest’…That term gets on my tits!..
milnerfan
Mar 24, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Comment #7i think it was a good decision not to panic buy in january. We do have a okay 2 good squad. I dont think any better players would have been brought in during january. At least kk now knows what players to get rid and where to strengthen.
Zero Cool
Mar 24, 2008 at 11:32 AM
Comment #8Punk Skunk. A “war chest” was the amount of funds the leader of an army would have to go to war with in the older days. So basically he had that much funds to win the war with, feed his men, pay his men but new supplies and the lot. Thats where it comes from in football
Simon toon fan
Mar 24, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Comment #9The talk about all this money to spend and that its mike ashleys own money hes putting in is unrealistic at the beginning of the season we had comings and goings which in total we actually only spent 7.5 million. then the usual annual30 million from sky + the 30 million extra from the new sky deal at the beginning of the season. So what exactly has happened to the other 50 or so million unused which im sure is just sitting there or was it used to pay off the 40 million pound debts that mike ashley found in the books after he took the club over and has now cleared off. A clear out at the end of the season will be a major one i would like to see smith, cacapa, geremi, ameobi, duff, barton ,carr and even viduka shown the door unless he can stay fit, too many players under performing on mega bucks but that seeems to be the trend whoever we buy lately see newcastle coming and the high demands are always met. Who does everyone else thin we should get rid of??
scott9
Mar 24, 2008 at 11:37 AM
Comment #10i no we aint safe yet but if we did get 50m i would be realisticaly looking at
cueller
van buyten
riise
sidwell
mcgeady
arshevin
gomis
another player i think would be a good signing is jean makoun however i doubt we would be interested
dave
Mar 24, 2008 at 11:41 AM
Comment #11david bentley from blackburn rovers would be a magical start, this boy is going to be a world beater.
If manu or chelsea offer 15 million KK would be wise to outbid them because this lad has everything and is going to be on a par with christiano ronaldo.
Dragoner
Mar 24, 2008 at 11:41 AM
Comment #12Anderlecht – Biglia – 8 million
Sevilla – Adriano – 9.5 million
Tottenham – Taarabt – 6 million
Marseille – Cisse – 8 million
Schalke – Sanchez – 2.5 million
Between 30 and 35 million and we should be able to get all of these players
Leo
Mar 24, 2008 at 11:46 AM
Comment #13well if we had got diarra and arshavin during the winter then tht would have improved out squad but i hope there is a ‘war chest’ available
scott9
Mar 24, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Comment #14players would be looking at that we can realistickly get
van buyten
cueller
riise
shorey
cambell
kompany (possibly)
makoun (lille)
kader kieta
mcgeady
arshevin
danail carvalhio
pandev
gomis
ashton
cisse
farfan
edison mendez
park ji sung (possibly but unlikely)
if we could get5 of these players then that would be great but we definaltley need 2 centre backs 2 central midfileders and a big striker
Spyro
Mar 24, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Comment #15Bentley is class, but he is already older than ronaldo but nowhere near as good. Ronaldo is on another planet to Bentley
Spyro
Mar 24, 2008 at 11:54 AM
Comment #16Scott9 there are several players you named there that are incredibly unrealistic mate
scott9
Mar 24, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Comment #17maybe mcgeady and kompany apart from that what other players r realistic alot of the players have people like man utd interested in them but the thing is players hav big clubs interested in them but there is never a bid made and it is only slight interested there never put a firm offer ont the table
scott9
Mar 24, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Comment #18and maybe riise aswell
Spyro
Mar 24, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Comment #19also, kader keita only signed for Lyon recently for like 13million or something so i very much doubt he will come.
cAM_TOON
Mar 24, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Comment #20Greek Toon… The sum reported is nothing compared to the 1,9 billion + he is worth.
We really need to start to ignore all of the london press. As soon as the Toon get a result (brum) the negative rumors start…. for example. Martins wants away due to lack of first team action. this hit the monday after the brum game. Its all crap.
Yes he may well have took a hit. but I would imagine, like my GF who works for HBOS the loss made on her share options will NOT effect the amount of shoes she will buy in this coming year.
You dont make enough cash to choke a Tory MP by betting it ALL on the market. lol
Spyro
Mar 24, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Comment #21Scott9 why would you want Ashton? He is inconsistent and mostly lazy. I hate it when people say “he is the new shearer”, shearer was twice the player he is, even after he lost his pace
Tom_Toon
Mar 24, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Comment #22Biglia & Barzagli 😉
Spyro
Mar 24, 2008 at 12:40 PM
Comment #23VIVA BIGLIA! lol. To tell the truth i know full well that Biglia would cost us quite a bit more than 8 million, but i am just hoping. lol
Matthew Tom
Mar 24, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Comment #24Shearer was completely “unrealistic” when we got him. So was Michael Owen. So was Jonathan Woodgate. So was Damien Duff to an extent.
As soon as anyone mentions a top class player as a potential target or even a “wish”, about ten people seem to jump in saying “yeah right we’ll never get him” or “why would he want to come”.
Whatever happened to keeping the faith?
scott9
Mar 24, 2008 at 1:10 PM
Comment #25i agree spyro shearer is 10 times the player ashton is but i still think ashton would be a good partener for owen and i think keegan would make him into a good player and i didnt realise kader keita had signed or lyon but still surely he would rather play in the premiership anyway its unlikely we will be in for him.
sirjasontoon
Mar 24, 2008 at 1:14 PM
Comment #26I am sure the so called “war chest”is another media speculation that will not materialise..I bet it will be a case of sell then spend and with so many donkeys to dispose of we will make peanuts.
My gut feeling is we will not attract many top players in the next window and we are no where near being a threat to many teams in the premiership the reason being the other clubs like villa,pompey,tottenham etc have all caught up in the spending stakes over the last few years. It is obvious to me that Ashley is very tight with his money and has lost alot of money in england shirt sales and the recent bank saga so the last thing a shrewd business man will be doing is spending millions in this window when he couldn’t even stump up 2m for giles barnes in the last one.
doc
Mar 24, 2008 at 1:22 PM
Comment #27Altough I am not a fan of some of our Stars ! I doubt there will be a mass clear out, to start with we have a small squad, if we got rid of say 5 players it would mean bringing in 10 new faces, I just dont see that happening ?
Greek Toon
Mar 24, 2008 at 1:38 PM
Comment #28Do not confuse what he is NOTIONALLY worth with what he has actually available or is willing to part with. 2 different things my friend.
Paul g
Mar 24, 2008 at 1:46 PM
Comment #29Mike ashley bought the toon for fun not profit
Ashton
Mar 24, 2008 at 2:23 PM
Comment #30I can’t believe it some people suggest Biglia i mean anyone saw him against Bayern munich ? he was crap i know he is good on youtube even bramble well look good on youtube ffs !!
Biglia is not good enough for PL
and kompany is not playing as a CB for hamburg he plays as a DM and he is crap
Bolloks
Tom_Toon
Mar 24, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Comment #31Ino Kompany play dm atm when he isnt injured, but he is a class cb.
And thats one game of Biglia and the whole team were pants. He played very well against Spurs which suggests to me that he may suit the prem.
Michael
Mar 24, 2008 at 3:08 PM
Comment #32@Matthew Tom: I agree with you on that. If the price is right we can entice just about anyone. We have heared that this is the era of big Money in the premier league and the reason that the premier league is the destination for many of the worlds great players.
In the 90’s the worlds top player eschewed the premier league for te more lucrative spanish, italian and dutch leagues. Now the premier league is the place to be. Newcastle are one of the few clubs in the league that can match the wages paid by clubs like Man United and Chelsea. Arsenal cannot even match the wages Newcastle pay or rather choose not to; Who would have thought David Beckham would risk his England Future and leave Madrid for LA Galaxy? If the price is right anyone is interested.
Even Club loyalties are something on which you cannot rely.
If it were up to me I would Buy the followong stars:
-Roque Santa Cruz
-Tim Cahill/ or Nolan
-Riise
-Gary Neville
-Wes Brown
lee
Mar 24, 2008 at 3:19 PM
Comment #33ranato august0
van der vaart-nasri-montolivo which ever floats your boat
campbell
chimbonda
riise
gomis-fabiano
lee
Mar 24, 2008 at 3:24 PM
Comment #34forget brown and neville…. world class players cost 20mil+ each so we might get 2 & halve.. what we need is a few more 100% comited players with skill(not the smith and barton types) i can run all day and make the odd good pass…. players that can do there jobs in the right possitions
Jameso
Mar 24, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Comment #35Dean Ashton, Daniel Carvalho ,Diego,Cabral, Bridge,
Tom_Toon
Mar 24, 2008 at 3:37 PM
Comment #36Id love Montolivo but no chance.
Hadrian
Mar 24, 2008 at 4:21 PM
Comment #37greek toon , please dont come on here and spout the news of the world to us !!!
ashleys cash is still in those spreadbets (if reports are true) , he’s not lost or gained any money untill the day he settles .
you also dont think a billionare is stupid enough to risk having to sell his other investments to cover a spreadbet?
i reckons theres at least 50 mill there for the summer + sale of players .
Punk Skunk
Mar 24, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Comment #38Hey Zero cool, yea, it was a rhetorical question mate, i know what a war chest is!..It’s just some terms used make me laugh i.e. roundin’ the keeper, the face of the goal, early doors, etc…You know the sort of thing?..
…But back to the subject, i’m sure my cashly will let KK spend come summer!..
shearer 4 pm
Mar 24, 2008 at 5:58 PM
Comment #39get onyewu back he shored up the defense hahaha
out; carr,ramage,rozenal,barton,smith,ameobi,emre
14m
in; taiwo, dunne, bullard, crouch, d’alessandro, gudjohnson, meriem
20-25m
my personal choices
mix of english players, players with prem exerience and players i think would thrive in the premiership,
and i agree war chest is a shocking phrase,
transfer fund would be fine thanks lads yeh? hahah
Ashton
Mar 24, 2008 at 6:03 PM
Comment #40De la red will be a good sign imo