A Wise man?

Shudder....

Any change to a senior management team is usually either as a result of an internal promotion or to bring in someone with experience from the outside. The perceived wisdom of most businesses is that a strong management team is needed in order to steer the direction and to set the strategy. If this is the case, then where on earth does Denis Wise fit into this model at Newcastle United? Supposedly Executive Director (football) in charge of youth development and transfers... I wouldn't trust him with the drinks kitty on a girls night out, never mind the Toon's transfer kitty (I'm resisting the obvious comment about him organising the taxi's home..)

My only thought is that this must be part of Ashley & Mort's succession planning for if/when Keegan leaves... Other than that what are they doing paying him a reported £1.5m a year?

Anyway, one consoling thought - at least we won't have to see Adebayor again this season... A wonderful player, but at least he'll be doing damage to other teams rather than us. They didn't get the double figures that I thought that they might against us over the two games... but its been yet another footballing lesson for the Toon players. I wonder if Ashley will get his cash card out now - Giles Barnes anyone?

Never mind Kev - its the Smoggies at the weekend - they might play in the same colours as Arsenal, but that's where the similarities end

Thats all folks

Well, the end of the season has happened and its SNAFU for the Toon... Its another season in the wilderness of mid table; another season without a shiny pot for the trophy cabinet; another season when the Brasso budget doesn't have to be increased.. And this year we almost made it into February with a flicker of hope.

The predicted defeat came at the Gunners, with Emmanuel Adebayor scoring against us...again. He's rapidly becoming one in a long line of players who love scoring against us - step forward Poyet, Owen (before he signed for us) and Paul Scholes. They always seemed to pop up and score at least one against us every time they see the black and white shirt in front of them. Apparently the display yesterday wasn't the worst and a bit of character and fight was shown - but we still ended up loosing.

So, as the transfer window starts to close, we have nothing to offer any potential new players in terms of being able to win something. However, does that really matter to those players who are likely to be pulling on the shirt in the near future? Nah - its just the size of the weekly armored car drop at the bank that attracts players to any Premiership football club. Its only the fans that care.

So, Kev, my request still says the same, buy us a decent left-back. At least you've stopped playing Charlie Zog there - but Jose Enrique isn't up to the job.. A monumental waste of Ashley's cash. So get rid and get someone else in.