Keegan resigned?

[worcestersauce]

I have kept off this thread but I keep coming back to the title Keegan resigned , when I first read it I thought Shouldn't it be Keegan resigned again?
To be honest if the £2m walk out clause is true it was a smart move by Ashley who obviously knew who he was dealing with.
Lets face it when they hired him we all thought it was a really just a PR stunt didn't we?

 

[Destroyer]

John Barnes is the latest name in the frame for the Newcastle job. Get your money on it.

 

[SpurSince57]

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/09/05/cutting_remarks_from_loony_too.html

Most chuckleworthy.

"Whack Your Lass With A Christmas Tree, Ay-oh, Ay-oh."

My missus thought I was having a seizure when I got to that bit with a mouthful of coffee.

 

[Remora]

'An N and an E and a Wubble U C
A and S an a T L E, U N I T E D, Newcastle United FC
Geordie Boys we are here wo-ooh wo-ooh
Geordie Boys we are here wo-ooh wo-ooh
Geordie Boys we are here slap your lass with a christmas tree wo-ooo-ooo-oo-hh'

Five of them worked on that no doubt, probably sat round a piano all night with a binful of crumpled up half-scored tunes and the black coffee kept coming from a kindly wife... who was later assaulted with a Norway Spruce.

 

[SpurSince57]

OMG—you mean Harry Pearson didn't make that up?

:rofl:

 

[Remora]

OMG—you mean Harry Pearson didn't make that up?

:rofl:

No. No. That one, I think, is very real.

.


Again, stood around a piano, searching for the last line? I can't fathom it.

 

[VegasII]

http://www.toontastic.net/board/index.php?showtopic=20886

Check out the Dennis the menace poster - fucking funny. Starting to feel bad for the toon fans now - they're getting shagged in the arse so hard they can't even bleed.

Another on Jamie Carragher - funny stuff. Great mafia joke in there.

http://www.toontastic.net/board/index.php?showtopic=20859

Back to work for me I think...

 

[Bonjour]

lol @ Carragher. What a complete and utter tool.

 

[KentuckyYid]

Oh dear. The madness of King Kevin Keegan


http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/football/article22169.ece
By ROB BEASLEY, 06/09/2008

KEVIN KEEGAN saw himself as the ultimate circus master commanding a line-up of superstar acts that would wow the soccer world.

David Beckham, Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard, Jonathan Woodgate and Anton Ferdinand were all on his £200million Newcastle United wish-list.
But his wildly ambitious plans were far too rich for his St James’ Park budget and so far removed from the reality of Newcastle’s plans that his departure was inevitable.
So while the Toon Army may be revolting over his demise, the key figures inside St James’ Park are truly amazed at how Keegan “lost the plot” during his ill-fated return to the North-East club.

And for the first time, the inside story of the meltdown on the Tyne can be told.

Ridiculous
Both sides are bitter at the farcical way in which the strained relationship finally snapped this week and both the Newcastle camp and Keegan’s allies are squarely blaming each other.

One highly placed Newcastle source claimed: “If only people knew the real truth of what’s been going on . . . because in the end it was ridiculous.

TWO OF A KIND - Tony Jiminez (left) and Dennis Wise

“People inside the club joked about it, calling it ‘the madness of King Kev’ but no one was really laughing.”
Doubts over Keegan’s coaching ability and tactical prowess had surfaced just a few months into his return.

Billionaire owner Mike Ashley had given the Toon Army what they demanded after the sacking of Sam Allardyce even though Keegan had been a virtual recluse for three years following his exit from Manchester City. Three years without seeing a live game of football meant Ashley was taking a leap into the unknown but throughout his life, he has always been prepared to take risks.

A source close to the Toon owner admitted: “When Kevin was approached about taking over, everyone at the club knew it was a risk.

Gamble
“The upside was that he is a living legend here on Tyneside and remains hugely popular with the fans.

“He has charisma and an infectious enthusiasm and that was a major part of his attraction. But everyone was also well aware of his track record as a manager. He has this habit of walking out on the job if things are not going his way.

“Kevin did it in his first spell at Newcastle, at Manchester City and with England, so it was clearly going to be a gamble.

WISE GUY - Dennis Wise
“That’s where the club was clever. They put a clause in his contract saying that if he resigned he would have to pay the club £2m in compensation. If he was sacked the club would have to pay him £2m in compensation.”
But despite the safeguards, it soon became clear Keegan was struggling.

A desperate start where Newcastle could barely buy a goal let alone a win prompted a series of crisis meetings within St James’ Park. The name of Terry Venables as a fire fighter alongside Keegan was mooted.

Ashley, though, had faith in his appointment and opted not to take panic measures. That faith was repaid as Keegan steadied the ship and brought a sense of confidence to the dressing room.

That, though, could not disguise the simmering tension between Keegan and vice-president Tony Jimenez, football director Dennis Wise and, once Chris Mort moved on, managing director Derek Llambias.

Massive
For no matter how many times Ashley’s executives explained the club’s structure and transfer policy, which was to be overseen by Wise and Jimenez, Keegan refused to accept he would NEVER be given the final say.

As a club insider explained: “Kevin just seemed incapable of grasping the situation, understanding the club’s policy and working to a budget no matter how many times he was told.

NO PROBLEM - Mike Ashley
“Right from the start, at his interview for the job, it was made perfectly clear to Kevin the way the club wanted the job done.

“Jimenez chaired the meeting and laid it out plain for Kevin. This was not going to be a Chelsea scenario with Newcastle paying big money and massive wages for established stars.

“The club was going to be run like Arsenal and the emphasis would be on scouring the world for the best emerging young talent and bringing it to the North-East, like Arsene Wenger had done with Nicolas Anelka, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas. We talked of building the club up over the next three to five years so that we could compete at the top again. Kevin sat there and agreed and took the job on those terms. But then he wants to try and sign Beckham! It was unbelievable.

“You wondered what planet he was on.”

Ironically, Keegan has no real animosity towards Ashley, who he believes has always treated him decently and been willing to listen. His anger is aimed directly at Jimenez, Wise and Llambias, in that order.

They tried to pull Keegan back into line last May when he was called to London for a very public rebuke after he criticised the club’s transfer policy. Again, the club’s blueprint for the future was reinforced. It still didn't register.

Succeed
“Kevin was again told in no uncertain terms how things would be done,” claimed the source.

“Yet in June he tells us he’s spoken to Frank Lampard’s agent and claims Lampard wants to come to Newcastle . . . for £200,000 a week!

“On another occasion, Keegan and Arthur Cox sat in a meeting claiming that they’d just had Theirry Henry on the phone discussing a move to Newcastle.

“It was so bizarre you wondered if he was doing it on purpose to try and get sacked.

“There was no getting through to him. He’d say ‘We can get anybody. We have to do it if we want to succeed.’

“But what he wanted would have cost the club £200m in transfer fees and wages. Kevin had been told over and over again that he had around £12m to spend on buying players.

“We wanted him to use his expertise to spot the next Dimitar Berbatov or Cesc Fabregas but it just seemed like he didn’t know any young talent at all, only established mega-stars.

“Meanwhile Jimenez and Wise were on the trail of Sami Nasri, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Valmiro Valdo at Espanyol. They just lost out on Nasri to Arsenal and Schweinsteiger turned us down, even though he was offered £70,000 a week.

Suggestions
“They’re the sort of deals Kevin should have been chasing but he didn’t know anybody but the blindingly obvious.”

Sources close to Keegan, though, claim he made his own enquiries about Schweinsteiger and knew that Newcastle’s proposed deal of £3.5m was less than HALF of the amount other clubs had offered.

But the seeds of discontent were sown long before transfer deadline day as another Newcastle insider admitted: “It’s common knowledge we have been looking for a centre-half.

“Kevin’s suggestions? Jonathan Woodgate, Richard Dunne and Sami Hyppia! Now where’s the resale value of any of those players?

“To be fair, he also mentioned Anton Ferdinand and we tried hard to get him but he just wouldn’t come.

“Apparently, Anton’s brother Rio is not a big fan of Keegan as a coach after his stint with England, and that’s what scuppered us.”

Our top man on the Toon also dismissed Keegan’s protests about the sale of James Milner to Aston Villa for £12m. He said: “The truth is that Kevin sat in a meeting where the sale of Milner was discussed.

Acrimonious
“Kevin reckoned he was worth about £7-8m and the plan was to use the cash to buy Schweinsteiger.

“Everyone thought the £12m from Villa was just too good to turn down so the deal was done. The only disappointing thing was that Schweinsteiger wouldn’t come.”

Keegan now looks set to sue for constructive dismissal and stands to get a £2m pay-out if he succeeds. But it could be an acrimonious and costly case.

Our source admitted: “ In any business anywhere in the world people have to manage within constraints and budgets applied by the company.

“That’s the same if it’s the News of the World or Newcastle United. Kevin couldn’t or wouldn’t do that. He was trying to tell us how to run a company worth hundreds of millions when his own company was a million in debt.”