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Newcastle United in trouble

There’s no denying it’s been one of the worst starts of a Barclays Premiership season in recent times for the Magpies. After a promising start of pre-season games with wins against Valencia and a draw with PSV Eindhoven, followed by their first win in the league against Bolton, things were certainly looking up.

Kevin Keegan had a promising squad of players and the club was being backed by a financially strong Chairman with strong ambitions. Even Dennis Wise seemed to be playing to his side of the bargain by not interfering with players transfers (as promised) and the fans were expecting. Dreams of perhaps top 6 finish and a Carling Cup victory were not out of the question.

However the recent well publicised departure of Kevin Keegan, and the huge backlash from the fans which has resulted in Mike Ashley attempting to sell the club, has had a massive impact on the stability of the club both on and off the pitch.

On the pitch the players, as much as they’d deny this in the press, have obviously been hit hard by the recent turmoil. The recent loss against Tottenham at home in the Carling Cup only highlighted the lack of confidence in the team.

Off the pitch Mike Ashley seems desperate to sell the club and articles are being generated daily by the papers as to who’s interested in buying the club. The most recent being a Nigerian consortium.

Most recently even El Tel (Terry Venables) has turned down a reported offer of £100,000 a game to manage the club temporarily as he wanted something a little more permanent. This is a huge blow to Mike Ashley and to the club as it shows a lack of confidence from a well respected figure in football.

The longer Newcastle seek to both sell the club whilst at the same time try to find a decent replacement manager the longer the problems will last on the pitch. The club are in real danger of getting themselves in a position in the table (i.e. the very bottom end) that will eventually become impossible to get out of. Relegation, too far off to seem possible, could well be a likely outcome.