The Unfortunate Current State of our Beloved Club

At the moment, I'm still attempting collect my thoughts on this saga that is Kevin Keegan and Newcastle United.

Here is what I know:

1) Kevin Keegan is the most successful manager (not in terms of numbers, but in terms of my own knowledge and witness of the football I've seen under numerous Newcastle United managers) of the club since Sir Bobby Robson.

2) KK plays the type of football that makes me want to watch it - the type that inspires and invigorates. He gets the fans excited about the club and the beautiful game, whether they win that week or not.

3) Mike Ashley is a business man. He's in this to make money. This is not something I can argue against. I believe all the owners are in it to make money. The route they choose to make that money, however, is the variable. Some managers, like Roman Abramovich, choose to invest big in order to win big, thereby trumping their massive input with an even more massive output. Other managers, such as I believe Ashley to be doing with Newcastle, play small-ball. He's trying to buy cheap, foreign, inexpensive talent to prove that they've got the goods for the Premiership and hopefully sell them for big money in a couple years. This may work to a certain extent - but its essentially building a bridge out of toothpicks. It's like saving your pennies in a glass jar so that someday you might be able to buy the Taj mah Hal. It's clear that he's not in this to become the greatest football power in the history of the game, he's in it for five years to make 100 million pounds and buy himself a lifetime supply of beer.

Here's what I don't know:

1) What - EXACTLY - is Dennis Wise's role in all this? Nobody likes this lad, including King Kev. It's clear that he's a little weasel who likes to disrupt things and ruffle feathers so that he can benefit personally. It's been rumoured that he's in charge of signing only YOUNG talent, as in NOT the first team. It's been rumoured that he's in MA's ear, running the club like a dark influence, just waiting to take over after he's waited long enough. It's been rumoured that HE was the man who put up THE ENTIRE SQUAD for sale, and almost sold Alan Smith, Joey Barton, and ST. MICHAEL OWEN, all behind Kev's back. This is disheartening for obvious reasons.

2) Why on God's earth did Ashley hire Keegan, a man who wears his heart on his sleeve and certainly has his own very solid opinions about the game, if he was intending on hiring a ridiculously complicated hierarchy of directors? It seems that Ashley didn't have confidence in his own chosen manager, so he filled in the anticipated gaps with micro-managed positions so that nobody would be overworked. When all this does is alienate people, especially the manager - a position which is supposed to be executive in everything related to the football - INCLUDING TRANSFERS.

What I believe happened (please don't go starting any rumours from this):

I think that Keegan has been slowly getting more and more upset at the appointment and continued reliance on Dennis Wise by Mike Ashley. Keegan came in and after getting acquainted with the squad (the first couple months of poor results in his tenure) has done ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong. He's re-energized the Geordies about their club, got the football to be really fast-paced and beautiful again, and has brought the club back on to the track towards greatness. And he and WE always thought that once the transfer window came, he'd really have the opportunity to begin to mould his squad. Well, that window came and he quickly realized that it wasn't his money OR choice of who we would sign. One of his most important duties as manager was ripped from him and given to that little weasel Dennis Wise. After expressing disappointment to the management and having numerous "crisis talks," Ashley promised Kev that he would give KK divine right on who we would sign and that he was, in fact, in charge of the direction of the club. But money was indeed tight, so he needed to create the funds for this - thus being a bit more lenient in terms of who left the club. There is an overall picture of where we needed to be, and 12M for James Milner could get us in that direction. So Kev swallowed his pride, took the money, only so that he could sign who he wanted in the next few days. Well, those days came and for some reason, he AGAIN wasn't given the power to do so. Dennis Wise (with help from Tony Jimenez) once again had the privilege to sign who he deemed good enough, and SELL who he deemed not good enough, without ANY input from King Kev. Suddenly, the saviour who brought back scintillating football back to St. James Park had become nothing more than a pawn, who was here only to satisfy the fans. So, he issued an ultimatum to Mike Ashley. Either things change and Wise leaves, or I do. Ashley probably said: Okay, get to steppin. The news broke, the inevitable riot act occurred, and Ashley, who had been living in his bubble the past 2 years was ASTOUNDED from the incredible level of support shown by the Geordie faithful for their fearless leader. Ashley withdrew his dismissal, but King Kev realized that the structure was obviously flawed and he wanted out. At this point, I think Kev is truly just getting his monetary ducks in a row so that he can get out without losing any money. Like I said, if I were KK, I'd probably do the same thing, and if he does choose to leave, I wish him the best.

It's a sad day here at the offices of Architecture, Football and Food. My owner has, once again, made a complete mockery of my club, just when I thought he was bringing it back to reality. My favorite manager who was Newcastle United through and through is on his way out, we've got a CRAZY thin squad who are going to be lucky to break into the top 10 and are actually going to struggle against The Unwashed (Sunderland) in the NorthEast Derby this season, and we've got a fan-base who, at its heart, doesn't know whether to show up for any more matches this season or any season after. A club who lives by its heart dies by its heart, and the light is growing dim.