Premiership - who's going down?

[HappyDayRiot]

Damn right. Next year the Championship will probably won with barely 50 points. It's going to be amazing. There's probably about 16/24 teams who could have a serious crack at promotion or playoffs now.

 

[Starkers]

It'll sure as hell be less of a foregone conclusion than the Prem...

 

[Hermiod]

It'll sure as hell be less of a foregone conclusion than the Prem...

Yeah, but it'll be annoying too. At least the gap between the two play-off finalists wasn't so bad this year.

 

[Hermiod]

If what the media is say is right, none of the players have a relegation clause in their contracts! This is going to be a hell of a fire sale.

To top that off, they have thirteen players on £50,000 per week or more.

At least the good news for them is that two of the highest earners, Owen and Viduka, are at the end of their contracts and won't be sticking around.

Damien Duff is saying he'll stay, but given that he signed from Chelsea he must be one of the ones on £50k+ so he'll have to take a wage cut.

At the very least, I can see Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Nolan, Barton, Martins, Owen, Bassong, Smith, Xisco, Geremi, Beye, Butt and Viduka being sold.

On the other hand, I don't expect Middlesbrough to lose too many. Much of their squad is made up of local talent. David Wheater is saying he'll definitely stay if he's wanted. I expect them to lose Tuncay, Aliadiare (he's going back to France anyway), Alves, Downing, Pogatetz and possibly Huth. They'll probably do a deal with Wigan for Mido as well.

 

[JoeZhang]

I think Duff has played a blinder - he's put Newcastle in a situation where if they try and get rid of him, he can play the loyal son to the fans, while banking his premiership wages - he knows he's never going to get a deal as good as that again..

 

[Cky]

I'm soooo happy Newcastle has gone down, I've always hated them and hoped they would have gone down last season. Plus I'm a Bristol City fan by default, and watched the Hull v Bristol City game last year when Hull beat them by 1 goal. That's how much I hate Newcastle, I wanted Hull to stay up.

 

[Hermiod]

I think Duff has played a blinder - he's put Newcastle in a situation where if they try and get rid of him, he can play the loyal son to the fans, while banking his premiership wages - he knows he's never going to get a deal as good as that again..

Daily Fail says he's on £70,000 a week. He's 30, he's always injured - who the hell is going to match that ?

 

[JoeZhang]

I think Duff has played a blinder - he's put Newcastle in a situation where if they try and get rid of him, he can play the loyal son to the fans, while banking his premiership wages - he knows he's never going to get a deal as good as that again..

Daily Fail says he's on £70,000 a week. He's 30, he's always injured - who the hell is going to match that ?

Yep - so he's better off making loyal sounds and taking the cash...

 

[Starkers]

Gary Kelly at Leeds all over again...

 

[JoeZhang]

THE sportswear tycoon Mike Ashley is to put Newcastle United football club up for sale with a £100m price tag.

Ashley will appoint Keith Harris, chairman of Seymour Pierce, or bankers at NM Roth-schild this week with a mandate to achieve a quick sale. His decision comes just days after the club was relegated from the Premier League.

The asking price is £34m less than Ashley paid for the club two years ago. Since then he has ploughed £110m of his own money into the northeast team to pay down its debts.

Ashley told The Sunday Times: “It has been catastrophic for everybody. I’ve lost my money and I’ve made terrible decisions. Now I want to sell it as soon as I can . . . advisers will be appointed shortly.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article6396030.ece

 

[JoeZhang]

Oh and the news of the screws is going to report tomorrow that if Newcastle don't pay back half of their overdraft (£20 million) they could be forced in administration....