Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today – in no particular order of priority.

The news today is that Sam Allardyce has been given a £50M war chest to bring in new players. He will be supported in this over the next two months by Freddy Shepherd and new Vice-Chairman Chris Mort. Given that Sam has brought in three good players for a net outlay of £1.8M and is after Habib Beye now for £2M – one wonders what he can do with £50M – or even £40M

Here’s our piece on the outcome of yesterday’s board meeting at Newcastle. Allardcye will be given up to £50M in transfer funds and it looks like Freddy Shepherd’s tenure at Newcastle will only last a few more months. Sam will now report to Mort – who will take over the day to day activities of the club. This piece focuses on the management side of the club following yesterday’s decisions.

Freddy ShepherdNews from yesterday’s meeting is that Sam’s key back-room staff from Bolton – Mark Taylor and Mike Forde will soon be joining Sam at Newcastle. Hopefully they can work their magic with reducing the injuries that have always plagued Newcastle – especially over the last two seasons. This will be key for next season – that we can somehow control these injuries – and understand why they occur.

Sam Allardyce It certainly looks like it’s full steam ahead on the transfer market for Newcastle. The next target seems to be Habib Beye – from Marseilles – who is valued at £2M. Sam has the go ahead to speak to Habib – and he would be excellent signing for us and can play right back or center back. We had a piece on Habib yesterday on this site.

Habib BeyeA long piece in the Journal by Paul Gilder on all the many events that seem to have happened since yesterday. Paul covers multiple topics in this piece and it’s worth a read. This includes the transfer of Rozehnal – who is expected to be introduced as a Newcastle player some time today. We believe the fee for Rozehnal was a low £2.7M.

Newcastle’s David Rozehnal Finally here’s some quotes that miss whatever they were trying to say – to lighten up the day.

“I would not say he (David Ginola) is the best left winger in the Premiership, but there are none better.” (Ron Atkinson)

“He dribbles a lot and the opposition don’t like it – you can see it all over their faces.” (Ron Atkinson)

“Ardiles strokes the ball like it is part of his own anatomy. ” (Jimmy Magee,)

Ron Atkinson (is his face wet)

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