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

The news today is that the Newcastle Board of Directors are meeting this morning and we expect all Board Members to resign except Freddy Shepherd – who will be given a new role under Ashley’s new management structure – for the real purpose of continuity at the club.

News today that there will be a Newcastle Board Meeting this morning at which all Directors except Freddy Shepherd will resign. Freddy is being offered a new role under a revamped set-up at Newcastle and news last night is that Freddy will accept that position. It is important we get some stability in the board room and we run our own piece on this story today.

Freddy ShepherdSome good news today we think is that Emre has pledged his future to Newcastle with one big reason being that he respects Sam Allardyce so much. Emre was under pressure last season because of his alleged racial comments – but we expect he could be a reinvigorated player under Big Sam for us next season. We think this is good news for the club.

Emre We are getting a little concerned we have only recently captured a decent defender in David Rozehnal – after letting a bunch of them leave earlier in the summer. We feel we need at least three additional defenders (not counting Rozehnal) and today review some of the defenders we have been linked with in the past this summer – and comment on the current situation.

Bakari Sagna of Auxerre The Daily Mirror reports that Manchester United have accepted a ₤6M bid for Alan Smith from Middlesbrough and that Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate may be jetting off to Florida to discuss the move with Smith. This is the same paper that reported an exclusive only last Friday – that Newcastle had won the race to sign Smith for ₤3.5M.

Any mention today of that report – surprisingly not.

Alan SmithNews today that our own Alan O’Brien has joined Hibernian. As we indicated a couple fo days ago we don’t think Alan was given much of a chance at Newcastle – and that could come back to haunt us one day. O’Brien has considerable speed and has played well in his International appearances for Ireland – but that’s football. All the best Alan!

Alan O’Brien Finally here’s some quotes that miss whatever they were trying to say – to lighten up the day

‘Julian Dicks is everywhere. It’s like they’ve got eleven Dicks on the field’. (Metro Radio Sports Commentary)

‘ Once Tony Daley opens his legs you’ve got a problem’. (Howard Wilkinson)

‘ I never comment on referees and I’m not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat’. (Ron Atkinson)

Ron Atkinson

As we get new and worthwhile Newcastle news during the rest of the day we’ll add these to this report if necessary.

We always appreciate your comments on these stories.