Yer actual Keith Telly Topping's beloved (though unsellable) Newcastle United admit they took a huge 'financial gamble' to win promotion back to the Premier League, with their wage bill in the 2016-17 season the highest in Football League history. New figures released this week show the club paid wages of over one hundred and twelve million smackers, almost double the Championship's other promoted clubs, Brighton & Hove Albinos and Huddersfield Town, combined. The club lost over ninety million notes that year although that was partly off-set by average attendances at St James' increasing to over fifty one thousand per game during the Championship season. The Magpies said that the approach was 'only possible' because of the 'financial support' of want-away owner Mike Ashley. Under manager Rafael Benitez, Newcastle extremely won the Championship in 2017 to gain promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt and they finished tenth on their return to the top flight this season. High profile gutless cowards such as Moussa Sissoko, Georginio Wijnaldum, Andros Townsend and Florian Thauvin left after the club's relegation in 2016 but over fifty million knicker was spent on twelve players the following season in the Championship - including as Dwight Gayle, Matt Ritchie and Mo Diame. 'An immediate return to the Premier League was vital to restore the financial stability and future prospects of the club,' managing director Lee Charnley said. 'With the support and backing of the owner we took what was, in essence, a financial gamble on securing immediate promotion.' The one hundred and twelve million figure on wages and salaries includes 'promotion bonuses and onerous contract provisions' but was thirty seven million quid higher than in the previous season in the Premier League. The overall operating loss of ninety million smackers compares to a profit of one million quid the previous season. The loss after tax stands at £41.3m.
Stewart Donald's proposed takeover of Blunderland could be concluded 'as early as next week,' The Mackem Filth have said in a statement. Eastleigh chairman Donald and current Blunderland owner Ellis Short met with Football League executives on Friday to discuss the takeover. Donald already has a deal in place to purchase The Black Cats from Short, but requires formal approval. Blunderland were very relegated from the Championship to League One in April. 'Following a meeting with the EFL on Friday and the provision of further information, we can now confirm that the proposed sale of the club could be concluded as early as next week,' said a club statement. 'We would like to place on record our thanks to the EFL for their assistance during the process, at what is a very busy time of the football calendar for them.' After the meeting in London, American Short declined to answer any questions from BBC Sport regarding details of the deal and its progression. The BBC was told at the beginning of May that Donald had agreed the sale of his National League side Eastleigh but, so far, there has been no official confirmation of this. He has previously said if the deal for Blunderland was allowed to go through, it would be 'spectacular.' It has been reported that Short has agreed to clear debts in order to push through the sale of a club that has been relegated in successive seasons after spending ten years in the Premier League.
Former Everton manager Sam Allardyce says that he knew he would be sacked before it happened. And, so did pretty much everyone else which made the odious, full-of-his-own-importance plank getting the old tin-tack even funnier. Allardyce maintains that more Everton fans backed him than wanted him out. Because, obviously, he asked all of them. Allardyce was dismissed from his post on Wednesday, six months into his tenure, after finishing eighth in the Premier League. He had a year left on the contract he signed in November, but says he learned of his fate before meeting owner Farhad Moshiri. 'It seemed to be done and dusted through the media,' he whinged to Talksport.
West Hamster United want to speak to former Sheikh Yer Man City boss Manuel Pellegrini about their current managerial vacancy. There are reports in his native Chile that Pellegrini has already signed a contract but, the BBC reports that a deal is not yet done. The sixty four-year-old, who manages Chinese Super League side China Fortune, has been identified as a possible replacement for David Moyes, whose contract has not been renewed. Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez also remains of interest to West Hamsters - indeed, the Mirra this have been really pushing that particular angle with a shitehawk 'exclusive', something which the Torygraph was keen to pour cold water on. The Spaniard has twelve months remaining on his Newcastle contract and there is reported to be 'an acknowledgement' from West Hamsters that getting Benitez out of St James' Park would be difficult. Pellegrini managed Sheikh Yer Man City between 2013 and 2016 and won the Premier League title in his first season in charge. The former Real Madrid manager also guided City to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2016, the only time the club has reached that stage in their history. West Hamsters chairman and well-known soft-core pornographer David Sullivan has pledged to appoint a manager with 'a proven level of success at the highest level.' Shakhtar Donetsk manager Paulo Fonseca had been heavily linked the job - including reports that he met Sullivan on Monday - but he signed a new contract to stay at the Ukrainian club on Thursday.
In Saturday's FA Cup final at Wembley, Moscow Chelski FC beat The Scum thanks to Eden Hazard's first-hal penalt.y After the game, the always gracious Jose Mourinho whinged that his former club did not deserve to win the cup, accusing them of 'defending with nine players' during the final. Yes, that's Jose Mourinho whinging about someone winning a game of football by parking the bus. Oh, the irony ...
