Theres only one Ken Foggo

Every true football fan should rejoice in the success of AFC Wimbledon. They have stuck two fingers up at the greed and hypocrisy of English football. I''d love to see them get into the league and I think they''ll do it.

Madness, utter madness! Football in this country seems to exist in a fantasy world in which normal rules don''t apply.

I used to like Cup Final day more than Christmas Day! This is the 70s and 80s I''m talking about when it was the biggest match in the football calendar and everybody used to talk about it. Now it''s just another game (although I did watch and quite enjoyed it this year).

But will anyone want to buy them?

Quite a few people have commented on the similiarities between Newcastle and Norwich last season, but after reading the piece below (which has been doing the rounds of various football messageboards) I actually feel quite glad that I support City and not the Magpies. It makes for scary reading for Newcastle supporters.FINANCIAL RUIN?Newcastle''s current wage bill is at least £1.1m a week (before employerstax and national insurance). But with TV money slashed (the parachutepayment and Championship deal is worth less than half the Premiership TVdeal), and other income going the same way (clubs can charge a lot more forcorporate hospitality of the opposition is Manchester United or Liverpoolthan they can for Sheffield United or Scunthorpe), Newcastle desperatelyneed to clear the wagebill.When Leeds went down, income was less, but their highest players were on£30-50k a week. Newcastle have (according to Match of the Day) fifteenplayers on £50k a week or more. These include Michael Owen (£115k), MarkViduka (£80k) and Damien Duff (£70k).As a comparison, when Ipswich were relegated, their five highest earnerswere on £32k (Sereni), £32k (Finidi) and £20k (Hreidarsson, Holland andStewart) a week. Ipswich entered administration the following February.Part of that reason was because not enough wages had come off the books(Sereni was on loan to Lazio, Finidi had settled his contract for less thanhalf it''s worth, and Stewart had been sold to Sunderland).As well as those at Newcastle, on over £50k a week, there are another sevenon between £15-40k a week. All 22 will need to go if Newcastle are to stayafloat.The good news is that Cacapa, Michael Owen, Peter Lovenkrands, David Edgar(not one of the 22) and Mark Viduka are out of contract.The bad news is that between now and the end of June, they will have to bepaid six weeks wages (£1.5m+). The further bad news is that before a playerleaves a club two things need to be paid. Any outstanding transfer fee tohis previous club, and any outstanding loyalty bonus to the player.How these works are as follows:Transfer fees (even fixed fees) are rarely paid up front. They have to bepaid over three years (cross-country) or the length of the contract(between English clubs). One payment up front, then another after eachyear. For a three year deal, usually four of 25%, but a minimum of 25% ispaid the first time.Loyalty payments: Usually the signing on fee, although some players cancommand both. Usually a years salary (in the case of 4/5 year contracts)spread across the contract paid in instalments similar to the transfer fee.The only way a player waives their right to these payments are if theysubmit a written transfer request, otherwise, if they are sold early, theyget anything outstanding because it''s not their fault the club has soldthem early, so they should not lose out. Players have been known to agreeto recieved what they are owed over the original length of their contractm,but this isn''t always wise.These are usually the two things that cripple clubs that get relegated.Now in the case of the five out of contract players, there are nooutstanding transfer fees (Owen''s was paid up by 2008, the others allarrived on free transfers). However there are loyalty bonuses worthanything up to £4m oustanding - don''t forget Viduka and Owen are the twohighest paid players. So, Newcastle have to pay £5.5m to players that willnever play for the club again, on the grounds the club cannot afford torenew their contracts.Which is half of the six of the TV parachute payment, or almost double theChampionship deal.And that leaves a wage bill of at least £800k a week (£41.6m). And a lot ofplayers on long contracts - of the other 17 that need to go, Gememi, Beyeand Butt have deals until 2010, Martins, Duff, Bassong and Stephen Tayloruntil 2011, Enrique, Barton, Guthrie, Harper, Smith & Ameobi until 2012,and Coloccini, Nolan, Ryan Taylor, Gutierrez and Xisco until 2013.Taking two assumptions (that all transfer fees are paid in the stagesoutlined above, except Nolan and Ryan Taylor who arrived in January, andaccording to Ashley whose fees were paid in full in Jan), there is £29moutstanding on the transfer fees of the other 17 players, and approximately£22m on the loyalty bonuses. £51m in total. (Just over the estimated incomefor a season for a Championship club Newcastle''s size). In that respect, itwould almost certainly be cheaper to give it a try. However, if it fails...In other words, if the wages of the players concerned don''t crippleNewcastle, the fees the club will need to pay to get the players off thebooks will - because Bassong may have been worth £8m last week, but onceclubs know that a side is desperate for cash - and no-one in football isunder any illusions about Newcastle''s position - player values drop byabout 75%.And because of the need to settle fees and contracts, Newcastle will needto ask for all fees up front - reducing the fees even more, and reducingthe income for future years.(all estimates based on reported fees, wages and contract lengths)

Looking at the Sky Sports website just now I noticed on their poll, "Who will be the next Celtic manager?" that Roy Keane is one of those listed! Now, I don''t know if he has actually been linked with the job but I have just looked at the latest voting and no less than 20 per cent think he will be their next manager?!!! It''s probably pie in the sky but wouldn''t it be a wonderful laugh if he walked out on Ipswich to join Celtic after only being at Portman Road five minutes? [:D]

All this reminds me of Michael Parkinson''s oft-told story of the time in the 1960s when he was a young reporter in New York and was desperate to find out the score of his beloved Barnsley. He bought the New York Times and scanned it feverishly for the football results and finally found them at the bottom of the page in the tiniest type. To his horror, it read Barnsley 1 Stockport County 21 !!! In a panic he then made a very expensive transatlantic call home to find to his relief that it was a misprint and the game was in fact a 1-1 draw!! [:D]

[quote user="bullshead"]You lot take yourselves far too seriously. [/quote]Guilty as charged m''lord!! [:D]

If this was the 1960s he could be forgiven for not being able to keep abreast of events at Carrow Road, but not in the modern era!

I''m really not keen but I agree with the poster who said it would be disrespectful not to enter. Like it or not, for one season at the very least we are a bottom two division club, same as Exeter, Hartlepool, Bournemouth etc.

[quote user="Smudger"]Fantastic article... I think Newcastle will get it somewhat right next season regardless of who is their manager though. The amount of money they have should talk in the fizzy pop league. We are however stuck with all of their problems, plus we are too skint to even finance a team capable of a top ten finish in the 3rd tier. [/quote]They are actually in bigger debt than City!

And to think I used to make jokes about Hartlepool....[:(]

Now that we know all the teams we will be playing next season it''s interesting to see how many familiar clubs we will be playing who have been regular visitors to Carrow Road over the last 10-15 years in both the Premier League and the Championship. Of the 23 clubs, no less than 15 have played City in the league over that period. So in some ways watching most of the matches won''t feel that much different from what we''re used to. Small comfort I know!

[quote user="Turbot"]Newcastle have the money to make a realistic challenge for a play off place, we on the other hand I believe will be out of our depth in league 1, as we were muscled out in the Championship and we are now going into an even more division where a physical approach will be needed, hardly the Norwich way is it?[/quote]Don''t bank on it. I''ve heard that relegation will put them into catastrophic financial difficulties. Middlesbrough are in big trouble too. At the very least those two clubs need to get back into the Premiership straight away otherwise they could be the next big clubs to slip even further down the leagues.

Yes, plenty! Southampton for a start. And Newcastle will be in big financial trouble if they are relegated today.

With our financial situation as it is, young players will have an ever more significant role to play. Good luck to him!

The third division by any other name is still the third division!

Judging from her body language at THAT press conference, I think Delia is sick to death of the whole thing and just wants to get out now, so you could be right.

Bit surprised he''s been released as his scoring record for them has been good. Could certainly do a job for us.

It''s a measure of the task facing City that a club as big as Leeds has twice failed to win promotion from that division now [:(]

[quote user="Herb"][quote user="shyster"]I''ve heard he''s coming back as the team hairdresser.[/quote]Rubbish!He''s the new coach driver.[/quote]Or programme seller!

I think it is pretty much certain Huckerby will return to Norwich - all that remains to be seen is whether it''s as player, coach, part of a consortium taking over the club, or just in some sort of PR role.

Both Burnley goals absolute corkers!Reading playing absymally in this half.

[quote user="thefutureisyellow"][quote user="Romantic"]Yes we do... Barnsley put themselves safe regardless of what we''d done.[/quote]   The  result at Plymouth could  have been different if we hadnt capitulated to the bottom team in the League. Plymouth scored first remember and if we had got an early goal and a result the Barnsley game would have been played in a completely different atmosphere, as it was we didnt put Barnsley under any pressure at all.     [/quote]You''re right - I hadn''t looked at it like that before.

It''ll be similiar to Bryan Gunn''s tesimonial in 1996 when United sent a team made up of reserve and youth players plus Eric Cantona!The Wigan match definitely more interesting.