An updated, authorised, biography of Sir Bobby Robson to be published next month will include a new final chapter entitled Betrayed, detailing the breakdown of the former Newcastle United's manager's relationship with Alan Shearer, his captain. Revisionist history is always such fun. Rumour was that Shearer got both Gullit and Robson sacked. Whilst 8 games is hardly enough to judge, those of us alive at that time, will assure you he was clueless (look at his pundentry). Ashley or Shearer in the honesty stakes is a hung jury at best.
Rafa has well documented history for being vague, signing duds, falling out with chairmen, getting tired of the objective and ripping into playing staff and coaches despite some shady tactical decisions. He's a human being, not a robot, he's complicated. Stop sucking his dick, he walked, get over it. As I've said many times, it's possible that Mike Ashley is a slug and Rafa's a whining bitch. The two things aren't mutually exclusive. Even if we backed him 100% he would have walked in my opinion. I genuinely believe he disliked the place on a fundemental level, we aren't no Liverpool these days.
Lot of bluster, nothing that sheds any light. I particularly like him threatening to tell us why they didn't want to invest in the training ground. Then you have Ashley threatening to show us that he had committed to invest. It appears we have two blokes who can't lie straight in bed. Nevermind threatening, just spit it out you pair of fat oafs. Or keep your traps shut. The fans latch onto this stuff so quickly without thought. He chucks in all the nice things to say about the city and the club which has his army of supporters dribbling, but how about actually saying something meaningful about what's gone on. The only thing that has come out of that little diatribe from Rafa is he did indeed expect his salary to be uplifted and this was the key matter for him. Along with him and his coaches not getting bonuses. For someone who didn't go for the money, he managed to shoehorn in two jibes about him and his staff not getting enough cash. The only other thing is he appears to confirm that he didn't want Joelinton and he'd rather have bought the ageing Rondon. Fair enough that, its a matter of personal choice. The one thing I will say that he is correct to point out, Ashley etc stalling isn't fair on the staff and their families because they need certainty. Other than that its just more of the same guff from him. Either lay it out cold or it just comes across as hot air to detract from other matters.
Truth is, the Benitez piece will have come through his PR Person. If he had the class that you Linda Lovelace types suggest. He would have STFU now, and indeed whilst he was paid to manage the football club. Never been his MO and is the root of his problem. Alan Sugar (not my favourite person) tried to run Spurs as a business, was hated for it by the fans. After a take-over battle with Robert Maxwell, Sugar teamed up with Terry Venables and bought Tottenham Hotspur football club in June 1991. Although Sugar's initial investment helped ease the financial troubles the club was suffering at the time, his treatment of Tottenham as a business venture and not a footballing one made him an unpopular figure among the Spurs fans.[44] In Sugar's nine years as chairman, Tottenham Hotspur did not finish in the top six in the league and won just one trophy, the 1999Football League Cup. Sugar sacked Venables the night before the 1993 FA Cup Final, a decision which led to Venables appealing to the high courts for reinstatement. A legal battle for the club took place over the summer, which Sugar won (see Re Tottenham Hotspur plc [1994] 1 BCLC 655). The decision to sack Venables angered many of Tottenham fans, and Sugar later said, "I felt as though I'd killed Bambi."[45 Both put in real money to stabilize the club. You Ashley out people must realise, that a new owner will almost certainly do a Glazer. I fear super rich Arabs/Asians are not likely to come in. Newcastle is a long way from London, queens English speakers, the classic racecourses,electricity and all that.
