Championship - Harper: Newcastle imploding

Eurosport - Tue, 14 Jul 10:50:00 2009

Newcastle United, relegated from the Premier League at the end of last season, are "dying a slow, painful death" according to the club's goalkeeper Steve Harper.

FOOTBALL Newcastle goalkeeper Steve Harper - 0

Newcastle, preparing for their first season out of the top flight since 1992-93, were put up for sale for £100 million by owner Mike Ashley last month. They are still without a full-time manager while caretaker boss Chris Hughton continues to run the squad.

"What happened last season was desperately disappointing, but just when you think there's an opportunity for this club to put itself right, build and get straight back up, the opposite happens," Harper, who has been at Newcastle for 16 years, told the Daily Mail.

"We want it to be resolved so we know where we are and where we're going because at this moment the football club is dying a slow, painful death.

"For five or six years now it's been a gradual slow implosion. The situation is very, very frustrating for all of us.

"To be fair to Chris Hughton, Colin Calderwood and the lads, we have made the best of what is a dreadful situation.

"But at the moment the club isn't rebuilding - it's in a state of limbo and that is no good for anyone."

Newcastle tumbled out of the Premier League at the end of a traumatic season which ended with club favourite Alan Shearer appointed as manager for the last eight matches but he could not save them from the drop.

Shearer has said he is willing to take the job on a permanent basis but no appointments have been made since Ashley announced he was selling the club.

Reuters

Comment 99 - 118 of 118

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  1. impactclean, your 119, hands up, I had a chuckle at­ that one. Very funny, quite sad, but funny.

    From john.connolly01, on Sat 18 Jul 10:09AM
  2. Heyup barry.
    You are correct.

    From impactclean, on Sat 18 Jul 7:22AM
  3. Melvin 104.
    You are so right mate:Ashley was sold a­ very expensive crock.

    From farsical, on Sat 18 Jul 6:20AM
  4. NUFC are finished,gone.

    From farsical, on Fri 17 Jul 1:07PM
  5. up the boro

    From adrian.jones34, on Thu 16 Jul 11:20PM
  6. ................................WELCOME................­ .........
    ..................................TO.........­ ...................
    ...........................THE.....­ .....NUFC....................
    .........................­ .COMEDY........SITE....................

    From impactclean, on Thu 16 Jul 4:02AM
  7. John con luv 111,
    Bet you would like some eh!

    From impactclean, on Thu 16 Jul 3:59AM
  8. Hey up Kevin,
    You should be a financier,working for­ Ashley,im'e sure you will be a great­ help.Oh!"How much you putting in then"?

    From impactclean, on Thu 16 Jul 3:57AM
  9. Hey up all.
    Little birdie informs me Mr ash is going to­ change our home shirt to HORIZONTAL bars.
    What do you­ reckon.

    From impactclean, on Thu 16 Jul 3:32AM
  10. 109, what, you and your friends, dont flatter yourself­ too much granny though I do sometimes wonder whats been­ going up your nose

    From john.connolly01, on Wed 15 Jul 9:58AM
  11. If as they say they have had some bids reaching the­ asking price of M.A. Maybe these interested parties­ should push the issue by including in their bids a­ clause such as for every day after submitting their­ bids until acceptance the price drops by a few million­ it may force M.A. to act quickly or face a further­ reduction in cash back!

    From Fedupwithpolitics, on Wed 15 Jul 9:26AM
  12. Hey up Con luv.
    Am i getting up your nose luv?

    From impactclean, on Wed 15 Jul 9:16AM
  13. Hey up Hutch.
    Ill'e check it out.
    How,s the mail­ bags?

    From impactclean, on Wed 15 Jul 9:14AM
  14. the rot started at sjp when shepherd sacked sir bobby­ and replaced him with that @#$% sounes

    From colinshield, on Wed 15 Jul 12:31AM
  15. desperate fat $ hit head

    From SHAUN, on Tue 14 Jul 10:08PM
  16. Kevin, comment-100
    you're spot on mate; it's­ called retribution, or rather 'Ashley's­ Retribution'!
    He blames us, the fans, for losing­ him his dough; obviously the appointment of dennis­ unwise had nowt to do with it, absolute zero investment­ in players had nowt to do with it, selling the best­ players and replacing them with cheaper, inferior ones­ had nowt to do with it! Yes of course the players must­ shoulder some responsibility, but the club's­ relegation ultimately comes down to ashley's­ dreadful mismanagement of the club from Day-One!
    His­ ego won't allow him to take the blame, so we get­ it; and boy is he gonna make us pay!
    The squad will be­ decimated by the time the season starts, a good thing­ perhaps that the deadwood will have moved on; but there­ wil be no new faces, and no time left for any decent­ preparation ergo no chance of a promotion push. He­ knows this, he wants to leave this club in as much a­ state of ruin as possible before he walks; irreparable­ damage if he can. I always said he was a vindictive­ man; come on man, how else does one explain away those­ embarrassing new away shirts - that was a deliberate­ act of a man on a mission!

    From cameron w, on Tue 14 Jul 8:15PM
  17. Shepherd's transfer policy statrted the rot. I bet­ loads of you would have him back though. he walked away­ with 4o mil, lied to Ashley about the true financial­ situation, and left the club with cancer.­ Traitor..........

    From SHAUN, on Tue 14 Jul 7:59PM
  18. can somebody correct me if i am wrong Southampton,Notts­ County,Portsmouth all put up for sale around about the­ same time that Newcastle was all are now done deals,­ does that tell you that Mike (tXXT) Ashley has no­ intension in selling i may be wrong well i hope i­ am.

    dean

    From AMBER, on Tue 14 Jul 7:28PM
  19. It will be interesting to see the reception Harper gets­ in the pre-season games!! Seems to me that he has­ handed in his tranfer request, can't blame really.

    From safcalsftm, on Tue 14 Jul 1:45PM
  20. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Hey everybody, impacts got class.­ Yeh! We can tell by your spelling and Grammar, not to­ mention content, that you are a well educated,­ knowledgeable upstanding pillar of society.
    Who's­ been telling you that anyway, was it barrygroves,­ BARRY, pianoplayerlive, your mamma or any of the other­ sad characters you have invented to keep yourself­ company in your bubble. By the way, have you been using­ your multiple ID's to give yourself thumbs up­ because nobody else agrees with your trollop, get the­ one out your backside and theirs another you can have.

    From john.connolly01, on Tue 14 Jul 1:15PM
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