Pot. Kettle. Black

“I suppose nothing surprises me about the current regime, so news they are ready to sell the naming rights isn’t exactly a shock. Whatever next? Why don’t they just go the whole hog and change the name of the club itself? Fans will be horrified, angry and upset about this. They’ve had to put up with a lot in recent months, but this is just another blow.”

Indeed, but who to blame? Well, on selling his shares in Newcastle two years ago to err…. Mike Ashley, Shepherd commented:

“The board believes Mike Ashley will be an excellent custodian of Newcastle United’s heritage and will provide the best possible opportunity for the club to flourish in the future, to the benefit of the company and its fans.”

How’s the whole heritage preservation thing going then Freddie?

Scorched Earth football style

The last time Newcastle United made permanent a caretaker manager’s stint, Glenn Roeder was the beneficiary, as he managed to wangle an extra year of shuffling nervously along the touchline. He signed Antoine Sibierski and Olivier Bernard, finished 13th in the table and contrived to lose 5-1 at home to Birmingham City in the FA Cup. What’s more, demonstrations against the Shepherd regime throughout the season, ironically served to usher in the new chairman.

Nevertheless, the past must be a foreign country to Mike Ashley, as he has rewarded caretaker Chris Hughton with an 18 month deal, for unconvincingly managing to keep the best squad of players at the top of their division by a single point.

Yet as anyone who has visited some of his sport shops will know, Ashley isn’t one to leave in tact any fragment of class. Hence his subsequent announcement that naming rights for SJP (not Sarah Jessica Parker - pay attention) are up for grabs. Leave your suggestions below Mackems…

The boyhood teams of some the game’s biggest names

Generally speaking, Premier League footballers are well advised to be discreet about the team they truly support. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of David Bentley, a supposed lifelong Arsenal fan who suddenly professed to be a boyhood Spurs fan upon switching to the north London side. With this imprudent declaration in mind, Spoiler correspondent Ben Baker has rounded up ten footballers whose loyalties don’t necessarily lay with their employers…

Andrei Arshavin
Despite only recently joining the Gunners, fan favourite Arshavin has never hidden the fact that Barcelona are and always have been his team of choice. He has said he was devastated when a move to the Catalan giants never fully materialised when he was at Zenit and has even stated that he would love to play for Barca since he has been at Arsenal. Now if that isn’t a ploy to gain a bigger contract…

John Terry
Mr. Chelsea didn’t make it to Manchester City in the end this summer. Many Chelsea fans will like to think that it is because he is Blue through and through. However, Terry was actually a Manchester Utd fan growing up. Could this be why he couldn’t bring himself to join the Citizens?

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
The baby faced assassin made a name for himself at Manchester Utd,

The stars who have enjoyed facing their previous employers

This weekend, a whole host of players faced their former employers, most notably Emmanuel Adebayor at Eastlands and Dimitar Berbatov at White Hart Lane. Face kicking and celebrating aside, the former put in a performance that truly represented his stunning talent (something which was somewhat of a rarity during his final months at Arsenal), while the latter moped around and fluffed numerous chances (prompting the chant “That’s why we sold you!” - a chorus only bettered by the  “You’re not signing any more!” that Chelsea received at Stoke).

With these acrimonious encounters in mind, Spoiler correspondent Liam Jarvis has selected his top five players who have enjoyed facing the teams that used to sign their puffed-up pay cheques…

William Gallas
The tantrum-prone Frenchman scored the winning header from a Cesc Fabregas corner to beat Chelsea 1-0 back in 2007. The goal ended a 3-year winless streak against their London rivals.

Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer marked his 300th club career goal in perfect fashion, a simple penalty against former side Blackburn in 2002.

More great news for Newcastle’s much-loved owner

Youngsters who hang about at bus stops waiting to earn an ASBO will be devastated to learn that their clothing purveyors of choice - JJB Sports and Sports Direct - are to be investigated by the Serious Fraud Office for price fixing and fraud.

Dave Whelan’s former company and Mike Ashley’s current profit-zapping outfit have been the subject of a secret investigation by the Office of Fair Trading since January. The Guardian’s business eggheads report:

JJB this morning told shareholders that it had sparked the probe with an approach to the OFT just 10 days after the company suspended its former chief executive, Chris Ronnie. It claims to have negotiated immunity in exchange for whistle-blowing co-operation.

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Alex Hleb realises he probably shouldn’t have left Arsenal
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David Beckham is to blame for the Lescott boo boys
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Melanie Slade in German FHM
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It’s zillionth choice striker Xisco!

The Spaniard pictured with some of his close male friends

As the player whose arrival at St James’ Park signalled Sir Kevin of Keegan’s impromptu exit, it’s little surprise that Xisco never became a fan favourite.

Dennis Wise’s greatest foray into the transfer market was shipped out on loan to Racing Santander last week, but it has been revealed that this move was born from controversial circumstances.

In his last days at Newcastle, the Spaniard complained of a groin injury and missed training for nine days. Subsequently, he insisted that he would need a further two weeks to recuperate. Just three days after saying this, however, Xisco successfully completed his first training session with Racing. Ruling out the possibility of a miraculous recovery, the player has had the gall/stupidity to admit that he forced his exit by faking the injury.

Also appearing on a computer near you…

Sport get an excuse to extol the virtues of Barcelona by considering which of the Champions League have produced the most home grown talent [click image to enlarge]

How to avoid a transfer to Stoke by Christian Lell
[OTP]

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Interestment give us an update on the world of football
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How the crappy Newcastle away kit came to pass
[ChannelBee]

Hertha Berlin refuse to comment on Roman Pavlyuchenko loan deal
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Yeah, that was a pretty crappy transfer deadline day
[The Telegraph]

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