The Wise/Jimenez/Vetere AND KEVIN KEEGAN appreciation thread

Regardless of whatever involvement they may of may not have had in the criss our club is going through, I think a thread is in order just to congratulate Dennis Wise, Tony Jimenez, and Jeff Vertre on a job well done.

The scouting team, with Vertre at the head, has brought us gems like Bassong and Guthrie for next to nothing.

Jimenez has worked his magic at the negotiation table, letting us hoodwink Mallorca into handing over Jonas for peanuts, and pressuring Deportivo into selling us our classiest defender since Woodgate.

Wise, whatever his faults, has brought us the one true Nile Ranger, for which we will be eternally grateful.

I don't know if any of these people had an influence on KK leaving or the unfortunate antics of their employer. If they did have some sort of influence, they certainly deserve some serious reckoning for their mistakes.

What I do know is that at the very least they did their jobs, which is far more than I can say for some other people at the club.

So  , and may they continue to do their work for the club. (Except for the departed Jimenez, I suppose)

Said from day one Wise is not to blame.

This thread won't end well but they've made some good signings and deserve credit for that at least.

Coloccini is our classiest since Albert tbh

Coloccini is our classiest since Albert tbh

He's not. Some fella who now plays for Spurs was much better and classier for us than Colo has been yet.

I think Guthrie was Keegan's idea tbh but I have to admit I have been impressed by the signings made this summer. I wonder where we would be now,with this squad, if there hadn't have been a crisis at all...

Jonas

Coloccini is our classiest since Albert tbh

Not until he chips the keeper in a demolition of Manchester United.

BASSONG 

In my humble opinion (and this could go in any number of threads I suppose) Ashley's blueprint for his NUFC ownership is the only way we'll can be competitive unless we unearth some reckless Arabs with more money than sense.

Due to the strength of the top four (or five now with Villa), we're not going to reach their level in the foreseeable future so we've got to steadily invest in good players (see Colo and Jonas), gradually improve the squad (see Bassong and Guthrie) and unearth top young talent as well as we can (See Spear, Ranger etc).

I've been huge advocate of this approach since day one.

I think Ashley's made some recruitment and policy mistakes along the way (Such as Llambias and his comms policy) BUT when he leaves us I'll hope the new Owner(s) adopt the same principles in trying to make us sustainable and competitive for the long term.

If people could take the personalities out of it (i.e: we hadn't known Wise the player) everyone would be raving about what a fantastic job he'd done. Without doubt.

I'll also give him credit for sticking with the job rather than taking the easy option. It's not like he needs the money or hassle.

Put's tin hat on.

Who signed Diatta?

can we change this to the Wise/Jiminez/Vetere/Keegan appreciation thread? Why miss off someone who also played a part in transfers? Apparently Keegan was behind the Guthrie signing while he also personally ran the rule over Bassong during the trial period. He also never voiced displeasure at the Jonas or Colo signings which suggests he also had a say there. conversly, it looked like he exercised some more quality control in turning down Diane and Gomis after personally scouting them, being pictured at a couple of ligue 1 games alongside Vetere. The signings he seemed to have a problem with were Xisco and Gonzalez, cant say i disagree with him on those two.

Woodgate has no class, and if you dont believe me ask the landlords who've barred him for burning £20 notes 

Who signed Diatta?

Well, apparently, his 'agent' rang in and said he was a seasoned international - so Keegan signed him purely on that basis.   

can we change this to the Wise/Jiminez/Vetere/Keegan appreciation thread? Why miss off someone who also played a part in transfers? Apparently Keegan was behind the Guthrie signing while he also personally ran the rule over Bassong during the trial period. He also never voiced displeasure at the Jonas or Colo signings which suggests he also had a say there. conversly, it looked like he exercised some more quality control in turning down Diane and Gomis after personally scouting them, being pictured at a couple of ligue 1 games alongside Vetere. The signings he seemed to have a problem with were Xisco and Gonzalez, cant say i disagree with him on those two.

I don't think Keegan really needs a whole separate thread for even more appreciation.

Who said Keegan turned down Diane and Gomis?

can we change this to the Wise/Jiminez/Vetere/Keegan appreciation thread? Why miss off someone who also played a part in transfers? Apparently Keegan was behind the Guthrie signing while he also personally ran the rule over Bassong during the trial period. He also never voiced displeasure at the Jonas or Colo signings which suggests he also had a say there. conversly, it looked like he exercised some more quality control in turning down Diane and Gomis after personally scouting them, being pictured at a couple of ligue 1 games alongside Vetere. The signings he seemed to have a problem with were Xisco and Gonzalez, cant say i disagree with him on those two.

 

I don't think Keegan really needs a whole separate thread for even more appreciation.

 

 

Eh? if he was included it wouldnt be a whole separate thread, it would just be one other name added to the list. surely by excluding him you are making it more likely that there'll be a 'whole separate thread' rather than the one inclusive thread.

can we change this to the Wise/Jiminez/Vetere/Keegan appreciation thread? Why miss off someone who also played a part in transfers? Apparently Keegan was behind the Guthrie signing while he also personally ran the rule over Bassong during the trial period. He also never voiced displeasure at the Jonas or Colo signings which suggests he also had a say there. conversly, it looked like he exercised some more quality control in turning down Diane and Gomis after personally scouting them, being pictured at a couple of ligue 1 games alongside Vetere. The signings he seemed to have a problem with were Xisco and Gonzalez, cant say i disagree with him on those two.

 

I don't think Keegan really needs a whole separate thread for even more appreciation.

 

 

You should of really added him into this thread as he had the  "FINAL" say on first team signings, although I am not sure on Xisco & Nacho though.

Who signed Diatta?

Well, Diatta did exactly what he was brought in to do (provide emergency cover for next to nothing)

Pisses me off no end what went down the few days either side of the end of August.

The system had a hell of a lot of merit. Would we need to spend more? Sure, but it's not like net spend is the be all end all of things. I wish I could look at it and blame Wise and Jimenez and say they fucked Keegan over.

But it's not the case IMO. We had a system that would have worked and really taken us places. A scouting team that could identify players and get them at a good price, and a manager who could put out a team that could win games and play good football.

But because 4 or 5 guys haven't got the maturity to work as a team, preferring instead to squabble over power, it all went down the shitter.

Now we've Joe Kinnear in charge and a club for sale that nobody wants.

Shame we've scared Jiminez off.

Shame all the 'great' work could be outdone by the fact that even if we dont go down, several key players could go at the end of the season and we will still be looking for a credible manager to once again rebuild the broken bones of a poor team.

Let's all just hope that part of the reason we went with Kinnear, is because he is close to Wise and is happy to work with the system of recruitment.

If so january could be really good for us.

Many geordies in this thread?

They're made some very good signings, but they also made some poor ones, especially Gonzales which has been an utter disaster.  Meanwhile they left numerous holes in the squad while £12 or so million sat in the bank unused.  They also missed out on quite a few signings, and I'd hardly say Jiminez hoodwinked Mallorca into handing over Jonas for peanuts, they had no say in the matter.  But I congratulate them none the less for identifying him and acting quickly to sign him first.  In other words its been a very mixed bag IMO.