game 3:


Bordeaux 4 - Nice 0

NEWCASTLE EXTEND MOAT DEADLINE

Tyneside businessman Barry Moat has been given extra time to come up with the financial backing to buy out Newcastle owner Mike Ashley.

In a development which surprised few this morning, the Magpies announced that Moat has been given an extension to allow him time to persuade Barclays Bank that he is able to service the club's existing £39million overdraft facility.

A statement released by the club read: "Newcastle United confirm that we have extended our deadline to Barry Moat to table an offer for the club.

"The extension is being granted in order to allow Barry Moat and his advisers to conclude funding arrangements with Barclays, current banker, for the continuation of last season's £39million facility.

"This would allow a formal offer to be tabled."

Moat now faces a race against the clock to come up with a financial package which will satisfy both Barclays and Ashley, although two other consortia are also still in talks with the hierarchy at St James' Park.

Few commentators expected today's announcement would confirm decisive action in a saga which has been ongoing for around three months, and it will leave the club's fans with mixed feelings.

Moat is understood to be ready to install Alan Shearer as manager if his bid is successful, while the former skipper is also thought to be favoured by the other interested parties.

However, unless any of them meet Ashley's £100million asking price and can demonstrate they have the backing to run the club, there is a very real possibility it could ultimately remain in the hands of the current regime.

In that event, the current owner, who shelved earlier plans to sell in December last year after a fruitless worldwide search for a buyer, would then face a major decision over who takes charge of team affairs.

Ashley is understood to feel that Shearer, who was at the helm for the final eight games of last season, lacks the experience to be appointed on a permanent basis, and several experienced bosses, including Joe Kinnear, have been sounded out.

However, Chris Hughton, currently acting as caretaker for the third time, has done his own cause little harm after guiding Newcastle to three wins and a draw in their first four Coca-Cola Championship matches, a return which leaves them among a posse of four clubs on 10 points at the top of the table.

An added complication is the summer transfer window, which closes on Tuesday next week.

That leaves the club little or no time in which to push through transfer moves whoever is holding the purse strings, and with Hughton's squad having been reduced by a net nine bodies to date and speculation still rife over Steven Taylor's future, one serious injury to a key player could have a catastrophic effect.

Football365 link

Well done DAS. I used to enjoy watching French Football League on Sky. It is so much better than the snoozefests served up from Italy.

Manchester Uniteds defensive troubles might be bigger after Nemanja Vidic is under investigation after the match against Wigan. FA has recieved footage where he is trying to suckerpunch Rodallega just outside his own penaltyarea. He might be suspended for three matches if they find him guilty.

Bad news since we are up against Arsenal, Spurs and Man City the upcoming games.

Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa

There goes Fortress Anfield for another season. A little scruffy though. One own goal, one penalty and one goal that apparently came during some rather generous stoppage time.

Looked like nothing to me. The guy went down like a domino. Vidic can be violent though.

Well so far out of the big four London seems to have the upper hand. I´ll wait at least one more season before i put Man C. in that group. It will be interesting to see how long Spurs can stay in the topp.

He sure can. The footage i´ve seen was to fuzzy/blurry to make something out of but something really made Roddalega mad.

I liked the iron hand of Graeme Souness at Newcastle. He always brings discipline to a team. But I seem to remember the fans took a dislike to him for some reason or another.

Newcastle are looking very promising right now. Quite a few managers will probably be interested in going there.

I didn't like Souness' tenure. We were unattractive to watch, uninspired and he got the backs up of most of the players in the first couple of weeks. Laurent Robert, Olivier Bernard and Jermaine Jenas left because of him as did Craig Bellamy. He wasted money on non-entities like Luque and Boumsong and left us with a tiny squad. Boumsong was considered by Bobby Robson but written off as an awful defender... and Souness paid in the region of £9m for him.