Wullie

Mad how shambolic La Liga's marketing and rights negotiation is compared to the Premier League.

They lost the play off final having been 2-0 up after the first leg.

Huh, had absolutely no idea he'd gone to Russia.

Fucking love today's, the VAR wars frames are amazing.

Grow up. Edit: Fitzgerald

Wonder if we would be able to get him to clarify that. Maybe ask Caulking to get in touch. Be surprised if Caulkin didn't ghost wrote the article.

Think he's just a contributor. The rest all sit on the board of NUST; they all want to be further involved with NUFC and get coin doing so. This was also my issue with the supporters trust being the same people as the fanzine. The fanzine slowly loses it's objectivity as they want to be involved with the club albeit I didn't think it would happen so soon. Same happened down the road when Roker Report became a club mouthpiece for the Don because he bought them a Maccy D's. The worst of it all is that the NUST survey was overwhelmingly in support of a boycott, yet several of them (including the Chair of the trust, no less) decided to publicly flaunt the fact that they were attending. Massively disappointing. Played the boycott card when it suited them just to get money in. Fucking arseholes.

Exactly IP.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/now-tv-sky-sports-pass-deal-football This deal is really excellent if anyone wants Sky Sports but doesn't want to pay top whack for it. £199 for the entire season for all the sports channels with the crucial added bonus that Now TV allows you to watch two screens at the same time so me and a mate have gone halves and are sharing the account, tenner a month each for the season.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/12/mike-ashley-newcastle-united-steve-bruce-sentiment-results

Full of admiration for Heron like, he's a real ambassador for those trying to make a difference and I wish more media companies would have him on instead of the whoppers at True Faith or the likes of Wraith who are more interested in their personal profile.

Alex Bruce

No different to Rafa against Big 6 sides Newcastle 5 v 1 Spurs/Poch Newcastle 3 v 0 Chelsea/Conte Newcastle 2 v 1 Man City/Guardiola Newcastle 2 v 1 Arsenal/Wenger Newcastle 1 v 0 Man Utd/Mourinho Even in his last home game against a Big 6 side(Liverpool) we had the most shots on target of any side that played them last season. If you think today was similar to that then wow. List all of the narrow defeats against the big teams as well, before I bother taking your post remotely seriously. You can’t just rewrite history to back up your point man. You know fine well there were many games against big teams under Rafa that we barely had a kick in. I obviously was talking about those games, ffs. Stop being so fucking defensive. Imagine thinking this wasn’t enough wins from a newly promoted side against the Big 6 who didn’t give the manager any financial backing Still the only team in the Premier League to beat Man City in 2019. You just saw what they did to West Ham. Ungrateful pal. Seriously, what the fuck are you banging on about? You’re arguing about something completely unrelated to what I posted about. How many fucking times do I have to say I loved Rafa and what he did for the club. All I said above was, performance wise, today’s performance was very similar to many performances under Rafa against big teams....the three 2-1 defeats to Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal at the start of last season for a start. You are literally making up a topic to argue about. Just ignore him. He's got that post copied out in a Word document ready to reply to anyone who mentions any football manager.

Course it's not the same thing. But ultimately, bums on seats and money through the till is the ultimate endorsement in every business. "I walked away because my product was massively popular" said no business owner, ever. I certainly felt massively cheated paying Alan Pardew's wages, don't know about anyone else. Knocked me fucking sick. I'd feel the same paying for Bagpuss.

Imagine you were running an expensive restaurant and every night the customers were telling you how shit the food tasted and how it gave them food poisoning. Then booked a fucking table for the same time next week. And have you got any really expensive t-shirts with the restaurant logo on please?

Say what you like about Michael Martin but he didn't lick the club's arse like those who've replaced him.

I don't mean this a dig at you (I really enjoy our discussions on this actually) but I've said this before, it's sometimes like people who still go the game think it's been easy for us to walk away, that we didn't really enjoy it in the first place, not like they did, the true fans. Let me tell you, fans far more devoted than you have walked away, look at Keith Barrett, organised travel to every Newcastle game across the continent for decades, now in exile, and I see others on his Facebook commenting the same. All those things you said you loved about going to the match, do you not think the rest of us used to feel like that? That feeling has been completely taken away from us by Mike Ashley. We miss it and we're desperate to get it back. But it won't ever come back while people fill his pockets and give him no reason to go away and leave us alone. A full stadium is a ringing endorsement that he's keeping people happy. That is why we get so frustrated with those doing everything they can to keep him here.

There was no booing man. Where the hell did you hear that? There was the usual mooted applause, slight grumble, like you’d get at any narrow defeat. I agree with you about the lack of volume from our fans in terms of raising them...but isn’t that a problem with pretty much every PL club. I’ve been to plenty of away games where the away fans are the only ones to be heard. I think you’re describing a culture of “entertain me”, rather than it specifically being a problem with our fans. I'm not, I'm just asking in relation to our fans, many of claim they are going almost out of some sort of self sacrifice, "I need to be there to support the players!" No you want to go and watch the match, don't pretend otherwise. It's all me me me, I don't want to give up MY day out. Again, that's fine but don't lie about it. The players in reality couldn't give much of a shit whether you're there or not. Mike Ashley is the owner and Steve Bruce is the manager, I think they've got bigger problems than whether or not Alf from Westerhope goes and grumbles to himself. Oh yeah...I agree with that then. I don’t think I’ve ever really hid the reasons I go to the match. I enjoy it, win or lose. I still get that same buzz I got when I was 8 going to my first game when I walk out and see the pitch. The hairs on the back of my neck still stand up when local hero plays. I still go crazy and hug the person next to me when we score. It’s a massive part of my upbringing, and I want to take my son and daughter moving forward to share the same experiences my dad shared with me. Sure, I guess that’s selfish in your eyes. And I’m fine with that. I would argue that it’s selfish of you to tell me I shouldn’t be doing it, especially when 95% of the stadium have absolutely no intention of walking away. As I’ve said so many times on here before, life is too short and too important to miss potentially cherished memories just because I’m angry at how the club I love is run. I maintain that the only way Ashley will ever leave is on his own terms or if he’s pressured into it from the shareholders of Sports Direct. 5k, 10k, 15k empty seats every now and again...he simply won’t give a shit. Anyway, I feel like a broken record. I guess one of the saddest things about all this is that people feel the need to justify their decisions online to other fans. At the end of the day, do what you see fit. There’s no right answer, just opinions. You didn't answer me earlier, do you not think he might think "is this worth it?" if we were in the Championship and the gates were 20k and the club was haemorrhaging money? I think more than 5% of the stadium have already gone btw, they've just had their seats filled by many people who don't give as much of a shit imo. Yeah, perhaps if we were in the Championship for several seasons and the gates were low for a prolonged time. But like it or not the attendances won’t drop significantly for as long as we’re in the PL. That’s all that matters to most fans...to go and watch some top tier football on a weekend. I agree. The division we're in is more important to many in that stadium than the club, which makes the superfan stuff so totally laughable.

There was no booing man. Where the hell did you hear that? There was the usual mooted applause, slight grumble, like you’d get at any narrow defeat. I agree with you about the lack of volume from our fans in terms of raising them...but isn’t that a problem with pretty much every PL club. I’ve been to plenty of away games where the away fans are the only ones to be heard. I think you’re describing a culture of “entertain me”, rather than it specifically being a problem with our fans. I'm not, I'm just asking in relation to our fans, many of claim they are going almost out of some sort of self sacrifice, "I need to be there to support the players!" No you want to go and watch the match, don't pretend otherwise. It's all me me me, I don't want to give up MY day out. Again, that's fine but don't lie about it. The players in reality couldn't give much of a shit whether you're there or not. Mike Ashley is the owner and Steve Bruce is the manager, I think they've got bigger problems than whether or not Alf from Westerhope goes and grumbles to himself. Oh yeah...I agree with that then. I don’t think I’ve ever really hid the reasons I go to the match. I enjoy it, win or lose. I still get that same buzz I got when I was 8 going to my first game when I walk out and see the pitch. The hairs on the back of my neck still stand up when local hero plays. I still go crazy and hug the person next to me when we score. It’s a massive part of my upbringing, and I want to take my son and daughter moving forward to share the same experiences my dad shared with me. Sure, I guess that’s selfish in your eyes. And I’m fine with that. I would argue that it’s selfish of you to tell me I shouldn’t be doing it, especially when 95% of the stadium have absolutely no intention of walking away. As I’ve said so many times on here before, life is too short and too important to miss potentially cherished memories just because I’m angry at how the club I love is run. I maintain that the only way Ashley will ever leave is on his own terms or if he’s pressured into it from the shareholders of Sports Direct. 5k, 10k, 15k empty seats every now and again...he simply won’t give a shit. Anyway, I feel like a broken record. I guess one of the saddest things about all this is that people feel the need to justify their decisions online to other fans. At the end of the day, do what you see fit. There’s no right answer, just opinions. You didn't answer me earlier, do you not think he might think "is this worth it?" if we were in the Championship and the gates were 20k and the club was haemorrhaging money? I think more than 5% of the stadium have already gone btw, they've just had their seats filled by many people who don't give as much of a shit imo.

There was no booing man. Where the hell did you hear that? There was the usual mooted applause, slight grumble, like you’d get at any narrow defeat. I agree with you about the lack of volume from our fans in terms of raising them...but isn’t that a problem with pretty much every PL club. I’ve been to plenty of away games where the away fans are the only ones to be heard. I think you’re describing a culture of “entertain me”, rather than it specifically being a problem with our fans. I'm not, I'm just asking in relation to our fans, many of claim they are going almost out of some sort of self sacrifice, "I need to be there to support the players!" No you want to go and watch the match, don't pretend otherwise. It's all me me me, I don't want to give up MY day out. Again, that's fine but don't lie about it. The players in reality couldn't give much of a shit whether you're there or not. Mike Ashley is the owner and Steve Bruce is the manager, I think they've got bigger problems than whether or not Alf from Westerhope goes and grumbles to himself.

Isn't it up to them to raise the flat team? If not, why are they there? I thought that was their sole reason for going, all I've heard all week - "the players need us against Arsenal". Need you to what, fucking sit in silence and boo them off? Far more support for the regime (financial) than the team (noise) in that place today. Re: getting rid of Ashley, if the club was in the Championship for a prolonged period and gates were ~20k, and the club was losing money day after day (it has lost money in the Championship even with 45k gates remember), would that not count as an inconvenience?

Was it hell...my mate sent me loads of photos during the game. East Stand and Gallowgate were basically completely full. Leaves had that large pocket of about 1000 empty seats. Milburn Stand was full apart from the usual empty seats at the top of the platinum club. Level 7 looked basically full apart from pockets missing in the corner. bless, you’re in seventh heaven. No I’m not. I stayed away, just like everyone wants everyone to. But as predicted, staying away is a waste of fucking time. Honestly, it really is. There’s no desire at all for it on a large scale, and definitely not sustained. Today was the one opportunity people had to send a message and they didn’t. Because they wanted to go and support the team. That’s just not ever going to change while we’re in the premier league. I’ve said it a million times (but of course get labelled a WUM because my opinion varies to whatever is popular on here), but the only way Ashley will sell NUFC is if it becomes an inconvenience to him. Target the crap out of his businesses. Stop them from tweeting, Facebooking, sour their name even further. Picket the shops weekly. Ashley is under pressure from his shareholders, particularly at the moment. If they show concern that his running of NUFC is negatively affecting Sport Direct, he’ll be a lot more inclined to get out. Why didn't they bother then?

Benitez has always been an exceptional cup manager and he employed almost cup-like tactics with regards which games he really focused on. His record has to be viewed in that context, he was more than happy not to expend too much energy in the games against the better sides, just don't get pasted and focus more on games that were more winnable. Wasn't a particular enjoyable strategy but in hindsight, you can't deny it was effective.

It's going to be... interesting to see how much he's able to cope (or not) given how much more switched-on tactically the league has become since he was last keeping a Premier League team up, in 2010/11 with the mackems. That season, the other managers included Pardew, Allardyce, Holloway, Coyle, Kean, McLeish, Moyes, Hughes, Dalglish, Pulis, Redknapp and McCarthy. It's a different world now, not a good time to be a manager who "doesn't believe in tactics." Struggling with it already by the looks of it.

I’m not going to spin anything. I thought the first half was decent. Lively, although without many clear cut chances. Second half was woeful. Absolutely baffling. I heard the players really enjoyed it.