OzzieMandias

What does it mean for you? Qualifying for the Champions League reasonably often, winning some other trophy in the not-too-distant, having a team that I can be proud of on the pitch. Keegan and Robson both managed to touch success briefly, but neither was able to get a hold on it. I want us to get good, and hang on to it for a while. I was in the Moroccan Sahara earlier this year, and dirt-poor kids in these isolated oasis towns would come up and say, "Hey mister, you English?" And if I said yes, they'd give me the thumbs-up and say "Chelsea!" Success for me would be those kids at least knowing what I was talking about when I replied: "Nah, Newcastle!!"

I think "success" for NE5 means something like "qualifying for the Intertoto reasonably often".

My answer to madras's question would be: "I'm glad we've taken the risk with Ashley, rather than be stuck with Fred."

You might turn out to be correct with some of the above but the comment about Ashley not spending money is no more than a crock of s***, he's spent £133 million to buy the club and he's taken on £80 million in debt. For the first time in the history of Newcastle United we've got a sole owner, one who has dragged more cash out of his pocket than we've ever seen before. He has employed a top businessman who is now looking at the club to see how it stands. We might not be taking massive leaps but we do seem to be laying the foundations to move forward by make good decisions for the club. If things work out well for us I think you will be privately gutted. Unlike yourself, I was not attracted to the club by the potential success that the Halls and Shepherd brought to the club, I supported them a long time before that, hoping for success. will you answer my question please....would you rather fred was still here or take the chance with ashley ? please try not to dodge the question with more about a future neither of us no as fact,i'm asking about about "now",we cannot know what the future holds but we have to make decisions...what's yours ? My answer is dependent on how they back their managers. We don't know yet if Ashley will back his managers more than the Halls and Shepherd. YOu are asking me to say who I prefer, based on what exactly ? Their personality ? I don't give a toss about Fred saying daft things in a brothel, likewise I don't give a toss if Ashley never makes a single quote to the press about anything. Neither scenario matter at all. My instinct is that the club is in safe hands with a man who will cover the debt undertaken in expanding the stadium, and a single owner who has delisted the club. But we can't be sure at all until we see the extent of his ambition and football nous. He may be perfectly happy just existing in the premiership and making small annual profits. We can't expect him to spend his own money on the club. There are also lots of clubs now in the hands of rich men. They are all looking to be in the CL and get their money back, and they can't all do it. Fact of life. He owns the damn club. Any money the club spends is his money. He's already spent more of his own money on players than Shepherd ever did. Fact.

Souness failure = not Shepherd's fault. Roeder failure = not Shepherd's fault. Allardyce success = Shepherd be praised! Allardyce failure = See – nyah! – I told you the new owners would be crap!

If there is an issue about transfers, I get the impression it's as much about the speed at which the new lot have (or haven't) operated as it is about financial caution. Not that I'm entirely opposed to a bit of financial caution. You shudder to think what quantity of shambles and shite the "review" might be turning up.

There is no reply to "why do you think blah blah bullshit?" when you didn't say "blah blah bullshit" and don't think "blah blah bullshit". The only one who can talk to the voices in your head is you.

thats what I like, good old blind optimism and an absolute conviction that anyone but Fred would be better despite only 4 clubs qualifying for europe more than us in the past decade What is your own particular "pure speculative opinion" on this matter ? And why do you think he should be spending his own money ? We all know that you are somewhat challenged when it comes to replying to things people have actually said, as opposed to some lurid narrative of your own devising, but even by your standards that was a pretty insane reply.

Whelan and Ashley are feuding.

Any got any actual evidence that the reason for the lull in our transfer activity is to do with Ashley not releasing cash? As far as I can see this is pure speculation.

They could do worse than Klinsi.

And that.

This.

Like I mentioned earlier Mort is here on sabbatical, which by its nature isn't perminant (its usually a year). Also he's a lawyer, not a Football person so I really see little reason to choose him as a long term Chairman. More likely he's there to be Ashley's eyes at the club during the initial takeover and to complete the internal review. Why do I think Ashley wouldn't try to run the club himself? Firstly he's a very good business man and so surely realises he doesn't have the knowledge to run a Football club day to day. Secondly he's a very private person who definitely wouldn't want to be the clubs figure head. Has this been reported? If so, I must have missed it.. Yep, it's been reported.

That's who sprang to my mind. Laurent Robert aswell. Yeah, though Robert wasn't quite as talented, nor quite as mental.

Tino Asprilla -- prodigious talent, zero discipline or mental control.

I don't know which is more pathetic -- people whinging about Ashley before he's barely had time to try out the owner's chair, or NE5 trying to use that in his latest round of excuse-making for the otherwise unlamented Fat Fred.

this thing of him changing clubs a lot. Coventry- got relegated, signed by newcastle Newcastle- Doing well, till souness forced him out Celtic- On loan, decided at the end he would rather stay in the EPL Blackburn- Was there a year, did well, hughes liked him, decided to move to liverpool, his boyhood club, and a big club. Liverpool- struggled there, was played out of position, couldn't be guarenteed a starting place and with the arrival of torres and voronin was obviously going to leave. Liverpool are the only club since newcastle where craig bellamy the person has been a factor in him leaving, and he would have probably stayed, if it wasn't for torres and voronin. only one incident on a golf course that i remember while he was there. Its not too bad when you look at it is it. Its not like he fell out with all 4 managers. he fell out with souness and rafa. Hughes and O'Neill liked him. Well, that's the rose-coloured view. At Coventry he left a lot of people pissed off with him -- I remember Cov supporters had a joke about a Bellamy doll which went down when you touched its knee. At Newcastle he fell out with a hell of lot more people than just Souness -- and it was still his choice to react to Souness the way he did. Going on TV to call the manager a liar was not the act of someone who wanted to stay at the club. And the long catalogue of mad incidents preceding that seems to have been conveniently forgotten by the Bellamy fans. At Blackburn he had the kind of release clause for which everyone is now slagging Owen off. At Liverpool, apart from falling out with Benitez and going at one of his team-mates with a fucking golf club, for christ's sake, he was also obviously just not good enough. At West Ham? I'll give him a season before he somehow fucks up again.

Supermac was good at this stuff too: "Mirandinha will have more shots this afternoon than both sides put together."

I can't remember which commentator or pundit said it, but my favourite one was this: "He's like a fish out of water who's been thrown in at the deep end."

Pages and pages of this stuff here: http://www.footballsite.co.uk/Statistics/Articles/Colemanballs/Colemanballs01.htm

Gawd. Try using your brain. If he were able to raise the finance to buy 70 percent of the club as easily as you suggest, why would it take him so long to buy the relatively small amount of shares that would take him up to 30 percent?

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2126288,00.html

Staggering that you're still so obsessed by the tosser, as he moves to his fourth new club since he played for us.