OzzieMandias

Well, he's wrong there, like. Unfortunately.

Aye like that's ever stopped our fans before. Let's face it the majority are happier using their voices to vent frustration than they are to get behind the team. The team are against what has happened, kicking off is getting behind the team. Showing Pardew support, or being complicit in his appointment, is going against the team. This is an exceedingly dumb argument. In what way? Respected players consider what has happened a joke, what kind of message does it send to the players if the fans just go along with it and turn up with football rattles and foam hands? Where exactly is that going to get us? Are you expecting the Gallowgate to cheer on Alan Pardew's blacknwhite army to victory against Liverpool? If you think the players are somehow going to be lifted by an atmosphere of dissent, protest, and orchestrated moaning, you're bonkers.

Aye like that's ever stopped our fans before. Let's face it the majority are happier using their voices to vent frustration than they are to get behind the team. The team are against what has happened, kicking off is getting behind the team. Showing Pardew support, or being complicit in his appointment, is going against the team. This is an exceedingly dumb argument.

I haven't said anything other than lets not crucify him until he's earned the right to be crucified. He might be a complete disaster from day 1 or h might just be average or indeed it might in time be viewed as a masterstroke by Ashley. I personally think he'll be a disaster - but let him at least have his chance now he's apparently got the job. Is that not plain old common sense? Fuck me, I agree with Crumpy.

Lowest under Ashley, I think.

But think about the consequences!!11!!! Didn't need to be Golfmag to predict you'd dig that one up again for the 37th time. Difference between Ashley and Shepherd: the latter was vulnerable to attacks on his finances. Hell, one chant of "sack the board" and he'd run off and blow loads of money we didn't have on a Luque or Owen. Protest, as you correctly pointed out earlier, is unlikely to affect Ashley's actions in any way whatsoever. Not THAT hard to understand, is it? I'll dig it up every time I see you hypocritically telling people they shouldn't protest because protesting is bad and will have dire consequences. You encouraged protesting against Shepherd during games or boycotting games altogether despite acknowledging any reduction in income would directly affect the club negatively. You thought exposing FIFA corruption before the WC vote was the right thing to do in spite of the threat of losing votes. But you don't think anyone should air their anger at Ashley for sacking "a great young manager" - your words last month - for fear of the consequences despite acknowledging any reduction in income will have little effect on how he runs the club or any decision to sell? That's pretty hard to understand. It's almost as if you just don't want people to protest against Ashley and are using a false argument you don't believe to try and scare or guilt people out of it as you know you're not going to get anywhere arguing against protesting on any other grounds. No hypocrisy on my part, chum. I thought protest would have a positive outcome re. Freddie, and I don't believe that to be the case with Ashley. You're making out that any protest against anything is exactly the same, that if you approve of protest in one circumstance then you have to approve of protest whenever it is likely to occur. Anyone with half a brain can see that's nothing but the purest bollocks. Your habit of continually quoting my four-year-old post out of context demonstrates nothing except the fact that you're either a fucking moron, or a hypocrite yourself. Now why don't you run along and try to interpret set of accounts. We could all use a good laugh at the moment.

But think about the consequences!!11!!! Didn't need to be Golfmag to predict you'd dig that one up again for the 37th time. Difference between Ashley and Shepherd: the latter was vulnerable to attacks on his finances. Hell, one chant of "sack the board" and he'd run off and blow loads of money we didn't have on a Luque or Owen. Protest, as you correctly pointed out earlier, is unlikely to affect Ashley's actions in any way whatsoever. Not THAT hard to understand, is it?

Its nowt to do with people having the right to be angry or not, its about thinking about the consequences before you act on that anger. Everyone here is angry (well 99%) and everyone here would probably feel much better after they protested against that fat twat. But making ourselves feel better isn't the most important thing. If I thought for a second that a protest would remove Ashley I'd do it, but we all know it won't. What probably will happen is Ashley putting the club up for sale and in limbo with a temporary manager like Kinnear for the rest of the season which would seal our relegation. Someone tell me how a protests helps NUFC and I'll join you. We should give a big show of support for Hughton, NOT a direct protest against Ashley or the club in general. Precisely.

The Netherlands. The population of the Netherlands is a fair bit bigger than the NE, tbf. Aye and they've produced a fair few more world-class players than northeast England too. But a surprisingly large number for such a small country.

The Netherlands.

The problem is Hughton's not wearing his suit.

At the talkin I sorted out we had Bez on & he had some good Tino stories. I bet he did. Love to have heard some of them. All the players of that era seem to recall Tino with a lot of affection.

You gotta love Tino.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/dec/05/fifa

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/02/world-cup-british-journalism-wikileaks

Much as I share the jaundiced view of FIFA, we shouldn't let the fact they're a bunch of corrupt, sleazy, power-hungry shitbags detract from the incompetence, naivety and lack of principles (the BBC and Panorama an "embarrassment"? Fuck right off!) of our own FA and government.

Yeah.... that's what some people thought about Japan/Korea. sorry, but i just have to flag up the fact that you're seemingly comparing Qatar, a country that a few years back was one big sand dune, to the ancient cultures of Japan and Korea, with their rich heritages and many, many millions of people, cultural and technological accomplishments, legacies of artistic and scientific brilliance, high levels of human development, well respected civil societies, freedom of the press and so on. who the hell said Japan/Korea had no culture or atmosphere? idiotic in the extreme. qatar is just a few dozen rich royals who probably live in london or paris paying off some corrupt bastards in order to stage an event that they should never have even been considered for. Japan and Korea are some of the most well respected and most well developed countries on the planet. it's kind of like comparing newcastle with sunderland... Whats idiotic is your totally irrelevant and off the point post. Frankly, I couldnt care less about those factors that you mentioned. Stick to football, thanks. When nessy asks how any culture and atmosphere is going to be generated in the place I instantly thought about the atmosphere and the passion in the stadiums. This is what I was certainly referring to. I dont know how off the pitch events held a thousand miles away is going to spoil your enjoyment of the world cup. Fucking hell. only few weeks back there was a thread saying politics and religion shouldnt mix with football. Were you one of those people that agreed with that, by any chance? Politics and football shouldn't mix when we talk about football actually being played. There's no room for sectarianism and racism in football. However, when we're talking about organising a WC, we're not really talking about just the football, are we? We're talking about money, infrastructure, tourism, transport, investment etc., and that is a bunch of things that are, by its nature, political. So hosting a WC definitely has political aspects towards it. How do you think Qatar will build all these fancy stadiums? They'll bring in migrant workers for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, treat them like slaves, pay them like slaves then deport them when they've finished their jobs. That's how they've done it, that's how Dubai did it, that's how the ME has constructed themselves. So when FIFA says 'ok, we'll let you host the WC', they are sanctioning and condoning the way Qatar and other countries in the ME treat migrant workers. That could not be any less of a political decision. So yes, football and religion/politics shouldn't mix when we're talking about football being played, but when we're talking about spending billions of dollars, that's politics whether you want it to be or not. Slave labour, all criticism suppressed. That's a big thumbs-up from FIFA!

Not if you're trying to claim that a country with a population currently estimated at 840,926 (not that you got that right either) will expand to "4–5 million" in a dozen years. If population is not going to expand via birth rate or migration, where on earth are all those millions going to come from? A fucking huge big flock of storks? Try using facts sometimes, rather than hype and baseless assertion.

It's true that the FA are fucking useless. FIFA are still a bunch of cunts, though.

Canny easy to retain a high GDP/capita when your population is little bigger than that of Tyneside. That will be there strength though. Imagine a World Cup where there will be little than a few hours travel from one end of the country to the other. It's also important to consider the population growth the country has experienced (in the last 10 years the population has doubled) and will continue to experience. The population is around 1.3m, by 2022, who knows maybe 4/5m? These 'OPEC' arab states are going to leave us in the dust in the next twenty or so years. Seriously, compare their development to ours. It's embarrassing for us, but this is the era we live in ... It's also important to consider Asia. The likes of India and China, a third of the world's population between them will only be 4/5 flight hours away. Asia is turning into the future of football, lucrative, emerging markets will be where the money is whilst Europe is dragging itself out of the shit we put ourselves in. Football in no longer solely European, like it or lump it. Lot of bollocks in there, like. China and India are the future of the game? A third of the world's population and neither have even managed to qualify for a World Cup, ever. Neither country gives a toss about the sport, man. Qatar. It's not much bigger that the Isle of Wight and has a population about the size of Tyne and Wear. Its population growth rate is 0.869% -- 130th in the world. It's migrant rate is -4.41 per 1,000 population – 198th in the world. And you think there'll be 4/5 million people there by 2022? Give me a bag of whatever this chump has been smoking. It's obviously powerful stuff. (Figures from the CIA World Factbook, by the way.) China have. Obviously it's the future of football, then, and the choice of Qatar makes perfect sense.

I'll be fucking dead by then.

Canny easy to retain a high GDP/capita when your population is little bigger than that of Tyneside. That will be there strength though. Imagine a World Cup where there will be little than a few hours travel from one end of the country to the other. It's also important to consider the population growth the country has experienced (in the last 10 years the population has doubled) and will continue to experience. The population is around 1.3m, by 2022, who knows maybe 4/5m? These 'OPEC' arab states are going to leave us in the dust in the next twenty or so years. Seriously, compare their development to ours. It's embarrassing for us, but this is the era we live in ... It's also important to consider Asia. The likes of India and China, a third of the world's population between them will only be 4/5 flight hours away. Asia is turning into the future of football, lucrative, emerging markets will be where the money is whilst Europe is dragging itself out of the shit we put ourselves in. Football in no longer solely European, like it or lump it. Lot of bollocks in there, like. China and India are the future of the game? A third of the world's population and neither have even managed to qualify for a World Cup, ever. Neither country gives a toss about the sport, man. Qatar. It's not much bigger that the Isle of Wight and has a population about the size of Tyne and Wear. Its population growth rate is 0.869% -- 130th in the world. It's migrant rate is -4.41 per 1,000 population – 198th in the world. And you think there'll be 4/5 million people there by 2022? Give me a bag of whatever this chump has been smoking. It's obviously powerful stuff. (Figures from the CIA World Factbook, by the way.)

I don't think we were in line to get it even before Panorama. And if a precondition for hosting the World Cup is that all criticism of FIFA must be suppressed, fuck 'em. Countries such as Russia and Qatar (respectively numbers 140 and 121 on the Press Freedom Index 2010) are precisely where it belongs. http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2010,1034.html

There's more people in England interested in rugby and cricket than there are people in, say, Germany interested in basketball and handball.