Mick

I don't think he said that the expectations are high. He said that the club has a very intimate relationship with the city, and the happiness or unhappiness of its citizens rests more closely on the fortunes of its one club than is the case with other large cities. Hence there's pressure on results, and victory and defeat can produce pronounced mood swings which can affect the players. That's a more subtle point that just saying the supporters are over-optimistic. It seemed to me a fairly honest appraisal of where we're at as a club. In the case of Ashley, and his mistakes brought about by confusion, he was probably too honest. Conflict behind the scenes is just the sort of story that the media are looking for. Running a business and running a football club are not the same thing, and he should have just stuck to that point. A better manager would be able to feed off the position the club has in the community, a shit one can't.

What's started?

2J has it in his.

Have a word with yourself.

Stop caring and we'll be a better club. Another sackable offence, the useless bastard.

Partly because people sing "Give us a wave" instead of "You don't know what you're doing."

I do remember him having a good game or two for England.

I wonder if leaving home was a problem? I know Shearer flourished but not everybody is the same and what makes some people can break others. A different choice may have gave him a different career.

The Chronicle massively hyped Murray who couldn't live up to expectations and was eventually a nobody in comparison.

I knew Ross, he used to come and watch a 5 a side team I played for because his cousin also played. He wanted to play but Boro wouldn't let him and he would have been fined if he'd played. I've played 11 and 5 a side with somebody who went on to play almost 300 games for us, I was trained by a World Cup winner, managed by a mackem who scored against us at St James' Park, I watched a future England keeper and played Pool regularly with a Spurs footballer from the 80's. I think that's about it.

That's me not watching.

If anybody wants to waste a few minutes they can try looking. The only thing I said was that I thought he'd played his last game for us when we were relegated.

Don't worry, you'll get something right, eventually.

Some great free advertising for Benson and Hedges when away fans look on the back of this comprehensive guide. If they are honest it should be a good boost to the economy of Newcastle.

I've got a horrible feeling that he might do well, that's based on nothing other than him pissing on us so many times, it's bound to happen.

I don't see anything hugely positive about a player doing really well only to be dropped when another player who hasn't been very good comes straight back into the team when he recovers from injury. One of them will think he’s not being rewarded for his displays so is wasting his time while the other thinks he doesn’t have to do much because he’ll play anyway.

The version I heard was that he was pulled from the squad before travelling to Man City and was told he was going to Arsenal. Nothing happened between the clubs and he was told he was playing against West Ham and virtually told them to piss off.

The team should have been good enough to avoid defeat against Brighton.

Agreed, it's no coincidence he was our manager at the time Sir John went on the radio.

Being called Marcelino can't help.

He said "it can't attract top sponsors or players or sell it's corporate boxes".

You make some canny assumptions. You say we can't attract top sponsors, based on what? What makes Newcastle a harder sell than Sunderland who have smaller gates and are shown less often on TV? You claim we can't sell corporate boxes, if that is true why did we put up new boxes at the back of the Leazes only last season? As for us having low ticket prices, that's because the club is shit and people are not willing to pay over the odds to have the piss ripped out of them. If the club was run properly then people would be willing to pay more to watch a successful club.

I know it's thinking out of the box, is it possible that he made more in 2 years than he lost in 1 year?