It became that, when you decided to argue with factual information. However, the opportunity is still there to prove otherwise, so justifying your "opinion"
I might as well be arguing with a creationist. You just sidestep arguments and bring up others that have no direct relevance to the core issue, play the 'facts' card and claim victory. Personally I think you regard yourself as a better fan for supporting the current shower in charge at NUFC against the masses of those that disagree with you; you're more faithful, longer-serving. Well done.
Have NUFC declined, consistently, since the days of SJH/Keegan et al? Apart from a brief reawakening under Bobby Robson, yes, we have. More and more money spent on less and less return. Apparently no-one's truly responsible for our decline as we have no divine right to be better, and if you weren't around when football was played between Chinese villages with a pig's bladder on a stick than you don't know how good you have it now.
"The masses" don't disagree. This forum is not representative of the match going supporter.
Are you sure about that? I don't know many fans that I talk to that go to the match that have that high an opinion of Shepherd. Everyone I know that goes to the match thinks the bloke is an incompetent.
Ok, perhaps you're right and it is the masses then. Let's face facts here, to make progress the clubs needs revenue and needs to get people through the turnstiles, nowt wrong with that. Post-1992 we see regular crowds of over 50,000, yet for decades before that we often saw crowds of 15,000 to 20,000 hard-core supporters who went to matches through thick and thin. Perhaps it is only those people who understand what a shit Board really looks like?
Gemmill,
Do you think that someone who believes a successfull attempt to replace the current Board might result in the club ending up with an unambitious Board means they believe, "Fred is great", "everything is fantastic", "I'm happy with mediocrity?" If you do, I can assure you that it's not true. Nobody is saying those things.
It's a good thing that expectations have been lifted by the current Board, but it's dangerous to allow those expectations to cause people to ignore the past. It seems there are a lot of people on here who believe the past to be irrelevant, they automatically treat with disdain those who mention the past. Well, the past of the club is very, very relevant and it always will be because that's where the lessons are. Nobody is saying the current Board is the most talented, and it may well be they have taken the club as far as they can, but they should be recognised for how far they have brought this club, and it should be acknowledged that replacing them with better will not be easy.
We would all take a group of people replacing the current Board that are better than the current lot, a group of people who would show ambition, who would strive to take the club forward. Yes, we'd all take that, for sure. I imagine NE5 would take that more than most on here, if the truth be known. Let's face it, and the younger people won't want to accept this, but those of us who have witnessed the decades of true mediocrity are more desperate for success than those used to top 4 finishes, those used to top quality footballers wearing the black and white, players who fall short at the last hurdle by not performing to their true level in cup finals. Yes, the disappointment is huge, but let me tell you this, you don't become immune to these things, you don't become immune to the frustration and the disappointment, it just gets worse as the years go on and you become more desperate for success. However, I can also tell you that it is better when the club is trying to be successful than when it is happy with bottom half finishes. That is a Board settling for mediocrity whether they are competent or not.
By ignoring the past people have the mistaken idea the club has always been ambitious, that it has always tried to win things, that is has always spent the money that comes into the club on top players to play in the black and white because they have to spend it. Have to spend it!! No, they don't. The reality is they don't have to do any of these things, they do it by choice.
Those of us who have really witnessed the club under previous Boards know it is not that simple to improve on the current one. I believe it is far, far easier for the current Board to be replaced by people who would not show ambition and who would take the club back to the days I don't want to see again. Believe me, nobody would want to see those days again. For those of us who really have seen those times of a poor Board, it's a very scary thought.
canny post that.
