Colos Short and Curlies

what about Carra's handball then? As much a pen as any claim the dippers had (i.e. not a chance!)

Or maybe they are bought in bulk to sell as tour packages etc. If the company buying the bulk order can't shift them then not all tickets are sold out That applies to all clubs but if the attendance is judged on tickets sold it won't matter how many actually turned up, or not, because the tickets have still been sold. Sorry, wasn't on about the stated 'attendance', was making the point that if x turned up the x tickets were likely to be sold due to packaging deal operators bulk buying (of course give or take a few for illness etc and a few thousand for court appearances in dat der scouseland )

Or maybe they are bought in bulk to sell as tour packages etc. If the company buying the bulk order can't shift them then not all tickets are sold out

I'm sure that Bobby would take greater pride having part of the acadamy or some initiative named after him than a stand. I'd be all for the 'Sir Bobby Robson Suite' at SJP, or even an executive box on top of the Bobby Robson Acadamy. The stands should not be named after managers/players/owners. There are only four of them and you are bound to leave out someone worthy of the honour

Karma boys. Karma. They may get all of the luck on the football pitch. But after 90 minutes they go home. And they still live in Liverpool.

Joey Barton penalty 89th minute, 1-0 victory

8 points from top 4!

I feel like Cheryl Tweedy has just stripped to her under crackers for me.

A quick question.. If at the next meeting 100 people turned up and 60 voted that they wanted Ashley to stay and moves should be made to ensure this happens, would the direction of NUSC change to go with the majority?

Better. Now that's the sort of thing the suporters club should be doing, trying to liaise with the management team and relaying info back to its members. Only then can constructive decisions be made on how to go forward. Of course it is also Ashleys perogrative to tell them where to go, if he has made any interested party sign a confidentiality document then it is almost certain that he will be bound be the same clauses.

Joe Kinnears comments to the press re the takeover remind me of good ol Claudio's translator at Chelsea. 'I have no clue what is going on, so I will make it up'

The problem is the individuals involved. Look at Man Utd, they have the ultimate Director of Football in Alex Ferguson, he picks and chooses who he wants in the key positions and then strategically runs the club. He will be involved in appointing his successor and said successor will be integrated into the club fabric before Fergie says his final goodbye. Where Spurs and we went wrong was appointing a DoF with no real history in football in terms of the directives of the role they were fulfilling. Its no surprise that when you have a DoF like Comolli dictating the role to a manger such as Jol or Ramos who have more experience than the DoF could dream of that it would fail. Now put SBR (five years ago) in a DoF role above someone like Shearer or even Keegan then it may well of worked. Same in any job, you would not appoint me (a 28 yr old) in a position where I get to dictate to a 50 year old MD what he is to do

If it wasn't part of Britain, he wouldn't get a British passport - and that is what he will have. Also, because Scotland(which actually has MORE independent powers than N.I.- Tax-raising etc ) is classed as being at least as devolved as NI, are you then saying that SAF is 'not British'? He(and Alex Salmond) might argue that he WASN'T, but by your Passport definition, he IS British because Scotland is NOT mentioned as being a separate country.. I still maintain that O'Neill is technically British, even though he himself might deny that... As Wacko says, if he gets an Irish Passport , then he becomes Irish and therefore, technically foreign. Even the passport office get confused! British citizens Anyone who is a British citizen is entitled to apply for a British passport. On January 1 1983, anyone who was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies on December 31 1982, and had the right of abode* in the UK, became a British citizen. * NB There may be individuals who have the right to live in the UK but will not have the right of abode in the UK as defined by the Immigration Act 1971, and will not therefore become British citizens – see below That includes people who were born in the United Kingdom; were born in a British colony and had the right of abode in the UK (Those born in a British colony and did not have the right of abode in the UK will not become British citizens) have been naturalised in the United Kingdom; had registered as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies; or could prove legitimate descent from a father* who one of the above conditions applied to. Before the introduction of the British Nationality Act 1981, a person could not claim nationality from his or her mother. I also thought that Great Britain referred t England, Scotland, Wales - ie the big (great) Island. The United Kingdom is Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I don't recall ever hearing how you refer to someone from the UK, I guess they would be British (i.e. from Great and 'Little' Britain) but not a Great Briton

The blueprint!!! Pre-blurprint Sam Allardyce said we had a lack of youngsters at the club that is why in the Jan he went & brought in Tozer & Kadar to add to Ngo who he signed earlier in the season. How Sam signed these youngsters without Jeff, Jimmy & Dennis is a mystery. I dont mind building from young first team players like Bobby did, Wegner does, Spurs did until they started chucking the £££'s around but I think you more likely to fail by building from youths who are at the U18 level. As for Colo & Jonas they are some of our better players but lets make out they are the only decent players we have ever signed & it had to be down to the system. Who mentioned the trio of evil? Mike Ashley was the owner for (give or take a week) all of Sams tenure - therefore the signings made by Sam you mentioned were under his 'blueprint' And I did not claim that Colo and Jonas were the only good players we have signed, but they were spotted by our scouting network and therefore is evidence that they did actually have a clue about what they were looking for. It wasn't perfect (obviously) but it did a fair bit of good in its time here

Both right, I've been saying for ages that doing 'anything' isn't always better than doing nothing - in fact this is a prime example of how hasty action can be harmful. "There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction." - JFK (the other one) If you don't like what NUSC are doing, get yourself along to the meetings and have your say. If there were only 50 there, you'd have had an excellent opportunity to put your point across. I don't think they're expressing themselves particularly well, and in the short term I don't think any kind of protest or boycott will make any difference one way or the other. I'm sure in the future I'll disagree with a lot of their objectives, but I'm not going to sit here and criticise them for standing up and at least attempting to put across a consensus opinion and initiate some action. I've said it before, but if you're so convinced Ashley is selling up because of protests, start your own group up to show him the level of support he has. You're not going to persuade him to stay just by sniping and whining on the internet about other people getting off their arse and acting on their beliefs. Its not about supporting Ashley or wanting him to stay necessarily. It's more about the downright ignorance these so-called spokespeople have displayed, and I for one, frankly, do not wish to be tarred with the same brush. They DO NOT represent Newcastle United fans, yet that's what the media will pick up on. Just exactly what they need: more "loudmouth over-expectant dilusional Geordies" to take the piss out of this is the sort of comment that makes no sense, nor is it true at all, and it applies to numerous occasions over the years too. Nobody thinks they represent the views of all NUFC fans. Nobody also "takes the piss" out of Newcastle United any more than any other club, in fact, if anything, its a lot less. The world doesn't revolve around phone ins and internet message boards. Yet people go on these phone ins, listen to them, go onto message boards and see people taking the piss. Its the nature of the beast and means fuck all. JOurnalists in London etc have always, always found something to snipe at Newcastle United for - and other clubs. They always will. If we weren't having a hard time - and when we weren't - they still criticised the club for having a shit defence that "threw away the league" and other such bollocks. Fans all over the country laugh at manu gloryseeking supporters, I do, yet deep down if you said you weren't jealous of their success [and support accordingly] you'd be lying. If anything, the success that puts you more in the public eye only fuels this jealousy. At the end of the day, get into europe, sign top players, get you're own fans behind you, and what else matters ? Do you not agree with the following Steve Wraith NUFC.com Alan Oliver Being accepted outside of Newcastle United fans as being a representative voice of what is going on at the club? Steve and Alan are often on national radio and TV and are always introduced as if they are the final word on what is going on inside the club or what the fans believe. NUFC.com struck gold with the domain name and rightly or wrongly are noted as being the 'official unoffical' website of the club. Now somebody claiming to be a spokesperson of the Newcastle United Supporters Club, how is that going to be reported within the media - my hunch is that given the chance the press will jump at tagging this group as the new power representative of the fans (despite only 50 people turning up to their latest meeting - put that in context, in the 3 villages surrounding where I live there is a population of less than 2,000 people, more than 500 turned up to protest against a mine being reopened, the %s don't even compare). The sentiment in the rest of your post I agree with I realise they will give the impression that they are speaking for all supporters - I've discussed this with Dave with ref to Frank Gilmour - you can't help if the press give this impression, but they should where possible say they are only speaking for the organisation. People who read general press coverage will think all supporters will be of this mindset, thats natural - its not right, but its a natural thought process. What strikes me is they are now getting into the same areas where Malcolm Dix campaigned for years, maybe without realising it, and like most supporters at the time, I personally fully agreed with him ie main agenda was to get rid of a shite board. The funny(?) thing is that I'd wager that the majority of fans still want rid of Ashley, maybe the depth of feeling is subsiding over time but even those of us who agreed in principle with where he was taking the club appreciate that his intentions here have failed (whether his primary motive was sustained organic growth or quick stabalisation and sale). However, I'd also wager that within this majority the majority are dead set against the protests and boycotts as they are putting the club and fans in a bad light and in many ways devaluing the one major asset the club has - i.e. its support base. Comments alluding to only supporting an owner if they do exactly what a small supporters group wants (and I doubt that at such a fledgling stage even the forerunners of the group are 100% sure what that is) will do nothing to someone looking at the club. It may only be part of the picture an investor will look at, but if its an investor which is looking to take the club forward (a la SJH's days pre floatation - at which point the blueprint changed imo) then he will consider this to be a big black spot on the prospectus

Both right, I've been saying for ages that doing 'anything' isn't always better than doing nothing - in fact this is a prime example of how hasty action can be harmful. "There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction." - JFK (the other one) If you don't like what NUSC are doing, get yourself along to the meetings and have your say. If there were only 50 there, you'd have had an excellent opportunity to put your point across. I don't think they're expressing themselves particularly well, and in the short term I don't think any kind of protest or boycott will make any difference one way or the other. I'm sure in the future I'll disagree with a lot of their objectives, but I'm not going to sit here and criticise them for standing up and at least attempting to put across a consensus opinion and initiate some action. I've said it before, but if you're so convinced Ashley is selling up because of protests, start your own group up to show him the level of support he has. You're not going to persuade him to stay just by sniping and whining on the internet about other people getting off their arse and acting on their beliefs. Its not about supporting Ashley or wanting him to stay necessarily. It's more about the downright ignorance these so-called spokespeople have displayed, and I for one, frankly, do not wish to be tarred with the same brush. They DO NOT represent Newcastle United fans, yet that's what the media will pick up on. Just exactly what they need: more "loudmouth over-expectant dilusional Geordies" to take the piss out of this is the sort of comment that makes no sense, nor is it true at all, and it applies to numerous occasions over the years too. Nobody thinks they represent the views of all NUFC fans. Nobody also "takes the piss" out of Newcastle United any more than any other club, in fact, if anything, its a lot less. The world doesn't revolve around phone ins and internet message boards. Yet people go on these phone ins, listen to them, go onto message boards and see people taking the piss. Its the nature of the beast and means fuck all. JOurnalists in London etc have always, always found something to snipe at Newcastle United for - and other clubs. They always will. If we weren't having a hard time - and when we weren't - they still criticised the club for having a shit defence that "threw away the league" and other such bollocks. Fans all over the country laugh at manu gloryseeking supporters, I do, yet deep down if you said you weren't jealous of their success [and support accordingly] you'd be lying. If anything, the success that puts you more in the public eye only fuels this jealousy. At the end of the day, get into europe, sign top players, get you're own fans behind you, and what else matters ? Do you not agree with the following Steve Wraith NUFC.com Alan Oliver Being accepted outside of Newcastle United fans as being a representative voice of what is going on at the club? Steve and Alan are often on national radio and TV and are always introduced as if they are the final word on what is going on inside the club or what the fans believe. NUFC.com struck gold with the domain name and rightly or wrongly are noted as being the 'official unoffical' website of the club. Now somebody claiming to be a spokesperson of the Newcastle United Supporters Club, how is that going to be reported within the media - my hunch is that given the chance the press will jump at tagging this group as the new power representative of the fans (despite only 50 people turning up to their latest meeting - put that in context, in the 3 villages surrounding where I live there is a population of less than 2,000 people, more than 500 turned up to protest against a mine being reopened, the %s don't even compare). The sentiment in the rest of your post I agree with

Matt Taylors personal collection from a few years back put it to shame imo. Good vision, but Almunia should have been better positioned

Brilliant attitude to have. I envy our next owner. Seriously, are these people engaging their brains before they come out with this drivel? Actually I'm now warming to the 'open letter' to Mike Ashley - the one which they have yet to decide what to put into it - I want to see how much more of a collective idot they can become

Interim chairman Malcolm Shiels said: “In the long term we would like to have some representation at board level. We want to be able to give the fans a collective voice.” I thought they didn't claim to represent Newcastle United Fans?

I would seriously suggest that any letter to Mike Ashley is not made through the press. If the Boycott club have any intention of looking into the possibility of a reconciliation then try and establish contact privately first. If you go public you will have 2 effects: (1) Ailienate sections of supporters further by appearing to speak publically for all supporters (2) Leave yourself with no scope to change your views at a later date without looking foolish No body would like being 'called out' through the media, which effectively is what you would be doing. If however you are hell bent on ensuring that the club remains in limbo until an unknown investor comes in for us then by all means make a fool of yourselves once more in public.

Doesn't Bobby say that he expected this to be the case in his autobiography?

Yup Agreed with his blueprint of building from youth at the time The signings of Colo and Jonas in particular showed promise in the scouting system. But... He would need to improve the level of managerial staff. Derek Llambias is a buffoon of the highest order. Some clarity on the exact roles of certain personell wouldn't go amis either.

Aye, just realised my own mistake there. Still he's got experience in English football and has worked his way up. Wouldn't shock me if Phil Brown was our manager at some point in the future. Swansea is his first managerial job

No. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes Yes ?

All about showing continued improvement in performance for me. If Villa turn up then they will win, going forward they have a lot of potency. If we turn up and match their workrate then I think we can be happy and go into the next couple of games with confidence, if Villa have an off day then we can make hay. Its not the frame of mind I would like to have, but thats just where we are at the moment