Toon Amy

really bad headline I know! hoping the Chronicle would spot it and offer me a job, but I don't think my views would fit in with the company line!

The Mirror IF THE GEORDIE ABRAMOVICH TURNED UP I'D SELL BUT THAT IS FANTASY SO I'LL FIGHT ON Simon Bird FREDDY Shepherd launched his fightback in Newcastle United's boardroom late yesterday afternoon. He laid it on the line in his straight-talking Geordie style about protests, his future at the club, his errors and Glenn Roeder's future. He said: "I'm a Byker lad who fought his way to school and fought his way back. I am not running away from this fight." Advertisement For a chairmanship that has been characterised by big talk, there was a humbling admission that he has "made mistakes" during his nine years as chairman, including appointing Graeme Souness as boss. An admission of culpability is probably just what the fans needed to hear. There is an acceptance that if a super-rich buyer suddenly came along, "a Geordie Abramovich", Shepherd would step down, but as it stands there is no one out there just now, so he has to battle on. The 65-year-old also expressed support for manager Roeder and a demand that his well-rewarded players, wage bill £52.2million, sort out the club's lowly position. And he strenuously denied ever forcing a manager to buy a player or interfering in transfer policy, contrary to claims by former bosses. He had been provoked to have his say after fans called for his resignation on Saturday after a home defeat to Sheffield United saw the Toon slip second bottom. Shepherd said: "I will not walk out on the business. I've made mistakes, but show me someone who hasn't in the world of football. It is not an exact science. "The biggest criticism is that I've been too kind to managers with funds and too generous to players. "I don't get upset by the protests. It's up to me to see it through and I'm not going to run away from it - what am I going to do? Walk out on this club. "There is nobody else around to sort it out. "If a Geordie Abramovich knocked on the door we'd have to do business. I'd gladly do whatever to secure him." Talks with investment firm Belgravia Group about a possible takeover have been going on for six months, but have failed to produce a concrete offer. Shepherd added: "I'm not daft - of course I listen to the supporters because I'm one of them. But hindsight is a great management tool. I've been accused of many things but I can't be accused of not providing for the manager or giving players great wages. "But when you are in Newcastle and you are competing with Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester United and we are 300 miles from London, it is difficult to get star players up here. "We have certain things against us like the weather and being 300 miles from the capital. "Yes, there have been mistakes but regardless of what people say I have only ever dismissed two managers - Bobby and Graeme." There had been claims Shepherd infuriated ex-bosses by lining up big-name transfers for them, rather than building a balanced squad. Shepherd countered: "I have never ever signed anyone. Transfers are a manager's decision. I didn't just go out and see Martins and say 'I have found a player for you Glenn'. I have never done that." Shepherd insists he is not worried about relegation this season and added: "We still have the team to get out of it. If it was Christmas I would be worried, but we still have five months of the season. "I couldn't have done any more than what we did in the summer with what was available. "What I can do is help the manager as much as I can in the transfer window. All I can do is my best." SHEP ON HIS MANY MANAGERS Kenny Dalglish 'Sir John Hall was chairman when we brought in Kenny to replace Kevin Keegan who had resigned. Everyone wanted him and was positive about him. Everyone wanted Kenny.' Ruud Gullit 'We had 5,000 out in the stands singing songs about sexy football, so I didn't see many objections at the time. Gullitt resigned and made a great speech. He didn't take a penny with him.' Glenn Roeder 'He did a fantastic job for us last season. I got thousands of emails backing him for the job. They were saying 'give it to Glenn Roeder'. Not many said don't give him the job. Now it's time to let him get on with the job.' Bobby Robson 'Everyone wanted Sir Bobby and we know that. But he was here for five years. I loved Sir Bobby, he was a great man and I am off to see him this week. I still have a relationship with him.' Graeme Souness 'The only one the crowd did not want 100 per cent was Graeme." Asked if appointing Souness was a mistake, he said: "It's important, especially at Newcastle, to take supporters with you as manager.' ============================== Does any one actually believe any of this? :roll:

says who? Voice of the people, Alan Oliver for one, said that Martin O'Neill was Shepherd's number one choice. O'Neill himself did not deny it when asked, but said he wouldn't comment on it. Do you seriously think that Shepherd did not even try to get O'Neill? If the answer is no, then why not? given that he didn't seem to try to get anyone else who was available. I think you'll find that Alan Oliver later changed his mind and claimed we never even spoke to O'Neill when he was spinning his propaganda about how all the fans wanted Roeder as the new boss. I know that, well he never can make his mind up about anything, can he? just spins the club propaganda to suit!! I don't know if Martin O'Neill was approached or not, no one does, but most of the papers all seem to think that he was. Maybe they are wrong about that but the fact is O'Neill was available, as was Hitzfeld. Ranieri practically begged for the job, Houlier was rumoured to be interested, yet we ended up with Roeder. We ended up with someone who drives a Peugeot, you mean. Wonder what sealed the deal for FFS? Making a decision was too difficult, it meant getting off his fat arse and doing something ... so he decided not to make a decision at all?

says who? Voice of the people, Alan Oliver for one, said that Martin O'Neill was Shepherd's number one choice. O'Neill himself did not deny it when asked, but said he wouldn't comment on it. Do you seriously think that Shepherd did not even try to get O'Neill? If the answer is no, then why not? given that he didn't seem to try to get anyone else who was available. I think you'll find that Alan Oliver later changed his mind and claimed we never even spoke to O'Neill when he was spinning his propaganda about how all the fans wanted Roeder as the new boss. I know that, well he never can make his mind up about anything, can he? just spins the club propaganda to suit!! I don't know if Martin O'Neill was approached or not, no one does, but most of the papers all seem to think that he was. Maybe they are wrong about that but the fact is O'Neill was available, as was Hitzfeld. Ranieri practically begged for the job, Houlier was rumoured to be interested, yet we ended up with Roeder.

says who? Voice of the people, Alan Oliver for one, said that Martin O'Neill was Shepherd's number one choice. O'Neill himself did not deny it when asked, but said he wouldn't comment on it. Do you seriously think that Shepherd did not even try to get O'Neill? If the answer is no, then why not? given that he didn't seem to try to get anyone else who was available.

Interesting that they seem to be listening to the fans point of view, and interviewing True Faith as well? There will probably be a lot in the papers this week, not all positive no doubt, but I thought this was a good article that summed everything up well.

I can't see if anyone' s posted this already, apologies if they have City mantrap awaits Roeder as Newcastle hit nadir Michael Walker at St James' Park Monday November 6, 2006 The Guardian Where to begin? With Danny Webber's headed winner, with Scott Parker's alleged sarcastic gesture to Newcastle fans soon after, with the "Shepherd out" chants that followed, with Newcastle's decision to play the game less than 48 hours after being in Palermo, with the sponsors' public snub to Glenn Roeder? Or do you, as so many of the Newcastle United faithful do, go back further, to May 2004 when the chairman, Freddy Shepherd, had a gun in his hand, Sir Bobby Robson in front of him but refrained from pulling the trigger. "I didn't want to be known as the man who shot Bambi," Shepherd would later say. Article continues -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Until then Shepherd was not considered sentimental. The trouble for him was that three months later, 24 hours before the closure of the August transfer window, Bambi had to be put down. The Hall family, the major shareholders, stood in the background and tutted that it was too late. Indeed, the timing was not clever. One delayed decision then begat a bad one: the appointment of Graeme Souness. That in turn begat more delay because when Newcastle lost at Wigan in the fourth round of the League Cup last November, Souness's position was untenable. He staggered on until a dismal defeat at Manchester City on February 1 begat Roeder as caretaker. Shepherd set off on a process to get Martin O'Neill but failed. Roeder, meanwhile, did well. But something seems to happen when a caretaker becomes the manager and Webber's header, to many the culmination of 2½ years of downward spiralling, means Newcastle have lost seven of 11 Premiership matches this season and are second-bottom. Worryingly for Roeder, once Webber scored, Newcastle heads dropped. Keeper Steve Harper had this to say: "We are lacking character and mental strength." Not good, and all at St James' Park know relegation spells economic meltdown. This is a club that has announced a £12m annual loss and which took the £250,000 live TV fee when, as Sheffield United's manager Neil Warnock, confirmed: "We volunteered to move it to Sunday." The more important figure is £40m. That is the reward for staying in the Premiership this season and a club with Newcastle's debts and mountainous wage bill cannot ignore it. Who would want to manage or play for Newcastle should they go down? Michael Owen? It could be Leeds United all over again and that is why Roeder is vulnerable. Yet the message from the chairman's office is that neither he nor Roeder are going anywhere. The supporters will be unimpressed with such defiance because they think they know what happens next. Tomorrow night, eight months after Newcastle sacked Souness, Roeder takes the club to Watford in the fourth round of the League Cup. Newcastle's match after that is at Manchester City. An echo of instability has accompanied the club almost since Kevin Keegan walked out 10 years ago but the coming week has eerie Souness echoes. On Saturday the feelings were louder and more raw than at any time since the late 1980s. The fans who demonstrated outside the main entrance at St James' were very angry. To these fans, Shepherd, and the Halls, are now beyond the pale. Thousands of others walked away silently and Michael Martin, editor of the True Faith fanzine, and longstanding critic of Shepherd and Hall, said yesterday: "Apathy is the biggest enemy of the club. Socially, economically, Sunderland and Newcastle fans are similar and Sunderland lost 20,000 fans when they were relegated in the 19-points season [2002-03]. They haven't got them back." Countering that is the fact that Newcastle put their 6,000 allocation on sale for Arsenal away on Saturday week and sold out in double-quick time. Martin nevertheless detects "a sea-change" in the attitude of that hard core. "A while ago about 20% of Newcastle supporters agreed with me on how badly the club was run. Now I believe that's a mainstream view. Shepherd's position is untenable." The club recently confirmed it was in talks with the Jersey-based Belgravia Group but had not received a formal takeover proposal. With the transfer window 56 days and 13, possibly 14, games away, options are limited. "Limited" was how Warnock described his team but a first away win could have been won by more. Nicky Butt and Craig Moore were unrecognisable from Sicily while James Milner was taken off by Roeder. Milner, vital in Palermo, was then named man of the match by sponsors of some influence within St James'. The crossfire had begun. As Harper said: "It's tin hat time." The Guardian

and lasses thank you very much! tongue.gif Good news about the website I thought this part was interesting in Henry Winters article. It not only proves that the media are monitoring forums like this, it also shows that Open letters written to the club through websites and the like can get published if you have the right people in the media on your side!

Well it's got noticed! It made The Guardian Aiyegbeni winner has Newcastle fans calling for Shepherd's head Michael Walker at the Riverside Stadium Monday October 23, 2006 The Guardian A stop-start derby ended with one man, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, using his head to win the points for Middlesbrough and an element of the travelling Newcastle United support calling for the head of their chairman Freddy Shepherd. The climate is warming on Teesside after two successive wins but it is shaping up to be a long, cold winter on Tyneside. Disaffected Geordies will hope that the latest takeover rumour - involving a local consortium - has some basis in fact. Newcastle's dejection at the end was sizeable, partly because they performed well in patches and at times defended with resolution. Boro's manager, Gareth Southgate, delivered an honest assessment when he said: "It's the first time we've got a bit more than we have deserved [this season], it could have been a draw," and Southgate spoke of "relief" and "grind" as much as "pleasure". But whether his words are recalled during the inevitable Newcastle debate about the state of their club is another matter. This was a sixth defeat in nine matches - one point taken from the last 15 - and that represents their second-worst start to a Premiership season. The other did for Ruud Gullit. "It's not good," said Roeder when that record was put to him. "Too often we have shot ourselves in the foot and now we have to pick ourselves up off the canvas, and quickly." Having gone into battle to appoint Roeder, and having sanctioned the former West Ham manager's recruitment of Nigel Pearson as his new assistant in place of the sacked Kevin Bond, the chairman is unlikely to take an axe to his manager. But there is no disguising the fans' rising impatience with the hierarchy. These were the first anti-Shepherd chants for 18 months from a fan base slow to show militancy. Newcastle's next two league games are against Charlton and Sheffield United at home and if six points are not garnered then calls for Shepherd's head will surely be heard again. Before then it is Portsmouth at St James' Park on Wednesday in the League Cup, which always appeared tricky. The inability to defend durably and consistently has been Newcastle's problem for as long as anyone can remember, and when the lively Stewart Downing swung in an 85th-minute corner Aiyegbeni had Stephen Carr and Craig Moore for company. A standing joke at Boro is that Aiyegbeni does not even pretend to head the ball in training. And yet all he had to do here was jump ever so slightly to direct a downward header past Steve Harper and Scott Parker on the goalline. "Since the start of this year it is something we have worked at in the most basic way," Southgate said of Aiyegbeni's heading. "It is very simple practice and I don't know if it makes any difference. But I might as well take the credit." Aiyegbeni's intervention - his third goal in as many matches - proved to be the difference. However, it is easy to isolate Newcastle's defence. Had Obafemi Martins or Antoine Sibierski, Newcastle's starting strikers, showed comparable efficiency with Aiyegbeni Boro would have been two down after 14 minutes. "It was a game undoubtedly we should have won," Roeder said. "Managers always say goals change games and what it changes is how a team feels about itself. Instead of feeling elation today, you think Boro will have a chance or two and we'll be punished." So it was. Yet when Damien Duff teed up Sibierski after seven minutes the day looked different. Unfortunately for Newcastle, although Sibierski shares Alan Shearer's initials, that is where the similarity ends. Sibierski's shot was pitifully weak, and the Frenchman was then given credit for the pass to Martins when it was a poor mistake by Jonathan Woodgate that let the former Internazionale player in. The £10m Nigerian striker had only a sliding Mark Schwarzer to beat and did so, but his chip hit the bar and bounced over. At that stage Middlesbrough were having difficulty getting out of their own half. But then Downing and Aiyegbeni began to get the ball, Harper made saves from the left-winger and Jason Euell, and five minutes after half-time the Newcastle goalkeeper tipped a Downing free-kick on to the woodwork. As the play opened up James Milner had an opportunity created by Parker but it was Middlesbrough who finished the stronger. Euell wasted one opening and Steven Taylor cleared an 80th-minute shot off the line from the substitute Fabio Rochemback. Five minutes later, though, Newcastle had no defence. Then came the chants. Man of the match Yakubu Aiyegbeni (Middlesbrough)

1& 3. I'll do what I can.

If you need any other articles written I know some good people for that, and you need to get in NewsNow like the Hitzfeld website did.

Well you have got support, and once you have got a mission statement like HTT said, and get people interacting on your site you can take it from there. The important thing is to get the message out there is it not? I think you need to drop the "Fat" bit from the title to be taken more seriously as well.

Well you've got over 2/3 of the vote there who strongly agree, and I think once it gets going you will find more people willing to join in. I'll tell everyone about it. What help do you need? You can get some tips from Elbee and HTT about getting it in the search engines and News Now. It would be good to get some protests at SJP as well, but it needs the right planning.

Good work! are you getting a domain or will that be the address? True Faith might be helpful with organising a protest. Might be worth contacting them?

yes, get rid of him!! but what is the plan? Are we going to have a protest at SJP? banners? A website? Throw pies at him? What and when is it going to happen? Most supporters believe that Shepherd is holding the club back, and will never get anywhere while he is there, so let's do it and do it properly and get rid! Shepherd OUT!!! He'd think we all loved him if we did that. True, he would probably eat them! Throw them on the pitch then! Or ... How about Paper Aeroplanes with the words "Shepherd Out" on them? could get the message across if large sections of the crowd did it? I just hate him like most people so good luck with this campaign!

yes, get rid of him!! but what is the plan? Are we going to have a protest at SJP? banners? A website? Throw pies at him? What and when is it going to happen? Most supporters believe that Shepherd is holding the club back, and will never get anywhere while he is there, so let's do it and do it properly and get rid! Shepherd OUT!!!

I'll support a campaign, as long as there is a plan. Is there?