GM

But surely, that kind of presumes the only way to be 'successful' is to emulate the Chelsea/Citeh modus operandi. Isn't there another way to do it? How do we break the cycle of constantly having foreign players dominating the squad list, and never being able to blood/bring forward the new locally-grown indigenous talent required?

Where are they though? There should've been dozens of talented new Geordie players by now. Or are we saying the gene pool has run dry in the North-East in recent years? I think the article poses some essential, but very difficult questions. When I posted that article on my Facebook earlier, a Celtic-supporting mate of mine took issue with Neville saying that "maybe Gary Neville needs to open his eyes when he is in his employer's studio and he would see the reason for the decline. Clubs with no support are handed £100 million a year before they even need to sell a ticket because of the ludicrous money paid by Sky....take that money away and see what clubs produce the income needed to pay the wages". What Sky et al's money has done is commodified football so that the top brands retain the dominant market share. It's almost like a cartel arrangement. In some ways, it feels like we're yearning for an old paradigm which no longer exists, nor could ever exist. It's bullshit to talk about Newcastle not being able to offer a good enough quality of life for the best talent - it's not changed much since the days we attracted great players like Ginola, Asprilla, Ferdinand, etc. What's changed is the extent of greed within the game. I think if you're looking for answers to that question, you need to look at Blatter, Platini, etc - it's all rotten to the core. Thing is, where do Sky and BT get their money to spend on it in the first place? Of course a significant proportion of it comes from overseas, but an absolute shitload of it comes from mugs paying anything up to £100 per month for the TV packages. I used to be one of them. They're paying ludicrous sums to the clubs because we enable them to. Yeah, you're right mate. We're to blame for it - all of us, me too. But like bemoaning the phone hacking scandal but we all lapped up the juicy gossip that was produced by their malpractice. I had to axe the Sky Sports package though, it was too big an indulgence and I just wasn't using it enough to justify the cost. Mind you, the whole Sky deal doesn't stack up for them, either. Mate of mine who works at Sky news was telling me how tough things are getting there these days as Sky are basically running their entire operation ragged trying to afford the football package they've paid for. They're basically on a colossal internal austerity drive, axing staff, cutting costs at every turn. I keep waiting for the Sky bubble to burst, but it keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger....

Think the club has been on a downward spiral since John Hall stepped down as Chairman, we had the couple of years renaissance under Robson but the first killer blow was the appointment of Souness and since then we have fallen from grace at an alarming rate and now we are at the shipwrecked stage. Ashley had the chance to steady the ship under Keegan but blew it big time and now we are in a hopeless position with second rate stooges running the operation of the club and we are now a pitied shell at best and a laughing stock at worst. That's why some people on here really boil my piss as you just don't get it and don't appreciate how serious the situation is. Then again, if you take a longer term view of things which acknowledges the club existed before 1990s, you might come to the view that the Hall/Shepherd/Keegan era was just a beautiful, ecstatic, extraordinary but fleeting aberration the allowed us to dare to dream. Bit like having an amazing affair with your dream woman, but ultimately having to recognise you were just a jammy git for a while and you have to return to the maudlin old battleaxe you actually married.

Where are they though? There should've been dozens of talented new Geordie players by now. Or are we saying the gene pool has run dry in the North-East in recent years? I think the article poses some essential, but very difficult questions. When I posted that article on my Facebook earlier, a Celtic-supporting mate of mine took issue with Neville saying that "maybe Gary Neville needs to open his eyes when he is in his employer's studio and he would see the reason for the decline. Clubs with no support are handed £100 million a year before they even need to sell a ticket because of the ludicrous money paid by Sky....take that money away and see what clubs produce the income needed to pay the wages". What Sky et al's money has done is commodified football so that the top brands retain the dominant market share. It's almost like a cartel arrangement. In some ways, it feels like we're yearning for an old paradigm which no longer exists, nor could ever exist. It's bullshit to talk about Newcastle not being able to offer a good enough quality of life for the best talent - it's not changed much since the days we attracted great players like Ginola, Asprilla, Ferdinand, etc. What's changed is the extent of greed within the game. I think if you're looking for answers to that question, you need to look at Blatter, Platini, etc - it's all rotten to the core.

I think you're all being ridiculously uncharitable. That email is very clearly a sincere attempt from a very honest man to build bridges with the fans and provide a reasoned assurance that things are going to get better, so long as we all pull in the same direction. I think it is incumbent upon us all as fans to hold our hands up and all admit that we've not been doing our bit so far. It's time we, the fans, did our bit to make the players feel motivated enough to play well on Saturday. It's time we, the fans, bow in eternal gratitude to our glorious club owner who in his munificence has provided us, the rebellious ungrateful scum that we are, with a stellar squad of supremely talented players and a world class coach. It's time we, the fans, stopped being bone idle, disinterested and disrespecting the club we claim to support. It's time we, the fans, provide the players with the tactical nous, motivation and direction to not lose (because, let's not actually try to win something just yet, eh...baby steps, baby steps...). We're all in this together, after all...

Be fair. If a new guy comes in, changes the team philosophy, and then sticks to it - that's not being inconsistent. It's maybe daft, but it's not a contradiction, like you seem to be suggesting.

Is he wearing Trevor Francis' suit? What a clip. He has a head like Harry from Harry and the Hendersons

I've been walking in the rain just to get wet on purpose. I've been forcing myself not to forget just to feel worse.

It's late, wrong word, you know what I mean though. He sets such a poor example. When's the last time we had even a half-decent captain? Kevin nolan Yup.

It's late, wrong word, you know what I mean though. He sets such a poor example. When's the last time we had even a half-decent captain?

He's a poor talisman, Ron. You have to admit it.

What an unbelievably pathetic shit article! Absolutely ridiculous! He's a scapegoat now for some! He's not a scapegoat. He's a fucking donkey.

Go on, say it again. Third time's a charm.

Is that his actual address? Up there in Barnet, N20? Yeah, ginormous place that I would not encourage anyone to actually vandalize in any meaningful way under most circumstances. Yes, it is rather large. https://goo.gl/maps/mfZDjFo5HBq Wonder who gets to live in the Gate Lodge? Llambias or Charnley?

Is that his actual address? Up there in Barnet, N20?

Oh that is fantastic!

Our goals against would kind of suggest we need a decent keeper at the moment, like... I do that tongue-in-cheek, belligerent sarcasm thing too Although, arguably, you do it better...

Aye and one of them is a Muslim and one isn't. Can you guess which one?

Does this equate to the dreaded "vote of confidence"?

Never good when you've got a chicken shit for a Captain. Although what would you expect. I hear most of the Argentinian Captains in Las Malvinas were a bunch of surrender monkeys too. http://www.themag.co.uk/2015/09/captain-coloccini-hides-as-usual-as-club-send-young-debutant-out-to-face-the-cameras/

They should be made to buy drinks for the fans at half-time, anarl like...

Are the players so impoverished they can't afford to get their own fucking suits?

Our goals against would kind of suggest we need a decent keeper at the moment, like...

Strong words. Good. Sounds like he's calling a few players out too, which they deserve. Aye. Krul deserves some respect for that, but there again it still seems a bit rich coming from the same man who congratulated Defoe on his derby goal. That said, it also validates rumours of in-fighting and poisonous influences within the squad. McClaren should be trying to root that sort of shit out at source, but maybe it's all too far gone to fix it now. Krul was 25 yards out of his goal doing his dinger at the midfield in the aftermath of Sheff Wed's goal last night. Not a happy man at all. Fair play to him in that case. We'd be better off with Krul as captain, by the sounds of it.

I'm not sure of the dates anymore, but when was it he fell out with the club over the Wonga sponsorship deal? 2013? He's been poor ever since. No coincidence.