merlin

Agreed - this game probably has the same appeal as voting at the next election....like watching paint dry, as with most Newcastle games now.

Will it be better in the Championship? Under Ashley, probably yes - even this crowd should manage to be regular Top 6 in the Championship and as everyone knows, the only aim under Ashley is to finish Top 10 and get knocked out of the Cups... That is how far NUFC have fallen.

You may think so but I thought he was crap - as usual. He may have scored the goal - and God be thanked for that - but his general play and control is amateurish. He also lacks pace and is now just a poacher who I would sell if we had a club run by a professional instead of a greedy tight-fisted Market trader who won't pay market rate for a decent CF. You obviously weren't following the club when we had Shearer up front or even David Kelly, let alone Supermac. With Mandoon here, like. Cisse played perfectly well yesterday. We all know he's not Shearer or Supermac but I couldn't care less if he keeps scoring a goal every 85 minutes or whatever his rate it. Neither should you. I know what I care about - what YOU think it should be, is not a consideration..by the way, did YOU actually see Macdonald play for us..?

It will take at least a hundred years from then for it to happen again. It won't happen again unless a Man C type takeover happens....and nobody is interested. The only Championship NUFC are going to be winning is the league they will be relegated to sooner or later....now THAT could take until 2027..

de Boer has done exactly the right thing by NOT joining NUFC...he has a decent CV and that would be ruined working under the SJP regime. Hard to see anybody half-decent taking the job and any talk of Koeman is too funny even to think about - NUFC is a poisoned chalice for an ambitious manager.

I like Abeid but I think Carver has told him to stay just in front of the back 4 - he is far more effective in a more attacking role but then, with Williamson as a CB(and Colo's legs going)no wonder Carver daren't move him further forward....

You may think so but I thought he was crap - as usual. He may have scored the goal - and God be thanked for that - but his general play and control is amateurish. He also lacks pace and is now just a poacher who I would sell if we had a club run by a professional instead of a greedy tight-fisted Market trader who won't pay market rate for a decent CF. You obviously weren't following the club when we had Shearer up front or even David Kelly, let alone Supermac.

Saw an edited 1 hour replay of this game today ; absolute rubbish for most of that. Villa the better side for at least most of the first half and the lack of a plan, disjointed play and, at times, school-boy standard of control by most of the side was appalling to watch. Colo probably our best player although Janmaat might have shaded it because he was creating the most danger to Villa with crosses into the box that were intelligent rather than a hoof. Unlike some I was far from impressed with Cisse's control and laying-off - as ever, he was able to get on the end of one of Janmaat's crosses and poke it in for our goal but that was about as much danger as he created from the highlights I saw. Perez continues to look dangerous once he comes on but our Alien French winger once again gave a first rate impression of a chicken with its head cut off, or sometimes, a rabbit caught in headlights...he freezes whenever he is presented with a penalty area and made sure everyone had to sweat until the final minute of injury time instead of killing Villa off. The club were VERY fortunate to get the 3 points and far tougher tests than this will ensure a miserable and dragged-out end to the season. How anyone would pay Ashley to watch this dross is beyond my comprehension - rather them than me.

For heaven's sake - is that overpaid, under-talented Irishman still waffling on about NUFC and trying to justify his publicly-paid existence on a channel funded by Licence payers..? How anyone can have any credence with Anderson's opinions I don't know. Turn the bu---r off..!!!

For me, the jury is still out on Carr. Yes, he HAS managed, but not at a very high level and that is not my main area of concern about him. That arises in his brief of finding young players with real potential that can do a good job at NUFC and then be sold on - this is NOT what we would expect at an ambitious club the size of NUFC but that is what Ashley has briefed him to do. If you look at the players he has recommended some have been a success(not that many)and some have not but we do not really know if the club has missed some really good players recommended by Carr, because they refused to pay the market rate for a top youngster. If that IS the case, then Carr is allowing Ashley's miserly attitude to affect his job because his recommendations have not been acted upon. The other problem is that Pardew's lousy management may have been responsible for players not reaching their potential - Sissoko could be a far more effective player under a decent manager for example so that also has to be taken into account and MYM seems to be fitting in at Roma. The likely situation is that Carr is getting well paid for a man of his age, has very little pressure on him because he knows Ashley will not act on many of his recommendations so just takes the money and enjoys the foreign trips, all on expenses of course. As long as he keeps putting names forward(even if he knows Ashley won't pay the likely fee) he is in an ideal situation for a retiree and is therefore not going to rock the boat.

see, this is what gets me so about our owner-- if only he would just wake up to the idea that there's something that gives joy to life besides ₤₤₤ he'd be having newcastle families naming their children after him! he needs a 'come-to-jesus' moment or something... beyond frustrating... You are crediting Ashley with the emotions of an NUFC fan - don't be silly.....

Only financial pressure will get rid of Ashley and the PL deal with Sky has ensured he will be there for a few years yet. Also, the idiots that keep putting money in his pocket by buying STs/attending matches as well as merchandise from Sports Direct are just as responsible and that isn't going to end any time soon. The club is almost finished as a respected entity in football and has little future under this regime.

The local media are in Ashley's pocket - I don't know why anyone either reads it or buys it. If they back the regime they are an enemy - full stop.

Hangings also too good for those f*ckwits at the Premier League and Football Association who think that fatso is a fit and proper owner. The PL and FA couldn't give 2 stuffs about NUFC...there are plenty of clubs in the PL who will be quite happy to see Ashley remain as NUFC owner because there will then be no chance of the club challenging for either silverware or Top 6. Sky couldn't care less either - they have(or once owned)shares in Man U and Sunderland. As long as NUFC are bottom half of the PL or challenging for promotion from the Championship, the football authorities are quite happy to let Ashley continue wrecking the club.

This - not worth saying any more, Mick.

Predictable result and more of these thrashings on the way when we play anyone half-decent. Surely, nobody expected much else...I know one or 2 sides have got results there, but even the likes of Burnley have some pride in the club and do their best ; the players at NUFC couldn't give a stuff because they know that the same attitude comes down from the top, i.e. Ashley and his minions whilst the players have zero respect for the manager who is useless. As some have been saying, relegation followed by a season of struggle may be the only way to get rid of Ashley & his hangers-on - perhaps even the idiots who purport to be knowledgeable NUFC fans(that's a laugh) will then get the message and stop turning up to watch unambitious dross. The club has NO future under these people and it is in as bad a situation now as it was in the early 80s before KK arrived as a player. The club and everyone associated with it are a TOTAL disgrace and have brought shame on a once-proud name.

Whether you - or anyone else - likes it or not, he turned us down...not once, but twice. A case can be made for him not leaving Ipswich after their board had been so loyal to him initially when he faced virtual mutiny from some players, esp when he would be joining an NUFC run by Westwood & Co, but not in the case of 1997. We had just finished second in the PL and had plenty of money for players. You know(but probably won't accept)the position he was in at Barcelona - I have made my own judgement on the matter and that's my right. Robson was a fine manager, one of England's most successful, but he was no saint and I refuse to treat him as such just as I don't claim KK was a saint. KK did NOT turn us down when we needed him and he walked out when he felt he had been undermined...I thought he was wrong the first time but absolutely right the second time. Sorry if you don't like it, but tough.

Agreed - SBR was just as interested in money as KK ever was, hence the reason he turned SJH down when he was asked to take over from KK after he resigned in 97....SBR knew Barca were going to fire him and appoint LVG, but he wanted the pay-off. It was the second time he turned NUFC down as he was asked to be manager after Joe Harvey in 1975 when he was at Ipswich but refused again. He may have had good reasons but the fact that he turned us down twice takes away any claim he may have had to be on a par with KK ; SBR was a self-confessed fan from boyhood too but he was past his best as a manager by the time he joined us although he did a great job in stabilizing the ship after Gullit. He was almost as old as Harry Redknapp is now and nobody on here would dream of having Redknapp as manager. You f***ing what? Considering he said it was out of a sense of loyalty, that's a shocker if you can back that up. YOU f===king what.. Can YOU back up your view - and it is ONLY a view - that he was 'loyal' to Barcelona ?? Would you be loyal to a firm you knew was going to replace you if your lifelong favourite company offered you the top job - UNLESS you knew the firing firm were going to give you a good pay-off..? Get real - you need to get into the real world.

Agreed - SBR was just as interested in money as KK ever was, hence the reason he turned SJH down when he was asked to take over from KK after he resigned in 97....SBR knew Barca were going to fire him and appoint LVG, but he wanted the pay-off. It was the second time he turned NUFC down as he was asked to be manager after Joe Harvey in 1975 when he was at Ipswich but refused again. He may have had good reasons but the fact that he turned us down twice takes away any claim he may have had to be on a par with KK ; SBR was a self-confessed fan from boyhood too but he was past his best as a manager by the time he joined us although he did a great job in stabilizing the ship after Gullit. He was almost as old as Harry Redknapp is now and nobody on here would dream of having Redknapp as manager.

The way his second spell ended always left me a bit uncomfortable in the sense the given reason for his leaving was a loan signing not exactly end of the world stuff-of coarse that could just have been the convient excuse for a lot of other things he wasn't happy with and lord knows Ashleys probably not the most pleasant guy to work for but I wish he could have just dealt with it and gave it his best shot but he left and the consequences are still felt to this day as that opened the massive faultline on Ashley which has only been exacerbated since. Yeah, agreed, he should have carried on and become like Peter Beardsley and Bobby Moncur, sucking Mike Ashley off on the back page of the Chronicle every week and telling the supporters how stupid they are for not joining them on their knees. That would have been ace. Absolutely - just carry on under Ashley and his mafia as if everything was OK, and just forget that they lied through their teeth about Schweinsteiger being signed to replace Milner... Yep, KK should have thought about 'the good of the club'....just like Ashley did....!!

This is the guy who walked out on the club twice, isn't it? There were many different aspects to the Keegan persona, not all positive. If his first walk-out was questionable, his second certainly wasn't....anyone who had any hint of principles would have done the same thing as SAF and Wenger both said when they backed KKs resignation. Of course, if you think people like Pardew are loyal because they spout the owners' propaganda.......

Unfortunately, I believe that KKs long love affair with NUFC has ended permanently. He is 64 now and with the best will in the world, there is very little chance of him being approached to join the club in ANY capacity whilst Ashley owns it and that is now likely to carry on for some years following the latest Sky TV deal with the PL. Even if there was a takeover next year, KK will be getting to the stage of being DoF or nothing...SBR was a bit of an exception as was SAF and both had had long careers in management winning trophies. Nobody who was around for KKs 2 years as a player, or the amazing 5 years when he was our manager will forget those periods in the club's history and the rush of adrenaline that accompanied most of the games....even the promotion season was amazing and I'll never forget John Hall's gobsmacked look when he found out that 7000 had been locked out against...Grimsby at SJP. There was so much to remember....Harry Palmer's crazy music which somehow seemed to characterize the whole feeling around the club at the time - nobody could quite believe it was happening. Then the amazing 3rd place finish in our first PL season when everyone was hoping for Top 10...except KK.. The heart-break of missing the PL title in 96(which I believe broke KKs belief in himself for a while as he offered resignation after it) followed by the world-shocking signing of Alan Shearer and the 5-0 revenge over Man U after they dumped us in the Charity Shield....all the ingredients of a football roller-coaster which finished with KKs resignation in Jan 97. All these things are like a dream today - its as if they never happened and the final nail in the coffin was KK walking out - quite correctly - after Ashley & Co had sold him(and us)a pup......the club is just a pale shadow of what it was and a relic to the past. We shall never see days like those again and if we go down, it will be for many years, if not permanently ; the PL is ruthless to clubs that fail to invest or be run properly and Ashley will not get lucky for ever.......

Utter rubbish in the second half - the side looks unfit to me, fade badly in almost every second half under Carver. Cisse was absolutely dire but redeemed himself with a well-taken goal after probably our only decent cross of the night from Janmaat. Cisse's lay-offs to colleagues resulted in him giving the ball away several times and as we know, he lacks decent pace. The club is going nowhere under this regime and belongs in the Championship...we are a disgrace to the PL and to the once proud name of the club. If Carver retains the managerial position - or we get another plonker in summer - we WILL be relegated. A laughing stock, no more, no less.

Yes, and the problem with this scenario is that long-term and maybe permanent damage is being done to the club's support base. We have all heard the tales about youngsters who no longer want to support the club but are more interested in following the likes of Chelsea, Man C, Man U, Arsenal etc because they are perceived as both better and more successful. The longer Ashley is at the club, the more this will become a problem until it is to late. It was the same when we were kids, Liverpool fans, Everton fans, spurs fans. That always happens. They are now on my facebook as Newcastle fans. Its much worse now...how many local kids wanted to follow Liverpool etc 20 years ago...? Nowhere near as many as now and there are no signs of anything changing at NUFC.

Yes, and the problem with this scenario is that long-term and maybe permanent damage is being done to the club's support base. We have all heard the tales about youngsters who no longer want to support the club but are more interested in following the likes of Chelsea, Man C, Man U, Arsenal etc because they are perceived as both better and more successful. The longer Ashley is at the club, the more this will become a problem until it is to late.