merlin

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.

Janmaat had a poor game by his standards on Sunday. He has been very good so far this season but standards def slipped against Stoke...even his passing and control was off. Every player has a poor spell sometimes, and with him it was very noticeable - hopefully it is a blip....

The answer is - don't buy the Chronicle. In the Magpie Group campaign , they backed SJH even though the existing board didn't like it, but then, John Gibson(a local lad who is a fan)persuaded Graham Stanton to back the campaign...it seems that the current shower are either not locals(so couldn't really give a stuff about the club as long as they get a story)or just interested in keeping on the right side of Ashley and the paper's proprietors.....

Swansea, Leicester, West Ham, Southampton, Hull, Palace, QPR all came up recently-ish and they have all shown more ambition than us. Once you come up and consolidate your PL status you then aim to kick on. That's what they have all done with varying degrees of success but at least they have all showed a willingness to improve and aim high. Given how successful our scouting network is, it would take relatively little money (nowhere near £50m) and a decent managerial appointment to have us battling with Spurs, Southampton etc for European places and domestic cups on a regular basis. To actively avoid doing either out of some ill-founded logic that it would increase our chances of relegation is football sacrilege and the complete opposite of what a sporting establishment exists for. If Coventry came up they would show more ambition than us because all that entails is aiming to be the best they can be. Totally agree with this post - we are being horrendously under-financed by a malicious and power-mad owner. The clubs mentioned have indeed tried to improve themselves and none of them have anything like the potential to be permanent top 6 that NUFC has. Ashley is a loose cannon, a law unto himself and until his luck runs out or he gets an offer he can't refuse(which looks unlikely), we are going to be the eternal second-raters, punching way below our weight as a club. There is NO excuse for Ashley...NONE. He could, if he wished, allow the club to spend 50m without blinking and we all know that with a decent manager, probably half this amount would make a huge difference to the side. As long as people are prepared to hand over their hard-earned to this guy, either by buying STs or SD merchandise, we will always be below clubs who we should be eating alive. As for Coventry, MK Dons would show more ambition than NUFC if they got into the PL - believe it.

Having watched the recording of the game, I tend to agree with Nath about the Stoke possession - they made far more co-ordinated attacks on our goal than we did on theirs; they didn't have much ability to finish though so we basically survived. Although there is more movement from Newcastle players now than when Pardew was in charge, Carver has still adopted much of Pardew's style. There is far too big a gap between our m/f players & forwards when the opposition are attacking in our half, therefore when we get a break out, the ball often gets picked up by an opposition defender who has plenty of time to set up another attack because he is not being put under pressure by any of our midfield. This is particularly obvious when you play only 1 main forward and the sight of Perez trying to battle 2 large Stoke defenders when high balls were played up to him was ludicrous. Perez is doing his best and remains a threat but we are going to ruin this lad by using him this way. We all know that Cisse is not a decent target man and lacks genuine pace, so until there is a player brought in who can do this we will struggle for goals. Colback hasn't got the pace to get up and down the field quickly and only Sissoko(and possibly Abeid)have the potential to do this. I suspect that part of the reason Carver is playing this way is because of Williamson and, to a lesser extent, Coloccini's legs starting to go - if we get caught by playing our m/f higher up the pitch in the opposition's faces, neither CB has the pace or ability to catch a breakaway forward although Colo at least can read a game and position himself to intercept players. Ashley is highly unlikely to address either the CB or CF(even less)problem because it costs big bucks so the side is likely to play the same way for the foreseeable future. If we fail to get a result at Palace on Weds, the next month - and April - looks fraught with danger and those last 9 points(I don't agree that 36 is enough)will be hard to achieve...a nail-biting finish awaits.

Why wouldn't he..? All he has to do at NUFC is finish in top 10, no pressure for Cups, surety of Ashley forking out if the club looks like getting into trouble...all this, and a quiescent crowd, happy to ask him for a wave for achieving the above.... He won't have all that at Derby....after all, they have won titles in the past 40-odd years, which is more than NUFC have done..

Half of them probably don't even KNOW what Ashley has done to the club....they only say that because they are desperate to justify their need to keep going and thereby putting their money in his pocket - to admit he is to blame for the club being permanent non-entities makes them look stupid.

I was - the 70s had some good times(reaching FA Cup Final in 74, LCF in 76 and some great moments from the likes of Supermac, Tommy Craig, Alan Kennedy, Irving Nattrass who were excellent players), some bad times(the FA Cup Final Freezing resulting in a public humiliation by the Scousers, and relegation in 79 after a period of club in-fighting). The 80s were mainly up and down - poor team until Cox and Keegan arrived in late 82 then a few years of excitement with KK etc. The emergence of Waddle, Beardsley and Gazza, then all 3 being sold and the club relegated - again - in 89. We never really started to fulfil our potential until SJH and KK were running the club and we started to go backwards once they went - only SBR's tenure between 2001 & 2003 saw us get anywhere near to what we had been 6 years earlier, so people who think we are a mediocre club have been brought up on mediocrity ; those who followed the club in the late 40s and 1950s certainly did NOT believe we were a mediocre club and many stopped going after the club started going backwards under an unambitious board.....now why does that sound familiar somehow..!

Old friend of mine who died 5 years ago had it right and he had been following the club since before WW2 ; he said they might as well knock the place down and build flats on it. Can't see a better alternative in the foreseeable future. That's bollocks though. Ashley won't be here forever, that's one thing we can be sure of. The way I see it, the club is in a coma rather than dead. Like KK said, one day we will get our club back. I did say 'the foreseeable future'....can you see a time when Ashley will go within the next 18 months..? And yes, we WILL get 'our' club back, except that it WON'T be ours - it is Ashley's now and it will be the property of whoever buys it from him so you have to hope that person is prepared to 'share' it with you and the rest of the fans. A club is only the property of the fans when it is either full or partly owned by them ; SJH tried to offer shares in the club to the fans in 1990, and they weren't interested. Also, even when Ashley sells, we will have fallen light years behind other similarly supported clubs and now the Fair Play rules prevent mass financial outlays on players to redress the balance. Ashley's ownership will affect the club LONG after he has departed.

Old friend of mine who died 5 years ago had it right and he had been following the club since before WW2 ; he said they might as well knock the place down and build flats on it. Can't see a better alternative in the foreseeable future.

As far as NUFC are concerned, Transfer Deadline Day should be re-named...as Transfers Dead Day, or sometimes, Transfers OUT Day.

Ask yourself - where else would a non-entity like Charnley ever get a job like his... Rangers, perhaps..? He is just a stooge for Ashley, plain and simple.

f***ing hell, 2 years. Make your mind up sooner you indecisive old c***. Ridiculous - if Carr was recommending him all that time, the club need shooting...if he wasn't he is at fault.

Good luck to the lad, wish him all the best back at Inter...was a square peg in a round hole at LB because he couldn't use his left foot sufficiently to be a success in the position but he was a talented footballer. The fact that he has been sold, plus MYM AND money from Palace for Pardew and we then let Alli slip through our fingers shows what a greedy and amateurish set up is running NUFC. JUST DON'T GO...

This really. I have never been that impressed by him, Janmaat and Haidara are better players, the only down side is the lack of cover. Basically this...the club are clearly going to gamble on having Raylor at LB if Dummett has to go to CB - usual silk purse/sows ear policy.

I like Abeid but he is showing signs of being a Staylor Mk 2 - made of glass and injured on a regular basis...

This will always be the case as long as Ashley is here - we very rarely lost out on a player we wanted when KK or SBR were manager. Players know all about NUFC under Ashley and they will steer clear if they have decent alternatives because they know they will be better paid and better coached at a club with more ambition.

Aye I agree with this, on Santon I do find it strange that he's been on the bench for last few weeks and he's hardly seen the pitch. I would of thought he would have least had some pity minutes to get his fitness up. Can't agree - Haidara is a NATURALLY left-footed player and if his defensive capabilities continue to improve, I would keep him in over Santon every time...Santon always tries to switch the ball to his right foot to cross and it gives defenders time to get tight on him and stop him crossing...Haidara whips them in with his left foot on the run, a far better option.

Deserved result against a poor and unmotivated Hull side. The movement off the ball was 100% better than during 9/10s of Pardew's tenure and we looked a far better side for it. The weaknesses in the side are obvious...CB and CF, where Perez always works his socks off but needs a PL standard CF to play off in order to get the best from him. We are living on borrowed time with Colo although he remains a good footballer - his legs are starting to go. We all know about Williamson... Both FBs were good - Haidara and Janmaat both come forward really well and are confident on the ball and Haidara is adding more defensive stability to his game now - if he continues in this vein he will be a good player. Anita's perception and reading of the game, together with his ability to come out of defence with the ball takes some of the strain off the back 4 and Ameobi scored what could turn out to be one of his career best...it could also be vitally important in keeping us out of a relegation fight. All in all, better to watch, relief of some pressure at the bottom and a breathing space.

Agree with this - he was out of order, completely so...however, credit where it's due for yesterday's performance and mainly for the emphasis put on sensible attack and pass-and-move style - movement off the ball was badly lacking under Pardew and there were always plenty of options for the player with the ball yesterday due to his colleagues making space to receive a pass. The side has obvious weaknesses, CF and CD being two areas badly needing new blood, but under Ashley its always going to be make and mend.

I think he was completely out of line abusing the fans the way he did after the shambles that 2014 was. He deserved every bit of doubt and mistrust sent his way. He talks a big game, but has never actually achieved anything in football apart from be Sir Bobby's assistant many years ago. Many people rightly see him as part of the old boys club who are happy to steal a living from NUFC without actually providing much value. The only upside of hearing his interviews is that I don't have to hear al pards mmm and aaaahhh, his incoherent English and his arrogant twang. I agree that his behaviour at the Southampton game was despicable and of course he shouldn't be our manager but the hatred towards him here is of Pardewesque proportions. What do you expect..? He abused the supporters at Southampton after they made their feelings known about the dire situation of the club and of Pardew's management and the fans were perfectly justified in doing so. He is now Ashley's representative as Pardew was before him and he has achieved nothing of any note in football...even less than Pardew. The 'hatred' you talk about is aimed primarily at Ashley, but as he never comments or has any interest in forming a relationship with the club's customers(i.e. fans), all the vitriol will go towards his 'men', Carver being the main football rep appointed by Ashley. Its the same thing as a customer rep at a company takes the abuse if the company falls down on service etc but in this case, the 'Customer Service' rep has personally abused some customers who complained. If you take Ashley's shilling, expect to be abused as a willing part of a lousy outfit. As it happens, I have no personal feelings about Carver whatsoever, but I know he is not up to a full-time role as manager of NUFC and probably not even for the time he has INITIALLY(note that...)been given the job.