merlin

Because they win stuff. We almost got relegated and finished with the 3rd highest average attendance so they're doing something right. Also, what does he mean by top clubs? Man United sell out every week but then they've got lines of snap happy Asian chappies (forgive me oldtype) queuing for tickets week after week, similar for Liverpool just replace Asian with Irish. The London clubs seem quite secure, but then they have absolutely mammoth fanbases right on their doorstep. Every other club in the league is either playing week on week with an indeterminate number of empty seats in their ground or are looking at ways to get fans through the door. Anyone who criticises a club for making it affordable to supporters to get through the turnstiles and watch their team, especially in this financial climate, is a pillock. Anyone who thinks clubs fill their stadiums for any other reason than that they are successful is the REAL pillock http://espnfc.com/stats/attendance/_/league/eng.1/barclays-premier-league 3rd in that table and almost relegated in the real table. Odd. Did you actually read the full content of my post re NUFC..? We had finished 5th in the previous season, qualified for Europe and people had no expectation that the team would play as badly. Also, a large number of ST holders had bought tickets for 3 seasons - they aren't going to chuck them away until they've had the majority of use from them...also, wait and see what happens if we have another season like the last one. Your figures don't prove a thing over the long term - Liverpool and Spurs - to mention but 2 clubs - intend to either extend or rebuild their stadiums to a bigger capacity and then we'll see how our attendances stand up if we remain also-rans whilst they challenge for Top 4/Cups. We could easily fill a stadium of 75,000 - just as SJH wanted to build at Leazes Park in 1995 - were we to be competing at the top level rather than being mid-table johnny-come-latelys and losing in the FA Cup 3rd round to the likes of Brighton in successive years...

Many people would consider Wonga to be usurious. All Western banks violate Islam by charging interest, but the excessive interest charged by Wonga may simply be more egregious. Islam doesn't do breaking the rules by degree's, the law is the law. It'd be like an Imam saying hey it's OK having a pint a day but don't get p*ssed and only one bacon butty a week, mind. We all know that religious people pick and choose how to interpret their scripture all the time. Islam is no different to any other religion in that way. This has to be a notable occasion because I agree with you for once..! I was once in Malaysia, a Muslim country in the main, and our guide informed us that a certain road was a bad spot for being stopped by Police for a breathalyser ; needless to say, I queried this by saying I thought Muslims didn't touch alcohol, whereupon he replied ; 'Yes - but we are MODERN Muslims...!'

Cabaye will be sold for around 20m. Ashley will be doing handstands - they paid around 4m for him....

Shows how myopic our fans have become and how unable to distingusih between a good player being handicapped and demoralized by the manager/regime, and one who lacks real talent... Cabaye will go on to prove what a class player he is under a better manager who utilizes his talents better and with a more ambitious club....

Great post HTT - right on the button once again but you just have to read some of the other posts on here to realize that Ashley and Co will always have enough 'pillocks' who will back their lousy strategy. The fans are being dumbed down, season by season and nobody who relishes good football and ambition will be looking forward to the coming season as a Newcastle fan - on the outside looking in, as has become norm under this regime.....

Because they win stuff. We almost got relegated and finished with the 3rd highest average attendance so they're doing something right. Also, what does he mean by top clubs? Man United sell out every week but then they've got lines of snap happy Asian chappies (forgive me oldtype) queuing for tickets week after week, similar for Liverpool just replace Asian with Irish. The London clubs seem quite secure, but then they have absolutely mammoth fanbases right on their doorstep. Every other club in the league is either playing week on week with an indeterminate number of empty seats in their ground or are looking at ways to get fans through the door. Anyone who criticises a club for making it affordable to supporters to get through the turnstiles and watch their team, especially in this financial climate, is a pillock. Anyone who thinks clubs fill their stadiums for any other reason than that they are successful is the REAL pillock - esp when NUFC have a record of filling the stadium AND having a major waiting list....WHEN they are successful and also for quite a period when they are not....attendances only start to fall off when fans either have no confidence in the club i.e. Board, or dislike the way the team plays. As for Man U relying on 'Asian types', the only pity is that NUFC should also, by now, have a better world-wide profile. Of course, if you are happy to be a provincial club who make up the numbers, you will be happy with the way the club is run.....certainly seems that some on here revel in that status....

In addition to what I wrote above, I would also add that to blame KK for so-called 'bailing' when he was put into an impossible position by Ashley, Lambias and Co is just a further illustration of re-writing history - even Fergie and Wenger said that Keegan was right to leave as the board had usurped his position and in case you have forgotten, the club also tried to sue him for breach of contract ; the court agreed with KK, hence the award of damages for constructive dismissal. Some of us have long memories - people who want to change history to suit themselves shoudl remember that....

I don't even know what you are arguing about to be honest... Anyway, for me Sir John Hall should be regarded as a legend around these parts for what he did for the club. People complain about the money he earned from the club yet I didn't hear anyone complain about Shearer's wages or how much Colo cost us and rightly so because these players gave/give a great deal back and were worth every penny they cost. Its the likes of Freddy Shepherd and Douglas Hall who were the real leeches, who benefited massively financially without ever really contributing much, not to justify what they earned from the club anyway. Sir John Hall took a huge gamble when he decided to buy up all those shares, spending several million of his own money at that time, money his advisers and accountants were telling him he was basically throwing away and how mad he was to buy such a shitty run down nothing football club. He saw something in the club though that no-one else did at that time. We should all be grateful the man got involved with the club and regard him as a hero at worst, because we would not be what we are today without his involvement. Forget KK, forget the entertainers, Feyenoord away, 5-0 against Man Utd, our wonderful stadium. Forget the lot. Its sad how in the modern game people like Mario f***ing Balotelli and Joey f***ing Barton are considered heroes or legends and the likes of Sir John Hall a leech or KK a quitter, men who give to their clubs everything they had to offer. It is even more sickening when NUFC fans look at men like SJH and KK with disdain or suspicion. A gamble would indicate risk, he took no personal risk - ever. He never invested a penny of his own money except to excercise share options at prices that were less than (as share options often are) the shares were worth at the time, i.e. printing money. Cameron Hall Ltd bought NUFC for SJH to run, then that loan was put straight onto the club = the club bought NUFC for SJH. Don't get me wrong, I realise what SJH did for the club, but a man who REALLY should get a lot of the credit for making NUFC what it was, is Freddie Fletcher, who sadly, rarely gets a mention these days. BTW NUFC goes back way before SJH and KK for some of us, they didn't start it, and whilst deserving credit for elevating our status in the game (luckily when the game really took off) they certainly shouldn't be looked upon as "founding fathers". Indeed, there's a rather large bit of me that's never forgiven KK for 1974. Poeple come and go from football clubs and some leave a legacy, SJH and KK are just two more of them and in KK's case he profoundly damaged his legacy (for me) when he bailed and took the club to court trying for a ridiculous sum. Joe Harvey, a man who gave virtually his whole life to the club (and actually won stuff as a player and manager) is a bigger legend, in my eyes, than either. If ever I saw history being re-written and airbrushed, this is it - for a start, the money SJH used to buy up the shares from shareholders/board members came directly from his pension fund. If that is not a personal risk, then what is ? Secondly, Lady Hall had to fund the transfer of Kilcline just after KK arrived because the bank were impounding any money the club had to cover its debts....is that not a personal risk..?? As for your hero-worship of Shepherd - he was just a bit-part player in the whole exercise and his contribution was minimal when compared to SJH who could have eaten him from breakfast financially at that time. Shepherd, apart from his dubious contribution to the NOTW con along with Douglas Hall, was most notable for buying over-priced players, botching the departure of SBR and bringing his son into the club whilst he was working for a football agent. I don't know whether you were old enough to know what was happening at the time, but your points seem way, way off the mark.

I don't even know what you are arguing about to be honest... Anyway, for me Sir John Hall should be regarded as a legend around these parts for what he did for the club. People complain about the money he earned from the club yet I didn't hear anyone complain about Shearer's wages or how much Colo cost us and rightly so because these players gave/give a great deal back and were worth every penny they cost. Its the likes of Freddy Shepherd and Douglas Hall who were the real leeches, who benefited massively financially without ever really contributing much, not to justify what they earned from the club anyway. Sir John Hall took a huge gamble when he decided to buy up all those shares, spending several million of his own money at that time, money his advisers and accountants were telling him he was basically throwing away and how mad he was to buy such a shitty run down nothing football club. He saw something in the club though that no-one else did at that time. We should all be grateful the man got involved with the club and regard him as a hero at worst, because we would not be what we are today without his involvement. Forget KK, forget the entertainers, Feyenoord away, 5-0 against Man Utd, our wonderful stadium. Forget the lot. Its sad how in the modern game people like Mario f***ing Balotelli and Joey f***ing Barton are considered heroes or legends and the likes of Sir John Hall a leech or KK a quitter, men who give to their clubs everything they had to offer. It is even more sickening when NUFC fans look at men like SJH and KK with disdain or suspicion. Great post HTT - and right on the button. I also detest the hero-worship that scabs like Balotelli and Barton receive whilst SJH is run down by many fans. We simply wouldn't have existed after 92 had he not rescued the club when it was facing ruin financially and nobody else was willing to step in. The only thing SJH did wrong was to leave the club in the hands of Shepherd and his son.

To answer Douglas's questions in short form and without club-appeasing waffle ; 1.Nothing has changed - Llambias is desperate to keep his fall-guy on board and avoid another KK-type challenge to his dictatorship.....only a bottom 3 place by December will see off Pardew. 2. Change in recruitment strategy ? Eh? Depends on whether Rangers need another Ashley cash injection, and as for domestic talent...Does a bear s--t in the woods..? NO chance.. 3.Ambitions ? Try avoiding relegation and dodging the FA Cup distraction by going out to Brighton in Rnd 3.. 4.Colo is either on his bike or will be an unhappy bunny until he finally gets on the plane - which will probably be after the Transfer window closes as is the preferred means of departure by the club. 5.Was it really necessary to ask this question ? See above, but change date of departure to 31.8.13.... 6.Ah - the famous rising stars question ; from the four names first mentioned, I reckon 3 are border-line at best and 1 is very light-weight but has a good left foot...readers can make the choice for themselves... From the other names mentioned, we haven't a clue except that Good did play in a cup Final with another club, something he is highly unlikely to repeat at SJP...ESPECIALLY the FA Cup...! Incidentally...what happened to Inman..? If he has anything he should be given a chance, if not, on his bike.. 7. Transfer budget ? This is the footballing equivalent of the famous US President's 'football' which reputedly contains the launch codes for US nuclear missile operators ; we've never seen it, but those in charge swear it exists but is never properly used...... 8. WHAT unity and purpose - that between Ashley and Llambias, perhaps ? According to what we have been told - and I believe some of it - there is little unity in the Dressing Room and Pardew does as he's told...as for the mugs - er, sorry - I mean the fans, those in charge couldn't give a toss as long as they keep buying STs and merchandise.. There you are Mark - you could have saved yourself a lot of unnecessary writing. Trouble is, you would be watching all of NUFC's games on TV if you had come out with most of this !

None of the top clubs have to resort to cheap tickets in order to fill their stadiums - yes..? You think that the fiasco of last year was 'getting it right' in the transfer market ? You think its OK to fall out with one of the country's better newspaper's reporter, who is usually pro the club ? Especially when his colleagues are going to band together and give poor reviews about the club(apart from the local sycophants, that is...) - all Edwards was guilty of was telling the truth and the club didn't like it. Allegedly.... As usual, we will have to agree to disagree - we'll see what happens after 6 months of next season but I for one would NOT pay to watch Pardew's teams.

You say that but Demba Ba more than replaced Carroll's goals. If Demba Ba was Lovenkrands replacement then that was excellent business. You see how you don't give credit when it's due? You don't credit Ba being better than our main man the season before whilst not even counting him as the former main man. But because Gouffran isn't better than him, Gouff doesn't count? I don't have a problem waiting to get the right player instead of signing inferior players to fill out numbers. I do have a problem with our team/squad being put together due to skill/money rather than specific requirements. Ba used us as a stepping stone to a bigger club and was off as soon as he got the chance - most of these so-called 'clever' buys will want to do the same, just as Cabaye will, probably this summer. He saw the light after last summer's transfer fiasco...so did most of us...

I take your point but it will only take one season anywhere near the 5th place finish to get things back on a positive note and stop people giving up their tickets. We've done amazingly well to maintain the levels of support even through bad times, haven't we? We're already in the worst recession in a generation and we're still selling out nearly every week. If we finish in the bottom 6 for another couple of seasons then, obviously, some people will stop going. But if we do well then people will stay and new fans arrive. I think that's just the life of a football club... nobody has 60,000 fans who will go no matter what, it's virtually impossible. Firstly, you have a great deal more confidence in Ashley/Llambias/Pardew if you think we are going to reach 5th place any time soon, than I(and I suspect, many more fans)have. Secondly, I recall meeting a store manager in my youth as a sales rep in SBR's home town of Langley Park just after we had won the Fairs Cup in 69. He had been to Wembley 3 times in the 50s and to him, the club had gone backwards since then and he had stopped going. He thought the style of play and standard of players at the club was far worse than 15 years earlier....now that sounds familiar...! Don't ever think that the club can take it for granted that the fans will always turn up - this is a far more demanding world than that of the 50s/60s and people have far more to spend their hard-earned cash on...many have had to move from the NE to find work and won't travel every 2 weeks, esp if they are watching dire football. We have virtually NO chance of ever being among the trophies as things stand and even Top 5 seems a huge ask. Ashley will be satisfied with Top 10 and that is where the club is just likely to scrape into most seasons now unless there is a major change of managment or the signing of players ; both things look very unlikely and if there is another Cup surrender a' la Brighton next season, you will find some very angry fellow fans indeed.....the club has been stupid enough to fall out with the local DT sports reporter and his editor is sticking with the guy so apart from the local media - who very few believe - we are going to get very jaundiced press coverage over the coming season. All of this is likely to affect attendances if we get off to a poor start and as neesy says, the club are doing a Mackem and selling tickets cheap under the guise of being family friendly( Yeah, right!)....

Anyone who is happy with the way that the club is being directed and run now is going to see NUFC decline steadily as a result - the days when 60,000 would cram into SJP to see 11 B & W shirts are long gone and will soon be the stuff of folklore. People are fighting a losing battle to maintain their income and will be more and more reluctant to hit the credit card in order to watch the anti-football dished up by Pardew's teams. As the PL becomes even more of a 4/5 team race, so-called provincial clubs will be the losers just as happened in Scotland and if the club is ever relegated again it will face a monumental struggle to get back into the PL. The waiting list for STs is long gone - it was 20,000 strong when KK and SJH were running the club but started falling after SBR was sacked and Ashley/Llambias have completed the process. Acceptance of the status quo will become less and less justifiable when money is tight(anyone who thinks a REAL recovery is happening in the UK is living in cuckoo land - 43,000 jobs were lost between last qtr of 2012 and end of first qtr 2013(DT Financial pages last week) and as crowds fall, so will the club because the fans are ALL it has in the positive column. Once the habit of attending stops it will be hard to start again and I am not convinced that the majority of fans will keep accepting a struggling or mediocre PL side in the long term. Despite what Shankly once famously said, football is NOT more important than life and death..

Having been away on holiday in the UK for the past month, I felt that there was a feeling of apathy, if not defeatism, among many people I know who are NUFC fans ; hardly surprising when Ashley is clearly prepared to accept a mediocre manager in the shape of Pardew as long as the club stays in the PL. The thought of KK returning as manager is one that people should banish under this regime and by the time the club changes hands - IF that ever happens in the next few years - KK will be getting too old to do the job as he once did. I have no doubt that, right now, he is still capable of lifting the current side to a level we can only dream of under Pardew but he is unlikely to get the chance - nor would he take it if it entailed working under Llambias, in my opinion. We are going to become a replica of Villa under Ellis, with a large section of fans wanting the owner removed because they feel restricted under his control ; for those with short memories, Eliis hung on for many years and to give him credit, at least Villa won a couple of trophies under his ownership which we are unlikely to do under Ashley and Llambias. KK's managership - esp the first period - was a golden spell in the club's mediocre recent history and in my opinion, will remain something that those who witnessed it treasure because it was like reaching an oasis in a VERY dry desert. Although nothing should ever surprise in football, I would be gobsmacked if KK was to return for a third time , esp under this regime.

I'd keep them bloody well banned. From the writers page - Matthew Norman is a former British Press Awards winner as both Columnist and Food and Drink Writer of the Year. Say no more. Absolutely ludicrous piece. They are acting like a recently dumped teenage girl I object to the comparison of Llambias with Nikita Khrushchev....Khrushchev was an experienced guy in his chosen profession.....

This - Dalglish was hostile to the press and they wanted him out from Day 1 because of it. They managed it with negative reporting - and his own dour tactics - and he was fired after 2 games in season 98-99 without us losing one of them...contrast this with the dire football we have seen under Pardew - even worse than that under Dalglish - and the fact that he is till there after we have lost 2 important home matches with a 9-0 deficit as well as shipping goals freely in away games with only ONE win away all season. Dalglish would have been crucified if he had had the same record as Pardew......

This - exactly...my view is that Llambias may have told Pardew to get the players to rubbish the story in the DT so it takes the pressure off those two. None of this makes any difference to what has happened in the past season and smacks of ar-- covering to me. We can all be sure that most of these players would be on their bikes if we go down, and my bet is that a fair few will be off anyway. There is nothing Llambias and Pardew won't do in order to deflect any blame away from them and try to stop fans thinking about scrapping their STs...... The Independent's article, comparing our record during the years before Ashley and the years since shows just how lousy we have been during his tenure although in fairness, we could not have continued the lax and suspect financial dealings of the Shepherd regime. Don't be daft man , you think they are doing this to deflect blame and pressure from themselves, I really don't they give a s*** how people see them right now. Derek certainly doesn't. I think they got more important things to worry about. Mike and Derek's first concern is their pockets, and that is avoiding relegation at all cost right now. This pr exercise is solely done because they think it actually helps the team. To be fair I don't see it doing any harm. If you believe they are NOT bothered about the fans blaming them, you are the one being daft...all they care about are STs being sold and if fans lay the blame at their feet, they won't be. Also, Llambias has a vested interest in NOT being blamed - much as people think Ashley is his mate, if Ashley begins to blame Llambias for Pardew's appointment etc, he would have NO compunction about firing Llambias. IF as you say, they don't care - why did they try to silence a reporter from one of the more respected broadsheets, faint praise though that may be as well as banning him..?? Not the actions of people who don't care what fans think of them.... Incidentally, the DT editor has said they WON'T apologize and will continue to tell the story from SJP as they are informed about it - NOT what the club wants them to print.....!

This - exactly...my view is that Llambias may have told Pardew to get the players to rubbish the story in the DT so it takes the pressure off those two. None of this makes any difference to what has happened in the past season and smacks of ar-- covering to me. We can all be sure that most of these players would be on their bikes if we go down, and my bet is that a fair few will be off anyway. There is nothing Llambias and Pardew won't do in order to deflect any blame away from them and try to stop fans thinking about scrapping their STs...... The Independent's article, comparing our record during the years before Ashley and the years since shows just how lousy we have been during his tenure although in fairness, we could not have continued the lax and suspect financial dealings of the Shepherd regime. On the pitch we have been woeful under Ashley, off it (coaches aside) the club is in fantastic shape, so fair play to that probably little surprise as a businessman he got that in order first.. shame its come at the expense of actual football being played properly. Hopefully he pulls his finger out and finds us a set of coaches that match the scouting and financial set up he has going. We won't be holding our breath though. I am well aware that Ashley's financial handling of the club has been a major improvement over that of Shepherd - fine...BUT - the business of the club is FOOTBALL. Making the club financially better is good, but if the major product of the business - i.e., providing entertainment and excitement for its customers, the fans - falls away, then the product loses value. Its a bit like Jaguar cars in the 70s...had a previously good reputation, sold well in the US etc etc., but a gradually declining reliability eventually caused the business to be sold...it is now owned by Tata of India... Doesn't matter WHAT your reputation is - if you start letting your product standards drop, you lose customers and fail, In NUFC's case, the failure is shown by the fact that the ST waiting list is no more and the club are selling family tckets to disguise the fall in popularity, just as the Mackems did when they gave away cheap tickets some years ago to get people in. Ashley is very fortunate that NUFC fans are as loyal as they are - most other clubs would have seen a dramatic fall in attendances had they slumped from a regular top 8 postion and challenging for Europe most years, to 1 relegation, 1 5th place, and the remainder an average of lower half finishes and flirtations with relegation under a manager whose track record is exactly that with 4 other clubs. That is the point the Independent were trying to make. If you keep selling the family silver, you eventually get poorer..... I'd dispute the "regular top 8 position" stuff. In the past 10 years we've only finished in the top 8 three times. Us being s*** isn't a recent phenomenon. Then take it up with the Independent - they are the ones quoting the figures... Incidentally, under KK we never finished lower than 6th, even under Dalglish we managed a 2nd place, SBR had us in the Top 4 a few times and 5th in the season before he was fired. If you are quoting 10 years, remember that Ashley has been in charge for 6 now.....

This - exactly...my view is that Llambias may have told Pardew to get the players to rubbish the story in the DT so it takes the pressure off those two. None of this makes any difference to what has happened in the past season and smacks of ar-- covering to me. We can all be sure that most of these players would be on their bikes if we go down, and my bet is that a fair few will be off anyway. There is nothing Llambias and Pardew won't do in order to deflect any blame away from them and try to stop fans thinking about scrapping their STs...... The Independent's article, comparing our record during the years before Ashley and the years since shows just how lousy we have been during his tenure although in fairness, we could not have continued the lax and suspect financial dealings of the Shepherd regime. On the pitch we have been woeful under Ashley, off it (coaches aside) the club is in fantastic shape, so fair play to that probably little surprise as a businessman he got that in order first.. shame its come at the expense of actual football being played properly. Hopefully he pulls his finger out and finds us a set of coaches that match the scouting and financial set up he has going. We won't be holding our breath though. I am well aware that Ashley's financial handling of the club has been a major improvement over that of Shepherd - fine...BUT - the business of the club is FOOTBALL. Making the club financially better is good, but if the major product of the business - i.e., providing entertainment and excitement for its customers, the fans - falls away, then the product loses value. Its a bit like Jaguar cars in the 70s...had a previously good reputation, sold well in the US etc etc., but a gradually declining reliability eventually caused the business to be sold...it is now owned by Tata of India... Doesn't matter WHAT your reputation is - if you start letting your product standards drop, you lose customers and fail, In NUFC's case, the failure is shown by the fact that the ST waiting list is no more and the club are selling family tckets to disguise the fall in popularity, just as the Mackems did when they gave away cheap tickets some years ago to get people in. Ashley is very fortunate that NUFC fans are as loyal as they are - most other clubs would have seen a dramatic fall in attendances had they slumped from a regular top 8 postion and challenging for Europe most years, to 1 relegation, 1 5th place, and the remainder an average of lower half finishes and flirtations with relegation under a manager whose track record is exactly that with 4 other clubs. That is the point the Independent were trying to make. If you keep selling the family silver, you eventually get poorer.....

This - exactly...my view is that Llambias may have told Pardew to get the players to rubbish the story in the DT so it takes the pressure off those two. None of this makes any difference to what has happened in the past season and smacks of ar-- covering to me. We can all be sure that most of these players would be on their bikes if we go down, and my bet is that a fair few will be off anyway. There is nothing Llambias and Pardew won't do in order to deflect any blame away from them and try to stop fans thinking about scrapping their STs...... The Independent's article, comparing our record during the years before Ashley and the years since shows just how lousy we have been during his tenure although in fairness, we could not have continued the lax and suspect financial dealings of the Shepherd regime.

Please explain how you achieved this ? I've been trying to become a more sane, rational person where NUFC is concerned for decades, without any success whatsoever Try thinking of Ashley and Llambias trousering your hard-earned dosh...and Pardew being paid with it... If those really were the criteria for ending an obsession wouldn't it have been possible acheive that decades ago and long before those three were ever heard of ? Substitute McKeag & Co for Ashley and that is what many of us did in the early 90s to force the board out - more difficult this time because Ashley has far more dosh than they did.

Please explain how you achieved this ? I've been trying to become a more sane, rational person where NUFC is concerned for decades, without any success whatsoever Try thinking of Ashley and Llambias trousering your hard-earned dosh...and Pardew being paid with it...

It's like a slow lingering wait on death row. Why did this season have to go on so long, can't they just shoot us now? That cheated handball goal at Wigan could be the most costly refereeing mistake in the history of English football. If we had a decent manager and people at the top who knew what they were doing, the Wigan hand-ball wouldn't have mattered one bit... Using this as an excuse for being relegated is REALLY grasping at straws.... I wasn't using it as an excuse, you've just conveniently read that into it. It was however an extremely significant incident. If you weren't using it as an excuse, I wouldn't have to have 'conveniently' mentioned it . Your choice of reason why we might get relegated, not mine - are you seriously saying that the Wigan hand-ball goal is the main reason we could be relegated ? What about Ba's hand-ball goal at Reading which got us an undeserved point ? What about Pardew's stupid substitutions and what he laughably calls 'tactics' ? What about giving away a lead at home to - excuse me while I laugh if it wasn't so serious - Reading and lose the match..? Don't you think that those - and a myriad of other reasons - are why we are in this position ?

Durham is the biggest jerk in the whole football media world - this is the ONLY time I have agreed with anything he said and even then, his reasoning is way out. Complete tosser who usually hasn't a good word to say about NUFC or its fans.