merlin

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....

You have to give Villa - and Lambert - real credit for their performance last night and through much of the past half-season. They have given themselves a realistic chance of avoiding relegation after being given very little money to spend and by developing what is obviously a good group of youngsters topped off with the shrewd signing of Benteke....how many believe that in their position, Pardew would have told his team to go for goals against Sunderland last night...?? Seems to me that regardless of what happens now, Lerner has had the better value this season from his manager who, it should be remembered, was only hired last summer after doing a good job establishing Norwich in the PL. The incredible result they pulled off means that they will be flying morale-wise now whereas we have come off the back of 2 home defeats where 9 goals were conceded without reply and with a side whose morale and, if Edwards is to be believed, a Dressing room riddled with disputes and discontent - which side is the most likely to survive in such circumstances..?? Without taking anything at all away from Villa, you have to wonder how much of last night's hammering was down to the Mackems taking things a bit easy but not having seen the game I am not going to say they did. The facts remain that we now have a disastrous goal-difference and are on the same points as Villa and the Mackems with only Wigan looking as if they may have too much to do - not that I would bank on THAT to save our skins. Ashley and Llambias' decision to fire Hughton and then hire Pardew looks more and more suspect every day; even worse is their apparent decision to want to retain his services. If NUFC go down, the club will face years of Championship football under these people - we are becoming like Villa before Lerner took over - a club whose fans detest their owner and spend years trying to get rid of him...it doesn't look good.

We don't need an English spine to the team at all, we need a manager who can get the best out of the players we have, that's all we're missing. It's not coincidence that nearly every successful club has that national spine to them, in fact they're nearly always local too. This is particularly obvious in those clubs that sustain such success. Arsenal? never been outside the top 4 during Wenger's time and they have hardly had a english spine the majority of the time. Has f*ck all to do with it. Last time they had the title was with Cole, Keown, Campbell, Parlour with Seaman leaving at the start of that season. The likes of Vieria, Bergkamp & Henry were instrumental but they'd all been their a minimum of 5 years, understood the league, settled and spoke very good english. Called having a mix and balance, something we lack. Also ironcally enough Henry, Diaby and the likes of site Keown as a leading figure to helping them settle and get used to the english way. Agree with this - they had a better mix of experienced players for the PL.

Never try to second-guess what the 2 loons running the club will do - if Llambias has anything to do with it, Pardew will still be there come August....

I agree about Colo - he was the main reason we got a point at SOL and in many games has saved our bacon single-handedly...Taylor is poor when Colo is out of the side and MYM is still coming to terms with the PL. I would like to know the REAL reson behind Colo's sudden departure and wish to leave ; he did leave a hole but it was the absence of many created goal chances that wrecked us in the second half of the season and that is down to Pardew's style....or lack of.

Total nonsense - when SJH and KK were in charge I was in my 40s and I, along with everyone else, looked forward to match days as if they were pay-day...we loved the atmosphere and it was brilliant. It was like being in my 20s again and watching the Fairs Cup side, maybe even better because the football was great to watch. The current ownership and CEO have wrecked any real feeling the fans had for the club because they have removed it from them totally ; they have employed a manager whose track record with other clubs gave them every warning as to what could be expected from him, and now the fans are paying for their clueless decision by seeing their side humiliated and in danger of relegation for the second time under these clowns. Their major contribution to NE football will be to ensure that the Mackems will have a greater percentage of youngsters growing up to support them than at any time since they won the Cup in 1973. 'Getting old' has nothing to do with it - watching the way NUFC goes about its business ensures that people in their 20s will feel old and that Alex Ferguson's jibe about being 'a wee club in the NE' will come true...

He's got a chairman in Llambias who's clueless about the game which doesn't help. Totally agree Tron - Llambias is as much to blame as Pardew because it is allegedly his fault that Pardew is there in the first place....plus he is an arrogant and mean-spirited b------d who has antagonized both the fans and many people in the game.

All day this. Even though it will tight 40 points I think will be enough. We have to be able to beat QPR, every other f***ing team practically has. Practically every other team has beaten Reading too, but it didn't stop us losing to them on our own patch.....

Incredibly, Hansen is writing in the DT saying that Pardew should be retained as manager and that he would 'make Newcastle stronger' next season..! I wonder if anyone has put this self-opinionated TV pundit on the spot by asking him how he is in a better position to judge the manager's performance when a)He doesn't watch the side regularly and b) he has never had the guts or nous to be a manager himself..? Also, I wish someone would ask the likes of him whether they have taken the trouble to look at Pardew's past record as a manager and if so, what is it in his CV which gives them the confidence to say that he will make the side stronger next season..!?? When you think that idiots like him get paid 6 figures a year to pontificate about managment and team performances, it makes you weep.....

Didnt we say the same about Fat Fred. Only Newcastle United could be taken over by a rich owner who gets rid of Shepherd and then fnd that the new owner is going to screw them as well by appointing a CEO who is worse than Fat Fred.

The most worrying thing is the percentage of Season ticket holders that also have s--t for brains... I cannot believe Pardew got no mass expressions of discontent on Saturday - it looks to me as if NUFC fans have been totally brow-beaten and brainwashed by the Dire Duo. Llambias should also be a target for removal.

This is at the heart of the problem for me - Llambias HAS to go too, he is a failure as CEO, has antagonized the fans, other clubs, wrecked possible transfers by his pig-headed arrogance and knows NOTHING about running a football club the size of Newcastle United. The rot set in at the club once Mort was replaced by Llambias and Ashley has to carry the can for that because Llambias was one of his chums. I am convinced we would get a lot more interest from prospective managers if Llambias was replaced as CEO.

Cisse being linked with Borussia Dortmund is no surprise - they need a decent striker to replace Levandowski and Cisse fits thebill because despite his lesser impact this season, they know all about his capabilities after his stint with Freiburg and he is used to German football. They will know that he has not been made the best use of by Pardew this season and that will not put them off. This also applies to some of our other top players ; I see people hammering Cabaye and Tiote on the site and like some others, I know full well that they will do far better with clubs who have a decent manager and playing style. If we get relegated, Dortmund will be able to get Cisse for between 12-15m and he will prove good value for them at that because they are going to really hit the jackpot for Levandowski. A club in our position is always going to lose its best players.

This

This is a great post and spot-on ; back in the 80s I and several friends refused to buy season tickets because we wanted the board out and SJH in...we didn't like missing games but we knew we had to stick with it to force the board out through financial pressure. It worked because many other fans did the same and there was support for the Magpie Group's efforts to bring change ; people now think that nobody else wants the club and they have to put up with Ashley's contempt for their views. Also, the economic situation in the NE means that many people only have football as a means of relaxation and see the alternative as shopping with 'the wife or g/f' in the MetroCentre etc. That is why they put up with it - Ashley will only go if we go down and he keeps having to put his hand in his pocket....

This exactly - we are grasping at straws with this guy...

Whilst most of the players we have signed are decent, the club have only signed them because they were, relatively speaking, cheap to buy. We are NOT Arsenal, who work in a different environment and have a French manager - it is probably inevitable that there will be cliques among the various nationalities, esp if one group is in the majority as is the case with us. I don't doubt for a minute that people like Cabaye are determined to try to stay up, but he has been at the club for almost 2 years ; the new arrivals will be still finding their feet and if they are being played in a system they find difficulty in adapting to, will struggle to give of their best. We may have made good value signings but they have to be able to do the business in the situation we find ourselves. This is why signing mainly French players is not a good long-term policy - we need a good blend and for whatever reason, we do not get the best young NE talent. Liverpool paid top money for Sturridge and he has paid them back with goals whenever he is in their side... How we could have done with him over the past few weeks......

Whilst I would be delighted to see Pardew gone, I think we are in a very tough position now. Even people like Venables and Graham are going to struggle to get on the wavelength of the multi-national group of players we have in only 3 games, one of which we HAVE to win ; the only person who is available that might be able to do it is Di Matteo - used to dealing with many different nationalities and would have the players' immediate respect. Problem with this are two-fold ; firstly, he would probably want a longer contract and secondly, he might not want to move north or work for Ashley and Llambias...esp the latter... Ashley and Llambias are really in a cleft stick now because they HAVE to make the right decision...I would take the gamble for the simple reason that it now looks as if the players are taking the p--s out of the manager and we cannot afford to be relegated. They have delayed the decision for too long and now its come back to bite em on the ar-e...I just hope we supporters are not the ones who, once again, end up paying the price....

Out 3/4 months ago for me. By tea time today - hopefully. This exactly - but I reckon he'll still be there at tea-time..! Now, if you are talking about lunch-time tomorrow...!

Not quite - you actually mean 50,000 passionate supporters witholding ST money until their views are listened to...which means that the club will still be useless in 3 years' time.....

The result last night has highlighted the disorganization and dissention running right through the club. This is now beyond a joke - we have conceded 9 goals in 2 home games, neither of them against sides in the Top 4 or serious title challengers and one of them our traditional local rivals who are also fighting against relegation. We have spent millions on players since Christmas and are now just as likely to be relegated as we were then. The football played under Pardew is diabolical - stale, static, and without conviction or construction. His starting line-up was cowardly - why no Gouffran and HBA from the start ? Once Liverpool went ahead, you could always see a defeat on the cards but the magnitude of the surrender was a disgrace to the black and white shirt. Pardew is the main factor behind all this and he clearly has lost the dressing room big time now...having said that, many players cannot be excluded from part of the blame for such a lack-lustre and timid performance, especially in view of Suarez' absence. They made Henderson look like a world beater and Sturridge was always going to do well against our exposed defence. The lack of off-the-ball movement in the side is terrible - focus is always on the man with the ball and those players who should be making runs in other areas of the field to give him options to pass are just standing like statues ; this has to be down to the manager and coaches. We look a totally disjointed and demoralized side, heading for the Championship - you cannot see where another point is coming from and if Pardew scuttled down the tunnel at the final whistle yesterday, he should prepare to disappear before the end when we play Arsenal because he will be in for a great deal more stick after this shambles. Nobody at the club can escape the blame for this fiasco and Llambias should be sacked for his part in it - he was reputedly the man behind Pardew's employment as manager and as Alan Sugar said, 'Does anyone know what Mike Ashley saw in Pardew..?' The man's record is there for all to see, yet these 2 comedians gave him an 8 year contract after his usual one good season. Ashley is the organ-grinder, yet he employed Llambias as his monkey, so the buck stops with him - his punishment is wasted money and the real possibility of being relegated which would be a financial disaster. Llambias has NO experience as a football club executive, yet Ashley employed him to run a multi-million pound business which means a huge amount to its followers over the NE and indeed, around the world. This is just not good enough..... As for Liverpool, they were decent without being world-beaters ; that alone shows how bad we were. Those fans who mocked the appointnent of Rodgers now have egg on their faces big time as he has done a decent job in altering their style and fitting in the new signings. Both Coutinho and Sturridge looked light-years better value than ANY of our multi-million signings who are looking like shadows of the players they should be. How much more humiliation are the fans of NUFC expected to swallow under this regime ? The club is clearly falling apart and in turmoil and it is very difficult to see how this is going to be reversed. These last 2 home results rank alongside the worst humiliations the club has suffered over the years and it has to be stopped. How idiots in the media can still demand more time for Pardew after seeing all this and having his past record to look at is beyond belief. You can't avoid the feeling that many of them are quite happy to see Pardew conplete the wrecking job he is part-way to doing..........quite a lot of the NE press are Mackem fans. I have NEVER seen fans walking out of SJP after 50 minutes of a game....the writing is on the wall for the club unless they depart ftom their usual modus operandi and do something right for a change.

How many pages has the Southampton site gone to on its 'Pochettino Out'' thread...? You are obviously in the Southern media's 'NUFC fans are fickle' camp....

Just because you don't want him to be sacked won't stop a large percentage of fans looking at his record and the awful performances of the side and thinking he SHOULD be sacked. If he doesn't go in summer, we will be looking for a second-rate replacement by December.... Might help if you read what Dave said for once instead of answering something you imagined. Can you quote a place on this thread where Dave said he wanted Pardew sacked ? And what does it have to do with you ? Feeling a bit touchy about Pardew are we..?

Liverpool must be partly to blame then? Bloke from the PFA on TalkSport earlier saying that the Liverpool fine would have been 2 weeks wages as it's the most a club can fine without consulting them. If Liverpool cared enough about the image they keep bleating on about they'd have made an example that no-one is bigger than the club and hit him with a big fine, that way Suarez is hit twice and Liverpool would have gained back some respect they've lost over the last few years. Looks like they've took the easy way out and went for the typical self-pity bollocks. I don't think the PFA should be allowed to set limits on fines that clubs can dish out - PL players get ridiculous money and 2 weeks wages is peanuts to them. If a player brings disrepute upon his club in such circumstances, the club should be able to punish him in a suitable fashion without its hands being tied by some outdated Union interfering unless the punishment is totally ridiculous. How this throwback to the 1970s continues to exist today defies belief and is out of line with most jobs now. These players are molly-coddled far too much - no wonder they act like Ranger and Suarez....

This - the overall standard has been dire and no player stands out.