merlin

If Ferguson had said we were a big club because we had great fans but with a small-club mentality at the top, he would have had no argument from us.... He cannot operate brain before opening mouth when he is wound up - he cannot now undo what he has done.

True - and isn't it the managers job to get the players playing to their capacity ?

You are living in dreamland mate - unbelievable head in sand...

Are you saying they are not partly to blame for the current situation ?

Would you really want the club to be a foreign owners play-thing? Have them come in and spunk loads of money on random players leaving the club soulless and without any real tradition or respect like Man City or Chelsea? I'd rather keep grinding and earn any glory than have it drop into our lap like a lottery win. Would you really like to be taken for a fool every year by empty promises of new players to improve the side and then end up by selling more players than you sign and getting booted out of the FA Cup 2 years running by a seaside town team ? If you would, good luck to you - I prefer a successful side with quality players and actually winning a few trophies for a change. Maybe you don't want all those distractions of having to go to Semi-finals and finals...far better to sit at home and watch other teams doing it on TV ...? Yes I WOULD rather we got taken over and did a Man City...is that clear enough ? Incidentally - has anyone told you what the odds are on winning the lottery,...!?

Hard to see an end to Ashley's spell at the club - would take very big bucks to get rid of him and I can't see any likely source of that. The Qataris are our best hope but they will just wait until things are REALLY in a mess - like heading for relegation - so they can screw Ashley for the best deal....in fact, we could be in the Championship before there is a change of owner. This reminds me of when Villa had Doug Ellis and their fans were desperate to get rid of him but it took years...at least they got Lerner, we got rid of Shepherd and got Ashley... The only decent thing he has done is to take on the club's debt.

We all - at least, 90% of us according to the poll - know that Pardew isn't up to the job after having 2 years at a club and his record proves that. We all also know that he suits Llambias and Ashley down to the ground and for that reason - and that reason alone - he won't be going anywhere unless we lose against Reading and Villa because Ashley will then start worrying about the financial implications of relegation. I just wonder how much humiliation is going to be heaped on the fans' heads before a large percentage finally lose patience and either walk or start getting on Pardew's back as well as the board. Make no mistake, the admission of defeat by selection of a poor side against a second-rate club who did the same to us in the same stage of the Cup last season is shameful for a club the size of Newcastle United and even with the team selected we should have been able to get a result at Brighton, let alone be comprehensively beaten once again. You can understand a club like Wigan having to make do and mend in order to try to stay in the PL, but one that regularly gets 50,000 through the gates ? Come on.... Whether people accept it or not, we are a laughing stock of a club currently - rubbished by Ferguson, Ba leaving and also denigrating us by implication, crawling back to get Debuchy after messing it up in the summer for a mess of pottage and meekly accepting defeat to Brighton...not to mention conceding 13 goals in 3 PL games..... It has now got to the stage where you start thinking 'where to after this'?..... Up until 1981, we held the joint record for the most FA Cup wins in the history of the competition with 6....now, there is nothing so sure that we will be out before the 5th round - in the 80s, a joke started which was to the effect that a tea-bag was in the cup longer than NUFC...you can see why this started. It is hard to see an end to the sort of humiliation that the fans of the club have suffered over the past season and all that is left is a relegation battle and a hope that we don't get drawn against a decent side in Europe but unless we lose the 2 crucial games in the PL which are coming up, Pardew will still be here in April because the clowns at the top know nobody else worth having will join them - De Canio wouldn't last 5 minutes working under either of them.

Not 10 years back they weren't. Don't exaggerate. Things have changed...look at Leeds....

Aye, I bet it was. It doesn't even make much sense apart from 'boo hoo my friends wanted to go out, now I don't have any it's much better, boo Newcastle it's a right party town!!'. Brighton is a good night out as well, it's all down to whether or not YOU chose to go out. Who cares what Lua Lua thinks....he wasn't good enough for NUFC, I would have had him down the road far quicker than he was. Couldn't care what these second-rate players think after they've gone - we have had the likes of Ferdinand, Shearer, Ginola, Tino, Macdonald Waddle and Beardsley at the club and none of these players could lace their boots..even Ba. We all know what the club's problems are - and being in a 'party city' isn't one of them when you have the right manager and board.....

Not one of the current lot... Who knows where the club will be in 10 years, anyway ? Could be dead and gone if things don't improve....look at the likes of Sheffied Weds and United, also Wolves and Huddersfield - all big clubs years ago with decent crowds.

Totally agree, BG - Cloughie sometimes got up my nose with his supposed arrogance, but boy, did he have a right to ! Ferguson would NEVER have achieved what Clough did whilst running 2 clubs who didn't have a smidgin of Man U's wealth...Cloughie once said that Fergie hadn't won 2 European Cups like him and he doubted that he ever would.....looks like he might be right and I hope so fervently. Never hated Cloughie but have contempt for Ferguson so I hope BC 's record stays intact until Ferguson has gone. Clough wasn't quite the same after his bust-up with Peter Taylor and he never got over the fact that Taylor died before they made it up...that was probably what made his drinking worse. Still, a brilliant manager, players never knew where they stood with him and it was a crying shame that he never managed England at his peak...even more of a shame that he never managed us, and Peter Taylor once said that he often wondered what sort of crowds they would pull in at Newcastle if he and Cloughie were running the club... One thing is for sure - we'd be a different kettle of fish now if they had(with someone like SJH as Chairman) and Fergie's achievements at Man U wouldn't look quite so good then...! So many funny and quirky stories about this guy and his sayings..one of my faves is the one where he was asked why his book wasn't popular on Merseyside and he said ' well, young man, half of them can't read and the other half are too busy pinching hub-caps..!' One reporter put well in his place !

Should give us some much-needed pace and attacking strength down our right and give defences something else to think about. This lad looked a class player in the Euros last summer and if he can bring that form to Newcastle he will be a major asset...should have been here in August. He may, though, take a few games to adjust to the pace of the PL but he has the necessary class to do so.

Exactly and we've all known this for ages now ...Saylor is ALWAYS an injury risk and a new CB should have been brought in last summer. To skimp on it now would be nothing short of stupid because it puts our PL place in jeopardy....if Ashley had done the right thing in summer, we wouldn't be having half these problems now.

There is obviously something we don't know, or aren't being told. To go back to Argentina at a relatively early age doesn't make sense as a career move, but maybe there are personal issues, or he's had enough - I wouldn't blame him for that either, as he's basically being asked to carry the defence on his back. If he leaves - for whatever reason - we will struggle at the back and if, by any mad quirk of fate he went in this window my estimate on the relegationometer would immediately go to an 8.

Odd thing to say. Name a target man around who is quick, Drogba was the only one in recent years and he had much more to his game than your standard target man. Lukaku and Benteke, just off the top off my head. Lukaku is not that quick. Not sure if he's any quicker than Cisse, really. Don't be fooled by his frame! That guy can motor trust me. I watched WBA play Fulham the other night and whilst they lost, they caused Fulham all sorts of problems in the second half, and Lukaku was behind much of this with his mobility and holding of the ball. It was a game well worth watching and tons better than most of the rubbish we have served up this season because WBA ran so well off the ball that they always had plenty of attacking options. Berbatov had a great game for Fulham too, basically down to him that they won.

If you look at the latest poll figures on here, those who have either voted that they are losing faith with Pardew or that they never had much in the first place, together come to 81%.... That is massively at odds with Taylor's assertion that the fans are basically happy with the manager. The truth is that most fans are resigned to the fact that Ashley is always going to be hesitant to strengthen the side WHEN MOST NEEDED, and that they know that he is unlikely to get the type of manager we need, hence no protest because it wouldn't achieve anything.

My sentiments exactly. I really like the guy but he is Andy o'brien in disguise. At his best he has good judgement and aerial presence. Unfortunately his lack of pace is always exposed which causes him to panic, shirt pull and make rash challenges. Must be replaced in the summer. Will hopefully be 4 choice until then. Even O'Brien was twice the player Williamson is....even Glen Keeley was better(ask Mick..!)

We have no chance of getting Zaha - he is going to a bigger and better club than us.

If we 'expect' to lose away games to clubs like Norwich it shows just how poorly the club is being run, and also how well the idiots running it have managed to brainwash the fans...... Well considering we got beat there last season 4-2, and thats when we were actually playing well. They've improved their team since last year, we're on a slump - lost 9 in 11. Hardly's brainwashed... Last year's result is irrelevant tbh. We had Danny f***ing Simpson playing centre back. So you think that because we lost there last year after losing both Taylor and Coloccini in the previous game, that we should 'expect' to lose there? Norwich a big big club are they ? You've just proved my point...

The only good thing about the club's predicament right now is that this guy will be starting to get seriously worried about the financial hammering he will get if we go down....a loss of 50m is on the cards, and it serves him right. He totally lost me for all time after that sneering investment in Rangers after failing to adequately strengthen our squad in the summer.....deplorable frankly and he can't go quick enough for me. I just hope some ultra rich guy or group buys him out soon.

I agree with you, TT, but as I said, the problem would be getting the type of manager you rightly say that we need...Ashley managed to get Keegan back because nobody really knew how he was going to operate as the club owner - even KK was fooled by him - but now EVERY manager in the country knows and none of the decent ones are going to leave their jobs to work for him and Llambias. Pardew is clearly running to past form - you can see that from his record as a manager - and needs to be replaced but the odds of us getting an unknown who would keep us up are very long indeed. Also, it is wide open to debate how much money ANY new manager would be given so the job is even harder. Last time we were struggling I would even have accepted Venables temporarily but we managed to get Keegan and he kept us up. This time I am at a complete loss to know who would take the job and have the necessary experience and coaching skills to get us out of the mess we are in. You are on the button about Debuchy - I reckon that had Cabaye been transferred in the summer, he wouldn't even be LOOKING at NUFC right now and if he has any illusions about Pardew as a manager(surely Cabaye has told him..!?)they will soon be shattered. We are in a real mess.....

The table cannot lie...Oh, wait - we finished 5th last year...!

If we 'expect' to lose away games to clubs like Norwich it shows just how poorly the club is being run, and also how well the idiots running it have managed to brainwash the fans......

This was the game that confirmed us as a relegation-battling side. Nothing illustrated this better than getting the lift of an early goal - a gift really - but being unable to build on it, lose a goal at a critical time, and basically struggle to keep any self-belief in the second half. Nothing more to say, confirm my views on the relegationometer site...

I was going to wait until the transfer window closed before voting, but I have changed my mind after last night's game. I have voted us a 6 right now, and fully expect that to be raised to a 7 unless something drastic happens over the next few weeks. For the first time, the side had the look of a relegation side in the second half....its something that those of us who have witnessed this happen on more than one occasion know only too well. You can't really put your finger on what is wrong but the players have an air of resignation about them - they lost the determination and belief in themselves and each other after Everton went ahead and real chances, as opposed to desperation, were few and far between. The results for Villa on Tuesday and QPR at Chelsea will have given them a massive lift, redoubled after seeing our defeat last night and if anyone didn't believe it before, they had better get their heads around it now - we ARE in a relegation battle and with the long-term injuries it is going to be a tough job to stop the rot. Even with new players, it won't be easy as they will take time to settle in, esp if they are foreigners...it is hard to see the likes of Remy making the same impact as Cisse did last year and they will get a shock at the physical combat we will encounter at Villa, Reading and QPR when we have to go there. Had we anything LIKE a board with half an idea about running a large PL club, I would be screaming for Pardew's head right now. As it is, most people feel that they couldn't trust this lot to pick a winning lottery ticket if there was only one in the hat, so we are stuffed in that department. The odds are piling up against us - a dire run of results, an unsettled side with the leading scorer being transferred, a crop of long-term injuries to key players, a manager who clearly has been struggling to get the best from his players and sides around us who are beginning to show signs of improvement. Oh, and an owner who would rather put cash into Glasgow Rangers than strengthen his own club just after they have qualified to Europe.... Ashley might have chanced his luck once too often this time....