pinkeye

Well I'm canny furious as well. Fair enough I have been in the Sovereign Club for the last several seasons and it is classed as a premium area of the ground, even though there are many seats with a better view. The one off season rate for the coming season is £990, £52 per game!! That is a joke and I am not going to pay it. I almost drew the line last year when it was £835. The main reason I use that stand is because I take my dad and he is a pensioner and in the winter it is nice to go indoors at half time to get warm. If I cannot get a seat elsewhere in the ground for £600 max this coming season I am going to chuck it in and I recon I will not be alone in that thinking. Fuck 'em, it is not like the football has been remotely entertaining for the best part of the last three years anyway! Plus I am not going to subsidise the lower cost seats and reduced rates for students etc, no offence intended to anyone in particular. I'm just a standard working bloke who happens to sit in a premium area of the stadium but, no more!!

Just thinking as well that if Dabo does come over to the UK for the pending case against Barton and the court case goes ahead and assuming that he receives a further custodial sentence to run concurrently to the one he is currently serving then he will miss pre season and therefore render himself unavailable to work as per his contract of employment and therefore open to dismissal. I don't think we want or need him back at Newcastle and yes he is a prick!

I don't see what the problem is for him, I would dream of earning £30k per week, let alone £60k and to be honest when you are talking about that sort of money a few thousand quids here and there cannot possibly make a difference..........

According to the Mirror today Barton has flatly refused to accept the pay cut and believes that Newcastle have no grounds to sack him because it is likely that he will be out of jail and available for pre-season. Not sure how true the story is and whether Barton really has got a leg to stand on if the club decide that they want to terminate his contract.

Will they not just credit our existing cards with next seasons 19 games? I thought that was the whole point of them. Apparently not, according to .com they plan to issue new cards for the 2008/9 season in the same manner as they used to do with the books. Quote NUFC.COM To answer a query a number of you wrote in with, new season ticket cards for 2008/09 will be sent out to all ST holders ie last season's will not be re-used by anyone.

Seemingly guaranteed to arrive with everyone by Wednesday this week, I do not have mine yet either. This is becoming a fiasco and I can only see things getting worse. They should have just left things as they were and planned this big change over the coming season giving people the chance to consider what to do and whether they want to move. Now it is just a shambles and will finish up in a complete panic, remember that they will still have to post out the new smart cards for stadium entry once all the renewals and new ST holders are sorted out. Maybe we can put a request to the FA to have the start of the season delayed by a few months!! :angry:

My tax credit forms came a few weeks ago but, I know what you mean. Anyway, post been this morning and still bloody nothing!!

I was going to ask whether anyone has had their renewal through yet but, clearly they are still being delayed...........

No doubt that Gazza would love that type of role and the kids would idolise him. A bit of cash and some self respect for the man as well, it's all good!!

It is a huge shame that such a talented man has ended up in the way that he has. I would guess that when football is your life that when you are no longer able to play it comes as a very big blow. It is very hard to help someone who doesn't want to help themselves though and I am sure that Jimmy Gardner would be right by Gazza's side if he was given the chance. Gazza has been on a self destruct path for quite a while now, all through his career he has received bad advice and had free loaders riding on his back and now he is paying the price. The press in this country have a lot to answer for as well, they love to jump on people when they are down. I would like to wish him the very best of luck and hope that he pulls himself out of the mess he is in as quickly and painlessly as possible. Once he is back on his feet some club, maybe Newcastle, should get him on the payroll working with the kids. What an inspiration he could be to kids who are trying to make their way in football.

I had heard that about the choice between Elano and Smith before and believed it then so I have no reason to disbelieve it now that Oliver has written it. Elano started out like a world beater at Man City but, has since faded and is really not much better (if at all) than Smith. Shocked at the size of Smith's salary though!! £20k per week max I would have guessed!

The win that made us mathmatically safe from relegation was the highlight for me. An awful season with a few small highlights, agree that Owen's header against the mackems was fantastic, proper shut those unwashed morons up in the corner of level 7. A couple of real battling performances such as Arsenal at St James's for one, the ease at which Spurs were swept aside - twice!! And watching Habib Beye drifting past players on the right, just like watching Brazil!! Surely he won't leave us for a few years!! He loves it here!! All in all though I am glad the season is over, I expect the renewal letters will be in the post this week and I am expected to put my faith in the club by dipping into my pocket again. Hang on - just thought of my final highlight. Ramage and Carr released!! Common sense prevails at St James' Park.

I only walked in as he was doing the toon toon bit as he was walking off the pitch. If that is going to be a regular thing I will a) get into the ground a little sooner and b) learn the words, not just the first verse and chorus!! Excellent, made for a superb atmosphere throughout the entire match. The goals obviously helped like!

Didn't the 3 Bulls go up last time the mackems were here as well? Or was that Celtic?

No. Has it occurred to you that the majority of people who enter could actually live outside of the region? Seriously? A website for a football club in Newcastle has more readers, who enter competitions, living outside of Newcastle? Maybe I suppose but, unlikely. If, for example, there were 10 local entries for every 1 foreign (or otherwise) is the probability higher for one of the local entries to be picked in a random draw? Just a thought anyway. I enjoy their football writing but, have wondered about the competitions for a little while.

Does anyone else, apart from me, enter the competitions on NUFC.COM? I cannot remember the last time anyone from the actual North East won one of them................ I wonder how random the draw is when practically every competition is won by someone who has entered from outside the region. The most recent one for a signed photo of Mick Quinn was won by someone in New York, USA!! Are they trying to make a statement that people from all over the UK and the world read their website? Wonderful.

The sickening thing about this match being moved is that it is our last home game of this season............ I was not going to be able to go anyway due to a stupid holiday miscalculation (ticket already taken, sorry!) but, there are loads of people who, for one reason or another, will not be able to make this new date and will be forced to miss out. Just have to enjoy the S*******d game that little bit more!!

I just voted yes as well. There are a number of factors that could have effected his early form, if his mind was elsewhere i.e. worries about jail etc and getting over a pretty serious injury, metatarsal I think(?) could also weigh on his mind. If he is receiving councelling as part of his bail conditions I think it is pretty clear that it is working. He is a calmer more confident player and probably due a goal to complete the turn around. (Just no dodgy celebrations please!!!!!!!!! Corner flag Knighthoods etc!)

Has anyone else noticed a "new" Joey Barton in recent games? When he is fouled, rather than spring up with aggression and confront the offender, he has been very forgiving shaking hands and trying to help the player not get booked by talking to the ref. His overall persona seems to be that of a calmer man making a huge effort to change from the tormented demonic madman that we have seen and heard of from his recent past. Is he having anger management councelling at the Sporting Chance Clinic as part of his bail conditions maybe?

Based on some of the dead atmospheres we have had and the abuse screamed at Fat Sam early on in the season I am very surprised that we are not on negative points in that league. Also based on whos opinion are the points awarded and deducted, I cannot say that I have ever heard of this measuring stick before..........

Go on sale tomorrow for members and 21st April for general public should there be any left (good chance but, maybe only single seats). I am a bit gutted as it is our last home game of the season and I am going to be on holiday in Tenerife. (Got me weeks wrong when I booked it up). Another thing to look out for is that it is likely to be an important match in terms of the destination of the Premier League title (assuming Chelsea keep up the pressure on Man Utd) so Sky are very likely to want to show the game live meaning that the match could swap to the Sunday or be an early kick off on the Saturday.

I think a hammering of some poor unsuspecting team has been on the cards for a little while and maybe Reading are the ones. If we create the chances we will score plenty, it's all about Barton and Owen on Saturday................... Viduka and Martins to get a hat full each!!

Can't rememeber if I posted it or not but, saw Titus in Hanahana a few weeks ago, the same day that Wigan played the mackems. He was with some other people who I didn't recognise. I regularly see Emre in a Merc CLS Class driving in near Baltic flats Appartments. Reg number E5 MRE.

To be honest as long as we beat the mackems (and beat them soundly) I don't care if we finish above or below the hammers. Obviously the higher up the league we get the more prize money we receive so that does matter. The other consideration is our attractiveness to new players, top players are not going to be that interested in a club that just escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth but, if we make a real effort to get as high as possible, maybe 12th or 11th is realistic then sell ourselves as being on a springboard to make a push for UEFA next season we can attract the 2 or 3 quality players that Keegan thinks we need to be special again!! Just beat the fuckin mackems though!!!!!!! You know how much that means to us!!!

I just watched the match highlights on Sky Sports this lunchtime and laughed out loud to see Mike singing "ee aye ee aye ee aye oh, up the Premier League we go" Right as the camera was on him. That's the only bit of the song he sang though, maybe he hasn't learned the rest yet??? Top, top bloke!!