AyeDubbleYoo

Bassong will have little say in the matter, he's under contract. We should take a lesson from the way Villa handled Barry last summer, they didn't pander to him and held out for the price they thought was right, when that didn't come along. They told him to suck it up and get on with playing for the club he's contracted too. Didn't seem to do them much harm this season. We are in no need to sell bassong, he's on a low salary, is contracted for 2 more years and is young and talented. Hold out for 10 million, if no one ponies up the money, then he stays, simple as that. I really hope that will happen, only fear is that if they can't cut the wage bill enough because we can't shift the rubbish then sales will have to compensate.

Probably the same assurances KK, was getting this time last year............. That's obviously the worry. The fact Wise/the DoF position went (and it was announced before Shearer's appointment) is still hugely significant though IMO. Yeah, I think the Keegan thing and what everyone has learned from it means it is very unlikely to happen again. Firstly, Shearer wouldn't sign unless he was absolutely sure he would have the level of control he wants, and even Ashley won't be stupid enough to undermine another NUFC legend (although I know some people would disagree!).

No need for any Ashley apologists now he's doing it himself... phew.

I'm thinking about it, it's that serious.

Went to the cricket at Lords today with a mate from school, surprise surprise he had his Sunderland top on. Beggars belief how much you can celebrate being very slightly less shit than Newcastle for one season out of about 20. Also had some grief during the Villa game from some southern 'friends' a fellow toon fan had invited. Last time I watch a game with him or his mates, needless to say. I've never given out any stick to another relegated team, so I'm not standing for any now. Already deleted a number of people from Twitter... the others better watch out!

You're 100% right, I was shocked after the final whistle that most of them didn't look that bothered. Hopefully we will use relegation to get rid of most of them, you can tell Shearer knows that this needs to be done.

They only wear it for the last home game, presumably to sell more.

You are a cunt. Seriously, not even a little bit of a one, but a massive one. Some of the shite you spout beggars belief. Fuck off. Please. I don't blame you for being pissed off mate, I really don't. I feel the same, I'm gutted. But that's out of order, have a word... nothing I've posted deserves that kind of abuse.

Some of those names are depressing like

Who sent death threats to Ashley's family, cretin? To be fair, he did say at the time he was 'advised he would be assaulted' and it was unsafe to attend games. Whether or not their were actually death threats, dazza's point is the same.

I know what you mean, but public reaction is fickle, especially in football... if you have a strong vision you can ride it out in the belief that the fans will see you were right in the end. I do think our fans are our biggest strength and weakness though, we do turn on our own players/club too easily sometimes. On the other hand, we've had plenty to get pissed off about recently!

Hopefully some of the better Championship players will see us as a decent bet for a route into the Prem. Also, I'm excited about the idea of some of our younger players finally getting a run of games. Lua Lua springs to mind.

They must share some of the blame, I agree, but Ashley should have been tough enough to stick to his guns despite the protests.

What are you on about for fuck sake It's like saying it was Shearer's job to transorm a bunch of dead donkeys into race horses. Jose Mourinho would not have kept us up in the time he had. I disagree Fair enough.

I'm sounding like a complete football snob here but I honestly don't pay any attention to the second tier normally. The only clubs I really know are the ones that used to be in the Premiership. How much do you know about it? Do you already know the size of the task awaiting us, or will you have to do some serious research before next season?

What are you on about for fuck sake It's like saying it was Shearer's job to transorm a bunch of dead donkeys into race horses. Jose Mourinho would not have kept us up in the time he had.

I should have said that. I'm out of this thread, nothing to be gained here.

Ian has tickets to ashleyworld just off Trafalgar falls. I've never said Ashley has been a good owner, but people seem to forget how much we hated Freddy Shepherd and wanted rid of him. I won't post again on this for a few days, because obviously everyone wants to get stuff off their chest (which is fine, I do too) - but I still think Ashley's failings are inexperience and naivety about football, not greed and self interest like some people try to claim. He was trying to make the club sustainable, he just erred too far on the side of caution. And appointing Keegan was done to gain him fan-love, he was obviously not the right man for the system Ashley had in mind. Can you run that 'system' by me one more time? No, you know very well what I'm talking about. It's like that bit in Apocalypse Now.... "Who's in charge here"? "Ain't you"? Sorry I've seen no sign of any kind of system whatsoever. Every PL club buys some youth players, they don't go around calling it a system. Nothing I can argue with there Parky. I know it should have been a normal state of affairs, but it wasn't with us.

But can you not see where he was coming from? Newcastle had a recent history full of record-breaking transfer fees wasted on sub-standard players. The spending worked at the beginning of the Shepherd era, but by the end it had us well and truly in the shit. I know Ashley cut spending too much, there's no arguing about that. Some people seem to think I love Ashley, all I'm saying is that I can understand some of his motives - and they aren't as evil as is suggested.

Unnecessarily personal mate, everyone is gutted about what happened. By the way, we were heading towards the bottom of the league even under Shepherd, and doing critical damage to our finances at the same time. How many people were crying out for another Albert Luque in the transfer window? Stop whinging. What was it you were doing in that first post then? (That's a rhetorical question BTW)

Ian has tickets to ashleyworld just off Trafalgar falls. I've never said Ashley has been a good owner, but people seem to forget how much we hated Freddy Shepherd and wanted rid of him. I won't post again on this for a few days, because obviously everyone wants to get stuff off their chest (which is fine, I do too) - but I still think Ashley's failings are inexperience and naivety about football, not greed and self interest like some people try to claim. He was trying to make the club sustainable, he just erred too far on the side of caution. And appointing Keegan was done to gain him fan-love, he was obviously not the right man for the system Ashley had in mind. Can you run that 'system' by me one more time? No, you know very well what I'm talking about.

It doesn't make sense to consider the situation we were in before Ashley took over? He didn't take a top 4 side and turn them into shit, this has been a slow death that started under Shepherd. But yes, Ashley has failed, I've never argued otherwise.

Ian has tickets to ashleyworld just off Trafalgar falls. I've never said Ashley has been a good owner, but people seem to forget how much we hated Freddy Shepherd and wanted rid of him. I won't post again on this for a few days, because obviously everyone wants to get stuff off their chest (which is fine, I do too) - but I still think Ashley's failings are inexperience and naivety about football, not greed and self interest like some people try to claim. He was trying to make the club sustainable, he just erred too far on the side of caution. And appointing Keegan was done to gain him fan-love, he was obviously not the right man for the system Ashley had in mind.

Unnecessarily personal mate, everyone is gutted about what happened. By the way, we were heading towards the bottom of the league even under Shepherd, and doing critical damage to our finances at the same time. How many people were crying out for another Albert Luque in the transfer window?

Nolan has been a disgrace... but then we should never have signed him so it's not all his fault.