AyeDubbleYoo

He thought we'd finish above Arsenal last season when we had Allardyce. and you thought Ashley - or anybody - would be better than the Halls and Shepherd. Don't see why that's a stupid point of view, I certainly thought Ashley would be a great owner, as did many people. It doesn't seem to be ridiculed now everyone is saying anything would be better than Ashley, even though they haven't got any idea who it might be. Considering only 4 clubs qualified for europe more than we did under the Halls and Shepherd, automatically assuming "anyone" - or Ashley - would be better, is a stupid point of view. I know we had some success on the pitch, everyone accepts that... it's impossible to argue against. Don't want to start another massive argument about the merits of each board, but my opinion is that by the end of the Shepherd regime they had become a laughing stock and a disaster for the club, and I had every right to expect Ashley to be a better owner. Edit: By the way, if you can only judge a board over a period of 10+ years then how come Ashley is due so much stick from you already?

You lot will feel terrible if he does die now! :-[

He thought we'd finish above Arsenal last season when we had Allardyce. and you thought Ashley - or anybody - would be better than the Halls and Shepherd. Don't see why that's a stupid point of view, I certainly thought Ashley would be a great owner, as did many people. It doesn't seem to be ridiculed now everyone is saying anything would be better than Ashley, even though they haven't got any idea who it might be. Got to agree with you Ian W. At first I honestly thought Ashley would be a great owner. Although it became pretty clear from the very start he wasn't a 'Roman calibre' in term of money, I really expected a lot more from him. He's made so many stupid mistakes since taking over. For instance, Mort disappeared in came Llambas (!!) Jimenez left the club, and I really rate Jimenez. It looks like Wise is doing a great job at getting in young players, but why is he appointed DOF? Why isn't he just name head scout? We need a good manager, well... look no further than Sven G. Eriksson. He's having a hard time in Mexico, and seriously, why wouldn't he be interested in the newcastle job, when he (according to the sun - to what ever degree you can take their shit for real), doesn't reject the prospect of managing Portsmouth ?! The biggest tragedy of the Ashley era is how brilliant it promised to be. I know he's fucked up a few decisions, Llambias and Kinnear being two of them... but I'm getting the feeling that he's made his mind up to sort things out now. I'm not ready to write off the Ashley era yet, I suppose that's why I always end up defending him on here.

On top of being one of our best players, Oba also seems to have exactly the attitude we need. He never causes trouble, seems to enjoy being here and puts his all in on the pitch.

I'd disagree. Get him signed up, aye, if he's going to get his head down and work hard and be an asset to the team. But if he's got ideas above his station then no, I genuinely wouldnt re-sign him. Not at any price. Would rather get him sold and get us a couple of cloggers like Nugent or Ashton, tbh. Why would you rather that? Because you're insane? To be fair, players are employees at the end of the day, they need to be managed and kept happy but they're also entitled to argue for a better deal for themselves. To make things worse, they also employ agents who are generally shit-stirring pond life.

He thought we'd finish above Arsenal last season when we had Allardyce. and you thought Ashley - or anybody - would be better than the Halls and Shepherd. Don't see why that's a stupid point of view, I certainly thought Ashley would be a great owner, as did many people. It doesn't seem to be ridiculed now everyone is saying anything would be better than Ashley, even though they haven't got any idea who it might be.

Martins is absolutely key for us... we shouldn't be thinking about letting him go under any circumstances. If we were Real Madrid we could look for someone better, but we ain't.

I would take what his agent says with a bucket of salt TBH. He probably just means they had a meeting scheduled which obviously can't happen now. I'd like to the think the club would get Oba signed up ASAP regardless of the Kinnear situation. Edit: Oh, and he's contracted til 2011 anyway, so he's not in immediate danger of getting away is he?

Just as well we've got emoticons, otherwise nobody would know what anyone meant eh?

Can't be put much better than that IMO.

Now that Kinnear isn't in charge perhaps Butt will be dropable. Fingers crossed although i can't see it. I'd be interested to know how much politics is involved with situations like this. I mean, will Hughton and Calderwood drop Butt or will the keep in in because it would make Kinnear look like he's been wrong all along?

Would that vindicate everyone who is anti-Ashley though? So the end result is always the only thing to be judged, regardless of the intentions and what was tried? Then we may as well just shut down this forum and post up the league table instead. There's nothing I've argued that I won't stand by even if we are relegated, I've never said Ashley is perfect. In football the end result is down to a load of factors, only one of which is what your owner does.

Fair point Although obviously it's only an opportunity for an investor if they can get the current owner to sell at a knock-down price, and they never plan to make any difficult decisions that the fans might disagree with.

c) it doesn't matter either way, the result is the same and the only way to achieve profit is success.

From what I've been reading it sounds more like Calderwood's in charge tbh, all of the interviews on .co.uk are with him Well, either way, they should make a competent team for the moment.

Hopefully he's getting over the shock of the Keegan situation and getting back to actually running the club. I doubt he will employ another interim manager now, it will be Hughton until Kinnear returns.

I just get a tea and a kitkat at every game I go to, it's a routine now. Especially cosy in the winter.

Not sure, the main reason I don't get to many home games is where I live. I would go to a lot more if I lived back in toon. I was planning to go to West Brom away but their prices took the piss.

I think I love you Fantastic post.

I'm not sure, I thought the 's' should only be on 'agents', but I can't remember my French that well. This is a better discussion than the actual thread by the way!

One of the only things I can't defend Ashley for is offering Kinnear a long contract - I can't explain it for the life of me.

Or is this a masterpiece of post-modern irony? Complaining about 'agents provocateur' while being one himself? Genius.

What the fuck has 'the consensus in street' got to do with forming your own view anyway? That's the last way you want any of your principles to be decided.

For the record, my viewpoint's a bit biased due to my sexual relationship with Dennis Wise. Worst thread of 2009 contender already?