Wallace

The "Yes We Can" banner was passed over the heads of supporters in the Gallowgate at half-time and was taken away by stewards as it approached the corner. Apparently, the stewards have been told to remove all banners and have been noting seat numbers of those people with them.

"I would urge all supporters of this truly great football club to come together, get behind the team and, whatever grievances you may or may not have, put them to one side for the benefit of seeing Newcastle United regain their position in the elite of English football." Rather insulting that as it is the one thing that has been happening or are attendances of 40,000+ and sold out away allocations not enough. A couple of FCB chants once we are in a comfortable position in a match is not rocking the boat. If Ashley wants to show his commitment to the cause then let's see him back Hughton in the transfer window and not sell our best players. However, I am sure they came out with a similar sort of claptrap this time last year pre-transfer window - wanting our patience, backing the manager, financial support etc. We've heard the hollow promises too often now so it is up to them to prove themselves rather than the supporters.

http://blog.lfe.org.uk/article/training-with-gazza From Patrick Nzuzi's blog It’s safe to say this has been the best Monday training session ever! There were only a few of us actually out training because the Reserves had included a number of youngsters in their ranks and while I’d like to have been involved I wouldn’t have missed training today for the world. Training was taken by Peter Beardsley who introduced us all to Gazza who just dropped in to join in training with us. We had a game of catch head catch which was really fun and we then went into some small sided games. Here am I almost fresh out of school and I’m training with two legends of the game who have both played more England games than I have youth games as things stand! Unbelievable! Gazza was brilliant, he had us all in hysterics, joking and laughing around but as soon as the training got going he still showed that us that you have to concentrate and apply yourself. The things that they could both still do on the ball just simply takes your breath away and your left thinking about how good they actually were as players if this is them in retirement! I consider myself privileged and lucky to have been on the same training pitch to learn from two of the greatest Newcastle and England legends. Tuesday couldn’t really live up to Monday’s billing for obvious reasons and we had a couple of sessions that related to attacking and defending before taking on an afternoon 11 v 11 session which proved a good work out. On Thursday, we trained with a few of the reserve players. After decent warm up we went into some possession. It was really good session everyone, everyone was sharp and closing down the ball quickly which it is essential to do in such games and then the session was progressed to bring in some small sided goals. Closing down and working hard for each other is key when you’re playing possession if one of your team doesn’t do the job he is supposed to you end up chasing the ball for a long, long time and subsequently as soon as you do win it back you find that you give it away again cheaply because you’re tired. So when you watch games on TV and you seem teams like Man Utd and Barcelona retaining possession for long periods spare a thought for the players opposing them because it’s a process that gradually wears people down. On Friday we finished our college work just after 11am and then headed out on to the training pitch where we worked on shape and defending in preparation for our fixture with Leeds Utd. This week I also had my first interview with Kenny. All the first years get one at some point in the season. It was scary as I didn’t know what he was going to say. However it went down ok, and I was told I had to work on improving my heading.

Sheffield Utd fans will be pleased as they say he has basically stopped playing for them since he decided he was going to leave. Did the same at Leeds apparently. They rate him but now can't wait to see the back of him.

I don't have a problem with that article. Simon Bird is a local lad and wants Newcastle to do well - the same as Calkin. He interviewed Hughton last week in which he said that he was not planning for the future - only for promotion. Fair enough as promotion is a priority but all Bird is doing is highlighting how Newcastle are operating for the short-term only and the likely implications of that should we get promoted. I don't know how Ashley thinks he is going to be able to sell for a much higher price if the club is promoted because he is creating a situation where so much money is going to have to be spent on the first team just to survive. The worse thing will be if we end up in the play-offs as that means the club will not know its future until the end of May - would Ashley be able to sell the club in time to prepare adequately for the next season. I am just hoping that we get promoted early and that new buyers are ready to move so we are not spending all Summer in limbo like last time.

I wonder whether the low fee was a compromise because they managed to get Shay to put in a transfer request which meant that you would not have got his loyalty bonuses etc. I am sure the truth will come out at some point because there seems to be so many versions. I heard that Shay knew he was going to City a couple of months before but then I also heard that the club were trying to sell him before January as well.

He has been injured though for the last couple of months - just making his comeback now.

Steve Howey praised him to the hilt and said he was the best he had worked with. It was a good interview.

I can believe that West Ham are interested as they need strikers and they were constantly linked with him in the Summer. However, they are skint and Zola supposedly has to sell before he can buy. I think £4m is a misleading figure as I would think that it would mainly be performance related - number of appearances, goals etc so the first payment would be relatively small. He would need to be replaced but who would we buy - Harewood? - who has scored less goals than Carroll and earns more. I guess it depends on Ashley's real intentions - if he is serious about promotion, then there is no way he will sell. I wonder if Carroll's head would be turned though if the interest is genuine especially if there is a big pay increase on offer. I would hope that he would want to say with his local club for the time being and see if we make it back to the Premier League. Then again Llambias is supposedly a West Ham supporter!

To accuse the fans of negativity and bemoaning the loss in ticket sales when they are getting such good attendances home and away is ridiculous. They need to keep the fans onside because if they alienate supporters even further (and interviews like the above do not help) then many will just stop going in time and they will end up in an even worse mess. If they do not value our custom then why should we provide them with it?

Steve Howey said that on the radio last night as well.

Amused by this snippet from the Wall Street Journal considering America is big on branding. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013004574515762537491346.html Soccer Stadium Enters Longest-Name Contest England's Newcastle United soccer team has a new home, sort of. It'll stay in St James' Park—the stadium it's been in since 1892. But it will have a different name, one that hardly rolls off the tongue: sportsdirect.com@StJames'ParkStadium. The club's owner, Mike Ashley, also owns the Sports Direct retail company, but couldn't find a buyer willing to pay for naming rights.

If Ashley plans to sell the club upon promotion then why the rush to sell the naming rights. A potential new owner might not support such a notion and they would be stuck with the name for x number of years. Maybe is he is planning to stay longer? Although I think the main plan behind all of this is to get all of his money back as soon as possible and he does not care how he is does it. If a buyer comes in and pays want he wants then great, if not then he will get it back by other means.

When they made the announcement last week about the naming rights, people were up in arms and then over the days, a few were starting to come round and the initial anger was lessening. So you would think from a PR point of view, that it would make sense to delay today's announcement for another week or so as it is another 3 weeks until the next home game but no, they made the announcement today and inflame the fans even more so. They did the same thing when Keegan left - the anger was starting to die down and then everyone got angry again with the FACT statement. You can only think they are being deliberately provocactive.

I wonder if this might backfire on them. If everyone treats it as a joke and it is ignored, then what would the attraction be for potential sponsors.

Seem to remember a quote from Llambias last season to the effect that "it was unthinkable that Newcastle would be relegated".

What gives Newcastle United its unique identity is its relationship with the city and the people it represents. The people of this area are characterised by our history which because of the remoteness of the region is quite different to most other parts of the country. It is widely acknowledged that the people up here have a stronger identity with their region and more pride in where they come from than anywhere else in the country. We are often accused of being insular but history has taught us that if we don't look out for ourselves, no-one else will as few outside of the North East give a toss about this region. By disconnecting the club from the city and its people, what is left other than a white elephant on a hill? I understand that English football is seen as a global phenomenon but surely one of the things that appeals is the unique identity of most of the clubs. If all clubs are willing to sell anything for a few bob, surely we will end up with identikit clubs with a forgotten history and no connection to their locality in which they are based - in that case, it may as well become like the US where you buy the franchise and the owner moves the club to a new city.

"A million quid" - wonder what we will get for that!

http://twitter.com/CaulkinTheTimes From Caulkin's twitter: "Ooh,a jumbo screen at #NUFC! Great.That's just what the club needs.A telly.Not players,or staff,or jobs for the sacked,or dignity.Pathetic"

Never knew that the Gallowgate End was called SportsDirect.com - just always thought that sign was cheap advertising for them. Bet they have just decided that this week.

Sounds like they are quite far down the road with this rather than just starting to think about it as they implied in their statement last week.

Emotional blackmail promising all the money would be invested in the first team.

Like the way they imply Carroll is one of the youngsters who they have unearthed.

I also think this. Also is Ashley selling what he bought? For example, the land and property. Haven't they sold off the catering side as well? People keep mentioning how much he has spent on the club already and early on the club were implying, he was writing off the loan but I am convinced that he intends to get all his money back one way or another. If someone comes along now and pays want he wants then he will take it but if not he will hang around to get it another way. If we do get promoted, there is the extra TV money, he could sell another player or two at a better price than if we were still in the CC and reduce the wage bill further (latter will be helped because Butt and Geremi will be out of contract as well). If he is serious about selling the naming rights, then he may want the money up front and that could also go to paying off the loan and there is the shirt sponsorship. After that, he could then afford to sell the club at what would seem like a cheap price albeit one that is going to need a serious amount of investment at all levels.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/football_league/article6894426.ece October 29, 2009 Newcastle united in condemnation of stadium rebranding George Caulkin It has been a while, but Newcastle United finally lived up to their name again yesterday, with supporters, players and a former chairman banding together in collective disgust at Mike Ashley’s proposal to rebrand St James’ Park. While Ashley’s decisions to withdraw Newcastle from the market and install Chris Hughton as permanent manager, announced on Tuesday night, were half-expected, his intention to welcome offers for the naming rights to the club’s home ground met with fierce condemnation. It also emerged that Ashley’s rejected Barry Moat’s long-standing bid for the Coca-Cola Championship club even though the Tyneside businessman came close to matching the owner’s £80 million cash price for Newcastle. Reports had suggested that Moat was only prepared to offer £40m up front to Ashley, who has been insisting that the full amount was deposited into an independent bank account as proof of funds, with the rest payable next year, but in recent days that gap had closed significantly. In all, Moat’s consortium was planning to invest more than £100m into Newcastle, including’s Ashley’s fee, and there is bemusement that the sportswear manufacturer has chosen to rule out a takeover when a deal appeared close. Sources close to Moat have also pointed out that now that the ownership question is settled, much of the further £20m that Ashley has promised to invest into Newcastle will be necessary to furnish an overdraft that Barclays insists should be kept beneath £10m, the maximum the bank allows for Football League clubs. Newcastle’s overdraft recently stood at £22m. While Ashley’s regime is viewed as tarnished by most fans, the prospect of one of the North East’s most iconic landmarks] being renamed has prompted most concern. Freddy Shepherd, the former Newcastle chairman, has admitted that the club rejected on principle a similar approach from "branding specialists" after their flotation on the Stock Exchange in 1997. “We were offered something like £3m for a five-year deal,” Shepherd said, “but the money could have been ten times that and I would still not have been interested. I appreciate that we’re living in a commercial world, but there are some things that money can’t buy. “Nothing surprises me about the current regime so news that they are ready to sell the naming rights isn't exactly a shock, but St James’ Park is one of the most famous stadia in the world. “You can go anywhere on this planet and everyone knows St James’ is the home of Newcastle United. The two go together. Fans will be horrified, angry and upset about this. They’ve had to put up with a lot in recent months and this is just another blow.” The assessment from the Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) was as withering. “[Newcastle] is beginning to resemble one of Mr Ashley’s famous sales at Sports Direct - chaotic, cheap and a shambles,” Colin Whittle, a NUST official, said. “Now, as his latest slap in the face to the fans and the city, he wants to sell off the famous name of St James‘ Park. Everything he does now seems to be calculated to thumb a nose at his customers.” In Ashley’s two years in charge, Newcastle have, among a myriad of other things, had five managers, been relegated, held a fire-sale of players and been humiliated publicly when Kevin Keegan’s claim for constructive dismissal was upheld by an independent arbitration panel. “It’s been one thing after another,” Steve Howey, the former Newcastle defender, said. “The idea of renaming the stadium has rattled everybody’s cage. If the club was moving grounds, if the old one was dilapidated and falling apart, then fair enough, move on. But it isn’t. A piece of Newcastle would die if that happened.”