Wallace

I'd not believe that - they have admitted to lying in the past. I'd like to think it's much, much more than that! If not, folk are getting what they deserve. Also, they have become quite adept at saying something that is true but only part of the picture and therefore very misleading. I wouldn't be surprised if the stats they are quoting are e.g. 6% in April compared to April last year rather than the overall total.

Tony Pulis talking today saying that managers should get 3 years. 2 years should give them the time to set things up how they want and then in the 3rd year they should be in a position to show what they are about. Ashley take note - Pardew fails this test.

Surely the success of Sports Direct on the back of NUFC would appeal to potential buyers wanting to promote their brand.

Wouldn't be surprised if they start cancelling the points if people don't renew their season tickets. The club can be pretty spiteful at times. Although you should really be able to retain them because don't you get loyalty points as a member? Maybe they have two categories - season ticket loyalty points and member's loyalty points. I have been to a lot of away games and I have just realised that they have not been adding on all my loyalty points.

I think the fans can release their versions but only after the club have published theirs first. There are one or two on that forum who won't be taken in by the club's spin.

Many of the more vociferous and angrier fans will not be renewing so they will have their dream achieved of a docile crowd.

I don't believe that. Too may people I know have not renewed. They probably think if they get the message out that everyone has renewed then that it will encourage others and also dispel the unrest. Anyway, there is not much point to season tickets at NUFC from a fan's point of view. Matchday tickets are often cheaper than season tickets and we don't plan on getting to finals. If fans still want to go games, it makes more sense to PAYG especially with all the messing about with kick off times.

I can see Villa with new owners being top 10 next year, Sunderland with Poyet challenging for the top 10 and I think West Ham could be better so I wonder what Ashley's target will be next year because I reckon we will struggle to get top 14 just because of the improvement to other teams and there will be others that will improve (although maybe Southampton will free up a space if they end up selling several of their squad). .

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/kevin-garside-two-lads-from-newcastle-have-conquered-brazil-teaching-thousands-of-kids-to-play-football--and-to-speak-english-with-a-geordie-accent-9353009.html

I've always wondered if we got good offers for say our 5 best players, would we accept them all or would we only let a couple go.

I wonder what he said to the referee. I remember at a talk-in once, Alan Smith saying that Shola was the only footballer he had ever met who didn't swear and he would just say "flipping"!!!!

I still believe that if he is still manager going into the new season that he will be sacked by Christmas. If Ashley is stupid enough not to see the downward trend that we are on then it will be his fault if we end up in a relegation scrap (just like his poor decision-making led to the last one). No doubt though he will blame someone else. My hope (unlikely though it might be) would be, if Pardew ends up staying, is that Ashley is planning to sell and doesn't want the hassle of replacing a manager at this point.

They have claimed for the last few transfer windows that there is money to spend and they already have the Cabaye money so saying they have to sell to buy is rubbish. And as we have not been replacing players sold in the last couple of years that means the wage bill should be much less. But they will probably blame the fans for not buying season tickets.

Depressing if true. http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/475134/EXCLUSIVE-Mike-Ashley-set-to-back-Alan-Pardew-as-he-hands-Toon-staff-10-per-cent-bonus?

More quotes from Pardew from today's Daily Mail: "For me, it's about a performance that will make our fans at least believe that we have got some good players here still and that we just need a couple more to boost it. 'I have got to be careful what numbers I use because it always gets washed away, but we know that we need more players." We don't need to be told we have good players - we know that. The problem is they are being mismanaged by you.

I was thinking that although the sale of Cabaye did not cause a "riot" as such, it could be claimed to have been the trigger for the discontent to become much more widespread.

I genuinely think he believed he was "popular" with the supporters and so his ego has been somewhat bruised.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/newcastle-united/10815540/Alan-Pardew-might-not-be-sacked-by-Newcastle.-Mike-Ashley-hasnt-caved-in-to-pressure-before-so-why-now.html Alan Pardew might not be sacked by Newcastle. Mike Ashley hasn't caved in to pressure before, so why now? Mike Ashley is his own man and for all the clamour from fans and the local media to axe manager, he may yet hold on to his job, writes Luke Edwards By Luke Edwards 9:23AM BST 08 May 2014 Alan Pardew has been savaged by Newcastle United’s supporters, a brutal no confidence vote delivered with boos, jeers and whistles from fans who have decided a change in manager is needed at St James’s Park. Few managers survive what Pardew was made to suffer at the hands of a home crowd that, at one stage during Newcastle ‘s 3-0 victory over Cardiff City last weekend, chanted in unison from all four sides of the ground for him to be sacked. Newcastle were winning 1-0 at the time. Newcastle’s shell-shocked manager sought refuge in the dugout, hiding out of sight because every time supporters caught a glimpse of him, they responded with boss and jeers. It is not something I’ve seen happen in this country before. In other words, Newcastle’s supporters made sure he could not do his job as he wanted. That is surely the definition of a manager’s position becoming untenable. The local media on Tyneside have responded to the disillusionment of their readers and listeners, by cranking up the pressure even further. Front pages in the Newcastle Chronicle have mocked, ridiculed and agitated. They have ridden the turning tide skilfully and with relish. Pardew’s complaints about their negative coverage – it was emotional because football is an emotional subject on Tyneside, but not unfair in my opinion - was one of the reasons the three titles from NCJ Media were banned earlier this season. They have bided their time and waited for the right moment to exact their revenge. On the face of things, there does not seem to be a way for Pardew to continue as manager beyond the end of the season because the fans, the customers, the lifeblood of the club, have had enough and want someone else in charge of the team. He is, according to most commentators and pundits who witnessed what happened on Saturday, a dead man walking. But that is not necessarily the case. At most football clubs, Pardew would have been sacked by now because most owners would have recognised the damage his unpopularity was doing and, sorry for the corporate language, the brand. Most chairmen who were being abused by their club’s supporters would recognise that the best way to improve their own relationship with the fans would be to make the manager the scapegoat. If Mike Ashley sacks Pardew later this month, it will be the most popular decision he has made in ages. He still won’t be liked, but he will not be in the direct line of fire either. He will, in short, have given the fans what they want for the first time since he brought Kevin Keegan back as manager in 2008. The sacking of Pardew would create the illusion of a fresh start. It would be a full stop at the end of a sentence. It would end the uncertainty and give a new manager a chance to shape a new type of team. It would restore some hope that the dreary mid-table ambition that has soured this campaign was just a temporary ceiling on the club’s goals. It would not solve all ills, but it would heal a lot of the ailments. At least that would be the case with most football clubs, but Newcastle United are not like other football clubs because Ashley is not like other owners. He has never shown the slightest bit of concern for what the fans think. He has not listened to them before, so why would he start now? Pardew has his faults and this is the second time in as many seasons the team’s form has collapsed so alarmingly, but he has also met the top-ten finish target he was given at the start of the season. He has also never complained about the decisions taken above him, the appointment of Joe Kinnear as Director of Football and the subsequent failure to make a single permanent signing in two transfer windows. He was unhappy about the sale of Yohan Cabaye in January and the failure to sign a replacement, but he got on with things regardless. As far as Ashley is concerned, Pardew has fulfilled the terms of his contract. Take away the dire results and drab performances since Christmas and Pardew has performed as Ashley wanted him to. Ashley does not do emotion, he does not support Newcastle United. They are a business that he owns and Pardew is an employee who, just about, met the targets he was set. The manager, the players and staff will all collect a performance-related bonus as a result, just like any other Sports Direct employee. There is no chance Ashley will be swayed by the local media, he won’t listen to the national one either. He will decide for himself whether Pardew’s time is up and, at the moment, there is no sense within the club that the manager will be collecting his P45. Ashley is keeping his own counsel and has not told anyone of his intentions. Pardew will have to explain why things crumbled so badly after Christmas, and he will have to persuade Ashley that he can not only set up a team, but also motivate it enough for them to make the most of their collective talent. A new manager would change the mood at Newcastle in an instant, but why would the mood at St James’s Park, or on Tyneside as a whole, have any impact on an owner who rarely attends home games and whose main priority is the bottom line. If season ticket renewals have plummeted, if sponsors are getting twitchy feet and express their fears about what Pardew’s continued presence will do, then Ashley will act and Newcastle will have a new manager. But, anyone who thinks he will care about what happened to Pardew on Saturday, is mistaken.

One of the local papers was saying today that we are looking to offload Ferguson for £1m. Who on earth would pay that for him?

Yesterday I heard an interview on the radio with a Swansea journalist talking about the appointment of Gary Monk and the contrast with Laudrup. He said that the Chairman had been really irritated that Laudrup constantly talked down Swansea and saying how the Premier League was made up of 3 leagues and the club was doing as well as they should within their "own" league. The Chairman had made some veiled criticism of this attitude is his programme notes post Laudrup's departure by saying that the club should never restrict itself in terms of ambition but to always try to do the best that it can. What a contrast to our board. On that basis, Laudrup might be a good fit for Ashley but he would alienate the fans soon enough!!

Brilliant article.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/neil-cameron-what-next-newcastle-7081429#.U2n2kXeCyvU.twitter Neil Cameron: What next for Newcastle United fans after Saturday's protest? May 07, 2014 08:073 Protests, boycotts, planned walkouts, mass disillusion and anger. It sounds like the opening section of a documentary about the 1970s, wherein some posh bloke from Oxbridge looks back at industrial disputes during that decade and decides, to the surprise of nobody, that the fault for such feeling lay with the poor. But, alas, this is football and specifically Newcastle United. A strange old season took another twist at the weekend when thousands of supporters walked out of St James’ Park on either the hour or on 69 minutes, which the majority did, in protest against Mike Ashley, perhaps also at Alan Pardew, and the way the club has been run. Into the ground say the owner’s harshest critics. Ashley would say, and there are some agree, that he has sailed the club into calm-ish waters. But no matter what side of the debate you sit, this cannot be allowed to go on much longer. When the most loyal fans in the country choose not to go any more, a tipping point has been reached. Colin Whittle, of the Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST), believes up to 5,000 plus walked out. From my seat in the stand, I guessed around 1000, but I have always been pretty rubbish at such estimates. Pictures have since emerged of those who walked out, outside St James’ Park and judging by the images, the figure would be closer to Whittle’s estimate, although it didn’t feel as if there were 5000 empty seats for the final 20 minutes of the Cardiff City game. There was enough to make a point. But to what avail? If everyone walked out, would it make Ashley sit up and take notice. Playing devil’s advocate, or stating the bleeding obvious, surely he will only move on when another billionaire offers him silly money for the football and/or the Sports Direct supremo reckons he’s made all the money he could out of Newcastle. Whittle has a third alternative. He said: “Or he changes his philosophy in the mean time. There’s always that. “There can be a massive improvement on the way things have been run. The first thing that needs to be done is to admit there is a problem, and there is a huge problem. “We know there has been interest in buying the club. “But it’s the terms of any deal that will see what materialises.” You really think there is a generous interest from an outside party? “Yes, but not at the price he is alleged to be after.” And now we get into guessing games. Ashley would want the debt paid off to him and then some. You are talking several hundred million pounds at least. Most Newcastle United supporters believe things need to change. Some want this to happen on a grand scale, others would be happy to see some minor improvement. Never think everyone sings off the same songsheet. That was evident on social media when NUST were accused by some of having an “agenda”, a claim some club insiders are happy to pass on, it must be said. Whittle said: “What agenda? The Trust’s only agenda is to improve Newcastle United and in particular to ensure fans have a say in the running of the club. “The first I knew about a potential walkout was when True Faith and The Mag got onto the fact this had been suggested. “The view was if we were to get wider attention in the national Press, we needed to link it to a theme and 1969 being the last time we won a trophy, gave us a hook. “The Trust were asked to back it, which we agreed to. I understand there has been debate about it, but that’s a minor point. “The club has dismissed a lot of activities, the Time 4 Change march being one, and claim it’s a minority that is unhappy. They have dismissed the Trust. “But it was the not-so-silent majority on Saturday, who either walked out, or who stayed but were very vocal in their feelings about the current state of the club and who cannot be ignored any longer. “It wasn’t a sell-out on the last Saturday of the season. I believe the silent majority spoke out. The atmosphere was toxic.” That is not up for debate. Pardew has been silly to try to blame the Press for, well, anything really. It always seems like the final act of a desperate man to point the finger at the Press box, rather than admit things are wrong within the football club. But – and this is just a personal thing – the booing of Pardew every time his silver hair was spotted outside of the technical area sat uneasily with me. Pardew has been forced to take the brunt of the blame because he has been the only public face of the club all season and beyond. That is unfair. What is equally wrong is for the manager to apologise for losing six games in a row because that’s not what any of this is about. Whittle said: “I have never experienced such a sustained treatment of a Newcastle manager at St James’. Maybe little bits here and there, and I’m thinking about the Sam Allardyce era, but Saturday was the worst. “Part of it is because the manager is seen as the sole spokesman for the club. He is the one visible representative of the club who people can vent their anger at. “I do get the impression that sometimes he speaks on issues of which he doesn’t have any control over. That can be dangerous because you then have contradictory behaviour, for instance on the subject of transfers.” That is an understandable frustration. Last summer, for example, Pardew spoke about signing a number of players and only Loic Remy arrived on loan. So when he speaks of players arriving this summer, few believe him and instead consider it to be the comments of a puppet (or muppet according to one banner). Saturday did seem to be a turning point, major or otherwise, in the relationship between the fans and their football club. The emphasis on the word their. There are a lot of good people inside Newcastle United. Take it from me, they know what the problems are and if they were given more control, some of this unpleasantness could have been avoided. “I remember Keegan’s first season as manager when we lost 4-1 to Derby County and we had three men sent off, “ recalled Whittle. “We were bottom of the old Second Division at the Easter weekend and yet that was one of the best atmospheres I can remember at an away game. “David Kelly admitted on the radio afterwards that he had “ran his ******** off” and he came over to our fans at the end. The support was unbelievable. It was as if we were part of the club, we were part of this, despite losing.” And that has gone? “That has gone, yeah.” “Whittle added: “There have been worst times in terms of results. We’ve been relegated many times, but we felt there was a connection which simply doesn’t exist any more. “That has been eroded over the last few seasons.” Something we can all agree on is if there is not significant investment made into that squad this summer, Newcastle will struggle. Without making a permanent signing, they have improved their league position from the previous campaign when relegation was a possibility right up until the penultimate weekend of the season. But since January and Yohan Cabaye’s departure, the team has taken a huge downturn. Perhaps only the sale of Paul Gascoigne to Tottenham has seen the team take such a detrimental slide because of just one player. Whittle said: “What did that say to other people? “That we allow our best player to leave without replacing him because we are happy to finish top ten. “What kind of players is that going to attract?” Mid-table players, that’s what.” Whittle is not speaking for anyone else but himself, however, I believe when he says that Newcastle fans don’t expect to automatically sign world-class players or finish in the top six, he is telling the truth. “We have had worse seasons,” he says. “It’s not the finishing ninth or tenth that is a problem. “Contrary to what people outside the North East think, and Alan Shearer summed this up well on television, we don’t believe we have the right to be in the top three, we want a team that is committed and protect the values we supporters feel. “At this moment, the club isn’t like that.” A Fans’ Forum meeting has been pencilled in for this month, I believe next Monday, but the Trust continue to be banned and no correspondence has been replied to over the past few months. There are more talks going on right now to solve the crisis in Ukraine than there is between a group of football fans and the club they follow. It’s just daft. For lack of a better word. “The club cannot say that a minority of fans are against them,” said Whittle. “It’s clearly not. There is a major dissatisfaction among people who ordinarily would never take part in any protests. “The spoke on Saturday and that atmosphere will no doubt continue unless something happens.”

Collymore talking about the Chronicle front page. He was quite scathing of it.

If Pardew is to be sacked, the first anyone will know about it is when the club release a press statement late at night. As for talking about his plans for next season, Pardew is full of bravado anyway and will go through the charade pretending everything will sort itself out in due course. If he is going to get the sack, I would expect it to happen after the Liverpool game so I am not disheartened yet.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/377270/Newcastle-3-Cardiff-0-Bluebirds-relegated-to-the-Championship-after-defeat-at-St-James And there were enthusiastic calls for ­out-of-favour Hatem Ben Arfa, who Pardew has banished from the first-team squad. However, Pardew dismissed ­reports he had been involved in a fight with Ben Arfa as “an absolute load of rubbish.’’ He added: “He came and shook my hand at the end.’’