Wallace

I read in a paper that he had been out for dinner with a senior player but the article did not name the player. You would assume it would be Colo though. When it was I have no idea as Ashley has been away on holiday and he can only have been back in the country for a week at most (if he is back).

From where I was sat in the Gallowgate, it looked like a decent number left - certainly enough to make a point. I wasn't sure beforehand whether I would leave but by the 69th minute it dawned on me that I have been so critical of Pardew and Ashley etc for so long that it would be hypocritical of me to stay so I left then.

One more thing. No-one is demanding "success" which I think is how other supporters perceive the protest. I am ashamed of NUFC at present - by the way it is run, by the way it treats the supporters, by the way it treats the city, by the behaviour of the manager and by the performances and attitudes of the players. I just want a club that I can be proud of.

To me the protests are not just about the football this season but about the bigger picture and how the management of the club on every level is killing it. The fans have always been taken for granted and so the club has felt it can do what it wants and if some are unhappy then others will just turn up and take their place. However, we are not what I call a "tourist" club like Man Utd, Liverpool and the London clubs where you will get people coming on day trips so the more the club pushes the local supporters away, the more damaged the club will become. The main asset the club has is its local support. We are run by one man who makes all the decisions and will not consider any alternative views. He rarely comes to games and has never allowed the club to engage with the city. How can he understand NUFC and is this man able to see how he is damaging the football club? I have said previously that in 5-10 years time, our kids will be wearing the shirts of other successful teams so the support will not be there in the future. We will be just another provincial club in a ground that is far too big for us which will be left to rot due to a lack of funds (and it is already looking very tired) and probably in a lower division. If there any reason to believe that there are any serious "5 year plans in place". There have been so many and again Pardew this week tells us that he is excited by the youngsters coming through but it won't be for a few years. Well Ashley has been here 7 years now so surely some evidence of any "5 year plan" would be starting to emerge but no we are always told exciting things are ahead but they never materialise. The club is rotten from top to bottom so the fan's dissatisfaction is not based on the last 6 games, it is a much bigger issue than that.

I think even with the way Ashley runs the club, the appointment of a good manager who plays decent football and can improve players and develop youth would address a lot of the issues. If fans can go to games in anticipation of enjoying them and competing in them, it would be a start. If the next manager is an out of work old-timer with links to Ashley, then we will know that nothing will change and it really would be pointless in renewing. I haven't renewed yet so for me it is a case of wait and see. I'll end up paying more but I would be happy with that if it meant that I would enjoy it more.

Not sure where to put this but I think it is an excellent summary by Mark DOuglas about the current disillusionment with the club and Pardew and why things needs to change. http://www.thejournal.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-v-cardiff-city-7068151 May 03, 2014 09:10 By Mark Douglas Nine damaging months comes to a head at febrile St James' Park today when Newcastle United take on Cardiff City The air of farce was unmistakeable on that grey, muggy evening in June. Inky clouds gave the night a threatening air, and the atmosphere was hardly less foreboding inside the Newcastle Labour Club, a building that sits in the shadow of St James’ Park on a sunny afternoon. The season was six weeks away but on reflection, the dye was cast when a man called Eddie McIntyre rose to his feet to speak on behalf of Joe Kinnear, who had unbelievably been handed a lifeline in elite football by Newcastle’s defiant owner Mike Ashley. The newly coronated director of football had promised to attend – not the first or last pledge that turned out to be a bare-faced mistruth – but he had left his friend to face the flak and do the talking for him. “Give Joe a chance,” an animated Mr McIntyre implored to unimpressed fans. Newcastle’s supporters weren’t minded to give Kinnear the benefit of the considerable doubt, and they are feeling even less charitable after a bruising, soul-sapping nine months that has drained the club of credit in its community and hollowed out what was left of the enthusiasm of the city. Rebellion is on everyone’s lips but in reality it is the apathy since the turn of the year that has been suffocating. The 2013/14 campaign has been the season of missed opportunity and of contempt from the top from the moment Kinnear was appointed. The noise of the crowd has been replaced by the grinding of gears as the club moves backwards. Something simply has to change. For a significant number now, the change must start in the dug-out. Alan Pardew is stretching credibility to breaking point when he implores them to “put the club first” by resisting the calls to walk out of the ground on 60 minutes. Does he blame them when it feels as if the owner and his cronies (Pardew included) have often done the polar opposite of putting the club first? An air of protest crackles around St James’ Park. It is loose and perhaps without a definitive direction but it is definitely discernible. The debate yesterday was whether fans would or would not heed a call to walk out after 60 minutes, but whatever happens, Pardew is struggling for a mandate to continue past this summer. No wonder: the curtain comes down on a campaign that has turned the air toxic on Tyneside today. The balance sheet will record a top-10 finish and a handsome profit but this season has come at a serious cost. Ashley is the architect of this farce, but Pardew has been badly tarnished this year by a series of strange public utterances and endorsements for the owner. This has been the season when the perception of him has transformed from a man working with his hands tied behind his back to one who is in league with the owner. None of this would matter if his teams were performing, but six straight defeats have focused minds about the football being played under Pardew. It is functional, uninspiring stuff and bears little resemblance to the promise to attack and entertain. Just recently, the performances of some players have been a disgrace to the good name of the club. The worry for Pardew is that message will arrive at the door of the owner before long. One senior player has told a leading agent that the players no longer have faith in the manager’s ability to change things – or deliver on his promises. Add that to discontent on the terraces and things start to look untenable. Culpability goes way beyond the manager, though. United have long attempted in their blithe statements to give the idea that they are working towards a goal. In his rambling statement last month, Lee Charnley assured us “we will progress the Club, both on and off the field over the coming years”. Yet strip away the spin and PR and what is left behind is the unerring sense that Newcastle have regressed this year: with a manager unable or unwilling to make the most of a talented, cosmopolitan but fragile group of players and a set-up that reacts to criticism and dissent by withdrawing ever inwards. It began in June. Manchester City had spirited Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain away from the Nou Camp, where they had shaped a sporting dynasty. On Tyneside, we had been given Kinnear and his associates. There is nothing progressive about it. Off-the-field, this has been a year of press bans and clumsy attempts to ostracise media that do not pay for interviews. There was an instruction to work closely with Sports Direct News: thankfully that has been ended now. The club still want a written press partner. Those ongoing attempts are why you do not read interviews with players any more – unless Hatem Ben Arfa is desperate to get his message out, of course. Certain people at the club do not see the goodwill that they can generate by communicating a positive, constructive message. It is dangerous and counter-productive and many others within the club agree. Not the ones who are making the call, though. What the club needs this summer is to start listening to those within its organisation that will challenge and suggest a new direction. There are employees who have the best interests of the club at heart, but they are cowed by a ‘my-way-or-the-high-way’ approach from the top. It is not conducive to success or rediscovering the club’s soul. Some supporters have pledged to walk away. Corporate clients are toying with the idea of ditching a toxic brand. Agents in France watched Monday’s events and it makes United look like a basket case. None of this is helpful. The chances are Newcastle will finish ninth this season and yet this feels like the most damaging season since the club were relegated to the Championship in 2008. Some theorise that this is even worse. At least supporters had defiance and energy in the face of the club tottering into the abyss: the atmosphere at home games since the turn of the year has been funereal.

This is really petty but I have refused to sing his name from the outset. I recall that when fans first starting singing Hughton's name that Calderwood had to point it out to him so that he could acknowledge the fans. With Pardew, he acknowledges the fans before they get past "Al" as if he is listening out for it and that really bugs me. I also had a belief that for him to have any chance of succeeding that his ego needs to be kept in check and when he first got the job, a lot of people said he was much more humble than he had been previously. I think that ego started to get out of control again after he finished 5th and was awarded Manager of the Year.

Mark Douglas @MsiDouglas · 1h @tomtoon2010 Nobody can say for certain what MA will do but there are serious questions being asked now. Fan unrest has unsettled them Mark Douglas @MsiDouglas · 1h Tomorrow's Jnl: Pardew coming under serious scrutiny by Ashley, Cattermole interview & the column on HBA - and why he's killing AP softly.

So now he is saying there are "reasons" why they have not performed this year but those "reasons" will stay inside the club!!

We need a banner that highlights the correlation between NUFC and Sports Direct i.e. poor quality, falls apart etc. I am sure some succinct wording could promote a negative image of Sports Direct and at the same time highlight the negative impact on NUFC.

George Caulkin @CaulkinTheTimes · 42m Pardew presser: "I wasn't set any targets for this season - the only targets we set for ourselves." #Nufc George Caulkin @CaulkinTheTimes · 41m Lee Charnley said on his promotion last month: "our minimum target for this campaign is a top-10 finish." #Nufc

Well Pardew and the club are putting a lot of negative stuff into the press about him. Whether it is true or not, it is damaging his reputation especially if he has to find another club.

I still can't bring myself to believe that Ashley employed Pardew purely because of a gambling debt even though the story won't go away.

Even if it costs a lot to sack Pardew (although surely if his contract is as heavily incentivised as we are led to believe, it should not be so much even if paid up in full), it would probably mean that they could just buy a player less to cover the compo. A decent new manager who would get more out of the existing players, who can persuade the good players thinking about leaving to stay for at least another season, who could raise the value of the existing players, who can develop youth, who can play decent football etc, would surely over time make it cost-effective.

The reason he does too much is because he tries to do something whereas most of the others are afraid to make a mistake so play it safe.

The Guardian's version http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/30/hatem-ben-arfa-newcastle-alan-pardew?

Again, on TS someone called in and said that Pardew cannot handle 'flair players' and couldn't get the best out of Ben Arfa, and that's why there was the fall out. Anderson jumped on the caller straight away, saying Ben Arfa has fallen out with every manager he's worked with, and this was just the same thing again.... "no, I'm not having that" is what he said (about it being Pardews fault). All the while, ignoring that Pardew also has history of failing to work with/get the best out of flair players. Then the presenter kept asking if callers had enjoyed the first half of the season, and would we swap places with S*nderland? Like the first half of the season excuses the post christmas collapse in some way. I really shouldn't listen to it on the drive home, I'll end up having a crash or a Totalsport induced road rage fight one night! The presenter tonight, Martin Emmerson is a mackem sympathizer. Doesn't try very hard to hide it. He is a Sunderland supporter and as such (and despite being a local journalist) seems to share the Mackem's preconceived ideas about us.

I get frustrated when you hear the like of John Anderson and Mick Lowes go on about how Ben Arfa's teammates don't trust him but we only have Pardew's word abut that and I think if it is true, that no other manager would have put it into the public domain. Were the players complaining when he was getting assists and scoring goals? What is their excuse when they concede 3 or 4 and Ben Arfa is not playing. His comments on Cabaye are interesting as well. As has been reported previously, it is obvious that Cabaye "managed" the dressing room and now without his influence, Pardew is getting found out.

I think if Pardew isn't sacked at the end of the season then I am convinced he will be by Christmas as the general malaise will just continue into next season and then we will be in a relegation battle.

Well we all know the club has a cosy relationship with Sky. I wouldn't be surprised if they asked them to find some pro Pardew fans in order to imply the unrest is down to a small minority and is not representative of the fan base.

Des Kelly on Talksport tearing Pardew apart especially his soft interview on Sky last night and the pundity from Neville and co. Going on about their performances are unforgivable and losing Cabaye is no excuse because other clubs cope and that we have good players who should be doing better.

A journalist on Talksport comparing our wage bill (£64m) with Man City (£233m) and saying City didn't win anything last year - again missing the point.

I do think we are starting to exhaust the number of people who are prepared to buy tickets on a match to match basis especially if the drop in season tickets is significant. If the team are not performing those people won't be bothered about buying tickets unless it is to see quality opposition.

Which begs the question, why are we even following FFP? Was discussing this with a friend yesterday and we came to the conclusion it suites the club and the ownerships frugal nature... It is obviously just being used as an excuse not to spend because if we have no intention of qualifying for Europe, then FFP is irrelevant to us.

That's one of the sad things about our current recruitment policy is that all the players are passing through and none will be allowed to develop an affinity with the club/city or become "legends" by winning something.