Wallace

So Pardew does his rallying call for the crowd to be supportive and if they start to get agitated, there's Sunday excuse for him.

The other downside to all this is that those players they think they might sign may well have second thoughts now. They could probably have got Grenier and Cabella in January but now other clubs are interested in them and they will see our better players wanting out. Grenier has the same agent as Remy so they will know exactly what is going on. At this rate, it won't be 6 or 7 players we need, it will 10+ and how on earth will the club cope with that with the way they conduct their transfer business. They will have to get a move on because if they leave it late (and the World Cup will mean a lot of business will be done late in the window), we will barely be able to put out a team for the opening game of the season.

He's been injured for a while.

Daily Mail were banned for a while too.

Before the game Barcelona were supposed to be unhappy that the ref was from Sweden as he would be more sympathetic to the English game!

One of Pardew's biggest failings has been his inability to improve players. If the club's policy is to buy cheap and sell high, then they are struggling with that. I would have thought Ashley would have serious concerns about the lack of development in the talented players we have. Ben Arfa was supposed to be the "crown jewels" and now people are saying we would be lucky to get £5m for him when the club would have been expecting £20m+. Several other players have not kicked on as expected e.g. Santon, Sissoko, MYM and Cisse. OK the exception was Cabaye but last season, he didn't look like a £20m player. When Ashley has reduced the club's potential for increasing revenue to just the TV money and player sales, he has a major problem if one of those areas is not working. I could imagine that he is looking to sell at least one player for a big profit each year to fund transfers and there's only been Carroll so far and now Cabaye. If the players are genuinely disillusioned with Pardew and there were also rumours of that being the case last season as well, Ashley will need to act.

I think the journalist involved is a Newcastle fan and I am pretty certain he used to work on one of the local papers back in the day.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/feb/15/ravel-morrison-west-ham-united-waste Fat Sam in dodgy as f*** shocker Nolan got Carroll and Forster signed up to Curtis at Newcastle. It does sound rather dodgy.

If that Express story is true then it is only a matter of time as we are probably going to lose a fair proportion of the remaining games. One win against Villa would only be delaying the inevitable.

And if the club don't do anything quickly to show some ambition, I can imagine Krul and Debuchy going. There have also been rumours about clubs being interested in Tiote and the return to Italy stories for Santon never go away. I think they are going to have no choice but to buy some players but whether they are what we need and of a good enough standard is another matter.

Kind of feels like Pardew brings Ben Arfa on in games so that he can use him as a scapegoat.

I'd be happy with him as DoF although if he is holding out for the manager's job as that article suggests, it would mean that the manager would always be in an uncomfortable position (I am of the opinion that it is only a matter of time before Pardew is gone). I think his coaching philosophy and experience would be good for the academy but I would have strong reservations about him as manager. But why can't we look beyond anyone who has a connection with either Spurs or Chelsea.

Blimey even Wigan are supposed to have 2000 fans at Cardiff according to the radio.

I hope that if Ashley is not planning to sell up anytime soon that he is looking to employ a DoF ASAP and a proper one - not a mate. I recall that when he first came to the club that there was a lot of talk about him knowing David Dein. I hope that is true and that he talks to someone like that to get advice on suitable candidates (wishful thinking I know). I think once a DoF is in place they can then get a move on in replacing Pardew as that would be the DoF's role. That way, we may get a proper manager for a change rather than a friend of a friend which is what he has mostly done so far.

Rumours of gambling debts although he has denied them.

Apparently the increase in hits on SD's website on the day he changed the stadium name was huge.

The Journal was arguing the case for Pardew to go in this morning's paper. Saying that he has not been getting criticism because of Ashley etc but that it was time to look at the manager's shortcomings and the fact that talented players are regressing under his management. Don't think the article is online yet.

That night Keegan came back - the town was brilliant.

I've heard before that Ashley was not impressed that we failed to get into the Champions League that season after buying Cisse.

Thought "Rebel Rebel" would be a good song for Remy but I guess there's not much point now.

I guess unless you are watching us every week, it would look like Pardew is doing a decent job under very difficult circumstances. Most journalists will only see the highlights and maybe read occasional match reports e.g. it was said we did OK against Chelsea. Caulkin is forever arguing with his journalist colleagues at their misperception of the NE teams but those journalists who rarely venture out of London or Manchester, still think they know more than the locals do. No doubt they buy into the propaganda that Llambias used to feed them about those nasty Geordies hating all Cockneys. But when you are a fan and see every game and know all the ins and outs, you see how things are developing and the same shortcomings not being rectified and players not improving and so on and know that it is only going to get worse. For example, many of us were surprised about Laudrup but Swansea fans were not - they could see how things were deteriorating. If you look at fans's websites, you often get a different impression to the one that the national media portrays which shows they really are not fully aware of all the facts. I think if Pardew had anything about him, he should resign as I don't think his stock will ever be higher than it is now. He would be guaranteed a Premier League job albeit not at such a big club as Newcastle but he would probably get a bigger salary and be allowed greater influence in transfers. The longer he stays, the more tarnished his reputation will become.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/abel-hernandez-dreams-move-newcastle-united-or-real-madrid-1436318? "I dream of Newcastle, Real or Atletico for the future," Hernandez was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport.

Is he? I saw a tweet just now where he's saying the problems are the same as last year and then were solved by signing players. The implication being none of it is pardew's fault. Again. Nah, he's saying that Pardew's shiteness was masked by the new signings and will be again if we spend in the summer. Was that Douglas' view or is he claiming that the board are thinking along those lines? His view. He added that he doesn't expect any action with the current agenda/ambition. Below are a selection of tweets that Douglas has posted and he does say that he thinks Pardew should go. Also said last night that he expects there to be a lot of changes in the next 2-3 months but not sure exactly what they will entail. In his newspaper articles though he has said that he thinks Pardew is on borrowed time. Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 2 hrs @DaveyVasey You're not stopping supporting them, you're just not going. There's a difference.... Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 2 hrs @DaveyVasey I know mate. But the alternative is what's happening at the moment. Surely that's not acceptable? Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 2 hrs @DaveyVasey Difficult to bring together protest groups. And the problem at the heart of it all is that ppl just don't want to turn on club Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 2 hrs @DaveyVasey Watch how jumpy they get if the gates start to tumble. I'm not saying I could pack it in (I couldn't) but it will make an impact Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 2 hrs @DaveyVasey Chip 5-10,000 off the gate and people start to take notice. I'm not advocating it, but not buying food is drop in ocean Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 3 hrs @moonhoover @rammlet It's not 9th with a view to kicking on, it's 9th with no plan and the club going backwards. Manager part of it Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 4 hrs @moonhoover @rammlet the point ppl miss is this isn't mediocrity, it's the half way house to ruin. Ppl cancelling ST, players not bothered.. Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 4 hrs @Patty_518 @JJFletcher7 @LeazesTerrace Exactly what the problem was last year. Solved by... Signing players Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 4 hrs @rammlet @moonhoover The national commentaries like Michael Owen see nufc in 9th & think 'what's the fuss?' Correspondents on the ground... Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 4 hrs @moonhoover You're right tho. Think he has taken it as far as he can. All the 'that was for mike' and signing his name to statements.. Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 14 hrs @dansheridan Grim days Dan. Club in the grip of ppl who burn bridges & don't care. What goes on on the pitch a manifestation of that. JJ Fletcher ?@JJFletcher7 15h @MsiDouglas Mark for the love of god and the sanity of all the lads who paid to watch that tonight please print this tomorrow : PARDEW OUT! Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 15h @JJFletcher7 Don't blame you for that. Think his race is run, personally JJ Fletcher ?@JJFletcher7 15h @MsiDouglas delighted you agree, he's lost the dressing room completely, turned talented players into shadows of themselves! Ive had enough! Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 14 hrs @JJFletcher7 Should have gone in the summer IMO... JJ Fletcher ?@JJFletcher7 14h @MsiDouglas Agreed! However in Pardew, Ashley has his perfect man! A puppet! What I'd give to see Laudrup take over! But he won't! Mark Douglas ?@MsiDouglas 15 hrs @JJFletcher7 It's depressing, isn't it? Sad really

http://blog.paddypower.com/2014/02/13/kinnear-out-on-a-free-nice-bit-of-business-newcastle/?

There were a lot of moans and groans at Taylor as well. But mostly it was just silence although for the first time around me in the Gallowgate there were a lot of people voicing their dissatisfaction with Pardew saying it was time for him to go.