thenige

Agree with Willow, would also be nice if these threads got back on topic rather than every one eventually being sidetracked either to club, Pardew or Ashley dissatisfaction.

It's about time Arsenal sacked Wenger, appointed someone else and go into some kind of free fall. Yes the amount they change for tickets is obscene but to have been spoilt with Champions League football and arguably some of the best entertainment of the last 10 or so years, I hope they get someone who totally changes the mentality of the club in favour of 'results'. Who then proceeds to ruin everything.

Stoke make me feel so much better about us. No matter how awful we are, at least we're not watching Stoke every week.

Love the way we're so starved of any news we're discussing Arsenal's woes.

Will score more than Shola this season. You heard it here first.

Doesn't really matter whether the club is in debt, in profit or making shed loads. It's what Ashley wants in terms of the finances. If he wants to maximise his profits then why should he invest when realistically on paper we have a squad more than capable of staying in the league? If it's a business and his business model is to stay as a Premier League club then really looking at our squad he doesn't need to invest. He's a cunt if he doesn't, but that's from a fans perspective. From a business perspective there's very little to gain from a major investment. We won't make the Champions League and in all likeliness fans will still show up for 50k a week attendances.

Not a huge fan of that piece in all honesty. Basically Ashley owns the club and can do what he wants with it. Pardew's in a position where he clearly wants signings as it'll make his job easier but can only push so hard before either making his position untenable or being sacked. In a sense if the money isn't being put forward both for transfer fees and wages then it's true we can't compete. Sadly Ashley owes us nothing. If he chooses to run the club as an out and out business it's his decision to do that. He clearly feels the squad is strong enough to achieve what he wants - I'm assuming that's finishing in the Premier League so they keep getting the TV money payouts. Minimum expenditure and maximum (realistic) income. From a business sense nothing wrong with that. Problem is we (as fans) want to push on to be a top 6 club, but the rewards of achieving that are relatively minimal given the outlay you'd have to fork out. Really the only extra 'bonus' is being top four with the Champions League and sadly, even despite our top 5 finish a couple of seasons back we're miles off that given the spending power of Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal and Spurs. Not to mention the others like Liverpool. If we get into Europe via the Europa League it may slightly increase our profile, but in terms of finances it makes little difference. It's annoying as hell yes, but Pardew (whether he's tactically inept is irrelevant) is in a very difficult position really. I don't really envy him, being surrounded by Ashley's yes men and essentially having to be one or being out on his ear.

Bit late but Disco

We hate him, he hates us. Seems fair enough to be honest

Not really many posts regarding transfers, more ranty ranty doom and gloom!

I'm glad I don't watch football for entertainment or anything.

Best ref ever. Honest.

THE SKY IS FALLING!

Is that Dummett on for Santon too? Edit: Nevermind.

Pards is Ashley's man don't forget. Sam didn't have that luxury. Sacking Sam was just blaming someone else.

Was a definite pen. Quite encouraging that in the sense surely Shola has destroyed any positive thinking he's built up this pre-season with that kind of performance. Really credit to Braga, they've sat deep and are breaking well. It's the kind of football we really struggled with last season against 'weaker' sides. The amount of times we were saved in these kind of home matches by late late goals was a bit ridiculous. Pardew's thinking clearly hasn't changed which is still massively worrying. I'm still harbouring hopes that a striker with movement instead of Shola will change everything, else this season will be as mundane and depressing as the last.

SHOOOOOOOLA.

The thing is, what else exactly can we do other than 'lap it up?' What other choices do we have? Stop supporting or caring about the club? Protest? Stop spending any money on anything related to Newcastle? How many people do you know who have actually turned their back on the club and don't look out for the results anymore? Or have gone to support say Gateshead or somebody else? It's incredibly frustrating being a Newcastle supporter when we all feel we're so close to having a decent side on paper, only for the realities of board and manager to quash those ambitions. I still think it was worse under Souness. If we have a shocking start to the season I may be convinced otherwise but even being in a position where I live hundreds of miles from the ground and can get free tickets to a couple of other league clubs, I can't see myself walking away. Wow. I feel like an alcoholic.

Scored last night too. Must be a winner.

He's either a box to box or deep-lying midfielder I'd say.

Dave Bassett. Failing that, Will Hughes at Derby who is rumoured to have a 'big club' release clause. We are a bit stocked for CM's though.

Good work from Pards today fooling the Man City scouts into a false sense of security.

The thing is, it's not really that ridiculous a suggestion seeing as Valerenga v Liverpool is on BT Sport tomorrow night. Surprised nobody bothered to pick this game up.

We didn't release him did we? I thought we offered him a new contract and he turned it down. Yeah, deal to Crewe likely to go to a tribunal.

Completely agree. I know it's not a popular thing to say, but at times our home support can be a proper double edged sword. If things are going badly, or you're not a fan favourite, it must be a difficult place to play at times. Yeah, agreed. Not many have come back from being a scapegoat. Perch did a decent job of it as did Nicky Butt once (albeit it wasn't long after everyone got on his back again).