doublecrown

That was absolutely miserable. I live in the United States and have been a fan for 15 years, through highs and many more lows. This is the lowest, for me. After we sold Cabaye and didn't bring Cabayereplacement in, I knew we were f-ed. Sure, we may stumble to 40 points, a few lucky ties will do that. I don't have the connection that many of you do - when I started following English soccer/football, I chose Newcastle just because I liked the beer. Since then I have bought jerseys, decked my men's recreational soccer team in black n' white, and have brought my family to a game in Newcastle in 2005 (Emre won it for us vs. Birmingham). But I have seriously began to think about switching teams. If I do, it won't be one of the top four and it won't be Sunderland. Maybe Norwich? A player on my co-ed team is from England, and owns a tiny share in the club. West Ham - same situation, a fellow on my team from England follows them. I really can't see switching, but I really can't see waking up at 4am much longer watching this crap. If I do switch, once Ashley sells I'll be back. For you fans in Newcastle, I'd simply stop going. It's not entertaining any more, the team has no desire to win and going just shows Ashley that it doesn't matter who's on the field, fans will still come. Yes, all teams lose on occasion, but today's game had a team not even trying to win. It really saddened me to see Ben Arfa, who's finally getting a chance, not even run for the last 10 minutes of the game.

Looks like McLoven to me.

Did you look at who we had on our bench for this game?

Yep, that's the part that hurts so much about this. We could have brought in a striker for 10-20 mil and that alone would have given us a decent shot at the top 4.

While I'm bummed that Cabaye's leaving, I could almost handle it if it somehow means that we'll see more of Ben Arfa. I know we've been playing well, but it just doesn't seem complete to me with Ben Arfa on the bench game after game. Get rid of Shola and Cisse, and bring in a striker, and I'd be reasonably okay with the team for the 2nd half of the season.

I'd put serious money on 3 more points keeping us safe at this point. A win against a QPR team with nothing to play for would do it. It's tight, but I think we'll be okay.

http://imageshack.us/a/img832/8210/winningw.jpg

Oba Martins signs for the Seattle Sounders! He was one of my all-time faves at NUFC (although frustrating at times), so as someone that lives about 80 miles north of Seattle, I'm really excited by this signing. Seeing him score and do flips in front of 60,000+ fans is gonna be amazing! http://www.sounderatheart.com/sounders-trades-transfers-rumors/2013/2/21/4014138/sounders-levantes-obafemi-martins-transfer-rumor

I'd rather have somebody else s*** in my hands and clap than endure this game

I don't think he'll stay with us forever, but I think he'll be here long enough for us to enjoy his "glory years". I've been following NUFC since 2000, and he's right up there with my faves of the last 12 years (others include Shearer, Robert, Martins, Barton and Bellamy).

Wigan, Wolves, Blackburn (there's three other teams I'd prefer to go down, but they're all mathematically safe at this point...)

Fox Soccer USA, during the Man U game, at one point said "St Ja....Sports Direct Arena"

I like this bit: THE NEWCASTLE UNITED VIRGIN MONEY AWAY SHIRT HAS AN APPLIED TO APPLY TO THE SHIRT.PATCH OVER THE ORIGINAL SPONSORS LOGO E THE LONGEVITY OF THE APPLICATION. That is copied/pasted from the official website - time to find a proofreader/spellchecker. They got it right with the home shirt: THE NEWCASTLE UNITED VIRGIN MONEY HOME SHIRT HAS AN APPLIED PATCH OVER THE ORIGINAL SPONSORS LOGO AND WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THE LONGEVITY OF THE APPLICATION. Can't believe anyone would want this crappy iron on applied to their 40 pound replica top, that's just gonna fall off in a month or two. Good God aye, just looked on the official site.

Whoops, missed that bit earlier about Pardew saying he's gonna go with Best and Ben Arfa.

I'd love it if we started with this, although I could see Pardew going with Ameobi instead of Best.

Spot on!

I'm in the US and am listening to BBC Newcastle's "pre-game" show. Will it cut off once the game starts? Also, is anyone concerned that we have Collo and Perch in central defense, but not a single defender on the bench? If we have an injury, who do we put back there - Obertan or Ranger?

A co-worker (a Man U fan) said Tevez is exactly who we need at NUFC. I would fear another Michael Owen style debacle, but I have to admit, Tevez is exactly the kind of player we need at the moment (obviously without all of the off-the-field issues)

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8620/buckwheateddiemurphy.jpg

Invisi-Ba

95/96 is before my time following NUFC, but yes, I was just thinking that the current situation is just like 02/03 - after Barton and Enrique go there's really noone left on the team that I really admire (there are some good players, such as Tiote, Collocinni, Ben Arfa, Jonas and Cabaye), but not any that I truly admire and like to watch on the pitch. I'm hoping a few of the guys that are left become a similar type of classic player to me, but I'm doubtful...

+1 on this. Granted, Joey's taken the boss-bashing a bit too far, but a blanket ban on twitter for everybody on the team is very harsh. What's next, having their phone lines tapped?

Sorry if this has been pointed out before, but I just noticed that the photo of Barton on the official nufc.co.uk website that goes along with the announcement, shows him with the captain's armband: http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20110801/barton-placed-on-transfer-list_2281670_2407238 Just goes to show that at many levels the business side of this club doesn't know what the F they're doing...

Have to agree - I know I keep bringing up the Sounders v. Man U game last week in Seattle, but they played in front of nearly 70,000 people, and temps were in the low-to-mid 70's - conditions couldn't have been more perfect. The support for soccer/football is strong up here, and I think NUFC should really consider the Pacific NW for their next visit to the US. Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, BC all have MSL teams, and draw 19000-35000 each, and the climate here is virtually the same as over in the UK.

We're goin' down....