bobbydazzla

I went to River v Boca at the Monumental. Was amazing. River won so that massive bowl stadium was in full voice. Be better watching them at the Bombanero though. Boca game I went to at the Bombanero was a 0-0 but atmosphere was still class. Stood right at the top of a stand at one of the ends. Terracing is proper steep and the place literally rocks when people start jumping about.

I don't watch football anymore. He's just sucked all the joy out of it. I guess this makes me a bad fan or whatever, but... nah, just not worth it. Totally agree with you. Get absolutely no joy out of watching football anymore and that is thanks to the last 10 years of watching us. Yeah I'm in the same boat. I used to love watching loads of football, be it the football league, serie a, la liga or whatever was on. Over the last 10 years it does feel like my love of football has just been beaten to a pulp and it feels like a chore to watch anything now. Too much of a reminder of what our club could be tbh. Exactly this for me. Used to love watching all levels of football, used to love NUFC, had season ticket, went to away games. But because of Ashley I stopped going to games, then stopped watching NUFC matches on telly, then stopped watching all football, now I never even bother checking fixtures and results. I have virtually no interest in the game any more. I think continuing to visit this forum, mainly for the Chat section, is my only deliberate contact with the sport.

FB is terrible for football news/patter. Absolutely shit. FTFY

Beardsley is having another meeting today. That's probably it then. Trying to obviousthly errrr, get a picture of, obviousthly errrrr, Pedro, obviousthly errrr.

Couple of press photographers with long lens cameras milling about next to the Bobby Robson statue when I just walked past. They were stood behind some metal crowd barriers that have been put at the bottom of the slope, the barriers aren't usually there. I thought 'ello, 'ello, 'ello, what's going on here then....

Geoff Keegan

One of the Arabs gets a servant to pass him the blunderbuss then KABOOM, the fat man gets smoked

There’s a country house near Blanchland that’s owned by some Arab royalty and they come over now and again to shoot birds.

It's probably rammed up Charnley's shitter.

Wonder if the fat twat ever goes out for a bounce on that trampoline.

Sports Direct in the BBC headlines for negative reasons again today. They're being blamed for overcrowded slum housing and people shitting on footpaths in Shirebrook. Constant negative press and a tumbling share price is likely to be giving investors the hump.

McClaren at the end of May: "We dominated games throughout the season, created chances but didn't win matches. Spirit and effort was fantastic. We've played well all season - controlled the games, plenty of agression and composure. Disappointed to have been relegated"

Mike Ashcunt

Steve McCunt

Actions speak louder than words. Remove Carver and Charnley Appoint a strong manager and MD immediately Invest significantly in building a solid squad over a number of windows If selling players, buy decent replacements Try to be competitive in all competitions Ashley takes on a role as the visible leader of the club, ensuring regular positive communication and backing it up with actions If Ashley does all of that then there's a chance of him regaining the trust of supporters over 2 or 3 seasons. But his track record suggest today's interview was all lies and he'll do absolutely fuck all apart from cream off the TV cash and spend nowt whilst aiming for 17th place every season.

He's a Newcastle fan, grew up in the north east.

I've said this on here before, I knew John Irving when we were in our teens and he was a passionate fan of NUFC. I've found it hard to comprehend that he's had a leading role in Ashley's regime, when it's clear that they're intent on destroying the club from within. Maybe the current antics have been too much for him and he's decided he needed to get out.

This nails it for me. The vast majority of people in the the ground are incapable and unwilling to drive any change. And change at NUFC will only come when the reputation, revenue and share price of Sports Direct is threatened or actually starts to see negative results as a result of the activity of NUFC fans supported by national media. This football club is a small part of Ashley's empire, but it's the most visible and vocal. He bought NUFC because of the increased press we could create for the SD brand. Let's turn that to our advantage and make sure that coverage is about zero hour contracts, dodgy pre-pack administrations etc . It's his achilles heel. Until recently Tesco was an unstoppable retail business. But the tide has turned as shoppers move away and a number of scandals emerged. Tesco lost £6.4bn last year. The same could happen to Sports Direct, it's not impossible.

He couldn't give a shit about fans not going to games. But constant media references to Sports Direct and their zero hour contracts, toxic brand, unethical redundancy processes, dodgy pre-pack administration and government enquiries into his business activity is not the news that SD shareholders will be happy to read about in the international press on a daily basis. He can't risk damaging the Sports Direct brand, so that's his achilles heal. A determined and intelligent campaign by NUFC fans who have the support of mainstream media means we can talk about our frustrations with the management of the club, but more importantly can put the SD brand in constant focus for many negative reasons. And the media seem to have an appetite for this at the moment. NUFC is a small part of his business operations but also the most visible and we have a genuine opportunity to become a really big thorn in his side.

I jacked a couple of years ago. Stopped the season ticket, stopped away games, stopped watching matches or highlights on the telly, stopped listening to radio coverage. I often don't know when or who we're playing. If I see the scoreline after a match I don't celebrate if we win, I'm not miserable if we lose. I'm completely numb about what happens at NUFC. I've got better things to do than waste time and money on the shite that Ashley and his cronies want us to lap up like bleating braindead sheep. A few weeks back I was in town on a match day so nipped into the boozer to see the lads I used to go to the match with. Out of a group of 20 season ticket holders every single one told me the same thing - "It's shit, I can't be arsed to go, but if I didn't go I'd never see me mates, so I've got to keep going". There were plenty of shit times in the pre-Ashley era but I've never seen such widespread malaise amongst a very loyal and passionate group of lads. Ashley has ripped out the soul of the club.

Knew John Irving when we were kids and he loved NUFC.

I knew John Irving pretty well in our teens and he was a passionate fan and loved going to the match. It's a real shame that he's now happy to be the mouthpiece for this regime. But I guess he gets paid enough that he's willing to toe the line. That's even worse if he used to be a fan. I'd always assumed he was just a numbers man with a passing interest because of his job. When I knew John in the early 90’s he was a huge Newcastle fan. Simon Esland was similar, a big Newcastle fan that ended up landing a high profile job at the club. Although he’s now left and gone back to Vodafone.

I knew John Irving pretty well in our teens and he was a passionate fan and loved going to the match. It's a real shame that he's now happy to be the mouthpiece for this regime. But I guess he gets paid enough that he's willing to toe the line.

He's regularly said he'd love a shot at designing our kit. And until recently Nike also had a geordie and Newcastle fan as Global VP of Football Footwear. But sadly we still ended up stuck with the Puma shite.

All their top designers, especially the tailored in England ones have moved to Nike. It's anyone's guess how they do now. Ah that's a shame. Bizarrely I don't like any of the current Nike efforts. One of the main designers for Nike football is a geordie and a Newcastle fan. He focuses on their key clubs - Inter, Barca, Man U etc.