Thomson Mouse

Erm, no, there isn't. If there was any more I would have posted them. It isn't a very long interview to be honest (only half a page to be exact) and I've listed and described all the interesting and debatable points. The only other things he talked about was the fish fingers at Grimsby being the best he's ever tasted (and how we drenched them in champagne when we won promotion in 93), that Shearer "was the best pound for pound signing in football" (fair comment), that Keegan left the first time round because of his strained relationship with the Halls as well as the club becoming a PLC (common knowledge), how impressed he was with Gullit when he came into his office and resigned after that Sunderland match ("That show's his stature. he's one of the most honourable men in football.") and how the press always has the last word ("I don't hold grudges, apart from one or two troublemakers."). read "those bastards that didn't write nice things about me and who I couldn't control. I know that he threatened certain journos several times.

this Yes definitely this.

Never has a word been so over used than vibrant. I laughed it was used to describe Hull. Now it should be retired after being used to describe Shepherd. Does he seriously expect us to believe that?

Joined Nikos Dabizas' team, Larissa (Greece) in the summer. Thought he wanted to be with his kids in London?

Nothing, just nothing.

Leicester was a hell hole and we always ended up having to fight our way to the car/van/mini bus. We parked near the Leicester Tigers ground the season we avoided relegation and ended up going to the hospital to pick one lad up who had been beaten senseless. Aye, I remember a woman being punched in front of her toddler and seeing a bloke pulled back out of an ambulance and given another kicking. I also remember Bill Borrows writing that it was just a little scuffle in 4-4-2 magazine (I think it was called that then). He f***ing hates us, the Manc prick. For me the worst game for tension that season was the 1-0 win against Portsmouth at home. That was when we really avoided relegation. Yep, horrible little skinny twat. Fairly sure he was pushed down the leagues after that game.

that was partly offset by it being one of the best/funniest seasons i've ever had for going to away games. ipswich,watford,leicester being highlights and bournemouth in the cup hitting legendary status. that season was only equalled byt he following promotion season. Aye I remember the Leicester game, eyes being put out and Leicester not being punished at all.

Looks like I am wrong then. Doesn't take away from what he's doing now though.

The fact that Keegan didn't seem (from his comments) to have much of a say on his appointment. Oh and he's from Spurs. What comments were they? Can't remember exactly and haven't got time to look for them, but I seem to remember Keegan not knowing much about Hughton coming in - may be wrong though.

The fact that Keegan didn't seem (from his comments) to have much of a say on his appointment. Oh and he's from Spurs.

Are you preparing us Dave?

He's also communicated with the fans better than Ashley has during this mess.

mackems.gif You see what you've done Dave?

You know Dave, I wouldn't have even thought of that "in a gay way". I do now though. Backs against the walls lads, Dave's around.

That was my point.

mackems.gif Thanks mate, that's actually made me laugh.

Dignity, self respect, wants to protect himself from a negative image. Wsan't he quoted as saying he's enjoying himself just recently? Must have had a poor life if he's enjoying this.

Dignity, self respect, wants to protect himself from a negative image.

Probably. I think he was going to get it before Hughton.

He's been left in the s***, but I wouldn't imagine the bit in bold is true. Even if it's not Liam, the players are going to want answers which means a whole boat load of s*** for Hughton, while he's trying to coach/manage/pick the team. Which ever way you look at it, they've shafted him. He has, but he probably doesn't want to pick the team anyway. You have to give him credit for sticking around.

It is a good point, not one I'd really thought of before posting previously. I think when we went down before, it wasn't that difficult to come back up. These days, if you don't get back in your first season, bearing in mind you still get the TV money, you have to restructure the whole club due to the financial implications of spending a sustained amount of time down there. It would put us back years if we go down and won't be any near the same club again, unless a major investor comes along. Comparing it to the 1992 relegation possibility, I would say that could have been worse, if the club spent any significant amount of time down there, then I still think that would have absolutely devasted us as a club and possibly worse as SJH would likely have washed his hands of us.

He wasn't one of Keegan's appointments - so it seems, yet he's been thrown to the dogs by the people who recruited him. Heard yesterday that he hasn't heard from a member of the NUFC 'hierarchy' for 14 days. If this is true they've left him in a job that he doesn't seem to want, but is having to do with his hands tied behind his back. I know he's being paid, but he could quite easily have walked away and left us completely in the shit, fair enough we haven't won any games under him, but the players need someone to look to. In this mess, he's one of the few people who will come out of it with some sort of credibility.

Stood in the away end at Derby in 1992, watching the fourth Derby goal go in and thinking that's it. Feeling powerless to do anything about it as a clueless ref sent off our 3rd player (although I've never experienced an atmosphere like it since). SJH warning that the club may not survive if we were relegated. Actually, come to think of it, I think that was when one of mates unscrewed one of the light bulbs from the scoreboard, took it home and tried it in his bedroom for a couple of days. It was like the fucking aliens were landing in his room. He got bollocked for the size of the leccy bill as well. So some happy memories as well.

that is the first time you have ever written down clearly what you think, and feel. EVERY other time you have tried to put words into peoples mouths, made accusations about what you think they think, or what they want. If you had expressed yourself as you have in this post then you would have few arguments from me, or others. My grouse with Hall and Shepherd began in 2003 n they seemed to take their eye off the ball. Up to then they had speculated to try and improve, then, for some reason they just started randomly increasing salaries, givinbg out 5 year contracts, randomly appointing managers, and not speculating to improve, but gambling to survive. That was the difference. Without a shadow of a doubt staying in the top division was a major achievement, worthy of credit. I am old enough to appreciate this. Every side in England has a new stadium, or vastly improved stadium, though, us having one doesn't Shepherd apart from the rest. The last season under McKeag we lost £3m, on only £4.2m coming in to the club. The club spent £440,000 on new players. We also spent £300,000 getting rid of a Jim Smith. We had a wage bill of £2.6m. We had debts of £7m. The reason I quote all these boring numbers is that if you multiply them all up it is essentially the state that Shepherd left the club in 16 years later. £32m loss on £87m income. Spent more than 10% of income on new players. Spent the same sort of percentage sacking the manager, again. Wages were 70% of income, debts of £70m. To me Shepherd has left the club with the same financial mess that John Hall inherited, we have had great fun along the way, many fortunes have been made, but looking at what he has passed to his successor, it is scarily similar to 1991. Just as it couldn't go on in 1991 it could not have continued in 2007. We were fortunate to get Sir John, we have been unfortunate to get Mike Ashley. If Shepherd had stayed in charge there would have been no money to "speculate" cos there was nowhere to get the money from, it had all gone. You're a liar. You wrote a piece in the mag in 1998, around the time of the FA Cup Final, whinging on about dividends etc. I quoted this once before. Have you forgotten , because you replied to it, and also harped on about your moronic support of that cretin Adam Crozier and how he would be the "ideal" chairman of the club. I have ALWAYS said, and said it often, that the Halls and Shepherd left the club miles better than how they found it. If you weren't so obsessed with reading your balance sheets, and concentrating on the football which happens to be the industry that we are in, you would have seen it. The fact that you have disappeared for all this time, and re-appeared talking yet again about nothing but finance should tell its own story. I really couldn't give a toss about those figures above. The simple fact is, the club was bankrupt in 1991, counldn't sell it for 2.5m quid, had one foot in the 3rd division, played in front of a cow shed masquerading as a football stadium and 15 years later, had qualified for europe more than everybody but 4 teams, played in the Champions League, expanded the stadium to one of the best and biggest in the UK, and filled it, bought major international players instead of selling them, and was worth one of the highest valuations in the country through massively raising the profile of the club, is the legacy. By the way, you have constantly whinged on about the club "doing a Leeds", through overspending. Well, the club is now heading the way of Leeds, and its for the opposite reason to your claims. Its heading that way because of underinvestment on players. Even you should find this slightly ironic. I'm sure a smart lad like you will recognise the irony of this.............. You're clueless. And you have one hell of a chip on your shoulder, just because the ex board refused you a say in the running of the football club, which is a strange demand to put it mildly. One last point. You say we were "lucky to get Sir John". Well, Sir John was lucky to have Fletcher, Hall Jnr and Shepherd as his co-directors, because these were the people who were completely responsible for getting Keegan to the club first time round, when Sir John didn't want to change the manager and they almost threw him into his lap and forced him to sack Ardiles. Depending on who you believe, but I tend to believe what Keegan says in his own book. Unless you think what we achieved would have happened with any old Charllie Bloggs as manager of the football team, such is your apparent view that the "business plan" and the balance sheet come first. You really couldn't make this up. Someone else who has learned absolutely nothing from the events of the last 2 weeks. 'Sir John lucky to have Fletcher..' Sorry, NE5, I'm afraid that it was the other way round ; Fletcher was a FORMER exec at Rangers before he got involved in NUFC,and his initial brief was to sort out the club's Promotions/ Retail Op.. SJH placed a great deal of trust in him and gave him plenty of licence ..he made himself into a millionaire with SJH's help and, if you were able to ask SJH what happened in later years you would not get a very happy story... Ask KD what HE thought of Fletcher.... As for complaining that SJH didn't want to sack Ardiles, yes, maybe he WAS misguided, but this club has been criticised for lack of stability on too many occasions ; KK had NO interference in his job when SJH was Chairman - can Shepherd make that claim about his managers, esp SBR, when he sold Speed without Robson's approval ?? Fletcher had a very good go at shutting the fanzines down.

Wouldn't say a fair few things, but his second from last post was very condescending. Can't even be bothered to read his guff anymore, on any thread. Obnoxious bastard.