Toonpack

Not at all. They'd have been unlucky if we'd continued to play well and they changed something. As it happened it was US that changed and it was US that ended up being lucky. Aye, having good goals disallowed is lucky every time !!!

Something I noticed, that's all. You've been bringing it up every time there is a post about him - which doesn't sound incorrect at all from all accounts. I'd prefer someone totally different, but fully aware of our odd transfer policy/model and if that meant Gomis came in and it displaced Shola and Cisse who aren't really doing anything for us, I'd be OK with it. Not like I'd be jumping for joy, just want to sign some bloody players who can help our attack. Gomis > Shola any day of any year like. Just be nice to see being a bit more creative in the transfer market. If he does move, I hope the £4-5m saved is worth having thrown half a season away for. (and sadly we all know the answer to that) Really?? 2 points off 4th and above Spurs who spent £90 Million, thrown away ?? (I accept the perception when we spent nowt was that we'd thrown it away, but results and the league table would suggest otherwise).

Erm, we did take them. If Cisse's goal had stood (as it should have) we'd have won it in a canter as opposed to winning it comfortably. Comfortably? In these so called disastrous closing stages how many saves did Krull have to make, Spurs last week was anything but comfortable, yesterday was IMO, they had a lot of the ball, but in terms of REAL chances they created bugger all. (2 attempts on target all game) If the linesman doesn't make that mistake we would have walked it. I was nervous as f*** last 10 minutes but that was more based on the ingrained over decades - "typical Newcastle will throw this away" conviction, than what was actually happening in front of me. As long as Pardew wins I won't cry or complain, but a lot of people have made some very good points. In the second half we invited them into pressure, had they been a bit better they would've punished us. Look at football in general, inviting pressure and playing defensively when leading causes more losses of points than not. We were 2-0 up and Norwich is a terrible side, why were we letting them dictate the game? New excuse every week, last week it was we were away to a better side and this week when we play an inferior side it's because the players were tired. What's next? Players fault when we actually lose from being infront? Aye a better team would have punished us, like Spurs did last week ;-) Norwich are terrible ?, really, no-one but Arsenal and Man C have put three past them this season (I think HF stated) we would have matched that (if not for a bad decision). Why oh why is any excuse needed when we win ? Job done end of. The way this season is shaping up, any team can beat any other team and implicit in that is that any team will have periods in games where they pressure the other team, we won, am happy and that's three on the bounce two of them against so called much better sides.

Erm, we did take them. If Cisse's goal had stood (as it should have) we'd have won it in a canter as opposed to winning it comfortably. Comfortably? In these so called disastrous closing stages how many saves did Krull have to make, Spurs last week was anything but comfortable, yesterday was IMO, they had a lot of the ball, but in terms of REAL chances they created bugger all. (2 attempts on target all game) If the linesman doesn't make that mistake we would have walked it. I was nervous as fuck last 10 minutes but that was more based on the ingrained over decades - "typical Newcastle will throw this away" conviction, than what was actually happening in front of me.

Erm, we did take them. If Cisse's goal had stood (as it should have) we'd have won it in a canter as opposed to winning it comfortably.

Apart from the fact he had yet another legitimate goal chalked off, 3-1 at that point we'd have been comfortable.

Was posted elsewhere, but evidently since promotion we've had 32 clean sheets, Williamson has been in the team for 22 of them, maybe he's not the abject weak link everyone thinks.

As an aside, sort of, based on a Conn article in the Guardian, outside of the usual top 4 and Liverpool/Spurs we make more money from match day and Commercial revenue than any other Premier league club. So is our decline rather wider sourced than just "Ashley", indeed is our performance even that bad in light of the figures elsewhere (given we've been notably pants on the pitch for ages).

Cheapest ST at NUFC (and Spurs) £378 (£730) Dearest ST at NUFC (and Spurs) £909 (£1845) I stole the above from elsewhere and haven't checked it btw. If you put ticket prices up by a tenner each that'd raise you half a million a game (if 50K turn up)

Cheaper tickets, surely.

Steve Brenner ‏@SunSteveBrenner 21m @CaulkinTheTimes Indeed. The idea that a former club may want him back really is incredibly unbelievable tee hee

Hardly surprising, most scousers are crooks

I have the same question. It makes sense to work hard and ensure of the tie and earn your place, but when it gets to minute 92 and everyone involved qualifies if you just pass the ball among the back four, scoring just seems unnecessary. It is also nonsensical how easy Mexico's path is. They win 2 of 10 and live. Egypt wins 7 out of 8 and dies It's got nothing to do with audience potential etc for the tournament, obviously, FIFA is absolutely straight as we all know.

f*** off proper fan? You are not a fan at all if you want the club pillaged and raped by this horrible man. If you aren't willing to sacrifice one Wednesday night for the good of the club then you are no fan at all. I too was and am really looking forward to the Leeds game but I've had enough now. The only way fans can send any sort of message is to simply vacate the stadium but oh no 'proper fans' like you will continue to go every week and buy his horrible wonga tat and suck Ashley's dick. Get a grip. What an eejit The majority of fans will continue to go every week, good results will make crowds better, s*** results/performances will make crowds drop, just as it's always been. What happens off the park is irrelevant to the majority. Even if a mass boycott could be arranged the ONLY thing harmed would be the club. He's nowhere near pillaging yet btw.

Don't think he created the situation which led to KK leaving the first time mind, or appointed Gullit or Souness or Fat Sam or sacked SBR in the way it was done, or refused to talk about hiring Mourhino because he'd never heard of him or got caught in a brothel, or refused to pay £135K for Steve Bruce (when Norwich did) or sold Gazza/Waddle etc etc etc etc NUFC is an unrelenting story of suicidal decisions.

Very well put. That is just an embarrassing mentality to be honest. Oh no, we shouldn't try and improve the club's situation as there is a slight risk the next owner might be even worse, as unlikely as it is. By the same token we may as well keep Pardew for the duration of his contract regardless of relegations or results, because you never how the next manager is going to fare. Would you consider Ashley to be worse than Shepherd - Hall? Much of muchness really. I loathe Shepherd more than I hate Ashley, but they're both absolute w*****s. Absolutely, so if we accept that the last two / three owners have been utter cocks (Two of which were supposed to be fans before owners), why should the next owner (who is unlikely to be a fan - unless we see some bizarre lottery win / massive change of heart form Ashley) place the fans interests above hard cash? I can respect a "beer glass half full" attitude, but to assume that the next owner(s) would be any less frustrating than the present incumbent is, at the very least, optimistic. If there exists a benevolent prospective custodian who has the long term interests of the club & the region at heart & the funds to back it up perhaps someone should give them a call & tell them to get there asses down to the Orange Tree pretty f***ing pronto to thrash out a deal. Shepherd and Ashley are two very different types of t*** though. The former had ambition, but was a crap businessman and a simply horrible individual, whereas Ashley has zero ambition for NUFC but clearly knows how to run a business. I don't think this is a situation that can be dismissed with "better the devil you know" any more. We're going nowhere under the current regime. I want this club to be the best, the dream that we may one day achieve that is what keeps me forking out for my season ticket. The knowledge that those in charge simply want us to exist in the midtable of the Premier League so they can continue to take cash out of the club isn't something that makes me want to continue to pay into NUFC. We are to all intents and purposes a rather lucrative advert masquerading as a football club. Only when it didn't effect the dividends and "take", see the Bowyer summer of "restraint" when £9Mill in dividends etc. still managed to be found. It's somewhat telling when you look at the dividend/take profile that as it diminished the club started spending money trying to find a buyer (£6Mill in 2006 iirc). Soon as the gravy boat looked like drying up they were looking for the "out" before the reckoning arrived. They're both as bad as each other in their own ways, the fans are the one's who suffer though, always has been always will be.

Very well put. That is just an embarrassing mentality to be honest. Oh no, we shouldn't try and improve the club's situation as there is a slight risk the next owner might be even worse, as unlikely as it is. By the same token we may as well keep Pardew for the duration of his contract regardless of relegations or results, because you never how the next manager is going to fare. Would you consider Ashley to be worse than Shepherd - Hall? Yes, hands down. He's several tens of millions of cash taken out behind Shepherd and Hall in the badness stakes tbh.

I know what you're saying, the reason I don't think it's worth staying away is that it will never happen in big enough numbers for a long enough time. Also, like you say, the actual match is a nice relief from the constant debating about what's going on. and is all that really matters to be honest

The source of the debt is irrelevant, the fact was we were built on unsustainable credit, we needed an owner with deep pockets, we got one, could have been better oh aye, BUT the resultant carnage had we not got one would dwarf the current situation in terms of criticality IMO. That's not a defence btw, just a statement of the facts as I see them.

Apart from the dividends and dodgy warehouse deals

Those "morons" as you so nicely put it, support Newcastle United, the team on match day is the only important thing. There is no way to force Ashley out, he'll go when he chooses on his own terms, that's the top and bottom of it. You won't hit him in the pocket by not going, all he'd do is squeeze the club further so recouping his cash still happens at a rate acceptable to him, but the running costs of the club would diminish further.

you're not alone, he was poor Aaaand the strange phenomenon of two people looking at the same thing and having two entirely different opinions rears its head once again. As is with football fans though, it's usually 1 or 2 against a plethora of people who think otherwise. Sissoko and Anita were the reason we constantly kept the ball, and Sissoko's forward runs and confidence gave us something extra. Had a great game, as did Anita. Really He was poor IMO, looks powerful but gives the ball away waaay to tamely at times.

you're not alone, he was poor

From what we've heard the main objective was to promote SD and in that it's been very successful. I guess so, but then again, what does £200m+ in marketing buy you? Sponsorship of the Premier League? Set up your own TV channel? Billboard advertising at every ground in the country? I still think Mike Ashley's original motivation was just to fulfill an ambition of owning a club, have some fun on the side, and then also to promote his goods overseas. Problem is that everything went to s*** so quickly. I think that's the truth of it, he's now in a place where it's absolutely no "fun", in fact he probably hates it, the stick he gets, the agents and all the shit that goes around (who's fault that is, is irrelevant) and continuing, with any ambition, is likely to be nothing but very expensive. I reckon he's got to the stage of "fuck it" to the point that he wants his wedge back asap at which point he'll get shot if he can, but until then it won't cost him a penny if he can possibly avoid it. We're screwed in the meantime. Bit like buying your dream house but then finding out it's a total money-pit and the neighbours hate you.

That's the only bet, to bridge the chasm with any rapidity IMO