Shadow Puppets

Give over man. The attendance in SJP is calculated by how many barcodes have been scanned on the way into the stadium. It’s an accurate representation of how many people are in the stadium (it actually has to be accurate for health and safety purposes). Not a chance it’s any less than 45k in my opinion.

Not saying this is true, but did it ever occur to anyone that perhaps Rafa wasn’t as popular with the players as he was the fans? I don’t know...just putting it out there.

To most people, the reality is, there isn't that much wrong. We're in the Premier League. That's enough for most people to show up.

I would say our window has already been OK... we don't need another striker in my opinion... Joelinton, Gayle, Muto, Almiron... they can all play on the forward line... certainly in the system that Bruce looks like he wants to play. Wingers... we have Almiron, Saint Maximin, Atsu, Ritchie, Aarons. Centre Mid... Shelvey, Longstaff(s), Ki, Hayden Left (Wing) Back... Willems, Dummett, Manquillo, Ritchie Right (Wing) Back... Yedlin, Manquillo As things stand, in my opinion we don't necessarily NEED any more players, but would be nice to improve upon our RB and CM options (essential if Hayden leaves).

Did you see the match yesterday? Second half we played some really good stuff Do you think that was Bruce or the past three years of coaching drilled by Rafa? Both. It was drastically different in style/tactics in the second half. Very attacking.

I’m not willingly supporting a guy specifically ...have you even read my posts? I’m saying that there is a lot more to support there than I thought there was. I was previously of the opinion that Rafa was the only thing keeping me interested. But yesterday proved I was wrong. There is a really good squad of likeable and decent players there to support. Your use of the word 'specifically' doesn't really add anything here. You are supporting Ashley, whilst also supporting the players. Presumably seeing your little lad enjoying the day is more important to you than the long-term goal of having a better club? I can understand that I suppose, just seems very short-termist. For someone to have taken the sacrifice of cancelling their season ticket, then to immediately relinquish that principle by paying £20-25 or whatever it was for a couple of friendly tickets, just seems ridiculously counter-productive to me. I was 7 the first time my Dad took me to a football game, but then we lived 90 miles away from SJP (the fact it was a Newcastle game isn't really relevant because we're talking more about the excuse of father-son bonding; an unworthy excuse in my eyes). So I suppose your being there comes back to that point Wullie keeps making about the ground being so very accessible. Absolutely! I’ve recently been reminded just how short and unpredictable life is / can be. Making memories is far more important to me than who the owner is. You’re speaking to someone who truly doesn’t believe a boycott will ever work or achieve anything though. For me, the best chance and the most obviously riled I’ve ever seen MA and his PR team, was when the full blown disruption of all of his Sports Direct brands was in full flow last year. We need to make owning NUFc an inconvenience to him to ever get him to leave in my opinion.

Did you see the match yesterday? Second half we played some really good stuff

I’m not willingly supporting a guy specifically...have you even read my posts? I’m saying that there is a lot more to support there than I thought there was. I was previously of the opinion that Rafa was the only thing keeping me interested. But yesterday proved I was wrong. There is a really good squad of likeable and decent players there to support.

Mike Ashley likes this. Perhaps he does. :shrug:

He was mint to be honest. Went around people with ease. Set up a few guilt edge chances for others to spurn. And wasn’t afraid to do the odd little daft trick every now and then.

Who said all is forgiven. All I said was Rafa wasn’t the only person worth supporting.

I know it’ll make people angry but I took my little lad to the game yesterday. He’s only 4 but he was absolutely buzzing by the whole experience. I don’t plan on going much this season (gave up the season ticket) but I absolutely do not blame anyone for going. At the end of the day, when Rafa (and Perez and Rondon) left I felt that there was nothing worth supporting anymore. Watching them yesterday I realised that I’m actually really really fond of a lot of our players...Almiron, Schär, Longstaff, Dubravka...plus the excitement of the new guys. There’s still a lot to support there. Dare I say it, it was actually quite exciting how we played, especially in the second half. Loads of pace. Yes, we have a very under qualified manager, but I’m not sure my connection to NUFC was as “Rafa only” as I thought it was a few weeks back.

The crowd will be upwards of 45k easily. Like it or not, the boycott has completely lost it’s momentum with the 3 signings, especially after they looked so exciting yesterday. I still take massive issue with people on here claiming that the match going fans are “sheep” or “the problem” or whatever. Are they fuck. They’re just people, families, old men, young couples, kids etc who enjoy going to the match and won’t let Ashley’s running of the club deter them from doing what they enjoy. Perhaps life is too short to get quite as militant as people on here want the whole fan base to be.

Some lad called Iain Davison broke the Willems news at 10.43am on Twitter, saying he was having a medical in Newcastle today. Ryder has just caught up

Is he any good these days?

I’m all for protests (although my personal opinion is still that we should focus on Sports Direct and disrupting their day to day) and I’m fully behind the Ashley Out campaign. However, i’ll never understand the desire for new players to do badly or for the team to do badly. Just because you don’t like the owner / manager. It doesn’t make sense to me at all.

To be honest, you probably wouldn't get worked up if you actually listen to him.

Or just normal people for whom being the angriest most extreme online caricature they can depict isn't the be all and end all? People with different priorities to you? Even people who maybe aren't aware that they're violating some sacred code? Judge not lest ye be judged is a decent if archaic mantra. Nail on head. The sooner some of the more militant corners our fanbase realise this, the better. The way to unite against something is not to alienate the majority of people you want to unite with.

Elsewhere he says 3 or 4 to be fair.

You're a strange character.

The peasant things that he said in retaliation to being verbally abused in the street? As far as I'm concerned he's well within his rights to say something back to someone abusing him.

happy enough to ignore his total shithousery to sheff wed then? and his previous record for fucking clubs over to further his own ambition nice guy steve Shithousery? All I've read is speculation. I’m not sure I agree. Pretty much everyone I have spoken too about NUFC are angry, some won’t even talk about it anymore because the anger is that bad. I’m even coming across fans of other clubs who are starting to agree with us, I thinks it’s the case that allowing Rafa to leave has made fans of other clubs sit up and take notice. My stepdad worked with Bruce’s brother, and you are right, he’s a Newcastle fan. However any self respecting fan should have looked at the bigger picture, Keegan, Shearer, and Rafa all told him not to take the job on. He ignored the advice of what are now 3 legends of the club. Let's see how angry everyone is once we've made a few more signings and the season is upon us. Rightly or wrongly, I can almost guarantee you that the anger will have simmered and there'll be at least 45k at the Arsenal game. People just want to watch their team... it's a simple as that. You've got to remember that at least 75% of that stadium on a match day will leave the ground and barely give NUFC another thought until the next match. They're not all "die hard", "read everything on the internet" kinds of fans. Sure, some are. But most, and certainly those I've spoken to, are just too busy in their day to day lives to really get angry enough. Rightly or wrongly, at lot of people's attitudes are simply "life's too short" to worry too much about it. I can see it from both sides. Too busy in their lives to consider whether they are being robbed blind. I can believe that. Yeah, 100%. Most match day customers are relatively casual fans in comparison to people on this forum. Most just want to go to the football. It's an emotional, communal thing for them. They enjoy it, regardless of the ownership.

Honestly, and without any internet bravado, how vocal a supporter were you on a match day? A big singer?