Shadow Puppets

That’s exactly the point. I, along with thousands others, are happy to get at him in every way we can other than stopping going. Why should we allow one man to stop us doing our hobby. Surely he wins. Maybe not financially, but his agenda wins if he makes it unbearable for us to be there. As long as Rafa is there or there’s something worth supporting I will be there. Happy to boycott a single match, sure, but not give it up. he wins by completely desecrating, running down, and taking the piss out of an entire city and a club and having 50k people pay the guy for it. Maybe. There’s more than one way to look at it.

That’s exactly the point. I, along with thousands others, are happy to get at him in every way we can other than stopping going. Why should we allow one man to stop us doing our hobby. Surely he wins. Maybe not financially, but his agenda wins if he makes it unbearable for us to be there. As long as Rafa is there or there’s something worth supporting I will be there. Happy to boycott a single match, sure, but not give it up.

Well there you go, already got 36000 people who are capable of protests and attacks on his business interests. How's that going? What have you done personally, out of interest? I'm an active member of The Magpie Group and Ashley Out. Why? To clarify, I've been to all of the protests, and helped out with organisation of bits and bobs. Good man. Just another 35999 people to convince then. As has already been proven, huge numbers of people are well up for campaigns against Ashley on social media or against his stores. So you'd expect them still to be happening, no? Or are people needing leadership? I've seen very little evidence that 36000 are getting involved tbh. I think people absolutely need leadership, yes. And no, not all 36000... you only need a couple of thousand to really make it work.

Another perfect example of why you'll never get the fans onside. You and several other posters on here think yourself to be "better" than them for not going to games. It's fucking weird man. People just have different priorities and different things going on in their lives. For some, NUFC is their main passion / hobby. The sooner people on here stop calling them "sheep" and thinking they're better than them, the better. Just accept their opinion, and look for a way to get at Ashley that most people can get on board with. What, you don't think NUFC is/was the main passion/hobby for those who've walked away because they don't want to fund what's happening to it like you do? You absolute plum. No I don't think that at all, why? I said everyone's circumstances and reasons are different, so you should just accept their stance and move on to finding a way to get at Ashley that is going to get more people on board.

Well there you go, already got 36000 people who are capable of protests and attacks on his business interests. How's that going? What have you done personally, out of interest? I'm an active member of The Magpie Group and Ashley Out. Why? To clarify, I've been to all of the protests, and helped out with organisation of bits and bobs. Good man. Just another 35999 people to convince then. As has already been proven, huge numbers of people are well up for campaigns against Ashley on social media or against his stores.

Another perfect example of why you'll never get the fans onside. You and several other posters on here think yourself to be "better" than them for not going to games. It's fucking weird man. People just have different priorities and different things going on in their lives. For some, NUFC is their main passion / hobby. The sooner people on here stop calling them "sheep" and thinking they're better than them, the better. Just accept their opinion, and look for a way to get at Ashley that most people can get on board with.

Well there you go, already got 36000 people who are capable of protests and attacks on his business interests. How's that going? What have you done personally, out of interest? I'm an active member of The Magpie Group and Ashley Out. Why? To clarify, I've been to all of the protests, and helped out with organisation of bits and bobs.

Well in that case, TBG, covmag, Wullie, Neesy, Kid Icarus etc, you are NEVER EVER going to get the fans to do what you want. You share the same mindset as most fans as to who the main problem is... but you are miles away from sharing/understanding the mindset of the 36000 people who paid to go to the Blackburn game for example. If you want any campaign against Ashley to be successful, you need to understand how people think. You need to find a protest solution that doesn't involve not going to the games. Because a boycott is NEVER EVER going to happen. That much should be completely clear to you now. Prolonged protests and attacks on his business interests... that is what will / has hurt him. Focus on that. I know loads of people who are right behind those efforts, but know hardly anyone who will stop going to games.

Neesy, you must understand that your aggressive stance on it is also part of the problem. People don't like being told what to do. Especially not people who have been supporting the club for a lot longer than you have. I personally will still be going to games, not because I like supporting Mike Ashley, but because I like supporting Newcastle United and watching my team play on a weekend. I don't see why that is so hard to grasp for some of you on here. I have zero desire to stop going. I don't always enjoy it, but I've supported them through arguably much tougher times than these. I would argue that fans not going to the game and not having their matchday routines / meetups causes more harm to that supporter's happiness. It's just in the blood. We don't want to have to stop going. We shouldn't have to stop going. I will (and have), however, 100% support any protest action that Ashley actually cares about... i.e. the protest action against Sports Direct and his other companies. Social media campaigns damaging his brand and their ability to function. That is, in my opinion, where The Magpie Group, IfRafaGoesWeGo, AshleyOut etc were having the most success. That is what sparked the Keith Bishop PR train, and that's what everyone should be focusing on. The Magpie Group (and other groups) took their eyes off the prize in that sense and started focusing on a boycott and walk-in that there is nearly zero appetite for. I personally don't believe Ashley would care one iota if 10,000 people didn't show up to a premier league game. I think you're incredibly naive if you think that he would. He cares about his company. Nothing else. (And no, before you say anything, I DON'T personally believe his decision to spend some money in the McClaren summer had anything at all to do with the Tottenham boycott.)

I’m sorry like. Everyone knows who’s really to blame, but Rafa and the players deserve a wave of criticism for performances like today. They’re not immune. I’m still in the stadium having watched that 90mins, and it was possibly the worst I’ve seen us play. Absolutely woeful all round, including from Rafa. what did you expect buying a ticket? Hey...maybe I’m crazy...but buying a ticket for a cup game (as 36,000 others did), I expect us to take the game to a championship team and beat them. I don’t expect us to sit deep, struggle to pass it over the halfway line, and ultimately perform worse than I’ve ever seen us. Unless you’re trying to hilariously imply that it’s somehow mine and 35999 other people’s fault? Yes, you must be crazy then. Our strongest 11 is made up of mainly championship players. And we play an even weaker side than that in the cups. You're fault for buying a ticket and expecting anything different. fuck off man I love Rafa and what he stands for, but his tactics at home have been woefully short this season. We play decent football away from home...it’s only tactics that are stopping us doing the same at home.

I’m sorry like. Everyone knows who’s really to blame, but Rafa and the players deserve a wave of criticism for performances like today. They’re not immune. I’m still in the stadium having watched that 90mins, and it was possibly the worst I’ve seen us play. Absolutely woeful all round, including from Rafa. what did you expect buying a ticket? Hey...maybe I’m crazy...but buying a ticket for a cup game (as 36,000 others did), I expect us to take the game to a championship team and beat them. I don’t expect us to sit deep, struggle to pass it over the halfway line, and ultimately perform worse than I’ve ever seen us. Not sure why you'd expect that bearing in mind I presume you've watched us before. Just stop going I’ve watched us plenty. I watched us on Wednesday night give Man Utd a good game for 60 mins. What if I don’t want to stop going? What if I just want to go and support and expect better?

I’m sorry like. Everyone knows who’s really to blame, but Rafa and the players deserve a wave of criticism for performances like today. They’re not immune. I’m still in the stadium having watched that 90mins, and it was possibly the worst I’ve seen us play. Absolutely woeful all round, including from Rafa. what did you expect buying a ticket? Hey...maybe I’m crazy...but buying a ticket for a cup game (as 36,000 others did), I expect us to take the game to a championship team and beat them. I don’t expect us to sit deep, struggle to pass it over the halfway line, and ultimately perform worse than I’ve ever seen us. Unless you’re trying to hilariously imply that it’s somehow mine and 35999 other people’s fault?

I’m sorry like. Everyone knows who’s really to blame, but Rafa and the players deserve a wave of criticism for performances like today. They’re not immune. I’m still in the stadium having watched that 90mins, and it was possibly the worst I’ve seen us play. Absolutely woeful all round, including from Rafa.

For someone who takes the piss out of them for being obsessed with us, you certainly seem like you’re not obsessed with them at all!

Even Ki could have clipped his heel and took a tactical yellow. The goalscorer sprinted passed Kenedy though which was very poor. He did, but there were so many opportunities for that attack to be stopped dead, he probably expected it to be fine... as I did until I realised Lascelles was marshalling him into the area for a free shot.

I'm sorry like... Kennedy is not to blame for that goal. Lascelles ushering their player into our penalty area from 20 yards outside of it was. Just fucking foul him for christ sakes.

Errr, he's said nothing about it being "close".

Not sure if serious? Well it certainly wasn’t the silent majority, was it? No, obviously not. But it most definitely wasn't a half-baked walk-in attempt either, with about 200 participants. Just to clarify, I'm all for protest action and have been involved in a few things with TMG, but genuinely don't understand the point of the walk-in or boycott protests. Everyone's already paid. Plus they create division in the fanbase, because people rightly or wrongly still want to go and support the team. Ashley literally won't give a fuck if they show up or not as long as the money is already paid. Protests that get at his other business interests... I'm all for those.

Not sure if serious?

Sniping at those trying to do something. If you don't like it, get involved and influence them to do it differently Errr, I have been involved in it. Doesn’t change that I think the boycott should be cancelled. There’s no desire for it. Focus on getting at his business interests.

I wasn’t there today anyway, but truth be told it’s been blatantly obvious that there’s no desire for this kind of protest (or boycott) at all, let alone after the recent good run. Plus with the TMG groups overall lack of clarity on many of these protests, it’s no surprise it was poorly observed. Fair play to those who did, though.

Sadly, he is absolutely bang on. The moans and groans on a matchday are fucking pitiful. Our home support are largely silent or moaning, not a great deal of backing the team going on.

As much as I love everything Rafa stands for, I do believe his tactics aren't particularly suited to us at the moment. Man Utd away, 2-0 up at half time... spend the entire second half camped in our own half rather than trying to put the game to bed. 1-0 down to Brighton and getting loads of crosses into the box without any physical presence on the pitch... as soon as he brings on our best header of the ball, all of a sudden we stop putting crosses in at all. We needed all 3 of our forwards on the pitch for the last 15 minutes, no questions. I dunno... I do love the guy, and I know the issues run right to the top, but I'm not convinced he's doing as well as he could be. (Tin hat on)

Yeah, I mean if the choice is limited to Ashley vs Bin Salman, I would keep Ashley here every day of the week.