The official Fat Fred Out campaign

[Guest ToonFanNorway]

Scared?    Yep, PETRIFIED.

 

However, no, it's just there wasn't a need for a thread dedicated to emailing nufc.co.uk. 

Point taken just f**king angry sorry !!!

[BlufPurdi]

Fair enough. 

[Guest Gemmill]

I reckon as part of his army training, ToonFanNorway has been subject to some of that special testing where they try and make bionic soldiers.  It's sent him fucking spacka-mental.  bluebigrazz.gif

[BlufPurdi]

[M4]

The problem is imho, that there is a big difference between becoming a leader in the army and a leader in more social environments...

 

Bossing people around and calling them cowards etc... probably works a treat usualy

[Nate]

I reckon as part of his army training, ToonFanNorway has been subject to some of that special testing where they try and make bionic soldiers.  It's sent him fucking spacka-mental.  bluebigrazz.gif

[Guest ToonFanNorway]

Tell ya what the Army does drill into you !! RESPECT  blueeek.gif

 

And FAT FRED doesnt have any RESPECT for his FANS !!! The same FANS that line the FAT F**kers POCKET every week !!

 

YES OR NO 

 

Thats what fucking annoys me WE THE FANS DESERVE BETTER!!!

 

Belive me yes i dont know who will take over but we MUST get that F**KING money grabber oot NOW  :wullie: :wullie: :wullie:

 

And if ive spelt oot wrong F**K ya  bluelaugh.gif

[Guest Gemmill]

DO NOT BE WEAK TOON FANS!!!!!!!

[GeordieDazzler]

http://www.apa.org/topics/controlanger.html

[Guest ToonFanNorway]

:wullie:

 

[Guest]

DO NOT BE WEAK TOON FANS!!!!!!!

bluelaugh.gif

[indi]

Sack race alert: the competition narrows

 

Louise Taylor

Tuesday October 24, 2006

The Guardian

 

Kevin Keegan once likened football management to Russian roulette. "You always have a gun at your head," explained the former England coach. "The only question is whether there is a bullet in the barrel." Right now Iain Dowie, Alan Pardew, Stuart Pearce and Glenn Roeder must be particularly fearful of the answer.

 

A year ago Pearce - who quite apart from his achievements as England's left-back boasts an array of qualifications including the much-vaunted diploma in applied management from Warwick University - was being hyped as the answer at Manchester City where he had succeeded Keegan. There was even talk of him becoming England manager but on Saturday City recorded their 17th defeat in 20 away games when they bombed 4-0 at Wigan.

 

The paradox is that a man who was motivation personified as a player presently seems unable to rouse his personnel. Although Pearce could be sacked without compensation - he insists he does not want a pay off if things go wrong - City are £60m in debt and John Wardle, the chairman, knows he would struggle to attract a replacement of Alan Curbishley's calibre.

 

Moreover Wardle, like most City fans, appeared to blame the team rather than Pearce yesterday. "I want the players to take a long look at themselves this week. They must understand that the [Wigan] performance was unacceptable. I share the supporters' anger. As chairman I sat with the board of directors and we were totally embarrassed by what happened. This club will not accept this type of performance."

 

And to think that only last season David James, then the City goalkeeper, enthused. "Stuart Pearce is a breath of fresh air, in terms of tactics and man-management he is potentially a truly top manager."

 

Roeder, sacked by relegated West Ham the season after he guided them to seventh place, knows all about management's insecurity. When he recently reflected "we all hang by a thread", Newcastle's manager was referring to the brain tumour that nearly cost him his life 3½ years ago, but he fully appreciates that the job is a particularly stark metaphor for life.

 

After six defeats in nine league games he cannot afford to lose vital forthcoming fixtures at home to Charlton and Sheffield United and at Manchester City.

 

Significantly, though, Newcastle supporters' principal ire is reserved for the chairman Freddy Shepherd rather than the manager who as caretaker steered them from the brink of relegation to seventh last season and as club captain back in the 80s was something of a star locally.

 

Although Shepherd - who continues to pay Graeme Souness, dismissed last February, a generous monthly compensation fee - admires the slick-passing attacking brand of football Roeder is endeavouring to implement, manager and chairman disagreed on transfer targets to such an extent that the summer window closed with Newcastle having failed to sign the two high-calibre defenders and target-man Roeder wanted. They did spend £15m on Obefami Martins and Damien Duff but the Nigerian - seemingly a longstanding target of Shepherd's, and who likes to have a big say in recruitment - is struggling and Duff has been erratic.

Having invested around £11m on players this summer Charlton require consistency from Dowie who, nevertheless, felt sufficiently confident to hang pictures at his new flat in Canary Wharf last week.

 

Bottom of the table, they are undergoing a seemingly colossal culture shock as Dowie's signings bed in - in Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's case alarmingly slowly - and a club which had effectively been run from top to bottom by Curbishley adapts to vastly different working practices. Big on psychology and sports science, Dowie's successes at Oldham and Crystal Palace had made him hot property but like Pardew, he is suddenly fighting for his job.

 

West Ham flourished last season and were unlucky to lose the FA Cup final to Liverpool but it is now 668 minutes since they scored a goal. Yet with a takeover looming, managerial change is unlikely at Upton Park where Nigel Reo-Coker's form has diminished since his head was reputedly turned by a late unsuccessful bid from Manchester United.

 

Similarly Anton Ferdinand and Danny Gabbidon have regressed, the injured Dean Ashton has been much missed and the formation changes forced by the imposition of Carlos Tévez and Javier Mascherano have hardly seem helpful. But then as Bryan Robson, recently sacked by West Bromwich, reflected: "I've learnt that players win games but managers lose them."

 

First sacking odds

 

Pardew evens

 

Pearce 5-2

 

Roeder 9-2

 

Dowie 5-1

 

Coleman 20-1

 

Hughes 20-1

 

Warnock 20-1

 

Jewell 25-1

 

Redknapp 25-1

 

Southgate 25-1

 

Boothroyd 33-1

 

Mourinho 33-1

 

Allardyce 40-1

 

Coppell 40-1

 

Benitez 50-1

 

Ferguson 50-1

 

Jol 50-1

 

Moyes 50-1

 

O'Neill 50-1

 

Wenger 66-1

 

Source: http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1929983,00.html

 

The bit in bold is about us and the bit in red is of particular interest.

 

1. We're still paying Souness!!  blueeek.gif

 

2. The reason we had such a crap summer transfer-wise is because Fred and Glen disagreed so much over who to buy that nothing got done.

 

3. Oba was a Fred buy and yet more confirmation (as if we needed it :roll: ) that Fred meddles in transfers.

[Guest ticaL]

Same shit, different manager tbh.

[sempuki]

 

 

 

 

Hall the elder quick to support Newcastle's top men despite 'vast amounts of wastage'

 

Michael Walker

Wednesday October 25, 2006

The Guardian

 

 

Sir John Hall, Newcastle's life president and most significant shareholder, spoke publicly yesterday and the rare words were in support of the manager, Glenn Roeder, and the chairman, Freddy Shepherd. Hall also accepted that "vast amounts of money have been wasted on players" during his and Shepherd's tenure, though he blames previous managers for that.

Hall, 73, is in semi-retirement in Spain but was told of the anti-Shepherd chants during Newcastle's 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough on Sunday. "I believe it has been blown out of all proportion by sections of the media," he said. "Like I did before, Freddy Shepherd has backed every Newcastle manager to the limit of the club's resources. And, like me, he cannot legislate for what happens on the field. That is up to the manager and the players.

 

 

"It is clear to me and everyone that some of the players brought by previous managers have not been good enough. Our fans must look in amazement at some of the vast sums paid for players who are not good enough for this football club."

Some of those fans would doubtless counter that Hall and his son Douglas have taken vast sums out of the club. Between 1998 and 2005 they made £34m in sales of Newcastle shares and dividends, and Hall Sr wants to sell his remaining 41%. On current valuation that would net the family around another £40m.

 

But it is Shepherd who runs the club and takes the stick. Ironically he is also hampering Hall's ambitions to sell up as any buyer would want Shepherd's 29%. With speculation regarding a possible takeover a daily occurrence the club issued a statement yesterday saying: "The company has not received a formal offer proposal from any entity."

 

Shepherd is known to be a reluctant seller, although should there be further criticism during tonight's League Cup tie at St James' Park against Portsmouth, he will surely start to reconsider his position. The chairman, moreover, will have his eyes on the crowd as well as his ears following the six-year low attendance against Bolton.

 

As ever, a couple of wins would alter the mood and Hall said he thinks Roeder deserves to be given an extended run. "Glenn is one of the most honest and sincere men I have met in football and I have the highest regard for him," he said. "He has got Newcastle in his heart and he feels the anguish the same as the supporters when results are not going our way. I am sure Glenn will get it right, but he needs the strength of the fans to get him through. We have also got to look at ourselves and may appoint a director of football to take some pressure off the manager."

 

Hall and Roeder have mentioned the benefits a director of football before but of more pressing concern is the size of the squad. Roeder said Shola Ameobi, struggling for fitness, "may not make it" to the transfer window and with the on-loan Giuseppe Rossi returning to Manchester United then, leaving only two recognised forwards in Obafemi Martins and Antoine Sibierski. Albert Luque would be another but the £11m signing is off the radar and fits Hall's "wasted money" criterion.

 

Kieron Dyer has played in a closed-doors practice and if unscathed this morning he may make the bench tonight.

[OzzieMandias]

They're rattled. We need to keep the pressure up even if we get a few decent wins.

[Leazes1986]

If we get knocked out tonight, and we get beat on Saturday, then its gonna go wild.

[Guest 1nol]

Even if we win both it needs to be cranked up

[Guest kiwi]

Might I ask what you expect to happen if Shepherd quit? Do you who want him out have an alternative or is it more of the usual "we are NUFC and we intend to shoot ourselves in the foot; its our right".

 

Souness was sacked as was SBR and SBR was paid until the settlement was agreed. Its obviously the same for Souness.

 

Seriously some of you need to join the real world. Think

1. Roeder gives FS a list of players he wants and presumably priorities - thats his job.

2. Its FS's job to negotiate price, personal terms etc - IF the player is interested. If he isn't or we cannot afford him we don't get him. Players often do a U turn - happens.

3. I think its obvious Roeders defensive choices didn't want to join us. If you think he didn't try you are naive. The club stopped public transfers some time ago.

4. Yep we bought a striker, Martins, got Sibierski free, picked up Duff, recalled Milner, borrowed Rossi; all positive. Why - Amoebi is a cripple (who should have had a hip operation in the summer, Owen breaks a foot then there is his knee, Luque is a no show for some reason.

Add to this our regular crippling injury list and long term sick notes (Dyer) and perhaps you might get an idea of the problems faced trying to put a team together with a degree of balance, players in their proper position and performing at more than their usual 50%.

The best Chairman in the world can buy the greatest player on the planet but unless he clicks with the team plan he is not going to perform.

The best manager in the world can dream up the finest tactics for the 11 best players in the world and they can still lose.

Neither Roeder nor FS fall into these categories so without effort from players on the park the team is stuffed.

 

One good thing Souness did was sell Bellamy who the Liverpool fans are beginning to se as a liability. Roeder off loaded more expensive dead wood but he couldn't complete the job during the World Cup affected summer transfer window. He has January to look forward to. Get it fixed by then or we are probably going to struggle. I say probably because were were not far off 12 additional points.

 

Regarding FS and his finances.  The club is worth 100 million - FS's share is about 29 million. He takes about 500k for his work and buys shares with the money. He could invest the 29 million in the NZ bond market at 7% (govt bonds) and not bother with the problems of chairing NUFC. Would any of you do the job for free? Of course you would, you are altruists. He has been buying shares to strengthen his position to keep Toon independent, whereas the Halls want to sell.

 

I have an excuse for not going to games. I cannot afford the 12000 mile weekly round trip. But I regularly get reports of the quality of our away support - not too much about home support though; but home attendances for European games says it all. Poor.

 

All is not well but regularly noted knee jerk reactions are pointless. If you want to get answers get a committee of concerned fans, get a petition and get an interview with FS.

 

Above all remember the old Chinese curse - "May you get what you wish for".

[Scottish Mag]

Might I ask what you expect to happen if Shepherd quit? Do you who want him out have an alternative or is it more of the usual "we are NUFC and we intend to shoot ourselves in the foot; its our right".

 

Souness was sacked as was SBR and SBR was paid until the settlement was agreed. Its obviously the same for Souness.

 

Seriously some of you need to join the real world. Think

1. Roeder gives FS a list of players he wants and presumably priorities - thats his job.

2. Its FS's job to negotiate price, personal terms etc - IF the player is interested. If he isn't or we cannot afford him we don't get him. Players often do a U turn - happens.

3. I think its obvious Roeders defensive choices didn't want to join us. If you think he didn't try you are naive. The club stopped public transfers some time ago.

4. Yep we bought a striker, Martins, got Sibierski free, picked up Duff, recalled Milner, borrowed Rossi; all positive. Why - Amoebi is a cripple (who should have had a hip operation in the summer, Owen breaks a foot then there is his knee, Luque is a no show for some reason.

Add to this our regular crippling injury list and long term sick notes (Dyer) and perhaps you might get an idea of the problems faced trying to put a team together with a degree of balance, players in their proper position and performing at more than their usual 50%.

The best Chairman in the world can buy the greatest player on the planet but unless he clicks with the team plan he is not going to perform.

The best manager in the world can dream up the finest tactics for the 11 best players in the world and they can still lose.

Neither Roeder nor FS fall into these categories so without effort from players on the park the team is stuffed.

 

One good thing Souness did was sell Bellamy who the Liverpool fans are beginning to se as a liability. Roeder off loaded more expensive dead wood but he couldn't complete the job during the World Cup affected summer transfer window. He has January to look forward to. Get it fixed by then or we are probably going to struggle. I say probably because were were not far off 12 additional points.

 

Regarding FS and his finances.  The club is worth 100 million - FS's share is about 29 million. He takes about 500k for his work and buys shares with the money. He could invest the 29 million in the NZ bond market at 7% (govt bonds) and not bother with the problems of chairing NUFC. Would any of you do the job for free? Of course you would, you are altruists. He has been buying shares to strengthen his position to keep Toon independent, whereas the Halls want to sell.

 

I have an excuse for not going to games. I cannot afford the 12000 mile weekly round trip. But I regularly get reports of the quality of our away support - not too much about home support though; but home attendances for European games says it all. Poor.

 

All is not well but regularly noted knee jerk reactions are pointless. If you want to get answers get a committee of concerned fans, get a petition and get an interview with FS.

 

Above all remember the old Chinese curse - "May you get what you wish for".

 

Do you seriously think this is a knee jerk reaction?

 

As for the point of Bellamy, if you cannot see how badly our team has missed him since his departure and how ultimately his "removal" from our squad has played a major part in the recent demise of our squad you have not seen enough of us or what is going on at Newcastle these last few years..

[M4]

the whole of all this is that we are way past the knee jerk stage.

[Guest alex]

Anyone posted the comments by SBR on here yet? (Posted on TT). Taken from his book I think. You'll be fucking livid when you read them. I know was.

[Dave]

Anyone posted the comments by SBR on here yet? (Posted on TT). Taken from his book I think. You'll be fucking livid when you read them. I know was.

 

No, but I was going to. Ridiculous stuff.

[Guest alex]

From Bobby's Biography:

 

Bowyer:

 

The sands were shifting beneath my feet.

 

Towards the end of that season, Charlie Woods came into my office. "Bobby, you won't believe this, but David Pleat has been on and wants to know what's up with Lee Bowyer," he said. David was the director of football at Tottenham Hotspur.

 

"David Pleat's been on the phone asking what?" I replied incredulously.

 

Charlie ploughed on with his story. "David was asking whether Lee is injured or something. He said, "The reason I'm asking is that he's been offered to me."

 

"The kids worth 4 million," I erupted. "Who's offered him to Spurs?"

 

Charlie had the answer - "The chairman."

 

Freddy Shepherd had apparently rung David Giess, Bowyer's agent, saying, "Get him out of this club. I want him out. I'm not paying his salary," and so on and so on. He hadn't come to me for my opinion or asked, "Are you happy with Bowyer?"

 

I realised Bowyer wasn't playing very well and so did the chairman, but his response was to take the law into his own hands.

 

Support:

 

Despite all the aftershocks from Marseille, two days later, on 8 May, twenty-four hours before we drew 1-1 with Wolves, the chairman had been in my office expressing strong support. In my diary, I noted: "Wants me to stay for at least another year." He had said "Look, I'm an honourable man. Whatever happens, you've got at least another year."

 

That's how I remember what he said and I wrote: "What are the ramifications of that? He's showing strong support for me, at the moment." "Oh well," I thought, "if I do well, I've got a chance to stay on beyond the summer of 2005," but on 20 May, after a meeting, a much darker entry appeared in my Journal: "Told I will not be here beyond next season."

 

What Freddy Shepherd said that day was, "This is your last year, Bobby, you're going, and Charlie Woods will be going, too." Something had changed in those twelve days.

 

Undermined:

 

On the eve of what turned out to be my final month as Newcastle manager, Freddy Shepherd was asked by a football writer whether there was any chance of me staying on beyond the summer of 2005.

 

His answer had all the shocking clarity of a bullet being fired. “No”, he told the Guardian’s Michael Walker, and in that moment I became, in the eyes of some, a sitting target.

 

Sir Alex Ferguson had taught us all about the dangers of announcing an impending retirement too far in advance. The message it sends to the players, the staff and the supporters is that the boss is on his way out. Alex later reversed his decision to stand down and immediately began regaining his authority, which, some felt, had slipped in the weeks and months when Manchester United’s players were starting to look beyond him to the future.

 

My chairman’s declaration was published on 31 July – a fortnight before our opening game of the season. If I were still the Newcastle manager at seventy-three years old, Freddy Shepherd had joked, the club “would be in the Guinness Book of Records”. He also took a swipe at my transfer record.

 

“Bob’s spent about seventy million pounds,” he said, and that’s more than Wenger. We have always backed the manager. We have been big spenders but now we have got to make sure we get value for money – that’s a nice way of putting it. Carl Court didn’t make it, Hugo Viana didn’t make it, Christian Bassedas, the Argentine midfielder bought in 2000-01 season, didn’t make it. There comes a point where you say, “That’s enough. We must have value for money.” Were not going to be anyone’s mugs any more.”

 

This brutal and, I believe, wholly inaccurate summation of my record knocked my legs away. He didn’t mention the tens of millions of pounds I had brought in through sales. I wonder why he chose that moment, that point in the calendar, to confirm my departure. When I read his comments, I just wished he hadn’t said those things. With one cold word – a single “no” – he let the players know I would be gone in 10 months. That was bound to diminish my authority.

 

Naturally, I challenged the chairman. “Look,” I said, “I understand you telling me I’m in my last season here, but my understanding was that we would make some sort of announcement when my departure was imminent. We would do it together. We’d do it properly, make a joint statement,” but do it the right way.

 

The chairman merely belittled my position. I had deluded myself into thinking I would be asked to help with the succession. When the time was right, I could have helped the chairman chose the next Newcastle manager. That was my vision and I had told him so. “When the time comes for me to leave, I’ll help you find the next guy to keep this great club going.

 

Gary Speed:

 

Bolton did manage to poach Gary Speed from us, however, and therein lies another tale of how disjointed the manager-chairman relationship had become. On our tour of the Far East, John Carver suddenly informed me, “We’ve had an offer for Gary Speed from Bolton.” I knew nothing about it, so I went in search of the chairman for clarification. On no account did I want Gary Speed to leave.

 

First I caught up with the player himself. “Gary, what’s all this about you wanting to go to Bolton Wanderers? I know nothing about it. The chairman hasn’t mentioned it to me. When John Carver told me an hour ago I was aghast. What do you want to go to Bolton for?”

 

“The club are going to let me go,” Gary said. “If you don’t know anything about it, you’d better see the chairman.” “As far as I’m concerned, you’re not going to Bolton Wanderers,” I told him. “You’re staying here.”

 

That Saturday night, the day of our game, I tried the chairman’s room, reception, the restaurant and bar. Eventually, I was told he was out. I was so angry I sat in the foyer, waiting, for half an hour.

 

Finally, the chairman’s figure appeared in the doorway and I confronted him there and then.

 

Under cross-examination he denied all knowledge of Gary’s impending move. It was heading into the realms of farce.

 

The next step, naturally, was to go back to Gary. I spoke to him on our flight from Hong Kong. “The chairman says he knows nothing about this Bolton thing,” I said and left it there.

 

We arrived back in Newcastle on the Monday morning and, early that afternoon, the chairman called me. “Gary Speed is here with me, he wants to see you. He wants to say goodbye,” he said.

 

“What?” I exclaimed.

 

The deal had been completed that morning. Fifty years in the game had taught me that you cannot construct a transfer in four hours. The idea that a player of Gary Speed’s calibre can be sold in four hours is absurd and yet I was being told throughout the weekend that the club knew nothing of Bolton’s interest in one of our most valued players.

 

Hello and Goodbye:

 

The discussion would come soon enough, I thought, and on the August bank holiday Monday, I rose earlier than usual, setting off for the training ground to be in before nine. When my mobile rang, the voice of Tony Toward, one of the club's administrators, came down the line: "Russell Cushing called and said the chairman wants to see you in his office at nine thirty this morning.”

 

“I’ve just passed the club and I’m on my way to the training ground,” I told Tony, “but don’t worry. I’ll carry on to the training ground, have a cup of coffee with my staff and be at St James’ by nine thirty.” Being so close to work, I thought the best plan was to get my staff together and give them their instructions for the day.

 

“Just keep the fires burning until I get back from meeting the chairman,” I told my coaches. “I’ve just had a call. We’re trying to get a centre-half in – it’s probably about that. If I’m not back, make sure the players are on the pitch by ten thirty.”

 

Not for one second did I entertain the possibility that the gallows were being erected for me up at the old stadium. In retrospect, there was one disquieting aspect of the chairman’s summons. Why had Russell Cushing called Tony to get him to ring me? That was odd. The chief operating officer didn’t have the courtesy to ring me himself to tell me the chairman wanted to see me? I assumed it was merely a failure of manners, and pulled into the club car park in a businesslike frame of mind. I strode into Freddy Shepherd’s office to find Joy, his secretary, the chairman and Russell Cushing, which again was somewhat strange, given that it was a bank holiday. Even then, I was not apprehensive as I took my seat.

 

“Good morning, chairman,” I said, opening the batting. “Any thoughts about the centre-half?”

 

Freddy Shepherd’s face turned red. Then he uttered a single sentence.

 

“I’m relieving you of your position.”

 

Silence descended. No words could come.

 

“Why?” I said at last.

 

“Results.”

 

Make of that what you will.

[Dave]

 

We both deleted. I have restored yours mate.

[Guest alex]

 

We both deleted. I have restored yours mate.

Christ, what a palaver! Anyway, I thought people on here should read it because it confirms what many of us have feared about Shepherd for a long time.