February 4th - New Open NUSC Meeting - Download link (most of it) in OP

[Guest neesy111]

Can anyone prove that he's taken a single £ out of the club yet and lined his own pockets with it?

 

He'll get every penny back and more when he sells, unless we do something.

 

If we continue to turn up regardless, he can hold out for the price he wants, we stop going, he'll be forced to accept less.

 

We're the muppets "subsidising" the club, we dont get out money back.

 

You either want him out or you don't. He's a businessman, he'd want some sort of profit if he sold it on. That's the way it is.

 

just like the halls and shepherd did, they made 10,000% on their original investment

[Guest Howaythetoon]

NUSC has already done something positive, they have dragged fans away from the web, their homes etc. to talk about the club outside of match day. Kudos.

 

Fans talk about the club every f***ing day of the week outside the the web and match day, in the pubs, in the work places and all over the city.

 

As mates and what not, but as a group of fans, in an impromptu way, from all over the place, a lot complete strangers? Howay it doesn't need spelling out does it.

[Rich]

Can anyone prove that he's taken a single £ out of the club yet and lined his own pockets with it?

 

That's what he wanted to do. The failure to do so is because he was too stupid to do his homework and he walked into a booby trap left by SJH.

 

Speculation again mate. There's absolutely no proof to say he was here to make a quick buck. Why go to all the trouble with meetings and all that and sitting with the fans if that was the case? A lot doesn't add up if that was the case.

 

He's made mistakes, aye, his structure hasn't worked yet, but howay man.

 

To get the fans onside and sell three year season tickets which worked like a charm.

 

Haven't the figures for how many of those got sold been posted on here? I'm sure it wasn't that many.

 

Why the bollocks would he be allowing refunds if that was the case!? Surely he'd have made it a cast-iron contract.

[johnnypd]

Can anyone prove that he's taken a single £ out of the club yet and lined his own pockets with it?

 

That's what he wanted to do. The failure to do so is because he was too stupid to do his homework and he walked into a booby trap left by SJH.

 

Speculation again mate. There's absolutely no proof to say he was here to make a quick buck. Why go to all the trouble with meetings and all that and sitting with the fans if that was the case? A lot doesn't add up if that was the case.

 

He's made mistakes, aye, his structure hasn't worked yet, but howay man.

 

PR? his business empire is made by cutting corners and producing shite, using big labels/names like Adidas/Keegan to help sell it. The 'system' seems like nothing more than a money saving & generating exercise by cutting costs on transfers and producing players for future sale. if he genuinely believed in and understood the system he wouldnt have approached any of redknapp, keegan, venables or kinnear.

[Bad Mongo]

No he's tagged the 100m on the sale price hence no buyers. Pipe down a bit.

 

As opposed to writing it off?

 

Well, the club is worth less in its current situation than it was just a couple of years ago. Of course he should write it off.

 

That will be reflected in the price of the company, not the value of the debt.  Unless you think the company is now worth less than £100m?

 

Of course. But the selling price has been rumoured to be £250M = the cost of the club + debts + a tidy profit. He can just forget about the profit after his mismanagement.

[Dave]

Interesting stuff.

 

Top work by the organisers to get the stream working.

[Disco]

Brilliant idea to broadcast it, a very interesting listen.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

 

Let's wait & see what positives come out of the public meeting.

 

NUSC has already done something positive, they have dragged fans away from the web, their homes etc. to talk about the club outside of match day. Kudos.

 

 

I just think they have to take this opportunity to do something positive (ie no shitty, smart arsed website countdowns).

 

I hope they do.

 

[Coco]

Interesting stuff.

 

Top work by the organisers to get the stream working.

 

Aye, good job. Nice for me to be able to hear it all from over here... 

[Syrette]

Well I listened to what they had to say and a lot of it was fairly reasonable. I support the t-shirt idea in particular.

[Unbelievable]

Interesting stuff.

 

Top work by the organisers to get the stream working.

[Parky]

Interesting stuff.

 

Top work by the organisers to get the stream working.

 

Seconded.

[David Icke - Son of God]

There is more intelligence, passion and will being put out over that stream than there is by many on this fucking forum. I'm enjoying the discussions me and grateful fans are doing something about the state of the club, if only at this stage talking and having their say. Good on them and good luck to them. These are proper fans who care deeply about the club, unlike some of the twats on here.

 

What are they actually doing to the club? Wheres the long term plan in all this? Supposing they get there way and Ashley leaves - then what? I havent heard them mention once what happens after that.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think NUSC have enough money to invest in a crystal ball.

 

Newcastle United needs a supporters club whether Ashley is here for much longer or not. We constantly go on about how our fans are the best in the business but IIRC we're one of the biggest clubs not to have a dedicated supporters club. Once the Ashley issue is sorted then i'm sure, especially in this day and age when supporters are the dirt on the shoe of the football world, they'll represent the fans in other ways.

 

NUSC dont have plan if they suceed in removing Ashley? Theres a gap in logic and sense in there somewhere...

 

I resent the idea that someone is taking firm action against something I love with absolute blantent disregard to the future of the club.

 

 

 

What are you going on about daft shite?

 

It's not a coup. They want the bloke to sell up as he doesn't have or isn't willing to give this club what it needs. This club's future is in a more perilous position the longer Ashley runs the club in a cackhanded fashion and we slide further towards the next rung in the football league ladder.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Empowering fans, is what NUSC is doing.

 

I echo Dave's comments, brilliant stuff and very interesting listening.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

Interesting stuff.

 

Top work by the organisers to get the stream working.

 

Definately. 

[johnnypd]

good meeting, lot of sense talked and a good reception for whatever view you may have held (contrary to the assumptions of some on here).

 

though i still dont really agree with some of the main stances taken by nusc. at the min ashley = club, whatever hurts him hurts the club, whatever hurts the club reduces the financial or footballing health of NUFC and ultimately that will reduce the chances of a sale. what NUSC should be doing is try to pressure changes that ashley can institute within the club to affect positive change - getting rid of a system he hasnt got a clue about, replace llambias who is out of his depth, get in a top drawer manager and back him with a fair bit of money in the summer. a couple of people made this point and it wasnt rejected out of hand so hopefully something will happen on this front.

[toonpete1892]

Anyone know what has happened at the meeting tonight?

 

Yes. Not a lot.

 

A few questions to be passed onto the club and lots of anti management talk. No discussion of supporting a team in much need of a full, positive stadium like last Sunday!

 

Have you been listening properly?

 

One of the major points raised tonight was that we need to support the side during the games for the remainder of the season.

 

But no mention of how we can create a positive atmosphere such as on Sunday. You'll have the vocal support at away games but the singing section (a thing Ashley brought in) doesn't offer enough at some points during games. When we are on the back foot, it goes deadly quiet too many times. We don't want media focusing on tshirts in the crowd and angry fans outside. I'd much rather watch MOTD and have them talking about 3 points rather than the hype outside the ground.

 

Protest if they want but keep it away from matchdays because the anger WILL travel inside the ground. Matchdays should mean matchday excitment and doing as much as we can do to support the lads. Any nerves should be blown away with verse after verse of songs (or an alternative).

 

There was very little (if any) of how the fans can come together as one!

[Rich]

Wullie/johnnypd: Surely it couldn't just be that he hasn't got the first clue about how to run a football club or, more specifically, how to run Newcastle United.

 

He's never been involved in football before, it would be realistic.

 

I was watching a documentary about Sir Alan Sugar the other day and it talked about him buying Spurs, which he absolutely, positively regretted because he'd been a very successful businessman in his own right and he was thrown into a world where he had no experience and where the vast majority of people he was dealing with were utter cunts, basically, if you take him at his word.

 

He had a director of football in Terry Venables there at the time, who had been part of the takeover and STILL ended up sacking him:

 

After a take-over battle with Robert Maxwell, Sugar teamed up with Terry Venables and bought Tottenham Hotspur football club in June 1991. Although Sugar's initial investment helped ease the financial troubles the club was suffering at the time, the way he treated Tottenham from a purely business perspective and not a footballing one made him an unpopular figure among the Spurs fans.[18] In his 9 years as chairman, Spurs did not finish in the top 6 in the league and won just one trophy, the 1999 Worthington Cup (League Cup).

 

His reign at Tottenham was not short of controversy. He sacked Venables the night before the FA Cup final, a decision which led to Venables appealing to the high courts to get himself reinstated. A legal battle for the club took place over the summer, which Sugar won. The decision to sack Venables angered many of Tottenham fans, and Sugar later said "I felt as though I'd killed Bambi".[19]

 

In 1994 Sugar financed the transfers of 3 stars of the 1994 World Cup, Ilie Dumitrescu, Gica Popescu, and most notably Jurgen Klinsmann, who had an excellent first season in English football, being named Footballer of the Year. However, because Spurs had not qualified for the UEFA Cup, Klinsmann decided to invoke an opt-out clause in his contract and left for Bayern Munich in the summer of 1995. This prompted Sugar to appear on television holding the last shirt Klinsmann ever wore for Spurs and said he wouldn't even wash his car with it. He then labelled foreigners coming into the Premier League on high wages as "Carlos Kickaballs". Klinsmann retaliated by calling Sugar "a man without honour", and said:

 

"He only ever talks about money. He never talks about the game. I would say there is a big question mark over whether Sugar's heart is in the club and in football. The big question is what he likes more, the business or the football?"[20]

 

However, the two made up their differences and Klinsmann re-signed for Tottenham on loan in December 1997.

 

In October 1998, former Tottenham striker Teddy Sheringham released his autobiography, in which he launched a scathing attack on Sugar, claiming that he was the reason that he had left Tottenham in 1997. Among the reasons Sheringham gave for his dislike of Sugar were the fact that he had accused Sheringham of feigning injury during a long spell on the sidelines during the 1993/1994 season. He also said that Sugar had refused to give him the 5 year contract he desired, because he did not believe Sheringham would still get into the Tottenham team when he was 36. Ironically Sheringham returned to Tottenham after his spell at Manchester United and continued to start for the first team until he was released in the summer of 2003, aged 37. Sheringham also claimed that Sugar lacked ambition, and that he was hypocritical. An example he gave was that when Sugar had asked him what sort of players he wanted at the club, he suggested England midfielder Paul Ince, but Sugar refused because he did not want to spend £4 million on a player who would be 30 in a few months time. Just after Sheringham left Spurs, Sugar sanctioned the signing of Les Ferdinand, who was aged 31, for a club record £6 million, on higher wages than what Sheringham had wanted.[21]

 

Sugar appointed seven managers in his time at Spurs. The first of these were Peter Shreeves, the dual management team of Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence, former Spurs midfielder Ossie Ardiles and up and coming young manager Gerry Francis. However, in 1997 Sugar stunned the footballing world by appointing relatively unknown Swiss manager Christian Gross. Gross only lasted 9 months in charge as Spurs finished in 14th place in 1998, and began the next season with just 3 points from their opening 3 games. If that appointment appeared controversial, it was nothing compared to the one that followed it, as Sugar appointed George Graham, a former player and manager of bitter rivals Arsenal. Despite producing Tottenham's first trophy in 8 years, the Spurs fans never warmed to Graham, partly because of his Arsenal connections, but also because of the negative, defensive style of football he had Spurs playing, which fans claimed was not the "Tottenham way".[22]

 

In February 2001, Sugar sold his majority stake at Tottenham to leisure group ENIC, selling 27% of the club for £22 million. In June 2007, Sugar sold his remaining shares to ENIC for £25 million, ending his 16 year association with the club. He has described his time at Tottenham as "a waste of my life".

 

That's from Wikipedia and I see a lot of similarities. I genuinely think he's bought a bastard and he hasn't got a clue how to do things in a way that will be both supported and make sound financial sense. But I don't think he was here to rip us off or drive us into the ground.

[colinmk]

The t-shirt idea is probably the best to start with, not only should it have the NUSC logo though, it should have the word ' COMMUNICATION ' written on it. I don't think the protests etc will achieve anything until the club starts communicating but if they see 20,000 or so fans with that on their backs maybe someone will take heed.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Good PR for NUSC too, this stream. Next step up would be a video stream perhaps or maybe a radio station too. If Pilko can do one

 

Loads of good ideas suggested like.

 

[johnnypd]

tbf the club is starting some belated communication in the form of the Llambias interview. whether the answers are worth hearing or if the club learns anything from it rather than using it as a hollow pr exercise remains to be seen.

[fredbob]

There is more intelligence, passion and will being put out over that stream than there is by many on this f***ing forum. I'm enjoying the discussions me and grateful fans are doing something about the state of the club, if only at this stage talking and having their say. Good on them and good luck to them. These are proper fans who care deeply about the club, unlike some of the twats on here.

 

What are they actually doing to the club? Wheres the long term plan in all this? Supposing they get there way and Ashley leaves - then what? I havent heard them mention once what happens after that.

 

That's not their business to basically go and find good people to run the club, it is however all of our business that the current owner does a good job but he's not doing that, hence the opposition to his ownership. It isn't rocket science to understand why this opposition, why this anger. There doesn't have to be an end solution, although I'm in no doubt that the end solution to the fans' club is to represent fans on other issues, proper fan issues, like ticket prices, travel, stewardships, policing, support etc. etc.

 

Fucking hell, so the plan is get rid of Ashley and hope for the best??

 

 

[ikri]

Interesting stuff.

 

Top work by the organisers to get the stream working.

 

Good to hear a range of opinions, nice to see that they gave everyone equal time & no one was shouted down for their thoughts, even when they were drunken ramblings.

 

The t-shirt idea isn't bad, I'd buy one with this on:

 

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/6143/roflbot0rqftx3.jpg

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/roflbot0rqftx3.jpg/1/w220.png

[David Icke - Son of God]

Anyone know what has happened at the meeting tonight?

 

Yes. Not a lot.

 

A few questions to be passed onto the club and lots of anti management talk. No discussion of supporting a team in much need of a full, positive stadium like last Sunday!

 

Have you been listening properly?

 

One of the major points raised tonight was that we need to support the side during the games for the remainder of the season.

 

But no mention of how we can create a positive atmosphere such as on Sunday. You'll have the vocal support at away games but the singing section (a thing Ashley brought in) doesn't offer enough at some points during games. When we are on the back foot, it goes deadly quiet too many times. We don't want media focusing on tshirts in the crowd and angry fans outside. I'd much rather watch MOTD and have them talking about 3 points rather than the hype outside the ground.

 

Protest if they want but keep it away from matchdays because the anger WILL travel inside the ground. Matchdays should mean matchday excitment and doing as much as we can do to support the lads. Any nerves should be blown away with verse after verse of songs (or an alternative).

 

There was very little (if any) of how the fans can come together as one!

 

Anger travels inside the ground anyway because we're fucking shite, protest or no protest.

 

The lack of atmosphere is an issue, as it is in every ground because of the way football fans are treated by stewards/police/clubs in general. It's not an issue inclusive to NUSC and nor should it be seen as one.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

Good PR for NUSC too, this stream. Next step up would be a video stream perhaps or maybe a radio station too. If Pilko can do one

 

Loads of good ideas suggested like.

 

 

I'm still going to maintain that it's those ideas being taken on board that is important.

 

If they are, then NUSC will find they quickly gain an awful lot more support.