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Ipswich Town 0 - 4 Newcastle United - 26/09/09 - post match reaction from p24


Dave

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I do often wonder what would have happened if Shepherd kept faith in Bobby and he stayed until the end of the season...

 

I still think we'd have struggled, not as much as under Souness, but I reckon around about 10th.

 

I'm not sure whether it would have been that drastic but there would have probably been further decline.

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Guest BlacknWhiteArmy

I do often wonder what would have happened if Shepherd kept faith in Bobby and he stayed until the end of the season...

 

I still think we'd have struggled, not as much as under Souness, but I reckon around about 10th.

 

Fair comment. I reckon we'd have finished around 9th/10th. It's an interesting thought to ponder though...

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Guest BlacknWhiteArmy

I really felt sorry for Sir Bobby in that little clip they showed of (I think) the game where we lost 4-2 to Aston Villa after being 2-1 up. He'd lost the dressing room, and you kind of get the impression that no-one listened to him anymore.

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I really felt sorry for Sir Bobby in that little clip they showed of (I think) the game where we lost 4-2 to Aston Villa after being 2-1 up. He'd lost the dressing room, and you kind of get the impression that no-one listened to him anymore.

 

Had Sorensen been sent off,when he handled outside the area to deny Bellamy a clear goalscoring chance,who knows what might have occurred.I remember feeling mightily aggrieved at the time.

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I also remember his interview after the Norwich game where he was talking about Rooney and saying something like, "Not even Man Utd can afford to bid for Rooney"...bless him. :(

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We'd have struggled under Robson because we were a declining force, as was he.

 

Dyer, who had played a big part in us finishing 3rd, was getting increasingly injured and barely even a bit-part figure. Souness conspired not only to lose Bellamy, our most dangerous player at that time, but made sure the club got almost nothing for him. We were forced to loan out our best player to keep the manager happy. Add to that a summer of ZERO spending the previous year, Solano and Speed leaving and Shearer even further over the hill and we were on the way downhill, no doubt about it. Everybody could see that we weren't worth our 5th placed finish and needed investment and big changes. The fans weren't proven wrong, they were proven absolutely RIGHT and the club plummeted. This is the bit the media rewrite. On the one hand they say we all whine over a 5th placed finish and then they say the club freefalled. Put two and two together you idiots, everybody could see it coming. All we got was Souness and a calamity of mismanagement to accelerate our downfall. The club - as in the fans - were and are the victims of several years of mismanagement.

 

What the media have with Newcastle is a one-club city with passionate fans, disproportionaly big attendances for a club that has gone 40 years without a trophy and regional stereotypes to go with it all. They can spin it how they want - in the 90s we were everyone's second team because they could paint a picture of us as plucky underdogs resisting the old guard of Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool et al and shaking things up at the top. With Keegan's charisma and attractive football on show we were easy to like and the media rolled with it. It was a similar situation under Bobby, only to a lesser extent. We weren't as successful on the field but we played attractive football, sneaked into the top 4 and had a likeable manager. When Souness came in, Bobby was sacked and Freddy Shepherd was a lot more vocal in the media, the media had to change tack.

 

Journalists were quick to draw lazy comparisons and rather than calling us die-hard support they called us overdemanding and delusional fans. Apparently we all changed personality overnight! It was based on f*** all but mud sticks and this has been the perception of us since. We shouldn't underestimate the power of the media, I have friends of various Premier League clubs who made some pretty ridiculous comments after Bobby died, borrowing opinions from London-based journalists. People are too lazy to read up on other clubs and want a condensed, easy-to-understand version of events, so that's what the media give them.

 

Robson was a very proud man and despite having cancer for the 5th time he wouldn't have retired unless he absolutely had to, we all know that and its a testament to his willpower and how much the game mattered to him. The mistake the club made was that we didn't make the tough call to move him on that summer. And if we had, you can bet the journos would be slating us for that too.

 

The press will use any excuse to have a pop but I find it particularly distasteful that they are using Bobby's death to twist the knife into us. Bobby would have been as sad as anyone to see the club go down, he died shortly after it happened and the media leapt on it - they have no shame at all.

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Speed and Solano replaced with Butt and Ambrose, honestly. I realise Bobby wasn't behind the selling of Speed but I'm also sure he could have easily stopped it.

 

Bobby also said that 29 was a good age at which to sell Nobby yet he went after a 29 year old Butt (who played in a position requiring more stamina) 6 months later. I don't believe he'd lost the dressing room but I do think he'd lost judgement. He was also bitten hard in the arse by the looming presence of Shearer and the cuntishness of Dyer.

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Speed and Solano replaced with Butt and Ambrose, honestly. I realise Bobby wasn't behind the selling of Speed but I'm also sure he could have easily stopped it.

 

Bobby also said that 29 was a good age at which to sell Nobby yet he went after a 29 year old Butt (who played in a position requiring more stamina) 6 months later. I don't believe he'd lost the dressing room but I do think he'd lost judgement. He was also bitten hard in the arse by the looming presence of Shearer and the cuntishness of Dyer.

 

Tbf Bobby also wanted Carrick as well and we could have got him if it wasn't for a certain individual waiting to get him on the cheap. He also wanted Miguel as well yet we had to make do with Carr.

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ohmelads, won't quote all that post but you're spot on.

 

I think it was disgusting on the TV to hear Jonathan Pearce say that it was to Newcastle's 'eternal shame' that we fired Bobby.

 

Absolute bollocks, it might have been an error taking into account what happened after, but that's what happens to football managers. I'm sure Bobby would have taken it in those terms, although he would have been frustrated.

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We'd have struggled under Robson because we were a declining force, as was he.

 

Dyer, who had played a big part in us finishing 3rd, was getting increasingly injured and barely even a bit-part figure. Souness conspired not only to lose Bellamy, our most dangerous player at that time, but made sure the club got almost nothing for him. We were forced to loan out our best player to keep the manager happy. Add to that a summer of ZERO spending the previous year, Solano and Speed leaving and Shearer even further over the hill and we were on the way downhill, no doubt about it. Everybody could see that we weren't worth our 5th placed finish and needed investment and big changes. The fans weren't proven wrong, they were proven absolutely RIGHT and the club plummeted. This is the bit the media rewrite. On the one hand they say we all whine over a 5th placed finish and then they say the club freefalled. Put two and two together you idiots, everybody could see it coming. All we got was Souness and a calamity of mismanagement to accelerate our downfall. The club - as in the fans - were and are the victims of several years of mismanagement.

 

What the media have with Newcastle is a one-club city with passionate fans, disproportionaly big attendances for a club that has gone 40 years without a trophy and regional stereotypes to go with it all. They can spin it how they want - in the 90s we were everyone's second team because they could paint a picture of us as plucky underdogs resisting the old guard of Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool et al and shaking things up at the top. With Keegan's charisma and attractive football on show we were easy to like and the media rolled with it. It was a similar situation under Bobby, only to a lesser extent. We weren't as successful on the field but we played attractive football, sneaked into the top 4 and had a likeable manager. When Souness came in, Bobby was sacked and Freddy Shepherd was a lot more vocal in the media, the media had to change tack.

 

Journalists were quick to draw lazy comparisons and rather than calling us die-hard support they called us overdemanding and delusional fans. Apparently we all changed personality overnight! It was based on f*** all but mud sticks and this has been the perception of us since. We shouldn't underestimate the power of the media, I have friends of various Premier League clubs who made some pretty ridiculous comments after Bobby died, borrowing opinions from London-based journalists. People are too lazy to read up on other clubs and want a condensed, easy-to-understand version of events, so that's what the media give them.

 

Robson was a very proud man and despite having cancer for the 5th time he wouldn't have retired unless he absolutely had to, we all know that and its a testament to his willpower and how much the game mattered to him. The mistake the club made was that we didn't make the tough call to move him on that summer. And if we had, you can bet the journos would be slating us for that too.

 

The press will use any excuse to have a pop but I find it particularly distasteful that they are using Bobby's death to twist the knife into us. Bobby would have been as sad as anyone to see the club go down, he died shortly after it happened and the media leapt on it - they have no shame at all.

 

Just about 100% spot on. Shame it's easier for media and fans to spin it different though.

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I was just about to post that. I loved Bobby's subtle hint that he'd actually have been prepared to sell Shearer.

 

Testament to the strength of character of the man. I always find it strange how SBR was supposed to have lost control of the dressing room yet he was still strong enough to threaten Shearer with relegation to the subs bench before he got the boot.

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We'd have struggled under Robson because we were a declining force, as was he.

 

Dyer, who had played a big part in us finishing 3rd, was getting increasingly injured and barely even a bit-part figure. Souness conspired not only to lose Bellamy, our most dangerous player at that time, but made sure the club got almost nothing for him. We were forced to loan out our best player to keep the manager happy. Add to that a summer of ZERO spending the previous year, Solano and Speed leaving and Shearer even further over the hill and we were on the way downhill, no doubt about it. Everybody could see that we weren't worth our 5th placed finish and needed investment and big changes. The fans weren't proven wrong, they were proven absolutely RIGHT and the club plummeted. This is the bit the media rewrite. On the one hand they say we all whine over a 5th placed finish and then they say the club freefalled. Put two and two together you idiots, everybody could see it coming. All we got was Souness and a calamity of mismanagement to accelerate our downfall. The club - as in the fans - were and are the victims of several years of mismanagement.

 

What the media have with Newcastle is a one-club city with passionate fans, disproportionaly big attendances for a club that has gone 40 years without a trophy and regional stereotypes to go with it all. They can spin it how they want - in the 90s we were everyone's second team because they could paint a picture of us as plucky underdogs resisting the old guard of Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool et al and shaking things up at the top. With Keegan's charisma and attractive football on show we were easy to like and the media rolled with it. It was a similar situation under Bobby, only to a lesser extent. We weren't as successful on the field but we played attractive football, sneaked into the top 4 and had a likeable manager. When Souness came in, Bobby was sacked and Freddy Shepherd was a lot more vocal in the media, the media had to change tack.

 

Journalists were quick to draw lazy comparisons and rather than calling us die-hard support they called us overdemanding and delusional fans. Apparently we all changed personality overnight! It was based on f*** all but mud sticks and this has been the perception of us since. We shouldn't underestimate the power of the media, I have friends of various Premier League clubs who made some pretty ridiculous comments after Bobby died, borrowing opinions from London-based journalists. People are too lazy to read up on other clubs and want a condensed, easy-to-understand version of events, so that's what the media give them.

 

Robson was a very proud man and despite having cancer for the 5th time he wouldn't have retired unless he absolutely had to, we all know that and its a testament to his willpower and how much the game mattered to him. The mistake the club made was that we didn't make the tough call to move him on that summer. And if we had, you can bet the journos would be slating us for that too.

 

The press will use any excuse to have a pop but I find it particularly distasteful that they are using Bobby's death to twist the knife into us. Bobby would have been as sad as anyone to see the club go down, he died shortly after it happened and the media leapt on it - they have no shame at all.

 

Great post !

Shame the highly paid lazy media just go for the easy lines and it takes a fan to sum it up accurately.

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Just a shame he didn't back it up by keeping Shearer on the bench for Boro, Spurs and Norwich. Im sure a part of him wanted to.

 

By that time there were rumours that things weren't right behind the scenes and decisions were being made behind his back by Shepherd. If that was the case making controversial decisions like that might have been a bit more difficult than if his position was more secure.

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