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Reflecting on Protests/Demonstrations


kane2005

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First thing is first , I wan't the best for Newcastle United which is promotion back to the PL , I would prefer it if fans sang for the team inside the ground instead of concentrating on Mike Ashley , I would also like to see our club in the hands of someone who 1) Cares for the club and is up for the challenge , 2) Invests in the team , 3) Goes about his job in a proffesional manner which would not involve drinking pints of beer in the away ends with our supporters.

 

So , Hull in September 2008 ( May stand corrected ) , was the day of demonstration. The question I ask is what have we achieved since then?

 

1) Obviously on the day  , numerous protests going around the ground , most notably the " Cockney Mafia Out " Banner going around the full ground. Some people say this protest was to blame for the 2-1 defeat to Hull , not the fact that we played terrible. I personally believe any person who is getting paid £50k+ a week to do there job , should not get distracted by off the field events , we should have been good enough to beat Hull City on the day.

 

2) Mike Ashley puts the club up for sale. What has happened since , he allowed the protests/demonstrations to die down and he's all hunky dory again. Fans threatening to boycott his shops/club shops/food&drink inside the ground / matches etc .. that didn't really work too much either as there was still hundreds of people in line for there half time drinks , still hundreds of people in shearers , still hundreds of people buying things from our clubs shops , so that didn't work either.

 

3) Joe Kinnear in as interim manager. No comment.

 

4) Dennis Wise is sacked after the appointment of Alan Shearer. I suppose this was always going to happen , wether it was Shearer or whoever in charge , it had to happen as the system was not working for the good of the club.

 

5) Relegation.

 

6) Fans now chant " Get out of our club , you fat cockney b****** " at every game , home and away now. He obviously hears it , but it's also obviously not working as he is still the owner of our club.

 

Now there is only one thing which is stopping him from selling up in my opinion , and that is if people genuinley do not wan't to buy our football club , or do not have the funds to buy the football club.

 

So what I am putting to you is to ask wether you think the protests worked , and wether you think another mass protest could get him moving things a little bit faster to ensure the time January comes we have an owner who is prepared to not neccesarily splash £100m+ into our team,  but invest enough money into our club which will allow to build the foundations for a team not only capable of winning the CCC but more importantly becoming a stable club within the PL.

 

Opinions.

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Guest toonlass

I can't really see what we can do to make him go away. Obviously he hasn't had an offer he is willing to accept yet, and as fans we cannot pluck a buyer out of thin air.

 

 

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The protests worked to an extent, in that Ashley bought the club to enjoy himself, and when it became clear that he became a hate figure, he could not enjoy himself any longer, so the only option is to sell.

 

After that, I don't think the protests have that much effect, and might even have a detrimental effect on the club. Initially Ashley promised that he would ensure the club was kept going until it was sold, and that to an extent he did, by guaranteeing the overdraft with Barclays, without which NUFC would now be in the hands of administrators. Obviously I appreciate that this was in his interest as well. However, bearing in mind what we know about his rash decision making, often based on personal feelings, there is nothing at all to stop him winding the club up out of spite and selling the assets. Yes he would probably get less back than he would if he sold for £100m, but it wouldn't be a lot less. As the main creditor he could effectively force a sale of assets, and once the liquidator and the taxman had there own bit, he would share what is left with Barclays, him getting about 90% and Barclays getting around 10%, although it depends on what price you could get for the stadium, training ground and academy, these being the main assets other than the players.

 

So in short, I think the protests at the moment achieve absolutely nothing.

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A big problem is that getting rid of Ashley has become an end in itself to some people. If a new owner can't afford to invest any more than Ashley, it doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

 

Really?  You don't think it would be nice to have an owner who'll hire a manager for the long term, who won't sell our best youngsters and will actually put some effort into the running the club?

 

With Ashley is charge everything is going to be centered around clawing his money back, give me Barry Moat over Ashley any day of the week.

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A big problem is that getting rid of Ashley has become an end in itself to some people. If a new owner can't afford to invest any more than Ashley, it doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

 

 

I would take any owner over Ashley.

Moat with a sensible budget would be a dream compared to what Ashley is.

Rather a owner who build stability in the long run, that the unstability and complete disrespect for the fans, players and all the other employes at NUFC.

 

edit: Agree Frazzle

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The only problem there's been with protests is their absence and/or lack of severity. He got a very easy ride over the relegation, and received no real indication then or since that hanging on isn't a good idea. The trouble is that in real terms our bolt as been shot, shy of anything probably inadvisedly extreme happening - we need another one before we get another opportunity to aim, be that fresh impetus gained from news developments (seemingly unlikely), or straight-forwardly the next round of season ticket renewals (only really useful should we not go up - which I sometimes consider the preferability of (consider us going up, him hanging on even longer and us going back down yet again)).

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protests will achieve absolutely nothing and boycott etc will only hurt the club not ashley. There is absolutely nothing any of us can do except hope that someone meets his asking price because until thats met hes going nowhere

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A big problem is that getting rid of Ashley has become an end in itself to some people. If a new owner can't afford to invest any more than Ashley, it doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

 

 

OMG, did you read that before you posted it, How much money has Ashley actually invested in this club ?

 

Ashley has taken this club to a new low with the whole Keegan thing, yet you still see him as the best option because he invests money in the club (which is not true).

 

Get a grip of yourself man.

 

 

Easy stop going to the match, don't buy anything related to Ashley be via the club shops or sports direct.

 

Short term it will destroy us, but as long as Ashleys at the helm it will destroy us as well.

 

 

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protests will achieve absolutely nothing and boycott etc will only hurt the club not ashley. There is absolutely nothing any of us can do except hope that someone meets his asking price because until thats met hes going nowhere

 

I think a lot of people miss the point, that as much as it hurts us Ashley is this club, he owns it. !!!!

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A big problem is that getting rid of Ashley has become an end in itself to some people. If a new owner can't afford to invest any more than Ashley, it doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

Probably just fishing but that is utterly ridiculous. Given that Ashley's got every decision since January '08 wrong I'd be surprised if him being replaced wasn't a very, very good thing.

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why not start a nationwide campaid to boycott his brands?

 

How do you propose persuading the nation to do this?

 

Derren Brown might help, get him to put Ashley under mind control forcing him to sell the club for a £1 as a going concern.

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The only problem there's been with protests is their absence and/or lack of severity. He got a very easy ride over the relegation, and received no real indication then or since that hanging on isn't a good idea. The trouble is that in real terms our bolt as been shot, shy of anything probably inadvisedly extreme happening.

This. Unfortunatly. Ashley isnt totally stupid. He stopped the protests first time around by putting the club up for sale. When every thing had calmed down enough, he took it off the market and didnt show any ambition whatsoever. Had the protests continued early last season and got stronger, maybe he would have sold up. Everything stopped because he said he was going.

 

He's thicker skinned now, his reputation went years ago, and he has next to nothing to lose. Calling him names and singing about him will do nothing unfortunatly. Short of someone attacking him or disrupting games, I don't see what will get him to go. Its a hard one though considering how well we are doing so far this season.

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The question I'd be asking any potential owner is - once you've got the club, what are you going to do with it? Moat seems to have enthusiasm, but not much else.

 

Protests, almost by their very nature, are about negative feelings about the status quo. Getting rid of something solves nothing in itself. It's what gets put in its place that counts.

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As someone old enough to have seen the "Westwood Out" demonstrations, seen a hate campaign against nowadays legend Joe Harvey, a vitriolic camapaign to oust Gordon McKeag, and supported the Magpie Group (Bobby Pattinson, Joe "Monaco" Robinson, et al) before being kicked out of my bonded seat by their successors, it could just be a case of "oh hear we go again".

 

My thoughts are are :-

 

Yes professional footballers should be mentally strong but surprise, surprise they are affected by off field activities. Why else support them? The atmosphere did "contribute" to the defeat by Hull. Had we not been beaten by Hull we wouldn't have been relegated.

 

Ashley's tenure has been a disaster, we need to move on and so does he. As soon as a really "serious" bid is on the table he'll be on his way. Forget the publicity seekers and chancers, some of whom are no more qualified to own NUFC than you and I.

 

Supporter's pressure groups never work, they just give potty penster John Gibson and a few others a chance to re-surface.

They jump up and down and play on the fans for support but never achieve anything.  Even if they did, they'd just kick the fans who supported them into touch and be corrupted by their new power. Then we'd have the loonies running the asylum.

 

Keep on protesting, but not in SJP on matchdays. We've had a surprisingly good start under the circumstances but a lot of people out there want it to blow up in our faces. Don't help them.

We want Ashley out.  Ashley wants out.  It's one hell of a slow process but we don't need to discourage any serious new investors before they arrive.

 

Support the team because at the end of the day that's all that REALLY matters.

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Guest Wally_McFool

As soon as a really "serious" bid is on the table he'll be on his way.

 

 

I fully understand anyone wanting to support the lads week in, week out, however I think that the only thing that will eventually shift Ashley is an "empty stadium" every week and even that wont work until he sells everything and everybody worth selling at the club.

 

Having said that I hope Benwell Lad is right about about Fatman going if a serious bid is tabled but I cant help thinking that he is just deliberately taking the piss out of the fans and "having the fun" he once spoke about.

 

 

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Protests and boycotts are definitely the way forward. I mean, look what success they had last year.... :lol:

 

- Not going to the matches, not buying anything in the shops or in Shearers etc. will not have an ounce of effect. All it will do is damage the club.

 

- Not buying anything from his Sports Direct stores will put a dint in its income at the most

 

- Protests and chanting will hardly make him quiver with fear when lying in the dark at night

 

All we can do is ride it out. The end will come sometime.

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Protests and boycotts are definitely the way forward. I mean, look what success they had last year.... :lol:

 

- Not going to the matches, not buying anything in the shops or in Shearers etc. will not have an ounce of effect. All it will do is damage the club.

 

- Not buying anything from his Sports Direct stores will put a dint in its income at the most

 

- Protests and chanting will hardly make him quiver with fear when lying in the dark at night

 

All we can do is ride it out. The end will come sometime.

 

 

Do you honestly believe that stopping away from the matches and club shops will have no effect  ?

 

These days Clubs are a business and like any business if the customers stay away then business suffers, How long do you think it will take Ashley to either sell or possibly look at administration if the club is crippling him finacially ?

 

 

 

I don't buy the we can do nothing stance, We as fans, as a collective can do anything we want.

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