Mike Ashley

[DJ_NUFC]

So what you're saying is... life is rigged, and the man won. We never should have wasted the '60s smoking and fucking it all away.

[Superior Acuña]

Love this in the nufc.com match report

 

"By placing a value on everything, he's forced people to evaluate NUFC in those terms - and conclude it's not worth it."

[NG32]

Love this in the nufc.com match report

 

"By placing a value on everything, he's forced people to evaluate NUFC in those terms - and conclude it's not worth it."

 

Yep, thats a gut wrenching line.

 

Edit : As a product you would look at NUFC on the shelf and say "naaah"

 

 

[Guest Brendan_Rice]

Love this in the nufc.com match report

 

"By placing a value on everything, he's forced people to evaluate NUFC in those terms - and conclude it's not worth it."

 

Hits the nail on the head.

[Hudson]

Blef, @blefuscu74: Are the club aware of how many season ticket holders will cancel if Carver is appointed manager? Poll may be useful.

 

Mark says: Maybe that's an idea. I honestly don't think a huge volume of NUFC fans will cancel season tickets if JC gets the job though. There would be widespread discontent but direct action?

 

Sounds like they think we dont have the will to drop season tickets.

 

 

 

[Guest chopey]

I'll refer you to a conversation I had with a supafan the other week "Mike Ashley won't stop me supporting Newcastle"

[Darth Crooks]

I'll refer you to a conversation I had with a supafan the other week "Mike Ashley won't stop me supporting Newcastle"

 

That view is so warped; like you are getting one over on him by handing him your cash every week. Stubborn idiots.

[Guest firetotheworks]

I think my favourite quote that I bring out when people say all the protests etc will make no difference is 'If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything'

 

Another one is 'I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees'...but ye nah, bit dramatic.

 

Perfectly sums it up for me.

[Guest TruToon94]

I'll refer you to a conversation I had with a supafan the other week "Mike Ashley won't stop me supporting Newcastle"

 

That view is so warped; like you are getting one over on him by handing him your cash every week. Stubborn idiots.

 

It's like fucking North Korea with the continuous repetitions of the same line over and over, used to drive me nuts before I gave up on them all.

 

ME: Mike Ashley cares only about money. Stop giving him money and he'll sell up.

 

TWAT: True supporters go through thick and thin.

 

ME: Okay but surely short term pain and long term gain is better no.

 

TWAT:  True supporters go through thick and thin.

 

And it goes on like that. Nightmare supporting this club.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

This is the most difficult idea to combat, it's so ingrained in football fans that loyalty is the ultimate virtue. That's why we're so easy to exploit with everything from ticket prices to £12 fish and chips at The Emirates.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

On the face of it its good characteristic but essentially its not loyalty now, its just exploitation. You can still be loyal to the football club by not attending games, and protesting. In fact that's a greater show of loyalty imo

 

I totally agree, but it's a concept that's tricky to communicate to some fans.

[Darth Crooks]

People can't differentiate between the team, club and management and it's true; they are difficult to define.

[HawK]

On the face of it its good characteristic but essentially its not loyalty now, its just exploitation. You can still be loyal to the football club by not attending games, and protesting. In fact that's a greater show of loyalty imo

 

I totally agree, but it's a concept that's tricky to communicate to some fans.

 

A lot of us tried to convince you for several years, what was the straw that broke the camels back with you so I can use it on others

[AyeDubbleYoo]

On the face of it its good characteristic but essentially its not loyalty now, its just exploitation. You can still be loyal to the football club by not attending games, and protesting. In fact that's a greater show of loyalty imo

 

I totally agree, but it's a concept that's tricky to communicate to some fans.

 

A lot of us tried to convince you for several years, what was the straw that broke the camels back with you so I can use it on others

 

 

Fair point, I guess everyone has a different threshold. I'd like to think I never supported anyone out of blind loyalty, but I guess I did have a tendency to support people because they were part of NUFC.

 

I was fairly happy with the financial and transfer strategy initially, when I believed it was about getting cheap quality talent and selling the odd one to pay for it. And it took me a while to realise that we didn't care about finishing higher up the league.

 

With Pardew it's hard to say, it was just accumulation of bad decisions that came to a head with us getting rid of HBA/Mapou/Santon etc for absolutely no reason.

 

Overall it was just that I started to realise how ridiculous debates about individual decisions and players etc were in the context of a club that wasn't trying.

[Heake]

On the face of it its good characteristic but essentially its not loyalty now, its just exploitation. You can still be loyal to the football club by not attending games, and protesting. In fact that's a greater show of loyalty imo

 

This

 

Loyalty can manifest itself in more ways than just turning up to a game - because you can.

 

Besides, since when was loyalty a prerequisite for supporting a football club?

 

I support Newcastle because its always been my team, I was raised there & it feels part of me. I therefore reserve the right to fall out  with it, love it, hate it & turn up to or boycott as many games as I see fit because, like a  religion, there are times when your faith is severely tested & times when it can be uplifting.

 

A more fitting analogy would be that, having married a stunner in your early years, she turns out to be a fat useless boiler that your stuck with for life.

 

 

 

[buzza]

On the face of it its good characteristic but essentially its not loyalty now, its just exploitation. You can still be loyal to the football club by not attending games, and protesting. In fact that's a greater show of loyalty imo

 

This

 

Loyalty can manifest itself in more ways than just turning up to a game - because you can.

 

Besides, since when was loyalty a prerequisite for supporting a football club?

 

I support Newcastle because its always been my team, I was raised there & it feels part of me. I therefore reserve the right to fall out  with it, love it, hate it & turn up to or boycott as many games as I see fit because, like a  religion, there are times when your faith is severely tested & times when it can be uplifting.

 

A more fitting analogy would be that, having married a stunner in your early years, she turns out to be a fat useless boiler that your stuck with for life.

 

 

 

Last sentence... class! Sums up my NUFC love... at newcastle college in late eighties, keegan promotes us, wonder years, decline sets in and is cemented by a fat pri** sucking the soul out of it. A real fat mingin pig boiler tbf...

[Skeletor]

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle-united-live-john-carver-9099821

 

If anyone cares he seems too sympathetic towards them imo (Douglas)

 

Chris Cheetham, @cheetz88: What happened to the 80 candidates that charnley had said applied is this more lies and smoke screen??

 

Mark says: I think the 80 was just a figure to show there was interest.

 

They talked to half a dozen or more I'd say - but there's no-one new on the radar as of yet.

 

It was always going to be someone known to them - I think NUFC hierarchy got their fingers burned with Kevin Keegan

 

Fingers burned by appointing a manager who wanted to do well.

[Mattoon]

Looks like he's fighting the SFA over his fine, whether he's arguing over paying the £7500 or trying his luck to sink his teeth further into Rangers is not clear at the moment. Classless pick.

[Village Idiot]

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle-united-live-john-carver-9099821

 

If anyone cares he seems too sympathetic towards them imo (Douglas)

 

Chris Cheetham, @cheetz88: What happened to the 80 candidates that charnley had said applied is this more lies and smoke screen??

 

Mark says: I think the 80 was just a figure to show there was interest.

 

They talked to half a dozen or more I'd say - but there's no-one new on the radar as of yet.

 

It was always going to be someone known to them - I think NUFC hierarchy got their fingers burned with Kevin Keegan

 

Fingers burned by appointing a manager who wanted to do well.

 

I get the feeling that since Keegan your board seeks to only appoint managers that they believe will "owe them a favor"; either assistant managers given a chance at the main job (Hughton, Carver) or hasbeens that had fallen off the face of the earth (Kinnear, Pardew). A way to foster a servility that they wouldn't get with a reputable manager able to get a job elsewhere.

[BlueStar]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/11563435/How-fair-does-Sports-Direct-play.html

It is certainly true that Sports Direct has benefited from Ashley’s ownership of Newcastle. If you visit the club shop at St James’ Park (which Ashley briefly tried to rename the Sports Direct arena before backing down), it is a Sports Direct Shop. And the stadium, too, is plastered in adverts for the retail chain, a privilege for which Sports Direct does not pay, according to Newcastle United itself.

 

Indeed, Newcastle United contributed £3.4m in revenue to Sports Direct last year, according to the retailer’s annual report. And Rangers Football club, in which Ashley has a 9pc stake, is also a contributor to Sports Direct’s revenues, handing over £3.8m last year.

 

Awesome.

[NG32]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/11563435/How-fair-does-Sports-Direct-play.html

It is certainly true that Sports Direct has benefited from Ashley’s ownership of Newcastle. If you visit the club shop at St James’ Park (which Ashley briefly tried to rename the Sports Direct arena before backing down), it is a Sports Direct Shop. And the stadium, too, is plastered in adverts for the retail chain, a privilege for which Sports Direct does not pay, according to Newcastle United itself.

 

Indeed, Newcastle United contributed £3.4m in revenue to Sports Direct last year, according to the retailer’s annual report. And Rangers Football club, in which Ashley has a 9pc stake, is also a contributor to Sports Direct’s revenues, handing over £3.8m last year.

 

Awesome.

 

The spotlight is on the fat man.

[morla84]

£3.4million declared, no doubt provides an awful lot more as we all know Ashley uses the figures to his own advantage.

[themanupstairs]

Love this in the nufc.com match report

 

"By placing a value on everything, he's forced people to evaluate NUFC in those terms - and conclude it's not worth it."

 

No better words have ever been written to describe Ashley's ownership of NUFC. Gut wrenching indeed.

 

However, that's precisely why I have so much respect for the likes of MAOC, AO.com, Caulkin and the like, because they're trying to re-claim the invaluable.

[Varadi]

He's definitely getting a lot more stick from the press:

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-diary-newcastles-slump-5590857?

 

Best bit:

 

Consider: a Premier League consisting of three or four teams fighting the drop, four or five scrapping for the European places, and everybody else existing in a strange limbo, devoted to the business of staying a Premier League club purely because staying a Premier League club is good business.

 

Kind of like now, but much, much worse. Even though Newcastle seem okay, as these things go, they absolutely must secure an unlikely relegation.

 

That's the last thing we've got to cling to: this shambles of an owner cannot be permitted to be correct.

[Wallace]

He's definitely getting a lot more stick from the press:

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-diary-newcastles-slump-5590857?

 

Best bit:

 

Consider: a Premier League consisting of three or four teams fighting the drop, four or five scrapping for the European places, and everybody else existing in a strange limbo, devoted to the business of staying a Premier League club purely because staying a Premier League club is good business.

 

Kind of like now, but much, much worse. Even though Newcastle seem okay, as these things go, they absolutely must secure an unlikely relegation.

 

That's the last thing we've got to cling to: this shambles of an owner cannot be permitted to be correct.

 

I am glad the media are starting to see the bigger picture.

 

If Ashley's running of NUFC is deemed a success (as it has been to date) then other clubs will follow suit and it will kill the league to the point where you might as well reduce the league to 10-12 clubs as everyone is just trying to do enough to stay on the gravy train.