Various: Mike Ashley in talks with Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan

[sbnufc]

Hack his SD sites, with the simple message "c***" in huge letters for the landing page imo

 

A bit route one but a really militant and persistent social media campaign against SD is a good place to start.

Any hackers out there?

probably another thing that can be sorted on the dark web tbf

[Guest ElCid]

Thing is this protest thing with placards and stuff he will just laugh at unless you start directly aiming at sports direct and the media picks this up. Thinking about it even the West Ham method might do fuck all as that was carried out when the dildo twins were there and they totally crapped themselves. This fat cunt never fucking goes so he will just laugh it off also

[sempuki]

[Odear]

 

Fee is wrong, but the years ffs

 

Exchange rate was very different then.

Working out the average rate for 2005, 25m euros would have gotten you 17.2575 pounds on average so it’s probably reasonably accurate.

[Odear]

Hack his SD sites, with the simple message "c***" in huge letters for the landing page imo

 

A bit route one but a really militant and persistent social media campaign against SD is a good place to start.

Any hackers out there?

probably another thing that can be sorted on the dark web tbf

 

What would 10k get in a full on ddos job? 1 day?

[sbnufc]

 

I thought we had no money. So where is this £100m suddenly coming from, Ashley? LIES! Fuck off, cunt!

He's holding it back for David O'Leary to spend next season once Rafa has fucked off

[Guest Howaythetoon]

You can’t compare then to now. This is the worst era in our history especially right now because never have the facilities been better even though they need improved, we have never had so much access to money and in Rafa we arguably have the best all-round manager this club has ever had.

 

I wasn’t around during the McKeag and co era and it was obviously bad, but you have to take into account that era as a whole acrosss the football landscape. An era where stadiums, not just ours, were not fit for purpose, where hooliganism dominated match days and where clubs were banned from Europe. It was a dark and depressing time socially, economically and regionally during a Thatcher Tory government.

 

We had the success of 69, but the last time we were a relevant club in terms of challenging was the 50s and even the. We were a cup team. You have to go back to the 20s when we were the dominant force or part of an elite group of clubs.

 

Like now ironically, our gates and the passion of fans (which was real back then unlike today) were the only things that made us stand out against other similar clubs alongside us of that era who had run down grounds, sold star players, went up and down or were mid-table.

 

The McKeags had no money and were not business men nor football men, they were a dying bread trying to cling onto the family silver. Were they bad custodians? I don’t think they were or certainly not internally so, they were just the wrong custodians. Ashley is bad, he is the worst type of owner.

 

People say the likes of the Glazers and Abramovic or Sky are bad for the game, no, it’s the likes of Ashley that are. I wouldn’t wish him on the mackems I really wouldn’t.

 

I’d far rather support the NUFC of that era than the NUFC of today no matter how bad things were. Nothing is as bad as this. Again, I would support this club in any division, at any level, if it was ran with the premise of being the best or trying to be the best it can be. We have a great manager and a decent set of players, which would be more than enough if that was the height of our ceiling, but as KK and SJH proved, there is no limit to what this club can achieve or aim for and as things stand the height of our ceiling is just staying up and that’s it.

 

And what makes it all the more depressing is that whenever there is progress being made or signs of progress the owner and his lackies go and sabotage that so any progress will never ever go further or fully materialise. They did it to Hughton and now Rafa who they are deliberately undermining in the hope he quits because they can’t have someone who looks at just staying up as not acceptable.

 

We are a nothing club and like the mackems, are stinking out the 8league with our zero ambition, happy to not be relegated and raking in the share of TV money. Just an empty vessel plastered with SD adverts with a bang average team that without Rafa would fall apart and take the club down and that’s where we will end back up at when he does leave which he will.

 

But hey, 50k mugs will still turn up.

 

Stop referring to our fans as mugs, and making judgement on people's lives, as you're coming across as a right patronising cunt.

 

You clearly jumped on board during the Keegan glory years, and hopped off when we weren't as good. For some, being a football supporter is following your team through thick and thin.....it's very hard to walk away. I managed it for 18 months but started going again as I missed it, and more importantly, my son wanted to go......I wasn't going to deny him that chance, or see him grow up supporting a Man City/Chelsea or whatever.

 

The McKeag era was shit, especially watching three of the best English players of a generation move on due to lack of ambition. Boycotts were attempted back then with little success (I watched a rerun of Hillsbrough 74 in the New Cannon in Low Fell when we played Leeds for example), what worked was people going to the ground, and protesting in and out of it every week. I agree people need to stop buying stuff at SJP and certainly avoid SD at all costs, but protests inside and outside the ground are the way forward imho, along with campaigns on social media.....maybe get the Russians on board?

 

 

 

 

This is going to be a long post and do you know what I don’t care, I’d like to address some of your points and also explore my own relationship with this club of ours and why I feel the way I do and regard many today who keep going as mugs and idiots. So...

 

First of all, this isn’t about being a better fan or whatever, I have attended more non NUFC games in the last decade than NUFC games, mostly Gateshead matches who I’m probably going to try and follow this coming season. I’m not a fan as such at current because I don’t like NUFC or the football, and I’m certainly not a supporter because I don’t support the club, certainly not financially.

 

I do like the team which I feel is the least talented we have fielded since we won promotion back in ‘93, but despite that, it’s a team that I feel is better as a team than a lot of teams we have fielded and as such I want to do well and kind of root for.

 

But that is mostly down to the manager Rafa Benitez who I adore and have always rated. Pound for pound he is probably the best manager we have ever had. He is far too good for us sadly and deserves to be at a club where he can build a team to win things.

 

He is the only reason I have made an attempt to try and get back into it, that and my two boys, but I’m not going to kid myself and return full-time just because he’s the manager or because I have kids.

 

I was about 10 when KK returned as manager which is quite old for a boy to start following NUFC, so you could say aye I was a glory hunter. But I can assure you back then in the area I was born and raised (Scotswood) no one my age group, below or even above were into NUFC even if many of us played football.

 

I played because everyone else did. Those with bikes or skateboards were the exception and unless you wanted to be Billy no mates or backer people around you got off your bike and had a kick-around. I hated football because I was no good at it, when the ball come to me I would just kick it anywhere away from me.

 

But it allowed us to play with friends and stay out late on weekends. I was more into cars, Transformers and drawing. I was introduced to football by may dad when I was like 5 like most kids and although I didn’t like it I did enjoy that father and son bond. My dad, even as a kid, I could tell was a good player and obviously played it when he was a kid a lot, same with his brothers and uncles and my cousins who were a bit older than me.

 

I knew he used to go to the match with his brothers, but that all stopped in the middle of the 80s. Looking back it was down to unemployment, but maybe also down to hooliganism and NUFC selling it’s star home grown players in Waddle, Beardsley and Gazza etc.

 

I couldn’t name a player back then, but I knew of NUFC and it and football was a dominant thing in our house. My dad and his mates and my uncles seemed to spend most of their time in the bookies, I would tag along and use the backing of betting slips to draw on and steal pens and pencils as I loved drawing. I never understood betting and to this day, I don’t gamble. I’ve probably placed about 10 bets in my life. I think seeing them spend all da in there and getting angry when they didn’t win put me off for life. I enjoyed tagging along though, I felt grown up and it was left over wallpaper rolls or the back of betting slips and bookies pens and penicls that provided me with the material to draw through my childhood.

 

Weeekends were great as a boy, dad was home upstairs glued to the radio and a small black and white telly and if we heard screams of YES we knew either ‘our’ team had won or not lost or dad’s bet and come in. A double scream of YES meant both and happy days with treats of sweats for us and a good mood from dad.

 

More often than not there were screams of FUCK or whatever along with slamming of doors, it was actually better for us because it meant we usually got to stay out longer as my dad sulked or went to the pub to drown his sorrows. Mum was too busy washing up or whatever. I had a sweet tooth, but staying out later was much better so I preferred it when ‘we’ lost!

 

Again I couldn’t name you a player from NUFC back in what would have been 85-89, but I was very much aware that we had this rubbish team that never won, but it was our team and so we wanted them to win. We knew when NUFc won and when they lost, it didn’t bother me though and I never did understand at that time why my dad and uncles would get so upset.

 

I think towards the 90s many a father gave up on footy and as we went to senior school we stopped playing footy in the yard and after school which we did at primary and junior school despite no school team. Italia 90 happened of course which I honestly cannot remember, but I don't think it kick-started any interest back in footy in parents or us kids from what I remember. Senior school would hold trials for footy, but they often got cancelled as no-one was interested, least of all me. Thank fuck for that!

 

But then one day everything changed, a certain KK returned as manager and I swear within months everyone went football crazy, kids come to school with a ball, kick-about returned to the yard, trials for the school footy team were over subscribed and if you were not into footy and NUFC you were an outcast or weird or something. Dad’s were suddenly going to games again and taking sons to the game and out to play and kids were playing out in the streets in NUFC tops. It was crazy and KK mania swept the City. I did t get to games as we could t afford it, my first game was Villa away in the Pl, oh my, I felt like I was in a different world, captivated and awe struck. We won 2-0 on a sunny day. My fave away ground and a team I have a soft spot if only because if that moment.

 

I still didn’t like football back them in terms of playing it, but started getting into NUFC and went for trials with the school, scoring an own goal as a CB, a role I didn’t enjoy playing at all. I didn’t make it to another trial and was quite happy with that, I didn’t play football at all for another few years after that.

 

But NUFC captured my imagination, ‘92/93 was the start for me, I would listen to every match on the radio, watch games on ITV or at the Odeon which were rare and I started becoming obsessed with all things NUFC and football to the point of it dominating my early teen years, along with all my mates thankfully. I stopped subscribing to Auto Express and Car and started buying Shoot, World Soccer, NUFC’s own magazines and anything else related to football.

 

I also started playing, by then I was taller, stronger and very quick, physically despite being skinny above others, but I was still shit so I would practice all hours smacking a ball with my right foot off a wall and then my left. Back and forth between left and right foot. Today, in my humble opinion, I’m not a bad player, two footed and probably stronger on my left foot which isn’t my natural foot.

 

I wasn’t alone in this, every kid was obsessed about NUFC back then and the whole City become Toon daft as KK took us on a roller coaster ride and almost to the title. Streets were full of kids playing footy again, wearing Toon tops and pretending to be Andy Cole or whoever.

 

By then I had started to learn all about our history using the City library and couldn’t quite believe that this magnificent club and team I had fallen head over heels for had been so shit for so many years. It was like a different club. I delved deeper and learned about greats like Wor Jackie and Hughie Gallagher, my hero to this day, a man that you could say is quintessentially what NUFC is all about. KK likewise, oh man I adored him and still do. Don’t meet your heroes they say, well he was even more magnificent in person. He got me into NUFC and if I hadn’t looked into the club’s history I would t have know any better, but I’m glad I did because he gave us the kind of club us fans should always want to belong to. A club worthy of us as fans, as people and as a City.

 

Today, that’s the Newcastle United I consider as the real Newcastle, the club we can be, should always try to be and do you know what, we as fans should demand. I don’t demand to win every game, to see great football and sign the best players or win this or that because football doesn’t work like that, I can accept a poor team or player or defeats or a bad season.

 

I accept the team today for example, we are what we are. I cannot and never will accept the club we are today though, never, and as such I will not in any shape way or form support what I consider an imitation, a false representation of us and our City, a club that makes a mockery of what we have achieved, our history, identity, culture and what KK and Sir John Hall in particular restored after all those years, giving us back the Newcastle United we always knew we were capable of being.

 

KK’s NUFC made little boys like me fall in love with the club, to dream, to see football and our club in its purest form which is the 11 players that take to the field that we cheer, clap, sing for and who can send us home happy and satisfied. We could beat Man Utd 5-0 this coming season, but will you be truly happy and satisfied knowing that this is a one off, that this is as good as it will only ever get under Mike Ashley? One off hallow and ultimately pointless singular victories that bear no meaning or relevance to anything other than a statistical record in the history books. Is this what it is now all about, solitary victories to get pleasure from? I ask because on a season to season basis there is nothing to derive hope and excitement from at all, unless you count someone like Kennedy nut megging someone or Perez chipping the ‘keeper away to Leicester in what was coined a memorable and famous win. It’s fuckimg Leicester who we once lead 6-0 at half-time against. Any excitement is crushed before a pre-season ball has been kicked these days. Last season most fans just wanted the season to end and that was January, let’s get it out if the way. This isn’t like a shift at work FFS! It sure feels like it though!

 

When the history books in decades to come cover the Ashley years, they should leave it blank because the last decade has been a complete and utter waste of everyone’s time and efforts, from KK to Hughton and now Rafa. NUFC today is a pointless excercise, living a futile existence.

 

In sport you either win or lose, there is a point to it. With us, there is no point.

 

Again I won’t condemn family with kids going because football for youngsters should be about what happens on the pitch, about the players, nothing more. Old timers have earned the right to go to a match and sit and watch the 90 minutes not concerned with the nonsense outside of that, too old, too tired, too damn long in the tooth to care about anything else. Just enjoy it for what it’s worth.

 

I could pick out thousands of fans on any given match day regardless who don’t care about NUFC, all they care about is... well, not a lot. The match is just an extension of their social life, and yet they are the first to moan about a player not being good enough, the manager’s tactics, that we aren’t hammering someone like Huddersfield at home and slag the owner for not spending more money, oblivious that they, they are the very fans and supporters which they are who allow Ashley to run the club this way and allow the club to exist to exist. Don’t complain when you get what you pay for though!

 

I’m not a fan nor a supporter, but I fucking love Newcastle United and always will, and that’s why I don’t go and want nothing to do with this thing that is only a football cub, my club, in name only. An empty shell, a fraud and an imposter pretending and sadly hoodwinking tens of thousands.

 

What is a club in any case? Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it. It’s not the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes. It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.

 

Well I was that boy, we all were and KK was the man who made me fall in love with it. Ashley just makes me hate everything about it.

 

Ashley Out!

 

[TheInfiniteOdyssey]

I can't grasp any correlation between Rafa's long-term future and improving the training ground + academy.

 

Why wouldn't you just do it anyway, regardless of who the manager is?

 

 

Of course, it's just a convenient excuse to withhold investment but fuck sake.

 

[sbnufc]

 

(I know it's not new news, but it's been posted again on a papers website)

 

If this is actually true it's beyond ridiculous.  Rafa could just ask for guarantees and sign, Ashley could do the same.  Key word in the 2nd paragraph being 'before'.. indicating he actually would.

 

Could all have been done weeks ago, the fuck are they waiting for? Big 'if' on the 'if it is true', but Rafa could have helped a bit here

[Interpolic]

The thing is, if Ashley just gave Rafa what he wanted then he knows he'd sign. He's not going to leave after having been allowed to strengthen the squad, training facilities and academy. Ashley clearly has no intention of giving him much.

 

Ashley just wants him to commit so he can pull the rug out from under him again as he has done the last few transfer windows, and nobody who has been following the club and has half a brain thinks Rafa should put up with that.

[duo]

https://mobile.twitter.com/buzza9676/status/1020750989010325504/video/1

[UncleBingo]

Thing is this protest thing with placards and stuff he will just laugh at unless you start directly aiming at sports direct and the media picks this up. Thinking about it even the West Ham method might do f*** all as that was carried out when the dildo twins were there and they totally crapped themselves. This fat c*** never f***ing goes so he will just laugh it off also

 

So what are you doing to force Ashley out exactly?

[The College Dropout]

Where does the TV money go?

I know Ashley(or SportDirect) has taken it, but what is Ashleys answer to that question?

Guess he won't just say "Oh, I've taken it all".

 

 

I don't actually think he's taking money out of the club, not in a direct way anyway.

 

In the past it was relatively easy for a club like Newcastle to just be kept ticking over in mid table mediocrity, that was the sweet spot for him in terms of risk/cost vs. reward.

 

That is now much more difficult and expensive to do and I think he now sees the 'sweet spot' as yo-yoing between the Premier League and Championship.

 

In the past his model was to do just enough to stay in the Premier League, saving a pot of money to spend in January if/when relegation looks possible.

 

I think he's now intentionally running the club as yo-yo club, he will not spend while in the Premier League but will save a pot of money to spend on ensuring we get back first time if/when we are relegated.

 

Can't see this being true, considering we miss out on £50-60m of revenue (taking into account the 1st parachute payment) if we get relegated.

 

Ashley absolutely would take 17th each season but his willingness to throw money at the problem (in 2013 and 2016) if we are in trouble shows he doesn't want to get relegated in my mind.

 

I think things have changed since January 2016 he spent then and it didn't work. In January we looked in desperate trouble and he wouldn't spend.

 

Of course he wants us to stay up, but he will not gamble on it  as he has in the past. He will only sanction significant spending to get us promoted. That is clearly what is happening.

 

Excellent post.

 

We spent big the last few times we looked in relegation trouble except last season.  What your saying is highly plausible. 

M

[The College Dropout]

I’ve long said the Liverpool and Man Utd fans would have Ashley in fear of his life.  We’ve got the Arsenal route.  And even they stopped turning up. 

[Raconteur]

 

(I know it's not new news, but it's been posted again on a papers website)

 

If this is actually true it's beyond ridiculous.  Rafa could just ask for guarantees and sign, Ashley could do the same.  Key word in the 2nd paragraph being 'before'.. indicating he actually would.

 

Could all have been done weeks ago, the fuck are they waiting for? Big 'if' on the 'if it is true', but Rafa could have helped a bit here

 

I’ve seen this argument more than once, and it’s baffling that people assume Rafa (and Ashley) haven’t considered some kind of binding Memorandum of Understanding regarding investment.

 

Of course it is a reasonable suggestion in the circumstances. Of course it’s the first thing a reasonable person would suggest, negotiate and agree to.

 

And yet it hasn’t happened.

 

“Reasonable”.

[Geordie Ahmed]

 

(I know it's not new news, but it's been posted again on a papers website)

 

If this is actually true it's beyond ridiculous.  Rafa could just ask for guarantees and sign, Ashley could do the same.  Key word in the 2nd paragraph being 'before'.. indicating he actually would.

 

Could all have been done weeks ago, the fuck are they waiting for? Big 'if' on the 'if it is true', but Rafa could have helped a bit here

Crossed my mind, too. Just get it down on paper. If he goes back on it, sue him or whatever.

The article is typical of Ashley and his media chums, trying to lay the blame for this lack of spending on Rafa, which is absolute nonsense.

 

Only one man to blame and that is Ashley.

 

Conveniently none of these media people are asking the question as to why it matters whether Rafa signs, surely investing £100mill into the team is of benefit to the club regardless of who the manager is, unless of course it's all lies (which it will be).

 

As for why Rafa doesn't sign and then sue Ashley, why on earth should he have to go down that path? That will cost him time and money that he shouldn't have to spend.

 

I apportion absolutely 0% of blame to Rafa when it comes to our pathetic transfer activity and it's a shame if people don't see it that way.

[LRD]

No idea why people still give the benefit of the doubt to Ashley when he has been proven to be a methodical liar time and time again over a decade.

 

It's ok, Mike. We trust you to keep to your words and come good.

[Odear]

"The Club admitted to the Tribunal that it repeatedly and intentionally misled the press, public and the fans of Newcastle United.“

[Sean]

It shows how easy it is for Ashley to put some bullshit in the papers and have some of our fans questioning Rafa, Im fucking astounded anyone can still give him any benefit of doubt at all. He's a fucking liar full stop.

[Odear]

That’s the chant that needs to be heard. “You fat fucking liar, get out of our club”

[r0cafella]

The fans have been chanting for years and he’s still here.

 

Really need to look beyond chants and banners to get rid of him, it’s quite clear that the action which needs to be taken has to be more direct in nature.

 

I mean think of it like this, we are paying money to him to go and call him fat.

[Altamullan]

I don't subscribe to this excuse of "I'll still go to the match because of my love for going to the match", it's bollocks, you could just as easily go and watch any other team if it's just a match day out that you want. Utter guff! Anyone still going to the match becomes a mindless sheep, following the rest of sheep in to the ground, watching the same shit week in, week out and then having the cheek to leave any protesting to others and still moaning how much they hate Mike Ashley's regime. No wonder our fans are a laughing stock, I've not seen many other clubs in a similar situation to ours where their fans have kept turning up regardless.

Bit judgemental. Who put you in charge of the ‘How to be a Fan’ rulebook? And our fans a laughing stock? To who and how do you know?

[Guest NobbyOhNobby]

Would people take 6 months to a year of not going to the match to get their club back? Seems quite a menial sacrifice in the context of a lifetime of supporting

[Interpolic]

"Ashley doesn't care about protests"

 

http://sackpardew.com/articles/statements/hull-city-h-protest-final-post-match-statement/

 

"Black bags were present at a majority of access points and those entering St. James’ Park were routinely asked if they were carrying any “banners or cards”, which were promptly confiscated if seen or admitted to. Bags were searched, club programmes were rifled through and material was snatched out of people’s hands if they did not comply."

 

[Interpolic]

"Ashley doesn't care about protests"

 

http://ashleyout.com/campaigns/19-04-boycottspurs-protest-review-statement/

 

"Reports vary as to the true number of fans who passed through the turnstiles and we will not speculate on this. We simply ask everyone to judge for themselves, based on the pictures in this statement, whether the club’s ‘official’ attendance of 47,427 appears legitimate, or if this is yet another clear example of a club lying to its own fans to present itself in a better light?"

 

The following transfer window, Newcastle spent ~£80m on players after years of under-investment in the squad