nufc.com

[pinkeye]

Does anyone else, apart from me, enter the competitions on NUFC.COM?

 

I cannot remember the last time anyone from the actual North East won one of them................  I wonder how random the draw is when practically every competition is won by someone who has entered from outside the region.  The most recent one for a signed photo of Mick Quinn was won by someone in New York, USA!!

 

Are they trying to make a statement that people from all over the UK and the world read their website?

 

Wonderful.

[Guest guinness_fiend]

Does anyone else, apart from me, enter the competitions on NUFC.COM?

 

I cannot remember the last time anyone from the actual North East won one of them................  I wonder how random the draw is when practically every competition is won by someone who has entered from outside the region.  The most recent one for a signed photo of Mick Quinn was won by someone in New York, USA!!

 

Are they trying to make a statement that people from all over the UK and the world read their website?

 

Wonderful.

 

No.  Has it occurred to you that the majority of people who enter could actually live outside of the region? 

[Ally]

I've won twice on there in recent years.

[pinkeye]

Does anyone else, apart from me, enter the competitions on NUFC.COM?

 

I cannot remember the last time anyone from the actual North East won one of them................  I wonder how random the draw is when practically every competition is won by someone who has entered from outside the region.  The most recent one for a signed photo of Mick Quinn was won by someone in New York, USA!!

 

Are they trying to make a statement that people from all over the UK and the world read their website?

 

Wonderful.

 

No.  Has it occurred to you that the majority of people who enter could actually live outside of the region? 

 

Seriously?  A website for a football club in Newcastle has more readers, who enter competitions, living outside of Newcastle?  Maybe I suppose but, unlikely. 

 

If, for example, there were 10 local entries for every 1 foreign (or otherwise) is the probability higher for one of the local entries to be picked in a random draw? 

 

Just a thought anyway.  I enjoy their football writing but, have wondered about the competitions for a little while.

[UV]

I've won twice on there in recent years.

 

OMG they're bribing admins of other websites as well!!!

 

That's it, I'm never entering another one of their free competitions!!!!1!!!

 

 

Seriously?  A website for a football club in Newcastle has more readers, who enter competitions, living outside of Newcastle?  Maybe I suppose but, unlikely. 

 

It's quite simple really. If you live in the North East you can get your NUFC fix from local papers, TV, and radio; in fact you probably can't get away from it. If you live outside the North East you have to resort to getting most of your news from the internet. It wouldn't surprise me at all if most of their readership was from outside the region.

 

[Dave]

I've won twice on there in recent years.

 

OMG they're bribing admins of other websites as well!!!

 

Ally wasn't an admin even when he was an admin.

[Guest Jinky James]

I won a crate of Toon Ale (booby prize I think!) tickets for the jumpin hot club and a couple of books and I am from the toon. Am I Niall and Biffa's token Toonie??

 

[Dave]

  Europe?!:

Fair Play mystery

 

We don't want to start any false rumours and unnecessary passport applications but here are the facts as wee see them through our bleary eyes:

 

On the Premier League's official site (premierleague.com) their disciplinary table is currently showing (with 37 games played):

 

Pos Team P Y R Pts

1 Liverpool 37 45 1 48

2 Everton 37 40 3 49

3 Tottenham 37 51 1 54

4 Man United 37 49 2 55

5 Man City 37 50 3 59

6 Newcastle 37 57 1 60

7 Arsenal 37 53 3 62

8 Aston Villa 37 53 4 65

 

Now, by our reckoning after Sunday's games the table should look like this:

 

Pos Team P Y R Pts

1 Liverpool 38 46 1 49

2 Everton 38 40 3 49

3 Tottenham 38 52 1 55

4 Man United 38 51 2 57

5 Newcastle 38 59 1 62

6 Man City 38 51 4 63

7 Arsenal 38 54 3 63

8 Aston Villa 38 55 4 67

 

Given that the four teams above us are already in Europe does Richard Dunne's red card at the Smoggies mean we now qualify for the UEFA Cup?

 

If not, then why all the stories about Man City being on the verge of qualifying?

 

Only an unofficial site in Malta suggests we may have snatched the Fair Play spot while the Telegraph states:

 

"Not only did Dunne's reckless challenge on Tuncay leave City down to 10 men with 75 minutes remaining, it also left a question mark hanging over City's hopes of qualifying for the Uefa Cup through the backdoor of the 'Fair Play' table."

 

All we are doing is asking the question at this stage. Any clarification would be gratefully received.

 

Watch this space....

 

Pretty embarrassing stuff there from the boys, considering they are two completely separate tables.

[Mr Logic]

Reckless challenge? Looked more like an accidental clip of the heels to me.

 

No doubt their other error will be pointed out though.

[pedro111]

Its late, im fucked and cant decipher information well while I am in this state.

 

So are we in Europe or are we not?

 

Whats the difference between the 'disciplinary' table and the 'fair play' table?

[Keefaz]

No one knows. Even the finest minds at NASA fail to understand how it works.

[toontownman]

http://www.premierleague.com/page/FairPlayTable/0,,12306,00.html

 

Might be two games behind but we are no where near even being in contention for the European spot. Wishful thinking but a woeful lack of research from the .com squad.

 

Would be an extra bonus for Roy Hodgson if the table stayed the same!

[Keefaz]

http://www.premierleague.com/page/FairPlayTable/0,,12306,00.html

 

Might be two games behind but we are no where near even being in contention for the European spot. Wishful thinking but a woeful lack of research from the .com squad.

 

Would be an extra bonus for Roy Hodgson if the table stayed the same!

 

Yet again, I'm not 100% that's actually the correct table.

[Guest Lster]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3554423,00.html

 

Could be fulham

[Rich]

NUFC.com's post-mortem (of sorts) of the season is included in the Everton "waffle":

 

The hosts secured their place in Europe for another season, celebrating with a lap of honour.

 

Meanwhile we exited stage right, back in our own default position of being at loggerheads.

 

Correctly estimated at being a million miles away from the top four by our own manager, presumably that leaves us around 875,000 miles adrift of Everton - twenty two points and seven places ahead.

 

This result was academic, the performance expected. And the nervousness shown by home fans when the scores were level was purely due to their side's own self-destructive tendencies, rather than the endeavours of the visitors.

 

A team picked out of necessity duly went through the motions and were saved from a final day howking by Newcastle's man of the match Steve Harper - who made a couple of noteworthy stops and found fortune on his side for once on Merseyside when one clipped off his glove but rolled wide.

 

At least we had a rather more varied absentee list this time round than usual: Barton's bail ban from Liverpool, Geremi's family bereavement and injuries to Edgar, Given, Martins, Milner, Emre & Viduka.

 

But of those who did feature, N'Zogbia managed to keep his mobile phone in his pocket this time round and was the pick of the outfield players, but that wasn't saying much.

 

Faye's half time withdrawal raised eyebrows inside and outside the dressing room, while Duff and Smith marked what will hopefully be their final appearances with yellow cards (at least Butt avoided adding to his tally, meaning he won't carry any suspensions into next season).

 

We ende up playing a massive fourteen less games than last season under Roeder. By the time we got to Vicarage Road, we were probably entitled to be physically and emotionally spent - and that was just the fans. What was the excuse this season? Certainly not Euro 2008...

 

Don't think that we're not grateful for our 43 point haul though - even if it was our joint lowest in this competition, it's a damn sight better than it looked nine games ago, when we had just 28.

 

Even though we signed off on a low note after last week's reminder of how far we've fallen, it was thanks to our own recent efforts this was a game as meaningless as Boro's demolition of Sven & Co.

 

The off-field uncertainly that currently surrounds Manchester City though extends to ourselves, after a season that concluded amid a muddle of mixed messages from - and about - the Magpies.

 

Attempting the impossible task of making sense of this season, the chance to have a happy ending and dismiss all but the last three months would have been much appreciated. Bad man goes, good man comes, disaster averted, strike up the band.

 

But those seven weeks of comparative calm since the revival began at Birmingham ended with a final week's swansong of two defeats. And they sandwiched apparent internal strife that saw the return of words like "furious" "crisis" and "showdown" to media reporting of the club.

 

Now that the immediate concern of maintaining top flight status has retreated, that all-important bigger picture has to be considered. And at this precise moment, we're unsure as whether it's been hung on the wall upside down, or back to front.

 

Our own Good Friday agreement was officially decreed as "peace in our time", with Chris Mort taking the Neville Chamberlain role to say "It was a good meeting: it was both productive & constructive."

 

However, making messrs Mort, Ashley and Keegan travel 276 miles for that meeting had unpleasant echoes of when our previous AGMs were staged in the capital for reasons of personal paranoia. 

 

Bearing in mind that those three amigos returned to Tyneside to sit round the same table at that night's Sir Bobby SJP shindig, it would seem logical that the other participants Dennis Wise, Derek Llambias and Tony Jimenez didn't fancy a trip to the Toon. That looks like the tail wagging the dog.

 

But if Friday's meeting location added credence to those who worry that this is now a club run from London, then our media coverage in 2008 would appear to render that almost beyond question.

 

It's becoming an increasingly thankless task to cut through layers of information, gossip and hype to find out the reality of the situation on Barrack Road.

 

The local media appear to be increasingly marginalised and reduced to making back pages out of soft quotes from pliant players or retreads of tales lifted from the nationals.

 

Meanwhile, we're treated to the unedifying spectacle of nightly revelations about us appearing online and in the next morning's papers courtesy of The Mail and stable-mate The Evening Standard.

 

The latter is posted on "This is London" - which beams through cyberspace like a 21st century Lord Haw Haw. London Calling, this is London Calling....with more doom-laden tales for the Toon Army.

 

"Owen contract snub", "Keegan on the brink", "Newcastle out of Toon". The list is apparently endless; the level of detail sufficiently high to suggest that they are coming from informed sources ie "Wise cancels charity golf day in Ealing".

 

But after consistently lampooning most of the major personalities involved via references to "Fat Ash", "Dennis the Menace" and a variety of Keegan-based mockery, it's unclear precisely who is doing the leaking - or planting.

 

Repeated references to a difference in philosophies over player recruitment are telling though, with Keegan said to be looking for "established internationals" (including Owen) while others target "so far undiscovered players who will grow in value".

 

We're not coming over all provincial here - and certainly not harking back to a time when this club required Geordies in every position - make no mistake, this was broken before and needed fixing.

 

However, the current instability causes concern and raises the question of why Keegan was ever approached - never mind appointed.

 

If Ashley didn't quite drive into Newcastle waving from an open top car, there was still a good deal of bonhomie, be it in Blue Bambu, the Black Bull or at the Britannia Stadium and a sense of liberation after what had gone before him - and seemed to have no end point, until a mad few weeks in 2007.

 

This apparent recluse appeared on smogside in his black and white shirt and then at regular intervals in the away end. Not at Goodison though, where he was soberly dressed in the directors box.

 

At whose instigation though? His own, his advisors or KK as a result of Friday's summit meeting?

All plausible, with the possibility of a fan-led backlash caused by the aforementioned media tales.

 

And Keegan's view of the club owner watching from the away end in his "King Kev" shirt could potentially be construed as negative, if one examines our recent history.

 

The final straw for Allardyce may have been the miserable 0-0 draw at Stoke, but Ashley standing among thousands of fans singing "we're sh*t and we're sick of it" at Wigan fatally undermined Sam.

 

It took a fortnight for Ashley to do what took Freddy two months to decide. And if the latter had been in behind the goal at the JJB when we lost there in the League Cup rather than being abused as he sped off, Souness might have gone sooner.

 

Enough. We end where we started then - up our own backsides.

 

A year older but no wiser and feel nothing but relief that another non-event of a season was no worse and we didn't quite plunge to the depths that we feared. Of the future though? Who knows.

 

There should be confidence that the club can progress under its current leadership and that we make an impact in all the domestic competitions playing football that's worth watching.

 

Instead there remains an uncertainty among supporters that no statements can dispel - only a sustained period of unity and an end to our perpetual party trick of shooting ourselves in the foot.

 

Unfortunately we've been waiting for that to happen at SJP for most of our supporting lives.

 

We'll be here next year - God willing - but hand on heart, we can't say that about a single person on or off the field at SJP currently.

 

Except probably Terry Mac.

 

Biffa.

 

PS: Can we record our usual thanks to the fixers, moles, bar staff and fellow sufferers who keep this site functioning - some of whom are based in London. The never-ending tour continues.

 

http://www.nufc.com/2007-08html/2008-05-11everton-a.html

 

A very worthwhile read. For all the critics on here, I still think Biffa can sum up the mood of the support better than most others I've seen.

[Mowen]

I have to say, as much as .com annoys me at times, it's a fantastic site, with a lot of stuff that is well worth reading. That match report was excellent imo, but going beyond that I re-read their review of Shearer's testimonial the other day (came up in 'On this day' or whatever it's called) and it was superb.

[Rich]

I have to say, as much as .com annoys me at times, it's a fantastic site, with a lot of stuff that is well worth reading. That match report was excellent imo, but going beyond that I re-read their review of Shearer's testimonial the other day (came up in 'On this day' or whatever it's called) and it was superb.

 

Aye, I read that review as well, and it sent me to YouTube to sit and watch videos of it for about 20 minutes.

 

I still think it's bang-on, personally, great website.

[Mowen]

I have to say, as much as .com annoys me at times, it's a fantastic site, with a lot of stuff that is well worth reading. That match report was excellent imo, but going beyond that I re-read their review of Shearer's testimonial the other day (came up in 'On this day' or whatever it's called) and it was superb.

 

Aye, I read that review as well, and it sent me to YouTube to sit and watch videos of it for about 20 minutes.

 

I still think it's bang-on, personally, great website.

 

Yeah, so do I. There are articles and reports that I think are shit from time to time, but it's written by two people and I'm not going to agree with them all the time. Overall it's a class website imo, and even if you think they're tossers it'd still be worth a read to keep up to date with reserve and youth team football.

[lovejoy]

Imposters:

Minor point of order

 

A random conversation has led to us being alerted to a nonsensical message board post from a few weeks ago that purports to be from Biffa of NUFC.com.

 

As we've pointed out here before, we never post on any message board and refuse to run our own for precisely this sort of reason. Don't believe the tripe.

 

 

 

 

 

was this on here?

[Cajun]

I don't remember it.

[Rich]

Don't think so. Chronicle forums, perhaps?

[Dave]

Imposters:

Minor point of order

 

A random conversation has led to us being alerted to a nonsensical message board post from a few weeks ago that purports to be from Biffa of NUFC.com.

 

As we've pointed out here before, we never post on any message board and refuse to run our own for precisely this sort of reason. Don't believe the tripe.

 

 

 

 

 

was this on here?

 

Not that I'm aware of.

[afar]

Imposters:

Minor point of order

 

A random conversation has led to us being alerted to a nonsensical message board post from a few weeks ago that purports to be from Biffa of NUFC.com.

 

As we've pointed out here before, we never post on any message board and refuse to run our own for precisely this sort of reason. Don't believe the tripe.

 

 

 

 

 

was this on here?

 

I've not seen anyone claiming to be "Biffa" here, and quite frankly who cares about the other fans forums

 

Don't you find this a little arrogant. Not necessarily what they are talking about but the fact they seem to think they are some sort of celeberaties.

 

 

[Dave]

Depends on what the imposter posted though. Understandable tbf.

[Guest Heneage]

One thing I must credit them for, they have no problem in criticisng the team they support, something not always apparent with some fan sites.