Time to show your hand Mr. Ashley

[madras]

What is now apparent in our support, and I am intrigued by your situation, is that further down the line, we now have a situation where we're so f****** relieved to be rid of the old guard, and the new guard are looking excellent in (almost) all they have done, that there is a culture of "how dare you complain, how f****** ungrateful" which surpresses anyone criticising or questioning the new regime, however valid or constructive that criticism.

 

Faith is excellent, blind faith is naive and dangerous, and that, for me, is why we need to maintain this healthy scepticism.

 

The same is going on over here mate. If you question the wisdom of certain signings, people come out with the same old tired responses ("so we should go out and buy Kaka should we?"). Allardyce came out to the press a few days ago and said the new owners don't really know what they're doing in the transfer market, started quoting how much clubs like Fulham are spending and said we're getting left behind while targets are getting nailed every day. He said he needs to get across to them the importance of moving quickly so he can get the defenders he needs. It was a plea via the media to Ashley and co for money. I'm not even sure Allardyce has met Ashley yet, but a good number of fans were concerned he's using the media to ask for funds and fast. However, come on here and voice that and you get the sarcy "let's sign Kaka then" brigade saying there's ages left in the transfer window so shut up.

 

Clearly this internal review is slowing things down, and nobody has any idea when it'll finish, but if it's concerning Allardyce then it should concern the fans. If he knows more than us and he's concerned then something's not right, and if he doesn't know more than us then what the hell is going on? I don't like to see my manager looking for funds via the media, it suggests communication behind the scenes is limited and it doesn't look very professional.

 

On the previous page somebody made the comparison to the Emperor's new clothes and that's exactly what's going on. I imagine things are similar over at your end, though I must admit I haven't been following your summer at all.

 

Good post.

 

Both me and Ohmelads were shot down last week for saying Queudrue isn't good enough, it's like they're on a high about Allardyce and Ashely coming in and seem to see the positive in everything. Would these same people have been happy if we brought Queudrue in under Shepherd? No chance they would as I remember the majority of this forum against the idea of bringing Callum Davies in.

 

We've just started pre-season games with Ramage and Huntington in the starting line upand I pray we don't have to start the season with them, this isn't good enough whether it's Mort or Shepherd in charge, that's not to say we won't have better defenders in by the time the season kicks off but anyone who isn't worried that we could end up like we did last summer needs to have a word with themselves.

 

Rather tellingly, there now appears to be a slow trickle of people who are realising that replacing the old board with "anyone" may not necessarily be the automatic passport to gold and glory that they thought it would be.

 

And Ashley is one of the better ones who could have taken over 

 

I don't think anyone thought that a new board couldn't be worse although you kept accusing people of it without a single quote to back it up.

 

Nice to see you're enjoying it anyway.

 

I'm sure I've spent about the last 2 years telling people - not you - who were claiming that Shepherd was the person preventing NUFC from being the club that they were, every time I said that there were many many chairman who would be worse and replacing with better was far from automatic ........ it is the single biggest reason for the amount of people who have disagreed with me, slated me for this view and had "arguments".

 

I'm not enjoying it at all. If Ashley turns out not to be better than the Halls and Shepherd, I could have kept my shares.

 

 

but it's a big "IF",don't you think it's worth the risk,selling your shares on this occasion ?

[OzzieMandias]

I don't know which is more pathetic -- people whinging about Ashley before he's barely had time to try out the owner's chair, or NE5 trying to use that in his latest round of excuse-making for the otherwise unlamented Fat Fred.

[Mick]

 

I'm sure I've spent about the last 2 years telling people - not you - who were claiming that Shepherd was the person preventing NUFC from being the club that they were, every time I said that there were many many chairman who would be worse and replacing with better was far from automatic ........ it is the single biggest reason for the amount of people who have disagreed with me, slated me for this view and had "arguments".

 

I'm not enjoying it at all. If Ashley turns out not to be better than the Halls and Shepherd, I could have kept my shares.

 

 

 

I'm not surprised about that in the slightest, nothing is proven either way about Ashley but we're going to find out so you may as well try to enjoy it, I'm sure we'll be finishing higher than 13th so at least it should be better than 2 of the last 3 seasons.

[NE5]

 

I'm sure I've spent about the last 2 years telling people - not you - who were claiming that Shepherd was the person preventing NUFC from being the club that they were, every time I said that there were many many chairman who would be worse and replacing with better was far from automatic ........ it is the single biggest reason for the amount of people who have disagreed with me, slated me for this view and had "arguments".

 

I'm not enjoying it at all. If Ashley turns out not to be better than the Halls and Shepherd, I could have kept my shares.

 

 

 

I'm not surprised about that in the slightest, nothing is proven either way about Ashley but we're going to find out so you may as well try to enjoy it, I'm sure we'll be finishing higher than 13th so at least it should be better than 2 of the last 3 seasons.

 

Do you think we will match the 3 consecutive top 5 positions that we achieved under the old board in the last decade, for the first time since the 1950's  ?

 

You know, the "same" as the board who did it once in 50 years ? As a matter of fact, I enjoyed going to games in those days too, its just that the actual game was shit, shame you didn't witness it, you may have know real shit and mediocrity that was on display on a fortnightly basis until the board you slate attracted you to the club in the first place.

 

 

 

 

[Teasy]

What makes you think Mort will not be our chairman and how do you know Ashley is not the kind of man to run the club himself, as you suggested in your earlier post?

 

Like I mentioned earlier Mort is here on sabbatical, which by its nature isn't perminant (its usually a year).  Also he's a lawyer, not a Football person so I really see little reason to choose him as a long term Chairman.  More likely he's there to be Ashley's eyes at the club during the initial takeover and to complete the internal review.

 

Why do I think Ashley wouldn't try to run the club himself?  Firstly he's a very good business man and so surely realises he doesn't have the knowledge to run a Football club day to day.  Secondly he's a very private person who definitely wouldn't want to be the clubs figure head.

 

Couldn't agree more with this, however, the buck always stops at someone.

 

Of course, but the positive thing from my point of view is that the buck now stops at the person who isn't running the club day to day.  At the end of the day all I care about are the Football decisions, not the business ones.  Everyone making the Footballing decisions at Newcastle United are now sackable.  Which is a breath of fresh air to someone who had long ago decided it was almost futile to complain.   Due to the fact that no matter what manager was in charge the real problem behind the scene's (the man picking the managers and mismanaging them in turn) was untouchable.

 

I understand what you're saying in your post and agree with it long term.  My point of view though is that its now a totally clean slate.  In a year or so I'll have a better handle on what I think of the new regime and then I may have my complaints.  But for now the new owner is getting the benefit of the doubt from me for quite a while yet (as will Sam Allardyce).

[Unbelievable]

What makes you think Mort will not be our chairman and how do you know Ashley is not the kind of man to run the club himself, as you suggested in your earlier post?

 

Like I mentioned earlier Mort is here on sabbatical, which by its nature isn't perminant (its usually a year).  Also he's a lawyer, not a Football person so I really see little reason to choose him as a long term Chairman.  More likely he's there to be Ashley's eyes at the club during the initial takeover and to complete the internal review.

 

Why do I think Ashley wouldn't try to run the club himself?  Firstly he's a very good business man and so surely realises he doesn't have the knowledge to run a Football club day to day.  Secondly he's a very private person who definitely wouldn't want to be the clubs figure head.

 

Has this been reported? If so, I must have missed it..

[OzzieMandias]

What makes you think Mort will not be our chairman and how do you know Ashley is not the kind of man to run the club himself, as you suggested in your earlier post?

 

Like I mentioned earlier Mort is here on sabbatical, which by its nature isn't perminant (its usually a year).  Also he's a lawyer, not a Football person so I really see little reason to choose him as a long term Chairman.  More likely he's there to be Ashley's eyes at the club during the initial takeover and to complete the internal review.

 

Why do I think Ashley wouldn't try to run the club himself?  Firstly he's a very good business man and so surely realises he doesn't have the knowledge to run a Football club day to day.  Secondly he's a very private person who definitely wouldn't want to be the clubs figure head.

 

Has this been reported? If so, I must have missed it..

 

Yep, it's been reported.

[Tsunami]

Seems like the injury season has started already for us & that Dyer is unsettled (& N'Zogbia?). I expect some developments this coming week & I do not think that this is unreasonable.

 

We have had a week of bad news with unrest, injuries & Sam on about missing targets. We need some positive news coming out from our club.

[Unbelievable]

What makes you think Mort will not be our chairman and how do you know Ashley is not the kind of man to run the club himself, as you suggested in your earlier post?

 

Like I mentioned earlier Mort is here on sabbatical, which by its nature isn't perminant (its usually a year).  Also he's a lawyer, not a Football person so I really see little reason to choose him as a long term Chairman.  More likely he's there to be Ashley's eyes at the club during the initial takeover and to complete the internal review.

 

Why do I think Ashley wouldn't try to run the club himself?  Firstly he's a very good business man and so surely realises he doesn't have the knowledge to run a Football club day to day.  Secondly he's a very private person who definitely wouldn't want to be the clubs figure head.

 

Has this been reported? If so, I must have missed it..

 

Yep, it's been reported.

 

What did you say?