Newcastle Thread

If Newcastle do sign Colback, his career at Newcastle will be over before it starts, replacing Cabaye with Colback etc.

I don't think we're signing Colback as Cabaye's replacement and more likely as Gosling's, although that will most likely be an improvement.

I'm guessing someone else is intended as Cabaye's replacement. But I'm not sure who that could be.

tbf if we do sign Colback to replace Cabaye it would be absolutely ridiculous.

Ben Arfa dropped from squad against Arsenal

Doesn't surprise me - usually the scapegoat when we concede goals, and manager and players don't like him. He's been wasted by Pardew, although his lack of fitness doesn't help.

That would be bad enough but his lawyer went on French TV and said they're considering having him buy out his Newcastle contract and leave.

This whole situation just takes the piss.

Reports are saying Mike Ashley told the manager and players money will be available in the summer to stop this current shitfest continuing into next season.

If that's true then at least its a start in the right direction.

Meanwhile, we apparently seem to be joined to West Ham for our pre-season, given both of us are going to pre-season tournaments in Germany and New Zealand.

Just bought my tickets for the Cardiff game so I can leave after an hour x


It is fucking hilarious how 'rival' supporters groups are now arguing over when to walk out /o\. Best supporters in the world.

Does anyone follow the 'fans' account on twitter? Bunch of morons. Arguing over why buy a ticket then walk out when you could just...not go, however they clearly don't realise that the majority will be season ticket holders and are almost obliged to be there having already spent the money.

I probably won't be walking out to be honest, I don't get to every game with playing myself and the fact it's a game we could potentially win makes me want to stick around. Will be interesting to see how many leave if we were 2 or 3 up on the hour.

Hope there's a 'lap of honour' too, it would be f*cking carnage

Lap of honor should probably be cancelled

And yeah, the fans account is completely moronic. as is Umar who runs it.

And I won't be walking out because it won't solve anything - I can see why those that are doing it are doing so though.

I think Shola is the only Newcastle fan that thinks the current regime works

I think its overdue action of any kind is being taken. I'm just not sure if paying then pissing off during is better than just boycotting, and this mess over when to walk out is unintentionally hilarious.

Could just do 50-50 - some leave on 60, some on 69.

Meanwhile, what to make of Ben Arfa's recent quotes?

Why is 69 the magic minute? Did ye win something then or something?

1969 Inter Cities Fairs Cup (which is now the Europa League).

I have also seen suggestions for the 27th minute (1927 was the last league victory) and 55th minute (1955 was the last FA Cup win)

I suspect there's a considerable number - the silent majority - although perhaps not a majority. At HT in the Swansea game, a banner was unfurled, and there seemed to be no interest whatsoever.

Basically the thing, I look for in a football team, is I want to watch the football, the current 'regime' seem to be keeping it relatively affordable. And they haven't done anything daft, like sell that city-centre stadium.

However all of the protests and 'movements' - have never offered any sort of coherent argument, to why a change is necessary and there methods never make any sense.

- What is the point in walking out - apart from to get exposure, and be patronised in the media? - Somehow exposure will lead to the club being sold, it's daft.
- Any potential billionaire out there, looking to spunk some money, will decide it's not worth it, taking on a militant fan base that gets annoyed when the club don't buy any players.
- 'Hit him where it hurts - his wallet' - again doesn't actually make any sense. boycott SportsDirect and buying drinks etc. from the ground. Unfortunately Ashley would just close the stores, and make staff redundant. He would suffer slightly, the staff would suffer much greater.
- Boycott games, boycott all sponsors associated with NUFC - Commercial revenue shrinks. And then what? Newcastle would then just be even less able to afford to buy players and become a slightly smaller club?

I'm very tired, of these boring cunts, telling me I'm not a 'real fan'. They don't represent my views and can fuck off. They're just desperate for their 15 minutes of fame. And they lie considerably more than the club do.

I suppose we'll see the numbers on Saturday, to one extent or another.

It'd be quite an achievement if they did lie more, given that the unfair dismissal trial that followed Keegan revealed the club routinely lie in their official media. They've improved since then, but even so, the trust thing does need to recovering from. Saying that, its a bit much the honesty is perhaps as bad given that they now do admit they don't want to go far in the Cups.

Commercial revenue is bad enough anyway. Financial reports do say we were making more in that area during the Shepherd era, and while it was probably down to that we didn't implode, it should be a lot higher. It probably would be if it wasn't for the ubiquitous free ads that Sports Direct and associated brands receive.

In other news, Nile Ranger's been fired from Swindon. What a waste of a career.

The club is completely different than it was in 2008 imo. Jimenez, Vetere, Wise and Llambias always came across as complete snake oil salesman, and the deals they were doing with South American agents sounded dodgy.

The club have communicated their strategy several times, about how they aren't going to spending big, 1 or 2 signings a season max, invest in youth and promote from within. And the league is the priority. You don't have to like it or agree with it, but they have seemingly been open and honest in telling you what the strategy is. (They even said in January they were unlikely to buy), and the target at the minute is a top10 finish, presumably to re-consolidate after last years setback.



This is a statement agreed upon by True Faith, The Mag, and NUST; It is a lie. They're clearly trying to emotionally manipulate people.

A top10 finish is clearly more than 'survival'. And the inclusion of the word 'try' is clearly there to suggest the club aren't even achieving it, ie the club is in course for relegation. They are 9th. There is a clear difference between priotitising the league, and attempting to get knocked out on purpose. They're lying. Newcastle got knocked out of the league cup in extra time by the eventual winners, and definitely went to win against Cardiff in the FA Cup.

How do you plan to win a cup? Besides winning it. Total bollocks. And the use of 'dreams' - again an attempt at emotionally manipulating people. Man City almost certainly didn't prioritise the League Cup, I'm sure they'd rather have the league or CL, same with Arsenal.

Obviously Wigan and Hull have shown, little clubs can do it if they really go for it, that's why they put out really strong teams such as;

Harper, Rosenior, Figueroa, Quinn, McShane, Faye, Boyd, Meyler, Proschwitz, McLean, Nagy (3 regular starters?)
Politt, Figueroa, Boyce, Stam, Golobart, Gomez, Espinoza, Fyvie, Henrique, McManaman, Boselli (2 starters?)



I wish Newcastle could have an extended run in Europe, perhaps culminating in a run to the quarters before being knocked out by a very good Benfica side. Anyway I'll reiterate Dalglish and Gullit were sacked a few games after cup defeats. and were seemingly dead men walking by the time the final came around.


On a sidenote, I read in a blog, that Newcastle's revenues are lower than you'd expect due to deals which lower costs. No idea if its true.

Obviously, the club has gotten better. I even said as much, and anything without Dennis Wise is automatically less detestable than something with him on board. But its still easy to have a quiver of suspicion, not least given that the stigma of "habitual lying" is not easily shiftable from the same owner that was running the joint in 2008 and still is in 2014, and that communication could be better.

Let's be fair - the club right now has the air of being in a mess, whether its the almost relentlessly shit form in 2014, players saying we don't invest enough or begging in the press to be played, and all the fan despondency.

But even so, as much as Twitter is probably not representative of the fanbase opinion as a whole, it seems like fans are content to argue with one another in increasingly vitriolic terms over this walkout, and how the side not doing their thing is not "true support", and its really fucking stupid. As much as I think boycotting is a more effective protest method than walking out during a game, surely it should be up to the fans to go "Yeah I'll walk out as I believe in this cause" or "Nah, I wanna stay and support my team", and just be free to follow whichever path they choose without this added and unnecessary bitching.

Pardew saying those who walkout "aren't true supporters" doesn't help.

Its not exactly a full lie if the focus is on the league, as Lee Charnley said in his recent incoming interview, or that Pardew said last August the Capital One Cup and Europa League were not his priorities (although he's hardly alone in saying that on those two fronts). Emotionally manipulative, perhaps, but lie? Nah.

Cup success is a lottery, tbf, but it would be nice if, just once, we actually made a fucking compelling go of it. Maybe it is just down to luck, although its easy to make a note of the fact we're yet to go beyond the 4th round of either FA or League Cup since Ashley arrived (there's also the notes this is only the 2nd season under him we've reached 46 or more Premier League points, but that's another debate).

I'm only judging from VHS tapes, Wikipedia and Premier League Years re-runs, but Dalglish taking Newcastle from finishing 2nd in 1997 to finishing only four points ahead of 18th in 1998 was always going to bite him on the arse, even if sacking after 2 games in 1998 was a wee bit harsh. Gullit just looked useless.

The club is in a mess only because people want it to be in a mess. Anxiety spreads to the players. Newcastle were playing an absolutely dreadful side, possibly the worst I've even seen in the league, and Newcastle were terrified of conceding and letting them back in the game.

The club has said several times the cup is not the priority, but that does not equate to not taking it seriously, but the club went for it against Stevenage, Brighton (1) and Cardiff, Hull and Arsenal. They were just rubbish. Brighton (2) and possibly WBA in the Championship (I didn't go) was the only time Newcastle didn't go for it.

- The Mag

Sun have went with 'hundreds'. I would estimate 100 on 60, 1,000 on 69?



. </3 - You're a writer in your late 40's, stop writing like a pre-teen girl.

Can anyone actually explain to me why this season, was worse than last?, or the Souness era, or the Roeder era, or the Allardyce/Keegan season or The Gullit and Dalglish eras, or the late Robson era, or the several years spent in the second tier, and yo-yoing?

I'm not sure how many people walked out as the estimates are all over the shop. All I know is that more did walk out on 69 than on 60. I'm going to guess about 4,000 max, but it was probably/certainly less than that. Certainly, nufc.com did estimate more stayed for the post-match appreciation laps than walked out on 60/69. I'm not sure what I expected tbh - I thought it'd be a situation were either nobody left or, if not quite everybody, than the majority left, and it wasn't really either of those.

I think the agitation, or at least it is in my case, is the premise that we wasted a good position in such a crap fashion. Going from 6th on Boxing Day to showing form that would be bottom from that day out, combined with some utterly tragic performances in that time period is a weird combination. Yes, we wanted top 10 at the start and are going to get it, and I don't think I expected us to challenge for top 4, but even so, its pretty annoying to waste what was a promising position and in such a hopeless manner. The fact the nearest replacement to Cabaye is a Dutch 'striker' who seems to have his feet on backwards probably didn't help.

Some fans are certainly fearful of the premise of this carrying over to next season. Certainly, I'm reminded of West Brom last season - good first half, lackluster second, largely reliant on the goals of a loan player. With any luck, we won't emulate what they did this season.

I know it was almost 10 years ago but I'm still not sure why we fired Bobby Robson - yes, 5th was underwhelming after being 3rd the year before, but the no confidence shown in him during pre-season in 2004 was appalling and the botched replacement process spat out a contender for our worst ever manager for no fucking reason.

Everyone was complaining in the first half of the season though.

Remember when people were mocking Kinnear for signing an injured player in Loic Remy. Pardew was managing with his 'hands tied', Kinnear was set to step up after Pardew lost a couple of games. And Kinnear was being wiley in signing an injured player, so that Pardew wouldn't get to use him and get sacked. Cabaye was on 'strike' etc.

Robson was sacked because the club was sliding and the fans wanted him gone. And tbh 5th 10 years ago probaby equals 8th now.

Now there is the big 6 + Everton and Southampton look very good. Back then it was the big 4, Newcastle followed by o'Leary's Villa, Charlton, Bolton, Fulham, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Southampton, Portsmouth. Not exactly the same standards.

Oh yeah... that was a surreal time of things when the nearest challengers to the top 5 were Charlton, Bolton, Fulham, Middlesbrough and Birmingham City - both in terms of ability and in the fact none of them will be in the Premiership next season.
EDIT: In a quick Google, it said the Liverpool team that beat Newcastle to 4th in the 2003-04 season got the same amount of points Manchester United currently have.

I don't really remember big calls for "Robson out" but then I was 11 at the time, and the players were more of the problem. I do think I remember John Hall a few months after Souness' appointment saying he would have fired Robson after the UEFA Cup defeat by Marseille that year, but that would probably have made shit worse.

In terms of this season, it was easy to worry when JFK strolled into town. Its easy to be paranoid in those sort of situations, and also to create elaborate conspiracy theories surrounding it. I suppose him gone means there's no chance of them coming to fruition, or at least for the moment, but a failure to properly replace Cabaye has been a problem in the second half of the campaign. Alongside either tying Remy down or replacing him, the biggest summer priority is getting in that player, whoever it may be.

The Chronicle are embarassing

But yeah, Pardew has to go. Lost the fans and seemingly lost a lot of the players with it. The hostile atmosphere isn't going to improve unless he goes.

Aye its exceptionally over the top, although banning them probably gave them free reign to go to bombastic levels. The Sunday Sun backpage after the defeat by Stoke (I think it was?) was hilarious, but after that, its just been absurd.

In terms of AP, I don't think he's going to be dismissed. We're now mathematically assured of top 10, which was the minimum aim, and its certainly an improvement on 2012-13, which even he will admit would have got him fired if it wasn't for that fecking contract. Something, however, has to change big time for next season, whether its in tactics, player coaching, player motivation or squad investment, otherwise this all-consuming negativity is just going to continue.

He needs to bring 2 people in the backroom staff imo

1 - To tell him where to play players
2 - To tell him that going 7 at the back at home will only work against teams that are truly awful (Cardiff)

The only way the end of this season is going to be good in any way is if Gateshead win promotion at the weekend.

Sunderland survived
Liverpool won't win the league (prefer them over that cantankerous wanker Mourinho and Man City)
We've been shit
Carlisle got relegated

It's all crap. Apathy is the worst thing when you love the game. After both derby defeats I was pretty apathetic. Hell, I struggled to care during the home defeats to Spurs, Everton and Man Utd. When you're getting thrashed by teams you know you were capable of beating earlier in the season away from home (would have done Everton if Iron Mike played the whole game) and you're not caring or even just laughing then it's gash.

Chronicle are just being as immature as they've been treated. They're having such a laugh with it too, I know a couple of lads who work there and they say the stories they can now print have given them the freedom they've not had in years, and with the headlines it's never been so fun to work for the paper.

One of them though gets through to the actual media though as he's also freelancing for the BBC, heh.

tbf - the media are never going to support you when you ban them from the stadium for no real reason.

What I look for in a football team is drastically different to Shola - I want to go and be entertained, a good old drink before/after with my mates and some entertaining football in the middle of it.

I don't want to be bullshitted to by Mike Ashley and Pardew about how they "get" our fans and love the club as they don't. Pardew is repeatedly showing himself up saying our fans want to be in the top 3 - which is nothing further from the truth. Our fans don't have unrealistic ambitions, they just want to see a bit of effort and entertainment with it. I know there's times we need to play defensively - such as Liverpool this weekend, and I have no problem with that. Cardiff and Swansea at home are games we shouldn't be doing so. Pardew loves playing defensively bar the 6-7 games towards the end of the 2011-2012 season, where remarkably we won about 6-7 in a row.

We don't want a 6ft2 brick shithouse Moussa Sissoko bottling tackles against Craig Bellamy, and we certainly don't want to see 6 at the back at home against Cardiff, when we're only 1-0 up.

No. It won't. Fuck that away day.

Gateshead would be a superb away day - night out in Newcastle after is a mere 2 miles away.