Incommunicado @ Newcastle!

Posted on October 9th, 2009 | 15 Comments |

Isn't it?
Isn't it?
Well it’s been a busy news day for Newcastle United fans today…….

Literally nothing of note to write up about except for a slightly tardy mention of Barton’s belated ‘olive branch’ to Alan Shearer, after his admission that there was a falling out. More on the story and Joey’s quotes can be found here, but frankly despite my initial support have some of his misdemeanours I think I’ve had enough of him.

Why does he have to keep admitting his mistakes and making his apologies? Because he keeps ****ing up. He has not yet offered enough on the pitch to outweigh the damage he’s done to our reputation, for acts either before we bought him or during his spell here. At times, he’s single-handedly dragged our name through the mud.

In other news, former Newcasle great (ahem) John Barnes has been sacked by Tranmere along with pal Jason McAteer. While our other favourite ex-player Michael Owen has been invited to join the England squad as a guest of Fabio Capello. Obviously he’s mixing with the right crowd these days.

And that’s about it, so once again, another free weekend in which the Sunday papers will weigh in with speculative headlines and spurious stories for us to discuss, the majority of which will come to nothing!

Well, as there’s nothing much else to write about, I’d like to throw a question out there. We use these blogs and forums to vent our spleen and debate topical issues but the official website seems to be missing a trick or two. I find it perplexing in this modern age that there isn’t a moderated forum via the official site to help the fans feel like they’re staying in touch. They’ve also made it corporate and commercialised and it sort of represents the depressing feeling that we’ve lost some of the soul from the club. Where is the passion? Where is the common touch with real feelings and opinions? Where are the snippets of info to pacify the masses? It got me thinking, what would you want from the official site if you had a say in it?

NUFCBlog Author: bowburnmag bowburnmag has written 234 articles on this blog.

Related Posts:

Posted on by bowburnmag in category: Alan Shearer and Bowburn Mag and Joey Barton and Newcastle United Supporters Trust and NUFC 'Blog and NUFC gossip and speculation and Thoughts and reflections , with tags: , , , , ,
Comment on this post

15 Responses

  1. Good Question BBM – Id like to see a full section about the kids coming through. the first team are well covered (kind of) so I would like in depth profiles, video highlights etc of the up and coming players.

    That should be linked to the schools initiatives so we can follow kids as they come in, where they were discovered “Johnny from Wallsend” etc and track their improvement over time – kind of taking the club to grass roots fans as well as players.

    It would be good thereon to see full matches uploaded for us to watch of the kids games.

    Just an idea – I appreciate its a lot of work but Id enjoy it.

  2. Sadly I think the club feels like it has to distance itself from creating a forum or blog as it likes to show all of the positives and none of the negatives surrounding the club. The club looks at its official site like a marketing tool and I don’t think that will ever change.

    But I like the sentiment and idea of having an open forum for fans to let the club know exactly how they feel, but I think it will be sites like this one that will have to lead the way.

  3. Pons – you’re right of course. Imagine some of the comments that would have been posted on there the last year!

    But I feel maybe theres a middle ground – not a forum but something that helps us all stay in touch with the club.

    I have said for some time that the players should do a talk in each a month at the very least – or some other activity that connects the fans with them and the club.

  7. Stardust – I don’t like to mention them but you have to look at the mackems. They regularly have Niall Quinn or members of the board attending local meetings and events around Sunderland. When their fans abandoned them when they were relegated it was the club’s chairman who went out an re-engaged with the fans that looked like they were never coming back.

    If Moat gets in I would like to see NUFC doing a similar thing, regular interviews with the Chronicle/Journal/Shields Gazette, volunteering for phone-ins, directly engaging with supporters groups like the NUST or perhaps contacting forums like this one to allow us to put our concerns to them.

    Sometimes all we want are simple answers. It’s not too much to ask. If the club can win back the trust of Tyneside, the rest of the media would soon fall in line.

  9. The problem we have with the official site is that they believe they are politicians, all spin, half lies and full lies full of soundbites to pretend they are communicating.

    You will never get communication from the incumbents in charge as they basically do not know what they are talking about and are yes men to Ashley saying tings that will not upset him and deprive them of their comfortable living.

    This will only change I would like (and then it is not definate) when the new buyer is installed. It is critical to be honest with your customers (the supporters) even at times when the message is not what they really want to hear, but honesty will aways be rewarded with loyalty, the trouble with Newcastle is that it is still suffering from the image of decades of mismanagement i.e. put 11 donkeys out there in black and white and 50,000 will turn up to cheer them on.

    What would I like from the official site – honesty. They will never nor do they need to ever reveal everything that is going on some of which is highly confidential and critical to running a good business. Some of our fans demand information that no business would ever release into the public arena but good businesses tell their customers what they can and what they cannot release and with that honesty they get in return understanding, support and loyalty.

    Just as we all think we could do a better job at managing the team than any manager that is in situ so we all think we could make a better job of running the business when really the vast majority have no idea what is involved in running a successful business.

    Does M&S reveal everything they are about to do – hell no! their competitors would steam in and take the advatage but their customers know the senior managers are honest, upfront and more importantly CAPABLE of running a successful business. They are not run by a bingo caller, a gambler and pile it high and flog it cheap individual I will not use the word entrepreneur to describe him.

    We need a mission statement that tells us what is the REAL 5 year plan for the club and what devices have been put in place to measure each step of the way to ensure we are on target to achieve the 5 year plan, that is what every successful business does and today football is a business.

  10. There are a number of ways of improving the blog, but I will mention a couple that may of interest.
    It seems I am not alone in voicing the fact that poor communication from those running the club, has been a major source of frustration to the fans.
    There has been a complete failure on the part of the PR department, using the official site for a few terse sentence`s now and then, more like Tass than NUFC.
    Perhaps it may be possible to open a line of communication with the club that would satisfy the fans interest, concerning the future of their club.
    I realize it`s asking a lot and the difficulty involved implementing such a plan, perhaps a petition via e- mail.
    An occasional blog here from the clubs PR department, could generate both interest and a sense of rapprochement.
    Yes I realize this is not what a lot of anti Ashley hardliners are interested in, but perhaps it would be of interest to some.
    The second being, the rebuilding of the side, this is where the “Mickey Toons” could have their say.
    I am sure every fan is passionate concerning his choice of players he would like to see in black and white.
    A debate on how to rebuild, who to manage who to coach, etc. etc.
    Going to start off by saying do we really need this unknown Nigerian striker with sixteen goals in fifty nine games, i thought we already had a big striker with a similar, actually a better average.

  12. Incommunicado is fine with this lot…..

    What’s the point of “communicado” – when they freely admit they lie to the fans??

  13. UTD111 says:
    October 9, 2009 at 8:38 pm
    Incommunicado is fine with this lot…..

    What’s the point of “communicado” – when they freely admit they lie to the fans??

    The league should look no further for an example of what they are NOT looking for in their ‘fit and proper’ owners test.

  14. Alreet man!! So let’s say they change their spots. What sort of thing would you want out of the site?