This “group of lads” won’t let us down.

Posted on December 13th, 2010 | 243 Comments |

Together forever?
Together forever?
Firstly, I felt it was entirely necessary to get one of former managers famous ‘Hughtonism’s’ in the title. Job done on that one.

But why though? Well the answer is simple, and that is that the good result over Liverpool at the weekend was almost entirely down to him in my opinion.

Football is a fickle game, and the record books will show that the 3-1 success was recorded under the tenure of Alan Pardew, but there was more than a hint of Chris Hughton about the performance. As time goes on that effect will wane, but it will also hopefully stand us in good stead as we go about the business of securing Premier League football for another year.

There was potential on Saturday for the match to become a watershed moment in our season, similar to what the Hull City game was in our relegation season. It wasn’t, and whilst some credit has to go to the fans who made St James’ Park a cauldron of noise and created one of the best atmosphere’s that I have heard for quite some time, a large bulk of the credit has to go to the players.

They, with the backing of the fans, put on a performance that showed character. They could have wilted like the mega-stars in our relegaton season did, but they didn’t. They carried on the togetherness and team spirit that was instilled by Hughton. That, to me, was one of the most important things.

It can’t be understated just how important that team spirit can be, and we have Hughton to thank for that. We have a tight group of players who are right behind each other and are willing to fight for everything. I had wondered if that spirt was disappearing in recent weeks after a run of poor results, but Saturday proved to me that it is still there.

It was important that we won the game on Saturday. It was important because a lot of questions were being asked about our Premier League credentials. It was important because the press were sharpening the knives and were desperate for a story. It was important because we have a tough run of fixtures coming up and we needed to get some points on the board. Anyway, you get my point.

Hughton may have been moved on, and a lot of us may have disagreed with the move, but the reality is that Hughton will soon be a memory. Have no doubts that Chris Hughton will also move on, and he will move on pretty soon if newspaper speculation is to be believed. What can’t be forgotten is just how Hughton helped to shape where we are now. It could easily gone a different direction, but it didn’t, and for that I thank Hughton immensely.

Football: It’s a fickle game.

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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243 Responses

  1. nice piece Toonsey.
    I take it you think the win was important then :D

    You are right about the team spirit and togetherness. Just hope Partridge doesn’t f uck it up.
    Barton was superb and rightly mom.

  3. Aye,
    Thanx Chris!
    & All the best in ALL you do next, except if you’re playing against the Toon, that is.

    Great character shown by the lads & a brilliant turn out by the fans, a MASSIVE well done to them for getting behind the team.
    It could have all gone pear shaped, especially when they got their dodgy equalizer.
    But they fought back admirably & put the Toon back in the top half.

    I was proud of the support on satda.
    Life does go on & so does football.
    Everyone put a shift in & showed real nerve.
    We limited liverpool to their customary away loss (this year).

    & for all people have had a go at Sol et al, torres didn’t get a look in, apart from the one where Krul saved our ass.
    We kept him very quiet.
    Should be interesting to see what team we put out next game, with a few back, particularly defenders.
    The ‘new’ revolution starts here.
    Howay the lads!

  4. yes this group of lads dont jus love houghton they love the club n care bout which we aint had for a long time, the lads of said what needed to b said n then got behind the new manager which is what needed to b done. i think pardew mite not b as bad as everyone thinks but only time will tell

  6. There are a few teams looking to take over our place as ‘Prem team in turmoil’, which is nice.
    Wetspam, liverpool, manc, chelsea & the list goes on.
    ;)

  7. Toonsy mate, your first paragraph interests me most, as you say that there was a touch of Hoots in the decision to pick these lads who played but it will be recorded under Pardews tenure yeah… well until Pardew starts to bring in some of his own players & plays them, won’t that be the case in every game, as these are the players that Hoots bonded together??

    Not having a pop mate but I think that Hoots will alway be remembered in a good light, just like KK & Sir Bob are because of how he got us from a team who were on the verge of distruction into a proper team who can stand up against all the big teams in the PL again!!

  8. yea it will be interesting to c which players pardew rates after a full week training n like the fact he wants to find out who has short contracts left n get tied down on new ones he has also stated he hba signed permanently, i kno barton n jose etc are on big money but i reckon they will stay n its more benefical to ashly to tie them down to bigger contracts with bigger wages bcoz he can then build in wage deducations incase of relegation

  9. Cyprus – Just becuase they are the same neames, it doesn;t mean they will be using the same approach. They may be asked to do certain things differently, which will be Pardew and not Hughton.

    I agree that Hughton will always be remembered, but it’s also time to move on and get behind the new man IMO. It’s what the players seem to be doing, so why not us?

  10. crypus bit truth in that but it depends on at tactics he is bringin to the same team, well if we can win at birmingham we will hav 6pts from december 4 more than i wud hav predicted after 2 games

  11. Davy – I think the thing with Barton and Jose is that they are already big earners so the club want to see where they are next season before taking a punt. If we are in the prem I expect they will get new deals. If we aren’t then they won’t.

  12. A lot of what went on on the pitch on Saturday was down to the togetherness that Hughton instilled in the team, but you have to ask yourself; would the teams fighting spirit have shown through so much if we hadn’t faced the week of adversity that we just have?

    The way we’ve played over the five matches before this on was (apart from the Chelsea result) a little lacklustre, to say the least. Okay, we were missing key figures for some of those games, but I don’t think that was a sole factor in the losses. This “group of lads” has learned to thrive on adversity since we were relegated. We’ve been all about “proving the doubters wrong”, and I can’t help but feel that there was a lot of that behind Saturday’s performance.

    Would we have won if Hughton had still been there? I don’t know. I’d say Saturday’s win was all about the players putting in 110%, irrespective of who was standing in the dugout.

    I don’t know if Chris would have kept up if he’d stayed (though I would have like to have seen him given the time to try). Sure, we were holding our own, but we’re not even half way through the season. I wonder how many of the faithful would have carried on backing him if our recent run had continued and seen us in the bottom three by Christmas.

    I’ll be watching with interest to see what happens with the team he next manages. There may come a time when even the most devoted Hughton fans feel that Mike Ashley did the right thing. I hope not. I hope he does well wherever he goes, but whatever happens, we have to look to Pardew to keep the lads performing the way they did on Saturday.

    Also, I hate to admit this, but Joey Barton has gone up a long way in my estimations, despite the punching incident. Future captain?

  13. toonsy says:
    December 13, 2010 at 10:57 am
    Cheers Batty @ 2<<<<< kna not me m8 check it oot more than likley will be the local corrie fan m8

  14. barton already said pardew tweaked jus 3 or 4 things that they were doin in for the liverpool game, andy woodman set to b new goalkeeping coach if any one interested

  15. Here here toonsy,
    no doubt the systems will change.
    Pardew already did something different with the sub of SA for NR after an hour.
    It did make a difference too.
    Can’t argue with that, really.

  16. davy where did he say that ? i heard barton say he has only been here 2 days he sed fck all aboot tweakin

  17. yea toonsy i understand that one thing ashly will hav learnt when doin contracts is to put say 50% deduction in wages if relegation were to happen, then he can pay wages of 80grand a week but still b covered if relagation were to happen

  18. Couple of BIG games up next, away to brum & we need to avenge HBA v manc without tevez (with luck).

    Howay!

  19. batty its in the interview in this mornings journal barton says pardew said same team stick whats working but he jus tweaked 3 or 4 things bout it, i also heard pardew say after the the game there was a few things in the game that he didnt like n wud work on

  20. andy woodman goalkeeping coach n its looking like ray lewington from fulham or wally downes from west ham as new assistent according to papers

  21. I think whoever was the new manager we would still have won as it was all down to the players. I suspect that Nolan (especially), Barton, Smudger and Harper would have got all the players together and got their minds on the fact that they are professionals and the club pays their wages and they have a duty to the fans.

    I don’t mind players being on high wages as long as they perform well. Better to have Colo playing well and getting paid well than Campbell playing badly and getting whatever he is getting which hopefully is a lot less than Colo.

  25. i dont think it will b much but at least its looking like ap is gonna get some transfer funds say 10mill n hopefully another 5 to tie up hba

  27. But whatever.

    Whomever said what matters not now, we kicked liverpool’s ass good style.
    :)

    Not many match reports giving us much credit out there.

    Think we spoiled their fun.
    :)

  28. The highs and lows of a Newcastle fan

    Sunday – one of the worst games I have seen in a long time, and being in the away end at the hawthorns was pretty sh*t

    Monday – rumours circulate regarding the future of Houghton – and then he is sacked with an official statement on the club website

    Tuesday – the hunt for the replacement begins … could it be Jol or

    Wednesday – could it be Klinsman

    Thursday – Pardew named as manager and the doom mongers nit pick every single word of his press conference

    Friday – he meets the players and all the doom mongers continue …

    Saturday – great win against Liverpool … and the doom mongers have gone (until something goes wrong and then they will suddenly reappear and say ‘I told you so’)

    And who says football is becoming boring ;)

  29. Hope Barton , Nolan and Jose all get new contracts soon , those 3 imo are players that can drive us on too the next phase . i was one of those calling for Barton to be booted out of the club and now think he is just about the best player we have . Although he still has demons that need worked on he also deserves respect for how he has changed already . Resigning those 3 is as important as who we will or will not be bringing in in January .

  30. Anyone for conspiracies?

    Just been told by someone in the club that apparently both Barton and Nolan were fit for the West Brom game, he said ‘read in to that, and the performance, what you will.’

    Duh duh duuuuuhhhhhhhhhh

  31. davy ur right i seen jb’s interview and pards did say after the match that there was things he didnt like and would b working on them.
    Bottom line is the players r and will get behind him and if we want to b in the epl next year we will have to do the same.
    Batty how da hell r u longtime no speak r u still beating the jellyfish

  32. Davies – you kind of brush over the return of key players in explaining the win. Barton scored one, set up one. Nolan scored another. Without their involvement presumably Carroll’s long distance cracker would have been our only goal – apart from the fact that we would have been overrun by then. Spirit was good AT TIMES – but this was a match about perseverance, as opposed to the pressure play against mackems/villa.

    It’s hard to deduce who’s result this was. There was an upturn in quality after the previous 5 matches but no doubt the players had something to prove – especially barton seemed even more gee’d up than usual.

    I’m starting to believe this bunch don’t need much interference now. A couple of new singings in the winter: another striker included, but apart from that I’d be tempted if I was Pardew to let them get on with it.

  34. @29

    When Barton plays well, the whole team plays well
    He is THAT influential to our team right now
    Simple

    Like you said, he just needs to learn to keep his emotions in check then we’ll be rocking on :)

  40. toonsy i dont m8 they both spoke very highly of him at the weekend didnt they ,just sum arse spreading rumours ,and have u checked kkforever yet ?

  44. well a win at birmingham wud b an excellent start to a very diffucult december hope we can get sumthing n i hope ranger gets his start he deserves

  47. toonsy – i heard beardsley asked fat ash to instruct hooters not to play them 2 knowing the team would fail miserably and with that giving ash the opportunity to peddle him.all this coz hooters wouldn’t give him the job as his number 2 – not sure if there’s any truth in or not like.

  48. Batty – Yep :)

    Cropper – You’ll have rose petal flobbing his lip out if you say stuff like that about Pedro ;)

  52. Stu,
    aye mate, but there’s a long way still to go this season. & The press seem very reluctant to give those teams the same shoddy treatment we get.
    But they won’t be able to resist for too long. :)
    No doubt we’ll blow up again soon though.
    ;)

  53. batty ur very nosey my name ends in forever.
    Rich i no what u mean about bambi being injured but ch would have pushed slolan up and brought someone else on but not ranger with 30 mins to go.

  55. yeah, I’ve heard something similar to that too.

    Harper came in to talk to CH that he wanted his 1st spot back if he return form injury and CH said he wanted to stick with Krul so Harper talked to his friends i.e. Barton , Nolan to did something for him so they refused to play for Chrissy.

    This came from my friend’s pa who work in NUFC.

  56. richie,
    aye,
    but i guess it’s debatable whether Shola’s really injured?
    Players, especially senior players, don’t like to be subbed for nowt & try to look injured for appearances sake.
    Who knows, if he starts next game we’ll assume…
    :)

  58. Clint I kna, but at least it wasn’t trying to put the knife in a bit more lol
    makes a change :D

  59. It was always debatable whether Nolan & Barton were injured anyway.
    Managers do strange things sometimes & make mistakes.
    Or take the opposition too lightly?
    It’s over though.

    Not that that’s gonna stop the conspiracies mind, it is Newcastle after all, more soap than unilever & all the soapy tv you can name-combined.

  60. BB,
    aye mate,
    & at least they did say a couple of canny things & said we deserved the win.
    Which was nice!
    :)

  61. Clint – most of the doom mongers as you call em were shouting for Ashley and Llambias head – yes people were disapointed at Pardwho replaging CH as they couldn’t see how he was any better than CH.
    Ultimately Chris is gone with a few wins Pards will get the fans on his side, it’ll take a lot longer for the chuckle brothers to gain any respect now regardless of the job they do
    Shame as I think they were doing a fairly decent job but with the sacking have brought up all the old demons i.e. will they sell our best players, just trying to take a profit blah blah

    Reckon we can get something out of Brum game, they have big trouble scoring tho they dont let many goals in at home – need to watch out for thier big fella

  62. Just want to draw everybody’s attention to a fantastic quote from Joey Barton in today’s Chronicle.

    “Sometimes you have to go in with the muck and bullets and put yourself there to score goals.”

    For me, those are great, old school football words.

  63. Magpie_May13 Magpie_May13 says:

    Ye, Barton refused to play for Chris, and then went on to dedicate his man of the match award to him when he got the sack.

    God you people are thick!

  64. clint…he was struggling whey before his number came up and as KK4eva said he was sat on the pitch for a while.

    KK…aye true or brought lovenk on.

    batty….not me mate, never used another nick on here.

  65. clint bambi was walking about when he seen his no on the board and the next min he was down on his ass trying to save face.
    I was told that pards thought he was going to get a rough time from the seniors as he was told by lamerse that a few of the seniors were basically running the team. Pards will be a boss and wont let players dictate to him. CH was too easy going

  66. Nice article Toonsy.

    I was one of the most angry, doom-mongering people on here this time last week.

    In the event, I thought the way things went was perfect. Nothing like what I’d called for, but in the event, exactly what was needed.

    As Toonsy said, it was all about supporting the players’ stance on it. They decided to react positively while openly criticising the CH sacking. So did we.

    Big thanks to the protesters, who hit the right note as far as I’m concerned. Big thanks to the players for kicking red butt just when needed.

    Biggest thanks to Hoots, who produced a team capable of doing that.

  68. 4411,
    agreed mate, though i try & refrain from calling people doom mongers like, think i did use the term once, way back though. :)
    Aye zigic is the man to watch.

    El Toro,
    aye, great words, great performance, he doesn’t like liverpool does he? Loved the way he didn’t give a flying that he would take one in the mush to score that goal. Never complains about being smacked about/hacked/injured.
    :)

    richie,
    aye, i was being slightly facetious mate. Soz. ;)

    KK,
    :)

  69. ๋๋๋๋JJ – that’s my points !!!!

    I posted it to show how easily to wind things up.

    You just put in the word and wait for someone to believes or takes that to spread around.

    Never a second that I believe some of that crap.

    Sometime people can easily fall into words than the actual action otherwise these crap wouldn’t came up cuz it’s obvious to everyone that for all the things players did show that the players love and have a lot of respect for Chris.

  70. JJ – well said. Some daft rumour-mongering going on here, and some very gullible people! Footie blogs; luv ’em. :)

    I still think Barton’s gesturing to Torres was stupid and embarrassing, though. Does he not realise the cameras are on him? Does he think it helps his chances with England, or Newcastle’s chances in the league?

    Judging by the impact he had in the match, you can easily attribute his last ban to the loss of several points. He needs to get a grip; it doesn’t matter how well he can play if he’s banned due to stupid “small man” behaviour.

    Ok, slagging over and back onto his actual playing performance: – definitely a worthy MOTM performance. Superb. I also thought Nolan’s return had a big impact on cohesion; not to mention the scoreline!

  71. As for Shola, it’s actually easy to tell when he’s injured: he’s not playing well. Trouble is; that’s a lot of the time! When he’s firing on all cylinders – as he has a couple of times this year – he’s a nightmare to defend against and tends to change matches. (e.g. against Chelski in the Carling game.)

    Anyone know what the injury is and how bad? I really hope it’s not his hip again, or we could be looking at a career-wrecker.

  72. Why do people say things like, “The Pardew effect had nothing to do with it, it was all down to the hard work put in by Chris” as if the two are mutually exclusive or something?

    Here is an idea, Chris’ hard work, plus the new manager effect, plus the negative week everyone has had all conspired to see the team perform so well on Saturday.

  73. Barton was fantastic(our only accurate crosser) and like Nolan seems to be Black’n’White through and through,’No Way’Jose is as good as any fullback in the Prem. Krul,Simpson and Ranger are learning the trade and getting there fast.Tiote means top class in swahili.Carroll is a diamond who will cut through any defence at will.The rest (with the possible exception of Taylor) are not the quality to take us into the higher reaches. Thats the task Pardew has for his 5yr plan, and if HBA and Gosling are the real deal then the future looks pretty good to me.HWTL

  74. I feel like a bit of a sham.

    Nobody wanted the walkout, so I ended up hanging about in The Forth waiting for people all day and then just going in like nowt had happened. And I enjoyed it as much as any game this season, bar the mackem game. So much for my ****ing principles.

    It was a strange night without a doubt and yet at the same time, part of me felt like I’d done the right thing. And reading a few comments on here I wonder whether that’s because it was a decent blend of support. It was noisy as hell and it seemd like a perfect share of pro-club and anti-Ashley songs. I could hardly speak after the game. So I felt like I’d made a good contribution vocally.

    I dunno man, I really enjoyed beating those bastards and have been thinking all weekend, why should I have to miss out occasions like that, because of a **** like him? I’ve paid my money, so sod the bastard, I want to enjoy it.

    However, I think it’s yet another week or two of soul searching for me before deciding whether to ditch the season ticket.

  76. BBM – don’t feel bad, fella. Things changed completely once the attitude of the team came to light – which was only in the last day or so before the match.
    “Support the team” was the one consistent thing we were all calling for, and if the team had shown any indication that they wanted to protest, we should have done the same.
    As it was, they made it very clear what they thought, but also that they would go out to win it. The support did the same, and I think that was right.
    I would have loved it if the team had put on some sort of protest, but they didn’t, and what they did instead was superb. The protesters also did us proud, and the only person really feeling the heat is Ashley.
    A good day’s work, really.

  77. bowburn,
    Well said mate.
    You did the right thing & hope you don’t feel like you crimped your principles man.
    It takes a man to say what you just did.
    The crowd was F***ing excellent, made their point, but supported the lads all game.
    It’s a funny auld game.
    :)

    Toon Toon!

  79. If only Ashley would just come out and tell us that yes, there were immovable reasons for having to lose Chris. He wouldn’t even have to say what they were – it’s not the kind of thing you air in public – but just retracting the obvious lie about ‘more experience’ and crediting us with some intelligence would go a long way to letting things move on.
    Once again, it could be his PR that is the worst bit about the club.
    Ho hum. Brummie-thrashing, anyone?

  80. BBM….ya just do what feels right at the time mate,principles and feelings can’t be pre planned.Go with how you feel in the moment, thats ya principles right there ;-)

  84. whumpie….it would be nice but can’t see fat ash telling us anything.
    Just to clarify my comment @35…I meant something more has gone on with CH’s sacking than just Ashley wanting more “experience” and not the rumour about the scousers not being injured(tho did hear that last week and took no notice). Whatever the full reasons I doubt we’ll ever find out the truth…..until CH writes his autobiography ;-)

  85. Whumpie says:
    December 13, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    What Barton did happens at almost every match, just sometimes their not spotted and if they are there just ignored. But because it was Barton everyone makes a song and dance.

    I cannot ecept this one rule for one and another for everybody else shite!

  88. bowburnmag

    You won’t ditch the season ticket and you know it.

    There are overseas fans like myself that would have our left testicles to go to a single Newcastle game, so why would you leave an empty seat out of protest, for some gimp we all know doesn’t give a sh#t what you say!

    He won’t be around for ever, and thing have been far worse.

    Go out and support the team, they are putting up one hell of a fight and deserve all the support and encounragement they get!

  90. batty…I’d pre-order a copy now. :-)

    Ashley’s autobiography would need to go in the “fiction” section!

  91. maggie may looking at that footage looks like the ref could have seen sumit as he came across and tapped barton on the shoulder ,so should have put sumit in his notes so barton should be ok ,but who knows

  94. I agree wholeheartedly may13. I personally find what Barton did hilarious, immature or not. Torres was looking for trouble through frustration. That and the fact he’s been f*cking pathetic since day one of the season. If he gets punished then it’s one rule for one and another for Joey Barton which is unacceptable.

  95. I swear there was a lower league player who threw the ball at the ref in their match and ive heard nowt about him getting banned its fcuking ridiculous, Have they got nowt better to do like roasting their secretaries or licking Fergusons hoop… :mad:

  96. “Pardew only met his players for the first time one day before the game, having been unveiled as manager on Thursday, and Barton said the new man had “wisely” opted to adopt an attitude that if it isn’t particularly broken, there’s no need to fix it.”

    Do the club do it deliberately? Are they mocking us, or just really, really stupid?

  97. toonsy says:
    December 13, 2010 at 11:40 am

    “Do you think that Hughton and Barton/Nolan had a fall out then?”

    Just a guess, as I presume we’ll never know the truth (well until one of them sells their soul and releases an autobiography. Would hardly be a best seller though would it!) but I would assume that they found out about what was going to happen to Hughton and didn’t travel in protest.

    Both seem angry about the scking so i’m just putting 2 and 2 together.

  99. Secondly regarding Barton, he’s asked for a… special favour, from a girly looking spaniard, before getting closer and realising it was in actual fact Fernando Torres. I think this is just a massive misunderstanding.

  101. boys joey is the real deal its just a pity he never really get a fair chance, it makes it worse when people like loonchicken wont go to games when he is in the team.
    But then he has maybe never been to sjp and uses joey as a lame excuse.
    BBM i know how u feel mate but the love for the toon can b a strong pull

  102. Yes credit has to go to Hughton and the legacy he has left on the team. (He wants to steer clear of West ham if ya ask me, unless he wants 2 relegations on his CV already)

    Some credit has to go to Pardew though. There are plenty of managers who would have come in, rocked the boat, put their ideas across upset the players and lost their first game. He didn’t do that and he cleverly played on the negative atmosphere and turned it into noise at the ref and Liverpool.

  103. Also big credit to SS and AP for bringing Ranger on for half an hour. I don’t know how much it had to do with Shola being injured but it was a game changer and I just have the suspicion Hughton would have left it another 15mins at least.

  104. Aye Boater, don’t mean to make them seem unimportant, my point was that Barton was there for the Blackburn match and Nolan only missed one.

    Saturday’s win can’t just be attributed to Hughton. You must have noticed that when we’re really up against it, we produce good results. Give us a reason to struggle and we shine. Make things too easy, and we do what we did when Blackpool came to visit. I don’t know if that’s down to Hoots, or if it’s just that influential players like Barton and Nolan knuckle down when people expect us to screw up.

    We have to give the credit where we know it’s due; to the team. We’ll never really know who else should be taking credit.

  106. Aye good piece Toonsy, Hoots will go and grow just like Newcastle, but what he did won’t be forgotten!

  107. Bah sky sports say the F.A are now considering the Barton gestures. Bloody fecking typical.

  111. Fair points about the Barton ‘incident’ – it’s funny when taken on its own (and Torres earned it) but Barton needs to start walking the walk with his behaviour.
    To anyone outside of the Toon Army (including those around me on Saturday) he came across as a total dipsh*t – the sort of short-arsed chav you see staggering about outside a Liverpool nightclub trying to make up for his small dick.
    If he’s so keen to prove himself, why do it? If he wants fair treatment (and we all know he doesn’t get it) he has to do his bit to earn it, and that’s nothing to do with playing well. The only people who link performance with attitude to the player are us; to the rest of the world – including the FA, referees, Capello and so on – a trouble-maker who plays great football is still a trouble-maker. All I’m saying is we need to choose what we’re after from him: knob gags or points. And he needs to decide how much he wants to start matches when we have another player who’s as good but doesn’t behave like an ASBO-carrying yob at every opportunity.

  112. New Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has raided his old club Charlton Athletic for goalkeeping coach Andy Woodman.

    Woodman joined the Addicks in the summer of 2007 to link up with Pardew having previously worked alongside him at West Ham.

    The 39-year-old played for Northampton, Brentford and Oxford among a host of clubs and was also assistant manager at Rushden.

  113. Why is anyone surprised if the FA take action? Yes, it’s a different rule for Joey, as it is for any repeat offender. To use a really lame film quote: “Your family reputation ain’t the best in the navy; you need to be doing it better and safer than everybody else”.
    If Sky are right, it’s just proved my point. Until Benny’s back or Guthrie finds his form, we’re going to drop more points every time Joey gets banned for doing stupid, unnecessary things.

  114. I don’t think anything will come of it, he’ll probably just be warned of his future conduct.

    If something does come of it, well, they’re opening a whole can of worms in my opinion.

  115. Agree ILM; it would be daft for the FA to do more than rollock him. But the club needs to have serious words – he took a massive risk for no benefit whatsoever. The club doesn’t spend all that time and money fighting for every point just so players can spend it on their egos.

  116. Stat alert…

    Barcelona made 938 passes v R.Sociedad last night, a record since Opta stats began and 25 more than Stoke have made in their last 3 PL games put together, 915.

    Anyone see the game? They’re an unbelievable team like

  117. Whumpie says:
    December 13, 2010 at 3:01 pm

    What risk has he taken? Do you really think that what he did warrants anything at all?

    Forget who it is, it happens every fcking game. If we’re going to be bothered about that we might as well turn it into netball and send a player off for using a swear word. There wouldn’t be a completed game man!

  118. As I said on the previous thread there will have been worse either done or said in every game in the country, however JB needs to learn(and fast) that everything he does will come under more scrutiny than most, if not all other players and as Whumpie says it can cost us points when he’s missing.Joey needs to be a complete angel on the pitch just to stay on a par bookings wise with players who are a lot dirtier.

  119. ILM… aye but Stoke’s passes will have been harder, all long distance from the keeper to the forward. ;-)

  122. batty says:
    December 13, 2010 at 3:35 pm
    joeys just joey ya cannit turn him into an fairy

    Yeah, but he was trying to turn Torres into one!

  125. Apparantly Torres told Joey he’d sort him out in the tunnel so he should get banned for that, along with every other player in the game – if anything happens from this the whole league will be foooked next weekend

    Off topic – anyone watch the Khan fight, was well surprised he stood up to the punishment he was shipping!

  126. 4411,
    Khan means King mate, he’s hard as nails for a little ‘un like.
    :)

    The fa are a completely blinkered JOKE.
    If it’s going to be letter of the law, why should the instigator get away with it?
    Soon Joey won’t be allowed to even look upset at a decision, it’s f***ing pathetic.
    Shooting fish in a barrel.
    Pfffttt!

  127. That’s Jose’s account by the looks of things. Some of his posts are brilliant aswell, he seems pretty funny.

  128. Fourfour-he wanted to prove he had a chin after the Prescott fight mate. He certainly proved that. There’s talk of Roach and co trying to get a fight between him and Mayweather sorted considering he’s too scared to fight Pacquiao, would love to see it.

  131. Here’s a thing. I assume the ref didn’t see the gesture. If he had seen it, what action do you think he would have taken? Called the 2 together and said stop being such girls? Maybe given a yellow to Barton? But a red card? I seriously doubt it! Hardly a sending-off offence! So what are the FA going on about?

  132. Stuart: our opinion on Joey’s behaviour means nowt. It’s those twunts at the FA that count, and, like it or not, we could now drop yet more points because of an unnecessary Joey absence. The man’s a pillock. A brilliant footballer, but when he’s sat in the stands, that leaves our club with… a very expensive pillock.

    If he gets a ban, he should get docked wages. If he doesn’t he should get a serious talking to; we simply can’t afford to piss points up the wall because one individual can’t get through a match without getting his metaphorical c0ck out.

  133. 4411 – aye mate that was the best boxing match for a long time. Both men were at it hammer and tongs, but think Khan was lucky to make it past that 10th round, he was almost out on his feet. That argy is a tough nut, and was defo on top at the end, but credit to Amir Khan, he took some belters to his chin, and still stood up. No glass chin there anymore.

    Dont think he FA are going to take any action against JB, we would have heard by now I think.
    Nowt on the FA website so fingers x’d

  134. First of all I feel extremly let down by BBM. You have no backbone man. Am I going to have to send Joey barton round to have a word? :-)
    Seriously, I doubt any of us would have done it either. So don’t worry about that.

    As for the game. Always good to beat the bin dippers. People say we are deluded, they need to look at liverpool. Their fans seem to think they have some God given right to be challenging for everything every year.
    Did the owners not realise Raffa was a secret toffee? :-)

    It was a funny game and I personally think Pardew got lucky. If it was a so called lesser team than liverpool then the plaudits wouldn’t be so forth coming.
    His real tests will be in a couple of games time when the dust has settled. Everyone knows a team tends to shine first game a new manager is in charge. No matter what they thought of CH, they have a new gaffer now and they need to impress to make sure he picks them everyweek.

    Oh and Joey Barton has just elevated himself to one of my all time favourite players.
    Someone on here likened him to Roy Keane. I think he can pass better than the dog botherer, but he still has a way to go in that central midfield position before he can say he is as good as him.

  135. batty :)

    Not even a yellow ‘offense’ magpie 6699.
    Not even a talking to.
    Try stamping out the cheats first if you wanna do something useful fa.

  137. Let’s be honest, lads – yes this stuff happens in every game (well, most) but not to every player, and yet it’s always JB, isn’t it? And I can’t remember the last time anyone was daft enough to do something that made it so easy for the FA to invoke the ‘obscene gesture’ clause. Grabbing your wedding veg and mouthing “smoke this”? Yep, funny – right up to him getting another ban and us finding ourselves in the relegation zone again.

    Let’s stop making excuses for him; he does this stuff more than the rest of the team put together and is letting the side down as a result. He costs us points and makes sure the hacks never run out of excuses to bash us in the press. Dead funny, that.

  138. Agreed it’s not worth more than a cautionary word from the FA. As Clint says, “Try stamping out the cheats first if you wanna do something useful fa.”

    Too right. Alas, they are corrupt, amoral, egotistical, reactionary, ignorant idiots to a man.

  140. Whumpie,
    you’re bang on with your last line mate.
    That’s the real problem.
    It’s a mans game, when it’s men that are playing.
    All this crap about trying to stop men swearing/cursing at football, in the heat of battle is ridiculous. Just like when they take issue with someone in the crowd doing it.
    It’s Prem football, for big money/prestige etc.
    They already sucked some of the thrill of scoring a goal out of it by stopping players celebrating.
    They always miss the point & risk losing fans & ruining the game with their petty bullsh.
    You can see/hear worse in a school playground everyday before morning break.
    :)

  149. worky,
    have you been through my singles collection mate?
    :)
    You’ve got taste mate.
    & are a very cultured young man (books etc).

    I knew there was a good reason why i got along with ya’.
    ;)

  150. Adrian Durham recons Big Sam for West Ham.

    I would love it if thats true, coz I can’t see anyone saving them and rather fatty went doon than C.H.

  151. Thats just made my day.
    Fat retarded twat
    Whey aye. Now Fook orf and take those jowels with ya. CNUT
    :D :D :D :D :D

  155. Fat Sam is been lined up to replace Jose at Real Madrid :) The club board feel he is more suited to take the club forward

  159. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    December 13, 2010 at 5:04 pm

    “worky,
    have you been through my singles collection mate?

    You’ve got taste mate.
    & are a very cultured young man (books etc).”

    Thanks Clint. It’s a shame you missed some of the early ones, but there’s alot more to come. It’s a bit of a funny time to sell them ATM though so I didn’t gone overboard. I never thought there’d be any people on here who had records like that!

  160. worky,
    sweet mate.
    just keep giving us the nod mate, there’s bound to be something in there that i’m after.
    We’re obviously coming from a similar time/culture zone.
    Which is cool to know.
    ;)

  162. Grant, hodgeson next on the list, followed by ancelotti & mancini.
    Ah! a bit of schadenfreude never goes amiss of a monday afternoon. :)

  165. Fat Sham sacked again :) first we stuff the bin dippers and now this , i have a feeling it’s going to be a great december

  166. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    December 13, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    “worky,
    sweet mate.
    just keep giving us the nod mate, there’s bound to be something in there that i’m after.”

    Aye Clint, but you can always bookmark it too!

    Have you got ATV’s “Love Lies Limp” on Sniffin’ Glue flexi? Where’s Bill Grundy Now?

  167. One big enough where the ball will never go out of play, no matter how hard you kick it.
    :)

  169. worky,
    aye,
    got that(& the fanzine), love ATV, seen ’em down ‘Amersham Arms a couple of years back too.
    Jools Holland’s on their first album, The image has cracked-top album.
    Good idea on the bookmark-Der!
    :)

  170. worky,
    i just realized why i didn’t bookmark it, i’m not on me own comp here.
    Gotta try & remember to do that when i get hyem.
    Ta mate.
    ;)

  171. Worky,
    Got some Good Missionaries, here & now, & Mark P stuff too.

    Off to see the Pop Group with Shellac & Sonic Youth on New years eve too-Nice (Hammersmith Apollo)

  172. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    December 13, 2010 at 5:45 pm

    “Jools Holland’s on their first album, The image has cracked-top album.”

    Oh aye Clint! He was on another one I had as well, possibly Wayne / Jayne County. Did you ever see that thing once about weird sampling connections? One I remember was Chas n’ Dave on a Wu Tang Clan track.

  173. Could be a couple more managers lose their job before the transfer window opens too.
    Who do you want to spend your money?

  174. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    December 13, 2010 at 5:50 pm

    “Off to see the Pop Group with Shellac & Sonic Youth on New years eve too-Nice (Hammersmith Apollo)”

    I’ve got a lovely copy of Pop Group’s “We Are Time” coming up, Clint. Though you probably have that too.

  176. worky,
    single or album?
    Got most of their stuff.
    Seen them recently @ the Garage.
    Was amazed that they were supporting Sonic Youth like.

  179. Lads I think we shot ourselfs in the foot with Pardrew I wish we had of held of for just a couple of days, and we could have been in with a chance of getting BSA.
    Admittidly we would have had to give him big money for him to take us instead of Real, but I guess we have missed a trick there and BSA will just have to get real.

  181. When CH ish sacked,everyone seems to be angry and sad.

    When Fat Sam get sacked,everyone seems to be relief and happy.

    8O

    :lol:

  182. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    December 13, 2010 at 5:56 pm

    “worky,
    single or album?”

    Album, Clint. Original on “Y”. Got it from Dick O’Dell himself.

  184. DJG says:
    December 13, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    “‘Catastrophe Bringing Pardew And Players Together’

    Ed king of the confusing headline.”

    Has he been introduced to any of their wives yet?

  185. AngelOfDeath says:
    December 13, 2010 at 6:04 pm

    “When CH ish sacked,everyone seems to be angry and sad.”

    55 people on this site were quite happy when he was sacked, AOD.

  186. AOD – That is because Fat Sam is a tosspot of the highest order and there can be nothing that happens to him that would take the smile away from my face.

  187. Worky @ 183 I think Pardrew is working on that as we speak he is organising a wags xmas party while the players are at training with Stone taking a double training session ;)

  188. Sam is the captain of the ship
    the ship’s a tanker,
    and big sam is ******

    ah well Real will be ok they wont have to buy him out of his contract :lol:
    Off Topic but I hope all goes well for Icedog
    Toonsy whats that about you making 100 soon ? someone trying to wind you up :)

  189. frickin hilarious that Allardyce got sacked. Watch something ridiculous happen, like Wolves jump at the chance to bring him in and they still get relegated. haha!

    This may end up being a great week for the Toon!

  190. oh, and what’s anybody’s thoughts on the nobody that Pardew seems to have brought in as the replacement for Paul Barron?
    Woodman wasn’t exactly stellar as a player was he? Played for Northampton, Brentford and Oxford! Awesome. At least it’s somebody I guess

  191. Andrew T does it really matter its not as if we are going to use him in nets :) as long as he is decent at coaching, Paul barron wasn’t exactly a top keeper either but was a good coach so as you say atlest we have somebody

  193. AndrewT says:
    December 13, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    “oh, and what’s anybody’s thoughts on the nobody that Pardew seems to have brought in as the replacement for Paul Barron?”

    They’re part of a package since their days together at Crystal Palace. He was always going to be part of the deal, with Barron on his way with Hughton from the time when Pardew was in talks to be manager.

  195. I was going to add that most Managers bring in their on staff that they have worked with before or people they know they can trust or rely on, hopefully he is the 1st of many new faces as we are way short on backroom staff.
    Richie the early bird ;)

  197. tis a good day hope big ugly sam will take a job somewhere far away so we dont have to watch his ugly game or see his ugly mug again.

  199. not bad big dave ta, aint seen u on to much r u still at the tats ? and dont forget im allways right. Wheres that mate of urs is he out catching himsel some jellyfish lol

  200. that’s a good point about the coaches. Hopefully he’s half as good as Barron was and we’ll be set.

  205. That Rooney penalty has actually been the highlight of Arsenal/Manure. Shows you the quality of the game.

  206. kkforever says:
    December 13, 2010 at 8:28 pm

    “and dont forget im allways right.”

    Hmmm, Kev radgie who always thinks he’s right…

    Batty?????? :-)

  207. worky not me swear on me daughters life m8 ask toonsy who i think it is our old m8 jade goodey ,u got me

  209. jeez – didnt realise we had sonic youth fans on this site as well !!
    Saw them in Clapham on daydream nation tour – magic, didnt realise they were palying apollo – will try and get tickets

  213. Talking of managers, I see Speedo is off to manage Wales so maybe the Blades have dodged a bullet and they’re asking for compensation so a double win bonus for all Sheffield United fans ! How many good Assistant Managers go on to be successful in their own right?

    That means Carver will leave when they bring in another manager so get Pardew to sign him up as his No. 2 immediately otherwise the Fat man will only bring in another bleedin’ cockney croney :D

  217. 4411,
    mate,
    Sonic Youth @ Hammersmith Apollo £40/45 + booking fee, news years eve, sorted. Cheap at twice the price.
    With Shellac/Pop Group & one other.
    Bargain.
    ;)

  218. Ross, this ManU-arse game is pathetic. Arsenal are consistently taking way too long to do anything with the ball. When they do decided to do something threatening, they’re closed down and it’s too late.

    I hope we have all of our “group of lads” available for when we go against ManU at SJP. I’d like to get a little vengeance for our opening day game.

  220. AndyMac, great call. Would absolutely love to see John Carver come in as #2.

    Unfortunately, I doubt that Pardew and Carver ran in much of the same circles, so with no previous relationship, i doubt he’ll be brought in. Sucks.

  221. batty dont be talking bad of jade she was a good lass and allways had a good word to say about you, fair enough it might have only been 1 word out of every 10. so have you been out spearing that jellyfish

  230. worky,
    absolutely amazing track mate.
    I’m a thief of fire, fire, fire, fire.

    BTW,
    if y’know any mackems,
    don’t show them fire.
    :)

  231. yeah we did but thats who i reckon kk is >>Stardust // Dec 12, 2010 at 3:50 PM

    Now then Batts – what’s worse being an Ashley sympathiser or being Stuart’s mate – woooo hoooo – ya little 6 foot 4 creep – ladies and gentlemen Batts and the Jellyfish will be performing at the Sealife Centre in Tynemouth next Satada woo hooo>

  233. Well Lads tried to get on earlier but couldn’t I think there must be gremlins in the network. Batty is that you straight up as that is who I thought it was as I seen KK on eds the other day ?

  236. batty dont be getting paranoid but it could b the toxins in them jellyfish ur catching, i come in peace and mean u no harm.
    Big dave get over it its me kk not batty

  237. Batty your words enough mate, KK so what are you doing on this side of the fence I thought you were from the darkside, and yeah still at the tatts why you looking one done ;) maybe a portrait of batty on your back or even the Tyne bridge :)
    Richie @ 210 you cheeky boy :lol:

  239. bd not in to tats theres a big no7 on me back and a toon badge in me heart.
    Bye for now sleep well me friends

  242. Did anyone else see Fat Shams column in one of the weekend rags whereby he was adamant that had he been given more time, he would have got us champions league football or, and I quote, “at least won them a cup”. Yes Sam, you’re the boy like! I wish I was you!

  243. Why anyone would feel sorry for ‘the ego’ is beyond me. Another million in his bank account and off to the next club that are stupid/desperate enough to employ him. Its the next group of supporters that I feel sorry for.

    He got a good slagging by both toon and blackburn fans on talksport today. Why doesn’t he pack it in and go and retire to some villa in the med next to a bar with 5 satelite dishes that does a decent pie and chips. His brand of anti-football is just depressing. He wants to take in a few matches back at Bolton and let Owen Coyle show him how it’s done.

    I thought to myself what do he do that was good, sign Barton and Enrique. Then I realised he also signed Cacapa and Geremi and how much money he was given in the process and that quicky put him back down in his place. :)