Pardew speaks on Ashley’s West Brom hissy fit.

Posted on October 18th, 2011 | 121 Comments |

Mike Ashley.
Ashley:Turned his back on Pardew for two months?
It’s somewhat of a rare occurrence to hear from Alan Pardew, as it’s not often he conducts interviews…

Obviously, I’m being extremely sarcastic, and Alan Pardew has been talking once again, this time in regards to Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias. I’m not entirely sure where the interview originated from, but I picked it up via the Sky Sports website.

Interestingly, Pardew not only talks inevitably about the “efficient” job Mike Ashley is doing with Newcastle United’s finances, but also there is a little bit about last seasons final game, the 3-3 draw at home to West Brom. That game consisted of Newcastle having a 3-0 lead at one stage, only to be pegged back. This resulted in Newcastle dropping from a potential 8th placed finish, and ending up finishing in 12th.

Rumours circulating at the time said that Mike Ashley was extremely upset with the failure to protect that three goal lead, but these rumours were quickly dispensed. From Pardew’s recent comments I’ve included below, you’ll see that Ashley was indeed slightly annoyed with the result.

Pardew begins:

“Our football club, I have to tell Newcastle fans, is run in an incredibly efficient way. Everything we do is calculated and budgeted for because that’s how Mike is. He drives success.

“He drives Sports Direct to be the biggest company it can be and, believe you me, he’s driving me to make this club as great as it can be within the financial structure that we have.

“I’ll give you an example of that. We were 3-0 up at half-time against West Brom. I’ve done a decent job, my staff and players have done a fantastic job in my opinion. But we let West Brom back into the game and we dropped down two places.

“I didn’t see Mike for two months, because he wasn’t happy. I don’t think the money was paramount. I’m talking about the emotion of the game. People have this image of him drinking that pint of lager at Arsenal, but that’s not him – trust me.

“Not when he’s got his business head on. He didn’t even say, ‘Well done, great season’. I didn’t see him! He wants better than that. I’ll hold my hands up for what happened on that last day and that’s what he is. He won’t accept anything else.”

“Because I’m from London maybe I get on with Mike better than a manager from abroad or a different area. If anybody is going to get one more penny out of him for investment in the team, then it’s going to be me.

“I can look him in the eye and have an argument with him. I can disagree with him and get a balanced argument back about what he wants because he’s the owner. I give him my advice, I tell him what I think and then he’ll make the decision. Sometimes he’ll come with me, sometimes he won’t.

“But financially the club have done a good job, you have to say that. Whatever the Newcastle fans feel about Mike and Derek Llambias’s management of the club, you have to say that their fiscal approach has brought some stability to the club. And when I look at Derek and Mike I think they’re enjoying it more.”

And that’s the end of Pardew’s latest musings.

Now I get accused at times of “over analysing” things, and I’m aware of looking too deeply into anything Alan Pardew says as a bad idea, because he can easily be misunderstood, or usually contradict himself, resulting in him giving me a massive headache. However, I’m not entirely convinced with the “maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner” statement. My view is, why should it matter where the manager is from if Ashley wants this club to be as great as it can be?

It’s also interesting to hear that Ashley didn’t congratulate Pardew on the fine job he did last season, even after selling Andy Carroll at the last possible minute, and replacing him with the deadly Shefki Kuqi.

I’m sure Ashley must have congratulated the team. I think Pardew is trying to make a point here, but wording it incorrectly. Though for Ashley not to have spoke to Pardew for two months because he was “unhappy” at the result against West Brom, seems a little harsh in my view.

If you take into consideration that Ashley left Pardew to be slaughtered during the January transfer window, with the manager taking the majority of the flak, and we finished the season in a very respectable position, especially bearing in mind our aim was merely to try and cement ourselves back into the top flight. I think it’s fair to say, Ashley should have been extremely grateful towards Pardew, and the players, for last seasons exploits, but as I’ve said above, maybe I’m misunderstanding Pardew’s latest comments…

What do you think of Pardew’s latest views on our upper management, and the news of Ashley’s silence towards Pardew for two months after last season finished?

NUFCBlog Author: Jimbob Backpacker extraordinaire and current resident of sunny Sheffield. Loves Marmite, hates peanut butter. Sleeps twice a day, wrestles Polar Bears because he can and regards himself as cool as a cucumber in a bowl of hot sauce. Jimbob has written 40 articles on this blog.

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121 Responses

  1. Great read and some very good points. But you don’t expext AP to say that they get on well because they are casino mate, do u :D

  2. “Because I’m from London maybe I get on with Mike better than a manager from abroad or a different area. If anybody is going to get one more penny out of him for investment in the team, then it’s going to be me.”

    Er Mike Ashley isn’t from London, and Chris Hughton was a Londoner too. He wsaved us by the Championship with a 102 points, bought some players like Danny Simpson for peanuts who are still in the squad, brought in Graham Carr to lay the foundations for some great player aquisitions who are arguably giving us the success we’re having today, and Londoner or not, he was still sacked for his troubles.

    Pardew has done well so far too, but Ashley is a two faced **** who won’t hesitate to hang Pardew out to dry wherever he is from, and sucking up won’t help either.

  3. The best advice i can give Pardew, is to keep his mouth shut, cause every time he opens it, he puts his foot in it.
    Hell i would,nt talk to the cnut either if he lost me two million quid on a game that was won!
    Here’s a yes man attempting to portray himself as having a mind of his own and taking credit for things that were in place before his arrival.
    Why did we get straddled with this jerk ?

  4. worky is it me or do you think Pardew deliberately played for the draw?

    finishing 8th last season would have been too hard to improve on this season.

    with fans so critical wanting improvements each season finishing 12th would be far better……….

    its a conspiracy i tel you a conspiracy.

    de ja view? flying saucers? pods in Sunderland, in breeding. I’m ahead of my time.

  5. Alan, here’s a tip. Follow it and you’ll alienate fewer people.

    Every time you insist you need to tell someone something, you assert they’re too thick to figure it out themselves. If the club is being run efficiently that will become apparent with no need for you to think for me. Shorter: more management and less rhetoric, thanks! However well he does or does not manage, the man is so full of shit his eyes should be brown.

    If MA didn’t want us to lose to clubs like WBA he could open his wallet and insure our squad is superior. If AP didn’t hear from him about the season it’s because MA didn’t give a damn. Just mho.

  6. Personally don’t trust either of them as far as I can throw them….and I couldn’t even pick Jabba up, never mind throw him anywhere.

    I know Pardew also said at the weekend that we, the fans, should forgive and forget (or words to that effect) but it’s not that simple.

    I have no problem with the work going on to sort out the club’s finances – as long as this means there will be quality signings along the way which can be afforded within the financial model. And I’m also (like everyone else) happy with the start the team have made this season – fair play to Pardew.

    But if he’s saying we should forgive and forget the treatment of Sir Kevin, the crap of bringing in the poison dwarf, the admission in court that Ashley & his owl lied to the fans etc etc etc – Sorry, but it happened, it was total crap, and it is all laid at the door of our glorious roulette-playing owner.

  7. Forgive and forget…if I had a moment alone with AP, I’d point out 2 things to him.

    1. Right now he’s doing a good job that is appreciated by most supporters. Don’t risk pissing that away for MA.

    2. Our history with AshleyCo predates his presence here; in fact he’s only been interested in the relationship between NUFC supporters and MA for as long as NUFC has been cutting him a check. He should stay out of that.

  8. Stephen C says:
    October 18, 2011 at 7:13 pm

    “worky is it me or do you think Pardew deliberately played for the draw?

    finishing 8th last season would have been too hard to improve on this season.”

    Certainly not when he was ahead Stephen, and I really don’t think that he would deliberately come 12th if he could have come higher. The reason I could think of for that happening is if a manager was being paid huge sums by some big gambling syndicate or onr of those kinds if situations.

  9. personaly worky i think it would have made the boards life easier if they had.

    playing for a draw, finishing 12th and not 8th will look better on paper should we finish 10th this season. its no difficult to finish 10th with the team we have 12th or below would be a dissaster.

    personaly i think mike is all about investers, to him nothing is indispensable, everything has a price.
    i think he has one foot is the market and one foot in the club.

    personaly i think mike will sell up in 5 years. Newcastle will have all the marketing tools needed for a big business to come in and invest.

    we will be a marketing dream.

    what i can also see is more termoil once mike has got as much advertising space covered around st. james so next time we chat or scream outside the ground sports direct is well in view of impromptu free advertising.

    very soon we will see Newcastle fans being exploited for everything they are worth to get every ounce of advertisements for his sports direct world domination.

    soon everything we do will have something to do with sports direct.

    good bye northern rock hello sports direct.

    every more we make, every step we take. sports direct will be watching us.

    but worky the colour of sky in my world is tinted with rainbows and shooting stars.
    wheres Paul in Bollywood when you need him? he knows all about conspiracies.

  10. Two things

    1. Difference between 8th and 12th in terms of Merit payments last season was £3m, hardly enough for Fatman when out on one of his gambling nights ? I believe he pissed up more than £900k on a bender in New York and lost £1m in a night at the tables somewhere.

    2. Pardwho is paid a miserable salary (for a BPL manager) of around £400k but is heavily incentivised to do well with a series of bonus payments which Fatman probably thought would get his manager working overtime ? Whereas Pardwho just wanted a job so badly (where £400k was better than Jobseekers Allowance) that he didnt bother with the incentives ? :)

  11. chuck says:
    October 18, 2011 at 6:45 pm

    “Here’s a yes man attempting to portray himself as having a mind of his own and taking credit for things that were in place before his arrival.”

    To be fair Chuck, Pardew did acknowledge in an interview recently that the club were going for Cabaye before he was appointed.

  12. Lets hope that during the November stretch,( where we play the Manc. sides, plus Chewsea.) they have the audacity to repeat Fergies rash gamble against Liverpool (putting out a second team) in order to rest his stars for the Championship game in midweek.
    Would be a real boost to take points from such sides and who knows, with their heavy schedules, could field sub par, or even tired sides.

    I have lost count of how clubs get to compete in post season European competitions ?
    Is it first four into the champions league.
    Followed by five and six into EUAFA or whatever it’s now called, what about cup winners ?
    And of course, there’s always a fair play side, which if you think about it is kinda ridicules and as long as we have Chiek collecting yellows, blows any chance of that happening.
    But yellow cards or not, he’s the toughest CD in the league, would’nt trade him for anyone, great acquisition!

  13. Wow Andy Mac…you know loads and loads of stuff…

    There again it might just be a load of anti Pardew Anti Ashley gash……par for the course….

  14. “Here’s a yes man attempting to portray himself as having a mind of his own and taking credit for things that were in place before his arrival.”…

    yawn…..same old same old…

  15. Welcome back Chuck @3. Pardew has reshaped the team and only about half of it was in place before his arrival:

    We don’t really miss Barton, Nolan and Carroll in terms of points gained.

    Our new players seem solid – Ba, Cabaye, Santon, Marveaux?, Obertan.

    Our existing players have stepped up – Raylor, Saylor, Krul, Tiote, Best.

    We have class in the team – Colo, Jonas, Krul, Ben Arfa.

    We have potential to get better – Ben Arfa, Marveaux.

    Some decent potential in Vucic, Ferguson and Sammy who Pardew gives a chance to.

    What more do you want?

    And Sunderland have one more point at the same stage of the season as they had when they were relegated with 15 points.

    F*ckin’ cheer up.

  16. I think Tunyc makes a good point at 5.

    I remember the rumours that Ashley was furious at the end of the West Brom game. To not speak to Pardew for two months after the seasons end is very odd behaviour.

    Then again he hasn’t directly spoke to us since 2008…

  17. andy mac

    to someone like mike ashley £3million is nothing. he will probably spend more than £3million on marketing in newcastle alone with his sports direct shops.

    i personaly think, mike is looking for what will impress possible investors. his five year plan, might be to win trophies but i think with every inch of St. James park covered in advertisement it will only reap benefits for who ever comes in to take over once he sell up. i don’t think for one minute he is here to stay.

    sports direct is now the biggest sports retailer in the UK. he made a £114 million profit last fillings so he has proven that newcastle in the news works dividends to the posters on the wall around St. james.

    dont get me wrong i think he will do a great job but i wouldnt rule out another relegation battle with fan chanting Cockney mafia out.

    i still dont think life at St. james park will be easy and think he will sell players we like…..again. just for publicity.

    although we, the club, the fans, owe mike £111 million for the interest free loan he gave us no one seems to mention how much sports direct is paying for the advertisement rights around the ground.

    yes mike ashley owns Newcastle united, but he doesnt own sports direct outright, he is just the highest stake holder. so although mike might own our club, other people at sports direct dont. so as a seperate business what is sports direct bringing to the table as far as advertising space around St. James Park?

    i wander if anyone at Sports Direct will be open to comment.

    i do think we are heading into europe but only when sports directs strategical eupean department is up and running, ive noticed that sports direct are recruiting people from europe to head there european direction.
    the countries that he is recruiting from are all countries with team mainly in europa league.

    check out the sports direct website and look for recruitment.

    i personally think Newcastle united will not go anywhere unless sports direct can benefit 110% for the advertisement opportunity of away games and tv coverage during european nights.

    so in other words when sports direct are ready to reap the rewards then Newcastle United will improve to match.
    Newcastle united being the Dog, Mike firmly holding the leash. not moving until he is ready.

    thats why i firmly believe that result on the pitch will match the progress made to mikes sports direct European legacy.

    its no easy to throw a game or ask players to do so, but it is easy to bring on substitutions too early and in doing so weaken the team and get the result you want to suit future possible inverters when looking at progress reports and improvements.

    i also think that Newcastle united will be one of the more sought after clubs for this purpose that any of the top 4 or 5 in the prem. and in doing so attracting some major investors. selling the club that has improved year on year since we were promoted.

    mike knows what people look for on paper when buying a business, an 8th place finish last season and a 10th place finish this season will give a blemish in any investors eyes. a 12th place finish and improvements year on year will only look good for him, and gaining more than £3million in any sale of Newcastle United.

  18. Oh and no way did the team let in 3 goals so they could finish 12th.

    Did you see Mulder and Scully at St James’ Park during or after that match?

  19. Workey
    Curious, who was responsible for Carr’s hiring and when did it take place ?
    Struck a note there, would like to clarify exactly who bears the responsibility for what.
    As it appears various people are being praised for building the present side, that,and also, i wonder, exactly what kind of input into training and tactics, can in fact be credited to our coaches (Carver etc.) or Pardew ?
    We really are left guessing in many respects and without insider info. it’s difficult to be sure.
    Perhaps we could get Joey to Twitter the blog, now he’s got his contract and is outta here ?
    Let us in on the real deal at NUFC .

  20. People have this image of him drinking that pint of lager at Arsenal, but that’s not him – trust me.
    Errrr my mistake it must have been Jimmy 5 Belly’s (stunt doubles).

  21. Or pissed up in NYC… Or stripping in a Chinese restaurant…

    I don’t care about that really, but when Best, Ireland and folan lifted their shirts in that nightclub… That was just totally unacceptable…

  22. I don’t really care:

    That Ashley is fat and likes money
    That there are too many Sports Direct signs
    That Liambas is a cockerney
    That Joey and his tweets left, many better players have left and we survived

    Frenchies, Argies, Geordies – come one, come all and join the NUFC revolution.

  23. GS@16…good call mate…. The current team are playing the Alan Pardew way, just as he had promised, with fast attacking football. The stamina levels shown by the toon over the last games have been immense, we were still battering away at Tottenham until the last minute. Nowt to do with Pardew though…
    We don’t really want Pardew to take credit for that though surely ? We need to scrutinise who he should take credit for signing then make our minds up accordingly. We really need to dig dep and do some serious research so that Pardew can be “discredited” by the same old whingers……now that’s more like it….it’s all so laughable…

  24. GS@23….the toon are back on the march, fighting there way up to the top of the league with not a little skill and a tremendous cameraderie, have brought a smile back onto the faces of the fans, and some blokes just don’t like it one bit. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

  25. I thought Pardew had learnt not to open his mouth.

    I guess old habits die hard.

    Telling tales about your boss is never going to be a good idea. Wake up Alan … shut the f up.

    Looking forward to Wigan.
    Hope the team are as up for this one as they were Spurs.

    HWTL

  26. GS

    Where did i mention anything about either Joey or Nolan and if you had really read what i stated, you will find nothing critical mentioned about the side.
    In fact i agree with most of what you say.
    My point was a criticism of Pardew, about which you said nowt ?
    Sorry i don’t get your point.

    Stephen
    All sounds good to me !
    Can we expect Ashley to be outta here anytime soon then ?

  27. The point of this article was actually to back Pardew, though I did, and always will, comment about how ‘rare’ his interviews are…

    He does have a tendency to talk utter bollocks, which really doesn’t help matters.

    The point though, is Ashley’s annoyance and silence towards him for finishing 12th! Does anyone not think that is slightly fooked up?

  28. Hopefully I’ll buy you a beer when FC Bayern and NUFC play. If it happens I will make the effort to get to Munich.

  29. chuck says:
    October 18, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    “Workey
    Curious, who was responsible for Carr’s hiring and when did it take place ?
    Struck a note there, would like to clarify exactly who bears the responsibility for what.
    As it appears various people are being praised for building the present side, that,and also, i wonder, exactly what kind of input into training and tactics, can in fact be credited to our coaches (Carver etc.) or Pardew ?”

    Chuck, Graham Carr was appointed by Chris Hughton in February 2010

    Pedro and Carr now seem to be doing a roughly similar kind of job as the “Wiseguys” (Wise Vetere and Jimenez) used to, but without the unpopular “Director of Fo0tball” tag, and probably for quite a bit less in finacial terms.

    Chris Hughton on the appointment of Carr and the signing of Tiote:

    Andy Gray: “Anthony asks did Chris realise just how good Cheick Tiote would be when he signed him?”

    Chris Hughton: “That’s a very good question. Probably no, because you just don’t know. I followed him for two years, and where I was fortunate was that I brought Graham Carr (Newcastle United’s chief scout) into the club and Graham Carr’s a chief scout that’s got great experience and when he came in he also knew him and had followed him for a while. I spoke to Steve McClaren and when I spoke to Steve, Steve said “he could be anything, what you won’t do is lose your value on him”. Steve didn’t always play him. Steve played quite a tactical game and that I couldn’t understand. But he seemed a player who seemed so suited to the English game, the English Premiership, and he has been a revelation. At times he needs to curb his enthusiasm.”

    Andy Gray: “Nothing wrong with that.”

    Chris Hughton: “No there’s not, and the day he walked into training I think everybody looked at him and thought ‘I think we’ve got a bit of a player here’”

  30. Chuck:

    I read what you said. You are getting better.

    I actually think we will take a few points off the Manchesters or Chelsea. I bet you don’t though?

  31. “Chuck, Graham Carr was appointed by Chris Hughton in February 2010”

    Wow thank goodness that is cleared up, been giving me sleepless nights that one… :lol: :lol:

    “Pedro and Carr now seem to be doing a roughly similar kind of job as the “Wiseguys” (Wise Vetere and Jimenez) used to, but without the unpopular “Director of Fo0tball” tag, and probably for quite a bit less in finacial terms.”

    Wow they are “probably” earning less….great move by Ashley, getting far superior football men into the club for a fraction of the cost of his previous 2 “Wiseguy” jokers. 10 points to Ashley, great management move, that’s more like it !!

    Howay the lads…

  32. Worky:

    do you have the quote when Keegan met Pedro in training? A bit similar, but obviously, obviously, Beardsley is a one in a million.

  33. Jimbob says:
    October 18, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    “The point though, is Ashley’s annoyance and silence towards him for finishing 12th! Does anyone not think that is slightly fooked up?”

    Jimbob, he actually fired someone for being twelfth, which is a little worse than not speaking two them for two months. I daresay that some managers would even consider not been spoken to by Ashley for two months as something of a blessing!

  34. GS@29…you’re more than welcome to buy me a beer in Munich if we get that far mate !…flock, I’ll even buy you one back..

    GS…agree with you at 31. If Pardew gets his tactics right there is no reason why we cannot avoid defeat against Chelsea and Citeh imo.

  35. Munchen mag
    Says,
    The toon are back on the march, fighting their way up to the top of the league, with not a little skill and tremendous camaraderie…..

    Sounds very “Teutonic” Munchen ! with comrades marching and fighting, you a real krout then ? or just sound like one?

  36. now now chucky…just cos I know you talk bollocks you don’t have to turn all racist on me with your blathering drivel. Are you watching Worky ?

    Actually I’m from one of the hardest areas of the toon, have you ever been to Newcastle ?…

  37. GS says:
    October 18, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    “Worky:

    do you have the quote when Keegan met Pedro in training? A bit similar, but obviously, obviously, Beardsley is a one in a million.”

    I don’t GS, though an interview with Tino at the end of last year in the Sunday Stun was quite good reading. I picked up on it again the other day and kept it in my bookmarks:

    On Keegan, Pedro etc he said, almost mimicking Keegan at the start:

    “I loved my time at Newcastle. Loved it,”

    “As soon as I met Kevin Keegan it was clear I wanted to play for him. His football ideas were the same as mine.

    “I had watched all the Premier League on games on TV so I knew the team was flying and they were beautiful to watch.

    “When I came over and trained and played I couldn’t believe my luck – it was all perfect. I had played with Zola in Italy and thought he was genius and then I teamed up with Peter Beardsley, who was even better.”

    http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/sport/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2010/12/05/beardsley-was-best-player-of-kk-s-nearly-men-79310-27767898/

    Tino was right, Pedro was the best player of all.

  38. GS @ 31#

    Putting words in my mouth again ?
    Actually as much as i would like to beat the present top three, I, like the bookies don’t see it happening, be glad to get a couple of points outta those three games, in fact.
    Does that qualify me as a whinger ?

  39. Munich, I wouldn’t bet against Pardew getting the sack mate…

    Ashley does have a tendency to do at least one stupid thing per year!

    Whatever people say about the utter shite that comes from his mouth at times, it’s clear the players are pulling their weight for him at the moment.

  40. Chuck @41:

    Nah, 99% of your comments qualify you as a whinger. I don’t need to put words into your mouth, you spit vitriol without any provocation.

    But, you are getting better.

  41. Jimbob – yes, I’ve just read it!
    Either “its rubish or Dalgleish is stupid”
    or “its stupid or Dalgleish is rubish”

  42. Sorry,
    i haven’t read all the posts above.

    Sounds exactly like a typical owner/manager relationship (anyone here in business?) to me. Owner working the managers ass off for every last extra drop of whatever’s available (in this ‘business’).

    Or,

    The sky’s falling down ‘n’ stuff, if you’re so disposed!

  43. Aye Raylor £10m,
    worth double that at least & triple to liverpoop, no quadruple to dogleash.
    Talk about buying our team off us.
    Pathetic!
    dogboy hasn’t got a Danny!
    :)

    It would be absolutely hilarious to rob lfc blind again though.
    :lol:

  44. When I read the headline I though it would be about Jonas… But Raylor!?

    Load of balls, but would you sell Raylor for £10 million?

    Definitely not Dogleash and Liverpool, they’d be stupid enough to raise it to £20 million though probably.

  45. Supermac at 48, that seems to be the logic doesn’t it? :-)

    Maybe that was the plan all along… :-)

  46. raylor for £10million? last season you would have thought we would have paid that to get rid of him.

    must admit i’ve always liked him. he is a good player to have lurking in the darkness.

    he need to get practicing those free kicks again. hes had 8 scored 2 not good enough. he would be at least £15 million had he knocked in a few more. lol

  47. Teams know it’s fatal to give away free-kicks against us, especially in and around the box. Cabaye can hit them too, as can Guthrie. Think Marveaux’s not too shabby either.

    I don’t think sour face Dogliesh as cottoned on that if he wants Carroll to actually score a goal… He needs to buy Barton. :-)

  48. That smug grin he was wearing last season isn’t as evident this season, is it?

    Nice that the reserves beat ’em tonight.

    :)

  49. Jimbob says:
    October 18, 2011 at 11:22 pm

    “like a pig rolling in Sh*t.”

    Pigs don’t roll in shit though Jimbob.

    Like ourselves, they are very clean, intelligent animals with a natural aversion to faeces. What they do do is roll in mud to cool themselves off. They don’t like heat as they have very few sweat glands.

  50. It’s a little known fact that Shola Ameobi also has very few sweat glands, and likes to roll around in the mud to cool off. That’s why he falls over so often in the box!

  51. Vincent: Want some bacon?
    Jules: No man, I don’t eat pork.
    Vincent: Are you Jewish?
    Jules: Nah, I ain’t Jewish, I just don’t dig on swine, that’s all.
    Vincent: Why not?
    Jules: Pigs are filthy animals. I don’t eat filthy animals.
    Vincent: Bacon tastes gooood. Pork chops taste gooood.
    Jules: Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I’d never know ’cause I wouldn’t eat the filthy motherf****. Pigs sleep and root in sh**. That’s a filthy animal. I ain’t eat nothin’ that ain’t got sense enough to disregard its own feces.
    Vincent: How about a dog? Dogs eats its own feces.
    Jules: I don’t eat dog either.
    Vincent: Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?
    Jules: I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.
    Vincent: Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true?
    Jules: Well we’d have to be talkin’ about one charming motherf****’ pig. I mean he’d have to be ten times more charmin’ than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I’m sayin’?

  52. Didn’t Shola return home and call the police because he thought he had been burgled… Only to realise he actually just left his house a complete mess? :-)

  53. yes, reserves won again, well done!
    do any of our teams get beat?

    of course we will settle for 4th this year to make 3rd look better next season!

    dream on!

    HWTL

  54. supermac says:
    October 19, 2011 at 12:17 am

    “worky – perhaps shola’s too intellegent to be a footballer!”

    supermac, Shaka Hislop was probab;y our brainiest footballer. As well as being a goalkeeper at the highest level, he was also a rocket scientist for NASA. That one’s true as well, it isn’t one of those daft made up urban myth type things. He studied at Harvard in the US.

    Gannin’ back to pigs though, the irony of the great pig libel is that pigs are actually the most scrupulous in the animal kingdom when it comes to dealing with their own faeces. They are second only to humans in that department

  55. wheyabugga – its true, I just googled it –
    “Hislop worked at NASA alongside their top scientific team in Space Station Freedom Project.
    The former Trinidad & Tobago No 1 also studied in Washington and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering before going on to play for Reading.
    After calling time on his career in 2007, Shaka eventually returned to campus sports to take up the assistant coaching reigns at Quinnipiac University in the US last March”
    I’m impressed!
    Where the hecks Quinnipiac?

  56. workyticket says:
    October 18, 2011 at 6:07 pm

    ‘Er Mike Ashley isn’t from London, and Chris Hughton was a Londoner too. He wsaved us by the Championship with a 102 points, bought some players like Danny Simpson for peanuts who are still in the squad, brought in Graham Carr to lay the foundations for some great player aquisitions who are arguably giving us the success we’re having today.’

    Good god Worky you still talking about Whoton, what about Roeder, Kinnear and Keegan? Is the success we are having this season down to them as well? Jesus, the guy has been gone for nearly a year.

  57. Wow. Really can’t believe that u guys are still talking about “the great Chrissy Hughton.” He was custodian of the club when quality and determined players got us promoted back to the Prem, all while refusing to develop the young talent in the club after gaining promotion already or being 4 goals up. He showed his average managing ability last season for us, and has since been replaced by a manager who MANAGES the players, getting the best out of them, and has the squad playing some very tidy football while being much more resilient at the back.

    Get over it, and come up with something else

  58. DJG says:
    October 19, 2011 at 2:37 am

    “Good god Worky you still talking about Whoton,”

    DJG, I mention alot of things, why do you always seem to trawl through this site waiting until I happen to mention him?

    Last time it was you who mentioned him, then you admitted that the only reason you did was to try and get me to respond so you could accuse me of being obsessed with him!

    “Worky you have found a loophole that I on this occassion brought up the subject of Chris Hughton, but I don’t think anybody is fooled by this because I was clearly doing it to try and work out your obsession With C.H.”

    What’s with your obsession DJG?

    Don’t you have better things to do with your life? ;-)

  59. All in all I think we are far better off this year under Pardew, but Chrissy Houghton deserves legendary status at the toon for gaining promotion at the first bite of the cherry, no doubting that imo..

  60. Graeme Carr was a CH aquisition, and all of the toon signings, Tiote, Cabaye, Obertan, Ben Arfa were scouted by Carr.

    So consequently all of the credit for thes signings land by association at CH ‘s door. Pardew knaas nowt..!

  61. Chucky you old kraut basher…..

    I asked you a question@39……are you giving me the rubber ear big man, or are you just embarassed ?! ;-) ;-)

  62. worky…racial abuse is stooping a bit low don’t you think…as blogmaster and all…?

  63. some people on here have fantastic imaginations but sadly are living with their heads firmly up their arse.
    conspiracy theories? wtf are you smoking cause the stuff we get here in jarra is over priced and certaintly doesn’t induce such crazy visions of reality

  64. “chuck says:
    October 18, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    Munchen mag
    Says,
    The toon are back on the march, fighting their way up to the top of the league, with not a little skill and tremendous camaraderie…..

    Sounds very “Teutonic” Munchen ! with comrades marching and fighting, you a real krout then ? or just sound like one?”

    This from the plonker who constantly called me racist for being a white South African, and now abuses MM for living in Germany!

    Seems to be only one racist judging characters on a nations past rather than the indivual himself.

    Chuck, I have absolutely no idea what colour or nationality you are, but you are a complete and utter thick tosser.

    Worky, you are just as pathetic. A an arrogant hypocryte and quite honestly your site has gone down the tubes because of your attitude and your ingnorance to Chuck’s pathetic verbal and racial abuse of others on the site.

    Your articles have also become pathetic! But that’s probably because you are writing most of them.

  65. JJ:

    there’s some anger there. Get it out on the internet, man. Then maybe you won’t go postal in real life.

    I have never seen Chuck or Worky say anything abusive on here (but then again I don’t read every day). They’re both a bit p*ssy now and again, but not abusive.

    And Chuck always thinks the sky is falling.

  66. Prof Shaka Hislop of NASA’s scientific team on Space Station Freedom has been monitoring the coded messages on this site in the last 24 hours.
    He has brought to my attention references to conspiracies, UFOs, makem pods, in-breeding, racial abuse, Tuetonic marches, drug induced glimpses of reality in jarra (implausible), eating dogs, selling Raylor for £10 million (incredible) and invisible burglers.
    I understand that this is related to a toon cult of soccur (?) generated by lay lines from the ancient burial of the Arc of the Covenant by St James of Arathemia in the holy ground now known as St James Park.
    I am obliged to warn you that you have been classified as a special case and monitoring will continue.

    In the words of St James – go 4th and conquer, HWTL

  67. I think I can make it through a blog with a few racialist comments, like.

    And I don’t need people like JJ to tell me what is correct, politically or otherwise.

    F*ck, I grew up watching “Are you being served”, “Love Thy Neighbour”, “Allo, Allo”, and Larry Grayson. All racialist and homosapian and anti-French, but I survived.

  68. GS says:
    October 19, 2011 at 11:19 am

    “F*ck, I grew up watching “Are you being served”, “Love Thy Neighbour”, “Allo, Allo”, and Larry Grayson. All racialist and homosapian and anti-French, but I survived.”

    GS, “Love thy neighbour” and “‘Til death us do part” are much misundersstood nowadays. Allo Allo’s quite a popular show on German cable apparently.

    Howay man GS. I’m not “pissy”, I’m a ray of sunshine!

  69. I have to do a 4 hour test on retirement planning coming up in 5 hours. I have decided to start drinking though, not that much, just about a bottle of wine!!!!

    What do you think my chances are of passing?

    I think it is 90/10 because I always F#ck better when I am drunk so I guess I will take a test better.

  70. GS,
    if it was a driving test i was gonna suggest 2 bottles of wine mate.

    You should fly through it & it’ll feel shorter.
    ;)

  71. GS says:
    October 19, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    “I have to do a 4 hour test on retirement planning coming up in 5 hours. I have decided to start drinking though, not that much, just about a bottle of wine!!!!”

    I almost lost the will to live just reading that, and I’m not even doing it! Good luck with that one GS. Perhaps a bottle of Vodka would be better? :-)

  72. Clint:

    I had to take a driving test in the US. It was in an automatic car, they had me do 3 right turns and park in an open spot, front-forward. I asked them “is that it”?

    It was.

  73. GS says:
    October 19, 2011 at 1:49 pm

    “Clint:

    I had to take a driving test in the US. It was in an automatic car, they had me do 3 right turns and park in an open spot, front-forward. I asked them “is that it”?

    It was.”

    When I was driving test age, which was quite some time ago now, I was told that Northallerton was the place to go as it was the easiest place in the country. I ended up taking it in Darlington on sheet ice, and the bastads failed me for stopping about a foot over the line at a set of traffic lights. I passed it the next time though.

  74. Dr. Mackem soon? Still lives in Sunderland though. Sad.

    Only time I ever went there was to see a Pantomime. At the Empire though, not the Stadium of *hite.

  75. GS,
    no way!

    It’s rock hard over here now, theory, hazard perception test, driving test.
    Fail one, start again.
    6 points in the first 2 years, start again, from scratch.

    worky,
    that’s Darlo for ya’!

  76. Years ago Clint at the Panto, when I was a kid.

    The funny thing is that I have never, ever ever ever, been to Sunderland except to see a Pantomime.

    I went to a comedy show in Londern and met a bartender mackem. I asked him where he was from and he said Newcastle.

  77. GS,

    :)

    Aye,
    i went there(was taken there) once, as a kid, phew!
    I was lucky to get out alive.
    I never went back.

    :)

  78. My parents put me through some very traumatic times when I was a bairn. One time they took me to see Max Bygraves in London, and another time they took me to see Peters and Lee (remember them?) in Blackpool. I’m still scarred by the memories but Social Services were not informed about the cruelty.

  79. I have to disagree with you, having been at that WBA game I left foaming!!
    Teams can loose a lead, as the gunners did against us last season, but we just didn’t seem to give a shit that we had! when WBA scored the second you didn’t see any of the players shouting of kicking off with each other and when the third went in, same again!.
    Why should Ashley go and say well done.. 55k fans payed good money to go and watch that game and we were let right down.
    As you have already pointed out, those 2 points was the difference between 8th and 12th… 8th would have been a good season, 12th was an average season.
    Those 2 points dropped had sod all to do with the sale of Carroll… we had them in the bag and thanks the our lax attitude in the 2nd half we dropped them.
    Could you imagine Alex Fergusons reaction if they done that?!
    Everyone should have been pissed off at the end of the season… I know I had my full of mackems taking the piss over the summer (getting my own back now like).
    As for the Londoners comment, I don’t know why that’s so hard to understand?!
    Geordies relate to Geordies, scousers relate to scousers and what he’s saying is Cockneys relate to Cockneys… fairly straight forward it me like!
    But if your going to look into everything he says, what about this angle:
    Ashley is this fat horrible bloke who doesn’t give a shit about our club (in most people’s eyes), yet he was angry that we dropped 2 points and 4 places to the point he didn’t speak to Pardew for 2 months, yet he’s came back, made signs (and sales) that have improved the team and resulted in the start we have had, and at no point had Pardew said he feared for his job…. Maybe this fat bloke does give a shit after all??

  80. Sharpy17, I also was pissed off after that game, but from what Pardew is saying, it does seem a little harsh not to be congratulated for the seasons efforts. Bearing in mind we were newly promoted etc?

    Your Cockney dissection doesn’t work though, I know what you’re getting at mind. I live in Yorkshire now, and I certainly relate better with people from my way in comparison to Yorkshire folk.

    But anyway, Ashley isn’t a Cockney, he’s from Buckinghamshire… It’s like calling someone from Liverpool a Manc.

    Thanks for your comment though mate, and putting your point across sensibly. Unlike some above.

  81. a 4 hour test on retirement planning ???
    what the heck for – when I retired we had a pissup & that was that!
    what if you fail? do you have to stay on?

  82. Jimbob says:
    October 19, 2011 at 3:07 pm

    “But anyway, Ashley isn’t a Cockney, he’s from Buckinghamshire…”

    He was born in Walsall too Jimbob, but as we’ve already established, anyone born south of County Durham is a “Cockney”.

  83. Mr workey – your child abuse has been added to our file, but unless it was supernatural (like a makem phd) it is outside our jurisdiction.

  84. Wow most of you guys are negative as*holes. I bet most of you guys are emo kids that want to cut yourselves.

    All we ever get from you lot are Ashley out or CH we love you or Pardew the yes man

    Bunch of boring morons and chuck a wee racist f*ck wit

    Peace out mother f*ckers

  85. supermac says:
    October 19, 2011 at 3:12 pm

    “what if you fail? do you have to stay on?”

    They put you in touch with “Dignitas” supermac.

  86. Awww it’s so sweet how they all gang up for each other…

    Toodaloo and thanks for dropping buy.

  87. Quit looking for things to moan about and enjoy the brilliant start we’ve made…

    Better team than last seson, better financial position than last season and better results than last season and yet people still prefer to whine on about the owner instead of enjoying how things are going on the pitch.

  88. Jimbob says:
    October 19, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    “Awww it’s so sweet how they all gang up for each other…”

    I think it must be half term at the Charm School Jimbob.

  89. Seems as though my article is so very negative. It’s not like I was asking a legitimate question, due to our managers recent comments…

    I’m now in the process of rectifying this, by writing an article about Ashley, rainbows and Unicorns mating with other Unicorns…

    Might throw a little bit in about fairies too, just to make sure it’s portrayed correctly, and there is no need to think, in order to answer a just question.

    La de da…

  90. NEVER EVER take things personally on blogs or MB’s Jimbob. Just thank your lucky stars you’ve got a brain and can form an opinion !

    Must be tough pretending you know what you’re talking about just because you read what 100 other muppets say and decide you’ll say exactly the same thing :lol:

  91. Thanks for your advice… I am a rather intelligent fellow, nice of you noticing.

    Also, very brave of you to use your actual nickname, please do return when you have finished masturbating about how witty you are.

  92. Think you may have misunderstood there JB.

    “Must be tough pretending you know what you’re talking about just because you read what 100 other muppets say and decide you’ll say exactly the same thing :lol:”

    This was in response to the number of numpties who appear on this blog and not to you. :)

  93. Andy Mac, I just noticed that and realised that you weren’t referring to me.

    Obviously I thought you were, but didn’t think it was actually you!

    Sorry mate :-)

  94. “Allo Allo’s quite a popular show on German cable apparently.”…said someone…

    No it isn’t NO-ONE ouside of the uk knows about it, and it’s no-where cable TV here in Germany.

  95. Chucky you old kraut basher…..

    I asked you a question@39….and @80……are you giving me the rubber ear big man, or are you just embarassed ?! ;-) ;-)

  96. JJ@83….thanks for lining up in my corner, but I can stand my own ground mate, much appreciated. I hadn’t realised that you had also been on the receiving end…sad state of affairs.

    There are a couple of blokes on here who blather doom and gloom about EVERYTHING that the toon achieve, and that get’s right on my nerves. ffs I’m not a great fan of the owner but we’re talking about NUFC here, that’s more important than everything surely…

    There is another person who appears on here now and then, who is just a bully, end of story….and he get’s away with it cos he toes the company line on this blog….. pathetic really, and at the same time the muppet tries to claim he has a mind of his own and is not following the majority like a sheep.

    But there are some good toon guys on here, and we all know who they are…

  97. I agree with Stephen C’s first comment. I think it’s highly likely our WBA game’s lead was deliberately thrown away in the second half, so it would be easier to demonstrate progress this season.
    But only up to 8th or 7th this time. Any further and we’d be in the Europa League and (though Stephen’s theory about Sports Direct’s European strategy is highly interesting, and I will watch developments)I am far from sure Ashley does want to get into the Europa League. That would stretch the current squad and either require real investment or risk damaging consequences on our Premiership position. For the moment Ashley is content mid-table. Doesn’t want a relegation battle… or relegation. Doesn’t believe we can be Champs League, given the number of big money clubs around.