Pardew: We need more sponsorship to keep best players.

Posted on February 26th, 2012 | 52 Comments |

Alan Pardew in the dugout.
Pardew: More sponsorship, or the players will go!
In a move which may or may not be coincidental with the kerfuffle over the club’s recent stadium rename, Alan Pardew has told the Sunday Mirror that though Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias have put the club in a much stronger position finacially, it still needs to bring more sponsorship in.

He also added that if the club failed to bring in more sponsorship, we may lose our best players. The grey gaffer started with praise for Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias’ financial stewardship the club, though it is still in more debt than it was when Ashley gained control of the club in the summer of 2007.

The Silver Supremo gushed:

”The strategy Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias have followed has put the club in a position of relative financial strength.

“Compared to a lot of other football clubs we are in a good place. You have to worry after what has happened last week that a couple of other clubs could be in trouble this summer – but we are not in that position.

“That is down to Mike and Derek. That policy of buying younger players and being very tough with contracts and shifting the power a little bit from players back to the club has proved so far to be successful.”

With models such as the “Arsenal model,” and later the “Aston Villa model” having been bandied around by the club’s hierarchy in the past, Pardew then introduced the name of another team which has been doing very well recently, claiming that the club are now following a “Spurs model,” continuing:

“There are a couple of other models that have been similar. Spurs have gone down that line and bought young players but are now in a position where they can actually buy experienced players.

“I think, hopefully, that is now the next phase for us. Where we are right now-we are pretty healthy.”

Which kind of begs the question why we need more sponsorship money to keep our existing players, or, indeed, why the club are receiving no appreciable funds (apart from a alleged £40,000) for it’s current blanket publicity for Sports Direct International PLC at St James’ Park. Daniel Levy didn’t need to change the name of Tottenham’s stadium to the “Mr. Byrite Arena” to stubbornly hold on to players such as Luka Modric. But anyway, Pardew continued by saying that it is a good thing that Ashley’s real agenda for the club is finally out in the open, saying:

”One of the big things that has helped me is that the agenda is out in public. That is important that Mike and Derek come out and say: ‘this is the financial climate-this is how we work.’So that makes it a little bit easier for me.

“But we will still have problems down the line. Losing some of our best players to the best clubs is still going to happen because we are still not in a position to stop that.

“But we won’t be able to protect our best players until we get more revenue and bigger sponsorship in.

“The higher up the table we finish the easier it will be to attract not only new sponsors but also top players. We are now getting sound-bytes from agents that they would like to get their players here. It is a good sign.”

Hmm, before we needed more sponsorship to buy new players, now we need more sponsorship to keep the players we already have? Isn’t it somewhat contradictory to claim that Ashley is shifting power away from players back to the club, then also state that the club will find themselves unable to hold on to players unless the club unless it generates ever more sponsorship revenue through schemes which will “dissolve” the history of the club to use Derek Llambias’ words.

Meanwhile, it was also speculated in the same organ that the club will be losing right back, Danny Simpson, as he allegedly looks set to reject £20,000 per week contract offer with no bonuses, which would double his current deal. However Pardew didn’t comment on this.

What comes next in terms of sponsorhip schemes, I shudder to think. Will it involve renaming the club as “Sports Direct United” and changing it’s traditional colours to red, white and blue? I’m off to read Aesop’s fable about the boy who kept crying “Wolf!” too often.

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NUFCBlog Author: workyticket workyticket has written 1092 articles on this blog.

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52 Responses

  1. Jimbob says:
    February 26, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    “Boring. Shut up Pardew, heard all this before. We get it.”

    I’m sorry Jimbob, I know I keep quoting Goebbels and Adolf but:

    “The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly – it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”

    It’s still one of the cardinal rules of politics and PR. The same few fundamental messages will be repeated over and over again by Ashley’s ciphers either publicly or by more covert means in the media until we all STFU and let Ashley get on with his full Sports Directification of the club.

  2. There’s a well known saying that if it looks, smells and feels like bullshit then it probably is :(

    This is all about hoodwinking fans, yet again, into believing that the St James Park fiasco is needed. Whereas what is needed is a new owner who knows how to run a football club – someone like Levy whose club still plays at White Hart Lane with crowds of 44k.

  3. All we hear today is about some shitty lingerie selling well, and we can’t keep hold of this and that, need more sponsorship blah blah blah.

    Danny Simpson can fck off too.

    And even though I’m just ranting, there was no need to change the name of the stadium. Stop talking Pardew and concentrate on the art of tactics.

  4. Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed watching the spuds get twanked today – not sure where that leaves Ashleys spuds model but hey-ho it was good fun….

    And before somebody starts chirping about “that result is bad for us” – sorry, but a club the size of United should be out there getting our own results and not relying on others to do it for us!

  5. Jimbob says:
    February 26, 2012 at 7:14 pm

    “All we hear today is about some shitty lingerie selling well”

    What’s wrong Jimbob, was yours chafing or did you split the seams?

    You won’t get a refund, just a credit note if you bought ’em off Ashley. ;-)

  6. Didn’t get em off Ashley Worky. I’m more up market… Like Primark.

    It is difficult to refrain from purchasing anything from Sports Direct however. Anyone would think they’ve got a sale on at the moment.

  7. Don’t get me wrong Jimbob, I like Newcastle United and I’m not entirely averse to lasses in lingerie either; yet somehow, putting the two together doesn’t really strike me as being the “classiest” thing in the world.

    But getting back on topic (vaguely), Ashley’s very first words when he made an offer for the club was:

    “Newcastle United has a wonderful heritage and the passion of its fans is legendary…”

    He didn’t add that he was determined to destroy that heritage though.

  8. How can you believe anything a man who constantly contradicts himself, sez.
    Pardew is Mr. Misinformation, one wonders if he is actually as dumb as he sounds or whether he is promoting confusion and nonesence, with his double-talk.
    I believe it’s a bit of both.
    One wonders what Mike and Dennis think following one of his speeches, whether they just roll their eyes or fall out laughing.
    I’m sure he is fed certain propaganda lines, but how he translates it, must cofuse them as much as the fans.
    Yep, thank goodness we fired that guy now attempting to bring Birmingham back to the PL.
    He was no fun, he either told it like it is or was non commital, no laughs there and he was’nt a BIG name.
    The “Silver Supremo” eh ?

  9. So it’s more sponsorship we need eh?
    Erm ! looks like the St. James’Park controversy has caused a certain toxic nature to the deal of re-naming the stadium.
    Even so most clubs earn very little revenue from those rights.
    Certainly not enough revenue to protect our best players.
    Read (if you dont buy more shirts, you are directly responsible for our having to sell the Tiote’s etc.)
    And we have to be grateful for Mike saving the club from bankrupcy and instituting a policy of monatary concervatism.
    We have done our part, now it’s up to you guys to put a few bucks into the club, or at least stop interfering with our policy, like re-naming the stadium.
    Just cause Sport Direct is making a killing, does’nt mean our beloved owner should invest more in the club.
    Question is ? when others (even Arsenal the model or is it Spurs or aston Villa) are upping there spending, how are we to compete?
    Point is by looking at the successful clubs, they can almost be rated by their expenditure on players.
    Hey if you cant afford the club, f**king sell it!

  10. They have finally let him back on the Match of the Day pundit’s sofa after “rapedgate.” They said he’d gone from a 1.5% approval rating to 95%, which sounds somewhat exagerrated both ways, but especially the 1.5%???

    To be fair, some of criticism has been a little harsh and he has done well, we are 6th well into the season now. Even ‘Arry got Pardewed today by le Professeur. Some fans have been hallucinating for quite some time about the football he plays though, and also the football his predecessor plays too. We should recognise it for what it is, and also that we’ll almost certainly never get a truly top drawer manager with Ashley at the club, in the highlty unlikely event we did, he wouldn’t last for long, and most of the top players won’t last for too long either.

  11. Well, the renameing of SJP angers me as mutch as anyone – and I don’t want to p1ss off any true supporters – but I think this attack on our traditions is being used by some as an excuse just to attack Big Brother Ashley.

    OK, I accept I’m out on my own with the “Iconic no.9” thing, but I notice today that when wrapping up warm for the garden & putting on two old NUFC shirts & a scarf that each has a different NUFC badge (dateing back to the 70s) and I can think of at least one other.

    Is not changeing a club badge not the same as (or posibly worse than) changeing the name of the stadium?

    But I don’t remember any outcry at any badge changes then as we are having now.

    Perhaps cos Big Brother wasn’t the owner in those days?

  12. “if you cant afford the club, f**king sell it!” – so, in the sales brochure what would the stadium be called?

  13. PARDEW SAID

    ”One of the big things that has helped me is that the agenda is out in public. That is important that Mike and Derek come out and say: ‘this is the financial climate-this is how we work.’So that makes it a little bit easier for me.
    “But we will still have problems down the line. Losing some of our best players to the best clubs is still going to happen because we are still not in a position to stop that.
    “But we won’t be able to protect our best players until we get more revenue and bigger sponsorship in.

    which means he lied to us all along, when the name change was first muted to start with, then changed to tatty shite@st. james park we were lead to believe that it was only a sponsor @ st. james park.

    now we are told “he is pleased the agenda has come out”

    which means he was lying to us.

    no wander pedro was moved from out of harms way. no wander he walked out.

    how can we trust three wise men knowing they have lied to us from the start.

    with Olympics coming it would not surprise me if he sells up and fudges off in the summer.

    the lords, ladies, sirs, MPs and peasants will now know Ashley is a liar, with lamearse and pardew in two.

    their three reputations have taken a major dent. yes mike might get richer and richers, but i doubt he will ever be known for anything other than drying wolf.

    proven he lied in court, proven he lied about keegan, proven he lied about renaming. what else are they keeping from us?

    if im right, did mike not have to get rid of £300 million when he sold he shares in tatty shite direct, otherwise it would go to tax man?

    seems to me NUFC are keeping him in a few million not taking away.

    how long before the fraud quad investigate? or is hiding and transferring, buying and selling and then buying bigger just part of the way of life for these tax avoiders?

    something to show for £300 million or nothing to show? i guess i would have done the same, but id at least have been honest about it.

    he was willing to spend £20 million per year on us, but i guess he feels the tax man deserves it more than us.

  14. So liverpool qualify for europe. If chelski or spurs win the FA cup then 7th in PL will also qualify. Plenty still to play for!

  15. “no wander pedro was moved from out of harms way. no wander he walked out”
    – I’ve had a couple of spells out of action recently and have been puzzled by the odd comment like this – have I missed something?

    As NUFC.co.uk says – In 2009 Beardsley was re-appointed as an academy coach
    – July 2010 he was appointed as Reserve Team Manager, with Steve Stone as his assistant
    – Oct 2011 appointed Football Development Manager to “recruit talented youngsters for the Academy & Development Squad”.

    so what’s the probem?

  16. Stephen C says:
    February 26, 2012 at 11:55 pm

    “worky ive sent you an email containing some pictures and details.”

    I’m not bothered Stephen, I trust you. You didn’t have to send me anything, never mind all that! Did you get my last e.mail though?

    Supermac says:
    February 26, 2012 at 11:40 pm

    “Well, the renameing of SJP angers me as mutch as anyone – and I don’t want to p1ss off any true supporters – but I think this attack on our traditions is being used by some as an excuse just to attack Big Brother Ashley.”

    You obviously don’t know how strongly I defended him against the more ridiculous accusations of the “Boycoutt” brigade. However he and his cronies are just such habitual liars who constantly undermine the position of anyone who tries to defend them in any way, shape or form.

    Llambias said something like “you don’t know how f***ing horrible we can be,” cue a chorus of “oh yes we do!” Well I’ve looked into the affairs of this devious huckster as closely as anybody, right down to details, the covert smear campaigns in the media, the dirty tricks, the way he treats his employees, not the Kapos who get share incentives but the 0 hour contract ones on minimum wage and no overtime, and I really don’t think that they do yet, but they’re starting to catch up.

    Yes SJP is different, his scheme is built on a complete lie for a start (as are most things with Ashley), it’s SDA indefintely for buggerall, and the nature of his stadium sponsorship is different from that at any other club which has taken that road. He really is f***ing horrible and he will drag the club’s reputation into the myre.

  17. supermac.

    there was a lot of rumors during the rounds before the appointment was made public.

    he went awol for a month and then suddenly he reappears as youth development.

    the chronical ran a few stories that pedro had walked out and that he was persuaded to come back.

    there was a lot of things being bandied about, but they all seemed to suggest something wasnt right, that something was going on.

    looking back, i think he has kicked off because he knew the “AGENDA” and it would mean just as much to him as it does to us that SJP stays SJP.

    to be honest a lot of people see his new role not as good as his previous. personally traveling and watching kids, talented kids at that, cant be as important as grooming the second string into top class talent like pedro did with sammi and ferguson, the reserves have taken a few good beating since he left and it seems like things dont seem to be working.

    im not the only one who doesnt see the happy family, a few people feel a little suspicious at the who “agenda”

    fans are very rarely allowed to watch the reserves now and we get the odd token reserve game but not like we used to.

    reserve games used to be free to season ticket holders, but how we aren’t allowed anywhere near.

    it seems to a few people that pedro wanted to be as far away from SJP as possible. im not surprised, this “agenda” would have, could have and still could destroy pedros reputation on tyne side if it ever came out he knew. but at least if he did know, looking back, he did at least try to do something about it.

    you just need to line things up in chronological order and see what events they pair up with at the time.
    coincidence? nor just mike ashley down to a T

  18. if alan pardew told me it was raining, i would stick my head out of the window, to make sure.
    he has done nothing but lie and backtrack, since his appointment.
    the man is no more than a mouthpiece, for the reprehensible regime, that holds stewardship, at “ST JAMES’ PARK”.
    an utterly slimy toe rag, who uses false flattery, and “geordie jingoism”, to ingratiate himself with the natives of tyneside.

    some will say i’m nitpicking, due to the lofty position, we occupy in the premier league.
    yes we’ve had some good results, but we have also had some shockers; 4-2 at norwich, 5-2 at fulham, 5-0 at tottenham, beaten 3-2 at home by west brom, should have lost home and away to qpr, nearly cocked it up against wolves away, after being two up, and then completely cocking it up at home against wolves.

    so how good is the “silver f**k”?, for me where ever he finds himself, come the shake up, it will be his high point.
    i dont think there will be anywhere but down for him, from then on.
    i honestly think he is getting to the point, where he is starting to outlive his usefullness.
    i think with the players we have at our disposal,albeit a few of them are not up to it, with a couple of good additions in the summer, and a bit of a clear out, this team could go places.

    alan pardew is a “one trick pony”, and a long ball merchant to boot.
    his tactics and decision making are laughable at times, his substitutions are even more baffling.
    even now this set of players are starting to outgrow his wimbledonesque style of percentage football.
    we cannot have players like yohan cabaye and ben arfa, playing hoof it football, as it defeats the purpose of having them in the first place.
    with all due respect to stoke city, if tony pulis left, they would be knackered, as he is rightly or wrongly, an integral part of what they do to survive.

    in the case of mr pardew, you could give him the push tomorrow, and he wouldn’t be missed, as i think newcastle could play better football, and suceed, without him.

  19. as for the “count of money fatso”, his rebranding of “ST JAMES’ PARK” is= 33.3% egomania, 33.3% free advertising, and 33.3% revenge, for the abuse he suffered during “keegangate” and the “perhughtono scandal”.

  20. TROJAN RECORDS 73 says:
    February 27, 2012 at 12:56 pm

    “who uses false flattery, and “geordie jingoism”, to ingratiate himself with the natives of tyneside.

    Ah them Geordies, they lahv their nahmber 9s, their whippets, their brahn ale and their spotty cake or whatever it’s called, bless em! They’ll lahv Mike and Derek too when they see what they’ve really dahn for for this clahb and no mistake!

    Seriously though, the patronising BS apart we do go too far both ways sometimes when it comes to what’s happening on the pitch, and in the table. When Pardew had a good run there was a kind of wishful thinking, a collective delusion with many that we were playing highly entertaining passing football and that the sky was the limit, rather than a direct and somewhat inflexible style and as I wrote above, sometimes it works the other way too.

    Trojan, you used Wimbledon above as an example of “long ball, percentage football.” There was an exception to that, when they had a manager called Joe Kinnear. I once saw his Wimbledon team pass “stylish” Spurs off the park and win 3-1. Yet when he came here it was all “blah blah Wimbledon, blah blah long ball, blah blah route one” etc.

    Hughton was condemned for the same thing because he happened to inherit a bunch of big lads upfront, now he is being hailed for his “entertaining” style. Sometimes people go to lots of games but they never quite understand what’s gannin’ on so they resort to misinformed cliches. Sometimes this get others frustrated and makes them get a little carried away at the other extreme.

    The thing is you can’t really predict how things will pan out in the long term just by looking at 11 good results at the start of the season. To do that it’s much better to have a reasonable understanding of the game and also of leadership.

    It’s also a question of expectation. Is there a post relegation realism which makes us happy with mid-table mediocrity? Or do we want to return to fairly regular appearences in the Champion’s League or at least the other one on a very regular basis? That will probably never happen with Pardew but it doesn’t mean that he is the worst manager in history. He will have good runs sometimes, he will come a cropper sometimes too. We may scrape into the top six or seven, or even make a cup final like Stoke, Birmingham or Cardiff the other day and scrape into Europe, but we won’t be one of the big teams over a regular basis.

    The thing is though Trojan, if Pardew was sacked, who else is going to take the job? Could you really imagine someone like Fabio Capello working for Mike Ashley, being constantly undermined for a minimum wage? Well, minimum wage in Premier League manager terms anyway.

  21. worky, i agree with all your points, what i was saying though, how good is pardew?.
    imo he is a very average manager, who has got a talented squad, at his disposal.
    i think if pardew was sacked,we could bring in another journeyman manager, who would be happy with the status of being newcastle manager.
    there would be a queue a mile long, for managers of similar ability, as long as graeme carr is bringing in cut price players, and ashley has a yes man he can kick around.
    i just think pardew gets far too much credit, for the team being where it is.
    from what i have seen, whenever pardew makes a decision, be it substitutions, tactics, formations etc, it spells disaster.
    i think personally where pardew’s concerned, it’s a case of anyone can be a sex pistol, and we could bring in a manager who would get the ball on the deck, and play better football, than they have been.

  22. TROJAN RECORDS 73 says:
    February 27, 2012 at 12:56 pm

    “we cannot have players like yohan cabaye and ben arfa, playing hoof it football, as it defeats the purpose of having them in the first place.”

    Benny does have a problem with Pardew’s methodology, Cabaye doesn’t Trojan. Cabaye has a defensive side to his game as well as a playmaking one. He’s the kind of player who could go bang in the middle of a 4-3-3, actually, he did in France because of that combination of qualities.

    You have hit on a problem with Ashley’s masterplan and Pardew though. The problem being snapping up these fancy french midfielders and trying to make them fit in with a bread and butter English manager. Some do, some don’t. Poor Benny falls between the cracks for Pardew, and brilliant though he undoubtedly is, he does need the guidance of a more sophisticated manager to work on some aspects of his game. His development has been stunted both by injury and Pardew’s approach. The thing is though, if he was sold, he would probably end up with a top team and end up being worth many times what he was being sold for. If I was say, Carlo Ancelloti, I would snap him up, take him back to Paris and work on him. As you probably know, Paris St Germain are now like Man City but in one respect they are different because they can only have a small quota of non EU players (4) in France’s Ligue Un, so their emphasis will be more on clawing back the best French players who have gravitated towards more lucrative leagues such as England and Spain, as well as other EU players of course.

  23. TROJAN RECORDS 73 says:
    February 27, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    ” i think personally where pardew’s concerned, it’s a case of anyone can be a sex pistol,”

    Actually, deviating into the world of punk for a moment, that isn’t true at all, that was just Malcolm Mclaren bollocks. I’ve met Glen Matlock, Jamie Reid and Dave Goodman (their original producer) and there was a certain talent and a certain dynamic there which was destroyed when Glen Matlock, then John Lydon were sacked which could never be replaced. Glen Matlock’s a very talented songwriter and no one could replace Johnny Rotten because he’s unique. Steve Jones was as raw as hell but he had a certain kind of talent too, for a start, his timing is absolutely spot on, it’s almost like a natural gift. When Glen Matlock the songwriter was sacked that was the beginning of the end of the Sex Pistols. Sacking the songwriter is usually the most stupid thing any succesful band can do, it’s rule number one.

    When they were looking at their debut album, Dave Goodman was sacked, but then came a stroke of paradoxical genius (all genius is pardoxical to some extent). They didn’t get some wild DIY punk in to produce, they got the best and most professional producer there is, Chris Thomas, who produced and mixed for the likes of Roxy Music and Pink Floyd. He harnessed their energy beautifully and that’s one of the main reasons why “Never Mind the Bollocks” was such a great album.

  24. Good question, who would take the job ?
    Hey i’m sure the top brainstrust will eventually figure out that we are going nowhere with the Silver Supremo.
    Just as they figured out, younger, cheaper and better.
    Question is, who decides on which players to bring in?
    If it’s our head scout, we are in trouble, no matter how good the players are.
    That role has to left to the manager,, sure it’s great to have an outstanding set of scouts, but they have to work for the manager, he is the one who has the ultimate responsibility for putting the right combination to -gether.
    As for suggestions, there are some good young managers, including Martinez, Lambert,Rodgers,the two Clarks, the Liverpool coach and the former Huddersfield Manager.
    All who’s teams play a modern free flowing style of football and obviously have the ability to adapt in a tacticle sense, something we have yet to experience from “The Silver Supremo”
    Not to say i discount continental managers, who may in fact be where the most innovative football is comming from.
    Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portugues, each have introduced innovations to the game, making it a more entertaining spectacle to enjoy.
    Whereas for the most part,the English game has remained a mainly physical and fast paced game, tempered by the great technical skills of our imports.
    I rest my case by pointing out, not unlike NUFC the English national team has won nowt in almost fifty years,
    whereas EPL sides stocked with Johnny foreigner, have done quite good in competitions.
    Sad but true.

  25. “To be fair, some of criticism has been a little harsh and he has done well, we are 6th well into the season now.”

    Funnily enough WT I’d expect loads of others to bring that spurious argument to the table before you :)

    IMHO we fecked up when Fatman sacked Allardyce without a Plan A, B or C in place. OK we were hovering around low to mid table but we were still a Premiership club.

    All that was needed was a sound, professional and tactically aware manager to replace Fat Sam and we’d have probably gone on to another mid table or even top ten finish. We only became a basket case when the side fell into chaos with KK, Joke and then SuperBaldie all having their ten pence worth IN ONE FECKING STUPID SEASON.

    And whose fault was that ?????

    Now he’s managed to stem the feck ups to less than one a month, Fatman has done the minimum to return us to where we were before he got his fat sticky fingers in the till.

    Unfortunately the Fat Twattt’s still not football savvy enough to realise that you can weave as many silken threads into your purse as you like but with a clumsy, talentless and perhaps unqualified manager you’ll still end up with a sow’s ear no matter how long you wait !

  26. Agree with most of what Trojan said at 24.

    AndyMac, under fat Sam we were slipping drastically. The only win we had in a while if I can remember, was a 1-0 win at Fulham via a last minute Barton penalty.

    Ashley wanted Redknapp and he turned it down due to his commitments to his family in Bournmouth. He still lives there.

    Ashley thought he was doing the right thing bringing back KK, but soon realised he couldn’t get him to be a mouthpiece.

    Redknapp wouldn’t of worked under Ashley. Not a chance.

    Ashley has a habit of fcking things up so watch this space. Though would he ever remove anyone from the club who so willingly bends over and allows Ashley’s hand straight up his arse and work his mouth so well?

  27. Jimbob says:
    February 27, 2012 at 7:52 pm

    “Ashley wanted Redknapp and he turned it down due to his commitments to his family in Bournmouth. He still lives there.”

    Jimbob, aye, that was roughly what he said officially to be diplomatic. But as you kind of suggest, in a more candid moment he did say that when he saw the Ashley Llambias setup he didn’t like the look of it at all and just walked away, or words to that effect anyway. I’ll see if his exact words are still knocking around somewhere.

  28. Pards: “We got two goals, but I never really felt comfortable from the sidelines. We weren’t playing well.

    “Their three midfield players were bossing us a little bit.

    So why didn’t you change it, add an extra man to the midfield earlier. How many times has a team with a 3 man central midfield caused us problems? On a regular basis. Almost as regular is how he fails to do anything tactically to change the tide of a match until it’s too late, or Krul has saved the day.

    If it’s not right from kick-off, we tend to struggle throughout games. I get why he changed to a 4-4-1-1 with two subs, but before a set-piece? (never ever make subs before a set-piece) then feel it correct to go back to a 4-4-2 with Ameobi on, after we had so clearly struggled to contain there 3 man midfield when the score was 2-1?

    “We had to have an adjustment from Spurs (United lost 5-0), and I could see that, but we were a little bit too negative in terms of that adjustment.

    “The two full-backs could have pushed in a little bit more, especially in the start of the second half.”

    When has Danny Simpson ever pushed on in a game and looked useful? He’s about as useful as a hole in a spacesuit. And it’s not Santon’s fault at all. He was possibly the best player on the pitch.

  29. Jimbob, I seem to recall that it was Chris Mort who had the talks with ‘Arry. Mort had the fans eating out of his hand, but he was a “cnut” too really.

    ‘Arry loves his Sandbanks, as you say, near Bounemouth. It’s nouveau riche on sea. Piers Twatface did a show about it once.

  30. Mort was very sly Worky. He played the good guy very well. I suppose at least Llambias doesn’t hide the fact he’s a knob. Silver lining an all…

  31. One thing I’ll throw in for no particular reason.

    Arguably the best left back in the Premiership this season has been £5 million Jose Enrique. He’s been at least as good as that other gadgie we sold to Liverpool has been shite.

    And he won a trophy the other day too, somthing we haven’t done since 1969. Let’s all laugh at Liverpool because we’re so clever.

  32. who would take over from potduff? there is only two names i would consider.

    lee clark and timuri ketsbia

    personally to have ketsbia as no1 and clark as no2 would spell a good, secure and fruitful football in the north east. between them they play some good football and imo would be the best option for the long term future of Newcastle United

  33. Stephen C says:
    February 27, 2012 at 8:32 pm

    “lee clark and timuri ketsbia”

    Aye Stephen, Ketsbaia could do a lovely job on all those Sports Direct signs :lol:

  34. but worky i would rather have a press conference like this than the ones Parduff has been speiling out.

    could you imagine this on tyneside? lamearse wouldn’t know what hit him and ashley would take the next helicopter flight out

  35. was that the timur ketsbia show?

    if not it certainly ended that way.

    what a guy he was. i loved him at the toon. his ethics are great. certainly fits into the model pro, he picked a team for anorthosis who would work for free.(obviously they didn’t) but the cash didn’t matter to him or his team.

    he is a legend in Cyprus. and personally think he would scare managers senseless in the prem. him and clarkie would be a dream.

    but i don’t think he would be the yes man mike and lamearse need to fit into their agenda.

    far from it to be honest

    but im sure he would have fun with those advertising boards around SJP

  36. Stephen C says:
    February 27, 2012 at 9:25 pm

    “was that the timur ketsbia show?”

    I’m not sure as my Georgian is a little rusty ATM :-)

    I do know that he is the Georgian national manager now though.

    One of the most highly regarded up and coming managers, known as a miracle worker with his exciting and adventurous football is that gadgie at Birmingham City. I can’t quite remember his name now but he’s practically idolised by Birmingham fans.

  37. worky, the sex pistols were a cracking band, and glen matlock is a good bassist.
    what i was referring to, was the start of the great rock and roll swindle, where the pistols held the open auditions.
    when members of the public turned up to try out, under the banner, “anyone can be a sex pistol”, with hilarious results.
    i think we have a group of players, who deserve better than the hoof ball pardew, has them playing.

    i think pardew is still hanging onto the shirt tails of, what chris hughton fostered, during his tenure.
    personally i think he has got away with it so far, but the times are becoming more frequent, where he is being found out.

  38. “personally i think he has got away with it so far, but the times are becoming more frequent, where he is being found out”

    Therein lies the rub TR.

    Why oh why, when deep down inside we all know that Pardwho wont win anything during his stint at playing Football Manager, must we suffer year upon year of stifling football just so we can all say at the end “We gave him time” ?

    As I’ve said before we’re now no better off than we were when Gullitt, Dalglish, Souness (Jeez I still find that hard to believe) Roeder (yes I know you liked him WT) and Allardyce were all here marking time waiting for their fat cheque at the end.

  39. Jimbob says:
    “He’s about as useful as a hole in a spacesuit.”
    Well, it depends where that hole is Jimbob. It could be damn useful.