Does this sound familiar…? West Ham, Charlton and Southampton fans on Pardew

Posted on May 16th, 2013 | 206 Comments |

Alan Pardew.
Pardew: Repeating the same mistakes.
Below are a selection of comments down the years from fans of previous clubs managed by Alan Pardew.

I collected many of them from various fan sites when I was doing my research on him when he was appointed as Newcastle United manager back in December 2010, however, I have also added quite a few made since that time. As you will see, they contain many horribly familiar comments about such things as bewildering tactics, blaming everyone and everything except himself a lack of abilty to motivate the players (despite the fact that prides himself on being a “Mr.Motivator” type psychological genius), long ball tactics, strange substitutions etc…

I have arranged the club’s in chronological order, starting with West Ham, then Charlton Athletic and finally, Southampton. Though you may think it’s quite a long list, believe me, I had to sift through alot more, especially from Charlton fans!

So here goes!

The West Ham fans.

under the thumb Tue Oct 23 – 12:35.

“We had a good season that first year back in the Premiership, granted, but beyond that look at the dross we played next year. He wouldn’t play Tevez or his mate and chose Hayden Mullins every week!

“I genuinely believe his bubble will burst again at Newcastle and before long the Geordies will be on his back…”

Jason E.7 Tue 11/13/2007 – 03:13.

“Pardew was an average manager who punched well above his weight for one year and we loved him for it. However when we were a known quantity he couldn’t change tactics and thats was that…”

DB1983 3:41 Fri Jan 25.

“Did you go to the first play off? When he took off all our strikers at 1 nil down?”

Anonymous Fri 12/08/2006 – 22:44.

“Pardew, Wednesday night was obviously a shambles, please please recognise the fact that we need someone in the team that can actually pass a football. Mascherano is recognised as a world class passer so please please play him, its nothing short of an embarassment when NRC, Yoss, Ethers are struggling to play a 5 yard pass to feet, let alone trying to spray the ball 40 yrds, sort it out. And ffs do not play long ball against Bolton as we will get F*****.”

worldwide-iron Fri, 02/16/2007 – 10:23.

“I wanted him out 2 seasons ago and have never wavered. He sneaked us into the prem with a squad that should have walked the Championship, had a good season although with only one plan, fast attack and was found out this season for not having a plan B. His summer signings were awful, no exception as he didnt sign Tevez. A lot of players have one good season and dissapear just like Pardew will. Lower league manager.”

under the thumb 11:49 Tue Oct 23

“I’m glad I don’t have to listen to the mans babble every week and he is no longer manager of this club. It won’t be long before Pardew hits the buffers at Newcastle as well and will be shown up for what he really is… a total c*** of a man.”

The Charlton fans.

BigRedEvilMember October 2008

“Shocking tactically. Seems oblivious to the problems that we all see in the stands. And then to come out and say we were unlucky. He is pushing it. Maybe he wants a nice little pay out ;-)”

kinveachyaddickMember October 2008

“He’s lost me after last night. Was the worst Charlton performance I have seen in a long, long time. Tactically all wrong and no passion from the players. Looking at our squad and comparing it others in the division anything less than a top six finish is simply not good enough.”

razilMember October 2008

“I actually think the more serious problem is he seems not be able to motivate the team. If that continues we may have a very rocky season ahead, hold on your hats.”

ChunesMember October 2008

“Yes. His tactics are inexplicable, and he seems to think that last nights performance was actually all part of a game plan. Which must be true considering it sounds similiar to the last two away performances. You can’t set up like that and just hope to ride your luck when you’re playing teams in the relegation zone. It’s just plain insanity.”

Miserableoldgit October 2008

“I’m sorry , but I can’t get past the fact that Luke Varney WAS winning the ball in the air and knocking it on to No-one. Surely that is Pardews thinking/plan.”

Weegie AddickMember October 2008

“OK, I was one of the first to say I’d lost it with Pards, but that was after over a year in the job – it was the New Year’s Day match v Colchester that was the final straw for me. By then I had heard enough of his b******t and was getting increasingly worried about his tactics and motivational ability.
Unfortunately, those worries have only been exarcerbated by the season to date. How long should we wait for these green shoots of improvement? My patience has run out, others is running out. Above all, what do the players really think? Some of them aren’t stupid, and if we feel he is all over the shop tactically, surely they are aware of that too and will lose (or maybe have lost) faith in him?

“And I’m not saying this to stir things up / create unrest. I’m saying it because I care deeply about the future of our club and have huge sympathy for the board, who potentially have to face more tough decisions unless Pardew can miraculously conjure up a few wins on the spin and a formation that works.”

nth london addick October 2008

“For me I am afraid it is a case of I want him to go (I am not happy about this either which is p****** me off more).

“But I have watched us in every home game except Reading and I have listened to 2 on the radio (with pals there saying it straight as well) that he has failed to come up with a plan to stop individuals attacking us time after time or our players being totally inept in their own positions.

“He is failing to accept that his game plan is not working and is unwilling to change it early enough,

“He has failed to take accountabillty for his errors during these games also.

“He does not see the same game as anyone who I have read posting on here as his post match interview doesnt match one that most on here have witnessed themselves.

“He is wrong for allowing that performance out of any performance they put together this season to come about,

“No shots on target unacceptable.

“No passion within the team and failure to accept responsibility on the pitch.

“Unable to pass to each other with any quality in the final third or to retain the ball for any length of time.

“Those 3 points should not happen in any game, let alone against those mugs, and are 3 points that the manager is solely responsible for. This is my opinion and the basis that I have now lost faith in Pardew.

“The final 2 points above No passion and poor passing have been key features in all games I have witnessed in every game this season ( i didnt see Reading live but i watched it on TV and that game is the only one that I will say we had a fire in our bellies).

“I f****** hate Pardew for making me feel this way as I beleived we had the right man in place and no one likes to be wrong, but it takes a man to admit it and I hope Pardew can at least hold himself accountable for his mistakes if he wont allow himself to walk away.”

kigeliaMember October 2008

“Pardew is his own worst enemy.

“He talks like a politician – lots of meaningless waffle and what he thinks people want to hear to make him look good.

“He seems to need to be seen to be doing something all the time…”

Anglia AddickMember October 2008

“I never liked the guy. always thought he was a smug g*t with a face that needed slapping with a wet fish. However, he joined Charlton and therefore had my backing – just like all the staff and players.

“Things looked positive when he arrived and even though we were going down I had high hopes for Championship season, unfortunately we look as poor as we did in the latter part of last season. Some of the team selection baffles me and comments about game plan are off the chart. And as for playing football the way it’s meant to be played… s***, how many shots did we have Tuesday??

“But I think we are stuck with him for now. I suggest he has a change arround at the training ground and puts some more posters on the walls about how to be confident and win games.”

taitr Posted 05 Nov 2008 12:39

“1. Has no tatical knowledge on a game of football
“2. Gets the worst out of half decent players
“3. Consistantly blames others when things arent going his way and NEVER takes any flack for himself
“4. Brings in c**p loan signings
“5. Has helped ruin 15 years of hard work that the legend curbs put in
“6. Dosent really have a likeablilty factor
“7. TIME FOR HIM TO GO
“8. TIME FOR HIM TO GO NOW
“9. PARDEW OUT.”

Christy Malyan 21st November 2012 at 6:31 pm

“By the way, a warning to all Newcastle fans about Alan Pardew – when things are going well for Pardew, they tend to go very well. But when the wheels come off, the man becomes somewhat powerless. It is not only his record at the Addicks that suggests this trend.”

bingaddickMember January 8, 2013

“I think he has always been a chancer tactically, playing players out of position, especially in attack.”

“I was surprised he did so well at Newcastle. This season, things have unravelled big time. What is astonishing, rather like with Dowie, boards are still prepared to employ a bulls****** who is full of front but very little delivery.”

Forest Hillbilly 19/01/2013, 06:12 PM

“Pardew blames the fans

“History repeating itself- 2 livid Newcastle fans phoning 606 in a rage at Pardew falsely accusing the fans of booing the players. Lining up another golden pay-day?”

Dave2l May 3, 2013

“When was you a manager?” (Pardew on Gary Neville – wt)

“No class, pathetic babble.

“If someone asked who would be a better manager to appoint Dowie or Pardew?

“I would say Dowie, does exactly what it says on the tin so at least you are aware you must get rid quickly.”

The Southampton fans

Saints Flyer Thu 09th Dec 2010

“Tactically Pardew appeared naive, he would often get it wrong selection wise and we saw substitutions made before half time on more than one occasion and early double substitutions in the second half were commonplace. In hindsight we were too one dimensional and relied too much on Rickie Lambert who was in a purple patch of free kicks and penalties but rarely scored from total open play.”

Ali Iveson 20 February 2013

“Not only did Adkins achieve better results, he also did it in style with a team who liked to pass the ball. Under Pardew the style of football was alright, but nothing special. It was usually quite direct and relied heavily on long balls towards Lambert, although to call it ‘long ball’ football would be doing it a disservice. Compared to what we’ve seen under Adkins, Pochettino and even Jan Poortvliet it was not too appealing.”

fatletiss 25/10/2012, 10:46 PM.

“I was never a huge fan to be honest. I thought he never had a plan B. when he came, a charlton fan told me to watch out for bizarre subs. I remember away to Huddersfield early on when we went 2-1 down, he subbed a CB for a CB when we needed fresh attacking options. There was always something I didn’t like about him and never really trusted him.

“Having said that, I’m grateful he signed Rickie and I must say thanks for a great day at Wembley.”

Saint Neil 01/10/10 02:08 PM

“Not sure why Pardew is held in so much esteem with some supporters. I always had a niggling problem with Pardew anyhow, too many excuses and not enough passion from the sidelines. We did well to get to JPT final and win but was this because of Pardew or in spite of him? We stuttered badly at key times during the latter part of the last season that ultimately cost us a play-off place, not the 10 points deduction, was this perhaps down to poor management?

“This was then followed by a very poor pre-season and and very poor start to the season, with players looking unfit and unmotivated. Does this smack of good management?”

Poll

NUFCBlog Author: workyticket workyticket has written 1091 articles on this blog.

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206 Responses

  1. Worky: I know you picked the ones that support your argument but there is an obvious pattern to his management. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt last year but saw the light about 5 games into this season. Some of the more prescient on here saw it before me and that includes Chuck (although he says the sky is falling on everybody except his faves like Martinez and Rodgers, so you cant count him :) , Hi Chuck!)

    We now know the ending. It is a matter of what month before Xmas 2013 does he go. Hopefully, June.

  2. Incredible. !! Every comment shown above could be directed at him for this season’s performances alone. What this does do for me is to make me more aware that Ashley has to do the right thing and blow him out asap or his own credibility, which is already not too high, will plummet even further, and can his image stand that ? I don’t think so.

  3. Dead man walking. He’s just too dumb to realise it. Lord knows how he managed to get this far.

  4. Porciestreet says:
    May 16, 2013 at 7:22 pm

    “Dead man walking.”

    Porciestreet, I’ve said this before but in Pardew’s case it’s “dead man TALKING.”

    You could drive a stake through his heart and he’d still be blathering on about injuries blah blah, Europa League blah blah, referee’s decisions blah blah… we shudda won but we ‘ad no luck blah blah…

  5. And now he’s running scared of the Q and A session he was doing on the radio. No balls, no brains, no conscience and not much else it seems. The mans a coward in every sense.

  6. Worky and Porcie: when we play shite like West Ham and Brom second half he thinks we played well. He is either delusional or wants us to play that way.

    How can he not see that we play horrible football, but with talented players?

    It almost makes you question whether Obertan is shite or whether he has been “Pardewed”

  7. I honestly think that most of our squad have been well and truly Pardewed. Lets face it , when Alan Carr spotted the players we now have, he must have had a brief as what he was looking for. Having done his job exceptionally well, they were handed over to Pardew who has systematically ruined their style, their confidence and their capabilities, resulting in the abject chaos we now see before us Surely, the shopkeeper can see through this or,…. is there a hidden agenda ?? May be there is some truth in the gambling debt theory after all. However, all will be revealed in the next eciting episode of; “TOON”.The longest trainwreck in modern times.
    PS . A great big thankyou to Stevie Harper for all his years of dedication to the cause.(however lost)

  8. The evidence is there and has been for ages not just this season.It showed last season which was hailed as a success Fulham WBA etc.If a growing number of us can see it I can’t imagine why the players aren’t shouting it from the roof tops.If they are silenced by contracts at least tell Pardew himself.I’m sure any workforce Ive ever had would have told me and were encouraged to do so if I ever got it wrong.(However unlikely that may have been LOL)

  9. Nutmag says:
    May 16, 2013 at 8:02 pm

    “The evidence is there and has been for ages not just this season.It showed last season which was hailed as a success Fulham WBA etc.If a growing number of us can see it I can’t imagine why the players aren’t shouting it from the roof tops.”

    Nutmag, the evidence was there in abundance before he even started at Newcastle, and you can see a very small facet of it above.

    The players can’t shout if from the rooftops because as you suggest, it’s probably written in their contracts that they can’t go shouting negative things from the rooftops. That’s the way things are nowadays. The media can’t either or they’ll get the Luke Edwards / Anal Oliver treatment.

    I just love it when Derek Llambias pompously threatens people with legal action in public though when you know it’s never going to happen because he and Ashley are as guilty as sin and would get crucified.

  10. Porciestreet says:
    May 16, 2013 at 7:59 pm

    “May be there is some truth in the gambling debt theory after all.”

    There’s no truth in that, Porciestreet.

    However, when Pardew said he only received a phone call a few days before he was appointed about the job (at his first press conference), that was a barefaced lie. He was hanging around Ashley like a rash before that time.

  11. Why, why, why is he still in a job. it beggars belief. you just couldn’t write this crap. Something stinks in the state of Geordie and it has to be rooted out if we are ever to progress.

  12. Porciestreet says:
    May 16, 2013 at 8:34 pm

    “Something stinks in the state of Geordie and it has to be rooted out if we are ever to progress.”

    Aye Porcie, Mike Ashley.

    Everything else, including Pardew and Llambias just follows on from that. If Ashley sacks Pardew, Llambias will probably have kiss and make up talks with Iain Dowie (on second thoughts, maybe without the “kiss”!) and offer him the job, or something like that.

  13. I for one will be giving him abuse on the lap of apprication after Sundays match.I doubt i will be the only one anall.What a fkin knob and thats been polite.
    The prick coming out with that shite about ‘not caring if Arsenal do us 4nowt’ and then saying it was a joke!!! He should be relieved theres no GBH on that lap Sunday.
    Today really made me laugh out loud when i was reading the metro paper on the bus.’Newcastle in talks for Wayne Rooney’ hahahaha!!! WELL FKIN AYE.

    If he stays we are in big trouble,next season i doubt we will be so lucky to keep premier league status.

  14. There was nothing in Pardew’s CV to warrant his appointment and he’s done nothing since to suggest he’s anything other than an exceptionally mediocre manager. Unfortunately, mediocrity is the full extent of NUFC’s ambition under Mr Ashley. Another seven years of muddling along listening to Pardew’s incessant drivel beckons.

  15. he should get the sack for playing guttuirez and ameobi alone never mind his tactics and substitutions but i’m afraid,as KK said;fatash knows nothing about football and llambias even less[or was it the other way round] so unfortunately they wouldn’t know good football if it hit them in the b—‘s.plus the fact that fatash is not a n’castle fan so unfortunately there is not much hope for us.also if he did sack pards which other pudding would he bring in?

  16. As said before, I expect Pardew will hang on to his job for reasons of stability, believing his bollox about not having the players he needed, having to play too many games, injuries etc, but Mike Ashley is more petrified of dropping into the Championship than anything else. If Pardew has us down at the bottom end of the PL at Christmas, as I expect he shall, Mike will pull the plug. That is my best assessment though I would love to be proved wrong.

  17. Three different sets of fans knowing and saying the same thing and not just coincidence. He needs to go or we will have a repeat of this season next season.

  18. Like Wigan, Martinez has built a reputation and a vast amount of good will upon being likeable in a non-threatening, non-challenging kind of a way. After all, his record over his four-year tenure at the DW Stadium does little to justify the hype.

    Played 151

    Won 38 (25%)

    Drawn 42

    Lost 71

    For 164 (1.08 per game)

    Against 273 (1.80 per game)

    Goal Difference -109 (-27 per season on average)

    Points 156 (39 per season on average*)

  19. ARMY
    Yo! bud this guy sez, inmo you are a moron that has found himself on this blog.
    And really believes he has anything of import to say .
    The fact is you continue to embarrass yourself with your painful attempts to be either understandable, write readable English, or make a point.
    Puleez! don’t continue to embarrass yourself and find another place to express your stupid opinons.

  20. Chuck man, just stop it. TAE is having a good time like the rest of us. If you want to argue with me, that will be fun, because you always run away and hide.

  21. It would be really easy to criticise everybody for the wrong way they use their, they’re and there or too and to. But what is the point?

    I may as well criticize Chuck for every misspell he makes. It is at least 10 times every post he makes.

    And then he huffs at others.

  22. P.S. Good stats Worky, thanks for the effort you put in to educate folk like myself on all this stuff, and to open up the flow of conversation.

  23. If the above is moderated.
    Then what I said is Fcuck off !
    And stop fcucking bird dogging me, you creep.
    Cant you see i’m purposely ignoring you.

  24. Don’t forget his habit of getting it on with players wives!! Poor manager and I think Newcastle would be far better off getting rid.. We were!

  25. @chuck
    hey bud dint be blameing me cause the boy you claim is the man for us sucks bud.will reframe from tradeing insults with ya cause frankly you aint worth my time.

  26. @workyticket
    just to be fair would be nice to know, how much money he had to spend on transfers at those clubs.Would not class any of them as heavey hitters in the transfer budgets

  27. The pattern has repeated it’s self more times than you can fathom. Pardew rises and at the apex of his glory, it is extinguished.

    One of our biggest problems this season is our inability to score goals. Since Ba left who even then was the only one scoring goals.

    He relies on magic and moments of luck which is just poor poor management. You may as well play 11 goal keepers and gamble on the opposition scoring an own goal.

    He thanked the footballing Gods after the QPR win. He probably believes in incantations, the throwing of animal bones to alter luck and summoning of dead footballers as a game plan

  28. TOONARMYELITE says:
    May 17, 2013 at 9:06 am

    “@workyticket
    just to be fair would be nice to know, how much money he had to spend on transfers at those clubs.”

    I haven’t got the exact figures but they say that Dowie and Pardew cleaned out Charlton’s coffers, they both brought alot of players in. He signed quite a few players at West Ham and famously, he got Tevez and Mascherano and played Tevez out of position to accomodate players like Marlon Harewood, and he often left Mascherano on the bench for Hayden Mullins. At Southampton they were deducted ten points through admininistration, but then Marcus Liebherr (the gadgie who makes the big cranes and other things on building sites) came just before Pardew and they were the richest club in League One by some distance. They signed players who are still mainstays of the team today including Rickie Lambert. That ten points would be like Newcastle being deducted 10 points in the Championship. We still would have had 92 points and got ourselves promoted automatically but Pardew didn’t even make the playoffs.

  29. Pardew is a charlatan. He’s fine when its going right but when it’s going wrong he doesn’t have the answers. Never made a good signing in his life, Graham Carr calls the shots on that front at St James Park.

    He signed Luke Varney for a very sizeable Championship 2.5million and a fair few quid a week in wages, watched him tear Palace to shreds in scoring twice against them and subsequently dropped him 2 games later, needless to say Chris Iwelumo plan B…

  30. heard alot of rumours this morning bout pardew getting the sack on sunday or monday and that rafa has been seen meeting aahley a few times could be nothing could be somthing

  31. Toonforlife says:
    May 17, 2013 at 10:45 am

    “and that rafa has been seen meeting aahley a few times”

    Toon, are you sure it was Benitez and not Iain Dowie? :-)

  32. Worky, You should send a nice little fax through to Mr Llambias, With all those comments on the page.
    Talk about things being timeless!, He has said in his countless interviews, He has learned by his mistakes.
    You could take the names off the comments, And you would think you were reading Newcastle fans comments, From this campaign.
    He clearly has not learned anything from his previous stabs at management, And should really get back to his day job, Of fixing windows.
    This football management lark is not for him, Why doesn’t he admit defeat, And come to the conclusion, That he’s not very good at it.

    Colo’s party looked like the scene from “The Last Supper”, With his curly hair and beard.
    I was expecting him to cross the table, And heal the cripple, “Shola Amoebi”.

  33. A good manager is judged not when things are going well, but how he reacts adapts and responds when things go against him and sadly Pardew has fallen well short on this front.

    From playing players out of position, to playing bizarre tactics and making idiotic substitutions all the way to spouting endless drivel and excuses everytime something doesn’t go his way.

    As much as I want some stability at the club, I think it’s shown this season that Pardew has nothing else up his sleeve and should be shown the door before we suffer another season of damage. I have just not seen anything to convince me that he has what it takes to change things around. A good manager should be able to keep us organised, no matter which players he has available. Time to give the likes of Poyet, Clarkey or dare I say it even the fat spanish waiter a shot as they can hardly do a worse job than this clown we currently have!

  34. MaggieMiggs says:
    May 17, 2013 at 11:49 am

    “Time to give the likes of Poyet, Clarkey or dare I say it even the fat spanish waiter a shot as they can hardly do a worse job than this clown we currently have!”

    MaggieMiggs, you do realise that Rafael Benitez broke the dominance of the big two in Spain, winning two La Ligas and a UEFA Cup in the process with Valencia? He then went on to Liverpool and won them the Champions League (and got them to another final) with one of the greatetst tactical masterstrokes in the history of football against the best team in Europe at the time (Ancelotti’s Milan). He has also won the World Club Cup and several other trophies (10 major ones in total) including one just the other night.

    You can hardly compare him with Lee Clark!

  35. We do not want Lee Clark full stop!, His Huddersfield side were a “Long Ball” merchant, And they were terrible to watch.
    Forget about any kind of Geordie sentiment, And give him a massive side step, As we would be in the same boat, If not worse.

  36. @22, 25, 27: settle down you sad little man. This will be the last time I ever address a post to you. I agree with TAE, you are not worth it.

  37. Judging by some of the comments above, it looks like it’s Chuck’s “time of the month” again. PMT can be a terrible thing so go easy with him for a few days and whatever you do, DON’T make any negative comments about Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers!

  38. If Clarkey was brought in, Would he bring in the players much loved stand up, Terry Mac lol.

  39. Worky, I heard the rumour about him getting peddled, But not the Doubtfire rumour, Please not Brucie!, he’s a Geordie, Who has no idea what a derby game means ffs!

  40. If they are going to replace the gobs***e!, Then get Fata Benitez, He’s proved himself, Over and over.
    The only criticism i have of him, Is his choice of players, At times.

  41. Joe Hawkins: I never got the Doubtfire resemblance. I have seen Bernard Cribbins and Bagpuss mentioned.

    I never disliked him and I am glad he found his level at Hull. Hope he likes the fish.

  42. joe hawkins says:
    May 17, 2013 at 1:11 pm

    “Please not Brucie!”

    Joe, if it was a choice between Steve Bruce, Lee Clark or Iain Dowie, which one would you choose?

  43. GS says:
    May 17, 2013 at 1:19 pm

    “Joe Hawkins: I never got the Doubtfire resemblance. I have seen Bernard Cribbins and Bagpuss mentioned.”

    He looks like the lovechild of the world’s worst boxer and a very large dinner lady.

  44. Bruce could get his nose fixed to not look so much like a boxer but he would still have the problem of looking like he has a large inflatable head.

  45. TAE: says:

    “Like Wigan, Martinez has built a reputation and a vast amount of good will upon being likeable in a non-threatening, non-challenging kind of a way. After all, his record over his four-year tenure at the DW Stadium does little to justify the hype.

    Played 151

    Won 38 (25%)

    Drawn 42

    Lost 71

    For 164 (1.08 per game)

    Against 273 (1.80 per game)

    Goal Difference -109 (-27 per season on average)

    Points 156 (39 per season on average*)”

    I was almost convinced that Wigan were OK since they are brought up so much on here. I stand corrected.

  46. Worky, I had a strange email from you with a link. Haven’t looked at it or opened it, wasn’t sure if you did it purposely or you may have been hacked. Just letting you know.

  47. Ok thanks GS. I noticed through my phone last night and was half asleep. Just checking.

  48. GS says:
    May 17, 2013 at 1:39 pm

    “I was almost convinced that Wigan were OK since they are brought up so much on here. I stand corrected.”

    GS, that’s exactly what they are, OK. They have neither underperformed nor overperfomed with Martinez.

    As I’ve mentioned already though, people gush about Martinez and Moyes because they tend to start off crap then end the season with a bang. It’s the bang that people notice.

    Also, both Wigan and Everton play the poverty card, as multibillionaire Mike Ashley now does with Newcastle. Even when we came fifth, we were only punching above our weight a little bit because two teams, Liverpool and Chelsea didn’t do well in the League. Hence, people tend to think that Martinez, Moyes, and Pardew last season too are punching above their weight when really, they weren’t.

  49. Jimbob says:
    May 17, 2013 at 1:46 pm

    “Worky, I had a strange email from you with a link.”

    Aye Jimbob, just get rid of it. My webmail was infiltrated but I’ve fixed it now.

  50. Looks like Wilshire will play against us. Is he good? I haven’t seen enough to judge if he is the next big thing because he always seems to be injured.

    I am also between a rock and a hard place for Sunday. I always want us to win, but a total tw@tting may be the end for Pardew with his review coming up.

  51. Imagine: the last 3 home games being 0-3, 0-6.

    And what Pardew wants is 0-4.

    How can any Manager survive that?

    He would have to be some bullshit merchant to convince his employers he was any good after that.

  52. Hmmmm interesting to note the new names on here now appearing to subscribe to the “Lets buy Pardwho a snorkel” campaign. Wasn’t always so was it GS ? :roll:

  53. Hey Andymac: good to see you comment again.

    As you know, I support our team. When we do well I get caught up in the emotion of it all. That’s what football is about. If I was angry all of the time it wouldn’t be worth it.

    I have said some others were more prescient than me about Pardew. I am not worried about that.

    Pardwho out :)

    PS: I argued with you a bit because I didn’t know he was this bad. You would think he had some f@cking talent to get us to 5th.

  54. One more thing Andymac: I stopped giving Pardew the benefit of the doubt about the same time you left this blog, like 5 games into the season. I was never his fanboy, all I wanted was for us to succeed.

  55. Lee Ryder says:

    “In between we’ve witnessed a Newcastle side that never really got going on the domestic front and a squad that has been tested to the limit due to more than 75 injuries and the tricky balancing act of European football.

    Denied the cool, calm and collected figure of Fabricio Coloccini for long periods due to injury, robbed of the wizardry of Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye after untimely muscle problems, and unable to come up with a system on the tactics board that accommodated both Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse in the first half of the campaign”

  56. As I said countless times before, last season saw a number of factors combine to assist the Clueless One in his first full campaign.

    1. Influx of some quality players (Ba, Cabaye, Marv) to boost the squads confidence prior to the start of the season.
    2. Relatively easy start to the campaign which meant not facing a top four club (other than the Gooners on opening day who were in some disarray at the time) until mid November.
    3. Unbeaten run added to confidence whereas Bolton were effectively relegated after they had to play Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelski in their first six games of the season. Who knows how we would have handled that ?

    Also let’s not forget that when we were shite last season we were stinking. Norwich, Fulham, Spuds and Wigan to name but four embarrassing Pardwho tactical performances.

  57. Oh, and AndyMac: I always want us to do well. I am a total hypocrite about NUFC, I never see the darkness until it smacks me in the face. I bet an Arsenal fan a fiver in the ’80s that we would finish above them. Needless to say I am short a fiver for that.

  58. GS says:

    “And Andymac: when circumstances change, I change my opinion. What do you do?”

    Havent ever wavered in my opinion GS, Pardwho came with some personal baggage and one of the worst CV’s in modern day managerial terms.

    He should never have been given the job and the sooner he leaves the quicker we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief and appreciate the football we’re watching.

  59. Strangely enough that’s what binds us all on an NUFC blog. I just happen to believe that we’ll never win anything with this clueless muppet in charge, which is why he has to go !

  60. AndyMac @68: I know you haven’t wavered. In my defense, he has got progressively worse though in terms of tactics and talk.

    We had a good game against Man U last year, so that could have given me hope?

  61. AndyMac says:
    May 17, 2013 at 3:16 pm

    “I just happen to believe that we’ll never win anything with this clueless muppet in charge, which is why he has to go !”

    Andy, good to see you back on here you old curmudgeon.

    It’s Llambias who needs to go (and Ashley). You know perfectly well that the two football geniuses could sack Pardew, only to bring in someone like Iain Dowie or Phil Brown! :-)

  62. I agree with Worky that it is good to see you back AndyMac.

    It is so NUFC that we have a f@cking billionaire that doesn’t spend any money.

  63. I’ve just been out for some shopping, And thought there might have been some good news, That Pardew was sacked, And Rafa was in, When i returned.

    Worky, It is a bit like “HOBSON’S CHOICE”, When it comes to the manager.
    Given that awful choice, You would have to pick Brucie, On his experience, Oh God help us!

  64. When we’re talking about the possibility of Pardew getting the boot, I think the question is less about whether he will win anything for us and more about whether he’s capable enough to avoid relegation battles in the future, generally keep us mid-table (9th-12th, say) and maybe have the occasional assault on 6th, 7th or 8th.

    If he can do that, his job is probably safe.

    The Llambashley twins wouldn’t have brought someone like Pardew in if they wanted to make a determined and serious assault on trophies, would they?

    When they appointed Pardew they said they wanted a “more experienced manager to take the club forward” but that statement lost a lot in translation somewhere because what they really meant was that they wanted “an out of work manager who would be glad of a job, would take a (relative) pittance in wages and will do what he’s told”.

    I’m sure Llambias and Ashley will be concerned about how close we came to relegation this season but they will weigh that up against last season and probably conclude that Pardew will have us somewhere in the middle next season, which is probably fine for them.

  65. “Things can only get better…”

    99 of 100 times this is said about a situation, it gets worse.

    Lee Ryder is a dbag hack. Some people tell jokes about lawyers, meh-they’re a necessary evil to me. I just swap out “lawyer” with “journalist”…apologies to the few actual journalists still working.

  66. It’s been a few weeks since I last knocked Ed’s sausage factory off the top of the Newsnow hit parade. His are always gripping stuff though, like “Coloccini – he’s a lovely lad.”

  67. Hugh de Payen says:
    May 17, 2013 at 4:10 pm

    “The Llambashley twins wouldn’t have brought someone like Pardew in if they wanted to make a determined and serious assault on trophies, would they?”

    Yes.

    Ashley knows the rag trade and Llambias knows about Casinos, but as Keegan rightly said, “Ashley knows nothing about football, and Llambias knows even less than that!”

    I think they genuinely thought that Pardew was an underrated genius who was available on the cheap, just as I think that Pardew genuinely thinks he’s an underrated genius who has been thwarted in the past by cruel circumstance too.

    Newcastle United is a magnet for clowns.

  68. <<<<<<< thinks pards may have allready been sack thought that yesterday when i saw the question and answer with the fans had been canceled

  69. workyticket56 stats dont lie bud and would say meself wigan were very far from ok his stats make pityfull reading

  70. @82: Get Worky in there. He can’t be any worse than the traffic cone arrangers and AndyMac’s mate Pardew.

    A fascist, Steve Bruce, Keano, MickMackmackem, Peter Reid couldn’t be any worse…

    Oh f@ck, yes they could. I salute you Alan Pardew :)

  71. Worky, I used to think that but now I’m not so sure. Keegan was right that they know nothing about football but I’m pretty certain they’d have looked at Pardew’s record, such as it is, before employing him. They’d have seen he’d won bugger all.

    I’m not sure they actually thought Pardew was an undiscovered genius but rather that they just don’t rate the manager’s job as all that important. I think their first priority was to get someone cheap who’d toe the line, thinking that all a manager really does is pick the team and they can get any fool to do that.

    It still comes down to them being complete muppets (and apologies to Kermit The Frog if he’s reading) when it comes to football but I think the emphasis is slightly different.

  72. TAE @ 83: it’s all about proportion. Wigan’s struggles are because of the low quality and high turnover in their squad not because of Martinez, unlike NUFC with AP. They’ve had a handful or so of really good players over the years, but also all sorts of crap. Martinez would love to have the quality of squad AP does-bet he’d admit it openly.

  73. Martinez is probably worse than Pardew, he took over a team finishing mid table and turned them into relegation battlers season after season, easy on the eye but defensively inept.

    Think Moyes has done a decent job and has kept Everton pretty much where Newcastle should be – although under Pardew we’re more likely to follow Wigans lead than Moyes but play less attractive football

  74. Hugh @86: nothing against you. But they never saw Brian Clough? A manager can do extraordinary things.

    Pay Jurgen Klopp 20 million a year.

  75. TOONARMYELITE says:
    May 17, 2013 at 4:56 pm

    “workyticket56 stats dont lie bud and would say meself wigan were very far from ok his stats make pityfull reading”

    Toon, as I wrote the other day, Wigan are a Premiership minnow without a great deal of money and about the third crappest squad in the Premier League (above Reading and Norwich). Bearing this in mind, they should be bobbling around between the relegation places and just above, and that’s what they’ve done. To be fair to Martinez, it could have happened before now and he hasn’t done that badly.

    On the other hand Hughton at 12th (with Lambert coming 12th before him) and Laudrup at 9th, Hughton with a squad that is even more cheapskete than Wigan’s and Swansea with one that’s a little better than Wigan’s (but not much) have done better.

    That’s what I meant by “OK,” just above average, until now.

  76. Sorry Hugh, I think you were saying that the owners don’t see the managers job as important when it really is. I misread your post.

  77. GS says: “I think you were saying that the owners don’t see the managers job as important”

    Yep, that’s what I think Ashley and Llambias think, which is of course nonsense.

  78. Hugh de Payen says:
    May 17, 2013 at 5:07 pm

    “I’m not sure they actually thought Pardew was an undiscovered genius but rather that they just don’t rate the manager’s job as all that important.”

    Actually Hugh, I agree with that too even though it sounds contradictory. However, if that was entirely the case, why did they they go through all the rancour of sacking Hughton to bring in Pardew and give him double the salary (still a crap one though for a Premiership manager)? Because they thought that he would be a better conman for selling bollocks to the fans?

  79. tunyc says:
    May 17, 2013 at 5:07 pm

    “They’ve had a handful or so of really good players over the years, but also all sorts of crap.”

    A bit like Scotland’s national side, tunyc.

  80. workyticket says: “Actually Hugh, I agree with that too even though it sounds contradictory. However, if that was entirely the case, why did they they go through all the rancour of sacking Hughton to bring in Pardew and give him double the salary (still a crap one though for a Premiership manager)? Because they thought that he would be a better conman for selling bollocks to the fans?”

    Yep, I think that’s part of it. Hughton wouldn’t have been as pliable as Pardew. I think it’s because they don’t particularly value the manager’s job that they can give such a high priority to employing a manager who will do as he’s told.

  81. @workyticket 32
    so really he has no excuse if he had money to spend.i rember west ham 10 points deducted wernt that also something to do with Tevez and Mascherano if i rember right

  82. TAE: are you sure about the points deduction?

    They give the bongo boys a free stadium. I doubt they deducted points.

    Trevor Brooking has 9 “Oh, oh, oh” levels for god’s sake.

  83. TOONARMYELITE says:
    May 17, 2013 at 6:14 pm

    “@workyticket 32
    so really he has no excuse if he had money to spend.i rember west ham 10 points deducted”

    Toon, it was Southampton who were deducted 10 points, not West Ham. The latter were fined for irregularities in the Tevez / Mascherano deal but they didn’t have any points deducted. Southampton had money problems before Pardew came in and went into Administration, thet’s why they had 10 points deducted. However when Pardew came in, they were taken over by the rich Marcus Liebherr and were like a Chelsea or Man City of League One.

  84. knew 1 of his teams were deducted 10 points but it was a fair while back thought it was west ham

  85. Hugh de Payen says:
    May 17, 2013 at 5:56 pm

    “Yep, I think that’s part of it. Hughton wouldn’t have been as pliable as Pardew. I think it’s because they don’t particularly value the manager’s job that they can give such a high priority to employing a manager who will do as he’s told.”

    To work with Ashley and Llambias you have to be a barefaced liar, and Mr.Integrity himself, Chris Hughton, was about the worst person to fulfill that criterion. The bonus sheet affair really rubbed them up the wrong way too. Even Newcastle United’s other Mr.Nice, Steve Harper had to pay for that one and was frozen out just like the other rebels (Nolan, Barton, Smith and Carroll). Surely no-one believes that Pardew and Woodman’s teacher’s pet, Rob Elliot, was really better goalkeeper for Newcastle United than Harper?

  86. Worky @101: I don’t think Eliot is a bad goalie at all.

    BUT, I THOUGHT SWANSEA WOULD BE RELEGATED :) SO WHAT DO I KNOW :0

  87. GS says:
    May 17, 2013 at 6:51 pm

    “Worky @101: I don’t think Eliot is a bad goalie at all.”

    I didn’t say he was a bad goalie, GS, but are you suggesting that Harper is? :-)

  88. I had a slight erection when I heard the Q&A had been cancelled :-) There was that feeling that perhaps he’s getting the boot. The reality is probably that someone’s told him the type of questions he’ll be asked and he won’t be able to answer them. Of course he might have to eventually, but a good portion of fans will lap it up and believe the tosser. Even if we lose 12-0 on Sunday, he’ll still be at the front of the ‘lap of honour’, smiling and fist pumping away.

    The news is dumb and dumber were at the training ground today, and dip-sh*t has been talking about “adding experience” next season.

    He ain’t going anywhere and it’ll take another relegation battle next season to wake some people up.

  89. It’s a bit ironic that Hughton was sacked to accommodate Pardew and he has achieved much more with a poorer (on paper) squad. Can’t help wondering how he would have done with our present team!

    St James Park has been something of a poisoned chalice for managers though. Dalgleish and Gullitt are two who spring to mind who had success prior to taking the reins at Newcastle. Is there something in the water that makes good managers bad and bad managers even worse? Even the crappiest EPL teams have managed to win something in the last 50+ years, why can’t we?

    Incidentally I saw a rumour that Routledge may be in line for an England callup. Another player let go who goes on to have a successful club and England career??

  90. Andymac, I remember debating Pardew’s managerial skills with many people a few times at the start of the season, but that’s fair enough. We all had different opinions. We were not in trouble in the league so anyone could use that against you, you were a ‘doom merchant’.

    There are still however people who love the bloke across the blogs’, forums etc, who think it’s all the players fault, injuries, Europa League etc. When you put your point across they say “stop being negative”, “he got us 5th last year” etc.

    In their eyes he’s the man who got us 5th, but he ain’t the man who nearly relegated us this season… How does that make sense? The players were not responsible for last season, he was. But this season it’s the players fault not his!

    Apparently he’s the next David Moyes :-)

    Even if we’re down in 18th come December next season I bet they still defend him. My opinion never changed of him. I felt physically sick when he was appointed and I have done throughout. I will give him credit when he gets things right, but sadly it’s more often than not he screws up. He has done throughout his career. He’s a looser who won nothing as a player and will win nothing important as a manager.

  91. Jimbob: I try to give even him a chance. I am such an optimist about NUFC.

    I went there when I was 12 years old when I had everything to look forward to. And we have won nowt :)

  92. I know GS, it’s so depressing especially when you look at teams who have in the last 40+ years. It’s mental. How can a club go that long without winning something.

  93. Also, has anyone out there compiled a list, or can rembember some of Alan Pardew’s crappest excuses?

    eg like the one where he blamed the defeat on West Ham on Sam Allardyce using “abject tactics” and so on…

  94. It’s puzzling to me ?
    How at this junction, could Ashley fail to see, what he has on his hands.

    A guy who apparently lives in another world, who still maintains belief in his own ability to be a successful football manager.

    Some one who has proved time after time how clueless he is.

    Yet feels were it not for a list of circumstances, beyond his control, he in fact would have been successful.

    Plus the fact we finished the previous season in fifth place, thereby convincing himself, he has what it takes.

    Who knows, perhaps he has convinced Ashley also ?

    How anyone knowing anything about football, could believe having watched the performances of this side, that he understands anything at all about tactics.

    I can tell you in a couple of sentences, what his game is.

    (1) direct play or as it’s commonly called hoofball.
    (2) when leading, ten men defending for the rest of the game, or until the opposition score, which then has an automatic revert back to hoofball.
    That’s it folks !

    Though sometimes there’s a period where the side screw up and play football, a quick passing, pass and move game,( which has to be stamped out) reverting to that continental shit, instead of hoofing the ball.

    That’s why balls are light, so they can be kicked high and long.

    I mean, what’s going on, how could Ashley not realize what he’s got here.
    Is anyone suggesting he could be so gullible, he actually believes Pardews raving ?

    Or is it about the theory, that mid table mediocrity is acceptable, as it is both profitable and gives freeby advertising on Tv, for Sports Direct.

    And of course a pliable, cheap alternative to a real manager, who no doubt would want both money and control, which Ashley is unwilling to cede.

    Who the hell knows, it’s a mystery to me.

  95. Everything is a mystery to you.

    I am off to NYC next week. I am the 6-3 14 and a half stone Geordie coming to have an Amstel with you Chuck. What bar do you sip in?

  96. replacement for pardew
    1: marcelo biesla
    2: laurent blanc
    3: di matteo
    4: gus poyet

  97. Grumpy 106, Yeah I get what you are saying about Managers.

    Dalgleish took league titles at Liverpool and Blackburn before coming to us. And Gullitt won the FA cup with Chelsea before he fell out with the management.

    As for players going on to be successful after leaving us there are a lot of examples of this.

    Nice to speak with you, catch you later.

  98. Grumpy, if you want me to come up with an answer to why we haven’t won a trophy for so long, you’ll have to wait ten years or so I can go into a deep retreat for a decade or so and reflect on the problem! :-)

    Phisix, I think we can get just through it if we just take it one game at a time and use alcohol and barbiturates to help numb the pain. It’s better that way than thinking about another whole season in hell. Fatty usually goes back on his word anyway and could still sack him overnight.

    Stay focused on the light and don’t give into despair!

  99. Worky so it’s off to the Himalayas for you, I think they get the internet there from what I remember.

  100. im there Sunday Worky.if you wanna meet for a pint before or after i’ll be in the labour club.it would be nice to meet you mate.

  101. Well just like survival, we can take it too the bank, Pardew will still be here at the start of the season.
    So much for ambition !
    I’m now firmly in the camp of the mid level mediocrity
    crowd, believing Ashley is just not willing to make the necessary investment, in order to crack the top level of the EPL.
    Satisfied by a constantly rising share of tv revenues, and by playing his cards right, he can have both free advertising for his real business, plus a regular profit from the league.
    So forget about any silverware and look forward to a lot of frustration, watching hoofball for the next seven years.
    That is unless (and it will happen) Pardew threatens the club with relegation again.
    I have to say i’m disappointed but not surprised.
    The bottom line is if you can save one or two million on a cheap manager, without being relegated, plus when you say jump , he will ask how high.
    For control freaks, this important.
    The slow learning curve continues.

  102. Chuck, Don’t worry, Pardew will f**k it up royally, Next season!
    This time he will be under more scrutiny than before, And the fans will not tolerate much more of this fool.
    We all know how much of a clown he is, And he’ll never change.
    He will reap his own whirlwind, And the the beauty of it is, He will do all the work himself, So just sit back and enjoy the demise, Of one the most deluded dick head’s, Of all time!

  103. Good riddance to that little greedy barsteward, Michael Owen!
    Off he will go to his horse stables, Funded by Geordie money!
    We will all have to put up with seeing his little greedy dial, On At The Races.
    Watch the little git win one of the big horse races, Horrible little cnut lol.

  104. At the risk of upsetting a few people, I am getting just a tad weary of the constant griping about Pardew. I certainly agree with most of the comments and sentiments being expressed but my totally ignored attempt to introduce a little variety into the blog was the reason for my little tantrum.

    Ok back to back seat watching of the blog now, I’ll just enjoy the bickering and bitching!!

    One final comment, Simeone would be my choice of new manager especially if he bought Courtouis and Turan with him.

  105. Still here, I see Becks is thinking of buying an MLS team, wonder if he could afford to buy out Ashley!!

  106. Oh well. At least I’m going away for a couple years. Means I won’t have to read his tosh and BS everyday throughout the summer about next season, improving, going all out for a top 10 finish, finances…

    I’ll also likely miss the impending relegation battle.

  107. Grumpy, unfortunately everything you read throughout most blogs’ etc will be about Pardew until he’s gone.

    Then it will be all about his replacement Ron Atkinson.

  108. I’ll change the subject to more footballing matters, away from Pardew.

    I bet we get obliterated tomorrow. Seriously ripped to shreds :-)

  109. Jimbob, believe it or not I am almost hoping that will happen. Could be the final straw! Just contradicted myself in alluding to a certain someone. :)

  110. jack72 says:
    May 18, 2013 at 2:45 am

    “im there Sunday Worky.if you wanna meet for a pint before or after i’ll be in the labour club.it would be nice to meet you mate.”

    Aye it would be nice to meet you, Jack. Send me your mobile via the message thing on here and I’ll send you mine.

  111. Jimbob says:
    May 18, 2013 at 11:53 am

    “Oh well. At least I’m going away for a couple years.”

    Where are you gannin’ Jimbob.

  112. Grumpy, it’s hard to change the conversation sometimes, especially when there’s not much else to comment on. I used to love discussing tactics, players, signings etc. Since Ashley’s come in, all we talk about are finances, contracts, transfer policies etc. Seems to me the fans are more divided now than they were 10 years ago.

  113. Worky, I’m going to Mainland Southeast Asia, around the start of July, probably for a month. Then over to New Zealand on a working visa, initially for a year but I’ll probably extend to two years. I’ve also got a 2nd years visa for Australia to use.

  114. Grumpy Old-Toom says:
    May 18, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    “Just contradicted myself in alluding to a certain someone.”

    And taking a “back seat,” Grumpy. Don’t do that.

  115. Well that certain someone may get his first kick in the nads, During this so called summit.
    It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest, If Ashley tells a certain unnamed person, That there is no money to spend, And the squad he has, Should be more than adequate, To do the job.
    Even if the “Man With No Name” get’s his much vaunted strikers , He can get as many as he likes, But they will not score goals, If you cannot provide the service for them.
    The Defence will not improve, With messrs Taylor and Williamson involved, And the same problems will be there, Even if Jesus can be persuaded to stay.

  116. Nowt wrong with Taylor and Williamson imo, wouldn’t mind betting both would do well with Arsenal or ManU or even Stoke.
    It’s the lack of a consistent coherent defensive system that lets our lads down.

    I am almost prepared to put money on a taxi being called if we get thrashed tomorrow. Having said that I tipped Brighton to win the play-offs, so what do I know!!

  117. Grumpy Old-Toom says:
    May 18, 2013 at 1:49 pm

    “It’s the lack of a consistent coherent defensive system that lets our lads down.”

    Our whole style just invites constant pressure on the defence.

  118. Worky, ok, it’s a lack of a consistent, coherent system that lets our lads down. Keeps coming back to the same central character somehow! :(

  119. Grumpy Old-Toon says:
    May 18, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    “Woe, woe and thrice woe”

    Senna the Soothsayer wasn’t it, Grumpy? Up Pompeii?

    I was watching “I Claudius” the other day, do you remember that one? It’s still one of the best TV shows I’ve ever seen. I used to watch it when I was a bairn but it was very naughty.

  120. We could do with another really good centre half, To play alongside Jesus, If he stays.
    Taylor is a liability imo, And should be used as a back up.
    Williamson shouldn’t be given house room, Although he had a decent game against Q.P.R, Long term he’s nowhere near good enough.
    We need a big presence in there, Someone like a Joleon Lescott.
    Alas though, Fat cnut will not put his hand in his pocket, And it will be bargain basement time, Again!

  121. Worky, I seen that advertised on BBC 4 i think, I’ve heard about it being a cracking show.
    I think i’ll just buy the lot on DVD, If it’s available.
    I suppose someone like Network might have it available.
    They have just released Prospects, Which was brilliant in the 80’s, With Brian Bovell and Gary Olsen R.I.P

  122. Worky, “I Cladius” was brilliant, pretty accurate representation of him as a real person I believe. Caligula was a lovely person with a big ego and more than a hint of paranoia, sound familiar? Sh!t I have alluded to him again.

  123. G.O.T, Caligula (Little Boot), He was supposed to be a right evil barsteward.

  124. Joe, I know, I was being ironic! Made his horse a Consul or something of that ilk.

  125. The sad thing is, there is the basis of a decent side here, that many clubs would be more than happy to have on their books.

    A bit of tweaking here and there, a few recruits to replace the deadwood, a real manager who knows how to deploy them and you have a top six side.

    It appears Spurs and Liverpool, are the only second level PL sides to attempt to crack, the top four, by being willing to spend, in order to both hang onto their star players Bale and Suarez and improve their sides in general.

    And yes it takes a certain amount of money and a willingness to hang onto your best players.

    So why do it when many clubs like ourselves, Villa, Everton, Sunderland, etc.
    You know the perennial first/premier division teams, with decent bums in seats stadiums, but not much of an audience, outside of their catchment area.

    Simply because they have never consistently won anything, by being unwilling to invest the resources to achieve any kind of success.

    How many star players have Spurs taken from us, which our management was happy to take the money.

    In case anyone thinks we will ever become competitive under this present regime, all you have to do is listen to Llambias, stating on many occasions, we cant compete money wise with the big clubs.
    That sez it all!

    But was Man. U. a big club when Ferguson took over, actually they were quite mediocre and worth little.
    But their subsequent success and investment, eventually made them into one of the giants of football.

    Of course Citeh, Chelsea and Arsenal, have enormous wealth in the fact their owners are willing to bankroll them, where as Liverpool still have a good international fan base which earn them a decent income, from the time they were successful.

    With to-days tv revenues, there is really no excuse for not spend on improving the quality of every side, the very fact of being in the EPL, is a bonanza in it’s self.

    There was a time when every ones second favorite side was Newcastle, under KK, when we played attractive football and we had a degree of success, (though never won anything)under SBR.

    Now it appears only Liverpool and Spurs have that ambition, knowing that Success on the field, relates to money in the bank, through an increase in earnings.

    But that appears to have either escaped our present owner, or that NUFC is just an adjunct to his real business, the rag trade and he has no real long time plans in this business.

    Wanting to only recoup his investment and hopefully sell at a decent price.
    And I cant wait for that day to happen.

  126. Yeah and sh@ged his mates wife on his wedding night and stuck his fist up his mate @rse whilst his mates wife watched.

    Come to think of it, sounds a bit like the position pardew is in at the moment with mike.

    Mike Coligula Ashley as he is known to the lads. I could just imagine pardew being bent over the physio table.

    “Right Alan how much cash do you owe me?” Mike says to Alan.

    “Not enough big man” Alan says

    “Oh he’s some boy mike you know, you don’t know how nasty we can be, we have ways of making you talk” lamearse says

  127. Chuck good point mate.

    But t.v. Money is now being restricted. With the increase on t.v. Revenue pretty much doubling from next season the premier league have put in place restrictions on spending that cash.

    It has to match certain criteria before your can spend it on purchases. Although i don’t know the exact circumstances I know clubs just can’t spend like it’d theirs to spend.

    Newcastles problems are more deep than we think, so a lot of the cash will probably go to improve facilities. We have failed to get a category a status two years in a row, yet the makems and smoggies have, which means they can poach kids from all over the country, where we are restricted to a 70 mile radius I do believe.

    The reason for this being we don’t have the staff, we don’t have the correctly trained personnel for the roles that are needed, it seems like we have a tea lady approach to everything where one person buys the tea and biscuits, makes the tea and runs around serving it as well.

    Apparently this is not a good out look for F.A. And we need to improve our set up. But somehow if we can’t get it right in 5 years of ownership I doubt they will for next season.

    Mike and lamearse aren’t doing the job they need to do, it’s not just the first team who are cracking, this runs all the way down to the youth team and the people who should be in place aren’t. It’s ok running a football team, but running a football club is a completely different matter.

    Lets hope mike and lamearse use some of the cash to get us on par with the makems and smoggies when it comes to youth players and make sure we can move forward. If we can’t get something like this right then it shows how disorganised the whole regime is.

  128. At a Tudor fair I went to recently, the lady apothecary described a cure that required a “red haired dog” be boiled alive till it fell apart and the liquid be used for various illness’s. I was wondering if using a blond haired lapdog would be any good for certain maladies?

  129. Prophet

    Yea true, but do we really need a youth movement ?
    It appears there are some decent players who do come through the club system, Rooney etc.
    But it’s not long before they are poached, take the Rooney case, plus Arsenal have been poaching Southampton etc. for years.
    Not much gets missed by the scouting system and for every success story, there are more than fifty let go.
    Why train and incur the expense of putting hundreds of youngsters through the system, presently run by clubs.
    When we should use the recently created and completed national school, not unlike the French system that has turned out so many decent players, such as HBA.
    Hell the PL clubs could subsidize the school and each year the graduating class, could be drafted by the PL sides, with the lowest finishers getting first choice.
    In order to have a semblance of parity.
    There’s a lot of changes apart from those proposed by both UEFA and FIFA, that would improve a presently hide bound system, without rhyme or reason , other than profit.
    With the wealthy clubs dominating every aspect of the sport.
    What’, for instance is the sense of having five or more professional leagues, where there is little or no movement, most lower league clubs, having been in the same league for more than fifty years, others having disappeared, (Gateshead).
    It’s time we reduced the system, by having only two leagues, with promotion possible, to include those like former giants Leeds, in general the sides that have both a ground with size and the capability to fill it and be healthy as far as finances are concerned.
    Set the rest adrift, let them sink or swim, make football into a better organized system.
    Yes I realize some see the present system as being traditional and don’t like the idea of change, but change is inevitable no matter how it forces people to adjust.
    And looking at what we have at present, it appears somewhat old fashioned and in need of a shakeup.
    A system for a past century.

  130. Grumpy I wonder if that same theory is being used with Horse.

    I wonder if some deluded Eastern European is boiling up horse and feeding us it via an slaughter house in hope it will cure us everything we have that the delude doesn’t.

    But as for Steve Bruce I think he’s fine at hull now.

  131. The Geordie Prophet says:
    May 18, 2013 at 5:47 pm

    “Newcastles problems are more deep than we think, so a lot of the cash will probably go to improve facilities. We have failed to get a category a status two years in a row, yet the makems and smoggies have, which means they can poach kids from all over the country, where we are restricted to a 70 mile radius I do believe.”

    It’s worse than that, Geordie. The Mackems and the Smoggies have the right to gain entry to Newcastle United’s Academy, run the rule over the best bairns like and if they take a shine to any of them, they can steal them from us. It’s catastrophic.

  132. Grumpy
    could we make that a grey haired bearded dog, cause I know where you could find one.

  133. Both Everton and Sunderland were bank of England teams who have bought success in their not too distant past.

    Our club has (nearly) always been a net seller with an occasional big foray for a top player but not enough to give us a trophy. As Chuck rightly says we will never be a big club without investment or Trophies.

  134. Chuck, I think we are both thinking of the same dog with or without the beard. :)

  135. Chuck

    I disagree with you completely.

    A lot of areas in the uk depend on the fuel football brings.

    The are a lot of deprived areas in the uk that football gives hope to. Blyth for one, had major drug problems, but a meeting with premier league Blackburn rovers in the FA cup give a lot of people hope. I for one lost a few stone just in case and might get a trial by the time I’m 40. Fingers crossed.

    But the American mentality would be the death of uk sport. We don’t have the college sport following that those in the USA do. A lot of the draft system relies on the graduates but here in uk by the time you are 13 and haven’t made it, to difficult to get there.

    The system you are proposing would kill everything this country created, a lot of the economy is reliant on football, pubs, clubs and travel.

    Who are we at the top to say who can enter our league, it’s almost like having a democracy without a vote, you have to be in it to win it.

    As for Gateshead they are still around, currently in the blue square premier league. Just missed out on a playoff place towards the end of the season.

    Where the USA has college sport we in the uk have lower leagues.

    As for youth, yes in France they have their Paris based super hub, and our newly opened St. George’s Park, but they only look after the elite. They don’t do anything for clubs who have good young players. I could name 1000 players who have set the premier league a lite but never made it to England. Ian wright, any cole even les Ferdinand only made a handful of caps. Even mat letisier only got a couple. They were good players who would maybe not have qualified for elite, all players who struggled in their early years but found a way back one way or the other. Look at the careas of any cole and les Ferdinand to see this.

    Southampton have profited greatly by their youth set up. Arsenal have pretty much propped up their premier league coffers, theo Walcott, Alex oxlaide-chamberlain, Gareth bale and Leon best all came through via Southampton. So what is your point chuck?

    We should stick to local youth players like we can now.

    Or be able to pick the walcotts, chamberlains and bales when they are kids, growing up in Wales, jersey, Channel Islands, Southampton, Nottingham even Europe like the smoggies and makems can do.

    With a alleged supper scout system what is the point in traveling Europe and not being able to scout your own land?

    It would be great to be able to get a theo Walcott at 12 year old, it would be great for a club to pay £25m for an oxlaide at Newcastle.

    There is no reason to spend £25m for a 17 year old when you can get him for free at 12 or 13. But at the moment the only clubs in the area who can are the makems and smoggies.

    That is why in the next ten year if we don’t catch up they could quite easily groom a whole load of young players with skill to win trophies when we Geordies have to sit and watch.

    It’s far better to groom and train kids from all parts of the Uk than it is to splash out £25m like arsenal did.

    There is no way football will change the way you want it. So to keep up the best we need to compete with the best in all aspects.

    No excuses if we can’t get grass roots correct then we might as well pull the plug and let other clubs rip us of everything good that we have left.

  136. Sorry Grumpy but this is one of the things Pardew said in his pre match interview.

    “I don’t fink we’ll make the top six this year”

  137. Worky that’s exactly what I’m getting at.

    We can either hold onto our youth or give them pro contracts just to keep them, like we have with Adam Camble.

    Otherwise yes, we might as well open our doors and let our rivals in and rip us of the little investment we have made.

    Grass roots football is what the premier league is built upon. Those that say you win nowt with kids, but arsenal and Man U have proven that to be false. If we can’t compete for kids like David Becham and Gareth bale then what is the point in expecting anything. Even man city have players who have come up the ranks. Most top 10 teams have.

    We have Stephen Taylor. Liverpool currently have half a team full. And Man U, well they currently have a back 4 of good British players who have all come through youth ranks. Their stability is built on local talent and they prove time and time again you don’t need a squad full of foreigners to win trophies. And you don’t need investment either.

    They won the league this season with their youth set up and very little investment. £25m they paid to win the league (robin van persy) where as man city have spent £100s of millions and lost out.

    Now tell me that you need investment to win trophies. Because Man U have proven this season a strong youth squad and strong system you don’t need investment. You need stability.

  138. The Geordie Prophet says:
    May 18, 2013 at 7:57 pm

    “Works at 169 when did he say that?l”

    It’s somehwhere on the video I linked to in the comment above, that’s why I put the link there. His latest campaign has been to keep repeating that if we win our last game and everyone below Swansea loses, we could end up in tenth place. So he was banging on about that then he added that “I don’t fink we’ll make the top six.”

    I know we won’t make the top six because we’d have to get twenty odd points from the Arsenal game to do that! I think he’s trying to make the point that we’ve actually had a decent season though and everyone below the top nine are the same really, give or take a dodgy refereeing decision or whatever. He never gives up with the bollocks.

  139. Worky: you should watch Borgia, the Canal+ version, not Showtime which is just OK. It is on Netflix. Those bloody Italians, I tell you. Well, the Borgia’s were Catalans but they lived in Italy.

  140. Well it on live here in the USA, USA, USA. Should I put myself through another 95 minutes of misery or just give up for this year?

    I can’t help it. Even though I was figuratively kicked in the knackers the last 2 home games, I still think we will win. I am delusional.

  141. <<<<<<<< thinks well win also no pressure on the team lets see what they can do

  142. what i was amazed at though is the spuds and our game kicks off an hour apart.to be fair they should both kick off at the same time,and would not be happy if i was a surporter of the team that has to kick off 1st

  143. Tomorrow probally the last home game for 3 of our players.Collo Strola and Harper

  144. Enjoy the game Worky. You can console yourself if we get beat that it is another nail in Pardew’s coffin. It is a win/win really.

  145. TOONARMYELITE says:
    May 18, 2013 at 9:54 pm

    “they thinking of selling him saw a post on facebook about it bud”

    Aye Toon, but Facebook and Twitter are the modern equivalent of “a gadgie in the pub said…” :-)

    Or did you see it on .com but were too ashamed to say you been gannin’ there? That’s even worse than Twitter and Facebook!

    He has 1 year left on his current deal so there’s a good chance of someone starting a story about it. He did forsake what would probably have been his only chance to win a major international trophy when the club wouldn’t let him go for the African Cup of Nations. I did remember thinking at the time that he might have been a little upset about that and I also heard Nigeria head coach, Stephen Keshi gushing about how great he was in the Nigerian squad, like another coach. Shola is usually an immovable object though as far as the Toon goes though.

  146. Me opion on it is its likey to happen in my view and to be really honest i think his legs have gone meself,but saying that hes been a decent player over the years for us,never been a prob with him as far as storys in the press go,hes been nothing but a model pro for us while hes been here

  147. Same as mr Harper has and if he had moved on i think he would of prob of played for England at some point in his career, but he stayed loyal also, when he would of prob walked straight into a lot of the other prem teams 1st choice keeper.

  148. Toon, Shola’s a victim of stupid fans who think they know what they’re talking about. They look at how many goals he’s scored in how many games and forget that in most of his Newcastle United career he’s been a sub who only comes on for about twenty minutes. If he started games he’d have scored alot more, about a goal in every three. He’s also a very good penalty taker so if he’d taken all of those like Shearer did it might be higher still. But even so, that isn’t what his whole game is about anyway. He’s also good at holding the ball up for other forwards and can be a better passer than people think.

  149. Prophet

    You misunderstand, what I do advocate is to get value from the new national training center.
    That and reorganize the top level of football into two more professional leagues, consisting of better quality players.
    The rest can continue to do what they do as long as they are viable, as far as Gateshead, when they were in the old third division north, they were a team, but can you really say they have represented anything since.
    You continue to preach about players coming through the various clubs system.
    But the fact is who apart from Taylor is a starter for Newcastle and even MAN. U. with it’s fabled youth system, how many starters will there be next year from that youth system ?
    The fact is economics, dictate it’s cheaper to buy from outside the UK, look at our own side, one starter.
    And how many Frenchmen ?
    Face it , kids don’t kick balls into goals consisting of coats or other clothes anymore, they are all sitting like us typing on their lap tops.
    Any school kids that show talent, will possibly end up at St. Georges Park, as they do in France at the national development center.
    I just think that the old style youth system hasn’t worked for us or many other clubs.
    On top of that, football although a highly rewarding profession, consists for the most part of third world players, children of middle class parents, don’t usually encourage their children to compete in a profession, where there is so much competition and so much dedication required.
    So children of Immigrants and from poorer countries will come to dominate the game, if they don’t already.

  150. Why are their so many non UK/Irish players presently in the top two divisions.
    Obviously the pay is higher, but the fact is we just don’t produce the same number of players.
    Why do you think we have become outnumbered by foreign imports.

  151. jack72 says:
    May 18, 2013 at 11:47 pm

    “Send you my number Worky, have a safe journey up mate.”

    Cheers Jack, I can’t find your message anywhere though, and I’ve looked in my spam folders. No worries though, I’m just sending you my number now. Give me a text or a call tomorrow.

  152. When are you putting up a new page Worky?

    Now we are safe, hopefully Pardew sets us up to go all out today. Otherwise I wont bother watching another 90 minutes of dour football from us.

  153. GS 183, agreed win/win is a possible scenario although we’d probably need an absolute thrashing to be a final straw.

    Shola has always been the original bungee man, just when you thought he was gone, Boing he’s back again. He has always wanted to play for us and he has been a frustrating player to watch, always on the verge of being a very good player but somehow not quite getting there.

  154. Phisix, He’s at the match today, So i don’t know whether there will be anything done, Unless Hugh is doing something?
    THE MAN WITH NO NAME”, Will just revert to type, And set up to get a draw, Regardless of the lies and large talk, Prior to kick off.
    I fully expect more of negative hoofball, And players being played out of position.
    The excuses will follow after the final whistle!
    In the Sun Newspaper, He is now saying, “The fans up here expect too much”, Which is typical of what you have heard, All throughout his “Managerial Career”.

  155. Joe: “the fans up here expect too much” is total bollocks. I started going to games when I was about 10, so have supported the team for about 40 years. I was 6 when we last won a trophy and the games weren’t on TV then. I expect nowt and that is pretty much what I get from Alan.

    When I see other fans (mainly Liverpool) say we are delusional it makes me laugh. We have blind optimism and will always support the team whatever gobshite happens to be in charge. Pardew too shall pass.

  156. Just wondering if we are going to get Toon supporters cheering Arsenal goals. That would really highlight the anti-whatshisname feelings.

  157. I don’t think there is going to be a match banter page as Worky is at the game today, unless he has taken his I-pad.

  158. “Do you think that Newcastle United will achieve success with Alan Pardew’s long ball style of play?”

    What a stupid, ignorant and leading question. I know what you want, but i don’t even bother voting when the question is like that…

    Sacking managers have never realised the potential that this club got. I want to try a new strategy; let’s actually give the manager a chance, even when things don’t go our way. That’s life!. It’s how we meet the challenge ahead that matters: Difficulties strenghten the mind, as labour does the body.
    Give the man a chance.

    Pardew hasn’t been flawless, he admits that. Neither has any of our players(Tiote admitted that), or Ashley and DL last summer when they failed to buy in enough quality in depth(MAYBE they’ll admit it as well, but don’t bet your life on it). No part of a football club is flawless, even us – the fans – makes the wrong call some times. That’s beacause football is about passion; and i know that Pardew have enough passion for this football club and i sincerly hope he learns from some of his mistakes, but he will still make wrong calls. As will you guys at work, and i will do the same.

    And, equally important: Everyone can sack a manager on paper. But who will you replace him with? And then what? Everyone that wants to sack him: Show me your master plan! It’s quite possible that i’m wrong about this subject. I don’t know what will happen in the summer and in to next season, neither do any of you or anyone else. Stating that you or other do know, doesn’t change that. Maybe we should sack him, but we’ve been there and done that so many times for the last 15 years. Let’s try something new: To actually support a manager through a tough period. If next season is as bad as this one after 10 – 15 matches, then let’s consider the situation again.

    Howay the lads!

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