Pardew: We can’t compete with financial strength of Southampton

Posted on August 7th, 2013 | 157 Comments |

Alan Pardew shouting.
Pardew: Vision of success.
Speaking in his latest interview, Alan Pardew has been getting his latest round of excuses in before the season starts, saying that Newcastle United might find it difficult to replicate 2012’s fifth placed finish in the Premier League because he hasn’t replaced Demba Ba, and the club simply can’t compete with the financial strength of behemoths such as Southampton, Swansea City and Norwich City when it comes to buying players.

Here’s what Pardew said:

“When you look at the teams now and the money that’s being spent, you have to be honest and say it’s going to be difficult replicating that fifth-place finish. But our ambition must be to try to do that,”

“Demba went to Chelsea, and that was a big blow for us last year. I think the fact that we never really replaced him got missed a little bit.

“We brought in (Yoan) Gouffran, but we weren’t really able to replace Demba like for like. If I can replace Demba into this team, I think this team is stronger than the one that finished fifth. But I think the task of finishing in the top five is more difficult for us because of the growth of some of the other clubs who were just below us.

“In particular, Liverpool and Spurs have spent a lot of money, and other clubs such as Swansea and Southampton have coordinated their financial strength really well.

“You look at a club like Southampton, and they’re in a much stronger financial position than us in terms of purchasing players. Even though my team might be slightly stronger on paper once we replace Demba – team and squad – it’ll be even more difficult to get fifth.”

Let’s probe what Pardew is saying here. According to German transfer website “Transfermarkt,” Newcastle United’s current first team squad is estimated to be worth around £150 million, the seventh highest in the Premiership. Meanwhile, Norwich City’s is estimated be worth less than half of Newcastle’s at around £72 million, with Southampton’s at £84.5 million and Swansea’s at around £105 million. Of course, as you all probably knew already, the other two teams he mentioned, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur do indeed have first team squads which are more valuable than Newcastle United’s, with Liverpool’s being estimated at £230 million with Tottenham’s rising to a mighty £265 million, due in no small part to the Gareth Bale effect, along with very astute purchases such as Jan Vertonghen (I did try to tell Newcastle to buy him), who is now worth more than double what Tottenham paid for him at the beginning of last season at £19.5 million.

But anyway, getting back to the Pardew interview, his latest festival of BS continued as moved on to speak of his “pride” at managing a “big club” like Newcastle (albeit a big club which can’t compete with Southampton), how his vision and philosophy as manager of a big club must be to bring “success,” how his tenacity in the face of adversity has made him the second longest serving manager in the Premiership, and the longest serving Newcastle United manager since Bobby Robson, and finally, how we fans admire him even more after seeing the way he dealt with said adversity last season. On these points Pardew continued:

“I’m very proud to be manager of this club, and I don’t say that lightly. There’s so many things that excite me about being here.

“When things have happened in the past and you might question certain things that have gone on, the overriding strength of this club is that I know I am the manager of a very big club, I think one of the biggest in the Premier League. Therefore, my vision and my philosophy must be to bring success, and I must drive that regardless of what obstacles get in my way.

“If there’s an obstacle in my way, I just have to jump over it. I think I’m the second longest serving Premier League manager, and longest serving manager at this club since Sir Bobby Robson. I’ve kind of earned my spurs, and sometimes in adversity I think the fans admire you more. I like to think last year I didn’t buckle and wasn’t negative about the players, the fans or the club.

“I just got us over the line, and I think that was very important last year. I’m hoping I’ll get the rewards of that this year. I like to think the fans understood I was honest and respectful when we finished fifth, and when we finished 16th.”

I want some of what he’s smoking!

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157 Responses

  1. Joke owner,
    joke manager,
    joke so called DOF!
    Shola, Guti, Williamson etc still here,
    bigging up Sammi (God help us)

    God I detest Ashley.

  2. getting a bit fed up with all these moaning geordies all summer long. ashley got you 5th place a couple of seasons ago. it was an incredible achievement but last season saw toon slip back to where THEY SHOULD BE – in the bottom half. what kind of arrogant twats are you thinking you can achieve top 6, that’s just stupid.

  3. Southampton are one of the richest clubs in England. They’re owned by the Liebherr family who are worth about £3 billion. Only Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal owners are worth more. So Pardew is right with his comments. Southampton had about £50m-£60m to spend this summer of which they’ve already paid £8.5m for Lovren and £12.5m for Wanyama. And the fact that Saints are in the market for Damiao at £22m and Osvaldo at £17m means that Saints can sign players that Newcastle simply can’t afford.

  4. well said Bob. It’s hard to discuss something with someone who knows everything about football.

    Some people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

    I suppose you know exactly how much we have to spend, and what our exact finances are, and how much Ashley is making from the club. Deal with facts not just opinions and you might start to get some respect you obviously crave. What a really bias and unhelpful article that was to suffer.

  5. You have to remeber that southampton has a + balanced economy with no debt, and almost half the wage bill of newcastle. Pardew is not sayin we can’t compete. He is saying it’s going to be harder contrary to 2 years ago, cuz clubs like swansea, southampton, norwich are catching up with newcastle economically.

    They can spend because they have the room both economically and because they have room because of a smaller squad. If newcastle where to spend the same amaout without taking big economically risk we need to sell some players to make way. Just look at the economic facts, you can search them up on google, easy to see :P

  6. Hend- and the rest attacking Jonas, Shola and Willo. They are all still here because they do their best, and it’s up to others to play them out the team. Sissoko has been woeful, Gouffran’s shoots straight at the keeper, and Saylor and Mbiwa all leaked goals. I never got the intense player-of-the-week bashing, when there are so many malevolent forces at the club. The 4th choice striker or centre halve seriously aint the problem. It’s seems petty beyond words.

  7. Pardew likes to think he is talking to the fans and being honest – wouldnt it be better for him to have said ‘We can compete with Southampton, we simply choose not to.’

  8. There is no honesty, Where Pardew is concerned, Because he wouldn’t be walking around telling people, He is an adopted Geordie!
    He must be living in a bubble or a cocoon, Because he has invented his own dream world, Which is nowhere near reality.
    Ashley get shot of the daft cnut, Before he does any more damage!

  9. Just what is happening with that injury list?

    Season hasn’t even started and we have 5 first teamers on it including Remy who has hardly had time to put his boots on. Not another sick note I hope.

  10. Bob @5: if you have a look at Ashley’s finances he is not far off what you are saying the Leibherr family are worth. He certainly has the ability to match their spending if he wanted to. That’s the point, he wanted us as a bit of fun and when things went against him he wanted us as a giant Sports Direct billboard.

    I still think we have a decent team because of some astute buys which Ashley is quite good at. As Worky says, Pardew is getting in his excuses early – that is what HE is VERY good at.

  11. Damn, this man is a fool. You know, Alan, if you want to manufacture consent and reify counter-factual rhetoric, you might want to be more subtle.

    Didn’t notice Ba leaving?! Who didn’t? He still finished the season as NUFC’s top scorer!

    And something else nobody failed to notice-lots of English clubs are spending like never before this summer because of the increased TV money, of which NUFC got as big a share as anyone.

    Oh yeah, following on Grumpy’s comment. Looking at the physioroom list over there >>>
    I see that Remy fits right in with our squad…

  12. Didn’t Pardew manage, and get sacked by, Southampton prior to Newcastle? They should know exactly what he is about.

    I said on the earlier thread that I thought Pardew was moaning because of the increased TV money making it easier for clubs with previously smaller payrolls to compete. He forgets to mention that we have half the French international squad already. Regardless of who we get in this transfer window we should be doing better with what we have.

  13. The other thing is that we have been buying from the top French sides, and usually their best players: Lyon, Marseilles, Lille, Bordeaux. These players have won their league and competed regularly in Europe. They collectively failed at NUFC last year. I don’t think they became bad players overnight. There were injuries and the January signings did need time to settle. However, Pardew’s tactics, playing people out of position and bizarre substitutions had more to do with our finishing 16th.

    There is a reason why Pardew is favourite for the sack.

  14. Hisnameisjonas says:
    August 7, 2013 at 6:12 pm

    “He is saying it’s going to be harder contrary to 2 years ago, cuz clubs like swansea, southampton, norwich are catching up with newcastle economically.

    They can spend because they have the room both economically and because they have room because of a smaller squad.”

    So why did Pardew often blame failures last season on Newcastle having too small a squad (amongst other things)?

  15. tunyc says:
    August 7, 2013 at 7:00 pm

    “You know, Alan, if you want to manufacture consent and reify counter-factual rhetoric, you might want to be more subtle.”

    tunyc, I think that Alan might just have a few problems with that sentence. :-)

  16. That’s what this blog is about, debate, cotroversey, a difference of opinions, so when I hear someone tell a poster he doesn’t agree with to fkuk off, it’s annoying.
    Nothing worse than listen to a bunch of people who are doing no more than stroking each others ego’s, all in agreement.
    I think we all are aware that this league is about to share a five billion quid , pay out by TV interest’s over the next three years and if you require any more incentive than that to dig deep in order to collect for the full three years, I don’t know what it might be.
    Of course it’s nice if you have a rich owner willing to spend (which we have one, a rich owner, but he is presently chiseling Lyon over penny’s) unfortunately we don’t.
    And I agree with those who think Pardew is on a different planet as far as any kind of reality is concerned.
    An awfull manager, who couldn’t win with the Brasilian national side, deluded, just a total whack job and even worse are those who are taken in with his psycho-babble, the fcuking blokes a nutter and there are still those that don’t get it.
    But then what do I know about nut cases, he’ll I try to stay away from them, so if you think he’s doing a great job, don’t hesitate to say so !

  17. craigy boy chaddas says:
    August 7, 2013 at 7:28 pm

    “Having watched us at Ibrox last night”

    Tell us more, craigy boy. What were they like?

  18. Chuck says:
    August 7, 2013 at 7:30 pm

    “That’s what this blog is about, debate, cotroversey, a difference of opinions, so when I hear someone tell a poster he doesn’t agree with to fkuk off, it’s annoying.”

    That’s one thing I like about you, Chuck. At least you know how to take flak without having a hissy fit and picking your toys up, except when it comes to GS, perhaps. :-)

  19. Saints debt = £0
    Saints have been in the top 5 richest teams in UK since league 1.
    Saints wage structure means they pay £40k per week max, or end of negotiations.
    Alan Pardew is saying this, because he was at saints and therefore knows what he is talking about. SIMPLE! There is no question to ask here. It’s all Fact.
    Also because saints stayed in the Premier League last season, the management pumped an extra £30m into the club. This is on top of all other finances and prize money. When you throw into the mix that they have one of the most successful academies / youth setups in the world, not many can compete on any level, long term!

  20. Grey Lord says:
    August 7, 2013 at 6:13 pm

    “Hend- and the rest attacking Jonas, Shola and Willo. They are all still here because they do their best, and it’s up to others to play them out the team.”

    Hear hear, Grey Lord.

  21. GS says:
    August 7, 2013 at 8:15 pm

    “But aren’t the mighty and rich Saints a feeder club for Arsenal?”

    Don’t get them started again, GS.

    One of them was going on about how their owner, Markus Liebherr, was worth £3 billion earlier, but they didn’t mention that he is actually dead now.

  22. Worky: I think Saints are a decent club but I do think the Arsenal must have scouts at their training ground. I think it goes back as far as Ian Wright.

  23. I have just read Ed’s board and they have all turned on Pardew. Ed is the only one with any hope. It took me until the Liverpool game to give up all hope that Pardew would ever again achieve mediocrity at our club. Watching him run away down the tunnel was the last straw and as much as I am not keen on our manager-in-waiting he has to be better than Pardew. His patter is a little bit more entertaining as well.

    Should start a drinking game where we all have a shot every time he says “over the line”. Every blog I read uses this as a parody line of Pardewspeak.

  24. Worky. Yeah the owner did die and nowhis family own them. So still loads of money.

  25. Many on both sides are missing the point about the Saints comparison here, I think. It’s not about ripping Southampton, or any sort of dick-measuring-contest comparison.

    Simply put, if NUFC can’t compete with them in finances after having spent 18 of the last 19 seasons in the PL, having the third-largest club ground in the country, having been “saved” by a billionaire owner and consistently named among the richest English clubs-there’s something VERY amiss in how this club is run.

    That, or the line is bullshit to cover for an owner who is CHEAP.

  26. “So why did Pardew often blame failures last season on Newcastle having too small a squad (amongst other things)?”

    Especially after he said last August 23rd that the squad was big enough and strong enough to compete in ALL competitions last season.
    He changed his mind about the squad strength last November and the idiot thinks that like him, we will forget what he said. Wrong again Partridge.
    The man is a lying 2 faced slimeball and is not worthy of managing in the Premier League.

  27. It’s true that we had to sell Walcott for financial reasons and then Mark Chamberlain forced us into a position where Alex wanted to go to the club Daddy wanted him to join. Other than that, no. For example we kept Schneiderlin, the 5th best defensive mid in Europe last season, despite interest from Wenger for 5 seasons.
    Also, regardless of the fact that Marcus Leibheir died, there was a host of stipulations in his will, to ensure that his long term plan was followed. His daughter and heir, Katherine Leibheir has followed her fathers instructions and wishes. End of. Keep up!

  28. tunyc says: @30

    Completely agree. Did Spur have someone come in an spend loads of money? Or did they make good decisions about when to steel their star players to the elite and who to buy on the way up etc. Now they are going to sell Bale for a world record fee and sign another load of talent whilst we scrap over agent fees and past club add-ons.

    Yes you can have a foreign Billionaire come in and shoot money around the place, but other clubs made good decisions whilst we had poor managerial choices and a joke regime at the club.

  29. avatarworkyticket says:
    August 7, 2013 at 7:26 pm

    “So why did Pardew often blame failures last season on Newcastle having too small a squad (amongst other things)?”

    Because we had europa league, something the club has statet they made a mistake about last summer. Remeber newcastle signed 5 players in january, thats players than southampton, swansea and norwich got toghtere in that window, southampton boutght forren(wich they now loaned back to molde) and arthur boruc (got him for free) swansea got Dwight Tiendalli for free and norwich bought none. At the same thime they had big clearouts aswell. So hence the wagebill and smaller squads, they can use more money than us. Never mind Swansea is in the euroleague and need to bolster the squad if they even have a chance to get the same leagueposition as last year.

  30. Out of all the clubs below 7th last season (apart from Everton) I would have thought Newcastle would have the most spending power. Admittedly Newcastle are one of the bigger clubs in the country, and I have always (until recently) expected them to finish nearer the right end of the table.
    As for Saints, our chairman is very ambitious. He is very shrewd and will make any decision that he thinks will push Saints forward e.g Nigel Adkins sacking. Recently he had a sit down with Saints’ owner (Sounds very Mafia like lol, we do call Cortese the Don and he’s Italian), katharina, and they agreed on plans to push the clubs forward. He only wants success, and will pay for it if he thinks it is justified but the club is still run very strictly. I think Alan knows exactally what Cortese is like and what he wants, by a lot of your comments I would say Ashley is the opposite and Pardew knows it.
    The days of saints being a feeder club are gone, we have tied down our latest hot prospect, Luke Shaw, on a 5 year contract with Chelsea sniffing round. Also schinderlin, which was statistically one of the best CDM’s in the league last season along with Chambers who had interest from Liverpool and a few other youngsters.

    Anyway, good luck next season, except against Saints.
    I hope you beat Sunderland, Di Canio really gets on my nerves.
    Up the Saints!!

  31. Hisnameisjonas says:
    August 7, 2013 at 10:34 pm

    “Because we had europa league, something the club has statet they made a mistake about last summer.”

    Teams like Fulham, Stoke, and even Birmingham City in turmoil competed in the Europa League without it hugely affecting their league performance, and Fulham even reached the final. Their squads weren’t as good as Newcastle United’s is now.

  32. Saint Nash says:
    August 7, 2013 at 10:38 pm

    “Out of all the clubs below 7th last season (apart from Everton) I would have thought Newcastle would have the most spending power.”

    Mike Ashley’s absolutely loaded with his tat shacks. He’s almost as tich as Markus Liebherr with his Sports Direct share price but he’s as tight as a gnat’s chuff.

  33. It’s alot of things to say about the economy and spending of newcastle this summer, but you hav to look at the big picture. We are still suffering from the crazy and highly risky spending from the last regime, at the same time you have to take the new uefa rules into consideration. Newcastle could just this season balance the books and if we start overspending again we wont make the new rules coming, at the same time if you look and the wage is just managebal with a positive balance. It does not matter if Ashley have 400 billion to use, it has to be in the books by the club. Should we just ignore the rules and hope they wont aply or think on a longer page and be smart. Thing is football fans seems to think that money, when it comes to football, is not real. (never mind newcastle stil has a debt around 130 millions wich we are paying nothing for. take 5% a year in intrest from that and thats about 6 million a year, so infact ashley are giving us an extra player each yaer by taking on the debt personally. I don’t even dear to think about how we would cope if shepperd where still here).

  34. Of course another big difference between Saints and the toon is that they have an excellent academy and produce players that go on to the very top. If they can hold on to the ones coming through they are going to be even better. Imagine if last season they still had Bale and Walcott playing for them!

  35. avatarworkyticket says:
    August 7, 2013 at 10:47 pm

    “Because we had europa league, something the club has statet they made a mistake about last summer.”

    “Teams like Fulham, Stoke, and even Birmingham City in turmoil competed in the Europa League without it hugely affecting their league performance, and Fulham even reached the final. Their squads weren’t as good as Newcastle United’s is now.”

    Oh realy? do you see Fulham, Stoke or Birmingham pushing the top 6 latley? economy does’nt restart each season. It woorks in longer periods, can’t see stoke getting there because they where pushing over their weightclass. Newcastle has the foundation, but it take more than 3 seasons. Look at Dortmund, they almost got relegated in 2008, had some seasons in between then and now with varius results. They played it smart, bought cheap, used their money on youth development (like southampton and swansea bought cheap players from netherland, spain and france aswell.). It does’nt happen over night, Newcastle have the foundations like dortmund to be a big club, they have overhauled the youth development (so we don’t miss out on players like johnson, carrick, gascoin etc.) and we have the 3 biggest stadium so we have a natural bigger revenue than most of the pl clubs, But we are still in debt, but given time and oatiens we can be a big club in some years (hopefully the rules will put a strain on economically doped clubs like chelsea and city).

  36. Hisnameisjonas says:
    August 7, 2013 at 11:05 pm

    “It’s alot of things to say about the economy and spending of newcastle this summer, but you hav to look at the big picture. We are still suffering from the crazy and highly risky spending from the last regime,”

    Fat Freddy and weaselfaced Dougie were awful, but when Mike Ashley takes his loan back, he’s only paid about £140 million for Newcastle United, including all the debt. I’ve looked at the accounts and I don’t go for Mike Ashley’s PR hogwash at all.

  37. Am i the only one who is really not that bothered about football starting up again? Usually im hyped but with all these ridiculous quotes from pardew, No real players in (remi may be in pentonville in september)wonga,cisse drama joe kinnear making our every move public, drawing with rangers and being happy with it all i can see is a season of lower table struggles and excuses. i am slowly losing interest in a game i used to love

  38. Hisnameisjonas says:
    August 7, 2013 at 11:18 pm

    “Oh realy? do you see Fulham, Stoke or Birmingham pushing the top 6 latley?”

    Newcastle United were 16th last season though, and Fulham and Stoke both finished a few places above us. When they were in the Europa League, their league positions weren’t hugely different. That was my point earlier.

  39. Dokkyting up again? says:
    August 7, 2013 at 11:23 pm

    “Am i the only one who is really not that bothered about football starting up again?”

    I’m not looking forward to another season of Pardewball, brought to us in conjunction with Sports Direct and Wronga, but I still like football, Dokky.

  40. avatarworkyticket says:
    August 7, 2013 at 11:24 pm

    Yeah like I said, they made a mistake about the squad was to small from the beginning of the season, and they have stated that in the press alot of times, the strain on the squad was there for all to see, newcastle had 41 significant injuries last season, qpr was next on the list with 36. take liverpool for instans had 17.. they got 5 new players i january but the damage was already done.

    I find it very strange, latley people who praised pardew during the season (we had no problems with injuries and a lot lesser squad than now) seem to try to find exuses about what he is saying rather to listen to what is said by him and the club. We newcastle supporters have no patiens, to qoute shearer(he should know a thing or to about football): you don’t go from finishing 5 and be manager of the season to become a bad manager in one season.

  41. Hisnameisjonas says:
    August 7, 2013 at 11:38 pm

    “I find it very strange, latley people who praised pardew during the season (we had no problems with injuries and a lot lesser squad than now) seem to try to find exuses about what he is saying rather to listen to what is said by him and the club.”

    Well not me, I’ve been a Cassandra about Pardew ever since he started.

  42. avatarworkyticket says:
    August 7, 2013 at 11:19 pm
    Hisnameisjonas says:
    August 7, 2013 at 11:05 pm

    “It’s alot of things to say about the economy and spending of newcastle this summer, but you hav to look at the big picture. We are still suffering from the crazy and highly risky spending from the last regime,”

    Fat Freddy and weaselfaced Dougie were awful, but when Mike Ashley takes his loan back, he’s only paid about £140 million for Newcastle United, including all the debt. I’ve looked at the accounts and I don’t go for Mike Ashley’s PR hogwash at all.

    Even if you think it’s a scam or not, newcastle is listed with 130 million i debt, wich to think of it makes alot of sence if you see the spending by shepperd (stadium exansion, using 3 years of all the sponsormoney on one player. etcetc. ) I have no doubt the debt was there, and if you look at latest economy reporst we are still listed with 130 mill in debt..

    http://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/may/23/premier-league-accounts-profit-debt

  43. @worky i dunno why my name come out like that but i enjoy football too but last season just wasn’t good at all. i actually turned games off and listened to jeff and the boys to tell me whats happening. i put my fist through my laptop at the scumberland game. roll back 10 years and look at the club then and now it’s sad ashley and his sports direct garbage just makes it even worse!!

  44. i wouldn’t even care if we come 17th if we played nice football but going to watch pardews hoofball is depressing, i watched the celtic game earlier and a whole stand was empty because uefa banned terraces(i didn’t know) soon you will have to remain seated the whole game. im only 26 but i miss the pre-internet days when if people had a problem or wanted to moan they told there mates, now they have facebook campaigns! even for not enough women on bank notes! the world has gone mad worky me old mucka i wish i grew up in your era bet was a fookin right laugh

  45. Hisnameisjonas says:
    August 7, 2013 at 11:46 pm

    “Even if you think it’s a scam or not, newcastle is listed with 130 million i debt,”

    That’s more than we were in debt when Ashley took over the club OVER SIX YEARS AGO including the mortgage on the ground. Just about the only thing that saved the finances was Andy Carroll. That paid for much of the the sheer incompetence of getting the club relegated.

  46. it’s hypocritic to complain about not spending and at the same time complain that we are sponsored by wonga, and the naming rights to the stadium come to think of it. Its like saying we dont want to have sponsors to get more money but we still want to spend more.. funny thing realy, don’t get me wrong I hate wonga and would love to not having a sign of direct sports in a miles radious to st. james’ park, but the fact is every team in the premier league are competing on a ecnomicallay base, its sadly destroying football so hopefully the uefa rules really work out. Take the football back to reasonable economic limits and the competition more evend out.

  47. avatarworkyticket says:
    August 7, 2013 at 11:56 pm
    Hisnameisjonas says:
    August 7, 2013 at 11:46 pm

    “Even if you think it’s a scam or not, newcastle is listed with 130 million i debt,”

    “That’s more than we were in debt when Ashley took over the club OVER SIX YEARS AGO including the mortgage on the ground. Just about the only thing that saved the finances was Andy Carroll. That paid for much of the the sheer incompetence of getting the club relegated.”

    Thats after the relegation, of course it is bigger.. You saying we would’nt have been relegated if shepperd still owend the club? mind you, we would have been far worse off. We had the third biggest wagebill in pl in 2004/2005 and finished 14th, that would be like if chelsea where to finish 14th this season

  48. Dokky, I know what you mean, but alot pf people can’t see it happening until it’s too late. I think we should be better next season but we’re still going nowhere compared with where we should be going with the Silver Fox.

  49. Dokky: you put your fist through a laptop! I’d send the bill to Pardew. I even watched the whole Liverpool game, admittedly whilst doing other stuff on the internet. I was sure Pardew would be sacked after that and wanted to watch his funeral march (run) down the tunnel. Did he do a press conference after that or send out Carver or Stone? Add coward to his CV/Resume.

  50. Wey, ya gan oot for a pint an iverybofy gans a bit whacko !

    OK ! You Southampton guys, nice to see you back after a long absence and yes you got a nice new (but small) stadium and have a decent scouting system, also a decent manager.
    But don’t get carried away with the fact you have wealthy owners, everyone has wealthy owners and yours is only a small time billionaire.
    Check it out, some clubs have more than one billionaire on the board.
    Anyway, I understand having survived your first year in the PL, you consider the club as being more or less not only safe but ready to compete.
    Listen don’t get carried away, it’s a tough league and according to the recent signings getting tougher.

    As for His name is Jonas

    Being it appears English is your second language, I don’t know if I fully understand all of your points, actually you sound like an apologist for both our owner and his manager, quoting various amounts as far as finances go, and making comparisons between he and our previous owners.
    When in fact they were a meaningless six years ago .

    On the other hand our present owner during his stint, has done very little to promote the club, other than through ignorance and a lack of funding , get us relegated .

    Yes we did achieve a fifth place finish, which everyone raves about, but the fact is we were regularly within the top five under SBR, who was in fact fired for duropping to fifth place.

    Face it we have an owner who was dumb enough not only to hire Pardew, but to give him an eight year contract, something that even Mourinho wasn’t offered.

    And if Jonas is his mame is some kinda suggestion that you are a fan of Jonas, then that sez it all.
    Here is a guy a winger who has scored less goals than any winger in the history of the club, who has played the same number of games and that’s your hero, hell then after that i’m just gonna rest my case as to your judgement and argument.

  51. You know, we go on about Kinnear needing media training. While he’s on that course, he should drag Pardew along with him so he can take the mandatory don’t spout so much horse pooh section. Lord, I despair of this club.

  52. So at the end of the day it boils down to Mike Ashley being a sh1t owner and not having a clear vision for the club other than to promote Sports Direct.
    Until Ashley and Pardew go, nothing will change in the long run and the club won’t progress into a consistent top 8 side.

  53. Bob says:
    August 8, 2013 at 9:44 am

    “So at the end of the day it boils down to Mike Ashley being a sh1t owner and not having a clear vision for the club other than to promote Sports Direct.”

    Bob, I have a hypothesis (not a theory, just a hypothesis) that he may have had a vision of Newcastle United as a top level selling club like Udinese in Italy too at some stage, buying bargains from France, Belgium and the Netherlands to sell on at a top price then replace with more of the same. That’s how I would think if I was like was like Mike Ashley. This mantra that Newcastle will only sell players at top prices is simply repeated so often it sounds like desperation.

    I also think that might have went tits up after the Llambias’s confessions about the sale of Carroll to Liverpool were made public in the Llambiasgate tapes, and also with Pardew being so shite and making the players look shite too. I think they wanted more sales like that with Cabaye, Benny and so on but it hasn’t worked so far.

  54. Hisnameisjonas says:
    August 8, 2013 at 12:12 am

    “You saying we would’nt have been relegated if shepperd still owend the club?”

    We can’t answer that question, Hisnameisjonas. The facts are that Freddy Shepherd didn’t get the club relegated and Mike Ashley did.

    Sorry that your comment was held up BTW, I don’t know what happened there.

  55. As for His name is Jonas

    “Being it appears English is your second language, I don’t know if I fully understand all of your points, actually you sound like an apologist for both our owner and his manager, quoting various amounts as far as finances go, and making comparisons between he and our previous owners.
    When in fact they were a meaningless six years ago .

    On the other hand our present owner during his stint, has done very little to promote the club, other than through ignorance and a lack of funding , get us relegated .

    Yes we did achieve a fifth place finish, which everyone raves about, but the fact is we were regularly within the top five under SBR, who was in fact fired for duropping to fifth place.

    Face it we have an owner who was dumb enough not only to hire Pardew, but to give him an eight year contract, something that even Mourinho wasn’t offered.

    And if Jonas is his mame is some kinda suggestion that you are a fan of Jonas, then that sez it all.
    Here is a guy a winger who has scored less goals than any winger in the history of the club, who has played the same number of games and that’s your hero, hell then after that i’m just gonna rest my case as to your judgement and argument.”

    Indeed it is my second language, and my points with the last regime is that it still haunts us to this day, be that it is 6 years ago.

    I’m not truly sold on pardew beiing a bad manager, and some of his points about to small squad and injuries last season is a fact, rather than complaints. So I will give him this season to redeem himself. This Season hasn’t started yet and people slagging him of for tactics in pre season friendlies.. Makes me laught really.

    about my name, I have used it on numerous blogs for years. I like the guy, he’s cool and funny. But he is’nt a world beater when it comes to football, he is becoming more of a cult figure for me and has given his all for the club for years.

  56. We were starting to flirt with relegation under Shepherds tenure, And in some respects they were starting to take the Ashley approach, By appointing Glenn Roeder.
    I think Big Sam was their last throw of the dice, So we’ll never know, Because Ashley turned up not long after his appointment.
    Although Big Sam was struggling, And we could have went down that Season, If Keegan hadn’t hit upon the 443 formation.

    A cousin of mine works security at St James’ Park, And reckons Shepherd knew the Club was bang in trouble, And was running around turning lights off, To try and save money.
    He was trying to get the money together to buy up more shares, To try and oust the Halls, Because he had fallen out with them.
    I think Freddie saw them as the ones who were getting the Club into debt it was in, And wanted to run the Club without them.
    Ashley come in first and bought the Halls shares, And Freddie was ill with pneumonia, So he was effectively f**ked!

  57. And Chuck is your name man, I’m just asuming that your hero is from the Nbc’s series Chuck. Really says it all, takes away your credibility in ANY discussions. Stop making stupid personal assumptions and debate in a good manner.

  58. joe hawkins says:
    August 8, 2013 at 11:17 am

    “We were starting to flirt with relegation under Shepherds tenure, And in some respects they were starting to take the Ashley approach, By appointing Glenn Roeder.
    I think Big Sam was their last throw of the dice, So we’ll never know, Because Ashley turned up not long after his appointment.
    Although Big Sam was struggling, And we could have went down that Season, If Keegan hadn’t hit upon the 443 formation.

    A cousin of mine works security at St James’ Park, And reckons Shepherd knew the Club was bang in trouble, And was running around turning lights off, To try and save money.
    He was trying to get the money together to buy up more shares, To try and oust the Halls, Because he had fallen out with them.
    I think Freddie saw them as the ones who were getting the Club into debt it was in, And wanted to run the Club without them.
    Ashley come in first and bought the Halls shares, And Freddie was ill with pneumonia, So he was effectively f**ked!”

    what would happend if shepperd, who used 3 years of sponsor income on one player (probably the worst deal in football history), taken over the club from the halls? he had no economic sences at all. He was a nutcase.

  59. Hisnameisjonas, There’s a good chance he would have fantastically f**ked it up, No doubt!
    I’m just relaying what i was told, By a family member who works there.
    Freddie carries the can for a lot of what went on, But there was a board of people who made the decisions, And not just him.
    They were all equally as daft and corrupt as each other!

  60. Jonas is his name

    Nah ! Don’t watch NBC or most tv stations with commercials, so I don’t know if that’s a personal dig or not.
    If it is I probably deserve it as I was possibly a bit harsh in my previous statement.
    My point is, both you and I have been watching Pardew for a period that should be sufficient for most to figure the man is totally lacking in knowledge about how the moden game is played.
    In comparison to the leagues other managers, who constantly out coach him, especially in the second period.
    Sure he has tried variations of the old 4-4-2 ((which is all he seems to be familiar with) with the same end result, hoofball !
    And it should be obvious to all by now, we really need a manager who understands the moden game, not someone who plays direct football of the old BSA style, because even big Sam, doesn’t play that style these days.
    Believe it Pardew is a case of meaningless sound bites that confuse some, but amounts to no more than bullshit baffles brains.
    Plus I believe Ashley has finally figured it out and wants to get rid of him, but doesn want to pay the (seven year) price.

    As for Jonas, see my previous evaluation, totally unproductive.

  61. As for big Freddy, yeah we all know he was a shyster, who slagged the fans and was more interested in making a buck, rather than the fortunes of the club.
    But he was never as dumb as Ashley about football and would never have hired such an idiot as Llambeas, or for that matter Pardew.
    And it’s my belief that had it not been for Hughton bringing in Carr as chief scout, we would be back in the second tier, because face it Ashley (who is the last word on everything) knows absolutely nothing about football (and that’s a quote from KK.) my proof is his giving Pardew and others an eight year deal, unprecedented in football.

  62. Gotta go, spring tide., ideal for collecting cockles and mussels, plus some winkles, possibly trade some of the above for a lobster or some brown crabs.
    Even though there is no R in August.
    Eat your heart out !

  63. I belive it’s down to more than just tactics. As you say for the second periods, newcastle beat chelsea 3-2 after going down 0-1 and 1-2 so there are examples from last season where they infact did have good games in the second period. It’s not only down to the manager, if he says to the players to play in one way and they do the opposit it’s not just because of the manager. The fact is we got no consistency in form because central players where at times missing for big periods of the season and football is a team game, you need to play togheter in longer periods for it to work properly.

    On Shepperd, I have no doubt that he would be dumb enough to hire somone like llambias when he is dumb enough to risk all sponsor income for the next 3 years one on player and hope he does’nt fuck up. That’s like giving your paycheck for the next 3 years to a mate and let him invest the money and hope he does’nt fuck up. Llambias is an idiot but he still knows a thing or to about economy. Ashley has again shown that he could do better with a man who knows a little more about football than just economy and hired kinnear. Set aside the utterly imbarrasing media fuss with kinnear and he is undoubtly more experienced with football than llambias. In the long run it could even pay of.

  64. I bought a scarf, black and white vertical stripes. I can’t help myself – even with Pardew as manager and a quiet transfer window I am still blindly optimistic.

    I will go down to the pub with my new scarf and old school blue star top and watch us probably get a pasting a week on Monday.

    Please Alan, don’t play the 9-0-1 formation.

  65. So we play City to start. There are plenty of excuses why they might not get off to a good start. Here’s some:

    * New manager

    * Totally new forward line of continental players who don’t speak the language and may take time to settle in (see our January Frenchies)

    * New forward line probably don’t speak the same languages and need time to adjust.

    * Aguero doubtful, Tevas gone, Djeko now the focus

    * Silva coming off quiet season

    * Shift away from English core.

    But we will play 9-0-1 and make it easy for them.

  66. Worky @73: thanks for the link but I did buy it already and am very happy with it because of the vertical stripes. It is not cashmere, but I have other cashmere scarves because Chicago gets a bit cold.

    I might buy one of those next time because I am certainly not buying a Wonga logo anything.

  67. Jonas Taking 5hit as well…him and Shola should be shipped out,both useless.

    “He’s going to be a good striker for us,” commented the Argentinian, “but it will be hard for him to play, because Papiss (Cisse) has been doing the right things and working really hard. There’s going to be more competition this year because we also have Shola (Ameobi).

  68. Hisnameisjonas Your posts remind of Jonas Stats someone posted the other day.

    Very Forgettable.

  69. GS says:
    August 8, 2013 at 1:16 pm

    “but I have other cashmere scarves because Chicago gets a bit cold.”

    GS, I heard it was called the “windy city” many years ago thanks to the famous song and other stuff and presumed it was because it was windy there. Then however, I read somewhere that originally it was a derogatory term which had more to do with the guff you Chicagoans come out with! :lol:

  70. It is supposedly the “windy city” because the politicians were wind bags. I really think it had as much to do with the wind and the cold in winter. It is f@cking windy, especially with the wind tunnels they created with all of the tall buildings.

    The winter weather is a lot colder than Newcastle but people actually wear coats and scarves here as compared to t-shirts.

  71. The winter weather is a lot colder than Newcastle but people actually wear coats and scarves here as compared to t-shirts.

    Windy City G.S Show me proof or are you just pulling this stat out of thin air?
    #Prick

  72. sirjasontoon says:
    August 8, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    “Hisnameisjonas Your posts remind of Jonas Stats someone posted the other day.

    “Very Forgettable.”

    SJT, his stats reveal that he is a very hardworking midfield terrier who makes more tackles than anyone else. He is one of our best ball winners and gets more free kicks too. They also reveal that his much derided crossing isn’t as bad as some make it out to be, and that his best performance of last season was when he was played on his right side, the right side.

    I blame Pardew most things not because I have a vendetta against him (though I do think he’s a twat), but because every time I look at the evidence deeply, including watching the games, it always seems to point back to his abject tactics and decisionmaking.

  73. GS says:
    August 8, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    “The winter weather is a lot colder than Newcastle but people actually wear coats and scarves here as compared to t-shirts.”

    GS, wearing just T-Shirts in the cold isn’t a sign that you’re “hard” as some Geordies like to think, it’s a sign that you’re a fat bastard with a natural lard overcoat to keep you warm like a big walrus. ;-)

  74. so southampton got more pulling power than us if thats what pards really thinks its time for you to leave and go and manage 1 of them powerfull clubs like er swansea or southampton,dudes made himself look a proper idiot in my eyes

  75. SJT: I’ll say it again, you know I am from Newcastle and live in Chicago, so I can make a comparison of the weather in Newcastle and Chicago.

  76. Wouldn’t it be great for the Mancs to drop to like 5th or 6th so their plastics could feel a bit of what we get every year?

  77. TOONARMYELITE says:
    August 8, 2013 at 2:37 pm

    “so southampton got more pulling power than us if thats what pards really thinks its time for you to leave and go and manage 1 of them powerfull clubs like er swansea or southampton,”

    Toon, you know very well that Southampton sacked him when they were in League One and wouldn’t have him back in a month of Sundays.

    The fact is that both Southampton and Swansea are now extremely ambitious and well run clubs with better managers than Alan Pardew. If they keep their trajectory and we keep ours, they will indeed have more pulling power than Newcastle United. As it is, the pulling power of being coached by a football God like Michael Laudrup isn’t to be underestimated, especially so with Spanish players.

  78. So is Alan getting his excuses in early?, Although i cannot see Ashley taking too kindly to Pardew calling him tight, Which is what he is implying, To an extent.
    Either that, Or he’s trying to get the fans to accept mediocrity, In a subtle manner, At Ashley’s behest.
    It’s like he’s saying, Look i’m going to be here for a long time, With length of contract, And it suits Ashley, As long as we don’t go down.
    So get used to this “Status Quo”, And accept it!

    I always thought he would keep his job, But the trade off for that, Was he would be given very little money to spend.
    It’s more like Ashley bollocked him for the bad Season, And now Pardew has been challenged to get himself out of it, With more or less the same squad.
    I think it is job to keep buttering up, And flattering the fans, With constant propaganda.
    I think Pardew has known the score, All summer long.

  79. GS says:
    August 8, 2013 at 3:04 pm

    “Is it players or management? This stat guy doesn’t make much sense as he is judging the new Frenchies on a very short period when we were in a relegation battle and a lot of them were injured or played out of position.”

    GS, stats are very useful. However, you need a knowledge of football and to know the context too. You must have all of those otherwise you can come to some very wrongheaded conclusions.

  80. sampdiago says:
    August 8, 2013 at 7:34 pm

    “I am not Jonas biggest fan,but his sister is fit.”

    Sampdiago, I haven’t seen her but judging by Jonas himself, I would guess that you were so captivated by her long, flowing dark locks that you forgot to look at her face! :-)

  81. I belive it’s down to more than just tactics. As you say for the second periods, newcastle beat chelsea 3-2 after going down 0-1 and 1-2 so there are examples from last season where they infact did have good games in the second period. It’s not only down to the manager, if he says to the players to play in one way and they do the opposit it’s not just because of the manager. The fact is we got no consistency in form because central players where at times missing for big periods of the season and football is a team game, you need to play togheter in longer periods for it to work properly.

    On Shepperd, I have no doubt that he would be dumb enough to hire somone like llambias when he is dumb enough to risk all sponsor income for the next 3 years one on player and hope he does’nt fuck up. That’s like giving your paycheck for the next 3 years to a mate and let him invest the money and hope he does’nt fuck up. Llambias is an idiot but he still knows a thing or to about economy. Ashley has again shown that he could do better with a man who knows a little more about football than just economy and hired kinnear. Set aside the utterly imbarrasing media fuss with kinnear and he is undoubtly more experienced with football than llambias. In the long run it could even pay of.

  82. Hisnameisjonas, I have repeated the comment you made earlier which was held in moderation for a while. I’ve checked and your IP isn’t blocked or anything like that I don’t know why it is happening.

    Sorry about this.

  83. @workyticket
    put both there grounds together would make them about our size,but even then i dont think they fill there grounds so hes chating out of what he should be siting on in my view and if he really beleives what hes sayimh he needs to leave now in my view

  84. <<<<<< this dude here is gob smacked he was even stupid enough to say that lol

  85. TOONARMYELITE says:
    August 8, 2013 at 8:32 pm

    “@workyticket
    put both there grounds together would make them about our size,but even then i dont think they fill there grounds so hes chating out of what he should be siting on”

    Toon, Southampton’s 32,000 and odd stadium was almost full last season. Swansea’s tiny 21,000 was full and oversubscrcribed, so they’re desparate to expand it in stages until it’s around 30,000.

    TOONARMYELITE says:
    August 8, 2013 at 8:36 pm

    “whats st james the 3rd largest ground in the prem aint it”

    It’s the third largest club stadium. However there are several clubs in urban areas which are stuck in stadiums which are way two small. Some Newcastle fans used to scoff that we got more fans than Arsenal when they were at Highbury, then they built an over 60,000 stadium which they fill at prices which would make a Geordie’s hair curl. It’s the same with Spurs too, and Liverpool…

    However, local fans that actually go to lots of games are increasingly becoming just accessories to add a little colour and noise for the TV cameras as the balance of the finances shifts progressively from matchday receipts to TV money and fans of Premiership teams expand all over the world.

  86. workyticket says:August 8, 2013 at 8:57 pm
    ‘However, local fans that actually go to lots of games are increasingly becoming just accessories to add a little colour and noise for the TV cameras as the balance of the finances shifts progressively from matchday receipts to TV money’

    On the one hand, I kind of like how the Premier League has been ruthless at becoming the worlds top football league and a huge money spinner (and an increasingly important part of our dwindling economy no doubt). But I hate the way it is going with money influencing the game so much. It’s no good us talking about having the 3rd biggest stadium in the league and so on, because it is now a tiny part of it, almost irrelevant in fact. Other clubs in London could have half as many seats in their stadium but charge twice as much a ticket as we do. Also the match day income is becoming a small part of the clubs total revenue. That is unhealthy from our point of view, but to likes of QPR fans and Southampton fans it must not even register. One of the only things I like about the regime is the ticket pricing and family area, 3-match ticket initiatives, 10 year freeze and things like that. To be fair Ashley could have said, ‘come on then, fill the stadium now, we’ll increase ticket prices to London club levels and max-out match day revenue if you want the club to spend more money we’ll have to earn it.’ He isn’t doing that to be fair. We have some of the best ticket deals in the premier league.

  87. @59 “: you put your fist through a laptop! I’d send the bill to Pardew. I even watched the whole Liverpool game”

    i have done about 4 laptops over football i wouldn’t even want to meet pardew i would end up inside lol you are a braver man than me i turned off at 4-0 and cracked on down the pub last season was even worse than the relegation season just complete garbage football

  88. Why don’t we just borrow a left winger from Chelsea, they have a shed load of them? I mean, West Brom weren’t too proud to borrow Lukaku. All this extra TV cash has leveled the playing field as many have said on here and DJG pointed out again above.

    I think Pardew said Jonas is back to his best. As what? A non-crossing, non-scoring winger. Chuck is right on this one. We shouldn’t be too proud to borrow from Chelsea if it means getting some service to Cisse and Remy. Hell, they may even be able to take a corner.

  89. @104 chelsea own half of europes talent at the moment they just throw away money while ashley is too tight too give minimum wage workers a full time job! nobody loans us because we are not a place looked upon as a learning ground, we just hoof the ball! the way the club is run players would probably learn more at doncaster

  90. On corners. I have never understood why Van Persie takes corners because it seems to me that he should be on the end of them. However, if Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson see that he is so skilled at it that it is worth taking him out of the middle, then who am I to argue.

    My point is that two great managers see the utility of good corners and our coaches oversee 2 years of totally unproductive, hardly gets over the 1st man or skies 10 yards past the back post, crap.

  91. I do not have any coaching badges, but it seems to me that our coaches don’t have any either. What will it take to have them stop the goalie hoofing it every time to an isolated Cisse, or us taking crap corners virtually encouraging a fast break because all teams know that Colo, Williamson and Taylor are too slow to get back?

  92. DJG says:
    August 8, 2013 at 10:18 pm

    “One of the only things I like about the regime is the ticket pricing and family area, 3-match ticket initiatives, 10 year freeze and things like that.”

    As usual with Ashley there’s alot of sleight of hand, DJG. He made it compulsory to purchase annual membership to buy a season ticket beofre all that which you didn’t have to before. Then, he almost doubled the membership fee which he can do whenever he wants, though I believe you get it for £15 instead of £25 if you spend several hundred pounds on a season ticket.

    I live in London and if I just wanted to buy just one ticket for an away game through the usual channels, I now have to pay something like £25 on top for membership too now which I didn’t before and I’m only allowed one ticket with one menbership. To buy an extra one requires another membership.

    Everything’s a con somehwhere with Ashley, that’s what his life’s about. He’s a rapacious slug.

  93. Worky

    In the words of Ronald Reagan, there you go again.
    What am I on about ?
    I remember a time when you defended Williamson, claiming he was a decent player, quoting stats etc.
    When everyone who watched him could clearly see he didn’t really belong in the PL. and basically said so.
    Now you are defending a guy who’s stats you claim are not as bad as everyone thinks, that’s in regards to crosses of course.
    Look we don’t have to look at stats, we have already looked at Jonas and seldom seen him putting in any crosses and is a winger not expected to score once in a while?
    Face it Jonas is possibly the most unproductive winger that ever played for this club, apart from his diving ability to gain free kicks.
    Look I don’t personally dislike the guy, but one has to face facts, he can’t cross or score and as a winger that’s what you are there for, a winger is primarily an attacking player.
    Sure he tracks back, but I recall when we had Robert, who never fell back to defend and was begged by SBR to do so, untill he finally gave up.
    But the difference was Robert more than made up for not defending by being productive, scoring all kinds of goals and producing passes for our forwards, ask me who I would rather have, between he and Jonas.

  94. Do says:
    August 8, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    “@73 i ordered this yesterday total old school”

    I’ve always liked those, and the even older one from the 1900s. If I got one of those, I would probably grow a big handlebar moustache to look the part too!

    Do says:
    August 8, 2013 at 11:00 pm

    “@104 chelsea own half of europes talent at the moment they just throw away money while ashley is too tight too give minimum wage workers a full time job!”

    Aye, Do, but Abromovich starved and froze oil workers (and their families) by witholding their wages until they sold the oil shares they’d been given by the government to him for a pittance just so they could survive and feed their children. That’s where all that money came from. It’s grotesque.

  95. Was successful this afternoon! Filled over half a bucket with cockles from a pristine area, a bay so large you could easily land a 747 jet on it.
    However it began to rain so have to get my mussels to-morrow.
    Being I like a white clam sauce, which appears to be un available here, decided to steam the cockles with just a little water.
    Generating a broth, to which I added some garlic , oregano and a little olive oil, which I simmered while I made some garlic bread, then added the diced cockles (don’t want to get them too rubbery)
    While this was going on I cooked some linguini, poured the finished sauce, which turned out deiciiouse and added a little parmigiana regiano cheese (which most Italians frown on, adding cheese to seafood dishes) but hey, I like it.
    Gonna try a cream sauce with the mussels to-morrow, with Pasta of course and perhaps try a seafood chowder with the extra mussels and cockles and a bit of pollock I have, see how it works out.
    There’s something satisfying about eating what you catch or gather, doncha think ?

  96. workyticket says:
    August 8, 2013 at 11:57 pm
    I believe part of the reason you now have to be a member/ season ticket holder was to make people more accountable at away games. For example I went to the Darlo pre-season game a few years ago and there were people running on the pitch and fighting. They were all non members who the club probably didn’t even have their address and email address etc. If you are a member you don’t have to pay the booking fee and there are other small benefits. For you it obviously works out very badly but I don’t think that’s the intention, you’re obviously in an unfortunate position. For someone who goes to quite a few games it works out okay and it allows me to pick better seats before tickets go on general sale etc. At the end of the day it’s money going into the academy etc. It’s like taxes and NHS, schools – people want a top team that competes at the top but nobody wants to pay for it. Nobody wants to pay taxes, nobody wants to pay membership/ticket prices but we all want Ashley to pay for it.

  97. DJD

    No !
    It’s about locking people in for a prescribed amount of time at what they think is a fixed price and then hitting them not with an increase in the ticket price, but an additional fee for something else.
    Nothing to do with responsibility, after all why would Ashley care about what fans do at some other stadium, it’s a scam.
    Obvious you didn’t pay attention to Lambeezie’s speech on how they screwed Liverpool
    with the Carroll deal, mentioning “you don’t know how horrible we can be”!

  98. Chuck says:
    August 9, 2013 at 12:52 am
    ‘Nothing to do with responsibility, after all why would Ashley care about what fans do at some other stadium’

    Because first of all it is embarrassing to the club and gives us a bad reputation but also there can be sanctions and fines on the club, why do you think they are always appealing that people stop taking flares and smoke grenades and have said people will be searched on the way in and people will be prosecuted and banned from games if caught? Because there is a match report that goes to the Fa and if it happens too many times the club get fined.

  99. Was in Motherwell for a week or so and was chatting with a fellow from London at the hotel bar. He’s a Hammers supporter and we chatted at length about Pardew. He didn’t say one good thing about the man. Kept using a word that rhymes with “bunt” to describe him. Was impressed with the fellas swearing, you just don’t see that level of ability here in the states… and I was a soldier for 7 years!

    Well, we can only hope to be rid soon, but who the hell would sit in the NUFC hot seat given the current regime?

  100. DJG says:
    August 9, 2013 at 12:35 am

    “I believe part of the reason you now have to be a member/ season ticket holder was to make people more accountable at away games.”

    DJG, that was Llambias’ guff fron the time almost verbatim. The membership makes little or no difference to any of that, it’s bollocks which doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

    “For you it obviously works out very badly but I don’t think that’s the intention, you’re obviously in an unfortunate position.”

    It doesn’t bother me as I don’t get my tickets through the usual channels and I don’t go nearly as often as I used to thanks to this stupid blog. I used to miss going to more games but I dodn’t even miss it too much anymore thanks to Pardew’s football! However, getting back to the main point, it does affect alot of people more than it affects me though.

  101. Tripp, good to see you on here again, it’s been a while.

    If you’d met a West Ham fan who didn’t make every other word a profanity, that would have been a bit suspicious! Fahkin’ Cahnts! :-)

  102. Chuck says:
    August 9, 2013 at 12:35 am

    “There’s something satisfying about eating what you catch or gather, doncha think ?”

    It certainly tastes better if it’s fresher, Chuck. It the same with vegetables just pulled out the garden too. I used to have seafood straight out the boat when I lived in Whitby. I didn’t catch it but it still tasted much more satisfying.

  103. Chuck don’t you need to give them a night in clean water to get the grit out? Try adding seaweed to the water when cooking it’s a clean healthy vegetable with loads of benefits to eating it and tastes good as well. You can eat almost any seaweed. I get some funny looks when I pick up a chunk of kelp straight out of the water and wander along the beach chewing it. Make sure the water is clean though.

    Also try cooking some limpets, just the white muscle though not the black inner bits, just peel them of when its cooked.

  104. DJG says:
    August 9, 2013 at 1:08 am

    “Because first of all it is embarrassing to the club and gives us a bad reputation”

    You mean like being sponsored by Wronga and Sports Direct, DJG?

  105. Worky & Grumpy

    Yeah I get my spuds and some vegetables from my neighbours garden, it’s a stones throw from the ocean, which seems to improve the taste and said to increase the nutritional value.
    As for letting the cockles sit overnight, yes almost every shellfish will purge its self by this method, however I wasn’t about to wait yesterday and I came up with Baldrickian solution cleansing the broth by straining it through a Melita coffee filter.

    As for seaweed I have been eating it since I was a kid, namely a type that grows on tidal rocks, that requires drying (though it can be eaten in it’s original state) it is usually full of what look like tiny mussels and when dried is a blue/black color, which is full of things like iodine, and other nutrients
    Some pretty good spring tides make certain places more available and yes I have eaten barnacles, but haven’t solved the method of making them soft enough to eat many, perhaps I should just use them as an added flavour and nutritional additive.
    Though I understand there is a rarer type that is considered a delicacy , which grows along the Galician and Portuguese coast .
    Gotta go, as time or tide waits for no man.

  106. Because first of all it’s embarrassing to the club……..
    Obviously embarrassment is not in Ashley’s dictionary !
    Not nearly as Embarrassing as being invited for around fifty quid , to buy a tatty jersey from Sports Direct which makes one a walking advertisement for a loanshark outfit.
    To ask that of fans, should be embarrassing.

  107. A recent quote from Laurent Blanc on Yohan Cabaye:

    “He’s a very good player, I haven’t changed my opinion (about Cabaye).

    “For the moment, he’s at Newcastle. I also read that Tottenham are interested in him. Newcastle, Tottenham, or Paris – I hope that he’ll still be at a big club in September.”

    And now, here’s how Neil Cameron puts it in the Evening Chronicle (see if you can spot the differences):

    He said: “He (Cabaye) is a very good player, I have not changed my mind. I read Tottenham are also interested.

    “I hope he will be at a big club come September.”

    That is disgraceful journalism from Neil Cameron. It’s completely and utterly dishonest.

  108. If Pards has an ounce of sense he’ll be tailoring his team talks to fit our circumstances.

    He needs to telling them that they’d better play out of their skins in the hope some club with a modicum of ambition comes in for them – Southampton, maybe.

  109. Chuck says:
    August 9, 2013 at 12:50 pm

    “Yeah I get my spuds and some vegetables from my neighbours garden”

    Does he know about this, Chuck?

  110. Darthbroon, I’m past caring about his team talks, His tactics, His motivational skills, All of which, Are sadly lacking.
    He’s never going to change his ways, And he will carry on in a similar vein, until he is relieved of his duties, Which will not be long.
    He said yesterday, “There are no more excuses”, Well we will see how long that lasts, Until he starts blame game, Again!
    The bloke is a nut job, And you can see a combination of no tactical nous, Strikers being played on the wing, And players names, First on the team sheet, When they should be dropped, As per usual!

    I suppose in a macabre sort of way it will be funny to watch an A grade fool, Plunge headlong into his own demise!

  111. When I think of Pardew (and I try not to) I can’t help imagining a cartoon scene of a heap of dynamite and a fuse burning towards it.Its just got to end up in another huge screw up! so lets get it over with.

  112. Well at least Kath the tea lady loves Pardew. She thinks he’s the nicest of all the 27 managers she’s served so far, nicer than Harvey, nicer than Keegan, nicer than Robson, nicer than Hughton. He’s definitely a silver fox with the ladies.

  113. Grumpy, the way she gushes about him, I think she’s been serving him up a bit more than tea and bourbons. It’s been Pardew’s downfall in the past if you believe the rumours about his previous clubs. ;-)

    ‘Big’ Sam put a glint in her eye too.

  114. Doesn’t Cabaye have to have another decent season before PSG or Man U would buy him? He was depressed and then largely ineffective last season. Whether that was Pardew’s influence or not, he still has a lot to prove to become a 15 million plus player.

    Is Scott Sinclair any good? I didn’t really take much notice of him at Swansea.

  115. And here I was hoping for football talk…*sighs*…

    THIS IS NEWCASTLE!!!!!

    dokky @ 44: that’s just it, isn’t it? Part of the reason I mentioned the creeping start of the season on another thread recently was that I was surprised it was so soon. That’s because I’m not really anticipating it at all this time around. Looks like the best we’ll do is not get relegated.

  116. GS-Sinclair is solid but I dare say he was a system player at Swansea who got found out a bit by City’s coaches. Still would help our squad, but not at the price City will likely want.

    worky @ 129: good example. Assholes…err, I mean journalists.

    sampdiago @ 94: now a comment like that is just useless without a photo/link. (Unless you’re being sarcastic.)

  117. workyticket says:
    August 9, 2013 at 1:48 am

    Tripp, good to see you on here again, it’s been a while.

    If you’d met a West Ham fan who didn’t make every other word a profanity, that would have been a bit suspicious! Fahkin’ Cahnts! :-)

    Haha. Yeah, I tend to check out during silly season.

    Well, he must be the real deal then. Nice enough guy but hard to get a word in edgewise.

  118. It looks like there are a few links for the Braga game this evening, and hence, I will be doing a ‘match banter’ thing this evening and all the rest…

  119. Worky, I watched the second half of the Swansea game and have to say I didn’t think much of Bony, looks a bit slow and not much skill on the ground. unless he improves I think we might be happy to have missed out on him. I can’t help thinking that Shola would look a lot better in the Dutch league. I reckon we may have the better deal with Remy.

    Chuck, funny you should mention the Galician barnacles, there was an article in the Telegraph colour supplement about them this week and the men who collect them. It is very dangerous work and about 5 collectors die each year. Fetch huge prices though.

    I was referring to the conical shaped shellfish that you can find in abundance on rocks when the tide goes our not the barnacles.

  120. Grumpy Old-Toon says:
    August 10, 2013 at 12:26 pm

    “Worky, I watched the second half of the Swansea game and have to say I didn’t think much of Bony, looks a bit slow and not much skill on the ground. unless he improves I think we might be happy to have missed out on him.”

    Aye, you could be right, Grumpy. He only put two past Malmo in his first competitive game with Swansea. I remember someone saying similar things about Michu when I was gushing over him a year ago. :-)

  121. I see The Chronic have wheeled out one of their willing dupes, In Steven “Dying Swan” Taylor.
    He’s saying how the Rangers game was the kick up the backside they needed, After narrowly avoiding defeat to the Scottish minnows, He,He,He, Chuckle, Chuckle.

    How many times are we going to get excuses from the manager, Players etc, About them not being up to scratch?
    We have been poor for months, And you have him talking about how good the training has been, Evidently not that good, As we are still s***e, And nothing has changed.

    I think some of the players are taking their lead, From the Fearless Leader Pardew, And his 1001 excuses manual.
    I wonder what rubbish will be uttered, If we fail to beat Braga?

  122. Rangers are hardly Scottish minnows, they are still one of the big teams in Scotland, I don’t think they have shed too many of their big names and will be back challenging Celtic very soon. We shouldn’t see too much in that game, as Joe says the Braga game will probably give us more idea of how good or bad we actually are.

    Worky, I did add the proviso “unless he improves” but I have to say he didn’t impress me in either of the Malmo games despite scoring twice. He didn’t look good on the ball and the commentator also was making the same point, for a high priced player he lacks a bit of elan.

  123. joe hawkins says:
    August 10, 2013 at 1:34 pm

    “I wonder what rubbish will be uttered, If we fail to beat Braga?”

    Joe, Pardew has already explained that there will be “no more excuses” this season. Don’t you believe him?

  124. Well I’m off now to celebrate Lughnasadh or the first harvest, so will miss The Braga game and all the other sport happenings, thank goodness for catch up!!

  125. Grumpyoldtoon, “Scottish Minnows” was meant in an ironic way, It’s strange seeing them down there, And it was more of a vindictive jealousy, By the nay votes of other clubs, To keep them in, Even if they say otherwise.
    I’m sure they will be back soon terrorising The Scots Prem, That is just their fans lol, I’m sure they will be back soon.
    I said it because i thought we might get a load of Huns coming on, Telling us how big they are, Only kidding, I don’t want to get on the wrong side of a chiv!

    Worky, I believe Pardew wholeheartedly, When he says there will be no more excuses, Thousands of other wouldn’t.

    What is Lughnasadh?, Is it a depressed ear?

  126. Grumpyoldtoon, Are you a Pagan, By any chance?
    No sacrificing young lasses mind, Or trying to burn Mackem’s in wooden effigies.
    Is there any smokable substances at these do’s?, So i can Getafix, I’ll get me coat…