£15,536.13 raised from sign sale.Eight days ago, the letters which used to make up the famous “Newcastle United” sign were offered for sale on the online auction site EBay, with all proceeds from the sale going towards a night in Asper’s Casino for Mike Ashley, Derek Llambias and Alan Pardew the “Newcastle United Foundation” charity, who in their own words endeavour to:
“Use the local passion for football to encourage learning and promote healthy lifestyles that will make a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged children, young people and families in our region.”
After a week of bidding, the letters finally went under the virtual hammer for a total of £15,536.13 (minus commission). The higest price paid for one individual letter was £3100.00 for the first “N” in the sign to go on sale, though the other “N”, which was exactly the same went for a far more modest £959.99. The chepest of the letters was the letter “I”, which went for a mere £555.44. (more…)
Colo: let's not get carried awayNewcastle United’s current 4th place position is very pleasing, if a little unexpected. But how does this bode for the rest of the season?
We’re 4th in the Premier League and we can afford some optimism about that, although I think that should be guarded optimism as I suspect the only way from here is down. Captain Coloccini’s Bouffant has been speaking recently about how we should keep our feet on the ground too. Or at least that’s the way our Assistant Manager tells it. John Carver said:
“We’re not getting carried away – it’s important we keep our feet on the ground.
“There are some good characters here, and some different characters.
“The first thing Colo said after coming off the pitch was that we need to keep our feet on the ground. That’s important coming from the captain.
“There are people here who’ve been around the game long enough to make sure not one person gets carried away with what we’ve done so far.(more…)
Geordies, lets get ready to rumble! (with the media that is)After reading what I classed as quite hostile comments from Oliver Holt regarding Stevie Taylor’s antics trying to distract Paddy Kenny the thought crossed my mind, why is NUFC always a target for the media, and football fans in general?
Are we deserving of the abuse we get? Is the problem created by the Toon faithful themselves? Or is it just to shift newspapers? In the eyes of this blogger, all 3 have elements of truth. Let’s face it, over the years we haven’t endeared ourselves to other fans, with the sacking of many a manager (let’s not forget Bobby Robson; ever) Constant claims that we are a big club, refusing to play at Stevenage the first time round because at the time we were too good. The list goes on…
However I still grimace every time I switch onto Sky Sports after our latest scandal hits, as they always choose some brain-dead Geordie fan to artificially continue this persona that we are all living in a Shearer/Keegan wonderland. (more…)
Long ball game?With recent accusations of Alan Pardew’s alleged long ball tactics, I wanted to ask the question: do Newcastle United play the long-ball game and does it matter?
After England’s 1-1 draw against the United States in the 2010 World Cup Franz Beckenbauer had this to say:
“What I saw from the English in their 1-1 draw against the United States had very little to do with football.
“It looked to me as if the English have gone backwards into the bad old times of kick and rush. I am not sure if the England coach Fabio Capello can still change much there. The English are being punished for the fact that there are very few English players in the Premier League clubs as they use better foreign players from all over the world.”
Beckenbauer had the last laugh too of course because we subsequently crashed 4-1 to Germany, but is his general damnation of the long ball game valid? And I ask because there have been a few questions lately about Newcastle’s game plan and whether or not Alan Pardew prefers the long ball game. (more…)
Don't call me fattyNewcastle United owner Mike Ashley appears to be fed up with the abuse he gets from some of the fans. So fed up in fact that he implies the abuse must stop or he will not do the right thing by the club.
No doubt you’ve all seen the questions The Chronicle put to the NUFC board and the answers they received from them? If not, you can see them here.
Most of the answers are along the lines we would have expected, so there aren’t really any surprises. An interesting point though was the suggestion that we have to stop abusing Mike Ashley if we want him to continue funding the club. It came as part of the answer to the question: Is Mike Ashley considering putting the club up for sale?
Apparently he’s not unless an incredible offer comes along, although quite what classes as ‘incredible’ is anybody’s guess. But the answer is followed by this:
“I’d like to make a further point here. This club can’t support itself without the financial backing of Mike Ashley; we still rely heavily on the owner. To date Mike has invested over £280m into the club, including £140m in interest-free loans. For him to continue to support the club, he has to be interested and enthused to do so.(more…)
