Do they care about fan protests?The Joey Barton escapade continues to rumble at Newcastle United with some fans asking whether or not some sort of protest would help.
It is very difficult to avoid this Joey Barton situation at the moment. A good 90%+ of the Newcastle United coverage for the last few days had been about him and his infernal Twitter machine, which has depressed me and made me wonder if it was worth chewing through the leather straps to get on here and post this morning.
Ironic, then, that I’m going to post about it too.
Joey seems to have induced an air of protest amongst many Toon fans, such as that suggested by my esteemed fellow writer. But I must say I have my reservations and since we don’t have such things as editorial policies on this ‘blog, I’ll bore you with my views on the subject.
I think any protest needs to be designed as an effective step towards some clear end result or it merely serves as a disjointed expression of anger. Some people might feel better from the emotional release it affords but it may not achieve anything towards the actual goal. (more…)
City fans inspired by Lech PoznanA group of fans have hit upon a way to protest against Ashley, without damaging the team. It has garnered a fair support so far with the likes of United for Newcastle (NOT to be confused with NUSC) taking an active role in spreading the word and it may be worth considering if you’re interested in protesting against the board.
Recent events have shown that our owner and “provider”, Mike Ashley, appears to be very worried about a little known thing such as “player power”. The general gist of this is to show Ashley that his priorities are woefully wrong and that it is us, the fans, who truly hold the power.
It was the fans who kept singing despite being 0-4 down at home to Arsenal that gave the players that extra strength to kick it up a notch. It was the fans who showed up time and time again to matches in the Championship, giving us the third highest average attendance of the season in English Football and it was the fans who signaled to Mike Ashley after relegation to sell up – admittedly, there were no offers but the point remains that we got our message through to him.
The statement on the Facebook page reads as follows:
I’ve had enough, we’ve had enough. So what do we do now? Try something new: (more…)
Done and dusted, just aboutNewcastle United’s Wayne Routledge only needs a medical to complete a move to Swansea. Meanwhile, Joey Barton’s situation continues to dominate the NUFC headlines.
Unfortunately, besides the Barton furore there’s little else happening at the club just now.
It seems that Wayne Routledge has agreed personal terms and has all but signed for Swansea City now, assuming he passes the medical. A club statement from Swansea City read:
“Swansea City is pleased to confirm that personal terms with Newcastle winger Wayne Routledge have been agreed.
“It follows on from an agreement with Newcastle over an undisclosed transfer fee and the 26-year-old is expected to arrive in Swansea for a medical before signing a three-year contract.
“The former England Under-21 international will be joined by Middlesbrough striker, Leroy Lita, who is also due to have a medical before completing his transfer.”
Apparently Routledge is due in Swansea today for the medical and Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers hopes it will all be wrapped up in time for their game against Celtic tomorrow. Routledge is signing on a 3 year deal and whilst the fee is officially ‘undisclosed’ it’s thought to be worth about £2m, which I’m sure will be reinvested in the club*. (more…)
Is Barton a bad apple?Joey Barton’s tirades on Twitter has been very well publicised, as have many other players comments on the social networking sites. Jose Enrique, Wayne Routledge and countless others from teams across the UK. This has prompted the Premier League to consider rules and regulations for the popular website.
Of course, everybody is entitled to their opinion and that does not differ because of your profession. Joey Barton, however, has taken it above and beyond “opinion” and turned the popular website into a media circus.
Just to get one thing straight: I don’t necessarily disagree with what he has to say. I do, however, think that somebody such as Barton should hold themselves with a little more tact, dignity and most importantly with a hell of a lot more professionalism.
Barton goes on about how much he loves the fans, the club and how he wears our famous strips with honour and pride – so why did he hold out on the contract back in January? Andy Carroll was sold on the last day and Barton himself had mentioned that he’d like to see his career out here – discussions were going on before then, presumably. (more…)
Pardew still wants Jose to stayNewcastle United hit back at Jose Enrique with a fine and a telling off after his recent renegade comments on Twitter.
This Jose Enrique nonsense is a sour old kettle of fish and no mistake. The player is clearly upset by the way the club is being run but whether or not Twitter is the way to go about expressing that is another matter.
In response, it seems that Enrique has been hit with a £100,000 fine for his comments. According to reports in such esteemed places as The Sun, Pardew was ready to leave Enrique with a mere slap on the wrist for his digressions but Ashley insisted on a two-week fine. There is no substantial evidence that Ashley did in fact make such a command of Pardew and it could easily just be the press stirring things a bit, but Pardew has responded to Jose’s Tweet by saying:
“Jose was wrong to put those comments up and I told him.
“It’s a good offer which we have given him and maybe the frustration of the situation got the better of him.
“I want him to stay, he’s a good lad but this didn’t reflect well on him. It was a mistake, he knows it and so do I.” (more…)
