Laurent Blanc: Why not?Many thanks to “ToonBano” from the Toon blog www.toonbano.com for his fifth guest blog here – wt.
Apologies for the sensationalist headline but bear with me there’s a point to it. My patience with Alan Pardew has been down to a thread for most of this season (just have a little look in my archive section to see the proof), but since that Brighton humiliation the thread has snapped. For good. The man is totally incompetent at his role and how he manages to get away with it without any real criticism in the footballing world is astonishing. His greatest talent is being soaked in Teflon it seems.
To the eye of the realistic, honest and well informed Newcastle United supporter, his incompetence does not go unnoticed however. In fact, it drives us up the wall! When you look at every aspect of the Newcastle Utd managers responsibilities he holds, it is quite reasonable to say that the one we have in place has failed at almost every single one of them. I’ll name a few and you decide whether he gets a ‘pass’ or a ‘fail’: (more…)
St Michael?The Newcastle Evening Chronicle has apparently started to run a Public Relations campaign on behalf of United owner Mike Ashley.
If you believe the Chronicle’s PR machine, the man has been forgiven, is a saint, walks on water and is now the most popular man on Tyneside. Well, not in those words but it seems to be the thrust of the message.
Quote from the Chronicle:
“Now Mike Ashley has won the backing of the Tyneside faithful after fans cast their verdicts on his finest year at the helm of Newcastle United.”
“Five years after he seized control at St James’ Park, our exclusive on-line survey has revealed the tide is turning on the billionaire sports tycoon.”
“More than 2,000 people logged on to take part in our end of season poll and voice their views on Newcastle’s season.”
“And – in a sneak preview of our full survey results – the Chronicle can reveal more than 65% of supporters who took part in the poll said their opinion of the Sports Direct owner had gone up.” (more…)
Top Six ToonWith a top six place and Europa League entry assured for next season, Newcastle United head into the last game knowing that mathematically we could still play in the Champions league if results go our way on the final day. So continuing with the “Top Six” theme – what are the top six things we have learned or had re-affirmed this season as fans of Newcastle United? I’ve set out my ideas below and would welcome your own views on this!
One – Mike Ashley Is Not Out To Ruin The Club – this allegation was one that was prevalent when Ashley and Co carried out a summer sale, flogging off our more expensive players on high wages who were reckoned to also be our “better” players. The term “asset-stripping” was freely bandied about by fans. As we now know, those players were replaced with younger, cheaper imports and the overall quality of the team has improved as a result. Would anyone care to go back and swap Cabaye for Barton or Tiote for Nolan? Me neither!
Two – Alan Pardew Is A Good Manager – When Pards was drafted in to take over from the popular Chris Hughton, it has to be said it didn’t go down well with fans. Pardew had two main targets. Not only did he have to win over those fans, but he also had to fulfill his brief from the owner to “take the club to a top 10 finish” – which was the publicly stated target for season 2011-2012. Now you can argue till the cows come home over what system Pards should have deployed in what game, team selection etc, in fact – that’s what fans love to do. But there’s no getting away from the fact that the man has not only done it, not only achieved his twin targets but has actually exceeded his brief. Credit where it’s due, he has emerged as (at least) one of the top six managers in the Premier League this season on much reduced revenues and budgets in comparison with the people he competes with directly. (more…)
Geordie Pride.They came, they saw, we conquered. Newcastle United 2, Liverpool 0 has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?
It’s certainly put a little skip in my step on this particular Monday morning!
This isn’t a match report as such. It’s more of a “reflections” piece featuring a few random thoughts as we find ourselves in what the trendy commentators call the “business end” of the season – or what us ordinary folk call the “last ten games”. We’ve won the first 3 of those games, and when you win, it matters not what the chasing pack are doing.
Whether the “National” (read “London”) media care to admit it or not, it looks like they are going to have to start referring to Newcastle United as a “top six side” – or whatever the latest catchphrase is. Because, barring almighty intervention of biblical proportions (or Everton winning every one of their remaining games), this result is the one that pretty much establishes United in the top six. (more…)
Joey Barton: Saying what he sees.Well, Joey Barton did promise on Twitter that he would “tell all when the time was right” and he’s finally kept his word.
Speaking in a long audio podcast interview for the Queen’s Park Ranger’s ‘blog “Open All R’s,” he finally lifted the lid on his time at Newcastle United and his strained relationship with the infamous Ashley / Llambias regime. In the interview, he revealed what he felt were the real reasons why he and other senior members of the squad have been forced out St James’ Park, how the club tried to force him to sign a contract on a fifth of his old wage whilst he was in Walton prison, what he feels were the real reasons behind the sacking of Chris Hughton, how despite his profound hatred of Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias, he still feels a strong affinity with the club and more…
Some (misquoted) sections of the interview have already appeared in the media and other ‘blogs, so I decided to make a more accurate and extensive transcription of all the sections which related to Newcastle United. I’ve have also included the mp3 podcast of the entire interview at the bottom of the piece.
Responding to a QPR fan’s question on what swung it for him to come to Queen’s Park Rangers, Barton began by outlining the reson’s why he had to leave his former club saying:
“I was obviously deemed by the board at Newcastle “Persona non grata” (Person not welcome). They didn’t want me because I asked questions.(more…)
