Who is right? Patronising Pardew or revolting fans?As many of you will be aware, a motley collection of fan groups angered by Mike Ashley’s mismanagement, repeated dishonesty, a perceived lack of ambition and Newcastle United’s general underperformance on the pitch will be on the march before Saturday’s early kick-off against Liverpool.
On the other side, Alan Pardew in his recent interview with Sky Sports’ “Goals on Sunday” painted a picture of Newcastle United fans as small town, simple minded football obsessives who actually damage the club with overreactions like this, as well as being too financially unsophisticated to understand that Mike Ashley has put over £200 million into the club.
But who is right?
Pardew has suggested that we’re “not in a bad position” but that the fans have unrealistic expectations that the club should be competing with the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United: (more…)
Basically, it is my thoughts on the following exchange between two Newcastle United fans’ representatives (Phil Patterson and Chris Forster) with unnamed representatives of the club at the recent ‘Fans’ Forum’ meeting at St James’ Park.
The fans are revolting, but Will they be effective this time?Newcastle United fans are revolting!
However, writing as someone who used to be an protester and fundraiser myself in the past, not over Newcastle United but over causes such as civil liberties, racism and the like, from what I have read and seen of Newcastle United fans’ planned protests so far, the chances of success don’t seem to be that great at all. This isn’t because the protestors don’t have a case, more that the protagonists don’t seem to be protesters, quite simply, they don’t know how to do it properly. They’re more like brickies and plumbers who are blundering around in a field they don’t understand, a bit like Mike Ashley trying to run a large Premier League football club really!
Please don’t misunderstand, this is not to be unecessarily disparaging at all, it’s just an appeal to realism, a plea for the protestors to consult with people who know what they are doing this time before they go blundering in once again with their size 10s and misspelled bedsheets. In a David and Goliath struggle, you don’t just need all the help you can get, you need the right help to avoid falling at the first few hurdles. (more…)
Tyneside: Now a haven for sharks. As some of you regular readers may recall, I posted this blog a few days ago, asking readers for their views on 1. The Yohan Cabaye transfer situation and 2. Wonga’s sponsorship of Newcastle United now that the season has started.
I compiled the results into two seprate pieces for my blog on metro.co.uk and though the first one on Cabaye was published on there, the second one on Wonga was “rejected due to unsuitable content.” So, I am publishing it on here for your delectation and delight!
Hello and welcome to the third blog here on metro.co.uk where I take a look at what Magpies fans are thinking about the burning issues of the day at Newcastle United. In this one I take a look at what my fellow fans are thinking about the club’s latest shirt sponsors, the controversial payday loan sharks perfectly respectable ‘Digital Finance Company,’ Wonga.
As with the last one about the current Yohan Cabaye controversy, I published a blog on my own site requesting 50-60 word comments from readers on giving their thoughts. As space is tight though, I won’t waste any more space with my own waffle except to say that the comments have been arranged to gradually move through the spectrum of opinion from one extreme to another, so here goes! (more…)
Mick Harford – Warned off by Toon fans before he even started?Whilst searching for inspiration yesterday, this piece by Jackie Smithfield in Newcastle United blog The Mag caught my eye. Entitled ‘Newcastle fans help Mick Harford to decide Millwall is better bet’, it bragged of fan power scaring away Harford from his former club before he’d even started, claiming:
‘With an overwhelmingly negative reaction, no doubt Mick Harford has also got on the ‘blower’ to friends and family in the North East to gauge which way the wind is blowing:
‘On this basis, it would be no surprise to see Harford saying thanks but no thanks. Shame his mentor JFK is slightly thicker skinned when it comes to the reaction he produced on his appointment.’
And to put it mildly, I just couldn’t see the wisdom of that. Joe Kinnear might well be thick skinned, but the writer of the above is just thick if he or she thinks a policy of fans attempting to force out anyone Joe Kinnear tries to appoint to enhance the Newcastle United’s scouting before they’ve even started won’t be damaging to the club. (more…)
