Wor Al protests: What are they thinking?
Posted on June 27th, 2009 | 74 Comments |
Speaking on the planned wor Al insurgency, NUSC spokesman Colin Whittle said:
“The time has come to show the outside world that the supporters of Newcastle United are ready to move on and get behind the club.
“We believe that the appointment of Alan Shearer would send out a massive signal to potential buyers and, most importantly, the fans, who have so far been ignored.”
Hmm, what signal would that be exactly? That they want to scare off all potential bidders with their bellicose demands and threats, and keep Ashley as the owner of the club, perhaps?
Speaking of a potential future takeover bid of the new owners (whoever they may be), Whittle goes on to add:
“At the moment, a fans’ buyout is not a realistic possibility, but in the medium term we would like to be able to create substantial funding to buy into the club. We have been approached by a number of individuals who are looking to invest – individuals who can’t buy the club outright but who have sufficient funds to buy into it – with the very long term aim of fan ownership of the club.”
So what happens if the new owners (whoever they are) don’t want to sell the club, or a share of it? Or if they do, what if NUSC feel that the price is too high? Is it bedsheet time again? Will this be encouraging news for anyone who may be putting in a bid? To be told; “We’ll tell you who the manager is going to be, and we’ll tell you when we’re ready to buy the club off you” (not that this will happen anytime soon in reality!).
Also speaking on the campaign, Mark Jensen from Newcastle United fanzine, “The Mag” said:
“Its a no-brainer” (it certainly is, Mark, though not in the sense that you mean it).
He added:
“The fans want Shearer and any future owners would be mad not to see Alan’s potential. By coming together, as representatives of various sections of the fan base we believe that it will send a powerful message of unity that will be picked up by potential owners.”
If it is picked up by the potential owners, they will be absolutely delighted, I’m sure.
Steve Hastie, from fellow fanzine, “True Faith” also chipped in, revealing the solid foundations behind the NUSC’s thinking:
“The fans need to get resolution to this long running saga. It was particularly encouraging to hear potential owners talk about official fans involvement in the club, not as a token but a true partner”.
Here of course, he is referring to highly questionable newspaper “revelations” that Singaporean land bankers, “The Profitable Group” want to return Alan Shearer to the managers position and increase the influence of the fans in the running of the club in a similar manner to Barcelona. This is a claim that the group have since distanced themselves from; although the “owners” part would also imply that he was also referring to the fake bid by Mackem “WUM”, Rick Parker, who issued a joke press release saying that he also wanted to reinstall Shearer as manager with a “£30 million tranfer kitty” and fans running the club.
When will the madness all end?
Good post. I quite agree that any ‘protest’ or ‘demonstration’ will only be counter-productive at the moment.
What amazes me most is the number of reputable NUFC sites that are backing this action.
Workey, we seem to be swimming very much against the flow on this one.