Don’t judge Pardew on 10 games, judge him on 176

Posted on November 21st, 2014 | 531 Comments |

Alan Pardew.
Pardew: Mr.Mediocre overall.
“Judge me on ten games” pleaded Alan Pardew as media and fans alike called for his silver head. It was only a matter of weeks ago, but it seems like a far away memory now.

Indeed, it has only taken half that many games to take Alan Pardew from the mire to the sunlit uplands of redemption. There have even been calls for the fans who doubted him to make a humble public apology to the great tactician after his sudden return to route one paid instant dividends, thrusting the Magpies to the giddy heights of eighth in the table at the time of writing.

Good or bad, of course it would just be silly to judge any manager on a mere 10 games as Pardew pleaded, or even five, especially a manager whose form is notorious for going up and down like a bride’s nightie. So, lets ignore Pardew’s appeal, move beyond the temporary peaks and troughs of Pardew’s mercurial fortunes and judge him over his full 176 games with the Magpies so far. Importantly, we can also compare his performance with that of previous managers of Newcastle United in the Premier League too.

Below are a couple of tables and a chart. They are a rough guide to how Pardew’s results from almost four seasons in charge compares with the average of all the others who have managed Newcastle United in the Premier League until his arrival. In the first, you can see the combined average of all the Newcastle United managers since Newcastle United’s first appearence in the 1992-3 season. The season where the club was relegated back the Championship again has been excluded as it would be unfair to compare Pardew’s results in the Premiership against those from one league below.

Newcastle United managers: The Premier League years.
Manager P W D L Win% ALF/HF MTs
Pre-Pardew Avg 833 371 202 260 44.53% 9th(2nd) None
Best (Keegan 1st spell) 190 104 36 50 54.74% 4th(2nd) None
Alan Pardew 176 68 40 68 38.64% 11th(5th) None
ALF(HF) – Average League Finish (Highest Finish)
MTs – Major trophies

Looking at the chart below where the shaded area represents the Pardew years, you can see that overall the Pardew years have their closest analogue in the post Robson decline of Souness, Roeder, Allardyce and finally Keegan’s brief second coming which covered the same four year period. A mediocre season followed by one good season, with two mediocre to very poor seasons following that. In both cases the average league finish is 11th. Basically though, Pardew’s (almost) four years in charge has been pretty much a return to things as they were in the post Robson period preceding relegation.


Newcastle United's Premier League finishes.
Newcastle United’s Premier League finishes.

Finally, the table below breaks down these two four year periods further, looking at League and Cup performances seperately over the two periods. I have also included a measure of average Points Per Game and points per 38 games for League games.

Post Robson stagnation years v Pardew.
Overall
Manager P W D L Win% PPG(PPS) ALF MTs
Sou/Roe/All/Kee 200 83 45 72 41.50% 11th None
Alan Pardew 176 68 40 68 38.64% 11th None
PPG – Average Points Per Game / Points Per 38 games
ALF – Average League Finish
MTs – Major Trophies
Premier League
Manager P W D L Win% PPG(PPS) ALF MTs
Sou/Roe/All/Kee 147 48 39 60 32.65% 1.24(47) 11th(7th) None
Alan Pardew 147 55 33 59 38.64% 1.35(51) 11th (5th) None
Cup competitions
Manager P W D L Win% PPG(PPS) ALF MTs
Sou/Roe/All/Kee 53 35 6 12 66.04% None
Alan Pardew 29 13 7 9 44.83% None
PPG – Average Points Per Game / Points Per 38 games
ALF – Average League Finish
MTs – Major Trophies

You can see through this that although the average league position is the same, to Pardew’s credit he did slightly better in the league in terms of win percentage and the amount of points won every 38 games. However, as you might have guessed, the other four did much better than Pardew in Cup competitions. Having written that, Graeme Souness (and the club) were the beneficiaries of a place in the then UEFA Cup won by Souness’s predecessor, Bobby Robson. Glenn Roeder subsequently qualified for the same competition two seasons later on his own.

The final aspect is how well Pardew SHOULD have done over his four years, where he should have been with the resources at his disposal. This is more difficult to quantify. Hence I’m not putting it forward as some kind of empirical evidence, just my own vague speculations on some imperfect data I did to amuse myself (I need to get out more). I used squad value estimations from the football transfer website Transfermarkt as a rough guide since the Magpies were promoted back to the Premier League. I wrote a piece about it around 11 months ago, coming to the general conclusion that Pardew had slightly underperformed.

As I wrote in that piece, when Newcastle were promoted with Chris Hughton, the squad was the 12th most valuable according to Transfermarkt. By the time Hughton was sacked after 16 league games, they were about 9th or 10th with the addition of players such as Chieck Tiote, Hatem Ben Arfa etc, and in 11th place in the table when Pardew took over. Hence, according to my dodgy method, he should have finished around 10-11th but finished 12th, which is close enough. Next season of course was a very good one for the Silver Fox. With a squad which was by now estimated to be the 7th most valuable with further additions like Yohan Cabaye, Demba Ba and Paipiss Cisse he came fifth. Credit to Pardew, though another factor was that Chelsea and Liverpool had very bad league season by their standards, Pardew took advantage when the situation presented itself. The season after was almost another relegation catastrophe though, with the side finishing 16th with a squad with a squad which was the 7th most valuable once again.

Since the time of the piece linked above, he finished 10th last season with what was estimated on average over that period to be the 8th most valuble squad in the Premier League. Since then, the squad’s value has now slipped below Southampton’s this season, with Newcastle now having only the 9th most valuable squad according to TM, with Pardew currently 8th in the table on the eve of the club’s 12th game of the season against West Brom. This leaves Pardew with an average finish of 11th with a squad estimated on average to be the 8th most valuable. In these cock eyed observations, I found Newcastle’s closest analogue in terms of squad value over this period to be Everton. Realistically they are the team we should have been battling for one of the last European places in the last few seasons under Pardew. With one notable exception, this hasn’t been the case.

Final thoughts.

Summing up, Alan Pardew hasn’t been catastrophic though he almost was on one occaision. However, he certainly hasn’t been great either. He’s been slightly below average but it could be argued that this is part of a wider malaise at Newcastle, who have been below what they should be overall for 10 years now.

To put it as best as I can, Newcastle are a big club with a small club mentality. By this I mean they play the kind of direct football usually embraced by smaller clubs trying to even the odds against bigger teams with more skilled players. This hasn’t just been Pardew either. As you can see in this piece, it goes back as far as I could find the the stats for (2008).

If things continue in the same way as previous Premier League competitions in recent times, there is little to no chance that Newcastle United will ever have sustained success at the higher end of the Premier League. It just doesn’t happen nowadays with Pardew’s style of football. In fairness he tried earlier in the season but it failed badly. There might be a cup final, even a League Cup win and a European campaign like Birmingham City in recent times. Newcastle will not grow year on year and become a big club again though. It will just be up downs with an average somewhere in the middle.

NUFCBlog Author: workyticket workyticket has written 1093 articles on this blog.

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531 Responses

  1. Very good article and agree standards have gone down under Pardew.

    But what would also be good to compare would be the amount of money each manager has spent compare to Pardew.

    I think what Pardew has had in terms of players and squad size you can’t deny he has done an okay job. Although I would also say he has been lucky with Carr finding “cheap” gems…. As long as Ashley is in charge, I can’t see any change even if Pep or Jose was manager!

    But Really well thought out intelligent article!

  2. Aye, good article, worky. Depressing though, obviously.

    Then again, it’d be hard to write anything positive about our current predicament without resorting to a degree of spin to match the daft club statements.

    And things will stay the way they are until chubs decides to move on to ruining bigger and better things (or he bursts).

  3. It would be interesting to see how he might have performed with proper backing from Mr Ashley. Chuck the appalling injuries into the mix and his stats may be a lot better without these handicaps.

    The current crop for example include 7 first team regulars.

    I’m hoping that the international break hasn’t stopped the good run we are having and that we don’t have a repeat of last season.

  4. The stats are interesting, but come as no real surprise.

    They can be as I stated interesting, but really don’t apply themselves to Associated football, in comparison to Baseball, US fooball, Hockey and Basketball.

    As for injuries? the club has for the last decade suffered from an overabundance of injuries, is also no surprise.

    You know you gotta give Pardew some credit, he consistently comes up with such interesting excuses, often blatant lies, explaining games that have just taken place, which for the most part is totally contrary to what we have just seen.

    I imagine there’s enough to fill a book, coming from his time on Tyneside alone.

    The man’s some bullshitter that one has to see a
    certain amount of humor in the whole thing, that or be continually depressed or upset.

    One which he used recently, was that he is giving opportunities to the kids, which, in his all knowing wisdom was responsible for our recent winning streak.

    Fact is having loaned out such international stars, such as Yanga M’Biwa, HBA and Marveaux, they (the kids) were the only ones available.

    Hey ya gotta chuckle !

  5. Grumpy
    Injuries are a part of the game that has to be taken into consideration.

    And an overabundance of injuries suffered over the last few years at this club, is an issue that has to be examined, no?

  6. Chuck

    There’s a bit of a paradox situation in that respect.

    On one hand he says that they have been trained to super-fitness levels which is why they are suddenly winning.
    On the other hand he now says they have to train less hard to avoid injuries.

    Duuuuh!

  7. Daniel says:
    November 21, 2014 at 3:48 pm

    “Very good article and agree standards have gone down under Pardew.”

    Thanks Daniel. As I say in the piece, I don’t think that standards have “gone down” under Pardew. Rather, they have just returned to the post-Robson medocrity that was there before relegation.

    “But what would also be good to compare would be the amount of money each manager has spent compare to Pardew.”

    That doesn’t really work unless you go into unless you go into alot of other things too. Even then, values are more subjective too. Andy Carroll was sold for up to £35 million, Demba Ba was nowt. I will make a few assertions though without backing it up loads of facts. Newcastle’s squad under Pardew hasn’t been worse than it was in those Souness, Roeder, Allardyce days.

  8. I am convinced Pardew has no filter, he says the first thing that comes into his head. I see Newcastle was voted best city in the UK by The Manchester Guardian readers. It’s a Northern thing though, none of them could possibly live in that London?

  9. Grumpy Old Toon says:
    November 21, 2014 at 7:30 pm

    “Chuck the appalling injuries into the mix and his stats may be a lot better without these handicaps.”

    Grumpy, 2012-13 was bad for injuries, but there are other sides in the Premier League who get alot of injuries too. Arsenal, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton lost more player days to injury last season.

    Pardew is the only manager to get injuries either, Glenn Roeder had the worst injury crisis I can recall, but Graeme Souness certainly wasn’t blessed either. He was os frustrated, he wanted to bring in Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot to try and find out what was causing the injuries.

  10. GS says:
    November 22, 2014 at 10:18 am

    “I am convinced Pardew has no filter, he says the first thing that comes into his head. I see Newcastle was voted best city in the UK by The Manchester Guardian readers.”

    He says whatever he thinks will impress people at the time, though this results in some absurd and laughable inconsistencies which make him a figure of fun.

    There are alot of students in Newcastle, it has a bit of a reptation as a party city. Watching semi-naked orange women vomiting at 4AM isn’t really my idea of fun though. I used to live in Camden so I’ve seen enough of that sort of thing.

  11. Worky: I just pointed out the vote in The Guardian to show that some people think there is more to/in the UK than London.

  12. GS, more people in the UK live outside of London than live in London so most people know there’s more to the UK than London. I must admit that I’m not into the ‘party city’ thing with Newcastle though. I used to be a party person but not that sort of party. The hotels up there always have lots of people booked in for Hen nights, Stag nights, lads’ weekends and such. It’s an industry up there.

    Despite alot of xenophobic guff from some Geordies about all the evil cockneys south of Scotch Corner conspiring against them, locals are still very hospitable and friendly to outsiders though.

  13. Got the Toon to win on my accumulator so we are bound to get spanked haha
    Have a good afternoon chaps :)

  14. SJT, Pardew’s about the hardest manager to bet on as he’s about the most inconistent. As I wrote in the piece above, he’s up and down like a bride’s nightie.

  15. SISSOKO !

    Give the man more money and an eight year contract, going to be every bit as good as Viera & Ya Ya Toure.

    Wouldn’t be surprised if there were big bids for him during the approaching window.

    Guys a monster!

    Ashley will sell for any offer over fifteen million, though I rate him at least twenty, a great signing, who improves with just about every game, what an engine.

  16. Accumulator looking decent just need a barca win and Juve Lazio BTTS :)
    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH haha

  17. What has happened to Liverpool? Admittedly, they are without their two top scorers but they spent the Suarez money and a whole lot more. Rodgers doesn’t seem to know what to do with Lalana, Balotelli, Can, Lovren, Moreno, Allen, Borini and Markovic – all very expensive players costing more than our most expensive player (Cabella or Cisse depending on what fee you believe).

    I mean, that is about 150 million of talent and it doesn’t even count the cash the sp*nked on Carroll and Henderson (although Henderson has looked good until recently).

  18. Worky: I have been reading The Telegraph and Guardian boards in reply to the Liverpool match reports. There was barely a fan defending Rodgers and they finished f@cking second last year. They seem to have turned already and given up on him and even Stevie G. Imagine if they had to put up with Pardew :)

    Chuck’s panacea for our woes is a DOF. Liverpool tried that and now have a committee. Spurs have it and seemingly sp#nked the Bale money. I will say both have better squads than us but they also have more than twice the turnover. I think Chuck often brings up some interesting points but his near obsession with a “continental approach’ on the field and in the board room and “bright young managers” has not been borne out by results. Money and a bit of football genius (Ferguson, Mourihno) seem to win out. Building up managers before they have done anything (Martinez, Rodgers, Moyes) is a risky business.

    I see people saying we are fickle and have to laugh.

  19. I am not criticizing Chuck by the way. There is a flaw in his logic though. Why would it be any easier to select a good DOF than a manager? Usually, you should go with track record and then throw money at the problem and even then it is not guaranteed to work. I see Spurs are trying to poach the Southampton talent evaluator (not sure if he is a DOF but I think he hand a big hand in their academy).

    Of course you could go the Chelsea route and buy every young player out there and loan them out to see if any are any good. Or the FC Bayern route and buy all your nearest rivals’ best players.

  20. GS says:
    November 23, 2014 at 9:25 pm

    “I see Spurs are trying to poach the Southampton talent evaluator (not sure if he is a DOF but I think he hand a big hand in their academy).”

    I think the word you’re lookng for is ‘scout,’ GS. Les Reed is Koeman’s technical director at Southampton and he hasn’t gone anywhere. Incidentally, Reed was one the trumvirate of horror at Charlton (Dowie-Reed-Pardew) when they went down a couple of divisions . Reed was only manager for a few games inbetween the other two clowns though.

    Everyone keeps saying that that Southampton are going to collapse when another player or member of staff leaves but there only seems one, or two common denominators now, Markus Liebherr and Katharina Liebherr who took over when her father died. Both have been very good owners.

  21. Oops! I got that last bit wrong because Koeman has referred to Les Reed as a technical director more than once on the past. Reed is Head of Football Development at Southampton, which sounds very similar to Peter Beardsley’s job title at Newcastle. Martin Hunter is their Technical Director.

    Incidentally, Southampton seemed to have cracked the injury thing that Pardew has been struggling with. They have the hardest working players with the lowest injury rate much of the time. It’s complex but part of this is focused on efficiency of movement at all times. I always said that one of Michael Owen’s problems was that he landed very badly from jumps. He wasn’t like a cat, his legs would be all over the place and his body would be set all wrong sometimes when he came down so there would be too much stress in all the wrong places. No one seemed to notice though. Southampton do notice stuff like that now. Pardew should know, he used to be the manager there and it is public knowledge anyway.

  22. Good result for us on Saturday and I have to admit it here as I have on the other places, I was wrong. Pardew was not great and before the season began I said nothing was going to change from the end of last but these recent results have been very good. Even in games we did not play particularly well we got the points.

    Pardew deserves the credit because we know like hell when we lose he gets the blame so to be fair he has turned things around and proved me wrong. I’m happy to be wrong as long as I predicted a defeat. I did sympathise with him during those defeats. I remember when stoke scored against us this season and the camera focused on Pardew the pressure was so visible on his face and I did feel sorry for him. No one wants to come into work knowing people are calling for your head. So I am pleased for him he has achieved this winning run. He really needed it.

    He remained strong in the face of it all and managed to turn it around. Well done to him. He has my support.

  23. Actually, GS, I was write all along. Les Reed is also known as “Exectutive Director of Football” at Southampton. It’s all getting too complicated now.

  24. Michael, it’s just about not getting caught in the moment and not getting things out of proportion, whether Pardew is in the doldrums, or when he’s having a bit of run like he is at the moment.

  25. I stand by my rants in regard to managers in the PL.

    Sure Liverpool are not looking anywhere as good as last year.

    One doesn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out why, if you lose your two top strikers, one to injury, the other to RM, it makes a difference.

    On the other hand Rodgers has come out and admitted, it’s his fault, which is questionable, you are only as good as the horses you have and loosing Suarez and Sturridge, was a major hit.

    On the other hand when if ever has Pardew openly admitted fault ?

    And yes, at least Rodgers is capable of changing tactics, certainly Liverpool do not play the same short passing retention game as he used at Swansea, but a horses for courses game, penciling in the lineup and style of play, considered best for the particular opponent.

    Unlike Pardew who though he claims otherwise, has played the same game, week after week, year after year, some weeks claiming different lineup, which all end up playing one man up front, the rest defending.

    Now that we have some pace in he side, it’s defend and hopefully catch the opposition on the break with a healthy hoof upfield.

    In other words it’s a revival of the Italian catenaccio
    of the eighties, without the Skills involved, which may work for awhile, but once sussed, fogedabodit !

    And yes there are, certain youngish managers who are not living up to their press reports, with only Mourinho coasting along.

    Lets see how things eventually end up ?

    Could even be the end of Wenger’s reign at Arsenal, Jurgen Klopp being mentioned as a replacement, face it he has all the money he needs, but Arsenal, in the words of Shearer, are still a soft touch.

    As for my preference for a DOF, I still think it’s a good system, but only in the context of my original comment.

    Meaning, there must be discussions and trust between Manager, DOF, Scouts and obviously the owner.

    As managers in many cases have too much on their plates and obviously should not have to worry about financial stuff, which can be taken care of by those who have those skills.

  26. Worky: it is Paul Mitchell, Head of Recruitment at Southampton who is joining Spurs. He has only done the job for a couple of years and could even have just got lucky. Spurs are taking a bit of a gamble.

  27. It appears most fans, regardless of which club they root for, are of the same opinion, they like the idea of developing local talent.

    Personally unless they are outstanding in ability, I think it’s not the way to go.

    I have no problem with signing young players who are on the verge of a breakthrough and who most scouts believe are a guaranteed to reach and play at the top level.

    Specifically our recent buys Perez and Aarons, who IMO meet that criteria.

    As for the present youth system, nah !

    Not only the idea of coaching youngsters as young as twelve years old, which IMO is no more than child abuse. child abuse !

    Better we use the recently opened FA school, where each kid is taken care of, including his schooling and wellbeing.

    For the most part at NUFC, the youth system is a waste of time and money, combined with a coaching staff, who it appears are nothing more than jobs for the boys.

    KK had it right and was more successful than most.
    Many point out the MU system, that developed such players as the famous group, who broke through during Fergy’s early days, tell me who they have developed recently ?

    There’s so much money in the EPL that no one develops
    sides anymore (sure the odd players break through) but for the most part, they buy their talent and increasingly from outside the UK.

    Oh, Southampton ?
    Sure they have a well run system, yeah, obviously they don’t have guys like Beardsley running their operation.

    Nah, buy those on the cusp of a breakthrough and who have the ability to play at the top level, it should be obvious who will and who wont reach that level, by the time a kid is fourteen or so.

    The odds against are tremendous, don’t screw a kids life up with false hopes just to justify a not working system.

  28. Chuck: you are describing the Chelsea model except their first-teamers have been bought for loads of money and the up-and-comers are on loan to see if they develop.

    The most lauded youth system in the World is Barcelona’s and they develop their own talent and top it up with mega-buys like Neymar, Ibra and Suarez. Their scouting is world-wide but they start ’em young. I think Messi was about 9 when he was set up in Barcelona and I think there were even rumours of him being given growth hormones. Turned in to a many times World Player of the Year so sometimes it works. I think Citeh have modelled their academy on Barcelona.

    Of course, you know little Bren loves all things Barcelona so I am sure there are echoes of La Masia at Anfield now.

    As far as local talent coming through at NUFC??? Beardsley, Shearer and Waddle (non-league) slipped through the net. The only ones in the last 30 years that were a product of our youth system were Gazza and Carroll? That we are sh!t at it doesn’t mean it can’t be done. I mean, some clubs have to develop the young talent and it is not just luck as shown by Barca, Bayern and Southampton.

  29. What kind of parents would sign their child over to Mike Ashley? If they don’t make it by the age of six, he’ll have them locked up and stitching Toon shirts for a bowl of gruel a day.

    GS, it wasn’t a rumour about Messi, it was true. He was discovered by Charly Rexach. Ajax and Benfica have had very notable academies too, Barcelona’s was based on Ajax’s.

  30. Worky: when I first read that I thought what the hell is Josef Mengele doing recruiting Messi. I knew he spent some time in Argentina and wondered if he had joined the Government. Wikipedia put me straight.

  31. GS, if it was Mengele, he would have have been the one doing the growth hormone treatment. Have you ever seen the film ‘The German Doctor?’ It’s about Mengele giving growth hormone treatment in Argentina.

    http://thegermandoctorfilm.com/

    If it had been Mengele who gave Messi his growth hormone injections, that would certainly be a ‘scoop!’

  32. “Since the arrival of Roman Abramovich owners have become the ultimate villains in English football.”

    He doesn’t really know about English football in the past though, Toony. Going back to ancient history when I was a bairn, Newcastle United was owned by a Pirate called Westwood and fans wasted no time in telling him to walk the plank on several occaisions just like Ashley now. I remember when him and Gordon Lee sold Supermac to Arsenal.

  33. The stats make for good reading and show he has done okay against other managers.
    What stands Pardew out from the rest is the man’s persona and the way he goes about this job.
    It has gone beyond football with Pardew and it being a results business.

    Most and me included are blinded by our hatred of him that it wouldn’t matter what he did, He will receive no respect.
    That being said i wouldn’t put it past him to have another almighty slump coming into Xmas and beyond like last season !

    Ashley has finally beaten me in my support of Newcastle United.
    I am not blaming him altogether because this club was having the guts and the identity ripped away from it under the Hall’s and Shepherd’s stewardship.
    Ashley has just finished the job and 31 year of supporting this club has reduced me to hating this club now and everything it stands for.

    There is no such thing as Newcastle United anymore apart from the name and that is about it.
    I couldn’t care less now what happens to them and i wash my hands of them completely.
    There is no way i can stand in support with the level of hypocrisy and two faced nature of the fan base !

  34. It has apparently been decided by EUFA that neither the Glasgow side Rangers or NUFC will be allowed to compete in either of the European competitions, regardless if each qualify for separate trophies.

    Apparently the SFA and EUFA, those governing bodies are concerned in regard to their being loopholes in the rulings regarding dual ownership of clubs.

    In which case , certainly as far as NUFC are concerned, the future looks rosy, being Ashley’s venture into the UEFA competition a couple of seasons ago, was not exactly a financial success and put a strain on the resources of the club, by playing too many games and following a successful previous season, saw the club come close to being relegated.

    Obviously a lesson to Ashley, who’s main interest is EPL membership, with it’s financial rewards.

    Don’t worry there’s little chance of that happening, we will not qualify for the champions league, as I expect this weekend game against W.H. to end our winning streak.

    Though Pardew is possibly more of a long ball
    tactician, Big Sam is tactically much more aware and his sides scores mostly from set plays and training ground rehearsed plays, while Pardew’s sides seldom if ever put the ball in the net from those opportunities.
    Why ?

  35. Joe

    Yeah ! I can believe there are numerous former fans, much like yourself who have reached the same conclusions, in regard to the club NuFC, myself included.

    Not so much about the club itself, but the way it is presently being run, by the current sleazy bunch at the helm.

    Face it we the NuFC fans have had many a sleazy bunch running the club prior to Ashley, but none were so hard to take as this present regime.

    It will take a minor miracle for Ashley to be accepted by most fans, as for Pardew, even harder, as they both present despicable personalities.

    Our owner, who has refused to even communicate to fan concerns, does he not realize these are his customers, who he depends on for a massive amount of revenue.

    As for Pardew, most of us are now in state of bemusement
    as to what he’s going to come up with next, whether a blatent lie, a claim to have played a short passing game, following a game of hoof-ball, he just has this endless supply of psychobabble.

    Yet the fans still fill the stadium, in which case perhaps many are happy enough with the status quo.

    Who the hell knows ?

    My point being, neither of the two give a damn about the fans, knowing they will show up, which is an indictment of the fans themselves, following recent attempts at a walkout, they failed miserably to have any effect.

    Without solidarity and the will to force Ashley to listen to their concerns, by a successful boycott of the stadium, there will only be more of the same, but it’s apparent the fans are willing to accept whatever the pair Ashley and Pardew dish up to them.

    Sad really !

  36. It is understood Ashley misjudged Uefa’s strict rules which ensure the integrity of the competition.

    Chuck: from The Glasgow Evening Times about NUFC and Rangers:

    “The rules would mean should one team qualify for the Champions League, the other would be prevented from playing in the Europa League as they could meet in the knockout phase of the competition”

    So Ashley could have us OR Rangers playing in Europe but not both. That would suit him quite nicely I think, especially since NUFC will probably qualify very infrequently.

  37. Chuck: happy thanksgiving to you. Do I qualify as American now having lived here for 25 years. I only lived in Newcastle for 19 years and still think of myself as a Geordie. So am I a “Geordie American”? There are many “African Americans” and “Asian Americans” who have never set foot in those places so I think I qualify as a Geordie American :)

  38. Darth @39: you are very funny on here. I don’t believe you or Joe that you have given up on NUFC though, because you wouldn’t take the time to comment if that was true.

    We have all been through this before – Pirates and no trophies, or even trinkets, as Worky said earlier :)

    Maybe I am an American Geordie? That’s it. Now I can celebrate thanksgiving and not even think about the trail of tears etc.

  39. Oh, and it is actually a bit of a sick joke that a Football team in Florida name themselves “Seminoles” when the state and country tried to annihilate them.

  40. chuck says:
    November 27, 2014 at 7:05 pm

    “A happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans.”

    Chuck, I’m on the side of the Turkeys because the Pilgrim Fathers were a 17th Century Christian Taliban. They travelled to the America to practice “Religious freedom” the freedom to kill anyone who didn’t agree with them. They even executed people for being Quakers.

  41. GS: I just have to let off steam occasionally. This time Joe was kind enough to do it for me :)

    It just really hacks me off that the toon has been turned into a cross between a freak show and a car boot sale sale by a grubby old chiseller who makes Freddie and Dougie seem like a class act.

    The worst thing is the SHEEP turning out in droves every other Saturday. You can’t even say they’re responding to the upturn – the fukkas will pack the place when we’re in the bottom three – and they’ll sheepishly boo anyone making any kind of protest.

    I hope his meddling in Rangers somehow results in him dropping us.

  42. I’ve got no problem in supporting the toon through the good and the bad. I’ve been a lifelong supporter like most others posting here.

    But having mediocrity forced on us when the club is making good money out of the fans is appalling.

    What makes things worse is the willingness of the SHEEP to put up with it week on week, year on year.

  43. GS, That is why i haven’t been on here because i have nothing left to give or say.
    I’m starting to find watching the lower league games more enjoyable and having more of an honesty to them.
    Quite a few of my pals are starting to get more involved in the non league scene and are travelling around watching different clubs.

    I even have family members who have been staunch fans now not being bothered if they get beat because Ashley and his cohorts are the enemy in their eyes !
    What’s boiling my slash the most is the two faced gits we have as a fan base.
    Only a few weeks back the Pardew out campaign was in full swing until a couple of victories has put them back in their box.
    You cannot be associated with such hypocrisy and be seen to condone it.
    These crackpots are an embarrassment and make us look like a complete bunch of fickle idiots who cannot stand by anything they say.
    Cue Jeff Stelling and the other Fairy god father’s taking the mick out of SackPardew.com !

    Like i said earlier Pardew’s position at the club now goes beyond football because this man is a collaborator and a linchpin of Ashley’s regime !

  44. Exactly Darth, You could understand it more when Mckeag and Co had it because they had nowhere near the amount of money Ashley has, So has no excuse for his penny pinching !

    It is also very disheartening to see these so called fans filing through the gates to be fed on scraps.

  45. Aye, Joe. I seem to recall McKeag senior was against corporate sponsorship – brand sponsorship on football shirts in particular. It’s hard to imagine now that there was considerable opposition to corporate lucre forcing its way into the game.

    It’s a pity Platini’s concern with financial fair play doesn’t run to regulating the purchase of football clubs for ulterior motives, i.e. buying a club to plaster the hoardings, walls, roof with the logo for a dodgy schmatter firm.

  46. It’s not that long ago that, apart from gate receipts, clubs had money coming in from pitch-side adverts, kit sponsors (manufacturers) and a bit of cash coming indirectly from the FA for MOTD etc. And that was just about it (that I can think of).

    Nowadays, the lowest-of-the-low are ploughing their cash into the EPL. It can’t be right.

    I wouldn’t be unhappy if UEFA stepped in with new regulations to govern the suitability of persons/organisations to own a football club. Surely, we’d be the beneficiaries of any such regulation.

  47. DarthBroon says:
    November 27, 2014 at 10:49 pm

    “Nowadays, the lowest-of-the-low are ploughing their cash into the EPL. It can’t be right.”

    But the lowest of the low are the richest ones, Darth.

    On the subject of the old pitchside adverts, I seem to recall that there was usually a Shepherds Scrap sign up back in the old days, long before Hall took over the club. I wouldn’t be surprised if they minced up a few bodies down at Freddy’s scrapyard back in those days too. :-) Despite Brothelgate, the seats fiasco etc, at least Shepherd and Hall didn’t cover the place with literally hundreds of Shepherds Scrap and Cameron Hall signs when they took over the club.

  48. It’s not just NUFC, but at most clubs in the EPL.
    The fact that to have a successful side , one has to have access to big bucks, preferably those of a billionaire, as being a millionaire just don’t cut it.

    Prior to the present millions coming from the PL (tv money) there was for he most part only gate receipts and a few other small amounts from pies and beer.

    Look what has happened since, the EPL is by far the wealthiest league, due to enormous TV revenues, but not necessarily the best.

    The German Bundesliga, having bigger crowds, in general owned by the fans, prices half of many PL sides and are currently World Champions.

    A success story and a model for all.

    Then one looks at the two Scottish giants Rangers & Celtic, with state of the art stadiums , both seating over fifty thousand, but next to nothing in tv revenues.

    Who have because of circumstances, become second rate.

    That also applies to top leagues such as serie A and the French league, both reduced to selling their best players to clubs in the EPL and Spain.

    While those of us in the EPL with billionaire owners (many of them foreign) who come in and change club names and traditional colors, causing more dissent.

    Or as in our own case a cheap-ass billionaire, who not only changed the name of the park, but has his real business ads plastered all over the stadium and has his own agenda, of which we know little, being he refuses to communicate to the fans.

    A group of sheep who’s Ba is worse than their bite.

    How did it all go wrong ?

  49. This is the most poetic album review I have ever read. Paul Williams in Rolling Stone, 1969:

    “I certainly love the Kinks; it’s been fifteen months since I’ve had a new Kinks album in my house, and though I’ve been listening to them I’ve missed that pleasure. Bob played The Village Green Preservation Society for me when he bought a British copy, about a month ago, and I’ve played it twice since it arrived here this afternoon, and already the songs are slipping into my mind, each new hearing is a combined joy, of renewal and discovery. Such a joy, to make new friends! And each and every song Ray Davies has written is a different friend to me.

    Ray makes statements, he says the sort of stuff that makes you delighted just to know that someone would say stuff like that. “As long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset I won’t feel afraid.” “I’ll remember everything you said to me.” “There’s too much on my mind, and I can’t sleep at night thinking about it.” “There’s a crack up in the ceiling.” “I’m not content to be with you in the daytime.” “The world keeps going ’round.” “I’m on an island.” “You just can’t stop it, the world keeps going ’round.”

    Oh, wonderful Kinks. They remind me of Erik Satie. “We are the Village Green Preservation Society.” The vocal is under-recorded, so you turn up the volume. The bass and drums sound so easy and sure. Everyone’s determined; no one’s in a hurry. “What more can we do?” Such very fine vocals. The tune, the rhythm, are more of a delight with each verse. Dave Davies’ lead lines are never wasted. It would be unbearable that the song’s over, but here’s another. “Walter, isn’t it a shame our little world has changed?” Now why is it Ray’s songs always sound like something else, a different something else with each song and sometimes with each hearing? Sure, he’s the world’s master plagiarist, but it’s more than that. It’s more a feeling that it’s all part of the same thing, it’s all music and isn’t it nice to run a cross this melody again? And it is, it’s never a repetition, it’s always some sort of opening. Ray Davies makes you realize how much there is all around us, waiting to be explored and explored again. Boredom? Every place you’ve been is a new frontier, now that you’re someone different.

    It doesn’t matter what I say, I’m just happy to be writing about my boys. Ray, Dave, Pete and Mick: I’ve bought their every album as it’s been released, and that’s four years now and ten albums, every one satisfactory and worth far more than double your money back. “I’m the last of the steam-powered trains.” The song is completely itself, but you can’t overlook even on the first hearing the fact that it’s Howling Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning.” And that makes me smile, good old Kinks, finally recording “Smokestack Lightning,” and a good job of it too. A little fancy kineticism in the break, harmonica and bass and lead buildup, just so you know all the old tricks are as relevant to their music as any new tricks they might enjoy could be. They even throw on a “‘Til the End of the Day” ending, and that’s not the second time they’ve done that. Might be the fifth.

    Each Kinks song a friend. I really mean that. I can lie in my bed thinking about “Love Me Till the Sun Shines,” and I wonder when I’ll hear it again, happy at the thought of its existence. Hearing “Big Sky” on this new album, I know we’ll get along just fine. “I think of the big sky and nothing matters much to me.” This is true, an experience I’ve shared. “Big sky’s too big to sympathize; big sky’s too occupied, though he would like to try.” What a fine modification of Stephen Crane. And who but Ray Davies would share my interest in the theme of “The Open Boat”?

    You can dance to the Kinks. Move your arms up and down as you walk across the room to get a glass of water. Bob your head. Get up and rhumba. I don’t know what a rhumba is, but it sounds right, and you know that’s all that matters.

    Ten albums. Have you ever listened to The Live Kinks? It’s almost musique concrete. Never has an audience so unselfconsciously part of the experience. Maybe because nothing could come off of a Kinks record that wasn’t part of their unique world-system, or maybe there’s some sort of real bond between Kinks-lovers the world over. I mean it’s not just some rock group. It’s more like a taste for fine wines from a certain valley, a devotion to a particular breed of cocker spaniel. How many people are there who would feel good to know that “Waterloo Sunset”‘s Terry and Julie are Terrence Stamp and Julie Christie — that its, they inspired the names, by appearing together in Far from the Madding Crowd? How many would understand not feeling afraid, as long as you gaze on that sunset? We’re a select few, no doubt, so we may as well love each other and stick together.

    This Kinks-love is, I think, something that can be consciously related to the sense of nostalgia, which in turn is something that has less to do with time and things past, and more to do with texture. Texture is sensuous; if style is how you do it, texture is the way you make it feel. Ray Davies’ voice, with Dave Davies’ guitar just behind it, not only feels a certain way regardless of what it’s doing, it also establishes for you a certain relationship to things, which is maybe one reason why deja vu is such a large part of the Kinks listening experience. It’s not that you heard this before, necessarily, but that you felt this way about something before, the common denominator is that the relationship between A and B is the same as the relationship, with which you’re more familiar, between D and F. Looking at a little Maurice Sendak kid looking at a Wild Thing, you identify, not because you felt just that way when you last saw a Wild Thing, but because you know that exact feeling, you felt just that way when you last saw . . . Whatever it was, Maurice Sendak (or Ray Davies) couldn’t possibly know about it. But you two, artist and audience, still share something, a great deal in fact. The texture of that moment. Doesn’t it feel good?

    Nostalgia is the recapturing of a certain feeling you once had before. How else classify a feeling, save through personal past experience? Ray Davies’ songs have a second-order relationship with the way people feel, not necessarily joy but the reaction to joy, if you follow me. Ray’s vignettes are wry, ironic — and one suspects it’s not just that he’s capable of a certain detachment, but also that he can’t escape that detachment, it’s the way he’s always known things are. “People take pictures of each other, just to prove that they really existed.” Can you reach through that to a certain sincere sadness? and further through to that most tenuous necessity, affirmation? It is, after all, kind of nice that we’re really here.

    And when texture is beautiful, as it always is with Maurice Sendak, as it is in the gatefold photo of the Kinks on this new album, as of course it is in all (even despairing) Kinks-music, it’s an affirmation in itself, just for things to feel this fine is enough for now. “Sunny Afternoon” is the song Ray wrote after or maybe during his famous breakdown. It may be one of the songs of the century. Doing nothing, feeling like nothing or worse, you still feel like this song (“The taxman’s taken all my dough/And left me in my stately home/Lazing on a sunny afternoon/And I can’t sail my yacht/He’s taken everything I’ve got/All I’ve got this sunny afternoon”) and it’s one of the highest feelings man has yet recorded in art. Maybe just because it’s so real. Or maybe something more than that. (“Help me, help me, help me/Sail away/Give me two good reasons/Why I ought to stay/Cause I love to live so pleasantly/Live this life of luxury/Lazing on a sunny afternoon.”) It’s so far down, and raises me so far up. (“In the summer time …”) Surely, this is greatness.

    I’m frustrated now. I was okay, trying to make you feel how good the Kinks make me feel, but I can’t pass on greatness. I can’t sit here and come up with phrases to argue genius, I can only shout, as modestly as possible, about how deeply I’m affected. I’m thinking, only genius could hit me so directly, destroy me and rebuild so completely, but that’s ontology, proving has nothing to do with making you believe. I’ve never had much luck turning people on to the Kinks. I can only hope you’re onto them already.

    If you are, brother, I love you. We’ve got to stick together.

  50. I see Ray Davies around every now and again, GS, he’s a local Muswell Hillbilly / Crouch Ender and I walk past his studio quite often.

    On another band from the sixties, I thought I’d play my old vinyl copy of Cream’s ‘Disraeli Gears,’ the other day. I’d forgotten how good it was. I haven’t been able to stop playing it since. It has such a brilliant psychedelic sleeve as well.

  51. Chuck, the Premier League is the most competitive of the big leagues in Europe. In Germany, Bayern win and Borussia Dortmund come second (though Dortmund have gone mad and started losing all their games recently). In Spain Atletico have done a great job in breaking up the top two as Valencia did once but other than that it’s like Germany. At least in the Premier League you have about four or five teams potentially at the top.

  52. Happy consumerism day. I have been getting e-mail all week for “pre-black Friday” deals. If it gets any worse it will start in f@cking March.

  53. GS, I think they’ve started having those Black Friday things over here as well, like Halloween and ‘Proms’ where parents have to spend a fortune on clothes and limousines etc.

  54. There was always the January sales though – the British equivalent of Black Friday. It did have a function in getting rid of Christmas inventory, whereas black friday is pure consumerism and made up. It is supposedly explained that it is the day that US retailers make a profit for the year, but that is just a pile of made up horse sh!t.

  55. There’s those Apple things as well where idiots queue up for a month to parade on a red carpet and pretend that they’re celebrities for a few seconds because they’ve bought a new phone which is virtually identical to the Apple phone they already own.

  56. workyticket says:
    November 28, 2014 at 12:17 pm

    “GS, I think they’ve started having those Black Friday thingsover here as well”.

    It was started off by Amazon over here initially, apparently, according to the Today prog on R4. People from the UK were looking for bargains on the Amazon US website and were willing to fork out the extra postage if the price is right.

    It’s popular with UK retailers as a promotional tool, but mostly because it means they don’t have to ‘discount quite so hard in January’ according to a famous tax-avoiding barsteward with more than a passing interest in Marks & Spencer.

  57. GS says:
    November 28, 2014 at 7:51 am

    “This is the most poetic album review I have ever read. Paul Williams in Rolling Stone, 1969”.

    That was a great read, GS. I’m a big Kinks fan.

    I only keep around four or five burned CD copies from my collection in the car and they tend to vary as I burn new ones after treading on them, otherwise scratching them, or leaving them in a drive at work.

    But I always have a couple of Kinks albums on the go – and almost always ‘Village Green’.

  58. There are going to be middle class riots down here in leafy north London. The price of olive oil is set to skyrocket apparently. Waitrose will be looted now the news has gone out on Radio 4. There’s a debate on about Black Friday is on there now funnily enough.

  59. Re #66,

    I once rioted when my local shop ran out of Earl Grey tea.

    Well, not rioted as such. But I stood outside with a placard chanting socialist slogans.

    Well, I didn’t actually have a placard and I didn’t stand outside because it was raining, but I gave the shopkeeper a severe berating.

    Well, maybe not a ‘berating’, exactly. But I certainly politely asked him if he had any Earl Grey tea in the store room.

    He did too, which just goes to show I’m a man who knows how to get his own way by starting a riot.

  60. Hugh, if you lived up here, you’d never want for Earl Grey, or independent ‘shabby chic’ middle class coffee parlours either. They used to be a good thing that offered an alternative to the Starbucks / Costa hegemony but it’s got completely out of hand now. Crouch End is drowning in a sea of Latte and Double Espresso.

  61. WT, I’m less of a connoisseur of coffee to be honest. I don’t mind the occasional cup but I mainly drink tea. I baulk at the price in places like Starbucks and only ever drink the stuff in motorway service stations when I’m travelling some distance.

  62. Pardew’s putting too much on to Perez too soon now. If Cisse is finally fit, he should start starting him and let Perez have a go every now and again instead of the other way ’round.

  63. I am watching the Mackems and it is a bit boring. So much so, that it got me thinking about who would win a competition for ugliest referee – Kevin Friend or Phil Dowd?

  64. Actually, I know the answer. It is Kevin Friend. He makes Pete Postlethwaite look like George Clooney – and that was even after Pete had decomposed a bit.

  65. Could it be the contributors to this blog have become so ambivalent concerning the fortunes of NUFC, as to fail to comment on the end of a six game winning streak.

    Great game for football throwbacks, a veritable Hoof-ball fest, with two of the greatest hoof-balling advocates in the game, BSA and Pardew.

    Of course BSA is more multifaceted than Pardew, his sides scoring mostly through set plays and are in general a well drilled side.

    And of course I projected this result above.

    An awful game to watch, hoof, hoof, wellie it up the pitch, just plain ugly.

    Anything positive to report ?

    Kinda liked the blooming interaction between two of our youngsters Sammy O. and Hiadare, who actually connected better than Sissoko and Janmaat.
    That’s it !

  66. It’s become obvious to anyone who knows a bit about football, that our right midfielder Sissoko is one of the best buys we have made in a long time, despite having to play for a basically ignorant hoofball centered manager.

    And knew (mentioned it above) it would only be a matter of time before the bids would come in, with Arsenal knowing Ashley is an easy touch, reportedly offering a paltry fifteen million.

    How ya gonna turn down a possible fifteen million profit ?

    Ah! what the hell, there’s plenty more where he came from.

    If in fact we do sell him, it should be a signal to the fans, that this club is going nowhere, it’s all about adding to the already enormous and increasing Ashley wealth plan and whatever he intends to do with it?

  67. The only hope being, a move to Ibrox for Ashley and a new owner for NUFC.
    Hopefully someone who is interested in winning something .
    Hell nothing last’s forever, but many of us don’t have the time, and when one sees eight year deals going down, it only adds to the gloom.

  68. Chuckles: I missed the match but recorded it. The reports I read were pretty much in line with what you said so I am not sure if I want to watch it now. Only three days before the next one anyway.

    The League Table is starting to look ominously familiar with us settling into mid-table and the usual (moneyed) suspects above us.

    If we had won yesterday Pardew would have got Manager of the Month and then would have played Haidara as centre forward against Burnley to prove what a genius he is. Thank heavens for small mercies.

  69. And I ask you, where are these footballer’s mothers? They are all looking like the evil Gremlin nowadays and their barber seems to be armed with a machete and a can of spray paint. Role models, shmole models, harrumph and other words like that.

  70. I suppose it is a bit of “look at me, and I am so famous and need to be looked at but I don’t care” mentality. I don’t care how they cut their hair, I just find it funny. I know there will be “Waddle and Hoddle’ and “Keegan perm” pictures of them in 20 years.

  71. GS, even further back, do you remember professional footballers seriously trying to play football with comb overs like the Charltons? Footballers, ridiculous hair and awful taste have gone together for a long time. People never quite realise quite how ridiculous they are at the time, it always comes with hindsight. People scoff at the foibles of the older generation and honestly don’t realise that people in the future will be doing exactly the same to them.

  72. The cars.

    That’s what really gets my goat.

    It’s mostly seeing and hearing things about top of the range Aston Martins, Audis and BMWs with gold plated this and that. Dreadful custom coloured muscle cars and sports cars.

    All of these driven by eighteen and nineteen year old boys who shouldn’t be given the keys to an old Fiesta let alone a highly priced luxury car.

  73. Is this what it comes down to, footballing haircuts ?

    I have to say, what goes around comes around.

    The present day haircuts remind me of how most males over twenty one looked , shortly after the end of WW11, “short back and sides” was the usual reply to the barbers enquiry as to “how do ya wannit” ?

    A result no doubt from wearing short army haircuts, does that mean the crew cut is about to make a comeback ?

    Yeah ! a time when most youngsters parents couldn’t afford to take their kids to a barber, they bought a set of clippers, which were used to cut every hair close to the skull, apart from a tuft or fringe at the front, which openly displayed the poverty of the times.

    One could gain entrance to St James’ for as low as just under a shilling as a youngster, eventually rising to 1/3d. think it was about 2/6d. in the most expensive standing area, which was below the stand (curious, that the only area where seating was available, was known as The Stand).

    To-days ridicules male styles, go figure in an age of morbid obesity, the most recent style of suit is a tight-ass bumfreezer, with drainpipes.

    Leaving most who attempt to fit into them, looking like the fools they are for buying that particular style.

    Have men reached a stage where they mirror their female counterparts in being slaves to fashion, certainly looks that way.

    I recall seeing young women, baring their rolls of fat, during a period of fashion that called for a bare mid-riff, thinking thank goodness, males are never subjected to such nonsense, boy was I ever wrong.

    It seems even our great leader Pardew, has been induced to attempt to look fashionable on top, with a short back and sides, which makes him look like the old adage , “mutton dressed as lamb’, ah well!

    Yeah, remember my old man telling me that he had once wore bell bottom pants, stating they would become fashionable again, he was right, does that mean following the present drainpipes, bell bottoms are just around the corner again?

    I used to tell the Mrs. whenever she asked, when are you going to throw out those old clothes, that I was saving them for a time when they will become fashionable again.

    Anyhow off to the barbers for a short back and sides and a gallon of Brylcream to plaster it down.

    One has to attempt to remain current, no ?

  74. Chuck, on the fashion front, some people are saying it’s the end of fashion, that people, both sexes just wear jeans and bland, anonymous ‘Gap’ style clothes. The fashion industry calls the phenomenon ‘normcore.’

  75. Chuck: I didn’t think you would have such a strong opinion about haircuts. I was only trying to take the p!ss (sometimes you have to change the subject) about how the modern footballer would take a picture of evil Gremlin into the barber and say – “make me look like that”.

    Your rant was quite funny and I am glad Worky un-banned you. Whatever Darth says :)

  76. Chuck said:

    “It seems even our great leader Pardew, has been induced to attempt to look fashionable on top, with a short back and sides, which makes him look like the old adage , “mutton dressed as lamb’, ah well!”

    The great social commentator Harry Enfield once said about Parker Bowles that she was “mutton dressed as mutton”. He always makes me laugh even though he is a cockerney cnut.

  77. Darth @89: there are many things that are funny about that article:

    1. Jermaine Pennant is buying swanky cars. He is not even mediocre and wants to show off.

    but,

    2. Doncaster Rovers “Star” el Hadje Diouf shows off his car. STAR :) Do Doncaster Rovers have “STARS”?

  78. GS: They’re a spoilt, reckless, worthless cunch of bunts in general, I’d say, but at least we expect Becks to have a considerable disposable income (and a complete lack of taste/culture) that he’s bound to spend on cars rather than works of art :) . El Hadje Diouf? I didn’t realise there was so much money in the game at that level. Shocking.

    Since I posted, a friend reminded me of a story about Patrick Vieira having a Sierra (or something similar) stolen – a car he’d bought when he first arrived in the UK before he’d had a chance to prowl the posh dealerships – and he didn’t even bother to report it having been nicked. I’ll have a look for that. It all boils down to a complete lack of respect for ordinary working-class fans, I’d say, which is why this kind of thing annoys me.

  79. Worky

    Fashion ?

    Who decides fashion ?

    Most manufactures who have a brain in their head, hire people to observe, what ?

    Observe what the various avant-guard styles of varying groups and what they do in regard to what’s presented to them by the worlds fashionistas .

    Talkin bout, ethnic groups, we know and love how Africans use color and others clothing and woven garments that perfectly suit the environment.

    Comfort will eventually become the prime consideration, certainly as far as clothing is concerned.

    Hopefully this unkempt, unshaven, tude presented by many of to-days young men, should be taken as a sign of rejection of the old rules.

    Just look at how African Americans have effected the use of sports ware.

    Wearing Ice hockey shirts, apart from the fact there’s a small majority of African American hockey players.

    It’s become a burgeoning business, why ?

    My point is from dress down Friday to dress codes, how about leaving that up to the particular person concerned, as it would probably relieve a lotta pressure
    and who needs that.

    Especially those poor bastids, trying to fit into those ridicules, bumfreezers and drainpipe trousers, yuk ! yuk!

  80. Chuck, there is no avant garde, there are no ideas anymore, only money. The most popular fashion is reactionary stuff like Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Louis Vuitton bags etc which isn’t even fashion. Mainstream music is either samples of old music stitched together and recycled, or performers who are just inferior versions of performers who existed decades ago. Music has gone back the fifties system where you just have teams of people like Simon Cowell operating robots.

  81. Yeah ! I kinda concur, Usually have my radio tuned to either a Jazz station or any of a number of Spanish language stations that play a vast amount of interesting variations covering the music of central and south America and of course those great bands from the Caribbean, fusing Spanish and African sounds, call and response indicating an obvious African heritage.

    On the other hand nowt wrong with a bit of be-bop, ballads, big band sounds etc.
    Depending on ones mood.

    WKCR a jazz station right now giving a master class on the history of the art form, it’s a tough market to survive in, there being a lot of competition from stations of every musical genre.
    And as we well know there’s absolutely is no fashion associated with jazz.

    As for fashion, there’s that which the manufacturers produce, which certain ethnic groups, African American, Latino, who then pick and match to suit there particular
    ideas of style, resulting in there choices becoming a fashion statement.

    Most white kids either copying those styles and listening to the music generated by those groups.
    That is, mostly north of the Mason Dixie line, what’s generally known as country music, it being the biggest market in the country.

    Which in turn generates it’s own particular fashion statement, Denim and cowboy shirts and boots.
    A very general statement, but roughly covers what’s being worn and listened too and why, sure there are exceptions, myself being one.

  82. Looks like both Sissoko and Cabaye, may end up playing alongside our former RB Debuchy.

    Personally he being bought for so little and having developed into such a good player, it’s doubtful if Ashley can resist what could be a massive profit from a sale to Arsenal or possibly another big club, being his recent performances will not have gone unnoticed.

    Ah ! what the hell we can always go back to the assembly line, better give Carr some travelling expenses.

    Looks like the end of a successful run, the fact we can barely field a full side due to injuries indicate we may
    now go in the opposite direction.

    I’m gonna project we finish in the bottom ten, despite the euphoria created by our recent run, which will suit Ashley perfectly.

    Sorry ! but that’s how it looks from here.

  83. Chuck

    I found you recollections of older clothing styles quite amusing. I think that if I kept my bell bottoms for the next new ‘In time’ I’d have probably cut my self in half.

    Thanks to a slightly dodgy knee my mean lean days are over.

    As for hair cuts I sported a crew cut then later had a pony tail, now its just a question of running the clippers at setting one over what remains. Makes life a lot easier though in the mornings, just a question of running a flannel across my head.

    As for the football I don’t think we will have the calamitous slide of last season but I reckon we will probably lose more than we win if Mr Ashley does his usual asset stripping act. Which is looking odds-on to happen!!

  84. Grumpy, I don’t know about the rest, but I was out seeing John Shuttleworth this evening. He could teach the youth of today a thing or two about music and fashion!

  85. I never figured Chuck for the drawers full of bellbottoms type. I thought he was more the James Cagney.

    As for the modern-ista bum freezer suit. I think it is inspired by Mad Men but has gone too far in the short and tight range. Even the male models don’t look good in them, I mean who would buy a suit that you can barely button?

    As I have gotten older there are a few rules of thumb that I apply: would Steve McQueen and Paul Newman at my age buy these clothes? If you copy these style icons you wont go far wrong and you won’t be getting too many evil gremlin haircuts and tiny suits. And flip-flops are only for the pool.

  86. There was a time a few years ago when older than teenage men would go into nice restaurants in flip flops. I always thought my mates Steve and Paul would look at them with disdain. It wasn’t even a statement, like Punk, it was just bad taste.

  87. That’s it! That is the link between the camouflage car, the chrome Range Rover, the tiny too tight suits and the flip flops – bad taste, pure bad taste. You can stay within the bounds of fashion and look a bit silly a few years later and that’s OK. But just looking stupid in the here and now sets you out as a show off with no taste.

  88. Inspired by you lot I just bought a couple of CDs – The Best of Chess and The Essential Kinks. So, thanks Worky, Darth, Grumpy, Sneezy and Chuck.

    I can’t believe I have lived in Chicago for 25 years and have only been to Buddy Guy’s Legends once. That will be put to right very soon.

  89. Worky

    I bought a leather jacket similar to the one in that Youtube clip from a charity shop for £3 many years ago which was in really good condition, like new. Had it for a few years till my wife decided she didn’t like it.

    That was when charity shops hadn’t become corporate business’s with highly paid executives and it was possible to buy good stuff for sensible second hand prices. Nowadays they charge silly prices even for books, obviously they have to get as much as they can for their charities but when you see them using ebay now it is getting to be a joke!!

  90. Grumpy, Mrs Grumpy was a mad fool!

    Those jackets are ‘the shit’ as they say nowadays. Even Brad Pitt copied the Shuttleworth / Grumpy car coat look in ‘Fight Club.’

    http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/d5/51/f7/d551f7af1e18e558bdbe5f1a1240d522.jpg

    On the charity shops, I think that when the Antiques Roadshow got more popular and people started bragging on there about finding their Turners and their Chippendales from charity shops and jumble sales, the charity shops started getting local auctioneers or someone like that to have a shufty, put a quick price on all the tat, and make sure no undiscovered treasures slipped through the net.

  91. Worky @110: if he gets himself a red nose and ginger wig he will fit in nicely. I am glad to know you now think of me as the arbiter of good/bad taste :) Separately, his clothes could be OK but together they make him look like a … clown.

    Are you taking the piss after my Steve McQueen/Paul Newman statement? I deserve it :)

    Looking forward to the match. Do you have any links as they are showing Man U (of course) over here?

  92. GS

    Sky have a match choice later tonight/tomorrow on which the full Toon should be available. (Hopefully). I’m totally paranoid about streaming.

    On the music front someone mentioned Andre Ruuie (think that’s right) performing in Maastricht being shown on Sky arts. I like most types of music, so I watched it and enjoyed it.

    On computers, MSN news are talking about the worlds oldest computer circa 205BC that Microsoft are recreating. It’s Greek and has been lying on the seabed around 2000 years apparently!

  93. Grumpy: I like the settings of Rieu’s concerts but I am not so keen on his poncing about to the Frank and Vera types in the audience. I am torn that he is bringing good music to a wide audience but he is a big ponce and the audience is all Frank and Vera.

    And to continue on my music outrage … I don’t like the full orchestra backing bands like Dire Straights when the original versions were better. It is excess, gilding the lily. So. f@cking. there :)

  94. There is something staid and boring about the Andre Rieu crowds, and Andre himself despite his poncing about. His massively expensive gold and diamond tie-pin in the centre of his enormously expensive tux shirt shows what it is about. He is perfectly suited to the Frank and Vera type, he wears the bling of an old show off.

  95. GS

    Aye there’s a fair bit of Vaudeville about it but the audience were really getting into it. It’s probably something where you need to be there.

    Very few remakes of original songs are as good, I cringe when I hear some of the ‘boy bands’ attempting to copy the true masters.

  96. Grumpy Old Toon says:
    December 2, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    “On computers, MSN news are talking about the worlds oldest computer circa 205BC that Microsoft are recreating. It’s Greek and has been lying on the seabed around 2000 years apparently!”

    Grumpy, an grippng film about the Antikythera mechanism.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZXjUqLMgxM

    GS, I’m sure there are some very nice people called Frank and Vera, the Veras are usually getting on a bit nowadays though as it hasn’t been in fashion since the war.

    I wasn’t taking the piss, it’s an interesting question with that suit. It was an original Tommy Nutter suit from the 1970s. They are treated like works of art and exhibited in museums now.

  97. Worky: I worked around the corner from Tommy Nutter’s in London. I would have loved to get one of their handmade suits but couldn’t afford it. I don’t think I would have ordered a clashing checks job though. I don’t like it and think it belongs in a museum along with Van Morrison’s velvet suit and puffy shirt.

  98. Actually the tv series “Mad Men” portrayed a fashion that never existed during that particular era.
    There was what was commonly known as “Ivy League’ a three button jacket, narrow short lapels, flat fronted trousers.
    A style very similar to that worn during the Victorian era.

    Which was about to change to another bumfreezer narrow pants style during the early to mid sixties, the style portrayed on many record covers.

    Though denim products also had a hay-day during that era.
    The question is are YOU attempting to squeeze into a suit that makes you look like fuging “Pee-Wee Herman”, if so time for a rethink.

  99. Chuck: I give up my reign as arbiter of style and fashion to you. I never deserved my self-title anyway.

    I will tell you that I bought a leather Jacket from Schott NYC last month. Made in America and worth every penny.

  100. Having mentioned above somewhere, the fact that Sissoko is playing terrific (despite Pardew) and will no doubt be a great asset to any side.

    Possibly the best of the bunch bought at the time, which IMO includes both Cabaye and Debuchy.

    To now sell him, would be great business for Arsenal or whoever else is smart enough to recognize his abilities.

    Too bad we fugged Yanga M’Biwa around , playing him as a fill in player across the back four, having, at the same time to make an attempt to follow instructions from a jerk like Pardew.

    Yeah he states he likes a bit of flair in the side, obvious by his dumping Marveaux and HBA, FFS the man wouldn’t recognize flair if it head butted him.

    I believe I also mentioned I was not particularly interested in the present youth system, but preferred a system of recruiting, those young players like Perez, Bigirimana, Aarons, each of who should be just about to make that break through to a fairly regular first team slot.
    Youngsters who have shown abilities from an early age
    and played for their national sides at each age level.

    Yeah ! I do know about late bloomers and by no means do I suggest ignoring them, but to attempt to operate a youth academy, seldom results in developing top players,
    and IMO is a waste of time and money.

    That is unless, there are either funds available from the league or can be used as a tax break.

  101. Hang on Chuckles, have you seen the team for the neet?

    4-2-4, unless Pards has successfully converted Gouffran into a defensive midfielder:

    Elliot

    Janmaat Chuck’s Buddy My Buddy Haidara

    Tiote Abeid

    Gouffran Cisse Perez Sammy

    Who is this interloper Pardew playing all out attack?

    PS. Chuck’s buddy is Williamson, mine is Dummett who I totally admit I underestimated and was wrong about.

  102. Schott’s nah !

    Gave away my bikers jacket when I sold the Harley.

    The rest are too gay.

    Back to basics, original old style jeans, regular fit, $15 at “K Mart”

    And quite happy with my Barbour and $5. wool gloves from the street vendors from West Africa.

  103. Gonna watch he game, but I gotta bad feeling about it.
    The game against West Ham was possibly the worst I have watched for some time, clueless hoofing for ninety minutes, tough stuff to watch.

  104. Yeah rumored we are going in with a bid for him, “Ainge”.

    Aint really seen much of him, so I cant comment.

    But he appears to be capable of putting the ball in the net.

  105. Sorry got the wrong Danny, Ainge was a member of the Boston Celtics, shooting guard, couldda played pro- baseball or football coming outta school (college) but decided on basketball, played with the Bird and the Chief in those great rivalries against Magic Johnson’s
    Lakers.
    Gotta watch the game.

  106. What the ferk is going on here ?
    I thought Saturdays game was going to be nominated as the worst game of the season, but see we have sunk to lower depths with this one
    OK two changes, but I doubt whether the side can raise to the occasion.
    Better get the excuse book out Al, no not we have injuries, everyone has injuries.
    Wow ! Cisse scores, something I never thought I would see again.

  107. Another crap game, that shouldda been a walkover.

    Anything good? well Ings looked decent, not only in being dangerous around the box, but as an overall hard running forward, with great positional sense.

    Cabella realizing he has to improve a lot, also attempted to give it his all.

    Something has to be done about set pieces, we constantly fail to score from either free kicks or corners, who the ferk is in charge of coaching, just fire his ass, the sooner the better.

    We may very well be on the downward ride of the continual rollercoaster ride, that is part and parcel of the Pardew experience, with Chewsea, Arsenal, Sunderland and Man.U., coming up.

  108. Chuck said:

    “Something has to be done about set pieces, we constantly fail to score from either free kicks or corners”

    I totally agree. A blind man with a mole as his guide dog (guide mole) can see this.

    There were many positives though:

    * Tiote had a good game.

    * Abeid was good, although he fell into the Tiote trap of trying to blast one in from 35 yards.

    * Cabella is getting better and showed some pace and ingenuity at times.

    * I think Williamson is a totally spent force which will please Chuck. We looked calmer and ready to attack when big Mike went off.

    * with our injury list being about half the squad (roster) we still managed a draw on a cold night in Burnley.

    Who knows what will happen in the next few games but I would have taken 20 points at Christmas given the way we started. The rest is gravy, baby.

  109. Here is what I think Pards will go with on the weekend:

    Elliot

    Janmaat Taylor Dummett Haidara

    Tiote Sissoko Colback Abeid

    Riviere

    Cisse

    Having watched the Scum against Chelsea I think he will set out for the no nonsense midfield and a bit of pace up-front with the real hope being we win 1-0 after Cisse does one of his amazing “where the hell did that come” strikes like tonight.

  110. By the way, thanks for the link Worky. It wouldn’t connect to sound but that is probably a blessing for me if you remember some of my rants about Arlo White etc.

  111. Have to say that Cisse was up for it when we kneeded him, he’s knee mug in front of goal. he is exactly the sort of striker we kneed.

    Cabella man of the match on our side, if only for the second half. Should have been in from the start.

    And Taylor playing like a real midfield attacker, what’s that all about.

    Only saw the second half highlights but that was my impression of the game.

  112. Worky: you were saying something recently about all this one minute clapping drama. You are a cynical bastad, but I am getting confused now about all the clapping before and during the game. Support the troops, support Jeff Astle and his family’s fight to get justice for him for playing the game he loved and heading a ball???????? Where does it end?

    When the 1 minute tributes are every 20 minutes at every game it lessens the meaning and reduces them to seal clapping.

  113. Now that was a bit of brilliance by our ex-loanee against Totteringham. Get rid of all those goals before you play us please.

  114. And don’t get me wrong about supporting troops. I think there are many valiant causes. It does seem there are a lot more minute’s silences and clapping and black armbands at matches now.

  115. How do I say this about the minute’s silence and clapping? There are many just causes that can be recognized at games but there are really only so many you can recognize! After a point any meaning is lost because the PR department took over and direct your thoughts and applause. I know this is not a PC thing to say.

  116. Hell, ta gotta laugh, was wondering what kinda excuse Pardew would come up with, but he sent Cisse to be interviewed instead, guess he must have been confident of the win and hadn’t prepared a speech.

    Then Cisse related what Pardew said during half time.

    Note, it’s i’m sure, obvious to all, he is incapable, like other managers to change tactics before or after the half time break.

    What makes it laughable is the fact he told the side to play possession football, whereas his normal advice has been, just wellie it up the field.

    We should have walked through a poor Burnley side destined for relegation.

    Hell we are supposed to win such games.

    Been watching young Haidara, who has struck up a good understanding with S.Ameobi, where it’s sometimes difficult to say who is playing where, each covering well for the other and somewhat impressed by the fact Sammy is tracking back a lot (should impress Pardew)
    Wheras Haidara has shown he can play the attacking wingback role.

    Cabella, really didn’t do anything special, but it appears he upped his game and with good cause, he having to improve his game, if he doesn’t want to sit.

    Yeah we were a better side without Williamson, should never have got so many starts to begin with, whats up with Taylor, is he the new attacking midfielder.

    So get ready for the upcoming losing streak, from the sublime to the ridicules, directed by A Pardew, coming to all stadiums for the next four weeks.

    Anyone see Sunderland play lately, i’m going to forecast a loss to them again.

  117. I watched the Chelsea v’s Spurs game and noticed they have quite a few “legend” banners draped around, must get a discount at the f@cking printers or summink:

    Drogba Legend

    John Terry: Captain, Leader, Legend

    Jose: Special, Genius, Legend

    I didn’t see many:

    John Terry: Racist, Bully, Bellend

    Butch Wilkins: Sideways, Backwards, Fall Over

    They should be like us and have:

    Sports Direct

    Sports Direct

    Sports Direct

    everywhere.

  118. in making everything inclusive now there is the risk that nothing is ever exclusive, that everything is trivialised – like Worky was saying about the minutes silence. But if you don’t obey this foisted on you rite you will be chastised as somehow not being respectful by the sanctimonious Daily Mail types.

    I MEAN, SOME MUSICIANS WERE BEING CRITICISED FOR NOT JOINING IN ON THE 30th ANNIVERSARY of Band Aid FFS.

    In the US we have a “Day” for just about everything, in addition to all the religious inspired days – Presidents, Lincoln, Valentines, Take your Daughter to work (I’m not kidding), Black History (month), Sweetist (seriously), Secretaries, Black Friday, Cyber Monday which Amazon has decided to extend to the full week, Small Business Saturday (I was handed a card for it this weekend), memorial day, flag day, mothers, fathers day…many, many more

    You would think that Amazon, Walmart and Starbucks had all got together to promote this sh!t with Hallmark cards. Oh, maybe they have and that is why there is no meaning to any of this stuff anymore.

    Happy Holidays :)

  119. I swear I am not making these up:

    Jan 21 – national hug day

    Feb 6 – International zero tolerance to female genital
    mutilation day

    Feb 28 – rare disease day

    March 20 – world sparrow day (eh)

    May 25 – towel day (eh, and double eh)

    Queen’s official Birthday

    Aug 13 – international lefthander’s day

    Oct 29 – national cat day

    AND OF COURSE:

    Nov 30 – self-injury awareness day.

  120. And here’s one that I have just made up:

    Dec 8: Homer Simpson Day – you better not climb that tree Keith Richards because you are drunk and a junky and might fall out – DOH.

  121. Towel day is apparently to celebrate Douglas Adams. I liked Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy but do we really need a day for that? I think national tiddles day and this one can be got rid of.

  122. GS says:
    December 4, 2014 at 3:19 am

    “In the US we have a “Day” for just about everything, in addition to all the religious inspired days – Presidents, Lincoln, Valentines, Take your Daughter to work (I’m not kidding), Black History (month)…”

    That just about sums up how meaningless it is, GS. You have a ‘black history’ month, a day to celebrate Martin Luther King Junior’s birthday, you can have finicky little discussions about the correct and incorrect ways to refer to ethnic minorities and so on, but black people can still be murdered with impunity just like hundreds of years ago. There’s this big thing about Ebola in Africa right now, but many, many more people die every single day of the year, every year there from things like diarrhea and malaria which could be prevented with sums which would be a relative pittance to us. Society is just a show. I’m usually pretty miserable in the mornings after I’ve listened to the news.

  123. GS says:
    December 4, 2014 at 4:15 am

    “Feb 6 – International zero tolerance to female genital
    mutilation day”

    Is there a day for zero tolerance to male genital mutilation in the US, GS? I know they practice that over there quite alot.

  124. Well I’d be happy to see the back of Christmas day and the endless pre-Christmas days. The card sending ritual is just a waste of money and time. My missus spends hours over agonising who to send or not send to.

    The only Baahumbug I like is the Beer. :)

  125. The recent demonstrations throughout the US, in regard to recent killings, the shooting of a an unarmed teenager, plus that of a nine year old with a pellet gun and the strangulation of an unarmed man using a banned headlock, are symptoms of both racism and a police mentality that states, you can get away with murder as a cop, if you so choose.

    The failure of two of the cases above to achieve indictments, are the result of an organized cover-up.

    In the case of the teenager Michael Brown, the local prosecutor (DA) and Grand Jury rejected an indictment, based on evidence gathered by the DA, that he made public, was a way of avoiding the questioning in an official trial where all involved would be questioned by both prosecutor and defense lawyers and a jury.

    In the case of the murder of the unfortunate unarmed man, who was choked to death, by a banned choke hold, while being held down by at least six cops, which was shown on film, same thing.

    The local DA convinced (a no doubt picked Grand Jury)
    there was not enough evidence to indict, some balls! considering the whole world saw and heard the guy pleading, I cant breathe.

    Plus everyone knows any DA can get an indictment if he so desires, with the old adage, hell any DA can indict a ham sandwich if he wants to.

    The result being, in both cases the DA’s turned out by their actions to be both judge and juries.

    Another case of protecting the Police who could make their lives difficult , but everyone is also aware of the incestuous relationship between both the police and judiciary.

    That’s what has to change, but corruption is not just a US problem, it’s everywhere, that mentality that police have, we are above the law and can get away with murder if necessary.

    It’s the same in the UK, Mark Duggan, executed !

    Charles de Menezes, executed !

    Ian Tomlinson, accidentally killed, but why was he beaten to begin with?

    Who was found responsible ?

    Obviously no one, they were unfortunate accidents, usually followed by someone resigning.

    Erm who resigned ?

    No one, time takes care of everything, how easy we forget.

    The whole police mentality has to be changed, from what has become a semi military organization, bent on rioting and breaking heads, yes it’s a fact there are more police riots than public riots.

    That mentality has to change from oppressor to public servant, that plus the incestuous relationship with the judiciary, who are also under pressures from the political systems.

    Aint gonna happen in my lifetime if ever, corruption rules.

  126. Chuck: from NBC News, here’s the latest defense of the indefensible:

    “The head of the New York police union said Thursday that a grand jury made the right call when it declined to indict an officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed man, in July.

    “We feel badly that there was a loss of life,” said Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. “But unfortunately Mr. Garner made a choice that day to resist arrest.”

    He praised the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, as a good man, a mature policeman and an Eagle Scout who “went out and did a difficult job, a job where there’s no script, and sometimes with that there’s tragedy that comes.”

    HE IS AN EAGLE SCOUT, SO THAT MUST MAKE EVERYTHING OK!!! You strangle someone TO DEATH on camera but since you are an Eagle Scout that makes murder OK? Hitler loved his pet labrador and that didn’t turn out too well for the rest of the world.

  127. Chuck, it looks like this lunacy has completely exasperated the problem over there:

    “In a fundamentally misguided effort to wage a war on drugs, the US Department of Defense has provided some $5bn in surplus military-grade equipment – often from overseas battlefields – to local police since the late 1990s. This so-called “1033 Program” has secretly helped militarize our police forces over the last 30 years…”

    “This may shock your conscience, but the bill would end a statutory requirement that local law enforcement must use the military gear they receive under the 1033 program within a year – or forfeit it.

    “You read that right: Right now, local cops are required to use that free MRAP or grenade launcher. Right now, Congress is producing a perfect storm for police violence, not ending it. We owe that much to the lessons of Ferguson: Stop forcing the use of military weaponry on Main Street!”

    I read that they get a neverending supply of assault rifles all the time too, more than they could ever use, but as it says above, they HAVE to use them or lose them.

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/26/ferguson-congress-military-police-streets

  128. Worky: I went on a march in Chicago in around 2006 to protest the Iraq war. There were only about 3,000 of us, mainly old hippies (I am not an old hippie) and about 50% women. They had about 2000 police in full riot gear – shin guards, kevlar vests, billy clubs, helmets, guns, 25 or 30 humvies – the lot. All lined up along Michigan Avenue which is the Chicago equivalent of Regent Street or Bond Street. We all filed down to a square to listen to a couple of speeches as people spurred on by the police show of force yelled “traitors” and worse at us. It was surreal and like a scene from 1984 or something.

    You couldn’t imagine a more peaceful group if you tried – it was a peace march after all. And yet it was met with an overwhelming show of force. It was so over the top that I was stunned. Now I don’t know what it is like to be black and in Ferguson but this experience scared me about the crazy amount of power given to law enforcement.

  129. Every time the Police see an epileptic or diabetic man having a seizure in public, they seem to end up tasering them for some reason.

    GS, I used to go to alot of things over here and I knew quite a few people who were charged with stuff like violent disorder, conspiracy to murder and other stuff when they never did anything like that, it was all made up and the charges were eventually dropped.

  130. Worky @166: I can actually understand that. I dated a girl for 3 years who has epilepsy and a grand mal seizure scared the sh!t out of people. The reaction of most people when I would be cradling her head was a look of fear, then asking what if she swallows her tongue and do you need a spoon for her to bite down on?

    Police are not the main problem for epileptics :) I talked to a couple of Doctors (I lived with this girl and was concerned that I should be doing something better when she had a seizure) and they said the worst thing was the myth that the person would swallow their tongue and good samaritans jamming spoons in their mouth and knocking their front teeth out.

    Now, getting tasered and your front teeth knocked out with a spoon by a policeman would be a very bad day for my ex-girlfriend :)

  131. Worky: I mentioned on here that I was thrown against a wall in Leicester Square about 15 years ago by a full Army squad and had 10 machine guns pointed at my head.

    I figuratively sh!t my pants but I guess if there were tasers back then they would have used them and I would have literally sh!t my pants.

    I looked like someone who had pulled a gun in a nearby pub apparently. Luckily, I wasn’t that 12 year old with a toy gun or the black guy in Walmart who was taking the FOR SALE air-rifle to check out.

    There is a line that police have crossed. They need more training so they don’t overreact and they don’t need weapons of war. Perhaps spread the recruitment policy to include people that are not family of police officers or drawn to that type of power position? Have some psychological tests? That is part of it, if you give someone a gun/taser who would like to use it eventually they will probably use it.

    If you have ever watched the high speed chases that they show on “cops” you will see that causing the suspect to run and drive at 120 miles an hour is a much bigger risk to us than taking their plate number and catching them later. There is something wrong when a law enforcement person is acting like he is Clint Eastwood.

  132. “It’s the same in the UK, Mark Duggan, executed !”

    A single, solitary extra judicial execution anywhere is unacceptable.

    But no. It isn’t the same in the UK at all. Death by police officer – per capita – is far less common than in the USA, as it is *everywhere* else in the developed world.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/why-do-us-police-kill-so-many-people-2014-8?IR=T

    http://www.channel4.com/news/police-fatal-shooting-trigger-happy-fact-check

  133. GS says:
    December 5, 2014 at 2:10 am

    “They need more training so they don’t overreact and they don’t need weapons of war.”

    The Army doesn’t respond to firearms incidents in the UK, GS. It must have been a police special tactical unit – one of these S.O.- whatevers. They’re generally equipped with HK MP5s and turn out in full body armour and flak jackets. Quite scary if you come into contact with them, I’ll bet.

    I think their training actually consists of practising the aggressive domination of any situation they’re called to – then send in a young blonde WPC up to apologise when it all turns out to be a huge fukkup.

    Personally, I think there should be a nation-wide drive to improve their flaming manners when dealing with the public. I think too many of them have been watching too many US Police reality shows.

  134. Darth @171: if it wasn’t military it certainly seemed like it and they had women screaming with their tactics. The officer told me that I was suspected IRA and he gave me a card to call the authorities if I felt mistreated. It wasn’t violent, but having guns pointed at you is scary. My reaction was to freeze and act compliant, if I had resisted, maybe you wouldn’t be reading my shyte on this blog :)

    I thought f@ck this for a lark and went back to the Hotel and had 6 or 7 pints and passed out.

  135. GS, going back over 15 years, I used to know someone who’d been paralysed by the Police when I lived in Brixton. He’s dead now.

    I seem to remember Harry Stanley being shot around the time of your incident. They’d been told he was an Irishman carrying a gun too (he was Scottish). This, and your incident if it was around 15 years ago would have been just after the Good Friday peace agreement in Ireland which was 1998. They challenged Stanley from behind, he turned around to respond and they shot him dead. The ‘gun’ was a table leg in a carrier bag repaired by his brother. First time there was an open verdict, second time on appeal it was unlawful killing and 120 firearms police responded by handing their firearms cards in protest so the High Court reversed it back to an open verdict.

  136. DarthBroon says:
    December 5, 2014 at 2:14 am

    “But no. It isn’t the same in the UK at all. Death by police officer – per capita – is far less common than in the USA, as it is *everywhere* else in the developed world.”

    404 vs 6. If the UK was the same size as the US (316 million), it would be around 404 vs 29.5. Proportionately, being killed by the police is over 13.5 times more likely in the US than it is in the UK.

  137. Worky: the officer did have a gun in my ribs as I was thrust against a wall. This was Leicester Square and just after the theatres came out so it was probably the most packed place in England. There was a cordon of about 10 all with their guns drawn, not at their side. My wife was screaming leave him alone – she could have got me killed.

    This is why I relate a bit to the guy in NYC. In a situation like that you don’t really know what is going on. As the Chuckmeister said there were about 6 cops in his face and his reaction was to try to reason with them but they took him down anyway as they saw it as aggressive action.

    I see there is possible Federal action now, so this might not be the end of it.

    Chelsea tomorrow though :)

  138. Darth and Worky: You know I am English, right. I think there is overreaction in the UK police and bad hiring and training BUT it is at least 13.5 times as bad here in the US because of segregation, embedded racism in the police force and stupid gun rules.

    At least 13.5 times as bad! Am I allowed to joke about a very serious issue?

  139. This is from a NYC member of Congress:

    “The most trenchant defence of Pantaleo came from the Republican New York representative Peter King. “I feel strongly the police officer should not have been indicted,” he said. He claimed that had Garner “not had asthma and a heart condition or was so obese, almost definitely he would not have died from this”.

    “I know people are saying that he said eleven times or seven times ‘I can’t breathe,’” King added in a CNN interview. “Well the fact is that if you can’t breathe, you can’t talk.”

    You have to seriously question Peter King’s ability to represent his constituents if he can say sh!t like this. Actually, you have to question his sanity.

  140. Well alot of people seem to be saying that it was ok because Eric Garner was already sick, and that probably aggravated his death. But does that mean if Police choke a 90 year old and they die, that’s ok because it was probably aggravated by them being frail and old?

    They’re also saying that Police were ordered to crack down hard on the sale of loose cigarettes the day before. They certainly did that.

  141. GS says:
    December 5, 2014 at 9:51 am

    “Darth and Worky: You know I am English, right.”.

    Yes we do, GS. You’re doing missionary work in Chicago. May God watch over you :)

  142. GS @ 163#

    The Grand jury that recently decided there was no case against officer Pantaleo, consisted of around forty eight witnesses.

    Twenty of which were civilians, the other 28 being NYC policemen.

    Pantaleo, has a history of being charged three times, for physical attacks on civilians.

    Plus the whole thing had been captured on film.

    Staten island is both the whitest and most conservative of the five boroughs, that make up NYC.

    The findings of the Grand Jury, have not been made public.

    Go figure !

    Darth Broon and Worky

    Lets not get into some game of numbers here, in regard to how bad our respective police forces are.

    We all know about what goes on within both systems.

    Are the public executions of De-Menzes and Duggan, not enough.

    And what about the political whitewashes following those incidents, where no one was held responsible, nor did any of the top Met people admit to any responsibility.

    Unfortunately as I stated above, most police systems are corrupt and the whole mentality has to change.

    But again unfortunately, it’s been that way since Mr Peel and his Bow Stret runners and is not about to change, not in our lifetime anyway.

  143. On another level most police forces have changed radically over the last twenty years where shootings occurred using the old 38 caliber revolver.

    Nowadays police are armed with at least a twelve shot automatic and geared up from military leftover equipment, in fact becoming as deadly as is possible.

    Most have these SWAT teams, using military tactics.

    One sees the degree of violence from your (worky) tape where it’s commonplace to beat the living shit out of whoever is unfortunate to not get in their way, as the enemy is anyone not wearing a blue uniform.

    One thing coming out of these recent killings, is the fact the entire country is both upset and demand change in the way these police departments operate.

    I mean to kill people over walking on an empty street, or for what has yet to be proven, that one victim was selling untaxed smokes is not only absurd but oppressive
    in nature.

    The phone camera and their own devices the CCTv’s are another and could certainly give some of these cops pause for thought in future confrontations.

    Use them if the situation arises.

  144. chuck says:
    December 5, 2014 at 6:38 pm

    “Lets not get into some game of numbers here, in regard to how bad our respective police forces are.”.

    “Are the public executions of De-Menzes and Duggan, not enough.”

    They’re more than enough. Two more than enough, I’d say, and. If only they were the only ones to have died at the hands of a UK police force when they should have had their day in court at worst. As I said before: A single, solitary ex officio execution anywhere is unacceptable whatever the circumstance: whether it’s in the form of a premeditated assassination, which may have happened in the case of Mark Duggan, or the beating to death of a suspect in custody, as in the case of Liddle Towers (and more people since).

    In any case, there’s no “game of numbers” being played here, and I didn’t write what I did to provoke any kind of argument. But there’s a *very large* difference between the number of “death caused by police action” incidents per capita between the USA and any other developed country and I think you should be wondering why that is, not questioning whether it’s a relevant statistic.

  145. A cause célèbre from the seventies that most of us from the UK will remember.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liddle_Towers

    I was working at Age Concern in Bishop Auckland during my gap year at the time of the second inquest held at the town hall, and I skived off one day with a mate in the hope of sitting in the public gallery for one of the days of the proceedings.

    We didn’t get in because we arrived late, but I always remember how polite the police standing in attendance outside the town hall were to us – even when we started taking the p|ss about how things might have happened on the fateful night. Might not have looked too good, a burly copper smacking a couple of cheeky kids round the head outside an inquest into a death in police custody.

  146. Aye, I used to have that particular gramaphone record, worky. I remember it well.

    They also released the song “Never ‘ad Nonthin” a year or so later about the death of Paul Howe, an 18 year old lad who was shot and killed by Essex Police after the shooting injury of a policeman at a petrol station in Chelmsford (and a hostage taking incident in Ramsey).

    I remember the smug middle-aged copper who shot him posing at a TV press conference with the shotgun he’d used to do the dirty deed. He was actually showing it off to the cameras.

    Shocking. Essex police spent the next month apologising for that ‘PR blunder’ – while continuing to spin the fact they shot a teenage boy without any attempt to disarm him by any other means.

  147. Best question on the news this morning was “how many people have been killed by face sitting?” It’s now banned from UK porn. Female ejaculation is also banned, but male ejaculation isn’t. ‘Fisting’ gets the elbow along with ‘watersports’ and lots of S&M like spanking and caning are now outlawed too. You can’t ban spanking and caning in the UK, it’s like banning Uncle Sam and Mom’s apple pie in the US. Nobody likes being firmly disciplined more than Judges, so how can tbey pass judgement on it?

  148. DarthBroon says:
    December 5, 2014 at 11:52 pm

    “Aye, I used to have that particular gramaphone record, worky. I remember it well.”

    I still have it, Darth. I still play gramophone records on my turntable.

  149. workyticket says:
    December 5, 2014 at 11:58 pm

    ‘Fisting’ gets the elbow’.

    I tried picturing that one for a fraction of a second, worky, but my mind just wouldn’t allow it.

    And ‘watersports’? Well, that’s next weekend’s trip to Coniston out’ the window :)

  150. I don’t actually have any records any more, worky. I haven’t had any for some time. I persuaded myself that I ought to renew my collection as CD’s in the 80’s (after trading in my vinyl collection).

    I haven’t even bought a CD for a couple of years. Just downloads of mp3’s and, of course, I’ve ripped my CD’s as mp3s.

    I miss gatefold sleeves. I miss my wonderful Linn Sondek turntable (and less-than-wonderful Sinclair kit self-build amp I used to plug it into).

  151. I still have an LP12, I’ve always fancied Garrard 301s and those Clockwork Orange style Michell Transcriptors too. My first amp was a Naim Audio, but it was a real home made job built in a shed which was like a kit. It went DC eventually. The JBE was an underestimated turntable in it’s day too.

    Going from an LP12 to CD to downloads is a terrible slide into sonic awfulness. Then again, nearly all mastering sounds totally unlistenable nowadays thanks to severe overnormalisation and the loudness wars.

  152. Cracking band, the Upstarts. I can remember buying their “Teenage Warning” album, on which they had a much better version of “The Young Ones” than Cliff could muster.

  153. They’re still going, Hugh. No one ever seems to knock it on the head now, or if they did, they seem to get pulled back into some kind of comeback. As I said earlier, theres nothing new now because everyone is so boring and stupid nowadays. Everything has to be recycled from the old days when people were alive and had some kind of consciousness.

  154. You can’t fault the effort. I think the commentator said Chelsea haven’t conceded in 8 hours.

  155. Waddler is saying we lack that bit of quality but if you think about it Fabregas cost more than our whole starting team today.

  156. There was just an ad on saying Bulova are the official watch of Manchester United. That is sort of bullsh!t but it makes you think about how bad we are at modern corporate sponsorship – Wonga are the official corrupt leeches on society of Newcastle United.

  157. GS, if Newcastle United had progressed the way other teams had since 1997-8, it would have had an annual turnover of around £180 million in the 2012-13 season, which would put it 13th on the football rich list that year, somewhere inbetween Spurs and Liverpool.

  158. Excellent, despite the timekeeper’s best attempts to give Chelsea every chance.

    Nail-biting stuff surviving the onslaught of the last 15 minutes though.

  159. Time to cheer on Liverpool. I normally don’t because of their supporters’ sense of entitlement and the fact that even the most boring Scouser thinks they are funny thanks to some myth. I mean, if Tarby and Boardman are your yardstick then it has to be a myth, right.

  160. GS says:
    December 6, 2014 at 3:00 pm

    “I mean, if Tarby and Boardman are your yardstick then it has to be a myth, right.”

    It’s John Bishop carrying the standard for Scouse comedians now. You’ve probably never heard of him over there, but that’s probably a good thing.

  161. Highly entertaining game, certainly not the NUFC that played Burnly, but then we never know who’s going to show up.

    Definitely raised their game to-day, everyone contributing 100%.

    If we get that much effort during the latter part of the season, who knows where we could end up.

    The fast break is looking better by the game and with our pace, suit’s us.

    One can sense the opposition panic a bit, hey! practice makes perfect.

  162. Worky: I recorded the game and will watch it again and count the hoofs. Totally unscientific, but I will count just the hoofs including from the goalies. It feels different somehow. Last season every hoof from Williamson and especially Krul seemed to be pinged straight back at us and the opposition were able to set up again.

  163. I do like Jose but to blame defeat on the ball boys was laughable. Maybe they held onto the ball a bit longer in the 6 minutes of injury time, but as was said earlier where did that 6 minutes come from anyway?

    If it was Pardew making this excuse I would have hung him out to dry and laughed by b0llocks off.

    Now Jak Alnwick is in for a bit of a baptism of fire – Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Man U, Mackems, Everton. F@ck me that is a hard schedule. Thankfully Mackems is away as they have really turned us over at SJP, time for Colback to twist the knife.

  164. GS, it was 43 hoofs and 8.8% for Chelsea and 63 hoofs and 19.9% for Newcastle. Chelsea passed the ball around twice as many times as Newcastle (317/627).

    Chelsea have history with blaming ballboys. Do you remember when Swansea knocked them out of the League Cup? The Swansea ballboy just wouldn’t let them have the ball back, he was lying on top of it and Hazard was trying to kick it from under the ballboy. It looked like live child abuse in front of millions.

  165. Back on the subject of the Angelic Upstarts, the song below wasn’t their wisest political cause in hindsight, ie joining with the CIA to support the arming a load of Islamist nutters who would eventually spread terror throughout the world.

  166. Worky

    I have already described Pardews tactical plan, it’s his version of the old catenaccio, using Tiote as the Libero or sweeper in front of the back four.

    It certainly is not a thing of beauty, but effective, especially when you have a lot of pace, like the present Newcastle side and tends to create a certain nervousness in the opposition, they being reluctant to commit defenders forward and leaving themselves open to a fast breaking side.

    And how about BSA, who has taken West Ham to a third place spot, looks like hoofball and it’s variations presently are enjoying a bit of success, though not a thing of beauty as I mentioned.
    somewhat

  167. It will be interesting to see what Pardew does with the return of DeJong, who was bought as a playmaker or behind the striker come goalscorer.

    Certainly young Perez could use more support and with Cisse regaining his scoring touch, (he’s getting more opportunities)) that combination of Perez (who can also lay the ball off) and Cisse may turn out to be quite effective.

    Looks like Colback has forced himself into the side and I like his aggressive style, too bad Anita.

    If Tiote was capable of passing the ball like Cabaye, the offers would be pouring in for him, but it’s a weakness in his game, that could keep him at St James”.

    Janmaat is looking good, both defensively and as an attacking wing back, certainly an able replacement for Debuchy, possibly better.

    Like the combo of Sammy and Haidarra on the left side, who work well to-gether and with game time are steadily improving.

    Cabella has to up his game, but lets give him a season to get it right, because so far he’s been unimpressive.

    Both the captain and Taylor have gave it their all, impressing in defense and young Dummett, though not spectacular, has shown he’s not out of place slotting into the CD role.

    Sissoko ! what can one say, the man has been outstanding, with his runs up-field and scares the hell outta defenders as he just appears to go by them effortlessly, no doubt the best player in the side.

    However we have to sort out the striker role, either use Perez and Cisse and also bring in a proven scorer, because it appears there are those recently brought in as panic buys, who are just not gonna make it.

    The side also needs at least one decent CD, as our present lot are subject to injuries and Colo. is close to his sell by date, with Marveaux HBA and Yanga M’biwa
    up for grabs, should help finance a decent defender.

  168. chuck says:
    December 7, 2014 at 3:54 pm

    “Worky

    “I have already described Pardews tactical plan, it’s his version of the old catenaccio,”

    Not the Catenaccio again, Chuck. Are you trying to rattle my cage again? I won’t do the essay this time.

    I was looking at the stadiums for the World Cup in Qatar, and I noticed this time that the architect of one of the Stadiums, the only architect named was a certain ‘ALBERT SPEER and Partner.’ Of all the architects they just had to pick the son of Hitler’s architect. It’s like Mel Brooks’ ‘the Producers’ and they’re trying to do a world cup so wrong and so offensive it is guaranteed to fail.

    http://www.theguardian.com/football/gallery/2010/dec/02/world-cup-2022-qatar-stadiums-pictures

  169. I am surprised that there haven’t been stories saying that Pardew outcoached Mourihno and that just goes to show how stupid Newcastle supporters were for calling for his head. I have seen quite a few reactions like this on the replies in The Guardian and Telegraph match reports from “neutrals”. They didn’t have to watch the sh!t every game like we did and the Newspaper reporters are a bunch of turncoats, stirring the sh!t one minute and then smugly saying we told you to be patient the next, when they so obviously didn’t. Some of the players did, but that is a cozy boys club so they were bound to stick together – wouldn’t want to upset their golf buddies!

    I don’t know what my point is :) Except, we were not delusional to call for Pardew to be sacked whatever our current run. That 6 months at the end of last season was some of the most dire stuff I have ever seen, even against seasons when we were relegated.

  170. GS says:
    December 7, 2014 at 9:12 pm

    “I am surprised that there haven’t been stories saying that Pardew outcoached Mourihno and that just goes to show how stupid Newcastle supporters were for calling for his head.”

    Pardew critics (and Hatem Ben Arfa fans) are getting lynched on the Chronic now, GS.

    Darth, Didn’t Sugar want to put David Moyes in Pardew’s job? I always think exactly things when Pardew wins (he won’t get his head down the tunnel etc…). He’s even doing what I call his ‘Toreador’ fist pump again now where he spins right around. When he does that, he’s absolutely full of it.

  171. GS says:
    December 7, 2014 at 10:02 pm

    “Darth: you don’t find it ironic Alan Sugar talking about ego and big heads?”

    I had a quick look at his Twitter (for the first time) and him and Piers Morgan seem to think of each other as egotisitcal big heads too. :-)

  172. GS says:
    December 7, 2014 at 10:02 pm

    “Darth: you don’t find it ironic Alan Sugar talking about ego and big heads?”

    My enemy’s enemy is my friend, GS ;-)

    I’d draw the line at Piers Morgan though, worky. There are some things I wouldn’t stoop to just to get rid of Pards.

  173. Speaking serendipitously (might have made a word up there): Obviously, I’d have Ashley and Pardew in the front two holes of my real world whack-a-mole game.

    But I’d have Piers Morgan in the second row. And Jeremy Clarkson. Then David Cameron. And George Osborne.

  174. Worky: In the summer, and especially after Stoke, nobody was defending Pards on the Chronic site and there was downright anger. Even Ed Harrison had put away his poms poms and rah rah skirt with the initials AP on it.

    It is amazing to see people rewrite history.

    I can’t fathom how Pardew has affected this change because I never thought he had it in him. I am a NUFC fan though so however he did it I am much happier watching the games now. He is still a total gobshite mind.

  175. WORKY

    Actually it has nothing to do with rattling your cage as you put it.

    The fact is Pardew has employed that same particular system since he arrived at Newcastle.

    He employs Tiote in the Libero position in front of the back four, plus concentrates on defense.

    That interspaced by a long ball pacey counter-attacks, which if not based on the Catenaccio, (invented in the 1930’s) comes as close to it as any known tactical approach.

    And yes if you want to get technical, there are variations of that particular game, but the basic tactical approach is as close to the catenaccio, as can be.

    For the most part it’s a system that he played twenty odd years ago (direct football) and has learned very little about the modern game since, regardless of what he might claim.

    We have watched, and made up our minds, in regard to what he claimed to be doing tactically, which was no more than an attempt to confuse and con those who actually understood what happened.

    In the end what it boils down to is, get ten men behind the ball and when the opportunity arises hoof it up the field to break out using the pace of our present side.

    It’s neither an entertaining nor creative style of football, one that enabled the Greeks to win the European Championship, a few years ago, but it can be effective, though god (or somebody) save us from watching a side that plays that particular system.

    Problem is it’s easily sussed and adjusted for, ergo our record of a number of wins, followed be an equal number of losses.

    Never mind, nothing last’s forever, though that eight year contract does bother me.

  176. Chuck says:
    December 8, 2014 at 5:46 am

    “He employs Tiote in the Libero position in front of the back four, plus concentrates on defense.”

    Chuck, a ‘Libero’ goes behind the other defenders in 1 – 3 formation. He is never a defensive midfielder who plays in front of a back four.

  177. GS says:
    December 7, 2014 at 11:33 pm

    “Worky: In the summer, and especially after Stoke, nobody was defending Pards on the Chronic site and there was downright anger. Even Ed Harrison had put away his poms poms and rah rah skirt with the initials AP on it.

    “It is amazing to see people rewrite history.”

    GS, the difference between intelligence and stupidity is memory. Intelligent people remember things and can connect them better than stupid people. Most of the people on the Chronic are of low intelligence, hence they don’t have very good memories. They’ll think and say something one minute and then just forget it and say something totally different the next.

  178. People have been conned for years into thinking that dirty, smoky disgusting diesel cars are somehow actually good for the planet, though they give children brain damage and can cause schizophrenia and many other things. 25% of all air pollution comes from diesel cars and they’re going to be banned eventually. The thing is though that people knew that Diesels were dirty decades ago. You can see and taste how toxic it is.

  179. Well, I knew it would happen, Pardew has found the holy grail. Mark Douglas is asking how de Jong will fit in Pardew’s new system in the Chronicle implying he might not get a game. Tony Cascarino says Pardew “has the aura of a top four manager” and wonders what would happen if he was given a chance at a big club with a big budget.

    FFS, Chelsea had 26 shots on Saturday, 26. That means we rode our luck. Great win as it was, lets not get all hysterical and ahead of ourselves.

  180. GS says:
    December 8, 2014 at 11:08 am

    “Pardew ‘has the aura of a top four manager”

    But we’re not in the top four, we’re seventh. Pardew has never finished in the top four.

    Cascarino has the same foot in mouth problem as Pardew. Pardew said that Ched Evans (of all people) had been “raped” by Michael Essien. Cascarino once said that Arsenal’s Armand Traore had a “holocaust” of a game when Arsenal lost 8-2 to Man U. That would have been even worse if he’d been talking about a Spurs player.

    GS says:
    December 8, 2014 at 11:08 am

    “Great win as it was, lets not get all hysterical and ahead of ourselves.”

    You can’t stop Geordies getting all hysterical and ahead of themselves though, GS. It’s like trying to stop a dog from chasing sausages.

  181. As if we don’t have to look at enough advertising already.

    “We can track where people walk, we can track what people do, we can track what their needs and desires are and so this is leading to massive opportunities for advertisers to utilise that data and deliver new kinds of experiences to people in urban environments.”

    Stuff like that used to be called an Orwellian nightmare, now City planners just talk about it openly as if it’s normal, because it is normal.

  182. GS
    234 You’re right there, that’s probably the reason that Jose had that weary smile at the end. He knew we had dodged several bullets. Same thing happened with Arsenal and ManU two weeks back. It’s happened to us as well, so we just have to thanks the football gods occasionally.
    Big difference in our team now is that we have some players that seem to be able to adapt to situations more as they change. Our style and tactics hasn’t changed much.

    I find it amusing when we have countries like China and America talking about reducing pollutants by 2030, we could all be dead by then!!

    The other thing in the news that is getting up my nose is where MPs are debating increasing ‘Aid’ by over 100% and that other Euro countries are saying thank you we will decrease ours in that case. Seems that we are all mugs!!

  183. Grumpy Old Toon says:
    December 8, 2014 at 3:51 pm

    “Our style and tactics hasn’t changed much.”

    It has though Grumpy, from one extreme to another. From the start to Hull we tried to play like Arsenal but we couldn’t win a game. Pardew then went to the opposite extreme, firstly a kind of intermediary game against Stoke, then it was the full monty from Swansea onwards. Krul was even rolling out the ball to a defender sometimes early in the season instead of hoofing it every time. The new players like Cabella the no 10 and Riviere weren’t working and the team weren’t making chances. Cisse has been the big factor though.

  184. Grumpy Old Toon says:
    December 8, 2014 at 3:51 pm

    “The other thing in the news that is getting up my nose is where MPs are debating increasing ‘Aid’ by over 100% and that other Euro countries are saying thank you we will decrease ours in that case. Seems that we are all mugs!!”

    Who says that, Grumpy?

    In recent years, the UK has met a self imposed target to increase overseas aid from 0.5% to 0.7% already and simply aims to maintain it. Most of it is spent on stuff like stopping people dying from totally preventable diseses like Diarrhea and Malaria for the sake of pennies per person, then there’s stuff like educating children who otherwise wouldn’t be educated, building up organisations and infrastructure in very poor countries like Ethiopia and Bangladesh etc. British companies make an absolute fortune using cheap labour working in the most awful conditions in places like Bangladesh. Overseas aid covers alot of things though. In the US it includes giving billions every year to Israel for arms.

    Most of the UK’s aid goes to Scotland via the Barnett formula to fund things like free prescriptions and free University education for everyone apart from the English. As far as overseas aid goes, I think that Afghanistan and Bangladesh are the biggest recipients from the UK. Bits of Bangladesh are disappearing thanks to sea level rises, it’s paying the price for the West’s overconsumption of energy.

    Countries like Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands still give more in aid proportionately than we do.

  185. Worky @236: I can hardly watch American TV anymore because of the deluge of ads. After almost 25 years here I have reached saturation point. I mainly watch football and pay channels like HBO now. I’ll record a few things and FF through the ads. If you have ever been here you will know what I mean.

    Sky seemed a bit like that when I was back and the channels in hotels also.

    I know a little bit about economics, and you would think there would be a point of diminishing returns where consumers would tune it out so the networks would be able to charge less per minute. I suppose Americans were brought up on this and are used to it.

    American Football is almost impossible to watch because of all the ad breaks.

    It is “Green” Monday today. Walmart and Amazon extended Cyber Monday to Cyber Week and then gave me a “second chance” to buy cr@p yesterday.

  186. GS says:
    December 8, 2014 at 7:54 pm

    “If you have ever been here you will know what I mean.”

    It was like that even before you were there. I seem to recall that it was more seamless there, like the ads would mix in with the TV programme so you could hardly tell the difference. We get bombarded with more and more ads all the time over here too nowadays though. It isn’t just TV, my mobile is going off all the time with people trying to sell me stuff and loads of automatic recorded calls about my “claim” when I not claiming for anything. Just today I’ve had my current phone and broadband provider phoning me from India asking me why I haven’t signed up for their Sky offer when they’ve already phoned me several times asking exactly the same question. I’ve also had BT telling me to switch back to them and when you try and decline politely they just ignore you and keep blathering on until you have to start getting quite rude or just switch the phone off.

  187. Worky

    I’ve got no problem helping out the poorer countries as long as it actually goes to the needy. I’m always suspicious that much of the aid goes into the wrong pockets.

    I was writing re. an article in the DT who say that Aid spending will double in proportion to Whitehall spending by the end of the decade. So yes I probably did get it wrong. Still don’t get why we are given aid to countries with expanding economies such as India and (I think) China.

    Anyway we have Leicester away and Gateshead have West Brom away. so two easy games for the Tyneside duo!!

  188. GS, I think there is a kind of saturation point where further advertising of a particular product no longer affects sales very much and isn’t cost effective.

  189. Grumpy, people like UKIP have been perpetuating some huge myths about overseas aid as well as newspapers like the Mail and the Telegraph. The truth is that we don’t give any aid to China. Aid to India has reduced rapidly over the last few years, and ends completely next year.

    As for aid going into the wrong pockets, the UK is actually pretty good at that and was the second most transparent in the world behind the UN Development Programme.

  190. Worky

    The term libero, meaning freedom, means exactly that, the freedom to roam, either in front or behind the back line, which can be either a four or three player lineup.

    As I stated above, there are numerous versions and lineups that can and have been used with this system.

    And as our great tactical genius, has used variations of these tactics since his arrival, apart from occasions where he attempted to experiment with a short lived short passing, possession game, but for the most part immediately reverting to his tried and proven defensive long ball game.

    At present a fit Tiote fills that role, sitting in front of the back four, a player who plays an aggressive and at times overly physical game, but lacks the vision to pick out the killer pass, or push forward, being the link-up between defense and attack.

    He can certainly keep the oppositions heads up, but just doesn’t have the overall skills for that particular role, made famous by Beckenbaur.

    Hell if we are offered a decent price, sell him and place Sissoko into the role, here’s a guy who can do it all, can put his foot in, pick out the killer pass or run through the opposition, he was made for that role and we all are aware he can run all day long.

    Could someone get that message to Pardew.

  191. On the other hand, the game played by both ourselves and any of BSA’s sides, is certainly not pretty to watch, a percentage game based on long ball football, and in BSA’s case closely controlled, with numerous practiced set plays.

    Certainly in Pardews case their appears to be fewer if any practiced plays in regard to free kicks or corners, the results confirm that.

    However Sam unlike Pardew does not employ a libero,
    which IMO Pardews game hinges on, giving the defense an extra player to pack the back line, which in turn makes it more difficult to break down, without employing more players forward.

    That in turn makes them more susceptible to the counter, which was exactly what happened to Mourinho’s Chelsea.

    Plus we exploited Chelsea by playing wide, spreading their defense, whereas they continued to attack into a packed middle.

    Well for the most part, it reminded me of the most unlikely win for the Greek side that beat Portugal, in the Euro championship a few years back.

    Yeah every so often the catenaccio makes a comeback, in a variation of it’s original Swiss concept.

  192. The death of Catenaccio

    Cruyff 2, Catenaccio 0 in the 1972 European Cup final.

    A year and a bit after that Ajax destroyed AC Milan 6-0 in the Cup Winners Cup final and Catenaccio died out. It had been sussed.

  193. Worky @247: you are assuming Pardew knows football history? He is much more likely to be reading Tony Robbins.

  194. GS says:
    December 9, 2014 at 1:22 am

    “Worky @247: you are assuming Pardew knows football history? He is much more likely to be reading Tony Robbins.”

    Nothing to do with Pardew, I was just showing Chuck the death of Catenaccio. That’s what it was called.

  195. worky

    Exactly! what had become known as total football, a system deployed by the Dutch was the answer to the then Italian inspired catenaccio system.

    However as I suggested above, it has had it’s resurgence on various occasions, primarily by the Greek national side in the European championship against a decent Portuguese side, no?

    Look there’s no doubt in my mind that our present manager, as he, being during his rather unremarkable career as defensive player, has introduced a new version of the catenaccio.

    It’s actually not a new approach, yes it’s painful to watch, but in certain circumstance has proved to be effective in this league.

    Hell get used to it, does anyone on this blog really expect Pardew to come up with anything new, in a tactical sense.

    He’s already twenty years or so, behind the times as far as tactics are concerned and the modern game and never will become anything special, regardless of his psychobabble.

    It’s a good idea to keep this in mind as far as the ambitions of the club are concerned, still looking at a tenth or lower finish for the season, unless things change.

  196. Yes, interesting to note Pardew’s different body language, from hiding in the dugout to his resent elaborate goal celebration, captured above.

    Plus his “couldn’t wait to shake hands with Mourinho
    scene”, where he was greeted with a limp handed shake and general disinterest.

    Ate we now to be treated to an ever increasing number of goal salute’s, perhaps he should take dance classes, as his pirouette was quite impressive, doncha think ?

  197. Foreign aid ?

    Nowt but a ploy to get rid of surplus food and create a dependency and gain a certain degree of control over the policies of the receptive government.

    Also a market for arms sales and other manufactured goods for the doner nation and an open door policy which gives entry to foreign banks and other businesses, which usually compete successfully against those of the host nations.
    Though many poor countries are aware of this, pressures from the World Bank and the IMF, ensure they co-operate.
    Look nothing is given without strings attached in our modern day world.

  198. Chuck, as I mentioned above at some stage, I call that one the ‘Toreador.’ Just imagine he’s holding a cape and there’s a big bull going under his arm.

  199. Arsenal pounding Galatasaray away. Nil – 3 at the moment.

    If anyone’s watching the Liverpool V Basle game on ITV1, this is altogether better fare – if a bit worrying for the weekend.

    Ramsey’s got 2 so far.

  200. Yes obviously he’s been influenced by he Spanish, players knee slides and general imitations of the matador.

    Something as far as i’m concerned, the game can do without, which i’m sure the groundkeepers are not great fans of.

    The goalscoring celebrations are not something that I enjoy and in the day would have been looked at as a form of taunting, something we see everyday in many US pro. sports.

    Which the NBA has incorporated into it’s rules of the game book, due to the “in your face” increasingly aggressive nature, which only leads to friction between sides.

    Yes one can give up a foul for deliberate taunting.

    I realize the removal of ones shirt in euro leagues usually results in a yellow card, with some fans objecting, screw it every player knows prior that it could result in a card, so why do it, if it stopped to-morrow, no one would care.

    That goes for all the dances, air pumps, and whatever players use to distinguish themselves from other or to celebrate.

    Yeah, I realize it’s like diving, a cultural thing, that comes with introducing foreign players to the PL, but IMO it’s a time consuming and over the top celebration, that wouldn’t be missed from the game if they were classified the same as the removal of one’s shirt.

    Yeah, bah humbug, but that’s not all, it must be mind destroying to have to listen to some jerk in the stadium, constantly banging on a base drum for ninety minutes, as well as listening to the incessant whistling we hear from continental fans.

    They should take a lesson from the South African WC, where most watching fans had to lower the audio because of those awful sounding vavuzelas.

    Hey! if the can ban rattles they can ban anything and perhaps clubs themselves can introduce certain rules regarding noisemaking and time wasting celebrations.

    Cause most fans came to see a football game, not some player writhing on the ground, looking for an academy award for diving, or running around waving his shirt, or even ripping up the turf with slides into the nearest corner, chased by a bunch of team-mates attempting to hug and kiss him, no wonder the goal-scorer attempts to avoid being caught.

  201. On the scoring of a goal, a brisk handshake should suffice.

    I think all this stand up after 16 minutes, applaud after 21 minutes, show your arse after 32 minutes business is starting to get a bit out of hand now.

  202. Even taking that sentence as intended, worky, the possibility is too funny for words.

    As if the club would be daft enough to sell one of our best players in the middle of a season where a top five slot is a real possibility.

    Pardew would never stand for it, for one thing. Far too much integrity, that man ;-)

  203. Well, I think Brendan’s lack of experience and big head has let him down. Being Mourihno’s youth coach and two weeks at La Masia might not qualify him to coach Liverpool. Last season now seems like a Suarez induced mirage.

    He talked about entering into Liverpool folk law tonight and tried to do so with a vainglorious effort to get Stevie G to relive the past. Unfortunately, the story will read that they were dumped out of the Champion’s League by a relative minnow due to naive tactics and Brendan’s inability to use the over 100 million of talent they acquired for this tournament.

    It seems that Liverpool, and especially Brendan, were in the Champions League over their heads and last season was a one off. Hell, in the League he was even outcoached by our fearless leader.

    I think Brendan may have been found out to be a two trick pony. The first trick (Suarez) has left and now he is left with his possession game with no idea what to do with the ball in the final third – I don’t think the journeyman Lambert was the answer (Yeah, ostracize Andy Carroll and replace him with a sh!tter version).

    I doubt Fenway Sporting Group will be as forgiving as Mike Ashley.

  204. Gerrard’s legs have gone, everyone can see it. And yet Brendan asks for a reprise of his Glory Days. Naive or stupid? Sorry Chuck, but he is your fave and this and last years game at Palace show he has balls and ego but this might not be matched by his knowledge and ability? Discuss…

  205. “Super Me” by Pardew

    http://www.themag.co.uk/the-mag-articles/alan-pardew-credit-mike-ashley-also-credit/

    “It’s credit to the owner and also credit to me because I have had to dig in a few times.”

    No credit due, Al. A match made in hell. An incompetent toad with the skin of a rhino employed by an evil, chiselling tosser who’d put Bradley Hardacre to shame.

    And all the happy-clappy w@nkers at the Stepford End are absolutely JIZZING themselves because we beat Chelsea. They’re busy stamping down on all the “pardew haters” across all of the comments sections (and they certainly aren’t ALL astroturfers – some of the spelling and grammar would put monkeys to shame). The Cabaye sale and the freefall at the (very long) end of last season has all been forgotten, or ridiculously rationalised away.

    This sh|t is torture. And it seems like it’ll go on for ever.

  206. Since it is the holidays I will use a Christmas analogy. You ask and ask and ask your Parents for a new bike and you tell them which one you want and then after only a few days of use it lies idle in the garage for months. This is what Brendan has done with his new signings :)

    I might be contradicting myself but getting 2nd even with Suarez is a good achievement so I think he deserves until the end of the season to see if he has to get on that bike and ride out of Liverpool.

  207. Just to finish on Brendan. I am actually shocked that he managed to so monumentally f@ck up. I thought Lallana was a good signing and that he might be the one to finally integrate Balotelli. They needed squad depth for Europe and that’s what they got. He should have trusted them more and a waning Stevie G less.

    There you go, Liverpool and the world according to GS :)

  208. Darth @262: I try to block out the ownership and managerial sh!t when we are doing well and try to enjoy it. Deep down I know there will be a collapse because of Pardew’s history but I still live in hope.

    When we were on that run during the season we finished 5th I took a friend to watch us live at a “soccer” bar. He doesn’t know much about football but he is a sports fan and up for a pint at 9am. It happened to be Spurs away and he asked “is it supposed to be 4 zero so soon”? I will never trust Pardew because all he does is make me look stupid :)

  209. Darth: didn’t he thank himself for the summer recruitment as well? I am sure he did. You have to love Mr. Modesty, it was only about 6 weeks ago that he had the pallor of a ghost, ran down the tunnel after the game and conducted 15 second after-match interviews. Now he is Brian Clough!

  210. It appears from recent reports, the club are seriously looking at a young striker , presently playing for Anderlecht.

    Aleksandar Mitrovic, a twenty year old Serbian, (no he’s neither Dutch nor French) but does play for a Dutch side Anderlecht.

    Apparently the 6′-2″ striker, has impressed and could be available during the upcoming window, but certainly not for what has been suggested (between ten and fifteen million quid) just cant see Ashley splurging that kinda money on an as yet proven goal scorer.

    Though a decent lower offer, may land him.

    Wouldn’t it be nice to see a couple of twenty year olds, playing a similar role to that of Shearer and Bellamy.

    With Mitrovic the target and hold up man and Perez doing the running.

    As I suggested earlier on this blog, around twenty is a lot better than some sixteen year old, as one can better judge someone on the cusp of becoming a successful player, or not.

    It’s interesting to see, how the club took a gamble on young Perez (though they didn’t have to pay a lot) and it could still be a gamble, but one that looks better by the game.

    However, the asking price is a lot more for Metrovic and
    unless there is a guarantee of a decent profit when we eventually sell him, I doubt if Ashley will take that gamble.

    Instead going for Burnly’s Danny Inge, who has PL experience and is playing well, also not yet in the ten million price range, but versatile enough to play on the wing and contribute a few goals.

    The goal is to add to the quality of the side, by selling those unwanted, HBA, Marveaux, Yanga M’Biwa, presently not with but still owned by NUFC, also those fringe players presently out on loan.

    Which will help in acquiring replacements, Inge coming in as a winger, plus Metrovic up front and at least one decent central defender.

    It also appears from media reports Tiote could be on the block, with sides like Arsenal and Liverpool interested, he would put a bit of back-bone in their sides.

    Leaving us with Sissoko, who can fill that role sitting in front of a back four, but also capable of finding the perfect pass, or carry the ball up-field, ghosting past the opposition, with an engine that makes him the perfect box to box midfielder.

  211. There has been a lot of speculation recently concerning Ashley’s relationship with Rangers.

    The SFA and other sources have stated that dual ownership of both Rangers and NUFC would prevent both clubs from taking part in any euro. tournaments.

    Yes it’s a bit complicated and I won’t bother you with details, especially the fact Ashley believes he has the right as a so called minority (8.9% of shares) shareholder.

    When in fact he has control of the board, recently demonstrating that by effectively insisting on changes to the board, getting rid of two possibly obstructive members and replacing them with two of his choice.
    One of which we know very well, Llambias the ex gambling casino employee and footballing genius.

    So what is the long range plan, will he attempt to justify a position of being a minority shareholder, although being the current prime mover as to what happens in every business sense.

    For instance if NUFC are interested in the young Scottish
    Midfielder currently playing for Rangers “MacLeod”, who is there to stop him from signing him ?

    It’s my theory, Ashley would like to own both sides, with the least investment possible, get Rangers back to the SPL and post Sports Direct signs all over Ibrox, hoping Rangers will again become perennial Euro champions competitors.

    He already owns the naming rights to Ibrox and has the availability to sell fifty thousand jerseys to Ranger fans.

    But my concern is certainly not with Rangers, there are enough crazies among the fans there to keep him fully occupied, but what will become of NUFC if he is forced to divest of one club or the other.
    Hopefully it’s Newcastle that goes on the block and any sale will be to an owner who is interested in winning something, anything, instead of ripping off the club for his own personal gain.

  212. Anderlecht is Belgian, Chuck. I might have seen a bit more of Mitrovic if they were Dutch.

    I wonder how many UK scouts are sniffing around Poland? German teams certainly do and they even nick the best Polish players for their national side.

    There’s a Spanish chap called Jonatan Soriano who has been banging in goals for fun for years now in the Austrian League and the Champions / Europa League but nobody seems to want to take a punt on him. I don’t really watch Austrian football but I’ve seen him in European competition. He’s scored 19 goals in 23 games in Europe. He’s 29 now though. As I said, no one seems to want to take a punt on him.

  213. Worky

    Yes of course, what was I thinking it’s in Belgium, not as good a league as the Dutch league, but has produced some pretty good players recently, plus the national side has always been decent.

    The EPL sides involved in Europe did well yesterday, with the exception of Liverpool, who it appears were a two man side, Sturridge and Suarez.

    On the Rangers front, it’s been claimed, Llambias and his recently appointed board member sidekick, are presently going through the Rangers system with a fine tooth comb, as opposed to the rumored “he didn’t do due diligence” which was claimed by some prior to Ashley’s
    takeover of Newcastle.

    Which I don’t believe for a minute, even if he didn’t go through the procedures, there’s no doubt in my mind there was very little he didn’t know about NUFC’s financial situation.

    I believe Ashley wants dual ownership and will be willing to take his case to the courts, he being a man used to getting his own way.

    Though in this particular case he would be challenging
    not only the SFA, but UEFA and possibly other governing bodies.

    Should be an interesting challenge, where we may see, others back the Ashley approach, being there are others who would no doubt like to park players as Chelsea had done using Dutch side Vetisse, to park Chelsea owned players.

    He along with partner Berezovsky in the giant oil company Sibneft, made CSKA Moscow the beneficiary of an almost sixty million dollar sponsorship.

    Which for all intents and purposes gave him (not unlike the recent Ashley Rangers situation) control but was considered otherwise.

    There was also other reasons (business and the claim he may have been lacking in Patriotism)

    So if one invests enough (bribery) one can usually find ones way around current laws or rules, which no doubt Ashley will if he so desires.

  214. As for NINE YEAR OLD Sophie Robinson, who ratted out the store Santa Claus for informing her there was no real Santa, both she and her dumb-ass family should be embarrassed.
    Every kid with a normal IQ understands that by the time they reach five, unless both she and her parents are retard’s.
    A trouble maker !

  215. Chuck after reading the comments I feel like a monster but I think she needs to wake up and smell the coffee at nine. Having said that, Children are more ruthless than Mike Ashley when it comes to presents at that age. They’ll work every angle in the book, including pretending to believe in Santa when they’ve long since figured it out.

  216. The funny bit was that the mother went to the paper with the “story” – bah humbug. The Chron happened to mention they gave a younger sibling a car seat – so well done to everybody, the whining kid, the rat mother and the opportunistic Chronicle – bah humbug again, I say. She got 20 quid out of it and her picture in the paper – can put it on her facebook page so everyone else in the family and connected and the kids who read the story will know there is no Santa – bah humbug.

  217. I looked at the article again and the bad Santa gave the 9 year old girl a skipping rope for a 3-year old :)

  218. GS says:
    December 11, 2014 at 9:07 pm

    “The Chron happened to mention they gave a younger sibling a car seat”

    GS, I’m not joking but the Chronic were bigging up the fact that the Chronic ‘Sunshine fund’ loaned a car seat so the sibling with the joint that can get dislocated could go too. Doesn’t the parent have a car seat so the bairn can travel in the car? This story gets more and more complicated the more you look into it. Of course, it goes without saying that Jesmond Santa did the business where Mackem Santa failed miserably with his three year old’s skipping rope and his cold, hard slap of reality.

  219. Hugh, I’ve seen Santa quite a few times walking down the Hornsey road. There’s a big, fat white bearded old man down that way who looks so much like him that people look at him and start to wonder.

  220. I said this Columbian lad, Carlos Bacca was good when we played Brugge twice in the Europa League, though he didn’t score against us. Newcastle could have got him for about £3-5 million back then and he was right in Graham Carr’s hunting ground in Belgium. I said he could be “as lethal as the Medellin Cartel” in my preview for one of the Brugge games. He’s a top La Liga hitman and Europa League winner with Sevilla now.

    http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/carlos-bacca/profil/spieler/119235

  221. Managers !

    Wenger ?
    The only manager to navigate a season in the EPL undefeated.

    Great ! however since then it was always a downhill slide.

    Yea ! he usually made it to the Champions league, but never looked likely to win.

    I suppose if one is looking for an excuse, it would be, a lack of funds, which were used to pay off the cost of building a new stadium.

    Now it’s paid for and is one of the most expensive if not the most expensive seat in the country, soh !what’s his excuse ?

    Don’t forget he inherited a pretty decent side on arriving at the club, with an English back four who were second to none, plus his signings were not shabby, Henri,
    Pires, Bergkamp, up front Viera running the midfield and a back four of Lauren, Keown, Cole and Campbell.

    So was it the paying off the costs of the new Emirates Stadium, that left him short of funds ?

    I doubt it with shareholders such as Kroemke and Asminov,

    The latter willing to finance, the costs of bringing in top talent.

    Kronke and the board, preventing it happening, being it didn’t meet with the clubs current business plan.

    So now with an ever increasing amount of revenue, there should be plenty of funding available, but I don’t see talent anywhere as good as those mentioned above.

    Has in fact Wenger lost his touch and is it time for new ideas or a teplacement ?

    If so I got the ideal candidate, his name is “Al. Pardew”, currently enjoying a winning streak and playing a brand new (I think) brand of football, that no one has yet figured out, plus the guy is a local (Lahndin) lad.

    Unfortunately he is two years or so into an eight year deal and would no doubt cost Arsenal an arm and a leg.

  222. Political correctness has I see almost eliminated Christmas, which was and still is, a religious holiday, before the corporate system converted it into the years biggest commercial boom.

    Here in the US, it begins immediately following the Thanksgiving holiday in November, black Friday being the day following the Thursday on which Thanksgiving falls.

    In New York, it conflicts somewhat with Hanukkah and the city having an enormous Jewish and ever increasing Islamic population, the display of Creches and any other open Christian displays, are considered non acceptable, as far as political correctness is concerned.

    And there are presently those who block the sidewalks, with Christmas trees, I looked at the price of an eighteen inch tree yesterday $15.

    Tell me what the hell has a pine tree got to do with the birthday of Christ.

    I’m sure most parents are concerned whether they can afford some of the more expensive presents on their kids wish list and may also wonder whether they have bought the correct brand name or colors.

    Goes to show how the corporate system can highjack what was a celebration of the birth of our so called Savior
    and replace it with a need to spend hard earned dosh in this economy, with pleas of “the economy won’t recover unless you spend more than you earn”, huh ?

    A good “bah humbug” to the corporate system.

    Gotta go shopping now, as I got my list, just hope I manage to buy the correct stuff as there are big sales on, bargains no less.

    There was a time when a six cents stamp would get a Christmas card from here to Europe, its increased to $1:15, and our governments are telling us there is presently no inflation.

    It’s all very confusing !

  223. joe hawkins says:
    December 12, 2014 at 3:35 pm

    “Santa is real but he was a Turk from old Asia Minor !”

    How do you explain the sleigh and the Reindeer then, Joe? If he was Turkish he’d probably deliver his presents in a beaten up old Merc. I think it was the Krauts who invented most of modern Christmas.

  224. I wonder if our Manager of the Month will have the balls to go after an obviously soft Arsenal defense and what are the odds of red for Debuchy?

    Now, Pards got MOM for November last year and then lost the plot. I hope he remembers what got him the relative success this time.

    And, has the curse of LMA Manager of the Year struck Rodgers? Worky has pointed out how it has happened to many before including Pards and Kinnear, I think.

  225. Chuck: you must have missed the commercialism discussion. It goes:

    Black Friday – Small Business Saturday – Cyber Monday – Cyber Week (because Amazon and Walmart said so) – Green Monday.

    I thought you might have mentioned Fox News’ “War on Christmas”. They get all worked up about nothing seeing anti-Christmas messages and slurs where there are none. Of course, it all has to do with Murdoch being a born again, but he is also quite hypocritacal about it as he worships at the alters of: Money first, power second, Reagan third and then Jesus.

  226. A quote from Wenger on playing Debuchy at centre back:

    “Debuchy has never played there, I asked him already,” Wenger said. “The solution I have to decide will not be ideal. It will be a gamble. But there is not a massive difference between right-back and centre-back.”

    Are you sure Arsene, are you sure? Debuchy has a tendency to jump in and make very rash challenges. Putting him in the middle full time is asking for trouble. I hope so anyway.

  227. GS says:
    December 12, 2014 at 10:26 pm

    “I thought you might have mentioned Fox News’ “War on Christmas”. They get all worked up about nothing seeing anti-Christmas messages and slurs where there are none.”

    GS, over here we had the ‘Winterval’ affair, started by Zionist, anti Muslim attack dog, Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2041765/BBC-BC-AD-debate-Our-language-hijacked-Left.html

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/article-2058830/Clarifications-corrections.html

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/nov/08/winterval-modern-myth-christmas

  228. Worky: I suppose the evocation of war to “protect” Christ and Christendom has gone on for a while before Murdoch – “Salvation Army”, “Onward Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War” etc.

  229. Murdoch uses his media empire to foist his born again ideals/ideas on the rest of us and likes to use war metaphors to get these across – so it is a WAR on Christmas according to him, when it is nothing of the sort. The WAR metaphors have been used in the same way in the past by other Christian groups with similar intentions to push their views and to moralise and justify the same way Murdoch does.

  230. Worky: here are the first 5 of the 11 beliefs that the Army are founded on:

    “We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that only they constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.

    We believe that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.

    We believe that there are three persons in the Godhead – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory.

    We believe that in the person of Jesus Christ the divine and human natures are united, so that he is truly and properly God and truly and properly man.

    We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocence, but by their disobedience they lost their purity and happiness, and that in consequence of their fall all men have become sinners, totally depraved and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.”

    So, even though they may do some good, but they are still religious nuts in their core beliefs.

  231. I will get back to football insomuch as to say I have no idea about today’s game. Arsenal look strong up front and weak at the back. We have goalkeepers with a combined experience of 45 minutes. It should be interesting.

  232. Worky, The actual true story about the bloke who the legend is based on is a better story than the fantasy we are given.
    People should pay more heed to the real story to see what the true spirit of giving is all about.

  233. I never have any luck going to see Newcastle nowadays.

    Joe, you should tell Mike Ashley about the spirit of giving, he’s just cancelled Christmas at Rangers like he did at SJP once. He really is Ebenezer Scrooge.

  234. Well, if Chuck isn’t going to do a review…

    We played into their hands today by sitting back and inviting pressure. With Taylor and Sissoko out that was never going to work – we were putting up our weakest link against their strongest. Welbeck, Giroud and Sanchez are all starters for their Natioanal teams and 9 times out of 10 they would expose Williamson/Coloccini.

    On that note, Coloccini and Williamson have proved once and for all that they have lost confidence when they play together. Williamson’s nerves make Coloccini nervous and their positioning always seems off, as it was for the first goal. Add to that Alnwick starting his first game and I thought our defense always looked like conceding.

    We missed Sissoko because Tiote didn’t have an outlet and that heaped further pressure on the defense.

    On a positive note, we did score from a set piece and never gave up even when we went 3-0 down. A feature of Pardew’s teams last year is that they would surrender and/or lose their shape after going behind. Today we still gave it a go although it was probably always going to be futile.

  235. Next week could define the season. Spurs have a tough game against Swans and hopefully will get beat to keep the White Hart Lane crowd totally subdued and unhappy. A win against the Mackems would be a tonic for a hard Christmas schedule. Given all of our injuries that would just about be enough, with anything else a bonus this calendar year.

    I am thinking at best we’ll finish 8th and worst 15th. That’s about exactly where I thought we would be when this all started although I thought it would be under a different manager.

  236. To days game said a lot, especially the fact Sissoko was missing.

    And that plodding useless jerk was inserted instead of Taylor.

    FFS when will Pardew realize that this guy Williamson, is nothing but a plodder, the guy is so slow I think I could even beat him over fifteen yards.

    We badly needed someone to take charge and get the side organized, as they played like a bunch of individuals, without a plan.

    From the opening whistle to the final minute, the side obviously had no idea how to change things, hell it’s bad enough Pardew is unable to change tactics (that’s implying , he had a tactical plan) other than during the half time period.

    While other managers simply change things, for the most part when needed.

    And with our only star out (Sissoko) the side simply couldn’t get anything going.

    Which only proves how valuable he is to the team.

    Yeah! if anyone thinks that selling Sissoko would be a good deal, sure Ashley could make a huge profit, but he had better prepare himself for the Championship if he does, as it would cost him more in the long run.

    It’s really something, this emotional rollercoaster ride, anyone listen to Pardews excuse to-day ?

    A lotta “We Wuz” and “We wuzzent’s” signifying nothing.

    I’m beginning to believe, Pardew just pencils in a bunch of names and hopes they get the job done, because I saw no change in the second half, that’s if in fact he had any plan to change.

    Face it he still has hopes of Williamson scoring, by sending him up into the box, for every corner, when in fact he has never scored from a header in his life, yes he managed to scramble one goal, his only goal since his arrival at the club, the others were own goals.

    I place him with the responsibility for any number of goals over time, which includes the first two to-day.

    Where we went wrong was we failed to defend and couldn’t create a breakout to save our lives, yeah ! Arsene has Pardew well sussed and made it look easy.

  237. Actually, 3 of the next 4 are home to teams that are below us in the table – Mackems, Everton and Burnley. We should have a few players back and we need to cross our fingers and everything else because these are winnable.

    I am worried about Alnwick. I know it was his debut but he looked very nervous and a bit lost today. Hopefully, another week with the first team (and without Williamson Chuck :) ) will help as Pardew said he basically knew nothing about him. Some are saying 17-year old Woodman might start on Wednesday. That is a double edged sword as Alnwick needs the experience but we can’t afford for him to be injured.

    We can’t get an emergency loan keeper because Darlow is on loan at Forest. I think that has to go down as an administrative oversight.

  238. Newcastle went from long ball back to mid ball in that game (Arsenal 9.4% / Newcastle 13.1%). We still haven’t had a victory without hoofing the ball over everybody.

  239. GS says:
    December 14, 2014 at 5:14 am

    “(and without Williamson Chuck :) ) ”

    It was Coloccini and Dummett up against Sanchez who were the poorer side of the defence. Willamson and Janmaat were average but Janmaat makes a huge contribution to the Newcastle attack generally this season and has been Newcastle biggest goal assistant with 4.

    I’ve always said that buying Benelux is best (ie Belgium and the Netherlands). I can’t watch the Belgian league much but I usually get to see Belgian players in the Eredivisie along with the Dutch players. Vertonghen was one, Vermaelen was another, both Belgians at Ajax. Getting back to another Dutch player, Memphis Depay is still at PSV. When I was raving about him when he was picked for the World Cup, he was worth about £4 million but he’s worth well over three times that now at 20. This is a player who was scoring for the Netherlands at 19 in the World Cup. WTF Graham Carr? Why Emmanuel Riviera from Monaco? As I said the other day, Carlos Bacca, a Columbian who played us with Brugge in the Europa League was a good, cheap striker from the Belgian League we should have gone for. He’s a top striker in Spain now and has won the Europa League with Sevilla.

  240. Well, we found out yesterday that Santi does exist because he scored two goals against us. He also looks a bit like that guy that used to have his hand up Orville the Duck’s ars@.

  241. If we buy a striker in January, can we adjust the 25 man squad by, say, dropping Facundo or Jonas (or Willianson :) ) Sorry Worky, couldn’t resist.

    I don’t agree that Williamson is as much of a liability as Chuck does but him and Coloccini together seem to have gotten a case of nerves.

  242. GS, Dummett and Coloccini were having the most problems dealing with Sanchez. He didn’t score but he was getting the most crosses through and made 2 assists. We were weaker on that side than we were on the other. Three of the four assists came from the side of Dummett and Colo.

  243. I am not meaning to pile on Williamson and will leave that to every other NUFC blog (and Chuck). If we didn’t pressure Arsenal we were always going to have trouble with Sanchez, Welbeck and Giroud.

    BTW, Rodgers will get absolutely crucified (carrying on the Christmas theme) but both teams and both defenses played pretty cr@p – tons of mistakes by everybody except De Gea. Rodgers brings it on himself though with the absolute rubbish that comes out of his mouth. He will never ever live down that statement about himself being his biggest mentor.

  244. GS says:
    December 14, 2014 at 3:29 pm

    “He will never ever live down that statement about himself being his biggest mentor.”

    David Brent or Brendan Rodgers? :-)

    I can’t believe Liverpool allowed that fly on the wall documentary to be made. Do you remember that horrible big brown photo screen print of his mug that greeted visitors to his house? It was comedy gold for the programme makers. “I don’t train players, I educate them.” Only managers like Bill Shankly and Brian Clough can get away with saying things like that but they’d won trophies and were funnier when they were being arrogant.

    http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1315005.ece/alternates/s2197/3PMRODGERS.jpg

  245. I only watched a few clips of the Liverpool mockumentary and had never seen that picture. It explains a lot.

    Routledge to Bony! Pards said Routledge wasn’t good enough for us but he has forged quite a nice career at Swans. If we were consistently top six I would agree, but then you see some of the players who turned out but didn’t turn up since he left. I mean, we kept Shola and sold Routledge. It is sometimes what the managers say as much as what they do that is annoying and Pards and Brentan are prime examples of egos gone wild.

  246. Oh, and Brentan sold Carroll and Shelvey and wanted to sell Henderson. Then bought Allen and Lambert. You can’t always “educate” players if they haven’t got the talent and these two are not league winners and I doubt if having Southampton up North will ever realise the goal of winning the league.

  247. GS says:
    December 14, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    “I only watched a few clips of the Liverpool mockumentary and had never seen that picture. It explains a lot.”

    I only saw a few clips. I saw the one with the picture of himself, and the infamous scene where he’s holding the envelopes, allegedly with the names of the players who would let him down. He then subsequently said they weren’t any names in there after all. You shouldn’t play daft games like that with people, that’s just being an annoying twat.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/11/brendan-rodgers-uses-envelopes-mind-games-bring-liverpool_n_1956945.html

    I also remember a scene where Carragher’s having to keep stopping himself from laughing. That was during Rodgers’ chillout meditation therapy sessions with some old dear.

    I’ve noticed that Chuck is a real fairweather friend. he’s abandoned his relentless trumpeting of Rodgers and Martinez now they are 10th and 13th with what should be good teams. :-)

    On the players it sounds strange but in some respects it is harder to do things like buying and selling players when you are inside the machine.

  248. I reckon that Routledge is an upmarket version of Goufran. I moaned when he was sold like yourself Worky.

    The latest kiddies book for xmas is “Where’s Hatem” :)

  249. Yes and I have noticed you haven’t mentioned either, Bony or your hero , “The Great Dane” who inherited a decent Swansea side from Rodgers, where is he now ?

    Though it seems his replacement is doing a decent job there at present, guess like in the case of Shearer great players don’t necessarily develop into great managers.

    The fact is Liverpool without last years strikers, who scored a shitload of goals, are no more than an average side.

    As for Martinez, we will see what happens to-wards the seasons end.

    Actually those are not the only sides who are not living up to expectations in the PL, just about every club have had poor runs and most fans are unhappy, other than Chelsea, but that may change as Citeh appear to be only a few points behind.

    Arsenal fans are not that happy, but West Ham with BSA at the helm are doing well, Spurs having possibly over-spent that Bale record fee are now mediocre at best.

    Don’t even ask about NUFC, who no one knows what to expect from, as Churchill put it, they are a mystery, wrapped in a puzzle inside an enigma, or something of that nature.

    But if it’s an emotional ride you want, then their rollercoaster season is enough, that combined with the bizarre antics of it’s psycho-babbling manager.

  250. chuck says:
    December 15, 2014 at 7:50 pm

    “Yes and I have noticed you haven’t mentioned either, Bony or your hero , “The Great Dane” who inherited a decent Swansea side from Rodgers, where is he now ?”

    Chuck. I’ve mentioned Bony several times recently and several other players but you probably forgot. Laudrup is in Qatar and Ronald Koeman is carrying the torch for the old ‘Dream Team’ this season. You’ve have to conceed that Brendan Rodgers is completely up his own hole, there’s simply too much evidence.

  251. I just read the Chronicle messages on a story about transfers in January and it seems that NUFC fans have turned into a bunch of accountants. Many on there are saying sell Tiote, Santon, Anita, Gouffran and Williamson with no suggestions of incomings, presumably because they are deemed not good enough and to build a transfer budget. Have they seen our injury list?

    In my opinion, these are average premier league players probably on average premier league wages so why not keep them for the squad? Some of them we are not even sure what their role is because Pards changes it from week to week.

    It is quite illuminating to see the mindset. Most fans pick their best team and a couple of back-ups and then want to get rid of the rest. Abeid in ahead of Tiote after he has started, what two games and has a broken toe :) He might turn out to be better but all I see are rushes to judgement. Hell, they even want to get rid of Sammy, I assume because he didn’t do that well on the weekend and they think Aarons is better – Aarons who has played 2 games and has been injured most of the season FFS. I think Sammy is worth a punt on and if I put MY accountants hat on he will probably come cheap.

    Why get rid of Tiote when he has a specific job and does it? He needs a playmaker next to him and looks bad when he doesn’t have one.

    It would be one thing if we could rely on Ashley to provide quality replacements but these “fans” are saying get rid of the “dead wood” – Santon, Tiote, dead wood FFS. The accompanying argument is that Gouffran and Anita are holding back other players – I thought competition for places was supposed to be good?

    The argument is usually sell to get maximum value. Next breath they are complaining that all Ashley cares about is the bottom line and is a tight bastad. The Chronic posters are fickle fans, not so much in terms of league or cup expectations, but as soon as a player has a dip in form they want rid (Cisse is the prime example). As soon as a newcomer has a good game they want rid of the incumbent.

    Riviere and Cabella are sh!t according to some although we haven’t even seen 6 months of them. I wonder how many of these fans have moved to a different city and country and seen that it takes a while to settle and not everyone adjusts at the same rate, especially if you keep getting mixed messages from your boss. And they are 22-23 years old FFS and probably being chased by every slag on Tyneside. Who of us was mature at 23 and didn’t have a few distractions?

    Oh well, it is not just NUFC fans. MUFC fans were saying RVP was past it a couple of weeks ago, now he is “back to his best” :)

  252. Chuck says @318:

    “The fact is Liverpool without last years strikers, who scored a shitload of goals, are no more than an average side.”

    The point is that Brendan spent over 100 million in the last window and I think 220 million since he has been there, so the expectation is that they should be better than average.

    Liverpool is a big step up from Reading and a few months at Swansea. Brendan has the same problem of integrating new players but seems to change even more than Pardew. You are correct though, having Suarez probably did make an average (or perhaps worse) manager look good last season.

  253. GS, Sturridge’s goals actually won more points for Liverpool last season than Suarez’s. He scored more often when it was the deciding goal in a 1-0 victory and so on. Like Katie Price, Rodgers had it all upfront. People laughed at Liverpool when they signed Suarez and Carroll. Ashley laughed at Liverpool, Geordies laughed at Liverpool. They still sold them for nearly £90 million combined though. Suarez was another striker from the Eredivisie BTW

  254. GS says:
    December 16, 2014 at 1:02 am

    “Is Nigel Adkins our next Manager? He seems to be following in Pardew’s footsteps.”

    Instead of being just one step behind, he fell back much further into Pardew’s past when he ended up managing Reading. He got sacked as well.

  255. Worky: I saw he got sacked and thought of Pards. Nigel needs Charlton on his CV/Resume though before Fatty will hire him.

  256. Also Worky: I think Suarez made Sturridge a much better player. I did enjoy their shoot on sight approach and give Brendan credit for giving them that. I really don’t mind Brendan, I am just not sure what to make of him. I can’t tell if he is any good or not.

  257. Ashley causing turmoil at Rangers.

    http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/547133/Mike-Ashley-Rangers-Dual-Ownership-Charge

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30486272

    Interesting to note that while the EPL doesn’t have any rules on the books regarding ‘dual ownership’, the Football League does (as does the Scottish FA, hence the pending hearing). So, it’s absolutely essential that Ashley keeps the toon in the EPL or he’ll cop it from the FA as well.

    I think that probably means we’ll be even less likely to take a punt in the cup competitions, concentrating on getting that comfy mid-table finish that will suit chubs more than ever now. On the other hand, maybe they’ll be less likely to sell the best players in the squad out from under Pardew in the next transfer window.

  258. Isn’t McCoist staying on and picking up his pay cheque? I stamp my foot and give me the money fat man because you would replace me anyway!!!!!

  259. Ashley has tried to increase his shareholding to almost 30% already, now he will when the club needs to aise a further £8.3 million too. He isn’t moving out of Newcastle though, he is expecting another special dispensation to own more of Rangers AND keep Newcastle. The 10% limit was also not allowed until the SFA conceeded to Ashley. Now he has control and the others who were interested in bailing out the club have been brushed aside, he will use the spectre of Scottish football losing it’s second biggest clubs to take more and more every time the club needs more money to survive.

    Mind you, they were paying themsleves Hall / Shepherd style wages in the Scottish League One. It was crazy.

  260. A shame they didn’t let Alnwick go out on loan – as he asked to do. That sort of take from a corner is meat and drink to a keeper who’s getting regular football, obviously.

    But we’re playing well and we’re still in this.

  261. Luckily, I missed the game but there is a replay in 2 hours. I don’t think I will watch because I cannot stand that f@cking “when the Spurs go marching in” song. I know it is a strange thing to get mad about, but there you go :)

  262. Pretty shocking really. That’s 8 goals we’ve conceded in 5 days. It strikes me that we’re lacking in some of the basics of the game, like passing, crossing and shooting. I expected Arsenal to be better than us in those areas but Spurs are a mediocre team this season and they still made us look like chumps when it comes to basic ball skills.

  263. Hugh de Payen says:
    December 17, 2014 at 10:52 pm

    “but Spurs are a mediocre team this season”

    They’re 7th, which is only one or two places below where they should be and they’re in the semi final of the League Cup and are in the knockout stages of the Europa League. We finished 16th when we were in that. I don’t think they’re mediocre, I think they’re an erratic team that is coming into focus with a new manager with a very busy schedule. Pochettino’s high pressing, fast transition game can sometimes take a bit of getting used to at the start.

  264. Is Alnwick as bad as the reports are saying? I was worried after the Arsenal game but didn’t want to rush to judgement like I did with Dummett after a couple of bad performances.

    I saw someone say that he is so bad that he will be playing for Alnwick soon.

  265. If you want to see what insane looks like, here is evidence:

    “Holger Zschaepitz, a senior editor at the German daily Die Welt, said – One of the bits of fallout from Putin’s huge headache is that Google GOOG, for the first time, is now worth more than the entire Russian stock market.”

    So, the whole Russian stock market is worth less than Google at the moment. We live in a very disconnected world.

  266. WORKY

    Yeah, the, Mubenga case is fairly old, it’s different from the shooting cases here though, by the fact the people who reportedly killed him, were “rent a cops”, with god knows what training.
    As for the killings (executions) of the Brasilian kid and the mixed race kid in Tottenham, were these fugups, by nervous armed cops, or condoned killings.
    Regardless, the results in both cases was predictable, whit-wash it and get the police off scot free where no one suffers, nor no blame is placed on those in charge.

  267. Pardew must be shitting his pants with the must win Derby against Sunderland approaching.

    If he loses this one, the fans may become aroused once more.

    Problem is most fans are actually unsure of whether Pardew is right or wrong, mainly because of his bullshit excuses and the fact they cant tell the difference.

    Though in many cases, he simply describes a game that never took place, stating “we wuz playing a short passing game” and “we wuz unlucky” the reality being, we played hoof-ball and were outcoached.

  268. So for all of those who might browse this blog, I’m sticking with my early prediction, we wont finish in the top ten.
    Even though it has been (a top ten finish) stated that’s the limit of our present ambition, though we also felt a cup win could also be achieved, yeah sure !

  269. Chucky: I am goong with 9th to 15th now. Everton and Liverpool will overtake us, so 9th is the top end and there are quite a few teams worse than us (even with Pardew) so 15 is the low end.

    How’s that for hedging :)

  270. Interesting article in the Glasgow Herald I think.
    About Llambias and Rangers.

    Like most sports hacks attached to regional newspapers, not well researched, interesting never the less, in the sense we are hearing it from a different perspective.

    It is now obvious, what Ashley’s interest in owning football clubs are based on.

    Also the fact this (the Ranger takeover for peanuts) is not a recent plan, which explains Llambias’s leaving NUFC some months ago.

    No doubt Ashley with his methodical takeovers of old brand names currently in trouble, all worked out behind the scenes, which like the ownership of two clubs that could compete in vying for the same tournaments, is his intent.

    Yes we all are aware that both FIFA, SPL, English and Scottish football associations and UEFA, say it cant be done, personally I don’t necessarily agree, as over a lifetime I have often seen money talk and bullshit walk.

    It will be an interesting case if Ashley with his Sancho Panza in Glasgow, take on those regulatory organizations if he so decides.

    Question is, Ashley at present has the contract to both
    the retail market for all official Ranger apparel, runs the board, has the right to rename Ibrox, which he denies any interest in, lets see?

    So why not be happy enough with what he has ?

    He wants a world wide tv audience for Sports direct and before long their most definitely will be two fifty thousand plus stadiums sporting more SD signs than you can shake a stick at.

    It’s got to the point, what with Blatter and the rest of the gangsters running FIFA, combined with some of the sleaziest oligarchs and owners, professional football has become one of the most corrupt Pro-Athletic businesses in the world, sad really.

    But whadda ya gonna do?

  271. Whats Pardew up to ?

    Bigging up and praising Sunderland fans, does he understand what kind of Pandoras box he’s opening, the guy is usually a sly con man, that anyone with a IQ of over ninety can figure out.

    But what’s this about ?

    I also saw his take on Aarons, stating the kid doesn’t deserve more than ten grand on a long term contract.

    Hell I can say there are any number of clubs who are willing to sign him for far more.

    Same shit with Liverpool and their young star, hell if you are good enough, what has age gotta do with anything, are youngsters supposed to automatically accept less, than their older peers.

    Apparently Pardew seems to think so being he’s making noises in that direction, Ashleys shill still.

  272. “It’s gonna be a blue, blue, Christmas without”……. a win over nearby rivals (now with a decent coach) and I fear we may lose another local derby, but what will the fans do then, will they once again bring out the bed sheets ?

    I don’t get it, everyone sez, Newcastle fans are knowledgeable fans who appreciate a bit of flair ?

    Then why has it taken years for them to get out the “Pardew out” signs, or do they actually know the difference between old fashioned hoofball, based on a defensive game and the modern game.

    Actually I think it’s a bit of both, some don’t give a damn, just go to St. James’ Park every other weekend and don’t care who owns the club or who manages it, but get upset after a loss, which pushes them into the “Pardew out” crowd.

    Of course thats it, until the side wns in a five or six game streak,
    then they think, hey! maybe he is actually good.

    Resulting in a situation that portrays NUFC fans to be like most other fans, some aware of what’s happening, others who don’t give a rat’a ass, but feel bad when the side loses.

    Guess a lot depends on which oligarch, or billionaire ends up owning your side and what his attitude is, I’m certainly not fond of the idea of being owned by a retailing shark like Ashley or have any goodwill to-wards a creep like his gambling casino based, now Rangers GM, Llambias and of course that ass kissing shill Pardew.

    Some might say, could be worse a’course ! oh yeah, is it still entertaining or just a habit, the fact is fans have the power to change policies, they just don’t know how, plus there’s no willingness nor solidarity, baaaah !

  273. chuck says:
    December 20, 2014 at 4:05 am

    !I don’t get it, everyone sez, Newcastle fans are knowledgeable fans who appreciate a bit of flair ?”

    Not alot, Chuck, that’s mostly Geordies themselves. ‘Deluded’ is far more common though, then there’s evergreens like fat, crying bastards who are always feeling sorry for themselves, no shirts in January blah blah… ‘They love their number 9s up there’ is a favourite one for the pundits too.

    “Of course thats it, until the side wns in a five or six game streak”

    He’s had two six game winning streaks at Newcastle. In both cases, he changed tack in some way and seemed to catch the opposition by surprise for those six games, then it crumbles.

  274. Chuck says:

    “I also saw his take on Aarons, stating the kid doesn’t deserve more than ten grand on a long term contract.”

    Maybe it will turn out like Paul Pogba? That was a great business decision by Man U :)

  275. Is it possible to look stupid? I just saw Wayne interviewed and what he said was only matched by the neanderthal look on his face. Staring into the distance and doing his best impression of Scouse borstal.

  276. We have a chance against the Mackems though. They are not very good either and will do well to stay up if their ex-MUFC players stay fit. They don’t have anybody to score goals Brian, and that, is the name of the game :)

    Actually, football is the name of the game.

  277. Worky says @363 about Poyet:

    “His great achievement is getting Brighton promoted from League One.”

    So he is used to working with Sunderland quality players!!! I hope that comment doesn’t come back to haunt me :)

  278. Cisse on the bench again, although he’s the one who scores half the goals. This impact sub is all very well when you have other strikers who can score like Solkjaer at Manchester Utd, but when Cisse’s the only one who can score, I’d still start him.

  279. We need another striker on. Gouffran is playing too deep again. When he first came in he never played like a midfielder so I think that is down to the coaching. Get Ciss e on as Worky already said.

  280. Interest in sackpardew.com will be well and truly back up again now. It was unbelievable holding Cisse back that long when he’s the only player who is scoring.

  281. Dirty, stinkin’, fat, ugly Mackem bastads.

    I won’t blame Pardew, he went for it at the end. If it had ended up nil-nil I would have complained that we weren’t aggressive enough.

    Keven Friend, the “4th official”, looks like a cross between Pete Posthletwaite and Alun Armstrong. If I was his mother I would have sent him back and asked for a refund.

  282. Just about what I expected and predicted.

    Scrappy game, with some over the top senseless fouls.

    With a line-up consisting of mainly defensive players, back four, with Colback and Tiote sitting in front, plus one could consider Sissoko and Goofy as DM’s also.

    With not a playmaker in sight.

    Erm ! why was our direst need (someone who can put the ball in the net), (Cisse), sitting on the bench ?

    Worky, you asked what makes Poyet a decent coach, does four in a row wins in the local Derby’s count ?

    Sunderland (despite the obvious anger/disappointment of Newcastle fans) deserved their win, creating many more opportunities which they should have capitalized on.

    As the score could have been much higher.

    Once again, NUFC find themselves on a slippery slope heading south in the league, hopefully this game may finally convince those sitting on the fence, what a fraud Pardew is.

    I wonder whether the presence of HBA, Marveaux and Yanga M’Biwa would have helped ?

  283. Lets hope the Liverpool vs Arsenal game, just starting is better, certainly not much, as far as entertainment value from the Derby

  284. I’m listening to the crowd noise, seems whatever the situation, the Liverpool fans get behind their side.

    On the contrary, to-days derby game at St. James’ the side got little in the way of vocal support, why is that ?

  285. Chuck man. If you were lucky enough to witness any of the Paisley sides you would know why they get behind their team. A lot of them grew up with an unbelievable team and that is ingrained. We grew up for the most part with mediocrity, disappointment and lost opportunities. It is only the indomitable Geordie spirit that makes us support NUFC.

    What is it 18 league titles, 5 European Cups. What have we won? Nowt since 1955. Do we really count the Fairs Cup? So it is quite easy to cheer and sing for Liverpool (even if their song is a broadway show tune). What is amazing is that 52,000 turn up at SJP on a miserable December day knowing Pardew is in charge so we have no clue what to expect.

  286. 1-1 score, both goals coming in the dying minutes of an entertaining first half, dominated by Liverpool, who had the lions share of possession.

    I just gotta remark on Tiote to day, it’s obvious this guy has not really improved since his arrival.

    He is still way over the top, when it comes to physicality, collecting more than his share of yellow cards for senseless fouls.

    Has no clue what to do with the ball, on regaining possession, cant pass worth a damn, and his one wellying of the ball against Arsenal in the now famous 4-4 draw, which ended in the net, was pure luck.

    I just don’t see his value to the side, a one dimensional player, who’s ability is tackling, that’s it.

    Sell him and replace him with Sissoko, who can tackle, pass, or carry the ball out and run all day long.

  287. I’m beginning to sense, Necastle fans have reached a stage, where apathy has set in, where no one expects anything from the club and like the win against Chelsea, it all seemed a bit surreal and difficult to believe.

    No one expecting anything positive, as they have become inured to Ashley and Pardew’s regime, feeling a bit apathetic myself, it’s as if this is not the NUFC that I once cared about.

    It’s got to the stage where loses to sides like Sunderland no longer bother me, simply because any threat to relegation is welcome, if it helps in the firing of this smug con man.

    On the other hand, perhaps our salvation may come from Ashley transferring his loyalties to Rangers and an eventual selling (to anyone) of the club.

    However i’m not holding my breath.

  288. Chuck: comparing us to Liverpool is like comparing Tesco fish cakes to freshly caught icelandic cod. There is a only a passing resemblance.

  289. The future for this club is uncertain, with Sissoko wanting away, apparently Arsenal want him and he’s more than willing to head in that direction, to become the new Viera.

    He is wasted by Pardew anyway.

    Young Aarons is refusing to accept a long term peanut-wages contract and it appears there is very little loyalty to the club, most here just to place themselves in the shop window and Ashley not unhappy with that, that’s if he can make a tidy profit.

    There are plenty more where they came from, (cheap buys from continental sides) a policy that will never see a settled side (they are gone in a year or two) and the club may never win any silverware ever again (which not unreasonable considering we haven’t actually won anything in many fans lifetimes).

    We can only hope the SFA and other governing bodies, refuse to allow Ashley to effectively gain control of
    both sides, better he sells NUFC and fugs off tae Glasgie. where he will have to deal with the Huns supporters, who are not the sheep that accept everything
    like those who inhabit St. James’ Park.

    A sad state of affairs !

  290. Best team won today without a shadow of a doubt !
    Sunderland passed it better, Moved it better, Made telling challenges, Were better set up and organized, And created the best chances throughout the game.

    I will stand by what i have said in the past when saying he will never again win another Derby game.
    He has been too scarred and humiliated by what has gone before, That he is too terrified in these games.

    He was playing a team who had only won two games but looked head and shoulders above Newcastle in every department.
    I could only make a case for Newcastle in the first ten minutes of the first half, And the last ten minutes of the second half.
    If that match had finished 0-0 then like a boxer
    Sunderland would have won a unanimous decision.

    In typical Pardew style he is trying to deflect everything away from himself and even has the stones to say his team should have won !
    Man Utd next and my money is on another monumental slump in the second half of last season.
    Sackpardew.com are back in business thank the lord !

  291. Now that was a decent game, well balanced sides, both playing a version (mostly possession) of the modern game.

    Entertainment with a bit o’ flair, Pool. need a goal scorer who can replace Suarez, the present strikers not getting the job done, Balotelli insisting on ruining
    any chance of becoming a great, but surely Routledge can recover soon from injury and resume his prolific record.

    At least here are two sides, willing to spend in a chase for silverware, not just a selling profit-centered side, which obviously has no interest in winning anything.

    Continuous membership in the EPL with it’s record revenues being the owners goal.

  292. JOE

    Don’t expect any effective organization against Pardew, contrary to what happens at other clubs, the present attitude of Newcastle fans, has now reached a state of apathy.

    Regardless of how many bed sheets or signs, nothing will change.

    Yep! the fans have given up and now accept anything the Ashley/Pardew duo throw at them, the last attempt was the walk out, which was pathetic, no solidarity.

    Any chance of Ashley paying attention, would be the cancelling of tickets and a refusal of paying customers to show up at a designated game, unfortunately, most fans will continue to show up regardless, it’s become a habit, a place to go every other weekend.

  293. Chuck, it is true that Poyet has beaten Pardew five times in a row, Brighton twice and Sunderland three times. That was just his third win all season though as Sunderland are toothless usually and get alot of draws without being able to adminster a coup de grace. He always adminsters a coup de grace to the silver fox though, he must absolutely hate Poyet by now.

  294. Brendan Rodgers did a fascist salute when Liverpool scored today, then seemed to turn it into a kind of ‘black power’ salute by eventually clenching his fist. Now that’s going from one extreme to another.

  295. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers/11307477/Mike-Ashley-looks-to-profit-after-lending-Rangers-1m.html

    Llambias explained that he was the man who helped Newcastle United “stand on its own two feet” and he would do the same for Rangers, but he was booed amidst cries of “out, out, out” and “scumbags,” and that wasn’t at a game, that was at the AGM!

    http://sport.bt.com/sport-football/news/llambias-issues-rangers-promise-S11363951157456

  296. Worky

    Yeah, we think we got it bad, but when one looks at what’s going on at Rangers, we see Ashley and co. at their worst.

    I suppose if some of those fence sitters who regularly attend Newcastle games, pay attention to the present takeover of the club, once a Scottish giant, that regularly played in Europe’s top tournaments.

    They might better understand Ashley’s position and future plans for both clubs.

    No doubt he will challenge the present regulations in
    regard to dual ownership, using the courts and will by then have such a stranglehold over the Ranger board by his investment in the club, that GM Llambias will be able to pass any motion, leaving Ashley with total control.

    A chilling thought for those Ranger fans and investors with the clubs best interest at heart.

    So where will that leave NUFC ?

    Hell that’s simple, in the same boat, as money talks and bullshit walks, seven days a week

    Perhaps (with a miracle) Ashley may not get his way, but even so I would assume he has alternate plans if that were to happen.

    Unfortunately the damage is done and the only way it can be reversed would be from fan pressure, specifically by denying him your admission fee’s, or buying from his expensive (cheap tat stores).

    It’s the only thing that would get his attention, unfortunately we are going to have to rely on the Ranger fans for that, as the fans at NuFC have shown they have no belly for the fight, proving in the recent attempted walkout, to be no more than a sheep-like bunch, willing to go along with whatever Ashley has in store for them.

    Ah well, the fans allowed it all to happen, live with it!

  297. Soh! the not closing of his fist, in celebration of a goal, he (Rodgers) reveals himself as a fascist, who then turns himself into a communist by clenching his fist.

    Really ?

  298. Don’t be daft, Chuck. It looked a bit like he might have stuck his hand in the air, realised it looked a bit nazi so then he pumped his fist as well. I don’t think he’s like Paolo di Canio or Fidel Castro, I think he’s like David Brent.

    chuck says:
    December 21, 2014 at 6:26 pm

    “Now that was a decent game, well balanced sides, both playing a version (mostly possession) of the modern game.”

    If you meant Liverpool v Arsenal, that was one of very few games when Arsenal didn’t have much possession at all. Liverpool had the ball most of the time but they still couldn’t win.

  299. Worky: FYI the British Office was not widely shown over here. It was on BBC America about 10 years ago then the US adaptation was a massive success. Ricky Gervais is well known though and did a big stand up show at The Chicago Theatre recently and often does talk shows such as Letterman.

    I never realised all of those Brent references went over Chuck’s head. Isn’t Rodgers known in a lot of circles as Brentan? It is not just on here, it is sort of his alter-ego because of his middle management BS?

  300. Anyone think that Pardew might threaten to resign if the best player in our squad is sold yet again in the January window.

    Love him or hate him you have to have some sympathy for the sh!t his boss shovels on him.

    I wonder if he’s frightened he might not get another job, surely not.

  301. Grumpy Old Toon says:
    December 23, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    “Anyone think that Pardew might threaten to resign if the best player in our squad is sold yet again in the January window.”

    I certainly don’t Grumpy. He’s known all along that Newcastle United is a selling club and he’ll lose his year’s money too if he jumps instead of being pushed. He also knows that if he leaves, he’ll probably end up at a bottom end of the Premier League or a Championship club, and that’s if he gets a club without waiting in the wildnerness for a while.

    Remember all the old managers of the year in my rogues gallery a while ago? Peter Reid, Danny Wilson, Steve Coppell, George Burley, Alan Curbishley and so on… Joe Kinnear was one of the very best of the bunch! Pardew could easily end up like them if he left. He’ll cling on for dear life, hoping for the next lucky run.

    https://nufcblog.org/2013/01/are-the-manager-of-the-year-awards-a-managerial-kiss-of-death/

  302. Worky

    I have to be honest, I think there is more chance of Martians landing in St James Park (It will always be that to me)

    Still you never know one day he might man-up.

  303. Ah ! so David Brent is the name of “the office” character
    played by Ricky Gervais.

    Great series, one that gave unspoken humor a more important role than the spoken word, (for the most part).

    Where the expression “If looks could kill/talk” epitomizes the difference between comedies with laugh tracks that clued you when to laugh and those that expected you to get it, usually subtlety.

    I recall going to see Dr. “Strangelove” the movie, on it’s release in the early sixties, where my date kept elbowing me for laughing, especially when no one else was (they didn’t get it)

    Needless to say that was our last date.

  304. Yes ! the ongoing takeover of Rangers with all of the complications involved, will certainly create a feeding frenzy for the mob of sports hack’s, who often mistake themselves for journalists.

    It will be interesting to see if money can be used to steamroller it’s way to a successful takeover resulting in say Ashley with 29.9% of the shares, to not be declared the official owner.

    When everyone knows, for all intents and purposes, he with a present nine percent of the stock, already has effective control of the club.

    Though that may be the ultimate goal, I’m sure there are other acceptable outcomes to the story, the one I like is that of selling NUFC and putting all his eggs in one basket, that of a perennial European championship bound side, by spending enough to beat old firm rivals Glasgow Celtic.

    Leading to an annual exposure to the millions who may watch the tournament, and who cannot fail to see the SD (free advertising) signs plastered all over Ibox.

    Where else could he get such a deal, though perhaps i’m underestimating the Ranger fans who could if aroused enough, perhaps ruin the whole thing.

    Lets see ?

  305. Following Sissoko’s recent declaration of love for Arsenal (do you blame him) he then declares his loyalty to NUFC.

    Figures of between fifteen and sixteen million quid have been bandied about as Arsenals possible offer.

    Giving NUFC and it’s charming owner a profit of somewhere in the region of ten million.

    Not bad business if one looks at it from a purely monetary viewpoint.

    However as far as loosing the only player in the side that has star quality and could fit into any top side, it could be the disaster that could cost more than the expectant profit from his sale.

    At present the squad lacks quality, having to use those who have come through the youth system, because of the sales of some of our best player, others out on loan, because of probable personality differences with Mr. psychobabble.

    It’s a mess and Pardew’s back sliding down that slippery slope to-wards relegation.

    Is this all we the fans have to look forward too, buying cheap, then selling for profit, hell that sounds like the business plan for SD, not a football club, and by now every fan should be aware, that Ashley has self interest ahead of any success for the club, at the top of his agenda.

  306. chuck says:
    December 23, 2014 at 6:55 pm

    “I recall going to see Dr. “Strangelove” the movie, on it’s release in the early sixties, where my date kept elbowing me for laughing, especially when no one else was (they didn’t get it)

    “Needless to say that was our last date.”

    But it was a funny film, Chuck. Funnily enough I thought of Dr Strangelove the other day when I saw Brendan Rodgers doing his fascist salute then trying to conceal it.

  307. Worky: that is about the 3rd or 4th derogatory article I have seen about Pardew on Football365. They seem to have seen through some of the old boys club and journalistic blather about him and are conducting a one publication vendetta against him. Long may it continue.

    By the way, they call him Chunky. Any idea where that came from?

  308. GS says:
    December 24, 2014 at 1:21 pm

    “By the way, they call him Chunky. Any idea where that came from?”

    Get a sickbag ready before you read the rest of this, GS. He allegedly used to eat copious quantites of pineapple chunks as he believed it made his sperm taste sweeter for the ladies. I’m not joking.

    Another thing, Derek Llambias keeps saying that he saved Newcastle United and he’s going to try and do the same thing for Rangers and the media are just swallowing it that he “saved” Newcastle United. Just how did Derek Llambias save Newcastle United? He got us relegated and brought the club’s name into disrepute FFS.

  309. Yes I couldn’t help but notice how Llambias assured the Ranger fans, that he would put the club on a sound footing, the same way he saved Newcastle.

    Sure ! the club (NuFC) has failed to increase it’s earnings from commercial sales and attendance, while settling for displaying the logo of the largest legal loan-shark organization in the country.

    For shame !

    Using the home stadium for free advertising, for his real business SD.

    The only real revenue increase’s being from tv money.

    Note: round one of the Ashley vs. SFA, resulting in Ashley 0 SFA 1, with the cecond half and extra time still to come.

  310. Worky

    My point, the fact that it had been reviewed and described as a typical Kubrick film, with lots of subtle humor.

    For instance, the scene whith Keenan Wynn (Capt. Bat Guano) and (Mandrake) Peter Sellers, who had asked him for change in order to call the president of the US via a public phone, by shooting the coke machine.

    Of course Guano being bird shit in Spanish, that and the fact he warned Mandrake that if this was some kinda commie trick, he would have to answer to the Co-Cola company.

    Think about it ! they being one of the wealthiest and most powerful corporations in the world, wouldn’t want them on my ass !

    Any how these were two of many subtleties that went over most heads.

  311. Man. U. up next, I guess Pardew will be scouring his book of excuses as to why we wuz beaten, unlucky no doubt.
    This could turn into a scary slide, as once this side loses confidence one can sence it in the body language.

    Especially because of having only Collo as the only veteran in the side, who could lead by example.

    This business of employing only players under the age of twenty six or so is unhelpful, as a couple of solid vet’s can inspire the younger players and give them confidence.

    But there’s unfortunately no sell on profit, for Ashley,
    Ah well!

  312. Chuck: I don’t know the exact details but I think our revenue was higher 10 years ago despite the doubling of TV money. I am sure some has been down to a slide in our appeal, some to lack of European and domestic cup football and some the siphoning off directly and indirectly by Sports Direct/Ashley.

    In these days of Oligarchs, Sheikhs and Hedge Funds I don’t expect us to compete with the top six, but Spurs have progressed on all fronts and we were on a par with them not so long ago. We now make about as much as the little club down the road. In addition, we aren’t much ahead of the likes of Stoke and West Brom now because TV is such a windfall. We should be though, because we have the potential to be so bigger of a club than we are now. Such a shame.

    There is something not quite right about our finances.

    Merry Christmas though.

  313. GS says:
    December 24, 2014 at 10:44 pm (Edit)

    “Chuck: I don’t know the exact details but I think our revenue was higher 10 years ago despite the doubling of TV money.”

    In 2002/3, Newcastle United’s turnover was £96.4 million, ten years later in 2012/13 it was slightly lower at £95.9 million.

    Merry Christmas.

  314. Right, since it is Christmas, imagine you have bought a replica shirt for your 10 year old, who would you have on the back (forgetting that Worky doesn’t buy them and ignoring Wonga for now)?

    Colback maybe, after fully 17 games, because he is a local lad? Sissoko, but it might be out of date in January?

    It would be Shearer!!! That shows the turnover of players and that we really don’t have any stars. Anybody even close gets sold at their maximum mark-up (and I use that term on purpose as it is a retail term).

    We are definitely now a selling club without much on-pitch identity or continuity. What is left is the passion of the fans, the stadium and strip, and a battered brand. We are not much more than a shill for Ashley’s corporate ambitions.

  315. Pardew is also part of the shirt naming problem because he is such a fickle cnut. One minute the team is being built around a player, the next they are training with the reserves. I am sure there are quite a few ben Arfa shirts on people’s backs on Boxing Day :)

  316. Yeah appears the demise of NuFC during the Ashley regime
    is now recognized universally, except by the Newcastle fence sitters, many who will still tell you that the club is in a solid financial footing and Pardew is a good coach.

    Testimony to their lack of financial nous and certainly in regard to the outdated defensive (and most of all ugly) style of football, that outdated rubbish and only way he knows how to play.

    It would be a godsend if he were to have to sell the club, in order to take Rangers to the European championship and take Pardew with him.

  317. Of course I meant godsend in a figurative sense, being I think of Christmas as nothing other (like many I assume)
    than a retailers dream, with few entertaining the idea they are celebrating the (probably wrong) birthdate of Jesus the Nazerine, though born in Bethlehem, a little out of the Nazereth city limits, at the time.

    It’s all very confusing !

    The fact that those north Europeans with their pagan Christmas trees and Santa Claus who was actually a Greek,
    have all merged into a confusing ball of nothingness, supplanting the celebration of the birth of the supposed
    Messiah, who on examination by the Jews was declared another false Messiah, ah well, like I said, it’s become all very confusing!

  318. GS says:
    December 25, 2014 at 5:47 am

    “It would be Shearer!!! That shows the turnover of players and that we really don’t have any stars.”

    Maybe that was another extreme? Shearer undoubtedly had a big impact on the club’s profile around the world. Remember though, Newcastle United were at their best just before he joined, and the club actually went into a big decline after. Keegan left, Ferdinand had to give up his number nine at Shearer’s behest and was sold to Spurs along with David Ginola. Beardsley was old and he left, Asprilla left. Newcastle became more of an unbalanced one man team and there often seemed to be a tension about who was really in charge, Shearer and his henchmen or the manager.

  319. Will always be Peter Beardsley for me. That man is a legend and not just for the young teams he turns out for us!!

    Got a houseful today and have to go out tonight and be sociable with people I do like but don’t want to socialise with. (If that makes sense)so won’t catch up with the latest catastrophe of the NUFC saga till much later. Still it allows the chance to fast forward through the worst bits.

    Do I sound pessimistic, can’t see why!!

  320. Worky @414: didn’t that also have something to do with Dalglish and his “Help the Aged” transfer policy?

  321. Anita back in Pardew’s good books and Armstrong starting. Sammy and Haidara left out completely. I think Pardew has one eye on Sunday?

  322. You get my point though Worky and Grumpy? If you had bought a top for a bairn this Christmas you probably wouldn’t put ANY of the present players’ names on the back, for one reason or another.

  323. I am getting a top with “Pardew” on the back as he is the only one at NUFC assured of longevity.

  324. Van Gaal is at the erratic stage with Man U at the moment as they get used to van Gaals methods. They might have a funny turn or we might get battered.

  325. Rooney always seems to save his best for us. I have seen him play like a plank of wood at other times this season. That last pass was “slide rule” :) Has anybody under 40 even seen a slide rule never mind used one! I remember an old Maths teacher having one but I have no clue what he did with it.

    Still watching, but turned the sound down because when Man U get ahead the commentators have orgasms.

  326. GS says:
    December 26, 2014 at 4:18 pm

    “Has anybody under 40 even seen a slide rule never mind used one!”

    The scientific calculator pretty much blew away the slide rule and that was mid seventies.

  327. So why don’t they say: “that was a scientific calculator pass” :) I did A levels in ’81 which is why I never has to use one although we were still using paper log tables and they banned certain calculators from exams which was pretty stupid if you ask me.

  328. One of the worst defensive performances of the last couple of seasons, without a doubt.

    Time and again, Rooney, Van Persie and Falcao run at three toon defenders, one of them slots a ball through the defense and one of the other two dashes onto it – while the toon defense looks on as if they’ve never seen anything like it before in their lives.

    Some great play going forward, though. Nice passing movements through midfield, Perez and Armstrong looking dangerous at times.

    We should be looking to strengthen the defense in January, though, rather than scratching around for another forward.

  329. So AC has got a TOWIE “scripted reality star” preggers. WTF is scripted reality? I looked on the website and saw it won a BAFTA. I am overdosing on acronyms, as it seems the rest of the world is.

    Had to take my mind off the match and saw a headline about this in a Chronic report.

    Joe, we have lost the last four so it is time to arrest the slump as it had already begun.

  330. Hell ya gotta laugh !

    Sticking a twenty year old and a seventeen year old out there, against a Van Percie and a Falcoa and then make sounds about beating Man. U. at home.

    And who was there on the bench to replace them, oh yeah
    we had Vuckic, Cabella and Cisse.

    This weeks excuse was we didn’t have a cutting edge, really ?

    Erm! and it was the ref’s fault.

    The second loss in a downward slide, that could end up in being relegated.

    That is if these clowns presently making decision’s do not strengthen during the next window.

    Hell go ahead, take a gamble, wouldn’t bother me to watch the side play in the second tier, a more honest game anyway.

    Anything to rid Newcastle of these clowns.

  331. GS says:
    December 26, 2014 at 7:13 pm

    “WTF is scripted reality?”

    It’s an oxymoron made using actual morons, GS.

    We did actually start the game well but we need Cisse. Perez might make some nice contributions but he only scores a goal every 256 minutes. Cisse is scoring every 70 minutes, nearly four times as fast.

  332. Worky replied @430:

    “WTF is scripted reality?”

    It’s an oxymoron made using actual morons, GS.”

    That’s not PC worky, you can’t go around calling people morons any more. Funny though :)

  333. You’re supposed to think they are morons though, that’s what it’s all about. Everyone is supposed to judge them with derison, ie contempt mixed with mockery.

  334. It’s that time of year again, sales brochures are available for Perez and Sissoko.

    “He has surprised me at how good he has been. He is a real talent,” said Pardew [on Perez].

    “I have been fortunate to work with some really good strikers. I think of Tevez, Sheringham, Dean Ashton, and he has got faster feet than all three of them.

    “And the work ethic he has put in for the team as well, if he progresses like he is, we don’t know where he’ll end up.

    “I was lucky enough to have a quick glass of wine with Sir Alex [on Boxing Day] and he caught his eye.”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2888508/Ayoze-Perez-gained-new-admirer-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-reveals-Newcastle-United-manager-Alan-Pardew.html

  335. I am glad we won.

    You start to get the feeling that Jose might know what he is doing – I mean about Lukaku?

  336. Entertaining game, I guess this is it for the rest of the season, play defense and use the sides pace to spring the fast counter.

    Young Perez looks like he could fit into any top side and Sissoko ? what more can you say about him, superb !

    I have no idea what happened to Everton this year, sophomore jinx for Martinez, cause his side certainly never got outta second gear all game, hmmm!

    On the other hand we missed any number of opportunities to score and had we converted half of them, it could have been five or six.

    I often think if we had a decent manager, what he could do with this side, with the pace we have.

    Colback is improving by the game, but Colo. and Williamson, get slower each game and central defense needs attention more than ever, the first Everton goal, leaving both stranded behind the striker.

    Once again Tiote had a poor game, cant pass, cant shoot, can only put his foot in, which is a luxury we cant afford, Bigirimana can I believe do a better job.

    Any bids under $25K. for Sissoko should be rejected as we have the new Viera, but tell that to Ashley.

  337. I didn’t think Everton were sh!te. If they had got some shots on target it could have been a different story.

    I thought it was an exciting end to end game with us being the better side and deserving the win.

    Can’t see why Cabella isn’t in the starting line up, at least in home games.

    That’s why I suppose, I’m not a top class manager.

  338. Joe

    Everton are playing well below the standards of last season and were outplayed by Newcastle to-day.

    It appears the defensive football settled on by Pardew, that relies on the fast break and suits NUFC, having an abundance of pace, plus Sissoko, who just appears to ghost past the opposition, while appearing to be still in third gear.

    No I didn’t think it was that exciting and we should have scored more, but yes a good game of football.

    From watching it appears, to attempt to get an early score, then defend and await the opportunities to employ the fast break.

    It’s a version of the catenaccio.

    Using the long ball, served to pace on the wings which spreads the defense and opens up scoring opportunities.

    To-days game had an abundance of good opportunities, but for the most part went unanswered, the score could very well have been much higher.

    What I don’t get is losing to sides like Sunderland and sides below us in the league, yet beating Chelsea and other decent sides, no consistency ?

    On the other hand this has been an unusual first half for the PL, with few sides living up to their press clippings, lets see what happens in the second half.

    One last thing, we need to spend some money on central defenders, if we are to play a defensive game, as both Colo and Williamson, are as slow as molasses and aint about to get any faster.
    Either that or bring Yanga M’Biwa back.

  339. Just read that Pardew skipped the post game interview, to avoid any questions in regard to a possible move to Palace, who fired manager Niel Warnock recently.

    The rumor making the rounds is they want Pardew.

    Were it up to me I would help him pack his bag and even pay his air flight, the sooner the better.

    Though I don’t believe it will happen, as restitution has to be made to NUFC, in the form of Palace paying to buy his contract.

    Rumor also has it that Tony Pulis, who did such a good job during the latter part of last season, may also interest Palace, but they failed to give him a contract for this season, which was about, what else, “money”, but desperation may very well change things.

    Personally i’m pulling for Pardew, get his ass outta here now!

  340. “On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642.” Neil Patrick Harris, star of the hit show – How I met your Mother.

    I f@cking hate religion but begrudgingly admit that Jesus has had a bigger impact than Newton.

  341. GS says:
    December 29, 2014 at 11:21 am

    “I f@cking hate religion but begrudgingly admit that Jesus has had a bigger impact than Newton.”

    Then you’ve seriously misunderestimated the impact of Isaac Newton, GS. He wasn’t just another famous old scientist, he was the father of the modern world. Some would say that his Principia Mathematica was far more important than the Bible.

    GS says:
    December 29, 2014 at 11:25 am

    “Neil deGrass Tyson, star of the hit show Cosmos.”

    Another example of how virtually everything is just recycled nowadays with almost nothing new or innovative. I was inspired by ‘Cosmos’ when I was a bairn. It was created, written and presented by the great Carl Sagan.

  342. You think so Worky? It always amazes me that people still cling to religion – I mean, I can understand cave men and medieval men being thunderstruck by lightening, but we understand that now. You have Stephen Hawking explaining the universe and idiots still believe what Joseph Smith said?

  343. Worky: I watched the original Cosmos. The new one was co-produced by Seth McFarland voice of Stewie Griffin.

  344. GS says:
    December 29, 2014 at 2:19 pm

    “The new one was co-produced by Seth McFarland voice of Stewie Griffin.”

    Seth McFarland? Stewie Griffin? Who are they, GS?

    GS says:
    December 29, 2014 at 2:15 pm

    “You think so Worky? It always amazes me that people still cling to religion – I mean, I can understand cave men and medieval men being thunderstruck by lightening, but we understand that now. You have Stephen Hawking explaining the universe and idiots still believe what Joseph Smith said?”

    GS, the question isn’t why idiots who believe in Joseph Smith believe in religion, but why people far more intelligent and knowledgeable than you or I do.

  345. You don’t watch TV Worky? Seth MacFarlane makes a subversive animated series for Fox (Rupert cancelled it 3 times but it keeps coming back), made a movie called Ted and even presented the Oscars. Stewie Griffin is a character that he created with a head the shape of a rugby ball and a British accent.

  346. Worky, I just read wikipedia on Max Planck. Interesting, but I am not sure if I am interested enough to read his defense of religion or his anti-athiesm stance – it didn’t save his son from the Gestapo.

  347. GS, did you write “a subversive animated series for Fox” without irony? :-)

    I don’t have much of a clue who this Seth McFarlane is but if he makes shows for Fox he isn’t subversive.

    GS says:
    December 29, 2014 at 4:53 pm

    “Worky, I just read wikipedia on Max Planck. Interesting, but I am not sure if I am interested enough to read his defense of religion or his anti-athiesm” stance

    We shouldn’t condemn people though if we are only interested in hearing one side of the argument and refuse to try and understand the other, that would be just prejudice.

    GS says:
    December 29, 2014 at 4:22 pm

    “You don’t watch TV Worky?”

    Yes but I don’t watch that Family Guy thing, I’ve watched ‘South Park’ though.

  348. @455: that is the thing about Murdoch. He is more interested in money than anything else and will fund Family Guy even when it is against everything else he believes.

    No comments on the Pardew speculation?

    Worky said: “We shouldn’t condemn people though if we are only interested in hearing one side of the argument and refuse to try and understand the other. That would be just prejudice.”

    I lived in Florida for a couple of months and my in-laws were from Indiana so I think i will stick God avoidance.

  349. GS says:
    December 29, 2014 at 6:55 pm

    “@455: that is the thing about Murdoch. He is more interested in money than anything else”

    That’s hardly a religious style revelation though, GS. :-)

    There has been alot of betting on the Pardew speculation. Betting companies have their own blogs to whip this kind of speculation up, and journalists are in on it too, putting links to betting sites sometimes for which the newspaper will get commission. They even had a live blog about Pardew and Crystal Palace on the Chronic and I noticed all this “fancy a flutter?” stuff.

    An observation on the game – Some of Everton’s key players like Eto’o, Barry and Distin are really getting on a bit and they looked knacked and not their best selves at all in that game with the Christmas schedule and everything, yet Martinez left them on for the whole thing. I’m not taking away from Newcastle and Pardew who did alright but I think that might have been a bit of a factor with Everton.

  350. Well looks like Pardews run as manager is over at United and thank goodness, as his style will suit the second tier better than the PL.

    Expecting him to go down with Palace and never have to watch his smug air punching moves ever again.

    It’s going to be a more interesting second half in the PL, depending on who arrives to replace him.

    Was this a result of circumstances, or a well planned exit plot, being Ashley doesn’t appear to be upset over the situation.

    But is ensuring he gets his pound of flesh, two point summat million quid putting a smile on his face.

    Ah well, plenty of grist for the tabloids and other media
    sources, for the next couppla weeks.

  351. Who’s going to be next though? We could be in severe shock over the next few days going on Ashley’s previous form (Keegan back from the dead, Kinnear back from the dead, the Shearer / Dowie experience, Pardew himself etc). There’s even been talk of Coloccini now Pardew’s gone, and Beardsley.

  352. As we’ve all said many times before, whoever comes in next is likely to be some grateful desperado given his last chance in the game.

    It certainly won’t be anyone ambitious.

    Can’t help wondering if Pardew’s leaving might have something to do with him being told what to expect in the next transfer window.

  353. Aye, who indeed.

    I can’t say I’m sorry to see Pardew go but I have much trepidation about the sort of replacement Ashley might appoint. He’ll want someone who doesn’t mind having little say in transfers, won’t object too much if his best players are sold at a profit during January and will be content with club ambitions that amount to merely remaining in the Premier League, turning a profit and providing an advertising platform for Sprouts Direct. In other words he’ll want another Pardew.

    We could easily end up with someone worse than Pardew.

    For all Pardew’s tactical averageness and embarrassing mouth, I thought he sometimes coped okay in difficult circumstances and he survived the Ashley regime for four years. I wonder how many other managers would put up with it for that long.

  354. I reckon Pardew is one of a kind, Hugh. Whoever comes in next isn’t likely to have as thick a skin as Pards – which will be a good thing for us.

    I can’t imagine any of the managers currently being touted to replace him putting up with having their best players sold out from under them in the middle of a promising season. And I don’t imagine any of them would relish the prospect of being the sole mouthpiece for the hated regime.

    Unfortunately, this probably rules out all of the ‘better’ candidates on that list.

  355. DarthBroon says:
    December 30, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    “I can’t imagine any of the managers currently being touted to replace him putting up with having their best players sold out from under them in the middle of a promising season.”

    Darth, the touted replacements have been names like Coloccini, Steve Bruce, Peter Beardsley, Tony Pulis, Steve McClaren, Tim Sherwood etc. If they wouldn’t put up with Ashley, who can they get? Big Ron? Peter Reid? Ron Knee?

  356. Goodbye Pardew,I thought the only way he would be leaving was in a wooden overcoat.
    Hope we get Kinnear in again,he has his finger on the pulse when it comes to transfer dealings and can call Wenger anytime he likes which is always handy.
    Not to mention he is also a master tactician.
    :)

  357. workyticket says:
    December 30, 2014 at 1:30 pm

    “If they wouldn’t put up with Ashley, who can they get? Big Ron? Peter Reid? Ron Knee?”.

    What makes you think they’d put up with Ashley either, worky?

    Personally, I think Carver’s likely to be confirmed as a permanent replacement.

    Best comment I’ve read so far:

    http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle/11692275.COMMENT__Even_Pardew_has_eventually_concluded_that_the_insurmountable_problems_at_Newcastle_lie_elsewhere/?ref=rss

  358. All things must pass, even having to listen to Pardew’s
    excuses and being bored with his abject failure as a manager.

    Though working for Ashley was no easy gig.

    The real problems at the club are all inspired by Ashley, an obvious control freak, which every decision from ground staff firings to signings, has to be vetted.

    I often wonder who he consults with in regard to the football side of things, being he knows next to nothing about the game.

    As for Pardew’s replacement, don’t raise your hopes, as no one of any significance will apply, the situation at the club being well understood in the footballing community.

    At best it will be, a local lad, or a retread, but forget the recent poll in which the fans (bless em) voted overwhelmingly for DeBoer, aint gonna happen folks.

    But the next couple of weeks will give the fans, pundits and journalists (hackers} enough speculation
    to fill the sports pages.

    And like Pardew’s appointment, will end up with another massive groan of disappointment from the fans, so any hopeful speculation should should be tempered by knowing who you are dealing with, Ashley, the real behind the scenes manipulator.

  359. As for Carver, unsophisticated with a bad temper.
    Who was hired by Toronto (based on his being an assistant to SBR) in the MLS and ended up returning as a failure.
    I think not!

  360. workyticket says:
    December 30, 2014 at 6:52 pm

    “Carver is no David Niven. Then again, Pardew wasn’t either going around head butting people and calling them c*nts.”

    Absolutely, worky. I’m sure the management consider Carver’s behaviour as well within acceptable parameters (he’s not in prison).

    And, given the fact that he’s a proven toe-toucher (Pards’ deputy) and unlikely to land us with a successful
    cup run or the inconvenience of a Europa league berth, I’m starting to think he’s bolted on for the job.

  361. As Pardew was one of my reasons for ending my life long support for NUFC I can only be pleased at his pending departure. Along with thousands of others (with more than two brain cells)who wanted to see the back of him. As always with NUFC good news is tinged with dread. As we wait the Fat Controller will be scouring Old Folks Homes, Job Centres, and Park Benches for the new head coach (not manager). Nothing will change till he wraps up his hideous Sports Direct banners the rest of his cheap tat and shuffles off to Glasgow or somewhere to ruin their lives we’ve had enough. Till then I will remain an EX-Supporter

  362. Nutmag says:
    December 31, 2014 at 3:04 pm

    “As Pardew was one of my reasons for ending my life long support for NUFC I can only be pleased at his pending departure.”

    But we’ve certainly had alot of other managers who weren’t very good since you started being a fan, Nutmag.

    On top of the SFA, it looks like Ashley will have to deal with the ‘Three Bears’ at Rangers now.

  363. In the past we have had managers who came here and for whom we had high expectations only to be disappointed.

    So enter Carver with very few, from what I have been reading, expectations. Perhaps he will surprise us.

    I say this in the hope that the pink porcine squad remain grounded.

  364. Chuck: I meant Ferguson may be unsophisticated in general terms not football as we know him Clough and Paisley are the best in the UK over the past 40 years.

    Now, Jose always says he gets Sir Alex a good bottle of wine when they meet. I would have thought it would be a box or a vat, but apparently he might have sophisticated wine tastes as well? Jose worked in Porto so probably knows his Duoro and Dao.

  365. Not really Chuck. Just about the bad temper, I backed off on the unsophisticated stuff. But, a Happy New year.

    Whoever replaces Pardew at this point (apart from his f@cking underlings) I will probably be happy.

    New year in Newcastle used to be a drunken extravaganza with a lot of goodwill and people going around wishing everybody well (and a few fights, but I will ignore that in my nostalgia). I remember when I was 18 wandering up the road at 1am and everybody saying “aal the best lad”. Doesn’t happen now.

  366. worky@478
    Yes Pardew was for me the worst of quite a few. My top two hates are incompetence and dishonesty and he had both in buckets. Put this together with his snide remarks.EG after one of his bad defeats he said “I will not blame the players they did their best” so implying it was them and not his incompetence. As I said he was one of my reasons. As I’m now at an age where I have a hell of a lot more past than I have future I can not see much enjoyment coming from the Fat Controllers running of the club in the near future. Quality of life is my main thing now enjoying my painting and supporting my local non league club when I fancy. Right now though I’ve got a really good bottle of malt that I’m going to see the new year in with.

  367. Soh ! the pundit’s and their likes have given us lists of would be/could be Pardew replacements, stating why some wouldn’t want the job, others who don’t stand a snowballs chance in hell, you name it.

    It appears from reports that Ashley will return in the new year and has our astute GM providing a (short list) of candidates, erm that’s Charnley i’m on about.

    Who the Fug is Charnley ?

    Seems he’s been at the club since he got outta school, twenty years ago.

    That’s about it, guess he worked his way through the system.

    We have it seems a shorter bench for those on the managerial side, than that of players, it being a call of NEXT ! whenever someone has had enough and wants out of this madhouse, that NUFC has become.

    I’m sure Carver can taste the job and expects it to fall into his lap, being it seems nobody wants it, hell let him have it until the season ends, in the meanwhile, due diligence is called for in the selection of a real manager for the foreseeable future.

    Yeah like Ashley gives a shit.

    Afraid we will end up with an even worse candidate than Pardew, if that’s possible, but please don’t raise your hopes, it aint gonna be anyone decent, some retread desperate for a paycheck, sure why not, as we are going to have fan dissention from now until the day Ashley sells up and heads for Glasgie, hopefully!

  368. Oh how could I go without wishing you all the very best for the new year. Your a motley crew but your ok I suppose.

  369. Happy New Year to everyone but John Charver has failed in his audition this afternoon.
    I hope they do not give the gig to him because they will not win many games with him in charge !

  370. Hell of a goal from Colback, who is improving by the game, playing a tough defensive role and getting the occasional goal, that makes two midfielders that should be automatically penciled in each week, himself and Sissoko.

    Unfortunately young Alnwick has been thrown in the deep end and looks anything but a PL keeper, the kids just not ready for this quality football, his poor positional play and late reaction time becoming obvious to all.

    As for the gruesome twosome, Carver and Stone, perhaps they should have left with Pardew, though i’m sure Paedew has had enough of Geordies to last him a lifetime.

    Obvious we need help across the back four, Janmaat playing well enough and may in fact be better than Debuchy, but Colo has lost a step, obviously Taylor is an improvement on Pardews choice of Williamson, but Dummett, who began as a prospect, has settled in as nothing special.

    Cisse has it seems never lost his confidence and with the right support will get his goals, a good poacher.

    But we also need a proven scorer, though young Perez will eventually become something special and should be at a club like RM learning his trade, as I doubt if he will learn much from his time here.

    Still looking at a sub top ten finish.

  371. Anyone still think we may end up with a decent manager ?

    Fugedaboudit !

    It would take a total change of policy by Ashley, which just aint gonna happen.

    But who knows things change, I mean who wouldda thunk Pardew would be outta here before the years end and perhaps the way things are working out with Rangers Ashley may just place all of his eggs in the Glasgow clubs basket.

    Though apparently there’s plenty of opposition to him there perhaps more than on Tyneside.

    Ah well, all things will eventually pass, just aint happening fast enough.

  372. Wow ! whadda game.

    Finally Pochettino has got his act to-gether and molded those expensive post Bale signings into a cohesive side, one that handed Chelsea a shocking 5-3 defeat to-day.

    As usual it’s the time of year that shakes things up to the point we have seen enough of the sides involved to conclude who will finish up where, though there always the exceptions to the rule.

    Great football, with enough goals to satisfy any neutral fan and the fact Spurs are now playing well under Pochettino can only have been expected, as they are a
    pretty decent side that just needed time to jell.

    The two outstanding players were both youngsters, Chelsea’s Hazard and Kane at Spurs, who should be getting a call any day now from Woy.

    Unfortunately as the football involved becomes better, conversely, the refereeing gets worse, with any number of calls ignored, through lack of courage on the part of some refs.

  373. WORKY

    Being we are now into 2015, any chance of either creating a new headline banner, as i’m really sick and tired of looking at Pardew with that smug expression on his face, that or by simply removing it.

  374. And while you are at it, can you also replace the constipated fan in the center of the screen.

  375. Belated happy new year to all.

    Carvers debut was very disappointing, I think we should have been able to score a hatful against Burnley.

    I reckon the defence was terrified by having Alnwick in goal, he certainly should have saved the last goal, he was just too slow.

    He might eventually become a good GK but it’s not happening now for him.

    The initiative was handed to them from the start but we should have been two goals up at half time, just don’t know what Dummett was thinking about, crazy.

    Anyway I just logged on to wish everyone a happy and successful new year in whatever you do, didn’t intend to ramble on.

    Am half way through my second book and am really chuffed with it so far, my fingers are flying across the keyboard. :)

  376. It appears from reports the club is presently engaged in talks with Arsenal regarding their bid for our only decent player Sissoko.

    With an asking price of fifteen million, whaaaat…

    If in fact we are willing to sell so important part of the team, the bidding should start at over twenty big ones, who in the world would be dumb enough to sell such a talent for fifteen ?

    Yes we understand he came cheap and the profit would be more than twice what we originally paid for him, but anyone who has watched him play this year, has to be aware he has upped his game since his arrival, settling in to become the new Viera or YaYa Toure, and is still a comparatively young player and bound for bigger things.

    Wait a year or two and triple the present asking price.

    Seems this is still the business plan Ashley wants to follow, buy cheap, sell at a quick but decent profit.

    Problem is, we should also have the benefit of at least a year or two ffom those brought in, as the first season is usually an adjustment period, I mean look at Sissoko, who in the EPL is a better box to box midfielder and how much would he be worth, a year from now?

    Look the word is out that Newcastle is the place to go, in order to put yourself in the shop window, with a compliant owner who will jump at any decent offer over the original price paid for him.

    So that’s what we have to look forward too, an unsettled young side constantly in a state of transition without any veterans, those who make it are quickly sold at a profit and others brought in to replace them.

    When by now we could have had a side competing with the top EPL sides, Yanga M’Biwa, HBA, Cabaye, Debuchy, plus Ba and Remy, who all of who were aware of what the system had in store and wanted out.

    Had there been a plan that involved winning instead of mid table apathy, possibly we could have held onto them,
    but unfortunately what you see is what will continue, as long as Fatso is running things, his way.

    And the rumor sometimes mentioned, that Ashley was not a fan of Pardew-ball, but preferred to watch a bit of flair from the side, is just ridicules nonsense, as he obviously wouldn’t be able to recognize it if it happened, all this man understands is ka-ching !

  377. Chuck man, you are totally selling Ashley short. He doesn’t just understand ka-ching he understands the buffet table.

  378. Chuck@494
    Agree 100% but its all win win for Ashley so you can’t blame him entirely. With the thousands turning up every home game and remarkably high amount at away matches he has little to no opposition. I’ve said it before and I’m sure he must have it somewhere on his office wall “NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK” (From your side of the pond) I believe Chuck.so with thousands of suckers he’s laughing all the way to the bank. Nothing ever changes for the better unless enough people stand up and demand it. Yet more reasons why I decided to walk away Geordies of today are not ready for the fight yet.

  379. There was a “baying mob” for Carver after we were knocked out of the cup by Leicester according to the live reporter for Radio Five Live.

  380. Aye, I heard that. I suspect much of it is to do with Carver’s statement that he was going to play a strong team because he “valued the FA Cup” and that he’d been issued with no directives from Ashley to the contrary. Then of course he made seven changes and effectively played a second-string side, presumably at Ashley’s behest.

    I’d like to think he was being honest when he gave the original interview about fielding a strong team and that Ashley later countermanded it because lying to the fans is hardly a good start to his management spell.

  381. Carver ?

    Another of footballs mediocrities, who probably believes he can be a PL manager, yeah right !

    On checking out the media gossip, I see where the club is presently engaged in a search for the best possible replacement (of course within monetary limitations)

    With such names as Jurgen Klopp and his fellow German Thomas Tuchel being bandied about, yeah sure!

    While some of our more naïve fans may find this encouraging, the reality is, there’s no way either of these names will ever manage at NUFC, that is unless Ashley decides to put all of his eggs into the Rangers basket and sells.

    So it’s doubtfull, no one of any substance is about to take this poisoned chalice job, only those desperate for a paycheck or those same old retreads who make themselves available with every job opening regardless of money or location.

    In which case it wouldn’t surprise me if it were handed to Carver until the seasons end, a gamble ?

    Eh ! no more than having Pardew still in charge.

    Face it yesterdays loss to Leicester sez it all, obviously Carver was only following orders (the Nazi defense) and guaranteed a loss, by leaving five of our best players at home.

    People come and people go, but nothing really changes, it’s Ashleys rule, Ka-ching !

    Which is firmly backed by the fans, who really are looking more sheep-like every day.

    Hell believe it or not you (the sheep) were actually quite influential in getting rid of Pardew and everyone understands what influences Ashley, (kaching) attendance and shirts.

    The answer is obvious, but do the fans have the will, is the question ?

  382. I’ve read some c.rap written about the club in my time – and this load of sh|te is down there with the worst of it:

    http://jefftaplin.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/who-really-out-of-toon.html

    The guy points out that the club is a ‘cash cow’ with a 50,00+ gate each week – then goes on to suggest that fans are being unreasonable in expecting anything more than the mediocre sh|te we’ve had to put up with these last eight years.

    To top it all, this has happened to us for being rude to Uncle Mike (and Pards) apparently.

    The cheeky c.unt!

  383. “[Ashley’s] spent over one hundred million pounds bailing the club out and getting it onto a sound final footing, the fans turned on him because the team wasn’t living up to expectations.”

    Does ANYONE apart from this pr|ck NOT know that Ashley’s money in the club is a LOAN?

    And this guy is an accredited journo, apparently/

  384. DarthBroon says:
    January 4, 2015 at 5:51 pm

    “The cheeky c.unt!”

    Good job you weren’t listening to Robbie Savage on Radio Five live then, Darth. You would have been foaming with rage. He was shouting and screaming over the top of Newcastle United fans on the phone, telling them how stupid they were, how awfully they’ve treated Mike Ashley and Alan Pardew after they’ve saved the club etc… He went way over the top and made a bit of an exhibition of himself.

    People believe the Ashley PR stuff Darth, ie he saved the club from certain liquidation, was cruelly cheated into paying over £260 million for it etc… Repeat a series of key points over and over again and people believe it.

  385. In fairness though, worky, Robbie Savage is a loony. People expect little from him – and generally get even less.

    I think the problem is a lack of intellect among people with connections to football in general – and I’d definitely include the sports press in that (and not just the tabloid hacks). They don’t have to consider the facts of any given situation when there’s a handy stereotype to be latched onto, or a ten year old story to be rehashed instead.

  386. It’s no different with the politics or other things though, people will believe the most stupid things if you repeat them often enough.

    In other news, Chris Hughton got off to a winning start at Brighton.

  387. Aye, good to see Chris Hughton off to a flyer, worky.

    It’s good to see there’s still a place in English football for someone of his calibre and decency.

  388. He has some work to do though, Brighton are almost at thje bottom of the Championship and their squad has gone downhill since the days of Gus Poyet. They used to be playoff material but now they are only a lower mid table Championship side.

  389. Soh ! besides Ashley recently losing the Ranger board, by a recent injection of funds by rival group “the three bears”.

    Leaving him little choice but to invest a further amount that would give him the required percentage, which in turn would give him overall control, something he has attempted to avoid

    At the same time loosing his “Yassuh Boss” manager at Newcastle, “what to do ! what to do” !

    It appears his contract for Ranger Jersey’s is still secure but is contractually limited in time.

    Then having lost his loyal mouthpiece, there’s a search going on for a manager, hell! give it to Carver, until the seasons end, then fire his ass, as any incoming manager will no doubt bring his own choice of coaches.

    That’s providing he’s someone of substance (which I doubt) as you usually get what you pay for in the top levels of football.

    The names being run by the media, some no doubt by the clubs awful PR department, hell! every statement they put out is like a red flag to a bull, aggravating both fans and media alike.

    I used to enquire during early days on here if in fact the club actually had a PR dept.

    I shouldda shut up, as what we now have is a dunb-ass propaganda machine that not only couldn’t convince anyone about anything, but manages to aggravate everyone, with every news release.

    Leopard’s don’t change their spots nor will Ashley change his policies, get used to it, but he no longer has Pardew to deflect criticism away from him and we are aware that, the constant criticism wore on Pardew.

    It may very well if redirected wear on Ashley.

    Hell he’s a busy man and doesn’t have I believe the time or patience to constantly deal with both crowd criticism at St. James’ Park, which obviously annoyed him early on,
    claiming he couldn’t attend games because of it, who knows worth a try.

    Have to say though, i’m curious as to who is on his list to replace Pardew, who is now nothing but a bad memory.

  390. Though there is no official word on it, it appears there’s the making of a deal with PSG, which has Cabaye returning to Newcastle and Sissoko going the other way, which could be bad news for the likes of Arsenal.

    I just cant see Cabaye returning, why would he want to return to an ambitionless side as opposed to a top six Euro tournament side.

    Sissoko ? i’m sure would be happy to play for an ambitious side like PSG, or any top PL side for that matter, which makes the deal questionable.

  391. Chuckles, PSG have alot of very good but just not quite the top notch central midfielders like Cabaye, or Sissoko for that matter. I would think they would want to go for someone right at the top notch like Yaya Toure but not the actual Yaya Toure, just another really big central midfielder for £50 million or whatever who’s a few years younger. Paul Pogba would be my bet. He’s French as well and PSG seem to be quite patriotic in that way, even though they’re owned by Qataris.

  392. WORKY

    Yes i’m sure every club would like to have Pogba in their squad, but one cant possibly compare him with Sissoko.

    Two totally different role players, Pogba, though a midfielder is more of an attacking/goalscoring midfielder, while we all know Sissoko is best described as a box to box player, much like his French predecessor Patrick Viera.

    Not as others claim, a Ya Ya Toure, who’s style is closer to Pogba’s or vice versa.

    As for Cabaye, hmmmm! not in my book, the best midfield playmaker , but works hard, is not afraid to put his foot in, a decent dead-ball kicker and decent passer, but not all that.

    The fact he’s not first choice at PSG, only making up a bit of quality in depth, plus Ashley has already copped a decent profit from his sale.

    I certainly wouldn’t make that trade which is rumored to include cash and neither will Ashley, hell by the end of next season if we hold onto him, Sissoko will be worth big bucks and we will have an extra season and a half from him.

    Seems to be the flaw in Ashleys system is to not make good use of those youngsters on the cusp of stardom, before selling on, that and the fact we badly lack a couple of good veterans, to give the side stability and confidence.

    Unfortunately Ashley wants immediate profit, without getting adequate use from those young players brought in.

    Not IMO a sound plan.

  393. As for who may succeed Pardew, there are some impressive names mentioned, alongside the mainly British retreads that always throw their hat in, regardless of which side needs a manager, or head coach as it has become known nowadays, by taking the money decisions out of the managers hands.

    So who has Ashley’s ear on changes within the side, I would bet on Carr having the most influence, as the rest are not exactly footballing genius’s.

    If Carr were to influence him to bring in a manager who understands the modern game and played a somewhat entertaining style, I believe it could be the catalyst for some kind of rapprochement between Ashley and fans.

    Question is does Ashley care, hell I think he could have more fun watching a side that not only wins but also plays an entertaining style of football.

    But what the hell do I know about what’s going on behind the scenes at NUFC.

  394. Anyone catch the recent Spurs demolition of Chelsea ?

    Certainly more had been expected from Spurs this season, having splashing the cash from the Bale sale on some pretty decent signings.

    That plus recruiting a young Manager in Pochettino.

    It just took a certain amount of time for a group of new faces plus a new system to jell and the recent introduction of Kane has made them in my estimation a side to be reckoned with during the second half of the season.

    It must be nice to watch your side playing both an entertaining style, plus winning.

    But certainly not unexpected.

  395. I saw the Carver press conference and was shocked that he was wearing a dress suit. I had thought that that track suit was bonded to his body.

  396. I didn’t see the Leicester game but have read accounts on NUFC.com and The Mag from people who were there. Second hand information says we were terrible and hopefully this puts an end to speculation of Carver as Manager, even caretaker as he has to take some of the responsibility for tactics under Pardew.

    I am all for giving youth a go but it usually doesn’t work to put them all in together (Man U 1992 excepted). You can get lucky like with Owen or Rooney, but usually there is a certain level of maturity needed for the premier league and that has to be nurtured by putting the young uns in with the veterans. This sink or swim approach hardly ever works.

    Also, it is very infrequent for a lot of Youngsters in the same youth set up to actually develop into senior pros. Hell, we only seem to develop a single player every few years and early promise often fizzles. There have been a number of next big things such as Chopra and Vuckic who have not lived up to the hype.

    Where do we go from here – I have no F@cking clue.

  397. This is testing the patience of many a NUFC fan, and Carver would in my view be a continuation of the usually dour football we have seen for a couple of years now. Nutmag gave up, and I think he said he had watched the Mcfaul teams and probably Bald Eagle, Ozzy and Richard Dinnis as well.

    We have to have a change of direction. I am not expecting miracles, but I do not want Carver as he is neither a steady hand or a change – he is the worst of both worlds in my view.

    Chuck: I watched Spurs/Chelsea a couple of times to take my mind off NUFC. I like Jose but it is very funny to watch him squirm when things don’t go his way.

  398. What I am saying is that it would be almost unprecedented for more than one or two of our youth squad to become regulars from the same class. We already have Perez (bought for the reserves to start with), Aarons and possibly Armstrong being promoted to senior level. There is potential, but usually that does not materialise. Most were playing at Darsley Park or Whitley Bay a few weeks ago against other spotty 17 year olds.

    I don’t even care about the FA cup this year as we were never going to give it much of a go. I do care about being lied to by Carver who is being very economical with the truth about supposed knocks, dings, bangs, sprains and general ouchies. Having idiots lie to me makes me assume they think I am an idiot. Maybe I am for supporting NUFC :)

  399. Carver team meeting on Friday:

    “You OK there Colo? Is your hamstring a bit tight? Have the weekend off. How about you Moussa, got a bit of a stiff neck? Enjoy Paris and say Hello to the wife and kid. And you Jak? You were fancying a night with your mates at the quay side? Good lad, have the weekend off. You look a bit tired Ayoze and you know we have a massive two games in three weeks after this, why don’t you have a lie down and skype your family this weekend.”

  400. chuck says:
    January 5, 2015 at 5:30 pm

    “Yes i’m sure every club would like to have Pogba in their squad, but one cant possibly compare him with Sissoko.

    “Two totally different role players, Pogba, though a midfielder is more of an attacking/goalscoring midfielder, while we all know Sissoko is best described as a box to box player, much like his French predecessor Patrick Viera.

    “Not as others claim, a Ya Ya Toure, who’s style is closer to Pogba’s or vice versa. ”

    Chuck, all of those players could be described as box to box midfielders, as well as Matuidi at PSG too.

  401. Worky

    Not really !

    For instance Pogba has always been described as an attacking midfielder (sometimes as a forward) and plays an attacking role, seldom tracking back, if that’s your version of box to box, then……

    Ya gotta travel from one box to the other in order to be described as such, whereas Sissoko does it time after time game after game.

    And how often do you see Ya Ya travel back and bring the ball out, almost never.

  402. I’m coming to realise that it’s not just Newcastle United I’m becoming disillusioned with. It’s football in general.

    From the crooks and grifters in the boardrooms down to an increasingly large number of deadbeats on the pitch (Evans the rapist, various other sex offenders, God-knows-how-many drunk drivers, thieves and a load of people convicted of assault/battery to some degree or another).

    I’ve been looking for something better to do with my weekends since I stopped going to SJP, and I’ve enjoyed going to the Falcons’ last two home games with a pal from work.

    I really have just about had enough of all of the crap involved in supporting a football club.

  403. Worky

    You quoted Wikipedia as a source, which in fact doesn’t enlighten anyone stating he is a midfielder “comfortable”
    in either the role of attack or defense.

    Which could be said about any midfielder, but the fact is, he is actually an attacking midfielder/goal-scorer, having registered fifteen goals for his present club Juventus during this season, in Serie A.

    And would hardly be considered for his defensive (box to Box) abilities, is in fact closer to a Ya Ya Toure, but hardly a Sissoko or Viera and having watched all four, i’m sure you must be aware of the difference.

  404. Hmmm ! rumors have it there is something in the wind concerning a sale of the club.

    It’s becoming unclear following such matters as Ashley’s Ranger investment and the fact Pardew was let go without any drama.

    There are also rumors of interest from middle east money in acquiring the club.

    Of course Ashley has apparently denied any immediate sale prior to 2016, but having firmly rejected any sale of our former local lad immediately before loading him onto his personal helicopter to Liverpool, we will take that with a grain of salt.

    The man is obviously an opportunist, who will take advantage (and has) of any opportunity to increase his
    already substantial bank account, mainly by buying struggling old former quality brand names and reinventing them, to unwary buyers who fail to understand they are now ‘new tat”, sold by sewing on the old quality name tag.

    Sound familiar, how about NUFC, why did Ashley buy it ?

    We all know the answer now and what that means as a fan and no doubt the majority are willing to gamble on just about anyone with the required readies to replace him, rather than continue as an ambitionless club, who’s only reason for being is to increase Ashley’s wealth.

  405. Yes the constantly repeated propaganda put out by the present NUFC PR dept. (meaning “propaganda repeated”) has had it’s effect, many fans (not just Ashley apologist’s) now believe that Ashley has had a sound economic effect on the clubs financial stability and may be more than commonly thought.

    On propaganda here’s a piece from a well known source.

    It’s the leaders of the country, who determine the policy and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along.

    Whether it’s a Democracy a Fascist or Communist dictatorship or a parliament

    Voice or no voice , the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.

    It’s easy, all you have to do is tell them you are being attacked and denounce the peace-makers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger, it works the same in every country.
    Herman Goering.

    Question everything !

  406. chuck says:
    January 7, 2015 at 6:49 pm

    “Worky

    “You quoted Wikipedia as a source, which in fact doesn’t enlighten anyone stating he is a midfielder “comfortable”
    in either the role of attack or defense.

    “Which could be said about any midfielder, but the fact is, he is actually an attacking midfielder/goal-scorer, having registered fifteen goals for his present club Juventus during this season, in Serie A.”

    Chuck, that is exactly what a box to box midfielder is, a complete midfielder who can both defend and attack. He can defend very well and break up play, but he is also very good at creating chances and scoring goals at the other end of the pitch too, hence the ‘box to box’ bit. Frank Lampard is a box to box midfielder and he’s scored hundreds of goals. Steven Gerrard’s one too. Cabaye and Sissoko have never done enough right at the front in terms of scoring or laying on assists for teammates to be true box to box players, which isn’t to say they aren’t good central midfielders.

  407. Worky: if we got as many penalties as Chelsea and Liverpool and let Sissoko and Cabaye take them their goal tally would be much higher.

    Gerrard and Lampard were obviously great premier league players but their goal tally if they played with Shearer would be significantly less – they wouldn’t get near a penalty :) The penalty taker always has padded stats to an extent but they still have to score and that’s why they are chosen in the first place.

  408. More crap another day at NUFC:

    No Manager
    No links to new players
    Carver still in the running (madness)
    Williamson playing up front for 10 mins at Leicester
    Deliberate 2nd team played at Leicester
    Rumours that certain players refused to travel
    Stupid Frank de Boer rumours now
    Two of the most difficult games of the season coming up
    The usual “radio silence” from the club

    Oh the joy of supporting Newcastle United.

  409. Worky

    Once again you refuse to recognize the difference between a Sissoko and a Pogba, lumping them to-gether as the same type of player, using the box to box description, knowing quite well they play totally different roles.

    One Sissoko being primarily a defensive midfielder while Pogba is well known for his goalscoring/attacking abilities.
    Why don’t you just admit that there may be a time when you are wrong, instead of letting your ego dictate your defense.