Tales from the Toon. The ups and downs of an NUFC supporter....

[Rooky9]

FMEL. JK offered a full deal. I can't see how that is good for our 'progress' over the next 5 years.

[Rooky9]

A mate of mine found this piece written by a Newcastle fan on a football forum. Its reads so much like what I think, for the most part, I thought I'd just lift it.




There is a song by Sheffield-based band Reverend and the Makers called 'The State of Things'. It's a good song that kicks off a half-decent album. In the song 'The Reverend' himself wants to 'make you aware of the state of things'.

Well for today I'm going to be 'The Reverend'. Though instead of telling you what 21st century everyday life is like in a northern city, I'm going to tell you about 'The State of Thing'" at Newcastle United FC. Be prepared: it's not going to be pretty.

I've been going to watch Newcastle since 1990. This is my 19th season. I realise I've been quite lucky and haven't really endured any really bad times. The worst period was probably the first two seasons before Keegan became manager.

My first game was in the old Second Division against West Ham United in 1990 and we drew 1-1. I was six and can remember sitting on the barrier in the Gallowgate End and spending much of the time staring back at the scoreboard. I was mesmorised by it. I loved that scoreboard. In the next couple of years I took in quite a few games for an under-10. Hull City away at Boothferry Park was my first away game. We lost 2-1.

I was also privileged to see the likes of Port Vale, Plymouth and Cambridge. In those early days, I didn't really realise how poor we were but I loved going to the match with my dad and my brother. In a way it wasn't about the team being great it was about being brought up to love football and experiencing live football. I remember paying three quid to get in and having to go through the 'junior' turnstile separate to my dad. That is a scary thing to do when you're six or seven. But I'm glad I had those couple of years where things were rubbish and the ground was appalling because at least I have some bearing of what things used to be like. I may not have been through the really bleak days like some of you reading this but I'm aware of where we came from.

Of course Keegan soon took over and that was probably the first time I was aware that Newcastle United was a special football club. Anyone there the day we played and beat Bristol City 3-0 in Keegan's first match will know that it was an amazing day with St James' 'packed to the rafters', to coin a football cliché.

I don't need to remind you of what happened after that but needless to say if it weren't for that man we wouldn't be where we are today, in the Premier League with the greatest-looking stadium in the country.

Over the last 15 years I've enjoyed some of Newastle United's finest moments. I was there when we beat Man Utd 5-0. I saw Tino's hat trick against Barcelona. I was in the Gallowgate End when Shearer scored arguably the goal of his career against Everton. I was inside the San Siro when Shearer scored twice in a 2-2 draw against Inter Milan in the Champions League. I was at Wembley when Rob Lee scored against Chelsea. I was at Old Trafford in 1998 and 1999 as we saw off Sheffield United and Spurs in consecutive cup semi-finals. I also happened to be at Ewood Park as Shearer scored twice in an FA Cup match as we saw off Blackburn 2-1 to reach the sixth round.

Unfortunately I was also at Ewood Park on 17th January 2009. There is some irony in the fact that Keegan leaving early this season has put us in the terrible situation we now face with Joe Kinnear in charge.

I'm not sure what is concerning me the most right now. There is so much wrong at Newcastle United it's actually hard to find anything positive to write about at the moment. In all the years I've supported Newcastle I've never known a bleaker outlook.

Let's start with the players. Admittedly we have some good players in our squad. Given, Bassong, Barton and Owen would be a strong spine of a team. The likes of Beye, Jonas, N'Zogbia and Martins are all capable Premier League players as well. Guthrie is showing decent potential, as is Collocini.

Apart from those we're really clutching at straws. The likes of Edgar, Duff and Shola shouldn't even be at the club let alone in the first team actually playing matches. Nicky Butt can't play so many games anymore either; you simply can't rely on him. The less said about Enrique the better. For a professional footballer he seems to struggle enormously with simple things such as passing. I'm not sure what to say about Taylor either but his chest-beating big man act is getting a bit tiresome to be honest, though I'd sooner have him in the team ahead of Edgar.

What is truly scary is that most of our players aren't good enough and the ones who are all want to leave.

Let's clear another thing up shall we? Joe Kinnear is way out of his depth at Newcastle United. I mean really, really clueless and it's about time we started to realise this. He is tactically inept and he even struggles to pick the right team from the tiny pool of players available to him. Duff appears to be the first on the team sheet and is never considered for substitution. For a prime example of Kinnear's lack of managerial ability, let's look at the team against Blackburn.

He started with Duff on the right and N'Zogbia on the left. Jonas was on the bench. He should have started with Duff on the bench and Jonas on the right. Duff was ineffective...again. He kept cutting inside and drifting into the middle so we had no outlet on the right. Nothing new there I suppose.

However, when we went 1-0 down our team was crying out for a change and for most supporters the switch to make was obvious. Jonas on for Duff. N'Zogbia with his pace and ability to run was far more of a threat than Duff. However, a few minutes passed and Kinnear stood looking at bits of paper with Chris Hughton. There must have been a naked woman on the paper or something because they were studying it really hard and for a long time. So long in fact that Blackburn went 2-0 up. "We want Spiderman," were the chants from the away end. Jonas for Duff. Come on Joe, this one is easy! But still he stood there and didn't move while Barton and Jonas warmed up. A while later and finally a substitution that had come 10 minutes too late. Now surely was Jonas's time to come on for Duff, right?

What Kinnear actually did next just proved to me that he hasn't a clue what he's doing. Not only did Jonas not come on, he actually took N'Zogbia off instead of Duff. As pleasing as it was to see Barton come on and look up for the fight, so to speak, it was not the correct change. It left us with Guthrie on the left and Duff on the right with no prospect of us getting back into the game whatsoever.

Look at Kinnear's record since he came - it's not great at all. We weren't expecting miracles of course but we shouldn't have to accept a manager that had his day ten years ago and clearly fails to motivate the team at all. His constant waffle to the press is embarrassing. Most of what he says turns out to be incorrect. Quite often the opposite of what he states happens. He's simply a puppet to an owner who is paying him a ridiculous sum of money. He mustn't be able to believe his luck and we're the idiots that are seemingly tolerating it all.

As for Mike Ashley, I've never been so annoyed with anyone related to football as I am with this joker. Just the thought of what he is doing to MY club actually makes me get angry. How can he possibly be fine with ruining a football club steeped in history and tradition? A club that means so much to so many normal decent people. A club that is the heartbeat of the city of Newcastle. So what if we've not won anything for 40 years - it doesn't matter. What does matter is that there is a club people can be proud of.

It isn't about Ashley not having an affiliation with Newcastle - it's much simpler than that. He's a guy that cares more about his ego than he does for a whole football club and its supporters. He's happy to watch as the club sinks to it's lowest ebb in the last 20 years. In other words since I started watching Newcastle.

What annoys me most about Mike Ashley is he's arrogant enough to believe that a simple statement will dupe us into believing everything is okay. Well, Mr Ashley, I'm afraid we're not as stupid as you'd have us down for. You see, if you make a statement saying you're going to communicate more with supporters on December 28th then you had better start communicating sometime before January the 21st (and counting). Did he honestly believe we wouldn't notice that nothing has come out of the club apart from a wall of silence?

He has no intention of spending another penny on Newcastle United and the sad truth of the matter is that he is asset-stripping to save as much of his own money as he can. The words 'speculate to accumulate' should mean something to Ashley but they obviously don't.

If he spent say £20m this transfer window on five or six decent solid Premier League players then he'd save the value of the club. As it is, going down will simply see him losing more money. If he hasn't realised that then I'd have to question just how intelligent he is. What kind of business owner of any kind doesn't communicate with its customers? It is an unprecedented situation we're in and I fear it will get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

Mike Ashley has washed his hands of the club and it's up to us as supporters to unite and do what we can to make sure he knows at every match that things have to change. Whether we can make things change is debatable but one thing is for certain, doing nothing hasn't worked, so what have we got to lose?

If the club had a structure and we simply weren't good enough on the pitch then we could at least accept relegation as painful as it would be. But to have a club in limbo the way it is when things could be done to prevent it makes this whole situation unbearable.

I fear that trips to the likes of Plymouth, Blackpool and Doncaster may be back in time for my 20th season of watching Newcastle.

Ian Smith

[Indestructable]

I will take the three points for City, but bad news on the injury front with Barton and Owen out for a while.

[Horneris]

Good Luck Newcaslte fans,

hopefully the inability of the current bottom 3 & Pompey & Hull will be your saving grace.

[mondatoo]

Good Luck Newcaslte fans,

hopefully the inability of the current bottom 3 & Pompey & Hull will be your saving grace.

Cheers mate,we're going to need it.Be surprised if there has ever been a bigger derby than what sunday is for us if we lose i think we're down FFS this is sick, CHEERS MIKE.Add to that the fact it all kicked off down there if we lose I wouldn't envy being a copper in the ground, sigh

[cdw1111]

    Nice write up by Mr Smith,i'am depressed by the whole situation our only saving grace is there may be a few teams even worse than us.Relegation is not the end of the world,been there done that 1988/89 life went on.Three years later we nearly went down to the old third division,i think i went to every game home and away that season it was soul destroying however the last game away to Leicester we got the result we needed and survived it still remains as the most memorable match i've ever been to,it was worth all the pain that preceeded it.
    The title of this thread is Tales from the Toon. The ups and downs of an NUFC supporter....lets face it,it's almost always downs does it stop me loving my club not in the slightest in a peverted way it probably makes me care more.
    Where do we go from here?God only knows,will we beat the SMB on Sunday?I'am dreading it,we seem to be in freefall and if we lose i think were down.

[Horneris]

Excellent signing in Nolan.

Also, Kinnear is a legend. Talking about N'Zogbia, he said on sky sports news, "one week hes joining Chelsea, the next Man Utd or the next week Leeds".

Exactly which decade is this guy stuck in  Every1 at work pissed themselves.

[mondatoo]

Excellent signing in Nolan.

Also, Kinnear is a legend. Talking about N'Zogbia, he said on sky sports news, "one week hes joining Chelsea, the next Man Utd or the next week Leeds".

Exactly which decade is this guy stuck in  Every1 at work pissed themselves.

Pretty sure he has already done this too regarding leeds,i bet he is wondering why we ain't played them yet,the man is a joke and this club is going to get relegated this season which, whatever fkn excuses he wants to make is partly his fault

[Rooky9]

Very worried by tomorrow. Its not a game that we can even afford to take a draw and save some pride. Its an actual must win, we will need these 3 points to stay up this season.

Another nightmare week for us, I'm tempted to take some boots tomorrow and go for a game up front, I'd be more use than Xisco I know that. I think Nolan is a good signing, and I think we still have a decent first 11, but not even half of them will be fit for tomorrow. Cisse and Jones will tear Taylor up for arse paper, he'll make some stupid tackles and give the game away. I can see it now.

Given looks to be gone, and as I have said before good luck to him. A few things on this though. Firstly why does he need it to be now rather than the summer? Why are Man City trying to make it look like they cant be taken for a ride, Bridge £12m FFS. Given has as many years left at the top as Bridge so there can be no sell on BS. £12m or £8m plus a player or two. Given will be more of an asset to the team than Bridge too. I think Sturrage on loan until the end of the season should be looked at (if he is fit?).

Charlie had so much potential and has just completely stagnated in the last 18 months, whilst he appears to have been unhappy being so far from his family in London. He wants to move to a club with more amibition etc. Wigan! I suppose it might be a touch closer to London.

I was looking for a net increase in the squad of 3 players, and at best it looks liek we'll be at the same number. The extra injuries in midweek will be huge, unless we can get Oba fit and firing I just cant see where the goals will come from to keep us up.

Come the end of the season, staying up or going down, there is a mass clear out needed. Owen, Duff, Viduka, Smith are all a massive £290k a week liability and between them they just dont play enough. Wages are dangerously high in percentage of revenue, I'd guess the highest in the league now, and our revenues are only going to fall further. The next TV deal will do well to beat the last and that must surely now have peaked as people will become less passionate about a sport (the top division of it anyway) that has now gone beyond too many fans to remain in this state. There is a massive amount fo work to do at SJP, and its not going to be easy or pretty.

For the record there have been some 'good' things going on at Newcastle. We are certainly one of the busiest clubs around at buying up young talent from abroad. Obviously I'd love to have more local lads come through, but hopefully a decent mix can be attained. There is a young lad called Nile Ranger who is scoring a few goals at most team levels below the first, I'd quite like to see someone like that thrown into a Derby game, again he cant be worse than Xisco.

Please God let us have some luck, tomorrow and in the run in.

[amcgrath1uk]

Very worried by tomorrow. Its not a game that we can even afford to take a draw and save some pride. Its an actual must win, we will need these 3 points to stay up this season.

Another nightmare week for us, I'm tempted to take some boots tomorrow and go for a game up front, I'd be more use than Xisco I know that. I think Nolan is a good signing, and I think we still have a decent first 11, but not even half of them will be fit for tomorrow. Cisse and Jones will tear Taylor up for arse paper, he'll make some stupid tackles and give the game away. I can see it now.

Given looks to be gone, and as I have said before good luck to him. A few things on this though. Firstly why does he need it to be now rather than the summer? Why are Man City trying to make it look like they cant be taken for a ride, Bridge £12m FFS. Given has as many years left at the top as Bridge so there can be no sell on BS. £12m or £8m plus a player or two. Given will be more of an asset to the team than Bridge too. I think Sturrage on loan until the end of the season should be looked at (if he is fit?).

Charlie had so much potential and has just completely stagnated in the last 18 months, whilst he appears to have been unhappy being so far from his family in London. He wants to move to a club with more amibition etc. Wigan! I suppose it might be a touch closer to London.

I was looking for a net increase in the squad of 3 players, and at best it looks liek we'll be at the same number. The extra injuries in midweek will be huge, unless we can get Oba fit and firing I just cant see where the goals will come from to keep us up.

Come the end of the season, staying up or going down, there is a mass clear out needed. Owen, Duff, Viduka, Smith are all a massive £290k a week liability and between them they just dont play enough. Wages are dangerously high in percentage of revenue, I'd guess the highest in the league now, and our revenues are only going to fall further. The next TV deal will do well to beat the last and that must surely now have peaked as people will become less passionate about a sport (the top division of it anyway) that has now gone beyond too many fans to remain in this state. There is a massive amount fo work to do at SJP, and its not going to be easy or pretty.

For the record there have been some 'good' things going on at Newcastle. We are certainly one of the busiest clubs around at buying up young talent from abroad. Obviously I'd love to have more local lads come through, but hopefully a decent mix can be attained. There is a young lad called Nile Ranger who is scoring a few goals at most team levels below the first, I'd quite like to see someone like that thrown into a Derby game, again he cant be worse than Xisco.

Please God let us have some luck, tomorrow and in the run in.

Think I might try the same with City... aka take my boots for a game

best of luck 2moro.. hate Sunderland with a passion.

[Rooky9]

Please God let us have some luck, tomorrow and in the run in.

TY God, this can only be a good sign.

Full Tilt Poker Game #10362541315: $22,500 Guarantee (78246228), Table 12 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:26:26 ET - 2009/01/31
Seat 1: efzd (8,702)
Seat 2: GDOCTOR (33,617)
Seat 3: Arti TAG Tilt (7,150)
Seat 5: TheAuditor9 (20,094)
Seat 6: freeWilly73 (16,417)
Seat 7: DirkReems (29,324)
Seat 8: superaids2 (30,774)
Seat 9: evgenii17 (10,040)
efzd antes 100
GDOCTOR antes 100
Arti TAG Tilt antes 100
TheAuditor9 antes 100
freeWilly73 antes 100
DirkReems antes 100
superaids2 antes 100
evgenii17 antes 100
TheAuditor9 posts the small blind of 400
freeWilly73 posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TheAuditor9 [ ]
DirkReems folds
zippy525 sits down
zippy525 adds 20,914
superaids2 folds
evgenii17 folds
efzd folds
GDOCTOR calls 800
Arti TAG Tilt folds
TheAuditor9 calls 400
freeWilly73 checks
*** FLOP *** [ ]
TheAuditor9 checks
freeWilly73 checks
GDOCTOR bets 3,200
TheAuditor9 calls 3,200
freeWilly73 folds
*** TURN *** [ ] []
TheAuditor9 checks
GDOCTOR bets 9,600
TheAuditor9 raises to 15,994, and is all in
GDOCTOR calls 6,394
TheAuditor9 shows [ ]
GDOCTOR shows [ ]
*** RIVER *** [ ] []
TheAuditor9 shows a full house, Jacks full of Eights
GDOCTOR shows two pair, Kings and Eights
TheAuditor9 wins the pot (41,588) with a full house, Jacks full of Eights
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 41,588 | Rake 0
Board: [ ]
Seat 1: efzd folded before the Flop
Seat 2: GDOCTOR showed [ ] and lost with two pair, Kings and Eights
Seat 3: Arti TAG Tilt (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: TheAuditor9 (small blind) showed [ ] and won (41,588) with a full house, Jacks full of Eights
Seat 6: freeWilly73 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: DirkReems folded before the Flop
Seat 8: superaids2 folded before the Flop
Seat 9: evgenii17 folded before the Flop

1 of 60 in the Full Tilt 22.5k. One time etc.

[Rooky9]

Used my poker luck... this would have been a nice one to hit as well though.

Full Tilt Poker Game #10363678356: $22,500 Guarantee (78246228), Table 12 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:36:34 ET - 2009/01/31
Seat 1: hamer93 (61,190)
Seat 2: Wawa711 (30,440)
Seat 4: zippy525 (30,656)
Seat 5: TheAuditor9 (45,293)
Seat 6: freeWilly73 (60,817)
Seat 7: Balla-B13 (41,354)
Seat 8: BigStackBBQ (68,776)
Seat 9: snowed888 (229,980)
hamer93 antes 300
Wawa711 antes 300
zippy525 antes 300
TheAuditor9 antes 300
freeWilly73 antes 300
Balla-B13 antes 300
BigStackBBQ antes 300
snowed888 antes 300
zippy525 posts the small blind of 1,200
TheAuditor9 posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TheAuditor9 [ ]
freeWilly73 folds
Balla-B13 raises to 6,000
BigStackBBQ folds
snowed888 folds
hamer93 folds
Wawa711 folds
zippy525 folds
TheAuditor9 calls 3,600
*** FLOP *** [ ]
TheAuditor9 checks
Balla-B13 bets 9,600
TheAuditor9 raises to 38,993, and is all in
Balla-B13 calls 25,454, and is all in
TheAuditor9 shows [ ]
Balla-B13 shows [ ]
Uncalled bet of 3,939 returned to TheAuditor9
*** TURN *** [ ] []
*** RIVER *** [ ] []
TheAuditor9 shows Ace King high
Balla-B13 shows a pair of Queens
Balla-B13 wins the pot (85,708) with a pair of Queens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 85,708 | Rake 0
Board: [ ]
Seat 1: hamer93 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Wawa711 (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: zippy525 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: TheAuditor9 (big blind) showed [ ] and lost with Ace King high
Seat 6: freeWilly73 folded before the Flop
Seat 7: Balla-B13 showed [ ] and won (85,708) with a pair of Queens
Seat 8: BigStackBBQ folded before the Flop
Seat 9: snowed888 folded before the Flop


20th of 490....

[mondatoo]

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rooky9]

You really have to question what the hell anyone at the top of NUFC has up top. If we did want michael Johnson why wouldn't we use the leverage of Given to get him. Seems absolutely mental, we held all the cards in order to do that.

That's the last two transfer windows that have had a net incoming of cash. 

[mondatoo]

You really have to question what the hell anyone at the top of NUFC has up top. If we did want michael Johnson why wouldn't we use the leverage of Given to get him. Seems absolutely mental, we held all the cards in order to do that.

That's the last two transfer windows that have had a net incoming of cash. 

[  ] This will be nice for Mike Ashley when we're relegated and you can wipe 100m+ off the value of the club wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii