What questions would you ask the board?

Questions, questions, questions. But will we get any answers?
As many of you will be aware, the Evening Chronicle has been afforded the chance to ask the Newcastle board 12 questions.

In fairness 12 questions is ****** all considering there are so many that can be asked such has been the lack of communication between fan and board.

Personally I feel that it’s not going to make a blind bit of difference and I don’t expect anything of note to come from it. The questions will be vetted and it wouldn’t surprise me of we got simple one or two word answers to all of the questions.

Everything smacks of being a pain in the **** for them. It’s almost like the way I react when the dog wants to go out. It can be pissing down with rain outside and the pooch will be whining and whimpering to go our for her usual long walk, even though she doesn’t like the rain. In the end I’ll give in and take her out for a quick walk round the block when in reality she wants much more.

I think that analogy works. Think of the reluctant me as the board and the dog as those pesky fans who want more than what they are getting. Yeah, that does sort of work I guess.

However despite my reservations I have to commend the local paper on its efforts to try and get some communication from above. It’s an area which is sadly lacking at our club and has been since Mike Ashley took over. Fair enough he doesn’t talk to the press (he merely strips and whips himself in front of them instead….) but he needs to get hold of someone who does. There is a fine balance between too much information and not enough and at the moment we are too far on the other side of the latter.

Rather amazingly we do have a PR department. That airport woman must have the easiest job in the world in fairness. I bet it’s 100mph non-stop action in her office. On the evidence of that latest attempt at a statement she doesn’t deserve a job. Why is the club paying her? I’m a dyslexic ‘blog writer and I could do a better job than her!

Anyway, rant over. As you can tell I’m rather sceptical that we’ll get any meaningful answers to genuine questions of concern although I do say fair play to Lee Ryder an Co for trying. What I want to know is what you guys would ask if given the chance?

Now try and keep it serious as I’ll contact Lee Ryder on Twitter and see if he can put one or two to the board for us. Either that or I’ll go on the Chronicle website and put them forward myself and see what happens.

Fire away!

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

63 thoughts on “What questions would you ask the board?

  1. Burning question – Are you aware that you have created a divide between the board and the fans which cant be good for the general well being of the club.

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  2. My question relates to matter of meaningful communication from the club:

    Why have fans and managers been lied to or shall I be kind and say misled?

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  3. FAT BOY ASHLEY WONT GIVE ANY THINK TO THE CLUB SO ITS A LOAD OF BULL**** AND ID LIKE TO ASK WHY IS HE DOING THIS THE FANS HAVENT DUN ANYTHINK AND YOU ARE ALL ABOUT BUSSNESS FAT BOY

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  4. Not sure the Chron will print that one like, MagpieMad. On the other hand – I’m sure Sky Sports News would love to talk to you.

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  5. TC – Brilliant! 😆

    My Q would be – ” You have created a divide between the fans on lower intellect and those of higher intellect, as the ones with objective higher levels of thought, understand what you are doing whereas the lower intellect fans accuse you of telling untruths – On that basis are the club intending to release a comic with pictures to explain to the doylums what’s happening – also on the same basis have the club considered hiring sheep dogs instead of police dogs for match days?”

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  6. TC – ha!!

    Is Mike Ashley planning to invest anything in the club or is his intentions for the club to run itself?

    Does SD pay for advertising at the ground?

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  7. Toonsy the Chron said the questions wont be hand picked, but will be the top 12 most asked questions. But like you i dont think we’ll get much out of them as I think they well be basic yes no answers.
    I would want to know
    1 what is the plan is it to keep the club longterm or sell asap.
    2 which 5yr plan are we on now and how far in are we.
    3 is Lambs and MA’s friendship strained now because MA is having a sexual relationship with Stardust.

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  8. Does it hurt when you sit down, what with you having Stardusts unthinking and unquestioning tongue up your ****?

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  9. Stardust, Even Bobby Shinton/Troy Stavers would have trouble coming up with a windup of that proportion 🙂

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  10. Mike what did you think of the judge and legal people with low intellect.
    Thats proved you were telling lies, did you not think of appealing to clear your name and the accusations that you were lying

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  11. There is no point in asking any questions as all we will hear is what the company line (Mr Ashley) wants to have put across and it probably won’t be true.

    A waste of time to be honest and anyone who thinks this is a proactive and positive exercise is deluded.

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  12. Toonsy hope all is well mate.

    My question would be; what happens after the ‘5 year’ plan and can we looking for europe in the next season?

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  13. Great Question MagpieMad. After reading that, I now realise why they hold their cards close to their chests. I think I’ll go to the chronicle site and see what the answer is.

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  14. Porcies Treet

    You’re not your – don’t have to prove my point for me 😆

    Aussie – 😆 don’t know what you mean fella – I meant it :;):

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  15. Is it the boards intention to sell up? If so would this explain the fundamental lack of investment? Is it it due to Mike Ashley recouping his massive investment to rescue NUFC from administration?

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  16. A famous individual once said there is the holy trinity in football:
    1. The Fans
    2. The manager
    3. The Players

    The board is there to handle the business side of things (SEAMLESSLY IN THE BACKGROUND) which is a very important aspect. However the bond and honesty between these three is core to any successful club. Can you honesty say that this is the case at NUFC. If not how will u rectify it?

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  17. These question and answer, or feedback, sessions should be held face-to-face with supporter groups and a few chosen journos on a regular basis. Fans should always be kept in the loop. It’s called PR.

    Surely that would help keep a lid on the rumour mill and stop people assuming they know the mind of Ashley and co

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  18. What qualification’s does your Gimp have for the day to day running of a football club?

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  19. 1. The lack of trust between fans and board is immense. What steps will be taken to address this issue and radically improve communication?

    2. While the overall aim of unearthing and nurturing young talent and selling at a premium is laudable, how do you plan to strike the right balance, stop us becoming a feeder club for the so called larger clubs and retain a talented squad capable of progressing to Europe in the next few years?

    3. What is your strategic plan for the next 5 years at NUFC?

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  20. Would you ever consider removing your Managing Director and replacing him with someone who actually knows about football?
    If the Arsenal model is so impressive to you, would you not consider an approach to a fed-up Wenger to come and be a Director of Football?
    Can you tell us how long you plan to stay at this club?
    You talked about bringing in revenue at the ground from sponsors. When do you intend to remove your Sports Direct advertising from the stadium and sell the space to another paying company?

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  21. @Aussie

    Despite what you think, Stardust means what he says. He thinks he’s a cut above the ordinary fan. He has no right to as he is 5ft 4in, pug nose, friar tuck haircut, skinny with a pot belly and chicken legs.

    He doesn’t go to the matches as he refuses to mix with ordinary fans.
    He is a horrible little man with a jumped up attitude that I’ve had the misfortune to know for the past 12 years.

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  22. Forgot to add at the end:
    “And are you actually going out and encouraging such sponsorship from other companies?”

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  23. A serious question “Fans identify with a club and its players, fans are ultimately the financial lifeblood of a club. The new apparent transient nature of the team has to damage the bond between fans and club, which as fans become disenfranchised will damage revenue streams both in attendance and ground spending, thereon TV, advertising etc. On that basis is it your intention to garner a new breed of supporter educated in your new thinking thereby discarding the old as a necessary but unpleasant step. Your current direction suggests it has to be one or the other”

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  24. Lac @ 32 – Brilliant!

    Auusie – Despite what you think, Troll Status means what he says. He thinks he’s a cut above the ordinary fan. He has no right to as he is 5ft 4in, pug nose, friar tuck haircut, skinny with a pot belly and chicken legs.

    He doesn’t go to the matches as he refuses to mix with ordinary fans.
    He is a horrible little man with a jumped up attitude that I’ve had the misfortune to know for the past 12 years. 😆

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  25. Stardust, 10,000 thickos have already voted with their feet, unfortunately there is a shortage of replacement superintelligentmegahyperbeings who buy into the clubs current business plan ( whatever it is).

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  26. Robert – yes I agree – unfortunately in society the super intelligent are outnumbered by thickos by 1000 to 1. I will take 10 of my friends to the next game to maintain our side of the bargain.

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  27. Stardy im sure you will enjoy your 1st game. But where are you going to borrow the friends from ? You could try Troy or even just try friendrus

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  28. Actually, Stardust – although the wording is straight out of the pseudo-intellectual ponce-o-thaurus, it does make a really good point.

    Even if you do agree with the strategy (and it’s hard to argue that it’s not working so far) it does raise this point: Just how religiously does the board think they can stick to this money-driven model before it starts to actually backfire and hit them in the pocket?

    In short: do they recognise that a balance of hard business rules against less tangible, more human influences has to be found? Do they think they will keep this ‘legendary support’ if the whole team becomes just a commodity to be traded?

    For me, that’s at the heart of it. I like the strategy and think it’s working… but it won’t for much longer if they don’t get someone who understands football and can bring in that balance.

    We’ve seen many examples of how they don’t have that understanding; the most recent being their failure to land the striker. Pardew obviously agrees; his silence speaks volumes.

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  29. I suppose my question would have to be,

    “When setting strategy, who provides guidance to the board on the football and cultural side of things to be considered, and what qualifies them to do that?”

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  30. Just noticed that this site is getting a load of **** of someone on Twitter called Shaun Proud. Says he is telling it how it is. Shame he hasn’t got the bollocks to come on here and air his views though eh?

    His blog gets about three comments a week. Quite simply it’s not very engaging 😉

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  31. I would ask the club – What they would like to achieve in the next 3 -5 years and how will they achieve this?

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  32. My Question would be “can I have the PR womans job?.because she seems to do less work than a dead goldfish,and it sounds just the right job for myself”

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  33. When did you get the idea that you should own a football club?.
    And what date do you think you will start running it?.

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  34. Dave, if that’s how the Chronicle do it (…top 12 most asked questions), then we’re all just gona be washed over by flannel. The most interesting and plying questions will only be asked by the minority, and remain floating around in cyberspace, unanswered.

    They’ve done this exercise before, load of twaddle, it’ll be full of “where’s the Andy Carroll money?”, “what’s the 5 year plan” etc……all to be answered with the same glossed over, buzzword-enriched gobbledegook and contradicting replies.

    Fair play to Toonsy if you can get some of the less obvious questions over to Lee Ryder, but if they’re awkward ones you’ll get nowt back from him.

    (I haven’t go any questions btw)

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  35. What questions would you ask the board?

    why the hell they are at a club they dont care about

    why they constantly lie about where the 35 million was spent

    why they have sold 4 -5 0f our best players

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  36. Can you be clear about if you have reduced the debt as that was your aim in the 5 year plan? Is NUFC any closer to being self sufficient if that is your aim?

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  37. “Why is it that when you have intended to take the club forward you have managed to constantly upset the fanbase?”

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  38. Do you think your lack of communication with the supporters has been a detriment to the club? If not explain. If you think it has been, tell the supporters now what you plan to do about it.

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  39. My question would be for one! Why the **** do we play shola ameobi week in, week out!? Another question would be, why every transfer window do we get linked with decent players and never ever but bids in for them. Why every transfer window do we leave it until the last minute to make bids for players!? Why are newcastle united a selling club, and not a buying club!? We bring in the best players, and sell them to the best clubs 1 season after. We talk about being a big club and how much we want to achieve things, but can never do it, because of stupid thing such as selling our best players, and not making bids for big players to take us forward. No wounder no one wants to play for us, with the stability of the board. Its **** take! Think mike ashley should do us all a favor and sell the club to someone rich and who wants to take the club forward!! Answer them questions!???

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  40. Hey,

    Does anyone know any good daily deal sites where you can see a bunch of offers for the UK, most of the ones I see are made for the USA or some other far away country.

    The only two I know are HotUkDeals.com and Offerbot.co.uk and both don`t seem to have that many good offers on ?

    Anyone know any others ?

    Cheers
    George

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