Spanish sun? Or Hungarian goulash?
Everton picking up just a single point at Old Trafford meant that the Toon Army will march on Europe once more. Get in!
The result however has restarted a title race that City boss Roberto Mancini conceded was over only last week. The blue side of Manchester made the most of their rivals dropping points when they relegated sorry Wolves, and now go into the Manchester derby just three points behind the league leaders and boasting a superior goal difference.
What’s all this got to do with us? Well, I for one had hoped that by the time Man City made the trip North to St. James’ Park they would have nothing left to play for. As it stands, they most certainly do, and a positive result of any kind against Man United will see them arrive here all guns blazing.
We’ve all said on countless occasions that, regardless of how the run in pans out, we’ve had an unbelievable season. That said, wouldn’t we all feel just a little bit gutted if we fell at the final hurdle?
A place in the second tier of European competition is a fantastic consolation prize, without a doubt, though I can’t help but wonder how big a sense of disappointment there would be on Tyneside if we failed to qualify for the Champions League after taking the inside track against Spurs and Chelsea.
Big Al made the same point on Match of the Day last night. We’re so close we can almost taste the Spanish tapas, the Italian bruschetta, the German bratwurst, though there is still a good chance our travelling support could end up dining on… whatever it is they eat in the Ukraine.
Not that the Europa League isn’t littered with top teams – Schalke 04 and Athletic Bilbao contested two of the best games I’ve seen all season – but you get my point. The real glamour games are within reaching distance, we just need to stand up tall for another four games and grab them. It’s no less than we deserve.
What do you reckon? Would you be disappointed with Europa League given our current position, or cast your mind back two seasons and simply enjoy how far we’ve come?
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105 Comments
I think I’d be dissapointed not to get CL but not dissapointed to be in the Europa if you get what I mean.
Because were in 4th and have been whispering and then talking about CL football for so long now it would be a dissapointing of course to not be in it. I wouldn’t feel let down by any means, but you can’t help being dissapointed after spending so long dreaming.
The thing is the money it would bring in can go a long way at Newcastle!
Anyone know the score on CL qualifiers? Someone suggested that if we lost then we’d be out of Europe altogether and not drop into the Europa. If that’s true it’s maybe better to finish 5th.
i would have been happy with a top ten finish,anything more is a bonus,dont get greedy,be happy with your lot imo
ice – do you mean you would have been happy finishing 10th.
because a top ten finish covers 1-10. So whats better than that?
Agree Ice.. I am happy no matter what happens from now on in…
Rossco sums it up perfectly.
“I’d be dissapointed not to get CL but not dissapointed to be in the Europa”
Its going down to the wire, thats for sure.
We are not going to win the Champions League so for me, i a not fussed either way. Having followed Newcastle in Europe for years i realise it is all about being away from work, on the lash and somewhere different to the boring old premiership grounds. Champions League would be the icing on the cake but lets face it, who would have been happy just with cake at the start of the season
How much is the Europa League worth??
It’s all so far beyond expectation that I’m finding it hard to even think of an answer. I think if we finish 5th the disappointment will be very short-lived. It’s not just the league position either – Saturday’s game was the first time we’ve really seen the product of the club’s strategy at full bore (albeit without Saylor) and I honestly think Sir Bobby would have been proud. Gorgeous carpet football. Utter class oozing from every position.
Dreamland. Whatever happens now.
Can’t lie, I would be disappointed, but only because we’re so close.
That said, I still think Spurs are the favourites when you look at their final games. Was praying for the title race to be over by the time we face Man City, but that doesn’t look like happening now. I can see City winning next weekend and being well fired-up
Not much at all Scottie.. someone posted the amounts a week or two back.. lucky to be 10m if you win the thing..
Just got to share some stuff about my stint on Ian Wright’s show on Absolute Radio after the game. I was a bit buzzed and may have gone a smidge overboard…
QPR scored while I was on air. I’m not sure of censorship rules on innuendo, but shouting “As the actress said to the bishop: come on the Rs!!” probably stretches guidelines.
I also managed to refer to Sports Direct as SellaChavaTrackie.com; no word from Ashley’s lawyers as yet.
Agree with Ice. I’m delighted we’ve made the Europa League as I was looking at top half at the start of the season.We’ve surpassed that and made Europa so I’m happy regardless of if we make it into the Champions League or not. Mind you, while we’re up there we may as well try for it, but I won’t be gutted if we miss out.
Its in the bag lads.
My son is the lucky charm! He was born on 13th March and since then we have won all 6 games.
He will be in his Toon kit for every game and we will end the season with 4 wins!
Yeah I agree though with what has been said, ‘dissapointed not to get CL but not dissapointed to be in the Europa’ sums it up well for me.
ID BE BUZZING WITH BOTH
Its a weird reason but the only reason id be more happy with champs league is to see the look on other fans faces and how the media will react
kinda sad really, but if we get top 4 and spuds and chelsea or arsenal don;t i will laugh my tits off
I think getting champs league with this owner and manager could keep us at the top of English football by being able to sign the very best of our targets this summer. Europa league, hmm loads of long haul thursday night trips to Eastern Europe and not much in the way of tv/sponsership money. I think it would mean we would struggle to finish as high in the league as we have this season. It hasn’t really helped teams like Stoke or Fulham has it? Of course it is still an achievement but the real prise is champions league. Now that we have our foot wedged in the door it would be a huge dissapointment to miss out IMO. Even the two-legged qualifier games would be good and group stage. One game at a time, 3 points at Wigan won’t be easy and the final 3 are all difficult, we can’t lose at Chelsea.
whats the deal with some papers, radio stations and tv calling our staduim by its proper name; st.james park, and other media outlets calling it (the other name)
yours confused
ps – anytime i see or hear our ground being referred to as the other name it actually hurts my chest
City have been shocking when they’ve had something to play for, it was only when Mancini conceded the title that they’ve looked their former selves. Not sure that bodes that well for us I guess, they could get hammered by United and then have nothing to play for and hammer us.
Europa of course is ridiculous, what a season. But with 4 games left and us being on the run we have been and with Tottenham struggling and Chelsea preoccupied, I’d definitely be a little disappointed to not finish top 4.
BB yes i would have been happy with 10th,after the players that left i didnt know if the new players would hit the ground running,in the top 10 above the scum and ime happy at this stage
ps – we need to get this ignorant idea out of our heads that europa means eastern europe and champs league equals spain and italy etc.
anyone heard of Oţelul? champs league team man utd played this year. anyone know where they are?! clue is they aint in ‘western europe’
there were 8 teams from eastern europe in champs league group stages, and probably many more in qualifying
Brendan I was thinking th same thing. The looked great for their previous few matches when they looked out of the title race and then looked a bit edgy again against wolves
Being disappointed with a Europa place now is as sad those who bitched when we finished second.
Just take it in, enjoy it, you don’t know when these times will be back so love every minute.
This is the best set up we have had for a decade, scarily – next year could get even better. Its incredible.
Anyone know if Stu has came on to admit he has been wrong for over 5 years? And while we are at it, anyone seen a pig fly?
Dont think we can be dissapointed about this season no matter what happens now! But I do understand where the article is coming from ,
This prob been mentioned on another post but congrats to Colo for been in team of the year
STARDUST spot on as @20,why no avatar,you hideing lol
I was gutted with the Everton result as well, though i always love seeing man utd slip up.
I don’t think i would be disappointed yet as i still am not sure we’ll make it. I would say spurs are still slight favourites given their fixtures compared to ours.
If we win this weekend i’ll change my mind, think feeling disappointed will be inevitable, doesn’t mean we’re not delighted with the season.
Off topic – but the PFA young player of the year award that went to Kyle Walker – What a scam!
Bookies stopped taking bets on it about 4 days ago after loads of people started trying to put £1000 pounds on him even though he was no where near favorite! Got to be a set up.
I also don’t get how Hart got best keeper. Yea he’s conceded less but he has a class defence twice over. Krul has pulled off class saves this season and deserves it more than him. Could say the same for Vorm at Swansea, maybe even more so than Krul.
Agreed ice, none of us knew how the new lads would settle in.
Its been a dream season.
Just need to get them ‘over the line’ now
I swear they must vote by simulating a season on Football Manager or something. How is Silva in there? Yea he was class at the start of the season but not so much since. And I can think of CM’s that have been better than Yaya Toure this season.
Brendan & Dubtoon – true, hadn’t thought about it like that. I hope you’re right!
I wonder if we will change our transfer targets if we get into CL? I wouldn’t like to see us sign people who are coming just for that.
@Stardust
Not yet, Craig has though. Still waiting on Troy. Maybe we’re jumping the gun, for all we know Ashley could be planning to asset strip the club this summer…
@BB
really interesting point on the other thread. Is Pardew as valuable to our club as the likes of Tiote etc? I would say he is, possibly even more so. He’s a great link between the board and the fans, with respect shown for him on both sides, nurtured a great team spirit with the events like paintballing etc, and has got the best out of so many players most of us had written off at our club (Best/Raylor/Perch etc). Even with HBA i doubt he’s ever been this focused and determined to do a good job on the pitch since he first burst onto the scene.
@Rossco
Nah i was annoyed initially but it’s actually to do with more incompetence from the FA/PFA — the votes are done in February. Ridiculous I know. But makes it understandable why the spurs players and people like silva that have been anonymous for chunks of the second stage of the season have been selected.
Rossco – I think they vote for the shortlist back in December or something silly like that. We were still very much under the radar back then – probably most of the players voting didn’t even know who Tim Krul was
I’m not being disrespectful to the Europa league or the quality of teams that compete in it and I would be happy to get it, if say we won the last 2 games and beat Chelsea to 5th for example. But the position we are in is not that. What I want is whats best for this club and recent history suggests Europa does not improve a club. Fans of teams that have been in Europe whilst we have been in the doldrums actually tease each other about getting it and some talk like they actually don’t want it. It is not ignorance to notice this when reading fans comments from other teams, quite the opposite in fact.
My Passport works for both the Europa and the Champions League so either way i’m on cloud nine.
Solano T – I’d say Pardew is the most valuable asset we have at the moment, not just him as a person but as a symbol of stability. When was the last time we had a manager for this long and not be under pressure? He’s had a season and a half now and the stability is reaping rewards. He’s exactly what the club needed (even if 95% of us at the time couldn’t see it).
Hes honest, hard working and a genuinly nice guy. This seems to be reflected in the squad. We’ve now got Cisse who sends money to 70 relatives back home and gets his hair cut in the local £6 barbers compared to Carroll who beats up women, Cabeye who plays delightful football compared to Barton who was a high class thug. How quickly things can change
Chaps, not only do we have the making of a great team we will also have one advantage next season over most of the other big clubs. We will not be under financial pressure to achieve a top 5 finish as Mike Ashley is running the club in such a way that we are financially viable if we finish above the bottom 3. Without this burden and the way the club is currently being run don’t rule us out for a title charge next season. I have said before a poor plan well executed is better than no plan at all but the good news hear is that Mr Ashley has hatched a good plan and is executing it brilliantly. Nice one my friend from the cockney mafia there are a lot of fans who want to say SORRY MATE!!!!!
Its time for everyone to get behind the whole club including the cockney mafia. For what it is worth thanks Mike and Alan, see it ain’t that hard.
Totally agree with you Rossco regarding Alan he is eactly what we needed however we did not really give him a chance at the beginning. If anyone has earned his striprs its Alan.
Our next two games are massive… but looking at the fixtures I would say we are still likely to finish fifth/sixth.
If we win both, then we will finish in a Champions League place… Its as simple as that. I’m fairly confident for Wigan, but Chelsea seem to be just hitting their form. They do however still have the distraction of the Champions League.
I win against Wigan and Chelsea and we will be garaunteed fifth, and the Spuds will have to win all their remaining games to beat us to fourth.
It is basically as if we have reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, and we meet Wigan in the semi-final… Then play Chelsea in the final. If we win those two knockout games. We win the trophy of a place in the Champions League. If we beat Wigan and draw against Chelsea. Then we will need to beat Everton.
Either way, if we lose one of the next two games will in all liklihood have to settle for Europa – not a bad thing to settle for considering.
I agree with Carter. We will win the league next season
Well I’m only going with stats. Last season we finished 12th. If we finsh 4th this season that is an improvment of 75%. So if we spend a net outlay of 500k over the summer and buy a 9m player in Jan we will without doubt win the league.
Even if we finish 5th we will win as 75% improvment on 5th is 1st.25 so we have to round down to 1st.
Unfortunatly if we finish 6th a 75% imporvement would be 1st.5 so we have to round up to 2nd.
As you can see from my concrete logic. It is VITAL we finish 4th or 5th.
GEORGIO
if we come 4th and lose in the two legged qualifying match we definitely go into Europa.
Woah there ‘Roscoe’! Are you trying to steal my identity?!
Ice! On my BlackBerry and can’t login for some reason, been like that for a while – so my avatar goes by the wayside!
ST – the only comments I’ve seen from Potty is how he was right about the CL place. Sometimes I think I live in a parallel universe!
Listen to the first one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUMQzsD2D-4
and then the second
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2684dRMpLBw
If the question is ‘given our current position would would be be disapointed to miss out on champs league’ The answer for me is yes as given our current form I think we are well capable of beating Chelsea and Man City.
Credit where credit is due, be gracious in defeat, magnanimous when wrong… Come on Potty where are you!
God the difference is incredible DJG. Actually gives me shivers listening to the CL tune imagining us in there.
Problem is, regardless of what form we are in something like 8 points would be an incredible return yet may not be enough to clinch it.
For me it’s still in Spurs’ hands even if we have a points advantage.
Stardust – i take it your comment is referring to troy not praising ashley
please explain why we need to ‘praise’ mike ashley?
Europa would be a major achievement. Champions league a miracle. I know it has been a crazy season but you have to think Spuds will get 10 points from their last four games (I hope not) So we need two wins two draws or three wins to pip them. Cannot see Chelski catching both of us. For me we are the outsider in a two horse race.
glazers own man utd who won champ pleague and epl titles since they took over – not praised or given any credit. in fact they get abused
abrahomoivic virtually bought titles for chelsea – how many times you hear fans sing his name?
tony coates – stoke
phil gartside – bolton
steve gibson – boro
juan la porta – barca
whelan – wigan
all imo good owners/presidents and have done a lot for their clubs. i don’t hear their fans giving them credit, in fact gartside and gibbo get a lotta stick. even la porta at barca was hounded out.
IMO owners arent meant to get credit, they are their to run the club in a fashion befitting of a club with heritage and history. its an honour to own a club.
so no – im not giving ashely any ‘credit’ for now doing what he should have done in the first place
DIFSB
Seriously?
Look at the table mate.
We can call his decisions “lucky gambles”, but every managerial sacking, hiring, every transfer made, big fees, low fees whatever is a gamble.
Fergie sold Beckham and Ronaldo came to the fore, do we call him lucky?
Since relegation Ashley has got EVERY single decision correct. He deserves all the praise in the world for turning our rotting club around, even if he did it the painful way.
DIFSB
If you give stick then you have to give credit.
“what he should have done in the first place” utter tripe. Most fans would have envied Liverpool last January and complained that Ashley wasn’t spending big. He’s stuck to his guns against all the abuse and ridicule.
DIFSB
I think that is your opinion and who is to say you are wrong.
MA has made some big mistakes but has learned quickly and has steered NUFC through some very difficult times. Remember Freddie and the debts he left behind !
You don’t need to praise him I just think he like Alan have earned our respect and he should be able to at least feel at ease in his own club.
Thanks Roscoe – You got a source for that? My son in law was adamant we’d drop out of all. What I want above all is a european campaign – CL best but Europa OK. Just more and more toon matches!!!
respect is a given
but i can never remember praising or giving credit freddy. even when we played in san siro, signed shearer, owen etc
my point isnt that no one should
my point is (in reference to stadust) that i should not have to
for me its like praising a parnet who looks after their child in a proper fashion; they are meant to do that!!
*parent
ST – why does MA deserve ‘all the praise in the world??!’
i really dont get this. no one was screaming from the rooftops to give hall credit when he took us into the promised land and was at helm when we challenged for titles and played teams like barcelona in the champiosn league at ST.JAMES PARK
but i should now give ashley all the praise in the world for steadying the ship since HE (yes he) was instrumental in our relegation
puhleease
Toby but the Spuds SHOULD have beaten Norwich and QPR right? I know you’re probably just trying to talk us down and perhaps rightly so, we’ve all had a lot of disappointments following the Toon.
Mike Ashley has put more of his own money into NUFC than anyone else in its history. Thats fact !!!
Sir John hall and Freddie made a lot of money out of NUFC and sold at the right time. Thats also fact.
When and if MA sells NUFC to make his money I am certain we will be in a much better position than we were left by previous owners.
brendan im not saying anything till its mathematically so
i dont want ‘i told you so’s’ so im playing very low key at moment
just buzzing to be in europe either way
carter please read what i am saying. i am not slagging MA off.
(though if this club was a plc he would have been sacked in an instant following our relegation)
hes stabilised the club and made good decisions since then;
HE WAS MEANT TO DO THIS IN THE FIRST FOOKING PLACE
please let me know if that is incorrect?
Toby
“Europa would be a major achievement. Champions league a miracle. I know it has been a crazy season but you have to think Spuds will get 10 points from their last four games (I hope not) So we need two wins two draws or three wins to pip them. Cannot see Chelski catching both of us. For me we are the outsider in a two horse race.”
Toby I’m in agreement that Spuds are in the driving seat still looking at fixtures, but if Chelsea beat us then they too will be right back in it. I see them as just as bigger threat.
If we beat Wigan get a point out of the Chelsea game, I’d say we are 50/50 with Spurs. If we win both and Spurs fails to win both their next two, thats 4th place sealed for me.
Why is someone not worthy of praise if they do their job well?
Doing his job in a “proper fashion” would just be carrying on what Shepard did. Ashley has done far greater than freddie as he has done it with future sustainability as the focus.
Your parent analogy would be better if it was foster parents taking care of an unruly child on the wrong tracks and turned its’ life around, in which case, yeah they would be worthy of praise.
How can you seriously blame him for relegation and not give him praise for the position we’re in for this season and the future. Doesn’t add up.
He has been pivotal in both the bad times and the good, we all gave him stick in the bad times so he deserves credit for the good times.
You’re talking nonsense! He was “meant to do” WHAT exactly
er, make good and responsible decisions…..being owner of a club the size of NUFC and all
maybe you disagree
interesting
interesting interesting interesting
But he has made great* and tough* decisions.
I disagree entirely.
So do you think Pardew shouldn’t get praise? After all he was hired to pick the right team and win games…
I agree with ICE, we really have to keep things in perspective this season.
We have spend all season in the top 6 so I think to finish below 6th then we would have been gutted. We have spent little to no time in the top 4 – unlike Spurs who would have good reason to be gutted (not that I have any sympathy for them at all) having spent alot of there season in the top 4.
The situation we found ourselves in at the moment is similar to playing the fruit machine that used to be in my local boozer.
The jackpot was £20, and occasionally when you won it it would bank the £20 and allow you the chance to double your money by flashing yes/no. Land on yes and you got £40 (champions league football), land on no and you were left with £20 (Europa football).
Of course Champions League would be outstanding but having only just secured Europa football we should be talking about this instead of being gutted.
Whether we achieve CL or Europa I don’t think our spending should change. In fact, I’d use the extra money to secure the players we have. I don’t want to become one of these teams that depend on the money generated by CL qualification. I want us to continue scouting players who will improve the squad, who won’t cost a fortune and most importantly.. who WANT to play for Newcastle … and the way we are playing at the moment I imagine that list is getting longer by the week.
doitforsirbobby
I think you are right if thats how you think everyone has an opinion.
I like to critisise when some one in my opinion has messed up but praise them when I think they have exceeded expectations.
The key here is for all of us supporters to get behind the whole club now and lets see where we end up.
Archie good read mate, but tbh I think europa is more than good enough, and maybe more suited to us, but CL would be like a dream come true.
Must say a lot of right smarmy I told you so comments on here over the last couple of days, wanting people to come on and ask for forgivness and swear alligence to Jabba
. I take it that them same people agree with all the shit he has caused, screwing manager and the fans over, and the lovely name of the sports direct arena, get over yourselfs just because you’s are happy enough to go along with everything he does dosn’t mean everyone else should roll over and take whatever he decides to give us.
I alsi think you’s should wait till after the transfer window to see if he strengthens the team like he needs to for europe, or does he sell some of our top players ? Because you’s could end up looking like right mugs .
Brendan / JJ
Really just trying to keep a lid on it. If we get Champions league spot it will be because we deserve it. There will be nobody shouting louder than me. My sidekick at work is a Spuds fan and was talking about challenging for the title at the turn of year. Now when I mention football he changes subject.
This week is huge get three points and we are asking difficult questions to the chasing two and putting them under pressure to win games.
DAVE me and you think alike mate,as per normal
Big Dave
Just happy to have a football club to be honest!!!!
look at Portsmouth and Rangers.
The survival of this great football club comes before sentimentality.
p.s would you prefer a 20 percent rise on your season ticket to keep the official name of SJP?
Carter – It’s something I’ve pondered that. Would fans pay out of their own pocket to keep the SJP name?
DOFSB – I could understand your point if he had just done a mediocre job and steadied the ship. But he has gone far beyond that! He’s got rid of all the overpaid overrated players (brought in by the previous regime), made us self-sufficient (with fans screaming that he’s asset-stripping), changed the whole ethos of our scouting system (with fans screaming for big signings), brought in a top-quality manager (who nobody else rated), built a squad capable of competing for a CL place (who nobody else believed in), and we are now in a really strong position to continue this growth.
Ice a few of the louder voices we are hearing at the minute are ones we didn’t hear much from when we wern’t winning, fair weather I told you’s so fans
Carter couldnt agree more! with scrap man Freddie in charge it would have been oblivion.
yes he taken us from being worst run to (under his own stewardship)- to now best run club in country at the moment
an amazing turnaround wherever your loyalties lie
As soon as the results turn downward though there will be same smarmy told you so comments just the other way.
I laughed when we appointed Pardew- im so happy i was wrong
If we do sell a top player in same way Carrol was sold – but kick on again then so be it.
Lots were bleating when Nolan\Barton were sold also – who cares now??
Jon R
On the money.
toonsy
I think a lot of fans would like the more affordable season tickets myself included and just continue to call it SJP like most people are allready doing.
These are the tough decisions that the owner has to call and either way he can’t win.
Gs
April 23, 2012 at 15:44
“As soon as the results turn downward though there will be same smarmy told you so comments just the other way.”
100% correct ^^^
Carter – But if people feel so strongly about it then surely they would be willing to pay for it?
500,000 NUFC fans at £20 a year each gives Ashley the money he is looking for and the fans the name they want surely?
Jon R – I think we can agree that there has been times (many) and mainly in the past now where Ashley has made hard ball decisions and stood by them.
I think Ashley does deserve credit. Not for where we are but for having ideas and implementing them ruthlessly. Even when he was getting death threats and couldn’t go to the stadium he own for fear of his own safety he has not flickered and gone about his job. I think I remember quotes admiting he and lambias had made mistakes.
Some may say he doesn’t have the best interests of Newcastle at heart – thats an impossible statement as the ‘best interests’ are those of the fans and they vary from fan to fan!
Ashley wants a succesfull business as that is what he does. A succesful business is one that suceeds long term and its impossible to do that if he doesn’t have the best interests at heart. Finishing higher up the league brings more money from prizes, more likely to be picked for TV and bigger sponsorship deals. Plus any money for Europe.
What are the chances hes offered a fairly hefty incentive to the players if they get top 4?
Toonsy why who is paying for it now ? ?.
Come to think of it are we the only original ground to be renamed 
But to answer your question eventhough I shouldn’t have to I would pay to keep the name.
If we moved grounds or rebuilt the ground I wouldn’t have a problem with a new name.
But then I suppose thats the way the game has went like lots of other prem teams are renaming their old grounds like ????
I have been on here from the blog started, and I have never seen as many self righteous told you’s so on here when the bad shit was going on. But when we are flying high there seems to be a hell of a lot more.
But sure
CL football would be great but it’s main attraction is the better financal gain compared to Europa , that and the prestige of playing in it . I would be happy with Europa spot , with a few good additions to the defence i could see us even winning it . lets face it our forward line is frightening and would pose a threat to any defence. Ofcourse we’d need them to stay fit and not sell our top players.
toonsy
Fair point.
MA maybe should put it to a democratic vote at the last home game of the season by means of registing your vote at the turnstyle. That would be fair and stop all this bollocks.
Rossco you could be right however I don’t care what his motavation is as long as it takes the clun forward.
Hmm Dave as the blog has been going since last Jan when is this “bad shit” you speak of?
I don’t particularly care for people gloating, it’s unnecessary. But it does annoy me when people like DIFSB refuse to give credit when it’s due. Also perhaps if the neggers weren’t so dismissive of posters when they were trying to remain upbeat at the start of the season then you wouldn’t have people gloating on the blog.
The “dreamers” like TC etc where a lot more on the money than the people claiming Ashley was happy for us to scrape survival each year that’s for sure.
Does anybody know how to find out how many games we’ve had on the TV this season compared to last?
Be interesting to see how much more money that brings in?
DIFSB…. Bollox! Obviously Fat Mike deserves some credit! A) he and he alone saved us from finacial meltdown B) He and his “cockney mafia” have put us among the best run clubs in the country! I dont really like a few of his desisions, eg renaming SJP, but thoreticly if a company buys the naming rights that could buy us another pappis… its always gunna be SJP to us no matter what! I wasnt his biggest fan to start with like many of us but iv gotta give credit where its due! HTL
Ash does seem to be running the club better these days ,that’s not really in question and credit where it’s due.But the fact is he wanted to buy Newcastle as a means to advertise his business to the global market . Along the way he’s made many mistakes but does seem to be getting things right now .His main problem was getting into a business he had no real understanding of and made matters worse by surrounding himself with incompetant people to oversee the running of it. By in large the deadwood has been shifted now and though we owe him a cool £100m still ,we do seem much more stable on the financal front and less likely to do a Portsmouth ,Rangers or leeds. Truth is I can’t forget a lot of things he’s done but at the same time I understand the need to move on. Having said that I wait with baited breath to see what the summer brings . He does seem to have the knack of pissing us off just when things are going well and that is always in the back of my mind , sad but true .
We’ve have got some hellish games to keep that top 4 position. It’s gonna be soo tight. I won’t be disappointed however because the pride running through my veins this season has got me buzzing whatever
I’d be a tad dissapointed if we didn’t get UCL but only because we’re so close, but would I be unhappy?….no way, cracking season what ever happens from here on in, fantastic effort right through the club from top top to bottom and from the fans also.
ST so the renaming fiasco is not bad ?
Bad yes, (though i dont think it’s the end of the world, it annoys me but it’s inevitable). But your words make it sound like some people deserted the blog when the going got tough only to reappear once we’d hit form.
ST if thats what you think im trying to say I sugest you read it again.
I think there are some fans that would like the club to go on a bad run so they can start their hate for MA bloggs again and I am sure at some stage they will get an opportunity.
In the grand scheme of things we are heading in the right direction but I do accept there will be some difficult times to go with the good however we are starting to be the envy of a lot of other fans across the country because they can see a lot more clearly looking in from the outside.
CARTER@95- you suggest that some Ash haters wish the Toon to go on a bad run so they can start having a pop at M A again ,Really ! .Look I don’t fall in either camp as I nither hate nor like him that much ,but for those that do dislike /hate him you are being very petty to suggest they place their hatred of Mike over their love of the club. In all the time I have been coming on this blogg one thing rings true EVERY fan on here loves the club with a passion to suggest otherwise is a weak attempt to win an argument .
Carter if there is fans like that then I would say they are not real fans anyway, but I do think your talking rubbish because I don’t know of any so maybe you can name a few
Like or wish NUFC to lose is a bit tounge in cheek to be honest as I realise that anyone who takes the time to engage in debate about their team have its best interest at heart.
My point is that we all should be happy with the direction the club is heading on and off the pitch and it is time for the fans, players and owner to all pull in the same direction and see where we end up.
Carter it is possible to get behind the team without turning a blind eye or questioning what is or has been going on at the club.
See to me thats like saying that aslong as the team and club is going well and rideing high in the top 4 and getting European footie that we should be happy with whatever Jabba and Co do because they are providing us with a good team. But hypothetically speaking would you be prepared to go along with them deciding to change the name of the team to sports direct united ? just aslong as we are doing well ?
Dave in an ideal world the fans would own the club and decisions like the renaming of SJP would be decided by a vote. We don’t and by the way I don’t agree with all of MA decisions. All fans have the right to question decisions and however I feel we have a much greater chance of real success if we show a united front.
Yeah Carter I agree 100% we need to show the team a united front , thankfully Jabba and owlheed isn’t part of that team
Dave I think you represent a large section of Toon fans who will never forgive MA. Would that change if we win the EPL next year.
Carter NO
unless he actually came out and talked with the fans, which I have always said would imo be the best thing he could do. if he did and admitted to his mistakes and said what his plans were and apologised for the shit he has caused I would get behind him and give him my support.
Fair play Dave, MA PR has been his biggest mistake. Some fans can move on and some can’t.
From where I’m at, the fans here couldn’t be bothered with hating MA. We’re just glad the club is run well now, as compared to Shepherd & Hall’s time. The debts were crazy & insurmountable. We did look like having some success but it was not SUSTAINABLE.
Now it is. If MA did it, then I’ll give him a pat on the back and buy him a beer if he ever came down here. If not, I’ll do the same for whoever it is.
Why are some fans arguing about MA now? Especially about old issues which we can’t go back on? Its looks pretty good for us from here onwards so lets just enjoy it for now. When it gets sticky again, we’ll start the armchair crusading again, shall we?
HWTL!!
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