The end game?

Pardew backed, for now
Pardew backed, for now
The past couple of days have brought various bits of news to our attention.

They concern both manager and owner at United but all of them seem to point towards an exit being on the horizon for the pair of them.

Some reports are suggesting that another poor result against Aston Villa at the weekend could spell the end of Alan Pardew’s reign as manager of Newcastle.

I’ve got to be honest and say that I do feel a bit sorry for Pardew in terms of who he has to work with above him but if you separate that away and look purely at results you’ll have to concede that they’ve not been very good.

Generally I think fans have been patient and he’s survived a run of poor results a few times previously but eventually enough is enough and perhaps the hierarchy are feeling the same way, even though the club were quick to deny (and ban the paper responsible for) these reports?

Speaking of the hierarchy, the man at the very top of it has not been spotted at St James’ Park since September. Has he lost interest in us finally?

A lack of spending anything on transfer fees recently combined with a large amount of TV money incoming and the sale of Yohan Cabaye looks to me like money is being recouped somewhere. Maybe that is part of his exit strategy. We won’t know until it happens.

However rumours have already started circulating about a potential new owner in the for of WWF supremo Vince McMahon who apparently garners some interest in buying us.

The guy is a billionaire in dollars (according to Forbes) but doesn’t reach that figure when you convert it to pounds. It’s also worth noting that he is only a billionaire in terms of net worth and over 10% of that is accounted for with his various houses and his yacht. I doubt he’ll be short for a round at the bar but he is not as rich as some reports make him out to be. It would take someone richer to move us on to the next level in my opinion

The headlines could be interesting though, in the unlikely event that something comes of it…

I doubt very much it will and I’m certain that there was nothing in it to start with. It was circulated ages ago and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that Anil Ambani name mentioned again. However it doesn’t mean to say that we aren’t being lined up for a sale.

I mean the club, so quick to deny any rumours about Pardew, didn’t feel the need to reiterate the owners desire to stay and succeed…

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.

135 thoughts on “The end game?

  1. @troy, newkie & sharpy17
    Mike Ashley wants Alan Pardew at the club.

    If you 3 are happy for Alan Pardew to stay at the club then you have something in common with Mke Ashley.

    Despite people like me calling for Pardew to be sacked, Mike Ashley has kept him in a job so you should give Mike Ashley credit for it.

    If you’re quick to blame Ashley for lack of ambition etc then some of the positives at the club should also be attributed to him.

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  2. Biggest load of bollocks I have ever heard.
    So you back Mike Ashley, therefore you back Pardew, therefore you back Marveaux not playing?

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  3. Whumpie – I am having my own little protest on Sunday by staying away. My problem is it won’t amount to much if there’s 50,000 other supporters there. I do however think that the only reason there’ll be that Many is because people have already paid for their season ticket. I think next season we will see a serious drop in attendances as I firmly believe people will not be renewing their season tickets. Why should they?

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  4. @Stuart79

    It’s believed 10% haven’t renewed.
    I’m surprised it’s not more as I know of around 20 people who have jacked theirs.

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  5. @KK

    I’ve told you, you don’t understand our point of view. It’s been explained dozens of times to you but you simplify it into a totally different meaning, it’s pointless discussing it with you.

    After the umpteenth time I lost the will to live.

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  6. KK – so in your world it’s all or nothing?
    If I think Ashley or Pardew have done one thing right – then everything they do is right?.
    I actually think that Troy may be right, you can’t comprehend that just because YOU don’t like or rate someone doesn’t make them ****.
    Also, just because people are prepared to acknowledge some good work that Ashley or Pardew have done does mean they back either.

    You do alot of hypothetical chat and what you’d like to see happen – but that’s not reality mate. So if people disagree with you it’s because they don’t see it happening.

    You didn’t answer my question. If you were Ashley and had no ambition for the club, would you sack Pardew?
    Your aim is 10th spot with no cup run, you want to massively reduce the wage bill, you want to buy cheap and sell big, and you want a manager who will toe the line and achieve all of your ambitious less goals – (reality scenerio, not me supporting it, stating facts)
    Now, if you’re Ashley why would you sack Pardew?

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  7. Well said, Sharpy – it just ain’t that simple, and looking for clear-cut angles is daft. Ashley has done some good things for the club – it’s easy to forget just how screwed it was when he bought it – but on balance, I honestly think I’d have preferred it going tits up and starting again.

    The current situation hass the one thing I cannot stand: humiliation.

    I can stand losses – even to the mackems – and I can forgive bad decisions by managers or bad play by players. But sitting there with the world knowing you’re basically a supporter of a giant advert for a fat bloke’s chavvermarket, kept alive on the gullibility of its supporters and sheer greed of its owner?

    Give me the administrators over that any day.

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  8. Whumpie – “Give me the administrators over that any day”.

    I would never want to see that to happen to our club – or any club for that matter.

    The point for me is that Ashley has ran things well as a business – the finacial side of things.
    However I am a football fan and want to see things ran well as a football club.
    For me there is a clear balance to be had. All he needs to do is bring in a football man – who knows what they are doing – NOT a little **** head!.
    I don’t think any supporter wants to see him spending 20-30m on 1 player, but he needs to spend to strengthen – so get a director of football who can balance the 2!. Good players at a reasonable price – but Ashley would HAVE to spend for that to work.
    We don’t need the administrators in!, we just need Ashley and Pardew sat round a table with a DoF who can balance the needs of both men.

    I thought Steve McClaren would have been perfect for the role but he obviously wanted to continue managing – maybe Glen Roeder would be a good candidate, I’m not sure who, but that to me would improve things dramatically at the club.

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  9. @solanostrumpet
    Yep, that’s the reason why i no longer back ashley. Bigdave made me realise i couldn’t back ashley without backing Pardew.

    @sharpy17
    I didn’t say it was all or nothing. I’m saying the opposite.

    You can still complain about Mike Ashley but where he’s done something you agree with, you should say he’s done a good job.

    I complain about Pardew but i give him credit when he does some things right.

    I blame Mike Ashley for not showing ambition by sacking pardew & getting a better manager. I also give him credit for putting the club on some good foundations.

    However for all the good & bad Mike Ashley has done and for all the good (& bad) results Pardew has gotten us, both of them have taken us as far as they can.

    As fans we complain about a lack of ambition but we need to show we have ambition by calling for a better manager & owner.

    That is unless you think we are already ambitious & Pardew (&/or Mike) are the right people to take us to the next level.

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  10. @sharpy17
    Just read your most recent post & we almost agree.

    Where we differ is that you think we need a good DoF to get Pardew & Mike working well together.

    I’m of the opinion that we need both Mike Ashley & Pardew gone because both of them are unable to maximise the potential at the club.

    The potential in players & the potential commercial & sponsorship revenue etc

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  11. Hi guys and girls ,well I’m back home ( last night), they like to chuck you out even if you still aren’t 100% these days 🙄 . Anyway thanks for all your kind wishes, hopefully I can continue to improve but it’s a bit up in the air really as still not really right yet. Looking forward to Villa game but not sure what to expect, possibly a draw.

    Re this thread I would have to agree with Georgio and Whumpie @61 AND 72 ,think they are pretty spot on really.
    Sharpy@86, I agree about Mcclaren ,think he would of made a good DOF.

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  12. Welcome back Kim! As a feisty red head I’m confident you’ll make a full recovery 😛 Good luck wit it all.

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  13. KMI great to hear from you keep it banning lass,you have been a big miss,how did Lew cope while you were away?

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  14. Georgio, thanks mate , yep I just need them ******** to keep working and push up my platelets a lot more cause yesterday I was still stuck at 36 count which still leaves me with a high risk of internal bleeding , need to get up to 150 plus for safety level and then hope when they start reducing the ******** in two weeks that my immune system doesn’t start attacking my platelets again and put me back to square one 🙁 Considering my count had fallen to 5 😯 I’m just glad it’s on the rise again, still very heady and dizzy though.

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  15. Ice, It was blind panic Monday night ,trying to sort out respite, Hazel coped well with him on Monday night considering I haven’t ever really let her feed or medicate him then Tina the respite carer stepped in as she cancelled one of her clients as it was an emergency situation. Lew is due home tonight. Hazel is sleeping here for next week or so until my platelet count is normalised as I’m still at risk of an internal bleed and lew wouldn’t be able to raise the alarm.

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  16. KIM you will come good mate just steady away,good you got sorted with Lew,I told hazel that if you didn’t get out quick I would visit you and that should shift you lol

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  17. well jabba is not going to change,I have just been reading his site,the site says we are looking at a left winger from Brazil about 6mil,the site then goes on to say,of coarse we will have sell first before we buy,ffs you taking the bloody water no end to the ****. 👿

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  18. Ice, I would of had the shock of me life if you’d turned up and I’m sure you would too the way I looked 😆

    Re, Jabba I reckon your right, we will be putting up with more guff and crud from him and his crappy site for some years yet . No way he’s gonna sell us any time soon ,too much revenue and profit to be made from the free advertising he gets and that’s all he ever wanted from owning us he told Sir John that much prior to buying the club.

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  19. Sharpy – I think you’re missing my point, and some other posts above suggest the same. I’ll try to put it another way:

    It’s not about who or what COULD improve things. That question is irrelevant because our owner doesn’t WANT to improve things. We’re exactly what he wants, just as we are. We’re boosting the share value of SD at almost no cost.

    That’s why I say I actually wish we’d just folded under Fat Fred instead. It’s an awful thing to say, yes. But from those ashes we’d now have a club that was at least aiming for what we want – better and better standing in competitions.

    Instead we are in limbo because we are no longer a football club; we are an advertising mechanism. A very good one.

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  20. Ice: “no end to the ****”. Correct. Not while 50,000 turn up to games and buy beer and shirts.

    We’ve got this sodding great lever marked, “Make Ashley Go Away” and we’re too bloody soft to pull the thing. We love the club, but apparently not as much as we love going to matches.

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  21. WHUMPIE I just cannot understand how fans don’t see that is the only way to shift him,stay away and buy nowt,yes there seems to be a couple of thou fans not renewing their season tickets but IMO it will take a lot more mate

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  22. It’s just maths. How much do revenues need to dip before it’s cheaper for Ashley to get his advertising in a different way?

    I’m guessing about £20m, but I’m sure someone on here is more familiar with the club’s accounts who could put a figure on it.

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  23. Kim – good to have you back lass, hope you’re on the road to recovery. It was nice to meet Hazel as well 😆

    KK – fair enough. But for me it’s a little bit like what came first the chicken or the egg type scenerio – bare with me and hopefully it makes sense 😆
    I agree that both need gone – but IMO, it needs to be Ashley first. Replacing Pardew under Ashley would just bring instability (imo), because a top manager wouldn’t put up with Ashleys **** and would walk or get sacked (IMO).
    In reality, if Ashley got rid of Pardew do you honestly believe that he would replace him with better?.
    I honestly don’t!. I think we’d end up with a Curbishley or Jol.

    I understand you want Pardew gone, but a bit like jenga, if the wrong piece is taken out the lot will collapse.

    Troy has said in the past (many times) that football aside, Pardew is probably the best man to manager under an Ashley regime. Whether you like Ashley, Pardew or even Troy or not – I personally agree with that.

    In my opinion Ashley needs to go first!. And in the meantime, if that means I have to put up with Pardews mid table mediocrity – well so be it – I won’t be chuffed about it, but better that than relegation battles or administrators!.

    And before you say ‘why does it have to be that instead of pushing for better’ – I don’t see that happening under Ashley!. It would require Ashleys backing and better behind the scenes people in place, and I don’t see Ashley doing that.

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  24. Sharpy ,thanks, long road to go yet but hopefully will come good.
    Re-Pards going,
    It’s a situation we can’t really do much to influence, I’m not sure it’s worth offloading Pards if Ash isn’t also going. Much as I don’t really rate Pards ,I’m not sure Ashley is capable of hiring the right manager or one willing to work under the constraints he puts in place. I know KK feels some foreign managers work under similar constraints for relatively low wages so that could be an option but they would have to be a good fit for us as a club and the PL . The other factor is Ashley seems unable to install anyone other than one of his cronies. 🙄

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  25. Wellcome back KIMTOON!

    You’ll feel much better after we win on Sunday!

    Seriously, i expect us to win. We’ve had a lot of time to prepare, some players are coming back from injury, we’re at home & we have better players.

    The slump will end eventually & i expect it to be this weekend.

    3-1!

    HWTL!!

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  26. Whumpie – Have Leeds risen from those ashes mate?.
    I fully understand your point mate I just think its a really risky strategy personally and I’d never wish that fate on the club I’ve followed for 30yrs – because there are no guarantees that we’d make it back.
    That to me is a worse thought than mid table mediocrity and stability under Ashley. I doesn’t float my boat mate but the other option is horrible.

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  27. @Kimtoon
    I hold out hope that Pardew will recommend a decent manager as he has a good track record with us signing good players.

    Ashley listens to him & trusts him regarding player transfers so hopefully he will finally ask Carr for a recommendation.

    That’s all it would take to sort out most of the problems with the first team & potentially the manager would get stuck into sorting the academy out too.

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  28. @sharpy17

    I don’t think it matters too much regarding who goes first (Ashley or Pardew).

    I just think that it’s easier to pressure Mike Ashley into replacing Pardew than it is to pressure him into selling up.

    I can ignore most of the rubbish behind the scenes but it’s a struggle to get excited for matchday knowing Pardew is leading the team.

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  29. KK , Yep a win would cheer me no end it’s my birthday on the 28th of feb so I’m hoping for either an early Birthday present from Villa or an belated one from Hull 😉

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  30. I do think this Villa game is an opportunity lost by the fans to stick it to Jabba though, with the game being on SKY it was a chance to stay away in droves to send a message to him, am I right there are 50,000 attending 😯 we will never make our point like that ,it’s a shame we can’t be more proactive.

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  31. I actually agree with Whumpie. In hindsight I’d have taken administration over this fat turd. We would have come back from it, like the rest – in fact I doubt we would have had the same problems as the other clubs due to our different circumstances but for sure,it wouldn’t have been as painful as the last 6 years.

    I’m struggling to think of a worse feeling than apathy when it comes to your own football club. It doesn’t get any worse…

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  32. @hopefully you’ll see wins at both 😉 but Hull are one of those tricky sides.

    It’s a comfortable 6pts if we play close to our best but i haven’t seen us do that for a long time…

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  33. @stuart79 & whumpie

    I agree, i think we would have recovered from administration eventually but it would have been very bad for quite sometime.

    The best option was to have had a fans takeover the season we were relegated. If i remember correctly the club was on the market for £100m.

    Sounds like a lot but it’s less tan Bale + Cabaye

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  34. NUFC will always be a big club as long as we’re the only major club in the city (which is almost certain for a long time!).

    That means just like house prices, the price of NUFC will keep rising. It’s a guarantee.

    £300m is alot of money now but in 10 years the club is likely to be worth twice as much.

    Surely there have got to be some fans that have the knowledge on how to organise a fans takeover?? Now is as good as ever.

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  35. KK – I agree with fan ownership in principle and 100 mill is only (only haha!) 2k per match going fan, but then you add on the debt which Ashley would want repaid which doubles it to 4k, then you have the issue of continuous funding each season etc etc. Curious concept, interesting, but I couldn’t see it ever working for us.

    The issue is just getting started and getting people to believe the this way is THE way to go about fan ownership. The NUST gave it a bash before it became self absorbed and ruined because ultimately somebody always wants the power. I mean if people are serious you can all put a few grand in may bank account and I’ll look after it until there is enough to think seriously about it 😉

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  36. Toonsy – NUFC shouldn’t need any funding at all. It’s not getting any from the current owner and it’s not just “wiping its face”, it’s wiped it, polished it and botoxed it this year! Yet we still spend fck all

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  37. Anyway, i came across a stat which shows Gouffran is one of the most clinical strikers in the league 😯

    I’m not actually shocked as he does have a good finish in the box although i do remember some people questioning whether i was on drugs 🙄

    Despite Pardew favouring Sissoko & Gouffran as wingers i think Sissoko should regularly play in the middle & Gouffran should regularly play as a forward instead of a winger.

    Gouffran is wasted when he has to constantly track back to help Santon.

    Higher % sign is better. 100% means a player scores from all their shots 😯 :

    1.Yaya Toure – 38%
    2.Eden Hazard – 31.%
    3.Danny Welbeck – 31%
    4.Yoan Gouffran – 30%
    5.Daniel Sturridge – 28%

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  38. @toonsy
    Only £100m 😆

    That was the old price! To buy the club we’d need to come up with £300m+ 😆 😆

    I took a rough look at the finances & to be honest it wouldn’t have worked previously.

    However with the new TV deal coming into effect it means that the club would be able to cover it’s loan repayments fairly comfortably if it keeps players wages at the same level.

    Funds for transfers would have to come from growing commercial revenue (which is really low at the moment) otherwise we’d have to carry on with our sell to buy policy for the next decade.

    I agree about someone always wanting the power. I think even Barcelona have had power struggles but at least we’d know the primary objective is to do well on the pitch.

    It’s a dream now but it will happen one day.

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  39. I like Santon & Tiote but i know some on here dislike them taking shots from outside the box.

    I thought i’d see how they compare but….neither of them have scored so both are at 0%. 🙄

    The surprising thing was Tiote has been taking more shots (on average) than Gouffran 😯

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  40. KK@117, Yeah I’m not surprised you found that stat, I really rate the lad and think for what we paid for him it was an absolute steel like. I would go as far as to say I would rather lose Benny than Goofy.

    Toonsy@115 ,I also like the idea of fan ownership but maybe in conjunction with a company say a 50/50 thing ,would love us to team up as fans with say someone like Virgin as I really like Branson, seems a decent egg who knows business to me.

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  41. Glad to see you’re back Kimtoon. I hope the platelet count continues to rise. It probably feels good to be back home and in your own bed though lass.

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  42. A better shooting percentage than Sturridge for Gouffran. That’s impressive. I hope he can stay healthy a pot a few more for us this season. His work rate is tremendous as well. A wonderful addition for us.

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  43. I see Rob Lee says toon need 7 new players in the summer just to stand still,well that’s going backwards again then,he recons tiote will leave along with a few others like Colo ect,and who can blame them

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  44. The new contract for Rooney is madness. He’s not the player he was 3 or 4 years ago. Just a ridiculous amount of money.

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  45. Rob Lee sounds about right ice mate. We’ll be lucky to see 3 incoming and they’ll probably be young and on low wages. Perhaps Ashley will peg out for a decent CB if Colo leaves and he’ll probably opt to sign De Jong on a permanent deal. It won’t be nearly enough.

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  46. Well we will see on Sunday if the players were sorry for the show they put on last time,and do OK in spite of pardew tatics

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  47. Hi Kim good to see you back again. Hope they get you sorted soon but take it easy those levels are still really low so no jumping around against Villa – assuming the players shake off their apathy and gives us something to jump about for! Anyway take care

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  48. I don’t quite understand, why everyone sees it as an absolute impossibility, that Mike Ashley could indeed sell the club in the not so distant future.
    What is to say, that he isn’t using the TV money to repay him self the outstanding loan the club have with him? He might be trying to get his money back, and then sell ..
    He’s already involved with Rangers, and the time to take them over might be just around the corner, as the price for doing so will only get bigger for every time they get promoted. At some point, they will be back in the SPL, and then we’ll probably be back to status quo – them and Celtic fighting for the title, and Rangers having every chance of getting into the Champions League, which is exactly where Mike Ashley wants his club to be.
    The price for getting there with Newcastle is just way to high for him, whereas the necessary outlay at Rangers would be considerably smaller.
    I honestly think, he could sell Newcastle as early as this summer, or the year after at the very latest.
    I would expect, that the prospect of getting the Sports Direct brand exposed in the Champions League with Rangers, is of such great appeal to him, that this switch of clubs, is what is going to happen ..
    What do you think, lads?

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