It doesn’t matter to me how much of a crisis there is at Old Trafford and how poor they have been made out to be in comparison to, well, most of my lifetime to be fair. We deserved the victory and managed to get rid of a winless streak that stretched back 41 years previously. If we carry on in that vein I’ll be 72 before I next see a win at Old Trafford!
Unfortunately a win like this does raise expectations somewhat. After the game I was reading various bits and pieces with one member of the media suggesting that we might be in the hunt for a Champions League place based not just on this result, but also the results against Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham. The theory was that if we can beat the big sides we’ll be in with a shout.
Our league position is pretty reasonable at the moment and our form is good, but it’s still far too early to talk about Champions League aspirations or anything like that. We’ve still got 23 games left to play of this season which is a lot of time for any side to suffer a change in fortunes.
Now I do happen to think we have a good side and now we’re reaping the rewards of last January. At the time signing five players in five days looked like a move of desperation in an attempt to halt a slide towards possible relegation, and it worked – just. The benefit now is that those players are now pretty much acclimatised to life in the Premier League and it is starting to show in their performances on a regular basis. Just take a look at the performances of Yoan Gouffran, Mathieu Debuchy and even Loic Remy who spent the tail end of last season getting used to the Premier League at QPR.
The problem is that we are far too inconsistent to be considered for anything just yet. We are just as likely to go on a run without a win as we are to go on a run without losing and it’s not against the “big” sides that tend to struggle. With all due respect it’s the games against the likes of Swansea and Hull that we struggle with and that is the difference between us and a truly top side.
With time, and with a settled squad, that consistency will come but we won’t know about it or realise it until after it has happened. My aim for the season is the same as every season – get to 40 points first then see what happens. The quicker we get there the better.
Days like Saturday are great for fans, but they won’t shape our season and shouldn’t change our expectations. Well, in my opinion anyway…
Our results since the gutter press were banned
Narrow loss to Man City only losing in Extra Time we then win 4 on the bounce only for Pardew & Krul to pick up manager and player of the month awards. A poor game against Swansea and then we beat Man United for the first time in 41 years…. Ban the rest of the ******* and we will win the league 😀
Santii(Quote)
I thought Pardew got very complacent after signing that 8 year contract. I know we had injurys and europa league but that’s no excuse for that lazy campaign. If Kinnear’s there because Pardew and the players dont get lazy then good. Why has it taken so long to replace Ba and the renaming of the stadium is what annoys most fan’s and the papers have a field day.
stem(Quote)
Santii – you take my point and provide some very good examples 😉
I’m not saying the bad things shouldn’t be reported but there is little to no balance at all.
Stem – I very much doubt Wise would have done a good job for us, but the fact is he wasn’t giving any time because it wasn’t the set up KK wanted and he was ‘cockney mafia’. If Ashley had got SBR in for that role, but it was still a set up that KK didn’t want – that would have been a very interesting set of circumstances!.
Ashley went with a set up that he thought would work best – DOF. As he has now, and it seems to be working for Pardew as he can now focus completely on footballing matters – the window will be a telling time, but day to day stuff it seems to have improved things.
Could it be that Ashley has good intentions, but can make some seriously bad decisions when it comes to running a football club?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I agree kim that’s how the press should work unbiased balanced views. We both know they never do that though. Them two stories i mentioned got fook all inches compared to all the other mostly complete garbage anti ashley BS
Santii(Quote)
Sharpy17 I think Ashley does have good intention’s for Newcastle.
Like you said Pardew gets to concentrate on football matters. Carr does the scouting and Kinnear gets the players over the line. Kinnear has got lots of spare time to try and loan players out. Trying to sale dead wood players like Obertan for as much as he can ? The only question really is how much Ashley willing to spend. I hope Kinnear proves us wrong, only time will tale.
stem(Quote)
@ TROY STAVERS
<<<<<<<<<<<<<, would like to hear ya explain it bud what the hell its got to do with nufc though i dont know
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Sharpy
I wasn’t criticising Man Utd or any other club regarding attendances. Of course they aren’t doing anything wrong. I never suggested they were.
I was just pointing out the fans who are successful have fans from all over the world and hence buy tickets but can’t make the games.
In Man Utds case, there are up to 20kon some games which is a vast amount. Cockney Mancs which I hate. **** glory seeking tw@ts with personality flaws, hence the reason thy support successful teams when they have no connection.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
when the main talking point of the day should be the beting scam going on
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Teams who are successful rather
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@TAE.
Who’s interested in the betting scam?
Not me. 😯
What’s that got to do wi the toon?
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@ TROY STAVERS
effects us more than 20000 man utd mugs who buy tickets and dont go to the game
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
@ TROY STAVERS
or did you miss cisse 8 offside goals that were onside
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
There’s not one bit of evidence that betting irregularities have occurred in the premier league, so how exactly does it affect the toon?
By the way, the blog is like a pub. In a pub there are many different conversations ongoing. You choose what you want to talk about and who you mix with.
Hence, that’s why I stand by myself talking to my pint. 😛
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@TROY STAVERS
maybe it will take cisse having more onside goals chalked off for being offside before ya suss over there somethings not right
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Troy – yeah I get your point mate. You’d think that a club their size they would have some sort of system where they didnt print the ticket until the day of the game. Then if travelling fans can’t make it, they could give the ticket to a local school or youth centre or something like that.
Stem – I think Ashley will spend, but it won’t be the £20m some hope it will be I think. I think he’ll stick to this ‘right player, right price’ philosophy that has worked well enough so far.
TAE – are you suggesting that Cisse is on the take?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
If Cisse’s on the take it would explain why his so **** ?
stem(Quote)
I’m not saying he is but he has been **** up front all season.
stem(Quote)
I don’t think Cisse’s on the take and he played well for 30 seconds the other week.
Terry(Quote)
@ SHARPY17
is surgesting the linesman are on the take and maybe some refs also
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
if i was running a beting scam, the top of me list would be the linesmen and the refs for the simple reason they more likely to take a bung with the money they on compared to the players themselfs
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
There is bound to be some corruption going on, stands to reason really. For every honest person there is a greedy &*$£%* on the take ,human nature .
What’s to stop a ref or lino getting a family friend or member to put bets on .
KIMTOON(Quote)
God I feel ****, stinking cold I think from Lewis 🙁 Every December we all get ill , Christmas always turns into a let down, if it isn’t virus/bug fest it’s the bloody footie results 🙄
KIMTOON(Quote)
It is not too early. May 11 – Newcastle travels to the Emirates to take on Arsenal for the EPL crown.
BELIEVE!!!
Chris(Quote)
<<<<<<<<<<< thinks if players are also involved it will be from the lower leagues and not prem players.
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
when all the **** hits the fan and everything comes out all involved should cop lifetime bans from football be it linesman ref or player 😯
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
I wouldn’t be surprised if refs have been paid off, lines men but I cant fault the lines women at old trafford on saturday. Howard Webb would have given it
Terry(Quote)
@ TERRY
yeah ive watched her aint seen her make a mistake that i can rember 😮
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
If I was ref of a Newcastle game I would give the opponents reds, yellows and then be sacked.
Terry(Quote)
What do you guys make of this Hull City name change malarkey ❓
The owner wants them called Hull Tigers FC
“Tigers” is just a nik-name though.
How would we feel if Ashley rebranded us Newcastle Magpies FC (NMFC)
I bet he will have them playing in some daft fake tiger print shirts next 😯
#laughing stock
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Terry 😆 😆 me in all mate
KIMTOON(Quote)
just watched the R.Keane interview saying Clough was a better manager than Fergie,bit of *** for tat maybe
icedog(Quote)
BB, It’s mad isn’t it sounds more like basket or baseball team now
KIMTOON(Quote)
Ice, aye I read about that interview in the Mirror yesterday,he certainly has no love for Fergie. I have read that he really rated clough previously though.
KIMTOON(Quote)
KIM who does like Fergie if we are honest very few imo,Keane even got on about the carry on with Fergie sueing the shareholders over that horse that wasn’t even his,arsehole
icedog(Quote)
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-fans-react-news-6397008? dos that go into the clubs coffers or fatboys pocket
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Sharpy17 is coming round to my way of thinking!
For some reason people on here think i’m a wum but i just think i’m way ahead of the game;)
Mike Ashley has done a good job at the club. He’s done more for this club than the players & pardew. Every single decision he has made has been correct in theory.
Where mike ashley has screwed up is hiring the wrong people. The lust of wrong & bad appointments is pretty long with mort, wise, kk, jfk, shearer, llambias, pardew. I’m sure there must be a few others i’ve missed.
Mike Ashley = Right strategy, wrong appointments.
How fantastic would this club have been if sbr was running it for mike ashley? We would be a powerhouse!!
KK(Quote)
Some people on here said i was a wum for thinking ferguson was overrated.
Looks like roy keane agrees with me.
Ferguson did great things at aberdeen, that’s where his biggest achievement was. As the years went by, i don’t think he could compete on a level playing field with the modern managers in the game so ferguson just outspent every other club.
Man utd were buying the league when roman abramovich was still selling plastic yellow ducks out of his flat in moscow.
Wenger challenged ferguson on a shoe string budget & he still won sometimes & lost other times.
Even benitez regularly got the better of ferguson. So did mourinho.
Ferguson’s biggest achievements at man utd were in english football vs an arsenal team that had a phobia of spending money.
KK(Quote)
KK – any mug can spend multiple millions on players, (see all the managers man city have had since the sheiks took over) but it still takes a good coach to get them to gel as a team and win things together.
This he did very well.
I agree he is old school compared to the modern game, which is probably why he has retired from management.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Ferguson acheived nothing in european football. 2 flukey goals after spending the entire game getting hammered in 1999.
The other win was a penalty shootout. Hardly a dominant & deserved victory.
26 years in charge of the richest club in english football (sometimes even world football) & that’s all he has to show for it?
This class of 92 is nonsense too. Pep guardiola created one of the best teams ever in the space of 3 or 4 years.
I don’t even rate pep yet! Not until i see how well he does with an already successfull bayern side.
KK(Quote)
Roy Keane can run his mouth all he wants, what has he achieved so far in management? Exactly, back on the pundits bench with the other rejects and no-hopers.
DJG(Quote)
@bb
Ferguson was a good manager & won a lot of things at a time when no one could match his spending power.
I agree it takes a good manager to get a team to gel together. Ferguson managed to do that so i agree, he is a decent manager. There are lots of decent managers. Lots & lots.
Send any decent manager back to the 90’s, put them in charge for 5+ years at the richest football club & they would all win nearly asmany (if not more) trophies as ferguson.
A great manager is a manager who gets his players & team to overachieve or takes them to another level. Ferguson did that at aberdeen, not at man utd.
Wenger is a great manager. Mourinho is a great manager. Benitez is a great manager. Sbr was a great manager.
It’s not just how many trophies a manager wins. It’s what he achieves with the resources he has.
KK(Quote)
KK
Ferguson still won the league when Chelsea and Man City had had years of being the biggest spenders, he nearly won in again apart from that late Aguero goal. Man United hadn’t even spent that much for the last few years, I suppose even Liverpool were spending more money and Man U were more busy selling players (like Ronaldo)
DJG(Quote)
KK I don’t think Ashley is a bad owner but not investing in the summer was his biggest mistake last year. I think after the Liverpool game I was fearing another year in the championship.
Pardew seems to have listened to the fan’s about less hoofball and the 5 french players are doing really well. His getting results now and fair play to him.
I thought hiring Wise as dof was a nightmare waiting to happen. He robbed Ashley and the club just like Owen did. Ashley seems to trust Kinnear and even though he gets names wrong I think he will do well.
Terry(Quote)
KK – I haven’t came round to your way of thinking at all. I’ve said that a long while back. In fairness Ashley has done alot to test my theory along the way but I’ve always thought it. He’s fucking stupid though coz he’s never went out and brought the best people in to help him, so has he learnt lessons?.
Ice – I’ve just watched that on Iplayer before coming on here. It was really good I thought, 2 of the finest PL players IMO.
Keane is bitter I think though. I think he and ferguson were too alike, and I also think Fergie feared Keane may take his place in time, which would have ****** with his masterplan.
Fergie has his faults but he is without doubt the greatest manager of my generation.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Furguson was a great manager but I never liked him. He had the best scouts and coaches helping him and a board that was willing to buy players like Rooney, Persie, Ferdinand, Ronaldo any many more. He has been very disrespectful to lesser clubs and I think he was a bad loser.
Terry(Quote)
@djg
Man utd did well against chelsea, man city & liverpool because they had a stable manager.
Mourinho won the league 2 years running when he first came here. He could of won it again for the 3rd year running if he didn’t fall out with roman.
Man city, liverpool & chelsea have hired & fired a lot of manager. Most of them weren’t able to implement their projects.
Benitez almost won the league with liverpool. Again, another manager forced to leave because off of field issues.
The only like for like comparison in the league is ferguson vs wenger. Ferguson has more trophies but wenger has achieved more so wenger is the better manager (by a big distance).
When wenger came, arsenal were wose than us. Today they ar top off the league & challening in the champions league. Lets also not forget the season they went unbeaten, the loss in the champions league against one of the best barcelona sides ever.
All of those achievements despite being outspent by most other premier league clubs.
Ferguson won as much as he did because of stability & having his pick of almost any player in the world.
David moyes did well at everton because of stability. I’d expect pardew to have us regularly in the top 8 if he’s here in 8 years.
Stability + money is almost guaranteed success. If you don’t succeed, no bother, you have a stable job & lots of money so try again.
KK(Quote)
Sharpy17 difficult to answer because were not in europe. I would love to win the fa cup like Wigan. It might change his thinking
Terry(Quote)
Apologies sharpy17
I thought it was just me, stardust, pehaps premandup & maybe 1 or 2 others that are the mike ashley fanboys on here :).
Agree about roy keane being bitter. I think there are a few other ex man utd players who feel the same. Is that the mark of a great manager? Or is a great manager loved by all his ex players (sbr)?
KK(Quote)
Ashley will invest if he thinks the club will benefit from it.
He’s not going to throw money at the club but if he thinks investing money into the club is sustainable (i.e. by taking us to te next level, champions league), he will do it.
Mike ashley has more money staked on the club doing well than any of us fans. If an extra £50m in transfers is needed, he’ll do it as long as it can be demonstrated that there is a business case for it & that pardew/kinnear aren’t just playing football manager with his money.
KK(Quote)
TERRY
I think Fergie is still in the shadows as a director and likes to think he is still there. That’s what was even more satisfying about the ‘Wee club’ beating them at OT for me.
DJG(Quote)
KK
But don’t you think it’s a bit weird that Arsenal are suddenly challenging not that he is gone? The only thing that I respect about Ferguson was the way other teams were beaten before they had even played. Look at us now, Everton and Newcastle went there and won, it’s the same players as last season pretty much. Difference is they have lost 10-20% and other teams aren’t s### scared to go there any more.
DJG(Quote)
KK – I worship Sir Bobby, had a tear in my eye watching him in the sports personality show. I love the bloke and he will go down as a great manager in his own right, success in this country and abroad, and without doubt a better man manager.
But Fergies sustained success is unrivalled. The players disliked him coz he sold them!, the only way was down for them from Utd and they were bitter. Look at all those who still have respect for him by contrast. Sir Bobby himself had respect for Fergie and I reckon SBR himself would say Alex is the greatest manager of our generation.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I just wonder when you look at Pardew and JFK. They say, ‘I can pick up the phone and speak to Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger’. If he wasn’t genuine away from the media why would anyone want to speak to him? He obviously has time for people and in a man manager. People who have played for him say that he asks how their family is and he remembers their names etc. He is a bit like a Mafia boss
DJG(Quote)
JFK and Sir Bobby couldn’t remember our own players names, god bless his soul.
DJG(Quote)
“Our form at the moment is right up there with anyone. We know the talent that we’ve got in the squad.
“You look around our squad and it’s packed with individual talent, but you have to blend that with hard work, and that’s what we’re doing so well just now.
“We’re focusing on getting the basics right, and that’s paying dividends. We’ve got fantastic flair in the team and on the bench, but that only gets you so far if you’re not focused and concentrated for the whole 90 minutes.
“Sometimes, you have to be committed and put your body on the line, and I think you saw that against Manchester United.” Mike Williamson.
Couldn’t agree more with this. My lads Willo and Dubuchy are proving their doubters wrong week after week now. Must be getting embarrassing for them. ‘No better than Danny Simpson’ and ‘not good enough for the prem’ my ****!! 🙂
DJG(Quote)
I think if a players worth between 1-5 million and it improves the team then Ashley will be intrested. I can’t see him shelling out another 8 million on Remy.
Sir Bobby Robson brought this club back to life again. He was a great man and I hope players like Bellamy and Dyer fill ashamed of themselves because they had a part to play in that. Back stabbing cnuts. I will never forgive them for that.
Terry(Quote)
‘When I think about it, I feel like I betrayed Bobby Robson. That’s the worst thing about it.
He [Robson] stuck by me through everything and he even tried to defend me after the Boro game.
He treated me like a son and I let him down. I must take some responsibility for him getting the sack. I regret letting him down so much.’
Kieron Dyer quote
DJG(Quote)
I hate to say it but I think football clubs would sound better if they had names like Rugby teams. Hull Tigers sounds canny.
Newcastle Magpies, Sunderland Black cats, Boro smoggies.
It’s just getting your head around it and used to it.
Mind, I went off it when the changed SJP to SDA. 😆
I’m standing in the corner of the bar again talking to my pint. 😯
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy: I can understand these sorts of names in newer leagues or in countries where football is not the most popular sport. It’s a marketing tool. Traditionalists in Australia were horrified at names like Brisbane Roar (Queensland Roar at the time) when the A-league started, but most have come to accept it and newer converts to the code don’t give it a second thought.
Don’t think it would work in UK. I think the Hull change is all about overseas marketing – I’m sure it’s easier to use Tigers in your marketing than ‘ull.
It isn’t going to work for Newcastle. It might work for Grimsby as well 😆 Grimsby Town Mariners or GTM 😆 😆 😆
brisvegas(Quote)