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…
Sharpy-aye I’m only on the wind up. He’s gotten better but personally I always thought he was good and have preferred him over Tayls generally speaking for the last three years or so. His composure and confidence on the ball has helped-but having debuchy as an outlet has probably helped him too, rather than only having Colo to pass to (Krul still can’t handle back passes really). I liked Simmo but he too was limited on the ball. I guess the trade off is that we see Willo having to cover for Debuchy on quite a few counter attacks, he’s been skinned a few times but generally coped well.
CC-That would be the best we could hope for I reckon.
Newkie(Quote)
Well, good might be a bit strong. Underrated shall we say 😀
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie – I know you were mate, but honestly I didn’t rate him all that highly at all. He was an average stand in player in my eyes, but I do see improvement in him this season. It used to do my nut in when he’d whack the ball up field straight to an opponent, only for it to come straight back at us. But he does show alot more composure now and seems to pick his pass alot better.
My only concern now is that he’s 30 odd so he isn’t in his prime. He’s doing well now, but he isn’t the future of our defence.
I wouldn’t mind seeing a CB partnership of MYM and Boyata in the future. Think those 2 could work well together.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Correction: If Obertan is classed as a significant player by Pardew at least than i could just about live with him departing…
CC(Quote)
Sharpy-true, but I think a lot of it has to do with the options available as well. In our first season back we had carroll so some hoof was expected/encouraged and we had a midfield of Barton and Nolan who didn’t fancy tracking back and even if they did, they couldn’t exactly turn and spin with the ball and get us on the front foot. Last season with Cabs and Tiote so out of form/uninterested even when they did come back they would hoof it up themselves.
You can see willo is uncomfortable on the ball and he looks especially odd being next to colo but he can do a job and probably do it for a few more years. He is getting on but i’d rather keep him around as a rotation option than Saylor who is probably on double the wages and who isn’t really much better and who is far more likely to get injured/suspended. Then we can bring in a real long term option to compliment Mapou.
Newkie(Quote)
I wouldn’t say “expectation” but for me, the remaining games of 2013, three are home games that we should build on and try to win or draw…
Anything is possible with the league position, but if we do well for the home games, who knows what will happen by new year. 😳
Hopes~!!!
Faith!!
HWTL. 😆 😆
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
And that the only Away game left is Crystal Palace.
😳 😳
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
<<<<<<<<<<<<<< thinks we got a golden chance this season to gate crash the top 4
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
and thats without signing any1 in january,but i think we will get at least 2 more players in january but wont sign any1 next summer
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Some lovely optimism floating around. Us finishing in the top 4 is as likely as Willo becoming a class centre back 😆
As for signings – Sharpy I know you’re mad keen on Ince but I don’t see it and if he’s anything like his dad between the ears then no thanks! They’ll also want a lot more than £4m for him, Gosling or not.
I don’t think we’ll sign anyone in Jan and I’m not sure on Gomis at what? 29 is he? Won’t happen. Ashley won’t fork out if we’re in the top 8.
georgio(Quote)
@georgio
We have a 2.2% chance of finishing in the top 4.
http://www.bsports.com/projectedtablesepl
What a strange season if Willo did become Wold Class & make it into the starting 11 in Brazil!.
KK(Quote)
@ GEORGIO
we beat southampton we have more points than at the same stage when we finished 5th so keep laughing there bud well see who has the last laugh
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
i’d be very suprised if we didn’t sign Gomis in Jan, the whole saga is the perfect example of how we do business. We’d be pretty stupid not to sign him in Jan after the amount of legwork we’ve put in, we’ll have been tracking him for years, waiting for the right time to step in. The fee will have halved and the money saved will be used to sweeten up Gomis. With half the french squad here and all playing well, he’d be stupid to look elsewhere. Remy is the perfect example, out in the cold for years, 5/6 decent games for us and he’s on the plane.
Evans(Quote)
TAE – 😛 🙂 😀 😆 😆 😆
georgio(Quote)
if we had beat the little teams the likes of hull swansea and scumberland we would of been in the hunt for the title also thinks about the 2 points we droped to west ham so its a must for me we need to be killing this little teams off
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Georgio – you may not see it now but you will in time mate, then you’ll say ‘bloody hell that Sharpy kid naz his football!!’ 😆
Gomis would be 29 in Aug mate so I reckon he still has a good 3 yrs top flight footy in him.
I’d prefer either Finnbogason or Vossen personally tho. Long would be a canny signing but think he’ll stay with WBA.
Sharpy17(Quote)
SHARPY there is a good write up and some goals of Finnbogason on the news now site but I cannot copy and paste on this tablet,but its worth a look
icedog(Quote)
Its the coming home Newcastle site
icedog(Quote)
Cheers Ice, I know he’s a bit of a risk having never played in the PL but the kid looks a goal machine over there. The thing is he’s not playing in one of the bigger teams with loads quality round him either.
At 24, if we can get for around £5m then I think he’s another low risk signing with bags of potential.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Evenin’ mates. Crackin match over the weekend. Missed y’all! I drank myself silly Saturday night and kept raving about the Toon. I’m pretty sure my friends think I’m nuts. Makes sense, I reckon.
OHurley(Quote)
Figures I’d post a message and nobody would be around lol
OHurley(Quote)
The boards are quiet when everything is going well OHurley, long time no see mate 🙂
Newkie(Quote)
OHURLEY in from the back-woods are we 😉 batty said you would be back to do your Santa act for xmas 😆 😆 good to hear from you hope all is well mate
icedog(Quote)
I think we can all agree its a masterstroke from Mike Ashley to have kept Pardew in the job despite all the fan pressure. 🙄 😳 😆
Santii(Quote)
Manchester United declare attendances far higher than police figures
• Average disparity between club and police figures is 10,000
• Club count tickets sold rather than fans through turnstiles
Friday 12 April 2013 19.40 BST
According to the club 75,498 fans watched Manchester United lose to Machester City at Old Trafford on 8 April. Photograph: Jon Super/AP
Daniel Taylor
Manchester United are adding as many as 24,000 fans on to crowd attendances compared with the actual number of people watching games at Old Trafford, according to police data.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s team have not had a single crowd over 70,000 for a league match, police say, not taking in Monday’s game against Manchester City. The club, in contrast, recorded attendances in excess of 75,000 every time. Instead Greater Manchester police’s figures claim the average crowd for league matches, excluding City, is 10,000 below what the club say. The police records state it is 65,601 rather than the official figure of 75,527. In all competitions it is 61,739 rather than the club’s 73,653.
United are still the best-supported club in England by some distance but the new set of figures claim Old Trafford was not even half-full for the Capital One Cup tie against Newcastle in September. The police recorded the number of people who passed through the turnstiles at 33,409. United gave the crowd as 46,358. In the next round, against West Ham, the disparity was even bigger. The police put down the crowd as 51,724, whereas United recorded it as 71,081.
When United played Cluj in the Champions League in December, having qualified for the knockout stages, the crowd was announced as 71,521. In fact, the police say it was 46,894.
The disparity is because United, in common with other clubs, release the number of people who bought tickets, whether or not they attend. The police keep their own record of actual match-goers for safety purposes and have released the data to the Redsaway fans’ website under the Freedom of Information Act.
The figures show the high number of supporters who will buy tickets for matches without going. Arsenal are among the clubs who suffer the same problem on a large scale.
United’s largest crowd of the season for a league match, according to the police, was 69,933 for Liverpool’s visit in January (the club put it at 75,501). The lowest was against Southampton later that month. On that occasion the official attendance was given at 75,600 when, according to the police, the genuine figure was 59,766. In other words, almost 16,000 ticket-holders stayed away.
The Real Madrid match in the Champions League attracted the one 70,000-plus attendance at Old Trafford this season, in the data. The police recorded it at 72,299 whereas United declared it was 74,959, lower than any domestic league match because of Uefa’s seating restrictions.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
TROY and the point of your comment is??who gives a stuff about m/utd
icedog(Quote)
@Ice
Aussie is a secret Man United fan. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Santii-you mean a masterstroke Ash is too tight to sack him like ❓ 😆
Troy-where’s that from? I guess our attendances are exaggerated as well. But surely there are people at OT and Emirates kicking up a fuss if some 15k seats aren’t being filled when it’s close to a “sell out” 😕
Newkie(Quote)
TROY Aussie is a fan of Aussie end of lol
icedog(Quote)
So mighty Bayern have lost to city…guess it had to happen, but it’s a little embarrassing!
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie and Dog- good see y’all too. And Batty’s been talkin about me? Hell, I’m honored 😆 😆
Don’t know how y’all feel about the Man Shitty game, but personally, I was pullin’ for Bayern lol. I like seeing zee germans do well in the champion’s league. and I hate Citeh.
OHurley(Quote)
**** the English have been dominating the Germans this year in the champions league.
Santii(Quote)
Top 4- jeez some people are getting carried away – we could finish anywhere between top six and bottom six … We are the toon after all
Debuchy has looked great this season as has Santon but that’s because gouff and sissoko have tracked back when they bomb forward
stevep(Quote)
OHurley-nah, I was rooting for City. Don’t really like them, but if they do well in the CL and we beat them at SJP later on in the season I would enjoy reading some of the comments saying we could be challenging the European elite with this squad 😛
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie, good point hehe. Gotta love the headlines. Hell, when this season started, I was just praying that we’d actually stay up. Now we’re looking sharp out there! I’m content for between 10th and 8th, honestly. European footy done us no good last season. Unless it’s Champ’s League (WAY more $$$), I ain’t worried about it.
OHurley(Quote)
@Newkie
I don’t know if you go to the toon matches but it’s pretty easy to gauge the attendance by the empty seats.
I believe the crowds that are announced by the club are accurate.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@ TROY STAVERS
why would a team give the wrong crowd figure for the game?
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
@TAE
Have you not read the article?
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@TAE
Can you really not work out why Man Utd produce those figures or am I gonna have to explain it? 😯
Troy Stavers(Quote)
I see Hull are showing interest in Shola.
Do we let him go in Jan and get both Gomis and Finnbogason in or do we keep Shola and let his contract run down to leave on a free?
Sharpy17(Quote)
We need to keep Shola. When he retires he would be great as one of those, behind the goal air filled celebration men, that Barca have.
😆
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy-you believe our club’s official figures? That has to be a first surely 😀
Sharpy-are you mad? We need to re sign that monster and after a successful world cup he will be worth 10 mil at least…
Newkie(Quote)
We seem to be doing quite well on suspensions, obviously Cabaye misses this weekend but only Sissoko walking the line by being one yellow away from suspension
Amazed to realise Tiote only has 3 yellows so far this season!
Yellow Red
S.Taylor 1
Marveaux 1
Ben Arfa 1
Mbiwa 2 1
Gouffran 2
tiote 3
haidara 1
Anita 1
Cabaye 5
Debuchy 6
Sissoko 4
Remy 1
stevep(Quote)
kin formatting!!
stevep(Quote)
Newkie, I take it you don’t go to the match then?
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Arsenal have done that for years, Man City as well.
Ive been to certain matches at SJP and there actually looks like more people there than they actually announced.
CC(Quote)
Troy-last SJP match I went to was the Arsenal game at the start of the season two years ago 🙁
Newkie(Quote)
Dear Newcastle United fan’s,
I don’t expect you to say what a wonderful job I have done at the club ?
Me and Mike have a few players in the pipeline for january. Let’s hope Alan keeps winning. Please don’t apologise for being wrong about me stealing Alans job and the club getting relegated comments. I wish you all a merry xmas and a happy new year
Love from Joe Kinnear
( Director of Football)
Joe Kinnear(Quote)
Thanks Joe.
stem(Quote)
@CC
I’ve got to say, I find it pretty easy to estimate what the crowd is and I’m generally within a thousand either way.
The thing is, clubs have to provide accurate crowd figures. Now that has to be based on tickets sold. Basically, they have to be upfront about the revenue the have gained.
The point is, if for example a toon supporter has bought a ticket and can’t make it, then generally they give it to a friend or selling it cheap.
Clubs like Man Utd, have fans from round the world and far reaches of this country. If they can’t make the game, for whatever reason, then they can’t simply give it away as they live too far away and probably their mates are Chelsea supporters.
So this results in the club being accurate with how many tickets they’ve sold but not how many go through the turnstiles.
The toon is close to full, if not full every premier league game and the figures they produce are a very close reflection of the actual attendance for the reasons given.
That is why clubs like Man Utd, with a worldwide fan base have thousands missing from the seats yet the club announce it’s full.
Clubs like the toon, with strong local support are very close to the actual attendance announced.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Nice to hear from ya Joe you old drunken git.
I have a whole humble pie ready to stick in the oven just for you pal. I do hope that you fulfil your role in Jan and the signings you make means I’m scranning every last crumb.
Over to you bonnylad ….
Sharpy17(Quote)
Troy – other than a policing and stewarding point of view, what does it actually matter though mate?
They are still selling the tickets and making the money, so they aren’t cooking the books or anything like that.
I suppose from a stats point of view and the history books or what, then yeah falsifying the figures, but are they doing anything legally wrong?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Nice to see Ashley and co dropping yet another PR bombshell
They plan to sell packages to the press for access to players, events etc
We are the only club in the league that have implemented this – can’t imagine we’ll see many takers for this so probably going to be quiet on the exclusives front
stevep(Quote)
Stevep-nonesense, it means Sports Direct News or whatever can buy all the information on the cheap, grab the headlines and get more hits on their tacky online store 😉
Newkie(Quote)
@newkie – sports direct do not pay the toon for anything, in fact we pay them !!
stevep(Quote)
I wouldt be surprised if others didnt follow suit, Sky, BT and the beeb all pay for access to players and managers…
CC(Quote)
Lads, I don’t see the big deal. Journalists have access to the truth up to now but most of the things they write is made up, so that will just continue.
They will just find access to players and clubs a different way, either thru agents or ‘club sources’.
Papers work on selective printing, printing the parts of an interview to read how they want rather than what was actually said. So sod it, why not?!
Sharpy17(Quote)
All Ashley cares about is making money. He doesn’t care about anything else. Lets all worry about Southampton and getting 3 points
stem(Quote)
Funny thing but since the club banned the local media their articles have been much better. Even Lee Ryder’s written a couple of decent ones and there seems as many manager and player quotes as ever.
Wary of Southampton. Heard an interview with Lambert and he said pre season nearly killed him several times and even now they spend a whole day a week just running. Their pressing closing down game and quick attacks last for 95 minutes every game.
georgio(Quote)
Funny you should say that sharpy one guess who wrote the initial bullshit piece. (The Chronicle) Until this is confirmed by a reputable source/paper i wont believe a word of it.
Freedom of the press lol your right sharpy if they wrote truthful unbiased articles i might actually give a **** about them/it.
Cue the justin Timberlake cry me a river song.
Santii(Quote)
@Georgio do you remember Mourinho’s first year at Chelsea their pre season was talked about alot and how hard they worked. They absolutley steam rolled the league that year.
Southampton reminds me a bit of that but obviously with lesser players. I think they will fade slightly but not much. They have some class players with a Bielsa style manager.
Santii(Quote)
I think the club has done very well this season. Thanks to the 5 signings in january and getting Remy on loan. Look at West ham spending 15 million on AC and Bony at Swansea ? There not worth the money and nether was Bent. We our being run by a sensible owner and his never going to spend really big. A couple of signings in january and one of those being remy and maybe will finish top 6 ?
stem(Quote)
Santii – it boils my **** a bit that since we banned the press they are these wounded childlike victims – poor them!.
They have derogatory stories about Ashley and the club since he’s been in charge. They have been responsible for player unrest. Don’t get me wrong, not every story is a bad one and of course they will print the story that sells the papers – but if there is little truth in those stories then why should Ashley sit back and allow THEM to profit from lies?
Sharpy17(Quote)
I knew it! The club is cruising along, doing great and then…. BOOM!!! Ashley strikes again! Does he really think people are so interested in NUFC (ultimate unambitious big club, with ***** of a cheap skate owner) that they’d pay to speak to the players?
You can read the fat knacker like a book, and its a **** book.
Stuart79(Quote)
Seems to me that for yonks Toon fans or a pretty big section of them have been moaning at the local rags for sucking up to Ashley and the regime in order, some perceive to stay on side with him. Interesting that the one time they report something negative such as the march they get banned. Fact is they had to report it, it would of been remiss of them not to really and would of caused more yells of sucking up by the fans had they not. If it’s true that they have been writing negative stuff from since he arrived then they would of been banned long ago I would of thought. Now the national press, that’s another matter altogether, they positively revel in our troubles and stir **** for the sake of it, mainly because they get precious little legitimate access to the players.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Sharpy-I’m not saying it’s a big deal. I don’t really care about the press either. However, if this is supposed to be the big idea behind growing our commercial income and marketability well…. 😕
Newkie(Quote)
Sharpy@138, What lies have the locals written about Ashley mate?
KIMTOON(Quote)
Kim the problem wasn’t with them reporting the story.
The problem was with how they reported it. Over and over and over again two page spreads left right and center just cause it suited the narrative against Newcastle at the time.
Newkie as cc has said the tv companies have to pay for access so why shouldn’t the gutter rags. Doubt it will do much commercial wise (gain or loss) though so i do agree with you i just don’t see any problem with this whatsoever. (If it is even true for a start)
Santii(Quote)
Santi, Seems to me our owner is a sensitive little flower 😉
KIMTOON(Quote)
Just like the fans 😉
Santii(Quote)
Kim – the truth is I really don’t give a ***** (please don’t think that’s me insulting you), I’m just sick of positivity from good results having the edge knocked off them coz Ashley farts.
I’m bothered about us winning games, picking up points and signing players next month.
I’m not bothered about knowing Ashleys every move.
The press know that Ashley isn’t liked amongst the fans, so the angle they take is to write articles that show him in a bad light all the time. Ok they may not be lies (I used the wrong word), put how many articles have you read which highlights any of the good things he has done for the club? – would that sell papers?
Sharpy17(Quote)
@Sharpy & Kim
How many articles have you seen of the new state of the art training facilities that are being built next year?
or about that amazing ticket pricing idea about charging £20 if the opposite team reciprocated the price for our fans.
Both fantastic things for the club that is down to Mike Ashley though because he is involved he gets very very little coverage.
I bet there are a lot of other good things i have missed because it gets no coverage.
Fox News-esque
This is all because of the media propaganda against Mike Ashley.
Santii(Quote)
Sharpy17 You do make some good points. I think when the fan’s turned on him after the Keegan incident he lost a lot of respect for them. You don’t hire a manager like Keegan and put Wise in a director of football. It undermines Keegan’s authority for a start. He probably hired Kinnear because he can handle bad press and find out what the hell went wrong last season and it seems to be working.
stem(Quote)
Sharpy ,yep I can see that point of view and it’s valid too. I just think that the local press in particular have tried quite hard to keep the water calm so to speak. The last couple of months they have been a bit negative but it’s mainly down to the lack of investment in the summer after we nearly went down and the JFK debacle too, all valid reasons to have a pop, I mean it’s not as if the fans are happy about JFK or the lack of investment like, so we can hardly berate the local rags when they ***** about it. To be fair the reporting is all about the good results now mainly.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Santi , The locals have reported on that and many of the charity work done in the past too. But there has to be parity, you need a balanced view on all the c lub does imo.
KIMTOON(Quote)