Time for fans to stop moaning

[Christmas Tree 4005]

Time for fans to stop moaning and start Tyneside takeover

 

Patrick Barclay, Chief Football Commentator, The Times

 

Newcastle United supporters suffer more than most from the crocodile-tears technique of journalism, which purports to speak for “loyal fans” who “deserve better” than to spend their “hard-earned money” on an underachieving institution. All the journalist has to do is fill in the name of the club and often, down the years (most recently during the regimes of Freddy Shepherd and Mike Ashley), it has been Newcastle.

 

Why? Because Newcastle are a big and significant club with a lot of fans who, congregated in grief, can be photogenic: helpfully garbed in the club’s distinctive stripes, burly, male and incongruously sobbing. The picture with which we are all familiar — and not least since Newcastle’s latest relegation a few weeks ago — can be worth an extra thousand words. And what does the reader get out of it? A comforting sense that they are poor fools, I imagine. A reflection that not since Monty Python and the Holy Grail have so many people been so amusingly misled by the notion of a messiah.

 

But it is all a caricature, of course. Many Newcastle supporters are sensible. They know that there is only one Kevin Keegan, that the extraordinary personal qualities that enabled Keegan, with the support of Sir John Hall, to raise Newcastle into the Premier League in 1993 and produce football of such quality and adventure as to be a factor in the popularity of the League as a whole cannot be assumed to reside in others who have happened also to be inspirational players for the club, even Alan Shearer.

 

These people were not among the 20,000 nitwits who, when Shepherd signed Michael Owen in 2005, packed the Gallowgate End to provide a backdrop for the striker’s first photograph in the black-and-white shirt that he was to wear thereafter with such frustrating (though not surprising) infrequency. The intelligent ones knew a mistake when they saw one and, when Ashley waddled along two years ago and started giving key posts to little-known Londoners (and, even worse, undermining Keegan with Dennis Wise), they were even more embarrassed. If the erstwhile Loadsamoney had offered them a drink, they would have politely declined and moved to another bar.

 

They expected relegation and now, I hope, are ready to seize the opportunity that began to knock when desperation induced Ashley to test Shearer’s messianic properties. Of the eight matches that could have kept Newcastle in the Barclays Premier League, one was won and the inadequacy of this was good news for sensible fans, especially the hundreds whom I mentioned a few weeks ago as having formed an association with the intention of getting involved in the club’s next ownership.

 

Ashley, who once hoped to make a quick profit, has little choice but to watch his losses mount. The latest leaks are that he would accept £100 million for something that has already cost him at least £250 million.

 

Let us assume that the true price is £75 million. This verges on the realistic. If we further assume that there are 100,000 Newcastle supporters in the United Kingdom and as many in the rest of the world, the price works out at £375 a head, or considerably less than the cost of a season ticket, or half a pint of beer a day for a year.

 

All they have to do is stop moaning, get together and do something about the way their club have been run for as long (the Hall era apart) as any of us can remember. The examples of supporter involvement in Spanish clubs such as Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao are there to be followed. If clever, the supporters could get all their money back or even make a profit out of the club (an old Shepherd trick that, on reflection, they may prefer to eschew) because economic conditions will eventually improve and so, if the club are sensitively operated, will Newcastle’s fortunes on the field, attracting overseas or even native investment.

 

So now is the time. The price is right. Let these people google Supporters Direct, an organisation set up for the purpose and already experienced in reviving smaller clubs, and get on with it. Let them put their “hard-earned money” where their mouth is. Otherwise, though unquestionably “loyal fans”, they will not “deserve better”.

 

Comedy Gold

Edited June 18, 2009 by peasepud

[Tom_NUFC 0]

Time for fans to stop moaning and start Tyneside takeover

 

Patrick Barclay, Chief Football Commentator, The Times

 

Newcastle United supporters suffer more than most from the crocodile-tears technique of journalism, which purports to speak for “loyal fans” who “deserve better” than to spend their “hard-earned money” on an underachieving institution. All the journalist has to do is fill in the name of the club and often, down the years (most recently during the regimes of Freddy Shepherd and Mike Ashley), it has been Newcastle.

 

Why? Because Newcastle are a big and significant club with a lot of fans who, congregated in grief, can be photogenic: helpfully garbed in the club’s distinctive stripes, burly, male and incongruously sobbing. The picture with which we are all familiar — and not least since Newcastle’s latest relegation a few weeks ago — can be worth an extra thousand words. And what does the reader get out of it? A comforting sense that they are poor fools, I imagine. A reflection that not since Monty Python and the Holy Grail have so many people been so amusingly misled by the notion of a messiah.

 

But it is all a caricature, of course. Many Newcastle supporters are sensible. They know that there is only one Kevin Keegan, that the extraordinary personal qualities that enabled Keegan, with the support of Sir John Hall, to raise Newcastle into the Premier League in 1993 and produce football of such quality and adventure as to be a factor in the popularity of the League as a whole cannot be assumed to reside in others who have happened also to be inspirational players for the club, even Alan Shearer.

 

These people were not among the 20,000 nitwits who, when Shepherd signed Michael Owen in 2005, packed the Gallowgate End to provide a backdrop for the striker’s first photograph in the black-and-white shirt that he was to wear thereafter with such frustrating (though not surprising) infrequency. The intelligent ones knew a mistake when they saw one and, when Ashley waddled along two years ago and started giving key posts to little-known Londoners (and, even worse, undermining Keegan with Dennis Wise), they were even more embarrassed. If the erstwhile Loadsamoney had offered them a drink, they would have politely declined and moved to another bar.

 

They expected relegation and now, I hope, are ready to seize the opportunity that began to knock when desperation induced Ashley to test Shearer’s messianic properties. Of the eight matches that could have kept Newcastle in the Barclays Premier League, one was won and the inadequacy of this was good news for sensible fans, especially the hundreds whom I mentioned a few weeks ago as having formed an association with the intention of getting involved in the club’s next ownership.

 

Ashley, who once hoped to make a quick profit, has little choice but to watch his losses mount. The latest leaks are that he would accept £100 million for something that has already cost him at least £250 million.

 

Let us assume that the true price is £75 million. This verges on the realistic. If we further assume that there are 100,000 Newcastle supporters in the United Kingdom and as many in the rest of the world, the price works out at £375 a head, or considerably less than the cost of a season ticket, or half a pint of beer a day for a year.

 

All they have to do is stop moaning, get together and do something about the way their club have been run for as long (the Hall era apart) as any of us can remember. The examples of supporter involvement in Spanish clubs such as Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao are there to be followed. If clever, the supporters could get all their money back or even make a profit out of the club (an old Shepherd trick that, on reflection, they may prefer to eschew) because economic conditions will eventually improve and so, if the club are sensitively operated, will Newcastle’s fortunes on the field, attracting overseas or even native investment.

 

So now is the time. The price is right. Let these people google Supporters Direct, an organisation set up for the purpose and already experienced in reviving smaller clubs, and get on with it. Let them put their “hard-earned money” where their mouth is. Otherwise, though unquestionably “loyal fans”, they will not “deserve better”.

 

Comedy Gold

 

NUSC have been in touch with Supporters Direct for months and are currently in the final stages of setting up a Supporters Trust.

[Tom 13915]

Is it me or is this fella's prose terrible? It doesn't make a nice read.

[peasepud 59]

It really does beggar belief doesnt it, that a "respected" journalist couldnt even be arsed to use google himself. Its a well known fact that we're doing this, his own colleague George Caulkin who probably sits at the desk next to him has been involved with us from the start and if my memory serves me correctly wrote an article on how we're working to become a Trust. As for 100,000 fans here and 100,000 elsewhere paying a mere £375 for the fun if it. Hasnt this man done any homework? it may be less than an ST but you'd still need to buy one of those as well otherwise the club would die before you'd even signed the purchase contracts!

 

Half a pint of beer a day, yes or maybe a full months mortgage/ rent to many fans, Yeah lets tell people not to pay their mortgage this month and hand it over, in fact its only about the same as a childs dinner money for a year, let them go hungry, not a problem.

 

200,000 fans each paying £375 and they say we're deluded and believe we're bigger than we are. The very Barcelona model he alludes to has 156,000 fans paying é115, 156k from a fanbase thats reported to be 44million worldwide (that means 0.35% are members!), for a club that are not only the Champions of Europe but definitely one of the biggest in the world.

 

Now contrast that to a dying club, on its arse in the 2nd tier of English football, one thats been stripped of its assets and dignity by a bloke who believes a football club can be run like a cheap tat shop. Do that comparison and still believe that we can get 50k more fans than Barcelona to invest three times as much (and then some) into this club. Do those comparisons Patrick and then come to us and say "yes it will work", oh and bring your cheque for £375 with you. If its such an easy one to achieve then Im sure the name Patrick Barclay will be at the top of the donators list.

 

Myself and Tom have seen what kind of people purport to be able to buy the club, what sorts of lunatics can attempt to get your hard earned cash, we've both sat there while Peter Lee gave his talk about how he was on the brink of managing just that, how with the fans backing and a mere £1,000.00 each we will all be sat in that hotseat over there (points out of the Irish Club window towards the Central Station). Thankfully, a permatan and ability to talk the hind legs off a donkey mean nowt once it comes to getting normal decent peoples hard earned wonga.

 

Now is not the time for articles like this, we dont need to be told how easy it is for an idiot to purchase a football club, we've already been there, seen that and bought the book. If theres one sorry lesson we can take from the mess that is the football club we love its that any idiot can buy a football club but not just any idiot can run one.

 

If you want to know how a football club can be ran with the inclusion of the fans then start with Supporters Direct site > http://www.supporters-direct.org, if you're interested in how that can work with Newcastle United then get along to one of our roadshows to see for yourself how we're doing it.

[Christmas Tree 4005]

great post pud,, thought you might pick up on that!!!

 

Hope you've sent a copy to him.

[ewerk 26871]

Well said Pud.

[snakehips 0]

It really does beggar belief doesnt it, that a "respected" journalist couldnt even be arsed to use google himself. Its a well known fact that we're doing this, his own colleague George Caulkin who probably sits at the desk next to him has been involved with us from the start and if my memory serves me correctly wrote an article on how we're working to become a Trust. As for 100,000 fans here and 100,000 elsewhere paying a mere £375 for the fun if it. Hasnt this man done any homework? it may be less than an ST but you'd still need to buy one of those as well otherwise the club would die before you'd even signed the purchase contracts!

 

Half a pint of beer a day, yes or maybe a full months mortgage/ rent to many fans, Yeah lets tell people not to pay their mortgage this month and hand it over, in fact its only about the same as a childs dinner money for a year, let them go hungry, not a problem.

 

200,000 fans each paying £375 and they say we're deluded and believe we're bigger than we are. The very Barcelona model he alludes to has 156,000 fans paying é115, 156k from a fanbase thats reported to be 44million worldwide (that means 0.35% are members!), for a club that are not only the Champions of Europe but definitely one of the biggest in the world.

 

Now contrast that to a dying club, on its arse in the 2nd tier of English football, one thats been stripped of its assets and dignity by a bloke who believes a football club can be run like a cheap tat shop. Do that comparison and still believe that we can get 50k more fans than Barcelona to invest three times as much (and then some) into this club. Do those comparisons Patrick and then come to us and say "yes it will work", oh and bring your cheque for £375 with you. If its such an easy one to achieve then Im sure the name Patrick Barclay will be at the top of the donators list.

 

Myself and Tom have seen what kind of people purport to be able to buy the club, what sorts of lunatics can attempt to get your hard earned cash, we've both sat there while Peter Lee gave his talk about how he was on the brink of managing just that, how with the fans backing and a mere £1,000.00 each we will all be sat in that hotseat over there (points out of the Irish Club window towards the Central Station). Thankfully, a permatan and ability to talk the hind legs off a donkey mean nowt once it comes to getting normal decent peoples hard earned wonga.

 

Now is not the time for articles like this, we dont need to be told how easy it is for an idiot to purchase a football club, we've already been there, seen that and bought the book. If theres one sorry lesson we can take from the mess that is the football club we love its that any idiot can buy a football club but not just any idiot can run one.

 

If you want to know how a football club can be ran with the inclusion of the fans then start with Supporters Direct site > http://www.supporters-direct.org, if you're interested in how that can work with Newcastle United then get along to one of our roadshows to see for yourself how we're doing it.

 

One of your best posts, pud. Get out now, whilst you're at the top

 

Perhaps you could e-mail that to the plank who wrote the piece?

[Ugly Mackems 133]

Sounds a good idea to me. I'm in where do I send the postal order?

 

Only need another 199,000 and we're flying.

[Renton 18088]

Just to echo others sentiments Pud, tidy that up a bit (make it less personal) and get him telt. Brilliant post. Of course, even if we did have enough fans willing to pay a grand each, I just can't see how it would ever work on a practical level without a benovolent benefactor first purchasing the club.

[Happy Face 29]

I always wonder where Nookie Bear has got to when I see Patrick Barclay.

 

Idiot.

[NJS 4017]

I've read loads of people saying what a respected journalist this cretin is - I've always thought he was just another idiot.

 

Let's say we did this - how would the ongoing business then be financed? how would transfers be financed? - do Barcelona fund transfers from their membership?

 

 

Amateurish, bigoted bullshit.

[Tom_NUFC 0]

Perhaps you could e-mail that to the plank who wrote the piece?

 

It's been passed on to a lad called Colin Whittle, who has been instrumental in getting us transfered to a Trust status. He knows all the ins and outs of Supporters Direct and Supporters Trusts, so he's going to get in touch.

 

Like Pud says, if you want to know more, come along to a Roadshow and have a listen to Colin. He'll answer any questions you might have. For starters, he's written a good article about it in The Mag summer special.

 

It's strange that he's even written this when his colleague, George Caulkin has written about us on numerous occassions, attended open meetings etc. It makes you wonder if they even talk to each other or read each others' stuff.

Edited June 15, 2009 by Tom_NUFC

[Happy Face 29]

Not to mention it was the Leazes end "20,000" nitwits filled.

 

[Guest Stevie]

I've written about this Scottish bastard a few times. The best jocks are the ones who don't think they're English, your jocks jock is better than Anglo-Jock and this bloke is one, so is Hansen and Andy Gray. Hansen even calls England we. He looks like Jean Luc Picard, and has an agenda against us, the word someone used "bigoted" is apt for this bloke. In 1996 he was on Keep Hold Of The Back Page saying toon fans were to blame for us losing the title, because we weren't class fans like Man Utd's. Arsehole of the highest order, and his article is every bit as pathetic if not more so than that Egyptian table tennis players.

[Happy Face 29]

I like where he says Shepherd showed how we could make a profit too. ...as if the fans should risk the clubs financial ruin to take multi million dividends...shared between 200,000 of us.

[Renton 18088]

I like where he says Shepherd showed how we could make a profit too. ...as if the fans should risk the clubs financial ruin to take multi million dividends...shared between 200,000 of us.

 

If clever, the supporters could get all their money back or even make a profit out of the club (an old Shepherd trick that, on reflection, they may prefer to eschew) because economic conditions will eventually improve and so, if the club are sensitively operated, will Newcastle’s fortunes on the field, attracting overseas or even native investment.

 

I think he's making the point it isn't a good idea HF.

 

Howay, I don't know where this piece was published (a blog maybe) and it's obviously errant nonsense, as pointed out by Pud, but some on here are getting real persecution complexes about virtually all sports writers. It's a sympathetic piece in tone ffs, as was Marcotti's which was ripped to pieces a few days ago.

[ChezGiven 0]

Yep, the tone is sympathetic and stresses that the image of the typical fan is not the reality.

 

Still think someone should email him pud's response.

[The Fish 9271]

fwiw I don't think we should hold sympathetic articles to a lower standard than we do those that fail to tickle our fancy.

[Papa Lazaru 0]

I wouldn't be against the idea of fans being part of a new set up, Ie. a new owner buying out the current shower of cunts who have destroyed our club, but offering fans a chance at a decent share of the club if they could be organised into some serious sort of group.

 

Though i don't care if we are involved or not personally as long as we get taken over and saved from oblivion which is where we seem to be heading at the moment!

[Happy Face 29]

Come on. It's patronising horseshit.

 

"Many Newcastle supporters are sensible."

 

 

What an exclusive.

 

He calls the 20,000 kids that turn up to welcome Owen in the sunshine during the school holiday nitwits, as if the few fans with a brain cell should be embarrassed by them, and you think it's sympathetic?

[Guest Stevie]

Come on. It's patronising horseshit.

 

"Many Newcastle supporters are sensible."

 

 

What an exclusive.

 

He calls the 20,000 kids that turn up to welcome Owen in the sunshine during the school holiday nitwits, as if the few fans with a brain cell should be embarrassed by them, and you think it's sympathetic?

Exactly, was a condescending piece of shit, written by a bumbling arrogant clueless old jock fool.

[Norbert Colon 0]

Come on. It's patronising horseshit.

 

"Many Newcastle supporters are sensible."

 

 

What an exclusive.

 

He calls the 20,000 kids that turn up to welcome Owen in the sunshine during the school holiday nitwits, as if the few fans with a brain cell should be embarrassed by them, and you think it's sympathetic?

Exactly, was a condescending piece of shit, written by a bumbling arrogant clueless old jock fool.

 

Quite - my eldest lad went - it was nice for him to see Owen - why is it only our fans are mongs cos they are passionate about the club whilst other teams fans are generally tolerated - there seems to be a deeper agenda of ridicule and its a danger for football - the likes of this cunt and that utter wankstain syed have taken to mocking fans that chant and wear the colours - it seems the chattering classes love their footie but only the sanitised version minus any fervent support

[Happy Face 29]

Come on. It's patronising horseshit.

 

"Many Newcastle supporters are sensible."

 

 

What an exclusive.

 

He calls the 20,000 kids that turn up to welcome Owen in the sunshine during the school holiday nitwits, as if the few fans with a brain cell should be embarrassed by them, and you think it's sympathetic?

Exactly, was a condescending piece of shit, written by a bumbling arrogant clueless old jock fool.

 

Quite - my eldest lad went - it was nice for him to see Owen - why is it only our fans are mongs cos they are passionate about the club whilst other teams fans are generally tolerated - there seems to be a deeper agenda of ridicule and its a danger for football - the likes of this cunt and that utter wankstain syed have taken to mocking fans that chant and wear the colours - it seems the chattering classes love their footie but only the sanitised version minus any fervent support

 

He'd prefer the kids were out stabbing each other for wearing the wrong colour bandana I guess.

[Norbert Colon 0]

Come on. It's patronising horseshit.

 

"Many Newcastle supporters are sensible."

 

 

What an exclusive.

 

He calls the 20,000 kids that turn up to welcome Owen in the sunshine during the school holiday nitwits, as if the few fans with a brain cell should be embarrassed by them, and you think it's sympathetic?

Exactly, was a condescending piece of shit, written by a bumbling arrogant clueless old jock fool.

 

Quite - my eldest lad went - it was nice for him to see Owen - why is it only our fans are mongs cos they are passionate about the club whilst other teams fans are generally tolerated - there seems to be a deeper agenda of ridicule and its a danger for football - the likes of this cunt and that utter wankstain syed have taken to mocking fans that chant and wear the colours - it seems the chattering classes love their footie but only the sanitised version minus any fervent support

 

He'd prefer the kids were out stabbing each other for wearing the wrong colour bandana I guess.

 

Just can't understand why grown men with an alleged amount of intelligence would bring up that as a reason to take the piss when it was quite obviously a majority of kids and families that turned up

[Tom 13915]

Yet if you look at the 12'000 who turned up at Middlesbrough to greet Alfonso Alves it would never get a mention. Despite the hula dances and the fact he was a bigger flop than Owen.