NUFC_Mag

Wigan beat us to Victor Moses from palace, £2.5mill

Are they keeping that wage ceiling though? Will be a problem...

Another quality one:

If you want to win, it costs money. Ever heard of the phrase "if you don't buy a ticket you won't win the raffle". Amazed at your dumbness. You sound just like some of the dicks on Newcastle Online Again...so why didn't Leeds win? You sound like the bloke who spends his life savings at the bookies saying "If I don't put a bet on, how can I ever win?" It's a nonsense argument. I've already said several times that you need to spend money but ONLY if that money is spent wisely and ONLY if you can afford the debt. We'd run out of credit and were going nowhere fast....or do you think we were on the verge of greatness before Ashley arrived. Seriously. I want you to answer the specific question. Were we about to win something before Ashley came along? do you bet on the lottery ? How come you don't win every week then ? Your questions are getting dafter by the second. Its piss easy this spending money wisely, in fact its so so soooooooo easy, how doesn't everybody do it By the way, for their spending, you got the 5th most qualified team for europe including the Champions League, the 5th highest average position, an expanded stadium full to capacity every home game [they must have done something right ], world class footballers attracted to the club, 2 FA Cup Finals, and one of the highest turnovers in world football. All on the back of bad appointments and wasting money. Not bad going eh. I don't bet on the lottery. The odds of me losing a pound are loads loads loads loads loads loads higher than me winning a million quid (which btw is statistically more likely to wreck my life than improve it). Now let's suppose for a second I DID play the lottery. When do you think I should stop buying tickets and sort my life out? When I'd lost my wife? My house? My kids? Are you telling us all Leazes that in your opinion there is NEVER a time when you should stop spending money on a possible good outcome? You should be official adviser to Alex Ferguson trotting out such wisdoms as that, I don't think he would agree though. Avoiding the question again Leazes? That's weird. Alex Ferguson wouldn't have bought Boumsong to please Willy McKay. Do you see the point yet? You have to spend money in the right way. If you succeed you got it right, if you fail you got it wrong. That's why it's difficult. ...but you can't say the guy who shot and missed got it right. Shepherd's job wasn't to back shit managers, his job was to hire the right people to get those decisions right. He didn't. he bought Veron though And that Uruguay player [name escapes me] and others. Berbatov isn't setting the place alight either. But NUFC are the only club that make bad buys, in your deluded little world. A FACT by the way, is that only 4 clubs [yes FOUR] qualified for europe more than we did under the Halls and Shepherd, that means only FOUR clubs generally speaking ran their clubs and spent money better over the course of 15 years. Not too bad. Diego Forlan is the Uruguay player, not great for Man Utd but doing well at Athletico. In regard to evaluating the running of a club, should this not be measured relatively speaking? For example, only 4 more teams may have qualified for Europe than we did under Hall and Shepherd, yet clubs with little or no European hopes (even over this 15 year peroid) may have been run "better" than us as they possibly progressed more in regard to stature, position or silverware. Basically, should we not measure how "well" a club is run contextually? for instance, paying attention to the resources at their disposal and what they can and have achieved with them? do you have any idea the state the club was in when they found it in 1992 ? Do you think Everton had a better 15 years than we did because they won the FA Cup in 1995 ? Or do you think Joe Royle is a better manager than Keegan because he won a trophy and KK didn't ie with Everton in 1995? Is this your point ? No...I am not name-dropping. I am merely suggesting that your benchmark of achieving European success as an indicator of a clubs spending credibility is potentially misleading and ignorant of the context of the clubs and how they interpret "success." I also think you have to consider the long-term effects of this spending as well. Rangers may have bought much of the SPL titles in the 90's but this was not sustainable and now they are up shit creek financially. The legacy of transfer dealings should be considered as well as any success or failures they bring in the short run. So ? They capitalised on the potential fanbase - which nobody else has done including the current owner and I will be very surprised if he does - and over the 15 years we were the 5th most qualified team for europe, brought international top quality footballers, filled the ground, expanded the stadium, had the 5th highest average league position and played in 2 FA Cup Finals. Whats your problem apart from the obvious disappointment of coming 2nd on 4 occasions which is hardly the fault of the board ? THIS ... why doesn't he answer I'm not contesting those achievements in anyway, I am also not trying to assert that our progress wasnt impressive. I was merely suggesting that we should evaluate clubs contextually on how well they are run as opposed to measuring them by European credentials which are not a realistic possibility for the majority. I think this is an unfair benchmark. I derived that view from you when you said this: "A FACT by the way, is that only 4 clubs [yes FOUR] qualified for europe more than we did under the Halls and Shepherd, that means only FOUR clubs generally speaking ran their clubs and spent money better over the course of 15 years" Yet when you start mentioning factors such as stature, attendances and the quality of player a club can attract, then I am in agreement with you. I just think the European measure of success is a bit uncomprehensive. I also still stand by the view that transfer dealings should be evaluated in the long run as well as the short run.

Bottled it for their header though...

Even the most pessimistic amongst you must congratulate the team and the manager if not Ashley. Although it is not a time for Euphoria and mindless optimism as the hardest part lies ahead, it is still a big stepping stone that we have passed and I will enjoy the moment bearing cautious consideration upon the future. Yes our opposition has been gash and our football unremarkable, yet 10months ago we would have snapped up this position and hopefully we are on the right way up. Well done boys!

Little preview on BBC right now...

Chelsea's away support was shocking last season at St James*. Man Utd and the Mackems should be good tho

I think we will be ok as well...will be a struggle though.

Certainly wont miss the Football League Show Not looking forward to the relegation battle m'lark though...

That's a good point and he does seem popular throughout the squad. I think the way to play it is, if he has a good WC and someone comes in for him we shouldn't stand in his way. Rip a few from Portsmouth if possible O'Hara (though his price will be inflated) Maybe Yebda? dunno How much do you reckon for O'Hara? quite keen on him. Diamanti is sound technically as well. I think if Colo has a good world cup he could be difficult to hang on to even with his wages.

If you want to win, it costs money. Ever heard of the phrase "if you don't buy a ticket you won't win the raffle". Amazed at your dumbness. You sound just like some of the dicks on Newcastle Online Again...so why didn't Leeds win? You sound like the bloke who spends his life savings at the bookies saying "If I don't put a bet on, how can I ever win?" It's a nonsense argument. I've already said several times that you need to spend money but ONLY if that money is spent wisely and ONLY if you can afford the debt. We'd run out of credit and were going nowhere fast....or do you think we were on the verge of greatness before Ashley arrived. Seriously. I want you to answer the specific question. Were we about to win something before Ashley came along? do you bet on the lottery ? How come you don't win every week then ? Your questions are getting dafter by the second. Its piss easy this spending money wisely, in fact its so so soooooooo easy, how doesn't everybody do it By the way, for their spending, you got the 5th most qualified team for europe including the Champions League, the 5th highest average position, an expanded stadium full to capacity every home game [they must have done something right ], world class footballers attracted to the club, 2 FA Cup Finals, and one of the highest turnovers in world football. All on the back of bad appointments and wasting money. Not bad going eh. I don't bet on the lottery. The odds of me losing a pound are loads loads loads loads loads loads higher than me winning a million quid (which btw is statistically more likely to wreck my life than improve it). Now let's suppose for a second I DID play the lottery. When do you think I should stop buying tickets and sort my life out? When I'd lost my wife? My house? My kids? Are you telling us all Leazes that in your opinion there is NEVER a time when you should stop spending money on a possible good outcome? You should be official adviser to Alex Ferguson trotting out such wisdoms as that, I don't think he would agree though. Avoiding the question again Leazes? That's weird. Alex Ferguson wouldn't have bought Boumsong to please Willy McKay. Do you see the point yet? You have to spend money in the right way. If you succeed you got it right, if you fail you got it wrong. That's why it's difficult. ...but you can't say the guy who shot and missed got it right. Shepherd's job wasn't to back shit managers, his job was to hire the right people to get those decisions right. He didn't. he bought Veron though And that Uruguay player [name escapes me] and others. Berbatov isn't setting the place alight either. But NUFC are the only club that make bad buys, in your deluded little world. A FACT by the way, is that only 4 clubs [yes FOUR] qualified for europe more than we did under the Halls and Shepherd, that means only FOUR clubs generally speaking ran their clubs and spent money better over the course of 15 years. Not too bad. Diego Forlan is the Uruguay player, not great for Man Utd but doing well at Athletico. In regard to evaluating the running of a club, should this not be measured relatively speaking? For example, only 4 more teams may have qualified for Europe than we did under Hall and Shepherd, yet clubs with little or no European hopes (even over this 15 year peroid) may have been run "better" than us as they possibly progressed more in regard to stature, position or silverware. Basically, should we not measure how "well" a club is run contextually? for instance, paying attention to the resources at their disposal and what they can and have achieved with them? do you have any idea the state the club was in when they found it in 1992 ? Do you think Everton had a better 15 years than we did because they won the FA Cup in 1995 ? Or do you think Joe Royle is a better manager than Keegan because he won a trophy and KK didn't ie with Everton in 1995? Is this your point ? No...I am not name-dropping. I am merely suggesting that your benchmark of achieving European success as an indicator of a clubs spending credibility is potentially misleading and ignorant of the context of the clubs and how they interpret "success." I also think you have to consider the long-term effects of this spending as well. Rangers may have bought much of the SPL titles in the 90's but this was not sustainable and now they are up shit creek financially. The legacy of transfer dealings should be considered as well as any success or failures they bring in the short run.

Hence fucking off after 7 minutes? I know it was a minority, but there were sufficient of them leaving to be picked up, so we're not talking about 3 or 4. Oh and that stat has been trotted out in front of me for Blackburn, Portsmouth, and Middlesbrough (off the top of my head), so I'd like to see some empirical data to back it up. Look at their attendances pre-premier league. 12-13kish...

If you want to win, it costs money. Ever heard of the phrase "if you don't buy a ticket you won't win the raffle". Amazed at your dumbness. You sound just like some of the dicks on Newcastle Online Again...so why didn't Leeds win? You sound like the bloke who spends his life savings at the bookies saying "If I don't put a bet on, how can I ever win?" It's a nonsense argument. I've already said several times that you need to spend money but ONLY if that money is spent wisely and ONLY if you can afford the debt. We'd run out of credit and were going nowhere fast....or do you think we were on the verge of greatness before Ashley arrived. Seriously. I want you to answer the specific question. Were we about to win something before Ashley came along? do you bet on the lottery ? How come you don't win every week then ? Your questions are getting dafter by the second. Its piss easy this spending money wisely, in fact its so so soooooooo easy, how doesn't everybody do it By the way, for their spending, you got the 5th most qualified team for europe including the Champions League, the 5th highest average position, an expanded stadium full to capacity every home game [they must have done something right ], world class footballers attracted to the club, 2 FA Cup Finals, and one of the highest turnovers in world football. All on the back of bad appointments and wasting money. Not bad going eh. I don't bet on the lottery. The odds of me losing a pound are loads loads loads loads loads loads higher than me winning a million quid (which btw is statistically more likely to wreck my life than improve it). Now let's suppose for a second I DID play the lottery. When do you think I should stop buying tickets and sort my life out? When I'd lost my wife? My house? My kids? Are you telling us all Leazes that in your opinion there is NEVER a time when you should stop spending money on a possible good outcome? You should be official adviser to Alex Ferguson trotting out such wisdoms as that, I don't think he would agree though. Avoiding the question again Leazes? That's weird. Alex Ferguson wouldn't have bought Boumsong to please Willy McKay. Do you see the point yet? You have to spend money in the right way. If you succeed you got it right, if you fail you got it wrong. That's why it's difficult. ...but you can't say the guy who shot and missed got it right. Shepherd's job wasn't to back shit managers, his job was to hire the right people to get those decisions right. He didn't. he bought Veron though And that Uruguay player [name escapes me] and others. Berbatov isn't setting the place alight either. But NUFC are the only club that make bad buys, in your deluded little world. A FACT by the way, is that only 4 clubs [yes FOUR] qualified for europe more than we did under the Halls and Shepherd, that means only FOUR clubs generally speaking ran their clubs and spent money better over the course of 15 years. Not too bad. Diego Forlan is the Uruguay player, not great for Man Utd but doing well at Athletico. In regard to evaluating the running of a club, should this not be measured relatively speaking? For example, only 4 more teams may have qualified for Europe than we did under Hall and Shepherd, yet clubs with little or no European hopes (even over this 15 year peroid) may have been run "better" than us as they possibly progressed more in regard to stature, position or silverware. Basically, should we not measure how "well" a club is run contextually? for instance, paying attention to the resources at their disposal and what they can and have achieved with them?

Yes, I acknowledged the Irish audience. I think Rangers seem to get the majority of the Scottish audience outside of Glasgow simply due to each clubs affiliations. This seems to be the case from what I have witnessed although I admit this isnt exactly gospel. Still very high attendances considering the opposition mind.

On the flip side, they get safely over 50,000 most weeks against the likes of Hamilton, St Mirren, Dundee and Aberdeen, and although Glasgow is a large city,they dont have it to themselves due to the existence of Rangers. There is the irish audience however. As for being Gloryseekers, the label seems a bit harsh. The SPL isn't the most prestigous of titles due to its poor quality and is seen by many as a boring 2-horse race devoid of "glamour" matches, they certainly wont be challenging at the final stages of Europe each season either. I do confess that they are fickle however, their actions this season supports this. Either way, I was addressing the group of the Green Brigade as oppossed to their entire support.

Full home compliment every match, gash that Fair play, especially for the size of the area. Still, 1st year up, overachieving and one of the few times alot of them will experience Premier League football. A couple of thousand below full as well. Still...7 minutes?! I wonder what their ticket prices are.

It really is like comparing The Titanic to the Shields Ferry, the arrogant deluded bastard. They are a shit club in a city which isn't even football orientated, and listening to the crack last week, something along the lines of Leeds were 15 points above Norwich five months ago, and now there's been a 13 point swing. I don't want to laugh at a teams misfortune, but they've lost too much momentum to think they'll go up in the play offs, and I love it. I hope they stay in that league forever, a league smaller club Newcastle has never been in in its' 118 year history I may add. The biggest cheer in the pub yesterday aopart from our goals going in was when Leeds 0 Swindon 3 came up, which tells you everything. Shit club, shit fans. Pipe down and stay down. The funny thing is Bates was a great chairman in January, and Grayson was the next Mourinho, now Bates is the anti-christ and Grayson should resign gracefully. I agree with alot of what your saying...but Leeds fans are shit fans? I think not. They may have a merited bad reputation but make alot of noise and 25,0000 average attendance in League 2 is still credible. We may get 40,000+ for one season in the Championship, but if we went down their road we wouldnt be attracting the same numbers they do. They may be dicks but they are certainly loud Yes we're getting 43,000 in our first season in this division. FORTY THREE THOUSAND. Which is four thousand more than their highest EVER league gate, in any division. Their first season down they averaged 29,000 then 22,000, 20,000, 26,000 and 23,000. In the last 5 seasons they've had less than ten league gates over 30,000, LESS THAN TEN IN FIVE YEARS. Yet you're saying we wouldn't get 25,000 in their position????? Their average gates in the 80's were hideous far far worse than ours ever were, so I'll ask you what is that based on? That we wouldn't get what they do. Just try and explain it. The lack of wums on here recently has been refreshing, and if you're not a WUM, you're a tool. Try and explain what your assertion is based on. Sunderland have much much better fans than Leeds. They couldnt even fill their ground in the top flight for fuck sake. Sometimes you can just sense things. I appreciate your statistics and I agree that my assertion was incorrect. In fairness, we are enjoying a successful Championship campaign where we are unbeaten at home. I dont think we have been tested to the extent Leeds have as their downfall was so dramatic; failing to regain promotion, suffering financial meltdown and then dropping another league. It is a trauma worse than our own and at the end of it, 25,000 is impressive especially when you consider how loud they are. Nonetheless I may have been hasty in suggesting we would not attain that in the same circumstances. As for the Green Brigade, I take it you've never seen them before? their political views and expressions of them are undefendable, yet their support, noise levels and displays are indeed fantastic and should be appreciated. Please do a youtube/google search to see my point. They're not loud. The Celtic fans do nothing but moan about how poor their support is other than Old Firm and European games and this season even they've been shite as the club is depressed for now, any isolated youtube proves fuck all. You could probably find one of Fulham fans which is impressive. You could put a youtube up of the Middlesbrough game last season, or even the Cardiff game this season and you'd be hard pressed to find more noise anywhere. Leeds' 24,000 average doesn't impress me it's not even the biggest in the division, and this with arguably the best squad, and a feel good factor on the back of dumping Man Utd out the cup. Especially given the fact they won every single week virtually and as soon as they stopped winning they're back down to the 18 and 19,000 midweek gates when their support really needs them. I don't think those youtube videos are exactly isolated, in fact, there are alot of impressive ones. Nonetheless, my opinion is consequent of experience, I have visited Celtic Park and witnessed it myself. Yes, it is true that many Celtic fans complain their atmosphere is poor outside of Europe and the Old Firm, yet I am referring to an Ultras group within their support as opposed to their support as a whole. And again, from experience (I know alot of Celtic fans) there is a great appreciation of the noise and displays, if not the politics of the Green Brigade. As for Leeds...I think your distaste for them blinds your judegment of them. League 2 is piss poor and 25,000 average attendance at that level is in my opinion impressive. I think we will have to agree to disagree on that one though.

It really is like comparing The Titanic to the Shields Ferry, the arrogant deluded bastard. They are a shit club in a city which isn't even football orientated, and listening to the crack last week, something along the lines of Leeds were 15 points above Norwich five months ago, and now there's been a 13 point swing. I don't want to laugh at a teams misfortune, but they've lost too much momentum to think they'll go up in the play offs, and I love it. I hope they stay in that league forever, a league smaller club Newcastle has never been in in its' 118 year history I may add. The biggest cheer in the pub yesterday aopart from our goals going in was when Leeds 0 Swindon 3 came up, which tells you everything. Shit club, shit fans. Pipe down and stay down. The funny thing is Bates was a great chairman in January, and Grayson was the next Mourinho, now Bates is the anti-christ and Grayson should resign gracefully. I agree with alot of what your saying...but Leeds fans are shit fans? I think not. They may have a merited bad reputation but make alot of noise and 25,0000 average attendance in League 2 is still credible. We may get 40,000+ for one season in the Championship, but if we went down their road we wouldnt be attracting the same numbers they do. They may be dicks but they are certainly loud Yes we're getting 43,000 in our first season in this division. FORTY THREE THOUSAND. Which is four thousand more than their highest EVER league gate, in any division. Their first season down they averaged 29,000 then 22,000, 20,000, 26,000 and 23,000. In the last 5 seasons they've had less than ten league gates over 30,000, LESS THAN TEN IN FIVE YEARS. Yet you're saying we wouldn't get 25,000 in their position????? Their average gates in the 80's were hideous far far worse than ours ever were, so I'll ask you what is that based on? That we wouldn't get what they do. Just try and explain it. The lack of wums on here recently has been refreshing, and if you're not a WUM, you're a tool. Try and explain what your assertion is based on. Sunderland have much much better fans than Leeds. They couldnt even fill their ground in the top flight for fuck sake. Sometimes you can just sense things. I appreciate your statistics and I agree that my assertion was incorrect. In fairness, we are enjoying a successful Championship campaign where we are unbeaten at home. I dont think we have been tested to the extent Leeds have as their downfall was so dramatic; failing to regain promotion, suffering financial meltdown and then dropping another league. It is a trauma worse than our own and at the end of it, 25,000 is impressive especially when you consider how loud they are. Nonetheless I may have been hasty in suggesting we would not attain that in the same circumstances. As for the Green Brigade, I take it you've never seen them before? their political views and expressions of them are undefendable, yet their support, noise levels and displays are indeed fantastic and should be appreciated. Please do a youtube/google search to see my point.

Noticed them leaving within 10 mins against Man City yesterday after conceding 3 early goals. Is that shocking regardless of the scoreline? Also heard them chanting "6-0 and you fucked it up" when they pulled one back. Cringeworthy? Their support seems to have been gash all season, certainly wont be missed next year.

It really is like comparing The Titanic to the Shields Ferry, the arrogant deluded bastard. They are a shit club in a city which isn't even football orientated, and listening to the crack last week, something along the lines of Leeds were 15 points above Norwich five months ago, and now there's been a 13 point swing. I don't want to laugh at a teams misfortune, but they've lost too much momentum to think they'll go up in the play offs, and I love it. I hope they stay in that league forever, a league smaller club Newcastle has never been in in its' 118 year history I may add. The biggest cheer in the pub yesterday aopart from our goals going in was when Leeds 0 Swindon 3 came up, which tells you everything. Shit club, shit fans. Pipe down and stay down. The funny thing is Bates was a great chairman in January, and Grayson was the next Mourinho, now Bates is the anti-christ and Grayson should resign gracefully. I agree with alot of what your saying...but Leeds fans are shit fans? I think not. They may have a merited bad reputation but make alot of noise and 25,0000 average attendance in League 2 is still credible. We may get 40,000+ for one season in the Championship, but if we went down their road we wouldnt be attracting the same numbers they do. They may be dicks but they are certainly loud

According to SSP some punter in Birmingham put a 500 bet that he was gonna leave so bookies started slashing their odds. Denied by O'Neil...

Got to agree with you mate. The battle for the title and fourth spot are interesting and inhabited with good teams, some of which who play attractive football. Apart from that though, the PL is full of boring, average teams with anti-football stances often due to a lack of technical prowess. Almost the whole bottom half are suspect to relegation and with moderate improvement we will be at their level. I think with some stability next year we should be safe, even under CH.

Mowbray is awful...fair crack to him for trying to instill attractive football, but finishing bottom with WBA and failing to keep up with one of the weakest Rangers teams in a long time who are totally skint is awful. Although patience is required when assembling a new squad (Mowbray did alot of buying and selling) this season for Celtic has been an embarassment. Wouldnt want him at us. As for Keane, he's much better than what we've got but ageing and too pricey. We need sensible wage packets and transfer fees and he will be neither.

I think thats a bit harsh on Best. Yes he hasn't provided much so far and does seem like a desparation signing, but probably deserves a bit longer for a fair judgement. Should be a solid 2-0 win though, their loss of manager can only help our cause.