thebrokendoll

i know michael martin has his critics (i've had several spats with him over the years) but it's hard to disagree with anything he says in this article.... http://www.true-faith.co.uk/everything-steve-bruce-says-is-wrong/ an infinitely more accurate summary than the utter fucking drivel written by that cunt edwards.

luke edwards latest musings, hideous cunt that he is. probably shouldn't give this wildly inaccurate pile of steaming shite any more publicity, but just in case anybody fancies a chuckle.... Newcastle United is a wonderful club in a magnificent city but it can be claustrophobic, a difficult and demanding place to play football. It can feel so intense at times that it is difficult to breath let alone relax and reflect, suffocating and stifling. And the walls are closing in on the team and manager Steve Bruce, the atmosphere, toxic all season, is now so poisonous it could prove fatal. Relegation is a very clear and present danger again. Newcastle is a club that is never far away from a crisis. It is the heavy price you pay when you have an owner like Mike Ashley, a management structure which lacks the required talent and expertise and a recruitment model that views players as individuals, never as part of a coherent team building project. There was always going to come a time this season when Newcastle faltered and floundered. They are not a very good team, have not been playing well and got lucky so many times over the course of the first half of the season, you always knew there would come a point when that deserted them too. It was always the danger, it was what we all thought would happen last summer when Rafa Benitez refused his new contract, left it until five weeks before the start of the season to admit it and Steve Bruce was hastily appointed as an emergency replacement. It stank of desperation because it was and all but a few predicted Bruce would be a disaster, especially with a team that had been stuck in a desperate relegation battle all last season and lost two thirds of its goals over the summer with the departures of Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez. Disaster looked unavoidable, yet, for six months, it has been. Newcastle have not been in the bottom three since August, they were tenth in January, they are in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup for the first time in more than a decade. They were, for all their limitations and the ugliness of the football, doing well. Bruce had stabilised things, defied the doubters and Newcastle had something every team that deserves admiration possesses - a refusal to be beaten easily, a never give up attitude and a strong team spirit. They played badly, but found a way to win, to collect points and stay out of trouble. It deserved praise. It barely got any. Even when they were winning, Newcastle’s players were told they were rubbish, the manager clueless, “a relegation team in all but points total” according to one local critic, never shy to attack. It was a snappy soundbite. It won support, it preached to the already converted, it gained traction and it painted the picture people wanted to see. Even when Newcastle were winning, even when they were beating Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Sheffield United and Chelsea, drawing with Manchester City and Wolves away, the manager and team have been told they are crap. Nothing is good enough and the manager certainly never will be. Some of us refused to jump so such a conclusion, preferring to wait and see how Bruce did before he was condemned, derided and dismissed as a mistake. It is, after all, the fair and reasonable thing to do with all managers, especially at a club that also expected Chris Hughton and Alan Pardew to be horrendous failures, only to end up pleasantly surprised when the former took Newcastle back into the Premier League in style and the latter took the Magpies back into Europe with a fifth-placed finish at the end of his first full season in the dugout. Rationale and reasonable were not what anybody wanted, though. There was anger, vitriol, pain and sadness. Benitez offered hope, light amid the darkness of the Ashley regime. So, when he went, the darkness and depression returned. Nobody wanted to hear that Benitez was also partly to blame for his departure, that his refusal to compromise and the overriding attraction of a £12m-a-year-contract in China could not be dismissed or ignored. But that did not fit the popular narrative, it did not tell anyone what they wanted to hear, not at a club that had a dedicated band of supporters, in their thousands, not hundreds, who vowed “If Rafa goes, we go.” They were true to their word too, at least 8,000 fans deserting the team, staying away but not losing interest. Everything, though, had to be negative, it had to be critical, it had to argue everything had turned sour. It has seeped into the foundations, it has shaped media coverage, perceptions and even when results were good, it fuelled negativity and a sense of impending doom. There were two things you were not allowed to do according to the rule of the mob. You could not criticise Benitez’s behaviour or decision to leave and you could not argue Bruce deserved to be shown some respect and be given some time to show what he could do, before we rushed to judged. I did both, write what you think and know, not what people want to hear is always a decent starting point as a football journalist. It made me a target for abuse, a social media lightening rod every time Newcastle lost. So, when Newcastle won, I argued back, I pointed out things were going far better than they had thought, that maybe Bruce deserved some praise. I also enjoy arguing, although not on a rare weekend off with friends in Sheffield last week, who laughed at the comments I have received. They know me better than anyone, but even they were shocked by some of it, especially when it poured in even after I had told people I was off work, drinking in the same pub I celebrated my 18th birthday in, erm, a long time after. It was an argument I was winning too, but not anymore. The tide has turned, Newcastle’s bad performances are being punished, they are back in trouble and Bruce looks confused, unsure and uncertain. The players have lost confidence and belief, they are in trouble, real trouble. It has been coming for weeks, there is no point claiming otherwise. The team has lost the things that made them likeable and, yes, successful to a point. They are becoming easy to beat and they do, indeed, look increasingly clueless as an offensive force. Where do Newcastle and Bruce go from here? Well, this is what managers are paid to do. There was always going to be a spell like this when results would be poor, and the critical background noise would become so loud it would drown everything else out. He has to deal with it, shield the players, keep them going and find a way to win again Because, despite everything, despite the £40m striker who cannot score goals, Joelinton, despite the three loan signings made in January, shoved into the team at Crystal Palace, who look ill prepared, despite the run of just one win in nine league games and disjointed performances, confused tactics and lack of coherent attacking plan, Newcastle are still seven points clear of the drop zone and three of their next four league games are at home. They are still doing ok, they are still not a relegation team because of their points total and all is not lost. Nobody has failed, not yet. The rest is up to Bruce and his players because they might only need another nine points to be safe. Then we can talk about style of football, long term plans and everything else, because then it matters. This season was always going to be a survival battle, anyone who says differently is deluded, wants Bruce to fail or is so bitter towards the club they have forgotten why they were complaining about Ashley in the first place. Context is crucial, regardless of what you might think if you pay too much attention to social media. It’s going to be fascinating to watch how things unfold and I will be arguing, as ever, while it does.

even a decade and a half isn't long enough to erase the horror of 'shoes off' quite comfortably the most cringingly embarrassing song ever to grace a football ground and those that partook should've been given a lifetime banning order! that said, i remember a game at villa park, where one fucker possibly surpassed shoes off both in the cap and gown (formerly the witton arms) and in the away end by removing his prosthetic leg and waving that about in the air, to much hilarity from the zany shoes off boys. it wasn't funny, although it would've been if he'd keeled over sideways! been a few year now since i even attended an away game so can't really comment on the newer ditties. 'no surrender' was doing the rounds 35 years ago, so i'm guessing it's either back in popularity or there's some kind of remake?? as for tommy robinson... he'll hopefully get sucked in to the same jet engine as ashley.

it's not a bad article, with the exception of this... 'Supporters are sick and tired of having the piss taken out of them' tragically there's tens of thousands who are that stupid they don't appear to realise that's what's happening, prefering even to defend ashley in some cases. until people start seeing the blindingly obvious and walk away they'll have what they deserve... a dying club.

the usually reliable george caulkin seems to have ruffled a few feathers on his twitter by stating that bruce isn't the problem at nufc... Steve Bruce isn’t the problem at #NUFC. Each game, each result is portrayed as a referendum on his management and another week goes by, ignoring the bigger picture ... that the club is built to fail and that’s exactly what’s happening. Nobody can be surprised by that, surely? i think as a stand alone statement it's fair enough, we all know ashley is the biggest cunt, however bruce is far from deserving of much defence, if you willingly play with fire george, there's a reasonable chance you'll get burned.

all subjective of course, but this is just one list of many of footballing flops... https://www.90min.com/posts/6272728-30-of-the-worst-signings-in-football-history some noteable premier league striking inclusions... shevchenko to chelsea torres to chelsea mutu to chelsea benteke to liverpool alves to middlesbrough jo to manchester city soldado to tottenham carroll to liverpool (ranked no.1) all of the above have a superior record for their clubs than joelinton has for us. bearing in mind the above list was made in early 2019, is it not beyond the bounds of possibility that in a new list joelinton could leap straight to the top of the charts as the biggest flop in football history?!

"Our biggest problem all season has been evident - we have to create more of a threat in the opponent's area. We have to look at it and analyse it. Maybe change is sometimes for the best." analyse it? you've got a £40m striker (i know) who hasn't scored a goal for 2000 minutes. you've got another fucker who's perpetually injured and shite anyway. another fucker who's in competition with carroll to rack up the most time in the treatment room but can't score in the top flight anyway. you had 31 days to tell your mate lee to get on the phone and get mikey to buy somebody to score a goal, but instead you claim there's nowt better out there than what we've got. you fucking fat, complicit halfwit.

no better strikers out there than the one's we've got! the fat cunt's hilarious.

8/1 with william hill. i reckon that's fairly generous odds. our best hope of points between now and the end of april are home games against villa and west ham. but who the fuck's gonna put the ball in the net?

battle of the teams whose strikers aren't really that interested in scoring goals. seeing as joelinton is winning hands down in demonstrating his complete detachment to putting the ball in the net, we'll probably get beat by one goal, scored by somebody else who's not that fussed. dropping one place nearer the trap door.

don't think they're necessarily worse than us. they just haven't shared our freakishly good fortune.

the fat cunt could rename us sunderland north fc. change our strips to red, white and blue. build some houses on barrack road and knock down the leazes and west stand because they were blocking their light. publicaly execute wyn davies, pop robson, malcolm macdonald, tony green, peter beardsley, chris waddle, paul gascoigne, kevin keegan, andy cole, les ferdinand and alan shearer. and there'd still be halfwits saying ashley saved the club and singing brucey giz a wave.

there's not a fucking chance that bruce would take us straight back up mate. he's a poor mans moyes. bring it on.

spot on. if there's any justice the fat cunt will be reduced to selling his arse for spice in shop door ways. i'd take a triple relegation now to be rid of the cunt and see him lose the lot. in the time i've got left i'd rather support a pheonix club i could be proud of rather than be stuck in footballing purgatory following something which survives only to benefit a peice of human scum.

only teasing mate, you've got 26,000 of them to trawl through and i'd rather watch call the midwife. maybe you could make life easier for me and let me know just how much of a bigger cunt he needs to be than he already is before the penny drops to the 30,000 payees and 10,000 freebies that they're having the piss taken out of them and stop being anything other than held in contempt adverts for a shite shop? this isn't a personal attack on you, it's a genuine question.

is there any other club out there clinacaly insane enough to buy him?

think charnley negotiated the only transfer in football history where the fee goes down based on appearances.

we will be the team that sinks like a stone.

fair play mate. give it another year or two and i reckon you'll cotton on that ashley's a proper cunt.

brucey reckoned there was none out there which would've been an improvement on the four we've already got on the books. mind you, the fat lad probably limited the search to returning heroes, cripples, loans and money laundering scams.

a kick start for arsenal to earn a european place and the start of our descent to the bottom 3? think the latter is more likely... 3 - 0

apologies if this is not the right thread or if it's been posted before, but.... horrible bunch of mackem cunts keen to link themselves to the regional capital. the author tom wall seems infinitely more perceptive that these fuckers aren't geordies than they were! https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/16/hell-on-sea-dawlish-drugs-gang-geordies

they're both morally bankrupt, complicit, ashley lickspittles. both wouldn't have got anywhere near an ambitiously ran nufc. it's a bit like having to choose who you would have shooting their load on your lasses face, peter north, mandingo or neither? neither would seem the obvious choice! the club needs burning to the ground and starting again.

hat doffed to that young lass. not a twitterer so have no idea whether she's genuine or not but certainly what she has to say should shame the vast majority of 50,000 folk in sjp.

i apologise unreservedly for name calling, i don't agree with much you have to say, but nonetheless that was unwarranted. i don't follow you around the board on a daily basis, i'm not even on that often, but as it's a relatively quiet board and we have polar opposite views on the club, its ownership and the way to address it going forward i suppose it's inevitable we'll cross swords occasionally. once again, apologies.