Kitman

Jol won't have been offered the job in the first place.

I'll leave the champagne on ice for the time being. I'm still hearing Juande Ramos whispers from my mate in Galicia, like. I don't know which is worse. Could be a Jiminez recommendation? "I'm telling you Mike, only Juande can unlock the genius that is Xisco!"

The parrot would be the assistant manager. The only outlay for Ashley would be batteries.

I think asking people to walk out during play would be like asking the average bloke to pull out during sex

Well, I imagine they'll have lots of common interests. I'm speculating booze, gambling and hookers would be the main ones. That's more important than winning football matches.

I hope he hasn't sacked Hughton so he can indulge in a little asset stripping come January. That's my biggest fear tbh. Our players won't be cup tied for Europe, and 'Arry loves to buy big.....

you can't "plan" to put a manager in and automatically gain success ie trophies through this business plan. It just doesn't work like that in football. Totally agree. And I've said before that the manager is the most important appointment in the whole club, central to success or otherwise on the pitch, and it isn't easy to find a good one. That doesn't mean that planning isn't necessary though, on all sorts of levels. From the outside, many football clubs including ours have been quite badly run, with directors who usually know nowt about football/finance/running large companies. Managerial appointments are a case in point - the usual tactic is to sack first and then cast around to see who fancies the job. I remember Sir Bobby going on 5 Live to appeal to be given the job when Gullit resigned for instance. I agree, but because the results of the first team are central to everything, it also means that your plan can go pear shaped in a matter of months, or even weeks. Then you start again, so what becomes of the plan ? You then look around for a manager you would like or have identified as "the manager" and find he is unavailable, so how do you plan anything ? It's purely reactive, and almost totally based on the current results of the first team. Long term contracts are a definite no-go too. in 99% of cases, they just mean you have to fork out compensation. I see you're talking purely on a football results level and that's true. But there's more to it than that imo; and most well run clubs would I expect have an overall strategy on all sorts of levels with the first team at the heart of it. imo there's more to it than appointing the manager and seeing how it goes. The difference between us and Arsenal is like the difference between Souness and Mourinho in terms of how well run the club is. I don't think it's luck they got Wenger, but I think there's much more to the way the club has been run than getting lucky with the manager anyway.

I've got nothing against Pardew, other than his record shows he's dogshit as a manager

I would have said no however at end of the infamous Llambias meets NUST meeting he virtually begged them to stop our boycott even though by that stage we were fairly resigned to the fact that most people were back to buying a pie n pint at half time. This is like the post KK dismal situation all over again. Supporters are united in their anger but lack the leadership to mount an effective demonstration. Only this time there isn’t the option to wrongly blame the ex-manager’s temperament. If ever there was time for NUST to stop playing it safe and try to organise something like a half time walk out on live TV, this is it. It might not see him sell up this week but it would draw huge attention to what he’s doing, see his tenure subjected to some serious media scrutiny, put him under real pressure. It would also show the watching world NUFC supporters aren’t a bunch thick northerners who are too stupid to realise when they are having the piss taken out of them. NUSC’s resolve to stand up and be counted crumbled in the wake of a few politically correct gimps getting a strop on about using the word cockney. Two years on playing it safe has proved to be the wrong decision. Ashley hasn’t learnt from his mistakes, the question is have we? Nothing will get the current board of NUST to organise protests or even come out and explain why they wont. The argument will always be that they are not a protest group but an organisation that seeks to obtain fans representation on the board. They will also attempt to state that as a Trust they cannot protest. Thats untrue, Supporters Direct said that the group should not be a protest group but protesting if required was part and parcel of being an organisation of this type. It could well be that the members overall dont see a need to protest, it could be that the majority want to see what happens next, trouble is we'll never know because NUST will never ask. At best they'll start a petition which they have no intention of actually doing anything with other than collect more email addresses and point out how they are moving closer to buying the club. The Man United Trust have it sorted, they organise effective and media savvy protests involving their members which get their message across. Surely buying the club is nothing more than a pipe dream? I can't see how anybody could take that seriously now.

you can't "plan" to put a manager in and automatically gain success ie trophies through this business plan. It just doesn't work like that in football. Totally agree. And I've said before that the manager is the most important appointment in the whole club, central to success or otherwise on the pitch, and it isn't easy to find a good one. That doesn't mean that planning isn't necessary though, on all sorts of levels. From the outside, many football clubs including ours have been quite badly run, with directors who usually know nowt about football/finance/running large companies. Managerial appointments are a case in point - the usual tactic is to sack first and then cast around to see who fancies the job. I remember Sir Bobby going on 5 Live to appeal to be given the job when Gullit resigned for instance.

Amusing opinion piece from Sydney Morning Herald (from an Aussie journo): As the clouds of despair engulfed Australian cricket at a far greater rate than the storm clouds that were supposed to provide ill-deserved salvation, the inclination was to declare all hope lost. However, I remain confident Australia can win the series. Yes, the opposing batsmen will plunder an attack that penetrates about as deeply as a picnic fork pressed on a chargrilled T-bone and the Australian top order urgently requires an alarm clock that rouses them before midday. Yet, with eight or nine changes, some favourable umpiring, the aid of seasonal monsoons and the possibility the series will be cancelled altogether because it clashes with the Indian Premier League, Australia remains capable of retaining its place in the top dozen or so Test playing nations after April's proposed tour of Bangladesh. You thought I was referring to the current series against England? Are you 'avin' a laugh? On the evidence presented, Australia has a snowball's hope at the 2022 World Cup of regaining the Ashes. Indeed, the idea of Ricky Ponting and his demoralised battlers halting the English juggernaut is like putting a toothpick on the tracks in the hope of derailing a speeding bullet train. The final two days at Adelaide, we were assured, was when we would find out what this Australian team was made of. The results are not yet back from the lab, but it seems to be some sort of gooey, soft-centred material that melts rapidly when heat is applied, is easily removed from flat surfaces, does not bounce or spin and which stinks to high heaven. The taste? Ask Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen or one of the other Englishmen who have dined out on the Australians for the past eight days of Test cricket. Australia, of course, should not be disappointed by their dismal performance in Adelaide against an abundantly talented English line-up. They should be chastened, humiliated and utterly sick to the stomach. Not merely because their ineptitude means the closest they will get to holding the Ashes is on a sightseeing tour at Lord's, but because they allowed the Barmy Army to complete the most chilling invasion of Australian soil since Japanese bombs rained down on Darwin. Listening to the endless choruses of Jerusalem and God Save Your Queen, you would have thought Adelaide was a small city in Shropshire, not the local home of mullets, serial killers and Christopher Pyne. Which is not to say the Australians achieved nothing at the Adelaide Oval. Xavier Doherty managed something that was, just two weeks ago, on the ''you must be daft'' side of implausible - he forced a nation to turn its lonely eyes (back) to Nathan Hauritz. Which is a bit like a chainsaw killer making you fondly reminisce about the home intruder who merely beat you on the head with a tyre lever rather than dicing up your spleen. Marcus North, in his last match for Australia, provided a reminder of his significant place in the game's history - he was, according to Cricinfo's archive, the only Test player whose surname is also a point on the compass. North failed at the crease. But, without him, Australia might have lost all sense of direction. In the second innings, Michael Clarke showed his backbone to someone other than the team physiotherapist. Yet he remains the most baffling figure. While you could easily forgive Clarke's decision not to walk on the (hastily tweeted) grounds he was devastated by his dismissal to Pietersen in the last over of the day, his later admission that he was trying to push the ball around the corner for a single so he could get off strike is not the type of revelation you want from the captain-apparent. Otherwise, in the outer, we are left with nothing but our savage second-guessing of the selectors, our black humour and, for English friends, our overflowing message banks. And with the very real hope that, when required, those Bangladesh monsoons move at a greater rate than the sluggish Adelaide storm clouds.

* chortle *

Agree totally with the first para there are however times such as these where you dont need to canvass the members view because they are so clearly one view. It would be totally safe for the Trust to say that the vast majority of Newcastle fans arent happy with the current situation for instance. Part of having a democratic group is that the members trust the organisation to talk for them however there are many times when they will need to get the views of the members in order to do that. You're right of course but given the membership is now plainly down to about 12 people (hence their nervousness about disclosure), it shouldn't take long for Mark to ring around

I voted 15-17 and decreased chances. This is on the assumption some numbnut like Pardew comes in but there are 3 teams worse than us notwithstanding. However it all depends on who they appoint, it could be better than Pardew or a disastrous JFK type epic fail. Need a crystal ball really although I can't help but be pessimistic.

I'm a non member but an interested bystander. If ever there was a time to step up to the plate, this is it. The NUST should be canvassing its members and then putting forward their view as to what's gone on and whether it's in the best interests of the club. If they keep silent, and let the likes of Steve Wraith speak for the supporters - despite him having no legitimacy whatsoever - then the NUST really has no credibility as a representative organisation, and might as well be dissolved as it really has no purpose. By the same token, failure to canvass the membership but speaking on their behalf would make them no better than Wraith, and questions should be asked. imo, of course.

We get the older stuff in NZ. Bit hit and miss for me, can't remember the last time I watched an entire episode.

Planning isn't a dirty word, it's a prerequisite for any business, especially a large and complex one. If you don't plan, you usually get left behind by those that do. Making it up as you go along, especially in a multi million business, is a recipe for disaster. If the plan's not working, you change it. I don't doubt Ashley has a plan. It's just probably a shit one, especially for NUFC and the fans.

I knew this thread wouldn't end well somehow

I think they're obsessed with money, or more specifically, the amount of money that's going into their back pockets. I agree with your sentiment about pulling out, it's a great big pig's trough and the FA and other mugs are paying for the whole damn party. It stinks basically.

I'd like to see a total boycoutt if I'm honest, but that's easy for me to say sitting in NZ. It's up to the people with tickets to decide whether and how they want to protest, but the only thing that will get public attention is a massive amount of empty seats. Mind you, it might fettle Stevie's attendance statistics when he's arguing with Spurs fans......

What a ridiculous headline. There'll be a fans' rebellion if they appoint Pardew, an ill qualified and significantly worse manager than Hughton. Whatever happens, it's clear to me that the cretins in charge have been planning this for a while, had their preferred candidate lined up and were only waiting for the right time to put things in motion. Hughton deserved better than that.

It doesn't make sense. They'll have to pay up 4 and a half years as compo to Pardew when they sack him...

How true. We get Aussie Sky Sports here in NZ. If the Aussies are winning in anything, it's headline news. If they're not, it barely gets a mention. The latter stages of the second test got a brief mention in the sports bulletin. The commonwealth games were the same. It's like East Germany at times

He'll never outlay money to a manager, ever. JFK, GOD take his soul, came out of the blue, totally unexpected appointment (not the one at the clinic) so it'll not be anyone we're expecting. ... Juande Ramos waiting in the wings, I hear. Piad a pittance, no transfer budget and the opportunity to work with the likes of Perch and Best. Ramos would have spunked his trousers at the prospect.