ChocChip

I agree with the gist of your reply (Especially on morale) but he did wheel and deal a bit getting rid of Goma for example who I thought was a good player. Playing Devil's advocate he made no attempt to get on with/improve the situation of Marcelino - not a popular view I know but when you consider how he fell out with Nobby and Elliot to an extent later on I'd say to try and make out that Bobby was the perfect opposite to Souness is just a tad biased. On a similar note see Keegan with Venison/Clark/Cole. 73840[/snapback] Bobby Robson took over a club that needed a re-build and restoration of morale, Souness took over a team that didn't need that, the situation is totally different. He sold players he shouldn't have sold, and has failed to man manage players, and has created his own problems. These are the same things which have followed him through his whole managerial career. Where was there any basis for thinking he was going to change just because he became manager of Newcastle ? You can't compare Bobby Robsons track record and standing in the game to Souness. 73876[/snapback] I think i might disagree with that. Bobby's team were underperforming, he played certain players regardless of form and certain other players were clearly taking the p*ss regarding their importance to the team. I think we needed someone to nudge us back in the right direction (SBR got us there in the 1st place) and to freshen up the squad. Of course, Souness hasn't managed to do that, i do think however that he has sorted out club discipline though i am more than aware to what cost.

I think people tend to believe that if they convinced other forum members to agree with them about sacking Souness immediatley/quickly that it would have actually made a difference to the opinion of the Board/Freddie. Nothing could be further from the truth imo. The Board couldn't give a f**k about what we say on here. Someone on here saying Souness deserved time doesn't actually account for anything in the real world.

The most important aspect of the new manager (if we get one) is that he genuinely believes he can get what he needs out of the current squad with perhaps the addition of a bit of cover. The last thing we need is someone to come in who decides he needs a new first 11.

Surely that's not even true of NUFC

Funny story. I was at White Hart Lane with a Geordie friend and this bloke 2 seats along (we were all standing though) starts some sort of Pro-Nazi, Anti-Semitic rant. Me and my mate start laughing 'cause this guy is truly nuts. The thing is, he had a London East End accent. Then when i laugh too loudly this bloke turns to me and says 'Anyway, what are you f**king doin' ere?' I didn't really know what to say to this, then this huge skinhead Geordie who is standing behind the mental Nazi kicks him in the back of the head and he goes limp and falls over (he later gets up and wanders off). The skinhead Geordie says 'Nae botha son, you're alright by me, i'll look after you, i fookin' hate cockney's me, like.' I smiled weakly and looked pitchward and didn't utter a sound. At half-time me and my mate stay in our seats to avoid conversation while the rest go for a piss. When skinhead comes back he had bought me and my mate a cup of tea, my mate thanked him a lot and i kept mute and nodded in an exaggerated fashion. Then i turn round to watch the teams come out and i hear skinhead say 'Oi, chocolate.' My heart froze and i half turned to my mate for help and i can see the skinheads hand over my shoulder passing me 2 twix's for dipping in our tea. I was so relieved i almost spoke, just kept smiling and nodding and trying not to cry out of relief. Me and my mate still laugh about that, him more than me though...

Yeah, i guessed as much. I think that some of them just say the most obnoxious thing they can think of rather than a true reflection of the views of 'other' people.

PM me, i've got some blinging gear, blow you f**king brains maaaaaan!

F**king Hell !!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt sure i should be saying something through all that but i couldn't understand half of it and the rest made me cringe I'll post this though, i've never been to Newcastle so i would never comment upon it's people and their various attitudes. I've been involved in a debate about players on here before so i won't repeat all that. I have heard racist comments directed at players at (i think) every away game i've been to. I might add these have mostly been in London but, judging by the fans accents, it was people from the North-East screaming them. I have felt intimidated before but i'm a bit bigger now and also other NUFC fans have only had nice words to say to me. I've felt edgy about taking my little sister but that's also to do with the bad language as well as the occasional racist comment. She'll have to learn someday that it's just part of life. However, and this couldn't sound more patronising so i apologise beforehand, i think it's hard for a white English person to understand or empathise with a how a black English person can sometimes feel in certain situations or atmosphere's. There are times when people's reactions to myself are not warranted by my behaviour or anything i've said. This can be in the form of, assuming i represent some form a physical threat to a person walking alone (i think all youths suffer this regardless of colour but i've noticed in slightly more towards black boys/men), as an afterthought to that, i'm sure in Newcastle (judging from the t.v.) that if a charver suddenly appears behind you in a quiet road, you assume the worst! Going into a shop can often arouse the owner or hired security's suspicions and i'm often followed until i leave. It can also take the form of some white lads seemingly deliberately picking me or another black lad out for some conversation that seems friendly enough before they eventually getting round to a whispered question of 'Do i know anyone who can sell them some dope?' I'm old enough yet to know if racism is prevelant in the work place and my relatives have been self-employed as builders/decorators, etc. The Police. This is not an exaggeration, everytime i've seen the police pulling a car driver over and questioning him, everytime i've seen them stopping and questioning a youth on the pavement, everytime i've seen them conduct a stop and search on the street, it's been a black boy/man. I do not live in a especially black area, it is disproportianate. Eventually it gets to you. Black idolisation of gun culture and hip-hop life style is deeply damaging imo. However there is a fair arguement that it is a reaction to an unfair social and justice system which has always victimised the underclass, regardless of colour incidentally. The ruling white system acted very unjustly towards slaves, former slaves and their offspring. I often ask myself 'What happened here?' When the 1st Caribbean people came here they were good, hard working friendly folk. Their children and their childrens children have very different attitudes. Is that purely down to the 'Black Mind Set' or does it also have something to do with black children, being born and raised here and told they should have the same rights and opportunities as white's, looking at how their parents are being treated and then deciding all is not what it seems in England? I look at Indians, Pakistani's, etc. I used to think they were different, that they've handled it so much better, now i look at poor Asian areas and the crime and destructive attitudes within it and i think they haven't done much better really. There are a lot more Asian professionals and i can't tell you why. We're no different in terms of physiology that our brains couldn't handle the learning, so why is it? Part of it may be due to the attitude of the host country. Indians, i think, were always regarded for their intellingence, their history is evident as are their accomplishments before the colonisation. They have never lost sight of their, culture, history or language. My ancestors were enslaved, shipped like cattle, just animals to help in the field. Stripped of all dignity, knowledge of self and one's past. I can't truly understand what damage that kind of displacment did to my father's father' father's father psyche, can you? And yet that displacement is the reason i am here. 2 things will finally eliminate discriminatory attitudes towards blacks in England: 1) Time, eventually we will have been here so long and so inter bred that it will be normal. 2) When the hysterical media find a new devil to focus on, some new immigrant population that feels the brunt of the prejudice. The Irish have had it, the Blacks, the Asians maybe now the east europeans (harder i think because they're white) maybe Arabs, muslim and dark skinned!!!!! Personally i consider myself English, the place i was born, the language i speak and the culture i understand. What someone may consider me is their business and not something i'd let deter me from what i want out of life.

Also has a lot of black academics, something you don't find in UK Universities. 49251[/snapback] Uncle Tom's tbh.

It's pretty good time to be black at the mo' actually. All the negative media hype is firmly fixed on the 'muslim problem' and the majority of Afro-Caribbean's come from Christian backgrounds.

That's an easy question, no they wouldn't. I wouldn't get too caught up in media hyseria, or what we should probably call social hysteria, it's a good topic but not the one at hand. If I brutally murder someone because they are black am I any worse than someone who brutally murders someone for sleeping with their wife? I'm not convinced. 49132[/snapback] your still a murderer, but in one case your also racist. 49136[/snapback] Is not the crime of murder so horrific that any motive is equally condemnable?

Exxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxactly. Anyway, i'm off lads. A friend has asked me to aid the cause for racial equilibrium by engaging in a spot of car-radio de-installation. He says it's a political statement.

thats because the black to white ratio is quite low. English is historically a white country, black people emigrated over 5, 10, 15 generations ago. there will always be more white people in england than black people, the same goes for when you go to the pub, the match, the shops etc... its not racism, just like there will always be more black people than white people in africa. Im not denying that racism doesnt happen, of course it does, but positive discrimination will only serve to exacerbate the problem in my opinion. i was looking on the police website the other day and was shocked to read the recruitment statement that said they encouraged applications from ethnic minorities, gays and lesbians etc. it was worded in a way that implied applications from these groups would be looked upon more favourably. that really fucks me off, why would someone make a better copper cos hes black? 48846[/snapback] 'Cause he'd know who all the criminals are, obvious tbh

Mr C, This appears to be the second time you have thought I was referring to your good self, I however am not, the wonders of IP checks available to Mods and Admin mean that we can see who has registered/ posted from a particular IP address and yours didnt come up in this case. Out of interest, what was it I said that made you think it was you? Yours confusedly, Pud. *runs to do IP check on ChocChip 48839[/snapback] Mr P. My humblest of apologies. I read the thread properly after i posted, fool that i am, and only then realised Mr B. seemed to have 2 usernames. I concured you were probably refering to him. Still, i am slightly shocked and more tham a little offended that you think me incapable of this level of intellectual arguement. I'm sure i could if i spent less time repeatedly looking through the 'Fit Birds & Blokes' thread Yours with increasing myopia, Chip, C. Jnr

Five minutes? Well, yesterday was Kick Racism out of football day Renton. So for the first time ever I registered as not_a_racist As the day was done and the event gone. I renamed as Bez. A man I saw many times with the Happy Mondays. Been here for about 36 hours now. 36 hours = 36 *60 = 2160 minutes Not every 10 minutes as you claim. Thanks Yours sincerely, The smug, arrogant bastard! 48789[/snapback] I would have preferred it if you'd stuck with your original name though ie the one you registered with in early August and have made many posts on, I actually think that if you'd posted from that account then people may have taken you more seriously from the beginning as seeing a new member appear and start these types of discussions can often be seen as a wind up. 48819[/snapback] Mr. Pud, I would just like to let you know personally that i , Mr. Chip, first name Choc, have only made one post on this thread prior to this one. I suspect that you think i am masquerading in various guises, if so, you're wrong. I have been following this thread (though it is boring tbh) but haven't posted much myself as i've said all i wanted to say ages ago and can't see much point doing it all again. In case any confusion occurs again, and i am mistaken for another, please remember, i'm the one with a sense of humour. Yours sincerely, Chip, C.

Pot stirring? We know NEwcastle has racism problems. There are literally hundreds of incidents every season. listen at the ground, in the pubs, on forums. Alex Williams is the most obvious - hoying bananas at him. Its not shit-stirring. Its simply pointing out that we havent got rid of the problems. On KROF day it needs reaffirming. Tyneside isnt very tolerant. Its fickle alright but is there more? Probably yes. A lot more in my view. We, as fans need to be active. Not sticking head in sand like Peasepud has doen and throw arms in air. ITs not all or nothing. If some are - and there are plenty of them - it doesnt follow the peasepud path of sgetting stroppy and suggesting I said ALL are. Nor does it mean NONE are. However, there are plenty. Sadly. At matches some jeer poor players. Others? Well, its hardly coincidental is it? 48682[/snapback] There is a very very small minority of arseholes that will shout out something racist on very rare occasions. That's inexcusable, but I don't think it can accurately be referred to as a "racism problem" - that to me sounds like something deep-seated and widespread and I don't know whereabouts you sit in the ground, but that isn't my experience where I sit. And before anyone starts, I'm not excusing anything or trying to brush the racist comments that are sometimes (and I'm talking VERY rarely, in my experience) made under the carpet. To me, a club with "racism problems" would be one where a black player suffers monkey-chanting etc. I've heard one racist comment this season where I sit and probably two last season, both at away games - sorry, but that's an ignorant arsehole problem, not an entrenched racism problem. The argument that black players are receiving stick because they're black is ridiculous by the way. The ones that you've listed have got stick because they've been playing completely shite - playing the race card on their behalf is pathetic. 48696[/snapback] Personally i have no wish to re-open this can of worms. I said my piece before and i thought a very good debate followed. I also have no wish to create any divisions on here because i like all the regulars i 'know'. However Gemmil, if the last paragraph above is your view with regards to the attitude of all football fans in general, then i think it is a little blinkered.

Jeezus fookin Christ on a bloody big bike. What you saying now? that all Toon fans are racist? if you're going to post shite like that why not do it under the pseudonym you normally use for that stuff? 48561[/snapback] If you mean me, it's not me. I'm me, not him. Geddit?

I never said it was purely for racist jokes, just that if you've got a racist joke, this is where it should go. Unpleasantly racist? Could you tell me what pleasant racism is? I thought all racism was unpleasant. Should I PM you all my racist jokes before posting and you can decide if they're acceptably racist? 47837[/snapback] As long as they're about white people i think you should be free to post whatever you like

Tbqph, i think Faith is symbol of the denegration of women in modern society who has clearly sold whatever integrity she may have had as a progressive member of todays equalitarian populus for the cheap but short-term profit at the expense of her fellow woman kind. I for one am saddened and disgusted at this download and will write to the host site explaining.................whoa, check it out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lesbo action

I think people should be free to post whatever they like. I don't agree with censorship.

Serenity was excellent, some cracking dialogue and one liners, action, fights and everything else you'd expect from Joss Whedon writing and directing. 46692[/snapback] Can't wait for the sequel.

Saw 'Serenity' on saturday night. Liked it. Good dialogue and good fight scenes.

They've obviousley nicked it tbh.

Mileage doesn't matter because it is a far too uncertain factor to insurance companies. Again, the calculation is based on how much insured events a caused by a specific group. It doesn't matter to the insurance company how often or how good someone drives, but if his insurance contribution covers the risk of an insured incident. Anyway, a terrible driver who uses his car once a year is much more likely that he covers his risk by his contribution than a good driver. 45109[/snapback] Yeah you've described how it works at present but I think mine and SG's point is that it should and future technology might facilitate it. 45114[/snapback] I don't think even with future facilites you'll be able a fair insurance system based on mileage. Look, insurances are basing their system on the cost of insured events. They therefore look how much money they have to acquire. The calculation is mostly based on a year, with insurants paying periodically (I don't think that's different in England). To get a fair system they now have to generate a system where the contribution of each insurant matches the insured events he causes as good as possible. Mileage doesn't fit into this system, because you have one parameter too much. You would have to base this system on insured events/year on one hand and insured events/mileage on the other hand. Well, you could change the system by crossing out the time factor, but then how to calculate the contribution so that they provide the insurance with enough cash constantly. Mileage is also a far too variable. Gender on the other hand is a static parameter. Renton is right, though. You could also base your calculation on other static parameters like race. That would obviously cause a huge uproar. Anyway, there exists an EC-discrimantion act that has to get implemented into national legislation. It prohibits every kind of discrimination of race, religion, gender etc. It is a big topic here in Germany (especially among privat law scientiest like me), because women right groups demand the act to be implemented as soon as possible, because they feel especially discriminated by one economical branch...and guess what...it's the insurance industry that is discriminating women in a lot branches due to their statistically longer life time. It's funny while those women are able to dig out loads of insurance sectors where they are discriminated, men do only come up with one... 45157[/snapback] All by the by IMO 'cause as we all know, most blacks don't have insurance

As a cyclist and not a car driver, i prefer women drivers. They actually have some regard for my safety. They will not deliberately run into me or coem far too close or drive at me in an intimidating manner just to prove a point. I think women drivers put more emphasis on the preservation of another human being's flesh and blood than trying to gain 10 yards in a traffic queue. Nothing compares to cab drivers though, i believe they stay seated and hidden form ther waist down so that we can't see their goat's hoofs where your feet should be. Spawn of the Dark Lord tbh.