ChocChip

I think your wrong. I can tell you i've heard enough at away games that, as a black person, i can feel uncomfortable. I've heard 'Titus, you thick black c**t' too often. O'Brien got stick in the end but he was always shite. This doesn't make me think all Geordies are necessarily actively racist (i haven't heard many black taunts from London accented NUFC supporters though, just the once actually, Tottenham away, facist maniac in the seat next to me, it had to be me ), but you wouldn't hear that at Arsenal, not these days, but i still hear it at NUFC games. I remember monkey chants being directed at Carl Cort when Wimbledon beat NUFC at Selhurst Park, and then we signed him, now he WAS crap but why call him a monkey? Whose more often than not the bogeyman who the supporters start blaming first? Ameobi, Bramble, Dyer, Jenas, Robert (polynesian i think - non-white anyway), Babayaro, Faye. People don't tend to hear what doesn't effect them, nor do they tend to notice a bias which isn't against them. All lot of you notice a bias from the southern media against Newcastle and because of that i notice it, i ask my mates (Londoners) they don't notice it.] I love the club, i don't love Geordies, i don't have an opinion, i don't know any! But i wouldn't automatically like someone because of their accent or place of birth. When i'm in the away section it's good to be with fans who support your club, it's f**king fantastic tbh and the way you speak if hysterical (in a good way) but don't tell me the insular attitude that is so publicly predominant if not representational of the region isn't gonna jump on the most obvious difference (skin colour) if they've got a gripe with that indivdual, because it always will.

True, look at the reception Sir Les still gets. But there is a sizeable element who always seem quicker to get on a black/foreign players back when they first start or go through a bad patch. Shearer was finished when Bobby first came too. The first thing he told him was that he was spending too much time with his back to goal for a striker, later he brought Bellamy in to do the running for him. Souness has done well to undo that and wouldn't have the tactical nous to see what Bobby saw. Owen and a decent manager and Shearer has a season left in him, and Shearer is technically adept, I'm at a loss to understand how anyone can think otherwise. I think his head's dropping as it was when Gullit was here though. 32125[/snapback] Just to open this unfortunate point, players i read on here and hear demonised at the few away games i get or have gone to. Ameobi Kluivert Faye Bramble Babayaro Bernard (terrible positioning apparently but Elliots aint so bad!!!!!!) Jenas Dyer Now Boumsong. Not saying they were all good players, but are they really so much worse than some of the other crap who don't get the same amount of shit? 32142[/snapback] Butt O'Brien Elliott Carr Milner Bowyer Robert Shearer Think you're trying to make too much of this to be honest. 32148[/snapback] Apart from Butt i think your blind to the fact that the others don't/haven't inspired anywhere near the same amount of vitriol as those i mentioned. Do you really think O'Brien had as much shit as Bramble? Neither are up to much but Bramble got it big time. Wonder why.

True, look at the reception Sir Les still gets. But there is a sizeable element who always seem quicker to get on a black/foreign players back when they first start or go through a bad patch. Shearer was finished when Bobby first came too. The first thing he told him was that he was spending too much time with his back to goal for a striker, later he brought Bellamy in to do the running for him. Souness has done well to undo that and wouldn't have the tactical nous to see what Bobby saw. Owen and a decent manager and Shearer has a season left in him, and Shearer is technically adept, I'm at a loss to understand how anyone can think otherwise. I think his head's dropping as it was when Gullit was here though. 32125[/snapback] Just to open this unfortunate point, players i read on here and hear demonised at the few away games i get or have gone to. Ameobi Kluivert Faye Bramble Babayaro Bernard (terrible positioning apparently but Elliots aint so bad!!!!!!) Jenas Dyer Now Boumsong. Not saying they were all good players, but are they really so much worse than some of the other crap who don't get the same amount of shit?

Bro' i'm serious! I love NUFC, love it, love it love it love it love it love it love it love it love it love it. But....................there's no way Shearer would get a game ahead of Cisse, Morientes or even Twiggy Crouch man! Charlton have got movement and finishing in Lisbie and Bent. He wouldn't start there because Curbishley's got more sense than to base your team around a 35 yr old has been. Maybe Geordies identify with him so he's loved more, ok, makes sense. I don't though, i just watch whoevers wearing the shirt and decide if they're up to it, which he aint (IMO). When i see a player like Kluivert who didn't play with enough commitment in my view yet still covered so much more ground and made more options available, get demonised as a fat bastard, i gotta wonder. The linesman runs more than Shearer! Kluivert & Owen. Could've been good. Shearer & Owen. Never been good.

Any player, black or foreign who had done for the club what Shearer has done would get the amount of adulation Big Al gets. Also, if you think Shearer has the worst ball control of our players you are about as worng as you can be. I agree with your points about his legs being gone though, I've been saying it for a while. On Saturday, he had to play because of the lack of options. We'll only know if Souness agrees with us about him not being intergral to the team once everyone is fit. 32102[/snapback] Nothing wrong for being praised for what you've done but it shouldn't be used to decide if your good enough now, which it is imo. Also i'm asking if he should be integral to the team, obvioulsy you've got to play him if every other option is suspended or injured. His ball control is cack and has been for a while, remember seeing run along the touchline with a defender alongside, Al hoping for a challenge and the ball just runs out of play? I do. He's not a technical player. 32112[/snapback] He's technically superb IMO. 32115[/snapback] What at? Players i think are technially superb (a few of): Robben, Wright-Phillips, Henry, Reyes, Bergkamp, Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Giggs, Lua Lua (dreadful decisions though). Others who aren't technically IMO superb bet better than Shearer: Drogba, Owen, Gudjonsson, Duff, van Nistleroy, even Yakubu can do more with the ball. Shearer was a great finisher, not a creator for other people, now i don't think he's good at that anymore.

I'm allowed my opinion and your allowed yours. However i think Shearer slows the game down, he can lay if off if he gets it and a defender doesn't get there first (which i think is likely), however i don't think your right about him going forward, he's too slow/unfit. Which top 6 team do you think he'd get into? Chelsea? Arsenal? Man U? Liverpool? Spurs? Not even Charlton.

Any player, black or foreign who had done for the club what Shearer has done would get the amount of adulation Big Al gets. Also, if you think Shearer has the worst ball control of our players you are about as worng as you can be. I agree with your points about his legs being gone though, I've been saying it for a while. On Saturday, he had to play because of the lack of options. We'll only know if Souness agrees with us about him not being intergral to the team once everyone is fit. 32102[/snapback] Nothing wrong for being praised for what you've done but it shouldn't be used to decide if your good enough now, which it is imo. Also i'm asking if he should be integral to the team, obvioulsy you've got to play him if every other option is suspended or injured. His ball control is cack and has been for a while, remember seeing run along the touchline with a defender alongside, Al hoping for a challenge and the ball just runs out of play? I do. He's not a technical player.

Thankyou for fixing this whoever did it. OK, i voted no because i don't think he offers enough to the team and he's going to get worse not better. Forwards are often the more creative players with the better ball control and flair, he has possibly the least of most of all our outfield players. He holds it up well but he can't turn with it and lay off a great pass like Bergkamp. Heading the ball is not being creative. He has no pace, fair enough, but i think he's unfit too. Bergkamp, Parlour, Hasslebaink to name a few all have better lungs. Just because you slow doesn't mean your stamina should be poor. There's no point getting players to accomadate his style of play because he'll stop playing soon. I think now that Owen's here (a goalscorer) we should pretty much drop Shearer and either try Ameobi (i'd like to see him dropping deep, getting the ball and running with it and then passing it, he can't cut it as a frontline striker) or Luque. If Shearer continues to play it will be favouritism and not signs of a meritocracy, it'll be a Geordie thing. If he was black or foreign he would have been booed off and sold time ago.

Come on man, tell me how to fix this

Help! I can't do this properly!!!!! I want a yes or a no option. What did i do wrong? Can someone delete this thread and do it properly? I can't even fix it in the edit page.

I don't think so.

It's not that controversial, about 3 people out of the hundreds on here give a fuck about it 32037[/snapback] I suppose listening to Bjork is a lifestyle choice, however extreme

A friend played me some Minor Threat. I read the lyrics first while he was playing some other stuff i didn't like. I thought it was poetry man, fantastic. When we put the record on, i didn't like it so much. Didn't think the vocal delivery was extraordinary. When i listen to Rollins (fast becoming my hero now i'm reading some of his books) the power of him screaming at you just sets you alight. Mackay didn't do that to me but when i read what he wrote i thought he was probably a big influence on Rollins, am i right? I just photocopied the record sleeve so i could have a copy of the lyrics (Minor Threat). This guy also played me some Black Flag but with a singer called Dez Cadena, thought he sounded better than Rollins doing the Black Flag stuff but what Rollins does on End of Silence, Weight & Come in & Burn tears a hole in my head. Heard some stuff he did after he dropped that band, it was crap imo. Apparently Dez Cadena was fronting The Misfits recently, i tried to see them in London but couldn't get in. I don't understand how someone could 'adopt an ideaology' like Straightedge. If you see strong similarities to how you live your life already then the music and the message is gonna resonate strongly with you and naturally you'll find like minded people. As i said before. i come from a strict religeous family, alot of the behavioural habits/restrictions are similar but i'm not sure what the end goal of the Straightedge movement is. For Christians it's obvious but it must hard to maintain a discipline from temptations that all your peers indulge if you have no logical conclusion to your actions. As for me, i'm happy (mostly) with my lifestyle but i'm not sure how i feel about the christian faith now. However, my behaviour is habitual so i don't feel so comfortable moving away from it but it would be interesting to listen/understand someone elses view on life whose lifestyle parrallel's mine. I supposes my closing question is: What is the desired outcome of a Straightedge philosophy?

I think he might struggle to be on top form for us, what with all those England commitments.........

Does NUFC have no reserve or academy footballers at all? Is there no one even remotely good enough to be given a chance in the 1st team? Couldn't we play Alan O'Brien on the left with Zoggy & Parker in the middle and Bowyer on the right? Isn't it worth a go (other clubs do it, f**king hell - Man U play Fletcher!!!) or does every one of our players HAVE to be an experienced international? We're more likely to play Shola out of position (one of the wings - as if he isn't ineffective enough) than to try an acedemy/reserve player who actually plays in that position.

I reckon Shepherd has probably got good business sense. I don't think our spending this year will cripple us financially, i don't think Shepherd is that stupid. Where i think he's f**ked is that he obvioulsy thinks he's got a good idea of how the football side of things should be run. He thinks he can spot a good manager. I don't think he can and i think the results prove that. He's immovable from his position within the club, the only person who could hurt him was if Alan Shearer publicly said FS was screwing everything up and that ain't gonna happen cause FS has probably promised Shearer anything he wants. Why can't the board stick to the £££ stuff and appoint a Director of Football (i was hoping it would be Robson but that won't happen now) like Keegan, who then appoints the manager. Keegan loves NUFC but doesn't want to manage anymore. He'd have our best interests at heart and he's got more footie knowledge than anyone on the board. I reckon he'd choose a good manager and help him find good coaches. On saying that, the appointment of Roeder seems a very good decision, at last.......

I can't say how much better the current board is than previous one's because i'm far too young to know about them. The more experiences guys on here (Leazes Mag) would be able to make that comparison. But i don't reckon it's a good idea to compare this current board with crap one's from the past, all we should judge is, are this lot doing a good job? By comparing them with chumps who've f**ked it all up before isn't really worth it. Same to be said by going 'Well, just be thankful we haven't got Sunderland/Notts Forest, etc.' The've made money available most of the time, not when we only signed Bowyer on a free though it seems which i think was critical. But for the amount they're paid, do they do the rest of their jobs the best they could be done? Keegan/Dalgliesh/Gullit/Robson being sacked after the season had started (i know Keegan's was later), appointing Souness, are these clever decisions? Have they helped the club win cups by their hiring & firing regime? I can think of clubs run better in that dept for sure. It ain't just the £££, it's who you give it to and when.

Genuine question: Do the Directors at other clubs get paid the same? Are any of them on performance related pay? Is our club normal in this respect?

The total net amount spent on transfer fees since 1998 is just under £64m or roughly an average of £8m per season. Compare that with Liverpool who have spent £113m on players in the same period. They have played more seasons in Europe than us, won an FA Cup, two League Cups and the Uefa Cup, and are now the CL semi-finalists Finalists. winners.

I didn't think that was their own money, sorry, i didn't know. In that case i'm surprised the Shepherd & Hall families would spend that much of their own £££ on NUFC players.

Since 1998 the shareholders have taken out just under £28m from our club. On top of that the club paid out £4.5m to buy shares back from the Hall family. So a total of over £32m went to shareholders.

The bit covering money paid in dividends to Shepherd & Hall families is worth a look, i don't know much about this but i think the Luque & Owen deals will be on next years accounts, can any accounting genius on here clarify that?

http://www.nufc-finances.org.uk/index.htm Makes for some interesting reading.

I thought i read that Edman had moved.

Better with the ball than without it if you get me.