Isegrim

Two weeks on and I still feel like something has died within myself. I am not someone condemning everything modern in football. To the contrary I do think that modern football has brought as much good as bad. There is a lot of the past that I don't need and want back. But romanticising nostalgia has probably always been a part of football (starting with the introduction of round goal posts and football boots - I blame Adi Dassler). Keegan returning was a good piece of nostalgia though. It was so great to see the glimmer of hope again after several years of darkness with football murderers like Souness and Allardyce. The terrible thing was the unexpectancy and incomprehensibility together with the lies. Keegan's resignation was not my first big disappointment. I already had to witness my local team going bancrupt and cease to exist. But this was a process of several years and you could adjust to the disappointment, even though you never believed the moment would really come. With Keegan it is different and much harder to take. It's not so much a fault of the modern game imho. As long as there has been football there have been different ideas of how to run a football club. The problem is that the change of ownership and the return of a cult hero proved to be a disappointing false dawn.

Bannatyne: "Why do you think I should invest in your company?" Ashley: "I can down a pint in only 15 seconds."

When I wrote for a German website some time ago I got asked a couple of times why not to found a supporters club like other teams have down here. I always found it to be a waste of time. But I do like the idea of a branch system where the main corpus is centred in Newcastle itself. This and a local offset (preferebly organised by some exile though) would get my support in whatever way would be needed.

Newcastle United fans are the club's biggest problem Matthew Syed Here is a message for the whining, whingeing, self-pitying, self-indulgent and deluded fans on Tyneside, otherwise known as the Toon Army: Kevin Keegan is not the Messiah; Alan Shearer is not an aspect of the trinity; Mike Ashley is not the Devil; Tony Jimenez is not on the secret payroll of Sunderland; and Dennis Wise is not an evil dwarf. Newcastle United are not a “massive” club and do not have a divine right to remain in the Premier League; St James' Park is not the world's greatest stadium; and, in case you were wondering, your team will not break into the top four any time soon, with or without Ashley, Keegan, Wise or any of the other men who are heroes, villains and sometimes both in the febrile imaginations of the world's most whimsical supporters. Oh, and you are not the most loyal, valiant and wonderfully dependable fans on the planet. Check out the attendances when Newcastle were languishing in the second division at the start of the 1990s and you will get the measure of the myth that has clung to the black-and-white-shirted men and women for far too long. That's right, they were often much fewer than 20,000 and with the Gallowgate end partially deserted. Is that what you call loyalty? The banners castigating Ashley for being a southerner during Saturday's comically self-important protest were the final straw for many of us who have long endured the tedious soap opera on Tyneside. That and the ill-informed, conspiracy-laden and melodramatic messages posted on the dozens of message boards that these fans seem to spend their lives reading. Where is the gallows humour, the sense of irony, the satirical edge? Where is the old-fashioned self-mockery that characterises most other groups of English football fans when their team are having a bad time of it? The only way that Newcastle fans are ever going to be truly happy is when they have formed a collective to buy the club and have made a pig's ear, as they inevitably would, of a kind that would make Freddy Shepherd's last remaining strands stand on end. When they have rehired Keegan to manage the team, Shearer to be his assistant and the ghost of Jackie Milburn to do the scouting. When they have got control of the club and discovered that their own volatility makes it practically ungovernable. Sure, passion and commitment are great things and we all know that in a big city with only one football club, there is bound to be a siege mentality and more than a little self-absorption. But many Newcastle fans have turned navel-gazing into an art form. They need to get out more and discover that their beloved club, who have not won a trophy for decades, are virtually unknown beyond these shores. They need a little perspective, not least in terms that passion does not equate to knowledge, nor does enthusiasm equate to expertise on how to run a football club. This is a group of fans who agitated for the sacking of Sam Allardyce after only six months because the football was not pretty enough, even though he had put in place a much-needed science support structure and cleared out the dead wood from the Shepherd era. These are fans who want nothing to do with Ashley because he is from “down South” and because he insisted on a continental scouting system to support a manger who, by his own admission, had not attended a live match for three years and so was the last person who could have done the scouting job. Sure, mistakes were made by Ashley, not least in the appointment of Keegan - something that was bound to end in tears - and in spheres of responsibility not being properly spelt out to the main protagonists. But let's get real. The fundamental problem with Newcastle is no longer the corporate management, but those who used to be described as the club's greatest assets: the fans - or at least those who are making all the noise at present. Best of the web Just who are these clowns ruining our club...this will take light years to recover from. David Bring in the Indians. They would be “Wise” enough to kick out the cockneys and bring Kev back. Val Time for NUFC to be bought out by the fans. If season ticket-holders could find £1,500 for a three-year deal, then why not another 3 or 4 grand each clubbed together and we can buy out Ashley and his motley crew, or even become the majority shareholder. Imagine that - the Toon actually owned and run by its supporters. Ivor Clark I got Wise's autograph at the Emirates in January 2008 - I'm going to dig it out and burn it tonight. Disgusted. Brad As I've groused before, Ashley running this club is nonsense. He's only now getting a clue about what makes NUFC different. Tardonicus Let's face it, whatever the fans do now it's too late to hope that anything constructive can come out of the situation as long as Ashley and the poison dwarf are sitting in the boardroom divvying up our cash. David K Source: blogonthetyne http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle4761813.ece

If we take this year in isolation I think the club has to be running at a profit. I'd be very surprised if you get all the TV money upfront when the deal is done either. It'll be year on year I'd imagine. And the TV money will (I guess) dwarf the (already spent) Northern Rock money. Unless they've taken out loans based on the promise of future income from TV. Either way, if Ashley has paid off most of the debt as he claims then the TV money, commercial revenue and ST money (especially given those paying for 3 seasons) should have had us running at a profit. That's possible but given the amount of shit they've spoken in aid of their own PR I hardly think they'd have kept that quiet. Have they kept quiet at all? Their talk of of the financial state after they got in the job was pretty clear tbh. They didn't get into details. But from what I know from people being involved of setting the balance sheets with KPG about a couple of years ago it actually sounds plausible. I am not excusing Ashley for his poor job, but I do actually believe him in in certain parts of his statement. He probably really bought the club for entertainment reasons and to be run in the outline he set up. Which actually is sensible I think. But he was not only let down by his men, but foremost by his judgement. If he wanted to run the club professionally, with "planning", then he should have hired the right people, but he stuck to mates with absolutely no credence for the job they are doing. I do feel for Ashley, because he made a mess out of what he thought would be fun. But he had easy options to rectify it. He could have backed Keegan over Wise (latter's sacking would surely have been cheaper, wouldn't it?!). He could have hired competent people rigt from the start anyway. Unfortunately any basic reason left with Mort...

I actually don't believe these meetings are happening full stop. More 'paper talk. How deep does the rabbit hole go? Meet me in the multi-story carpark at 3 tomorrow morning. I'll be in the shadows smoking a Woodbine. I'll tell all. Sorry, Li3nzy isn't here anymore...

All this fan owned clubs malarky is bollocks. You want to give thousands of numpties the right to excercise their rights? You'll get what you deserve. It is a nice idea, but it's not working if you are more than three people. It's been proven numerous times on the continent. Success is with demagoges, but rarely with the football sides. I'd steer as far away from these utopian phantasies as possible.

The only one I'd currently see as a sort of consolation. Directly coming from the Cruijff school of football. Still want getting rid of the numpties at the club though.

Numpties. They are not running the club like a business but like a kindergarten.

Go to the ground, take your seat and take it to the Trent ot of protest. Killing two birds with one stone...

Supporting Wise over Keegan is a misjudgement of phenomenal proportions. Sacking of the little scumbag would likely have solved the problem. It's even more stupid as it seems inevitable anyway considering the increased public hatred.

I am still not sure what to make out of all this. I feel empty. I feel betrayed by Mike Ashley and all his words and actions. But I start to feel let down by Keegan as well. All his talk about not walking out again, unfinished business etc. when he came back. There are also things I still don't understand. Xisco is quoted saying that he spoke to Keegan on Monday before he signed. KK told him about his plans for the future. What happened afterwards for Keegan to walk out? Or did Keegan just put on a good face on the matter like had done all the months before. Why didn't he act much earlier then?

I am thinking about how long it will take until I get over this and if I will ever be able to develop the same passion watching Newcastle again. At the moment something has died in me. I would never have become a Newcastle fan if it hadn't been for my boyhood adoration of Keegan. I got over 1997 because Internet was very new to me. So I got all the reaction with some delay and could settle with it then. Now is different. It's childish, but I am close to tears. I have been going through a difficult time in the last couple of months with my mother diagnosed having severe cancer. Knowing that Keegan is in charge of Newcastle again gave me something to cheer about. Only a couple of week ago I was in Newcastle and excited like a small child seeing all the Keegan related merchandise. I was even so stupid and bought one of those tacky T-Shirts with Keegan No. 1 at the back. I probably jinxed it. This has all suddenly gone. There is just emptiness and sadness left.

Sure? I think those trees aree really there.

You talk it over, reach an agreement and then put it in writing. To put it in a letter is as good as daring him to resign. I'm fucking disgusted. They have been in 'extensive discussions' for 2 days, the only way to formalise the club's position is to then put in writing. Has no one beng paying attention to events? And apparently not reached an agreement. Because sending him the letter with a content that didn't satisfy Keegan was more or less begging him to resign (something they probably were aware of, but now saves them some compensation). Ok fair enough, this is not worth arguing about. It just seemed normal to me after debating the points for 2 days. Going to the pub. Am utterly deflated, but at times like these we all need to stick together. It's indeed not worth arguing about. I had to go to buy some beer as I feel the need to get drunk today.

Sounds very plausable Sounds unbelievable to be honest. The Schweinsteiger story sounds too far fetched.

You talk it over, reach an agreement and then put it in writing. To put it in a letter is as good as daring him to resign. I'm fucking disgusted. They have been in 'extensive discussions' for 2 days, the only way to formalise the club's position is to then put in writing. Has no one beng paying attention to events? And apparently not reached an agreement. Because sending him the letter with a content that didn't satisfy Keegan was more or less begging him to resign (something they probably were aware of, but now saves them some compensation).

After you agree about the principles, otherwise you just "talk" down to an employee because you are not arsed about his reaction.

Shh. I wouldn't mention the spelling of boycott..

Being harsh they show a bit of promise but aren't good enough on their own to move us up the table. Then again even with the system working, they've been hamstrung by a shit budget which is down to Ashley. ST money? TV money? You know what I dont even know why I am posting. I am so pissed off it is unreal I dont think I have thought things through properly. There just seems to be know way out of this. EWith Shepherd i alwys had this thought that someone could get rid of him because he was not the majority share holder but who is going to get rid of Ashley. I can only say whay I used to about the old fat cunt. Stop spending money on the toon till he loses enough to fuck off. A quite categoric fact, which I'm sure you will totally ignore, is that no manager has walked out on us like this since McKeag and Westwood. I don't know why you feel the need to bring in Shepherd, Hall or anybody else. I really can't be arsed just now to argue about this so I'll leave it but don't bracket today with anything the Halls and Shepherd did, because nothing they did was as shite as this. I totally agree. It's so bad it's unbelievable. Sending Keegan a fucking letter. How stupid can someone be. The numptie should go back managing night clubs in London. He's probably only capable in dealing with whores, drug dealers and bouncers.

Absolutely astonishing. Unbelievable. My heart still says: It's not Ashley. Ashley is on holidays. It's just the numpties that are the problem. Ashley will come back and sack them seeing what's going on. Keegan is coming back. I know this is unrealistic wishful thinking.

YOU FAT LYING DESPICABLE WORM! I'm gonna drop the twat if I see him If Ashley is really behind all this and it's not down to his appointed numpties (Labiarse sending Keegan a letter today) then I still can't understand how some be such a lying two-faced dickhead.

Something has just died in me.

I cannot grasp how someone can be so stupid. All of the current set up were replaceable bar the manager. Cunts all of them.

Keegan. I don't want to accept it's all over.