McFaul

...and for some reason you think this person was me. I've said this three times now, a point I've made consistently during our good run, if we ever win the Champions League I'd still hate Ashley. That is my point. The statement has nothing to do with anything else, I just hate him, I've hated him for four years he's done nothing to increase or decrease my hatred of him, and there's nothing he could possibly do (good or bad) that would alter my feelings for him.

Switzerland and Wales are better sides than Ireland in my opinion. Bellamy and Bale are better players than Ireland have had since Roy Keane, Montenegro have more stars than Ireland. Ant is a good lad but he pisses green and gets deluded in the national team and republican politics, much like ewerk. They'll putting their eyes oot when England lose 2-0 tomorrow night.

We'd have won all 8 games in Ireland's group imo, and the actual draw to get Estonia, probably the most favourable draw in play off history at any level of football in 30 years? Just hope Ireland get a favourable draw in the actual competition wouldn't want them to be a laughing stock getting beaten 5-0 every game.

Everything you've said is obvious though. The whole lot. It's obvious there's a ven diagram out there somewhere, where you could gauge a financial benefit that would meet public acceptance for the bastardisation of 130 years of history and culture. Only an idiot could see there isn't but to me and I respect you a lot, clearly a very bright astute intelligent lad, but the vast majority of your posts on this thread are like when someones in sixth form in the common room hoping to be voted debater of the month. Beginning to talk about the Arsenal example is a ridiculous tangent and at this moment in time, there's little or strong evidence (based on past history) there's a willingness to generate additional income for the football club by "show casing" the naming rights. They aren't that stupid, they will have calculated what the reaction would be, they are aware that the adverse reaction will short term and long term put big business off. Why??? To show case his scabby company. It's that simple, going off at tangents about the heritage of the city I find almost antagonistic when the basic subject hits you in the face.

Newcastle Online background :lol:

I wish I had a quid for every time I've put the phone down this week and said fuckin brummie cunt.

Couldn't disagree more. Fair enough if it was at Highbury it was a new ground called Ashburton Grove, sounded like a road off Stanhope Street. Aye, really respectful of tradition. The point isnt a complex one, moving a stadium for naked commercial reasons is more of an affront to the traditon and history of a club than a reversible name change. The relevance is that the media and you have argued that it's ok to move a stadium for clear commercial reasons but not to rename. As I said, I thought that was unfair and probably deliberate on the part of the media. But you can say the tradition of the club is striving for excellence on the pitch. So doing it for those reasons is consistent with the traditions of the club. That was undoubtedly the reason Arsenal did it. The main reason was the season ticket backlog and the massive revenue stream from the new apartments. Absolutely no comparison to our scenario apart from the scant name change element.. Satisfying demand Arsenal previously had 20,000 season ticket holders at Highbury, and with an allocation of several thousand tickets for visiting supporters, club members as well as corporate hospitality to be taken care of, many other Arsenal fans were frustrated on match days as home games were always sold out. There was also the matter of another 20,000 desperate fans on Arsenal’s season ticket waiting list, but as season ticket holders rarely gave up the ownership of a season ticket, there was never a realistic chance that Arsenal would be able to satisfy the demand from it’s huge worldwide fan base. The answer to the dilemma was a new home, which has now been built just five hundred yards away from Highbury. Much of the initial backlog of the season ticket waiting list was cleared with the move to the Emirates Stadium; however further demand for season tickets now sees 40,000 on a new waiting list They could literally have filled Highbury 3 times over... Basically what I said, all of it, no conceivable comparison at all but those figures are now, was 110,000 people on their list not too long ago. There's been a lot of straws clutched at this week.

What 2003 to now?!?! It's about the same, really it is. Was about £85m in 2003, and it'll be £90m max for 2010/2011. God almighty there's a difference between becoming the 4th richest club on earth with GUARANTEED revenues of over £200m every year for the next 10 years, and £4m or £5m which won't even be invested in the team.

I couldn't be more right about Arsenal. My boss is an Arsenal season ticket holder, and it's all he talks about on a daily basis, the culture of Arsenal FC. I find the comparison ridiculous, you're talking about a complete revolution in Arsenal FC. Their turnover in 2003 was £89m it's £230m now, this is going to make what us £5m a season IF the rights are ever even fucking sold. Well what did you want them to do with the stadium? Fucking knock it down?!?! Was a brilliant idea and I'm sure someone will correct me but that alone made them in the region of £100m to my mind. Arsenal could not continue to compete at the top level if they stayed at Highbury, it was a revolution that occurred with Arsenal, not a mere name change, if they'd have stayed at Highbury they'd be like Aston Villa are now.

You could get a season ticket at Highbury in the North Bank for about £580 in 2004. When they moved to the Emirates the SHITTEST seats in the ground were £895, think they're £1100 now by the way, that's the shittest, but yeah the boxes as well, they only had the boxes above the clock end at Highbury.

Couldn't disagree more. Fair enough if it was at Highbury it was a new ground called Ashburton Grove, sounded like a road off Stanhope Street. Aye, really respectful of tradition. The point isnt a complex one, moving a stadium for naked commercial reasons is more of an affront to the traditon and history of a club than a reversible name change. The relevance is that the media and you have argued that it's ok to move a stadium for clear commercial reasons but not to rename. As I said, I thought that was unfair and probably deliberate on the part of the media. Regarding the media being frenzied and reporting that there are wild objections two hours before they could have known is a moot point for me. It's irrelevant because it was obvious that it would get the adverse reaction, the only plausible way I can see for anyone to have another point of view is to wind people up like Adrian Durham clearly did last night. Alex the point about them changing Highbury in to a block of flats, lets face it Arsenal should be one of the five best clubs in the world. They really should, I've said this before and it's true, if you added up all of the football fans in South East England my guess is over 40% of them would support Arsenal, every fucka supports them. They have a bigger worldwide support than all bar Man Utd, Africans love them, Asians love them, the French love them they're fucking massive. They couldn't continue at Highbury to compete at the level they had, as sad as it was for them to leave there was NO OPPOSITION. 38,000 wasn't enough for them to compete. Don't get me wrong I'm sure you've been to Highbury loads of times the same as I have, and you will know there's a main road behind the East Stand, gardens behind the North Bank and Clock End, and behind the East End 6 bedroom Edwardian mansions. So they couldn't do anything at all. As for turning them in to flats it made them £100m and the flats actually look very stylish and the buildings are still intact. We're not moving anywhere, we're staying in our home, just making ourselves look like Gwhat Shops at every corner. He is to Newcastle United what T Dan Smith was to Old Eldon Square. Younguns might not remember Reggie Perrin, but he was a self made millionaire, he was thick as fuck, didn't have a clue what he was doing, he was a psychopath, and he made his millions by literally selling absolute shite. Reggie Perrin is Ashley to a t, and I'm sorry like but I reject the notion of what Arsenal did being worse, for one the public accepted it, no one, apart from people trying to be clever accepts this.

It will take seconds to reverse this and a couple of days to pull down the SD branding from the round the ground so I think it's fair to argue against (mainly media driven) arguments about this being the biggest insult to football traditions in the modern game. I think the media are trying to fuel anger. The early editions of the nationals yesterday all talked of fan fury, articles sub-edited by 10pm the evening before, a full 2 hours before the news properly broke. They got it right of course but they made sure they stoked it too. I don't see any relevance in this paragraph to anything, anything at all.

Couldn't disagree more. Fair enough if it was at Highbury it was a new ground called Ashburton Grove, sounded like a road off Stanhope Street.

plus a 50m mortgage and 36m owed in player installments. So the total cost was 290m (ish). With a running costs loss of 30m. Flipping heck, ok well that does put a bit of a different slant on it, now I can't decide if we are overpriced and you were too, or in fact the valuation of £150m isn't that ridiculous after all??? Nar it is because fattie had no idea what the size of the debt was when he bought the club. Im having problems believing this, is it for a fact comfirmed that he did not do any due dilligence? His wealth point to the fact that he is a shrewd and skilled business-man...? Chris Waddle was a shrewd and skillful footballer but look at his penalty against West Germany.

I had a season ticket for 2 years. Buying a house stopped that but I was still going to 9-10 games a season and 2-3 away games a season. In the last 2 1/2 years I've been to 1 game. Suckered in by Ashley. I'll not be making that mistake again. Im not sure what these 'I go to more games than you' arguments have to do with our current plight though tbh. Where did I say I went to more games than you? I've actually given my ticket up (for a few different reasons). Expecting people who've already paid for a ticket not to go when you haven't bought one and then dressing it up as some sort of noble gesture on your part is what I take issue with. Anyway, we're 3rd and a boycott would be massively counter-productive imo. It won't happen though which you can call apathy if you want but imo in reality is because people love going to the matches and will continue to do so. What about at the beginning of next season then? When we are sporting shirts with Sports Direct on and the fans have a clear choice as to whether they hand over their cash or not? I also enjoy going to games, I love football at all levels whether it be coaching kids, playing on a Sunday, watching Blyth or supporting Newcastle. When I gave up my season ticket I had to pay for games on a month by month basis and still managed to get to more home games than I missed. I don't anymore. That's my noble gesture. I'd much rather be sitting at St James watching the games but for 2 1/2 years I've sat in the local pub watching it on Greek telly with all the local knackers saying Harper looks taller in goal than they remember and playing hell that Ranger isn't starting every game. And you can believe me or not, but the 1 reason I do that is because of Mike Ashley. I also don't shop at Sports Direct anymore, I don't buy an NUFC fleece anymore, I don't pick up a programme anymore. It might be a drop in the ocean to him but at least it makes me feel better and makes me feel like I have a right to be aggrieved when he decides to change the name of our ground after 131 years pmsl who walks the streets in a NUFC fleece like??!??!! You are so fucking easy Stevie Coming from the one person of 2000 members who bites like jaws on the first day after a hunger strike!

I had a season ticket for 2 years. Buying a house stopped that but I was still going to 9-10 games a season and 2-3 away games a season. In the last 2 1/2 years I've been to 1 game. Suckered in by Ashley. I'll not be making that mistake again. Im not sure what these 'I go to more games than you' arguments have to do with our current plight though tbh. Where did I say I went to more games than you? I've actually given my ticket up (for a few different reasons). Expecting people who've already paid for a ticket not to go when you haven't bought one and then dressing it up as some sort of noble gesture on your part is what I take issue with. Anyway, we're 3rd and a boycott would be massively counter-productive imo. It won't happen though which you can call apathy if you want but imo in reality is because people love going to the matches and will continue to do so. What about at the beginning of next season then? When we are sporting shirts with Sports Direct on and the fans have a clear choice as to whether they hand over their cash or not? I also enjoy going to games, I love football at all levels whether it be coaching kids, playing on a Sunday, watching Blyth or supporting Newcastle. When I gave up my season ticket I had to pay for games on a month by month basis and still managed to get to more home games than I missed. I don't anymore. That's my noble gesture. I'd much rather be sitting at St James watching the games but for 2 1/2 years I've sat in the local pub watching it on Greek telly with all the local knackers saying Harper looks taller in goal than they remember and playing hell that Ranger isn't starting every game. And you can believe me or not, but the 1 reason I do that is because of Mike Ashley. I also don't shop at Sports Direct anymore, I don't buy an NUFC fleece anymore, I don't pick up a programme anymore. It might be a drop in the ocean to him but at least it makes me feel better and makes me feel like I have a right to be aggrieved when he decides to change the name of our ground after 131 years pmsl who walks the streets in a NUFC fleece like??!??!!

It's more complicated than that, why should they put you off going though, why? I go because I love them not the owners, or the policies I go in hope that they fuck off. We need buying out, 18 months ago I said after PSG were bought out that they were the best investment in world football, after them it's Newcastle. PSG have now been bought out as I predicted and we remain the best investment for a buyer in world football.

plus a 50m mortgage and 36m owed in player installments. So the total cost was 290m (ish). With a running costs loss of 30m. Flipping heck, ok well that does put a bit of a different slant on it, now I can't decide if we are overpriced and you were too, or in fact the valuation of £150m isn't that ridiculous after all??? Nar it is because fattie had no idea what the size of the debt was when he bought the club.

Which is the point of my quote. It's rememberance day! Imagine If our soldiers just though fuck it, we'll let the Nazi's invade cos there's not much we can do about it. Considering Stevie et al make such a fucking fuss about how awesome our fans are it's disgusting how apathetic we are. Keegan wouldnt have let it happen, Shearer wouldnt have let it happen, Bobby wouldnt have let it happen. MA doesnt want to sell the club anymore. Its making him cash now. Hes halved the wage bill, conned the fans into another 5000 season tickets and thousands more on 10 year plans, the outrage at us selling our best players gets less and less each time it happens. He's fucking laughing all the way to the bank and people are doing fuck all about it. Sub 20k crowds for the rest of the season would have the worlds media sitting up and taking notice and would have MA looking like a prized bell end. I've done my part. So less of the fucking grief Stevie eh, until you pull your finger out your arse and do something other then bitch and moan on here you havent got a leg to stand on Fuck off man. You jacking your season ticket had nowt to do with Ashley. Those Halcyon Volvic days ended because of your commitments, which is absolutely fine and a perfectly acceptable reason on the face of it, but I think it was more because we turned shite. The point in bold, what can I do? Get his address off bobbshinton and sending chinkies, pizza's and fire engines to his door. What can one fan do? If no one went which would never happen they'd still only be £20m down, and could sustain Premiership football. You think a missing 10,000 would make a difference to Ashley's policies? What planet are you on?

Arrived in the Big Apple today after a terrible flight. In the hotel Metro close to the Empire State tower. First impressions are the skyline misses the twin towers. Secondly, the infrastructure here is shot. Took 1 1/2 hours to get from JFK to here (in comparison it's 15 mins from heathrow to central London by express). Feel wired so off out now...... 90 mins to travel 12 miles that is shocking for a city which rates itself as number one in the world. We're thinking of going next spring for 3 or 4 days, never been that taken by America like but New York possibly has some appeal, how was the rest of your trip? Did you go to Nevada Smiths? Normally takes me about 20mins to get into New York from JFK tbf You talk about it like its a trip from Chester Le Street to Birtley.

I've never committed criminal damage in my life, well once when I was young and daft but no one ever found out, but I'm telling you now. The sign on the wall beside the stairs on Barrack Road, St James' Park, if they put Sports Direct Arena there I will go down and pull it down and I will. Bet you don't. If you do I will pay your fine I'll youtube it.

Hmm so I guess it depends on how our sale is structured then... now if it's £150 minus the debt i.e. £100m then that doesn't seem that unreasonable... you cost about double that but obviously have an excellent stadium and a good revenue stream. On the other hand if we are actually asking £150m + the debt then it makes it roughly the same as you were sold for except we need a new stadium so the real cost is way in excess of what Ashley paid for you. I'd bet on it being the latter knowing our luck and if it is then we have absolutely no chance of being sold any time in the near or distant future and it would explain why clubs are being bought left, right and centre yet we're still stuck with Bill Kenshite! If it's 150m plus the debt its a little bit more than Ashley had to pay. If that is the price you'll never get sold, like ever. You haven't got the infrastructure that we have and it would take 5 or 6 years to sort a new stadium etc...increase the fanbase to 50,000 regulars etc... Basically if that is the price the owners want to hang to it and are taking the piss. I know Everton are a much much bigger club than Leicester but they get crowds 7-8000 less than you, have a new stadium, one club city and it went for £30m I think. Exactly mate... I just dont see how anyone would want to buy us for that. I think the fact we are a club playing in the Premier league makes us a more valuable prosect than someone like Leicester, but on the other side we loose money every year and our stadium needs to be replaced at a cost of probabloy between £100m and £200m... we aren't an attractive proposition at that price. I think more so than us when you look at the age of the players, you need a whole new squad as well which would cost £200m+ to compete. Lots of people approaching 30 or over 30 in the Everton squad. So if it is £150m plus the debt, that's £230m(?) + at least £200m for a new stadium, plus £200m+ on the playing side to make Everton a club even on Tottenham's level, financially and sustainability wise. That's the best part of £700m, I think Everton's best hope is someone like the arabs rather than some yank or local businessman. I think Ashley would sell us for £200m now, and you wouldn't need to buy a stadium, all you'd need to do is spend £100m on the team and we could have a real go at competing. If it's £150m + debt then that's approx £200m... new stadium £200m. Playing side we have a fair few players who need to be replaced but we do have Barkley, Rodwell, Coleman, Drenthe (if we kept him), Vellios, Gueye all 23 or under, Baines 27, Heitinga 28, Jags 29, Tim Howard 32 (still pretty young for a keeper), so we dont need a complete overhaul... maybe £20m a season over the next 3 years would do providing we bought good young players rather than chasing the Robinho's etc of this world. So about £500m in total... which lets face it is still a HUGE outlay! So should it be a straight fight between £300m for you or £500m+ for us then yeah it'd be very surprising if someone picked us as being the better investment. I know what you're saying about rich arabs being the better option... tbh they would be for every club... I think the alledged interest in us takes in to account the fact we need a new stadium and investment in the area, so there may be a profit to be made from that somehow. I'd be happy if someone came in and turned us in to a good business making a profit and becoming self sustainable so if it is this option available and they are stupid enough to pay Kenshite what he wants then I'll not complain.... but i'm not getting my hopes up I think your ticket prices don't help matters. I'm sure there was some survey done about five years ago that said Everton fans were by far the poorest in the league with an average annual income of £13000 pa I think wors was about £16000, Liverpool's was higher than Everton's not sure how that works like, but the point is your ticket prices are very cheap even for the expensive tickets and that's perhaps another reason why it's non profitable.

No, really don't find a hotel in Jersey. I stayed in Newark once and it made Sunderland look pretty "Jersey"

Arrived in the Big Apple today after a terrible flight. In the hotel Metro close to the Empire State tower. First impressions are the skyline misses the twin towers. Secondly, the infrastructure here is shot. Took 1 1/2 hours to get from JFK to here (in comparison it's 15 mins from heathrow to central London by express). Feel wired so off out now...... 90 mins to travel 12 miles that is shocking for a city which rates itself as number one in the world. We're thinking of going next spring for 3 or 4 days, never been that taken by America like but New York possibly has some appeal, how was the rest of your trip? Did you go to Nevada Smiths?

Hmm so I guess it depends on how our sale is structured then... now if it's £150 minus the debt i.e. £100m then that doesn't seem that unreasonable... you cost about double that but obviously have an excellent stadium and a good revenue stream. On the other hand if we are actually asking £150m + the debt then it makes it roughly the same as you were sold for except we need a new stadium so the real cost is way in excess of what Ashley paid for you. I'd bet on it being the latter knowing our luck and if it is then we have absolutely no chance of being sold any time in the near or distant future and it would explain why clubs are being bought left, right and centre yet we're still stuck with Bill Kenshite! If it's 150m plus the debt its a little bit more than Ashley had to pay. If that is the price you'll never get sold, like ever. You haven't got the infrastructure that we have and it would take 5 or 6 years to sort a new stadium etc...increase the fanbase to 50,000 regulars etc... Basically if that is the price the owners want to hang to it and are taking the piss. I know Everton are a much much bigger club than Leicester but they get crowds 7-8000 less than you, have a new stadium, one club city and it went for £30m I think. Exactly mate... I just dont see how anyone would want to buy us for that. I think the fact we are a club playing in the Premier league makes us a more valuable prosect than someone like Leicester, but on the other side we loose money every year and our stadium needs to be replaced at a cost of probabloy between £100m and £200m... we aren't an attractive proposition at that price. I think more so than us when you look at the age of the players, you need a whole new squad as well which would cost £200m+ to compete. Lots of people approaching 30 or over 30 in the Everton squad. So if it is £150m plus the debt, that's £230m(?) + at least £200m for a new stadium, plus £200m+ on the playing side to make Everton a club even on Tottenham's level, financially and sustainability wise. That's the best part of £700m, I think Everton's best hope is someone like the arabs rather than some yank or local businessman. I think Ashley would sell us for £200m now, and you wouldn't need to buy a stadium, all you'd need to do is spend £100m on the team and we could have a real go at competing.