PaddockLad

If Ashley did sell to whatever consortium or individual, would there be such a great need to appoint Shearer?......in some ways,Shearer only works in the context of Ashley staying on as owner e.g. unifying the fans behind the club instead of half of us wanting fatty's head on a spike and saying so loudly at home games etc....is there a better candidate for manager out there if Ashley gets a quick sale?

Fuck...I thought we'd been bought by Jimmy Nail and Sting

aah I see......that makes sense. I've also found them for 10 quid cheaper on ebay with free postage too. Thanks a lot

Quite fancy a set of wireless speakers for my laptop........but I am to techy stuff what Mike Ashley is to successful football club ownership so am looking for a bit of advice.......I've found these but not a lot else.....am I correct in saying that I'll need a bluetooth facility on my laptop to make them work?......a bluetooth facility that I haven't got..... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Logitech-Z-500-Wirel...%3A1%7C294%3A50 Any other suggestions would be greatfully received.............thanks a lot in advance.....

Fucking hell I hope not. Shepherd bled black and white though, that is the thing. don't be fucking stupid man. Freddy and his cohorts got us into over 100m of debt in the first place. whilst ashley is a complete prat freddy fucked us over and walked away with several million in the bank. How exactly did he fuck us over? The 1996 and the 2003 teams were the best weve had since the 1950s. We genuinely challenged for the title and played in the champions league. Yeah we were in debt, Man United are currently in £800million debt. Theres not a club in the top half of the table that isnt in debt. he attracted big players and stumped up the cash when it was needed for the likes of Sir Les, Asprilla, Shearer, Robert, Owen, Ginola. Yeah he wasnt perfect but hes got one thing that MA has never had. He genuinely wants the club to be successful, he didnt treat us as a cash cow. Sure, he made plenty money, but you dont hoy the sort of money about like he did if you are trying to take the club for all its worth like our current owner. Id have him back in a heartbeat This is the bottom line for me.....Ashley's main problem has been when he suddenly realised that he himself had to write the cheques to pay for the Shepherd years. To me thats the crux of the situation. Manu are 800million in debt but have millions of fans all over the world paying the bills for a title winning machine. We have a city of no more than 500k people and Freddy tried to compete with Manu on a financially completely lop sided playing field. I really don't think a couple of FA cup final appearnces and half a dozen champions league games are worth the well over 100mill debt that they cost, and that is all down to Shepherd. I'm pleased for you that you appear to think we should compete at the levels of Bolton, Charlton and not the trophy winning clubs. Ashley should be good for you. Enjoy your time with him running the club. Well thats not really what I'm saying......I'm saying that Shepherds time at the club was very poor value for money for the money he entrusted to his largely bad managerial appointments. And I'm not defending Ashley, he's plainly been a disaster and has by his own admission made astonishingly poor decisions, but he wanted his own man in to control spending. Asking Dennis Wise to do it was a fuckin joke, but he felt he needed control costs because of the mountain of debt Shepherd had run up. so you think expanding the stadium should not have been done ? With the benefit of hindsight no. I wasnt that bothered one way or the other when it was done, but I do remember Shepherd saying at the time that the payments for the loan arrangement to pay for it were taken from season ticket sales before that income could be used from anything else, ringfenced if you like. He denied at the time that this was anything like the road which Leeds were going down i.e. financing player purchases on the basis of champions league money every season but it sounds suspiciously similar to me. As long as we were getting 50k+ things were going to be ok, but thats not going to happen next season. In a way he mortgaged our future financial stability in a similar way to what Ridsdale did. They imploded almost straight away, we've had to wait for the cockney mafia to turn up, but the effect may be much the same.

Fucking hell I hope not. Shepherd bled black and white though, that is the thing. don't be fucking stupid man. Freddy and his cohorts got us into over 100m of debt in the first place. whilst ashley is a complete prat freddy fucked us over and walked away with several million in the bank. How exactly did he fuck us over? The 1996 and the 2003 teams were the best weve had since the 1950s. We genuinely challenged for the title and played in the champions league. Yeah we were in debt, Man United are currently in £800million debt. Theres not a club in the top half of the table that isnt in debt. he attracted big players and stumped up the cash when it was needed for the likes of Sir Les, Asprilla, Shearer, Robert, Owen, Ginola. Yeah he wasnt perfect but hes got one thing that MA has never had. He genuinely wants the club to be successful, he didnt treat us as a cash cow. Sure, he made plenty money, but you dont hoy the sort of money about like he did if you are trying to take the club for all its worth like our current owner. Id have him back in a heartbeat This is the bottom line for me.....Ashley's main problem has been when he suddenly realised that he himself had to write the cheques to pay for the Shepherd years. To me thats the crux of the situation. Manu are 800million in debt but have millions of fans all over the world paying the bills for a title winning machine. We have a city of no more than 500k people and Freddy tried to compete with Manu on a financially completely lop sided playing field. I really don't think a couple of FA cup final appearnces and half a dozen champions league games are worth the well over 100mill debt that they cost, and that is all down to Shepherd. I'm pleased for you that you appear to think we should compete at the levels of Bolton, Charlton and not the trophy winning clubs. Ashley should be good for you. Enjoy your time with him running the club. Well thats not really what I'm saying......I'm saying that Shepherds time at the club was very poor value for money for the money he entrusted to his largely bad managerial appointments. And I'm not defending Ashley, he's plainly been a disaster and has by his own admission made astonishingly poor decisions, but he wanted his own man in to control spending. Asking Dennis Wise to do it was a fuckin joke, but he felt he needed control costs because of the mountain of debt Shepherd had run up.

Fucking hell I hope not. Shepherd bled black and white though, that is the thing. don't be fucking stupid man. Freddy and his cohorts got us into over 100m of debt in the first place. whilst ashley is a complete prat freddy fucked us over and walked away with several million in the bank. How exactly did he fuck us over? The 1996 and the 2003 teams were the best weve had since the 1950s. We genuinely challenged for the title and played in the champions league. Yeah we were in debt, Man United are currently in £800million debt. Theres not a club in the top half of the table that isnt in debt. he attracted big players and stumped up the cash when it was needed for the likes of Sir Les, Asprilla, Shearer, Robert, Owen, Ginola. Yeah he wasnt perfect but hes got one thing that MA has never had. He genuinely wants the club to be successful, he didnt treat us as a cash cow. Sure, he made plenty money, but you dont hoy the sort of money about like he did if you are trying to take the club for all its worth like our current owner. Id have him back in a heartbeat This is the bottom line for me.....Ashley's main problem has been when he suddenly realised that he himself had to write the cheques to pay for the Shepherd years. To me thats the crux of the situation. Manu are 800million in debt but have millions of fans all over the world paying the bills for a title winning machine. We have a city of no more than 500k people and Freddy tried to compete with Manu on a financially completely lop sided playing field. I really don't think a couple of FA cup final appearnces and half a dozen champions league games are worth the well over 100mill debt that they cost, and that is all down to Shepherd.

Only Newcastle United could be taken over by the worlds only billionaire who appears to have been the luckiest fucker on the planet, up until the point he got "King Kev" printed on the back of his XXL shirt.....but it does prove the old adage that a fool and his money are easily parted. Man City have been taken over twice by some very dodgy individuals in the time Ashley has been at NUFC, Liverpool and Manu have been lumbered with debt that makes ours look like chicken feed by their new owners, West Hams owner is bankrupt, Everton have less money than anyone yet finished fifth in the league.....you couldnt make this shit up, we're not a football club, we're a fuckin basket case

oh im from berwick, where do you live exactly ? rip btw I live in Poole in Dorset now but I'm from Morebattle which is near Coldstream.....am a "porridge mooth"

My best mates dad took a car load from our village near Berwick in 1981 to see the cup game v Exeter........me and and his son were hooked, the others less so. We drew one each, but were beaten in the replay at the other SJP...we were in divi two then as well....not a lot fuckin changes does it? Me and my mate are now ST holders but he sadly lost his dad a couple of years back. RIP Bob Pringle B.E.M

It was much the same when Leeds went down, but they were a lot more detested than we are I reckon........frankly all those calling us at the moment can kiss my fucking ring....I dont follow NUFC as a fashion statement, or because I need to use support of A football team to bash followers of B football team over the head with a big stick to somehow make myself look more interesting,macho or seemingly in many cases here on't'internet a complete fuckin tool.

He never won anything until he took over at Celtic and when you manage one of the Old Firm you are nearly always going to win something. He built a semi decent team at Southampton until he wanted to be rewarded with a better contract and he was told to sod off by Rupert the Bollockbrain........he was pushing that club in the right direction. To me he's got ability as a manager, and has managed at a much higher level than we'll be playing at next season....how many could we attract for next season who've put a team in the second round of the champions league on a comparative pittance? The thing is if Shearer says "no thanks, Mike" then the likes of Strachan wouldnt touch us with a bargepole....we'd be back in the posistion we were in in September, but without the Skytv money...we'd get David O'Leary, at the very best, or more likely, Kinnear again

Witness the majority of our lot giving Barton a standing ovation at Anfield after he got sent off and thus ending his season. I was actually ashamed of that reaction.

Driving to Villa yesterday listening to BBC 5live,a journo described as "fact" that NUFC have on the books 15 players earning 50k or more per week with no clause in their contract for relegation.Wages are 70% of turnover,where the accepepted ration is that it should be no more than 50%. We lost 70 million in the last financial year we have audited books for because of this on the third highest gates in the league. Marcotti is advocating keeping up to half a dozen of these players on 50k a week or more. I think he's living in a paralell universe if he thinks thats going to happen. With income being slashed to a huge extent for next season I think the only player I'd be interested in definetly keeping is Habib Beye who seems to have a great affinity with the club,has ability, and at 32/33 may be interested in division one football if he's made captain and he can keep his salary. As for the rest, they don't really deserve the chance to fight for promotion considering they've been largely gutless all season (e.g. second half yesterday) regardless of how miuch they earn. Shearer/whoever comes in needs to change the whole ethos and character of the club from being a holiday camp to being somewhere where you have to play for the shirt. I do know this is virtually impossible when many players are millionaires by the time they are barely out of their teens. We need players who know how to really want something, who are not cushioned by a huge contract and have forgotten all about the desire that got them to the posistion of earning the huge contract in the first place. If we go down this road, we may well watch some real shit for a couple of seasons, but we'll emerge leaner and fitter with a club where desire and bottle are the most important things, not a place where bog standard players come to pick up hollywood wages for virtually fuck all in return. I really wouldn't miss a single one of our current playing squad if they all fell off a fuckin cliff.

He genuinely looks more gutted than anyone I saw at Villa Park today......fair play to him, truly one of us,if we must put up with Ashley for the foreseeable I hope Shearer is here for a long time as well

I used to quite like them the band that is. Duran Duran. Talk Talk. The The. Which is why I put it there!!! Was Jonny Marr in THe The? naa.....the the was basically a lad called Matt Johnson.....he/they were fuckin class......don't know what happened to him but hearing this this morning has brought a tear to my heavily hungover eye It was Matt Johnson surrounded by session musicians one of which was Johnny Marr on one album, think it was one of the later ones. Great band alright especially the albums soul mining and infected. you're right........I'd forgotten all about the the till this morning.....Johnson was a genius...he predicted the first gulf war in a song but I can't for the life of me remember what it was now....

I used to quite like them the band that is. Duran Duran. Talk Talk. The The. Which is why I put it there!!! Was Jonny Marr in THe The? naa.....the the was basically a lad called Matt Johnson.....he/they were fuckin class......don't know what happened to him but hearing this this morning has brought a tear to my heavily hungover eye

Seeing as Micky Quinn signed in July 1989 can you please get your carer to administer your next dose please? Could have sworn it was him. Whoever it was he was very tall, a bit fat and had a moustache. Ring a bell with anyone? You've got the wrong year.....we were in division one in 87 and Hull haven't played in the top league until this season (unless it was a cup game?).Apart from that your powers of recollection are marvellous.

If mediocre is having the best home defence in the league, reaching a cup final, being unbeaten (apart from the Webb massacre on saturday) against the top 4, vying for a european place despite having our worst start to a league season then ill take that. All day long. Getting to a cup final means approximately fuck all if you get beat. We have been runners up in the F.A cup 7 times and I don't think we got anything for it... Arsenal fans moan they haven't won anything for 3 or 4 seasons.......Spurs fans think getting to a cup final and being better than the worst NUFC team in 20 years is something to be proud of.....must be hard being a Spurs fan, always in Arsenal's shadow

Seeing as Micky Quinn signed in July 1989 can you please get your carer to administer your next dose please?

My mates old man works at St Mary's as stadium maintenance manager. After Saturday's home game he reckons thats it for the Saints......theoretically no more income till August for a club in administration and living from hand to mouth as we speak now means this is the end of Southampton F.C. Am no financial expert so don't know how accurate this is but it doesn't look good.

Who are you then mate, Everett True? What you say may well be true (Mother Love Bone, Green River and Soundgarden etc all started well before 91/92) but if you asked your average Mag in 89 what "Grunge" was he wouldn't have a clue. He may well on the other hand have gone to the match on a Saturday and spent the rest of the night dancing in a field off his tits on cheap speed or bad e's. Of course you'd be right as everyone who ever went to a match in 89 had to a least start the night with a tab of e! And yet I think there maybe a few that disagree with you. But you take comfort in that Asprilla agrees with you. Probably not, but they were far more likely to going to raves than dressing like a lumberjack and listening to punk rock performed badly by American heavy metal fans. I'm sure there are, we were a very broad church back then : Please don't try to drag me into the various factional in-fighting on this messageboard. It is highly amusing, but there again I need to get out more as well

Who are you then mate, Everett True? What you say may well be true (Mother Love Bone, Green River and Soundgarden etc all started well before 91/92) but if you asked your average Mag in 89 what "Grunge" was he wouldn't have a clue. He may well on the other hand have gone to the match on a Saturday and spent the rest of the night dancing in a field off his tits on cheap speed or bad e's.

You may be bettern putting on a rave in a field somewhere......Grunge didn't rear it's ugly head for a good 2-3 years later, by which time we were nearly in division 3

Anyone seen this lass wandering around town? The Sun are claiming she's a "Geordie" but that could mean shes from anywhere between Scarbrough and Dunbar http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showb...icle2390275.ece