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Falling apart


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Where do we go from here? Things are getting worse and the noise coming from the confused flap of Joe Kinnear about a new 2-year contract for him are simply sending thousands of us into absolute despair. If Kinnear is the answer then what is the fucking question? Until now Kinnear has been tolerated by supporters - but if this is going to be a permanent arrangement then the future is postponed.

 

There are reasons why Kinnear was out of work for God knows how long after he bombed at Forest just as there are reasons why Peter Lovenkrads was released from his contract at Schalke. It’s because they aren’t up to it. We have seen enough now of Kinnear to know he is tactically clueless, his teams are completely one-dimensional, he has no flexibility to his approach and there is not one player under his tutelage performing any better now than they were prior to his arrival, though Shay Given is getting more opportunities to show his class than is good for our collective mental health. Over-weight and out of date. There is not one area of our play where we can say we are improved under Kinnear.

 

Defensively, we are an absolute joke. Hopeful punts down the middle aren’t dealt with and players are just not doing the basics of defending i.e. the tracking back and other dirty jobs. In midfield, it doesn’t matter who is in the team, it’s the same old laboured, one-paced, clueless bollocks and up front, well, up front is something we haven’t seen enough of quite honestly. Kinnear is out of his depth. All of the stuff about blaming the referee after Blackburn is fooling noone! We were shit and he didn’t have enough craft and guile to fashion a result against a very, very poor team. His lack of personal discipline whilst at first entertaining in an eccentric way is now embarrassing and once again, after the Hull game reveals the histrionics of a man who believes passion involves behaving like a pissed up jakey whose had his last half bottle of cider stolen from him. A joke manager on appointment and a joke manager today but please God, not in the summer. Kinnear is an appalling example to players who are now severely losing the plot! Nicky Butt – a more committed model of professionalism we have not had in recent seasons – totally lost it at Ewood Park – two ridiculous yellow card offences borne doubtless of frustration but which will cost us dear. Joey Barton, once again drawing attention to himself for non-footballing reasons. Of course he was right about Enrique trotting back like he didn’t have a fucking care in the world and not tracking his man. But fucking hell, keep it for the dressing room, man eh? He wasn’t trying to show us how much he cares was he? We’re not that fucking gullible, man! But how can Kinnear say anything to them when his response to criticism about his own lack of discipline is a shrug of the shoulders and the plaintive response – it’s just the way I am. Idiot. Be a fucking professional.

 

Then again, talk of a 2-year contract for Kinnear could be the voices he hears in his own head or it could be more of the bull-shit he’s had fed to him by Ashley, Wise and Llambias because he says one thing one day and the opposite the next to have a few of us wondering whether his invisible bosses are just taking the piss out of poor old Joe.

 

Kinnear has told us he is thinking over a very lucrative offer from NUFC. He wants to have a word with his wife about moving up norf permanently. Joe - do yourself a favour, bank the loot you’ve already had off Ashley and go back to pruning the roses. You might not make any dough but you’ll keep what remains of your dignity and your sanity. This NUFC thang isn’t your gig bonny lad. Get to May, get some of that reported £30K a match lolly in your poke and start having a look at those brochures for quiet holidays in Madeira or some such. If Kinnear is indeed our permanent manager-elect then Ashley is indeed embarked upon a mission to empty the stands at SJP come August.

 

The latest rubbish is of him going to watch a player in France to decide whether he wants him. It’s the fucking 18th of January and we haven’t closed in on our targets? What kind of shambles is this? What kind of operation is Ashley and his London-based lieutenant presiding over? Meetings last week to persuade Ashley to release funds? What was the patter about available funds in November and December? Fucking amateurs the lot of them.

 

 

We have indulged Kinnear so far because frankly, we have had little option but now he is showing himself for everything we feared he’d be on appointment – Dennis Wise’s bitch. Read this shit from the whopper:

 

"Our biggest problem is a lack of strength in depth. Why wasn't it addressed by the previous two managers? I am carrying the can for it."

 

No Joe, the last two managers operated wholly under Ashley and were not given funds to buy the players required. Had KK been given modest funds you would still be down the fucking bowls club. Even Allardyce who on the whole bought very badly told us he didn’t think Cacapa and Rozenhal were up to it but had no wedge to bring in any better. He was right. As for KK, Joe, were you fucking paying attention in the summer? Did you notice why KK was so unhappy about being used as a patsy (in my opinion) by the despicable cunt Wise? You know, the KK you have had a pop at in that thick way of yours. You do realise why you ended up with the job in the first place don’t you? It was because no one decent would touch it with a fucking bargepole and you have made a twat of yourself sticking up for Ashley, proving your lack of credibility. KK wasn’t perfect but he worked for Newcastle United whereas you work for Mike Ashley. And that is the nub.

 

Then of course there is Kinnear opening his flap about Lucas Neill and setting West Ham off on one about a possible approach being made to one of their players without their permission. Unprofessional in my opinion! And another thing – Lucas Neill? Jesus!

 

And then there is the question, if we get to the close season with Kinnear as manager, what player worth his salt would play for this clown? Not that he will have any say in who comes and goes – that’s Dennis Wise’s area as we persist with a model for management on the football side which just does not work in this country and which will never work in this country. And with people, namely Wise who are just not up to it and who compound their lack of ability by their sheer cuntishness. I mean, why give Shola Ameobi a 3-year contract extension on the strength of what he has put in this season? Whose judgement is so shot as to make that decision?

 

What can we do? Well, it seems there are too many who can’t observe the boycott of all things NUFC as has been recommended in the past. Some actually believe problems are being caused by the moderate protests there have been so far, which I’ll admit has me bewildered. The problems are being caused by Ashley and the clueless bastards he has running the operation and the lack of resources going in. The simple fact of the matter is whatever happens with supporters is underway now and is happening of its own volition – people are chucking it. Direct debits are being cancelled and Mags are promising this is the last. Whether that threat is carried through from the most voluble remains to be seen but it is the supporters who are more quietly resigned who will be more likely to be on the point of walking away. And the feeling in my water is there are thousands at that stage. Anger is an energy but apathy is getting a hold of a big section of our support in a way I’ve not seen since the days of the late 80s when McKeag and Co. had flogged off the golden trinity of Waddle-Beardsley-Gascoigne and we said hello to Pingel, R McDonald, Fereday and a host of others that still make Mags of a certain vintage wake up in a cold sweat almost twenty years later.

 

Will we go down? Who knows but one thing is for certain and that was a relegation performance at Blackburn after it went 1-0. There is no question about that. Heads dropped and whilst Kinnear has spoken about his fears for Guitteraz fitness delaying his arrival, we’ve seen this dithering before – namely away at the Mackems when it took him an eternity to take off a completely ineffectual Geremi stuck out wide when we were being over-run in the middle.

 

Reading the local press over the weekend its now obvious local journalists have completely lost it with the club. Malcolm Macdonald (The Chronicle) articulated something I’ve heard for a while from Mags and that is if we survive this season and something big doesn’t happen over the summer then Ashley-Wise-Llambias-Kinnear are simply delaying the inevitable and we’ll slip away next season. That was a point echoed by John Gibson (The Chronicle) who rightly pointed at the quality of player who wants to leave (Given, Owen) and the quality being brought in (Lovenkrads). Neil Farrington of the Sunday Sun was particularly toxic in his assessment of the incompetence and lack of commitment running amok on Barrack Road. All of them are right and the acid criticism of the bastards running our club has now moved from the dark corners of fanzine-world and into the mainstream. What kept you?

 

It was sobering to hear our ex-No.9 Alan Shearer on Match of the Day talk about his worry for his club and our’s. Is this the “moving together in 2009” bull-shit put out by Ashley?

 

We should never get used to being treated like shit by Ashley. We should never stop wanting the best for our football club because we should never surrender our love for Newcastle United. But we have reached the stage where even those of us with a burning rage at how our club is being shafted are becoming weary and defeated at banging a drum not enough people are responding to. This is the worst of times but I fear we haven’t touched the bottom yet.

 

 

Keep On, Keepin’ On …

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Fuck me thats a) Depressing but B ) Accurate.

 

MA would do well to read that, then again, I think he is doing what he can to spend as little as he can, get the season over with a get rid of the club.

Edited by JawD
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A Depressingly good piece.

 

"we said hello to Pingel, R McDonald, Fereday and a host of others that still make Mags of a certain vintage wake up in a cold sweat almost twenty years later."

 

If Ashley doesn't sell in the summer then despondency and sleepless nights are our future.FFS someone pass me the Ludes.

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Good Article.

 

If we can all see what is going wrong, why can't the fat man who has invested a couple of hundred million?

 

You just get the impression He couldn't give a fuck.

 

I honestly thought when he took the club of the market he would protect his own interests and invest reasonably in January - to the tune of £15-20m, I honestly believed that.

 

I don't get the impression anybody involved really cares, and the feeling inside the ground has been almost apathetic in some quarters - bar a few games we have looked decent anyway.

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Good Article.

 

If we can all see what is going wrong, why can't the fat man who has invested a couple of hundred million?

 

You just get the impression He couldn't give a fuck.

 

I honestly thought when he took the club of the market he would protect his own interests and invest reasonably in January - to the tune of £15-20m, I honestly believed that.

 

I don't get the impression anybody involved really cares, and the feeling inside the ground has been almost apathetic in some quarters - bar a few games we have looked decent anyway.

same here

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The thing I don't quite undestand is why Ashley doesn't appear to want to protect his investment.

 

An outlay of 15-20 M would protect premiership status but if we go down what would the club be worth? Something is fishy here, I wonder the true magnitude of Ashley's recent losses on the stock market... is he having financial troubles?

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Has .com's two penneth been posted?

 

The blame game

 

 

Turmoil in Toon once again then, and the only club employee who says anything in public is at pains to point out that none of this is his fault.

 

There again, given the amount of blarney & b*ll*cks JFK has spoken since arriving here, taking his stream of consciousness outbursts at face value is about as useful as sponsoring Viduka in the Great North Run...

 

Rather than blaming Keegan and Allardyce for the team selection problems he faces though, Joe should consider exactly why those two managers exited from SJP.

 

Kinnear is missing the point by pointing the finger at the current crop of injuries. Although the club has failed to help itself by signing physically and emotionally suspect players in recent years, the flaws are more long-term.

 

God knows what he was doing before he popped up here, but those of us who suffer this crud first-hand are only too aware of our repeated inability to either develop

or sign players in crucial positions.

 

Let's go back to August 2006, when we were moved to wonder just what the hell the club were playing at, as Glenn Roeder made a public trip to Rotterdam to watch Dirk Kuyt - although he'd already pledged to join Liverpool.

 

Our squad shortcomings were all-too evident at that point, with frantic late transfer activity seeing the arrival of messrs Sibierski, Rossi and Bernard - one trier who was a worthwhile addition, one loanee who was rarely played and one complete waste of time who never appeared.

 

Successive transfer windows saw Roeder's successors try and fail to make suitable signings. That culminated in the events of August 2008 that saw Milner depart, closely followed by Keegan, but still no signings in the areas we were patently lacking in then - and remain so now.

 

Joe may also reflect on the fact that regardless of who is to blame for our demise, the fact he's within a country mile of a top-flight football club is purely because any credible candidate could see us for what we are - left high and dry, failing to back up words with deeds.

 

Those responsible for the financing and recruitment of the squad should be. Some blame should be apportioned to Freddy Shepherd, but the fingers should be pointing fairly and squarely in the direction of Ashley and Wise.

 

The most depressing news about this club in 2009 isn't the on-field strife - it's the fact that Kinnear has been offered a long-term contract. Allegedly.

 

Previous to that, we believed that fans and players would tough things out until the end of this season, hoping that we'd retain our top-flight status, jettison Joe and try to reinvent ourselves yet again.

 

Now that no longer looks to be the case - which may well have drastic ramifications in both the stands and the dressing room, as people on both sides simply throw in the towel, abandoning their seats/squad numbers.

 

In a way though Joe's permanent appointment would complete the circle: meaning that the club was being owned, run and overseen at all levels by people with no credible track record in the game - and who can't even play the Geordie patriotism card like the previous mob.

 

And even if three teams can conspire to finish below us in the final league table, we're struggling to see any grounds for optimism when considering next season.

 

The thought of watching Shola Ameobi lead United out to a half-empty stadium hardly gets our pulses racing - with a catastrophic drop in season ticket and corporate sales.

 

So what's the answer?

 

Splashing the cash is only part of the answer, given our unsurpassed track record of lavish and useless purchases.

 

If the current administration are unable or unwilling to sell up and ship out, then they have to try and reverse the feeling that the whole club is going to rack and ruin and being run into the ground - it's 1991 all over again.

 

On current evidence they haven't got the first idea of how to do that - and have already passed up their best opportunity to salvage any credibility, given the amateurish performance so far in this transfer window.

 

In fairness though, you would question the motives - or sanity - of anyone who wanted to join Newcastle in their current state. One phone call from Stephane Mbia to his Cameroonian compatriot Geremi would surely be enough to blow that transfer out of the water at any price...

 

There's a danger that those "upstairs" confuse the current lack of public agitation from fans with their acceptance of the situation - that will be shown up as folly come May.

 

Empty seats don't make any noise, or bring in any cash.

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And even if three teams can conspire to finish below us in the final league table, we're struggling to see any grounds for optimism when considering next season.

 

The thought of watching Shola Ameobi lead United out to a half-empty stadium hardly gets our pulses racing - with a catastrophic drop in season ticket and corporate sales.

 

Next season. <_<

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