Time for fans to stop moaning

[Happy Face 29]

Yet if you look at the 12'000 who turned up at Middlesbrough to greet Alfonso Alves it would never get a mention. Despite the hula dances and the fact he was a bigger flop than Owen.

 

 

'Queen Amidalla and Jar Jar Binks welcome Alves to the Boro'

[Renton 18013]

Come on. It's patronising horseshit.

 

"Many Newcastle supporters are sensible."

 

 

What an exclusive.

 

He calls the 20,000 kids that turn up to welcome Owen in the sunshine during the school holiday nitwits, as if the few fans with a brain cell should be embarrassed by them, and you think it's sympathetic?

 

You've cherry picked one quote from the whole article there, as you did with the Shepherd quote in which you missed the point. It's a daft article but nowhere near as offensive as 90% of the articles we have had to put up with. It makes me wonder what type of article a journalist would have to write without this board being up in arms about something. It just makes us look overly-precious imo.

[Guest alex]

Like the way he seems think that he's stumbled across something no other journalists have been clever enough to pick up on.

[Happy Face 29]

Come on. It's patronising horseshit.

 

"Many Newcastle supporters are sensible."

 

 

What an exclusive.

 

He calls the 20,000 kids that turn up to welcome Owen in the sunshine during the school holiday nitwits, as if the few fans with a brain cell should be embarrassed by them, and you think it's sympathetic?

 

You've cherry picked one quote from the whole article there, as you did with the Shepherd quote in which you missed the point. It's a daft article but nowhere near as offensive as 90% of the articles we have had to put up with. It makes me wonder what type of article a journalist would have to write without this board being up in arms about something. It just makes us look overly-precious imo.

 

You mean two quotes?

 

I've been fairly consistent in slagging off most of the articles people have generally viewed as positive. I think 90% of sports journalism is uninformed drivell. I'll not lube up just because one of the proven arseholes damns us with faint praise.

 

I did misread that section you picked up on. He is saying we could make a profit though, which is a crock.

Edited June 15, 2009 by Happy Face

[peasepud 59]

Well I sent an edited version of my post to Patrick with the thought that it may be used in some form of debate that could open up, you know like democratically and shit? as newspapers are meant to do.

 

Heres what I sent.

 

Sir,

 

I read with interest your piece on how Newcastle United fans should take control of the club by purchasing it Barcelona style.

 

Many commentators, journalists and rival fans perceive us NUFC fans to be a deluded bunch, a belief that we are bigger than we really are, that we deserve success and more worryingly that we can take over the world with our huge numbers. In reality its merely a handful of toon fans that think that way, no more than any other club.

 

Its with this in mind that I'd like to question your logic on us buying the club, you yourself using Barcelona as the model of success.

 

You state that 200,000 fans would each need to merely put in £375 each to purchase the club for £75million, that's great, now all we need do is find 200,000 Newcastle fans willing to invest that kind of money. As you said, it may be less than the price of a Season Ticket but don't forget many of these fans would still need to buy one of those as well otherwise the club would die before the ink was dry on the purchase contracts.

 

It may be half a pint of beer a day or maybe you could put it as a full months mortgage/ rent to many fans, I'm sure Norther Rock won't have a problem if we tell people not to pay their mortgage this month and hand it over to the club instead.

 

The very Barcelona model you allude to has 156,000 fans paying 115 euros, 156k fans from a fan base that is reported to be 44million worldwide (that means 0.35% are members!), for a club that are not only the Champions of Europe but definitely one of the biggest in the world.

 

Now contrast that to our club now sitting in the 2nd tier of English football, one that's been stripped of its assets and dignity by a man who believes a football club can be run like a cheap tat shop. Do that comparison and then believe that we can get 50k more fans than Barcelona to invest three times as much (and then some) into this club.

 

Now is not the time for articles like this, we don't need to be told how easy it is for an idiot to purchase a football club, we've already been there, seen that and bought the book. If there is one sorry lesson we can take from the mess that is the football club we love it is that any idiot can buy a football club but not just any idiot can run one.

 

Newcastle United fans however have already googled the term Supporters Direct, the Newcastle United Supporters Club (NUSC) is in the final stages of becoming a Supporters Trust, their long term vision and work will hopefully lead one day to fans having a say within the corridors of power at our once great club. I'm sure they would be more than willing to talk you through their plans and vision for the future Patrick.

 

 

Yours,

 

And heres the reply I received.

 

 

I know all this - people seem to think I just blithely write articles without thinking the subject through more carefully (I dare say) than any reader, because it is my job to do so. I have been attending St James' Park since the Westwood days, Camp Nou since Carles Rexach was a player and yet still I get lectures like yours. It's just as well The Times pay me! If NU fans are not willing to put their hands in their pockets, fine. But they can't at the same time claim to be passionate about their club or to love it.

 

PS If you read the bloody piece again you'll find that I'm not one of those journalists who patronise NU fans. If people took as much care in reading as I do in writing, this job would be a lot less frustrating. I suppose it's the peril of the interactive age.

 

[ewerk 26762]

Are you fucking joking? Well done Patrick on actually avoiding any of the points raised.

[The Fish 9169]

That's incredible. For a man who purports to provide for readers, he hasn't managed to read your own letter and has, instead, scribbled a knee jerk reaction in the style of a scalded child.

[NJS 3992]

By that logic only Barcelona have passionate fans. I'd love him to explain that to fans of Celtic, Rangers, Marseille, the Belgrade clubs, Athletic Bilbao and Dynamo Kiev (chosen because they are the miost passionate I have come across) or indeed the fans of any one of thousands of fans across the world.

 

Unless you put your money where your mouth is you have no rights to anything - a wonderful philosophy.

[ewerk 26762]

It may also have been an idea to ask him how he suggests that the fans also cover the £34 million loss last year.

[Renton 18013]

Well done for trying Pud. What a strangely aggressive reply to your polite response, it read like a (shit) post from any old footy messageboard, and I get the impression he didn't bother reading past your first two paragraphs. As you say, you'd have thought Picard would welcome some constructive feedback but apparently not. Disappointing.

[snakehips 0]

Well I sent an edited version of my post to Patrick with the thought that it may be used in some form of debate that could open up, you know like democratically and shit? as newspapers are meant to do.

 

Heres what I sent.

 

Sir,

 

I read with interest your piece on how Newcastle United fans should take control of the club by purchasing it Barcelona style.

 

Many commentators, journalists and rival fans perceive us NUFC fans to be a deluded bunch, a belief that we are bigger than we really are, that we deserve success and more worryingly that we can take over the world with our huge numbers. In reality its merely a handful of toon fans that think that way, no more than any other club.

 

Its with this in mind that I'd like to question your logic on us buying the club, you yourself using Barcelona as the model of success.

 

You state that 200,000 fans would each need to merely put in £375 each to purchase the club for £75million, that's great, now all we need do is find 200,000 Newcastle fans willing to invest that kind of money. As you said, it may be less than the price of a Season Ticket but don't forget many of these fans would still need to buy one of those as well otherwise the club would die before the ink was dry on the purchase contracts.

 

It may be half a pint of beer a day or maybe you could put it as a full months mortgage/ rent to many fans, I'm sure Norther Rock won't have a problem if we tell people not to pay their mortgage this month and hand it over to the club instead.

 

The very Barcelona model you allude to has 156,000 fans paying 115 euros, 156k fans from a fan base that is reported to be 44million worldwide (that means 0.35% are members!), for a club that are not only the Champions of Europe but definitely one of the biggest in the world.

 

Now contrast that to our club now sitting in the 2nd tier of English football, one that's been stripped of its assets and dignity by a man who believes a football club can be run like a cheap tat shop. Do that comparison and then believe that we can get 50k more fans than Barcelona to invest three times as much (and then some) into this club.

 

Now is not the time for articles like this, we don't need to be told how easy it is for an idiot to purchase a football club, we've already been there, seen that and bought the book. If there is one sorry lesson we can take from the mess that is the football club we love it is that any idiot can buy a football club but not just any idiot can run one.

 

Newcastle United fans however have already googled the term Supporters Direct, the Newcastle United Supporters Club (NUSC) is in the final stages of becoming a Supporters Trust, their long term vision and work will hopefully lead one day to fans having a say within the corridors of power at our once great club. I'm sure they would be more than willing to talk you through their plans and vision for the future Patrick.

 

 

Yours,

 

And heres the reply I received.

 

 

I know all this - people seem to think I just blithely write articles without thinking the subject through more carefully (I dare say) than any reader, because it is my job to do so. I have been attending St James' Park since the Westwood days, Camp Nou since Carles Rexach was a player and yet still I get lectures like yours. It's just as well The Times pay me! If NU fans are not willing to put their hands in their pockets, fine. But they can't at the same time claim to be passionate about their club or to love it.

 

PS If you read the bloody piece again you'll find that I'm not one of those journalists who patronise NU fans. If people took as much care in reading as I do in writing, this job would be a lot less frustrating. I suppose it's the peril of the interactive age.

 

 

'Camp Nou' . Yet the latest trend in football supporting bullshit. From as long as I can remember (and I'm no spring chicken), British football fans have called it the Nou Camp, but it's now trendy to call it Camp Nou and show everyone how knowledgeable you are.

[Meenzer 14135]

If NU fans are not willing to put their hands in their pockets, fine. But they can't at the same time claim to be passionate about their club or to love it.

 

Wow. What an utter cretin.

[David Kelly 1117]

Patronising response after a patronising article in the first place. And the if NU fans won't put their hands in their pockets comment is a fucking disgrace tbh. I'd like to know on how many occassions "since the Westwood days" he's actually paid his own money to come to St James'. We're the ones who've been funding the club since those days and before and he has the nerve to say we aren't pasionate about our club.

 

Rank him alongside Bruce. Cunt!

[Kitman 2188]

It's a very strange viewpoint from Barclay. I imagine Barcelona was bought by the fans back in the day. The circumstances now are completely different. Yet he uses it to pillory toon fans. I can't get my head round it really.

[Renton 18013]

I don't like this bit either - 'It's just as well The Times pay me!'

 

It sounds a bit boastful (i.e. he's being paid to do a job most of us would love) and there's a smug implication of superiority, that he has to suffer tiresome morons like us as a negative part of his job. The more I think about this response the more wound up I'm getting tbh, I'd love someone to send another response covering some of the issues raised in this thread.

 

TheTimes is my paper poison of choice, but recently their opinion articles on us has stretched my patience to breaking point.

[The Fish 9169]

I read the bit about pay to mean that if he didn't get paid he'd not suffer the "lectures" that he gets from readers

[Craig 6321]

I don't like this bit either - 'It's just as well The Times pay me!'

 

It sounds a bit boastful (i.e. he's being paid to do a job most of us would love) and there's a smug implication of superiority, that he has to suffer tiresome morons like us as a negative part of his job. The more I think about this response the more wound up I'm getting tbh, I'd love someone to send another response covering some of the issues raised in this thread.

 

TheTimes is my paper poison of choice, but recently their opinion articles on us has stretched my patience to breaking point.

 

Self admission that he's talking absolute twaddle IYAM

[peasepud 59]

I don't like this bit either - 'It's just as well The Times pay me!'

 

It sounds a bit boastful (i.e. he's being paid to do a job most of us would love) and there's a smug implication of superiority, that he has to suffer tiresome morons like us as a negative part of his job. The more I think about this response the more wound up I'm getting tbh, I'd love someone to send another response covering some of the issues raised in this thread.

 

TheTimes is my paper poison of choice, but recently their opinion articles on us has stretched my patience to breaking point.

 

Self admission that he's talking absolute twaddle IYAM

 

hmmm notice he hasnt replied to my last mail

[nufc4ever 0]

Well I sent an edited version of my post to Patrick with the thought that it may be used in some form of debate that could open up, you know like democratically and shit? as newspapers are meant to do.

 

Heres what I sent.

 

Sir,

 

I read with interest your piece on how Newcastle United fans should take control of the club by purchasing it Barcelona style.

 

Many commentators, journalists and rival fans perceive us NUFC fans to be a deluded bunch, a belief that we are bigger than we really are, that we deserve success and more worryingly that we can take over the world with our huge numbers. In reality its merely a handful of toon fans that think that way, no more than any other club.

 

Its with this in mind that I'd like to question your logic on us buying the club, you yourself using Barcelona as the model of success.

 

You state that 200,000 fans would each need to merely put in £375 each to purchase the club for £75million, that's great, now all we need do is find 200,000 Newcastle fans willing to invest that kind of money. As you said, it may be less than the price of a Season Ticket but don't forget many of these fans would still need to buy one of those as well otherwise the club would die before the ink was dry on the purchase contracts.

 

It may be half a pint of beer a day or maybe you could put it as a full months mortgage/ rent to many fans, I'm sure Norther Rock won't have a problem if we tell people not to pay their mortgage this month and hand it over to the club instead.

 

The very Barcelona model you allude to has 156,000 fans paying 115 euros, 156k fans from a fan base that is reported to be 44million worldwide (that means 0.35% are members!), for a club that are not only the Champions of Europe but definitely one of the biggest in the world.

 

Now contrast that to our club now sitting in the 2nd tier of English football, one that's been stripped of its assets and dignity by a man who believes a football club can be run like a cheap tat shop. Do that comparison and then believe that we can get 50k more fans than Barcelona to invest three times as much (and then some) into this club.

 

Now is not the time for articles like this, we don't need to be told how easy it is for an idiot to purchase a football club, we've already been there, seen that and bought the book. If there is one sorry lesson we can take from the mess that is the football club we love it is that any idiot can buy a football club but not just any idiot can run one.

 

Newcastle United fans however have already googled the term Supporters Direct, the Newcastle United Supporters Club (NUSC) is in the final stages of becoming a Supporters Trust, their long term vision and work will hopefully lead one day to fans having a say within the corridors of power at our once great club. I'm sure they would be more than willing to talk you through their plans and vision for the future Patrick.

 

 

Yours,

 

And heres the reply I received.

 

 

I know all this - people seem to think I just blithely write articles without thinking the subject through more carefully (I dare say) than any reader, because it is my job to do so. I have been attending St James' Park since the Westwood days, Camp Nou since Carles Rexach was a player and yet still I get lectures like yours. It's just as well The Times pay me! If NU fans are not willing to put their hands in their pockets, fine. But they can't at the same time claim to be passionate about their club or to love it.

 

PS If you read the bloody piece again you'll find that I'm not one of those journalists who patronise NU fans. If people took as much care in reading as I do in writing, this job would be a lot less frustrating. I suppose it's the peril of the interactive age.

 

 

That's absolutely incredible. What a moron he is.

[peasepud 59]

Fuck me he just doesnt know when to stop does he?

 

Latest reply

 

Of course you're disappointed. You are representative of an age in which the reader thinks he knows as much as the writer. Actually every other response to my piece has been sensible and one guy actually came up with a brilliant phrase - fellow Newcastle fans, he said, would rather be moaners than owners. That was the point behind my piece - forget your 'vision' and all that claptrap (God, if I had a penny for every time I'd heard those platitudes) and get on with it. Get on with it! Put your hand in your pocket. Wait 6 months and NU might be out of your price range for ever.

[themags 0]

the guy is clearly a tosser

 

maybe he should put his hand in his pocket and help get his beloved Dundee out of the scottish first division

[Happy Face 29]

Fuck me he just doesnt know when to stop does he?

 

Latest reply

 

Of course you're disappointed. You are representative of an age in which the reader thinks he knows as much as the writer. Actually every other response to my piece has been sensible and one guy actually came up with a brilliant phrase - fellow Newcastle fans, he said, would rather be moaners than owners. That was the point behind my piece - forget your 'vision' and all that claptrap (God, if I had a penny for every time I'd heard those platitudes) and get on with it. Get on with it! Put your hand in your pocket. Wait 6 months and NU might be out of your price range for ever.

 

Keep at him PP. Some of this is gold.

 

He MUST be right if his opinion fits into a (not particularly brilliant) soundbite. Patrik Barclay would rather talk shite than get it right.

[smoggeordie 0]

Fuck me he just doesnt know when to stop does he?

 

Latest reply

 

Of course you're disappointed. You are representative of an age in which the reader thinks he knows as much as the writer. Actually every other response to my piece has been sensible and one guy actually came up with a brilliant phrase - fellow Newcastle fans, he said, would rather be moaners than owners. That was the point behind my piece - forget your 'vision' and all that claptrap (God, if I had a penny for every time I'd heard those platitudes) and get on with it. Get on with it! Put your hand in your pocket. Wait 6 months and NU might be out of your price range for ever.

 

Aye, because 100m is well within my our budget like

[Happy Face 29]

Fuck me he just doesnt know when to stop does he?

 

Latest reply

 

every other response to my piece has been sensible

 

 

Looking at the Have your say section, that's clearly a lie, but the most sensible ones tell him he's talking shite...

 

Have your say

 

Did someone say they are selling Newcastle for £400.00. Doh! Should have waited a couple of years.

R Abramovich, London,

 

So once 100,000 people have bought NUFC - they are all going to agree on who should be chairman/manager/players? Or is this simply the most unrealistic proposal of all time?

Peter, Whitley Bay,

 

 

Meanwhile....back in reality......ho hum.

Kenneth in Harrow, London, England

 

SOUNDS GREAT ,PITY ABOUT UNEMPLOYMENT IN N EAST HIGHEST, IN COUNTRY,AGAIN,GET IN THE REAL WORLD,NOT MANY HACKS IN THE DOLE SYSTEM,LIFES SO SIMPLE FOR YOU PEOPLE,GET IN THE REAL WORLD,PAL.

james nathan, newcastle upon tyne, tyne&wear

 

 

I think it is an over simplistic view to say the fans should buy the club. Mostly, all we crave is a good owner and some money made to be made available to the manager to buy some decent players and a solid start to make up for the mistakes made in the past.

Ian, Newcastle,

 

Tim Hannah is having a laugh- Chelski and ManU are brands attracting glory hunters from way outside their locale. To expect Newcastle fans to stump up more money in the week season tickets go out during a recession is a bit much. The fans have never claimed any right to success, by the way... yawn.

Keith, Gateshead, UK

 

Near £400 to buy the club is reasonable. But how are we meant to pay for players wages, transfers...etc

Barcelona are a worldwide brand with the whole of Catalonia behind them. Bilbao have the whole of the Basque are, plus they only have players from Basque area, so they don't pay transfers.

Josh, Gateshead, England

 

 

I've wasted tens of thousands watching under acheiving dross at St James since 1982 so I suppose another £750 (on top of my £598 season ticket) for absolutely no reward will just be par for the course really.

David Caisley, N Shields,

 

 

"These people were not among the 20,000 nitwits who, when Shepherd signed Michael Owen in 2005, packed the Gallowgate End"

 

Very unfair Patrick.

95% of the people at Owens unveiling were schoolkids who were off on their summer hols.

You would have noticed this if you had done your research.

ijjc, Felling,

 

 

Paddy, i doubt that they sell 200,000 shirts at £40 a head let alone find £375 each. That of course is just the begining, if you look at the real cost of ownership buyout, proof of management competence to satisfy the FA, running costs and liabilities, it's probably closer to £1k each. Non-Starter.

jonners, weybridge,

 

 

£75 million is only the beginning...where is the rest of the money coming from?

paul, South Shields,

 

We are very much aware of Supporters Direct, and Newcastle United Supporters Trust are in the final stages of changing over to a Supporters Trust status.

Tom Lynch, Newcastle upon Tyne,

Edited June 18, 2009 by Happy Face

[Craig 6321]

Fuck me he just doesnt know when to stop does he?

 

Latest reply

 

Of course you're disappointed. You are representative of an age in which the reader thinks he knows as much as the writer. Actually every other response to my piece has been sensible and one guy actually came up with a brilliant phrase - fellow Newcastle fans, he said, would rather be moaners than owners. That was the point behind my piece - forget your 'vision' and all that claptrap (God, if I had a penny for every time I'd heard those platitudes) and get on with it. Get on with it! Put your hand in your pocket. Wait 6 months and NU might be out of your price range for ever.

 

Brilliant in the sense that it concurred with your article, eh Patrick?

 

How the fuck does he know that wasn't a Mackem anyhow. If he wants true representation of Newcastle United fans, he should spend some time on here - not writing the complete bollocks he's coming up with day after day.

 

Evidently thinks your a post-1992 bandwagon jumper as well Pud going by his second sentence. Must say though that sentence is pretty fucking arrogant. Barclay you evidently know absolutely fuck all!