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The Secret Diary of Lee Ryder (aged 44 and a half)


Craig
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Maybe Ryder did a 'work experience' week at the Ronny Gill but never went back to school and nobody realised?

 

When you fall short of the Alan Oliver benchmark you know you're bad.

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Maybe Ryder did a 'work experience' week at the Ronny Gill but never went back to school and nobody realised?

 

When you fall short of the Alan Oliver benchmark you know you're bad.

He falls short of any benchmark you care to mention.
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I had a friend who worked at the Chronicle in the 90s whilst a student and I used to wander in past security all the time to meet her. I used to wander round the main office without being challenged and even hover over Oliver's desk to see what his 'my understanding is' story was that day. So the Ryder wandering in off the streets theory might not be too far off.

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"There have been suggestions that Ashley wasn’t happy with Newcastle’s overall performance last season."

 

A great mind of our time at work there.

 

 

 

 

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Lee Ryder

By Lee Ryder

 

Lee Ryder: Can the unlikely double act of Kinnear and Pardew turn into a United partnership?

20 Jun 2013 12:00

 

Lee Ryder on how Derek Llambias began to realise his days were numbered at St James’ Park – and why the chemistry between Joe Kinnear and Alan Pardew must be just right

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Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew

 

It was during the aftermath of Newcastle United’s crushing 6-0 defeat against Liverpool that the winds of change at St James’ Park began to whip up into what has turned into a major storm on Tyneside.

 

The Chronicle understands that while some United fans trudged down Gallowgate side-streets in a state of utter disbelief after the shocking defeat the departing managing director Derek Llambias and his board were left in a state of despair.

 

Mike Ashley was absent that day but nobody would have wanted to deliver the news of what had gone wrong.

 

In the heat of the scorching defeat against the Reds the former casino boss, who is close to manager Alan Pardew and championed handing him a massive eight-year contract, is thought to have blamed himself for some of the problems that went on last season.

 

But that was merely a sign of the affection he had built up for the club during his five-year tenure and evidence that Newcastle United simply gets under your skin – no matter where you are from.

 

Tellingly, Llambias said in a statement yesterday he would be a fan for life.

 

Yet if the expression on Ashley’s face after the inept 3-0 loss to bitter rivals Sunderland, who ended last season below the Magpies, wasn’t a big enough indication of his anger – then the subsequent call for a thorough examination of where it all went so wrong last term surely showed that the Toon tycoon wasn’t chuffed about what he was getting back for his investment.

 

It is during the end-of-season meetings in which Ashley wanted answers from both Llambias and Pardew as to why it had gone so wrong, so quickly and what was being done to improve for the new season.

 

Whatever the questions were, the answer was new director of football Joe Kinnear.

 

There are unanswered questions on Tyneside too.

 

Ashley doesn’t do the media so it looks like the floor will be opened to Kinnear to answer the questions.

 

It is an arrangement that will need fine-tuning so that Kinnear and Pardew don’t get in a communication mix-up.

 

Few fans can understand why Kinnear is back at St James’ Park.

 

There have been suggestions that Ashley wasn’t happy with Newcastle’s overall performance last season.

 

Comments from Pardew in the build-up to the trip to Queens Park Rangers may not have helped.

 

Back then Pardew said: “We know we’ve got an uncomfortable conversation regarding the form this year, the underachievement that’s been mentioned and everything else.

 

“It’ll be uncomfortable for us both, because we’ve both underachieved. Him as an owner and me as a manager.

 

“We need to find out what the reasons were and then it’s for Mike, and hopefully with me, to decide how to go forward.

 

“We have underachieved as a club.”

 

Yet Pardew remains in Toon, he remains in the dugout and he will still be the man picking the team and tactics.

 

It is familiarity for Newcastle fans, many of whom are prepared to persevere with him at the start of the season.

 

It is unlikely that the possibility of a director of football coming in to work at SJP features anywhere in Pardew’s long contract.

 

But whatever happened to Llambias’ statement that said Pardew was “allowed one bad season”?

 

Kinnear told the world of his new appointment a full two days before his role of director of football was officially announced.

 

At most clubs a quick change of manager would have sufficed.

 

But this is Newcastle we are talking about.

 

Why not spare us the pantomime?

 

If Kinnear is the man to turn Newcastle around, surely it would have been easier to appoint him as manager?

 

Instead it is now about how a relationship between Pardew and Kinnear, that could be inflammatory, can work.

 

Pardew has plenty of supporters on Tyneside, who feel that the situation isn’t entirely fair.

 

But he is strong enough to overcome the fear of being undermined.

 

At Newcastle he has dealt with problems as they come up and hasn’t worried about scenarios that “might or might not” happen too much.

 

Kinnear has already signalled that he won’t be interfering with tactics or selection.

 

If that is the case then Newcastle fans shouldn’t be hearing too much from Kinnear between September and January 1 when the window is closed for business.

 

Yet any manager worth his salt wants to have as much control as possible – and Pardew is no different. The control part is key for a manager.

 

He has to have as much control over his own destiny as possible.

 

If managers are being held responsible for results then they also want to be responsible for the team that is put out. However, Kinnear has already indicated he will be identifying the positions that need strengthening.

 

It is an intriguing situation but also a worrying one for fans.

 

In short, if Pardew wants a centre-back, he could be over-ruled by his director of football who believes that a striker is more important.

 

As it happens, Newcastle need both!

 

Confusion lingers in the humid Tyneside air right now.

 

But if there is one club that should know that a director of football model does not work, then it should be Newcastle United!

 

After all, it is only four years ago that the club was recovering from the impact of Dennis Wise’s work above Kevin Keegan in an ill-fated relationship that was never realistically going to work.

 

Back then, I recall being in a room at half-time during a Newcastle reserve game at Kingston Park with Wise and his crew stood at one side and Keegan and his backroom staff on the other. Not a word was said by either party.

 

There’s also the tale of Wise and Keegan turning up for a game in France, sat at either end of a row with no communication or consultation.

 

A director of football model can work, but the personalities and the chemistry has to be right.

 

We’re yet to see if it can work at all for Pardew and Kinnear.

 

A brief club statement on Tuesday rankled Newcastle fans even more yesterday.

 

It read: “Joe will report directly to the club’s Board as the senior executive in charge of all football-related matters.

 

“Chief scout Graham Carr and manager Alan Pardew will report in to Joe.”

 

The fact it was endorsed by Llambias who then resigned a day later continued the mockery. If it was a statement to let Pardew know his position in the pecking order then it’s surely done the trick.

 

Now though, whether anybody likes it or not, Kinnear is a man in power.

 

And for all the uproar about him coming in on a three-year deal, whatever fans’ views on the situation are – Newcastle have made it clear to their season ticket holders and club members that they are doing it regardless.

 

So Kinnear will be back at the training ground for the start of pre-season training.

 

Quite what “Yohan Kebab” and “Hatem Ben Afri” will make of it all remains to be seen.

 

Kinnear has already offended a host of Newcastle fans with his claim he has “more intelligence than them” and given most of the backroom staff at United are diehard black-and-whites it can’t have gone down well.

 

Although what will work in Kinnear’s favour is that he is already popular with the players who remember him from his first stint.

 

Steven Taylor went on record to welcome him back, while Jonas Gutierrez, Fabricio Coloccini, Tim Krul, Ryan Taylor and Shola Ameobi were all present during his last time at the club. Kinnear took over a set of players who were disillusioned and he tried his best to raise spirits.

 

And he attempted to rekindle his managerial methods from his Wimbledon days when players from the lower divisions had their confidence built up before being sent out to battle in the Premier League.

 

The stumbling block, though, is that Newcastle United is a million miles away from the old Crazy Gang.

 

When you have 50,000 people turning up every other week it isn’t about scrapping to survive – it is about matching the expectations fuelled by teams of the past like the Entertainers.

 

That alone is a hard enough job for the manager of Newcastle United.

 

The fact there is a political minefield in place at the training ground can only make that task even more difficult.

 

And for those fans who just want to see their beloved black-and-whites lift a trophy in their lifetime, it is hard to make a case for that happening any time soon.

 

I'd be on all day taking the piss out of this if I got started, judge for yourselves.

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Had a look at the Chronicle today whilst visiting an old Auntie. Had a quick look. Jesus his written work and style is fucking minging. :lol:

Borderline astonishing is what it is. I always though as a bairn journalists were people to be respected. How can you respect someone who drinks 5 cans of special brew every night. Some explain how you can, and I'll try.
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How did he get on with Jon Kildare last time he was in the HOTSEAT btw ?

 

Be interesting from a 'press access' / PR team supaskills / DekkaWasTheOne point of view to see how the papers play along or not . .

 

If JK is the fucking Overlord Of All up there, how long till he's pulling a Fergie and bladdering journalists for saying anything perceived as undermining HIS lofty position !?

 

----------

 

Dunno if in other threads etc. but also seeing Shearer's Bar is getting a timely refurb and name change at the moment (after Shearer had questioned Ashley in the press :lol:) does this show Ashley's got a right owld lip on and there's a canny bit venhom still to spit from his muted mental mush ?

 

More snidey Nutella sculptures in the pillowcase to come I rekon .

 

Right now the club's in need of a fucking classroom monitor as a priority over a new MD .

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How did he get on with Jon Kildare last time he was in the HOTSEAT btw ?

 

Be interesting from a 'press access' / PR team supaskills / DekkaWasTheOne point of view to see how the papers play along or not . .

 

If JK is the fucking Overlord Of All up there, how long till he's pulling a Fergie and bladdering journalists for saying anything perceived as undermining HIS lofty position !?

 

----------

 

Dunno if in other threads etc. but also seeing Shearer's Bar is getting a timely refurb and name change at the moment (after Shearer had questioned Ashley in the press :lol:) does this show Ashley's got a right owld lip on and there's a canny bit venhom still to spit from his muted mental mush ?

 

More snidey Nutella sculptures in the pillowcase to come I rekon .

 

Right now the club's in need of a fucking classroom monitor as a priority over a new MD .

 

Aye ok sure they made the shearers bar decision within a day of him having a go in the press.

 

 

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I'd say it's more to do with trying to move away from being a matchday/sports bar and trying to rebrand as something slightly more 'hip'. I could be totally wrong though.

 

The fact that they're holding an event for the Alan Shearer Foundation seems to indicate that they're trying to make a point that it's nothing against the man personally.

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Shearer showing him how to write an article. Spot on this....

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4976231/Joe-Kinnear-if-you-were-manager-would-you-stand-for-this.html

 

WHERE do we start?

 

What I do know is that right now people are laughing at the football club I support. And that sickens me.

I promised myself years ago never to be surprised by what happens in football — particularly when it comes to Newcastle.

But this situation really is stretching it a bit.

While other clubs are all plotting and planning for next season, Newcastle have a manager who has just been totally undermined.

Alan Pardew has said he will carry on but I am sure it will be a difficult situation.

I ask one question of Joe Kinnear: Would you stand for it, if you were manager?

Someone else coming out in the national media announcing they are the Director of Football before even the club have made it official.

Someone else basically taking control of who comes in and who goes out.

As for that announcement, what are the players to think when he can’t even get their names right.

It’s all a PR disaster.

Also, it’s no way to treat a man who 12 months ago was enjoying the fact he had been voted Manager of the Year for guiding Newcastle to fifth place in the Premier League.

His silence on the appointment of Kinnear himself over recent days said it all. But what could he say?

He is in such an intolerable position.

He can’t come out and slaughter his employers but at the same time he can’t agree with a situation which no manager would find comfortable.

Take this for a statement from then managing director Derek Llambias, or ‘Director of Football Derek Lambayzee’ if you prefer.

He said: “Joe will report directly to the club’s board as the senior executive in charge of all football related matters.

“Chief Scout Graham Carr and manager Alan Pardew will report into Joe.”

Pardew cannot stand for that, he was even named third in the statement when he should be the MOST important person on the staff.

As it is, the man who issued that statement resigned yesterday.

Clearly Llambias was too unhappy at what was going on. Why else would he go? I have another issue with Kinnear. Over the last few days he has banged on about how Newcastle would never have gone down had he not had his health problems and stayed on in the job to the end of the 2008-09 season.

The implication being that it was first Chris Hughton and then my fault for the club being relegated.

I had eight games as manager at the end of the season, won one, drew two and lost the rest. So, yes, I take my share of responsibility.

But Kinnear had 19 league games in charge that season and won just four, taking 20 points.

Indeed, before he was admitted to hospital with heart problems ahead of the West Brom away win on February 7, Newcastle had taken just two points from their previous 18.

Chris Hughton could not arrest the slide in his brief role as caretaker, and nor could I.

Given the downtrodden, disjointed group of players I took on, it would have been something special if I had.

So it’s about time Kinnear took some responsibility for what happened as well. It was a real eye-opener when I did take charge for those final games. The team wasn’t just a mess, the club was a mess.

Now I can’t say I know Mike Ashley well at all.

But he just keeps making too many decisions that are alienating the Newcastle fans, including the one that saw him even briefly rename St James’ Park.

After last season the club had the perfect opportunity to strengthen the side but it didn’t happen. And with the extra burden of the Europa League, Newcastle struggled.

Pardew did not become a bad manager overnight but he needs support this summer, not the rug pulled from under him.

I hope it all works out, I really do.

Kinnear has a good football background — if not quite the one he would have us think after that questionable interview.

Who knows, he may turn out to be the best director of football this country has ever had.

But, you know what? I just have this sneaking feeling that it will not all go quite to plan.

And who is left picking up the pieces again? Yes, the loyal fans.

Kinnear says they are Geordies who just want Geordies in charge.

What? Like Doncaster-born Kevin Keegan?

Kinnear has made it very difficult for himself with his public pronouncements from the start.

Right now the club is once again approaching a new season from a position of instability.

But still the fans will come. Still they will give their support.

Those 52,000 who turn up at the ground and the many more who remain loyal to the club.

Their patience is tested time and again.

They will not go away but they deserve better — much better.

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  • 2 weeks later...

He's doing quite a few Michael Owen pieces at the minute, here's a quick glimpse.....

 


 

Boardroom unrest resulted in Kevin Keegan quitting after a bitter row about transfers and Michael Owen and his United team-mates were left devastated by the ex-England manager’s exit

 

 

Michael Owen feels the moment Kevin Keegan walked away from Newcastle United for a second time the magic of St James’ Park went with him.
Many fans, of course, would argue it has not.

 

 

 

 

:lol:

 

 

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/michael-owen-reflects-sadness-shock-4749252

 

(If anyone's bothered). :D

 

 

Edited by Howmanheyman
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Saw his mush on the Chron as I walked past it the other day . Not sure why he's on this particular attempted charm offensive like ? Or why he's bean given the platform. Has Ryder written his autobiography and got it to sell or summit ? Can't give any time to what comes out the slippy little shit's mouth meself .

 

"I wasn't offered a new contract . . oh apologies to the club I was offered a new contract . . but it would've been financial suicide by the club"

 

The cheek and arrogance of the fuckin budgie .

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Saw his mush on the Chron as I walked past it the other day . Not sure why he's on this particular attempted charm offensive like ? Or why he's bean given the platform. Has Ryder written his autobiography and got it to sell or summit ? Can't give any time to what comes out the slippy little shit's mouth meself .

 

"I wasn't offered a new contract . . oh apologies to the club I was offered a new contract . . but it would've been financial suicide by the club"

 

The cheek and arrogance of the fuckin budgie .

I wouldn't trust Ryder to write out todays lunch specials on a blackboard outside a Wallsend greasy spoon let alone a biography. :lol:

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B2AE0626-C478-258D-96C2D7760713455F.gif

 

" I think, nar, am canny sure that the minastroanie soup should be before the skins, like, but hey, I'm just a cutting edge journalist on the 'United beat' as my old Mentor, Olly would say. You put the skins first if you want, wor kid."

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Still a regular visitor to the area ?

 

Evens favourite that it's specifically within the confines of Gosforth Park .

 

''Don't miss tomorrows Chronicle with our sensational pull out and keep Michael Owen©® breakdown of his favourite colour Skittles and his top 100 perennial shrubs. A must for all United fans"

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