Martin Samuel - So, what's left to make the Toon swoon?

[Mr Gittes 0]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2...Toon-swoon.html

 

It was the eve of a European away game in Germany a few years ago. Manchester United were playing, but Newcastle United were giving them a run back home. A few journalists, a few beers and the talk turned to that most futile of debates: what constitutes a big club? Specifically, did Newcastle now qualify?

There was a significant Geordie presence around the table. The sceptics were outnumbered. And yet, as much as anybody ever wins a pub argument, we thought we carried this one. Our case was that the reach of a truly big club must extend beyond their locality. International stature was required, and therefore a significant European pedigree.

Newcastle were huge in the North East, granted, but invisible beyond. Kids in areas not served by a Premier League football club did not gravitate towards them the way they did Manchester United or Liverpool. Half of Singapore were not signed up to the supporters’ club.

Fervent support: While relying upon one of the best fanbases in England, does that make Newcastle a big club?

Name the biggest club in Germany. Easy: Bayern Munich. Now the second. The consensus was for Borussia Dortmund, very strong at the time. And the third? There was much discussion.

Finally, it was agreed: Hamburg. And nobody even mentioned Schalke 04. Nobody advocated the third best-supported club in Germany, regularly pulling in crowds of more than 60,000 from the industrial outpost of Gelsenkirchen.

Schalke were omitted for the same reason Newcastle would be absent from any list of English juggernauts — because they had never experienced great success in Europe. Hamburg played Nottingham Forest in the 1980 European Cup final and signed Kevin Keegan in his prime.

 

These men, of a certain age, all knew Hamburg. None would recognise Schalke as greater simply because of local support. QED, the same applies to Newcastle. Now, who’s getting the beers in?

And without wishing to reignite the hoariest of disputes, never has Newcastle’s place in the hierarchy of football been more relevant than now, having lost arguably their best performer, Kevin Nolan, to second-tier West Ham United.

Nolan missed out to Joey Barton in the player of the year polls, but Barton is likely to be on his way, too, as is Jose Enrique, Jonas Gutierrez and perhaps Fabricio Coloccini. Even with £35million from the sale of Andy Carroll in the bank, the men who own Newcastle have looked at the numbers and decided many salaries are too rich for their tastes.

 

Size does matter. The Toon Army will consume the dreadful new shirt and fill the ground as always, they will plaster the name of Demba Ba on the back while waiting for the next local hero to emerge, but it is no longer enough.

Nolan was earning roughly £45,000 per week and was offered an extra year on his contract at £50,000, plus a £500,000 bonus if Newcastle finished in the top 10. West Ham proposed £55,000 per week and the chance to work with Sam Allardyce again, and Nolan took it.

Potential is the key here. West Ham may be in the Championship, but the club are eyeing a swift return to the Premier League and a move to the cavernous Olympic stadium.

 

Mike Ashley, Newcastle owner, clearly believes his club are operating at capacity. What would it take to compete with the new elite as represented by Manchester City and Chelsea, or even those bubbling under, like Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur?

Ashley needs resources that Newcastle cannot generate alone, money that requires global revenue streams he has been unable to exploit. He either throws his own fortune at the problem, or finds a conservative third way.

So Newcastle are in limbo. Still big on expectation, hope and desire, just not big enough to stop their best midfielder dropping a division. Previous owners may have been unrealistic in their ambitions but at least they shared them with those in the Gallowgate End.

 

Ashley, an outsider, simply sees Newcastle for what they are. He would have been on the side of cold, hard logic that night in Germany but where is the fun in that?

 

I know it's the same old debate, but this fat tosser provides us with yet another example of lazy journalism. Terrible. So West Ham are a club with bigger potential then? Fuck off and buy yourself a Gold/Sullivan dildo.

[Guest alex]

He's desperate for bites man. The fat cunt.

[Barney 0]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2...Toon-swoon.html

 

It was the eve of a European away game in Germany a few years ago. Manchester United were playing, but Newcastle United were giving them a run back home. A few journalists, a few beers and the talk turned to that most futile of debates: what constitutes a big club? Specifically, did Newcastle now qualify?

There was a significant Geordie presence around the table. The sceptics were outnumbered. And yet, as much as anybody ever wins a pub argument, we thought we carried this one. Our case was that the reach of a truly big club must extend beyond their locality. International stature was required, and therefore a significant European pedigree.

Newcastle were huge in the North East, granted, but invisible beyond. Kids in areas not served by a Premier League football club did not gravitate towards them the way they did Manchester United or Liverpool. Half of Singapore were not signed up to the supporters’ club.

Fervent support: While relying upon one of the best fanbases in England, does that make Newcastle a big club?

Name the biggest club in Germany. Easy: Bayern Munich. Now the second. The consensus was for Borussia Dortmund, very strong at the time. And the third? There was much discussion.

Finally, it was agreed: Hamburg. And nobody even mentioned Schalke 04. Nobody advocated the third best-supported club in Germany, regularly pulling in crowds of more than 60,000 from the industrial outpost of Gelsenkirchen.

Schalke were omitted for the same reason Newcastle would be absent from any list of English juggernauts — because they had never experienced great success in Europe. Hamburg played Nottingham Forest in the 1980 European Cup final and signed Kevin Keegan in his prime.

 

These men, of a certain age, all knew Hamburg. None would recognise Schalke as greater simply because of local support. QED, the same applies to Newcastle. Now, who’s getting the beers in?

And without wishing to reignite the hoariest of disputes, never has Newcastle’s place in the hierarchy of football been more relevant than now, having lost arguably their best performer, Kevin Nolan, to second-tier West Ham United.

Nolan missed out to Joey Barton in the player of the year polls, but Barton is likely to be on his way, too, as is Jose Enrique, Jonas Gutierrez and perhaps Fabricio Coloccini. Even with £35million from the sale of Andy Carroll in the bank, the men who own Newcastle have looked at the numbers and decided many salaries are too rich for their tastes.

 

Size does matter. The Toon Army will consume the dreadful new shirt and fill the ground as always, they will plaster the name of Demba Ba on the back while waiting for the next local hero to emerge, but it is no longer enough.

Nolan was earning roughly £45,000 per week and was offered an extra year on his contract at £50,000, plus a £500,000 bonus if Newcastle finished in the top 10. West Ham proposed £55,000 per week and the chance to work with Sam Allardyce again, and Nolan took it.

Potential is the key here. West Ham may be in the Championship, but the club are eyeing a swift return to the Premier League and a move to the cavernous Olympic stadium.

 

Mike Ashley, Newcastle owner, clearly believes his club are operating at capacity. What would it take to compete with the new elite as represented by Manchester City and Chelsea, or even those bubbling under, like Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur?

Ashley needs resources that Newcastle cannot generate alone, money that requires global revenue streams he has been unable to exploit. He either throws his own fortune at the problem, or finds a conservative third way.

So Newcastle are in limbo. Still big on expectation, hope and desire, just not big enough to stop their best midfielder dropping a division. Previous owners may have been unrealistic in their ambitions but at least they shared them with those in the Gallowgate End.

 

Ashley, an outsider, simply sees Newcastle for what they are. He would have been on the side of cold, hard logic that night in Germany but where is the fun in that?

 

I know it's the same old debate, but this fat tosser provides us with yet another example of lazy journalism. Terrible. So West Ham are a club with bigger potential then? Fuck off and buy yourself a Gold/Sullivan dildo.

 

Was just about to comment on that. Slow news day and the fat pig is obviously looking for a tirade from Steve Marshall Barnes and a few others.

[ewerk 26163]

I had the misfortune of reading it this morning. How he can possibly say that West Ham have more potential than us is beyond me, he must love getting angry emails from 'deluded' Geordies.

[Asprilla 96]

I can't believe how many people keep falling for the same trick.

 

As long as you keep biting, they'll keep writing.

 

 

Did you like that? It rhymed.

[Guest alex]

How bad is the article btw?

[sammynb 2929]

How bad is the article btw?

 

Could easily have been written by two or three of toontastic's current crop of prolific posters unfortunately.

[Mr Gittes 0]

I can't believe how many people keep falling for the same trick.

 

As long as you keep biting, they'll keep writing.

 

 

Did you like that? It rhymed.

I'm not falling for the same trick. I'm not writing to this cunt or anything either. It's simply outrageous that such utter pish can be published in national newspapers on a regular basis, and it's an insult to call people like him a journalist. It's lazy work, again. And guess how many people out there read that and say "well, that's actually right, deluded Geordies eh think their club is big". People start to believe what's written by such "journalists".

 

Read a Henry Winter column and you won't get crap like that. But obviously there are more Martin Samuels, Matthew Syeds etc out there than Henry Winters.....

[PaddockLad 14525]

Martin Samuel is a well known West Ham United fan.

 

End of thread.

[manc-mag 1]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2...Toon-swoon.html

 

Potential is the key here. West Ham may be in the Championship, but the club are eyeing a swift return to the Premier League and a move to the cavernous Olympic stadium.

 

 

Probably the only venue in London big enough to accommodate his fat arse.

[Kitman 2188]

The Olympic stadium will be cavernous because nobody will turn out to watch the hammers struggle in the championship.

I know better than to take that fat shit's musings seriously.

[ChezGiven 0]

A good rule of thumb in these situations is not to include the link and remind people not to go searching for the comments section. Copying and pasting the article without a link and slagging off the fat cunt here defeats his objective.

[McFaul 35]

West Ham more potential Five Facts about Newcastle and West Ham

• West Ham have never averaged over 35,000 in their history, Newcastle have averaged over 50,000 18 times.
  
• Newcastle have six league titles West Have none.
  
• Newcastle have finished in the top four five times in the last 17 years, West Ham have finished in the top four ONCE in their history
  
• Newcastle United are based in the centre of one greatest great cities, West Ham are based in one of the biggest shitholes in London and are surrounded by two of the biggest clubs in the country
  
• Newcastle play in a fantastic football arena, West Ham are moving to an arena that isn't and never will be condusive to football
  
• Newcastle are at their lowest ebb and remain the third best supported club in the country, historically there are five clubs outside of the top flight with better support than West Ham
  

What a fat useless cunt.

Edited June 20, 2011 by McFaul

[LeazesMag 0]

he's a fat cunt and I'd like to drop him into the Tyne with a brick tied to his bollocks, but some of the things he says are correct, unfortunately. Not all, but some.

 

And, it looks like he is getting the response he wants too.

[LeazesMag 0]

I can't believe how many people keep falling for the same trick.

 

As long as you keep biting, they'll keep writing.

 

 

Did you like that? It rhymed.

 

you're a poet, and you didn't know it

 

[apologies for old joke]

[McFaul 35]

I'd love to see West Ham stay down, I'm not going for all this similar working class background to us pish, they're fucking nothing like us. The rest of London is embarrassed by them.

[LeazesMag 0]

I'd love to see West Ham stay down , I'm not going for all this similar working class background to us pish, they're fucking nothing like us. The rest of London is embarrassed by them.

 

aye, and I wonder how Allardyce will sit with them when they start watching the team

[KeithJ 0]

I am pissing myself laughing at this. I guess he forgot the European trips Newcastle have been on including the UEFA cup semi finals we reached. What the fuck have West Ham done?

 

Losing Nolan however gaining two french midfielders highly rated and a striker who has a good goal ratio!

 

This fat cunts got more holes in his story than a brothel!

[NJS 3960]

I think its the idea that Nolan went there because they are a bigger club that underlines the stupidity. Modern footballer goes somewhere just for money shock.

 

Fat tramp.

[@yourservice 67]

Fat pig.

[Guest alex]

I'll stick my neck out and say I bet he's never won an award that wasn't chosen by his peers.

[manc-mag 1]

I'll stick my neck out and say I bet he's never won an award that wasn't chosen by his peers.

 

More than he can manage tbh.

[Guest alex]

I'll stick my neck out and say I bet he's never won an award that wasn't chosen by his peers.

 

More than he can manage tbh.

I nearly put that as well

[McFaul 35]

Last time I went was 2008, they were fucking great outside that Queens pub down from the tube boiling hot day. 2-2 draw. After the game all dead canny then the toon fans started drifting away and there was only a few of us left, I was staying down there as I had work on Monday in London, and they turned in to right arseholes, "so you fink you're a big claab then" - "bigger than yeez", they started getting fuckin lairy good as gold when there was as many of us aroond. I'd like to think we've never been like that.

[manc-mag 1]

I'll stick my neck out and say I bet he's never won an award that wasn't chosen by his peers.

 

More than he can manage tbh.

I nearly put that as well

 

You can imagine his doctor having to shove a finger up his arse like a vet does to a tortoise.