I’ll be honest, I’ve thought about how to write this column more than a few times since I 
left the SoS with 3000 other seething Mags and I’m still not really sure how to go about it. Like you reading this, I am veering wildly between rage, depression, apathy and stomach churning frustration. Not that the defeat on Wearside came as any surprise. I didn’t think we could score and I didn’t think we could keep a clean sheet. I also seriously doubted the team’s mentality and I have absolutely no confidence whatsoever in John Carver, a man who has been in the United dug-out for seven derby defeats since 1999 to either organise or motivate a football team. The stench of failure and mediocrity hangs on him and it can only be the terminally brain-dead who fall for his Canny, Geordie John Carver, I knew Sir Bobby-me man schtick.
I was astonished at Carver’s post-match comments that his players struggle with these games. Not because I disagreed with him or that he was wrong but for what he was spelling out in reality – this is a collection of cowards we have pulling on Newcastle United shirts. Carver’s pre-match boasts that no team he put out would be out-fought was painfully shown to be way off the mark. John Carver’s players chickened out of a game they were fortunate to escape with only a 1-0 defeat. They are yellow and the only one I’d exclude that from accusation is Jonas who is more of a man than the rest combined.
All of the signs are that Carver will be around next season. This can only be as a result of 
the ludicrous contract Ashley gave him and Pardew a couple of seasons ago for reasons only he can explain but obviously won’t. Carver is still there because he will be too expensive to sack. Any new managerial, coaching appointee will have to accept this fraud onto his coaching staff because Ashley will not be prepared to pay him off. By virtue of accepting this arrangement, any new man automatically shows himself to be another sap.
Tim Krul’s act of congratulations to Defoe for his goal in the tunnel at half time has left me aghast. This is simply mind numbing. It is the act of a man who isn’t engaged with the scale of what is befalling the club he is paid handsomely to represent. It is a loser’s mentality. Can you imagine any of the great winners, the great competitors behaving like this? A Roy Keane? A Bryan Robson? A Patrick Viera? A Steven Gerrard? A Graeme Souness? Tony Adams? It was the act of a man with low standards and expectations. Sportsmanship? Bollocks.
But all over the pitch there were chickens – Sammy Ameobi put in a fuck-wit of a performance but he was not alone. Gouffran was again abysmal and Ryan Taylor looks like a player who will be signing on the dotted line for a Championship club at best next season.
As for the so-called captain, Moussa Sissoko … well, I think you will struggle to recall a 
more pea-hearted player than the man with Arsenal in his heart. Perez was shot, Cabella was completely and utterly out of his depth. The least said about Riviere the better – this is a lad who is making me pine of the days of Frank Pingel. He’s shit.
Any player who was fit and available and could not get onto the pitch at Sunderland needs to take a long hard look at themselves because if the current shower of shit-bags is keeping them out of the team, then fuck knows what that says about them.
I’m sure the club’s local media partners will put up a doughty defence of Carver and I think I can hear it already – down to the bare bones, lack of investment – blah – blah- blah and while all of that is absolutely true, what is unforgivable is the lack of fight, courage in his team. If Carver cannot motivate a Newcastle United for a trip to Sunderland, then what use is he at all?
He needs to be away from Newcastle United but so do the players and the rest of the inadequates on the payroll.
Of course this is Mike Ashley’s Newcastle United and a pale shadow of a sporting institution, a sham of a sporting outfit pitched to foreign players as a stepping stone to proper and more ambitious clubs. With that kind of club ethos no wonder there is no pride in pulling on the shirt, no camaraderie or team-spirit – the whole club is little more than an empty shell, run by lickspittles for the sole purposes of Mike Ashley.
Is anyone at all in any doubt whatsoever about Ashley? The man is a malignant tumour upon the body of Newcastle United, our city-region and football more generally. We will soon have a close analysis of the club’s accounts but in my opinion we will have big questions about money being soaked through the business and out again. Running costs? There appear to be a number of rabbits off.
What can be done?
I’ll be absolutely honest, I am heartily sick and tired of people who have decided to sack the match off getting all high and mighty and telling me the answer is simply to stop going. Well, thousands have stopped going in the last few years and Ashley is still there. Just chucking it in is not going to work on its own. It’s the equivalent of simply backing down from a fight.
If you want to fight Ashley then you all and me included need to do far more than we’ve ever done before. That will mean more than sending pithy comments via all manner of social media. It will mean getting off your arses and getting on the streets and acting. If you really care as much as how hard you all press those letters on a keyboard, you’ll be there with your fellow Mags and you’ll be putting up a fight with no guarantee of success. You’ll be doing it because you know it’s the right thing to do and you’ll be arguing with your mates who look and sound like they have lost all hope, the clueless twat next to you at the match who knows nowt but has all the answers … it will mean giving up your spare time and not leaving it to some unknown others to sort it.
That last paragraph might push the buttons of some of you reading this. Most of our support however is drowning in apathy. They don’t believe anything can be done. They have no fight and the match for them is just a social occasion when they see their mates, have a few beers, a bit of whinge and then they go home. That describes so many people I know who follow our club. They say they care … but not enough, not really.
Those who decide to have a go maybe shouldn’t be disheartened by the lack of guts in their fellow supporters … it’s always like this in any fight There are always runners.
Modern society has an X-Factor view of the world and that extends to our support and every other group of supporters in the land.
However, if we can get a good few thousand active on match-days then it might just spread and it might just persuade Ashley to finally get out of our club. Of course, it might not, there are no guarantees and there is no promise whoever comes out of the woodwork will be the right person. Nothing is guaranteed. You’ll be fighting for the sake of it.
We might also have to accept we are in for a long war of attrition with Ashley. After all, he holds the cards. Unlike at Rangers, we have no option of buying shares in United and indeed we have no power at all. But what we can do is make a racket, draw attention to the damage Ashley is doing to one of English football’s most iconic of football clubs and indeed to the sport itself.
That is why I urge you to get behind this new campaign. If you are already twisting your gob at the prospect of a new campaign then you probably not to the right kind of person to get involved in this. These are ordinary supporters who have come to be fed up to the back teeth of Ashley and who are bringing a new energy to the fight with Ashley.
They should be people who we rally around to support.
Have a look here – http://ashleyout.com/
And here – @ashleyoutdotcom
This group will inevitably need foot-soldiers, it will have enough people to bombard social media so the slacktivism is all covered. What it will need is people prepared to give up their time, a little bit of money (to pay for materials etc.), possibly hand out leaflets and all the rest of it.
Or are you not that arsed?
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Great article
I gave up my season ticket over 5 years ago now. Said I would never go back whilst our club is being ran by mis-management and lies. No pies or pints bought and no merchandise either. I’m simply a supporter in hibernation until the club I love is re-born again, not with a view of instant success but with an owner who gives a shit about the area, football culture and fans.
if we directly target SD, then Ashley will be put under pressure by the other shareholders. Ultimately this is why he does it, this is his Achilles heel.
I’ll be at this Leazes Park protest. I’m already boycotting the club but feel I need to pull my finger out. I’d ask any Mag to turn up and make your presence known, you don’t have to be be embarrassed, nobody is asking you to get up on a karaoke and sing ‘I will survive’. Please, it’s one day, one game and we cannot go on as we are for we are sleepwalking into obscurity and seeing a once great institution being stymied from within by an owner with who’s objectives are not aligned with our own as supporters. I’d also seriously consider joining the supporters trust if you are not a member as getting fan representation could be on the cards in the future as some politicians are starting to look at football clubs as a community asset and can maybe see some votes in it for them? Unity is strength, we are Newcastle UNITED.
An empty stadium would drive Sky TV cameras away. No atmosphere equals no program. No TV coverage means less advertising for Ashley’s miserable company.He would notice that.
Not buying season tickets will not bankrupt him but it will hurt. His £18m profit would be halved. He would notice that.
The adverse publicity would tell on him. He is hated by the City,He is hated by the Press, He is hated by the Council. He is hated by other Companies and Directors. An increase in pressure may be enough to move him. He would notice that.
Don’t be insecure. Giving your ticket up temporarily does not mean you will never get back. You may not have the same seat but you will get back.
Matt le Tissier recently empathised with us. His club had a similar problem when he played for them. The Board were being targeted by fans and as Tiss said it meant nothing to them Until the fans started staying away. With their small ground the whole atmosphere changed when they lost 8,000 fans and the ground looked empty. The Board had an about face.
Don’t think you can’t do it because you can! Divided we fall but UNITED could have a greater effect than you could imagine.
The thing that hurts a sports club the most is reputational damage. Sponsors pull out and revenue is massively impacted.
If a large section of fans boycotted games, sponsors would likely pull out too.
Protests didn’t work for miners against Thatcher. I can’t see them working against MA either.
100% in. Pass on my details to anyone you like! Just donated as well – everyone should be – whats the point of paying for a season ticket to watch that shite if you wont do 20 quid to change it?
We need to have a serious look at our support. Spot on. Bollocks are we the best fans in the country. Used to be, but the atmosphere yesterday was embarassing, however bad the team is. And its been shit at home for years being blunt.
Of course its down to Ashley…sucked the life out of us all. But not going fixes nothing, its TV money and advertising he wants – not your pie at half time.
Time to step up and all back one campaign. At least make the fat twats life uncomfortable and turn the spotlight on him
Please read up on what has happened at Milan . DO NOT go to the game ! . Ashleyout can urge all to do likewise . A ground with no season ticket holders in their seats will have more impact and media coverage , especially if the media are put on notice . It isn’t about pies or money , it’s about showing him , publicly that we will not watch OUR team any more while he is wrecking it . At least try it , missing a game is frankly nothing . Missing many games is frankly nothing given the stakes . It isn’t NUFC at the moment , and I want my team ,our history , our shared roots back . We all love our team , but players plastered with loan sharks and the ground awash with the tat emporium ? Modest dreams pissed on as a matter of declared policy ? Where is our pride ? What does it actually take to stop us from going ? We all have pals and sons and dads who surely have had enough . So ,en masse , make a choice . DECIDE . DO NOT GO .
What those who have sacked their season ticket off and now slag those off who have not should realise that they are being replaced by the new breed of “Know our place” merchants who slag anyone who complains about this odious regime because they believe we should be grateful to be in the Premier League so we can see all them great players we watched in the World Cup and constantly preach that without Ashley we would be like Leeds or Portsmouth. The Ashley out website cannot do any harm but realistically we are presently lacking a figurehead or heads with serious money to challenge Ashley to sell up that the fans could get behind & believe in like the Magpie group all those years ago even though that turned sour in the end. Even then as you say I doubt Ashley would go quietly and looking at his past business deals he would want double of what he paid or want to retain some of the TV or retail money. The other way is for he gravy train to become derailed which would take one or more relegations, this season could be the only window to for that to happen as he has played all his cards already in terms of being able to bring new faces in, as we have seen in the past he will invest if he feels the Premier League place is threatened. Personally I am not a fan of the Premier League and if the next local derby was against Gateshead in the Conference but it meant the leech and his cohorts were gone then so be it.
Some of the defeatest comments on here are just depressing. Boycott or don’t, but don’t stand by and do nothing FFS. If we all do what we can, when we can, we have a hope at least of moving this corporate parasite on to gorge himself somewhere else. The only thing we can be certain of is if we do nothing, he’ll never leave while he’s turning a profit. His main aim in owning our club seems to me to be to hawk his glaiky tracksuits to all and sundry via MOTD et all, but if we can galvanise this campaign as Michael suggests, to make that end even a little bit less attractive to him (I wonder what AC Milan’s corporate sponsors thought of their ‘ineffectual’ little protest – I’m guessing it didn’t help sell any ‘product’), we might just be in with a chance. Fuck it, I’d rather go out on my feet than my knees, I’m in, and so should every one of you be. I’ll be leafleting outside the match as required (already signed up last night), and I’ll see you lot in the Strawberry for the Spurs game. ONE LOVE – NUFC!
Let’s try and keep as many of us “on-side” as we can. Everyone who is anti-Ashley should be welcomed and eventually even those who say Ashley cannot be defeated will change their minds.We are honour-bound to act to save our club-do not be put off by negativity.He picked the fight-we have to win it!
one of the issues is that the club has always sold its allocation of season tickets fairly easily, and going back to the Keegan days they club has always had a huge waiting list for season tickets.
So, chances are if people give up their tickets now, there is no guarantee to get them back if the clubs fortunes change. Once they are gone, they are gone.
(I’m not a season ticket holder, so the above is just my opinion)
I do think a one match boycott (preferably during a televised game) would hurt the club from a PR point of view…. but it may also deter a potential investor coming in…
West Brom and Villa are both rumoured to be for sale and attracting potential buyers… but these are on sale at a fraction of the cost Ashley paid for the club.
Would you rather buy a 50m Villa or a 300m Newcastle??
Newcastle as a going concern is not a attractive market offering… its too expensive and Ashley won’t see without making all his money back… he’s making a profit year on year, so why should he?
Any kind of action against him will not be successful in a week, month, or year…. people need to be in this for the long haul just to unsettle the bloke… he’s not going easily, not until he has milked every penny out of the club.
In the words of Edmund Burke “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. So at last we have someone offering some leadership and focus for all the anger out there thus enabling the thousands of disenchanted supporters to unite and act together. I’m in and to those who disagree but are content with the current situation I say can we agree to disagree but keep it polite.
I take your point but still think its more honourable to not pay towards Ashleys regime than keep supporting something you are supposedly against. Is it really so hard to give up a match day which isnt particularly enjoyable anyway when all the games are on in the pub?
I think those who have given up have done the honourable thing despite being accused by some of being disloyal. People who dont care about the politics and want to watch a football game, I have no problem with. But support the team not the regime is not mutually exclusive.
How hard is it to cancel your season ticket and stop giving the bloke who is killing the club £500 per season to do so.
Mike Ashley is not concerned about how much money Newcastle makes, but how much Sports Direct’s revenues benefit from Newcastle’s continued premier league existence. Boycotting the club won’t phase him, only protests that threaten to derail on-pitch performance will affect him.
You’re all wasting your breath and energies. Ashley will go only when HE’s ready.
Unfortunately we saw a step change in support when the odious season ticket culture took over in football generally but particularly at our club. Where once people would ‘vote with their feet’ to get a message across they simply don’t bother when they have a ST. Also these ten year ST deals were the biggest pay off in our clubs history to get fans to accept mediocrity, it was a bribe pure and simple and enough people took the bribe unfortunately. Those who had enough walked away. I finally called it a day when L7 was cleared of people not conducive to a Mike Ashley football club. Unfortunately people think ‘ooh! That’s not a bad deal for a season ticket’ and take their place. This campaign needs to target media and do as they did with Pardew but MUST try to reinforce the view that boycotting has to be the way forward, that ST’s should be a thing of the past, why give the club your money up front all year? At the very, very least pick and choose your games but please chuck your Season tickets.
Well,all I can say is its about time!
I said when they began the sackPardew campaign that they were attacking the wrong target. That has been proven I think.
I will be contacting them to offer any help I can. It wont be much financially as I dont have much but I can and will do whatever I can to rid us of this man.
Again though I agree with 90% of what Michael says,I just dont understand why people still go to games! Why? What is the point? NUFC is all but dead….you are supporting SDFC now!
This man is about money,I get that thanks to Sky, ticket money is less important BUT I wont believe that seeing a half empty ground wont have an impact on the man…..
He has to be shown that we have had enough….the only way for that to happen is for him to see thousands of empty seats!
I think a lot of people are underestimating the impact Sackpardew.com had because it did go a long way to getting rid of him.
Okay he left for more money in the end but the campaign against him was the catalyst to him leaving !
Every man and his dog must get behind the Ashley out campaign. The sack pardew effort was picked up by the media and demonstrated it had sufficient clout to carry, and the people behind have demonstrated they can at least rock the boat. What else do we do?
The more I hear from Carver before and after games leaves me seething. Not forgetting this is a bloke who abused supporters at Southampton who dared to question the situation (who had also paid a handsome sum to be there and were making an 800 mile round trip).
Yet he waffles on about Sir Bobby. How dare he man, the absolute nerve of this bloke.
Carvers who’s pre derby words included him using a whip and yearning to chin Di Canio.
WHO ARE YOU KIDDING MAN????
Think we all knew what was coming on Sunday…
Very good article. Personally I think if Newcastle and rangers fans organized regular simultaneous marches in our respective cities it would make things very difficult for Ashley politically.
Anyone that doesn’t understand read this:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2406338-ac-milan-fan-protests-may-accelerate-sale-talk-for-club#articles/2406338-ac-milan-fan-protests-may-accelerate-sale-talk-for-club
If you sheep want to think that you’re better fans than AC Milan just because you turn up and pay mike ashley week after week, you need your heads checked.
This is exactly what needs to be done. AC Milan has even set out the template for you.
But instead you’ll all pay your money to Mike and you’ll yell and scream for a couple of weeks and nothing will change.
Wake up!
True Faith
I enjoy your publications, but this one is completely off of the mark.
If you think that yelling at ashley a bit louder than has been done before will see him off, you need your head checked.
Ashley deals in dollars, plain and simple. He’s currently making alot from NUFC because the sheeple keep turning up and paying him. Your article cites that people have already stopped going, yet there is no change, ashley is still there.
This is because there are 4 sheeple waiting in line to take the ticket of the fan that stops going.
All that needs to be done to stop him and get rid of him is a mass exodus. This is the power that the fans have. Not yelling and screaming, it won’t do anything.
Ashley deals in dollars and cents. So start making sense and get a campaign on non attendance to get rid of him.
Anything else is wasted effort and time (much like your article).
Jim
You say ‘we have no power at all’.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
The power rests with the fans. They just need to wake up and realise that without them, there is no club. And to prove this to ashley, they need to stop turning up and cost him money.
It really is that cut and dry.
There is huge power with the fans, they’re just too misguided to realise it. Primarily because publications like yours believe that yelling and shouting is the solution.
Agreed and very much in favour of noisy seething anger, but with respect , staying away isn’t running away , nb Milan .
Spot on rob.
Voiced protests at the game have happened before and unsurprisingly nothing changed.
What is required is for non attendance at matchdays. Plain and simple.
Anything else is simply wasted time. All Ashley understands is money.
By having a mass non attendance, Ashley will get a loud message.
Why was my response removed? Nothing out of order on it?
Sorry, it reappeared, ignore my above post!!
Sadly Ashley holds all the cards so getting him out is going to take a monumental effort. It will take effort and togetherness and thinking outside the box but we can do it.
boycotting SD will not work as that is an international company.
Not going to the games won’t work as he already has ST money and with the sky deal he can afford to take the hit anyway.
Something different is needed but everyone has to get on board. Our club is dying before our eyes and only we can save it
I`m definitely in
I’m in. Some activism at last.
I’m in.
In the absence of any coherent response to the contempt of the Ashley regime boycotting games has been the only weapon in a supporter’s armoury. On a individual basis it’s akin to the lining up against a nuclear arsenal with a peashooter, but it isn’t running away.
That apart, good stuff.
After none action on the last few protests I am up for this fight at 58 I have had enough of my club being screwed over. I won’t stop going but I will do whatever I can to get my club back.
Unfortunately jimmyg, not attending is exactly what is required.
Anything else is just wasted effort.
Target ashleys pocket, it’s all he understands.
Until match day revenue goes down substantially, Ashley won’t care.
So your gesture is only token until you can stop attending. By not attending you’ll be doing more for your club than anything else.
Spot on mate, horrible truths, but spot on.
I have to agree with you on the subject of boycotts.
If 50,000 boycott then fine, that is just not going to happen.
Plenty around us in the Gallowgate have packed in over the last few years, people who have gone to the match since the 60s or 70s, their seats are immediately filled.
Therein lies another problem, they are not being replaced by passionate, noisy, proper football fans, they are being replaced by voiceless dummies, hardly applaud when its warranted, never shout, sing, get annoyed. They look round in shock if anyone dares to shout anything, or indeed whistles too loudly!
I really don’t know what the answer is, if I did I would broadcast it loud and clear.
Its a shame some of the toffs in the Platinum Club don’t have a go at arseshly and his cronies when they are there.
Annoyed and frustrated.
Some of us have been on the streets, some of us have stopped going, some of us have made a noise and been pilloried by the sheep.
As long as he is being paid £25m per year by those who occasionally question his waistline and parentage, he is happy.
Before you demean the efforts of others, look at yourself and ask if you have contributed to what NUFC has become.
That having been said, I hope this campaign works and those of us who have carried the torch against the odds welcome those of you who are new to the fight.
Count me in,I am happy to do all that I can to get rid of this man. I am not bothered if some doubt us initially,you have to have a belief and see it through.It is time for those who really care to fight this malaise with all we have.Doing anything is better than doing nothing.