I’m of the opinion that what is required to follow Mike Ashley’s Newcastle United is an 
armour plated set of balls because you are going to spend a lot of time having them kicked in frequently and with some passion. This latest derby defeat was as clear an example of this as any as I can remember in a long while following this fucked up football club of ours. There is not a worse team in the Premier League than Sunderland. There is not a team who were owed a good doing from us than Sunderland but whilst Pardew pathetically blames the officials for this second successive derby defeat, it is he and his players who have big questions to answer. It’s notable they won’t be supplying them to the local press but I’ll pick that up later.
Once again, an Alan Pardew team started a game with less commitment and purpose than the opposition. On the back foot. They start on the front foot every now and again but far too often they just aren’t at it. This was another one of these occasions. It’s a default position of the supporters of defeated teams in derbies to bemoan a lack of commitment but well, we were second to so many balls, didn’t win the second balls and to my amazement, we didn’t win the battle for the middle of the park until the second half. That is a commitment issue I’m afraid. Pardew has a question to answer concerning the motivation of his team.
Then of course there is the way we were set up. Frankly, for much of this game, Hatem Ben Arfa was a waste of a shirt, whilst Cisse, Sissoko, Gouffran and Remy barely got their boots dirty. When a clearly fucked Shola comes on and looks our most accomplished striker, I’m afraid something is going badly wrong. Whether Pardew’s coaching will reduce the potency of Remy as it appears to have done with Cisse remains to be seen but as an attacking force we were dire. We were strung out all over the pitch, too often the man in possession had no options and we just didn’t look like a unit. 4-3-3, HBA as a centre-forward? It didn’t work at Sunderland.
We did have a 20-minute spell following the equaliser and I did allow myself to believe we were going to press forward for a winner but credit to Poyet, he changed things around and stifled what was coming to look like a growing dominance. He drew our sting and coped with us. He’s a better manager than Pardew but maybe that is damning with feint praise. Poyet has won three out of the last three encounters with Pardew. All with inferior teams. The Mackems won the game from a superb shot – the kind of shot we didn’t muster all game. Or anything like it.
It’s my opinion this result will fatally wound Pardew. We have Man City (h)-LC), Chelsea (h) and Spurs (a) before Chris Hughton brings Norwich to SJP for what I suspect will be an excruciating game for our manager. For me, the writing is on the wall for him, he is on the walk out of SJP – supposedly now unwanted by Ashley (barely more than 12 months since he was given an 8-year contract) and his stock is falling amongst the faithful. Analysis of his record in Gallowgate puts him behind another ex-West Ham manager, Glenn Roeder, who at least could win derbies, although he is barely remembered.
Who Ashley will get to replace him remains to be seen now thepossibles – McLaren and Poyet are now gainfully employed elsewhere and I really can’t imagine anyone with any credibility wanting to work for Ashley or even more laughably, Kinnear. Kinnear in the dug-out? Well, Mike get your foot down hard on the metal to another relegation. Over the top?
Watch this space.
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Next up we’ll have Man City in the League Cup at SJP. The game is live on SKY, the club’s Finance Director, John Irving, at the initial Fans Forum, helpfully informed us the cups aren’t a priority for United and on the back of this latest debacle I can’t imagine there will be a stampede for tickets. I expect Pardew will use fringe players for this game and I expect we’ll lose and this will give Ashley a grim satisfaction I’d guess.
Then we have Chelsea on Saturday at St James’ Park and I can’t help but fear the worst. Mourinho’s men are many people’s tips for the title (they are mine) and you know, given the lack of nous in the dug-out and bottle in the team, I don’t think we’ve got a fucking chance.
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So then, Ashley has instructed the manager not to speak to The Chronicle, The Journal and the Sunday Sun because of the publicity those newspapers gave to the Time 4 Change march before the Liverpool game. I can’t adequately describe my contempt for this brattish petulance. He’s also handed something of a PR coup to the Time 4 Change campaign group and we all know now for certain that a man with more wealth than we will ever know is a thin-skinned bully (just my opinion) who gets a bottom lip on if the supporters express their entirely justified feelings about him. The truth is, for all the sneering that some fans do towards Time 4 Change, they are an outlet of dis-satisfaction whilst others repeat their mantra – it won’t do any good – and do nothing. Well, if nothing else, we know he is extremely sensitive to protests and must loathe the bad publicity they bring him and his businesses. For that reason alone, they should be continued. If they play any role whatsoever in pushing him a millimetre closer to selling up then they are worthwhile.
Regular readers of this drivel and in the fanzine will be aware of our dissatisfaction with the lack of real, in-depth analysis of the club from the local press. So much has been overlooked – the club’s financial affairs are barely examined for example but now they have the opportunity to conduct some proper journalism and be liberated from the transfer tittle-tattle and knack-knee stories that bore us all to tears. This could be the best thing to ever happen to the Thomson House titles. They just have to have the balls to make that step from sycophantic club PR to practising a real journalism that exposes the reality of Mike Ashley’s lamentable running of Newcastle United. Come on, do something worthwhile ….
Keep On, Keepin’ On … 
Everything you read on this website and in the fanzines for the rest of the season is dedicated to the memory of Lou Reed – RIP
As bad a feeling as I can remember Sunday. Not because we got beat, or I think we will go down ( we won’t but the Mackems might well) but because once the post game shouting and swearing was done in the bar I felt numb. Obviously you keep going. Obviously. But it’s a thankless club to support anyway , even if it’s the only one you love, so to now have it rubbed in our faces by that fat bastard that were going nowhere fast is beyond. I’m not expecting to win the league. But a plan- to get better, not stay in the league, is missing. Bullshit.
A lot of people feel it. They have sucked the joy right out of our club. Pardew is being shown as the one trick, second tier manager he is. He’s not good enough. There is talent in that squad but his team selection amazes me. Sissoko holding left mid? Really? Ben Arfa up top on his own, a role where you need to run all day? I know he hasn’t got the squad but no excuses do it.
I honestly think that was last straw for Pardew, but who with any clout would take it ? And JFK is the sword hanging over us, put there by Ashley to make us grateful , the worst case scenario. Sell up. Please. Fuck off.
A heartless and inept capitulation to an absolutely dire SAFC came as no surprise. As a direct result of the club’s chaotic and shortsighted transfer policy there’s hardly a player in our squad who is committed to the cause AND anything other than average. A problem compounded by our third rate coaching team and the general apathy that is engulfing everything at the NUFC. Not surprising then that Ashley’s focus this week has been on picking a fight with the local media. Whatever people say about Mr Ashely he can’t be accused of getting his priorities wrong.
Judging by the front page of tomorrow’s Chronicle it looks like Thomson House have called Ashley’s bluff. They could have kept their heads down for a few weeks and scuttled back into Ashley’s good books but have shown some guts and made a stand. It’s a been a long time coming, but better late than never and it would be a sign of solidarity if there circulation went up this week.
Feeling sick and dirty, more dead than alive
I’m waiting for my man
He ain’t Ashley that’s for sure
Not for the first time I’m fucking lost for words with this lot except for spineless gutless top to bottom .
And I hope you’re joking Dave you’re talking about one of the greatest managers of all time doing a better job than not even the greatest Newcastle manager in the last 5 years?
I think he called us a wee club in the North East.
i don’t like the man at all but maybe alex ferguson might do a better job for us
Yeah hopefully history can repeat itself with Sissoko against Chelsea, we played very well that day, sadly it happens once in a blue moon at home. I think if we lose to Chelsea we’ll be too tired from Wednesday, if we lose on Wednesday too tired from Sunday, if we lose to Spurs it will be bad luck or injuries or the officials fault. Of course no other teams ever have injuries. If Chelsea play at their best they’l win regardless of what we do, we just have to put in a good shift and hope for the best.
Frankie i’m not against foreign players its just common sense that they wont have an affinity for the club and a derby is just another game to them, if we signed up to play for Dundee v Dundee United we wouldnt care either!
The nature of our flair players, sadly is they turn up one week and cant be arsed the next.
The French players might perform against your Liverpools to get a move and to get selected for the World cup squad. I said before when we played this season with no English players it was a disgrace to NUFC but was dismissed as a semi racist by some people. All our league goals this season have come from French players mind, with one from Dummett (Welsh).
Pardew the hypocrite when in charge of West Ham said Arsenal werent really an English team and how his sides would always have an English spine. Hmmm
Pardew looks like he’s had enough after watching the post match interview. Maybe this is the Ashley masterplan….restrict playing staff investment, ease in Kinnear above him, and watch with amusement from afar while we sink – let the pressure ramp up on Pardew hoping he’ll fall on his sword and bingo. No contract payout and Kinnear ready jump in as the saviour.
Stephen, all our signings go backwards at a rate of knots under Pardew, the abilities there. Look at how he got great performances (ahem) out of Mascharano and Tevez at West Ham. I would actually pick our midfielders ahead of Man U’s (people may laugh) but Cabaye, Tiote, Ben Arfa, Sissoko or Cleverley, Carrick, khawaja? Krul and Collocini are good enough for top 6 sides as is Remy, Cisse was but has fallen victim of pardews coaching methods and motivational skills.
Its ok we was robbed by the offiicals yesterday!
We’ll do nowt with so many French players( “cheese eating surrender monkeys”) as they have no fight in them and are just mercenaries looking for another club and more dosh. The only way to oust the fat cockney is mass protest at every game, or a mass boycott. When I remember the class that Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby had I could cry
Sissoko has been shite since February 9th.
GET OUT OF OUR CLUB and take all the rubbish with you.
If Pard cant motivate a team in a local derby then its overdue that he should be out the door.
Last season was enough Mackems and Liverpool he should have gone.
I dont care who takes over as long as he can kick those lazy baskets up the rear and get them playing 100% for 90 mins.
And I was jumping for joy hearing about how the Chronnie and the other locals got a ban off sensitive Ash! Fanbldy tastic NOW report what is really going on at the club!
Renaming the ground, Renaming Shearers bar, Wonga, ban on local press!
Put enough pressure on this parasite and see what happens next.
Mick
Just a thought? Why has that pacey strong warhorse attacking midfielder who made Englands No1 left back look like a cunt last Christmas now look like a short sighted Carlton fuckin Palmer? Why has a bloke who Ashley Cole branded an ‘animal turn out to be just that? A fuckin donkey? Not good enough in all departments today but I must admit that sissoko is fucking abysmal…
In one word: Pardew. This clown of a so called manager has got a real knack for reducing genuine quality players to the level of carthorses. Remember that he managed to lose 8 games on the trot at West Ham when he had the world class talents of Tevez and Mascerano in his team.
Pardew has coached it out of him, simple as that.
From my seat in SJP, I saw him destroy that Chelsea defence that day, and commented to my uncle that we had a ‘monster of a player’
Playing wide has not suited him at all. If Pardew can’t accommodate him in central midfield, he needs to be on the bench.
As per the match report on this site, Poyet is quoted as saying he picked players in their correct positions. I count 4 of the starters yesterday not in their natural positions (HBA, Gouffran, Dummett & Sissoko) nearly half the team out of position, that’s never going to end well.
Roberto Di Matteo is available, and I think could do good things with the players we have. Although he never gave the impression that he was mental enough to want to work for the likes of Ashley and Kinnear.