Newcastle Thread - 2022/23

[The Fish]

A while ago I said that I would write a post about our time under Ashley, here goes.

The rot at Newcastle started towards the end of Freddie Shepherd’ time as Chairman. Newcastle were poor starters to the season under Sir bobby Robson but we always did OK over the length of the season.

Our last 3 seasons under Bobby all started slow, during 2002/03 we started the season with one win, one draw and three defeats but still finished 3rd top of the league and went out of the Champions League in the second group stage.

During 2003/04 we started the season with no wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats and still finished the season in 5th top of the league and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.

During 2004/05 we started the season with 2 draws and 2 defeats with illness in the squad before sacking Sir Bobby and appointed the woeful Graeme Souness who was one of only two (I think) managers below Robson in the league at that time. Robson had been constantly undermined by Shepherd and Co who were massively out of their depth at that time and were going from scandal to scandal after being caught out by a News of the World sting where Shepherd and Douglas Hall were calling women dogs, taking the piss out of Shearer and taking the piss out of the fans who were buying the clubs shirts. Newcastle finished the season in 14th under Souness.

Souness was sacked during 2006/07 when he had us 15th in the league, funnily enough he was sacked after we were beaten 3-0 by Man City, we went on to finish the season in 7th position in the league under caretaker Glenn Roeder who was given the manager’s job permanently when it was clear that he wouldn’t be up to the job. Roeder was sacked during the next season and was replaced by Fat Sam, Shepherd simply couldn’t appoint the right manager, he was shite and the fans were glad when he was bought out by Ashley who was seen as a good businessman who would surely know how to run a football club.

Ashley appointed Chris Mort as Chairman and Chris started off really well and sacked Fat Sam who was horrendous, the football was absolutely shit under him, Derby got 4 of their 9 points off us under Allardyce and things were so bad that we spent 90 minutes away to Derby on a Monday night playing with a beachball because of the standard of football, we lost 0-1 and I knew Allardyce was on his was out after that.

Allardyce was sacked and Keegan came back in to manage us for a second time and everything looked OK until Mort didn’t have his contract renewed as Chairman, he was on loan from his company for 12 months at a cost of £1 million and Ashley wasn’t going to pay that again, the tight bastard. In came in Derek Llambias as MD, Tony Gimenez and Dennis bastard Wise who all undermined Keegan who rightly resigned. Keegan was given final say on all transfers and I know that for a fact and I was part of the case that Keegan brough against the club for constructive dismissal. He was shit on from a great height and from that moment onwards, Ashley and Llambias were hated with a passion. I knew Llambias and he was a proper cockney spiv. He bragged about running a casino and going out to the Middle-East and putting pressure on people who owed money through gambling debts. I used to laugh at him to his face and he probably thought that I was laughing at what he was saying, I was laughing at the though of that midget thinking he could put pressure on anybody, he bragged that he could be a ‘nasty bastard’ and I think that was little man syndrome, I doubt he could knock the skin off a rice pudding.

Anyway, Ashley’s time at the club was effectively over as soon as he treated a club legend like shite. Keegan did so much for the club both as a player and manager that he would always have our loyalty and support.

Under Ashley we went from being a club that tried to win things. I know we failed but we’d always tried to be the best that we could and that was enough for most people, even though we failed.

I don’t really want to dwell on our time under Ashley except to say that it was shite. I hear fans of other clubs say that we have no right to complain as they’ve had it worse than we have and they are probably right that being in the Premiership for most of the time is better than playing in the third and fourth tier but that’s not the point. They would have a point if we were in the Premiership and trying to be the best that we could be, even if we were failing but we weren’t.

The club existed to exist and provide Ashley with free advertising. I could count over 100 Shit Direct adverts from my seat which were rarely paid for and we got nothing for renaming the stadium. We owned land around the ground which we had bought to allow us to expand, Ashley sold the land and pocketed the money from the sale, we didn’t get anything from the sale.

We used to hear that we should thank Ashley for putting his own money into the club. The only time he had to put his own money in was when he bought the club and he also had to pay off a loan to the club which was taken out to expand the ground from 36,000 to 52,000 and again when we were relegated under him. He gave the club loans twice after relegation, which his actions caused and he got the money back as soon as we were promoted again so it cost him only the interest that he would have made if he’d invested his money somewhere.

Ashley paid in the region of £136 million to buy the club and then had to pay off a £57 million loan for the expansion so £193 million in total and sold the club for a profit of more than £100 million on top of the money he trousered from the land sale plus his company gained years of free advertising. I’m sure that the club actually had to pay for the honour of the free advertising as a negative sum was shown in the club accounts for advertising, work that one out if you can. I can’t remember what we paid for, it may have been the Shit Direct sign on the Gallowgate roof and the sign on the front of the East Stand.

Long story short, in my opinion, Ashley was a shite owner and a bastard parasite, I’m glad that he’s gone and I've just lost the will to live typing this. I could have gone into more detail but it would probably be far too long to read.

The bit in bold is key for me. No club has a divine right to trophies, or European competition or owt. But it was the active avoidance of competing for anything that killed the club. We somehow managed to get 5th in 2012 and as everyone knows that it's best to strengthen from a position of strength, instead we signed Vurnon Anita and Gael Bigirimana and flirted with relegation in 12/13.

Ashley wanted an international platform for his Sportswear tat-store. That's it. Where ever we finished, be it 7th or 17th, he couldn't give a toss! Little to no investment in the academy, the training ground, the commercial side of the business, the scouting or medical teams.

We haven't even mentioned the way he (and the club) treated Newcastle icons, ex and contemporary players. Running down Jonas' contract because he had testicular cancer, then releasing him and Ryan Taylor on the same phonecall. Binning off Hughton, Nolan, Barton et al because they held too much power. Undermining Keegan to the point he felt he had to quit. Ghosting Shearer then being so petty as to not allow Big Al's statue be built on club grounds.

I feel for Coventry fans, with him owning their ground they can expect to be put through the ringer. I've no doubt he'd fancy another crack at owning a club, but his titan sized ego and gossamer thin skin will surely result only in calamity.

 

[ali benarbia's studs]

I m curious how they land back on the restart to the season, I hope they can keep pace to the end.

 

[The Fish]

No idea how Eddie will juggle ASM, Almiron, Isak, and Wilson, but I've almost total faith that he will. We've only had a 5 players at the World Cup and only Trippier played a significant part, so hopefully we'll have a fit squad ready to take advantage of any teams who've been more impacted by the tournament.

I fully expect that Howe will maintain the same intensity, the same standard of coaching and we should see similar performances. The results should follow the performances. Our final position will likely be more impacted by how other teams do when the PL returns.

I think we're still lacking in depth throughout the squad. So I'm hoping in January we can get a proper defensive midfielder, or some depth at fullback.

Dunno if we'll stay in the Champions League spots. Could depend on the January window to be honest. Not just ours, but who Man United and Liverpool end up signing.

Beginning of the season I'd have taken midtable as long as there was genuine improvement on the pitch. Top half looks like a reasonable expectation this season, but getting into Europe would be amazing. Getting a Champions League spot would be unbelievable.


With Gabriel Jesus out for a while, I'd expect you lot to usurp Arsenal. I think we'll end up 5/6th as teams with more experience at the top end of the table do their business.

 

[halfcenturyup]

No idea how Eddie will juggle ASM, Almiron, Isak, and Wilson, but I've almost total faith that he will. We've only had a 5 players at the World Cup and only Trippier played a significant part, so hopefully we'll have a fit squad ready to take advantage of any teams who've been more impacted by the tournament.

I fully expect that Howe will maintain the same intensity, the same standard of coaching and we should see similar performances. The results should follow the performances. Our final position will likely be more impacted by how other teams do when the PL returns.

I think we're still lacking in depth throughout the squad. So I'm hoping in January we can get a proper defensive midfielder, or some depth at fullback.

Dunno if we'll stay in the Champions League spots. Could depend on the January window to be honest. Not just ours, but who Man United and Liverpool end up signing.

Beginning of the season I'd have taken midtable as long as there was genuine improvement on the pitch. Top half looks like a reasonable expectation this season, but getting into Europe would be amazing. Getting a Champions League spot would be unbelievable.


With Gabriel Jesus out for a while, I'd expect you lot to usurp Arsenal. I think we'll end up 5/6th as teams with more experience at the top end of the table do their business.

Enjoy the ride. No problem from me with any other fans experiencing the changes we have over the last decade. Well, with one or two exceptions. Two actually.

 

[supercity88]

No idea how Eddie will juggle ASM, Almiron, Isak, and Wilson, but I've almost total faith that he will. We've only had a 5 players at the World Cup and only Trippier played a significant part, so hopefully we'll have a fit squad ready to take advantage of any teams who've been more impacted by the tournament.

I fully expect that Howe will maintain the same intensity, the same standard of coaching and we should see similar performances. The results should follow the performances. Our final position will likely be more impacted by how other teams do when the PL returns.

I think we're still lacking in depth throughout the squad. So I'm hoping in January we can get a proper defensive midfielder, or some depth at fullback.

Dunno if we'll stay in the Champions League spots. Could depend on the January window to be honest. Not just ours, but who Man United and Liverpool end up signing.

Beginning of the season I'd have taken midtable as long as there was genuine improvement on the pitch. Top half looks like a reasonable expectation this season, but getting into Europe would be amazing. Getting a Champions League spot would be unbelievable.


With Gabriel Jesus out for a while, I'd expect you lot to usurp Arsenal. I think we'll end up 5/6th as teams with more experience at the top end of the table do their business.

I hope you can stay up there and end up in the CL. You just never know. Some think the World Cup will hinder players in the back end of the season and they'll struggle for form. Maybe those that played more will be in better shape to kick on and others will struggle to get going again after the break...we will see. It's whether you can cope with the pressure in the run-in with the prospect of CL football on the horizon. That will be the big test for you, but I hope you come through it. You're hard to beat but have drawn a fair few. Convert a few more of those into wins and you'll be laughing. It's all very congested though. Arsenal will come back into the pack without Jesus, but nothing I've seen from City this season suggests we'll run away with it. We just have to hope we find a run like we usually manage and, with the WC over, the players unite in the pursuit for their third title on the bounce.

 

[The Fish]

I hope you can stay up there and end up in the CL. You just never know. Some think the World Cup will hinder players in the back end of the season and they'll struggle for form. Maybe those that played more will be in better shape to kick on and others will struggle to get going again after the break...we will see. It's whether you can cope with the pressure in the run-in with the prospect of CL football on the horizon. That will be the big test for you, but I hope you come through it. You're hard to beat but have drawn a fair few. Convert a few more of those into wins and you'll be laughing. It's all very congested though. Arsenal will come back into the pack without Jesus, but nothing I've seen from City this season suggests we'll run away with it. We just have to hope we find a run like we usually manage and, with the WC over, the players unite in the pursuit for their third title on the bounce.

Read somewhere that for the teams aiming to finish in the European spots, us and Liverpool were the least impacted by the World Cup. In terms of number of first teamers in Qatar, amount of minutes they played etc.

I trust Howe to stagger the players' return and I trust Ashworth to have lined up some class new recruits. But I just come back to the crushing truth; we're nowhere near ready for a CL push. Still have some pretty ordinary players, worrying amount of injuries to key players, outside the first team there is quite a lot of stodge. Longstaff, Fraser, Wood, Lascelles, etc.

I'd expect Liverpool and Man Utd to kick on. Klopp will be chomping at the bit to get back to league football, and a Ronaldo-less Man Utd might actually get their act together. Add Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs to the mix and over a decade of Ashley killing everything resembling hope has me predicting a drop off from Eddies Shithouse Mags.

Mind you, I'd love it if we qualify ahead of them, love it.

 

[Mick_]

It looks like we might just be able to keep something going for the rest of the season and today is the first time that I've felt that. We have a style of play which is getting results and we still haven't played what I think will be our best starting 11.

It's amazing that Bruno wasn't given more games for Brasil. He's one of the best midfielders in one of the best leagues in the world and Tite still thought that he was behind Paqueta, who I like and Fred who is garbage, Bruno is better than both.

Botman not going to the World Cup with Holland was also mad. He's 22 and had played 17 times for us now and he hasn't been on hte losing saide yet having played 17, won 12 and drawn 5. He's probably the best defender that I've ever seen play for Newcastle. Woodgate was the best defender we'd ever had before we signed Botman. They both play the same type of game, niether were/are fast but both were absolutely superb at reading the game and being in the right place at the right time.

We played without Wilson today due to illness and Isak who is just about ready to come back after picking up a thing injury whilst on international duty so we will have some good options soon.

I would love to see us play with what I think is our best 11.

1. Pope.
2. Trippier.
3. Targett.
4. Bruno.
5. Schar.
6. Botman.
7. Almiron.
8. Joelinton.
9. Wilson/Isak.
10. Willock.
11. Saint-Maximin.

I think that team could hold its own against any team in the Premier League and win against most.

We play Leeds next week and then we're on TV 9 games in a row if anybody is interested.

 

[richardtheref]

Mick - living in County Durham I know quite a few season ticket holders at Newcastle. Nearly everyone of them feels youse should cash in on Almeron now before he reverts to factory settings. I can also say that you can count the number of decent games St Maxim has had on the finger of 1 finger. Not many fans rate him outsideof the NE postcode. Having said that, I hope and prey you stay in the top 4

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

It looks like we might just be able to keep something going for the rest of the season and today is the first time that I've felt that. We have a style of play which is getting results and we still haven't played what I think will be our best starting 11.

It's amazing that Bruno wasn't given more games for Brasil. He's one of the best midfielders in one of the best leagues in the world and Tite still thought that he was behind Paqueta, who I like and Fred who is garbage, Bruno is better than both.

Botman not going to the World Cup with Holland was also mad. He's 22 and had played 17 times for us now and he hasn't been on hte losing saide yet having played 17, won 12 and drawn 5. He's probably the best defender that I've ever seen play for Newcastle. Woodgate was the best defender we'd ever had before we signed Botman. They both play the same type of game, niether were/are fast but both were absolutely superb at reading the game and being in the right place at the right time.

We played without Wilson today due to illness and Isak who is just about ready to come back after picking up a thing injury whilst on international duty so we will have some good options soon.

I would love to see us play with what I think is our best 11.

1. Pope.
2. Trippier.
3. Targett.
4. Bruno.
5. Schar.
6. Botman.
7. Almiron.
8. Joelinton.
9. Wilson/Isak.
10. Willock.
11. Saint-Maximin.

I think that team could hold its own against any team in the Premier League and win against most.

We play Leeds next week and then we're on TV 9 games in a row if anybody is interested.

Hopefully Eddie will target winning a cup rather than go just for the top 4. Whilst top 4 sounds sexy, actually winning something will act as a catalyst for continuing membership of the top 4 for seasons to come.
Winning the cup in 2011 changed everything for us (truth be told, just beating united in the Semi was probably enough) but winning it certainly took some pressure off for the following season and allowed us to chase them down from 8 points behind with 6 games to go.
Whatever the media opinion, winning a cup beats finishing 2nd, 3rd or 4th every day of the week. All I’d say is, enjoy it and try not to forget the bad times, as they make the good times even better.

Finally, ignore the media putting you down, as it just means you’re either doing well or even just stopping their beloved red shirts doing well. Do what we do and enjoy the ride as well as the gallons and gallons of boiled piss that creates……….

 

[burnley blue mcfc]

Eddie is doing a fantastic job it has to be said, giddy geordies need to seriously reign things in mind, you win fuck all being above the eventual winners in dec, even having played two games more ;)