Newcastle assistant manager Chris Hughton now has a heavy burden to try to save Newcastle United, in Joe Kinnear’s absence, and keep the Magpies in the Premier League next season, and it will not be easy, not with any more results like yesterday’s at Bolton.
Chris Hughton – has his work cut out at Newcastle
Chris Hughton believes the crucial run-in in the Premier League this season is daunting for all of the relegation candidates – and there are quite a number of teams included this season.
As we’ve said a number of times now, Newcastle are a mere two points above second bottom place, and currently in 15th place, but with a tough run-in to the season that awaits the team.
Chris Hughton told the Evening Chronicle today:
“They’re very difficult for everybody.” “Home and away is tough for us. But all the teams will look at them and think the same.”
“They’re difficult for everybody.”
Newcastle were caught up-field by Bolton yesterday at the start of the second half, and Enrique and others just couldn’t get back quickly enough to stop the danger, and Gardner had the ball in the back of the net with his very first touch of the ball, having come on in the second half as a substitute.
Hughton added:
“It’s disappointing to concede so early.” “We felt we’d had the better of the first half.”
“We knew we had to be defensively strong and for the majority of it we were.” “On the balance of play, on chances, I think we were the better side.”
“We just had that lax period early in the second half and they scored.”
Let’s get something straight, in these games it hardly matters whether you deserve to win or not, it only matters what the final result it – let’s get clear about that. The result is a lot more important than the performance in these crunch games.
Hughton now has to lift the players to try to get something out of the game against Manchester United on Wednesday evening, and that’s when the crowd of 52,000 will have a huge part to play, to try to help lift the players.
But the players also have to step up to the plate, and lift themselves, to try to get something out of this game.
It’s time for heroes at Newcastle, that’s for sure, and we expect some players to step up on Wednesday night.
Hughton added:
“We’ve got to bounce back and there was enough in the performance to say that we can.”
“We’ll look forward to the next game and try to get something from it.”
A defeat against Manchester United on Wednesday evening will make the 10 days following that, before the Hull City game, almost unbearable for Newcastle fans.
So we all have to hope for something out of Wednesday night’s game, however tough that may seem to be right now.
Howay The Lads!!
Comments welcome.
198 comments so far
DJG
Mar 2, 2009 at 5:42 PM
Comment #41What about this?
___________Harper
S.Taylor_Coloccini_Bassong_Jose
___R.Taylor__Smith__Jonas___
____LuaLua_______Martins___
__________Viduka__________
Dan_Scott157
Mar 2, 2009 at 5:46 PM
Comment #42DJG
I would really like to see that but do not expect Hughton will even give Lua Lua a second thought and if Ameobi is even half fit i think it is the law now that he has to start.
Wigaz
Mar 2, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Comment #43Sorry Ed couldn’t even bring myself to read the article just came straight to comments. We need Hereos & all we’ve got is zero’s! Sad sad times. We should have got a manager in when joe went down ill. We had the perfect break to sort it out get him in & at least have one training session with the players before we met everton, but no we stuck with kevin & perry! What a great move that was eh? See if I was shearer i’d be on the phone to MA saying “Look i’ll come & sort this F**KIN mess out!” but i cant blame him for not doing anything who’d want to be our boss with this bunch of jokers running the show.
jimiley
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:06 PM
Comment #44We are relegation material. We have two stand out players. Bassong and Owen. The latter is always injured and needs to play in a good team to create chances for him because he is still a world class finisher.
Jonas can dribble but for a winger cannot shoot or cross.
Some of the others are OK, but when you are relying on a central midfield of Butt and Geremi, two treal speeed merchants, you know you are in trouble. Ably supported by Smith, a forward/midfielder who has not scored for 4 years. His 60k a week must feel good. You know you are in trouble when you name Smith in any starting 11. He’ll start on Weds and we will lose.
I doubt if the whole midfield has scored 4 league goals between them all season. Take Owen out of the equation and Oba’s 6 or 8 goals a season (how can anybody claim he is top class I do not know. He cannot trap a bag of cement, is fast with a wayward shot and always falls over in contact, reminds me of Heskey) and suddenly we cannot score. We deserve to be where we are.
All the above I can cope with, but what makes me sure we are going down is the manager. Hughton is the worst in the Prem. Clueless. Should not be running a pub team. MA has brought it all on himself and deserves to be ruined. He appoints JK when nobody even rated him. JK gets a point a game (relegation form by the way), has a heart attack and cannot now manage. What does the owner do? Give JK a 2 year contract. Unbelievable. You could not make it up. We should have got a peplacement when JK took ill. No, we now have Hughton. He will take us down. Laughing stock. The only good thing about this is that MA looks totally cheesed off. He is a disaster. Watch the season tickets plummet when we are in the fizzy.
simon376
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Comment #45We really do need the players to stand up and fight now. Thing is, we need it to be the players who he picks. I was talking to Haughton a week past Saturday, saw him outside John Lewis, seems a nice bloke, but maybe thats it, too nice and not the type to stand up to the players who are not doing it.
Now I want to get something out of my system from earlier stories. How can people still blame Keegan and ‘the mob’ (hate that expression) for the bother Newcastle are in? If I’m not wrong, it’s just on 5 months since Keegan left and we had the demo. If the current set up can not get things right in 5 months, nobody in their right mind can blame a manager who left and some fans who had a demo when ONE game was in place. I’ve said this before, but those who still blame KK or whoever may have walked out, it proves that they think so much of him that we can’t cope without him and things would have been so much better if he was here.
If we want to blame anybody, its the person who has been in charge for the past 5 months and the person who employed him.
I think a lot of JK for taking the job on when others wouldn’t and want him to get beack to full health again as some things are more important. But we can’t go on blaming somebody who hasn’t been in charge since the 1st September when it’s now the 2nd March. Lets look at what has gone on, on the pitch and the board room for the past 5 months.
jimiley
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Comment #46You know the club is knackered when you hand Stroller a three year contract. Fizzy league ambition.We were desperate to sell him a few months ago. Smith won’t go because he wants to fight for his place. That means nobody is daft enough to pay him £60k a week so he’ll stay at NUFC on the bench or injured and bleed the club dry. God this club kills me.
oba_9
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Comment #47jimiley.
whats ur problem with shola, he had a decent game at the weekend, most players were worse.
jimiley
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Comment #48The old players will take us down. Smith, Geremi and Butt and the like. We have to gamble on new blood like Lua Lua but the “manager” does not have the bottle to drop some established players who cannot do it any more.
workyticket
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Comment #49jimiley // Mar 2, 2009 at 6:06 PM
“MA has brought it all on himself and deserves to be ruined.”
jimiley, If MA is ruined, then the club will be ruined too. Administration, points deductions etc. What kind of supporter are you???
jimiley
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:19 PM
Comment #50Oba9
If you think Stroller is a good/average player, you must be a mackem.
jimiley
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Comment #51workyticket
The club will get relegated. That is ruination for the club and ruination for MA. I want him out at any cost. If that means the fizzy league then so be it. he has to go.
Toon_Factor
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:22 PM
Comment #52______________Harper______________
______S.Taylor_Coloccini_Bassong_______
R.Taylor_____________________Enrique
_______Geremi__Smith__Gutierrez______
__________Viduka___Martins__________
oba_9
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Comment #53look mate, he is a decent player, nd instead of slagging him off, we should get behind him. i mean he looked gutted after bolton. and when he got booed off gainst everton he looked gutted as well. it doesnt help when u slag him off u know, just get behind him and the team for once
jimiley
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:28 PM
Comment #54Oba 9
Always do support the team at the ground, home and away. That does not mean I support the management or think all the players are good because they play in black and white. Most of our players are average or poor and will get us relegated. Its an honest opinion. I wish I could blog that I thought they were all great. Slagging the team off on a blog is a million miles from slagging them off at the ground.
oba_9
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:31 PM
Comment #55jimiley
ayee but its loads of other fans at the ground that slag the players off, i hate it, we need to get behind them at and help them rather than what most people do. especially at home
workyticket
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Comment #56jimiley // Mar 2, 2009 at 6:21 PM
“I want him out at any cost. If that means the fizzy league then so be it. he has to go.”
jimiley, If you want this club relegated, then you must be a Mackem too! 😛
Stuart79
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:37 PM
Comment #57Workyticket
Although I don’t agree with the comments from jimiley far from it, you said we would go into administration and the club would be ruined as well as Ashley.
If we went into admin we would be bought by a much wealthier man than Ashley at a snip!
workyticket
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Comment #58oba_9 // Mar 2, 2009 at 6:31 PM
“jimiley
ayee but its loads of other fans at the ground that slag the players off, i hate it, we need to get behind them at and help them rather than what most people do. especially at home”
Absolutely bloody correct oba_9! Negativity from the supporters feeds directly on to the pitch
Stardust
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:42 PM
Comment #59Simon376
I am one of th mob haters – the pessimists who are the cancer of the club – the ones who will always twist, winge, campaign and demo against everything at the club – when the owner has tried to do the right thing (got things wrong but his intentions were right)
“Now I want to get something out of my system from earlier stories. How can people still blame Keegan and ‘the mob’ (hate that expression) for the bother Newcastle are in? If I’m not wrong, it’s just on 5 months since Keegan left and we had the demo. If the current set up can not get things right in 5 months, nobody in their right mind can blame a manager who left and some fans who had a demo when ONE game was in place. I’ve said this before, but those who still blame KK or whoever may have walked out, it proves that they think so much of him that we can’t cope without him and things would have been so much better if he was here.”
Myself, Workyticket, Toon Chicken and many others campaigned stating that the demos – and HATE around the city for a man who had killed their messiah – would hurt the club. We were told time and time again that you could disassociate the two. You were wrong.
Only recently after the issuance of the club accounts (showing Ashley told the truth) CH told of the demos and background re his taking over. Do you honestly think that if the fans had accepted KK’s walking was wrong we would be in this mess? I shouldnt have asked that as I know your answer – and therein lies the problem. While we have fools with opinions around the club masquerading as well meaning fans – newcastle may never get the success a good percentage of the fans deserve.
workyticket
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:48 PM
Comment #60Stuart79 // Mar 2, 2009 at 6:37 PM
“If we went into admin we would be bought by a much wealthier man than Ashley at a snip!”
Stuart79, I’m sure that quite a few Leeds supporters thought similar things when they went into admin. They got Ken Beast!
Stardust
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:49 PM
Comment #61Another thing Simon376 – you can lay your life that those same Mob Members are the leeches of society – people who never add anything – they just suckle their blood off the workings of others until they are fat and drop off awaiting the next free ride.
Supporting newcastle comes with responsibility – to support the team first and foremost through thick and thin – the mob forgot that – they let their “messiah” become the most important thing – and then went on witchhunt against a man who had done very little wrong. How wrong could they be.
Stuart79
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:50 PM
Comment #62Mackem!
Alex
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:53 PM
Comment #63Just had a thought , ridiculous as it looks how about a central midfield of Colo , Jonas & smith .
colo can play as dm , he has played there for Argentina before . When we signed Jonas keegan was so pleased with him he actually said the lad could play down both wings and would do a job in the center . Circumstances now dictate that we try something different , lets go with this team against manure
——————–Harper——————
R Taylor—-S Taylor—-Bassong–Enrique
——————–Colo————————–
LuaLua—Smith—–Jonas——-Lovenkrands
———————-Oba————————–
i know that is a crazy lineup , but we are in a position where something this daft might just work and manure would not be expecting that.
Stardust
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:54 PM
Comment #64Stuart79 // Mar 2, 2009 at 6:37 PM
“If we went into admin we would be bought by a much wealthier man than Ashley at a snip!”
Oh Yes stuart Mr Business Degree (without one iota of experience) – a 3rd was it?
You show every simgle post that you dont support newcastle – you hate one man – its the likes of you this club would be better off getting rid of.
hitman
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:55 PM
Comment #65the fans allways support the team,the protest was aimed at ashley.and to called people leeches just because they have diffrent views than you is a total disgrace.
Stuart79
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Comment #66stardust
Witchhunt against a man who had done very little wrong?
What drugs have you been prescribed?
Goodness me! I’m not wanting to argue cos I’m bored of your p1ss poor arguments but he’s ruing the club with his poor decisions time and again.
If he has any football sense he would appoint a permanant manager and try to get us out of this mess!
You call it loyalty, your opinion and you’re entitled to it. I would say it just a total lack of football common sense.
Question Stardust
If we go down and it’s very likely now, would you apportion any blame on Ashley at all?
oba_9
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Comment #67the fans dont alwayssupport the team himtan, just listen on a match day to all the negative vibes towards players, especially shola and butt as well
Hong Kong Toon
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Comment #68i hope not start Ameob on …..
because Ameob is rubbish…..
workyticket
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Comment #69Thanks for saving me the effort (again) Stardust.
Turbulence, instability, deeply embedded negative mindset that translates to the players and damages confidence. All the ingredients required for success!
Gilly
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:59 PM
Comment #70Oba 9 I agree Shola is a good player…a good Championship player he is not Premiership material.
rveryone is entitled to their opinion and mine is that he is poor. I agree that negativity can hurt teams, but come on he is indefensible.
Stardust
Mar 2, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Comment #71You as a fan Hitman have a responsibility to the team – if you do not live up to it – you hang off the side of the team suckling yourself fat from their efforts for entertainment – only happy when a victory to your liking comes about. I liken you to the Romans enjoying the killing their slaves in the in the Colosseum and eating on a fat lamb shank as you scream out your meat is too rare and they are not killing the slaves fast enough.
I much prefer men who try to build things in the right way than leeches who hang from the sides of those men suckling and complaning. Sorry but thats the way it is.
Stuart79
Mar 2, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Comment #72stardust
Again- what’s this degree thing you keep going on about? I’m afraid the drugs have sizzled your brain.
I’m happy with the support I give the club. I like the majority on this blog are realised and see what is happening. Were going down!
Now if you want to bury ya head in the sand you do that.
One think I can tell you is that coming on here telling it as it won’t send the club down! P1ss poor players, p1s poor management will!
I support the club every match day and have done for many a year. That gives me a right to have my opinion. You don’t agree, fair enough but I know when the titantic hit the iceberg I bet there quite a few wishing they’d seen it before they hit the fcking thing!
Cos me and most other fans have seen the iceberg since May 07!
Toon Graeme
Mar 2, 2009 at 7:01 PM
Comment #73Evening lads,
Probably gonna get shot for this but what the hell.
This is the copy of the email released by the NUSC, unreleased until now, which has been commented on and in the local rags I recall.
I know a lot of people disagree with the NUSC but it does make interesting reading.
**********************************
Derek Llambias is not a fan of the NUSC.
That much was clear at the end of an always interesting, sometimes petty, but often surprisingly candid exchange of views between NUFC’s Managing Director and a Supporter’s Club (with a membership of 1000+ strong and growing) who remain critical of his regime and who were once more dismissed by Llambias as “the breakaway group”.
Let’s set our cards on the table from the outset. We are not a “breakaway” anything. We do not, will not, nor have we ever advocated anything but unswerving loyalty towards the black and white shirt of NUFC. Forged, as we were however, in the fury and anger that surrounded the events of September 2008, it’s an easy stereotype to portray us as a one trick pony.
Llambias would fall prey to that trick towards the end of a charged meeting that ended up being far from the simplistic “meet the fans” he perhaps expected it to be when he arrived, early and flanked by local journalists, at around 5:45pm in the director’s suite of St James Park on 24th February 2009.
His quiet introduction of “Hello, I’m Derek” was met with handshakes from some members of the Newcastle United Supporters Panel and with reserved stares and mild suspicion from others (including the four representatives of NUSC who were present).
It’s perhaps important at this point to pop the bubble on another rumour. NUSC was never initially invited to be a part of the Supporter’s Panel by the club. We made that happen for ourselves when it became clear that issues involving the behaviour of match-day stewards were growing increasingly unacceptable to fans in the Leazes Corner. As a result of this proactive attitude to fan issues we were invited back on a permanent basis but in limited numbers to attend the monthly Supporters Panel meeting held by Simon Esland, The club’s Head of Customer Operations.
It was left to Simon, a fundamentally decent man doing a thankless job under difficult circumstances, to begin the meeting with an introduction and agenda. Derek was here to answer any questions however there was to be no mention of Keegan (something that would be stuck to neither by the people in attendance nor the Managing Director himself as the evening wore on) due to the ongoing legal issues involving our former manager.
Llambias began by apologising for not coming to the last meeting but revealed he would be “More than happy in future to come to these meetings and that as you come to know me you will find you can ask me a question and I’ll give you a very truthful answer…we want to be transparent”
On the silence that has engulfed the club since September last year he ventured the following:
“We kept our heads below the parapet so that nobody would shoot us…we weren’t prepared for the force of Kevin leaving. The backlash was so huge we thought we’d just back off and let everybody calm down…although it didn’t really happen”
One word that Llambias was keen to stress was “inherited”, there was no culpability or admission of wrongdoing in the Keegan saga; these were all referred to interestingly as “problems we inherited”.
Sticking with the theme of inheritance Derek moved on to discuss the debt inherited from the previous regime: “buying the club for £134M then £110M (To pay off the debt, which the club now owes to Ashley instead of a bank) which Mike doesn’t take any interest off…if in 6 or 7 years Mike sells the club it becomes capital…part of the price of the club”.
The subject of that debt was something that would later cause Derek to become increasingly annoyed with those asking about it.
Llambias then went on to confirm the clubs Academy budget as being £10M per year with £5M spent so far.
Derek explained the hierarchy’s unhappiness with the business model they inherited which meant players were signed on credit and paid for over a period of several years. “Were still paying for some of them now” he complained, referring to players who had long since left the club.
Interestingly he then claimed “We (Ashley) won’t clear the debt for those players as it will take us until 2011”. So there is debt still uncleared then?
The club’s new policy, apparently, is to buy the players outright so that “we own them”. Unfortunately, when questioned further on this by NUSC Derek admitted that it didn’t reciprocate to a policy with outgoing players. Our question was this: “While we were giving clubs our money up front, would we be asking them for their money up front if they purchased one of our players?”
“No” was the answer.
For anyone wondering what happened to the James Milner money herein lies your answer:
Villa havn’t given it to us yet.
Further probing brought out that “they (Villa) are paying us in bits” and as Ashley will only spend money as and when it arrives this seems to suggest we would never have been able to reinvest it in the way KK talked of to begin with.
A cautious approach to debt is all well and good, but the complete refusal to partake in it seems to be a peculiar eccentricity that has no proven model of success within football and left us wondering what the point in selling someone to raise transfer funds is if you’re unable to spend the money straight away on a replacement.
We continued to probe asking how it made sense to shell out all of our money upfront and let other clubs pay us in instalments. At this point Llambias changed his tune and said that while we try to buy all our players up front it’s not always possible.
Sticking with the club’s unusual reluctance to have any debt we asked why it was necessary to pay off the club’s mortgage and debt completely. The analogy was presented of a person who uses all his money to wipe off his mortgage but then has nothing left for food and essentials. That person has no debt, but he also has no money to spend on anything else either (in our case, players).
Llambias’ response was that by paying off the mortgage (or rather transferring the debt the club owed from the bank to Mike Ashley) they have saved £7m in interest over the next 8 years which could be used for transfers. This seemed to be the main justification, saving a little under £1M a year on interest but severely restricting your owners spending power on players instead of having manageable debt with increased cashflow available for player purchases.
However, it seemed “manageable debt” was the issue. “We couldn’t make the repayments” confirmed Llambias “We lost £30M and £20M in the last two years” This year they are hoping to lose £5-10M “which Mike is quite happy to put in each year”.
“The club makes £100M a year in revenue of which 76% goes on salaries” he added.
Onto the famed “five year plan” then and once again it was reassertions of the “Arsenal plan”. Yes you heard that correctly, Arsenal not Aston Villa.
“That was a misquote” argued Derek and demanded the journalists present confirm this, which they begrudgingly did. He stated that he simply admired the progress Aston Villa had made this season and under Martin O’Neil’s stewardship. That was what they wanted to emulate.
We pointed out to Derek that Aston Villa have spent £30M this season and around £80M under O’Neil whereas his club have spent £6M in the recent transfer window and made a profit in every transfer window under Mike Ashley’s stewardship. How would we hope to emulate them with such different strategies towards spending? After all it is easy enough for a West Brom fan to say they want to be like Man Utd, but without matching them financially isn’t it just a pipe dream?
“I didn’t say about being Aston Villa” Llambias retorted, looking flustered.
Okay so what about Arsenal then? Mike Ashley asserts that “Arsenal is the shining example in England of a sustainable business model”, the problem being that their manager, Arsene Wenger along with a certain Sir Alex Ferguson were both quoted following Keegan’s exit as saying they would “not accept” working under a director of football.
Was it fair to say that they were two “top class” manager’s who wouldn’t be in danger of damaging the woodwork on the door to Derek’s office?
Llambias looked ruffled “That’s the first I’ve heard of that one” he sighed.
Not a problem Derek, we have the quote from Wenger right here it goes like this:
“If I go into a job and someone says to me that you have a director of football who buys and sells the players, I accept or dont accept it. If I accept it, I cannot complain. I would personally not accept that”
It was left for Simon Esland to jump in with the save. The Arsenal model simply referred to the football plan (i.e being a self sufficient club only spending what they make in player sales and/or internal revenue) not the internal structure of the club. However as Derek confirms NUFC intend to run at a loss of £5-10M (covered by our benefactor Michael Ashley) it looks like player sales will be the only source of future transfer funds.
This led onto a discussion about the role of Dennis Wise which, itself, led to one of the most interesting answers to a question we expected to be “off topic”:
Who signed Xisco and Gonzales?
“Xisco was Kevin, don’t believe everything you read in the press, Gonzales was a…well, I won’t go into that because we’ve still got legal issues there” stumbled Derek.
Suffice to say jaws dropped on that one, not just for the remarkably candid nature of the revelation, but for the insinuation that we are supposed to now believe that Kevin Keegan walked out on Newcastle, not because he was unhappy with £6M being blown on an unwanted striker, (all his own work apparently) but that he was so fundamentally opposed to the club bringing in a player on a short term loan to help an injury hit squad that he walked out on a multi-million pound contract!
Apologies that we didn’t probe that one further, we were too busy dusting away the fairy’s from our eyes.
Wise was then described by a supporter’s panel member as being “as popular as the plague” and discussion was raised over the PR battle the club has with fan feeling towards the diminutive Director of Football. Would he attend such a meeting as tonight, we asked? The answer said a lot about the fear factor the regime seem to have about football fans and angered pretty much all within the room.
“If you bring Dennis Wise into this room what are you going to get?” asked Llambias rhetorically; the implication clearly being a lynch mob. “I just mean he’s not very popular” he wailed. It was pointed out to Derek that neither is he…but that at least he had made the effort to face his critics.
We thought this might be a good time to try and get the club to own up to precisely which players Wise was responsible for unearthing and signing.
“Who’s been your top player?” came the reply. This time it was David Williamson (NUFC Executive Director of Operations), previously silent by Derek’s right hand side, who was speaking.
“Bassong” came the universal reply “He was Dennis’ ” confirmed Williamson. Jonas was next to be named as a Wise buy. “Pick your top five players this season and you’ll see that they were Dennis’ players”
Our suggestion of Shay Given as a contender for that role was met coolly by the officials and with black humour by the attendees.
Llambias chimed in “All those players are Dennis’, they’ve been picked…sorry, Dennis has brought them in…with the knowledge of the manager” he belatedly added. Phew, good job you confirmed that bit Derek!
There was then some discussion of Joe Kinnear. Llambias confirmed that Joe was still very much part of the future at NUFC, they have pleaded guilty to his latest disciplinary hearing and hope to just get a “slap on the wrist”.
If Joe is unable to return then Derek isn’t worried. He brushed any such concern aside (seemingly forgetting the problems we had replacing the previous manager) saying, “If I could tell you the number of top class manager’s banging on my door right now…Top, top”.
Of course, legal requirements meant that he couldn’t but we are confident Alex and Arsene won’t be among them.
Speaking of top managers, what about the situation with top players and the likes of Shay Given leaving?
“We never wanted to lose Shay, we made that clear from January” sighed Derek “whatever the price they offered. They came in with £3M and we politely told them to go away. Somehow Shay got it into his head that he wanted to move on because he wanted to win trophies. City then came in with a £5M bid that we rejected but then …when a player decides they want to go it’s very, very difficult. We offered Shay a new contract that would take him to the age of 39 but that wasn’t good enough”
So what in Derek’s opinion was the “could have done more” Shay insisted the club could have done in his post transfer interview?
“Maybe we could have matched the contract with City, which we just couldn’t afford”. We then heard that Ashley flew in to make a last minute pitch about the club’s direction but “it wasn’t successful”. No kidding, Derek.
Llambias did however promise to answer the question of whether Shay would get a testimonial “at the next meeting”.
We thought this might be a good time to ask the question “considering NUFC had the man MCFC desperately wanted, how were they unable to get the player they wanted (Michael Johnson) in return via a swap or some similar arrangement”.
Llambias’ answer inadvertently revealed just how little we got for Shay in the end.
“Once they came in with a £5M bid we then looked at their team. We tried for their right back, Michael Johnson, Elano on loan to get the deal that suited NUFC. Unfortunately it was difficult”.
Alarm bells started ringing here. £5M? Was that all we got for the league’s top goalkeeper? Again the reply surprised us in its candour:
“No, we got £5.9M plus add-ons, not paid until 1st of July” In effect this would have denied us the money to spend in the window under Ashley’s “wait till it comes in” policy.
“We asked Man city for £15M,” continued Derek “thinking they would just go away but they got away cheaply, was it good business on our part? Not really ‘cos we never wanted to lose the player cheaply”
In our minds there’s a problem with this logic. If City were unable to pay upfront, couldn’t we have used that as an excuse to hang on to Shay until the end of the season?
If we’re not getting cash up front but paying out to others that way then what’s the long term plan to make sustainable revenue available for the manager? Llambias offered the following:
“Our commercial side is important, we’ll be out there from March trying to bring in better sources of revenue. Our revenue on retail is down because the economy is suffering, our revenue on food and beverage, we’re quite happy with that. We’d like to expand our brand and we’ve taken on commercial directors”
Translation: Sell more pies and chips and hope for the best. At least he spared us “blue sky thinking” Apologies if we’re out of touch but it came across as first class management waffle designed to mask substance.
Does the club have a contingency plan for relegation then?
“Yes” came the simple reply followed by an actual show of humour in asking yours truly whether I was any good at football!
The answer to that is no, but I am somewhat passable at maths which meant that when Derek moved on to mention player wages of £59M it gave me an rough idea that from his earlier quote that “The club makes £100M a year in revenue of which 76% goes on salaries” that must leave a good £17M on non-player salaries. It would be interesting to see how much of that is spent on Directors of Football and the like.
One person no longer drawing a salary was (former chairman) Chris Mort and his name was next to be raised as a subject, with unfavourable comparisons drawn between himself and Llambias.
“Chris was a good guy,” said Derek “he came in as a lawyer as all of our computers were confiscated in the second week (we’re presuming this was during the police enquiry into corruption in football) so we thought we should bring a lawyer in to settle things down. I’m more of an operator so it’s a different type of approach. Chris was fine, he was out there in the media, maybe he did too much as sometimes you can do too much. We decided to be more generic, it was pretty faceless. We’ll try and get Mike himself more involved”
On this note we asked why Ashley comes out with statements such as “we are going to be in Europe by the end of the season” and “what price to finish in the top six?”
Llambias questioned where these quotes were coming from and we duly informed him of the source: His own club’s programme on the day NUFC were comprehensively taken apart 5-1 by Liverpool.
The guy in charge of the programme defended this as “an attempt to pick up on the feel good factor”.
Let’s get one thing straight, these quotes were made with NUFC 3 points from the foot of the table. The only “feel good factor” generated that day was by NUSC and the £3000 it raised for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation before kickoff!
We tried to make our feelings clear on what we felt was a patronising attitude and asked Llambias why Ashley couldn’t just be honest with the fans. Explain the club has debt, explain the limit on transfers and drop the unrealistic rhetoric about finishes to the season we know are impossible. Unfortunately the mention of the “d” word rather riled him “Just print that we paid £250 Million for the club” he snarled.
We should probably express our disappointment with some of the supporters in attendance who actually seemed to welcome Ashley’s utterings as “positive” and as for the ludicrous comparison one Sunderland supporting local journalist made that “It’s the same as Keegan saying “watch out Sir Alex we’re after your title” what utter rot. NUFC finished 3rd that season, still a record finish for a debuting Premiership side, they were not marooned deep in the relegation zone for the best part of the season.
What we personally want, and what we assume most sound of mind NUFC fans want from the owner is truthful, realistic statements to go with his optimistic outlook. What we don’t want are any more patronising, glib soundbites.
As it stands we’re unconvinced Llambias and co got the message.
A similar stubborn attitude was shown on the question of season tickets. The VAT will not be returned “as it would cost more than £12 (per person) in administration to do so”. Blimey, stamps must be canny expensive these days.
What about those who signed up for three years thinking they were getting a better deal but are now (thanks to the reduction in next year’s ticket prices) no better off for their loyalty? Would they get something extra, a free cup ticket perhaps?
Again, the answer appears to be no as “All they (those who signed for 3 years) were doing was guaranteeing a frozen price”. However, they will get a letter from Derek thanking them for their loyalty, so that’s alright then.
There were no plans to reduce matchday tickets in line with season tickets although the club would “consider” having one off games where they would lower the price. Whether “We’ll consider it” turns out to be the footballing equivalent of “we’ll see” remains to be seen.
The failings of the club to properly communicate the season ticket price reduction and how it impacted onto those who had already signed up for three years led to a suggestion that the club hire a permanent PR guru. This was dismissed by Llambias who said “Do we need to spend £200k a year on PR”. One member of the supporter’s panel thought so, drawing the excellent analogy of needing to buy a striker if you couldn’t score any goals.
We asked Derek if having decent PR in place might have prevented the exodus of 5000 fans this season, a figure he vehemently contested. “Let’s make a comparison with the rest of the league,” he argued “everywhere is down other than the big boys”. This assertion that NUFC is not a big boy went down like a ton of bricks and led to much backtracking and fawning over the “great atmosphere” at St James.
Llambias concluded his point by saying that “We did have a PR agency” before adding (jokingly or not we’re not sure) “they’ve just been fired”.
Llambias went on to state that “If we are short 3,500 seats (his estimate not ours) that is reflected everywhere in the North East. “People are struggling to pay for tickets”
It seemed evident here that Derek was missing the woods for the trees and attributing a handy credit crunch excuse to what in reality is a deep underlying dissatisfaction with the running of the club. As for comparing us with downturns in the half empty Stadium of Light and Riverside…oh dear, better get that PR team back on the phone and tell them they’re rehired.
As the topic returned to summer transfer activity, Derek was unable to let us know precisely how much the club’s budget would extend to (although presumably the Given money will have cleared by then at least) and remarked that he expects big outlays in the coming months on “KK and Jonas”. This suggests he isn’t hopeful of winning the case against Keegan and that our bargain Argentinian may end up costing us an arm and a leg after all.
Owen’s replacement was speculated on and when we jokingly suggested another Ashley “Wow signing” was on the cards Llambias confirmed that Collicini at £12.5M was the “Wow signing” previously spoken of by Ashley.
At this point one of our members raised the issue of problematic stewarding, discussed at the last Supporter’s Panel, and in doing so mentioned that representatives from the NUSC were here.
“The new breakaway?” queried Llambias and then seemed to fit the pieces together over the level of some of the questioning he had received throughout the evening. “Oh, you’re from the supporters club?” he asked. Clearly he either hadn’t been briefed or was feigning ignorance of our presence.
Discussions were held about the leaflet distributed recently about standing at the match and comparing it with the one issued by Boro. The point being not the ludicrous wording of the Boro leaflet’s final paragraph but the overall manner in which they individually contacted season ticket holders explaining the council’s objections rather than the aggressive “sit down or else” of the NUFC’s leaflet.
We spoke to David and Simon after the meeting and were invited to work with the club on future fan communications. An offer we are more than happy to accept on our mandate to work constructively with the club on important fan issues. Privately we have been assured that the steward who was causing the problems at the Tottenham game and others has since been removed from matchday duty. This is a positive result for NUSC and those who contacted us about this issue.
As the meeting drew to a close discussions turned more and more to playing staff with the Managing Director perhaps getting a little too drawn on his opinions on certain players. However, this report not being a stitch up, we won’t embarrass him by making those comments public.
Discussion continued to focus on how the club could involve the fans which seemed like as good a time as any to reminds Derek that there exists a supporter’s club with 1000 members only too happy to get involved and give their opinons.
Derek’s response to this left a lot to be desired and revealed a pent up frustration with the NUSC that had first surfaced in his initial press interview.
“Why do they pay for membership?” he queried.
“Why do you ask people to pay up to £30 for a club membership” we countered
“What administration costs do you have? Where does the money go?” he snapped back, not answering the question.
We told him: “the money goes into a paypal account which immediately costs 59p per deposit, members then receive a car sticker, pin badge, membership card and keyring all of which have to be paid for. Leaflets are printed at a cost as are newsletters. We have a website which has running costs but that nobody on the committee makes a penny”…and so it went on.
Changing the subject from an issue that clearly hadn’t worked out for him, Llambias preceded to tell us what we were (despite our numerous valid objections).
“Your ethos is boycott our stores, boycott our stadium…yes it is, yes it was and yes it is! Your statement was ‘Ashley Out’, it’s still on your website (it isn’t actually Derek) it’s negative, you’ve been very negative. I’ve read your letter (we’ve actually sent him 3, the last 2 perfectly pleasant) and it was absolutely disgraceful and that’s why I didn’t acknowledge you”
One of our number then gave a lengthy explanation to Mr Llambias, busting a few myths about NUSC and the rally at the weekend in the process, unfortunately all Derek could reply with was yet another petty dig asking whether NUSC will “issue books at the end of it”. Yes Derek, that’s what we have an accountant for.
And with that the meeting drew to a close, there was still time for Derek to issue a few more bizarre comments to one of our number in a private chat. We won’t bother giving them credence here. Suffice to say they were all a bit James Bond villain-esque.
So then, dialogue at last but clearly still a long way to go.
Some credit is due to Llambias for finally showing up, we hope he honours his promise to attend these meetings regularly.
He clearly remains deeply suspicious of the NUSC, although he really has no need to be. Our cards remain on the table, we want what we’ve always wanted; a small slogan that Derek apparently missed among all the “Ashley out” and “sell up and go” campaigning of last year. It was reflected by the only banner NUSC actually brought to the Sunday’s rally.
For those that didn’t make it to that event let us tell you that it didn’t say “Cockney Mafia out” (that one was never ours anyway) nor did it say “Ashley Out”, “Keegan In” or anything so blatant and specific.
The banner had one simple word. The word we’ve been fighting for since all this began.
“Change”
That’s what we want most of all Derek, a positive change for the better at this football club.
If you and Mike can’t or won’t deliver that, then as we’ve stated previously we’d rather you were on your way. If you feel you can, then great, but be aware that we’ll be watching your progress like a hawk and we won’t stop asking questions when we think there’s something wrong.
That’s not being negative Derek, that’s striving for positive change.
That is what NUSC is really all about.
hitman
Mar 2, 2009 at 7:05 PM
Comment #74blah blah.ive pumped enough of my hard earn cash in supporting the toon,its my right to have a say,just like it is your right.but im no leech just coz i dont agree with you.
Stardust
Mar 2, 2009 at 7:09 PM
Comment #75If we go down and it’s very likely now, would you apportion any blame on Ashley at all?
Blame will be apportioned accordingly. I can not say he is blameless – he got KK back (I thought it was a good move and I was wrong – totally – I thought he was a man of honour not a coward)
My blame would be in percentages as:
“K”owardly Kevin – 50% – the system wasnt a problem the egos were – KK holds the blame as he walked while holding all the cards – the only powerful thing at Newcastle – the power of the Mob.
The Mob 35% – Couldnt appoint a new good manager because of them, they shamed the club around the country and world, they put off players wanting to join us around the world, they to this day make us a laughing stock and people still think we are unstable, they undermined the teams confidence and unsettled player and stand in managers alike.
The Directors 10% Terrible P.R. Wise and KK obviously fell out over Xisco.
Ashley5% – Paid all our debts- strengthened the club to its strongest point in years – let down by a “K”oward – shown amongst alll reports to have been truthfull throughout.
Joe Kinnear – 0%. – No other manager would touch us because of the Mob – I appluad joe for putting himself on the line for Newcastle when many of the supporters including you Sturat didnt.
Toon_Factor
Mar 2, 2009 at 7:09 PM
Comment #76Toon Graeme
is your Essay copied and pasted or have you written that out because you have nothing better to do?
Toon Graeme
Mar 2, 2009 at 7:16 PM
Comment #77Copied and pasted from an email I received.
Just thought some people might want to read it. A bit of a change of the topic.
shearer4pm
Mar 2, 2009 at 7:19 PM
Comment #78im sayin we beat man u 5-0, with a delicate chip over van der sar for the last goal, nah i sense a draw tbh, got a sneaky lil feelin, 0-0 it settle for that
Stuart79
Mar 2, 2009 at 7:22 PM
Comment #79Over to you stardust you pr1ck!
simon376
Mar 2, 2009 at 7:23 PM
Comment #80Stardust,
When the demo took place rightly or wrongly in the eyes of others, I walked past and went into the ground. When the demo took place inside, I didn’t join in, I thought it wasn’t the time or the place to do it, didn’t want the team to be distracted. But I can understand why people did it.
I still can’t accept that the fans because of that act and Keegan walking can be blamed. Keegan walked, wish he hadn’t but he did. The managment team in place are the ones to blame for the results. If the fans had continued to demo in the ground at every game, maybe there could be some blame apportioned to them, but I’ve got to say, I’ve never noticed it. Yes maybe some of the fans don’t shout and sing as much as they used too, but I hardly think they can be blamed for the way the team plays.
It doesn’t really matter what our feelings are towards Ashley, Joe or whoever, if we want to look at who is to be blamed, we have to look at who is in charge of team affairs and above. I’m no fan of Ashley at all, but if he’s done his best, not a lot more you can say, he tried and he failed. Same goes for Joe or whoever else is in charge. It would be the same for any other club in the land.
What we really need to do in the coming games is forget about the blame and get behind the team and stop the booing. Every player in black and white needs our support no matter how good or bad they may be. After the season is finished, we can only hope that the board can see sense and try to get somebody in charge who can get results and the club can be run with some good PR. Lets just hope we are still in the Premier League.