More than 4,000 Newcastle fans made the journey to Darlington on Saturday, and that’s amazing considering the lack of leadership at the club right now.
Habib Beye – fans were brilliant
Managing Director Derek Llambias was at the game, and we can hardly accuse Derek of doing anything much good at the club during the last year, as it’s been one of the worst years in the club’s long history, since he took over from the talented Chris Mort.
Beye – who still seems ready to leave the Newcastle mess, told the Evening Chronicle today, in what is reported to be an emotional interview:
“The fans were brilliant at Darlington.” “I feel for them because they deserve better, much, much better.”
“They need to know what the future is at this club, and it must be terribly hard for them.”“The fans were better than us last season.” “But it’s important to have a good relationship between the fans and the players.”
“We will always try to communicate with them.” “They are brilliant.”
Many fans will be hoping these positive words from Habib are an indication that he will stay at the club, if Ashley’s mess is sorted out soon, but it’s hardly clear what will happen at the moment.
Beye, who is one of the real leaders at the Newcastle club added:
“Quite rightly they expect Newcastle to go back to the Premier League at the first attempt.” “They have been with us right from the start and they have backed us.”
“They did in Ireland and again in Darlington.” “Yes, it was a friendly game, but they showed what great fans they were by singing all of the way through.”
“They even did it at Aston Villa after we went down. Those are true supporters and one thing we still have at this club.”
“They were behind us all last season, which must have been hard.” “And they show us players they are behind us, which means so much.”
Beye has been linked with Greek giants Panathinaikos, Portsmouth and Sunderland, and played for half a game in the Newcastle back-line against Darlington, and Habib seemed pleased enough to come through it unscathed, as he continued:
“It was all right and I came through it.” “The important thing about these games is to remain fit.”
“You must avoid injury and try to get your fitness up in every game.” “I think for 45 minutes it was good for me.”
“We won 7-2 but, I think while it’s good to win the game so comfortably, everybody played between 45-60 minutes and we have kept something for the next game.”
“The fitness is better every day.” .
Good words from Habib Beye, one of our best players over the last two seasons, and we have to hope he elects to stay on Tyneside for the next few years.
Comments welcome.
34 comments so far
WELSHMAG
Jul 20, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Comment #1http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/soccer/wires/07/20/2080.ap.soc.newcastle.shearer.1st.ld.writethru.0431/index.html
Doesn’t sound great to be honest.
They’ve got a big in that meets fair value for the club but they won’t be offering 100m. They have money back for team investment but the closer it gets to 100m the less money for transfers. Hardly encouraging when you think of it. He also says the club would be run as a business ie – they’d be there to make money. Granted they’d need to invest to be able to get us to a position where the club could make money and that’s the prem. hmmm…..
workyticket
Jul 20, 2009 at 1:49 PM
Comment #2WELSHMAG // Jul 20, 2009 at 1:41 PM
“Doesn’t sound great to be honest.
They’ve got a big in that meets fair value for the club but they won’t be offering 100m. ”
Welshmag, I wouldn’t confuse what they say with reality if I were you.
BTW, how did you arrive at your estimation of the club’s value?
lesh
Jul 20, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Comment #3Despite all that, I’d be happy if they just bid wht was needed to get rid of Ashely and manage the club sensibly.
I’m sure we’ve got the players in who can get us out first time around – given teh right leadership and of course, stability!
Stardust
Jul 20, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Comment #4Some of the fans deserve better – others – the mob included are getting what they deserve. Shame they have dragged the real fans through all of this with them.
beyethegreat
Jul 20, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Comment #5would shearer be in the top 100 players of all time
WELSHMAG
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:03 PM
Comment #6Worky ticket – The clubs value is as much as someone is willing to pay for it so that must be somewhere in the 70m range if what we’re being told is correct. It’s not my valuation, I was basically reeling what it said in the article when I said fair value for the club at 70m, that’s what that machoonon dude says in the article.
bill
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:08 PM
Comment #7What is a real fan?
Fans come in all shapes and sizes, don’t always agree with team selection, don’t always agree with tactics, don’t always agree with transfers in or out of the club, don’t always agree about how the football club should be run, but they always support the team put out on the field to play.
Whumpie
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:10 PM
Comment #8Beye’s quote, “We will always try to communicate with them” is interesting. I think he’s openly defying an order from Ashley’s mob to stay schtum.
He’s a good lad, but he’ll be done unless things move on by the weekend. Such a shame.
Stardust
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:11 PM
Comment #9Thats the point Bill – many of our so called fans chose to hate one man in support of another rather than supporting the team on the pitch last year. The atmosphere at the ground was the worst I have ever known it.
Whumpie
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:13 PM
Comment #10On the subject of the Profitable Group:
Bad: Something fishy about them. Why are they so public when everyone else is silent?
Good: I like their proposed business model and that the club will be run to make a profit, not as some arab’s plaything.
Right now, I’d be delighted if they were our new owners. ‘Better the devil you know’ only works if your devil isn’t a hopeless, fat twunt with the sense and acumen of earwax.
beyethegreat
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:14 PM
Comment #11Thats the point Bill – many of our so called fans chose to hate one man in support of another rather than supporting the team on the pitch last year.
THE FANS DID SUPPORT THE TEAM ON THE PITCHTHS FANS LAST SEASON HAVE BEEN BETTER THAN THEY HAVE FOR MANY SEASONS
ALSO DO YOU THINK SHEARER WOULD BE IN THE TOP 100 OF ALL TIME
Whumpie
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Comment #12Some of the ‘fans’ have been embarrassingly loud when showing their lack of sense in the past year. But hey – I got plenty of it wrong too (even defended Ashley quite strongly a few times), so I’m not about to pass judgement.
Whumpie
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:16 PM
Comment #13…and for me, Shearer would be in the top 1 of all time. But I am just a smidge biased.
beyethegreat
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:18 PM
Comment #14whumpie me too would you say shearere is better than giggs(without being biased)
Stardust
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:19 PM
Comment #15Whumpie – make no mistake even I want Ashley gone BUT I fear for our future – fans are clamouring for our new messiah – they the moronic many could well bring their own club to its knees. Oh yes just like their cowardly king – they love the club dont they.
Rangerman
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:31 PM
Comment #16It was only yesterday the Sunday Sun said we had only sold 15,000 season tickets, so I wouldn’t say our fans are brilliant.
Whumpie
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Comment #17Shearer would have any of ’em in a fight…
🙂
Whumpie
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Comment #18That’s about 8k more sold than most Fizzy League clubs…
Whumpie
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:36 PM
Comment #19Stardust – I have to disagree there; I’ve not heard of any clamourings for messiahs.
All I’ve heard is clamourings – unanimous ones – from fans, players and respected people throughout the industry – for some sense, progress, stability.
For once, I think people are being reasonable.
bill
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Comment #20At some point you have to make a stand despite the team.
I remember demonstrating in an effort to get rid of Lord Westwood and others but I gave the team my full support. It took years for them to go and the club stagnated as a result.
The difference here is that to me this man, Mike Ashley has been a total disaster for the club. The only way I could see to get rid of him was to stop going to games. Even if he had my money he wasn’t going to have me in the stand. Empty seats do make an impact, and that is why I supported the idea of boycotting games totally until he was forced out.
As real fans we cannot stand idly by and let people ruin the club, and to me continuing to turn up would have given him years to further embarrass me and others. The man has no class and has no idea how to run a football club.
bill
Jul 20, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Comment #21Season ticket sales will rocket as soon as Mike Ashley goes.
Stardust
Jul 20, 2009 at 3:04 PM
Comment #22Bill – actions have consequence – last years failure to support = relegation.
This years lack of uptake on season tickets will = failure to sell the club quickly (or at all).
I am incredulous – wake up for gods sake – support your club in its time of need – he has told you he is going – accept it and help him go as you desire – now grow up and buy your ticket.
bill
Jul 20, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Comment #23Relegation was nothing to do with any lack of support, those who attended obviously got behind the team. The problems were with the management or should I say the lack of it.
KK being allowed to leave when it was obvious the players loved playing for him. If you had been at Old Trafford last season you would never have believed that we were going to be relegated. We should have won the game.
Undermining KK by appointing the poisoned dwarf.
Appointing a deluded manager who only knows one word.
It goes on and on.
Anyone interested in buying the club will know that the fans will be back as soon as MA has gone.
It doesn’t apply to me anyway because I’m on the three year deal. I just won’t turn up until he has gone.
Stardust
Jul 20, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Comment #24Bill; we will never agree – just as I have said to Ryan Tool on the other thread – suggest you read Einsteins theory of relativity and its consequence – the Law of Attraction and you might start to understand a bit more about the fundamentals behind the negativity and its impact on our outlook, circumstance and position.
Think clearly, positively, for the good of the club, and of success, together and it will be so. think to the contrary and that will be so – guess the mob won out last year.
workyticket
Jul 20, 2009 at 3:52 PM
Comment #25Stardust // Jul 20, 2009 at 3:04 PM
“Bill – actions have consequence – last years failure to support = relegation.”
I think it was last years demands for Ashley to sell the club at the worst possible time with no manager, a refusal to get behind anyone who wasn’t Kevin Keegan or Alan Shearer, and Ashley’s weakness for caving in to their stupid and ill-informed demands. That cut the list of willing and available managers down to one, and he had a triple bypass waiting ’round the corner. Of course though, they will always look for scapegoats, and never look at themselves, that’s just the mentality of the herd.
bill
Jul 20, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Comment #26Read it years ago Stardust. Einstein, Newton, Gauss, Euclid, Euler, etc are all my friends.
Whumpie
Jul 20, 2009 at 4:01 PM
Comment #27Sorry, Stardust, but you can’t get away with that one. Relegation was down to a lack of support?
Utter todge. Bill’s explained why.
Also, I believe that right now, Ashley has to be shown that by holding out for better offers he’s just losing more money. That means everyone holding back on season tickets until we have a sale.
Going back to the KK saga, it’s now looking very much like KK was just seeing 1st hand what we’re finding out painfully over many months: that you can’t work for these idiots. I sincerely doubt that he had much choice but to walk, and I very much hope that the settlement does not include a gagging order on KK.
At that time I supported a match boycott, and I wish that’s what we’d done. If we’d forced Ashley to sell up then (instead of letting him mess about with stupid price tags and u-turns) then we’d be in a better situation by now. Instead, we let him off the hook and the descent has been deeper, slower and more painful as a result.
Stardust
Jul 20, 2009 at 4:03 PM
Comment #28Well then Bill – I deduce from your posts you didnt buy into it then.
I choose to live my life that way.
Whumpie
Jul 20, 2009 at 4:13 PM
Comment #29Worky’s right – at least in part – about the ‘mob’ narrowing the list of potential managers. It was a component. But NOT the cause, and to say so is just ridiculous spin.
Yes, the bed-sheet brigade added a ‘chill’ factor for anyone considering the post, and some of the bolshy statements making it into the news were a bit embarrassing. But what REALLY put managers off was all the evidence that the regime was untrustworthy, inexperienced and capable of blatantly mistreating their managers.
Whumpie
Jul 20, 2009 at 4:21 PM
Comment #30Actually Stardust (if you’re still there I’d appreciate your opinion on this one) there is one thing recently which I have found annoying on these blogs.
I can see why people hate Ashley. I can also appreciate why lots of people buy into the rubbish that’s in the tabloids. That’s what the tabloids do to make money; they rely on the fact that the average reader won’t bother to really think stuff through, and Joe Public loves a good reason to get angry.
BUT what really bugs me is when people jump to the most outrageous conclusion even when it just makes no sense at all. Things like:
1. Ashley’s doing it out of spite
2. …because he’s actually a Spurs supporter
3. …because he’s actually an evil alien in the pay of Michelle Platini to bring down the Premiership a club at a time.
I think Ashley is doing what he’s doing because he has an unfortunate combination of vices which are normally the preserve of US presidents, namely:
1. Arrogance
2. Ignorance
Basically, he has too much belief in his own opinions and abilities and won’t recognise when he’s out of his depth. Right now my main worry is that he’s once again holding out for an unrealistic price for the club and doesn’t realise how much value he’s shedding by doing so.
I don’t think he’s evil, I don’t think there is any dark plot. I just think he’s a bit of a plonker who doesn’t know when – or how – to cut and run.
Stardust
Jul 20, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Comment #31Whumpie “But what REALLY put managers off was all the evidence that the regime was untrustworthy, inexperienced and capable of blatantly mistreating their managers.”
The fact is no one could follow the Messiah into a volatile lynch mob – they were destined to fail.
By your same logic AS would have refused to help us stay up- he didnt – his words – “I sat down and spoke with him and I got the right answers”
Even Keegan said on Ashley – “we just might have the perfect owner for Newcastle United.”
Those who spoke to Ashley seem to favour him – those who havent have an unobjevtive biased views formed out of a gutter swilling press and lynch mob interviews by SSN.
So your argument holds no water.
Stardust
Jul 20, 2009 at 4:28 PM
Comment #32Whumpie – appreciate that re the ignorance and arrogance.
Ignorance – in business you have to decide what is important and what is knowable – what are the fundamentals. Ashleys lack of experience in football has shown to be lack of communication and of an overall vision directly from his mouth. The majority of his actions appear to be for our good (whereas FFS were for himself and his gribby little pockets) He has never shown his vision or communicated – a huge mistake.
Arrogance – of course he has self belief that he has the ability to recognise the important and knowable (self made billionaires do lol) – however on missing the communication he had simply made a gross misjudgement of error.
Ignorance and Arrogance can also be explained as self belief and mistakes – appointing those you trust who let you down, to deliver what is important and knowable and fundamental.
bill
Jul 20, 2009 at 4:46 PM
Comment #33I was always willing to give MA the benefit of the doubt.
I expected him to spend more money on players that he did. If it’s true that he didn’t know about the Northern Rock loan then I can understand it, but it beggars belief that he didn’t.
Once Denis Wise was brought in to get players above KK I knew there were problems.
No manager worth his salt would accept someone else selecting players unless they had a fantastic relationship. I don’t think DW and KK had such a relationship.
It’s simple to me, the manager picks the players then the money men try to make it happen. KK had a very good record at SJP the first time he was manager so I didn’t doubt he could pick a player.
Don’t forget fans are very fickle these days. They pay a lot of money out for tickets and travel, believe me (It costs me over £100 per game) and they expect success.
This is the same at Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, etc. Just listen to the phone in’s when any of them has lost. This is not just a Newcastle problem.
Brisvegas
Jul 21, 2009 at 1:11 AM
Comment #34Stardust – bulldust, more like. What a load of New Age crap you speak! Think positively and good things will happen? D’urr. That must mean that only Man U fans in England were positive last season, and Newcastle fans have not had a positive thought for the last 30-odd years.
In your philosophy there is no need for resistence to people like Hitler. All ya gotta do folks is think positive like and the bastard will go away – or get better.
Utter tosh!