BBC pundit Robbie Savage has said he thinks it will be a relegation fight for Newcastle this season – along with Aston Villa and Sunderland.
But maybe he should have said it will be another relegation fight for Newcastle this season since we seem to be fighting relegation an awful lot over the last four seasons – ever since we finished 5th in 2012.
We were relegated in 2009 and we struggled with relegation in 2012-2013 and then last season and now this season – so that’s three times in the last four seasons we have been fighting relegation.
Mike Ashley – needs to show more ambition
Needs to show a lot more ambition
How’s that for ambition for such a great club as Newcastle?
My dad will be turning in his grave.
The only season we haven’t struggled with relegation was the 2013-2014 season and that’s when Alan Pardew got himself banned for seven games and disgraced the club after head butting a Hull City player.
We also lost seven of the last eight games that season – just in case Newcastle fans were getting out of control and too upbeat about things.
We did finish in 10th place in 2014 and that’s only the second time since Mike Ashley bought the club back in 2007 that we have finished in the top ten.
[table “32” not found /]So it’s been a terrible record over the last four seasons – including this season – and to think we thought we were going to continue building the side into a top side after we finished 5th top in 2012.
And that 5th placed finish was recognized as such a great achievement at the Mike Ashley run club that Alan Pardew won both the Premier League Manager of the Season award and the League Managers Association Manager of the Year award in May of that year.
If there were any other Manager of the Season awards then – he would have won those too.
And we know we will continue to struggle this season with relegation because that’s what BBC pundit Robbie Savage has told BBC Sport:
“It is a relegation battle for Newcastle this season,”
“Villa are awful, but a point for them on that pitch is a good result. But I can’t see Villa staying up, Sunderland neither.”
One reason it would have been good to have beaten Villa last Saturday is that we would have gone a further 3 points ahead of them in the league table, but that was a big chance missed.
As other unlikely clubs such as Crystal Place, Watford, Southampton, West Ham and Leicester City seem to be making good progress – we continue to fight against relegation.
For a club as famous as Newcastle United that’s so very sad.
And we don’t want to be too negative just before Christmas either.
So we wont even mention that we have only 7 wins and 30 points in 36 league games in 2015 – one of the worst performances in any year in the league by Newcastle – ever.
Unfortunately, the above is not made up in any way – it’s simply a retelling of the facts at Newcastle since 2012.
57 comments so far
OneAlanShearer
Dec 23, 2015 at 9:00 AM
Comment #1A couple of wins has given the impression we are safe but if we don’t invest significantly in January we are in serious trouble. Starting with central midfield and centre back. Also an experienced striker and winger. We need serious competition in those areas.
Ron Knee
Dec 23, 2015 at 9:05 AM
Comment #2Ashley: ‘How did I do? Do you think I fooled those Jawdie mugs again?’
AncientC
Dec 23, 2015 at 9:10 AM
Comment #3“And that 5th placed finish was recognized as such a great achievement at the Mike Ashley run club that Alan Pardew won both the Premier League Manager of the Season award and the League Managers Association Manager of the Year award in May of that year.
If there were any other Manager of the Season awards then – he would have won those too.”
Nufc blog dot com.
BandB
Dec 23, 2015 at 9:18 AM
Comment #4We are not a bad team full of bad players.
We are a fragile team with confidence and application issues which can play well enough to win if allowed to play our own game.
Pardew got it right when he said “batter this team and they will crack.”
Some teams appear to think that if they establish control and stay patient they will win without breaking sweat. This doesn’t work because they don’t engender the fear factor which breaks our confidence and sets us flapping. Confidence which then grows and we grow into the game with it.
I think Everton are capable of doing this and therefore I think a win for us wouldn’t be a surprise at all, as it wasn’t against Liverpool or Spurs.
AncientC
Dec 23, 2015 at 9:29 AM
Comment #5Above photo caption:
“SD, Wonga, SD, Wonga, Puma, SD, Wonga, Barclay’s, SD, Wonga”
nut meg
Dec 23, 2015 at 9:41 AM
Comment #6Toney recalled from Barnsley.
Tsunki
Dec 23, 2015 at 9:42 AM
Comment #7“Read my lips – I did not actually say I would win anything!”
goalseeker
Dec 23, 2015 at 9:42 AM
Comment #8Makes you wonder if Ashley likes us fighting against relegation after all it keeps filling the seats perhaps more than a regular mid-table result every season with nothing to play for.
I am not usually downbeat but can anyone see us going to Watford and still being in the draw for the fourth round?
Looking at other clubs who are suddenly doing well. Their players are more or less no more skillful than our squad. If so you need to look at the backroom and the senior management to draw comparisons Are we getting the players to play as a squad instead of individuals, when we do we play as one we play well and get results. We have a manager who talks about strategy, that is the strategy of counter-attack even at home even against sides (Villa) who we should swamp with attack minded football to destroy their confidence.Instead by sitting back we let them build belief and confidence. Has he not discovered after years in football that if you attack and score more goals than the opposition you win matches and get points. Then upstairs we have an accountant who knows nothing about football only the way how not to make decisions. Sorry to other accountants but that profession is filled with non-decision makers and are more concerned that 2+2 makes four instead of 2+2 what do you want it to make? Then we have two other directors who although they know football are not director material who have a driving passion to get things done. Ashley keeps saying that he leaves the day-to-day decisions to his senior management if that is the case act like senior managers, if they were really in the commercial world they would be removed from their positions immediately.
It is time for a clear out and follow the pattern of successful clubs when they appoint action driven management, remember it is the idiot who believes that he knows best an is unwilling to learn from more successful individuals, we have just got rid of one who believed that he was the best coach in the premier league.
So what have Leicester; Watford; West Ham and Crystal Palace done that we have not. That is the question to ask; debate and answer. I do not think we need a new squad unfortunately they do bear the wrath of the fans frustration as they are the ones on display. But ask are they riding to instruction if so it is the instruction that is wrong. I can show you a brilliant maths student but if he is given the wrong instruction regarding calculus he will look the idiot as he is the performer that is in the eye of the examiner, not his coach.
We as fans can do our bit, not by moaning but by getting behind the team with so much noise that it frightens the opposition into defeat and by the team frightening the opposition by attacking and not letting them settle on the ball and yes scoring more goals than they do right from the start of the game. They should set their stall out from the kick off that they are going to swamp the oppositions with attacking football that gets them on the back foot from the start. Villa’s confidence was fragile so we treat them with kid gloves in case we upset them further WAKE UP McCLAREN THAT IS NOT THE RIGHT WAY.
Jail for Ashley
Dec 23, 2015 at 9:46 AM
Comment #9He and his minions have worked very hard to make us a bang average club, they haven’t quite mastered it yet but they are still trying.
Ron Knee
Dec 23, 2015 at 9:47 AM
Comment #10nut meg
That’ll put the fear of god into Martinez!
AncientC
Dec 23, 2015 at 9:52 AM
Comment #11It is looking likely that Matip is going to Liverpool, where does that leave our 3 transfer window procurement policy I wonder – right now, in the hands of Daniel Levy it would seem. Come on Levy, give Charnley ol’ Andros on the cheap please.
banjax
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:00 AM
Comment #12Where do you draw the line of where Newcastle problems began. For me it was when Big Kev resigned for the 2nd time. It was when Ashley brought in his failed (and still failing) system of club management. Buy cheap, sell big, sell your best. Have a manager stripped of buying decisions and choice of players to bring in. It was was Ashley’s penny pinching refusing to invest and mistakingly thinking he could treat the club like his sweatshop icon Sports Direct. It’s Mike Ashley’s fault of where the club is now. I think he has learnt his lesson. But spending £45m in one season instead of net spending of £30m every year since he took over, like most other clubs, is the real reason we are failing. Add to that bad signings, poor Chairman, and a manager. Put that lot and more into the mix and you begin to see why we are lower than a snakes belly.
mindshaft
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:03 AM
Comment #13Another Pardew mention – jeez , give it a rest
Tsunki
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:10 AM
Comment #14Nice post goalseeker. Just one thing though, where you said “We as fans can do our bit, not by moaning but by getting behind the team..” I don’t get that part, as the match day fans always get behind the team AFAIK whether they be at the ground or watching on a pub telly somewhere. I believe you mean the possibly corrosive effect that critique from social media, blogs like this for example, could be toned down for the sake of the players ‘ collective sensitivity? Nope. If they aren’t good, we will sat so. If they aren’t trying we will say so. They get what they deserve for the most part. I would contest that the criticism they do get is not for the sake of ‘moaning’ as it is usually portrayed, but because they are the concerns voiced by a loyal and invested fan base, not to mention paying customers, who want commitment and improvement and most of all genuine effort. If that’s moaning, C’est La Vie.
Tsunki
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:10 AM
Comment #15Mineshaft yeah why did you do that? 😉
Tsunki
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:11 AM
Comment #16Mindshaft sorry
Lee Charnley Bunga Party
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:12 AM
Comment #17So young Toney has been recalled is he to be our new striker this window then ? Would have rather kept him out on loan getting game time as well
Tsunki
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:21 AM
Comment #18Banjax – kk’ s departure signalled Ashleys determination to set his business ambition for SD toward the club in stone. No more voices twittering from below about needing to win a trophy or a title but more ” Yes Sir, No Sir” from the foot soldiers tasked with keeping to budget and maximising savings, no more talk of fans, but of customers, no more talk of a successful club, more emphasis on revenue streams and international brand leverage. Part from a few fluffy emails, pat press ‘conferences’ and a shocking pr video of yours truly, the proof is only twice in 7 seasons have we been in the top ten, the rest either relegated, recovering from it ( building for the future etc) or fighting it ( work in progress etc) .
Tsunki
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:23 AM
Comment #19Work in Progress United. 🙂 I like that. It could be good for a few decades.
stuart no9
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:23 AM
Comment #20Its an all too familiar pattern . Paying crap football for half the season , then all of a sudden by some sort of miracle, bang , we have an unexplained couple of wins against top opposition ( when they had to ) Ashley thinks all this panic about buying new players can be put on the back burner untill next season , we go into freefall after new year and escape relagation by the skin of our teeth, is it going to happen this season ??? ofcourse it is , why should it be any different this year when we have saeen EXACTLY the same the last 5 years ?? its all about being lucky and staying up again this year im afraid .
Tsunki
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:26 AM
Comment #21But I wouldn’t go making stats out of that table up there Ed. They won’t tell you the full story…oh…hang on…wait….
Jib
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:29 AM
Comment #22Ivan Toney recalled from Barnsley
nut meg
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:30 AM
Comment #23Ron
We’re being linked to this player today so, just on the off chance that we do bring him in do you have any idea on how to pronounce his name?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqa-_zp19eQ
AncientC
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:33 AM
Comment #24There he is, Mike Ashley, like a Centurion who has came up through the ranks, after 8 years of fierce battling with the balance sheet, ready to build the Roman Chariot… only a matter of nights now, until the war horses are attached.
geordie157
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:36 AM
Comment #25So who goes in Jan to free up squad space, I suppose obertan can just be unregistered as he’s out for a while.
Gouffran back to France, possibly Lille. Williamson did well at wolves so they might want him. But the rest it looks like we are stuck with until the summer…
Ron Knee
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:37 AM
Comment #26nut meg
Maybe this helps?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elbqGdKjs8w
Jib
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:40 AM
Comment #27Salomon Rondon of West Brom confirmed suspended for their home game against us on Monday.
stuart no9
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:42 AM
Comment #28goalseeker…………….’ (We as fans can do our bit, not by moaning but by getting behind the team with so much noise that it frightens the opposition into defeat and by the team frightening the opposition by attacking and not letting them settle on the ball and yes scoring more goals than they do right from the start of the game. They should set their stall out from the kick off that they are going to swamp the oppositions with attacking football that gets them on the back foot from the start. Villa’s confidence was fragile so we treat them with kid gloves in case we upset them further WAKE UP McCLAREN THAT IS NOT THE RIGHT WAY ‘ ………………sounds a good idea , however at what point are you going to realise that getting behind the team at NUFC DOSNT WORK ., If that was the way forward then why hasnt it done any good for the last 5 or 6 years? or are you saying we should be doing more ?? what else do you as fans want us to do ?? we do everything apart from get our boots on and get on the pitch with them , as for getting to perform and make SJP a fortruss , thats down to the manager ,. we as fans should be helping them along as best we can , so no your wrong , your theory dosnt work anymore , by cheering them and clapping them after another disgusting performance is the reason why we are shyte – this year – last year – and all the other misearable years since ashley has been here .I think your right about making a lot of noise ,but it should be abuse directed at the owner , the manager . and any player who does not want to be on that pitch when that first whistle goes .They make more money than most on this blog – get them working for it
Tsunki
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:42 AM
Comment #29Nutmeg I’d ask JFK.
John Tudor
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:44 AM
Comment #30they’ll be like new fa@kin signings
what relegation trouble
brazilian or columbian
or a blend
Blofal
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:47 AM
Comment #31Ivan Toney has been recalled for an injured Cisse?
That’s a surprise. I would have thought we would just stick it out as we have Perez, De Jong, Mitro and Riviere.
Jib
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:47 AM
Comment #32Michy Batshuayi is 100% to leave Marseilles next month .
Arsenal , Juventus , and Spurs , as well as NUFC are being linked , so I guess that’s a non starter.
Tsunki
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:50 AM
Comment #33So let’s go along with Jails ‘Bonus Scheme Squabbke” theory here. The bonus system cuts out because after a lacklustre adjustment to the squad, a run of losses ensue and the players find their bonus targets unachievable. Tools downed as we continue losing to world + dog. Manager cries for January spending on decent players. Hmmm. What to do, Mike? What’s more expensive, millions and millions on new players, or just a couple on bonus payments before the January window maybe throw in a few lies about future spending and ambition? Mike goes for the latter, shockingly – cue players uplifted and suddenly winning against top opposition, no need for players in January, job done, many birds executed with one little stone.
Jib
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:51 AM
Comment #34Just press the speaker icon bottom left
https://translate.google.co.uk/#hr/en/%C5%A0ime%20Vrsaljko
Lee Charnley Bunga Party
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:52 AM
Comment #35@Geordie157
I have never seen the club under Ashley de register someone when they are injured from the squad ! Its a good excuse to say the squad is full so we dont have to sign anyone !!
Looks like Haidara, Obertan and Krul are out for the season so they should be removed to allow us to get 3 players in but it remains to be seen whether the club will pay 3 guys on the treatment table and pay another 3 players wages as well !!
There are a crazy amount of players in our squad who are out of contract either next summer or the year after that the club should be making plans to either get rid or retain the players they want to keep and get replacements in early !!
Ron Knee
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:54 AM
Comment #36Tsunki
So the adjusted target would be finish in 17th place? Cunning, Fatso!
Tsunki
Dec 23, 2015 at 10:58 AM
Comment #37Stuart – this cheer the lads even when they play rubbish lark reminds me of the change in school sports days for my kids. When I was at school the egg and spoon race, sack race, 3 legged race etc all pants and supposedly fun but the teachers never took the competitiveness out of it, the cheating the disputing etc. Roll on these days and the pc brigade puts their foot down and the old school sports day is one where ‘ everybody wins, no losers, it’s the taking part, let’s all just get along etc.’ the kids are taught that it doesn’t matter how hard you try, you aren’t going to achieve anything.
Translate that mentality to the football pitch and see the fans applauding the players after another gutless loss to the worst mackem Mob imaginable and what does that tell them? It doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t matter.
nut meg
Dec 23, 2015 at 11:00 AM
Comment #38Ron
Well done that man. Now to practice saying it. It brought the Jack Charlton story back to me when he was managing the Irish team. During a game he was trying to catch the attention of Tony Cascarino but couldn’t remember his name .He was totally lost …hey you,hey,eh eh pointing his finger in Cascarino’s direction till his assistant asked which player do you mean boss and he replied…eh him,who boss eh HIM, THE ICE CREAM SELLER!
Ron Knee
Dec 23, 2015 at 11:03 AM
Comment #39nut meg
Love it!
Roosta
Dec 23, 2015 at 11:07 AM
Comment #40Ed, thats pretty much spot on, only our 5th place finish was the only real worthwhile consistent effort since MA came here in the Prem, in fact nearly every season with half a dozen games to go we could easily have gone down and we won 2 or 3 of those games to make our final position look a lot more flattering then it actually was, this year same thing could be on the cards! we may actually win a few games at the end of the season for the first time in 4 years, then thats another season in the Prem but nowhere near the dreaded europa league which got so much blame, which i think was crap anyway because even when not in the Europa we have been on the whole sh.te, we are evens to go down, lets start making our own luck eh Mike.