Alan Shearer is first and foremost a Newcastle United fan who loves the club.
He’s different from the rest of us only because he happened to be a world-class striker during his playing career when he played 10 years at Newcastle and scored a fantastic 206 goals in 405 games.
🙂
And Shearer is desperate – like the rest of us – that Rafa Benitez stays long term on Tyneside with another owner hopefully taking over this summer and backs the manager in the transfer window.
Newcastle icon Alan Shearer
Alan has it right when he says it’s up to one man – and that’s Mike Ashley.
This is what Shearer told Coral:
“We’d like a new owner to come in and try to take the club forward and give the manager funds to spend,”
“If he can do that with the squad he’s had then you can imagine what he’d do if he had some funds to invest with and really take the club forward which is what all the fans want.”
“But there’s only one guy that can sort that out and that’s Mike Ashley.”
“I’m sure the talk will rise again and people will talk about the takeover but only he has the answer to that so we’ll have to wait and see.”
“I’m the same as all Newcastle fans in that we’d desperately love Rafa to stay, we’ve witnessed this season what he’s capable of.”
“I’m sure there will be talk of him going elsewhere.”
“But that all boils down to one man I think, whether he stays, whether he goes, whether he’s going to back him, invest we don’t know, we suspect not.”
“But we still know that Mike wants to sell the club so we just have to wait and see what happens.”
Good words there from Alan – let’s hope Ashley sells up – and soon – for the good of the club.
Comments welcome.
45 comments so far
RobLeenio
Apr 24, 2018 at 9:43 AM
Comment #1re-post, because this is important, gosh-darn it.
I’d like to formally apologise to the whole of Newcastle for my over-confidence in predicting a 3-0 win yesterday. Obviously this led to karma biting me on the backside in a rather harsh way and everyone else is having to suffer for it today.
I’ll have to return to gloomy, pessimistic mode ahead of the West Brom match, just as the entire blog did during the game last night….
This was a typical Allardyce team against a typical Rafa team, in hindsight only one goal was ever likely to be needed to settle the points, they scored it and we didn’t. On another day, Perez’s pass would have found Slimani, he would have rounded Pickford and slotted the ball into an empty net and we would all be proclaiming what a wonderful strike partnership we had found. Later, Ritchie would have got back quicker and tackled Walcott before he got his shot away – their only shot on target all night.
Margins…
Aces-of-Eights
Apr 24, 2018 at 10:02 AM
Comment #2Sunday league performance from both teams last night with all misplaced passing and choosing wrong options.. Very poor game. Ref was sunday lge too for letting likes of schneiderlin off with no yellow cards
G
Apr 24, 2018 at 10:17 AM
Comment #3I have to say that was one of the worst games of football I have ever watched. Dreadful stuff all round. Not knocking the player commitment on either side, but it was a game of anti-football.
Lindisfarne
Apr 24, 2018 at 10:22 AM
Comment #4IMO Slimani epitomised our team last night, there is a really good footballer in there but we did not see it last night. On the whole too many wayward passes, not enough pressure in the box and too many spurned chances. Their goal was very soft also.
Lee Charnley Bunga Party
Apr 24, 2018 at 10:28 AM
Comment #5This season against teams who are physical and aggressive at the back we have struggled to get anything out of those games!
Brighton , Burnley and Everton are all teams that we eventually ran out of ideas against at times and our forward lines just get bullied especially Perez who was marked out the game!
We have looked a lot better recently against teams who let us play and that gives Perez , Shelvey a little bit of space to do something there was no room in behind so Shelvey was struggling to do anything !
We looked a lot better when Murphy and Gayle came on as we had some pace and directness about us Richie looks a passenger in these type of games as Baines and Walcott are so much quicker than him
I think everyone can see what we are lacking is pace , power and creativity long term we essentially need to upgrade Gayle , Perez and Richie with stronger and faster versions
Lee Charnley Bunga Party
Apr 24, 2018 at 10:29 AM
Comment #6Walcott for example would be great in our team with Shelvey and Merino sliding little through balls for him
posada
Apr 24, 2018 at 10:30 AM
Comment #7I was at the game. You can’t have a go at Pickford for inciting the away support. They were abusive towards him all evening. He is entitled to give something back provided it stays within the rules which it did.
If you can’t take it don’t dish it.
Remember Shearers cheery wave to Roker Park all those years ago, after he received it all game and I think we won 2-1.
Not keen on the obsessive singing about that lot from down the road. Pickford, Johnson, Cattermole etc. Gives them more crediblity than they deserve.
Also, it’s what they do and have for years. Measure their existence against NUFC.
Yeh, recent events perhaps prompted that, but hope it is not a trend.
Tsunki
Apr 24, 2018 at 10:35 AM
Comment #8We didn’t play that bad and i thought we were more likely than them to score, unfortunately allardyce has had this team setup for decades and he’s turned Everton into Bolton of 15 years ago, the management were right to take a poll on him he is what’s wrong with the league, a dullard and a stifler and shocking when you think how much value that Everton side are.
The ref looks like a big shot Aldi manager ha ha, neither him or his assistant spotted a stonewall penalty or dished out at least a second yellow, Perez unfortunately can do the most intricate flicks and split second touches but the simple ball to Slimani would have been the end of them if he’d got it right.
Can’t blame Slimani for having an off day, it’s his first start in forever and he wouldn’t have been prepared for a fat Sam shutdown. I’m sure he’ll show us some good stuff before the season ends, that’s why Rafa started him.
I think we found our level which if you’d offered me it in February I would have taken your hand off at the shoulder. 🙂
Ninjacent
Apr 24, 2018 at 10:57 AM
Comment #9Totally agree with Alan, but no one has come up and said here you go Mike, here’s your 350 and Do One. PCP now know we are safe and should stump up if they have the cash, otherwise its bye bye and we will be
RobLeenio
Apr 24, 2018 at 11:01 AM
Comment #10Tsunki, precisely – if you’d told me we would have been beaten by that team having spent that much money in that fashion at the start of the season, I would have said it was a decent result. I think we’re all in danger of complacency, given recent good results. The good run had to end, we could have won or drawn that match just as easily and we’ll gather ourselves up and prepare for West Brom.
ArtyH
Apr 24, 2018 at 11:11 AM
Comment #11As per most I was disappointed with the performance last night, to be honest thought we reverted back to an average team again, the last half dozen we played over our capabilities. IMHO Dubravka looked no better than our other keepers and I have thought that for a few games, is he a Dave Bessant lookalike??? Perez came down to earth with a bang, and to me it’s his norm. Some of the others had off nights also but NOT Diame, he was our outstanding player last night by a mile! Such an unprecedented turnaround for the big lad and I’m so pleased for him got to be a contender for player of the season!
Rafa has a bit of work to do this week to get us back on track for W.B.A as they seam to be hitting some form since they jettisoned their last manager lol’s, Pardewe’d to say the least….
Bambams
Apr 24, 2018 at 11:16 AM
Comment #12The takeover if Stavely is still interested has now just become even more complicated.
Ash will undoubtedly want more now….Yet Stavely will want to show her ‘Backer’ she drives a hard bargain and won’t pay over the value of the club….
The term Rick and Hard Place comes to mind.
It may have been easier had Ash not tried to sell in Jan and slates would be clean for the summer attempts
Bambams
Apr 24, 2018 at 11:17 AM
Comment #13Rick=Rock
beefman13
Apr 24, 2018 at 11:29 AM
Comment #14Nothing went right for us last night, that mackem p$ick Pickford with his snow white cheeks as well, our season has been a real himalayas affair, just glad we seem safe.
Tsunki
Apr 24, 2018 at 11:32 AM
Comment #15Thought dubravka was a bit subdued last night, no idea why he didn’t come off his line for the cross the goal came from but I’m sure Rafa will point it out 🙂
AncientC
Apr 24, 2018 at 11:41 AM
Comment #16The away fans were coming through loud and clear on the transmission I was watching. Plenty of singing in reference to the amount of atmospheric space Allardyce’s cranium seems to take up.
ben.g
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:00 PM
Comment #17I’m with Tsunki and Rob.
I thought we were ok, we were playing a Sam team away from home and his team’s are usually hard to beat. We could of won last night if Perez played Slimani in and Gayle had scored! Everton were hardly creating loads of chance’s.
The team kept going we just didn’t have a bit of luck. We were not turned over 5-0! We also have a game on Saturday, we win that were still looking good
Nicky the ball tosser
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:04 PM
Comment #18Rafa has the owner by the short and curlies, which possibly only increases the likelihood that he’ll be sacked amid claims of wanting to “spend like Pep”, logically prompting the Toon Army to retaliate by burning Ashley’s house down.
Exciting yes, but not exactly the type of excitement we’d perhaps ideally want this window.
Or, or, Ashley could do the right thing, and sling the venerable gaffer a few bob, or otherwise sling his own hook.
RobLeenio
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:08 PM
Comment #19“logically prompting the Toon Army to retaliate by burning Ashley’s house down”
Nicky, are you Guy Fawkes resurrected?
😉
Chancel My MBembaship
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:11 PM
Comment #20If I ever start a band (I won’t), I’m calling it Rick and a Hard Place.
Anyway, gutted about last night but we have reasons to be cheerful – we’re safe from relegation and the SMBs are down. Life is good lads!
G
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:17 PM
Comment #21AncientC. My favorite chant of the evening had to be the Toon fans singing to Pickford, words to the effect of ‘You’ve shared a shower with a ….’ now what was that word again?
Toonces
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:22 PM
Comment #22Tough result last night but it more or less seemed like it just wasn’t our day. The effort was there but we seemed more a group of individuals at times than a coherent group. We may need to give Everton credit for making it look like that. We did have some chances though, they just didn’t come off.
On the ref, Bobby Maddeley is a poor ref. I was going to post about him before kickoff. He can’t handle big decisions, talks to all players with a goofy smile on his face and joking with them. Still remember him being given our derby match with the scum and he sent off colo with the red card to later be rescinded because he got it wrong. Cost us that match. And today his big decisions he decided not to make – not to send off Keane when once upon a time he sent off Colo and to not “see” Jagielka’s hand ball. He really is a poor official. Him and John Moss are the worst in the PL.
That said, it wasn’t our day. We would have needed those decisions to go our way to get a result. Good effort by the team. Lets get WBA! HWTL!
martoon
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:31 PM
Comment #23Disappointing result but it just wasn’t our night – after the Gayle miss I just knew it wasn’t going to be our night.!
I posted this earlier but I was completely baffled why as soon as Slimani went off we started swinging crosses into the box for for Perez & Gayle – it just made no sense at all?
Nostradamus the Geordie
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:39 PM
Comment #24So I got home after work knowing that I had the game recorded, I sat down around 6pm and fell asleep around 6.25. God damn, boring, boring, boring, yes I know Everton games are never that exciting like the old days but that was the dullest game I have seen or not seen all season. Here’s the thing that pisses me off at our club, we looked a Theo over the last god knows how many seasons. For 20 Million, still young enough and an England international we didn’t go after, but this is where the club fails in understanding money, if Everton finish 2/3 spots above us they could make about 10 Million more than our club for the Premiership, seeing that number means Everton got Theo for 10 Million, if you understand my thinking. So 10 Million for an England international that has proven he can score in the Prem and once again a player we could have signed has shown us why we should have. Sorry but Mike Ashley will not be selling the club and Rafa will not get the money he deserves for players and will quit next year or even this year when Arsenal knock at the door, maybe Ashley is thinking Rafa leaves and Wenger can take his place. My mind of Ashley and Penfold, or as I like to call them, Pinky and the Brain.
Nostradamus the Geordie
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:42 PM
Comment #25sorry repost:
So I got home after work knowing that I had the game recorded, I sat down around 6pm and fell asleep around 6.25. God damn, boring, boring, boring, yes I know Everton games are never that exciting like the old days but that was the dullest game I have seen or not seen all season. Here’s the thing that pisses me off at our club, we looked a Theo over the last god knows how many seasons. For 20 Million, still young enough and an England international we didn’t go after, but this is where the club fails in understanding money, if Everton finish 2/3 spots above us they could make about 10 Million more than our club for the Premiership, seeing that number means Everton got Theo for 10 Million, if you understand my thinking. So 10 Million for an England international that has proven he can score in the Prem and once again a player we could have signed has shown us why we should have. Sorry but Mike Ashley will not be selling the club and Rafa will not get the money he deserves for players and will quit next year or even this year when Arsenal knock at the door, maybe Ashley is thinking Rafa leaves and Wenger can take his place. The thinking of Ashley and Penfold, or as I like to call them, Pinky and the Brain.
ben.g
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:54 PM
Comment #26Martoon
Could of been big Sam’s tactics. When Slimani is on, don’t let them get the ball in the box. Then with Gayle on, don’t let them play through the middle? Something like that
dig-n-dig22
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:55 PM
Comment #27Lee Charnley #5
What game were you watching? Ritchie won nealy every header on the right flank and run his guts out as usual closing down
griff
Apr 24, 2018 at 12:57 PM
Comment #28ben.g
Comment #26
This.
martoon
Apr 24, 2018 at 1:09 PM
Comment #29griff @28 – If you are want to become the new grammar police then you need to understand it yourself first. Ben.g was referring to something in the past therefore ‘that’ was the correct word!
Lee Charnley Bunga Party
Apr 24, 2018 at 1:11 PM
Comment #30@dig
Yeah there is no disputing his work rate I love Richie as a player but he does struggle to make an impact going forward against pacy players who mark him out the game the combo of him and Yedlin couldn’t get through but we looked more dangerous with Murphy’s pace !
Some games Richie does well but I think Everton done a number on him , Perez and Shelvey and not being blessed with pace they struggled !
Work rate alone will only get us so far we need Ashley to get his hand in his pocket and pay for upgrades so we can progress as a team
dig-n-dig22
Apr 24, 2018 at 1:12 PM
Comment #31Ben G
I thought we played OK too. It didn’t help, with Pickford playing sweeper in the 1st half cutting out Shelvey’s long ball. It may have had a different outcome if Gayle started.
TyneMouth
Apr 24, 2018 at 1:20 PM
Comment #32From today’s Daily Mash, it might lighten the mood, there again…
…. ‘Sunderland to be out of Football League before Britain is out of EU’
SUNDERLAND’S relegation to League One means there is a good chance they will have left the Football League before Britain leaves the EU, it has been confirmed.
Experts stressed the current status of the Brexit talks could see Britain still a member of the EU while the club from the Brexit-voting city finds itself in the northern division of a conference.
Professor Henry Brubaker said: “The people of Sunderland, being such huge fans of leaving things, could end up making a ‘Hard Flexit’, thereby setting a wonderful example for the rest of the country.
“And while Britain will be struggling to sign a free trade deal with the EU, Sunderland will be struggling to sign a 34-year-old full back on loan from Gateshead.”
Martin Bishop, a Leave voter and Sunderland season ticket holder, added: “I have no idea why I make the choices I make in life.”
lochinvar
Apr 24, 2018 at 1:26 PM
Comment #33Something very very wrong with Madley statement about the penalty shout. On TV he clearly demonstrates to the players that Kean’s hands were by his side and that it was ball to hand whereas that makes no difference if the player moves towards the ball to achieve the aim of deflecting it claiming ” not my fault guv”. It also stopped the ball reaching a Newcastle player in a possible goal scoring position .
On the pitch Madley must therefore have seen it – so why no penalty and why lie afterwards that he didn’t see it ? And the linesman who was in line with the incident….?
Madley claims “I didn’t see it, sorry”
As Newcastle bombarded the Everton box during the final 10 minutes, a huge penalty appeal fell United’s way. Michael Keane’s attempted clearance deflected off Mikel Merino and, after travelling eight yards, appeared to strike Phil Jagielka on the arm. Newcastle players screamed for a spot kick, but Bobby Madley did not award it – and, instead, seconds later he could be seen apologising to United, stating: “I didn’t see it, sorry.”
lochinvar
Apr 24, 2018 at 1:28 PM
Comment #34A consortium including former Hull City owner Adam Pearson has ended its interest in buying Sunderland.
Discussions had taken place about the potential for buying the Black Cats, who have been relegated to League One.
However, the consortium opted not to take the matter further.
Seems like a wise move.
lochinvar
Apr 24, 2018 at 1:32 PM
Comment #35Well there’s always the hope that Radio Rentals might be reformed to provided some support in the form of collecting tins on their shop counters.
Sunderland’s relegation to League One means their share of the television money will be slashed by 98 per cent in the space of two seasons.
The Black Cats picked up £93.4m from the Premier League last season, of which £74.4m was made up of their share of the domestic and overseas TV rights, with the remainder coming from facility fees, merit money, and central commercial deals.
This season, Sunderland received around £7m from the TV deal.
Next term in League One that sum will be cut to just under £1.5m.
JDdubai
Apr 24, 2018 at 1:43 PM
Comment #36To be fair, The ref missed a stonewall penalty at the beginning for Everton when Dummett fouled Walcott so can’t really complain that our “some you get, some you don’t” shout wasn’t given .
griff
Apr 24, 2018 at 2:09 PM
Comment #37Martoon @29
I am not studied in the dark arts of grammar. However, I am definitely advancing an argument by taking ben.g’s comment as supporting evidence. The argument is advanced in the present tense. Hence the use of the word ‘This’ as opposed to ‘That’. In summary, ben.g’s usage of ‘That’ was correct and I trust that my usage of ‘This’ was also correct.
griff
Apr 24, 2018 at 2:17 PM
Comment #38In the end, we simply find it difficult to break down defensive teams. Rafa’s coaching has focused on the counter attack. With long pass channels closed down with marking of our usual suspect (Shelvey) along with a compressed defensive structure, we don’t have the creativity on the floor to provide an alternate route.
RobLeenio
Apr 24, 2018 at 2:35 PM
Comment #39griff, agreed in relation to our plan ‘A’ last night.
However, when Merino came on, he was putting his foot on the ball, encouraging passing triangles with Diame and Kenedy and we started to play possession football for the first time this season. Murphy was running in behind with Gayle and we started to look threatening.
This constitutes a new plan ‘B’ to be unleashed on unsuspecting teams gradually and could explain why Merino and Murphy have been out of the line of fire recently, working on this tactic behind closed doors.
After all, if we can see the weakness in Rafa’s plan ‘A’ against massed defences, then Rafa himself is definitely aware it’s there.
lesh
Apr 24, 2018 at 2:35 PM
Comment #40If Ashley’s greed results in his not selling the club and as reported, steps back to leave the running of it with Rafa and Charnley, that’ll probably mean that Barnes, who’s said to be both abraisive and despised in the business world, will be acting as Ashley’s place man, overseeing Charnley. I can’t for whatever reason, see that working for Rafa and he could well be off to pastures new.
Should Rafa move on, the nightmare scenario occurs again in that Ashley makes yet another dumb appointment as manager or whatever, any talent we have’ll be off, the squad that Rafa’s worked wonders with’ll be both depleted and dispirited. New players’ll be brought in from football’s equivalent of a pound shop and the club again be in the vortex of decline and relegation.
How many times have we seen it?
The sooner Ashley does the honourable, the right thing and sells up the better.