Percy Street

but, but ......... they have a 5 year plan !!! Wonderful line in the current "True Faith" describing Ashley's five year plans being like a "fat lass always promising to go on a diet - the start date constantly gets moved back!"

I don't want this to be true but worry that it is. The whole approach just makes you want to slap your own forehead until your arm falls off. Recession tick, club and football finances generally on the skids, double tick we understand all that. And I think most fans would have understood using most of the promotion income to pay off debt, etc. But to not spend any money on new signings is bad for business short term (less tickets, shirts sold, etc) and also places the longer term PL status and longer term associated income in greater doubt. Just stupid - even from Ashley's own self interest view, just wreckless and stupid. Surely some cautious spending would have been the order of the day? My forehead is starting to hurt.....................

Yes this is some of my problem with the new Wemberlee. I take Barrack's testimony, good story and yes it looks and sounds fantastic. But the price differential between there and Cardiff is staggering. I realise Dr Ken isn't being precise with his figures but its something similar. And...................to help cover costs every FA semi is played there whether or not its remotely neutral and every England international - its an England team , not London or South east or whatever. And the corporate area is disproportionately big, what is it 15,000 strong or something? Maybe , I'm a miserable twat but they could have built a bigger capacity stadium in the midlands or the north for far less dosh, bigger capacity and a smaller corporate area. A lot of words from me to say, yeah I'm sure its great but....................................

I wasn't seeking a fight with anyone! It is the season I've enjoyed most in a few years - funnily enough winning lots of games is quite fun....... I know its become a bit of a cliche but Newcastle's decline did start with Bobby going. Sure his powers were declining and his team had peaked but the decline was relative. But the shameful sacking of a local and football legend in an ill thought out and ill timed manner was a self inflicted blow from which we've simply never recovered. Our relegation was Ashley's fault - pure and simple - but the rot started before he got here.

I enjoyed last season more than at anytime since Bobby left - we'd been in decline ever since Hall and Shepherd (reputedly Douglas bloody Hall) utterly ballsed up the great man's departure. Ashley of course was supposed to halt the slide but instead greased the rails............. Am definitely in the camp though who thinks this team can survive (not that this doesn't represent a massive downsizing of ambition). People who simply recall some of this squad getting relegated are missing the point. The spirit on the pitch is 100% better than 12months ago. And also the chaos of of four managers in a season and an utterly poisoned atmosphere in the immediate aftermath of Keegan's departure were all huge factors in serving to bury us. Makes me smile when I see Owen and Viduka listed as departures as somehow evidence of having a better squad then. Going back to 08/09 Owen did nothing at all post Christmas and Viduka contributed nothing whatsoever all season (ironically save for a perfectly good disallowed goal against Fulham that would have kept us up!) Really though they both could have left in Jan 09 and we wouldn't have had fewer points. Of course I wasn't glad we went down but I am pleased the way the team and Hughton responded. That said I have been slapping my forehead ever since though at the idiocy of THAT statement from our glorious leaders....................

For pubs it is pretty difficult to go wrong. Unless you were very unlucky or doing something daft you really shouldn't get any hassle. Personally I'd recommend pretty much anywhere in Haymarket / Gallowgate. Crows Nest / Hotspur / Three Bulls / Percy Arms / Newcastle Arms / Rosies. Personally recommend the Hotspur - small traditional pub - plenty of screens with football on - great real ale - dead friendly .......and absolutely rammed. Then again everywhere will be. Enjoy!

Well speaking only for myself I am a season ticket holder and i voted for Nolan. Goals have been crucial and he has been a proper leader and as the squad stands should be made captain in my opinion. Its part sad / part amusing that a few people on this thread just can't handle a contrary opinion! Sure Nolan's form dipped at various points but somewhere on this thread someone says (can't be bothered to track back) that he turned in the most inept performance he 'd ever seen. Now I suppose it depends how far you go back (early 70's for me) but we have had any number of poorer players / performances than Kevin Nolan at his worst!Actually as exhibit "A" I'd go back no further than post Christmas Micky Owen on that one! There is of course a case for Collo, Jose, Jonas to be player of the season (for as much as it actually matters like!) but certainly for his goals Nolan has to be a contender and on that basis so has Andy Carroll. And had his contribution (obviously due to terrible personal circumstances) not been so "half a season" then Lovenkrands would have been a contender also. To repeat from my first post Champions have lots of contenders and therefore opinions will vary! Just relax everyone!

I think we need clarification on the method of calculation, 'cos if its a head count do we include both on the Boro fans or just the one with the gas mask on?

Its about different people having different opinions................not a difficult concept if you try..........

A little puzzled by some of the bickering on this thread! Well of course you can point the finger (in a good way) in a number of directions. We are champions and like all champions a lot of our players have had very good seasons. Surprised to see Jonas not getting more mentions - frustratingly short of a final ball on occasions (although this has improved greatly as the season had gone on) but he is a crucial outlet. Put simply when he is on those ball hogging, lung bursting runs the opposition haven't got the ball. Jose is magnificent in many ways but gives the ball away a little too much on the attack if I was being hyper critical (and I really don't want to be). Collo has been great and Guthrie and Carroll have improved hugely. Wonder what Shola would have achieved if fitness had been maintained after that great start. This though is a lot of words to get around to saying "Kevin Nolan". Yes he does lack pace but he has been a calm head on the ball, brilliant in front of goal and on and off the pitch has been as good a recent choice of skipper as the lamentable Micky Owen was bad.

Y'know Barney someone will probably be paid a very fat fee to stretch that out over several pages of accounting/ marketing and legalistic jargon but say much the same thing. Put your best suit on and get yourself down there...............

...................or continuing to talk up Best a) Helps rather than hinders a player who is still ours whether thats a good thing or not. Does something to keep a potential resale price"up". Telling the world we want rid would drive the price down. My personal opinion is that you are right up to a point. Best does have the look of a panic buy. But in managing the situ now, Hughton has got it right - as he has most things this season.

Depends on our price really. 500m for Liv is probably 50m too high...For us if MA was asking 250m then I reckon there would be more chance. Call me an old cynic (and you can because I am) but nobody is going to pay £500m for Liverpool or £250m for us - or anything like it. Too many clubs are mired in debt - clubs at anything like these prices are (very) rich man's playthings - they don't make money. NUFC are more likely to be sold in the sense that MA is more likely to be able to get the £80 -100m he was looking for. I just don't buy this received wisdom of our price doubling on promotion. Could be wrong like but thats my honest call. Honest Percy

Depressingly been texted by a trusted source that this is indeed true................

I really really really hope this rumour is all shite..............otherwise the sound you can hear is of a self destruct button being hit with a fucking great hammer. At the moment I'm clinging to the night I was on ....Percy Street after the match and everyone had the same rumour Gazza was dead! Happily that was bollix and I'm perversely hoping that this is from the same stable of misinformation. Sadly the ingredients....Andy Carroll losing it and NUFC self destructing aren't exactly difficult to believe......

Butt & Pancrate will go as would I expect Hall although he's looked canny at times and I muse over him as back up. If we are being ruth;ess then as much as I like the lad (really) it may be time for Shola's long delayed mercy killing (on his fitness record as much as his inconsistent playing record - thing that kills me is there IS a player in there somewhere but I doubt we'll ever find him on a regular basis). I've wandered off track.................sadly Best doesn't begin to look the part - if we starts smashing in goals as soon as I've posted this I'll be chuffed but.... Think Smith has a "detroyer" part to play in tough away games but not anything like as regular as he does now (and perhaps he is too expensive for a bit part). Kevin Nolan may never have been in his school's 100m team but his finishing and his calmness on the ball is much under rated. Also forgotten is his past history as a good PL player for Bolton - only his last season there was poor. barton can play but like Shola hisa fitness record alone (especially when weighed against huge wages) may seal his fate. And to finish I'd rather we went for quality than quantity - give me three / four good players rather than a team bus full of not good enoughs..... I'm supposed to be working at home today..........................!

What a generous observation! - we would have been more than a bit short without his goals this season. Nolan has proved himself a very good finisher this season and for me he is better on the ball than he is given credit for. Yes he does lack pace and yes it would be better if he were quicker but pace is not everything. While he was apparrently poor in his last season at Bolton he was a top man for them for several years - in the premiership. Throw in his age and I just do not get (at all!) the assumption from many on this thread that Nolan cannot play in the PL and needs to be sold. Far too much negativity on this thread. And we have far bigger weaknesses than Kevin Nolan - seriously pleased for him picking up his award and assuming he takes some sort of bow the morra night I'll applaud the scouse salad dodger. it isn't just pace, it is because he doesn't from box to box enough. We don't have anybody who does this, Guthrie probably has the best "engine" but he doesn't get in front of his forwards either. You need support to front runners, quick support and consistent support. You can play someone like Smith in the holding role, which he has done very well, but around him you need a couple of players who will support quickly and for 90 minutes. He's been a good finisher though, and I'm not knocking him just pointing out our team weakness. This is the biggest weakness in the team IMO and we will get absolutely steamrollered next season unless it is improved. I don't know who I think has been our best player this season. Enrique is the best player per position on the books, but also Smith, Guittierez, Steven Taylor, Harper and maybe Carroll and Lovenkrands are as good as any other in this league at the other clubs. To be fair if Lovenkrands had played a full season in his current form he would have absolutely walked the CCC player of the season. I accept the constructive criticism here of Nolan, was just a little concerned earlier in the thread that his very considerable contribution this season wasn't being recognised at all. He might even yet hit 20 goals this season (pushing it I know)

Kenny was blamed by many for dismantling Keegan's team but those who believed that a man who'd won 4 League Championships and 2 FA Cups in a 10 year managerial period wasn't going to make his mark on a team managed by a man who'd frankly won the second tier of the English League and come mightily close to winning the Premiership were very naive. Granted what was is display on the pitch wasn't pretty but the results were still there (runners up in the league & FA Cup final in 18 months was admirable) but still many weren't satisfied. Dalglish's biggest problem was that his appointment co-incided with the floatation. The club were obsessed with recouping money for the older players (Ferdinand in particular) and definitely stunted what Dalglish wanted to achieve. If he'd been allowed the type of funds that he'd had at his disposal at Liverpool or Blackburn, or even what Keegan had before him I think it'd have been an altogether different story. I beg to differ. The results weren't there under Dalglish. He got a runners up with Keegan's team (taking over in the February if memory serves). The full season he was in charge (trusting memory here again!) we were, I think, 13th and only 4 points or so off a relegation spot - and the football was tedious in the extreme. So much harder to take on the back of inheriting the best and most exciting NUFC team I'd ever seen. Its all opinions, fair enough like, but Dalglish didn't impress me at the time and does so even less in retrospect. And those mumbled miserable press calls could actually make Glenn Roeder sound charismatic.

What a generous observation! - we would have been more than a bit short without his goals this season. Nolan has proved himself a very good finisher this season and for me he is better on the ball than he is given credit for. Yes he does lack pace and yes it would be better if he were quicker but pace is not everything. While he was apparrently poor in his last season at Bolton he was a top man for them for several years - in the premiership. Throw in his age and I just do not get (at all!) the assumption from many on this thread that Nolan cannot play in the PL and needs to be sold. Far too much negativity on this thread. And we have far bigger weaknesses than Kevin Nolan - seriously pleased for him picking up his award and assuming he takes some sort of bow the morra night I'll applaud the scouse salad dodger.

You've pretty much summed up my feelings already.

Our clean sheets appear to have gone missing and they do have the very promising Man U loan star Danny Welbeck up front (someone ask Fergie why it made more sense to pay Owen to do nowt raher than to occasionally play Danny in the first team). The good news is though their overall form and defensive record is strictly downhill at the moment. Which is nice. 3-1

Unlikely. Too many of them enjoy being miserable. But I vote for the acca dacca party, I like your optimism and also that , to date, you've been proved right. I recall you banging on at the start of the season saying we'd go up basically because there was not the quality to detain us. And so far you are so right. Don't expect any of your detractors to admit that though. Or to do happy anythime soon. Cheers Percy (your one fan) I'd say ,Percy, you are confusing misery with concern. Everyone on here wants us to do well- have a read thru the Cardiff thread as an example. The concern, as I see it, is firstly that we have a squad capable of seeing us promoted- we probably have at present, although not one that will " piss this league" to paraphrase Accy D. Even the most hopeless optimist would have to say our recent form has given cause for concern. The more worrying prospect is the move back into the PL. Ashley will not spend sufficiently to rebuild to the level needed to compete, and is happy with Hughton as his puppet. Even if we romp home clear Champions this season, what awaits is misery. Well perhaps my "too many of them enjoy being miserable" was a bit scattergun and harsh on balanced posters on here. I was reacting (perhaps over reacting) to some of the negativity that abounds on here and across Tyneside. I'm not blind to our shortcomings (I was down at Leicester but merely suffered Swansea on the box). I think perhaps the Swansea game sums up my feelings about the problem with (some) supporter attitude. Yes we were rubbish, second best, didn't deserve a point - no argument. But this season at home to Bristol City and Derby we drew when we clearly deserved all three points but for many we were not unlucky and those performances simply got panned. Similarly too many people focused on the (admittedly) better football of West Brom in our recent double header rather than the penalty or four we might have had and which would have changed a very great deal. What awaits next season? A lot harder time thats for sure but misery? I'm not entirely sure. I'm a big believer in the ability of a couple of the "right" signings to transform a side. Look at current NUFC with or without Routledge /Jonas/ Jose. Its obvious our current fat controller won't chuck money around but several things here. It frequently did us little good when we did chuck daft money around and anyway I'm not sure how many teams will be doing that . Football's finances are in meltdown. Strange times. Also I think many people are too hung up on the Chelsea' Manu's and even Spurs, etc. Yes we are miles behind them and misery probably does await next season playing them (assuming we go up like!) but(especially with a bit of astute strengthening) we can certainly hold our own in the bottom half (not music to many folk's ears I realise but its how I see it). I guess my basic point is negativity is the default setting for too many and when its vocalised in the media and at SJP it becomes one more problem. Acca Daccas defiant optimism is rare these days and he has a canny track record of accuracy - which is nice. Perhaps he can fill my long list in this weekend. Perhaps I should stir my lazy arse and post more often on here if I think I'm so bloody clever! Oh and its three points off Preston and Nolan to score at some point. Acca would like that. Cheers Percy

Unlikely. Too many of them enjoy being miserable. But I vote for the acca dacca party, I like your optimism and also that , to date, you've been proved right. I recall you banging on at the start of the season saying we'd go up basically because there was not the quality to detain us. And so far you are so right. Don't expect any of your detractors to admit that though. Or to do happy anythime soon. Cheers Percy (your one fan)

I'd just read stuff about the Williamson deal being in doubt and Pompey wanting another 1.2m. My initial "Portsmouth can piss off and find somebody else to pay their debts" swiftly changed to "hold on, lets talk" on hearing the Steve Taylor news which we have to hope is wrong. Worryingly reliable journo on this one though and terrible news if right.