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Gene_Clark

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Everything posted by Gene_Clark

  1. And, whilst we brace ourselves for the inevitable sales of Jose Enrique & Tiote and the possible departures of Colo, Gutierrez and Barton, is why I have to say (through gritted teeth) that FCB's slash & burn policies have made Newcastle United a far safer & more sustainable entity than it used to be. Providing we stay up (and I think that's a better than even bet), then the sale of quality players with potentially good ones brought in, or developed, to be sold at a vast profit, will keep Newcastle in decent shape for the foreseeable future.
  2. Well for me it's the 82% of turnover on wages that really stands out, even more than the £26m a year loss. The £26m shortfall is a one year thing that can be addressed by selling a prize asset (Bent), but 82% on current income (with a fairly obvious downturn in corporate and match day income to come, as Quinn's high rise strategy seems doomed to failure, resulting in that 82% getting worse) is unhealthy, unsustainable and a recipe for disaster. They have two choices; either beg Short to keep firing money at it in an attempt to spend their way out of trouble (Keynesian economics they called when I was doing my A Levels at Gateshead Tech thirty years back), or tighten the belts in an incredible attempt at breaking even (Monetarism as they called it when I was doing my A Levels at Gateshead Tech thirty years back). If it's the former, Short needs cojones of reinforced steel & the ability to wave farewell to £200m in the next couple of years if he wants to stand still unless the current squad's contracts are up for renewal. If it's the latter, the mackems need to hope that they can finish 17th or better for the next few years, with a presumably vastly reduced squad with all high wage earners sold and the money used to service debts. Any resemblance to FFS in scenario 1 & FCB in scenario 2 is purely coincidental, but informative.
  3. We're not hearing much from Rhys; hopefully he's using this time wisely to reflect on the rashness of his intemperate vocabulary last time out. clearly I don't know the boy, but I'd wager he has pinned his entire belief in Quinn on the desperately unlikely scenario of Quinn staying, Short investing & some decent players being signed. It does not look good for the red and whites, no matter how anyone dresses it up.
  4. Undoubtedly "Puppy" by Jeff Koons, which stands outside the Guggenheim in Bilbao. I saw it last summer when on holiday in Euskadi and the playful enormity of this piece just manages to shade the entire "Dirty Word Pictures" by Gilbert & George.
  5. I think it undeniable that NUST has failed, for whatever reason (and I know who most wise heads are justifiably blaming). If United For Change are a more radical, active, proactive & provocative group, then I'm with them all the way. Those I know who are involved are lifelong Mags of unquestionable morals & selfless, ego free devotion to our club. They deserve our support.
  6. Ok, so if Sessegnon isn't a striker and you're down to Gyan, with Campbell & Welbeck both out injured, as well as Healy & Waghorn out the door, then that to me looks like the tactics of a business that is scaling back its operation, but relying on enough points accrued at this stage of the season to stay up. Not exactly high risk tactics as 37 points, despite the 3/12 and 0/9 returns since Bent left. The question is whether this is a temporary position or a sign of permanent retrenchment. As you're clearly a glass half full kind of person, I'll take it you're optimistic that Bent quality replacement(s) will ocme in during the summer and that, say Gyan, will not be sold. Muntari didn't let the grass grow long at Pompey and had a few fallings out at Inter, but he is undoubtedly a class player. Incidentally, was the Stoke or spurs winner his foul was indirectly responsible for? Yes, Quinn took a huge pay cut, which was something like 40% of the £1.8m shortfall in your gate receipts. As I say, as you're a glass half full kind of person, I'm sure you're convinced it will all come right in the summer. Star striker sold and not reinvested - check Relying on current points total to stay up - check Fans worried about remaining star players being sold - check Wealthy owner not wanting to subsidise further losses - check Club would go into administration if owner demands money back - check Classic Mag moron. The reason we have not reinvested the money made off the Bent deal on a striker is because there were only about 10 days left in the transfer window, the club were clearly as shocked about what happened as anyone. We didn't have time to line a decent replacement up, I'd rather the club waited until the Summer and evaluated all our transfer targets and not rush into anything. We're not as fucking thick and stupid as Newcastle, panic-buy should have been your clubs middle name in seasons gone by. Contrary to what you think, we've not targeted a place in Europe this season, our ambition at the start of the campaign was a top ten finish and anything more will have been a bonus. We should comfortably meet our objective come May. The rest of your points are so unrealistic and ridiculous they don't even deserve a fucking answer. Wealthy owner not wanting to subsidise further losses? You met him like? He outlined his escape plan to you? What a fucking spacker. 1. If the Bent deal was concluded in approximately 2 days, why wasn't 10 days long enough to find a replacement? 2. Would you not agree that since Ashley has arrived, panic selling is more the Newcastle way than panic buying? 3. Consequently, why focus on Newcastle's policy when it is your club's under discussion, unless you wish to employ diversionary tactics that create more heat than light and take attention away from the parlous financial position of your club and the unpopular decisions that are being made to keep you afloat? 4. Would you say spending 82% of turnover on wages is a sensible, or indeed defensible policy for a club that has ambitions to finish between 7th and 10th, especially if that club is making a £30m loss per annum? 5. I've not met Ellis Short, but I've met Niall Quinn at a sunderland Sure Start / Aim Higher Awards Evening at the Raich Carter Centre in Hendon. This was in 2002, just after he'd quit playing and just before he walked out on the coaching role he'd been given. Take your time answering points 1-4; I'd like to read your answers. No need to use words such as the final one in your post though. Keep it clean. Keep it civilised.
  7. A genuinely fascinating read and it shows Harper to be a gentleman. However, there is 1 error when he describes doing the School Run the day Bobby Robson died. This is impossible as Sir Bobby died on Friday July 31st 2009, which is in the school holidays. I know this for a fact as my dad passed away the day after, August 1st, a year younger than Sir Bobby in the Freeman, of cancer.
  8. ahahahahaha it was GNAT WEST - the bank the likes to say fuck off. The kid in that advert was Paul Hanley who was the drummer in The Fall at the time. Met him in October 2009 when his band played The Cumberland Arms & asked him about those t-shirts; apparently he never got a penny from the sales. Poor sod.
  9. There is no such thing as a great shop, although Waitrose isn't bad I suppose.....
  10. I went to see a band (Jonny, made up of Euros Childs from Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Norman bBake from Teenage Fanclub) at The Independent on Monday night; a decent little venue, but not a patch on The Cluny where they'd played the night before. Interestingly, the crowd at The Independent was about 50, while there were 175 at The Cluny, so it's not only football matches but gigs that mackems don't go to see. Perhaps it was on Latvian MTV at the Vane Tempest Club in Seaham
  11. Fair enough. I do think it's likely that we'll have more stayaways next season if Ashley doesn't tip the Carroll money into the transfer pot. That's more of a silent protest than taking on Ashley though. Ashley will do the same as always, leak stories to the press about a big named signing or 2 and the season tickets will sell. Only to see nobody in. Not a go at NUFC or the fans but he has a habit of doing it. Errant nonsense, unless you fail to grasp what last summer's comment of "no capital outlay" actually means.
  12. Kitman, I think you'll find in my initial post I said that for the purpose of my debate on this topic I would not be directly comparing the two clubs, not least because comparisons are odious, but mainly because it appears almost impossible to have rational debate without point scoring / mud slinging and so on from both camps. Whoever termed Newcastle & sunderland as the secular old firm was right on the money. I was talk to an old chum of mine today, turned 50 last December, lifelong Mag, 15 aways a season, who started work in sunderland the day after Owen's double in the 2-0 in April 2008 & he still says the ones he deals with on a daily basis prefer our defeats to their wins, but that's a by the by anecdote. As far as Newcastle are concerned, I would say that the essential difference is that there an element of fans who are far less deferential in their attitude to the club hierarchy than the sunderland ones. Yes Ashley has failed, but sadly so has NUST. What Newcastle fans have is a sense of realism; I'd like this to be translated in to a desire to take on Ashley and bring about regime change, but I'm not holding my breath, sadly.
  13. Cheik Tiote, Joey Barton, Jose Enrique, Kevin Nolan and Fabriccio Coloccini are the players who will keep Newcastle up, but undoubtedly the Andy Carroll deal means all of them, with the possible exchange of Gutierrez for Nolan, will go in the summer as the club has let them down by flogging the prize asset and replacing him with who? Well, as I stare at the photo of Andy Carroll that adorns the February page of my official Newcastle United calendar, the short term deal for Shefki Kuqi does not hint at a club looking to push on, does it? What the Carroll deal shows, considering all his weasel words from early December onwards and the cancellation of a Press Conference scheduled for 31st January that was rumoured to unveil Barton and Enrique as having penned new, long term deals, is that Pardew is a puppet of Ashley and Llambias. Just when a grudging note of acceptance was creeping in to the comments of Newcastle fans about the performances of the team, Stevenage excepted, following the managerial change, the empty rhetoric about keeping Carroll and augmenting an already thin squad shows Pardew to be either a bullshitter or easily manipulated by the club’s owner.
  14. Ok, so if Sessegnon isn't a striker and you're down to Gyan, with Campbell & Welbeck both out injured, as well as Healy & Waghorn out the door, then that to me looks like the tactics of a business that is scaling back its operation, but relying on enough points accrued at this stage of the season to stay up. Not exactly high risk tactics as 37 points, despite the 3/12 and 0/9 returns since Bent left. The question is whether this is a temporary position or a sign of permanent retrenchment. As you're clearly a glass half full kind of person, I'll take it you're optimistic that Bent quality replacement(s) will ocme in during the summer and that, say Gyan, will not be sold. Muntari didn't let the grass grow long at Pompey and had a few fallings out at Inter, but he is undoubtedly a class player. Incidentally, was the Stoke or spurs winner his foul was indirectly responsible for? Yes, Quinn took a huge pay cut, which was something like 40% of the £1.8m shortfall in your gate receipts. As I say, as you're a glass half full kind of person, I'm sure you're convinced it will all come right in the summer.
  15. Sessegnon cost 25% of Bent's transfer fee Muntari's form is inconsistent & his discipline questionable Quinn may have taken a pay cut / had one imposed recently, but not prior to that If Short stays until the Summer, your club will stay up this year; if he leaves in the Summer, you are Portsmouth II, though that I'll concede, is the case with many clubs & the problem with single owners.
  16. The repeated tirades by St Niall Quinn towards his Mackem constituents get funnier by the second. Ever since the Drumaville Paveys parked their Hiaces on the SoS forecourt, all Newcastle fans have heard from all sections of the media both local and national, is how well the Unwashed are run compared to the goings-on at SJP. Despite Charlie Chawke’s Circus People rumbling off in to the distance, to be replaced by shadowy American billionaire Ellis Short, the unchallenged mantra among print and broadcast commentators is that the ruling elite on Wearside are doing things so much better than those on Tyneside. Frankly, to anyone who believes in proper fan ownership, being asked to make a choice between Short or Ashley is like asking whether you’d find Mubarak preferable to Gaddafi. These club-owning oligarchs are modern day despots; do not delude yourself otherwise. Quinn, who either pimped the club he purports to love or astutely secured investment funding from a surprising source, depending on your view, trousers the thick end of £1m per annum in basic salary payment, which isn’t bad considering he presided over a business that turned in a £26m annual loss for 2009/2010. However, despite his unconvincingly dyed hair, smarmy grin and bland populism, it was undeniable that Quinn seemed less of a walking public relations disaster than the Ashley and Llambias operation has been. That is until Mr Charity started to veer wildly “off message” after the Darren Bent transfer. Whatever one’s response to that deal (hysterical amusement in my case), it is a cast iron fact that money talked. I could have accepted Bent’s logic if he’d been honest and said he was off to Villa Park simply because he wanted to double his already fantastic salary, but I saw no truth in his claims that he was going to further his England chances by moving to a bigger club. Much as it pains me to say it, the Mackems were one of only 8 Premier League teams who started this season with no fear of relegation, as were Villa, until O’Neill walked out on them. Houllier’s administration will probably keep Villa up, but they have now joined the doubting dozen and turned it in to the terrified thirteen, all of whom have the single stated aim of finishing at least 17th. Will the Mackems’ tribulations turn it in to a fearful fourteen, or are they ready to implode any day now? On the face of it, the £24m that sunderland made from the Bent deal ought to have been enough to push them on to improve the squad (as with anything to do with the North East, naysayers will be jumping up and down to make comparisons with Ashley’s £35m for Carroll; it simply isn’t relevant here to compare the two teams, as everyone knows Ashley has no intention of spending any cash he receives), especially as a so-called “well run” club they would want to push on. Instead, they signed a bargain replacement in Sessegnon, presumably as replacement for David Healy, and took the terminally grumpy and unreliable Muntari on loan, but for what purpose remains as yet unclear, making a nice, fat £18m profit in the transfer window. Sadly, as this money was earmarked to pay off part of the debt accrued by signing Bent in the first place; it is fair to say Fernando Torres was not on Steve Bruce’s shopping list. Consequently, it has become crystal clear that Short is not prepared to bankroll them any longer. Presumably, Quinn bullshitted Short saying that a half decent sunderland side would sell their ground out. Instead, they’re still bumping along with an average of less than 40k attending, which bearing in mind the club’s growing debt, is worrying. While calling them the north east’s crisis club may be a little premature, they have lost 3 off the bounce, with some seriously tough fixtures ahead and the inescapable fact that were Short to pull the plug now, any deduction for going in to administration would see them plunged in to the bottom 3. Perhaps these contextualising features help to explain quite why Niall Quinn has decided to go public over the fact he despises the 10,000 stayaways who have stopped watching sunderland. His scattergun ravings about on-line streaming and pubs showing questionably legal broadcasts of games on foreign channels seem to have divided a notoriously fractious support that are regularly to be found coming to blows with each other. Some slavishly mouth Quinn’s party line that the supporters are letting down the owners (not the club, interestingly enough), in an embarrassing show of obsequiousness not seen since Sir Alastair Burnet stepped down as ITV’s Royal Correspondent, while the more realistic elements point to the grave economic plight affecting the mackems’ heartlands. Quinn, mere days are claiming he’ll have to sell off the high earners and scale back the club’s ambitions if the ground remains a quarter empty, has even promised to tour pubs in the Seaham area, where he claims 50 licensed premises show games on match day, trying to drum up support. Bearing in mind his self confessed problems with heavy drinking in the past; this may not be a good idea. While some have pondered whether all this ranting and raving is symptomatic of Quinn having a mid life crisis or suffering from work-related stress, much as Bob Murray (now being rehabilitated as a “proper” fan by certain on line loonies) was supposed to have suffered a nervous breakdown during the 19 point season, it appears more likely that Mr Charity is just planting the seeds of his exit strategy. Despite now being blessed with much in the way of academic achievements, Quinn has the wit and cunning of a Fianna Fail TD; his gombeen tendencies are evident in his take home pay and his ability to be taken for a cute hoor who’d be very much at ease in Fagan’s in Drumcondra can not be ignored. Whatever happens to the Mackems, it’s a knocking bet Quinn, who presided over 5 successive defeats whilst, statistically, the worst ever manager of sunderland, will walk away from the wreckage with his reputation and bank balance in tact.
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