peasepud

I've never really understood this desire for fans on the board. What could they possibly bring to the table? I'm not saying it's wrong, I just don't understand it. I think a fan elected representative or two should be on the board of every football club, for accountability more than anything. I still don't get it. I just don't think any board of any football club takes a blind bit of notice what the fans think - other than lack of paper in the bogs, or the temperature of the meat pies at half time. And thats where you're missing the most important point. The call for fans representation at board level isnt one where we get a chance to tell them what we think once every six months. Not a case of being able to tell them about the state of the beer or give us a chance to talk about the new yellow strip. Its a seat on the board, its to be there as part of the decision making process, its a chance to say what the fans feel and think and do at every meeting, with every decision, every step of every board meeting would involve the fans. No, you dont have enough power to force things through, after all it would only be one or two voices but at the end of the day, that board would involve fans. If the board never listens to the fans then its the fans not listening to the fans, if things (as now) are permanently being done which frustrate and mystify the fans then they can ask what the hell is going in because they will always have somewhere to go to find out and those people would be obliged by their position to tell it like it is, no bullshit, no ignoring the questions they'd have to tell us fans what was what. Because of that, the football club would not and could not make decisions that it knows are not for the best of the club, yes they can and will at times make wrong decisions but thats life but they couldnt do things that are clearly not in the best interests of the club. This football club would not be in anything like the position it is now if we'd already had fans representation. Yes, we may have been relegated, yes, we may still be losing money hand over fist but we wouldnt have the misinformation, lies and downright incompetence that we have now. If the board were making decisions that the fans representatives werent happy with then they'd make it clear to the rest of the board, more importantly, if they werent listened to then they'd tell the rest of us. No more would the board be able to use ignorance as their excuse, not realising the strength of feeling for a particular decision as at least one of them would be one of us, would be used to sitting on a coach for 6 hours to get to Birmingham. Would know what its like to sit in the pissing rain in January and watch your dreams evaporate as another FA Cup fizzles out before its even started. People who can clearly see that two shades of yellow do not make a winning strip, that refusing to sell your players until the last minute while the rest of football knows how skint you are is not good business sense. More importantly than all that though, never again would this football club be able to treat its fans as pieces of meat that turn up blindly week after week, ignored, laughed at and abused until the next time the club needs something only to then be treat like some clueless idiot who will pay up, shut up and take it on the chin. If that continued to happen then we'd only have ourselves to blame. If you still dont believe that having fans representation makes a difference to how you feel as a fan then ask any fan of any of these teams whether they are happy with what they see coming out of the boardroom. Yes they may not be the most successful clubs in the world but they should all tell you that they are happy their boards are working for the best for the football club. Carlisle, Dumbarton, Brentford, Lincoln (fully owned by the supporters), Bristol City, Halifax, Northampton Town, Dundee, Morton, Exeter, AFC Wimbledon (fully owned by the supporters), Telford, Enfield, Sheffield Wednesday or any of the other 46 clubs that either have representation or are fully owned by the fans. You may not think these are big clubs but so what? they are clubs with a strong history and chances are you'll see that most of the Supporters Trusts and fans representation came about because of a problem the club were having. Many of those that have been bailed out by the fans were once big name clubs. The trouble is that people only look to start this when things go tits up, just as we have done. Liverpool, Man United, Arsenal, Villa, all have strong Supporters Trusts, all are looking to become part of the boardroom and all are sitting there waiting to help the club out when the shit hits the fan. Manchester City did have a strong Supporters Trust which has now been disbanded following the sale of the club, that to me is a bad move, if things go wrong for them then they will need to start again from scratch. No matter how big, how successful or how rich your football club is, Supporters Representation on the board can only be a good thing.

Its got to be said, Id be up for all out "get out here and give us your reasons" ultimatum. Would be funny to see Llardarse try and make out it was down to Shearers unreasonable demands such as wanting to buy a player and such like. You coming to the meeting Thursday?

Id love to see llambsarse stand up and tell us why shearer isno longer "the best decision made" and 110% right for the job.

Every week you've been optimistic that it was the week. When will you learn?

he probably put it wide anyway

The NUSC is prepared to do whatever its members feel is correct and there's a members meeting on Thursday where Im sure this will be a big topic. What we have to remember though is the long term aims of the trust and the supporters representation being the most important. Its a difficult one to balance, the need to show our (the fans) feelings against whats best for the club long term. I know how I personally feel, in that Id love to do whatever we can to ruin this bastard once and for all for what hes doing to our football club but Im well aware that theres more at stake than just the next couple of weeks etc. Oh and living outside the country is no barrier to membership, we have members in 31 countries now, including many Americans

You're not a member are you? cool, so thats "as long as someone else sorts it out, I'll be happy".

shurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrup man mooth!

Ive got nae idea who you're lot are going to attract but as for us, well its looking likely to be anyone but Shearer.

3 years on the scrapheap tells you all you need to know.

Of course I didnt, some of them bushes are about 3ft high!

please tell me thats not true?? From the sunday sun and they reckon thats what it was 'the war', might get the fuckas out the door quicker tbf, keep it up Joey. JOEY Barton will not start against West Brom today after walking out of the club's training ground on the eve of United's first game of the season. The Scouse midfielder - who is no stranger to controversy - is understood to have had a disagreement with Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez before storming off the training field. SO lets get this right, The Sunday Sun is reporting Barton may not play today? fuckin on the ball as ever that lot

hmmm I wonder if I can put a big Crombie on and wander into SJP unnoticed now then

I love the way Steveis post is 3 and half lines of pure abuse followed by a genuine compliment and question

Have to admit that I was glad I wasnt wearing any colours last night when I pulled into Wetherby services off the A1. Mini bus full of toon fans were parked outside the main entrance and pissing in the road, 100 yards away from the bogs and theres half a dozen of them openly having a slash in the carpark. Toon tops on, pissed up and cocks waving about. This was in view of a number of families including a couple who were parked just across from them and sorting their car out. When the woman looked disapprovingly across she got a mouthful of abuse and was told to "get back in your fucking car and fuck off now". Nice one lads, keep up the good work, the PR machine is obviously working overtime for the Championship

Who wouldnt though? the thing with Hughton is that hes not a manager, he hasnt got it in him to bollock players and doesnt command the respect of those hes managing. IF someone like Barton can see others taking the piss and doesnt see anything being done to sort it out then hes going to get pissed off and will have a go at whoever he feels deserves it. This is proven (for me anyway) by the fact that Barton took part yesterday. Either he didnt have a go at Hugton and the incident wasnt seen as a problem or he did have a go yet Chris still didnt have the bollocks to drop him totally from the team even if only to prove a point.

Thing is we're all sitting here slagging Barton yet for what? For ages people have said of the bloke that he needs to take a step back and walk away before doing something stupid. Here we have a situation where hes got into an argument with other players and has two options. Firstly, he can be Joey Barton the predictable lunatic and lace both Colo and Jonas (chances are they probably deserved it too) or he can become the new slightly more level headed Joey Barton and walk away from a destructive incident. If that walking away means getting in his motor and driving to the middle of the moors before beating the crap out of some tree then so be it, Id rather that than any of the other stories we've seen about the bloke in the past. Theres no denying that JB is a passionate bloke when it comes to his football, half of the incidents hes been involved in are because he sets himself high standards and expects others to do the same. Thats a good thing, the problem is the way he normally goes about "re-educating" those that dont meet his criteria. Personally, if this story is true then Im quite happy, we have the new JB who still gets worked up about stuff happening on the training pitch yet is able to control that anger and not let it spill out in a negative brawl.

Fucking gloryhunters welcome aboard

And what's the issue with a members forum for the 2000. Can you not get these free to add onto a website fairly easily. There is no issue, it's coming soon

There's free pints in the strawberry fir evermore if you take care of a little business

I disagree totally on the old faces hindering statement. Yes you need new blood but existing experience is just as vital. You mix it up and the result will be good. Stick with the same faces exactly or start afresh and you won't get as good a result. And emails are being issued to all members to notify them of the meeting.

Agreed, I just want us to be normal. If that's mid table slow rebuild then so be it. I just want the stories to be back page of Ronnie not fucking front page Beano as we are now

Eeeeeh we never saw this coming

The likes of two terms is fine however a term shouldnt be one year, it should be 2,3 or 4. The lads that would be looking to go for the positions havent been in them a year yet and havent really been allowed to push forward and follow everything through, to force their removal after the work thats been put in after only a year would be a bad move. Like I say, if democratically beaten in a poll then thats fine. Also, as in any organisation you move people up, what you're proposing is kick everyone out and start afresh, what if one of the normal committee members wanted to go for Chairman, that would be logical rather than someone new whos not been involved at all.

Hold on, Ive just realised something. Div 1 champions? isnt that the season after????????