José Enrique

[Andrew 4723]

Replace Jose and bring in a striker and I'll be happy.

 

My optimism stems from us selling players and making them available early, which allows time for replacements to be brought in. This is new for Ashley.

 

Come Sept 1st we know if it was another line.

 

We dont have a LB though

 

exactly, we now need 2 to be looking at a balanced squad

[Phil 6]

Replace Jose and bring in a striker and I'll be happy.

 

My optimism stems from us selling players and making them available early, which allows time for replacements to be brought in. This is new for Ashley.

 

Come Sept 1st we know if it was another line.

 

We dont have a LB though

 

Perch

 

 

Still Arsenal are without Fabregas, Nasri and Wiltshire for Sat. No excuses for letting Jose go without a replacement being brought in.

[Craig 6682]

rumours of non-disclosure agreement.

 

[McFaul 35]

Newcastle and Liverpool are kind of the same anyway

 

 

He's talking shit but I'venot seen that quote anyway.

 

It won't be quoted to Enrique because they're Carroll's comments, a man who you claim had no choice but to leave and a player you will be applauding on his return.

 

I admit it is difficult to spot the difference.

 

 

If cast-iron confidence is the requirement for success, Carroll won't struggle. Asked if he envisages more pressure living in a city with two football clubs as opposed to Newcastle's one, he fails to see a problem.

 

"Newcastle and Liverpool are kind of the same anyway," he muses. "I think everything will be fine."

 

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/entertainment...rs/andy-carroll

When I ask if he wanted the move, an advisor (a phalanx of six people surround him during our interview) informs me that he won't be answering that question.

[Craig 6682]

Ambition.

 

Quite a simple word but one that is at the very heart of success within football. So simple and yet a so-called billionaire who is all about profit can't see its value.

 

I like many on here was introduced to supporting Newcastle United in some quite shit times - the 80s. We grew up on watching local talent come good, prove their worth and then move on to 'bigger and better' for large sums of money. The board at the time had many of us brainwashed to a point: "we're not in the same league as the likes of Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, etc", "no top players are attracted to Newcastle because it's miles from anywhere else, specifically London & Manchester." And most of us begrudgingly accepted it. The club had no ambition to progress, it was all about survival - anything more than that was a bonus.

 

Then Keegan came back and re-wrote the rule book. I'm not necessarily talking about the purchases of Shearer, Ferdinand, Asprilla, etc. but much earlier than that in his management. Up until Keegan took over we'd pretty much survived on a mixture of journeymen, relatively unknown better than average lower league players and kids coming through the ranks. The likes of Jim Smith and Ossie Ardiles never 'sold' Newcastle United to a prospective player - but Keegan did for me first and foremost with Kilcline & Sheedy.

 

Sheedy for me at the time was an exciting prospect - I remember him in his prime at Everton when he was winning league titles and cups and he lit the place up. When he came here he was 32 so still had years in him and what's more only a couple of years previous had been scoring goals at the World Cup Finals. It would be the equivalent these days of Ryan Giggs coming here - sure he'd lost some of his edge but underneath he was still a fantastic player. And Keegan sold Newcastle United to him on grounds of ambition - what could be achieved.

 

That was followed up the following summer by probably the best purchases I'd know the club make up until that point. Bracewell & Venison - two more league & cup winners & John Beresford, a left back who I seem to recall had the interest of Liverpool who at the time were the Cup holders. All of them saw ambition at our club.

 

Having got ourselves out of that god awful mess where ambition was non existant and to watch us gradually over the past 4 years steam-roller headlong back towards it is soul destroying. The likes of Enrique & Carroll have moved on for no other reason than a lack of ambition being shown here and for them to remain would be an acceptance that they too lacked ambition. I'd go so far to suggest that if the same level of ambition and selling of where the club could go with their retention had been displayed to these players, they'd still be here.

 

We were once a club who players from all over the world wanted to come and play. Now we're once again that city miles away from London & Manchester who have a football club run by a bloke who's evidently more intrested in figures on a balance sheet than where we can aspire to be.

 

It's little wonder than so many are keen to move on, so few are interested in coming here and that the likes of Craig Bellamy who was idolised here harbours absolutely no desire to ever come back here.

 

Very sad.

[Tooj 17]

Brilliant post Craig.

[JawD 99]

Brilliant post Craig.

[Jusoda Kid 1]

Bang on there Cwaggers

[Craig 6682]

Thank you fellas.

 

I'll follow it up with a comment that those who see positivity in what Ashley is doing either are two young to remember the 80s or clearly had no interest in NUFC back then.

 

Can't be any other explanation.

[Christmas Tree 4711]

Cheer the fuck up man! 20 hours til kick off!

[Craig 6682]

Cheer the fuck up man! 20 hours til kick off!

 

With a response like that I've obviously clearly hit the nail on the head. Thanks CT

[Howmanheyman 32887]

Good post Craig, not sure about the Sheedy* bit, like, but spot on with the Venison and Beresford signings. I'd probably say the time KK really sold us as a club going places was when we pinched Rob Lee from then Premier league Boro, the 'Newcastle is closer to London than Boro was a bit of a joke and a smokescreen, what KK actually told Lee was he could go to Middlesbrough and plod along but he'd have to sit and watch as this huge ocean liner steamed past them in a years time, us being that ocean liner. Compare KK's enthusiasm and knowledge that we were a big club who would thrive once the shackles of the McKeags/Seymours were thrown off. (They loved the club, really, they were just small businessmen who'd inherited NUFC from their fathers and were incapable of driving our club forward).

 

Pardew does as he's told and thinks we might make the top ten if we're lucky and 'bigger' clubs, (fuck off, 'Pards') don't get our better players. Compare and contrast.

 

* Tidy player, but his best days were gone, Sellars was far better and was another KK sold NUFC to not that long after.

[Guest Your Name Here]

Brilliant post Craig.

Sure was.

 

Keegan (and SJH) instilled confidence in a club that had lost its self belief. FMA (and his puppets) are doing the exact opposite.

[Craig 6682]

Good post Craig, not sure about the Sheedy* bit, like, but spot on with the Venison and Beresford signings. I'd probably say the time KK really sold us as a club going places was when we pinched Rob Lee from then Premier league Boro, the 'Newcastle is closer to London than Boro was a bit of a joke and a smokescreen, what KK actually told Lee was he could go to Middlesbrough and plod along but he'd have to sit and watch as this huge ocean liner steamed past them in a years time, us being that ocean liner. Compare KK's enthusiasm and knowledge that we were a big club who would thrive once the shackles of the McKeags/Seymours were thrown off. (They loved the club, really, they were just small businessmen who'd inherited NUFC from their fathers and were incapable of driving our club forward).

 

Pardew does as he's told and thinks we might make the top ten if we're lucky and 'bigger' clubs, (fuck off, 'Pards') don't get our better players. Compare and contrast.

 

* Tidy player, but his best days were gone, Sellars was far better and was another KK sold NUFC to not that long after.

 

Agree with you about Sellars being better. I don't think I worded it right about Sheedy but at the time we were rooted to the bottom of Division 2 yet Keegan managed to sell NUFC to him despite him earning a decent wage at an established Division 1 club.

 

You're spot on about Rob Lee too. Keegan's selling the club to a player was genius and it was never more appropriately displayed than in the acquisition of Rob Lee.

[Kitman 2204]

I suppose the season ticket offer should have told us there were rocky times ahead.

[Tooj 17]

Good post Craig, not sure about the Sheedy* bit, like, but spot on with the Venison and Beresford signings. I'd probably say the time KK really sold us as a club going places was when we pinched Rob Lee from then Premier league Boro, the 'Newcastle is closer to London than Boro was a bit of a joke and a smokescreen, what KK actually told Lee was he could go to Middlesbrough and plod along but he'd have to sit and watch as this huge ocean liner steamed past them in a years time, us being that ocean liner. Compare KK's enthusiasm and knowledge that we were a big club who would thrive once the shackles of the McKeags/Seymours were thrown off. (They loved the club, really, they were just small businessmen who'd inherited NUFC from their fathers and were incapable of driving our club forward).

 

Pardew does as he's told and thinks we might make the top ten if we're lucky and 'bigger' clubs, (fuck off, 'Pards') don't get our better players. Compare and contrast.

 

* Tidy player, but his best days were gone, Sellars was far better and was another KK sold NUFC to not that long after.

 

Agree with you about Sellars being better. I don't think I worded it right about Sheedy but at the time we were rooted to the bottom of Division 2 yet Keegan managed to sell NUFC to him despite him earning a decent wage at an established Division 1 club.

 

You're spot on about Rob Lee too. Keegan's selling the club to a player was genius and it was never more appropriately displayed than in the acquisition of Rob Lee.

That's one of the things that fucks me off most about Ashley and Llambias. They haven't give a second thought in fucking over two of our legends in Keegan and Shearer. They haven't got a clue what it's about up here. Not that I'm trying to come out with this whole Geordie nation bollocks, but having an understanding of what this club and people like Keegan and Shearer mean to the fans, certainly counts for something.

 

Btw - could you imagine someone like Ben Arfa playing under Keegan? Fuck me.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

I suppose the season ticket offer should have told us there were rocky times ahead.

 

False advertising?

[Craig 6682]

Good post Craig, not sure about the Sheedy* bit, like, but spot on with the Venison and Beresford signings. I'd probably say the time KK really sold us as a club going places was when we pinched Rob Lee from then Premier league Boro, the 'Newcastle is closer to London than Boro was a bit of a joke and a smokescreen, what KK actually told Lee was he could go to Middlesbrough and plod along but he'd have to sit and watch as this huge ocean liner steamed past them in a years time, us being that ocean liner. Compare KK's enthusiasm and knowledge that we were a big club who would thrive once the shackles of the McKeags/Seymours were thrown off. (They loved the club, really, they were just small businessmen who'd inherited NUFC from their fathers and were incapable of driving our club forward).

 

Pardew does as he's told and thinks we might make the top ten if we're lucky and 'bigger' clubs, (fuck off, 'Pards') don't get our better players. Compare and contrast.

 

* Tidy player, but his best days were gone, Sellars was far better and was another KK sold NUFC to not that long after.

 

Agree with you about Sellars being better. I don't think I worded it right about Sheedy but at the time we were rooted to the bottom of Division 2 yet Keegan managed to sell NUFC to him despite him earning a decent wage at an established Division 1 club.

 

You're spot on about Rob Lee too. Keegan's selling the club to a player was genius and it was never more appropriately displayed than in the acquisition of Rob Lee.

That's one of the things that fucks me off most about Ashley and Llambias. They haven't give a second thought in fucking over two of our legends in Keegan and Shearer. They haven't got a clue what it's about up here. Not that I'm trying to come out with this whole Geordie nation bollocks, but having an understanding of what this club and people like Keegan and Shearer mean to the fans, certainly counts for something.

 

Btw - could you imagine someone like Ben Arfa playing under Keegan? Fuck me.

 

Would have been mouth-watering wouldn't it? Actually if Keegan had had him, Carroll (yes I know he technically did) & Tiote at his disposal.

[Craig 6682]

I know what you're getting at and to put it into context 2J, it'd be like the Glazers fucking over Ferguson or John Henry doing the same with Dalglish.

 

But they wouldn't fucking dare.

[citizenerased 0]

I think as much as I occasionally wear rose tinted glasses, others wear the opposite (whatever they are).

 

During the last season.

 

Tiote offered new deal / accepted (wasn't this before Nolan, Carroll and Jose were sold and Barton was put on the shit list? Would he make the same decision now?)Tiote signed in Feb, after Carroll sale.

Carrol offered new deal / accepted (Then was made available for transfer)widely accepted we ripped them off

Ben Arfa offered new deal / accepted (yup, this one I'll give you, but if he has a good season, will he be safe or sold?)

Barton offered new deal / accepted then declined / basket case tbf (Accepted a contract based on promises made to us and, one would assume, the team)Willie McKay, end of

Nolan offered new deal / wanted more and club probably right not to offer big long deal to potential bench warmer given they had Cabaye lined up. (Club captain, offered a derisable contract by all accounts, but probably a good deal for a 29yr old and the only player sufficiently replaced)Nolan promised four year deal. But turned it down as there was no pay increase.

Enrique offered new deal / But had made mind up last summer to be away. (Twitter outburst clearly shows the he felt that he had been lied to and I believe his concerns were not monetary, but the lack of ambition shown by the club. He was right when he said no club will ever challenge if they sell their best players)There are very good reasons for the players we have sold and Tiote is still here so Jose is wrong. he's been woeful since twittergate, so he can do one. I was gutted to see Baye left, but got over it - Jose will be the same.

 

Lots of other players such as Shane etc tied up on 5 year deals. (Surely you can see that, if Shane shines he'll be sold as well?)if we get 35m, happy days.

 

Like statistics we can all put our own spin on all of this.

 

my take on your bias. I'm sure you think I'm overly negative, but I just cannot share your optimism.

 

Replace Jose and bring in a striker and I'll be happy.

 

My optimism stems from us selling players and making them available early, which allows time for replacements to be brought in. This is new for Ashley.

 

Come Sept 1st we know if it was another line.

 

God bless, how cute. Bet you still stay up late on Christmas Eve hoping Santa's gonna bust through the door at any minute.

[snakehips 0]

Regarding Beresford: Weren't there issues as to his fitness (as far as Liverpool were concerned)? His knee or summat? Keegan nipped in and signed him as Liverpool dithered. Something like that.

[StoneColdStephenIreland 74]

I hate everything Ashleys trying to make this club stand for, making it cheap and a stepping stone (ala Wigan) for players, plastering SportsDirect around is making us cheap and tacky, and is always trying fucking off the supporters to spite us, I hate what he's doing to us, and it fucking pains me to see it happen.

 

I havent went through the 80's early 90's so i cant comment on that, but my memories of Newcastle started when Bobby robson was manager and there was passion everywhere along with tiny memories of when Keegan was here, and it pisses me off to see ashley trying to piss all over that passion we still have and will always hold, whilst knowing we will always go back to the toon no matter what

[harrynufc 0]

I hate everything Ashleys trying to make this club stand for, making it cheap and a stepping stone (ala Wigan) for players, plastering SportsDirect around is making us cheap and tacky, and is always trying fucking off the supporters to spite us, I hate what he's doing to us, and it fucking pains me to see it happen.

 

I havent went through the 80's early 90's so i cant comment on that, but my memories of Newcastle started when Bobby robson was manager and there was passion everywhere along with tiny memories of when Keegan was here, and it pisses me off to see ashley trying to piss all over that passion we still have and will always hold, whilst knowing we will always go back to the toon no matter what

 

Trying? Fat bastard already has. Its sickening, like a cancer you know is treatable, but your doctor (FMA) is refusing to give you the treatment for because it wont profit him if he does. Instead he's giving you cheap pain killers (i.e cheap foreign players) as a temporary relief, which youre paying for and are forced to accept as an alternative. What makes it more sickening is that your family (fellow fans on TT) are trying to convince you that these pain killers will cure you and be positive, not realising that this metastisizing tumour is just eating you away.

 

BTW Craig, great post. Should have had its own thread.

[McFaul 35]

Regarding Beresford: Weren't there issues as to his fitness (as far as Liverpool were concerned)? His knee or summat? Keegan nipped in and signed him as Liverpool dithered. Something like that.

Good knowledge. He actually agreed terms with the WP but failed his medical cos of concerns about his knee.

[McFaul 35]

Ambition.

 

Quite a simple word but one that is at the very heart of success within football. So simple and yet a so-called billionaire who is all about profit can't see its value.

 

I like many on here was introduced to supporting Newcastle United in some quite shit times - the 80s. We grew up on watching local talent come good, prove their worth and then move on to 'bigger and better' for large sums of money. The board at the time had many of us brainwashed to a point: "we're not in the same league as the likes of Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, etc", "no top players are attracted to Newcastle because it's miles from anywhere else, specifically London & Manchester." And most of us begrudgingly accepted it. The club had no ambition to progress, it was all about survival - anything more than that was a bonus.

 

Then Keegan came back and re-wrote the rule book. I'm not necessarily talking about the purchases of Shearer, Ferdinand, Asprilla, etc. but much earlier than that in his management. Up until Keegan took over we'd pretty much survived on a mixture of journeymen, relatively unknown better than average lower league players and kids coming through the ranks. The likes of Jim Smith and Ossie Ardiles never 'sold' Newcastle United to a prospective player - but Keegan did for me first and foremost with Kilcline & Sheedy.

 

Sheedy for me at the time was an exciting prospect - I remember him in his prime at Everton when he was winning league titles and cups and he lit the place up. When he came here he was 32 so still had years in him and what's more only a couple of years previous had been scoring goals at the World Cup Finals. It would be the equivalent these days of Ryan Giggs coming here - sure he'd lost some of his edge but underneath he was still a fantastic player. And Keegan sold Newcastle United to him on grounds of ambition - what could be achieved.

 

That was followed up the following summer by probably the best purchases I'd know the club make up until that point. Bracewell & Venison - two more league & cup winners & John Beresford, a left back who I seem to recall had the interest of Liverpool who at the time were the Cup holders. All of them saw ambition at our club.

 

Having got ourselves out of that god awful mess where ambition was non existant and to watch us gradually over the past 4 years steam-roller headlong back towards it is soul destroying. The likes of Enrique & Carroll have moved on for no other reason than a lack of ambition being shown here and for them to remain would be an acceptance that they too lacked ambition. I'd go so far to suggest that if the same level of ambition and selling of where the club could go with their retention had been displayed to these players, they'd still be here.

 

We were once a club who players from all over the world wanted to come and play. Now we're once again that city miles away from London & Manchester who have a football club run by a bloke who's evidently more intrested in figures on a balance sheet than where we can aspire to be.

 

It's little wonder than so many are keen to move on, so few are interested in coming here and that the likes of Craig Bellamy who was idolised here harbours absolutely no desire to ever come back here.

 

Very sad.

When someone makes a good post, you get 5 or 6 people going good post, good post, aye fuckin good post that like, when I make my annual good post I don't like it, but THIS is a fuckin excellent post and sums up my feelings pretty much perfectly.