The Black Angels Death Song

[Christmas Tree 4920]

We’re on the brink. I’m hardly one to be accused of over-optimism when it comes to Newcastle United but I never thought we’d be this close to sliding out of the Premier League this season. I recall being in Manchester on the opening day and whilst our expectations for this season were modest to say the least, I don’t think any one of us imagined the club would unravel so quickly and so completely. But that is exactly what has happened and continues to happen.

 

The simple fact of the matter however is we are where we deserve to be in the table. For a brief few minutes on Saturday, before The Beasts equalised at home to Portsmouth we were in the bottom three. We remain out of the relegation spots simply on the basis of goal difference. The rage many of us feel at the people at the top of the club who have brought us here is not easily articulated but for many it will find a coherence when Ashley’s minions ask is to renew season tickets in the summer.

Our next two games are at home to Arsenal and Chelsea before we travel for two successive away games at Stoke and Spurs. There will have to be a massive change in how we take the game to the opposition if we aren’t to be all but dead and buried before the arrival of Portsmouth at SJP on April 27th.

 

There are some who are already writing off the next two games at SJP as unwinnable. We really cannot afford that kind of attitude. We are running out of games to save ourselves and this group of coaches and players have to come up with something unexpected and unexpected in a good way. The team just cannot afford itself the luxury of imagining it can write off games against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea and set itself up for what it imagines to be more realistic opportunities for pulling in points. The team has to give everything in every game and see where that takes us. The team needs to give 100% in EVERY game and hope desperately it can rack up some points. The next two home games are difficult enough but we also have matches against Liverpool, Spurs and Villa away from SJP that are similarly challenging. Those who imagine we can go to Stoke and win were obviously looking the other way when we went to Bolton and Hull.

 

We all know what’s wrong with the squad – it simply isn’t good enough. But it has enough not to be involved in this current gut-wrenching fight for survival. It has been poorly managed, poorly coached and poorly directed from the moment KK baled out of the House of Pain as he could see the grotesque incompetence abroad on Barrack Road better than most. Too many well-paid and senior players just have not delivered the level of consistency or performance concomitant with the money they pick up. They just are not good enough and I seriously doubt the commitment of several of them.

 

*

 

Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Well, having given a 3-year contract extension to Shola Ameobi who has demonstrated for some time now he is not a PL player and who only last summer was on the brink of signing for a Championship club, the club appears to be on the point of offering further contracts to staff at the club who are simply not up to leading a Premier League club. Joe Kinnear is simply NOT a PL manager. On no day of the week is Joe Kinnear capable of managing a PL club. He never has been and he never will be. That was before his severe health problems but we must have grave doubts as to his capability to coach the team given his age, health and well, most importantly, his ability. It would be a different kettle of fish were we talking about a Ferguson or a Wenger but Kinnear is barely worthy of the comparison. He was a joke manager on appointment and he is a joke now. The rumours the likes of Hughton and Calderwood are to be offered further deals demonstrates the lack of credibility Ashley-Llambias-Wise have at the top of the game. Who with any credibility whatsoever would take orders from Dennis fucking Wise? If we do stay up this season with the management team being offered new contracts by Ashley we are simply delaying the inevitable.

 

*

 

News that Llambias is going to write to season ticket holders begging for our continued support is risible. Why can’t Mike Ashley write those letters? Let’s have something from the organ grinder rather than his monkey. And what exactly is Llambias going to offer us? What is in this remarkable 5-year plan he talked about? And when did it start? Ashley will have spent two years in two months time as owner of our club – did the plan start on Day One? Or did it start as I suspect from the moment Llambias thought to say it? And how does selling your best players and replacing them with journeymen at a profit fit in? The simple fact of the matter is a vast swathe of NUFC’s support is on the point of walking away from the club not because of the financial cost of a season ticket but because under Ashley, the club is a complete waste of time and energy. His goon Llambias can talk as much shite as he wants to supine local hacks in a choreographed interview that could have been completed by exchange of e-mails but the simple fact of the matter is supporters will judge NUFC on what it has been putting out on the park. We’ve been shit this season. We were shit the season before and we were shit the season before that. Who can remember when this basket case of a club had a decent season? The club has staggered from one crisis to another but many supporters are judging they have indulged various incompetents too often and are calling it a day.

 

*

 

The Newcastle United Supporters Club (NUSC) is staging a meeting at the Tyneside Irish Centre this coming Thursday, which will discuss the transition of NUSC to include a role as a Supporters Trust. Supporters Trusts are backed by Government and that has been backed up with funding for them and other help. There is unlikely to be a quick fix in terms of Mags getting a collective shareholding which would allow us representation at board level and a real power in the club which would be exercised in a responsible manner by people who are the true guardians of Newcastle United: the supporters. The meeting starts at 7:30 (19/Mar/09) and you should do your best to get there.

 

*

 

I must confess to becoming dismissive of those people with criticisms of the NUSC. I’m all for constructive dialogue and debate but some of the stuff appearing in various places regarding NUSC is just so half-baked and wildly inaccurate it hardly warrants any comment. Some criticism belies modern society’s obsession with spin over substance and a lack of appreciation of what it means to be a part of a DIY organisation made up of volunteers giving up their spare time from some people who are always going to be on the sidelines and who can only snipe. NUSC is far from being beyond criticism but I’ve yet to read any points raised against them which have any real basis in fact. 99% of it is simply people opening their mouths and allowing the wind to blow their tongues about.

 

Nevertheless in under 6-months the Interim Committee of NUSC has formed a correctly constituted and legal association, with a set of books which will be open for members to inspect and which is managed by a fully experienced and qualified accountant. The NUSC takes legal counsel from two fully qualified and well-respected solicitors who give up their time wholly free of charge. There are several members of the local business community who are fully engaged in supporting and developing NUSC and there are others who give up their time free of charge for no other reason than they care deeply about Newcastle United and are alarmed at it’s decline.

 

These are early days for the NUSC – the interim committee will come under the scrutiny of its members in May/June when its first elections are held. In less than 6 months NUSC has attracted over 1000 members and is continuing to grow week on week. NUSC is the largest independent supporters association in the United Kingdom. Newcastle United has the finest independent supporters media in the country bar none (fanzines, websites etc) so it should come as no surprise we can organise ourselves better than anywhere else as well.

 

This fanzine will reserve the right to criticise NUSC when we need to but hopefully we will do so on the basis of a realistic grasp of the facts rather than lazy prejudice and ignorance.

[Park Life 71]

It's like a textual version of a Morrissey album. Depressing and wildly melodramatic.

[LeazesMag 0]

Just another bunch of bollocks written by someone who thought we would be much better off without the Halls and Shepherd but continue to write whinging shit. All they ever wrote under the previous regime was whinging shit, and "alternative views" in this student rag style. All shit really, can't hold a torch to The Mag.

[Kitman 2207]

It's like a textual version of a Morrissey album. Depressing and wildly melodramatic.

 

Except none of us will be singing "You're the one for me, fatty"

[Matt 0]

Just another bunch of bollocks written by someone who thought we would be much better off without the Halls and Shepherd but continue to write whinging shit. All they ever wrote under the previous regime was whinging shit, and "alternative views" in this student rag style. All shit really, can't hold a torch to The Mag.

 

TF made a lot of good points about the failings of the prior regime. It became a bit of a publicity gimmick at times but many of the underlying points were still valid.

 

Out of interest, did you just base your summary on the fact it was from True-Faith? And would a sweetness-and-light article really hold any credence in the current state we're in?

[snakehips 0]

Just another bunch of bollocks written by someone who thought we would be much better off without the Halls and Shepherd but continue to write whinging shit. All they ever wrote under the previous regime was whinging shit, and "alternative views" in this student rag style. All shit really, can't hold a torch to The Mag.

 

TF made a lot of good points about the failings of the prior regime. It became a bit of a publicity gimmick at times but many of the underlying points were still valid.

 

Out of interest, did you just base your summary on the fact it was from True-Faith? And would a sweetness-and-light article really hold any credence in the current state we're in?

 

You know the answer to that. We all do.

[Cid_MCDP 0]

Totally thought this was going to be a new chant or something.

[dbsweeney 0]

Totally thought this was going to be a new chant or something.

 

It's the name of a Velvet Underground song, ain't it?

[Asprilla 96]

I agreed with every word of it.

[LeazesMag 0]

Just another bunch of bollocks written by someone who thought we would be much better off without the Halls and Shepherd but continue to write whinging shit. All they ever wrote under the previous regime was whinging shit, and "alternative views" in this student rag style. All shit really, can't hold a torch to The Mag.

 

TF made a lot of good points about the failings of the prior regime. It became a bit of a publicity gimmick at times but many of the underlying points were still valid.

 

Out of interest, did you just base your summary on the fact it was from True-Faith? And would a sweetness-and-light article really hold any credence in the current state we're in?

 

I only supported the old board when they did well for the club, and gave them the benefit of the doubt sometimes because they did well for the club and meant well for the club. Nowt to do with any individual. However, I've never felt Ashley would do well for the club, and he's done nothing to change my mind, in fact most of the time its been the opposite.

 

I stopped buying True Faith a long time ago and I've also seen nothing to make me want to get it again. I think the old Talk of the Tyne was the best fanzine

[bobbyshinton 59]

It's like a textual version of a Morrissey album. Depressing and wildly melodramatic.

 

Except none of us will be singing "You're the one for me, fatty"

 

woor lass will.

 

I think groups have like NUSC are sometimes viewed with contempt because people see them as another means of creating something like a Stev Wraith who is regularly on TV giving the opinions of us the fan.

 

Me personally (excepting when I joined NSA in the 70's) never join such groups nothing against them just I think the spontaneous demonstration is the better way.

 

Just my opinion, not worth a toss to most.

[Christmas Tree 4920]

To be honest, I dont really think up until Ashley joined that I ever "thought" about the board. Yes there was that NOTW fake sheik, but hey, who hast talked shite when pissed (or sober )

 

Can honestly say I never had a great deal of thinking time about them. Just used to enjoy the ups the downs, the manager merry go round and some nice signings.

Edited March 18, 2009 by Christmas Tree

[Ketsbaia 0]

It's easy to look back at their time through rose tinted specs but Shepherd and the Halls needed to go really. They had their time in the sun and they had helped take us on some wild rides but we were very much on a steady slide downwards. The final few years were a bit farcical - the managerial appointments were woeful and the policy he had of taking charge of transfers was always going to end in disaster. Okay, he may have had more knowledge of the game than this bunch of cretins but that's no excuse for going behind the backs of managers he appointed. He was a complete gobshite too which really didn't help.

 

Unlike this lot he had ambition. He tried to sign the best players and for that you have to commend him but where the money was coming from and where it went (Nee way Rangers got £8 million for Boumsong) is a major issue of mine.

 

Despite the fact he took a small fortune out of the club on a yearly basis I do think he had, or he at least believed he had, the best interest of the clubs at heart. Problem is that he was a fan and a lot of our fans know fuck all about fuck all quite frankly. He was no different. He's the type of head strong old fucker who'd stand behind you at the match and spout complete shite driving you to the point of launching your bovril at him.

 

Ashley is Ashley and Shepherd is Shepherd. They're both different folks who have both got it wrong in some way or another when running this football club. Both have a lot to answer for.