peasepud 59 Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 I got banned from St James' Park this week - there must be 40,000 Geordies who wished they'd suffered the same punishment. Don't fret, I'll muddle through without the insight of a Chris Hughton press conference or the beauty of a tackle from Joey Barton, Danny Guthrie or Kevin Nolan. Besides, if I really wanted to get in, I could always dust down that old Groucho Marx disguise and buy one of the thousands of empty seats, which would once have been unthinkable at the Toon. There was a time, not so long ago, when you had to wait years to get a season ticket at St James'. So perhaps the greatest achievement of Mike Ashley's reign is not the way he has led such a major club to the brink of relegation but the way his regime has crushed the spirit of an entire region. Where once there was fanaticism, Ashley and his cohorts have brought apathy. Don't take my word for it, take the word of vice-captain Nicky Butt, a man who knows how a proper football club is run after years at Manchester United. This week, Butt said Newcastle had gone backwards and claimed: "We need someone to come in and change the whole club." Even more damningly, he added: "We need to put this season to bed and kick on next season - you seem to say that a lot at Newcastle." Maybe Butt will be banned from the ground, too. A season which began with a draw at Old Trafford and a decent amount of goodwill towards Ashley, was turned on its head by Kevin Keegan's departure. You will not find any religious zeal for 'the Messiah' here. When the going gets tough, Keegan always gets going. But when you consider the final straw for Keegan was the August deadline-day signings of Xisco and Ignacio Gonzalez, you have to admit he has a point. Striker Xisco has cost the club £7million for one goal, while Gonzalez is rumoured to be jockeying Shergar back in his native Uruguay. The backlash against Keegan's exit forced Ashley to announce he was flogging the club, making the manager's job a no-go for anyone with a serious track record. Hence, the arrival of Joe Kinnear, who had not worked for four years since leading Nottingham Forest towards relegation to the third tier of English football. Of course, Kinnear's recovery from heart surgery is more important than any football match. Incidentally, I was banned after a People Sport story which claimed the manager had suffered a health setback. The club say this is false. Newcastle have won five times in 29 matches under Kinnear and Hughton, yet Ashley has offered them new contracts. Currently, the club is in limbo under Hughton, who has never looked comfortable as a No 1. Conspiracy theories say Ashley wants the club to be relegated so he can cut costs but no self-made multimillionaire can be that stupid. It's difficult to get a handle on Ashley when he says so little but you can get an idea from the people he surrounds himself with. Asked what he thought of the fans branding Ashley's crew the Cockney Mafia, Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias thought it was all rather droll, saying: "The one thing about fans is that they chant some great stuff. "They are funny and they are so quick. When I saw that Cockney Mafia banner, I thought 'that's their statement', so I had a wry smile. People said I was being smug - I wasn't." Smug? Never. Condescending? Perish the thought. Llambias just loves those waggish Geordies with their song about going to see them Bleedin' Races. It's 40 years since those Newcastle fans saw their team win anything. Whether they stay up or go down, the fans who will be put through the mincer during the closing weeks of the season, were at St James' Park for many years before Mike Ashley arrived. And they will be there for many years after he's scarpered. http://www.people.co.uk/news/news/tm_metho...-name_page.html So now we're banning journalists from the club because they report that Kinnear isnt as well as we thought he was! What next? kicked out for asking for more coffee in the press room? Jesus wept, in a time when the club needs as much good PR as it can possibly get it really does know how to shoot itself in the foot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stormrider Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 There's a dead rat in the board room and its stink can no longer be hidden. Hell I can smell it in Florida. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyff 0 Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 Turning into Soviet Russia at St. James'... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 So now we're banning journalists from the club because they report that Kinnear isnt as well as we thought he was! What next? kicked out for asking for more coffee in the press room? Jesus wept, in a time when the club needs as much good PR as it can possibly get it really does know how to shoot itself in the foot. ASHLEY: Lee, do you have a question you would like to ask your uncle Mike? RYDER: Yes, sir, a very inane one. Mr. Ashley, your ownership seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular? ASHLEY: Ooh, a tough question but a fair one. Lee, there's no single answer. Some supporters respond to my integrity, others are more impressed with my incorruptibility. Still others buy my determination to lower costs. And the bureaucrats in the state capital can put that in their pipes and smoke it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Onion 0 Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 If they stick with a policy of banning journalists who print things they don't like they'll be down to a couple of Thomson House lads and Rob Beasley by next season. How ridiculously petty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketsbaia 0 Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 So now we're banning journalists from the club because they report that Kinnear isnt as well as we thought he was! What next? kicked out for asking for more coffee in the press room? Jesus wept, in a time when the club needs as much good PR as it can possibly get it really does know how to shoot itself in the foot. ASHLEY: Lee, do you have a question you would like to ask your uncle Mike? RYDER: Yes, sir, a very inane one. Mr. Ashley, your ownership seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular? ASHLEY: Ooh, a tough question but a fair one. Lee, there's no single answer. Some supporters respond to my integrity, others are more impressed with my incorruptibility. Still others buy my determination to lower costs. And the bureaucrats in the state capital can put that in their pipes and smoke it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hadrian 0 Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 well at least thats one journo who no longer has to watch what he says and kiss arse for storys , im thinking of you lee ryder ! maybe aswell as john gibson and caulkin we will have another voice in the press telling it how it is now . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2bias 3 Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 The club is pathetic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fop 1 Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 Banning journalists? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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