A Tribute To Kevin

[McFaul 35]

You're not a younger kid now, you were 21 when I started using these forums you must be about 30 nuw!

 

[Tooj 17]

I'm 27 you cheeky cunt.

[Toonpack 9946]

Did more for this club than any other - yes

 

A hero when he was here - yes (amongst many others over time)

 

Still here - no

 

Turn the page - yes (long time ago)

 

Next ..........................

[Tooj 17]

Did more for this club than any other - yes

 

A hero when he was here - yes (amongst many others over time)

 

Still here - no

 

Turn the page - yes (long time ago)

 

Next ..........................

 

Due to our current state of affairs I think there's nothing better than to bring out some good old feelings of nostalgia. That's why I created the other thread too.

[Happy Face 29]

Due to our current state of affairs I think there's nothing better than to bring out some good old feelings of nostalgia. That's why I created the other thread too.

 

Quite right too. Watching the vids gave me a warm feeling remembering how popular the players ALL were too.

 

Do kids still hero worship our players like that or are they as jaded as me about the pricks we put out every week?....and that's the good ones

[Toonpack 9946]

Due to our current state of affairs I think there's nothing better than to bring out some good old feelings of nostalgia. That's why I created the other thread too.

 

I loved John Tudor, I was also gutted (as a bairn can be) when we sold Pop Robson

 

My problem with the "Keegan love" is that it was an exceptional period, sadly never quite properly capatalised on and never quite as good as Shankly or Clough's works at the Scouse or Forest for example (and neither of them are in the same league as SAF and Man U, who I can remember relegated).

 

Yeah they were good times (for NUFC fans) but they still hang over us like a sword, they were "exceptional" times not "normal" times, they showed (to everyone's great surprise) what could be (nearly but not quite) at the time, those times have changed forever, getting back anywhere close is going to be a long haul (if it's even possible).

 

Half our problem is the Keegan times (first time as manager) turned us around at break-neck speed from virtually nothing, to contenders, like most other false dawn's (few and far between) we couldn't sustain it. In my lifetime, it's the first time we were even "close". I think that is part of our problem now, we expect it to turn around too quickly (or we think it can be done quickly) and the game has irrevocably changed (unless FFP is a shiny knight of justice).

 

Throughout the Keegan years I always said to my lads (mid/late twenties now) "this isn't the real Newcastle, never forget that" it was a glimpse of what we could be, not what we are. Thankfully we've not fallen as far as a Notts (sorry Cloughie) Forest, for example, have.

 

Our current state of affairs is nothing like the worst we've been through, it's still, even now by comparison, pretty damn good. The nostalgia just makes the now seem worse. Turn the page.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Toonpack

[Monkeys Fist 43067]

I'll bet you're first on the list of all your mate's party's Toonpack.

[Toonpack 9946]

I'll bet you're first on the list of all your mate's party's Toonpack.

 

I am, I am an extremely jocular chap because I don't dwell on stuff, take it for what it is/was and move on.

[McFaul 35]

Did more for this club than any other - yes

 

A hero when he was here - yes (amongst many others over time)

 

Still here - no

 

Turn the page - yes (long time ago)

 

Next ..........................

Pipe down - yes (immediately)

[Toonpack 9946]

Pipe down - yes (immediately)

 

Fuck off, I shall pipe down when I choose

[McFaul 35]

Fuck off, I shall pipe down when I choose

You're too old for this type of thing, and you're clearly not young at heart.

[Toonpack 9946]

You're too old for this type of thing, and you're clearly not young at heart.

 

Well there's the internet me and then there's the "real" me

 

Of course many of my football views are the real me, but given football isn't that much to me anymore, (can still screw my weekend to a point) I suppose to those who still care a whole lot my somewhat maudlin, at times, views would appear to be depressing if spoken by someone who cared much. It's just what I think, wouldn't place any strong emotion to it.

[Isegrim 9901]

You must not turn pages on history. History is to learn from, not to forget about.

 

The Keegan times weren’t just an exception but an example of what you can achieve if you get the place buzzing. That’s why Ashley was right to appoint Keegan again – and it was his biggest mistake to piss him off. Ashley and Llambias still seem to have neither a clue about football nor the club they own/run. They chose that it is more important to try to get the finances right by selling tacky stuff via the club shop, the name of the stadium or piss off club legends than to care about the history of the club. That’s where I think they are totally wrong, because it is something you can achieve even without paying over the odds but by just have a philosophy that matches the club.

[McFaul 35]

You must not turn pages on history. History is to learn from, not to forget about.

 

The Keegan times weren’t just an exception but an example of what you can achieve if you get the place buzzing. That’s why Ashley was right to appoint Keegan again – and it was his biggest mistake to piss him off. Ashley and Llambias still seem to have neither a clue about football nor the club they own/run. They chose that it is more important to try to get the finances right by selling tacky stuff via the club shop, the name of the stadium or piss off club legends than to care about the history of the club. That’s where I think they are totally wrong, because it is something you can achieve even without paying over the odds but by just have a philosophy that matches the club.

 

Good points Isegrim. Good to see you back on here.

 

What's the thoughts in Germany about Guardiola going to Bayern? They have the money and means to dominate European football now I think.

[brummiemag1 0]

You must not turn pages on history. History is to learn from, not to forget about.

 

The Keegan times weren’t just an exception but an example of what you can achieve if you get the place buzzing. That’s why Ashley was right to appoint Keegan again – and it was his biggest mistake to piss him off. Ashley and Llambias still seem to have neither a clue about football nor the club they own/run. They chose that it is more important to try to get the finances right by selling tacky stuff via the club shop, the name of the stadium or piss off club legends than to care about the history of the club. That’s where I think they are totally wrong, because it is something you can achieve even without paying over the odds but by just have a philosophy that matches the club.

 

Yes exceptional times and an exceptional man, an absolute legend of the club and my ultimate sporting hero. I would have him back here as manager in an instant.

 

He was aware of the great potential of the club and he had the ambition and the backing to realise that potential

 

The way he was treated by Ashley was unforgiveable

[smoggeordie 0]

I posted this on NO yesterday which I suppose half ties in with the KK stuff, but it's my views on football in general at the mo (long post) :

 

After having a fair few hours to reflect on today, it's confirmed a lot of things for me.

 

Before I go on, this isn't a whinge saying how i've fallen out of love with NUFC. I very much love my club, our club, and I always will. But, to quote Sir Bobby, what is a club in any case? The noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. I feel a lot of these are on the wane for our once great club. 

 

I've been considering over the past few weeks just what is wrong with football. It's hard to put your finger on it.

 

The best way to start I reckon is to think 'what made me like football in the first place?'. As a youngster who was born into a family where football was much of a non event (my dad had never been to a game and, bizarrly, my mum had only been to one game – an away game at Chelsea in the 70s I believe). I, like many kids in the 90s, got into football on the playground. The 'jumpers for goalposts', using 'numbers' to pick teams over school dinner, hoping for the best player in the school to be on your team type of game. Personally I was always the goalkeeper. I don't know why I chose that position, but over a number of years I actually got decent there. Plus, i'm cack outfield.

 

The game grew on me, as you'd expect, because I enjoyed playing it. That got me into watching it. Unfortunately, just as I was really getting used to playing daily over lunchtime my folks upped sticks, I was taken out of John Vianney school and taken down to Kettering. At this age I wasn't that much into NUFC as it's more about the playground, so being a young Geordie lad down south isn't easy and I suppose it could have gone one of two ways when I moved there. It would either be i'd join the ranks of the local glory hunters, being a Man U, Liverpool or Arsenal fan at the time, or I could be the polar opposite and, despite my young age, stick firmly to my roots. At this age it was firmly in the time where we were in the prime of Rob Lee, Beardsley was in the twilight of his career, Sir Les was snapped up, Ginola and Barton came in. I went to a pre season friendly down there, Rushden and Diamonds vs NUFC, pretty sure we won 3-1 but if someone could confirm that it would be nice......

 

I was hooked. I looked at the Newcastle side and even as a schoolboy I could tell we were 'different' to other clubs. We were special. The type of football we played was like having 11 of the 'best kid in the school' playing for us. So fluid, exciting and entertaining. So Keegan. The noise from 36,610 inside SJP was deafening, even as I listened to the 5-0 on the radio. There was a magic about NUFC and, dare I say it, football in general? Euro 96 had the nation all together as one and, a much as you hated them, you had a lot of respect for the other teams around us. So, all in all, the entertainment and the pride of where I was from, who I was, was what made me love football. All summed up by Bobby's quote. Even though I was an 8 year old kid living 200 miles from NE1, I was part of the club. A club that was built on the beliefs that it's sole purpose was to entertain it's adoring fans.

 

Fast forward 18 years and we're unrecognisable. Often at work people tell me how much of a joke NUFC are and I will defend us to the hilt. “Who else would get 52k with no trophies for 50 years”, “i'll think of you when i'm on my eurpean tour', 'youd dream of having players like ben arfa and Cabaye'. It's an assumed duty to be defensive about your club. It's the classic thing of we can slag them off, but if someone else does then we'll defend them. The sad facts are that, save for a couple of magical years under Bobby and riding a crest of a wave under Pardew last year, we've been on the decline since 1996. We've 'expanded' as a club, got a bigger stadium, more globally recognised. But IMO we're 1/10th of the club we were back then. The whole ethos of the club has changed. I genuinely believe when we had Shepherd he wanted the team to do well. Yes, he was a fucking idiot with his comments, decision making and crazy signings, but I think he wanted us to do well. He was just a buffoon who was steadily taking us down.

 

Ashley came in as the big geezer, splashing the cash on a load of big signings, and trying to be the hero by bringing in Keegan. I actually think that could have been a masterstroke. When Keegan came back he brought a buzz that hadn't been here for years, and I think he could have taken us back to being a regular top 6 side, even without the money to spend. Keegan was special, and  honesty feel guilty when some of our younger fans slate him. They don't appreciate what he did for us in the 90s. It's not their fault they don't understand, but sometimes I find myself resenting them. How dare they slate him? The very man who gave us the opportunity to become something special.

 

It was a sad day when he left under such a cloud. My club and my hero at legal loggerheads was hard to take and that took a lot out of me that season, so half an eye was taken off relegation. It almost paled into insignificance for me. Football, for me, is about heroes. It's about your Gazzas, Shearers, Bobby Lee's, Bobby Robsons, and Keegans. Hell, even your Laurent Roberts, Ben Arfas and Nobby Solanos. It's about grafting your arse off all week so that you have the cash to spend on going to be entertained. It's not about winning, if anyone supports NUFC because they want us to win trophies, then you're supporting the wrong team. Winning games is great. Dont be fooled by the media bollocks of “we'd rather lose 4-3 than win 1-0' because we wouldn't. It's bollocks.

 

I suppose that's where I get round to today. If we were given that choice of the 1-0 win i'd be delighted, but I want us to do it in the right way. I don't want to be one nil up against fucking Reading and sub off our only two attacking midfielders and end up with FOUR defensive midfielders on the pitch to 'see it out' (granted we now know Cabaye was injures and we couldnt see it out). Jonas, Bigi, Perch and Anita all on at the same time against one of the worst teams in the past 5 years of the PL. Bobby would shudder. Keegan probably is.

 

I don't want this to turn into a Pardew bashing because his failings are obvious, so don't need to be repeated. Similarly, Ashley's are too. The saddest thing of all for me is the fact that money dominates all in football. It's all about seeing games out now. 2-0 up and clubs shut up shop. If my club ever got to the lofty position of being 2-0 up i'd want us to stick 4, 5, 6 past them. The thought of doing that is simply gone in modern football. Clubs see cups as not worth going for as they're not financially viable. Personally I couldn't give two hoots if the Europa League isn't fiinancially viable. If it takes 16 games against Scandanavian farmers in front of sub 20k crowds in the snow, then so be it.

 

A lot of people say football sold it's soul when Abroamovich came to Chelsea but I don't buy that completely. For decades it's largely been a case of he who has money does well. It's just largely more highlighted now because of the Sky era. The sad thing I think is that because of the complete vastness of his and the Man City  wealth, it means we start a season knowing that the best that 17 out of the 30 clubs can hope for is 4th place. A depressing situation. It eliminates the skill of coaches and management, almost making it worthless. If Allardyce got his dream role at someone like man u, they'd still more than likely end up in the top two. It's sickening seeing people get paid millions to be very average and have very little input into work, when 10k people are being made redundant from blockbuster, comet, hmv, jessops etc.

 

I'm waffing now so getting away from my original point, what is wrong with football? The answer would probably be 'nothing' if Abramovich had bought us, or even if we'd seen out a win against Reading today. But he didn't and we didn't. There are significant issues at our football club both from boardroom level to pitch level, but it' nothing new. What is new to us is we now have a club that's sole purpose isn't to entertain us, it's to be profitable. We may benefit in this window with a couple of panic buys so we don't miss out on the new TV deal, but ultimately it's going to leave us with a constant feeling of a half full club.

 

Keep the faith.

[Happy Face 29]

Good read that.

 

We were getting our moneys worth yesterday. Their keeper was playing a blinder. Cabaye's "Koeman" was worth the entry alone... The crowd turned on Pardew when he put the kaibosh on that sort of nonsense.

[Gemmill 46030]

What's the solution? Walk away from it. You'll be the happier for it.

[Howmanheyman 33845]

What's the solution? Walk away from it. You'll be the happier for it.

No you wont. Well, some will, but not all. I'm foaming how we've drifted to into this relegation battle. My mate hasn't been to a home game since we beat Reading 3-0 in the 2nd div and it eats him up when we do shit or in trouble. (And before anyone calls his attendance record up I'll just add that he's just one of the people that I know who football in the '90's season ticket culture were quite happy to shed from the game).

[Gemmill 46030]

I barely know who we're playing or when we're playing them. I 'mark as read' half the stuff on the football forum in here without even bothering to look at it. And I don't think twice about doing stuff on a weekend, regardless of whether Newcastle are playing/on the telly or whatever. That's what I mean by walking away. If your mate is allowing the results to "eat him up", it doesn't sound to me like he's really walked away.

[Howmanheyman 33845]

I barely know who we're playing or when we're playing them. I 'mark as read' half the stuff on the football forum in here without even bothering to look at it. And I don't think twice about doing stuff on a weekend, regardless of whether Newcastle are playing/on the telly or whatever. That's what I mean by walking away. If your mate is allowing the results to "eat him up", it doesn't sound to me like he's really walked away.

Physically he has, mentally he never will. I've been to two games this season, none last year. I can't imagine getting to a stage where this club of ours would never 'bother' me for good or bad.

[Christmas Tree 4827]

I barely know who we're playing or when we're playing them. I 'mark as read' half the stuff on the football forum in here without even bothering to look at it. And I don't think twice about doing stuff on a weekend, regardless of whether Newcastle are playing/on the telly or whatever. That's what I mean by walking away. If your mate is allowing the results to "eat him up", it doesn't sound to me like he's really walked away.

 

Neither is policing the match day thread

[Gemmill 46030]

My indifference to what actually happened is the point, numbskull.

[Billy Whitehurst 932]

 

 

Yes exceptional times and an exceptional man, an absolute legend of the club and my ultimate sporting hero. I would have him back here as manager in an instant.

 

He was aware of the great potential of the club and he had the ambition and the backing to realise that potential

 

The way he was treated by Ashley was unforgiveable

 

Keegan managing the club is without a doubt the best thing to have ever happened to this club in my lifetime (I'm 35). Prior to Keegan, we really were a poor club with terrible owners and some truly woeful players (albeit a few exceptional players like Beardsley, Waddle and Gacoigne who were quickly sold). He completely transformed the club and his legacy lives on today. When we consider that we have the likes of Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Tiote and Colo playing for us, that wouldn't have been imagineable in the years before Keegan.

 

During his time as manager, I loved supporting us, I believed in everything he said and it was obvious just how much the club meant to him - he was one of us. Him standing on the stairs outside SJP explaining to the fans why he sold Cole just illustrates that.

 

They say you should never meet your heroes but that doesn't apply to him. I met him once (the season we lost the big lead in the league) and he was such a genuinely nice bloke. He was completely as I expected him to be.

 

If you look at what he achieved in his time here, his managerial record is remarkable and it was all done playing football that the supporters wanted to see.

 

It's at times like this that you need a bit of nostalgia as we've got fuck all else. It's also people like Keegan which remind us why we love the club.

 

[McFaul 35]

I don't want this to turn into a Pardew bashing because his failings are obvious, so don't need to be repeated. Similarly, Ashley's are too. The saddest thing of all for me is the fact that money dominates all in football. It's all about seeing games out now. 2-0 up and clubs shut up shop. If my club ever got to the lofty position of being 2-0 up i'd want us to stick 4, 5, 6 past them. The thought of doing that is simply gone in modern football. Clubs see cups as not worth going for as they're not financially viable. Personally I couldn't give two hoots if the Europa League isn't fiinancially viable. If it takes 16 games against Scandanavian farmers in front of sub 20k crowds in the snow, then so be it.

Very good read, this paragraph is the truest, football has lost its' spirit without a doubt. You've even seen Man Utd go 2-0 up and adopted a conservative approach, but Newcastle are the worst for it. It's been like this a lot under Pardew, there's been times we could've won games 4-0 and 5-0 but we go a goal in front, we're so rigid it's unbelievable. Fair enough many times last season, we stopped attacking and saw games out but we're easy to beat now. He's been here over two years now, we've beaten teams by more than one goal just 10 times, and more than two goals just four times. That is pretty shit.