Straight to Hell

[Scottish Mag 3]

Relegation? It has been in the post for six seasons. Six seasons since Shepherd completely mishandled the end of SBR’s management and began to get every major decision wrong! But still kept his substantial snout alongside the Halls in the SJP trough. From the appointment of Graeme Souness – by some distance the worst manager in the history of Newcastle United – and the spending spree where the club’s money was squandered on Babayaro, Boumsong, Luque, Owen, Parker, Emre – all players who came and have now gone. Money down the drain!

 

Followed up by the appointment of Roeder – perhaps not as bad a managerial appointment as Kinnear but nevertheless, as the recent relegation of Norwich City demonstrates, hopelessly inadequate and a poor substitute for the intended managerial appointment of Martin O’Neill. And then Allardyce – never ever the right man for Newcastle United and as recklessly incompetent in his one transfer window as Souness – big wages spunked on Viduka, Smith, Geremi, Barton, Cacapa – all still on the NUFC gravy train and all of whom have contributed nothing to our club.

 

Not that Sir John Hall should get off the hook. This is the man, after all who sold his shares to Ashley, allegedly without meeting the man, or indeed really knowing who he was selling to or knowing his plans for the club. Hall liked one thing about Ashley above all others in my opinion – his money. And with Sir John Hall, outside of all of the trite puff and smoke about regional pride and identity etc, that’s all that has ever mattered. Ordinary supporters buying shares, inflated season ticket prices and bonds whilst his family and the Shepherds lined their pockets? It’s an obscenity. It is unforgivable. That is the legacy of Sir John Hall to Newcastle United Football Club.

 

Underneath all of that of course is the complete absence of infrastructure at NUFC – a youth development programme which was neglected for far too long by Shepherd and an Academy which has provided far too little for far too long and made us overly reliable on the likes of agents like Willie McKay in the absence of a proper, professional scouting network.

 

But of course, the man who has put his foot hard on the accelerator of the Relegation Express is Mike Ashley. Is there a more incompetent man in English football? Is there a man so utterly witless about the game of association football and the business of the Premier League than this charmless twat? This bumbling buffoon, perhaps in the throws of a post-divorce mid-life crisis and in need of some new mates, seems to have bought NUFC on a whim, with the paper profit his Sports Direct flotation funding it all. The absolute folly of failing to conduct due diligence in his purchase has left him with a company which was haemorrhaging money and which had its future income streams from sponsorships tied to the scandalous spending of the Shepherd era, though it also has to be said that sanctioned on his watch by Allardyce.

 

For Ashley, allowing the feel-good factor delivered by the appointment of KK last summer to slip through his fingers by placing Dennis fucking Wise in a senior position above our ex-No.7 was unforgivable. A crass episode of incompetence which started with the whole wrong-headed structure he wanted an old school manager like KK to accept with Wise, hopelessly out of his depth and lacking the personal qualities to forge a good working relationship with Keegan – though that was always going to be difficult as Ashley allowed Wise to do his job on Tyneside by proxy from London. It begs belief. It is fucking head-spinning in its stupidity. Just think about what this goon has done to our club and I defy you to stop your piss boiling.

 

Then of course, Ashley, with his absent landlord style of club stewardship allowing a bad situation to rot and fester last summer with the hopelessly out of his depth, Derek Llambias, the mute MD, failing to address the real football concerns held by KK and ignoring what their manager was telling them about the shambolic way Wise was operating.

 

And then Joe Kinnear! Holy Jesus and the orphans – whose fucking idea was it to bring this oaf to our club? Then of course his wobbler at West Brom ending his ridiculous tenure in the dug out to be followed by two months without a manager at all and it was during that period when Hughton and Calderwood – two rabbits caught in the headlights – failed to get a single win, when hope drained out of NUFC that is when relegation became inevitable. When we travelled to Bolton and when we went to Hull to set out for a draw – that was when relegation got its grip of us and of course we can’t forget the 2-0 leads we established at SJP to Stoke and Wigan only to squander them in the last minutes. Yes, we have had rotten luck with refereeing decisions on occasion but the truth is – this relegation was designed and delivered by those in the seats of power at SJP. That is where the blame lies. Relegation – described by the prick Llambias as “unthinkable” now fills our senses with its rotten stench. Where to now for the Casino Kid who is utterly clueless about football and NUFC?

 

Do I need to mention the ludicrous way the club did its business in the January transfer window? The sale of Given to Man City – at that time making £100m offers to Milan for Kaka – on tick – defies belief while we paid cash up front for rubbish like Ryan Taylor and Kevin Nolan. Cash out – credit in. Jesus Christ, what are these people doing?

 

Shearer? Too little, too late but a man whose integrity is beyond reproach, who is now positioning himself for a session with Ashley which could be seismic to the long term future of our club. For if Ashley does not do the things Shearer wants, I have little doubt he will walk away and Newcastle United will implode.

 

Alan Shearer is talking sense in the aftermath of this disaster of relegation. It is sense because it bears witness to everything we have seen over this season and several previous. We recognise his words as sense because they are based on the reality we have witnessed.

 

Should Shearer give Ashley a negative response this week then it is very likely Newcastle United will implode. There was a sad debate after the final whistle at Villa Park about whether we have reached the bottom yet. We don’t know. Shearer is talking about the possibility of “doing a Leeds”. All of that is a possibility.

 

For the players, who are far from blameless in this farrago, there will doubtless be those who will be offered new clubs and new starts, though some of them will become burdens to us if they do not leave the payroll. There are few who we would seek to keep in honesty. The truly sad fate is about to befall club employees who will lose their jobs because of this relegation. Ordinary working people around the club who will now find themselves surplus to requirements. The people who are far from the £60K p.w. merchants. The people with bills to pay and whose income is under threat at a time when alternatives are more difficult to secure in the current conditions. These are the people for who relegation will hit hard. They have the most sincere sympathise of everyone associated with this daft fanzine.

 

Right now, the club is at the biggest crossroads in its modern history – we will know this week if we have touched the bottom and can think about coming back next year or whether this sad season is simply a stopping off point on a deeper, more damaging decline. We are now talking about our club in the same terms Sheff Wed, Forest etc – that is where the people who run this club and who have previously ran the club have taken us. The club needs leadership, to rediscover its sense of purpose and to communicate both to the wider support. Ashley needs to break this ridiculous silence he has imposed upon himself and speak to us – tell us the truth and along with Shearer map out the vision which will begin to repair the damage to our beloved football club. We’re waiting.

 

Keep On, Keepin’ On...

 

http://www.true-faith.co.uk/tf/editorials....B8?OpenDocument

[Jimbo 175]

Spot on

[JawD 99]

I agree its been on a slippery slope down since the departure of SBR, accelerated by GS and then to break neck speed under current ownership. The second half of that summary of what has gone on here in the last 18 months is staggering beyond belief. To think a "professional business" could be ran in such a matter, bumbling from one almighty fuck up to the next. Staggering, absofuckinglutely staggering.

 

The club needs ripping apart top to bottom.

Edited May 25, 2009 by JawD

[tinofbeans 91]

tragically true.

[Guest alex]

Spot on

Aye, especially the bits about Ashley and co. It actually took some fucking doing to get relegated this season. 35 points would have kept us. 35 points man!

[Sonatine 11542]

Can't argue with any of it, says it all that the Halls sold up to guy they never even bothered to meet face to face

[S-I-S-S-O-K-O 0]

Shearer really is the key to our future. Shame it's Mike Ashley who has to make the decision on it though. His track record at decision making is fucking appalling.

[Fop 1]

Spot on

Aye, especially the bits about Ashley and co. It actually took some fucking doing to get relegated this season. 35 points would have kept us. 35 points man!

 

1 pissing point. It's every worse when you realise how few games we'd actually need to have won to get 8th this season.

[Craig 6700]

As ever, as spot on as they always are at TF.

 

They hit the nail on the head when they said the 2-0 leads at home to Wigan and Stoke that we allowed to become draws in the last minute cost us our Premiership lives. That said, had we survived, we'd have only delayed the inevitable.

 

I have no doubt that if we had somehow scraped a point yesterday Ashley, Llambias and co. would have viewed it as a major success. This club surviving relegation a major success? Fuck me!

 

Shearer is the only sane man employed by the club. His press conference yesterday was honest, heartfelt and the words of a fan first, manager second. He alluded himself a couple times to the fact that he probably was saying more than he should. I don't think he did but I bet Mike didn't like hearing it....

 

It's going to be an interesting summer, that's for sure.

[Asprilla 96]

I can't remember the last time I read a True Faith article and didn't agree 100%.

[Tom 14013]

Spot on and they even got the 80's music reference in.