Ashley cuts Losses

Mike Ashley Has spoken to the Sunday Times and has admitted defeat.

He claims to have put the club up for sale for £100m. Ashley also says



"It has been catastrophic for everybody. I’ve lost my money and I’ve made terrible decisions. Now I want to sell it as soon as I can . . . advisers will be appointed shortly"



Catastrophic for who? Ashley because he lost money or the fans who lost our club for the last 2 years and now find ourselves in the championship with no manager and a very uncertain future.



When asked about failures and regrets Ashley added



“Of course I regret it. I never said I was an expert in football clubs. I was just a fan – although a very wealthy fan. But I’m not so wealthy now. I put my money into it and I tried my best. But I accept my best was woefully short. I am genuinely sorry for everybody about what has happened.”



On Kinnear

“I personally thought Joe put the club back on the right track. He took it from second bottom to 13th but things went against him,”



I hope we can find a buyer very soon and get on with building a new club asap.

Life in the Championship

These are the grounds we will be visiting next season, each has a link with more information from travel, ticket prices, pies and pubs. You can also visit the site for more information regarding grounds throughout the English Leagues.

http://www.footballgroundguide.com/index.html
Below rght pictures of Scunthorpe
& Peterboroughs grounds.

Barnsley
Blackpool
Bristol City
Cardiff City
Coventry City
Crystal Palace
Derby County
Doncaster Rovers
Ipswich Town
Leicester City
Middlesbrough
Nottingham Forest
Peterborough United
Plymouth Argyle
Preston North End
Queens Park Rangers
Reading
Scunthorpe United
Sheffield United
Sheffield Wednesday
Swansea City
Watford

A New Era

Ever since Graeme Souness took charge of Newcastle United we started on our slippery slide to the Championship. Some players bought by Sir Bobby Robson, who were frankly a disgrace to the club, were also to blame but Souness started the rot. Having stabled the club from the shock of Keegan's 2nd departure in Jan 1997, Robson built a team to at least challenge for a spot in Europe. However not all the fans were behind Sir Bobby and in the end neither was Shepperd.

Robson was then followed by Souness who was brought in to sort out the bad lads.

He lasted 87 games and took us down the table. Shepperd then got Glenn Roeder, who was running the youth academey very successfully, to help out along with Shearer and we picked up form and managed a 7 position finish - enough to see us into Europe. Roeder impressed and was given the job but things went badly wrong although we won the Intertoto cup and gained entry into the Uefa cup, our league form suffered as do most teams who enter the Intertoto cup.

Roeder took us down the league table and was then axed to make way for Sam Allardyce. As Shepperd brought in Big Sam he also sold the club along with the Halls to the present owner and Enemy Number One Mike Ashley. Ashley thought of Newcastle United as a bit of fun and began watching the away games amongst the fans with his xxx large replica shirt on. Things did not go to plan and Allardyce was far from pleasing the Geordie nation with drab football week in week out, it was only time before the fans got restless. Having spent many games amongst the fans; Ashley then fired Allardyce and paid him off . The club now had no debt but also no manager. In comes Kevin Keegan and Newcastle erupts with joy and confusion.

The media can't believe it saying it will all end in disaster but the majority of Geordies are happy.

Keegan is in the stands to see Newcastle take on Stoke and give them a thumping in the F.A. Cup replay. Keegan's first game against Bolton at St James' is an emotional encounter but the game itself was forgotten quickly. Another 9 games passed before we got that first win and the media were all over Newcastle United, again blaming the fans . I find it very difficult to understand how it's all down to the fans - is it because of our passion, money or patience? The press seem to have an agenda against the supporters of the club by printing rubbish and false statements, if only they did they're homework before they print. People believe the crap they publish but it's simple: all we want is good football so why bother paying if it's ugly?

So Keegan finally got the win we were looking for and the points started flowing in and we avoided certain gloom and our premiership survival was assured. The new season came with some question marks hanging over the club - Denis Wise, his signings, players up for sale.

Manchester United away was not the start we wanted but it meant we got it out the way early. Newcastle get a 1-1 draw and everyone was happy. This was followed by a home win to Bolton and an away win at Coventry and James Milner's last game. This prove to be the straw that broke the camels back as Keegan left the club because his hands had been tied in the transfer market. All Keegan wanted was to be able to buy some decent players and keep our best. As rumours circled that Owen was put up for sale and Milner was released, Keegan did the right thing and turned his back on Ashley not the club. Keegan is no puppet and would not pick Denis Wise's team each week. Although Ashley had an easy decision to make, Keegan or Wise, he picked his London buddy as the Media rubbed their hands together and proclaimed Newcastle United a joke club. Keegan still has his integrity and Ashley's seat was now empty at away games. He is not welcome to suffer with us and we can never forget what he has done to this great club. We had been dragged through dirt for many years now but Mike Ashley dragged us, through shit and left us there. He has released a statement to say sorry but it is weak and it's not going to get us out of the championship.

We need to get behind the new manager but we must also appoint the right man. Shearer, Bruce or whoever it is, we have got to keep going and supporting the club.

The club - who or what is the club? Mike Ashley and Derick Llambias, or the fans players and manager?

If the club is Assley and lameass then we need to take a long look and begin getting them out or turning our back on them and not going to the games. Personally I hope we get rid of the two and get a good manager capable of getting us out the championship.

Going away to Doncaster and scuntorpe will not be easy and we could stay down for years before we get back.

We must not forget that Ashley dragged us through the shit and left us there, we have to get him out and hope for a future for OUR club.

Wor Al

Statement issued by the owner on Tuesday:

"Seeing Newcastle United relegated from the Premier League has been a catastrophe for us all."I fully accept that mistakes were made during this and previous seasons and I am very sorry for that."I would like to say sorry to our magnificent supporters who have turned up in their thousands, home and away, up and down the country and who have given the team amazing backing throughout."And I would also say sorry to all of the Club's hard -working staff, who have gone about their jobs all year long."Bringing Alan Shearer back to Newcastle United was the best decision I have made. Alan and his staff did all they could to try and keep us up in the short space of time they had."Talks are now ongoing between us about how we can take this Club forward again."

Keep The Faith

Defeat to Fulham in Newcastle on Saturday left us hanging on to our premiership survival with an away trip to Villa to come. A day of bad decisions from referee Howard Webb left us licking our wounds once again and hands the initiative to Hull and Sunderland who are the only clubs that have not secured survival outside the bottom three. The decision to send Bassong off was one you could not complain about but I thought the ref blew for the trip not the grappling, was the trip accidental? Mark Viduka's goal was a cracker, Schwarzer was well beaten not fouled as suggested by Howard webb. The goal scored by Fulham was clear offside but again the ref and his assistants seeing things differently to 50,000 Geordies. So what do we do from here? An away trip to Villa Park on Sunday is no easy task, they are now one point behind Everton who sit in the 5th spot. So they will be looking for a win against us as Everton travel to Fulham. We seriously need a win against villa a draw could be enough but it all really depends on what Hull & Sunderland can achieve. West Brom have just been defeated 0-2 to Liverpool and have been relegated. Sunderland have a home tie against Chelsea and Hull have a home tie v Manchester Utd, both Man U and Chelsea have big cup games to worry about and may rest influential players for the final games, hopefully they will do us justice and play a strong team but knowing our luck who know's what will happen. One thing is sure, the Geordie nation have got to pray we win and other results go for us. Don't give up hope, keep believing as I've said before we will not go down but its not going to be pretty.

United Again

Newcastle didn't let us down on a night of high tension for the north east. Widely predicted to go down, both teams put on a show that didn't fail to entertain the neutral. However to a Middlesbrough or Newcastle fan, it was indeed a painful game to watch for most of the time. Some big performances from some big players won the game on the night but it could have gone either way. I feel we were the worthy winners in the end. The bookies have now slashed the odds for us to go down as Hull City replaced us in the drop zone with many predicting they will go down along with Middlesbrough and West Brom. Nothing is set in stone yet with only two games to go and with the opposition still vying for the league title or a European place, no team down the wrong end can be assured of an easy game. While the future of Newcastle is now held in our own hands, we must be united again as before to create an atmosphere like that against Pompey and Middlesbrough. St James' park full and boiling over with passion must be a daunting place to go for even top professional players, so to create an atmosphere against Fulham could go along way to guaranteeing our premier status for next year. It's going to be tough but I believe we will do it with the players we have. On the night we saw some football that was a little desperate at times, lots of luck, hesitation, plenty of sloppy passing and some tired legs. At least we saw spirit and endeavour from every single Newcastle player and after going one down after 3 Mins we needed it. Fortunately Newcastle got an early equaliser and pushed hard until we got the next two. The substitutions were good as Gutierrez looked tired as he was being knocked off the ball too easily. I think everyone wanted Obafemi on the pitch but not at the expense of Michael Owen as he put in a good shift, but the change proved to be pivotal as Martins fired us into ecstasy. St James' went mad as Martins leapt on Shearer who was as animated as the rest of his fellow Geordies. Peter Lovenkrands, a lucky player in my eyes after his goal against Manchester Utd, got the final goal which put the game beyond doubt and enabled the Toon army all over the world to actually sit back, smile and enjoy 5 minutes of football. What a game, what a night but the hard work has just begun. Howay the lads. pic

sourced from: http://www.zimbio.com/

Time To Pray

Well it's been two games now since I last wrote. After the disappointment of the Portsmouth game and knowing we were to travel to Liverpool, I felt there was nothing much I could say that hadn't already been said.
Joey Barton's antics at Liverpool were not what we needed in a relegation battle more like cool heads and lots of passion. I have always stood up for JB but that was a silly challenge and it didn't help on the day. However what followed in the dressing room at Anfield will, I believe, help muster some courage from our weary footballers. Frustrations were aired and negative feeling set loose and left at Anfield, well hopefully they were. If we can now go into the Boro game and get an early goal it could set us on our way.
Fulham have always proved a challenge to Newcastle Utd so we must win our next home game and of course hope Blackburn, Hull and the Mackems get beat. that happens and it's all in our hands.
We will travel to Villa Park on the last game of the season needing something I imagine and I believe we can and will do it; I really think we can go to Villa and win.
We went one nil up last year in the glorious sunshine but that day Villa put 4 past us after we went ahead and we lost 4-1.
The remaining fixtures are there for the taking and once again we ,the Toon Army, have got to be right behind the players and make St James's a cauldron.

Spurned Chances

Again Newcastle leave empty handed after putting in a decent second half performance at spurs on Sunday. many individual errors and little penetration made for a shocking display in the first half and many fans becoming very frustrated with the lack of basic ability notably by two of our hardest working players. Looks like they just had an off day, but off days are not something we can afford. It now looks like we will have to get something at Liverpool or villa to stay up as we can not assume (being Newcastle utd fans) we will win our remaining games at home. The second half saw the Toon Army calling for Obafemi to come on, as soon as he did things changed, spurs were immediately on the back foot and the two changes Viduka & Martins for Carrol & Nolan almost paid off when martins broke but his shot was off target, a goal was disallowed for handball but you could see and feel Martins enthusiasm like a young kid who is trying to get his ball back from his older brother. It almost came from about 6yards out Martins got on the end of a ball but sadly for us he smashed it over the bar then went down holding his groin, at that moment I thought he was going to be out for the season as speculation had it he was carrying a groin injury. The Toon Army had sensed something coming as Viduka was holding the ball up well and Martins pace was causing major problems for spurs who had chances at our end as gaps opened up at the back, lucky for us spurs are not a great team blessed with talent or we could have been embarrassed. The Toon Army however stuck with them and it almost paid off but a couple of things did come from the game, the attack formation that King Kev adopted late last season was used to great effect in the second half and one unnamed player finally has been dropped. We now need to Attack Attack Attack Attack Attack as we sang on Sunday, the first time since KK left. keep up the fight until the fat lady sings, we can do it and we will do it, but we need the Toon army to keep with them. Its got to be huge pressure on the lads and its never easy to play under them circumstances.Dont make it any harder for them and stick with them till the finall whistle. With a little luck we will get out of this ditch and play top flight football next season.

Every body now

Stoke proved to be a tough match for Newcastle on Saturday but a goal from local lad carrol got us a well earned point at the Britannia stadium.
I questioned Shearer's choice of strikers at the begining of this match as Ameobi started the game and he proved to be a big disappointment once again by failing to defend corners, his man lost him once before the goal came.
The actual goal was again Ameobi getting lost and ball watching while ex mag put the ball in the back of the net. I would have hauled the lad off at half time and threw Andy Carrol on. In the 68th min that's what happened and we ended the day with another local hero.
Can we go to Whiter hart lane on Sunday and expect a performance like last year and the year before? We all surely hope so, as both games proved to be two of the best games I've been to over the last few years. Harry has turned the fortunes of his spurs side since taking over and a win for them will put them into the comfort of mid table survival ready for another long hard slog for next season. We now need to pick up points at places we are not expected to before our three home games against Pompey, Fulham and the Smoggies. The question is can we do it?
Well Liverpool are not going to give up anything as they pursue the league title so our only hope is this game its going to put immense pressure on the lads on and off the pitch but we must all stay strong and positive.
If we believe we can stay up we can and will but if we feel we have no hope then why bother trying, ask yourself do you want to see Newcastle United in the premier league next season.
If yes then give everything especially if your going to the game.
Back at st Jame's we must create an atmosphere like stoke we have one of the largest stadium's in the country but consistently we are not as loud as stoke fans. We are supposed to be the best fans in the country well out of 53,000 people only a fraction are passionate enough to sing and really get behind the team and create an difficult place for opposing players to ply there trade.
"Sing your hearts out for the lads"
photo source: www.chroniclelive.co.uk

Stoke City

So 0 points taken from Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea in our last games at st james and staring relegation in the face. We come up against Stoke City on saturday hoping again for a good performance and 3 points. If there was ever a time we needed 3 points since keegan joined as manager the first time its certainly now. Stoke have an impressive home record with only 3 defeats all season so we will have to be at our best. Shearer has come in now to save us from the drop and with a decent performance against chelsea we need to pick up a little against the smaller clubs as we looked a little tired on Saturday in the second half. Liverpool and Aston Villa now provide the most difficult fixtures on paper left this season and while West Brom and the Smoggies look to be doomed sunderland are looking increasingly likely to go down with difficult games against Chelsea, Everton and Man Utd to play and Hull who have been loosing games for a while now and only picking up draws here and there have a difficult task of Man Utd, Villa and Liverpool. So 3 point on saturday can really lift the spirits and give confidence to the players.
The doom mongers are all at us because we are a big club and they want us to go down but they have all been saying for years now we are not a big club and we dont have the best fans, well i hope to prove them all wrong by staying up first and then we will see.
so my prediction has now changed and i think we will finish above West Brom, Smoggies, Mackems and Hull yes i think the Mackems and the Smoggies are down with West Brom.
Lets hope the appointment of Alan Shearer will pay off and silence the critics again and then we can look forward to premiership football next season.

Arsenal (Home)

5:30 Saturday afternoon and the toon army will be either at st Jame's park or watching setanta sports. Newcastle will have Nolan, Guthrie and Habib Beye back in contention after injury and suspension. However Barton, viduka, xisco and nacho Gonzalez are still out. Arsenal beat hull 2-1 in the FA cup tie at the emirates stadium on tuesday without goalkeeper Alumina. The stopper for them in that game was Fabianski but is unknown if he was in due to injury. Lets hope we can get beye and nolan on the pitch as they are badly needed for this game. We have done well against Arsenal at st James' park in recent years and it would go a long way if we could at least get a point. Scuppering Arsenals plans for a top two finish and giving arsene whinger something to complain about would be very satisfying although the most important thing on sat is to go out with a positive attacking attitude. We could slip into 18, as the Smoggies face Stoke if either win and Portsmouth win at home to everton then we will. However a win would take us to 14 if Blackburn and the Mackems loose. So on Saturday were really looking at wins for Everton against Portsmouth, West Ham v Blackburn, Man U v Fulham, Chelsea v Spurs, Wigan v Hull, Man city v Mackems and west brom v Bolton and a draw for the Smoggies. Fingers crossed for tomorrow then that we end the day out the Relegation zone and sit on 30 points with 8 games to go. We can do it and i feel we will stay up but it's going to be very tight, you can see my prediction for the end of season table below. Howay the lads

Keep us Up

Lets hope Micheal Owen can at least do one thing for Newcastle United - keep us up. To be honest we need his goals at the moment and if he can get a couple tomorrow and win the game for us he may yet be remembered kindly on Tyneside when he does leave next season. Nicky Butt could make his return and we need him badly as Smith showed he had not competed at the top level for months by losing the ball and being off the pace somewhat. Who knows what will happen tomorrow but wherever we Geordies are there is one thing that's certain, we will all be praying for a win. After the Man Utd game people may think we will win this one but we know that's not the case as I have said before we need to dig deep again and play this game like our life depends on it. It does in a manner of speaking. After the Hull match we have Arsenal then Chelsea at home before we travel to Stoke. A must win game then and at least 1 point against Arsenal, maybe nothing against Chelsea. Shit, when you start looking at the fixtures it doesn't look good. We have 28 points and these games to play...... Arsenal-h Chelsea-h Stoke -a Spurs-a Pompey-h Liverpool-a smoggies-h Fulham-h Villa-a

Playing with pride

Newcastle United never cease to amaze. Just when we think we will get a good thrashing, the depleted team put in an inspired effort and feel unlucky to come away with nothing against the league leaders. The fact that Smith has not played for a very long time, Oba out for weeks and players played out of position, says a great deal about the team and their ability. However as we have said before we need to build on this, its no good putting in a performance like that then go to Hull and roll over. We all know what that's like as it happens far to often.
Full credit goes to the caretaker and his assistant for the Manchester Utd game but we still need to get someone in before the end of the season and I believe Joe isn't the man.
Joe has done his best and obviously loves the game but he should quit football or at least take a lower pressure job. The Newcastle job comes with too much baggage but hopefully one day we will have our success.
Maybe Lee Clark will be ready for the job in a couple of years. A Geordie at the helm makes a big difference at St James' Park

Ashley Out

After the defeat to Bolton on Saturday, we are really in the shit. After all these years why is Shola Ameobi still playing for Newcastle United? If anyone can answer this please tell me. He tries his best but unfortunately it’s just not good enough. We had Smith on the bench itching to get on, Viduka as well, but what I would like to see is one of the young lads given a chance. How many has Shola had and how many more will he get?
Relegation is now in sight. We have difficult games to play and no manager. Mike Ashley continues at the helm of Newcastle United but for how long?
If we go down will Ashley sell up? If we stay up will he spend? Will he get a new manager or will he only spend £5m like the MD says?.
After last season I thought it could not get worse but Kevin Keegan took charge and things started to look good. A 1-1 draw at Old Trafford kicked off the season and was a good result but we now face Manchester United at home with only 11 games to go and it’s very worrying, - it could be very embarrassing.
After the Man Utd we have home games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Pompey, Borough and Fulham: 3 of the top five and two clubs fighting relegation. The away fixtures are at Hull, Stoke , Spurs, Liverpool and Villa - yes, two top four teams and the rest fighting the drop .We need a manager and quick because the two in charge now don’t look like keeping us up. Someone has to go down and I really hope it’s

Game on this afternoon

Vital game today, away at the Reebok Stadium. Let's hope Andy Carroll gets to start ahead of Ameobi. Another away victory today would be very good timing, just before playing the Mancs next Wednesday.

My team for today: Harper Coloccini Bassong S. Taylor Enrique R. Taylor Butt Smith Gutierrez (right) Caroll Martins Predicted score : 1 - 2 (Martins, Caroll) Toon Toon, Black 'n' White Army
01/03/09