Shearer takes charge at Newcastle

[saif]

One of the most entertaining games I have seen in a while (there have been a fair few belters this season imo). Watching two teams with no fear but also appearing to have no skill is really quite fun. Without wanting to be nasty, Newcastle going down could save the Premiership fom falling into a very deep financial hole. They would be forced to sort themselves out, another Leeds, and it might serve as a warning to those mortgaging their clubs for the future.
Last data I saw, Newcastle and Spurs had the 5th and 6th highest wage bills (no prizes for guessing who the top four were: CFC, MUFC, AFC and LFC in that order) and they have spunked it quite spectacularly.
Newcastle will probably stay up, but as last season, only cos some other clubs are even worse.

[EJG1980]

Actually West Ham spend more on wages than Spurs as well. And while we may be big spenders, we've actually got the best wages to turnover ratio in the whole league so we're spending well within our means. We're at 42%, while Newcastle and the Hammers are both over 70%. As of 2006/07 at least, couldn't find any later figures than that.

What's truly scary are the clubs who have a wage bill higher than their annual turnover

[Oh_Mutants]

This is why I hate the Mags. An offside winner and 50000 skunks jump round in ecstacy. The whining, 'the world owes us a living' mob wind up for another year of complaining about their rights as a big club, and no lessons in humility are learned. Ah well.

The other pisser being that somehow, those useless Mackems will conspire to get relegated instead.

... and what a terrible shame that would be

As for the 'Newcastle fans have no humility and all think they have a god given right to be a top club' - Utter, generalising nonsense. No worse than most Premier league clubs with such a passionate, large fanbase (Spurs, Villa etc). Tell me an established Premier League club who don't have ambitious fans, particularly after the club have spent so much in recent seasons - the supporters are well within their rights to expect some level of success and be disappointed when it's not achieved (and instead battling against relegation). Let's be fair, it's the nature of football supporters in general, not just Newcastle Utd's. To generalise about one particular club (who happen to be, coincidentally, your fiercest rivals) is a little daft in my opinion

[prinnysquad]

I refer the honorable gentleman to my post on page 3 of the thread, which clearly states that this only applies to some fans, who aren't in touch with the realities of at least the last few years, and certainly the fact that they've only had 4 top half finishes since 1998. Of course every club's fans should be ambitious and aspire to greater things, but some Newcastle fans are unreasonably demanding and cling onto the Keegan era like it's a golden nugget, using it as evidence of being a deserving top side. For a few years Newcastle were one of the top sides, no denying that. But historically, that was more of a blip than the norm. No manager is allowed to settle or build a team over a few years. Too many appointments have been rushed into and not worked out. I know a fair few Newcastle fans who admit that the 'head in the clouds' brigade of kneejerkers have far too much say in a football world where quick fixes rarely happen.

Tell me an established Premier League club who don't have ambitious fans, particularly after the club have spent so much in recent seasons - the supporters are well within their rights to expect some level of success and be disappointed when it's not achieved (and instead battling against relegation).

I totally agree, for all the money your (and recently my) club has spent, battling relegation is a truly dire effort. But I'm not talking about these fans. They're the realistic ones. The ones who think that they should be aiming to crack the top 4/5 in a few years, after building solid foundations and giving a management team time. I'm referring to the ones that repeatedly drone on about how massive the club is and how they deserve to be challenging for the title 15 years after they last did. The ones who think Newcastle deserve success in the blink of an eye, and start kicking up a stink within a few months, which invariably leads to a poor managerial appointment out of a limited number of candidates. And they are out there. There's a massive difference between being an ambitious, yet practical and realistic fan, whose expectations can be built up in stages, to the section of hyper-vocal tossers who demand quick-fire success because Newcastle United are one of the biggest clubs in the world. I'm fully aware of the complexities within the Newcastle United fanbase, there's no generalising here.

[Plough Boy]

... and what a terrible shame that would be

As for the 'Newcastle fans have no humility and all think they have a god given right to be a top club' - Utter, generalising nonsense. No worse than most Premier league clubs with such a passionate, large fanbase (Spurs, Villa etc). Tell me an established Premier League club who don't have ambitious fans, particularly after the club have spent so much in recent seasons - the supporters are well within their rights to expect some level of success and be disappointed when it's not achieved (and instead battling against relegation). Let's be fair, it's the nature of football supporters in general, not just Newcastle Utd's. To generalise about one particular club (who happen to be, coincidentally, your fiercest rivals) is a little daft in my opinion

Oh I don't know.
As a Norwich ****ty fan who has lived in the NE for the last 14 years and is married to a mag I'm afraid to say I do think proportionally more Toon fans think their team 'deserves' better than others of similar stature. The 3 legends phone in is absolute proof of this. Fair play - all 3 sets of fans talk toss on there but Geordie fans more than most. 'We're this, we're that, we're bigger and better than them. Blah blah bollocks. You finished 2nd 2 seasons in a row in 96 and 97 and you've done toss all since. You shouldn't have done of course. In that time you should have been Premiership winners at least 3 times and won back to back European Cups.

I've never heard such drivel from Mackem or Boro fans. Maybe they just have lower expectations or are slightly more realistic. Mind you all the **** they (the mackems) spout about 'Super Kev' is equally nauseous.

[prinnysquad]

Superkev was 10 times the player Darren Eadie was.

[Plough Boy]

Superkev was 10 times the player Darren Eadie was.

True but 'Sexual Chocolate' Dale Gordon dicked on both of them!

[Oh_Mutants]

prinnysquad - Fair play for the reasoned response, i can't disagree with many of the points you make there. Also, i have to say i do agree that the fans have contributed to our failings by not giving managers anything like a fair crack of the whip.
Now Shearer has finally been appointed, even if he fails, i hope the majority of the fans will then move on and give someone else a fair chance. This is why i was happy with the appointment, not because i think he's Messiah Mk2 (like most level-headed fans, i'm still undecided as to Shearer's management capabilities).
Anyway, big game at the weekend and i fancy us for the three points, even against a skillful, on form Fulham side. Think the lads will finally have their tails up now!...

()

[abigsmurf]

Newcastle back in trouble.

They've a game against Fulham who'll be playing for a UEFA (or whatever it's called next year) spot then a tough game away to Villa who'll want to put on a show for their fans to finish the season.

Hull are playing Man U but there'll never be a better time to beat them. Bolton have nothing to play for

[abigsmurf]

Crunch time for Shearer.

I'm hoping they'll go down (both for the **** and the fact that they've put in such dire, unmotivated performances, they deserve to go down over teams that have played their socks off at times)

[abigsmurf]

As it stands, Newcastle are staying up. Completely unambitious from them, not making any real attempts to attack, Villa are controlling possession. An attutude worthy of relegation will probably be what keeps them up.

[abigsmurf]

Unlucky (or lucky) goal. Newcastle are going down at the moment

[Zapp$ter]

Strange that. From what I was reading Villa scored against the run of play and Newcastle looked the stronger of the teams.

[ezee ryder]

OMG! Newcastle are relegated.

[Kongster]

And the Teeside and Tyneside are down and out.