Shearer takes charge at Newcastle

[Goldenballs]

The Newcastle fans booing Laursen when he came out at VP to give his little retirement speech

Enjoy life in the Championship, you won't be missed. "Brilliant fans" my arse. Deluded idiots more like.



"You should have stayed on the telly"

[On The Edge of Insanity]

So desperate was he to play in the World Cup, he joined Newcastle even if it wasn't his first choice - Liverpool were and he cried when he didn't get his wish to rejoin them. Of course, the money Newcastle offered him (over a ?100k a week) was a factor.

Wasn't it more than Newcastle were willing to pay Real Madrid ?6-7million more than anyone else was offering? Liverpool were only going to stump up ?8million at most if memory serves me right.

[Kit]

If he took more of an interest in football instead of horse racing maybe Newcastle would still be up. At least that?s one of the reasons he's lost it. The other was when he made that bizarre decision to put on more weight; completely losing his turning ability and speed in the process.

I think Mike Ashley had regret his investment.

Yep, sure they?ll start slagging him off even though he poured millions into the club and rescued them from bankruptcy.

No sympathy at all for Newcastle.

[abigsmurf]

What the 'fans' did to Mike Ashley was a disgrace. A passionate fan who poured his heart,soul and money into Newcastle. The venom he received was totally out of order. The club wasn't very well run but the fans ensured it couldn't get back on its feet.

Newcastle need to go straight back up. They won't find a buyer now and without the golden parachute, I'm not sure they can avoid administration. Duff's said he wants to stay. They'd better hope that there are lots more players willing to take an immense pay cut and risk their career by staying at the club.

[teddymeow]

Just got home but there was a woman sat in front of me on the bus was wearing a Newcastle shirt.

Typically the wife said something like "my manager spent the whole day gloating about how Newcastle got relegated" which I don't think they heard. It was only when I said "he's a fine one to talk what with him being a Saints fan and how many times they've been relegated in recent years" did they turn round and give me the evilest glare I've ever been given.

[saturn-gamer]

Owen has burnt out, he's clearly not as quick or sharp as he was as a young player. I don't think motivation has that much to do with it.

When talking about motivation though, it's important to remember that you're looking at players who've experienced the high life (especially with Owen and Duff) and haven't really had to fight for survival before.

You can critisize an individual for not trying but if you've an entire squad that's unhappy, disorgonised and unmotivated, it's the manager who's failing. Prime example is Chelsea. Under Scolari they looked utterly miserable and consistently played some of the worst football I've ever seen as a Chelsea fan. Look at how they've been under Hiddink, played strong football, are in the FA cup final and by all rights deserved the champions league final (it wasn't actually possible under him to top the league). Lampard and Terry are two incredibly driven, passionate players who really put the work in, when they look as sloppy and slovenly as they did under Scolari, something was clearly deeply wrong with the management.

Getting sidetracked but the tldr: one player underperforming = player, lots underperforming = management/coaching

About Owen, that could be true. Its a typical player thats at the top of the game at a very, very young age. If you look up names like Ronaldo (the original), Kluivert and some more I don't remember right now, they were on top of the world while being teenagers and by around 27 yrs pretty much burnt out. I also think, how long can a human being keep up at that level? Especially for forwards it should take a machine like approach to be on top from 20 to 35 or so years old.

Managing, well Hiddinks quality is that he can work with BOTH millionaire superstars as hungry newcomers. He treats them both differently, superstars he touches their ego and to young players he is like a teacher. In the dutch media, Hiddink is often being called the worlds best amateur psychologic. Thats his way of working. Scolari is a man of emotions, I believe he reads phrases from The Art of War by Sun Tzu. His teams should be emotionally motivated, but probably lacking proper tactics. That worked for Portugal and Brazil (but the latter played its ugliest football in ages under him) but not for Chelsea.

[Kongster]

Wasn't it more than Newcastle were willing to pay Real Madrid ?6-7million more than anyone else was offering? Liverpool were only going to stump up ?8million at most if memory serves me right.

Yep Newcastle offered double what Liverpool and other clubs were only prepared to pay, and Real Madrid were only ever gonna entertain Newcastle's offer. Liverpool were only prepared to buy Owen back for the same price they sold him for - ?8m.

He was considered a "galactico" not long ago...how times have changed lol

[prinnysquad]

It'll be interesting to see how the attendances go, especially if they don't come straight back up. The plastic skysports-era Mags, the children of The Messiah, don't seem to realise that prior to His arrival the Newcastle fanbase was roughly the size of any other 'sleeping giant':

Average Attendances

1978/1979 Division Two (Old) 20,494
1979/1980 Division Two (Old) 23,345
1980/1981 Division Two (Old) 16,001
1981/1982 Division Two (Old) 17,276
1982/1983 Division Two (Old) 24,116
1983/1984 Division Two (Old) 29,881
1984/1985 Division One (Old) 26,228
1985/1986 Division One (Old) 23,434
1986/1987 Division One (Old) 24,792
1987/1988 Division One (Old) 21,059
1988/1989 Division One (Old) 22,815
1989/1990 Division Two (Old) 21,579
1990/1991 Division Two (Old) 16,879
1991/1992 Division Two (Old) 21,012

[abigsmurf]

Makes you wonder what happened in 83 to boost attendances. Maybe they'd gotten to the playoffs the year before and the fans were all psyched.

[NW2013]

Loved some of the excuses/dodges at work today:

"It's the best thing that's ever happened to us."
"I'm not really bothered."
"I honestly won't miss Premier League football."

I was guffawing into my sleeve all day. Amazing scenes.

[SharkSkin-Man]

Makes you wonder what happened in 83 to boost attendances.

Peter Beardsley?

[prinnysquad]

Makes you wonder what happened in 83 to boost attendances. Maybe they'd gotten to the playoffs the year before and the fans were all psyched.

Wiki:

Kevin Keegan: a few days before the start of the 1982?83 season he signed for Second Division Newcastle United for a fee of ?100,000.

[SharkSkin-Man]

Doh. Should have been pretty obvious that

(No play-offs back in those days btw)

[VR46]

I'm just the messenger here, have cut out the offensive bits

Unbelievable!

Only the Magpies could get away with this. Some eagle eyed Geordie has noticed that their points total is wrong by a point which means they should actually go above Hull. For some reason the draw they played against West Bromwich Albion in November didn’t go on their points tally.

Check it out on the net it is right!

The Magpies have appealed to the F.A. last night. If their claim is upheld it will send Hull down instead of Newcastle!

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Carlsberg don’t do emails for delusional Geordies but if they did this would probably be the best email in the Toonworld

[Flabio]

You have to admire the man's optimism...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/8088840.stm