Well those people should all be ashamed of themselves if that is the case. FFS managers come and go in modern football, owners are tricky. Unfortunately billionnaire playboys like to do their own thing. Not sure why it needs to be like an episode of Emmerdale or Corry every time our owners manages to **** everything up.
It's all a bit nonsense, the "march on SJP" comment. We're in this society with politics in a state of complete shambles, misrepresentation on key issues, we're leaving the EU which is a bit of a disaster, there's just so much important bollox going on the thought of people focusing their attention on NUFC's unfixable issues makes me wonder.
The point is though football is a chance to escape all of those issues. Its the one thing that allows you to forget about the worries of the world and if it becomes an absolute let down and depressing then people will end up getting angry and that will end up in action against the owner again. Not saying it will happen but I could certainly see it being a possibility and I wouldn't blame anyone for doing it either. Everyone has something they are passionate about and up here Newcastle United is very much a passion.
No, the point is that by taking what is ultimately political action (what else is a march or protest?) we make football more important than it actually is. We're drowning in information these days, it's an overload and lines are blurred everywhere. Was it you or someone else who said - albeit tongue in cheek - how tiresome it was refreshing a Twitter page every five minutes? Twitter, a thing that didn't exist about 10 years ago, has today become the indispensable source of knowledge, yet ironically it provides absolutely none!!! It's a credibility-free source of info - we're simultaneously stimulated by it, yet completely bored at the same time. For me this is all about the wider malcontent and the factors that have contributed to it. 20 years ago no-one would be bothered. Even so, what would a protest achieve? It's all been done before, we've been through worse than Rafa walking out. The circumstances under which KK walked the second time were much worse.
You touch on a more general topic which I go on about at particularly my daughters. Texting, Twitter, facebook, Snapchat(?), mobile telephones and others are here today in the guise of helping communication. They not too surprisingly IMO do the exact opposite in that they hinder communication particularly face to face or direct communication. At my place of work it's amazing how many people will send an e-mail and expect an immediate response as if they were telephoning you as opposed to sending in real terms a letter. Because in theory we can access information quickly through the internet a lot of people's expectations are that everything else should be dealt with at the same speed. In real life it doesn't work like that but people generally seem to have less patience now than they ever did. Which brings me back to transfers and my wish that people would just wait and see what happens. Yes we would all like all transfers done before pre season starts but this is life and very few Clubs are in that position so lets all just wait and see. I don't mind people complaining but only when it is appropriate to do so. For me now is the time to wait and see. I love the ITK's and the rumours about who we are and who we aren't buying or selling. In reality very few people really know the full story probably less than a handful. Take the rumours about interest, none interest, bids, none bids and everything else with a pinch of salt because most of the time the stories are just click bait. Rant over for now.
Did you add "for now" just to be on the safe side! I've been looking into the general topic a lot of late. There's a consensus among some modern thinkers that nothing since the advent of the internet has really changed, it's all now the same. Sure, it's quicker, or easier to access, or whatever, but it's the same. Cars have four wheels, airplanes have wings, music has guitars. The example used was in pop culture; take mid-90's drum & bass, drop it back 20 years and a bunch of 70's folk have bleeding eardrums. Take T-Rex from the 70's, or anything from Woodstock, and pop it back 20 years and a bunch of Elvis fans' minds are blown. Rinse and repeat. Take a Kings of Leon album, drop it into the 90's and a bunch of Pearl Jam fans are probably a bit "meh" about it. This Facebook society - where we feel the need to log on and are simultaneously stimulated and bored - is a very dangerous place to be. It drives a complete lack of creativity, which is why we're struggling to see anything new. But expectations of someone else delivering are dangerously high. As you rightly say, because Twitter has an infinite and endless list of things people write, we somehow have this expectation it or some other media will then feed us with the information we crave - in this case, Newcastle transfers! It's an odd situation and I respect what you're asking for - that patience is what has been driven out of us and we could all do with reconnecting to it, so I will respect your wishes and ease back on the issues. I'm more inclined to think something bigger is afoot. However, more likely is it's just an insane market, the only ones spending are those with vast wallets and we will just have to reconvene on September 1st!
Sorry, just to make clear, I wasn't having a go at you or saying specifically you. I was making a general comment on how I see Society having less patience but placing greater expectations on others and being less able to communicate because of the means used to communicate. Also yes, "for now" was my expecting in a week or two to still be calling for patience. We aren't top of the "feeding tree" and we have to sometimes wait until those at the top indulge ie buy /sell players before we get the chance.
No I agree it could well happen. Newcastle United is a passion. I just find amusing that people go and chant outside the stadium in this day and age. Get a grip is all I would say to them.
But I have been sharpening my pitch fork for weeks now...... please don't say I have wasted my time.... On the other hand when Rafa is starting to public-ally say he is getting frustrated I think that means we can start to panic.... Just a little bit anyways!
I think he's frustrated at the market, not specifically at Charnley. I don't think anyone believe we should be paying £20m for Amanda Traore, or £30m for Tom Cairney. It's madness. I must try to dig out the content from the TalkSport program last night.
Just reading a bit from Mark Douglas in the Chron about Rafa's frustrations on one bit he said jumped out at me 'For what it’s worth the situation hasn’t changed a great deal in the last three weeks since the first reports of Benitez frustration emerged: he wants business, the club are stalling for reasons that are beyond him and deals supposedly at an advanced stage aren’t progressing anywhere near decisively enough. It’s a curious situation made even more strange because there is money to spend. Graham Carr has left the club now but as recently as late March he was telling agents and intermediaries that Newcastle would back Benitez this summer and that there were funds to stock the squad in preparation for the Premier League.' With what he said there you could be right in regards to a sudden sale. Are they holding back in deals while this Sale goes through. I hope it's this anyway.
I listened to a bit of that last night and it was a bit of an eye opener in regards to finances. Man City losing £654 million over 8 years is outrages and just shows FFP is a joke.
It does smack of outside involvement. I find it very strange that Justin Barnes is involved; I asked George Caulkin (and Douglas) about him (Justin) via Twitter, his (George's) response: I can't find the Times piece on him, but it did dig around into his background and just said what I put up earlier, that he's an asset-stripper, a cost-cutter, a stream-liner ahead of a business sale. He just gets it sorted and moves on, it's what he does. He's got no experience of managing a football club at all, he's not a finance director, an operations manager, etc. What has also been interesting is that Ashley's court case has popped up at the same timeframe, which has probably just interrupted the flow a little - for all Justin is hands on, he's not the one who signs the papers. This would tie in with Mark's comments but could be linked to the message from George. The point of "reasons beyond him" is the big one; a court case would be beyond Rafa's control, as would the sale of the club.
It is all moving a bit slow atm and if its for the reasons listed above that is frustrating but understandable. Just my two pence but with the amount of deadwood we have currently, could it be we are trying to shift on a few players to open up some space in the squad and funds for wages? Haidara, Lazaar, Hanley, Murphy, Saviet, Riviere and a goal keeper all need to go and if each are on say £3/40k p/w wages (some will be higher some lower) there's £210,000-280,000 per week (near enough £1,000,000 a month) in wages needing to get shot of plus whatever transfer funds you can get in for them. Add the maybe players like DeJong, Mitro, Mbemba and possibly another keeper and your looking way north of those figures and some serious transfer kitty waiting to come in. Can't just buy players and have 7-10 players not making the registered list of eligible players sat on the books.
FFP was always going to be a joke. Major companies across the world - like Vodafone, or AT&T - have all been doing the same thing; getting content, then delivering via their platform. These individuals buying football are not interested in the club, they are interested in the content and the subsequent audience. They will then want to create a captive league - the European Super League - like the PL, but stronger and richer. This will be content AND platform, because they will then launch via internet and TV their own channel. Football is on its way, at the top, to ruin. I hope we avoid it. I don't want to be part of any Euro league bull because it will die. I think it's juxtaposed against the very fabric of the game and the money men at the top just don't get it. They'll sign their own death warrant and have no idea they're doing it. I notice Facebook want to buy a "big team in the PL". What the flip?! Facebook, ffs! It's just off the chart ludicrous.
Confucius him say " man who headbutts Mackems is very virile and will have many children " Make of that what you will, I'll bet 100 yen to a bag of sh!te that St Alan will return.
Managed to dig this out from a Telegraph article: That's from the 15th June. Funny how not a lot's happened. Coincidence?
