Retrospective of our season and looking forward.

The season has now ended and although I’m proud that the team didn’t struggle at the wrong end of the table for the entire season; I’m a tad miffed that we finished outside the top 10.

Still; it’s a good base to build from for next year and as long as certain players are retained and the mediocre are dispensed with we stand a good chance of strengthening for the forthcoming campaign.

Pardew now has a summer of evaluation to proceed with in terms of how he wants this team to become his own and with the assistance of Graham Carr he’ll be scouting the leagues to bolster positions we need additional cover for in terms of quality.

Most of us agree on the players that need to be dispensed with. Over this season, their ineptness has shone bright amidst the players that have grafted to get results that helped immeasurably to float around mid table.

For some, I wish to thank them for their time at NUFC.

Shola has been a stalwart for us in times of need in the past decade but he’s never fulfilled his potential or seemingly learned the offside rule and with great thanks I wish him all the best in his career as long as it’s not at NUFC. We have to replace him with another striker who will cause problems for the opposition defence on a frequent basis and not just when the unwashed come for a game.

Perhaps contentious but I’d like to bid adieu to Lovenkrands. He’s run his socks off and always tries his best but to me; his best is below the level we need to move on. Age isn’t on his side either and perhaps a younger player with the same workman like qualities but of a higher playing calibre will help turn some of those frequent draws to extra points for a win.

I’m not going to suggest replacements for anyone as I’ve no clue as to who Pardew et all will want to bring in.

A great big ‘Well Done’ goes to us; the supporters.

We’ve backed the team through thick and thin and shown the rest of this league what affable and friendly fans we are.

The vitriol from that time of relegation is all but forgotten it seems. Long may it continue!

My final thanks is reserved for Chris Hughton. You brought this club up from the CCC in times of turmoil and managed to provide us with some season highlights such as the destruction of Villa and Sunderland.

When you were fired, you walked away with great magnanimity and have handled yourself in the most perfect of manners.

I hope that you get back into management soon. You deserve it.

Finally… In honour of our obsessive delusion. Top 4 next season!!

 

spot on agree,yes i'm abit miffed not to finish in the top ten but 12th was a magnificent result and who knows what could have happened with a bigger squad and key players fit but that's all ifs and buts and i guess we'll find out next season what we can achieve with the key men fit and a bigger squad.when you think of the set backs we've had injuries/Chris sacked/Carroll ****ing off and leaving us 3 hrs to find a replacement it's a testament to the spirit within the club,something as an older fan i've not seen for a very long time if at all.throw that into the ring with the youth set up we have and the future looks good.......well done lads and roll on next season.

 

Great article.

I am very happy with our season, it could have been so much worse.

So much depends on Pardew's signings this summer, but I am actually starting to feel optimistic again.

 

I want Shola and Lovenkrands to stay. We've lost Carroll and Ben Arfa this season and still managed a respectable mid-table finish thanks to them and Best. If they weren't here this season we'd probably be relegated now. I've said before that they're good squad players, they chip in with their fair share of goals. They've all finished the season with six goals, whilst Crouch and Defoe have only managed four apiece for 5th placed Spurs. We'll sign a replacement for Carroll in the summer to play alongside Ben Arfa, but we need the other three here in case we suffer a similar injury crisis. They're effective, inexpensive and don't complain too much if they're not in the team, perfect squad players in other words.

 

This, if rumors of Menez are true along with signing that youngster, it could be a good few years ahead...

 

From what Pardew has said in interviews, there is simply no way that Shola or Lovenkrands will be leaving - this club is going to be run on the cheap and we need to prepare ourselves for a summer of disappointment. I would dearly love to share in the optimism but am far too used to Mike Ashley now. The next farce is just around the corner... it's the only thing you can guarantee with this board.

 

I agree with this to be honest, Ashley has time and time again displayed a football club destroying tourrettes which often encroaches on the ridiculous to such a degree that I, at times, genuinely believe we're in an English GCSE student's creative essay which is bound to end in "and it was all a dream"...

That being said, the club will out-live him, even if he or Llambias inadvertently burn down the stadium through the friction borne sparks created by their fat, naked thighs rubbing together as they sprint the field in another bizarre episode of "Desperate Football-club Owners"... But, as much as I enjoyed last season, it certainly took the gloss off the end of season "lap of honour" (if the bloody shocking second half vs West Brom hadn't already) knowing that the applause and acclaim was certainly being directed at the wrong manager...

Overall, though, too many good moments from the players last season to warrant Stay Puft dominating my first not606 comment. 4-4, 5-1, 6-0, amazing saves and goals, Kevin Nolan's kid running wildly about the pitch at the end, amazing banter... What a season those lads gave us. What a season. Chuffed!

 

This, we need depth and competition for places if we wish to progress.