Settle into the life of the 'also-ran'

I think with all things considered, it's a straight forward case of deciding if you want to watch Newcastle United plodding along with little ambition other than staying in the Premier League. I know that I don't and that a club with our support and stature should be playing European football most years, "deluded" as that may sound, I believe it.

Mike Ashley is trimming down the clubs outlay and removing the 'rebel' element from the dressing room - how much Pardew helps out with this is speculative but in little doubt.

I know many of you agree that this 'astute' stance by Ashley will avoid the over-expenditure of past regimes, and it will. What it will also do is negate the chances of Newcastle United actually winning anything. Bringing in untried and untested players to this division is a big gamble from Ashley/Llambias/Pardew and hopefully one that will not end with another relegation.

I don't want to see the club making 'trophy signings' like Michael Owen anymore but I do want the club to pay the right wages to players who come through our academy, make the grade and go on to international honours like Andy Carroll. There is no way he would have left if we'd paid him the going rate for a striker of his undoubted quality - not only him but ones like Nolan & Barton who have proved over the years their Premier League pedigree. Jose Enrique would not be doubting the ambition of the club if we'd kept Carroll & Nolan and would more than likely sign a new deal.

Of course, the real acid test will be how the team performs this coming season - if Pardew can gel all the new players with the youth coming through and we steer clear of the relegation dog-fight, then i'm sure many people will be quite content with that and fair play.

My opinion is that it costs a fortune to attend Premier League football matches and I believe that you should be supporting a progressive team looking to achieve great things and finally win silverware, not simply paying back the loan Uncle Mike has brought on himself.

With the way things stand, Newcastle United will become another club simply looking to stay in the division and get one of the 'top sides' at home in the cup so we can get a good gate - while that may satisfy many, it wouldn't prompt me to part with my hard-earned cash in the pursuit of an 'also-ran' club.

 

well said

 

Good article. Do you think we'd be in this position if Hughton was still here? Or, once he was sacked, we had taken in a manager with some backbone a la Martin O'Niell? Purely speculative of course, Ashley would never have hired a manager who would stand up to him.

 

I honestly believe we would NOT be in this scenario if Chris Hughton was still our manager.

He was a revelation in our season in the Championship - his ability to build and maintain fantastic team spirit was the main reason behind us winning that league. The players were all happy as were the fans. It's a shame Joey Barton was having so many 'issues' at that time as he would have kicked arse in that division. The football was not always great and the tactics/subs often baffling but the end-game was triumph.

Just watch Birmingham City get promotion this season - at 12/1 you really should go and put some money on it...

 

I think everyone wants a successful club but the policy seems to be slowly slowly which is frustrating,so mid table/back end of top 10 is all we'll get for the time being.
the youth academy is probably the one thing I'll sing Ashleys praises but the worrying thing is he doesn't see it like we do,we hope we'd bring in young uns who'll play for us for years and create a dynasty like manue did with beckham,giggs,butt,scholes etc but instead the fat one will flog them for a massive profit down the line.
good article by the way

 

I'm not so sure, Hughton inherited a cracking team who were already united and in high spirits after the club got rid of deadwood and wasters like Owen, Duff, Viduka, Martins etc. Birmingham haven't got anywhere near the likes of Nolan, Barton, Carroll, Jose, Jonas, Taylor or even Shola at their disposal, I think they'll struggle.

I hope you're right though

 

It's a good point about the Manchester United academy, we were told our academy was the way forward but the minute we have the real thing in our midst he's sold! ...

 

The odds may have changed now but you could get Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City at 12/1 while only 4/1 for Leicester City!

 

it's already been stated that we'll bring in the young uns and sign players with a higher re sale value which to me says selling club not building for the future.it's a piss off because this is the best academy we've had in all the time I've supported them but it's being run as a future profit outfit instead of the way it should be run as a source for future stars eliminating the need to waste money in the transfer market and maybe lumping out big fees on one or two stars ala manure.

 

This

 

Agreed. What is the point in bringing through players just to sell them on? ...

Either we're going to take the stance of keeping our best youth/academy players or simply accept our lot as also-rans in football.

 

Negative rep:
Thread:Settle into the life of...

"go away"

...coward.

 

I couldn't see Martin O'Neill getting the job from Ashley - he spent a fair bit of cash at Villa and was starting to do really well. Ashley would never bank-roll a manager like MON. You're right about him not hiring a manager who will stand up to him - just look back over quotes Pardew has made about which players we need to keep here "if we want to progress" and then look at which players have left/are leaving.

 

I feel somewhat responsible for the influx of negative articles that are appearing on here at quite a rate! ...

Although to be fair, this is quite mild in comparison to some of them...

 

The only problem with comparing our academy to Man U's is that it's a bit unfair to compare the status of the clubs (as much as I don't want to admit it). Pundits love crediting Giggs with his loyalty, but let's be real, why would he have wanted to leave Man U? His career couldn't improve anywhere else. So the unfortunately reality is, if academy players like Carroll do truly develop to world beaters, they're going to want to jump ship if the opportunity comes along. One could argue that if the club really were to make a concerted effort to improve the club and compete with the top 5-6 that maybe the players won't want to move on, but look at the situation facing Arsenal right now -- they can't even seem to keep their stars happy.

 

We're in this crappy situation because of financial mismanagement in the past. The best case scenario I can realistically see is 10 years of mediocrity with perhaps another relegation and promotion in the mix, until we get on a sound financial footing. At this point the best possible outcome is that FMA sells the club to someone who actually cares how we do in the league and the cups, and who appoints a manager to actually manage, not just make excuses.

I'd say that is what will happen, it's a boring dirty long-haul solution but it's the most realistic. And we'll watch it and endure it, because hey we're Mags and we'll never be anything else! We've waited long enough for success already, and we'll still be here in ten years when things start to finally get interesting.

 

For heavens sake Pardew was brought in because he is taking it up the arse

 

Lol

 

Goodness, I thought I was cynical.

 

You must be pretty well-off for money I would assume? Ten years of mediocrity? **** that.