Well said! I can be a bit naive where loyalty is concerned & your article reminds me absolutely not to be. Let’s not forget Wissa either, engineering a move to us. We can kid ourselves that he somehow behaved more honourably than Isak, but he didn’t really. And if any of you want to know how to remove a name from the back of your shirt let me know. I removed “Isak” from my other half’s shirt last summer. It was tricky & took me a while but all trace is gone 🙂 A lesson for all of us. Don’t waste good money on names on shirts because they’ll be obsolete before you know it. I hate those fawning “goodbye you were so wonderful” statements. Meaningless really. Happy Monday.
My Dad always said, never get a tattoo of anything other than your football club or your kids. He was married more than 50yrs to the love of his life 😁
Bruno’s gurning never fooled me and if he leaves then his Mills and Boon statement won’t either.
On the subject of loyalty Malcolm Macdonald didn’t HAVE to leave did he? He could have easily chose to stay and make it clear to Gordon Lee that he intended to prove his worth to the team. I suspect that the offer from Arsenal was just too good to refuse.
Tottenham always liked to think of themselves as "an elite club ", whatever that means. This meant they refused to sell their players when they were at the peak (remember Kane going on strike). In the end if left them with an aging squad who could no longer compete, all on big money, who none wanted. Better to sell and reinvest, let's not get the Tottenham elite mentality.
Either we are, as you say Scott, still a selling club, a stepping stone to greater things or,
This squad has reached its zenith and wasn't going to get any better and time to cash in on them before their values plummet, allowing us to rebuild another squad (I know, I know) capable of reaching those same heights and perhaps going higher (again, I know, I know)
I always thought Bruno's lack of pace would stop him from ever moving higher than Newcastle, will legoheed play him further up to utilise his through balls (which although created a few goals in the World Cup, have produced little in the last 2 years at club level)
I don't expect he'll be a guaranteed starter there and that will likely piss him off, but surely he knows what he's letting himself in for if he does go there (shitloads of money for perhaps 20 games a season, can you see him starting over Rice and Odegaard? no, me neither)
Tonali, well, less said the better I suppose, if AC Milan or Juventus had been able to afford his transfer fee and wages, he'd have been there like a shot, its only because of that and the wages on offer that he has gone to Spurs.
I suspect a he'll have form until January, then the performances will start to drop off, his agent will start stories again about him wanting to be back in Italy and the cycle will repeat itself. Will he stay beyond 2 years, doubtful imo.
Well said Scott. Apologies to those who follow me on Bluesky (Geordie Jack) who will have heard this but we who have stood in the Gallowgate in freezing temperatures from a tender age have it in our blood, in our psyche.
To everyone else we're just that club with great support who are fiercely loyal as we've only won 2 trophies in 70 years. That's how they see us, these prospective players.
Eddie who? Unai Emery, ah yes the guy who's won the Europa League with 3 different clubs and the French league with PSG, I know him.
It won't level out until they change the SCR rules to encompass debt. That really would torpedo Spurs, Manyoo and Everton. The new regulator is looking at debt which has to be a good thing as we don't have any.
In the mean time we have to settle for what we get. Steur and Touré are good young prospects, that's our level now although if Bruno does go we need some experience in.
Agree with your proposal re SCR, but until you then prevent clubs from squirreling away debt in parent or subsidiary companies, it'll change nothing, unfortunately
A great read to put things in perspective, but it still doesn’t make me feel any less pissed off with the ongoing NUFC circus. Players come and go and are mostly mercenaries these days, as we know, but there’s something seriously amiss beyond that.
Not only are we selling everything that isn’t nailed down and putting ourselves at serious risk of relegation, the Manzambi deal has been hijacked by Arseton Villa in the least surprising development since the last one. What an absolute joke we are at the moment, but then it wouldn’t be Newcastle United if the fans weren’t getting repeatedly kicked in the bollocks by all things NUFC. It hurts far more than under the FCB - we knew we were a zombie club under him - this time there was hope of something more, only to find ourselves back in the same hopeless situation due not to wilful sabotage, but gross incompetence at all levels of the club.
At least back then we received a modicum of sympathy, now we’ve become a national laughing stock with everyone else only too happy to stick the boot in.
Only we could eff up petrostate ownership so spectacularly (mitigating factors notwithstanding). Made all the worse by seeing those gull-grabbing gits down the road going from strength to strength and endlessly crowing on about it. I’m truly dreading this upcoming season and I’m immovably convinced it’s going to end in catastrophe; I’m already preparing for the absolute worst case scenario of relegation with a whimper after another two derby defeats and those c**ts getting their hands on silverware.
Anyone fancy going to watch Blue Star or Heaton Stan instead?
Nail on head, Scotty boy. However the Möbius Loop of emotional attachment to the Club means that IF you give less / none of a shit (i.e. try to care less and be less emotional), then what is the point of the time and financial investment being a supporter consumes? I have tried to be detached at times, BUT taking that view makes following NUFC a waste of time and money; and makes it joyless too. So we are stuck in a loop - care and we suffer the inevitable heartache, or don't care and we avoids lows, but also do not get the 'oh so rare' highs. That's why I like going to concerts as well as SJP - as 99% of the time everyone leaves with a smile on their face from a gig!!
I’m going into this season (like the majority that have come before) with glass half full outlook. That stretches to thinking I’m about to fall in football terms for Bazza Toure based on his smile alone.
On the signings, I’d love to see every apparent first choice jump at the chance of playing for us but realities are sadly not the case. A polite “fuck them” and bring in lads who want to be here as a minimum. And similar to those that have left - fresh impetus perhaps or at least not having players around with faces like smacked arses being a possible benefit
Well written Scott 👌 Personally I think it’s better having players that move on to ‘bigger’ or perhaps that should say ‘wealthier’ ambitions as that to me proves we are doing it right. It’s all about ‘seizing the day!’ Enjoy it whilst you can my friends because even the bad times are good!
Modern football really is the pits. We have to accept in this day and age that any player (bar very very few exceptions) have no affinity to the club, they arent fans like us. Its sad for younguns in particular, who idolise the likes of Bruno.
We as fans think that players should be loyal to the club but they are still employees and their first loyalty is to themselves.
If any of us who work in normal jobs, were headhunted and got offered double our current salary to work somewhere else. I think most of us would take the offer.
Why do expect less from footballers?
There is more player movement these days because of Bosman and agents and we hear about it more because of the internet but I don't think it has changed much down the years.
Loyalty is a two way street.
Any club will sell or release any player who doesn't help them no matter how loyal a servant they have been.
Elliot Anderson would have been more than happy to stay at Newcastle but the club decided to sell him because it served the clubs interests at the time.
If Real Madrid offered 180 million for Lewis Miley, don't kid yourselves the club would sell him in a heartbeat and move on.
If only we could get rid of the players we don't really want. Could we perhaps have a showcase down at Tottenham, where they all take the train down with their boots in their backpacks and get out on the pitch and show them what they can do? A bit like busking on the underground, you know people could throw pennies into a hat.
Well said! I can be a bit naive where loyalty is concerned & your article reminds me absolutely not to be. Let’s not forget Wissa either, engineering a move to us. We can kid ourselves that he somehow behaved more honourably than Isak, but he didn’t really. And if any of you want to know how to remove a name from the back of your shirt let me know. I removed “Isak” from my other half’s shirt last summer. It was tricky & took me a while but all trace is gone 🙂 A lesson for all of us. Don’t waste good money on names on shirts because they’ll be obsolete before you know it. I hate those fawning “goodbye you were so wonderful” statements. Meaningless really. Happy Monday.
My Dad always said, never get a tattoo of anything other than your football club or your kids. He was married more than 50yrs to the love of his life 😁
Well said re wissa Christine.. the day he leaves can't come soon enough for me.
I live in hope that he might actually play & come good this season. We can’t really afford for him not to. And if we sell it’ll be at a loss.
Bruno’s gurning never fooled me and if he leaves then his Mills and Boon statement won’t either.
On the subject of loyalty Malcolm Macdonald didn’t HAVE to leave did he? He could have easily chose to stay and make it clear to Gordon Lee that he intended to prove his worth to the team. I suspect that the offer from Arsenal was just too good to refuse.
Don’t know why anyone kids themselves just because we are so consumed by the club.
If any of us got a massive pay rise to move to another company/employer, doing the same job, we’d all take it.
It’s not personal, it’s just life.
We take it personally because we love the entity it’s damaging.
I hope Bruno stays. I won’t badmouth him if he goes. I won’t fawn over some tripe he puts out if he leaves.
Loyalty only really applies if you’re on good money, pretty crap and no one else wants you.
Tottenham always liked to think of themselves as "an elite club ", whatever that means. This meant they refused to sell their players when they were at the peak (remember Kane going on strike). In the end if left them with an aging squad who could no longer compete, all on big money, who none wanted. Better to sell and reinvest, let's not get the Tottenham elite mentality.
There are, I think, 2 schools of thought here.
Either we are, as you say Scott, still a selling club, a stepping stone to greater things or,
This squad has reached its zenith and wasn't going to get any better and time to cash in on them before their values plummet, allowing us to rebuild another squad (I know, I know) capable of reaching those same heights and perhaps going higher (again, I know, I know)
I always thought Bruno's lack of pace would stop him from ever moving higher than Newcastle, will legoheed play him further up to utilise his through balls (which although created a few goals in the World Cup, have produced little in the last 2 years at club level)
I don't expect he'll be a guaranteed starter there and that will likely piss him off, but surely he knows what he's letting himself in for if he does go there (shitloads of money for perhaps 20 games a season, can you see him starting over Rice and Odegaard? no, me neither)
Tonali, well, less said the better I suppose, if AC Milan or Juventus had been able to afford his transfer fee and wages, he'd have been there like a shot, its only because of that and the wages on offer that he has gone to Spurs.
I suspect a he'll have form until January, then the performances will start to drop off, his agent will start stories again about him wanting to be back in Italy and the cycle will repeat itself. Will he stay beyond 2 years, doubtful imo.
Spot on comments.
Well said Scott. Apologies to those who follow me on Bluesky (Geordie Jack) who will have heard this but we who have stood in the Gallowgate in freezing temperatures from a tender age have it in our blood, in our psyche.
To everyone else we're just that club with great support who are fiercely loyal as we've only won 2 trophies in 70 years. That's how they see us, these prospective players.
Eddie who? Unai Emery, ah yes the guy who's won the Europa League with 3 different clubs and the French league with PSG, I know him.
It won't level out until they change the SCR rules to encompass debt. That really would torpedo Spurs, Manyoo and Everton. The new regulator is looking at debt which has to be a good thing as we don't have any.
In the mean time we have to settle for what we get. Steur and Touré are good young prospects, that's our level now although if Bruno does go we need some experience in.
Howay the rebuilding Lads
Agree with your proposal re SCR, but until you then prevent clubs from squirreling away debt in parent or subsidiary companies, it'll change nothing, unfortunately
A great read to put things in perspective, but it still doesn’t make me feel any less pissed off with the ongoing NUFC circus. Players come and go and are mostly mercenaries these days, as we know, but there’s something seriously amiss beyond that.
Not only are we selling everything that isn’t nailed down and putting ourselves at serious risk of relegation, the Manzambi deal has been hijacked by Arseton Villa in the least surprising development since the last one. What an absolute joke we are at the moment, but then it wouldn’t be Newcastle United if the fans weren’t getting repeatedly kicked in the bollocks by all things NUFC. It hurts far more than under the FCB - we knew we were a zombie club under him - this time there was hope of something more, only to find ourselves back in the same hopeless situation due not to wilful sabotage, but gross incompetence at all levels of the club.
At least back then we received a modicum of sympathy, now we’ve become a national laughing stock with everyone else only too happy to stick the boot in.
Only we could eff up petrostate ownership so spectacularly (mitigating factors notwithstanding). Made all the worse by seeing those gull-grabbing gits down the road going from strength to strength and endlessly crowing on about it. I’m truly dreading this upcoming season and I’m immovably convinced it’s going to end in catastrophe; I’m already preparing for the absolute worst case scenario of relegation with a whimper after another two derby defeats and those c**ts getting their hands on silverware.
Anyone fancy going to watch Blue Star or Heaton Stan instead?
Don't worry about that lot, once the greedy 6 come calling for some of their players, they'll find themselves in the same situation as us.
They also have 2 games a week for 3 months to contend with this season, like we did last.
It won't be the cakewalk they think it is
Nail on head, Scotty boy. However the Möbius Loop of emotional attachment to the Club means that IF you give less / none of a shit (i.e. try to care less and be less emotional), then what is the point of the time and financial investment being a supporter consumes? I have tried to be detached at times, BUT taking that view makes following NUFC a waste of time and money; and makes it joyless too. So we are stuck in a loop - care and we suffer the inevitable heartache, or don't care and we avoids lows, but also do not get the 'oh so rare' highs. That's why I like going to concerts as well as SJP - as 99% of the time everyone leaves with a smile on their face from a gig!!
Oh hang on I forgot to exclude BDB 😀😀😀
As they say …. Sad but true …. We aren’t a big club other than in support , there’s not a single player I would trust as far as I could throw them 😀
Except Big Dan Burn.
I’m going into this season (like the majority that have come before) with glass half full outlook. That stretches to thinking I’m about to fall in football terms for Bazza Toure based on his smile alone.
On the signings, I’d love to see every apparent first choice jump at the chance of playing for us but realities are sadly not the case. A polite “fuck them” and bring in lads who want to be here as a minimum. And similar to those that have left - fresh impetus perhaps or at least not having players around with faces like smacked arses being a possible benefit
Well written Scott 👌 Personally I think it’s better having players that move on to ‘bigger’ or perhaps that should say ‘wealthier’ ambitions as that to me proves we are doing it right. It’s all about ‘seizing the day!’ Enjoy it whilst you can my friends because even the bad times are good!
Modern football really is the pits. We have to accept in this day and age that any player (bar very very few exceptions) have no affinity to the club, they arent fans like us. Its sad for younguns in particular, who idolise the likes of Bruno.
Loyalty from players in sport is overrated.
We as fans think that players should be loyal to the club but they are still employees and their first loyalty is to themselves.
If any of us who work in normal jobs, were headhunted and got offered double our current salary to work somewhere else. I think most of us would take the offer.
Why do expect less from footballers?
There is more player movement these days because of Bosman and agents and we hear about it more because of the internet but I don't think it has changed much down the years.
Loyalty is a two way street.
Any club will sell or release any player who doesn't help them no matter how loyal a servant they have been.
Elliot Anderson would have been more than happy to stay at Newcastle but the club decided to sell him because it served the clubs interests at the time.
If Real Madrid offered 180 million for Lewis Miley, don't kid yourselves the club would sell him in a heartbeat and move on.
Great comments on this. I would just add, there’s a canny few murals on walls and windows around the town that’ll have to be hastily scrubbed as well.
Spot on.
If only we could get rid of the players we don't really want. Could we perhaps have a showcase down at Tottenham, where they all take the train down with their boots in their backpacks and get out on the pitch and show them what they can do? A bit like busking on the underground, you know people could throw pennies into a hat.