He's not fussed what Toon fans think or Liverpool supporters either.
Owen probably stopped worrying about Newcastle when he refused to sign a new deal last season, months before the season ended and months before United were relegated.
Whether he has ever truly cared about Newcastle United is a major topic for debate, in my opinion his time at St James's Park was simply his job but he didn't go about like most Toon fans wanted.
]]> There didn't seem to be any joy in his face when he played for Newcastle or after a number of his goals.It was just a job for him that he had to get out of bed for in the morning.
The fact you only seemed to see him smile when he was at the races with his top hat on underlines that.
Sir Alex Ferguson is shrewd enough to know that Owen will probably turn out to be an excellent signing.
And the fact that Newcastle went down made it easier for Owen to go to Old Trafford.
As Toon fans we were always sceptical about his desire to play for Newcastle, backed up by his latest comments - or more boring drivel if you like.
Even Liverpool fans knew that he didn't look like a man who cared as much as others, underlined by their love for Robbie Fowler at the time.
Owen for me is manufactured as a footballer, he isn't one of the game's characters.
In the 1970s, people like Denis Law, Rodney Marsh and Supermac where great players because they had charm, cheek and skill to die for.
They wouldn't be ashamed to mix it with real people in pubs have a pint or get some pie and mash down their necks.
In the 1980s football had people like Frank McAvennie, Charlie Nicholas and Ian Rush while Kevin Keegan showed that the world was changing for footballers with a string of commercial deals, which kept him in the public eye.
But still in the 1990s where would our football memories be in the pub on a Friday night if we couldn't talk about Micky Quinn, Lee Clark, David Kelly and Rob Lee!
Certainly we won't be talking about Michael Owen in the same breath as the likes of that lot.
Owen has done it by the book and has been trained on FA courses as a kid to say sensible things to the media, look after his body and don't drink too much.
Yet it says it all when Toon fans probably have more feeling (not much) for disgraced midfielder Joey Barton than the choir boy looks of Cheshire's (not in Wales) Michael Owen and his mundane Hollyoaks accent.
Gone and quickly forgotten me thinks.
The Chronicle understands Llambias was with the group throughout the day.
]]> The Asian party are thought to be from Malaysia and were shown the facilities on offer at United but the identity of the group is yet to be confirmed.The Toon managing director then accompanied the group on a flight back to the capital were talks continued tonight.
The Toon managing director then accompanied the group on a flight back to the capital were talks continued tonight.
]]>Instead, Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood attempted to lift spirits for a set of disillusioned Toon players who really don't know whether they are coming are going.
Departed stars Michael Owen, Mark Viduka, David Edgar, Cacapa and Nacho Gonzalez are long gone while five stars who have been on international duty have been handed an extra week off.
]]> One of those putting their feet up for a while longer is Sebastien Bassong, a player who wants out but might face a struggle.Had Shearer been in charge he would have probably been talking to Bassong about his future now.
With his future unclear he could well be sold be the current regime with Mike Ashley just having coughed up £10million of bonuses and transfer instalments.
It has to be questioned just which players want to be here at the moment and you could probably count them on one hand.
Without Shearer's or presence or any other potential new manager, players are simply going through the motions.
As for discipline and respect for Hughton and Calderwood?
Well Oba Martins turned up 20 minutes late at the club's training HQ in Benton.
The start of a new era?
You're having a laugh.
]]>In my humble opinion, the training ground was transformed last season from a millionaires health club to an army boot camp within a week from April 1 when Big Al was appointed as boss in our last gasp bid to avoid the drop.
That wasn't Chris Hughton's fault as he was brought in amidst an emergency situation to look after other people's players but he now has another big job on his hands.
For Mike Ashley bringing Shearer in was the last desperate act from a desperate man as things started to crumble at St James's Park due to a string of decisions, which have almost killed us as a club.
]]> Make no mistake, Chris Hughton is one of the most likeable blokes in football and in a sport that is often dominated by people on ego trips, the Londoner is different because he is a total gentleman.However, one thing he's not, again in my opinion, is management material.
And when Hughton took training last season for long periods and Joe Kinnear watched on, the training ground did for me represent a bit of a joke and not a very funny one at that.
Indeed, watching players like Cacapa wander in with flip flops and towels at the ready for another long session on the treatment table was enough to make my blood boil, especially with the position Newcastle United found themselves in.
It was well documented at the time that Big Al introduced a system in which players were punished for being late and the treatment room quickly emptied when players were told they would have to stay in their until teatime rather than knock off just after lunch.
The reserve team also changed with first team members being told they had to play rather than a bunch of kids.
It's understood that Xisco didn't fancy the idea of playing in places like Warrington, Widnes or North Ferriby under Kinnear but that also changed when Shearer was appointed.
Yes, Newcastle's bid to beat the drop ultimately failed under Shearer but with just eight games to go it was always going to be tough.
For me we went down by virtue of one goal but it's safe to say that if Shearer had not have been appointed, we'd have been down much earlier than the final day, well it is in light of just what Newcastle's training ground had turned into.
Again Hughton is regarded as an excellent coach and the players clearly enjoy working under him.
But are they scared of him?
Does he send the fear of God into the players?
Certainly Shearer did.
For example one of Shearer's managerial successes was to get Mark Viduka on the pitch and playing in the way we all know he can when he can be bothered.
He collared Viduka and asked him if he was up for the battle and if he wasn't to pack his bags and leave early.
It worked to an extent, Viduka was one of the better players during the run-in and what if that "goal" against Fulham had stood?
Football is a game about emotion, passion and most importantly controlled aggression.
But I just can't imagine Hughton picking a teapot up and smashing it off the wall if he felt he wasn't getting his point across.
My memory takes me back to an incident not long after Christmas when the winter sun was blinding.
As I walked to an interview room I heard a bellowing voice.
"Oi I wanna word with you", he said.
As I tried to look up I couldn't see exactly who it was but soon as his frame blocked out the sunlight it was Alan Smith.
"Why you been writing **** in the paper about me having an effin setback!"
I promptly replied, that not only was the article not written by me but it was in a different paper all together.
Smith then exploded into another rant about why journalists couldn't check things with the club.
I didn't mind Smith's honesty one little bit, I didn't mind him kicking off - it was refreshing to see he gave a **** and he instantly went up in my estimation in five minutes flat.
I replied we were often kept in the dark about injuries with physios often touchy about the subject for obvious reasons.
A few minutes later Smith calmed down but rather than hauling his player away from a sticky situation, Hughton watched on and let the situation peter out.
Whether other managers would have done the same is a good question.
The point Smith also made was that everybody should have been "together" back then, but what was clear was that there were split camps in that dressing room and cliques.
A professional has pointed out to me on several occasions that a team that drinks together, wins together.
But that clearly isn't the case in Newcastle, team spirit didn't exist.
So where am I going with this.
Well basically, if you needed me to point out that Newcastle weren't already in deep trouble, I'm doing it now.
Under the supervision of Hughton and Colin Calderwood, things don't look good.
I could actually understand it more if Calderwood was handed the job as boss until Ashley sells the club.
I'm not saying he would be a success but he is a manager and Hughton is pigeon holed as a coach.
There aren't too many options at Newcastle but even Richard Money would be a better bet than a confusing system like the Hughton/Calderwood system, which yielded just one win in 10 games last season.
Money actually does scare some of the reserve team players - he might just be a better bet if Ashley is going to continue to dig his heels in on Shearer.
Many will say that Shearer also won once last season.
But after witnessing the transformation of the training ground in just a few days last season, the scary prospect of going back to of this bling boys millionaires health club, it has to be said Newcastle fans are on course for more pain, more grief and more agony.
Owen was never going to stay on Tyneside the minute we were placed in the same division as Scunthorpe, Blackpool and Barnsley was he?
It's a no-brainer and today's interview was inevitable.
]]> So what good memories do we have of Michael?Well his two goals against Sunderland last season and his hat-trick against West Ham at Upton Park back in 2005 in the 4-2 win in the east end were basically it.
He scored 29 goals in his three years on Tyneside but was haunted by injuries.
And if it wasn't injuries it seemed to be recovering from injuries in order to "get fit for England."
To be totally honest I can count the amount of times I witnessed a smile from the little striker on one hand.
Yes, he is one of the most media savvy footballers of his generation but when it came to talking to the local paper it was like getting blood out of a stone.
If his goal ratio is half decent his positive response to interview requests was dreadful.
More often than not, the "captain" was happy to let players who had little experience of dealing with the Press, young players like Andy Carroll, Kazenga LuaLua and David Edgar are all those who found themselves thrust into the media limelight at an early stage due to senior players like Owen's reluctance to talk the fans via the Press.
In true Newcastle style, Owen will probably go on and have an injury free run and score plenty of goals elsewhere.
Not bad for a player who once said "I'm here as long as you want me" during a dinner for Wallsend Boys Club a few years back.
But, and at the risk of sounding like sour grapes, would you really want Owen next season?
The player who walked round with a face like a smacked backside for three years seemed like a lost soul for much of Newcastle's slide to the second tier.
Yes, he was injured at Villa Park when we finally crumbled.
But when he walked off with a bone dry shirt after failing to get anywhere near the goal against the Villains, you just knew his time was up.
With Nile Ranger and Andy Carroll waiting in the wings to take his place, the two young strikers are at least something Toon fans can hang their hats on next season.
Thanks for the memories Michael, well sort of.
]]>The publication of the new Championship fixture list also said a lot for me too.
It seems the entire football world were getting a little bit TOO excited about "who the Toon were playing" on the first day.
Calm down we're only Newcastle United!
]]> The problem is that most of the people who had also been ribbing me for talking as if we were a big club were also the first to talk excitedly about taking on Newcastle.Make your mind up!
If we aren't a big club, why have most of the Football League websites highlighted their fixture with us.
What's everyone getting excited about if we aren't a big club.
Haha.
Preston North End chairman got the ball rolling.
Here is an extract from PNE's website.
"Chairman Derek Shaw admitted he was like every other fan of a Championship side this morning, looking when his side played Newcastle!
Most fans were probably like the proverbial kid in a sweetshop this morning as they looked closely as to when they visited St James' Park and when the Magpies visited them and the Chairman was no different.
"It is pleasing to be at home the first game," he told PNE.com.
"I am sure the fans would have wanted that.
"I think we all then looked for when we get Newcastle, which is November at home and I am sure everyone is looking forward to it."
Really Derek, aren't Preston North End (in theory) meant to be a big club as well?
Doncaster Rovers had already sold their season tickets on the promise of playing the Toon BEFORE we were relegated.
And Scunthorpe United, whose success starved fans have already created the trip to St James's Park as a "Facebook event" and cheekily invited me, unveiled striker Paul Hayes to say: "As a footballer you want to play the best sides in the world."
"We're not quite there yet, but we've been promoted to the Championship.
"To see Scunthorpe alongside sides like Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Derby, who have all played in the Premier League, is fantastic."
Maybe Hayesy, the Scunthorpe Telegraph obviously know something we don't and have plugged in their Championship Here We Come section a picture of Alan Shearer in all his glory.
Let's hope their crystal ball reading sportsdesk are right and Shearer is the man for us next season.
Ex-Scunny boss and Geordie Brian Laws was a little wiser though when pressed on playing the Toon.
He says: "We are playing Newcastle early in the season and I think that is a good thing because the teams coming down from the Premier League are likely to still be adapting to life in the Championship."
Even ex-Premier League side Crystal Palace were even getting excited with their fixture list headlined "Newcastle At Selhurst In August", but no mention of any of their London derbies or the game against Neil Warnock's old side Sheff United.
I could go on.
But if you think that the sad Villa fans who took the time to make that "Sob on the Tyne" banner were dancing on our graves, they will be handed a real run for their money next season by our new Second Division pals!!
Must go, starting to enjoy the taste of Coca-Cola now.
Or at least that is one way of looking at the new Coca-Cola Championship fixture list.
The other is that Newcastle United have been handed a start that could well bring them crashing down to earth with an almighty bump - especially given the current climate of no manager, the club up for sale and a clueless duo in Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias who are worryingly left holding the future of this once great club in incapable hands.
After West Brom, comes Reading at home, then Sheff Wed before a trip to Crystal Palace and then a home clash with Leicester City.
]]> If anybody was expecting a nice easy leg loosener against newly promoted Scunthorpe or even a nice home game with Doncaster Rovers, they will have to wait until later in the campaign for such "comforts".And if you want evidence that we really have landed in a lower league just wait until you get to Glanford Park on a chilly Tuesday night where even Whitley Bay's floodlights rival those of the Iron in terms of height.
But while the surroundings at Scunny may well be humbling for Newcastle United, the challenge on the pitch won't be with every team geared up to beat the Geordies next term.
A trip to Blackpool in September might also have been a small crumb of comfort for the Toon Army, hoping for a big weekend, but that game will now played on a Tuesday night!!!
Some long haul trips to Swansea, Bristol City, Plymouth and Cardiff City are also likely to mean a tough schedule while TV demands will also play havoc.
Indeed with Sky and BBC battling for the live games United will face more upset with 5.15pm kick offs and 12.45pm starts soon to become the norm.
It's going to be a long season...but from Barrack Road to the Hoe in Plymouth (where serial Toon hater Mick Dennis says there is a nice Chinese Restaurant), Blog on the Tyne will be there giving you the lowdown on c*** pies to restricted views!
]]>Yes, the nightmare that is following Newcastle United is set to continue for the early part of the week at St James's with details of exactly who the Toon are playing in pre-season expected at around the same time as the new Championship fixture list.
With Alan Shearer in place and his backroom team confirmed, it might actually have been the most positive week since relegation as we try to look ahead to the first game of the season in the second tier.
Instead, Shearer is at home waiting for the call and top brass at Newcastle have spent more time denying what's not happening rather than telling us what is.
]]> With the club now being run in London and Derek Llambias restricted to flying visits to Tyneside, the whole situation makes United look once again like a laughing stock.All most every other club in the Football League have confirmed their friendly fixture list but Newcastle run the risk of fans knowing who they will play in the Championship before pre-season plans are revealed.
Throw into that the fact that several of the players that Big Al had pencilled in to sign up for next season are in complete limbo and that not one of the expensive stars that earn a fortune have been moved on and the picture is crystal clear at SJP - it's a complete and utter shambles being operated by two main characters that you could say don't know what they are doing.
I say that as my personal opinion but having heard so much from some of football's most respected figures on the same theme, it leaves me in no doubt that the future is bleak for United at the moment.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
]]>And as the official clubwebsite says we can "now start to look forward" to the new season and get your Championship fixtures and sign up to the SMS service for 25p a pop!
What a bargain and while you're in the mood and you've paid the full whack for you new kit (£75 a go), why not snap up your iron Coca-Cola badges for just a fiver!
The Profitable Group who have expressed an interest in buying the club contacted the Chronicle.
This was denied by Derek Llambias in our sister paper the Journal after he refused to take calls or respond to official interview requests through the club to react to the situation.
And when the Profitable Group came back today to confirm they were in "serious" about their plan, Llambias simply replied "no" to a request for a comment this morning.
Whether Llambias, who swung the doors open to the media again in the new year, has decided to bolt them shut again in light of a bit of stick over their refusal to appoint Alan Shearer as boss remains to be seen.
As Ashley said in January: "I gave you my word that as long as I remain owner, this club would continue to be run responsibly at all levels. I hope you will accept that I have stood by that pledge"
Well no you haven't actually.
But it has to be said, in my opinion, how much control Llambias has at St James's Park has never been up in the air more than now.
For when Mike Ashley flew out of Tyneside in his chopper over two weeks ago, the Shearer talks dried up and the deal has seemingly collapsed.
We're told that the only people Profitable are dealing with, and all other interested parties, are Seymour Pierce and Keith Harris.
Yet the way it's going, you are likely to get more sense out of Orville.
As it stands Newcastle remains a club on its knees, with little hope and no direction whatsoever.
It has to be argued that the reluctance of Ashley to appoint Shearer now is to save a few quid until July 1 when pre-season starts.
But that will be no consolation when an inferior squad are battling for Championship survival in March will it?
Shearer spoke deeply of his concerns about getting things sorted at Villa Park during a dark hour in Newcastle's top flight history but it appears that the owner of the club isn't in the mood for listening.
Once more Keith Harris, the man who failed to sell the club last years, has made positive noises about potential buyers coming in.
]]> Last time out though managing director Derek Llambias admitted they did not listen to one serious bid.And despite much talk of consortia interested in taking the £100million rated Toon off Ashley's hands tonight we have made another step towards possible oblivion.
Pre-season training starts in less than three weeks and as it stands nobody knows who will be on hand to take that first session.
Life must go on regardless of who is in charge of the club in terms of ownership and after a day in which a city called for the permanent appointment of Shearer, many feel that this mess is only going to get worse before it gets anywhere near being better.
]]>I endured a bad dream the other night that Newcastle being put up for sale was merely a hairbrain scheme by Mike Ashley to take away the attention of Shearer not getting the job and try to soften the blow that for a second time that Joe Kinnear was coming as "interim boss" instead.
In doing so Kinnear did OK as boss and steadied the ship with a couple of early season wins.
]]> However, after waking up to discover it wasn't true there is no escaping the fact that Kinnear in charge again would be a worrying state of affairs.In doing so, it would represent a major gamble (yes another one) and leave this club in danger of sliding into third flight football for the first time ever.
Already first team "stars" have put their heads above water to signal their intentions for next season.
But the truth is, half of this lot aren't good enough for the Championship let alone the top flight.
We'll be lucky to get them off the wage bill.
At least Shearer in charge will give the club some respect and get the right players in.
Yes Kinnear performed OK at the start last time around but he was under no pressure.
It will take a bit more than dressing room banter, a few daft jokes, arms round shoulders, backside kicking and a foul mouthed rant at journalists to sort this mess out now.
]]>Ashley's admission that he's not an "expert" when it comes to football is at least honest but it's too little, and far, far, far too late.
For crying out loud, we're in the Championship now and every single second tier club already has a one month advantage on us.
And the fact that Ashley and Co have wasted a week of messing around and not appointing Alan Shearer is also likely to count against us.
]]> I'm not an expert myself at running businesses but I tell you what, it surely doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out that the future of the club will be better in the hands of Shearer.Shearer's presence also makes it a more valuable product in charge in my humble opinion too.
If Ashley's achieved anything so far, it's been a guide book in how not to run Newcastle United.
New owners have a clear insight on what you can and can't get away with.
To be honest, Ashley quite rightly states he's made loads of mistakes.
Yet he should have known this was a special place (maybe he should have listened to the late great Ronnie Lambert's Home Newcastle a few times to work that out) in the world early on and whatever anybody says we're different to any other football backwater or outpost - end of story.
But he was right to get rid of Sam Allardyce and his garbage style of football and over inflated opinion of himself, which was always going to bog United down.
He was right, in my opinion, to get Kevin Keegan back in.
However, he then undone all of that good work by bringing in people who couldn't handle the heat on Tyneside in Dennis Wise and Tony Jimenez - who have actually brought nothing to the table at St James's Park.
We were led to believe they were responsible for Sebastien Bassong for a while but it emerged that Wise actually screwed up signing the classy Frenchman and it was Kevin Keegan who delivered the goods much to the frustration of little Dennis.
He was also correct to bring in Shearer - but it was too late in the day with Newcastle staring the second tier of English football in the face.
In between all of that Ashley arrogantly snubbed the local Press and first handed the responsibility of that to Chris Mort.
To be fair to Mort he tried his best and he was quite polite about it all but while he knows his stuff in terms of law he was always a novice football chairman.
And you can put the managing director in that category as well.
He may well know the score when it comes to running a casino and his dealings of late with the local papers have been better.
Much better than when Keegan quit in September and Ashley and Co ran for the hills.
But at the end of the day you need football people in charge of a football club to go with people who know how to run a business.
Newcastle United is more than a business up here; it's a way of life.
For me it's always been the last thing I think of at night and the first thing I think of in the morning.
Last Monday morning for two seconds, I thought it was all a nightmare that we'd been relegated but the reality is the club is in trouble unless major decisions are made this week.
Yes were up for sale for the second time in a year but while Ashley is in charge he has a responsibility to run the club in proper manner and do what's best for the future.
Is he capable of doing that?
I'm not sure, having never had the chance to talk to him during his two years at the club (with bodyguards at his side ready to use physical force to sweep away annoying journalists) his public image is terrible in my opinion.
My feelings of it are that Ashley is just an out of condition bloke who used to sit with the fans.
A bloke in a Toon top who tried to impress us all by necking a point in a oner when we were getting torn to shreds at Arsenal.
That day Keegan and Wise are alleged to have had strong words in the tunnel over transfers.
Days later Ashley backed Wise over KK in a situation that was no brainer - he should have kicked Wise all the way back to the Kings Road.
In a week when Ashley again shunned interviews in the press and wielded the axe with job cuts to genuine local people who care about the club this week, the tycoon then used the Sunday Times to tell his story.
Now I'm not sure about you - but here in North Shields your average guy who enjoys one of the few pleasures in life of having a pint during a recession is not spotted going into the Pow Burn in Shields or the Gunner with the Times under his arm is he?
Not for the first time, they knowingly used the wrong platform to talk to their fans.
People hurled plenty of abuse this way when Llambias broke the club's silence and spoke of his five year plan.
There were accusations that he wasn't pressed over questions that Chronicle readers had the chance to ask at the time.
The cold facts were he was pressed and the home truths are that his answers were simply unconvincing - that was their shot at it and their chance to sell the club.
So there you have it, a collection of thoughts in the aftermath of Ashley's second "I'm selling up" story in less than 10 months.
Whoever takes over now can use this as a guide on how not to run Newcastle United.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
If there is such a thing as a bright side when it comes to relegation, it's that the Toon's young guns get the chance to prove themselves.
The gap between success and failure can be so near, yet so far for some and there are plenty of examples of youngsters who have gone on to make their name elsewhere in football - not least the man in charge of the last eight games.
]]> So therefore it could be refreshing to see Tim Krul, Tamas Kadar, Andy Carroll and Kazenga LuaLua all handed a chance in the first team next season, albeit at Championship level.Left-back Kadar and Krul have already talked of their excitement about next season.
Throw into that England Under-19 striker Nile Ranger, promising and upcoming young defender James Tavernier and the exciting young Slovenian Haris Vuckic (still just 16 but with plenty to offer), Newcastle fans could see a whole new generation of stars coming through next season.
Of course that will need to be backed up by experience but for once instead of looking back, comparing and reflecting on past "glories", Newcastle have the chance to build for the future.
It won't be easy in the Championship that's a given, but for a new generation of young players and fans, you could just find a few people who are actually looking forward to next season already.
]]>Most of them it seems stiffened the sinews and took the latest insult firmly on the chin rather than seeking attention from the cameras.
The rest of the country, who have enjoyed Newcastle's relegation throughout the weekend, instead saw three or four images of some Toon fans who were blubbering moments after the drop was confirmed.
They didn't see how it really was and that nobody was throwing the towel in.
What price a full house for the first game of the Championship and a new generation of young Geordies seeing a winning team albeit at second tier level?
]]> For me it really did hit home when I spotted that very image on Sky.But you have to ask were some of them doing it for their own bit of personal stardom to get on the telly or what?
The blubbering fat lad is what the rest of the country'll judge us on and taunted about it - and now we're already being talked about as the next Leeds even though the bookies took no time at all to install us as favourites to win the Championship.
Later angry Toon fans hurled abuse at Sky's TV truck for exploiting United supporters in their hour of mourning - that was wrong but you can see why they did it.
Bob Moncur mentioned last week that we'd all feel like hanging ourselves for a while after relegation but then added within a fortnight we'd be looking ahead to the fixtures coming out.
I witnessed plenty of that today, this city isn't like a Scunthorpe, a Blackpool or anywhere else, you don't see too many Man United shirts or Liverpool shirts, you see black and white everywhere.
The same people who support other Championship sides (and Liverpool, Chelsea or Man U) who have been revelling in our relegation will be like excited kids coming up to St James's Park next season for their big day out.
Good, bring it all on.
I'm not 100% sure that Newcastle will win the Championship but what I am sure about is that the Newcastle fans will show the rest of the division how to support your team properly.
I'm also sure that with Shearer in charge, we can clear the dead wood and get rid of the fat cats who have disgraced the black and white shirt this season.
And I'm sure (having watched their progress as kids) that the likes of Andy Carroll, Nile Ranger and possibly Kazenga LuaLua will be rubbing their hands at the prospect of being let loose on the Championship.
It's not a great situation but I have to say it's not all bad either.
People say we are not a "big club" but while we don't go round saying that ourselves, why do we get so many fans from other teams coming on this blog?
Why do we have people from different towns that support a Premier League team (a Liverpool or Man U) AND a Championship team (A Scunny or a Donny) telling us how to support our team when all we've done is turn up in droves home and away to watch one shower of **** after another?
Why were the Mackems more interested in celebrating our demise ahead of toasting their own survival?
And then following it up by talking about Europe and big name players today!
Does that not say more about them than us?
Mackems, Everton and Man United in light of our relegation have all had their say.
Well let them come and do it.
I will remember three things from Sunday the most, one being just how amazing the 3,000 fans that went to Villa Park were for the whole 90 minutes and the end.
Two, just how much Villa and their sad fans wanted us to go down (unfurling banners etc) when they had qualified for Europe themselves.
And three Phil Brown's and his singing at the end of Hull's great escape from the Premier League by virtue of us being even crapper than them.
Well football as we all know has that nasty habit of coming back to bite you on the backside.
Keeping the faith?
Course we are.
]]>If you can pick more than five players you'd build a team around and that want to play in the Championship, you are doing better than me.
Even Man United done us a favour and while the Mackems were poor, the Toon were even beyond that.
]]> Sky got the shots they wanted of Geordies crying into their beer outside Shearer's bar and it probably made good television.The rest of the country will laugh out loud at Newcastle and the ones who don't deserve the ridicule will take the brunt of it while most of the ones who let us down are getting ready for lucrative holidays abroad.
Some we won't see again, the rest we'll see in a different division next season.
Looking at the players sent out to war this season.
You can't say Newcastle United don't deserve it.
Those in charge must put their hands up and make a decision.
Either give up and sell up or back somebody who knows about football and let them get on with the job.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
]]>