What more can you say?

Discuss it here.

What follows is a letter we received from a member frustrated with the current situation at Newcastle United, aimed at our owner Mike Ashley. It contains his views and his views alone - ones which are not necessarily supported or projected by Newcastle-Online itself. We have always said that we will try to give every fan his or her voice and we encourage all of you to “have your say”, much like this gentleman has done, whether you are pro-Ashley or against him. Any more submissions of this nature would be greatly appreciated. (more…)

The Newcastle United Supporter’s Club have announced details of their next open meeting, which will be held at the Tyneside Irish Centre next Thursday from 7.30pm.

The meeting is projected to last 2 hours with the aim of outlining the group’s intention to change it’s status to that of a “Supporter’s Trust”, which they describe as “a democratic, not-for-profit organisation of supporters, committed to strengthening the voice for supporters in the decision making process at Newcastle United.”

This is seen as a necessary step towards the NUSC’s long-term aim of gaining input into the running of Newcastle United Football Club.

Expected to be present at the meeting is a representative from NUSC, John Gibson from the Evening Chronicle and members of trusts created by other football clubs.

Helpfully for those of us unavailable to attend in person the meeting will be broadcast live online as it was last time. The link will be posted here in due course.

You can view and discuss the full details of the meeting here: http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,60700.0.html

If you measure the health of a football club by the quality of fare served up, the toon would be a sickly anorexic this season.  We’ve lurched from crisis to crisis on and off the pitch like a self destructing drunk on the hoy and made ourselves a national laughing stock on several occasions in the process. Worst of all, we sit at the bottom of the table relying on an undercooked squad, a makeshift management team and a dispirited SJP to get us out of trouble.  Can you feel the farce?  Even by our recent standards, this has been a terrible season.

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Latest from NUSC:

The Rally arranged by NUSC on Sunday is planned to raise NUSC’s desire for Newcastle United Supporters to unite together in support of Newcastle United and where it stands in our hearts. NUSC believes that this is a critical point in our season and that unity is strength when it comes to shaping the future direction of the Club both on and off the field.

The timetable is as follows:

• +2pm - entertainment by the Newcastle Drum Band

• 2.30pm - speaking opportunity

• 2.50pm - musical interlude

• 3.00pm - second speaking opportunity

• 3.10pm - live music from “Oh Lads”

• 3.20pm - third speaking opportunity

• 3.30pm - musical finale and orderly disperse to St James’ Park for what hopefully will be 3 well earned points come 6pm.

(These times are flexible and may be liable to change)

The “staging” area will be at the south side of the monument facing down towards Grey Street.

The whole emphasis will be on generating a fun, carnival atmosphere. We hope to have flags and banners on display and we welcome supporters to bring along and display their own flags. There will be an opportunity for those who wish to, to take up membership of NUSC.

Some members have requested that NUSC petition the executives of Newcastle United therefore members will be seeking support for the petition during the course of the rally.

There will be stewards on hand, wearing hi visibility jackets who will be there to assist anyone who requires help and a low key but nonetheless obvious police presence will be in the vicinity; as there would be on any normal match day.

NUSC politely request that those attending the rally pay respect to those who wish to go about their normal sunday shopping experience and allow them to do so with the minimum of distraction. We would also like to emphasise that this is not a protest and no march is planned or sanctioned nor permission requested by NUSC.

Following on from the NUSC’s latest public meeting in the Irish Centre on Wednesday 4th February, which was broadcast around the world via the magic of the internet, plans have emerged for a rally prior to the Everton game on Sunday 22nd February.

Authorisation has already been gained from Northumbria Police, with the rally expected to originate at Grey’s Monument at 3pm and conclude at St. James’ Park well before kick-off, meaning that both match-going and boycotting fans can join in together.

- If you want to listen to and discuss the latest NUSC meeting, you can do so here on our Forum.

Hello again readers,

Now that the server is moved there are going to be some major changes around here. The first thing we’re going to do is design some new bits and pieces, the most obvious of which is the Newcastle-Online main logo.

It can be seen at the top left of the website and currently it looks like this:

This is where you lads/lasses come in. We’re looking for a new logo to use all over this website where necessary, and we’re tonight launching a competition to find one!

The rules:

1. It cannot contain any copyrighted images, so no direct use of the NUFC badge or anything like that.
2. It must be relatively timeless, so please don’t put Michael Owen in there…
3. It must be a pretty big original image, so we can shrink it down as necessary. A vector would be ideal, so it can be used in our Shop too.
4. It should be cut out and/or on a transparent background, so it can be neatly added to any other background.
5. Post your entry in this thread. By posting a design for entry you are declaring you allow Newcastle-Online to take ownership of it should it win.
6. A forum poll will be used for a final decision based on a shortlist decided by Admin.
7. All Admin decisions are final.
8. Closing date for entries is Sunday 21st December.

The designer of the winning logo will win a T-shirt of their choice from the Newcastle-Online Shop and obviously a shedload of kudos.

Get thinking, get posting, and good luck!

Hello readers,

Today we are pleased to announce the launch of the Newcastle-Online Shop, which can be found at: http://newcastleonline.spreadshirt.net.

Initially we will only be selling a small selection of bespoke T-shirts and a special Santa hat, although we may branch out into other items in the future depending on demand. A very small commission is taken out of each sale and goes exclusively towards the running of N-O - nowhere else.

At the current time shipping is only available within Europe, but we will very shortly be adding a worldwide delivery option for our readers further afield!

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God Bless Joe Kinnear.  He’s done a competent job since wor Kevin did his disappearing act and I’m grateful he was mad enough to come on board a rapidly sinking ship.  Let’s face it, the end of the stick on offer wasn’t so much rough as coated with dogshit; most people – even Terry “You Ain’t Seen Me, Right” Venables – wouldn’t take the short term deal on offer, however much cash was dangled.   Things were truly desperate.  And judging by Hughton’s caretaking efforts before he arrived, we’re much better off with Kinnear than without him.
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Monday’s lived televised game brings high flying Aston Villa to St James’, in an intriguing battle between two clubs who have enjoyed contrasting fortunes since a recent change of ownership. In the run up to this clash between two of the most storied English clubs, we ask just who the f*** are Aston Villa?

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Well, he’s gone again, at least for the time being. To pose the question that we have asked ourselves many times over the last few seasons, in the wake of yet another managerial casualty - where did it all go wrong?

I thought his appointment was a strange and risky one at the time. He had been out of the game for three years, professing a lack of interest in football that extended to him barely watching a single game. Despite his successes, his managerial career had also been punctuated by collapses in confidence and walk-outs, and his last two jobs, at England and Man City, had not ended well. Keegan’s managerial career seemed well and truly over.
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As you may or may not be aware, talk of protesting against the club in regards to the events of the past few weeks is currently being readily discussed amongst Newcastle fans and fan-sites alike.

As a platform for the views of all United fans, Newcastle-Online.com does not hold a particular opinion in either favour in regards to the possible protesting. There are so many differing views and opinions as to the best, and most potentially productive, courses of action that we can’t possibly advocate in favour of any specific type of protest.

All we can do is provide you, the reader, with the information available so for those who wish to register their protest, there are a number of options being put forward by other supporter organisations and those are detailed below:

1. An immediate and indefinite boycott of all Newcastle United merchandise to include replica shirts, other club clothing and any items sold at official NUFC outlets, including…Newcastle United programmes and magazines as well as food, drinks and beverages of any description…raffle tickets, lotteries…Shearer’s Bar as well as club cafes, official club tours [and] visits to the NUFC museum.

4. [The agreement] that Mike Ashley does not attend away games amongst the travelling support.

One thing that is clear from all parties is that there is absolutely no condoning of any violent or illegal action whatsoever.

Potential protestors have also insisted that the team must not be affected by any actions taken - meaning no boycott of the Hull City game or any game following on from that. The team still deserve the support of all Newcastle United fans.

Reports from Spain are saying that Newcastle have agreed a fee with Deportivo over their 22 year old striker Francisco Jiménez Tejada or more familiarly Xisco. Fee is thought to be around 7 million euros plus another 3 million euros in clauses.

No official confirmation has been released yet but Deportivo’s coach Miguel Ángel Lotina has apparently confirmed after Deportivo’s victorious start to the campaign against Real Madrid that he is aware of the transfer. Deportivo fansite Riazor.org confirms that the player is flying to Newcastle to pass his medical.

Judging by the reactions from a lot of Deportivo fans he is quite highly rated by them. Their fans describe him as a strong striker who is surprisingly quick, technically gifted and one of their biggest talents.

We’ll wait and see what happens but surely it can’t be too bad if it keeps Shola and Smith out of the team.

Tomorrow’s Daily Mail is actually expecting Smith to complete his Everton move sooner than later. Get your party hats out!

Newcastle United have this morning announced that our final pre-season friendly against Valencia has been delayed, and will now kick off at a later time of 5PM.

It appears there has been a problem with the plane bringing the Spanish stars to the North East, and so the club feel they had no alternative but to push back the start time.

A statement on the official site, nufc.co.uk, read:

NEWCASTLE United’s pre-season friendly against Valencia at St.James’ Park on Saturday August 9 will now kick off at the later time of 5pm.

This is due to the delayed arrival of our opponents from Spain following a technical issue concerning their aircraft.

Supporters using corporate areas will still be able to enter the stadium from 1pm.

We apologise to supporters for any inconvenience caused by circumstances beyond the Club’s control.

It seems likely that refunds will be given to those that have bought tickets and are now unable to attend.

“May you live in interesting times” – ancient Chinese curse.

Trying to work out what is going on at NUFC is difficult at the best of times. In the days of Shepherd and the Halls, there was a steady flow of leaks which seemed to emanate from Gallowgate, some of which were even true from time to time (I got the impression Roeder and Souness in particular had more moles than a witch’s backside). Since the advent of Ashley and his cronies, hard news about the club is thin on the ground and you might get more insight from reading chicken entrails than reading the local and national media.

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