March to June 2020 - NEWCASTLE UTD fc

[Black Cat Gypsy]

Bit late for that.
Many football fans have moaned about the Qatar world cup but they'll all still watch it.

It's never too late. Countries refused to play South Africa during the apartheid era. Maybe we should refuse to hold boxing matched and the like in Saudi Arabia.

Amnesty International have written to the FA about this, the wife of the journalist who bin Salman murder has spoke out against it. Hopefully sponsors will withdraw.

 

[citybythesea]

You should all be buying electric cars in protest of combustion engines f***ing up the planet mate.

We’ll all have to one day, oil is running out......and it’s f***ing the climate in the process

 

[Thurston]

I'm sure some people will do those things but most won't.
Most will be excited about change at the club and the chance to see the club do well...would be the same at any club.

Most people didn't do those things you said with Ashley despite most people wanting him gone.
Football fans will put up with most things away from football if somebody is doing well for their team or club.

Of course they will.

What tends to irritate me are the bullshit rationalisations fans make for liking or disliking a particular person or aspect of a club. I work in Newcastle, and with your fans (and they’re certainly not the only ones guilty of it by any means, and you won’t even have to look far for it on here) I’d find annoying when they’d come up with a bunch of bullshit reasons for why Ashley was a tyrannical twat and had to go.

At the end of the day, the entire dislike Newcastle fans have for the bloke stems back to his relationship with Keegan and how he left the club, and that’s fair enough, it’s absolutely fine to just say you don’t like someone, you don’t have to rationalise every decision a person makes to fit exactly within a framework for why you don’t like them at the complete expense of objectivity.

By objective standards was/is Ashley a great club owner? Not really. Is he a bad club owner? Not at all. There’s as much to suggest he made as many good sound investments/decisions as there is to say he made bad ones. Bad club ownership, let’s be honest, sees you falling from the Premier League to sitting outside the League One play-offs. Sitting around mid-table in the Premier League on the other hand isn’t Earth shattering but it’s perfectly respectable.

And what I see from a lot of posts by Newcastle fans about the takeover are the inversion of this and that’s what I find irritating. Are you within your rights to be thrilled because a rich bloke wants to take over your club? Absolutely, of course you are. Does it mean that all the baggage which comes with these prospective new owners because they’re now affiliated with your club should be whitewashed away and the prospective new owners should be rationalised into a framework where because they’re now associated with your club they can do absolutely no wrong and they and everything about your club despite their association is squeaky clean? Absolutely f***ing not. All I’m saying is, it’s possible for your fans to be both happy because some rich blokes have taken over your club giving you optimism for the future, without celebrating those same people who are frankly despots with the sort of medieval outlooks which make Mike Ashley seem saintly, as the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[What A Waster]

It's never too late. Countries refused to play South Africa during the apartheid era. Maybe we should refuse to hold boxing matched and the like in Saudi Arabia.

Amnesty International have written to the FA about this, the wife of the journalist who bin Salman murder has spoke out against it. Hopefully sponsors will withdraw.

Aye I just meant he's already done it though and played down the sportswashing so he'd look a bit of a knob speaking out now.

Of course they will.

What tends to irritate me are the bullshit rationalisations fans make for liking or disliking a particular person or aspect of a club. I work in Newcastle, and with your fans (and they’re certainly not the only ones guilty of it by any means, and you won’t even have to look far for it on here) I’d find annoying when they’d come up with a bunch of bullshit reasons for why Ashley was a tyrannical twat and had to go.

At the end of the day, the entire dislike Newcastle fans have for the bloke stems back to his relationship with Keegan and how he left the club, and that’s fair enough, it’s absolutely fine to just say you don’t like someone, you don’t have to rationalise every decision a person makes to fit exactly within a framework for why you don’t like them at the complete expense of objectivity.

By objective standards was/is Ashley a great club owner? Not really. Is he a bad club owner? Not at all. There’s as much to suggest he made as many good sound investments/decisions as there is to say he made bad ones. Bad club ownership, let’s be honest, sees you falling from the Premier League to sitting outside the League One play-offs. Sitting around mid-table in the Premier League on the other hand isn’t Earth shattering but it’s perfectly respectable.

And what I see from a lot of posts by Newcastle fans about the takeover are the inversion of this and that’s what I find irritating. Are you within your rights to be thrilled because a rich bloke wants to take over your club? Absolutely, of course you are. Does it mean that all the baggage which comes with these prospective new owners because they’re now affiliated with your club should be whitewashed away and the prospective new owners should be rationalised into a framework where because they’re now associated with your club they can do absolutely no wrong and they and everything about your club despite their association is squeaky clean? Absolutely f***ing not. All I’m saying is, it’s possible for your fans to be both happy because some rich blokes have taken over your club giving you optimism for the future, without celebrating those same people who are frankly despots with the sort of medieval outlooks which make Mike Ashley seem saintly, as the best thing since sliced bread.

I think I've said something similar in the last day or two. Supporting the club doesn't mean supporting their behaviour.
Most fans just want to enjoy their football and will happily separate the two.
When things went well on the field under Ashley, the unrest quietened down. When the football suffered it was a case of looking for any stick they could to beat him with. Can be against the Saudi regime but still want them to do well as owners of the club.

 

[citybythesea]

You must be logged on to see media items

Not sure if this is SEB but Here is one Newcastle fan with a conscience......

 

[Thurston]

It's never too late. Countries refused to play South Africa during the apartheid era. Maybe we should refuse to hold boxing matched and the like in Saudi Arabia.

Amnesty International have written to the FA about this, the wife of the journalist who bin Salman murder has spoke out against it. Hopefully sponsors will withdraw.

Realistically, the bulk of Saudi investment in Newcastle over the next few seasons will see them sign a few players who are “household” names but most likely ones who are past the peaks of their careers, this will be mostly as a public relations exercise and to delight fans watching on TV in Saudi Arabia.

They will also likely play a number of “glamour friendlies/tournament” in Saudi Arabia. I don’t predict anything particularly groundbreaking. There’s nothing from what I’ve seen of their investment in other sports to suggest that the scale of their ambitions extends much further than PR to improve their global image, with the added bonus of providing some fleeting pleasure for people in Saudi Arabia. I certainly haven’t seen anything which suggests they have similar instincts based on competitiveness as their Dubai based counterparts.

 

[mad cyril]

You came on here with the opinion Sunderland fans were hypocrites for not being interested in the Saudi regime prior to being linked with NUFC. Many of us follow currect affairs and are aware of what is happening elsewhere in the world, form an opinion without protesting. I quite like your Mad 'I go to gigs me' Cyril persona on the other forum. Be interesting to see how the situation develops when the cash starts pouring in.

I struggle to see where I had the opinion of you being hypocritical, I’ve been very transparent that it’s NUFC who are indeed the hypocritical ones. My question that has been lost in translation is what will SAFC and other fans do about it ?? that’s not a provocative question but more of a query will the online angst lead to taking the streets etc ?

unsure what ‘going to gigs’ persona has to do with it but like to think it’s not a underhand dig

 

[Shandy drinker]

It's never too late. Countries refused to play South Africa during the apartheid era. Maybe we should refuse to hold boxing matched and the like in Saudi Arabia.

Amnesty International have written to the FA about this, the wife of the journalist who bin Salman murder has spoke out against it. Hopefully sponsors will withdraw.

Knackered Barclays too with their association with s Africa
Saudis practising sexual apartheid treating women and gay people as second class citizens
Geordies will blame Ashley for selling the Saudis so still his fault
Will be stocking black and white burkas though 70% off

 

[DrNo!]

I struggle to see where I had the opinion of you being hypocritical, I’ve been very transparent that it’s NUFC who are indeed the hypocritical ones. My question that has been lost in translation is what will SAFC and other fans do about it ?? that’s not a provocative question but more of a query will the online angst lead to taking the streets etc ?

unsure what ‘going to gigs’ persona has to do with it but like to think it’s not a underhand dig

I am personally not going to do anything about it as it doesn't directly affect me or the team I follow. .....but I and the rest of the world will form their own opinions

 

[Holden]

Am I the only mug completely shitting my knickers about all this?

 

[johnny kayo]

Am I the only mug completely shitting my knickers about all this?

No mate

 

[citybythesea]

PIF buying into the premier league is about distraction of their human rights abuses, sportswashing. With us living in a democracy with free speech the irony for PIF is people will actually highlight the thing they’re trying to bury!

 

[Holden]

PIF buying into the premier league is about distraction of their human rights abuses, sportswashing. With us living in a democracy with free speech the irony for PIF is people will actually highlight the thing they’re trying to bury!

Does all come across as a little self defeating like

 

[mr chuckles]

Yet again, getting way ahead of themselves. They said the same when Ashley took over

Seriously as a group of fans they are f***ing puggled. As 1 club in a massive city that hasn't won a trophy for decades they think that they are massive in the eyes of the nation if not the world

In reality the majority of the nation that follows football thinks of them as just another trophyless club amongst many

 

[CheersMarra84]

PIF buying into the premier league is about distraction of their human rights abuses, sportswashing. With us living in a democracy with free speech the irony for PIF is people will actually highlight the thing they’re trying to bury!

Pointless arguing mate, you’ll get lead down a path and in to a game of ‘Whataboutery’ which they think invalidates peoples concerns about gunshots rights, which are much bigger then football itself.

 

[Bears Beets]

Ha ..think we all know who's bricking it

Correct, you lot.

 

[woodlebert]

you would if you were a human rights activist trying to bring attention to the Saudi regime, yes you would do exactly that.
For my part I have never been a human rights activist, any activist for that matter. I have never taken part in any kind of protest unless you count chanting "get out of our club" in the ground with the rest of the fans.
Why would I suddenly start protesting the Saudi's now when I have never done it in the past.

Yes my point is that if as you say "they do well for the club people won't have a problem with what else they do because it's easy to separate one from the other" then actually the fans aren't separating the club and owners at all but mixing them together. The success on the pitch impacts how the owners will be perceived.

 

[mad cyril]

I am personally not going to do anything about it as it doesn't directly affect me or the team I follow. .....but I and the rest of the world will form their own opinions

No probs. We’ve established that despite both of us being opposed to the Saudi regime, were equally both going to do fuck all about it other than spout off on internet message boards.

 

[woodlebert]

Am I the only mug completely shitting my knickers about all this?

No mate

Why?

 

[johnny kayo]

Why?

Shitting myself isn’t probably the right term, more just can’t be bothered to listen to their self entitled bollocks