Boycott

[seaside nipper]

Well, after today’s ineptitude things only gonna get more toxic. The inevitable slog fest is now confirmed, on us after two games. Sadly and inevitably no surprise what so f***ing ever.

[bodacious benny]

Hindsight is a wonderful win, but if the boycott had been planned for a couple of months into the season when the Bruce disaster was in full swing then more people would have stayed away. Doing it on the first game of the season was never going to be that successful.

[PTAO?]

Hindsight is a wonderful win, but if the boycott had been planned for a couple of months into the season when the Bruce disaster was in full swing then more people would have stayed away. Doing it on the first game of the season was never going to be that successful.

The problem is, we shouldn't be protesting against the results, it's the regime that makes our lack of success inevitable. Doing it mid season when we're bottom of the table just sends a message that we throw our toys out the pram when we don't win, rather than us being fed up of the way Ashley runs things.

[Remember Colo]

Hindsight is a wonderful win, but if the boycott had been planned for a couple of months into the season when the Bruce disaster was in full swing then more people would have stayed away. Doing it on the first game of the season was never going to be that successful.

The problem is, we shouldn't be protesting against the results, it's the regime that makes our lack of success inevitable. Doing it mid season when we're bottom of the table just sends a message that we throw our toys out the pram when we don't win, rather than us being fed up of the way Ashley runs things.

Or it can be perceived the opposite way, that fans are protesting front office choices before even seeing the outcome of them. Had the club miraculously started well, protesters would look like mugs for protesting effective investment. Now obviously I understand fans are actually knowledgeably protesting 12 years of bad management decisions and processes, but if we're just talking about outside perception and the message it sends, I do think the results (wrongly) matter.

[omegaprimevkm]

Not refuting any points made, but with the situations leading up to the start of the season, and the opening fixtures that were scheduled, the club was destined to fail this season. If you look at the first 10 fixtures, only Watford and Brighton at home looked winnable. Even now, I'd be (pleasantly, obviously) surprised should they have more than 4 points by November, or even 15 by Christmas.

The way in which the goals were conceded (disorganised defence, poor organisation, no leadership) plus the fact that the style of play simply isn't working, plus all the injuries already, it's hard to see where the positive results are expected to come from.

[Remember Colo]

Not refuting any points made, but with the situations leading up to the start of the season, and the opening fixtures that were scheduled, the club was destined to fail this season. If you look at the first 10 fixtures, only Watford and Brighton at home looked winnable. Even now, I'd be (pleasantly, obviously) surprised should they have more than 4 points by November, or even 15 by Christmas.

The way in which the goals were conceded (disorganised defence, poor organisation, no leadership) plus the fact that the style of play simply isn't working, plus all the injuries already, it's hard to see where the positive results are expected to come from.

That may all come true, but it's only been 2 matches. And we easily could have gotten points from Arsenal.

[seaside nipper]

To Boycott or not eh................
Well I've folded, I abstained from the Arsenal at home, but now I have cashed in my moral high ground and bought for the Brighton game.
Watching Newcastle win at Tottenham opened up all the euphoric pores in my being and reminded me its team first, f*** Ashley.
I know there is an inherent contradiction here, but you know what , nothing beats a Newcastle win. That's the priority afaiac.
Sitting assessing whether to sit out Ashley in the long haul for me is a waste of negative energy, I shouldn't and will not deny myself or my lad the chance to witness Newcastle games, goals and hell even some wins. He wants Joelinton on his next shirt, how can I tell him no, its Mike Ashley's fault that you are not getting what you want.
Am I propping up a regime, am I gate fodder for Ashley. I don't care, If Attila the Hun was in charge I'd support the team on the pitch, that's what matters. In my new simple world, that's what cuts it for me

[Remember Colo]

To Boycott or not eh................
Well I've folded, I abstained from the Arsenal at home, but now I have cashed in my moral high ground and bought for the Brighton game.
Watching Newcastle win at Tottenham opened up all the euphoric pores in my being and reminded me its team first, f*** Ashley.
I know there is an inherent contradiction here, but you know what , nothing beats a Newcastle win. That's the priority afaiac.
Sitting assessing whether to sit out Ashley in the long haul for me is a waste of negative energy, I shouldn't and will not deny myself or my lad the chance to witness Newcastle games, goals and hell even some wins. He wants Joelinton on his next shirt, how can I tell him no, its Mike Ashley's fault that you are not getting what you want.
Am I propping up a regime, am I gate fodder for Ashley. I don't care, If Attila the Hun was in charge I'd support the team on the pitch, that's what matters. In my new simple world, that's what cuts it for me

Welcome to the scabs!

[seaside nipper]

To Boycott or not eh................
Well I've folded, I abstained from the Arsenal at home, but now I have cashed in my moral high ground and bought for the Brighton game.
Watching Newcastle win at Tottenham opened up all the euphoric pores in my being and reminded me its team first, **** Ashley.
I know there is an inherent contradiction here, but you know what , nothing beats a Newcastle win. That's the priority afaiac.
Sitting assessing whether to sit out Ashley in the long haul for me is a waste of negative energy, I shouldn't and will not deny myself or my lad the chance to witness Newcastle games, goals and hell even some wins. He wants Joelinton on his next shirt, how can I tell him no, its Mike Ashley's fault that you are not getting what you want.
Am I propping up a regime, am I gate fodder for Ashley. I don't care, If Attila the Hun was in charge I'd support the team on the pitch, that's what matters. In my new simple world, that's what cuts it for me

Welcome to the scabs!

I'm now hopefully surmising that the Ashley one will be touched by the pained eulogising going on here and have a change of heart and become a willing seller. On that side of things its all I have.
I love SJP and he's not stopping me attending, directly or indirectly anymore. Probably music to the cnunts ears, but at least he knows I hate him. That works for me.

[bodacious benny]

Only 43k at the Watford match, our smallest PL gate since 2012 (according to NUFC.com)...was there a secret boycott, more stayed away from this than they did the boycotts against Arsenal and Spurs

[omegaprimevkm]

Only 43k at the Watford match, our smallest PL gate since 2012 (according to NUFC.com)...was there a secret boycott, more stayed away from this than they did the boycotts against Arsenal and Spurs

I guess additionally it should be considered that this is a less glamorous fixture for a team with a famously non-premier league level following (they play home games in a corrugated shed), be that locals or others filling out those empty seats and supporting either team.

Is the attendance figure also massaged by counting sales, as opposed to numbers inside?

[Sir Bobby]

Only 43k at the Watford match, our smallest PL gate since 2012 (according to NUFC.com)...was there a secret boycott, more stayed away from this than they did the boycotts against Arsenal and Spurs

I guess additionally it should be considered that this is a less glamorous fixture for a team with a famously non-premier league level following (they play home games in a corrugated shed), be that locals or others filling out those empty seats and supporting either team.

Is the attendance figure also massaged by counting sales, as opposed to numbers inside?

Believe all tickets sold count towards attendance. So those with season tickets who are boycotting it can’t be arsed are still included in the 44k

[Remember Colo]

People will come back if the team plays okay/better. There have been a few seasons where the attendance starts out slow (not as low as this obviously), and then picks up if given reasons to get excited. Plus, and I don't know how many they count for, but uni students are gone right now, with the 2018/19 grad school class now gone, and the new ones not yet arrived (that might be my own bias showing though and they don't actually produce many ticket sales).

[bodacious benny]

True, students will account for some but that would be consistent every year and attendance has never been that low.

I’d say it’s more that there’s not much to hope for and people know they’ll be bored. We’ll struggle to average a goal a game.

[overseasTOON]

Last weekend of the summer before kids go back to school.

[Remember Colo]

True, students will account for some but that would be consistent every year and attendance has never been that low.

I’d say it’s more that there’s not much to hope for and people know they’ll be bored. We’ll struggle to average a goal a game.

Sure, I just meant that I'd suspect looking back on seasons past you'll find it's often one of the lowest attended matches of the year, and with an overall reduction this season, this one ends up breaking records.

To your second point, that really doesn't sound any different from the teams and tactics put out for the past 6 years.

[omegaprimevkm]

https://www.themag.co.uk/2019/09/compan ... le-united/

Anyone interested in rationalising this one? I'm not suggesting impropriety but the facts of the circumstance may lead to people jumping to that conclusion

[Remember Colo]

https://www.themag.co.uk/2019/09/compan ... le-united/

Anyone interested in rationalising this one? I'm not suggesting impropriety but the facts of the circumstance may lead to people jumping to that conclusion

Need Donkey Toon to put his accounting expertise to work here. I read that article yesterday, and not to suggest it wasn't worth reporting, but I feel like the Mag was happy to write an article that didn't make it clear what it meant, knowing that fans would run with in it 20 different directions - which annoyed me a bit.

[Colly]

Don't forget the Mag is fundamentally a fanzine (do they still do a print version? Haven't seen one in years) so there's often woolly nonsense in it. I'll defer to DT as you say, but if this is him starting to claw back those loans I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing as long as we stay in the Premier League. Certainly helps any potential sale.

[Donkey Toon]

Not a lot to go on there and hard to make too many conclusions without more info, but my initial take is that he either has already or plans to pay back more of the loan, resulting in potential, or already resulting, cashflow issues.

Like Colly I don't think paying back the loans is necessarily a bad thing; should make selling the club easier and eases our FFP filings, however, it may mean we will have little or nothing to spend in the winter window and less to spend next summer. Also MA's loans are interest free whereas the Barclays loans will not be so the interest payments will eat into our funds as well.

Not great news if you are hoping for big transfer windows coming up (which I guess is all of us) but nothing to indicate anything alarmist like asset stripping or any of that bollocks.