Tag: Newcastle Utd

Steve Bruce has gone AWOL: Sack him now

Where is the blokes pride of work? Where is his logic here? The man is an absolute fraud. A lazy one

Bruce ruins the new era opening game

It’s Tuesday afternoon, two days after being beaten and somewhat humiliated by Spurs live on Sky Sports with a very comfortable 3-2 win over Steve Bruce’s boys and Bruce with his players are no where to be seen.

They haven’t refused access for reporters and fans to enter the training ground or anything, no, no…the team aren’t there. They’re not training today. They are on a second back to back day off after a match. It beggars belief.

I can not believe what I am seeing here. Just think about it, you’ve not won a game all season. Your team are unfit. Your team are unorganised. And you spend not one but TWO days sitting on your arse watching Homes under the Hammer? I’m fuming.

The reason this is so enraging is this isn’t a one off. Steve Bruce’s team have more days off than the Queen. This was a factor when Ashley was here and it has continued into this new regime.

Where is the blokes pride of work? Where is his logic here? The man is an absolute fraud. A lazy one. You would think he would be putting in the extra hours to impress HIS new employers to give him a good crack at this job wouldn’t you? Isn’t that what he wants?

If this is his best effort in a) impressing his new employers he is the man for the job and b) turning around the team’s fortunes than the man isn’t fit for purpose. But tbh, we already know that. We already know he should be nowhere near the job…and in his own way he is obliging! Where are you??

To be even more cynical is to suggest he is purposely acting this way, by that I mean downing tools, as he wants to be sacked. He is practically begging for it. Openly goading the owners to push the button and give him is £8m pay off. This is the level of the man.

As professional as a teenager forced to do community service. Bunking off whenever he can. Doing the bare minimum. Yet crying like a little bitch whenever he gets the opportunity. The man is clown. 1000 game fraud.

How he is still in the job I have no idea. I don’t know what the new owners are waiting for. The rumour is Staveley and Reuben wanted to sack him last week before the Spurs game but didn’t recieve the ok from majority owner PIF.

Well, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, our new chairman, was here on Sunday. Literally in the room so why was the decision not given the ok on Sunday night? The whole stadium was calling for “Bruce Out!” so why is he still here 48 hours later? I’m baffled.

Sack him. Pay him off and let Graeme Jones take the team for this weekend. He will work the players all week long and give him the best chance of a result as we desperately need it.

Bruce is dead man walking and he knows it. Having two days off training directly after a match that you lost is a total piss take when you haven’t won a match all season. He wants to be sacked? Do it. Get rid. He is lingering around like a really bad smell.

Honestly, I am fuming. The team continues to suffer with a lack of fitness (they are knackered in EVERY match) and plan to actually win a game. All because this waste of space is too lazy and selfish to do his job. Get out.

Newcastle Takeover anger: You’re asking the wrong crowd, mate


“You may think that separation between PIF and KSA is bogus. You may think lots of things. But to judge, ask questions of or blatantly decide you now dislike Newcastle and its fans is just a bit weird.”

(Toon fans celebrate takeover well into the night at St James’ Park)


I’ve seen lots of articles from the sporting and none sporting media, as well as comments flood in from fans of other clubs slating this NUFC takeover and venting directly at Newcastle fans.

Must say, this is all a bit strange. For the record. 
We don’t like beheadings. We don’t accept flogging. We don’t approve of stoning people. We don’t celebrate journalists being chopped up. We don’t laugh at any kind of atrocity.
So why are you telling us about them like we do?


Our football club first and foremost has been relieved of Mike Ashley. Party time. Big party.


The football club has been chased by Amanda Staveley for 4 years and she chose the PIF as her big backer.
She, for what it’s worth, doesn’t like or approve of any atrocities either.


This is a business and she has put together a business deal that the PL have (finally) accepted. A legal agreement is in place that shows seperation from the KSA and we crack on.


You may think that seperation between PIF and KSA is bogus. You may think lots of things. But to judge, ask questions of or blatantly decide you now dislike Newcastle and its fans is just a bit weird.


The easiest thing to counter is to offer you’re a bit jealous and salty about it. But let’s say you’re not. Your anger needs to be directed at the following:

The Premier League, Amanda Staveley and Mike Ashley.

They are the ones who have made this business transaction happen. No one else. Not Newcastle fans.


Don’t get me wrong. Some will be sportwashed beyond help and will embarrass the club somewhat (already seeing it before this deal landed). Nothing the rest of us can do unfortunately. Just have to stomach it.

But to see some of the things being thrown at all NUFC fans is pretty ridiculous.
PIF have invested in many companies across the globe. Having a go at Newcastle fans, judging them & asking them about the KSA makes as much sense as:


Dragging a passenger out of an Uber and asking how he feels about KSA human rights record.
Going through an airport and demanding what people waiting for their Boeing 747 plane to arrive are doing and asking them about KSA public flogging.
Stopping Barbara from sipping on her Starbucks and demanding she tell you her feelings on KSA attitude towards women.


Nobody would because that’s a bit mental. PIF have bought into those and many other companies and yet here we are (it will likely fade) seeing NUFC supporters getting this treatment. Pretty bizarre if you take a step back and think about it.


By all means ask us about player recruitment being funded by oil money if you like. That has more relevance. But the murder of a journalist? You’re asking the wrong crowd, mate.

(Some of PIF’s investments as of March 2020)


It’s also a clear case of picking and choosing. Not one single person in the media asked Newcastle fans what they thought of Mike Ashley’s Victorian working conditions at the Sports Direct HQ and staff having to give birth in the toilets.


No radio presenter on BBC radio 4, or TalkSport for that matter, got Kevin from Gosforth opinion on that, because it had nowt to do with NUFC. It was Ashley and his issues. We were associated with him but in a completely separate entity.


You cant pick and choose which outside events are to be used to beat football fans with. Football things for football fans.
Footballers taking the knee? Yea fair. Politicians attacking PL players wages? Maybe. Middle East Country treatment of its people? What?


Ask the PL if you like. They may tell you PIF and KSA are separate. Well, they definitely will. If you wanna judge that badly, go ahead. 
But do us a favour. Don’t be judging a bunch of football club supporters. It’s all a bit weird.


Enjoy your next Boeing flight, Facebook update and Disney movie. Genuinely, guilt free. What the KSA do has nowt to do with you enjoying those things. Also, enjoy the Newcastle game.

Mike Ashley is a small-time, cheap, unambitious, pig-headed, clueless, stubborn fool

Mike Ashley has done a lot of things at Newcastle. Most of it inconceivable to a Newcastle fan. But his latest venture in making Rafa Benitez’ time on Tyneside untenable tops the lot.

The question is why is he doing what he is doing? Why is he blatantly refusing to support him and not making every effort to keep him here for years to come?

Some say it’s perhaps there is a possible sale of the club in the offing so for him to spend any money isn’t in his interest, nor is the future of the club. This is wide of the mark IMO.

Others say it’s because he refuses to allow a manager with one year left on his contract to spend money on players and then leave at the end of the year, which would then leave a scenario of a new manager wanting his own players. This is closer to the mark IMO.

But even this doesn’t really make sense as the ONLY way Rafa would sign a new deal is if the club back him. Not the other way round that Ashley wants it. If you sign a deal, then we will spend…promise. Despite our diabolical record of doing so. Rafa is not so stupid to lock himself into a no-win situation, again.

Mike Ashley is a stubborn clueless fool who only plays by his own rules based on the fact it has served him well in creating the UK’s biggest sports retailer, so in his head, why change?

Well isn’t it obvious why you should change? If you have the record Ashley has over the past 10 years as NUFC owner, whatever mindset you had must be torn up and start again, This should have been done years ago, never mind now.

If you have been making terrible mistakes and nonsense decisions time & time & time again, then at some point you basically give up trying to make decisions and let someone else do it.

That person should be Rafa Benitez. Ashley has a hard time trusting people. He tends to trust morons and con artists like Llambias, Jimenez, Kinnear, Wise etc. Which says a lot about his character.

Ashley should be feeding off Rafa and listening to his plans and be helping him build his project. The man clearly knows what he is doing. It’s obvious. Look at his career!

But no. Ashley refuses to be playing second fiddle to some Spanish manager who thinks he’s special. It’s his club so he calls the shots. Total ego-maniac moron. The lack of ambition inside the walls of the boardroom is frightening. Terrifying in fact.

Imagine having a manager whose last job was Real Madrid and has the trophies he has on his CV and not trust him to make signings when we were in the Championship not long ago?

Imagine not allowing him to do what he wants to do? Unthinkable to anyone with a brain. Or to anyone with true ambition. Charnley, Bishop and Barnes are not fit for purpose.

All men hired by Ashley are idiots and con men. This massive stain on Ashley’s character is the biggest issue NUFC have had and continued to have. We never have the right men in place where it counts.

We have a thoroughbred horse of a manager in the stable but his keeper doesn’t know how or even want to feed him and his trainer can’t be bothered to keep him fit. His owner nowhere to be seen and deprives him of what he needs. So will he fulfil his potential? Of course not.

Newcastle need a new owner. Once they do this will bring a new chairman, CEO etc and finally the manager can be able to do his job. There is only one way this happens and it’s if Ashley sells up.

Two things can create a sale. Someone comes along from no where and pays a fee Ashley can’t refuse or Ashley lowers his price and looks for a sale himself.

The fans have a job to force Ashley’s hand. A half empty stadium speaks volumes. Disrupt his Sports Direct stores, this will also send a message to him “directly”. The fans must try to force Ashley to sell as a random billionaire coming along has much chance of a Euromillions win for you or me.

The fans must do their part. To continue to just fill out the stadium and carry on regardless will do nothing. Rafa will leave in the summer and Ashley will remain to do whatever he wants.

Ashley is a small time, cheap, unambitious, pig-headed, clueless, stubborn fool. He must be removed for Newcastle to ever reach its potential. This is a fact.

The Ginger Pirlo

Newcastle Utd signing Asian players for purely commercial reasons?

Newcastle Utd are set to sign their second Asian player in a matter of weeks with Yoshinori Muto on his way to Tyneside from Japan to complete his medical. This follows the free transfer of Ki Sung-Yeung from Swansea.

This raises some questions of what is the sudden interest in Asian players, considering that before these signings Newcastle had never had an Asian player in their history? Ever.

Now I am not saying these aren’t good players and won’t do well for us. They might. However, if you take a look at our new shirt I think the main answer is staring us in the face.

As of last season, NUFC gained a new shirt sponsor from the awful Wonga debacle to the new and ‘funky’ Fun88bet.com who are an Asian online betting company. So I don’t think it really requires an investigation from Sherlock to work out where I sudden interest in Asian players has come from.

Now, I am not saying investing in Asian players to make moves into the Asian market is a bad thing, in fact I have been asking why Newcastle haven’t done this in the past as it’s easy money to be made with the right player on the books.

However, given our massive restraints in signing football players, especially ones that Rafa Benitez wants, if we are in anyway signing footballers for mainly commercial reasons to appease our main sponsor, then more serious questions need to be asked of this Ashley establishment.

I personally have analysed Bundesliga matches for two seasons as part of my job as a performance analyst and I can sum up what I have seen of Muto as; he is ok. Nothing special. So, to spend just under £10 million on him would be a massive punt on our part.

If Muto ends up being our only investment in the forward line come the start of the season then Lee Charnley deserves to be hauled up in front of parliament never mind a petition. Muto at best will serve as competition for Ayoze Perez in the no.10 position. He is not a prolific goalscorer by any stretch.

I am still of the belief that once Mitrovic is sold to Fulham we will bring in a No.9, most likely Rondon from West Brom but I will put nothing past our administration in leaving any sale until deadline day and we end up with no replacement.

However, sticking on point, Fun88 bet will be extremely happy with our two Asian signings and no doubt they will both be front and centre of all our commercial campaigns this season as they promote the bright blue Fun88 logo with pride.

It just so happens Keisuke Honda is available on a free transfer and reminded everyone of his quality in the World Cup so don’t be surprised if Charnley has made an enquiry to his agent.

I am just surprised he hasn’t brought in Southampton’s Maya Yoshida instead of Fabian Schar…

All hail Fun88.com. Bet now!

Weird transfer XI – Some shockers in here!

There have been some weird transfers over the years. Some that just didn’t make sense at the time and seem even worse when you look back. Here are some that stick in my mind: 

GK: Edwin Van Der Sar – Juve to Fulham.

The whole thing was just weird. Clearly too good for them. Eventually made his move to Man U and won it all. What’s unreal is he was at Fulham for FOUR years. What a total waste of time.

RB: Mat Debuchy – Newcastle to Arsenal.

May not seem that weird but as a Newcastle fan, we couldn’t believe Arsene Wenger paid us twice as much as we did for him, to take him off our hands. He’s done nothing at Arsenal and none of us are surprised. Weird.

(I also have to mention Julian Faubert from West Ham to Real Madrid on loan. Very strange one)

CB: Laurent Blanc – Inter to Man Utd. 

Seriously this one was weird for the entire time he was there. He was clearly too old and contributed to Fergie’s worst ever season in the Premier League. So ridiculous.

CB: David Luiz – PSG to Chelsea.

This one was weird right? No-one could understand it. He then helped them win the league. So weird. He’s now not in the team. Not so weird.

LB: Mikael Silvestre – Man Utd to Arsenal.

I found this one just very strange. I couldn’t get my head around it. Fergie never sells to a rival, so he must have been past it, but he wasn’t that bad, which made it all just weird.

CM: Thomas Gravesen – Everton to Real Madrid.

Has there ever been a weirder permanent transfer? He actually played as well. Twilight zone.

CM: Edgar Davids – rocks up at Barnet.

This wasn’t a transfer and he was player-manager (kind of) but come on. Edgar Davids playing for Barnet? Weirdo.

CM: Ivan Campo – Real Madrid to Bolton.

I could have put Fernando Hierro in this team or even Djorkaeff but Campo was still in his prime and had only recently stopped polishing his Champions League medal. He would spend six years at Bolton. Six.

FW: Nicolas Anelka – Fenerbahce to Bolton.

PSG, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Man City, Fenerbahce, Bolton, Chelsea, wait what? If Anelka were to go for a job interview, he would need to explain the gap in his CV for that 2-year spell at Bolton Wanderers. How? Why?

FW: George Weah – Milan to Chelsea.

This was just weird. It’s like it never happened but it did and I for one can’t forget it. George Weah was a mirage, a mysterious idol to be watched only on Football Italia, winning World player of the year. Not struggling to play up front with Chris Sutton. No. No. No.

FW: Ian Rush & John Barnes – Leeds & Liverpool to Newcastle.

First off, these are two players so technically makes my XI a 12 man team. However, they came at the same time and given their ability at their respective ages, they just about make up one players worth.

As a Toon fan, I watched Kevin Keegan sign Ferdinand & Ginola in 1995 and almost won us the league. I then saw Kenny Dalglish sell them both in 1997 & replace them with over the hill Ian Rush & John Barnes. What? I know they say ‘sign what you know’ but this destroyed our team and put the club back for years. Perhaps forever. Why Kenny? Why? Utter nonsense.

Follow me on Twitter @ToonBano

The shocking truth behind the failed Chelsea’s Kenedy deal. It’s totally unacceptable…

Charnley

As a Newcastle fan it is obvious our window was beyond a joke built up of lies and misery. However, I just want to make clear to everyone how either incompetent our administration is or how scumbaggery they are towards our official ‘UEFA Elite Coach’ Rafa Benitez. Or perhaps they are both.

We had in place a deal for Chelsea left back Kenedy sorted TWO WEEKS AGO but it could only be finalised once Chelsea brought in a first team wing back themselves. Fine.
Oxlade-Chamberlain was their first choice but that fell through on Deadline Day morning as he joined Liverpool. So, my amazing club concluded that the Kenedy deal was off.

Now, this is where some serious explaining needs to happen as at 2.30pm Chelsea agreed a fee for Zappacosta in light of missing out on the Ox. The whole football world knew this as the fact he had Costa in his name brought great attention. So, the Kenedy deal to NUFC is back on right? Apparently no.

Despite there being a good 8 hours or so for Newcastle to get in contact with Chelsea and sort out arrangements for Kenedy making his way to the North East in anticipation of Zappacosta signing, which in turn we could confirm Kenedy…Newcastle Utd announced at 7 pm that they had shut up shop with no more business for the day.

Apparently no. Despite there being a good 8 hours or so for Newcastle to get in contact with Chelsea and sort out arrangements for Kenedy making his way to the North East in anticipation of Zappacosta signing, which in turn we could confirm Kenedy…Newcastle Utd announced at 7 pm that they had shut up shop with no more business for the day.

Are you having a laugh?
Rafa Benitez has woke up this morning to a first team that is minus a left back. A left back that he had lined up a fortnight ago. Chelsea have their new wing back in place to make the deal happen, so why don’t we have it?
This isn’t due to time restraints as Zappacosta was in place many many hours before the window was due to shut. If Zappacosta deal somehow fell through, then Kenedy would too. That’s fine.
But to not have Kenedy at the training ground last night with medical done just waiting for the nod from Chelsea after Zappacosta was confirmed is totally unforgivable for its senseless incompetence.

Newcastle Utd is ran by con men who should be nowhere near the positions they hold. A 15-year-old boy addicted to Football Manager could conduct transfer activity better than them.

Or maybe it’s down to they just don’t want to bring any much needed new players in. That means spending money. Which we all know Premier League clubs don’t have….?

So in which case…what are you doing here? Get out of my club. What possible enjoyment do Ashley and his administration get out of it? Name me one thing? Shambles.

Once Rafa walks, everybody else should too.  Fans first, then Ashley will follow. It’s the only way to get rid of him. He isn’t interested in owning a club with an empty stadium. He will sell and we can finally move on.

The Ginger Pirlo.

Angry Kieran Gibbs set to leave Arsenal for Newcastle after FA Cup final omission

Arsenal have signed left-back Sead Kolasinac on a free transfer for next season and with Nacho Monreal first-choice, Kieran Gibbs’ days are numbered at the Emirates.


 The Englishman has been plagued by injuries his whole career and was reported as injured, then ill, before the FA Cup final but was angered after not being told about his omission from the squad by Arsene Wenger.

So Gibbs is set to leave Arsenal in the summer after a massive 10 years since making his debut for the North London club, with Newcastle his most likely destination. A fee of around £6 million should be enough to take him to Tyneside and would be a much-welcomed addition to take over the left-back duties from Paul Dummett.

The semi-retired Welsh international Geordie wizard just isn’t up to scratch for the Premier League. He was decent in the important games during our Championship campaign, with keeping Brighton’s ‘Championship Player of the Year’ Anthony Knockaert quiet being the highlight, but he still showed on countless occasions his lack of positional sense, total reluctance to ever get forward and still has a massive mistake waiting to happen in his locker.

Gibbs is an experienced 27-year-old with a point to prove, given he has never quite made the most of his potential. If he can stay injury free, then he will be as solid a left-back as NUFC could ever hope to bring in for such a reasonable fee.

Watch this space.

Follow The Ginger Pirlo on Twitter @ToonBano

New Newcastle kit ‘leaked’!

Many of us have caught a glimpse of the supposedly new Newcastle kit that has been ‘leaked’ on social media, which shows Dwight Gayle giving it the big one as he rocks the ‘classic’ black and white design we were all expecting, complete with a brand new sponsor.

This new sponsor seems to be Chinese betting firm Fun88, which would also confirm the rumours of such an establishment being the next business to flaunt itself on the black and white stripe, which is replacing the awful Wonga once and for all. Thank the Lord.

No details have been released yet on whether this is, in fact, our next sponsor or how much they are spending to promote themselves via ourselves but let’s hope it’s in the levels you would expect a top Premier League club to receive, and not some cheap job concluded by tax-avoider Lee Charnley.

Follow me on Twitter @ToonBano. Also check out TheGingerPirlo.com

Christian Atsu set to sign for Newcastle permanently for £6 million

“His fee of £6 million is worth the punt for someone who obviously has talent but has never had a club yet to call home”

It looks like Newcastle are taking up the option to sign Christian Atsu on a permanent basis from Chelsea for around £6 million. The infamous ‘Sky sources’ are all over the story claiming the club and Atsu are in negotiations today as the deadline from his loan clause to make his move permanent is closing in. Atsu has been decent overall in the Championship but is he good enough for the Premier League?

Well if you look at his record for Ghana this season he has become arguably their most influential attacker and his impressive performances helped Ghana to the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations.

In the Championship for the Magpies he has put in some decent performances and some memorable moments on our way back to the Premier League. None more so than the free kick that finished off Cardiff in the penultimate game of the season – what a beauty!

His fee of £6 million is worth the punt for someone who obviously has talent but has never had a club yet to call home, as he has been continuously shipped out on loan all across Europe. We might just be able to get the best out of him next season.

Follow me on Twitter @ToonBano. Also check out TheGingerPirlo.com

We need Hatem Ben Arfa back in the Premier League

“Hatem Ben Arfa is one of the most exciting players in Europe. He must play football to entertain the world. We want him back in the Premier League.”

I love Hatem Ben Arfa. He is a genius. An enigma. The ultimate maverick. We need him back in The Premier League as witnessing him sat on the bench at PSG every week is hurtful. A talent like HBA needs to be on the pitch to entertain the world.

OGC Nice are amazingly chasing the French League title this season as they fight the mega rich PSG and AS Monaco head on. This somewhat surprising challenge is based off the back of their previous campaign in 2015/16 where from absolutely no-where they were chasing the Champions League places despite only expected to be a mid table team at best. This was down to bringing in a player from the football scrapheap who didn’t have a club, who was unfit but did have amazing talent. That player was Newcastle and briefly Hull City outcast Hatem Ben Arfa.

Nice needed a player like Ben Arfa and Ben Arfa needed a team like Nice. A team with no expectations that would give him the platform to perform week in week out and potentially be their headline act if he got himself match fit. The enigmatic Frenchman did not disappoint as he tore through Ligue 1 almost from day one right through the whole season as the small French club were agonisingly close to qualifying for the Champions League. All of which was under the guidance of current Southampton boss Claude Puel.

Sports GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Ben Arfa has been linked to joining the Saints when Puel left Nice to go to the South coast club, Ben Arfa was also leaving Nice on a free transfer. However, with likes of Barcelona looking into his signature the chances of him landing at St Mary’s were extremely thin. It was PSG who finally gave Ben Arfa a 2-year contract in hope to he could re-create his blistering form for the French champions. Unfortunately for HBA he has not been given a genuine chance by new boss Unai Emery to show his talent and is consistently left on the bench and given 10-minute cameos near the end of games or left out the matchday squad completely.

This is a sorry sight for Ben Arfa as his blatant talent is a crime to be wasted sat on the bench as he was arguably the best player in the whole of France last season, definitely the most exciting. If Claude Puel could rescue the skillful winger from his PSG slumber next season, or any other Premier League club, it would be a glorious site to see the lad in full flow again.

Soccer GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Ben Arfa had an amazing season in 2015/16 as he scored 18 goals in 34 games and had some of the best dribbling stats in Europe, he averaged 4 successful dribbles per game! Which is incredible. The French international would definitely add some quality to the Saints forward line as it has failed to ignite this season and got even worse when Charlie Austin was put out of action for four months. Ben Arfa ex-team mate Boufal has failed to live up to expectations, Redmond & Tadic have rare moments of quality, Rodriguez doesn’t seem up to full match speed and Shane Long hardly gets a kick.

Hatem Ben Arfa is one of the most exciting players in Europe. He must play football to entertain the world. We want him back in the Premier League.