Tuesday 26th July 2005

Some people just can’t help being bitter.  It’s in their make up.  Many of them are Mackems and Beasts.  Bernie Slaven springs to mind.  Try as they might they just can’t help themselves. Others start off being quite affable individuals, everyone loves them but a combination of time and world-weariness eventually wears them down until their bitterness outs.  This week we have seen an abundance of both of the above in the fourth estate’s view of NUFC. 

The week’s coverage began with a pretty predictable post match review of our Intertoto win in Slovakia.  (Article) (Article) and (Article).  Certainly nothing spectacular but a win that made the home leg comfortable.  However it wasn’t a performance to crow about.  Indeed talk of Souness’ relief (Article) and a win that “papered over cracks” (Article) or even “glosses over the rustiness” (Article) I think is more than fair comment.  After going 2 up in 7 minutes we looked bereft of ideas as to how to kill the game off entirely and made life uncomfortable for ourselves.  And just how poor was Nicky Butt?  I think it’s also worth applauding the efforts of the members of the tf massive who made the journey to be in attendance – just what was that you were chanting in Slovak by the way?

Monday also brought the first rumblings from SBR.  (Article) Now before I start yes he is a Tyneside legend.  Yes he did take us from the brink of an abyss similar to the one we teeter close to at this moment in time.  What he did for NUFC is appreciated by us all.  He has his autobiography out.  He wants to sell it (of course). Problem is he is starting to sound like a bitter, troubled old man who, if he carries on like this, will lose some of that fondness and respect.  And that is a shame.  By Tuesday he’d gone from anger over being sacked to anger over being denied the chance to take on the England job at the expense of duties here at SJP.  (Article)  I mean seriously SBR, do you really think any chairman in his right mind, even ours, would let you do that?  (Ed: probably best to skate over his view of Solano and his Peruvian international career). By the end of the week he was banging on and on about Bellamy and what a “good lad” he is.  (Article)  Aye, right.  So good that you had him in your office at least 30 times?  Has it ever occurred to you that had you handled him with a little more discipline, and I don’t mean a grabbing by the throat style here, just more than the odd “little chat”, that perhaps he would not have gotten so out of control?  Or gotten such a high self-opinion that he expected offers from Bayern Munich and Barcelona and instead got Blackburn and Birmingham?  Doesn’t sell the book quite so well that does it though?  By Sunday we had a full on “Big Interview” in The Sunday Times.  (Article)  Aye well, good luck with the book sales, now shut it and move on with our thanks and whatever respect we have left.

On the signings front, the club officially unveiled Emre this week.  (Article).  Apparently we beat off late competition from Milan to take him from Inter.  (Article)  Yeah right, whatever.  Much has been made of his Muslim faith by some.  (Article)  I don’t get why, even in such strange times that should be made an issue.  I don’t care what faith, colour or creed our players are, only that they are B&W and proud to wear the shirt, and care enough not to disgrace it.  (Nicky Butt - please take note).  I guess we’ll have to avoid mention of bombing down the left wing or giving a suicide pass just to be on the safe side then eh? 

Also incoming was young Dutch goalkeeping prospect Tim Krul (Article) whilst our next main targets remain Fulham’s Luis Boa Morte and “Le Sulk Incroyable” Nicolas Anelka. 

For the entire week we seem to have been “stepping up” our bid for Anelka. From Monday (Article) through to Wednesday (Article) all the way through to Sunday.  (Article)  We seem desperate to sign him (Article) despite Fenerbache’s protestations that they don’t want to sell (Article) and I get the feeling that even having a firm bid rejected (Article) we may well end up seeing him in a B&W shirt.  And on Kevin Keegan’s recommendation apparently (Article).  At least it’s not a defender he’s recommending, he certainly knows a good striker when he sees one.  Interestingly one of the reasons for his unrest at Fenerbache is that he is often used as a right-sided attacker and not as a centre forward.  (Article)  Sound familiar?  Frying pan, fire?

At the same time our continued interest in Boa Morte has well and truly rattled the cage of Fulham manager Chris Coleman.  Coleman is a young manager who has impressed me at times.  But right now he just sounds like a little boy having a tantrum.  Bitter almost.  Again we have had a firm offer refused (Article) (Article).  And again I think it’s only a matter of time before he is on Tyneside, and most of the press seem to agree.  (Article) (Article) I think it is only right we don’t just turn up and cough up full whack straight away, we’d be mugs to do so.  But Coleman’s whinging is just getting on my tits now. (Article)  What next?  “My striker, my striker, my striker!”  “You can’t have him and I’ll thcream and thcream and thcream until I’m thick.”  He’s now so up himself he reckons Papa Bouba Diop is worth £14 million! (Article)  Unbelievable.

The last bitter twist in this week’s papers comes from Sunderland’s (ahem) finest, Louise Taylor.  Regular readers will know she isn’t a favourite here in the tf bunker, and with good reason.  So popular that she upset her own down the road at ALS too a wee while back (Article) but I digress.  She nearly got a mention last week after a fabulous and incisive “interview” with Souness that I failed to keep the link for because it was just frankly shite and could have been written by cobbling together quotes from everywhere else during the week.  Pretty much like this Guardian piece (Article) which bears an uncanny resemblance to this Independent article on the same day.  (Article)  Cutting edge journalism you see.  But as ever she just can’t help the bitterness.  Compare her report of Saturday’s Intertoto 2nd leg from Sunday’s Telegraph (Article) to others of the same game (Article) (Article) and even our own very B&W view (Article).  Just stick to the Legion of Shite and pack it in will you!

And so dear reader what to leave you with for this week?  Respect is due to Peter Kirkley, loyal servant to the cause and well worth his moment in the spotlight in this week’s Chronicle.  (Article)  A man whose opinion on young players I am led to believe was often totally ignored by a certain bitter former manager. Hugo Viana, Darren Ambrose?  Hmmm.  Our chairman continues to quietly buy up more shares.  (Article)  just what is he up to?  Finally a competition this week offers the chance to “shoot like Big Al.” (Article).  What next?  Punch like a big girl?  Piss your career up the wall?  Or how about blag your way to an unwarranted pay rise?  With us you just never know.

NM