Phil Dowd redefines 'shoddy refereeing'

instead of blaming the shoddy referee you should be blaming your defense, that's what was truly shoddy in that game.

They should be blaming their owner. What sort of idiot thinks that a person who has never managed a football club in his life can succeed where many seasoned veterans have failed? The fundemental problem is with the club itself, there are no other explinations.

This is the problem at Newcastle at the moment, you're expectations about everything are unrealistic. The owners messed up by bringing in Denis Wise to oversea transfers and stopped KK from developing a decent footballing side. I hope Shearer stays there as manager whether Newcastle stay up or are relegated because either way he will make sure that massive changes are put in place to take the club forward. As for blaming he referee for bad decisions, granted the first goal was offside, but Barton had to go! Shearer said that in public on TV. He wants players to play football, not try to put opposition players out of the game. Get real Newcastle fans, tackles like that cannot and should not be condoned. Don't mistake your loyalty to the club and it's players for a sense of fair play. Reverse the position and ask yourselves if one of your players was subjected to an assault like that, would you want him sent off?

I have absolutely nothing against the majority of Newcastle fans. As a Spurs fan who began supporting in the days of "terracing" I can remember Newcastle taking up the entire South stand - no mean feat for a team as far from London as is possible in England - I have always been impressed by the support they have provided to their team in good times and bad. But, If any Newcastle fan thinks they are on the verge of relegation for no other reason than their club is rotten to the core, then they are dellusional. I take no joy from Newcastle being relegated as it could so easily have been Spurs. Spurs have suffered equal problems in terms of rot - the difference betwen the two sides is the speed of acting on various levels to stop it. Whilst Levy has put his hands up and showed some humility in accepting that his vision was faulty, your own owner hasnt. Levy scrapped the hated Director of Football role that saw us fire the best coach we had in years (Jol) and saw us spend untold amounts on average players and untested youngsters. He then fired a manager that could not speak English. By contrast, your own "Spurs supporting" owner undermined Keegan (a manager who has consistently shown a lack of confidence in his appointments) by installing Dennis Wise as DoF - a post that he had not proven himself at. Spurs replaced Ramos with the Premiership experienced, media friendly Redknapp; Newcastle opted for Kinnear who immediately embarked on a meet and hate campaign with the media. Redknapp has spent the season weeding out the non-hackers, consigning the likes of Bentley, Bale and Zokora to the bench whilst boosting the confidence of the beleagured Gomez, Lennon and Modric. By comparison, too many Newcastle players dont seem up for it. I went to the Spurs Newcastle game and they were a shadow of the side that destroyed us at the Lane the previous season. Butt looked a broken man and there was no penetrative threat at all until Martins came on. Ironically, Barton could end up being your saviour; Shearers rant at Barton may well sink into the players minds enough to spark one or two players into life enough to keep you up.