Articles 
Through this whole sorry shambles of a season and into the vacuum of the close season, the one glowing constant has been the presence of Newcastle United Supporters Club; irritating and hounding the administration and seeking a path through the melee of mistruths and downright lies that have been omitted from NE1, on the odd occasion that is, when anyone of authority has sought to stick their head over the parapet and face the fans.
Set up in the wake of Keegan's departure the NUSC interim committee have built upon those initial meetings of September 08 and collectively set up a supporters club that will be around for many years to come.
Naturally there are those who choose to be blinkered by pre conceptions or critical if decisions made are not of their choosing, but the one thing we have learned over the last 11 months is that the majority of Newcastle supporters hate with a passion the images some media outlets choose to use in portraying our loyal fanbase and have strongly voiced their approval that if the presence of NUSC as a legitimate representative body can help to snuff out that portrayal with constructive and rational media representation then all the better for its presence.
During the season the volunteer committee have worked tirelessly to keep members informed. Three open meetings have been held where opinion has been gathered and members given the opportunity to voice their thoughts. At one such gathering an overwhelming majority voted in favour of the committee exploring the desire to seek Trust status and this was duly undertaken and implemented. Obtaining Trust status has slightly delayed the election of a working full committee and discussions with Supporters Direct on the implementation of this important piece of legislation are underway.
The committee have set up a website; (www.nusc.org.uk) informative and constructive and its enhancement during the close season has seen it become even more useful and easier to navigate. A quarterly newsletter has been introduced and while the majority of members receive copies by email, some still choose traditional hardcopy which we happily post out. We commenced a letter writing campaign which the local press chose to ignore and have initiated an online petition for members to log on and sign up to.
In February we held a rally at Greys Monument prior to the Everton game. Maligned by many of the internet cyber men as being trivial, a waste of time and a distraction, the rally gave NUSC the opportunity to start reaching out beyond the confines of a close tied but passionate membership and the intensive media coverage that it gained brought a marked increase in membership numbers and media attention from as far afield as China and Australia.
Following the rally came the NUSC's invitation to attend a meeting with Derek Llambias, where committee members stood up and asked the poignant and difficult questions that many of the press had failed to push the club on. It was the NUSC committee who questioned the sale of Shay Given and were told of the clubs new policy of "buying for cash and selling on credit"; that the richest club in the world were now party to our kind credit terms and that while we valued shay at £15m we settled for only £900k more than City's offer of £5m. Similarly the committee obtained the facts on who bought and sold whom (Dennis bought Bassong and Kevin bought Xisco - both subsequently proven to be lies), what role Dennis Wise played at the club, how Ashley likes to manage his businesses, the presence of a five year plan modelled on Villa and not Arsenal and how much contempt the club holds those who choose to question them. All of this was well documented and is available online on our website.
Canvassing members opinion is very important and to achieve that the committee endorsed staging a series of roadshow talk ins. To date we have held these in Prudhoe, Holystone, Forest Hall, Blyth, Felling, Brandon, Simonside (South Shields), Blakelaw, and Winlaton. Guest speakers have included Mick Martin, John Anderson, Mick Lowes and John Gibson.
In June we staged a highly successful comedy night where star turns Gavin Webster and Simon Donald gave us three solid hours of side splitting entertainment while helping raise over £200 for the Tiny Lives fund at the RVI. We also had committee members out fundraising on behalf of the Sir Bobby Robson foundation and raised a staggering £3,000 for this most worthy of causes.
But at the heart of everything that we have undertaken has been our desire to see an end to this abysmal mess that Mike Ashley has created. We have tirelessly pushed prodded and exposed everything that is wrong at our Club and will continue to do so. Our position has not changed and while we have not as some demand proposed a re-enactment of the Jarrow March or take action akin to Al Qaeda, we have used every legitimate tool in our box to question Mike Ashley's desire to do right by the City, the Club and the Supporters.
Some may view the actions over the last 11 months as feeble, a waste of time or not worthy of supporting. But so too is sitting back, bitching behind the cyber screens of chatrooms and online forums; failing to be constructive and calling for change but not participating in any activity that may lead to that change. Yes, we all have a responsibility to giving our support to the team as they seek three points on match days. But the owner cannot expect blind loyalty when he abdicates all responsibility for failure, fails to listen, communicate or offer any solution to rekindle our Premiership flame. It is our responsibility as supporters to hold him to account and with collective involvement the pressure will bear down even heavier. Don't believe his propaganda that it is somehow disloyal to the black and white shirt to question his entitlement to run the club as he so wishes. He may own the fixtures but we, the supporters own the heart and soul.
