Toon Warning To Those Who Cancel Their Season Tickets!

"Yes, mistakes have been made this season but the board remains fully committed to re-establishing Newcastle United as one of the leading teams in the Premier League.

"I know how much you enjoyed seeing the club challenging at the top end of the table and competing in Europe on a regular basis and we all want to see that again. It may take a little time to achieve, but your continued support will be crucial in helping us get there.

"We think this is the fairest way to do things if people do want to cancel their direct debits. We appreciate the economic climate has changed considerably for a lot of people and this is the compromise we have reached.

"All we are asking for is that supporters pay back the money they saved on this season's ticket when they signed up for the three years and we will terminate the contract."

Should fans not repay the money they saved last summer, the club have warned they will expect them to honour the obligations of the contract they signed and continue to pay by direct debit in accordance with the payment schedule.

AN E-MAIL FROM ONE TOON FAN - NEIL CROSSLEY:

I'm desperately trying to understand what is going on with the club and maybe you could offer some of your own insight into the following:

1) Why are we persevering, as a club, with Kinnear, Calderwood & Hughton?

2) Are the rumours of a new contract for all three true? How can this possibly be, when they are all doing such a poor job?

3) Are we really supposed to believe the "five year plan" guff Mr. Llambias came out with? Surely if there was a five year plan, the involvement of Joe Kinnear should be long gone whilst we invest in a proper management structure to take the club forward?

4) Further on the five year plan, why would this 'plan' be allowed to be devised and managed by Llambias and Wise, two individuals who have none of the credentials necessary?

5) What ARE NUSC doing? They are entirely maverick and don't appear to have the slightest clue as to what is needed at the club.

6) Why are we offering contracts to Ameobi, Butt & Carroll, three players who have all contributed heavily to our dour situation and who have all proven time and again that they have none of the attributes needed for top flight football?

7) Why do we still have Smith, Geremi, Viduka, Gonzalez and Cacapa on the payroll? This must be a massive drain and I struggle to believe they are of more worth than Doninger, Godsmark, Ranger, Inman or Donaldson?

8) Finally - what the hell is going on with the reserves? I appreciate that we have struggled to field our strongest XI, but by the same token players like those already mentioned (Ameobi, Butt, Smith, Geremi, Cacapa, Duff, etc.) are massively responsible for this appalling season. Why are those same players persevered with, game after game, ahead of some pretty bright talent? Why does Hughton believe that the same players who have been disgustingly hopeless for ¾ of the campaign are suddenly the right ones to get us out of the trouble they've put us in? It beggars belief and I refuse to believe that the owner, the one who stands to lose far more than I do, can't see it. And if he can't, why is he even involved with football?

I appreciate you guys may be as baffled as I am and probably have no answers to any of the above, but unless we take a stance of asking these questions, important questions that can help shape a better future, then we'll get nowhere. If our front is continually perceived to be NUSC and their "Wise Oot" banners, we'll continually be perceived as idiots. I would personally like us all to do more - I have recently seen an "open letter" on the net (through Newsnow) which is no better than anything I, or others like me, have been saying for a while - it's simply more eloquent than NUSC could hope to achieve, hence it gets airtime. But surely if some of the more intelligent among us clubbed together, we could get something done?

Let me know, if you get the time.
Neil Crossley.