Summary of Fans Forum – July 6th

Newcastle United have today published the minutes from the Fans Forum meeting which took place Monday 6th July. 

Newly appointed head coach Steve McClaren got the ball rolling with a brief statement outlining his ambition and thanking the fans for taking their time to attend the meeting.

“There’s a great determination with myself and the board and the people behind the scenes to take the club forward,” he said.

“The key thing was Mike Ashley’s interview before the West Ham fixture. What he said must have given everyone at the club an enormous lift. Certainly I said that for whichever head coach came into the club, what a fantastic situation. That’s what I’ve sensed going around and meeting people.

“We’ve needed to get things in place. It’s taken a while to get my staff in place because they’ve been here, there and everywhere. We didn’t want to rush that because the people around you are important. It’s important to get the right people. I think we’ve got a great coaching team. They are the right people to work with the players. Our culture is that we’re here to improve them. If we improve them, everyone will benefit.

“We’ve got quality people in and from day one, we’ve come in and just worked how we normally work. We set the culture and the environment. We want everybody to get up in the morning and want to come to work. That’s they key thing – they enjoy the work, it’s beneficial, they get coached, they get taught and they get made better – as far as they want to go. We have the staff to do that.

“We set the ground rules. There are two agendas which run parallel. One is the present squad and present staff. Two is adding to that and looking at how we are going to improve the situation. That for me has been what we’ve been doing; identifying what’s present and what do we need to take us forward. 

“The players have come in and we’ve set out our culture, our rules. Discipline is the key to it. We’ve stressed from day one the kind of discipline we expect from players, as well as the discipline that they expect from us. We ask them to be professional; to do the right thing every day.

“If we create that environment, people – players – will follow. It’s about setting up, getting the players in and identifying what success is. We want to win something and get into the top eight. That’s been stated by the owner and that’s our objective. How we get there is our job. In the longer term, we have got to think strategically about how we develop this team into a top eight team that is going to win a trophy.”

The attendees then began to fire questions at the former England manager.

What’s your view on that current squad and how much potential do you see?

“We’re trying to raise the standards. The key thing is talking to the players one-on-one. The majority of people who say things about players don’t have the benefit of knowing what goes on behind the scenes,” McClaren responded

“The best thing we can do is have one-on-ones with the players. You, as fans, are questioning players but believe you me, I’m also questioning them one-on-one and saying ‘this is being said of you, give me some background’. From that, we assess if they can change and if they can get better. 

“We’re assessing what we have at the present moment and if it can take us forward. If the character, attitude, ability, mentality can help us to win a trophy and take us into that top eight. That’s a totally different level to where we are at the moment. Can the present squad do it? We go through each player and we’ll assess. Is he a winner? Is he with us? Can he go with us? That’s what we’re assessing.

“I’ve talked to the current staff and board but I also know the players so we’ve got a good idea of what we need.”

Lots of fans who have fallen out of love with the club. What would you say to them?

“We can’t just say ‘come on, fall back in love’. I can write things down and we can say it here but you’ll only believe it when you see the action. That’s the job we’ve got to do, to show that passion and attitude,” McClaren replied.

“That last game against West Ham last season, the team was never going to lose that. The attitude, the passion wasn’t just on the field, it was also off the field. I’ve watched the whole game three or four times and we’ve clipped it down to 8-10 minutes to show the players. Within that clip, it shows their attitude and passion. That’s what you want to see. That’s the platform every time we turn up, that’s the least we expect.”

Most previous managers/head coaches have a brand of football. What is yours?

“We’ve put the statement up that we want to be respected in football as an attractive, attacking, but effective team. That’s what we’ve always done. It’s trying to get a balance; a product out on the field and a product from individual players,” he confirmed.

“We want people to try, not to hide and people who can take the ball and want the ball all the time. That’s why Steve Black has been brought in. It’s easy to constantly tell the players to do something but we need the right characters in the team, the right mentality.

“When you cross the white line, everyone has talent but you have to have courage. At top clubs, the shirt is heavy and you have to have the personality to wear it. I’ve seen it – players are fantastic at some clubs but at others, they can’t handle crossing the white line.”

We had a lot of injuries last season. Have there been any changes?

SMc: “It’s one of the first things we look at and we talk to the doctor and the medical staff. We’ve got very good staff behind the scenes. We’ve gone though training methods, what we do and seeing how we can avoid injuries. The doctor was one of the first people I spoke to. 

“We want players to be available every Saturday so that’s our target. If a player gets injured, we need accurate diagnosis, good treatment, good rehab and to get him back as soon as possible.”

The round of questions aimed towards McClaren specifically finished and the other club representatives chipped in with responses.

They confirmed they are assessing the possibility of changing the pricing of NUFCTV – whether they make it free, or part of the membership package.

When questioned why other clubs in a similar position to ours were making efforts to sign players and we weren’t, the club insisted they are making progress on the transfer front – and reiterated that just because a bid isn’t in the paper, does not mean that it hasn’t happened.

One fan raised the issue of a lack of communication from the club. The club responded by confirming Steve McClaren will play a major role in communicating with the fans.

The renovation of the training ground was also raised. The club admitted work was postponed due to the collapse of last season, and they are in the process of rescheduling the work.

For the full summary of each question and details of the next meeting, ticket changes and more, click here.