There are clubs that have been far worse off than Newcastle Utd over the last 32 years. Sir Bobby Robson and Kevin Keegan brought you guys a fair amount of success! However, I think the big mistake was Sir John Hall selling his stake in the club Mike Ashley; the guy just isn't passionate enough about football to be a decent owner! In any case, that is a discussion for another time...
I agree with you that the manner of the defeat is what is most concerning. That sort of performance sent a shiver down my spine and reminded me of the dark old days of the late 90s and early 2000s when life was a real struggle for us. However, based on the team we fielded and the opposition we were up against, we should not be getting beaten by that margin in the manner that we did. There is an argument to suggest that it could rank as the club's most embarrassing loss given the circumstances.
I personally think Madge's situation is close to being untenable as he seems unable to fix the problems that have plagued us for the last 18 months. Many people are going on about Plan B's, being one dimensional, not having a decent hooker, Greg Inglis and the Burgess brothers being overrated etc. and while they are all relevant reasons as to why we are where are, the most elementary factor behind our demise is that we just cannot hang onto the bloody ball! You can have the best players in the world and the most elaborate game plan that there is but if you cannot hang onto the ball then you are not going to win a thing! I remember looking at the match stats yesterday and I can recall within the first 25-30 minutes we had made something like 7 handling errors! You'd be lucky to see the Melbourne Storm make 7 handling errors in a game, let alone in 30 minutes. Moreover, it is just not just the excessive number but also during the context of the game and the areas of the field that we are making these mistakes that are proving to be so costly!
