I know a lot of people don't like the Mag for one reason or another but it's great this month - can highly recommend it. There are some great match reports from the past month (in particular, the house of pain treatment of the Spurs game by Mark Jensen is great. Billy Furious's treatment of the surreal Leeds game is great, too). Also, a wonderful interview with the main man, Aaron Hughes, who comes across as well as ever - seems very intelligent and he is full of praise for other players, notably Nobby, Shola and Kieron. Finally, when asked why the players don't often come over to pallaud us after an away game, he is very honest, saying basically that he knows it's crap and he would be gutted if he'd gone to that much trouble to see his team getting beaten and they didn't come over to say "ta for the support" but that the players are normally so gutted that they just want to get inside to think for a while, then they feel like shit for not saying "hello" to the fans. Top lad, IMHO. Only thing is, the Mag have gone had done a cover saying "Rio Ferdinnd £18 million - what price Aaron Hughes?" You'd have thought that the Mag would know that even THINKING that sort of thing is bad luck.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2001

Answers

By the way, to pallaud is a variant of the verb "to applaud", made up specially for those of us who can't type.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2001

What an pallaing piece of typing.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2001

Out of interest, what does anyone have against The Mag ?

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2001

glossy pages.

ink that doesn't run.

colour.

nee jokes about the Makems.

not a 'proper' fanzine, man!

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2001

I subscribed until they had an advert on the back for a website called manu-are-shite - I'm trying to keep my kids understanding that swearing is to be done in private - this I thought out of order (true but out of order).

Besides that I always had a read through. It was as biased as NUFC.COM but as long as you accept that most publications have a point of view it was worth having.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2001

I think a lot of people think it's over-political. I think it's the DBs meself.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001

The bloke who runs it is not their for the fans he is there for HIMSELF, when the shepherd hall thing was on he stood by them saying the majority of fans stood by them also , I havnt bought the rag since. Jensen is a YES MAN.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001

Mark Jensen is NOT a yes man. He has opinions like the rest of us, and you're more than allowed to disagree. A tale ....

Many years ago Jim Smith was our boss and he decided the side needed pace injected into it. He bought a wonder winger called Wayne Fereday to the club. Wayne was one of the all time greats, and I guess in many people all time top XI would be the rigth winger supplying the crosses for Rob MacDonald and Billy Whitehurst to be on the end of. As we all began to realise this The Mag ran an article suggesting the player may not be the greatest signing we'd ever made. Jim Smith and Bobby Saxton (whatever happened to him) invited Mark in for a chat. Mark was young and inexperienced in these things and always had a difficult balancing act to play as he needed to get player interviews but he also had to be independent. An older pal decided to go along with him.

When they got there there were 3 people to 'chat' to them, Smith, Saxton and Roy Aitken who was club captain at the time. (Mark McGhee may have been there too, don't remember for sure). The three of them went beserk at Mark, Saxton effing and blinding and shouting at him, about how they had to get players to play well, build up their confidence and then w*nkers like him came and demolished it all just for a laugh in a trashy mag. Luckily Mark's pal was a man of the world and calmed it all down, but he also felt that if he hadn't been there Mark would have been threatened even more. For the next few months he was also moved along by the police if he was found selling the mag around th eground.

Also, Mark ran The Mag when he was selling about 1000 a month, and it was his his job. Life changed when Keegan took over and now he does okay, but the lack of income for 5 years meant he lived in an awful part of Gateshead, and had a dangerously ancient car to drive. His heart is in NUFC, he most definitely isn't in it for himself.

Off high horse.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001

My opinion of him after reading the Mag (and No9) for several years is that he didnt want to upset anyone at the club , so his interviews would still be granted, I cant agree with anyone who thinks that The two so called directors were not in the wrong for saying what they did.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001

There's also a brilliant piece from a 'mackem' about why S******d are the 'best'.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001

Hopefully they will be selling it at the Villa game on Wednesday.....as it seems unlikely I will ever get round to getting all these programmes and Mags from Dougal.

I don't 'always' like the magazine and I don't always agree with what they say, but I would defend their right to say it.

Also MJ's not such a bad lad really.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001

I'm coming up for the Villa game so I will bring them along. You could get a subscription, though, ITK.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001

I've hated The Mag and Mark Jensen ever since they slagged off Wayne Fereday. Never read it now.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001

FTM! I stopped looking at it when it started to take itself far too seriously. It was supposed to be a bloody fanzine, not the Literary Review. But anybody know what ever happened to my love supreme "Half Mag Half Biscuit"??? Pure simple brilliance.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001

ran out of cash shagga.

I seem to remember the last edition slating The Mag's glossy 'professsional' style as it meant no one was buying HMHB. I agree though - a classic.

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2001