Manure v Singapore last night - 50,000 sold out at 60 quid a ticket and live on TV too.

An estimated 15,000 T-shirts sold in one day!

Taggart says, "we'll try to come back at least every five years...looks like we have more supporters* in Singapore than in any other city"

And were the locals cheering for their local team, like ###k they were

Farthez, second half substitute - on the left wing

Manure won 8-1, including a Beckham (special!) free kick, which he completely mis-kicked a nd the whole S'pore team almost managed not to let it (deliberately) go in :-(

What a farce!

* Taggart knows how to sniff out, glory-hunting rich barstools!

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Answers

Absolutely Pathetic - but a typical scoop for the marketing / merchandising people.

And what are our team and marketing / merchandising people doing?

:-(

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

What p!$$ed me off Bud was the bliddy BBC ticker on the PC kept giving updates. Ferchrisakes, it was only a bliddy friendly (nobody killed, was there??). Who, apart from 60,000 idiots in Singapore gives a flying whatsit? Bah! Nurse, give me a bumhug.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Spot on Screach...

these effers:

Straits Times: "Football at its MOST entertaining! The 8 hours of wait under the blazing hot sun was worth every minute of it when we got to witness the Magic of the RED DEVILS. It was truly a memorable evening. (*AD NAUSEUM*) Beckham, Barthez, Giggs, Veron, Solskjaer and the rest of the squad wooed the crowds with their magnificent display of football and showed why they are the Champions Of England and a class above the rest of the premiership...I am sure Barthez was out there as a winger only to add on the entertainment value of the game, there is no need to make a big hoo ha out of this, let's just enjoy this wonderful exhibition of football (*PUKE*) It was an exhilarating feeling to see your idols right before us, playing so well! (*VOMIT*) Credit to Team Singapore for the scoring the equaliser!" (*$H!T*)

blah, blah, blah ;7)

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Bud, it was just as bad here in KL, ticket prices were not so high though (around 40 quid for the best seat) but the attendance was over 60000! Even when they arrived and left is was lunacy at the airport - the people hired to protect the team from the autograph hunters became autograph hunters themselves - lol! People started queuing to get into the game 5 hours before kick-off!! Mind you the best one was one guy had painted a Manure shirt onto himself, including the crest and logo - only thing was he had Nokia not Vodaphone emblazoned across his chest!!!!! Same thing about support though - hardly anyone shouted for the Malaysian team (scoreline was not as bad as Singaverypoor though as it was only 6- 0!!)

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Oh come on. I have to say, playing Barthez outfield shows a certain playful humour. It would be like us playing...um, Marcelino outfield.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

I'd like Marcelion to be playing in Singapore

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Well, does everyone remember Mr Shepherd's widely-publicised, 3-point Master Plan to prevent Manure's global domination?

1) USA - "we're talking to Lamarr Hunt about a marketing cooperation agreement with his Columbus footy club". Outcome?

2) Far East - "we're considering another Far East tour". Outcome? Failed.

3) Australasia - "we're looking at buying into a pro club in Australia". Outcome? The objective of this strategy was always highly questionable, but in any event the Club in question proved to be bankrupt.

No further comment is really necessary. :-{(

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Far East?

But surely we were arranging a Far East tour and cancelled because of Inter2bob commitments? And weren't contributors here adamantly opposed to a Far East tour? Actually many weren't keen on the Inter2bob either.

Next season we should arrange fixtures against the likes of (say) Mansfield to get us raring to go for the new season.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

A far eastern tour would have brought NUFC millions of new fans, but the inter toto cup is probably more imprtant this season. Next season, i'd like to see Newcastle go on a pre world cup tour of Japan and Korea. And after the world cup it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a hot Japanese/ Korean player or two in our squad. Again it's a finantial thoing. If we want to compete with the biggest clubs i Europe we need to generate more income and getting fans from the far east is a good way of doing it.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Well said Rik. You will find that some of those who disagree are often the same ones who criticise the board for not releasing money!

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Rik/Jonno,

If you read my post again you'll find I'm not arguing with either of you over the merits of either the TwoBob or a Far East tour. I'm simply recalling that our great leader stated publicly he was considering another Far East tour as one of the three central planks of his Masterplan to prevent the projected global domination of Man U after they announced their co-marketing deal with the New York Yankees - and then couldn't bring it off. In fact, to date he hasn't brought off a single strand of it.

BTW no the Far East tour wasn't cancelled to facilitate the TwoBob - it was called off before that situation arose - because of a straightforward inability to organise the tour.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Wasn't it also because our 'stars' (Shearer and Dyer) wouldn't be fit to play?

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Not getting at anyone jonno, I just think that we have to accept the fact that if we want to become a major player in the world football market we have to be generating huge amounts of cash. The way to do that is to tap into the massive potential in the far Eastern market.

Only Man United and Arsenal (with the new jap player) seem to have taken steps to get revenue from that part of the world.

We need a tour, and a player (or three) from the far East. Then we can reap the rewards through global internet TV subscriptions.

Bassically I think we (and other PL clubs) are beeing too slow in this growing sector of the market.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

ciara,

As I understand it - from the usual half-@rsed communication we receive - although the tour was announced in a blaze of glory, the sponsors in China weren't ultimately able to guarantee the necessary income to the Toon. It was suggested that this was due to our top two players not being available to play, but who really knows.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

My comments were directed at no-one in particular - I just recall reading here that there were those who thought the Far East was a bad idea pre-season - can't recall who they were. I was fully in favour recognising that "global brand awareness" is the name of the game these days - (not football, sadly).

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

So I take it you went to the match then Bud? :o)

I think at the moment we are struggling to be a big team in the N/E never mind on the world stage.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

The thing is, bearing in mind how poor we have been for the past few seasons, I understand that our global brand awareness is quite good. I read about a lad going to Rio on holiday and deciding to watch a local team playing, went to buy the local club shirt and was astonished only to be able to get a Toon shirt. Also, a client of mine who lives in DC and supports DC United says that in his bairns' "soccer" club, he reckons half the shirts are Toon shirts.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Very true, Clarky. Club communication being what it is, we'll probably never know the truth.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

I agree with Rik's comments on taking in Japan and Korea pre-season next year and take advantage of the publicity surrounding the World Cup. There is no doubt that English football is regarded by most people here in South East Asian and the Far East as No.1 and I think the previously proposed tour of Hong Kong and China which fell through would have been successful. An example of how fanatic people here can be is that when Liverpool went to Thailand last week over 10,000 people watched them train. One guy even commited suicide because he was unable to get a ticket for the game. This level of fanaticism covers the whole of the region and is greater when a team has "well-kent" faces in it. This was one of the reasons why it was requested that Shearer and Dyer go on the cancelled pre-season tour. There is no doubt that the area is a growth market and although fakes shirts are in abundance - as prosperity increases so will the sales of genuine merchandise. In Kuala Lumpur, Man Utd has its own shop in one of the more popular shopping malls (its bigger than the NUFC shop at our ground) as well as Man Utd cafes (Red Cafes). To me this is the way forward in generating much needed revenue as I would guess that growth in the UK has stagnated or is maybe in decline.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

...er, Rik, Liverpool were in Singapore the week before Manure - they also sold out the ground, then they con'd on around Asia.

And for 2 months (!!!) now many public buses have been carrying full (bus) size pics. of Owen, Fowler et al - not paid for by the scousas but by Carlberg!

;7)

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2001

...or even Carlsberg! ;-)

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2001