But not when they were playing for us - Bale possibly. They are all much better players now (through growth and experience) than they were then but Scheiderlin's performances for us now are better than any that they delivered.
Surely it would be unlikely that NC would be directly involved in something like this. Perhaps a note directly to him about it might lead to a couple of backsides being kicked. Mind you I'm only speculating.
I don't see him claiming to speak on behalf of Saints supporters. He probably got rung by a journalist, asked for his reaction
, and gave it. I didn't notice him saying anything I radically disagreed with.
One of the more plausible reasons given for Pardew's sacking was that NC had discovered he was talking to Newcastle. NC did not approve of such underhand dealings. If true then we have a classic example of double standards - you can't be underhand - I can.