How it used to be and still living with dreams
Just been reading Flying Mag’s article and reflecting on how it used to be.
I am a little older than him, just over 60. I was 7 months old the last time Newcastle won a domestic trophy – I always have a wry smile when the southern press say that Newcastle fans demand success!
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The best memories have to be the early Keegan years as manager – we went every week expecting to win and score four or five goals every week – which we often did. It is always rammed down our throat that we did not win anything but it was a wonderful ride – who will ever forget the 5-0 against Man U.
What also has to be remembered is that a lot of fans jumped on the bandwagon when Keegan arrived – I don’t know if these people realise that we have had dreadful players, teams, manager and owners over the last 50 years?
Yes we have 50,000 going to home games at a wonderful stadium but my generation can remember watching Newcastle v Wrexham on a rainy (very rainy – match abandoned!) night in a rundown stadium with only 7,000 in attendance.
I have fantastic memories of away games – my proudest boast is that I attended every match home and away in 1986.
After the majority of away games, when asked did you enjoy the trip, the standard answer was that it was great apart from the bit between 3pm and 5pm. How many times did we get back in the car after the game and say never again, then an hour up the M1 start arranging the travel for the next away game?
What memories of weekends in Blackpool after winning FA Cup semi finals – weekends in London after losing the finals – what about the weekend in London when we beat Crystal Palace – a win in London for the first time in a million years!
The purpose of this was to discuss our owner Mr Ashley – it was said many times in the past that football clubs should be run like a business and not on dreams of – if we spend we will win.
We have an owner who has done that, and even his sternest critics would have to accept that, but in my opinion he has gone too far and does not realise that football is also about dreams and passion.
I have often pondered the question of would I swap place with Birmingham (in the championship),Wigan (in division one) or Portsmouth (in division two) who have all won a major domestic trophy in the recent past – most of the time the answer is yes because I want to be part of the celebrations and experience the elation of winning a cup!
I would like to sit down with Mr Ashley over a drink and put my case that we should be trying our hardest to win something – only a few teams win a trophy but we desperately need to see the team and club busting a gut trying.
Mr Ashley has made many mistakes with our club and it puzzles a lot of people that he has not invested more in players of better quality because it appears that the more successful teams are, the more money the club makes.
What I say to people who are no longer going to support the team because of the owner – I think it is your right to protest with your feet and not go to matches, my thoughts are that this is our club and he is not going to stop me attending St James Park and supporting my team.
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