Newcastle Fans – Don’t You Just Love Manchester City?

Friday 8th June 2012 by

One of the most popular features in our magazine is ‘Do They Mean Us?, where we interview a fan of another team about both clubs and football in general.

Etihad - Full as usual...

Always good to get an outside point of view, plus it gives the opportunity for some good old pantomime style ‘debate’.

In our summer special which came out this week, we interviewed Manchester City fan, Anthony Murray, and here is a flavour of it below – to read the whole article and the entire sixty page bumper special then you can buy a single copy in our online shop, or buy a ten issue subscription for a whole season of quality Newcastle United interviews, features and views.

Back in November 2010 you gave us the Manchester City point of view and said Newcastle would never be a top four club again unless we got a sugar daddy. Does missing out on top four by the skin of our teeth on the final day of the season, and holding a top six position all season, prove you wrong?

 No, it doesn’t prove me wrong. Realistically, you’re still a long way off the top 4. There is no way on God’s green earth Chelsea could be as poor next season and with Mike Ashley, he would sell the tea lady if he got the right price for her, so any number of players could be sold. I will congratulate Newcastle on coming 5th and if they kept the core of the squad they should be a top 8 club from now on, along with Everton. Breaking into the top 4 would take at least another 250 million though. Krul, Tiote and Cabaye would be the only players I believe are top 4 class. When our 4th choice striker, Dzeko, is better than your first choice strikers, it shows the gap in quality which only a massive injunction of funds would help take you to the next level.

Back in November 2010 we suggested it must be a worry for the owners that City fans rarely filled the ground despite all the money spent. Now you have had a title winning season and had empty seats most games from what I’ve seen on TV……they must wonder what they have to do?!!!

I think you should have gone to Specsavers as City sold out every home league game this season. I love nothing more than proving Geordies wrong. Our average league attendance last season was 47,044 for a ground that can hold 47,405 (Ed: 47,805 according to multiple sources). The 300 (Ed: 800!!!) odd seats left would obviously be away fans. In your best season in over 9 years, your average attendance was 49.335 for a ground that can hold 52.409. You’re probably referring to cup games where unlike most other teams, we don’t force fans to buy tickets for cup games as part of the season ticket. However, the only cup game that I know of that we didn’t sell out last season was a Carling Cup game against Birmingham (ED: Carling Cup Semi-final(!) against Liverpool was 36,017).

 With all that money do you think it would maybe make sense for your owners to buy a couple of thousand fans to help fill the Etihad?

I’m not going to dignify this question with an answer. All I’ll say is that I often hear about how loyal the Geordies are, yet the season before Keegan took over your average attendance was 21,012.

This suggests John Hall must have bought thirty thousand fans to help fill out St James’s Park, sorry I forget, the S***** D***** A****. 

Why not get your loved one a Mag Subscription for Father’s Day, or if you fancy one yourself then tell them to click here and go to our online shop.

Why not start a 10 issue Mag subscription with the superb new summer special – every month a new issue direct to your door. Subscribe online here

Buy a single copy of the summer special online here in The Mag Shop available for worldwide delivery.

A bumper 60 page issue of classic Newcastle United coverage with a European flavouring!

  • Jem

    City fan here. I don’t agree with his first answer. Newcastle did prove him wrong and a lot of other people too. Great season for you and it is a pity you didn’t get C.L. I have a lot of respect for teams who can do it on a tight budget, unfortunately we never did, but who cares, we are there now.

  • bean

    I think we need to compete at this end of the table for a few seasons before we can boast about being among the top english clubs again.
       I hate reading this type of article where we always end up with “We’ve won nowt but we’ve got more fans than you”. I’d much prefer to win something. I’ve been rocking up at St James for almost 40yrs and I’d rather be boasting about a full trophy cabinet than a full stadium.

  • http://twitter.com/BorisDaBlue Boris Yashinov

    Don’t wish to be pedantic but there are 47,805 SEATS at the Etihad, segregation limits the actual capacity to 47,405, even less for potentially volatile games.

  • Paul Soulsby

    I read that the other day and thought what a cock ! Lescott in front of Colo, aye sure and Cisse inferior to Dzeko, in what parallel universe ?, just because Dzeko cost  more than twice what Cisse did it doesn’t make him better. As for the comments in the interview about Mags wanting citeh to blow the league in favour of manyoo, do you know any ? I certainly don’t, I couldn’t root for Michael Owens team if they were flying in with three engiines out, sorry. Oh and over 11000 empty seats for a League Cup semi with Liverpool (and their big away following) is piss poor, it wouldn’t happen here, ever. This chancer watched his team win the title on the telly, obviously  hardcore then.

    • bluesh

      We all know footie is an addiction but you still need to have a fekking life, don’t spend your life savings on it! It doesn’t make me less loyal if can only manage to attend one match out of two per week! You need some dosh to buy needs than wants.
      If you win the lottery, don’t buy a flash house, car, exotic holidays or invest your winnings. Since you come from a humble side its deemed classless to flash the cash. In other word if you win the lottery your classless if you spend the cash because you havent earnet it through hard graft! If you want to make a point then show some class in your argument rather then your cheap pathetic shots.

    • Carlo23

      Why wouldn’t lescott be ahead of Colocini pr vice versa? You are simply saying u like Colocini better because he plays for the mags, so not showing any bias there then lol. Don’t get me wrong I think Colo is a top defender but this is a stupid childish argument that has no basis.

      Dzeko played 1509 minutes and in that time scored 14 prem goals and provided 5 assists. Ba played 2722 scored 16 with 5 assists. Ben Arfa 1556 minutes 5 and 7 assists. Cisse 1106 13 and 2 assists these are only in the premier league. I don’t think Dzeko was given a fair crack if he would have been, he’d of had many more maybe even the top scorer. Is there an argument here? Yes there is but this is no different to when Newcastle came to Maine rd just after signing Asprilla? Your forward were all better than ours and just like ours today cost a lot more too. I thought Ba a great player when I seen him at the hammers you got a bargin, Ben Arfa’s ok Cisse has been class.

      You’re ’11,000′ empty seat comment I can’t let go though, this was In between three home games in the space of one week all cup so no season tickets to boost it up, all televised, mid week just after Christmas at £50 per game! Unfortunately City fans, unlike there owners are not made of money! You said it wouldn’t happen there but you were 10,000 light against Fulham in a league game not to mention 22,000 light (on a Saturday not week night) for an F.A cup game with Blackburn! Wouldn’t happen there, really?

      With the way modern football is, it is impossible to be a constant (or even near) top 4 club with out spending fortunes, if the last ten years haven’t shown you this then you must be blind. Yes you can get the odd year there but that’s it. I find it sad and depressing that football has ended up all about the haves and FFP is all about keeping it that way, nothing more.

      It’s clear this writer has put this garbage up for hits on his site he’s made sure he paid up to news now making sure it got to the City fans to as he knows he has bated them, you must see that? Yes He’s looking after his business, and why not. Still he is trying to stir it up clearly which also makes him a dixk head. Why fall for it, city fans in general only dislike one group of arrogant fans and that most certainly isn’t you lot who are quite liked as you can tell by most replies here. Both club are similar and have had there problems but both look to be on the up now,and long may this continue.

      • Paul Soulsby

        when I said it wouldn’t happen at NUFC I meant we would never play a league cup semi v Liverpool, or any bugger else, in front  of 11’000 empty seats, I stand by that.

        • Carlo23

          Yet you more than double it on a Saturday with cheap tickets in a none televised game against prem oppsition in the F.A cup?

  • http://twitter.com/BorisDaBlue Boris Yashinov

    Paul Soulsby – Newcastle fans are probably not the best people to talk about attendances tbh. The Liverpool game came in a 7 day period when we also played at home against Manchester United in the FA Cup and Liverpool in the league – Best part of £150 for adult tickets, a fortnight after Christmas. The North East may be booming but the North West isn’t so people prioritised.

    • Paul Soulsby

      Booming ?, highest unemployment rates in the UK daft lad, the North West is way more affluent, or  don’t the manc clubs draw any support from Alderley Edge and the like ?.

  • Alphie Izzett

    Congratulations on an excellent season played in the right spirit and 
    enjoyed by any self respecting fan of football whose side wasn’t on the
    receiving end of a beating at the time :-)

    Toon supporters now have a well run business as well as a much loved institution to support and it is delivering great
    football and a good measure of success. That might not be all your
    dreams come true but it counts for a lot; enjoy it!

    Yes, 47805 seats is the official capacity of the Etihad Stadium but a minimum of 380 are lost due to segregation requirements so you are both more or less right. The point surely is that the stadium sells out for all PL games and the rather snide tone of your question was always going to wind up your interviewee, which was probably your objective?

    Can the Barcodes achieve and maintain top 4?

    Regretably I’d have to say I very much doubt it. Money has always talked in football, ManU, the Bin Dippers, Blackburn, Sibneft, they all bought success. The Bin Dippers like to quote their history and sneer at ManCIty but conveniently forget their dynasty was built on Littlewoods Pools money. Spurs, Leeds and others sneer but they too has sugar daddies that tried and then fell short.

    Toon supporters and Newcastle FC have much to be proud of and quite a lot in common with Man City and its supporters. Just at the moment though the cash is with City but we all know that in football forever can be a relatively short time :-)

    • Paul Soulsby

      I don’t think yer will find any match going Mags that think we will sustain a top four challenge year in year out, we can’t compete with the likes of manyoo, Chelsea, Arsenal never mind money no object citeh. I would be happy if we could compete with Everton to be the best of the rest on  a regular basis, whilst occasionally shaking up the “Sky 6″ like last season. I don’t expect us to be top 5 next season, the Europa League and a lack of real squad depth should see to that, plus who the hell can second guess Ashley ?. Contrary to snide national media propaganda. the vast majority of match going Mags are very realistic.

  • Ted Hughes

    As a City fan, I’m delighted to see Newcastle competing again & in my experience the two sets of fans get on great. I don’t understand the antagonism in that piece. It’s not representative of us.

    There could be some truth in what he says about the difficulty of maintaining a challenge for 4th or higher though, as the clubs around there will all be strengthening.

    I hope you manage it though, I’d rather see Newcastle there than any of the others.

  • Macca

    To be fair you do come of as a bit of a d*ck in your questions. Newcastle will not be a top four club for another 3-4 years minimum, they need to build on this season and what you have got expect is Chelsea to be much better, Liverpool to be better and other teams not to make as many silly little mistakes. Good luck for the new season but I think it will be a blue on again.

  • Tbpierrot

    As a toon fan im pretty disappointed with the crappy questions asked, and the way he’s then made out to be antagonistic – we have so much to celebrate, live and let live! If we’re talking to city fans lets all enjoy the fact that both clubs have had their best season for years. But yeh, how dzeko can possibly be considered better than cisse/ba/ben arfa is beyond me. Looking forward to 12/13!

    • Carlo23

      Don’t Know if any body realises this but for minutes played Dzeko is by far City’s top scorer.

  • John@StAustell

    Ed – the City fan is right with the capacity, as the ‘paper’ figure can never be reached because of segregation.  Every home game was sold out so yout question was rather ill-informed and juvenile, wouldn’t you say?  Dont worry some ground expansion will be announced shortly.

  • Guest

    Those were terrible answers. This guy is just unbelievable, so ignorant and yet so adamant. That Dzeko comparison is just really bad, don’t even know how to describe it. And how can he say another 250 million is NEEDED to break into the top 4? That clearly isn’t the right mentality to have in football, no wonder it’s such a money game nowadays. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=717553791 Josh Todkill

    Apparently there are some bitterness between toon and city fans because in the 90′s the toon needed their over-inflated ego’s bursting, passing virile comments about our club. But in the here and now relegation has knocked you all down a peg, and for the better. Now your club has it’s feet on the ground it can start to build. I don’t agree with my fellow City fan, Newcastle CAN become a top 4 club but the problem remains with the man who always has his price – Mike Ashley. It’s a two part answer for whether you can establish yourselves as a top 4 club. 1. The squad; You have some top draw players in that side Krul, Tiote, Cabaye, Ben Arfa (we’ll reserve judgement on Cisse till next season) and some very good potentially good players in Santon, Campbell & Vuckevic to completement that you also have so very decent, consistent 7/10′s like Guttierez, Simpson, Collocini and Taylor. However, the strength in depth is not there, there needs to be a couple of very high quality additions to the squad, namley in the wide areas and a pacey striker as a differing option to Ba/Cisse. You have a very good premier league squad but as I’m sure you’ll find out this season; you’ll struggle to juggle european football with the EPL with the squad in it’s current state. 2. When SJP is full, or even nearly, it’s rocking. However as the past has proved you have the most fickle set of fans beyond that 20,000 ‘hardcores’ you can relay on. But having said that these fickles seem to be making their way back to their seats and 52,550 is a reasonable income in revenue to support a top 4 side. The sticking point is that there are only so many players of the class of Cabaye and only so many players that can change a game with individual ability that are available to Newcastle at this moment in time and if you sell those players for even 20-25 million a pop, you cannot keep expecting graham carr’s fantastic judgement to pull out another gem. (Although Cabaye, Santon and Ben Arfa were hardly unknown to the world, just the guy clearly has the contacts to know when these players may become available and it’s allowed you to sneak in a nip them from under bigger clubs noses.) If you can carry on building, i see no reason why Newcastle can’t make a good run at being an established top 4 club. The days of getting their by an arab fueled rocket ship are over, Twatini saw to that. But make no mistake those rules have made the top 4 that more of a gold mine and that much more important to the established order and they will put in a lot of money in order to protect that order. Unfortunately for the clubs known like we used to be ‘the sleeping giants’ (Villas, Toons, Evertons), Twatini’s rules have now made you ripe for the picking of all your talents as the owners money can have no effect on the club. Meaning while the top 4 earn around £100 million + in revenue, you sit with around 25-30 million for finishing 5th. It is a sad fact, but a fact nontheless that Twatini has effectively made competitive leagues like this seasons, a thing of the past.

    • Paul Soulsby

      Twatini ?, very droll, fact is if clubs spend only what they bring in, then the likes of Manyoo, Barca etc will always be at the top, the thing Platini is trying to elimate is the sort of slippery shyster behaviour we have seen in Scotland that has led Rangers to the brink of liquidation, that can only be good for the game.

      • Carlo23

        How possibly can FFP stop dodgy owners ripping clubs off?

        • Paul Soulsby

           am guessing what the racists apologist Platini wants is to ensure clubs can’t spend what they don’t have, like Rangers did under David Murray, when in three successive seasons they lost around £30 million each season, a pretty hefty hit in the Premiership, to say nothing of the SPL.

          • Carlo23

             What you don’t seem to get is Rangers aren’t in trouble for spending what they didn’t have on players etc they are in trouble for having an owner in it for himself and robbing them in what ever way he could a bung here a dodgy agent there. Where did Rangers lose that £30m PA? Don’t you think that owner became much richer? By the way Rangers will continue to be one of the top teams north of the border they are going through tuff times that’s all clubs throughout history have, nothing has really changed. Rangers have a large fan base they most certainly don’t need  the Trojan horse that is FFP to pretend to be looking after there interests.

            Practically all Premier football clubs spend what they don’t have and always did, it hasn’t ever caused a problem some times you’re down, sometimes you’re up and as a Mag fan you should know that more than anybody! No club has the right to be at the top, well they never used to, but with the advent of the Premier league and now FFP this is the grim future loyal supporters from Burnley, Hull and Grimsby etc once they could have had there day not anymore, fair play my arse!
            We as fans mostly see Clubs as ours, not as the businesses that some morons seem to take pride in these days, why I have no idea. Who cares less if some businessman with no connection to the club makes lots of money?

             FFP is all about keeping the top, top (my club is one of them but I still see it!). In the next 10 years  if not before you will here talk of a break away league and it is very unlikely NUFC will be part of it, I wonder how you will feel about FFP then? Seriously wake up and smell the coffee before it’s to late!

          • Paul Soulsby

            Rangers will continue to be one of the top teams north of the border  beacuse the other SPL teams don’t dare relegate them, the t.v. contract is based on 4 old firms games per year, Rangers gop, the t.v. contract will be  revised down, that spells trouble  for all the lesser lights of the SPL. Celtic could be chucked out of the Champions League due to Rngers taking their case to the civil courts. As for NUFC and FFP, Newcastle will be in a healthier position than most given the wages to turnover ratio and the fact the club is due to break even, clubs like Villa and Sunderland have some tough decisions to make. Your own club have benefited  from a very dubious sponsorship deal to offset a £200 million loss, thats the sort of chicanery Platini is trying to stop. Asa for teh  point taht it hasn’t ever caused a problem, well what about Pompey ?

          • Carlo23

             What are you on about ‘Newcastle will be in a healthier position’? You won’t be any where! Don’t you get it? You will not Finnish in the positions needed to get the big money and sponsorship! Dodgy deal? So you don’t think league winners attract kit sponsors for £25m plus? Is the £20m plus a year Nike deal city just signed dodgy to? You need to stop reading tabloids. What is the point of breaking even in clubs outside the top 4 positions?

             You pointed out City’s £197m loss (which is not ofset to anything it’s gone, it simply doesn’t mater any more it was last year) but you didn’t even think that’s was after a transfer spend of around £130m (they no longer need to spen like that all the catching up has been done!) that year and before sponsorship deals totaling around £100+m a year from Jaguar, Etihad, Nike, Malmasion, Manson, Amstel and others. FFP will not affect my team as I have said, what it will do is stop teams like Everton, Villa, Spurs and Newcastle from getting to the top of the table in the first place as they need to spend big not only on player but on wages which if they do they can’t play in Europe which in turn  means  no big money from it. If they don’t spend big on wages the big boys who are already there will take the best players year after year as they can pay the much higher wages. What is it you don’t understand about this?
             FFP is not there for the clubs it’s there for UEFA it’s all about greed. Think about it what would be the World wide TV rights if Everton played Lille in the CL final and do you think UEFA would love that to happen? Do you get it yet?

          • Paul Soulsby

            yeah right, Liverpool spend so much more on players and wages, a club run like Newcastle will never be able to catch them, oh wait . . . . . .

          • Carlo23

            One swollow does not make a summer. You seem to be getting carried away! Don’t you had a good season but if by that you now think you are better than Liverpool you’re gonna hit the ground with a big bump, calm down if you finish above the for the next 2 then you may have a point until them keep the feet on the floor eh!

          • Carlo23

             P.S Pompey are a football club, your point is? They are still there right, you do know they have been in the lower divisions before? Do you think they should always have been in the Prem? Why aren’t you crying about Huddersfield or Shef Wed they were both much bigger clubs than Pompey,  the point being clubs go up and down always have always will. What FFP wants to do is make sure there big clubs with fans in the millions World wide not thousands stay unchallenged at the top.

             UEFA could not care less about Pompey or Newcastle they are not where the money is for them, UEFA and Platini are tossers. Again I should not really be bothered by this as it no longer really affects my club but it is football I love and I see how bad it’s becoming, I have no desire to see football turn even more  in to what it has for the last 20 years no desire to say look we won the league 15 out of 20, I long for how it was in the 60′s, 70′s, 80′s etc where anyone had a chance.

  • mancunian mike

    Its a shame you made the article out to be a pissing contest centred on ‘who’s got the bigger stadium’.  As a City fan I have a lot of time for Newcastle.  I thought you did prove many wrong with your 5th placed finish and many (myself included) were hoping you would hold onto 4th.  I also think Cisse has looked far more useful than Dzeko in his short spell with you.  I disagree that £250M more will be needed to make the top four, expecially if you keep unearthing gems like Cabaye and Cisse on the cheap, we can each only play 11 players at a time.  Good luck for next season.

  • Ben Cousins

    Are you havin a laugh?! Dzeko better than ben arfa, cisse or ba? I don’t think so. Great achievement buyin the title!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=717553791 Josh Todkill

    Ben Cousins – Moron. Out of every winner of the premier league, name me the only club who has won it without being the highest spender average spender over the 2 years proir?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=717553791 Josh Todkill

    The answer is Arsenal. Now get back to your circus.

    • Chris L

      Arsenal,was Henry free, was Beira free, lee Dixon free etc .

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BM5N3EUA4IGAG5AF22I3TNIUQA Ray

      Arsenal haven’t bought the title? I suggest you don’t know a thing about football.

  • M19 Blue

    Ben a bit bitter there pal.  Name me a team who hasn’t “bought” the title?

  • Hhff

    Of course we bought it. Just as Newcastle bought a fifth position and every team in effect buys its place. Unless someone can show me a team with a zero wage bill the argument is futile

  • Masterjasco1981

    regardless of how many seats are filled. all three newcastle strikers are better than dzeko, and newcastle can be a top 4 team as long as they replace the players sold with equally talented players. just because ashley sells at a good price doesn’t mean we will not manage to do better next season. we did well to get 5th with a low budget, how much did it cost city for the league? footballers are way over priced and its good to see teams like newcastle not giving in to the pressures of primadonna’s demanding high wages and behaving like prats (ahem tevez and balotelli).i think if more teams take this approach we will see a better standard of football and players actually playing for their teams rather than their bank balance and egos

    • Martinmurphy010

       Teams who’s players play for their bank balance and egos don’t win the league. City’s forwards are far superior to Newcastle’s. City’s defence is far superior to Newcastle’s. You lost to City at SJP because City’s midfield was better.

      • Paul Soulsby

        Citeh were better than the Toon in every department apart from keeper i.m.o., Krul is a better keeper than Harte, but then Harte is Englsih, so the media rim him constantly. Citeh should be better than the Toon in EVERY  department though, given NUFC have had a net profit in the transfer market over the last five years, citehs spend over the same period has been how much ????????, also, where does Monkey Tevez fit in with your first point ?

        • Blue Ste

          I think you’ll find that Tevez had to relent on his ego to be able to come back and play to win the league, ergo, the first point is completely valid. 
          As we saw with Newcastle spending money ISN’T always a guarantee of success. How much did KK fling at your lot to win f*ck all? He did the same at our place. Credit has to be given to Mancini in gelling our squad and handling all those “egoes”. Agreed? 
          I still maintain if Newcastle are to progress, you will need to spend more though, and surely you are not suggesting this stance of “net profit” transfer policy can achieve and sustain a top 4 position?  

          • Paul Soulsby

            KK spent money but citeh ahve raiseed teh bar throught the stratosphere, a £200 million loss, when did KK ever have that kind of spending  power ?, don’t be so ridiculous as to compare them

    • bluesh

      Yes I’m sure all your players play for less than £1k a week! I’m sure they grew up dreaming to wear your bar code jersey! Get real moron.

    • Blue Ste

      About 10 years ago, Ipswich came up and finished third. They hardly spent a penny and were walking round with their chests puffed out at how little they’d spent. The following year they were relegated. 
      As for our “prats” – spoilt or not, ego or not, they have FA Cup Winners medals and Premiership Winner’s Medals in their possession thanks to the excellent man-management of Mancini. And before that is gaffawed at, had he not man-managed them excellently they wouldn’t have those medals, nor would the rest of the squad. 
      I agree Newcastle have done fantastically well, and I wish you all the best, but to move up to the next level you WILL have to spend considerable amounts of money, especially now your squad has to face what seems like an extra seasons worth of games in the Europa League!

      • Paul Soulsby

        Ipswich finished 5th, the only teams coming into the all new shiney Premier League and finishing top 3 are the Toon in 94 and Forest a year later.

  • Jensens Left Foot

    Like other posters before me have commented, it’s a shame you’ve turned this into a “my dad is bigger than your dad” style of debate. With a season both clubs have just had, you should concentrate on the positives and forget the snipers and the johnny-come-latelys. The Toon, just like City, Everton, Villa, and to a lesser extent, Sheff Weds, Derby, Forest and the like are big clubs with proud histories and large “core” support. I’m not going to post some statistic laden piece to prove/disprove who’s loyal support has stuck with their club through thick and thin because essentially we all know that the aforementioned clubs, by and large, are (with the exception of City’s recent claims) success starved. We just got lucky…

    It’s human nature to want to associate ones self with success and steer clear of failure – so the 40,000 or so that stuck with the Toon during your recent Championship season are to be recognised along with the 30,000 or so that stuck with us at City when we ploughed the depths of League 1 in 98/99. Both Villa and Everton (more so Villa) are enduring a rough ride and are seeing crowds in the low thirty thousands at 40,000 seater stadia : it doesn’t make either clubs support fickle or disloyal as being a fan of either of those two clubs most be pretty crappy right now. For me, renewing my season ticket this year is a no-brainer, but it was quite the opposite as recently as 2007 when we finshed just above the relegation zone and scored only 10 goals at home (a premiership record low) all season. We were properly skint, hadn’t even had a sniff of a cup run (knocked out by Doncaster bloody Rovers!) and were in a massively downward spiral. Needless to say I couldn’t give it up and I renewed once more….it doesn’t make me (or any of the other 35,000 ST holders) some kind of latter day hero or, for that matter, a “better fan”. I just love my club and the buzz I get from watching them play. Economics (and the fact that the “World’s Most Successful Club” play in the neighbouring city of Salford) have not made being a “Citeh fan” an easy ride but you pay your money and you takes your choice as they say. Those clambering for a seat with a nice view at the Etihad (or even sitting on a waiting list) have, in my view, got to lump it – I stuck with my seat on the 2nd tier “through thin and thinner” and now I enjoy a fine view thank you very much.

    So, ignoring Antony Murray’s interview comments (as they do come across as arrogant and not a fair reflection of the City support en mass), it’s fair to say that both clubs have a healthy core support and – but for us hitting the Arab jackpot – we have a similar history. Please don’t fuel the fires of hatred between the two club as my general perception of Toon fans is as a knowledgeable and good humoured crowd who share healthy banter with the similar minded City fans. I was lucky enough to be at SJP for the NCFC v MCFC match last month and spent 2hrs sat outside Shearers Bar with all the Geordies in my City shirt along with 4 other Blues. We had a great crack and had nothing but good experiences before, during, and after the game.

    Apologies for the war and peace essay – it’s fair to say that articles designed to fan the flames really get my goat up. We don’t need any more Internet Warriors preaching the Football Fans Bible According To…

    So hats off to Newcastle and your supporters for a great season. You have a fantastic support, a brilliant stadium and a team to be proud of. so do we. Let’s just leave it at that shall we?

    • Colin Kay8

      Well said

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BM5N3EUA4IGAG5AF22I3TNIUQA Ray

      Totally agree.

    • Blue Ste

      Spot on mate. 

      To put it to bed though, The Geordies with their “empty seats” mantra smack of the Claypoles of Salford and their unhealthy obsessions of “seat-spotting”. It merits of clutching at straws. Particularly when I remember crowds of around 8000 at SJP before KK took over and saved them from div 3. Newcastle have had a brilliant season, a bit like Salford’s finest in that, being honest, they have performed far greater than the sum of their parts. The key to them (Newcastle) breaking the top 4 next season will be spending money, possibly even “whoring themselves out to an Arab sugardaddy” and winning “the lottery” again (like they did in the 90′s) just like we have been berated for by some of their fans on here. I genuinely wish Newcastle well as they are very similar to us in many ways, and SJP (refuse to call it its daft new name) is a great away day. Their fans are brilliant home and away, and they play the right way. I always have had a soft spot for Newcastle since KK was a player there, but they could do with  winding in this bitter posturing, it makes them look like plastic rags. 

      • Paul Soulsby

        how many “crowds of around 8000″ have Toon had in the last 70 years then  brains, go on have  a guess ?. How may crowds of around 4000 have citeh had ?

        • nonstop

          Yeah ama City fan and I dont recall it either. However, I don’t recall city gettin 4,000 either. Not in my time. I’ve been a City fan for 40 years.

  • Alex

    Not the greatest of articles, I’m afraid. But, did he really say “massive ‘injunction’ of funds”? LOL

  • Tom

    sorry nufc fans .. but go to the stats and see the minutes dzeko played comparing to all nufc strikers .. he is WAY BETTER STRIKER.

    B.S: I am a nufc fan

    • Paul Soulsby

      yer arse, am happy with Cisse for £9 million, we’ll agree to differ on who the better striker is.

  • Lintonlad

    Personally, I was pleased that City won it because they deserved to and because it was good to see Fergie’s miserable fizog!  I don’t envy them the money though; once you start splashing the cash (as we did) you get money-grabbin’ mercenary gits (nothing personal Mr Owen).  I’m happier with our lads than I have been for years.  Nice to see good, reasoned comments from City fans though, it’s more than we have seen from other clubs’.

  • Greavedad

    I am a City fan, and would like to congratulate Newcastle on a fantastic season. What you achieved this season can only be described as astonishing. 
    You have always had fantastic fans (if a bit bonkers at times :-) ) but this season you got a team you can be really proud of. Good luck next season. I just hope you finish below City.

  • Kallumdillon

    Well done on finishing 5th :)
    Focus on yourselves though, everyone commenting city fans and NUFC fans are being pathetic :’) I’m a city fan and just happy we won the league, I think Newcastle should have got 4th but to be honest this article is poor, petty and to be quite honest pointless :)

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BM5N3EUA4IGAG5AF22I3TNIUQA Ray

      Its sounds like the kind of thing you would get from a pizza faced yoonited (Trafford) fan.

  • Mrs Dzeko

    This lad doesn’t know a thing about football. Saying he’s followed city for years, sounds to me that he is a newcomer to the biggest council house in europe. Let’s put city’s title win into context. Up until Barton buying them an exorbitant amount of injury time they would have had a mediocre result against a relegation threatened QPR. The only thing I would like to thank city for is bringing quality, money grabbing talent such as aguero to the premiership. Anyway that is my two penneths worth, I’m just off to pray that Newcastle arrange a swap deal cussed and ba for dzecko

    • Mrs Dzeko

      *cisse and ba for dzeko hahaha

    • John

       sounds like a bitter manu fan to me as bad as taggarts oh with ten men amd injury time line
      “Let’s put city’s title win into context”

      you need to look at the whole season  and all the score lines starting with a six one hammering of the only team who could come anywhere near competing with city over 38 games

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BM5N3EUA4IGAG5AF22I3TNIUQA Ray

      I bet you just love a pint of bitter. Parking buses with not a shot on target and getting a six one thrashing are more your style.

      What was it Rooney said about your club? No ambition, poor squad, enough to bring tears to Fergusons eyes. The 250k a week helped change his mind and got him badge kissing again.

  • CiTyBlUe

    I’m the author of City site ‘This is our City’ and 36 year City fan, I commend Anthony for a job well done when answering your shit provoking questions.

    Personally I don’t like Geordies for all their pathetic and empty City hating bile, since the Ben Arfa break I’ve grown to detest you and your club personally.

    You come back up and instantly think you are the be all and end all, thinking you deserve top 4 when in all reality you will not improve on the season just gone.  Personally I am hoping your little sugar daddy Mike Ashley sells your best players again, and continues practicing with his yoyo just to torment you Georgies even more.

    Maybe when you’ve lived all divisions and been tormented by a successful Sunderland for 30 odd years, then come back and run your mouthes off biatches.

    Champions of England CTID fuckers.

  • Leeworthington

    hes right worst fans in the prem geordies. mackems are more loyal fact

    • Mkeats555

      You muppet! You truly are a clueless twat. Mackems who can’t fill their stadium even when super Martin rocks up. They can’t fill it in the good times never mind the bad. There’s only ever one game the mackems fill their stadium for……….

    • Paul Soulsby

      thats a pretty piss  poor attempt at a wind up by the way brains, fact is NUFC averaged more in the fizzy pop league than the jamrags have just managed under their hero and the man they have always wanted, Marty Ziff, FACT ! Beating man citeh is one thing but if he wants to do something truly impressive,  lets see him fill the ground for a game v some team other than the Toon

      • Blue Ste

        For a piss poor attempt at a wind up it sure had you biting pal! Hahaha

    • BIGAL_9

      FOOL

  • ming the merciless

    city fans have always liked newcastle, well all the ones i know have, but after the way sunderland fans took the piss out of united and their arrogant fans on the last day of the season , i must admit i think they are brilliant too, the questions asked were loaded to get a negative reaction ie” it must be worrying for the owners that city rarely fill the ground”…..so i totally dismiss the answers from the city fan….how would a newcastle fan react to-”well obviously the newcastle support is rubbish as they only averaged  14,000 a few years ago”….i’m sure the newcastle fan would get his back up instantly.
    i ,personally, think newcastle were a breath of fresh air in the premiership last season and pardew was easily manager of the season, lets all hope for footballs sake newcastle can continue in the same vein of football next season , good luck toon!

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BM5N3EUA4IGAG5AF22I3TNIUQA Ray

      Quite honestly the interviewer (who sounds more like a rag than a mag to me) and the City fan interviewed sound as bad as each other. United (the one’s from Trafford that is) not only have an unhealthy obsession with all things City but love to keep peddling the empty seats at the Etihad myth. Clearly this mag wants to sow a bit of discord and controversy to shift some product.

      I think you will find most genuine City fans will have been pleased that Newcastle had such a good season.

  • Huge2468

    I would deem those as loaded questions aimed at getting a rise out of a rather sensitive city fan. As a city fan myself i would have cisse or ba above dzeko, but thats my opinion. Fact is i think newcastle are a class team, with quality players preforming well with a solid manager, and with a bit of investment, holding on to your key players and a bit of luck, top four is well within your grasp. Throwing comments at our crowd numbers (which any season ticket holder at the etihad will tell your are meerly pety attempts at slights) seems unnecessary, both our teams played well this season, why bother stirring up trouble where there is none. Can’t wait for next season now this league has opened up, don’t realy care how it happened. hope you lot finish higher than the rags next year, just don’t finish higher than city :)

    • http://twitter.com/majestic_whine majestic whine

      Agree – especially with regard to Cisse / Ba

  • city-are-back

    f*****g tinpot geordie nobheads.

    salad dodgers do one.

    • Paul Soulsby

      theres a “K” in knobheads daft lad, bit touchy are we ?

    • Bigal_9

      get a grip you tail

  • Jeremy Mallinson

    If memory serves me Newcastle never been out of top two divisions unlike Man.city!

    • http://twitter.com/majestic_whine majestic whine

      True and we still regularly filled the stadium when in the 3rd division.

  • Anxiouswarrior

    i wounndt worry about lickle city they are only got a bit of glory because of the arab lottery win 

  • Michaelk

    Ridiculous line of questioning. Oh Newcastle have more fans than you! Interviewer needs to look at the bigger picture. You spent plenty under keegan and won nothing. Stop whining about our spending and have a look in your trophy cabinet. I think you will find that Blackburn and Birmingham have won more trophies than you in the last 40 years! Measuring the size of a club on average attendance is ridiculous. Ac Milan, Inter Milan and plenty of other “big clubs” average smaller crowds than City, and have done on a regular basis, even when City were in the wilderness. Stop the petty  sniping and get on with supporting your club. You had a great season. Now build on it, and I genuinely hope you can become contenders in the next few years.

    • Paul Soulsby

      hmmm, the Milans have averaged less than citeh on  a regular basis, really ?, want to back up that bold statement with some facts by any chance ?, am guessing you’re getting confused with Juve and their piss poor crowds at the unloved Delli Alpi

      • Paul Soulsby

        actually no, am being far too diplomatic, You don’t know  shit son, citeh averaged more than Inter last season, Inter had a truly awful league campaign, Milan averaged less than citeh in season 2009/10, they are the only two occasions in the last 30 years citeh have averaged more than the Milanese, most years they were’nt even close, don’t lead with yer chin, if yer going to spout off check yer fats first.
         
         

  • JR Ewing’s 10 Gallon Hat

    The whole article is embarrassing for The Mag to be honest and the responses of the city fan just look immature. Some of the comments from both sides afterward seem extremely ill informed and tit for tat. Mackems coming on here just show which team they are more interested in…The Mighty Mags!
    Dzecko wouldn’t get a game here just like he doesn’t much at city.
    F@&% Off citeh!

  • glasshalfempty

    I’ve read the full article and the things that stand out for me are:-

    1 – the citeh fan starts off by saying he wasn’t at the last game because he was being quoted £500 for a ticket?  So not a season ticket holder or regular fan then?

    2 – he makes some comment about how he’ll be cheering Ireland on rather than England – not that I have a problem with that as international football to me is irrelevant.  His reasoning though is because a liverpool player got picked ahead of Micah Richards for England!!  Grow Up!!

    3 – he quotes NUFC attendances from 20 years ago to demonstrate our support was crap.  Well at that time most teams attendances were around the same 20k mark, only we were playing lower division football.

    4 -  When Hall was buying the league for NUFC?  I don’t think so mate.  Yes we made some big signings but we weren’t spending anything like the disparate numbers going round today.

    I good go on but can’t be arsed.  I don’t have a problem with Man Citeh winning the league.  Yes I wish we had of when things were a bit more competitive.

    Please pick a real fan to interview in future, not someone who doesn’t go to the games, backs up his arguements with inaccurate historical hearsay probably generated by the media, and cannot give an objective and balanced viewpoint!!

    • Anthony Murray

      Im a regular fan sunshine, don’t worry about that. Unlike Newcastle it’s difficult to get a ticket. Your first game against arsenal for a stag do we were able to get 14 tickets, hardly a sell out. Ba going to turkey also proves my point that he is not as good as Dzeko, hes going to Milan or Munich not some tinpot racist club for a quick payday. I really hope you inbreds get what you deserve, for Ashley to sell your mediocre middle of the road players and go back to where you belong, the Championship. Tinpot team in an inbred city, Geordie shore just about sums you lot up

  • Nick

    Can’t we all just get along? Let’s just agree that both City and Newcastle have had some fantastic support during very tough times, and both have had (probably well-earned) nationwide reputations as comedy clubs.

    Besides, as many have pointed out, quibbling over attendances for our teams (as with the likes of Villa, Everton) seems silly in these financial times.

    It might also be worth pointing out that the introduction of a seat exchange system at City from next season might help lessen the prospect of seats left empty by absent season ticket holders.

    City fan in peace. Let’s hope the Magpies are challenging for the title alongside City next season.

  • nonstop

    I’ve just heard geordies knock our gates all to often over the years, as if they’re obsessed with us. The first half of the season you were promoted a couple of years ago, you were 9,000 off capicity. You’ve been that this season as well a few times. I don’t ever remember us getting only 21,000 for a europa league match either, like you did a few weeks back. Am not for one minute sayin that your support is rubbish, we all know it’s not. However, you really need to get off our backs with it. It’s been said before, but still people keep forgetting, or want to forget that, City were getting 30,000 in the 3rd tier of english football, not so long ago. It’s never been bettered by any other so called BIG club, be it Sheffield clubs, Forest, Leeds, Wolves, so on and so on. One of the best supported clubs in english football history. FACT!!