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What’s Going On At Newcastle?

11 years ago
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Friends who support other clubs have said to me over the last few days; “You must be livid? What’s going on at Newcastle?”

They’re right, we should be livid.  But I don’t particularly feel angry.

I feel a really disappointing sense of detachment from the club I’ve loved for so long.

I’m not surprised at what’s happened, Newcastle United are so far beyond parody that nothing can surprise anymore.

I live in London so perhaps I should have felt this detachment five years ago when I first left the north east.

But I have travelled up for more than half of our home games over those five years and gone to even more away games (that are actually more accessible from down here).

I spend a fortune, use up most of my spare time and irritate my wife endlessly.  For what?

It is obvious that ambition from our owner is non-existent.  He knows it costs too much money to break into the top four (which is the only real big money-spinner in English football) and he wants his loans back.

Stay in the league, plod along, take the TV money, settle the debts.

He doesn’t support Newcastle and he hates us as supporters – there is no motivation for him to be ambitious and he never will.

He knows we’ll always come and watch, thousands will buy shirts, pints, burgers from the club outlets – we’ll make sure the club always survives.  The year in the Championship proved that.

He wants out and we want him out.  Our problem is that nobody wants to buy him out.

As mentioned above, it costs an absolute fortune to get from where we are to break into the top four – an amount of money that only a few people in the world have (and I don’t think any of them are Geordies).

So any reason for optimism?  Not really.  Maybe we’ll get lucky like two years ago, miraculously avoid any injuries and Pardew will stumble across a formation that ‘clicks’.

But more likely not; logic suggests that a team that finishes 16th and then weakens their squad whilst everyone else around them strengthens will fall backwards.

If there’s no hope, what is there in football? Not much, and that’s why I feel a sense of detachment from Newcastle right now.

The club are offering us nothing.

But we’ll still come back.

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