Newsletter

Get your daily update and weekly newsletter by signing up today!

News

Newcastle United – Just As Tough Watching From New Zealand

10 years ago
Share

Bloody Sky TV. Last season they lost the rights to show the EPL here in New Zealand.

They were outbid by an internet firm which meant to watch the Toon live I would be paying extra on top of my Sky bill for the privilege of seeing my beloved Black’ n’ Whites on me laptop, instead of on my lovely 55inch 3D LG!

“Nee Way!” sez I and to be fair to meself I stuck to my guns and spent hours finding dodgy streams of the matches with all kinds of bizarre commentaries in languages I didn’t know existed!

The first half of the season was definitely worth the effort, the second………well let’s just leave it at that!

This season however, things would be different.

Buoyed by the lads; tour down here, some early transfer window dealings and a sense of togetherness enhanced by the reaction to the tragic deaths of John and Liam, I was certain the back end of last season was very soon going to become a dark and distant memory.

I persuaded my 18 year old lad Jack to go halves with me for the $20nz a month subscription fee for what is titled Premier League Pass, and l bought a cable thingy that goes from my laptop to my telly, so we can watch it on the big screen!

I could also choose to watch it on my tablet device or even my phone if I wanted. Magic! Pre-season optimism at its very best.

(To feature like Dale, send in your articles for our website to contribute@themag.co.uk)

Now it was all VERY simple. A new striker and a dominating centre back were obviously needed and would DEFINITELY be bought in the transfer window. I was actually quite happy with the midfield options, especially having seen Jack Colback settle in so quickly on the tour down here. Plus I thought Mr Pardew, who conducted himself very well down here, would be able to throw off the shackles with the new players he had bought and the entertainers tag would soon be ours again.

‘Just imagine Jack’ said I, ‘A lineup of’…

Krul

Janmaat                    

Colo                    

(New signing)      

Haidara

Cabella

Sissoko

Tiote

De Jong

(New Signing)

Cisse

And with Gouffran, Riviere, Perez, Colback, Willo, Dummet, Sammy and some other youngsters coming through. Maybe even this Rolando lad who had shown REAL promise down here. NOW we would have the makings of an exciting first 11 and a proper squad.

Apart from saying I, like everyone else, wasn’t too disgruntled with the Man City loss, I won’t dwell too much on early season results. Apart from saying we have missed a MASSIVE trick by not going that extra mile and buying the centre back and striker we so obviously and desperately needed to compete at any sort of acceptable level. As the transfer window gently closed I realised with a sense of inevitability that

1.             Another long season of hurt and disappointment lay ahead and…

2.             My lad Jack probably isn’t going to pay his half of the subscription!

I just feel that we are so very close to something actually quite reasonable but for some reason the powers that be just can’t bring themselves to get us over ‘Pardew’s line’

All of which brings me to the point of writing this. My real sadness about what is happening to our club watching from afar, is how we are tearing each other apart. This Ashley/Pardew regime is turning us on each other and reading the blog and twitter posts, seeing our fans attacking each other is awful.

Yes, as fans we all have or opinions about the club, but it should be about whether Dummy or Haidara is the best left-back, not whether the regime is killing the very soul and fabric of the club and the city. This has transcended football by so much now it is ridiculous.

The Ben Arfa thing was a case in point. He was either the most gifted player of his generation destroyed by the evil Pardew because of jealousy of his talent, or an egotistical little twerp whose massively over inflated opinion of himself and his bad effect on the dressing room made him the worst mistake in the Toon’s history. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle but because of the lack of transparency and trust in the current regime, the situation just served to act as another stick for us all to beat each other with.

So what now? The Sack Pardew protesters made their point at the weekend. Cisse showed we can score goals if we bother to put anyone in the box (preferably more than one player at a time please) and it looks as though neither Big Mike or Pardew will be moving on.

I still put my couple of hundred quid into Mr Ashley’s pocket by ordering my new season’s gear to parade around Wellington in, and to wear at 3am in my sitting room, hoping beyond hope that by doing so I might just make the difference between winning and losing!

I do it because like everyone else reading this, I love the Toon. I love them more than Mike Ashley or Alan Pardew will EVER understand. So do you.

Let’s remember, We are Geordies, we are Newcastle United. Hate the manager if you want, hate the owner if you must, but love the players and let’s start loving each other again.

To those who think I have no right to an opinion because I live on the other side of the world, let me say I respect your opinion on that. You are right, I am not on the front line, or in the trenches, but I would say this current situation hurts me as deeply as anyone else.

There are Geordies aall ower the world feeling it with you.

You never know, we could get a resounding cup win at Crystal Palace followed by 9 points from Stoke, Swansea and Leicester, oh and Wor Jack might pay me his half of the subscription! Yeah Right…

Forever Black n White.

Share

If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk

Have your say

© 2024 The Mag. All Rights Reserved. Design & Build by Mediaworks