There are good things about growing old and there are bad things about growing old.
Who am I trying to kid. There is nothing good about it at all. Growing old is complete b*****ks.
When I was young I quite liked having to buy hair grooming products, I quite liked being able to run a marathon, I quite liked being in a Quayside club without looking and acting like my dad.
And I quite liked that unquenchable belief that only the young have, which makes you think that next season Newcastle United are going to win a trophy.
Sadly, forty odd years of supporting NUFC turns you into a cynic, a fatalist, a realist.
Choose your own word to describe the feelings that come with yet another end of season where the club initially promised so much but delivered so little.
It comes to us all in the end. The acceptance that while success has happened for Swansea, Wigan and Portsmouth, it would seem that the sole purpose of our Football Club is to inflict misery on all its followers.
Funnily enough, I received a phone call from a very nice lady a few nights ago. She wanted to enquire whether I had been hurt and injured at any time during the past three years because if I had, she could sort out compensation for me.
I asked if four decades of supporting Newcastle United counted.
Unfortunately, she told me, that is a self-inflicted injury and it’s your own bloody fault.
I am not sure she is right. Surely someone has to be to blame for Newcastle United turning me into a raving schizophrenic. I find that these days I no longer know what I think. One week we are on the right track, next week we are screwed. One week Mitrovic is the answer, next week he is a mad loon.
Someone once said you can prove anything with statistics, so try these.
Fact 1: Just 4 years ago Newcastle finished fifth in the Premier league..
Fact 2: The latest Forbes financial figures say that Newcastle are one of the richest clubs on planet earth.
Fact 3: Last season we were totally and utterly shi*e.
Alright, I accept that the final fact is not a real fact, it’s more a subjective observation, but I imagine it’s one backed up by the majority of us.
1978, 1988, 2009, 2016, The year is seemingly irrelevant. Don’t you feel that supporting this club is like being a hamster on a wheel. Going around in circles, getting nowhere.
So we need a complete reboot…….. again.
Will Rafa bring about the revolution? Only time will tell, but for the first time in ages I feel those faint stirrings of hope building up again.
Next month when we run out against Huddersfield there will be another 50,000 in St James Park, 50,000 refreshed and rejuvenated by three months off and the signing of another bunch of players who look good. Well good on paper at least.
I find myself scribbling down a first eleven with the new names in it and thinking that is a team that will get us promoted. The trouble is I did the same last season with the names of Widnaldum, Thauvin, Mitrovic etc and thought that’s a team that can challenge for Europe.
My hope is that Rafa is given time and that there is no knee jerk reaction should we be tenth at Xmas , forcing him to part company with the club. We desperately need some stability with a man who has proven that he actually knows what he is doing.
I have to be honest and say that I am not convinced this season is going to be a 100 points walk in the park , but I do think we will be there or thereabouts.
This is a season when the team really needs its fans and I have no doubt that those of you who still have hair and know who the hell Calvin Harris is, will get behind the team and push us toward a real challenge for promotion.
And so you should, the past is the past, this is now.
1984, 1993 and 2010 were all great seasons, Lets hope this one will be too.
