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Opinion

When your 8 year old says no to a programme because doesn’t want to give ‘Fatty Ashley’ £3…

5 years ago
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Supporting Newcastle United with Mike Ashley owning the club is a challenge.

It gets even more complicated when you have kids who are keen to be indoctrinated in the black and white way.

With the stakes being raised as Ashley really took the p… this summer, making Rafa’s job almost impossible, you then have supporters coming together and saying enough is enough.

Everybody has their own ideas about what the best way is to try and impact on Mike Ashley and help persuade him to sell up, indeed some supporters believe that nothing will grab the owner’s attention.

However, I think most are up for doing their bit, even if it is just for their own satisfaction.

Indeed some Newcastle fans have already been boycotting home games ever since Mike Ashley forced Kevin Keegan out. The moment that guaranteed the owner’s honeymoon period was well and truly over at St James Park.

For me it is an easy option to decide not to buy anything from any shop that Mike Ashley owns, including the Sports Direct one at St James Park. It doesn’t affect my kids either, as anything that I might have bought from his retail empire, I can get elsewhere.

Same with stuff like food and drink at the matches, it is rubbish anyway and ridiculously priced, plus like true Geordies the kids are proper fans of Greggs.

In fact, when I am daydreaming, I always think that if we ever got a decent owner of Newcastle United, it would surely make 100% total common sense to have an arrangement with Greggs that would see all of the club’s matchday food concessions turned over to them. Whilst on that theme, I would also have Stella on draught…

Anyway, back to reality.

In all kinds of ways, not just with Newcastle United, I like to let my kids make their own minds up, wherever possible.

So even if I wanted to boycott a match for example, if they still wanted to go, I would still take them. Happily though, they are totally on board and both of them willing to boycott Wolves in a few weeks time.

However, on the day of the Bournemouth match it really brought home to me just what a shocking mess our club has been turned into.

As we walked up the Milburn side of the ground before kick-off, I got some money out so the younger one could his his match programme as usual.

However, out of the mouths of babes…my eight year old piped up: ‘It’s alright dad, I’m not getting one, I don’t want to give Fatty Ashley the £3.’

It gave me a laugh and I checked if he was sure, but yes, an eight year old even boycotting the match programme because he hates the club owner so much.

Mike Ashley is that divisive and nothing good will ever come from him so long as he owns this football club.

One less football programme sold every match from now on, every little helps.

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