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Opinion

Watching Newcastle v Chelsea or £120 overtime – Let me think…

3 years ago
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Early Saturday afternoon, Newcastle v Chelsea at St James Park, a fixture we have done fairly well in, in recent years.

It seems St James Park is a bogey ground for Chelsea, with five NUFC wins in the last seven Tyneside meetings and only one victory for Chelsea, plus a draw.

We witnessed anti-football in January as Newcastle won the game 1-0 last season, via our only shot on target of the entire game, in the dying seconds.

This despite Chelsea totally dominating the game but failing to make any of it count for anything, 0-4 would have been a fairer reflection…but it happened and we benefited from one of many Steve Bruce lucky moments.

In 2018/19 NUFC lost 1-2 but before that we won 3-0 on the final day in May 2018, drawing 2-2 in the 2015-2016 (relegation) season with Steve McClaren in charge and before that we won the previous three meetings 2-1, 2-0 and 3 -2 respectively.

Chelsea fans must be scratching their heads…

On the other hand, I doubt Chelsea fans are all that bothered overall, given that they’ve won the league with both Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte in this time period, while Newcastle United saw a second relegation of the Mike Ashley era in 2016.

On Saturday the game is live on BT sport, the first game involving Newcastle United they have broadcast so far this season, I have a contract with BT so I have waited patiently to finally have the opportunity to watch the game from the comfort of my own living room but as it happens, I won’t be watching the game.

Why? I’ve been offered a rare chance of overtime this Saturday.

So I have a choice of taking home £120 or so after tax for working an extra eight hour shift, or rejecting it so I can sit at home and watch Steve Bruce put 10 men behind the ball for 90 minutes and pray we nick a result.

So on that basis, I won’t be paying £120 pounds to sit and watch us play, knowing full well we will set up no different to the game we saw last season, win or no win, in my mind it’s not worth me losing £120.

I love the club and will always follow us and the younger me would have definitely picked the match over work, but while we have this ‘style’, I can’t justify losing decent money for rubbish football.

So on Saturday, I will be driving my forklift in a big freezer colder than -20 degrees, stacking pallets of frozen ice cream, freezing my backside off instead of keeping it warm in my armchair at home.

I hope we can get a result but sadly I have my doubts and can guess what I will be reading in the match report later in the day – here’s hoping everyone has a good weekend…

Comments welcome.

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