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Opinion

An empty St James Park will prove catastrophic for Mike Ashley in the Championship

3 years ago
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I don’t know what was more embarrassing on Tuesday night, the Newcastle United performance at Bramall Lane, or the fact that at half- time I asked my missus if I could join her to watch her programme “Married at first sight Australia”…

For a few seasons now the fans at Newcastle have talked about boycotting the games and hitting Mike Ashley in the pockets.

When the world does finally get back to some sort of normal and football fans are allowed back in the stadiums, can we really see a mad rush at the ticket office for fans to buy season tickets with the kind of football that is being served up currently and / or the total lack of ambition.

The fans have had enough and they may have just found their excuse not to attend and this won’t be good for business for Mike Ashley, for a man so money orientated, and he better hope any sort of takeover happens sooner rather than later, because an empty St James in the Championship could be catastrophic.

The often lazy journalism or punditry over the last few years from those in the game, who have labelled Newcastle fans as “deluded” or “Hysterical” because they apparently believe we expect to challenge for the League title or the Champions League spots, is the biggest load of nonsense. I haven’t met one fan in the last 15 or so years who expects that at all, what they want from Newcastle United is simply a club wanting to compete.

What is wrong with wanting your football team to compete against a Championship side’s reserves in a quarter final of cup, or a Premier League side who had gone 20 PL games without a win and Newcastle actually being second favourites with the bookmakers, that says it all where Newcastle United are right now as a club and the fans know this.

The experienced manager Steve Bruce:

As a player, Steve Bruce won nearly everything in the domestic game and was one of the best defenders this country produced and for that alone deserves the upmost respect as a player. As a manager though, I am not sure what experience he brings to the club. He has been a manager for nearly 23 years but at the same time managed 11 teams, on average just about lasting two seasons at any one club, winning diddly squat.

Can someone please tell me what this experience is that he is bringing to the table?

The Benitez v Bruce debate:

Both very different people and managers but let’s be honest, with Rafa the fans knew the plan. No we weren’t good to watch some / a lot of the time and would often surrender up possession or attacking footballing, but you knew there was a game plan, even if it wasn’t pretty at times. Rafa coached these so called ‘not good enough’ players through a game and in the last six months of his management of the club actually started to see an improvement in the attacking third.

Bruce needs some help in the coaching department and needs to freshen things up, it’s the most lazy and obvious thing to throw out there, that these players only know one way of playing. That’s his job to change it and put his stamp on the team, or get people around him and help him to do this.

Again, the fans have moved on from this debate, it seems only the people in the media bring this up now and again, we as fans would love nothing else but a fellow Geordie take Newcastle forward, but right now the club is going backwards.

The Players??:

Where are the players hiding and the interviews asking what is going on? Karl Darlow, who seems the only one lately with any credentials, seems to be getting rolled out for press duties after games.

Where is our captain? Who even is our captain when Jamal Lascelles is unavailable?

We know talk is cheap but at least it would give the fans a glimpse of what is going on and are the players themselves happy with what’s going wrong on the field. Surely we have some leaders in that dressing room who on Tuesday night could have had a pep talk before the game, and said “lets win this one” no matter what side or negative approach the manager put out before the game, the players have to take their share of the blame for this.

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