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Opinion

Newcastle United book event – This is what happened

1 year ago
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I’m writing in response to Tony Mallabar’s recent piece (read here) on my talk at Gateshead Library last week which he attended.

First, my book ’Newcastle United Stole My Heart’ isn’t ‘essentially a walk through my professional life and home life’.

They’re minor elements in a book which majors on sixty years of supporting our club, focusing on 11 matches from my first in the stadium in 1963 to my last in 2019, as well as the players who starred in them.

Second, he suggests that when I was asked a question about our new ownership I ‘straight-batted it away’ and said I wouldn’t be going back to the stadium because ‘I didn’t agree with our new majority shareholders’.

This wasn’t the case. In fact I spent a good few minutes explaining my position. First, I ruefully said I wouldn’t be going back to the stadium because of the complete impossibility of renewing my season ticket and I’d seek out chances of seeing my team as and when I can (eg going to the Spurs away game next week). I did raise the desperate human rights record of the Saudi regime, partly because I think (like it or not) this will be an ongoing issue for the club (eg, Eddie Howe being asked in a press conference how he feels about 90 people being publicly executed in Jeddah on match day).

Third, Tony suggests this went down badly with the audience. He wrote: ‘Whoa, talk about misreading the room. There was (in my opinion) a massive mood change with an almost collective “do you not get it, these people have come to our club, the oaf is gone and you are twisting man.’ I’m unsure how Tony came to this conclusion, given the auditorium was in darkness and nobody interrupted me or started muttering, as I went on to pay tribute to everyone from Amanda Staveley downwards for the remarkable turnaround in the club’s fortunes, the team’s performances and the atmosphere of excitement in the city.

In fact, at the end of the session there was a queue of people wanting to buy books and all of them said how much they’d enjoyed the talk.

I was sad to read Tony’s piece, not just for what he said about me, but about the fact that one Newcastle United fan had chosen to take a pretty serious pop at another. We might disagree about some things about our club but surely we should respect each other’s opinions. After all, we’re all united in our love of it.

Howay the Lads…

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