Natives are restless

Yesterday saw the start of the new Premier League season. On the pitch incidents involving every lazy journalist's favourite villain, Joey Barton, made the headlines. You do have to ask which other player would get stamped on and slapped and yet still come out as the wrongdoer, but then again, when it's Joey Barton on the receiving end you know that the handwringing press and other club's whiter-than-white fans will demand Barton to be strung up from the nearest lamp-post, despite him being the victim in this. Ok he shouldn't have pulled up Gervinho, but then again it was a yellow card offence and he got a yellow card. End of the story regarding Joey Barton for me!

What was more striking for me than any of the on-field antics was the goings on in the South-East "Strawberry" corner. I used to be in the Leazes corner, a part of the ground specifically given up to people who wanted to sing and make some noise in an ever quieter St James Park. At the end of last season Mike Ashley decided to disband the Leazes corner. Many speculated that this came about because of anti-Ashley chanting. The club put forward the point that they wanted to extend the away fans section, the family section and have a "Youth" area where young uns could congregate together.

Despite assurances from Simon Esland, the Head of Customer operations, that fans would be listened to, and groups such as United for Newcastle and another group fronted by Jordan Robinson, a lad who was behind the "Bring back the noise" campaign were given time to talk with Esland about the moves. We asked the club to consider moving everyone in a block to other areas of the stadium and the Level 4 corner was identified as the area which had the least season ticket holders, and therefore the ideal place to put those being moved.

However rumours came through at the Manchester United game that the previous thoughts of moving us to Level 4 were not going to happen, but that it wouldn't be announced until after the end of the season, leaving the fans affected no chance to voice their discontent at the end of the season. Sure enough, just after the West Brom game it was announced that fans from the Leazes corner would not be moved en masse to Level 4. I know that a lot of fans felt that Esland had strung us along, some going as far to say that they though that he had lied about the situation. What was clear was that the suspicion that Ashley was trying to split up the most vocal fans in the ground up, presumably to try and dissipate the anti-Ashley chanting.

I arrived at the ground at around about 5.10pm last night. After feeling like a total newbie trying to find my seat I finally made my way up into the Strawberry corner. It was obvious that the Leazes Level 4 corner had plenty of spare seats, which was bloody annoying! While Arsenal brought up extra fans, I can't wait to see empty blocks of seats up in Level 7 when the likes of Wigan and Fulham come to town.

There were already grumbles about people standing, before the match started. Once the game kicked off several scuffles broke out between the people who had been previous "corner" season ticket holders and the newcomers. Despite the majority of the newcomers being located in the back rows of the corner, there were some who are located further down.

People who wanted to sit were complaining about those standing impeding their views. People who were standing were complaining as, up in the Leazes corner we were allowed to stand. I saw an older couple who were in the block closest to the East stand get involved in a dispute and end up leaving their seats after about 10 minutes. In front of me, though, was the most shocking incident that I have seen in a long while in the stands of St James Park. A well built, middle aged man and his friends were sitting, two young lads, one aged only 16 stood up briefly as a free kick was taken. A comment was made by one of the men who was sitting and the young lad turned around to look at them. The well built bloke grabbed the young lad by the face and shook him, while his friends shouted horrendous abuse. These men had obviously been drinking, and their reaction to these young lads standing up was completely un-necessary.

Obviously I can understand that there are people who don't want to, or can't stand all match and that was why the Leazes corner was brought into existence. The stewarding up there was relaxed, the atmosphere was one where singing, chanting and (if you wanted to standing in front of your seat was, well not permitted, but tolerated).

There has got to be some give and take in the Strawberry corner, and I'm not talking about the standing really. We all know we are not supposed to stand, and it's against the club's licence, blah, blah, blah! People don't get hurt by standing in front of seats at a football match. They get hurt when fans are moved from areas of the stadium where standing was tolerated and put in to new areas where standing isn't. That isn't the fault of people who have been made to move, it's the fault of the man who orchestrated the move - Mike Ashley!

If the person behind me asked me to sit, I would sit down. Luckily the people behind me are people who have been relocated from the Leazes Corner who were standing too. But if someone behind you wants to sit, and asks you to sit down as they can't see I would say you have to sit too. What isn't acceptable is violence between fans of the same team. Whether it's middle ages fans, or young uns starting on the other it's just not on and it needs to stop.

Come on folks, it's going to take time for us all to get used to each other, but lets not see the kind of violence I saw yesterday. We are supposed to be supporting the same team, getting behind the lads, we are supposed to be Newcastle United!

It's that time of the year again

Here we are again. Another season has passed, and it's been a canny one. After the championship winning season, it was always going to be a nervous first season back in the Premiership and I know I wasn't the only person who said from the start of pre-season training that finishing in 17th place would do. So to end up comfortable in mid-table, not embroiled in a relegation dogfight come May, exceeded my expectations.

There were, of course, some low points in the 2010/2011 season. Losing 5-1 to Bolton, seeing Blackpool beat us at home, the car-crash that was the fixture at Stevenage, Chrissy Hughton's disgraceful sacking, and the circus that was the sale of Andy Carroll all sat uncomfortably with me. Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias have done nothing yet to show me that they have any kind of understanding of how to run this football club, and the closing of the Leazes Corner only highlight's their lack of empathy with the fans of this club.

However, away from Laurel and Hardy, there have been some real positives. Aston Villa 6-0, Chelsea 3-4, Arsenal 0-1, Liverpool 3-1, West Ham 5-0, the amazing comeback against Arsenal at home, and of course the 5-1 humiliation of the unwashed down the road, followed by Steve Bruce making a complete ballsack of himself and the 1-1 draw down at Albania-on-wear, which was celebrated by them like they had won the champions league.

We've seen Joey Barton play like a dream, Nolan end up with more premier league goals than Drogba, Colocinni being on a promise with 99% of the women of the north-east, Leon Best being mint, Shane Ferguson looking like a right bobby dazzler and the promise of Hatem Ben Arfa to come. On the pitch we look like we have a firm foundation to build on, if we can stop selling our best players to our rivals.

In an ideal summer we would tie up Enrique and Barton to new deals, sign up a proven goalscorer, and add some depth to a squad which has shown signs of being quite thin at times. However rumblings are already coming out of the area of Barrack Road which sound like some of the better players could be shipped out.

The lowest point for me this season was seeing the end of the "singing section". The Level 7 Leazes corner has been a breath of fresh air. A place where football fans could stand and sing and really create an atmosphere. However Ashley in his wisdom has decided to relocate the fans, who have been quite vocal in their criticism of him, and thinks this will dilute the negative feelings that have been vocalised about him. What he fails to realise is that no matter where we are in the ground we will not be silenced.

The club seem to feel by not relocating us together in the Level 4 corner of the Leazes stand we will stop making a noise, how wrong can they be! Most of us will now go to the Gallowgate and we will continue to be loud and proud and sing our hearts out for the lads!

My hopes for next season are that we continue to build on a solid foundation, establish ourselves in the mid-section of the premier league and aim higher in the coming years. I have enjoyed this season, something that a couple of years ago I couldn't imagine myself saying.

Let the crazy season of transfer speculation begin. See you all next season.

Talking out of his Llambias

On Saturday at the match I read the latest match programme. Derek Llambias, our Chairman, has a regular page in it, and decided to use his latest spot to rant at the Newcastle fans because they dared to voice their feelings towards Liverpool's Andy Carroll at the game at Anfield. These are the same fans who have steadfastly supported this club since before Dekka even knew exactly where Newcastle was, the fans who have watched Mike Ashley make a mockery of NUFC legends Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer, the same fans who watched Ashley and Llambias lead our club to relegation.

How many clubs would love to have fans who, despite not having seen a major trophy since 1969, still turn up week in, week out to support their team? Who, in a season in the second tier of football averaged a home gate of 43, 388 and managed a staggering 52, 181 against Ipswich Town? Who have regularly sold out away allocations for years and who have taken over 8, 000 fans to the likes of Blackburn?

These fans commit a significant proportion of their wages to following Newcastle. The majority have just renewed their season tickets for the next season, and some have signed up for 10 more years. Yet Llambias feels that he has a right to have a go at these fans for daring to vent their frustrations at Andy Carroll, a local lad, who only back in November signed a new long term deal to stay at his home-town club, but by the end of January had handed in a transfer request to join Liverpool.

Llambias has no right to criticise anyone, least of all the fans who have backed this club through thin and thinner. He really has no clue what this club means to us, he doesn't realise that supporting Newcastle is a birthright, he has no idea how betrayed we felt by the sale of Andy Carroll. He has no clue what the relegation meant to us, hasn't a clue about the roller coaster of emotions ridden between 2008 and 2011 while supporting Newcastle United.

He stated that "...the abuse he [Andy Carroll] received was difficult to stomach..." Really Dekka, was it? Well try being a Newcastle fan who has had to live with you and Mike Ashley for the last few years. Try living watching you guys humiliate Keegan, watching you admit in court that you've lied to the fans, watching you employ the frankly embarrassing Joe Kinnear, the relegation, the fucking around with Shearer and then, when we were back on the up and up, the sacking of Chris Hughton and the sale of Carroll. All while you pick up a wage that a lot of us could only dream of. That is sickening Dekka, that is difficult to stomach.

Since Llambias' appointment as Chairman many fans have asked what qualifications the former casino manager had to run a football club. Fans have been staggered by Llambias' scorn towards the fans, the distaste he has shown when dealing with us, the lack of respect, the stories of him drunkenly running naked over the hallowed St James' Park turf for a laugh, the barely disguised marionette controlled from above by Mike Ashley. The man really has no class.

Many of us asked whether a man like Llambias even knew anything about football at all. One quote from our most recent programme sums up to me that he hasn't got a clue. Llambias says "To go from hero to villain simply for moving clubs...is beyond me." Unbelievable, the man has no clue! How he cannot see that not only the move, but the manner in which it unfolded, hurt the Newcastle fans and detailed to us our lack of future ambition is baffling. Why he cannot see understand that we are still sore about seeing a young lad who could have been the future of our club pulling on the jersey of Liverpool shows that the guy should stick to managing roulette tables.

Andy Carroll, like Michael Owen when he returned to St James Park with Manchester United, got exactly what he deserved. He put money before the club. Carroll, as a young Geordie lad, had his dreams come true when he was awarded the coveted number 9 shirt. He was in a position that every Newcastle fan would give anything for. But he decided that the Anfield grass was greener, and by doing that he burned his bridges with a lot of the paying fans.

Llambias needs to remember that he and Ashley have it lucky. He has 52, 000 people who still flock to St James Park to worship the black and white. Criticising them for expressing their feelings towards someone who has turned their back on our cause just shows that he hasn't got a clue. The sooner Llambias moves on to manage Aspers and leaves running a football club to a football man the better.

EMO meltdown

In my time watching Newcastle United I can't remember a former player getting such a hostile welcome back to St James' Park as England's Michael Owen (EMO) got last night. From his tweets later that night Owen seemed rather surprised that he was not welcomed back with open arms. What did the lad, whose main concern during his time at Newcastle was collecting England caps, expect?

On the 24th of August 2005 Owen was greeted at St James' Park by thousands of fans. Most of those, I guess, are the idiots who stand around Strawberry Place whenever David Craig and his Sky Cameras appear, with badly spelled bedsheets, bottles of alcopop and dodgy haircuts, rather than the match goers. Myself, I was at a charity fundraiser, and was appalled by the signing, seeing it immediately as a trophy signing with very little real value.

Owen did little to endear himself to the Newcastle fans. Whilst picking up over £100,000 a week, he helicoptered himself to and from training in the North-East, refusing to set up home here. His interaction with the fans was not just minimal, but completely non-existent. His involvement with local community schemes, such an important part of his job, was completely ignored. Owen ensured he spent as little time in the North-East as possible.

As a captain of the club he couldn't motivate cement to set. As he wandered, uninterestedly around the pitch, young lads around him were unable to look to him for guidance and motivation during a game, he couldn't look less interested if he tried.

Plagued by injuries, he only ever seemed to care when he was attempting to make it back into the England squad, only to break down again. In his final season here, having earned over £20 million since 2005, he guided us to relegation at Aston Villa, a game he missed due to injury, surprise surprise.

Never has a player looked more mercenary, and never has a player had such a negative response from Newcastle fans to his appearance on the St James' pitch. On Twitter Owen moaned:

"Knew I would get booed as that's what a lot of fans do but if they knew the facts then they may have a different opinion."


Then later on:


"From what most of you Newcastle fans are saying you should be pleased I left the club! If i had known that earlier I could have left sooner!"


Poor little rich boy couldn't understand why the Newcastle United fans took umbrage with his greedy, lazy attitude. I'm more than sure that that the majority of Newcastle United fans would have been delighted if he'd have left earlier too. It would have saved us over £5 million a season, £1.3 million pound per goal scored. Even Freddy Shepherd, a man who has vigorously defended his signing of Owen, to end his nightmare at Madrid, spoke this week about how little value Owen represented. Owen's hilariously petulant reaction on twitter just shows how removed from reality he is. Hopefully he'll retire from football at the end of this season and disappear up his own arse. 

Embarrassment of riches

This weekend Alan Pardew has admitted that he has a huge decision to make in the summer. Our current goalkeeping situation sees three men fighting for one place and Pardew has come out in the press to say that he has to decide whether to let one of the young 'keepers leave the club.

Steve Harper has been with Newcastle United since 1993, after signing from local non-league team Seaham Red Star. As Newcastle's longest serving player, he has spent the majority of his career acting as back up to Shay Given. Some cite a lack of ambition for Harper not moving away from Newcastle in that time, personally I see it as loyalty. Whenever Harper has been asked to step up to the mark he has shown that he is worthy of the number 1 shirt and he could have walked into the goalkeeping role at a number of other Premier League clubs and possibly have gained some England caps.

Harper is the model professional. Having completed an Open University degree while playing for Newcastle reserves, Harper is also an FA approved referee. He attends reserve team matches and keeps himself well out of the media spotlight. He is also reported to be a big fan of darts and a joker in the dressing room. He is certainly a fans favourite and deserves his place between the sticks but as he celebrates his 36th birthday today time is not on his side.

Coming up fast behind Harper Newcastle United are lucky enough to have two superb young 'keepers. Tim Krul currently holds the spot on Newcastle's bench, after 19 appearances this season. Signed from his hometown team, Den Haag, Krul had a cameo role in the 2006-2007 season when he starred in the UEFA cup game against Palermo making some astonishing saves due. Since then, with the two 'keepers in front of him, Krul has spent time on loan at Falkirk and Carlisle before returning as back up when Given moved to Manchester City. Krul is highly rated by his country, where he has represented Holland at Under 17 and Under 21 level and is now involved with the senior squad and is tipped to be Holland's future number 1. He has also courted interest from the likes of Juventus and Feyernood, and if he was to leave Newcastle would have no trouble finding a club to play for.

Meanwhile Fraser Forster has not been resting on his laurels. The young, Hexham-born 'keeper has spent time at Stockport, Bristol, Norwich and Celtic on loan where he has impressed both fans and managers. At Norwich he kept an astonishing 50% record for clean sheets, which earned him the Macron Golden Gloves award. Norwich were promoted from league one, and Forster earned the Players Player Award and came second in the Fans Player Awards. Forster then joined Celtic at the start of the 2010-2011 season, and has so far made 30 appearances for the SPL club.

It will have been invaluable for Forster to have played in front of 50, 000 fans every other week, as if he is to step into the 'keeper's role at St James Park, it will be something he has to face up to. Nothing teaches a young goalkeeper better than experience, and Forster has played his role in the Old Firm games this season showing that he can withstand the high pressure matches.

Come pre-season training Alan Pardew knows that he will have 3 goalkeepers banging on his door to show them why he is worthy of the regular goalkeeping spot at Newcastle. Personally I would like to see Forster given a chance to show that he can step up to the Premier League, with Harper in a player-coach role, and Krul being given a spell on loan at a high-level Championship/lower Premier League club. It's an interesting dilemma for Pardew to have, and one which I will be watching closely.

Snood believe it?

We have seen a remarkable week in football. Since last Saturday we have seen air-rifles being shot at work experience lads, referees giving free kicks for incidents they didn't see, ignoring incidents they obviously did see, Wayne Rooney clattering opposition players, dodgy penalties being given, stonewall penalties not being given, Alex Ferguson saying referees are superb and then saying they are crap, dubious offside's being flagged, managers squaring up to each other, player brawls on the pitch, owls being kicked and subsequently dying and Kolo Toure facing a ban for chugging his wife's slim-fast or whatever it was.

Fifa are footballing's highest body. They control world, if not universal, football and this week they held a meeting. You would think that they had some serious footballing matters to discuss. However what they decided was that snoods, the things that aren't quite a scarf, aren't quite a hood but are definitely a fashion faux pas and definitely something that young men playing football shouldn't be seen dead wearing, are to be banned. Fifa, in their wisdom, have ruled that the snoods are a health a safety risk, and that players could be choked by opposition players grabbing their woolly neck protectors.

There is nothing more hilarious than a player wearing a snood! It's laughable when you see a professional footballer wearing a short sleeved shirt and gloves. I have tried to imaging players such as Brian "Killer" Kilcline or Ron "Chopper" Harris in a snood, but my mind won't let such a preposterous thought. A professional footballer should be running around, the body heat keeping him warm. Gloves? Snoods? What next? Legwarmers? 19th Century handmuffs? Bodywarmers? Earmuffs?

Newcastle United fans have a reputation of being completely mental at times. It's not uncommon to see lads, like those pictured at the top of the blog, with their tops off for 90 minutes of the game in the middle of December, bouncing like loons. Some of them could definitely do with a trip to Sadie the Bra lady but they manage to make it through the game without thermal vests despite not having the physical exertion of a football match to keep them warm.

It beggars belief though, that in a week where there has been multiple problems with referees not being able to control players, making huge mistakes on the field, where players have assaulted other players and where managers have incited crowd problems with their behaviour football's world governing body has nothing to say but to ban a stupid item of clothing that no self-respecting man should wear anyway.

Sit down, shut up!

It's the time of year when the season ticket renewal packs start hitting the doormats again and this week saw Newcastle United announce through a press release their plans for the coming season, and the longer term. Initially the noises were good. A pledge to freeze season ticket prices from next season for the next ten years. An extension of the family area. A young person's area for fans aged 18-21. A direct debit scheme to make the price affordable over a 12 month period. As for the most important thing in most people's minds, the prices, the club stated "Over 18's season tickets are being raised in price by £15..." but that covers a 12th man membership which is now to be automatically included. Excellent!

However what the club failed to make clear was something that affects directly about 3000 fans, but indirectly affects the whole ground. 

3 years ago, Mike Ashley decided to set up a "singing section" for fans who wanted to make a noise at the game. This area was situated in the "Leazes corner" and fans were moved from the Sir John Hall stand Level 7 and could join this area from other parts of the ground. This area has, arguably, been consistently the loudest part of the ground for fans who want to stand and sing. It was also the most affordable seat in the ground at £390 for an adult season ticket which made it an attractive prospect for the fans who had the least disposable income to spend. 

Lets not kid ourselves, St James' Park is no longer the fortress of noise and hostility that it used to be. The Tyne-Wear derby and the Arsenal comeback game are exceptions rather than the rule for blistering atmospheres at St James Park. There are pockets of fans, especially in the back of the Gallowgate and in the "Strawberry Corner" who like to make a noise, but the "Leazes Corner" has tried its utmost to create some kind of away-game atmosphere for the home fans. 

But the singing corner is being disbanded. The family section and the young person's section is being extended directly into that corner, and with away fans allocation being increased to 4000, it means that the fans who sit (sorry we stand) in that corner are being forced to move. It's hard to understand why a 4000 allocation is needed for away fans, especially when the likes of Fulham, Wigan, Bolton and Blackburn regularly only bring 2 men and a dog to away games. How wonderful are 3000+ grey seats up in the gods going to look?

It's impossible to not believe that Mike Ashley is disbanding his idea of a singing corner for no other reason than he has been getting dogs abuse from the fans based there for the past 3 years. Songs like "Get out of our club"and "I don't care about Ashley" and banners which read "Cockney rapist" have emanated from the Leazes corner. Ashley probably believes that by splitting up the most vocal fans will stop the negative chanting about him. However all it does is further alienate the owner from the fans. Some plans are being mooted by fans to develop a new "singing corner" in the Leazes corner Level 4, but how viable this is going to be remains to be seen, as Ashley has the final word on whether it will be allowed. 

However, not only are the "Leazes corner" regulars being displaced, but what wasn't disclosed in the press statement was that the people who are being moved now have to pay a higher price for their ticket. Those who bought a season ticket for the Championship season are getting a 10% discount on next year's ticket, but even with that, to move to any other part of the ground will see a season ticket price increase by at least £120 a year. So while other fans are getting a £15 increase, the most vocal fans, the fans who probably have the least money too are getting a £120 increase. It makes the decision to renew that much harder. Already one friend of mine, a lad who has had a season ticket for the last 12 years, has said that he cannot renew his ticket, he just cannot afford the price increase. 

The fans of Newcastle United have tolerated a lot from Ashley in his short tenure here, but they will not continue to be shafted by the owner. Mike Ashley is playing a dangerous game. Forget about players, they come and go, the lifeblood of any club is their fans.