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!

Smells like team spirit

On May 24th 2009 I travelled to Villa Park, with the hope that Newcastle would claw enough of a result to see us avoid the drop into the championship. The day did not start well, with me locking myself out of the house, with my match ticket inside, and cutting my hand breaking in through the back door to retrieve said ticket. Almost missing the bus, in the resultant panic, was something I almost wish I had done. Had I known the lack of passion, fight and heart that the lads in black and white would show down in Birmingham on that day then I would have settled for a lie in instead.


We all know how that match panned out. A pathetic showing from the professional footballers representing our club, a deflected own goal off Damien Duff to shatter the hearts of the Geordie faithful who not only travelled to Villa Park that day, but sang their hearts out for over half an hour after the final whistle to show that we still love our club. I saw one lad crying that day, just one, and he was told in no uncertain terms to man the fuck up!


The journey back up from the midlands seemed never-ending. A bus full of lads and lasses who were sombre, unsure of what the future held, lads and lasses who had been dreadfully hurt by the club they adored.


What happened on that day though, and the subsequent weeks and months later, was that a new team was reborn. Like a phoenix out of the ashes. The mercenaries, Owen, Viduka, Beye, Martins, Duff, and others left the club. A core emerged of players, who on paper appeared less talented, but more gritty, more determined. These lads literally stood up in the dressing room and declared that they wanted to stay at the club and bring it back to the premiership.


Steve Harper. Alan Smith. Kevin Nolan. Joey Barton. Jose Enrique. Fabricio Colocinni. Jonas Gutierrez. This group of lads literally stood up and said that anyone who didn't want to be at the club could fuck off, but that they were staying. This group of lads formed the bedrock of a team that decimated the championship, unbeaten at home and impressive away. When the championship trophy was presented at St James Park 12 months after the agony of relegation these lads knew that something had fundamentally changed at the football club.


This group of lads had become a team in the real sense of the word. I, for one, sensed a change up at Gallowgate. During 2010-2011 many expected Newcastle to struggle, when Hughton was unfairly sacked, when Carroll was sold. But they hadn't bargained on the strength of the core of lads who made up the team.

In Kevin Nolan we have a proper captain. Michael Owen couldn't have motivated cement to set when he was given the armband. His lacklustre, gutless, selfish attitude meant that he was unable to think beyond himself both on and off the field. Owen was invisible for most of his time at Newcastle, both on and off the field and in a team which is so deeply involved with the people of the North-East, which belongs to the area, that was unforgivable.


Kevin Nolan is polar opposite to Michael Owen, leading by example. He is a captain in the true sense of the word. He famously had a special relationship with Andy Carroll, taking him into his home when the young lad ended up in trouble. He and Joey Barton are close friends, who have holidayed together. He has offered to work with Nile Ranger after training to improve the youngster's game. On the field his goals have proved vital.

Joey Barton is infamous, for his previous off-field antics. However, the work he has put in, not only to improve himself, but also for Newcastle United in the last two years off the field, should be recognised. This lad asks for nothing but 100%, not only from himself but from his team mates too. He is a catalyst in the team on the field, his football being at times sublime this season. He also acknowledges that he has a lot to give back to Newcastle for standing by him when he was imprisoned. Joey truly has made fundamental changes to himself. But his heart belongs to the team. Joey has offered to take a substantial pay cut to stay at Newcastle United, in the days of greedy footballers, how many others could you name who would do that?


So it has been hard to hear that Nolan and Barton are being told they have no future at the club. Joey Barton's agent, Willie McKay, said recently about Barton's contract negotiations:

"I had a meeting this morning with [managing director] Derek [Llambias] and [football secretary] Lee [Charnley] and there was no offer on the table."

and over recent days rumours of Nolan's contract negotiations stalling have been muted. 

I don't think anyone wants to see Newcastle United to stagnate. But for too long we have had a team that has lacked strength in depth. We also have a team spirit that no amount of money can buy. So why would the club wish to take two extremely important cogs from the machine? Many of us hope for a repeat of the Steven Taylor situation, which saw the defender sign a contract after he was reportedly told he was no longer needed at the club. I've also heard others say, well these lads will be 31 and 32 if we give them 3-4 year deals, but I feel that this is short-sighted on their part. Nolan and Barton offer far more than an on-field presence. 

Llambias refuses to speak about important issues regarding the club, making pointless comments instead about Michael Owen's previous wages. It's about time that Llambias recognised that if we dismantle the foundations then the structure will come tumbling down and we will end up back where we were in May  2009, and may not have the passion and guile to rebuild. 

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.

Not worth the paper it's written on

On Friday we Newcastle fans awoke to the news that Cheik Tiote had put pen to paper and signed a new 6.5 year contract. I for one was over the moon at the news. Tiote has been phenomenal for Newcastle this year, his 35 yard wonder-goal against Arsenal crowning his debut season for us. Stats show that with Tiote in the side we have won 42% of the games we have played while without him we have only won 12.5%.

However, some cynics have pointed out that it doesn't matter how long a contract he has signed, he'll be off in the summer if we get a decent offer for the Ivory Coast international. It's hard to argue against them, as Andy Carroll is an all too recent reminder that players are loyal to whoever pays them the best wages.  Even youth players display little loyalty, with Ryan Donaldson putting a comment on his facebook how "anyone would do the same" as Carroll, just after the deadline day deal was completed.

All too often now players are orchestrating moves to ensure that their bank balances are well padded, with little consideration on how long left they have on their contracts. Cristiano Ronaldo signed a five year deal at Manchester United but was pulling on the Real Madrid shirt just over a year later. Glen Johnson was happy to sign a new deal committing himself to Portsmouth but a little over 8 months later he signed for Liverpool. In 2008 Stuart Downing put pen to paper at Middlesbrough in a deal which should have seen him contracted to his local club until 2013, but just a year later became Martin O'Neill's first summer signing of 2009 at Aston Villa.

Its really hard not to take the news of these players signing with a pinch of salt. As much as I would love to see Joey Barton and Jose Enrique committing themselves to Newcastle United for another 3-5 years each, it's difficult not to be cynical. I am in no doubt that even if Enrique signed a new deal and then Chelsea, Liverpool or Inter put in a bid for Jose that he would be on his way regardless of how long was remaining on his time here.

Newcastle fans have just been sent out their season ticket renewals. They have an option to secure their season ticket at a guaranteed price for the next 10 years. I'm not naive enough to believe that footballers have anything like the loyalty to a club that the fans have, but its disconcerting to have to decide whether to commit to your club long-term when you don't know if the stars who earn more in a week than we do in a year are prepared to do the same.

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.