ISSUE 126
JUN/JULY 2016
15/16
NEWCASTLE UNITED FANZINE - THE ALTERNATIVE VIEW - 2015/16 SEASON
E-MAIL: editor@true-faith.co.uk WEBSITE: www.true-faith.co.uk EDITOR: Michael Martin DEPUTY EDITOR: Gareth Harrison ART & DESIGN: Glenn Ashcroft & Michael Martin ILLUSTRATIONS: Marc Jennings marcjennings.co.uk
Editorial.................................................... pg4
Feel Every Beat..................................... pg67
PHOTOGRAPHY: Matt Flynn, Colin Ferguson & Carl Haynes
TBAWE...................................................... pg6
Head Start for Happiness................. pg72
PROOFREADING - Neil Huitson
The Reincarnation of Newcastle United............................ pg10
Ticket Prices - The Truth..................... pg76
WEBSITE: Glenn Ashcroft & Michael Martin
Viva La Rafalution................................. pg14
Basque Brethren................................... pg80
Love Will Tear Us Apart Season 15-16 Review......................... pg18
The Magnetic North........................... pg84
COPYRIGHT: All items(c) true faith. Not to be reproduced without the prior permission of true faith.
Geordies Here, Geordies There........ pg26 Scottish & Newcastle United......... pg30
The Haçienda and Me........................ pg86 Cartoons.................................................. pg91
Emotional Rescue................................ pg34
Postcards From the Edge................... pg92
Calcio’s Greatest Forwards............... pg35
60 Second Season................................. pg94
Big Money Buy...................................... pg36
Shame..................................................... pg96
Road Map to Relegation.................... pg40 Better Use Your Head........................ pg44
Rituals, Weasels, Inflatables and Situationism................................. pg100
Jonas - the Verdict............................... pg46
Hope Springs Eternal......................... pg104
Geordies Here, Geordies There........ pg48 Branded: Lacoste................................... pg52 Missing in Action.................................. pg56
Johan Cruyff - For every Season There is a Turn...................................... pg108 O Rei - Pele........................................... pg116
STATEMENT: This is NOT an official product of Newcastle United FC. NOTICE: All views expressed are the views of the author and do not always represent the views of true faith. CONTRIBUTIONS: All contributions to true faith are welcomed, encouraged and considered for publication - letters, articles, photos etc. NEVER FORGOTTEN: L.J. & M. Martin. NEXT ISSUE: TF 127 OUT: XX XXX 2016
There Is a Light That Never Goes out.......................... pg60
Andy Cole.............................................. pg122
SUBMISSIONS FOR NEXT ISSUE: XX XXX 2016
Geordies Here, Geordies There........ pg62
The End................................................... pg130
© true faith.
www.true-faith.co.uk
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editorial
Welcome to tf 126. The relegation that had been predicted by those of us who had been paying attention to how Newcastle United has been managed, at every level for several years now, came to pass and we now find ourselves back in a second tier we left back in 2009/10 following another bout of mismanagement on the Mike Ashley-watch. Unqualified, inadequate people following a flawed strategy of underinvestment preceding a scatter-gun spending programme has brought us to this point. The ultimate blame for our latest relegation rests tf 4
with Mike Ashley and his lack of commitment, investment and ambition for United but there are others who share a major slice of the culpability and that includes Kinnear, Llambias, Pardew, Carver, McClaren, Charnley and Carr. All bar the last two of that procession of fools have departed United but the big game changer for United is the establishment at the club of Senor Rafael Benitez. Although Rafa arrived too late to prevent a relegation that has been in the post for 36-months (at least) he has infused the support with optimism that a line has been drawn under a
tf 125 May/June 2017 editor@true-faith.co.uk
model for running United that has persistently proven to be a busted flush. The notion that the man running the team, deciding the tactics, selecting the players has no say in the players who are bought and sold is nonsensical. Rafa has accepted the job as MANAGER of Newcastle United and he takes the job on his own terms after forcing Ashley et al to recognise the folly of the approach they have adopted since Kevin Keegan refused its strait-jacket and even the supine puppets Pardew and McClaren could not operate to any level of success at all. That chapter now seems closed.
@tfeditor1892
Benitez now has the job on his own terms and is conducting a root and branch reform of how the club operates. It’s my own personal view that there is no one big idea that makes a football club rise or fall but consistency of decision-making where those working at the club remember the primary purpose of the venture they are involved in – winning football matches should determine everything. Take for example the installation of a 4-G pitch in the training barn. At any other prominent football club this wouldn’t merit a by-line on the club’s website but at United it represents something www.true-faith.co.uk
altogether different – it’s a sign of Rafa’s influence. But this also links into investment, the club’s injury record and so much more. The whole club needs a bolt of electricity through it and it is to be desperately hoped it is delivered by Rafa Benitez. Promotion next season is a must. As a club we cannot afford to be outside of the Premier League and if we are the status of the club, its prestige and its infrastructure will crumble. We just need to look down the A1 to Leeds and Sheffield for evidence of that. There are players who many of us have questioned for their commitment but who have undoubted talent who might now be in the crosshairs of interest from clubs playing top level football next season. Personally, I see Krul, Janmaat, Sissoko, Wiljandum, Townsend and Shelvey as the players who might attract attention. We all have our opinions on who we’d like to keep and who we’d all like to see the back of too. Personally, I believe Colocinni needs to leave and a whole new energy should be brought into the dressing room. That will be difficult with an unhappy, long-serving skipper sat sulking in the corner. Some players have made noises they want to be away but Benitez has
We have already seen the departure of some players, most significantly amongst which was Steven Taylor whose career has been ravaged by serious and persistent injuries over the last five years. I do wish him well and thank him for his never less than 100% commitment to the United shirt.
made them aware he’ll decide what happens not their agents. That is a sign of his authority. We have already seen the departure of some players, most significantly amongst which was Steven Taylor whose career has been ravaged by serious and persistent injuries over the last five years. I do wish him well and thank him for his never less than 100% commitment to the United shirt. Of course we still have Ashley, Charnley and Carr at United. The latter has had his role significantly
reduced and the former appears to lead a charmed life at SJP. I do worry about his competence even though he speaks of his good relationship with Benitez and Rafa praises his professionalism. I’m not convinced he can deliver for United. He hasn’t so far.
redeveloped lost forever.
Ashley continues to be a worry for me. It’s often missed by the local press that the development at Strawberry Place has been commissioned by him and he will directly profit from it whilst United will have the only area of SJP which can be
Next season is a massive one for United. Lots needs to happen. I don’t believe we can afford to fail but I don’t think Benitez, with full control and our support 100% behind him will do anything other than succeed.
But the groundswell of support is for Rafa and the move of like-minded singing fans to The Corner with plans by new group GALLOWGATE FLAGS to create a new atmosphere a sign of a new positivity amongst the rank and file.
Have a great summer. Keep On, Keepin’ On…
Follow Michael on twitter
www.true-faith.co.uk
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thru black & white eyes 03 April Gut wrenching defeats don’t actually come that often with United. The lack of passion across the last three seasons has meant that defeat has either been accepted or inevitable. This was different though. ‘Suckerpunch’, ‘kick in the teeth’ or ‘relegation inducing.’ Call the result what you will, this side cannot play away from home. It’s been the same for two and a half years now. What amazes me, and gives me the slightest bit of belief is that we were so bad and should probably have won the game despite being behind twice. We never would have come back under McCLaren, but it doesn’t really matter does it. We look doomed. Mike Dean can sod off. We saw the handball from the away end. That’s what happens when you get relegated
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though. It seems like the world and every referee is against you. One thing is for certain. I never want to see Vurnon Anita play at left back again. 05 April Rafa reckons there are positives to take from the Norwich debacle. For a start Sunderland failed to beat one of the worst teams in the league, West Brom, at home. Southampton away up next. There’s a clamouring for Mitrovic to start after his two goals at the weekend. The same goes for Perez. Whenever they’ve both started a game, they’ve stunk the place out. They’re both miles better from the bench, but the need for some sort of reaction away from home may force Rafa’s hand. 09 April Shite 11 April Already some of the press are at Rafa for
one draw and three defeats from his opening games. It’s almost as if he’s inherited an absolute shambles of a football club from top to bottom, that had won 5 away games in nearly three calendar years. He’s unbeaten at home, which is where our salvation lies. Southampton was proper rubbish. Steven Taylor will probably never play for the club again after being pulled at half time. What a dreadful way to start a football match. Lip reading Spanish speakers were able to extend on Benitez’s furious post game comments about something being intrinsically wrong with the squad. It’s not just that they are rubbish, it’s something else. Villa and Sunderland are rubbish and picked up points at Southampton. United away from home are every home sides dream.
No fight. No determination to even make a game of it. Mitrovic was rubbish, again. Cisse offers little, but at least he can close people down. Mitrovic with Perez off him wouldn’t get goals in League One with this United team away from home. I’m sure Rafa won’t try that again. 13 April People think Janmaat is a ‘disgrace’ for some reason. He had a nightmare for that goal, injured himself and punched a wall that will keep him out of the Swansea game at least. He’s a fool, but why the hatred of the right back? The right side of our team has provided more chances than any other part. They’ve conceded less goals down that side. Yet it’s he and Sissoko who people rage against. Perez, Mitro, Winjaldum (to an extent), Dummet and loads
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of others seem to get away with compared to these two. I can’t make any sense of it. Anyway back to Vurnon Anita at right back FFS. 14 April Jamal Lascelles knows the patter. This interview took serious balls. A junior pro, not even in the team, coming out and saying what we’ve all been thinking. I’m sure Rafa will agree. Get this lad in the team. 15 April Massive day tomorrow. Anything other than three points against Swansea and that’s that. Done by mid-April. The mackems play a dreadful Norwich. Funnily enough until Norwich beat us I thought they were the main obstacle to survival, but they were so bad that I have them nailed on. A draw would be a good result for us. It doesn’t matter though, really. We need to win our game and go from there. 16 April RELIEF 18 April There were some seriously sore heads in NE1 on Sunday as three points www.true-faith.co.uk
in the SJP sunshine sent us on our way into the public houses of the greatest city in the world with a smile on every face. It wasn’t pretty, and Swansea were poor bar a 15 minute spell when they really should have scored. Doesn’t matter though. Three points, A CLEAN SHEET and hope. It doesn’t get much better. Sissoko and Townsend both scored their first home goals of the season and Lascelles looked good. The situation is still dire, but with winnable home games to come, it’s certainly not impossible, if still out of our hands. Man City at home tomorrow night. They’ve just humiliated Chelsea by three at the Bridge. Normally I’d be terrified, but something about how solid we looked against Swansea, and with Rafa in charge – bring them on! 20 April A great performance against a good side. A point that could have been three. The only dispiriting thing is that we may now need three points against Liverpool to stay alive. Aguero though? What’s he doing standing
5 yards offside in the first place. If that was Shola…. The main thing is we’re now on a run. United never only went three games without defeat once under McClaren. Avoid defeat at Liverpool (a tough ask) and we’ve matched that. There’s something happening to this side. Graft all over the park. Quality when it mattered. Also great to see Winjladum dropped. Benitez is the man. 23 April Another belter in the Liverpool sunshine. 3k mags, in some voice. Great fightback, great display. We started badly and got worse after that but came out with an added dimension after half time. Cisse doing what he does best and then Jack Colback chipping in. Thanks to Simon Mignolet for getting us back in it. Sunderland’s win last week means they’re in the box seat to stay up. We need favours from rank teams like Arsenal and Everton, and I can’t see us getting them. Chelsea have also knocked off early. On the drive home the conversation turned to the bigger picture. IF we go down,
is it entirely plausible that we keep Benitez. It’s more important than staying up. It really is. Ideally you want to do both. If Rafa kept us up and for some reason left, surely it would be worse than United going down but allowing him to rebuild? These answers can wait, but with the future of the club at stake – there’s only one man who should be central to everything the club does. His name is Rafa Benitez. 25 April Guess who’s back in town? Husband’s lock up your wives (allegedly) as Alan Pardew brings his rank Palace side to town. To be fair some of the work he did at United was very good. Much of it very bad. He speaks well of the city and the club when asked. I think everyone, him included, has a few good memories of his time at United. I don’t think there’ll be much about him this Saturday as it’s all about United and Rafa. Three points a must. 30 April Watch the goal here. Here. And here. This was the aftermath. Allardyce’s bluff pre-game tf 7
thru black & white eyes counted for little, as Palace were dire in the second half. He’s just like his fan base, always talking about Newcastle United. Another win. ANOTHER clean sheet. How has this happened? Rafa has turned a steaming turd into a rough diamond (that probably still can’t play away from home). 31 April Still laughing AT Cabaye’s pen. It was so bad, and yet Darlow was so good. Get in. Sunderland snaked a last minute penalty to get a point at Stoke. They’re not losing games. It might be too much for the lads to do. Still, Vile next week. It can be done. 02 May Apparently Everton want Rafa when Martinez is surely sacked (please can you do it before
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he gifts SAFC all three later this month, lads?). Hands off Everton. He’s ours ( I’m hoping) 04 May I really hate Aston Villa Football Club. They deserve all of this, and no doubt there’ll be a bump in their pathetic attendances when United roll into town. Pathetic club, people and area. We are everything they want to be. Relevant. But this isn’t about them, or settling any scores. It’s about United and three points. The mackems are at home to Chelsea. If we fail to better their result it’s probably all over. So a win might not be enough, but I’d enjoy it nonetheless. As the season has gone on it’s become more and more apparent how much we have utterly doomed by
the appointment of Steve McClaren in the first place. We should be heading to the worst place in the world (Villa Park and the surrounding area) looking for the final act of revenge. Instead, chances are I’ll be back at the dump next season, hopefully as they’re League One bound.
out. Banners, social media campaigns etc – the lot. Funny how the no one in the media is crying foul play. Pardew; 5th, 16th, 10th – with no a pathetic domestic cup record. Further proof if you ever needed it of many journalists hatred of Newcastle United and the North East.
07 May Hope they go out of business.
09 May Rumours have it the SoL might even sell out against Everton (it didn’t in the end) and Sunderland are preparing a great big party for finishing 17th (again.) Walking in an Allardyce wonderland!
08 May So that’s it then really. Sunderland will beat a hapless Everton is what will be Martinez’s last game. Funny isn’t it. Martinez has lead Everton to 5th, 11th and (at the time of writing) 13th place in the league. He’s lead them to two domestic cup semi finals. The Everton fans are unanimous in wanting him
11 May It was confirmed today but realistically the damage was done on three key dates. June 10th – the day Charnley decides that Graeme Carr’s good mate,
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who has rejected United three times and just been sacked for finishing 8th in the Championship, is the man for Europe’s 8th best supported football club. Sat 29th November – United have been freshly humiliated by Palace. 8 goals conceded in the last wo games and all of McClaren’s bluster about time is done. McCLaren is done. United are in the relegation zone and have won two of fourteen. Sat 13th Feb – just 10 days after a mauling at Everton (one of the worst sides in the league) United ship another 5 at an average Chelsea. Just 5 wins in 27 games for Steve. We are getting relegated and the whole world can see it at this point, yet they stick with their man. An absolute shambles of a season. 13 May Everyone is saying Benitez won’t stay. Everyone is staying it. So we’re going to the match on Sunday to try and get under his skin. They say it’s impossible. Let’s see. www.true-faith.co.uk
15 May If you’d have told me that as an already relegated side playing at home on the final day against the team placed 2nd in the division, I’d have had one of my most enjoyable days at SJP in years then I most likely wouldn’t have believed you. Ten man United hammer spurs 5 1 ad the place is bouncing. The only negative is Mitrovic. I think he’ll be some player at 25, it’s just a shame I’d rather it was elsewhere. A cowards challenge and he’s banned for 4 games next season. Sell him. The rest was perfect. What an atmosphere. What a place SJP can be when it goes to plan. We battered Spurs. Forget about the end. The first half was 11 v 11 and we were just better than them. Benitez’s patter post game suggested he’s willing to talk. That is vindication for a fan base belittled by many – mostly jealous and bitter fans and journalists of smaller clubs, terrified what United will achieve with a man like Rafa Benitez at
the helm. Charnley surely has to pull out all of the stops. Benitez at NUFC guarantees success. It guarantees promotion. It guarantees the future. 19 May No news on Rafa. It’s seriously nerve wracking. Bull Shit news outlets are taking the piss with stories about Warnock and other no hopes. I wouldn’t have Mourinho over Rafa. He is the only man for this football club. 22 MayThe longer it goes on the more I fear. Charnley’s history at United is so brutal you have to wonder exactly what is being asked and rejected. Charnley and even Ashley are done at NUFC if they mess this up. The whole country is willing us to fail and Rafa to walk away. Strangely enough Sunderland fans have taken a particular interest in Rafa Benitez. They can’t stop talking about him or Newcastle United. Plenty of them are reading this right now. Hello! 25 May Yessssssssss.
26 May One of the great days and the team weren’t even playing. They hoped it wouldn’t happen. The people of Sunderland. The national media. Fans of every Championship side. Fans of every Premier League side. Talk Sport. Rafa Benitez has chosen Newcastle United. He’s chosen 50k at St James’ in the second tier. He’s chosen the city. He’s chosen the region. He believes in us and we believe in him. I am looking forwards to next season more than any season, well, in 15 years. Now is the time to come back to NUFC if you’ve jacked it in. Rafa Benitez needs us all, has appealed to us all and we need to be there. If promises are kept, investment made and the club built around this man then we will be successful at the highest level. I do not doubt that for a second. ALEX HURST - FOLLOW ALEX ON @tfalex1892 tf 9
I remember it well, although I could pick out many occasion from the last nine years, it was not long after Christmas 2013 when we faced Reading and I sat in what was my then usual seat in the Gallowgate looking around the eerily quiet and apathetic surroundings.
Mark Robson
The Reincarnation of Newcastle United In my head, moments of past times gone by seemed to play loudly as I drifted between the memories and the present gloom. The game itself was okay in that the version of Newcastle then, huffed and puffed it’s way to a leading position at half time via Yohan Cabaye but as usual
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an Alan Pardew led team talk was always going to inspire something out of the ordinary and it did as we lost to the relegation threatened side 2-1.
My attendance at games then was difficult enough because of the personal battles I had endured with myself for a few seasons
although I classed myself as one of those who would follow the club through thick and thin. I didn’t reckon on the club losing its soul though and technically trying to divorce me.
Sitting there though with my head rested on the palm of my hand just totally apathetic to it
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all was torturing to say the least but with time between games to help the mind play tricks on you that the next game would be better, it never was because the hope was gone. It was a slow process helped along by the misdemeanours of the Mike Ashley ownership but no matter how hard I tried to change my pattern of thought towards the club, something just kept drawing me in. It was an ill deserved love that bordered on insanity. From attending games without my Dad or someone else having to take me since Keegan came as a player in 1982, the magic of seeing the grass or sniffing the air from the burger van was long gone and excitement replaced by a zombie like trudge through the www.true-faith.co.uk
turnstiles or a sigh and a tut at things gone bad. The city was suffering as a result of this alien entity that had possessed the cathedral on the hill and feelings of pride when walking down the street advertising your colours replaced by hiding them in the back of the wardrobe. As time passed and bad decisions continually replaced by bad, hope still boycotted the mind set only to be joined with a mixed version of small optimism and lashings of pessimism. The optimism coming from witnessing the Keegan and Bobby Robson days and hoping that the ground could one day be all singing off the same hymn sheet and the pessimism coming from the fact that we were a walking advert for Ashley and everything centred on his needs.
The varying opinions of people born into attendance during the Ashley years didn’t help either but then again, I remember the Keegan promotion season of 83/84 when me Dad called me and me Brother mugs for attending when he was still peeved by the removal of the Leazes end roof a few seasons before, although he softened enough to go with us to the Auf Wiedersehen Kev game and buy us a copy each of that silver glossy brochure that was published for it. I suppose looking at the bigger picture, we were all at different stages of support which was always gonna cause an issue but the news that greeted us all in March this year was like a shock to the system, a shock that brought us all back in sync. The return of hope.
...the magic of seeing the grass or sniffing the air from the burger van was long gone and excitement replaced by a zombie like trudge through the turnstiles or a sigh and a tut at things gone bad.
The appointment of Rafa Benitez may initially have tf 11
been done for different reasons that we want to believe as the pessimistic side of me will always say that the best available option in order to protect the cash flow for Mike Ashley will have been the original one but it must have changed now. There is no way the club will have expected the explosion of good feeling on the back of this because if they’d known, surely it would have been done sooner. It’s as if Ashley, Lee Charnley and co were milling around in an office somewhere and accidentally pushed a button that cast a spell on the area, a bit like Pac Man eating one of them power pills and suddenly getting greater power. My suspicions of them scraping the barrel for ways in which they can get back tf 12
in our good books have included the coverage of various tragedies as if to say that they’re on our wave length but it has fallen short for me because of the lack of trust. The appointment of Benitez though has changed everything. Apart from it being the best chance of an instant return to the top league due to the calibre of man in complete control, there is absolutely no way on earth that the club will get away with the disgrace of a way it handled the disrespect of Messrs Keegan, Shearer and Hughton anymore. It won’t get away with making decisions behind the managers back and it certainly won’t get away with the expected falls that usually follow the good of the Mike Ashley reign.
It’s United everyone and the momentum that will bring is a danger to everyone. Once Newcastle United get momentum, there is nowhere bigger in English football, it just needs to be reined in the right direction and the sniping words of hate from the media will be rammed in more places than where the sun don’t shine. People once said that the Messiah would rise again on Tyneside and although we may have thought it was going to be someone else, maybe we misjudged it as Rafa looks like the bloke we’ve all seen in bibles, films and so forth.
He has reincarnated hope and funnily enough, The name ‘Rafael’ in Hebrew has a hell of a meaning: It is God who heals.
He has reincarnated hope and funnily enough, The name ‘Rafael’ in Hebrew has a hell of a meaning: It is God who heals. www.true-faith.co.uk
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So it happened. Journalists, fans of other clubs and the whole of the SR postcode have been talking about one thing; how Rafa Benitez will turn down managing Newcastle United in England’s second tier. The fact it’s been discussed so much on a national level proved that there was always a good chance. This ALEX HURST isn’t Norwich City or Vile. It’s not even Sunderland, Follow @tfalex1892 Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Swansea, Stoke or West Brom. This is Newcastle United and only a select few clubs in the world could attract our manager. We are one of them. It means a lot to us and him.
Next season is massive. Talk of anything other than automatic promotion isn’t sensible. Benitez expects to begin life in the Premier League in August 2017. It’s not arrogant to think that if he keeps together the majority of the side who avoided defeat at home against Spurs, Man City, Man Utd, West Ham and Southampton, Liverpool and Chelsea – then much of the Championship shouldn’t cause us too many problems at SJP – where we went unbeaten in the promotion season of 2009/10. It is the away form Rafa must remedy. In the last two seasons United have won a combined 5 away games. That is a disgrace. Benitez stopped the rot away from home with improved performances at Leicester and Liverpool, but wasn’t given enough time to solve the away day issue. The impact tf 14
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he had on the home form was magnificent. In Benitez’s five home Games United conceded three, scored 11 and collected 11 points. We need SJP full next season. The support last time amid a toxic relationship between those running the club and the fans, was exceptional with an average just short of 44k. This time it needs to top 50. Everyone pulling in the same direction. Get to the match – it’s your duty. I expect us to be comfortable at home, but rampaging home form alone won’t secure the title. It is the title, by the way. Benitez is a winner. www.true-faith.co.uk
I’d take second now, but I expect the title. The Championship is a tough league but we’ll be better resourced than most, if not all. Even if we weren’t, the Benitez factor will be a huge one. He is going to have to quickly come up with a solution to sort the away form and hit the ground running. United will be backed at every ground by 3-8k mags. The support has always been there though. Something needs to change. Last season Burnley picked up 11 wins and Boro 10. That’s from 23 games. It’s actually not as impressive as I thought it would be. On the way to amassing 102
points in 2009/10 United picked up 12 wins on the road. Winning more than half your away games is always a good sign. It’s not always as simple as being as good away from home as you at home, as we know all too well. Hull lost just once at home last season in the league. They finished 4th though. 10 away defeats was too many. Brighton finished out side of the top two despite just two away defeats all year. Too many draws. That’s the key with the Championship. Unbeaten runs won’t get you up. Brighton lost just 5 games all season and went unbeaten in their first twenty two
The impact he had on the home form was magnificent. In Benitez’s five home Games United conceded three, scored 11 and collected 11 points.
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Championship games, not losing until December 19th. Too many draws though. United went unbeaten at home in 2009/10 but probably drew more home games than we should of. There wasn’t a single home game where we weren’t the better side, had more shots or shouldn’t have won the game. This is one of Benitez’s perceived weaknesses. At Liverpool in 08/09 his side lost just two games that season in the league. Man Utd lost four, but drew 5 games less than Liverpool’s 11. In 2012/13 Napoli finished second to a rampant Juventus, losing only one more game than the 5 times consecutive winner, but finishing 9 points behind. Too many draws. tf 16
So the challenge is clear. Win games. Loads of them. We need to be United. I love our support. I’d have been back in the Corner next season whoever was manager. The slight criticisms I had last time is there were some toys out the pram when we did go on a ‘bad run’ (drawing two home games on the bounce). Even if we start badly, show indifferent form, I’ll be staying behind the manager. I’ll be going to League Cup games at home. The team under Benitez need and deserve our support. You have to laugh when you hear pundits and fans of other clubs saying Benitez won’t be able to manage the ‘Saturday Tuesday’ rota. Benitez seemed to manage fine
playing two games a week this season with Real Madrid; winning 5 and drawing one of his 6 Champions League group stage games, scoring 19 goals and conceding three. He has managed at the highest level in both the Europa League and the Champions League for over 10 years now. He will be fine. So next season is all about promotion. The main aim for Benitez will be to win at least 12 away games and 16 at home. I think we’ll do better than that. Way better than that. That will be the minimum though. That will most likely secure promotion. We need to be there though. Mags need to be there from the beginning.
The impact he had on the home form was magnificent. In Benitez’s five home Games United conceded three, scored 11 and collected 11 points.
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Summer Steve McClaren turns up at SJP and despite all of my reservations, I try to believe him when he talks about challenging at the top half of the table and cup runs galore. Investment is coming into the club (spending the money we have ‘saved up’ by spending the bare minimum for three years) and it looks like we are going to try and change things. The nagging doubts are still there however. We have employed another ‘yes’ man desperately out of his depth and who has failed in the Championship in his last two jobs. I’m torn though because I keep reading that his is an astute, modern coach with fresh ideas and
has learnt from experience alongside Ferguson and during hard jobs around Europe. Jesus, he won a cup at Boro so he must be able to do something right? The set up at the top of the club bemuses me though. Head Coach on the board of directors. Ex-Secretary now MD of the club. Head Scout now more or less the Director of Football and an ex-Captain (and ‘yes’ man) at the tabnle for no other reason than people within like him (as far as I can see). Everything changes but nothing changes. We invest a shed load of cash but ultimately don’t but the players we desperately need. An experienced solid Centre Half, a proven PL goal scorer
and a left back (maybe right back as well). The model doesn’t change. We chuck money at players who we can sell on at a profit. The fact that we paid more for them makes no difference. Buying youngsters who haven’t played in the PL from foreign leagues hasn’t worked for 5 years yet we still keep going. The fears are starting to grow, however, we are spending for once and optimism starts to creep in. A pre-season which took us on a badly planned trip around the USA along with more sexy locations like Gateshead and York was mixed with bad performances and good ones being evenly spread. I took my boy to his first ever
Love Will Tear Us Apart Season 15-16 Review Dave Ted Edwards
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NUFC game at home to Borussia Monchengladbach on 1st August and it was pretty dire. It also highlighted Mitrovic’s lack of goal threat which plagued us for the rest of the season. Still, onwards and upwards as they say and we turned up on the first day of the season with a smile on our faces and a spring in our steps. August Southampton arrived at SJP after playing a few games in the Europa League (qualifiers)and look sharper and fitter than us across the park. Familiar defensive frailties gifted them two free headers and (as usual) moments of class were equally mixed with moments of gloom. Winjaldum scored a fine header on his debut and Mitrovic was lucky to escape with a yellow card after being on the pitch for about 5 seconds. The kid already looked like a bit of a liability. Swansea www.true-faith.co.uk
away was a regulation 2-0 victory made even easier by Janmatt acting like a prick and getting himself sent off in the 41st minute. A dark day and worrying even early on. The trip to Man Utd saw us draw our second game of the season with a hard working display. McClaren massively talked up Collocini’s new contract at the club declaring it our best signing of the season. A few of us squirmed in our seats remembering his desire to f*** off and rank performances of the last season or two. Polishing a turd perhaps? Mind you, Man Utd were dire and were to suffer abuse from their own fans all season due to the ‘lack of excitement’. Fancy that, finishing 5th and winning the FA Cup – what a disaster (wankers). We then entertained Northampton at home in the Coca Cola Cup – the winnable one on Tuesday 25th. Thauvin had a great game (admittedly against very poor lower
division opponents) but looked decent compared to the weak as piss Cabella who had failed so miserably the year before. It was proven to be a false dawn however, as Thauvin proved to be another Carr disaster from France and we would finish the season having £25 million of players at Marseille on loan (both of which are completely out of the depth in the Premier League). Arsenal finished August with a visit to SJP and left with a 1-0 win thanks to a Collocini own goal. The alarming thing though was Mitrovic’s 16th minute sending off which more or less finished the game as a contest. It did give McClaren a readymade excuse though as we settled into the bottom three and would only get out of it twice between now and the end of the season – shocking man!
...Mitrovic’s 16th minute sending off which more or less finished the game as a contest. It did give McClaren a readymade excuse though as we settled into the bottom three and would only get out of it twice between now and the end of the season.
September A Monday night game at the Boleyn Ground saw us tf 19
routinely beaten 2-0 with a Payet screamer being the pick of the goals. We were lacklustre though. Poor all around the pitch and never in the game. McClaren started talking up the players afterwards and I for one was starting to find his smug grin really irritating. Our first ‘must win’ game of the season then saw us beaten at home 2-1 by Watford. Another bad performance although we did rally a bit in the second half after going 2-0 down in the first. Our yearly exit from the Coca Cola Cup then duly arrived at 3rd Round stage with Sheff Wed beating a desperately poor and pitiful NUFC team 1-0. McClaren tried to polish the turd again but he woud have better just shutting up. Sometimes it’s the only option. The month ended with our yearly decent performance against Chelsea. The 2-2 tf 20
draw coming after we had taken a 2-0 lead on the hour mark. Chelsea were poor although they kept working and looked the most likely to win at the end October Man City away started the month and after a fantastic first half performance we went into the break at 1-1. The second half capitulation was one we’d seen too many times before though. Aguero scored 5 as we were stuffed 6-1 (5 gaols coming in 13 second half minutes). Typically Newcastle then followed this up with a 6-2 win at home to Norwich. Winjaldum hit top form scoring 4 and champagne football returned to SJP. The elation was short lived as we dominated the mackems before Collocini was sent off on the stroke of half time and we were beaten 3-0. I still don’t know how it happened. The site of a convicted paedophile
scoring and being cheered to the rafters by them doesn’t sit comfortably. Jack Butland then produced a memorable performance as we drew at home with Stoke 0-0 to finish the month. McClaren was by now in full annoying mode as his smug face forced me to stop listening to the bullshit spouting from his gob. November We started November with a completely jammy 1-0 win on the South Coast as we beat Bournemouth 1-0 via a Perez first half goal. The knives were sharpened after the next two games though as we were shafted 3-0 at home by Leicester (Vardy getting generous applause as he equalled the PL record for scoring in consecutive games – not by me though, scrawny little Steptoe look alike scrote in my opinion) and then humped 5-1 away at Palace
Our yearly exit from the Coca Cola Cup then duly arrived at 3rd Round stage with Sheff Wed beating a desperately poor and pitiful NUFC team 1-0.
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with a gleeful and smug Pardew looking on. We were a disgrace to be honest and to make matters worse, we took the lead in the 10th minute. Saturday the 28th November and McClaren is acknowledging we are in a relegation fight but that we have enough games left and enough quality in the dressing room to get out of it. Many of us doubt either will prove enough. We are weak as piss away from home and our head coach looks like he is desperately out of his depth. December McClaren probably bought himself extra time by getting by far and away our best results of the season in the first two games of December. The home win over Liverpool (2-0) and a hard fought 2-1 away win at Tottenham took us to the heady heights of 15th in the table. Unfortunately though, we followed this up with a 1-1 home draw against a shocking Villa side with the rain now being
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blamed for our result – we just didn’t kill them off. Terrible performances and results against Everton (home 0-1) and West Brom (away 0-1) saw us finish the year in 18th position in the league. It had been a depressing year being a Mag. The disaster that was John Carver (last day escape) was compounded by the fact that we’d spend neck end of £80 million on players and actually gone backwards. McClaren had to go. He was horribly out of his depth and now was actively annoying Mags with his ridiculously smug interviews and assertions that everything is fine and we’re going to be ok! He was seriously deluded by now but everyone apart from the equally out of his depth Lee Charnley could see it. Charnley’s determination to prove he was right in McClaren’s pursuit and appointment was seriously damaging the club. January Bad to worse. A 1-0 loss at
Arsenal (our third by that score line in 8 days) was compounded by the fact that Cisse was ruled out for 2-3 months meaning the folly of only bringing in Mitrovic in the summer was now a serious problem. The transfer window was open however, so watch this space (don’t really, nowt f***ing happened on that front). We then sent a strong side to Watford in the FA Cup – they immediately went out (1-0 again) and our lack of goal scoring was now alarming to say the least. Key players were disappearing in away games and we looked weak as piss. Boo’s rang out at the end of the game – no surprise there but McClaren thought it was harsh – f*** off man. Before the Man U home game, new signings Jonjo Shelvey and Henry Saivet were introduced to the crowd but most of us wanted to scream ‘where’s the f***ing centre forward man’? Two more midfield players – one completely
McClaren probably bought himself extra time by getting by far and away our best results of the season in the first two games of December.
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unknown and from the French League – Jesus, had we learned nothing? There was also a fitting send off to Pavel Srnicek who had sadly passed away. RIP Pav. What followed was probably game of the season with a thoroughly entertaining 3-3 draw being capped off with a last minute Dummett equaliser meaning we walked into the cold January night with a smile on our faces. McClaren once again bought himself some time with the people above him via a 2-1 home win against West Ham including a very impressive debut for Shelvey. We were back to the usual by the end of the month though, a 2-1 loss at Watford seeing an emerging talent in Lascelles score his first goal for the toon. We were gash, McClaren claimed we were on top. He had to go man! Andros Townsend joined from Spurs and a seemingly never ending pursuit of Saido Berhanino
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ended with him staying at West Brom and us signing Obafemi Martin’s Dad from some Russian outfit on loan. Another f***ing terrible decision. February Back to script and a midweek 3-0 loss at Everton. Regulation again and meek surrender by a team lacking balls as well as spirit and guile. McClaren had to go (again) as the players clearly didn’t give a shit. Townsend made his debut and must have wondered what the f*** he was thinking of. Lascelles also got himself sent off in the last minute. We then managed to beat a diabolical West Brom team 1-0 at SJP with a Mitrovic goal but the goodwill was short lived as we selfimploded defensively at Chelsea and got f***ed 5-1. Bottlers all over the pitch and Coolocini looking like he was stealing a living. A well run club would have binned the Head Coach after this game and had a
new man in charge for the two week training camp (jolly) to LaManga in Spain. We aren’t however, a well run club. Charnley once again bottled a massive decision and hid away as the team beat Lillestrom in a friendly. He probably thought we had turned a corner but he was wrong. March We’ll come back from Spain in a better place as a team and a unit – what a load of shit. The folly of sticking with McClaren was obvious for all to see as we lost 1-0 away to Stoke and followed it up with a truly shocking performance at home to Bournemouth where they more or less secured their PL future and more or less doomed us to the drop. The 3-1 win was too easy and we showed zero desire to even give a performance a go. They were fitter, faster and stronger all over the park. Our situation was now critical. Our Captain had bottled it (claiming
There was also a fitting send off to Pavel Srnicek who had sadly passed away. RIP Pav. What followed was probably game of the season with a thoroughly entertaining 3-3 draw
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an injury in Spain and not being seen again for the rest of the year) and our Head Coach looked exactly what we all thought he would be; hopelessly out his depth and like a dead man walking. He wouldn’t quit though, the pay-off for yet another charlatan, was too big a carrot to give up. Coward! He started the Bournemouth game with Riviere up front – he might as well of used the team sheet as his resignation letter. The axe finally fell and Rafa Benitez turned up at the toon with 10 games to save us. A couple of months too late but a welcome and inspiring appointment. Still, all of us wanted Rafa to do well but thought the players were too far gone to do it. A tough start saw us lose 1-0 at Leicester before the derby at SJP. A 1-1 draw stopped the rot of losing to the unwashed down the road but didn’t really help either side with regards to www.true-faith.co.uk
staying up. In hindsight, we needed to win that game but didn’t really deserve anything more than a draw. April A devastating 3-2 last minute loss at Norwich was followed up with a 3-1 defeat at Southampton. Rafa was showing signs of improvement in the side but even he was no miracle worker.The loss at the saints was when we all thought ‘that’s it’. We sat in 19th with 25 points and only 6 games left. I walked up to SJP for the Swansea game, content at the fact that we were going down and just wanting to be put out of my misery. I really didn’t care about NUFC anymore. I didn’t care about the players, the club and they were as far away from the sporting institution I fell in love with that they had ever been. I was disillusioned and devastated but not angry, just resigned to being a miserable Mag and calling
it a day on this sorry sack of shit. Then though, Rafa got me caring again. A 3-0 win at home against a Swansea team already on the beach was followed up by an inspiring 1-1 draw at home to Man City where a clearly off side Aguero goal denied us a priceless win. Our tails were up and we followed this up by coming from 2-0 down at Anfield to draw 2-2. Under McClaren, we’d have been beaten 6-0 but Rafa had a spirit going now.
The axe finally fell and Rafa Benitez turned up at the toon with 10 games to save us. A couple of months too late but a welcome and inspiring appointment.
May 3 games to go but we were somehow still in the mix. Norwich had fallen down and it seemed it was between us and the mackems now. A nervy but fantastically welcome 1-0 win over Palace saw SJP rocking and keeper Karl Darlow (who’s come in for the injured Rob Elliot who was crocked playing for the Republic of Ireland) saved a penalty from former player Cabaye to make us tf 23
all believe. I was at Villa in 2009 and have hated the wankers ever since. This trip did nothing to change my mind on that score. Unfortunately, we picked this day to put in the most insipid display of Rafa’s tenure. We just didn’t turn up against an already relegated (and shit) Villa who were just waiting to get beat. We were still in it but a midweek win for them lot saw our destiny secured before the last game of the season. It was with mixed emotions that I headed up to SJP for the last game of the season. I was up for it to show support for Rafa but angry about the players who had ultimately let us and themselves down. In fact, some of them had been downright cowardly and should be ashamed of what effort they put in during the season. As it was, we beat a team in the top two 5-1
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with a stylish performance that didn’t abate my anger in any way. Where the f*** had these bastards been all season? Why did we have commitment, desire, application and skill when it didn’t matter and apathy, cowardice and failure when it did? I loved the game but hated how it made me feel. So, we departed the Premier league for the second time under Mike Ashley. No surprise really but I now sit here waiting for the European Championships to start more hopeful than I have ever been under Ashley’s stewardship of the club. Rafa Benitez is staying and is now Manager. He has been given the assurances he was looking for in that he will run all activities and will have control over all aspects of the footballing side. This is the only reason I haven’t binned my season ticket.
I have no desire to support Ashley, Charnley or any other f***er at the head table but Rafa has earned my support. I hate him for making me care again but I love him for exactly the same reason. It was easier being on the outside. It was easier thinking what the hell I was going to do on a Saturday afternoon instead of going to the match. But, and there is always a but, despite that, black and white blood runs through my veins and I can never lose that. I am looking forward to next season and I’m excited about trips to Leeds, Sheff Wed, Bristol, Rotherham and Burton. F*** the Premier League and all the poncey shit that goes with it. We’ll be back and we’ll have a great time whilst we are gone. Newcastle United will never be defeated!
...but I now sit here waiting for the European Championships to start more hopeful than I have ever been under Ashley’s stewardship of the club. Rafa Benitez is staying and is now Manager.
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true faith has been established since 1999 as one of the most successful, influential and best-selling fanzines in the country. Its success is based upon the contributions of Newcastle United supporters. As we move into the digital age and take up the opportunities for new forms of supporter expression, true faith is at the forefront of the new fanzine culture and develops its digital fanzine (what you are reading now), its match-day e-newsletter, The Special, its Podcasts, its video-blogs and of course the website. We hope to be positioned for anything else that develops over the next few years as well.
Write for true faith true faith has always provided a platform to fans to write about their club and give their own opinions on what is currently going on at United as well as the different perspectives of our club’s history and the wider game. Oh, we love a bit nostalgia and history. There is no typical true faith writer, they come in all shapes and sizes and include home and away zealots. young lads and www.true-faith.co.uk
lasses, veteran fans, season ticket holders, exiles and whatever else you care to mention.
true faith and in fact we welcome those that are completely opposite in honesty.
You don’t need to be a previously published writer or have any fancy qualifications. All we care about is whether you have a love for Newcastle United and a will to inform and entertain your fellow supporters. We don’t care if your opinions are the same or are similar to the editorial position of
You might want to write detailed exposes of the United financial and business model or you might want to do a matchreport or you might want to do something we’ve never ever considered. We also like dipping our toes into the waters of music, film and fashion
so if that’s your forte, just drop us a line as well. Don’t forget, we welcome all cartoonists, photographers and designers to join us as well, so whatever your talent, we can put you to work with the aim of establishing true faith as the best fanzine for the best supporters in the whole world. All emails to editor@ true-faith.co.uk tf 25
Like most United supporters, I badly miss competing in Europe. Apart from the fact that playing tournament football on the continent usually points to the happy scenario where you are following something half decent, as opposed to the horrible Newcastle United imposter we have had foisted upon us in more recent times. It is also massively enjoyable to experience the thrill of visiting the likes of the San Siro, Camp Nou, Velodrome and the original Stadium of Light etc. I love a few bevvies whilst visiting cities I usually haven’t been to before, soaking in the culture, architecture and atmosphere. Finally, as something of a stadium nerd, I love visiting new grounds.
Nick Clark Follow @Clark5Nick
GEORDIES HERE, GEORDIES THERE... Hertha Berlin 0 Borussia Dortmund 0
strong evidence.
Olympiastadion Berlin, 5/02/16, KO: 14:30, Att: 74,244. from Hertha’s box office, off we went.
However, German football has changed so much for the better both on and off the pitch.
I’d been to a Hamburg game with pals over a decade ago and can remember total segregation, some amazing noise from one area of the ground and some rather nefarious and lamentable ‘White Power’ nonsense in
As we got to our nearest station Ostbahnhof, I spotted my first yellow Dortmund top. It would be the first of many. Their support was simply stunning. As the day went on, it felt like they were the
My most recent foray into European football took me to Deutschland and the Bundesliga. Having been given the privilege of picking a venue for my good pal Kern’s stag I found the Hertha Berlin v Borussia Dortmund tie hard to ignore so having secured some top end seats directly
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home side. Gangs of mainly lads, swigging ale and singing boisterously, I began to feel a little conscious of the retro Hertha top I was wearing. I needn’t have worried. It became clear very quickly that animosity between the two sets of supporters was literally zero. This is the first thing which struck me. Having attended one of the Rugby World Cup fixtures at SJP,
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it felt more akin to that than a Premiership match. When we got inside the stadium a little later there were clearly thousands of Borussia fans in the home areas. Often standing, blocking others views, yet not a cross word. Amazing. Even at my most tolerant I have to admit I would struggle with that! In a crowd of 74,000, Dortmund must have had 20,000. The
only radge I saw in the whole day was between two of their number who were clearly mortal. They did look a bit handy, mind! The other worldly feeling just intensified as the day progressed. It is clear that the authorities here treat the supporters as adults. There is no ‘Nanny State’ feel to it whatsoever. In the ground folks were quaffing lagers
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and tabbing like good uns. It feels like there is a form of self policing amongst the German supporters as well. Much like the Tartan Army who follow Scotland around are known to be fiercely protective of their reputation of being hard drinking but non violent, the Eriks seem to encourage vocal but tolerant support.
The Olympiastadion is an awesome venue. Steeped in history, the arena where Jesse Owens single-handedly stuck up metaphorical two fingers to Herr Hitler and his aryan superiority nonsense. It was updated with a roof before the 2006 World Cup, but still keeps all of its original character.
Outside the ground it had a feel of the Rugby Village that was such a success during the Rugby World Cup. I’d love to see this type of scene in our country, and in particular at SJP. A festival type atmosphere pre match where home and away fans drink together in a convivial atmosphere. Okay, the derby might be a push, but if it was made clear United supporters needed to be responsible for keeping it friendly, it would work well overall, in my opinion.
The support for both sides was exceptional. The noise from the Ostkurve where the Hertha ranks were massed was a sight and sound to behold. Again, our European cousins have it right. A designated singing area makes so much sense. Not only does it vastly improve the atmosphere, but it means that like minded folk can congregate together without annoying anyone else. A no brainer? Clearly the Germans believe so.
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However, for all the pluses it would be remiss of me not to point out a few clear failings. The match itself was absolutely toilet. Borussia & Hertha were 2nd & 3rd place respectively pre kick off and one might have expected a tight but technically splendid encounter. Not a bit of it. Think, Pardew v McClaren, two Newcastle Uniteds attempting to outbore each other and you’re pretty much there. They were both lucky to get nil. Not that I was too bothered. I was grimly glued to the Sky Sports feed of United v West Brom and happily sitting getting beered up. If I’m going to add a couple of other criticisms, their mullets remain completely in the ‘lacking irony’ column and www.true-faith.co.uk
grown men in home-made denim Gilets with about 9 scarves sticking out their backsides like Morrissey’s Gladioli is not and never will be, a good look. These are minor points, though. As we look set to remain serial Euro dodgers for the foreseeable, I’m going to attempt a few more European ‘bags’ with the Bernabeu & Allianz Arena high on the ‘to do’ list. It would be nice to think that one day, the Mighty Magpies would be once more visiting such stadia, but I guess we need to stay in the Premiership before we even dare to dream about things like that... tf 29
Football has been a significant pastime in my life for around 20 years. Since around the age of 7, I have always had a keen interest in the so called beautiful game. What makes it so? A matter of opinion really. It might be the feeling of belonging to a large group of supporters, in amongst an almost tribal like following, where you put a collective effort to follow your team, the club shirts, scarves and as much memorabilia one can muster, nowadays it takes up more wardrobe space than my parents would care to mention!
SAM WILSON
SCOTTISH AND NEWCASTLE UTD My first recollections of watching football was with my Father on a regular basis. I’ve lived and grown up in eastern Scotland, therefore its been early memories of growing up within a saturated, environment of a Celtic and Rangers monopoly . For me however, I said to my Father that I wanted to support Dunfermline Athletic , as it was my “local team”. This led to a devoted following from January 1997 until the present day. My Father and I followed Dunfermline’s highs and lows on a regular basis home and away, and have many highlights throughout that time. Toppling Celtic’s title winning side on their own
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patch. Against all odds. Magical!
Alongside that any result against either half of the Old Firm, were for Dad and I like Cup Final wins. Rare in the extreme, however when they did come along, it was an occasion to savour. In the last couple of years my local side were on the brink of going out of existence altogether. Imagine that ? A side who in the 1960’s won two Scottish Cups (1961 and 1968) and were frequently playing against some of the most elegant sides in Europe. All those memories were in on the edge of extinction. It was a rollercoaster of every emotion possible. In essence it is only a game football. However when www.true-faith.co.uk
its been an investment of so much time and devotion it seems like the collection of memories will be lost forever. Thankfully a collective effort of fans, directors and a resolve not to be beaten managed to lift the club from the depths of administration. The relief on hearing that news was palpable, I was overcome with emotion. To say it was my teams finest victory, was in truth probably a huge understatement. Currently I’m still an avid follower of “The Pars”, albeit on a less frequent basis, due to numerous factors that effect fans of all levels up and down the country for example working commitments, bringing up a family and generally other factors taking greater priority. At the time of writing the television deal in the Premier League, is due to reach ludicrous levels of finance. In terms of football fans this can only mean being further marginalised, as that bond that once existed between www.true-faith.co.uk
clubs and fans diminishes even further. I’ve also followed the Scottish National Team’s fortunes since the qualifiers for the World Cup in France, up until this summers Euro 2016 matches. The campaign for France 98 was thoroughly enjoyable. It was my first experience of following Scotland, little did I know my country would be nearly men in future qualification matches -including a heartbreaking playoff loss to England in 1999 - despite winning the second leg at Wembley!
the games against Norway and Morocco were less memorable. A swift departure at the Group Stages. I prefer to remember it as my inauguration to the national side.
The road to the World Cup that year was workman like if not spectacular. The final match against Latvia led to the whole nation rejoicing, the Scottish fans would be spending their summer in France!
With my fanatical love for football firmly established. It was at a time when coincidently a second team who also play in black and white, send my affiliation for a “second” team to new levels. October 1996, a dreary autumnal afternoon saw arguably one of the most humbling score lines for an all conquering Manchester United side. The classy, elegance of Newcastle United that day however, saw a complete rout. It captured my imagination...all taken in from a family holiday in Tenerife!
The tournament itself? A hard to bear loss to the defending champions Brazil. A Scottish penalty giving us cause for optimism, to then lose to an unfortunate own goal. A heroic performance,
The match itself was one where Man United couldn’t compete with a swashbuckling performance, almost with a certain arrogance and flair, it left the fanatical Toon Army
The classy, elegance of Newcastle United that day however, saw a complete rout. It captured my imagination...
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in raptures. To have won the game on its own would have been commendable, however to do so in such a fashion epitomised Kevin Keegan’s side of that time. It was not simply enough to drably win 1-0, it was a case of putting on an exhibition, where a collective team effort looked to make a mere mockery of the opposition. Goals, goals, goals, that is the name of the game after all, isn’t it? Flood forward in numbers, pack the box and place the ball in the goal. A simplistic concept really. At that point in time Newcastle went back to the summit of the league. On a relentless march it seemed towards the league title, which had not been seen on Tyneside since the 1926-27 season! It was to end with a sense of what might have been for Newcastle, just like the previous season so near yet so far. A second consecutive tf 32
runners up spot. It gave us fans however a sense of optimism, entertainment and pure sporting theatre. You were never quite sure what was to come next, as a fan being on the edge of your seat: if your at the game in person, quite literally on the edge of your seat backing your team to the end ! The iconic granddad collar Newcastle shirt from 1996 was also my first ever football kit. A fantastical fan base, a devoted group who loyally travel to relentlessly back their heroes. Yes indeed Newcastle supporters are a unique group, deprived of trophies for so long, yet the passion for the team is unquestionable. My support for the side remains as strong as ever, sadly in recent times, the one constant has been no trophies. Will that long wait end any time soon? Debatable. It is a topic
of discussion that will stimulate a wide range of views amongst the “Toon Army”. Currently the league has such a division in wealth, rich foreign owners are now common place. Newcastle have underachieved for such a long time, two cup final appearances in 1998 and 1999-where only Manchester United’s treble winning side and Arsenal’s free flowing football prevented a long overdue cup win. Domestic cup runs since then have been somewhat non-existent. Each passing season however, hope springs eternal, it might be our year I keep thinking. It then is cut short. Predictable. I still have as much of an affinity for Newcastle as I did when I first watched that famous game, even now despite the inconsistent nature of their results, it can make or break a weekend!
I still have as much of an affinity for Newcastle as I did when I first watched that famous game, even now despite the inconsistent nature of their results, it can make or break a weekend!
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I managed to take in my first game in the flesh at St James’ Park in August 2009. Since that now infamous season in the mid 90’s, the incredible European runs which took the team to Milan and other adventurous destinations in Europe. I’d followed it all from afar. Magical. It was a surprise birthday present from my Father. A moment of excitement and elation. Newcastle’s relegation the previous season, was met with a degree of concern, the campaign ahead in England’s second tier would be a test of the sides work ethic, where opposition teams would see it as a cup final, playing Newcastle an opportunity to bring more misery to a club who had surrendered their league status meekly the previous May. The day itself ? It was a day that was memorable, taking in the game, in such a spectacular arena was in truth everything I hoped it would be and more.
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St James’ Park, a magnificent structure which for the football fans is visible for miles around and very much the focal point within the city left a lasting impression on me. A victorious first trip which has fond memories, a comfortable victory, in the end that season led to Newcastle being promoted back to the top division. Where ultimately the fans feel they deserve to be. I hope that the current season doesn’t end in more apathy and disappointment, the unpredictable nature of both the league and Newcastle’s form, leaves many of the loyal fans pondering and fearing for the clubs league status. A feeling of helpless at being unable to alter the situation, apart from do what the fans do best, get behind the side week in week out. As a fan base we are bewildered, frustrated and generally baffled by the teams inconsistent results. Some weeks the side look competent, the next? Woefully average.
And yet the supporters still spend the hard earned wages on the side, travelling all over the country, again at great expense and distance. Why one might ask? I would say its about passion and love for a team who are the epitome of Tyneside, only one team in the city, the fans make me feel part of a big family. The team are representing the public and the fans are proud of their side, as well as the clubs North East roots. Through the good times and bad, Newcastle fans are always there. For many all they ask is that the team plays for the jersey. In the current era, where it seems fame and finance matter more than who you are playing for, if your giving your all the fans at Newcastle especially will take you into the family and look upon you as one of their own. That indeed is Newcastle fans, loyal and true.
St James’ Park, a magnificent structure which for the football fans is visible for miles around and very much the focal point within the city left a lasting impression on me.
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Penning this from a bar surrounded by a lot of Spurs and Arsenal fans in North London after six or seven pints seems a little surreal. This season has been surreal. Personally, for the first time ever, I’ve missed three of my favourite (and that of nearly every football fan) match days of the year: Opening day, Boxing Day and last game of the season. As irony would have it my last day of the season would mean I would be in Edmonton, N9 a Spurs heartland. Work being the reason!
EMOTIONAL RESCUE As a ‘live’ football fan I do indeed find it very surreal watching the game from a pub. You see from a screen you cannot see the whole game. Shelvy’s pass, Jammnat’s run and GIni’s goal v West Ham is a prime example. A f***ing brilliant goal! Sat in the Gallowgate you could see the whole thing unfold. Beautiful, brilliant and football at its absolute best. For me, our best goal of the season. Sky and BT pay millions to showcase ‘The Best League in the World’ however, no camera can ever replace a pair of eyes looking at the whole length and breadth of a football pitch, wide with expectation as a centre midfielder pings a ball 50 yards as a full back is flying up the line while the other central midfielder is making a run into he box to ‘nod in’ a f***ing superb goal! Anyway I digress, back to North London. Today I find a bit surreal (that word again) tf 34
both teams from North London are disappointed with how their seasons have turned out. Just to make clear, one finished 2nd and the other 3rd in the Premier League. Imagine that? Imagine us? It’sstrangesharingapubwith other teams fans. However
cuddling and having a beer together. Looking at Texts from my mates and Twitter who were at the match I have never been as gutted to miss a game. Passion, honesty and total love and devotion to Newcastle United!
Looking at Texts from my mates and Twitter who were at the match I have never been as gutted to miss a game. Passion, honesty and total love and devotion to Newcastle United! it’s super enlightening watching reactions to goals, defeats, wins from the other teams. It’s funny, they go through the same as us. Except they don’t! Contradiction at its best I know! You see once Skysports was turned off for a shite Karoke they got on with their lives. Back slapping,
The love and emotion for our football club is second to none and today I have seen that first hand from not actually being there. That love and emotion is not about players. Our club has its icons and heroes. However in our modern history, Shearer aside, it’s been about the gaffers, King Kev and Sir Bobby.
CARL PHAROAH In Rafa we now have the most important person to ever grace our football club, because that’s what it is. A Football Club. An actual sporting institution that is important and relevant to Tyneside society and he gets it. He gets it massively! To see him at the end of the game walk over to Townsend after the game and ‘coach’ him when the game meant nothing is surreal! He cares, he is professional, he is a football nut like the rest of us. The only difference he is f***ing brilliant at what he does! He gets us and we get him. You are a c*** Mike Ashley but as a ‘business man’ please give the best person candidate you will ever have all he wants to make you stupid amounts of money. We don’t mind honestly, we don’t care. Rafa will give us a Football Club we will be proud of. The business will take care of itself... Newcastle United will never be defeated! www.true-faith.co.uk
Calcio’s Greatest Forwards
Serie A’s Finest Attackers-George Rinaldi. Football books on the game in Italy and the players who played there are very few and far between, when one is published I have an obsessive desire, to purchase it on its release date. Sure enough on the day, this little beauty duly landed through my letterbox. I have to say I have not been disappointed with its content, which comprises 21 of Serie A’s finest attackers from the earliest subject matter Giuseppe Meazza right through the decades Jose Altafini, Gunnar Nordahl, Gigi Riva, Marco Van Bastern, and Christian Vieri to name a few, to two players who are still playing the game today Antonio Di Natale and Francesco Totti. Each is assigned a chapter comprising between 11 and 13 pages, some having an introduction from renowned Italian Calcio experts Giancarlo Rinaldi, James Horncastle Paolo Bandini and Richard Hall amongst others, with a foreword being provided by Gabriele Marcotti. It www.true-faith.co.uk
also allows for debate on inclusions and exclusions, which will arise when followers of Calcio get together over a pint or two. What no Luca Toni or Valentino Mazzola. I like the bright and breezy style of the author who is a 21 year old sports journalist currently covering European football whilst mainly focusing on Italy’s Serie A for Football Italia, Forza Italian Football whilst freelancing for FourFour-Two and Soccer 360 magazine. Each section includes a fine insight of the reasons behind a players inclusion with enough information provided given the constraints of trying to over elaborate, within the number of pages designated.
This style I love, dodging in and out of the book when there was a player I fancied reading about next, rather than the tradition way of reading a book cover to cover.
It also allows for debate on inclusions and exclusions, which will arise when followers of Calcio get together over a pint or two. What no Luca Toni or Valentino Mazzola. This would make a very fine holiday read for football followers in general and those who love a little nostalgia and the history of the game, it is a must buy purchase for all lovers of the Italian game. Peter Embleton @PEFIORENTINA tf 35
BIG MONEY BUY Like most United fans, I never really took our ‘club record bid’ for Saido Berahino seriously in the transfer window. Did anyone at any point in January expect the lad to tip up on Barrack Road, ready and raring to go under McClaren? On more than one level, the aroma of a rat pervaded over the deal, so what exactly was behind the ‘negotiations’ that dragged to a fruitless conclusion, leaving us disgracefully short of firepower when we needed it both? tf 36
Gareth Harrison Follow @ truefaith1892
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The obvious conclusion to draw is that the club never had any intention of spending serious money on a striker at all, so Berahino provided the ideal decoy to hoodwink only the most gullible of supporters, who believe the shite that is peddled in the Chronicle on a daily basis. Was a bid tabled at all? According to various local and national papers, NUFC tabled three bids of £21m, £24m and £25m as the window drew to a close, all of which were knocked back by West Brom, who had stated all along that the striker wouldn’t be allowed to leave. It would be fair to say that their chairman, Jeremy Peace is not universally popular with Baggies supporters
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but from the outside looking in, he seems like a stubborn bugger who would go to any length to avoid losing face, so by choosing Berahino as a ‘target’, United had found a player who realistically they were never going to have to buy, providing them an opportunity to trot out the oft repeated ‘we did all we could but couldn’t get him over the line’ horseshit. Pardew in particular loved this tactic but the club has a history of this which stretches back even further than the current regime. Few will forgot our embarrassing ‘bid’ for Wayne Rooney when he was Everton in the days before he left for Man United. At the time, plenty was suggested around the Shepherd’s
relationship with his agent, Paul Stretford with a rumour doing the rounds that NUFC had happily played a role in forcing Man United’s hand to push the transfer through. Maybe it’s a spinning eyed conspiracy theory, but it’s one I’ve heard expressed by more than one Mag that the Berahino bid has as much to do with us landing Andros Townsend from the only club the West Brom striker was realistically going to move to, Spurs. Far fetched possibly, but the player himself had stated quite clearly that he wanted to move to Tottenham and at no stage expressed any interest in coming to NE1. Putting the cynicism aside around our club’s true intentions for the striker, truth be told, I’d actually
Few will forgot our embarrassing ‘bid’ for Wayne Rooney when he was Everton in the days before he left for Man United
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be more concerned if we HAD seriously bid £25m for Berahino and I’m grateful that West Brom didn’t call our bluff and snapped our hands off for what was a ludicrous amount of money for a player with huge question marks against him. I was astonished when he took to the field against us shortly after the transfer window shut, waddling off the bench for an ineffective cameo. Patently unfit and a good stone overweight, was this the striker that we were going to lash £25m on to hit the ground running and get straight amongst the goals to keep us up? Hardly. His scoring tf 38
record at West Brom is less than spectacular anyway – roughly 1 in 4 and mainly achieved in short spells of good form. Then of course, there is the baggage that he undoubtedly carries. True, he’s young and entitled to make the odd mistake but put bluntly, he’s come over as a right wanker over the past couple of years. He’s been on strike, tweeted that he’d never play for WBA again, subsequently retracted with a half arsed apology, been banned for drink driving and generally pissed off what are a good set of fans at the Hawthorns. In normal circumstances, I would say
if a club like Newcastle is going to spend that sort of money then as well as being as close to a sure fire success, they’d also have to contribute to general team spirit but given some of the knackers we’ve signed over the past twenty years, I think it’s safe to say that we can disregard that angle. The Chronicle reported at the end of February that the club were likely to come back with an ‘improved offer’ for Berahino in the summer but, writing this after the latest non-performance at Stoke, I can’t really see us trebling the Championship transfer record, nor can
I can’t really see us trebling the Championship transfer record, nor can I imagine young Saido wanting to test his mettle against Preston next season.
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I imagine young Saido wanting to test his mettle against Preston next season. The failings of what was a vitally important transfer window for United will have been pored over in detail in these pages but where could we have focused our attentions more successfully in the striking department? Charlie Austin’s name has been mentioned a million times and Southampton got him for a pittance but I don’t think the player ever fancied a move to Newcastle – in the end, he secured a Premier League move down the road from where he lived at a well run club in the top half of the table, with a well regarded manager and a fraction of the stress he would have been under joining a headcase club in
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the bottom three – can you blame him really? Lacazette was the French Berahino, with fanciful sums being bandied around with no chance of us winning his signature. Arsenal were also apparently interested and he’s a name that is being linked with clubs higher up the pecking order than us. In a fit of desperation, we were also strongly linked with Gomis from Swansea, which would have been underwhelming at best with him being completely out of form and virtually out of the picture at a fellow relegation struggler and kicking on 30 – again, we were never going to actually sign him, were we? In what seems like the unlikely event that we do stay up and in what seems like an even more unlikely
event that given the tens of millions Ashley has bladdered on mediocrity that he is going to sanction a £25m+ on a centre forward, then surely we can get someone better than Berahino. I mean we got Cabella AND Thauvin for that amount didn’t we? Until Charnley, Carr et al are relieved of their duties and competent professionals are put in charge of player recruitment, then Ashley might as well spend nowt – it is entirely of his own making and I have zero sympathy with him, but the people he has placed his faith in to bring key personnel into the club have failed him and the supporters and if he is too stubborn to do anything about that, then frankly I’m glad he’s pissed his money away.
Lacazette was the French Berahino, with fanciful sums being bandied around with no chance of us winning his signature.
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It was the Summer of 2012. Newcastle had just produced an out of the blue 5th placed finish under Alan Pardew – after the most entertaining season since the heady days of Bobby Robson. Confidence was in the air about what was achievable next year, a season which would see United return to European fixtures. There was a feel good factor around the club and the region – which was quickly about to be seasoned with a big spoonful of salt.
That period was the starting point of a new change in direction for Newcastle United under Mike Ashley. A successful return to the Premier League after a painful relegation, was superseded by a more than solid positioning in a division which was on the verge of delivering never before seen income streams. There was no need to further strengthen the squad. There was no need to strive for cup glory. All that matters is that Newcastle United stays on the Premier League gravy train, with the lowest possible outlay. Under investment and chronic decisions on and off the pitch would culminate tf 40
eventually into a second Championship drop in seven years. I take a deeper look at the contributing factors to our sorry demise: Recruitment Arguably our most flawed strategy was perhaps the easiest to get right. Newcastle’s approach to transfers is an Argos catalogue of errors spanning a 3.5 year period. As a starting point, vast amounts of neglect were shown by the club in only signing Vurnon Anita in that 2012 Summer, through to not making a single permanent signing in an entire football season the following year. Couple that up with a huge urge in
shifting out prized assets at sizeable profits, United had officially became a selling club. Big dollar was made for key players like Ba and Cabaye, yet there was little appetite to re-invest, with the wads of cash kept safely under Ashley’s throne. After scrimping and scraping our way through to survival on a shoestring, finally the club was forced to bolster a threadbare squad – both in personnel and quality. And this is where we saw the other side of Newcastle’s broken approach to recruitment. A fixation on buying bargain bin players from France and Holland, produced the results you would expect when you
Richard Smith Follow @richysmith100
Newcastle’s approach to transfers is an Argos catalogue of errors spanning a 3.5 year period
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are spending £2-6m on unproven assets. Some were value for money (Cabaye, Sissoko, Debuchy), yet most were shite (Mbiwa, Gouffran, Anita, etc). ‘Super Scout’ Graham Carr was the catalyst in all of this. A couple of sound selections ultimately gave him the keys to the kingdom. So much so that our scout found himself in a position, which could easily be classified as the modern day Director of Football. He was no longer recommending players to the manager. He was the bloke signing them. A recipe for disaster. Yet despite our continued humpings and relegation escapes, Newcastle stuck with their guns. This time – shopping in the untapped continental markets, fishing for long term sell on value – but splashing the cash on a ‘higher calibre’ of players. The return was the same old shite (Cabella, Thauvin, Riviere), coupled up with players with high potential, but ultimately not ready to make as forceful impact in the Premier League www.true-faith.co.uk
compared to the Eredivisie and Belgian Pro League. Our stubbornness to balance the squad with more experienced Premier League players, and to strengthen in key positions when we most needed it – resulted in a team who were locked into the bottom 6 for an entire season. Coaching Its almost laughable when you put the name of Rafa Benitez, onto the same piece of paper as McClaren, Carver, Pardew, and Kinnear. You can go back even further than that with donuts like Allardyce and Souness. None of these men are in the same stratosphere as Rafa Benitez by way of achievements, profile, and credentials in the game. United’s seismic shift to move for a World Class manager in Benitez, says all you need to know about the level of coaching calibre mags have been served up with over the past 6 years or so. Bang average Pardew became bullet proof. Even a manager, who was
deprived of strengthening his squad, should not be using that as an excuse when getting howked 3-0/4-0 every week. Yet his four-year career at St James Park should only really have lasted for about three. His calamitous fall from grace in charge of Palace this season tells you all you need to know about his ability to steady a sinking ship. The least said about Carver the better. Steve McClaren the sacked, failed manager of Derby County was Charnley’s big fixation. It took Charnaz until the third attempt to land his dream man, once the Championship manager was eventually out of work. I really don’t mind McClaren as a person, but he was a disaster. A team who in hugely sporadic places looked like they had a spark, were ultimately beaten every other week. Once again – Charnley’s stubbornness not to get rid of a failing manager at the right time to help save face, bit us in the arse. McClaren
His calamitous fall from grace in charge of Palace this season tells you all you need to know about his ability to steady a sinking ship. The least said about Carver the better. Steve McClaren - the sacked, failed manager of Derby County was Charnley’s big fixation...
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should have been gone by January, but failed his way through till March. It is only now Benitez has been appointed that we have seen members of the playing squad improve and develop-something we have not see since the reign of Hughton. This tells you all you need to know about United’s coaching setup as a contributing factor to our relegation. Injuries As fellow TF contributor Alex Hurst recently said on a podcast – ‘I’m utterly bored of Newcastle’s injuries’. He put it quite well. For this is something, which stems back longer than I can remember. There is one league Newcastle find themselves flying high on year after year, and that is the one which tallies up the number of days lost to injury. You can go back possibly ten years to understand how long Newcastle have suffered from a squad of crocks. ‘Sports Scientist’ Fat Sam made a big hoo-ha in his first press conference tf 42
as manager about his aim to crack the problem. That statement was as hollow as the football he served up. This season – we arguably saw the pinnacle of our injury plight. In fact – we lost 1,855 playing days to missing players, with a staggering 41 separate injuries across the whole season. The media would like us all to know that its their beloved Arsenal or Man United who have suffered the most from physio room laden players, but its United who statistically reigned victorious. I simply have to laugh when the likes of Rolando Aarons picks up his third setback of the season, or when Captain Colo’s 1 week muscle strain see’s him out of action for three months. Poor facilities, lack of physios/ doctors, players who don’t look after themselves/ don’t want to play? The answer is probably all of the above. Our addiction to muscle injuries and long lay offs has contributed to a broken squad with little competition for places.
Club Structure Having already mentioned Graham Carr’s largely unpublicised promotion to DoF, here we find a key chink in the plethora of balls ups made and persevered with at Barrack Road. With Ashley hungry for power and desperate to not face resistance at his setup, he handed the reigns of power to his right hand arse licker Charnley and informed him to create a new hierarchy. The football manager would be known as ‘Head Coach’ and would ‘get what he was given’ from the muchtrusted Director of Football Carr. This relationship would in itself see plentiful situations of players being signed who simply did not fit in the Head Coach’s plans, or worse – scenarios where the Head Coach wouldn’t have a scoobies who they were (*cough* Riviere, *cough* Saivet). Despite Pardew and McClaren both publically stating this was a structure they were happy and content with, the truth is – that behind the scenes it was causing much friction
Having already mentioned Graham Carr’s largely unpublicised promotion to DoF, here we find a key chink in the plethora of balls ups made and persevered with at Barrack Road.
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and dismay. A personal opinion is that the Director of Football role is an absolutely flawed piece of the trendy modern game, and Newcastle showed the very worst of it. Above this, the man pulling all of the transfer deals and supposedly directing the strategy of the club, is nothing more than a glorified form filler. Charnley was left to run riot by simply being a confidante of Ashley – something that we saw on other occasions in the forms of Messrs’ Kinnear (twice), and Llambias. Close friends don’t make good employees, and Ashley’s relegated Newcastle proved that in a very gross fashion. PR Mike Ashley – not only held in disdain by the fans of the club he has torn his way through, but also by the media. For this is a bloke who has blended his sorry running of a great footballing
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entity, with his non-kosher approach to business. The poor treatment of his staff at Sports Direct is well publicised, and this has not helped build any sort of positive image for the United owner. Its often a great mystery of mine that Ashley has never cottoned on to the fact that having a better relationship with the media, will only benefit his standing both inside and outside of NUFC. Yet instead of trying to build bridges, he has continued to ban media outlets (both local and national), and selected preferred partners to channel access to the club and his own (very rare) interviews. He is a bloke who deep down is shit scared of a TV camera or microphone – which for the owner of one of the country’s largest companies is bizarre. United have tried to make in-roads with their communication to fans over the past 18 months or so.
Regular emails, fan forums, and the odd interview is a step in the right direction, but ultimately the noise we get from the club is with folded arms and through lip service. Between Charnley and Ashley – Newcastle fans are made to feel like untrusted invaders who have no right to knowledge about current and future plans. More so than that, actions like re-naming the stadium have felt more of a purposeful antagonism rather than the revenue stream it was claimed to be. Yet the irony is, that the majority of suggestions and appeals for action from mags – had it not fell on deaf ears, would have perhaps saved this club from relegation. Newcastle for too long, is a club that has felt like a battle ground between leadership and fan-base. When a business has unhappy customers – there is only one way it is going.
Its often a great mystery of mine that Ashley has never cottoned on to the fact that having a better relationship with the media, will only benefit his standing both inside and outside of NUFC.
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This article is addressed to all those parents who stand on the touchline with stars in their eyes and every impossibly besotted Newcastle fan, please can we not place an albatross of expectation around the shoulders of our precious youth. I bleed black and white and would happily have traded any number of years to have sufficient ability to pull on a black and white shirt and enthrall a cascading crowd in Leazes End a la Jinky Jim or Tony Green. What frustrates me having seen the likes of Geoff Allen, Irving Nattrass, Gazza etc. develop from our youth team to the first XI is the additional and unnecessary pressure of expectation that is placed around the necks of local young players. Sometimes our local young players seem to attract even more criticism than our foreign mercenaries. The latest player who will hopefully excel at St. James Park under the benevolent tutelage of Rafa Benitez is Adam Armstrong. I am one of those who refuse to return to St. James until the rotund Londoner sells up and f***s off, instead I have attended several
Coventry City games just to watch one player. What a delight the young man is, he runs his socks off, has a great first touch, great balance, quick feet and uniquely for so many English players looks equally comfortable with both feet scoring all types of goals from long range screamers to poacher’s delights where he leaves bewildered defenders wondering where that little bugger came from as their keeper retrieves the ball from the net. One goal still sticks out in my mind, it was early in the season against Crewe Alexandria as Adam was played through a crowded penalty box he feigned to shoot but cut back from his right foot to
his left and passed the ball into the far corner of the net just as he had done against Sydney FC on an Australian preseason tour when played in by Adam Campbell. The Coventry Telegraph was soon comparing him to Sergio Aguero and members of the crowd telling me that he was the best young player they had seen in a sky blue shirt since Robbie Keane, so no pressure there then. As Chris Waddle would no doubt say the boy is more than a one trick pony and has calmness in front of goal that is Greaves like. Yes Adam had a dry run towards the end of the season but 20 goals in 40
BETTER USE
YOUR HEAD MARTIN TURNBULL tf 44
games is outstanding in a highly competitive league. His record for England at U17 and U19 level is simply breathtaking with many of his goals being scored at critical times in matches against the likes of Italy and Spain. He can surely hold his head up high amongst his European peers. A slight aside, I shake my head when in a qualifying tournament the England Under 19s played three matches in six days on waterlogged pitches and Adam featured in all three and then played for Coventry the following Saturday it was no wonder that Tony Mowbray said the boy was knackered as he subbed him early in the second half. I am sure the F.A. has little leverage in the design of EUFA tournaments but this is an excessive workload on bodies that are still not fully developed. I worked for thirteen years at a club that played most of its football in League 1 and was amazed at just how many of the players at that level had been capped frequently at national youth level and had obviously been the outstanding player in their locality but the influx of www.true-faith.co.uk
International talent and the short termism of most managers (the average tenure of most managers in the lower leagues is approximately11months) means that unless the lad is not just the best player of their age group but of their generation they will never be given an opportunity to shine at the highest levels in our game, something parents of talented young players would do well to remember as they predict their sons future. When I worked at the professional football club I was told by one of the coaches that the chances of making it at any level in the game was about 10.000:1 and I’m sure that ratio has worsened considerably since then. Adam may well excel in the championship for us as Andy Carroll did but if he doesn’t make an instant impact can I plead for patience and encouragement. I have no idea what 50,000 sighs of disappointment sound like when you have just fluffed a chance but I know you would have to have the hide of a rhino and the heart of a Lion to pick yourself up and try and try again until you www.true-faith.co.uk
get it right. I have talked to several players who made their debuts at a young age and some told me in very graphic terms just how terrifying an experience it can be. So please keep hold of your exasperation and applaud the effort as you remember trembling at having to give a Power Point presentation or a best man’s speech in front of fifty people. I am not uncritical of Adam Armstrong he is after all only just 19 and has ample time to develop into a top striker. Harry Kane took two seasons on loan to realise his potential and left coaches at both Millwall and Leicester underwhelmed by his future potential. People make comparisons between Michael Owen and Arma but I would rather compare him to Kevin Keegan. Arma is the same height and has many of the same attributes in fact I would say Adam has a much greater skill level than KK, but does he have that burning fire deep inside him, driving him on to succeed no matter what obstacles are placed in front of him and ultimately reach the pinnacle of his
profession as KK did. That is something that cannot be coached and is difficult to instill into people and perversely it is often the supremely talented young sportsmen who slightly lack it and fail to make the grade in professional sport as a result. There is one area of Adam’s game and I am sure that he is working on it but definitely needs to improve and that is his heading at goal. KK was one of the best headers of the ball I have ever seen and you just know that he must have worked on this relentlessly, it takes balls of steel to put your head where others put their studs to score that vital goal, KK did and I hope Adam some day will. So lets all encourage Arma to succeed next season and be equally encouraging if he doesn’t and goes out on loan again. In a similar vein it would be great to see Adam Campbell continue his development at Notts. County and achieve success in line with his undoubted natural ability.
20 goals in 40 games is outstanding in a highly competitive league. His record for England at U17 and U19 level is simply breathtaking with many of his goals being scored at critical times in matches against the likes of Italy and Spain
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El Juez
The author of this piece would like to remain anonymous for reasons related to profession but let me assure you that the person who has written this has an expertise in Employment Law which entitles me to describe him as an expert and literally at the top of his profession. You might wonder how a humble fanzine can whistle up this kind of expertise within a couple of days of the verdict of the Jonas case being made public but Newcastle United cannot apparently, with all of the resources at its disposal, seek the counsel of such a professional when handling their day to day affairs.
JONAS - THE VERDICT We know that Jonas won (part) of his claim against NUFC, but what was it actually about, and what did it tell us about the
people at the top at NUFC? The important facts of the case related to Jonas’ last contract. It had a guaranteed extension in it if over the 4 year term he started 80 of our league games. Jonas was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. In the two previous seasons he had started 37 out of 38 league games and then 34, more than any other outfield player. After treatment, Jonas was back and fit in late November 2013. Two weeks later he was told he did not feature in the club’s future plans. The tribunal said that the decision to drop him
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was because of his cancer. He was not picked until he could not hit the 80 game target. The club also failed to make reasonable adjustments as required by law to assist a disabled person (Jonas’ diagnosis made him “disabled” within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010). In particular he had been unavailable for selection, because of his disability, for 31 of the 152 league games. His appearance target should therefore have been adjusted pro-rata to avid the disadvantage caused by his disability. The prorata figure would have been 64 and Jonas would have met that and secured his contract extension. It is right to point out that his claims for unfavourable treatment (being sent www.true-faith.co.uk
to Norwich on loan) and harassment (having to train with the U21s) because of his disability failed. The loan was said to be consensual and others (Obertan, Santon) trained with the U21s. Whilst we may all rejoice that Jonas, a genuine 100% worker and loyal servant to Newcastle United, won his case it is in the findings regarding the evidence given on behalf of the club that we find the continuation of a thread – a pattern of “unreliable” evidence (you might have a shorter word for it) which was apparent the last time the club had a legal case against it (Keegan). Pardew
gave,
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his
evidence, it was said in a “confident convincing and articulate” manner. Sadly for our former manager, however, “the detail [of the evidence] was not necessarily as credible as the manner [of delivery]. In a key area (a discussion in December 2012) his evidence was described as “vague and generally unconvincing”. Charnley’s evidence was described in turn as “vague”, “evasive” and “lacking in credibility”. It is worth remembering that this evidence was given on oath. It is worth remembering the opprobrium (rightly) brought down on the likes of John Terry when someone is subject to illtreatment due to race. Why
is such punishment not visited on those in football who have been found to discriminate on the ground of a disability? Disrepute
Pardew gave, his evidence, it was said in a “confident convincing and articulate” manner. Sadly for our former manager, however, “the detail [of the evidence] was not necessarily as credible as the manner [of delivery]. charges, anyone? And what does all of this tell us about the credibility not only of Charnley, but of the man who appointed and supports him? You be the judge of that. tf 47
When Ross County reached final of the Scottish League Cup Final and we had no game that weekend, I thought what about a trip to Hampden and see how the place has scrubbed up since my last visit in the mid-Eighties for a couple of Scotland-England matches. Tickets would be easy come-by.
PHIL JOBSON
GEORDIES HERE, GEORDIES THERE... Hibernian 1 Ross County 2 Hampden Park, 13th March, 2016, Att: 38,796. A quick call to my son and he leapt at the chance to join me. And so it was we boarded the 10:50am train from Alnmouth to Edinburgh on Sunday 16thMarch. Interestingly, there were four other Mags heading north from Alnmouth, who we saw again in Glasgow and at Edinburgh saw a lad in a Ross shirt sporting a United hat. It wasn’t clear if he was a Mag sympathising Ross fan or vice versa.
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The train was rammed as we’d completely overlooked that Scotland were playing France in the Six Nations also that day. Interesting that most were (sounded) English heading across the border for exactly the same reason as us – a day out with a few beers and a match. We expected to run into large numbers of Hibs on the Edinburgh to Glasgow leg, but it wasn’t too busy. Arriving at Glasgow Central
at 1.30pm, we had time for a quick pint before heading up to the splendidly named Mount Florida and Hampden Park, the home of Queens Park. What was remarkable was the almost total silence on the train heading to Hampden. No singing, no high spirits, just general conversation. We imagined the contrast on the Tubes if United were heading to Wembley. We got talking to a father and daughter from Edinburgh, who were predicting a 5-1 win for Hibs, which was a little
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ambitious given Ross are the Premier League team, though both teams were struggling to hit form in the run-up to the Final. We fancied Ross 3-1 and had a little wager to provide some interest in the day. More on that later. Arriving at Mount Florida, we found there was very little in the way of pubs. We were guided to The Clockwork, but looking a little ropey, a queue outside and with little sign of anyone leaving we decided to give it a swerve and head into Hampden and have a pint inside. Nope – soft drinks only today. Hampden is a big bowl and gives the impression that the pitch is below the outside ground level. This may be an illusion but it is how it seems. Once inside, the contrast in support www.true-faith.co.uk
became evident. Hibs had been given 28000 tickets and Ross 7000, though additional tickets were still on sale from a mobile Ross County Ticket office in the car park. The upper tier was closed, except for one section presumably for the Scottish FA and sponsors, etc. Hibs occupied around ¾’s of the stadium and were, as expected, predominantly decked in green with a huge array of flags. We saw Blackpool and Dublin represented among the usual Edinburgh postcode areas, and the volume was ramping up towards kickoff. The Ross section, where we were based, was a largely family affair, with three, and sometimes, four generations seen together. Also, full marks to RCFC,
who put on buses to the final for £5/adults. This is equivalent of United voluntarily subsidising travel for 7000 fans to Liverpool! No, I can’t see it either. Ross did have a small hardcore singing section of around 50, together with a drummer, keeping up a relentless beat during the game. These were ‘policed’ by over-officious stewards who continually tried to make them sit down leading to the removal of at least one fan, just before the first goal. What do these people get off on? Pathetic. From my seat, the whole Hibs section should have been removed had the same rules been applied, but of course they weren’t. It is great being at a match where you have no affinity to either side. I’ve never really had a favourite Scottish side, and have
Hibs occupied around ¾ of the stadium and were, as expected, predominantly decked in green with a huge array of flags. We saw Blackpool and Dublin represented among the usual Edinburgh postcode areas, and the volume was ramping up towards kick-off.
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watched variously over the years, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen, Ross, Hamilton, Berwick and Rangers without getting hooked on any. I prefer to shop around, visiting new grounds and pubs on United days off. It’s great because you don’t suffer the agonies and ecstasies being felt by those around you. It is a good watch though. The early exchanges in the first half belonged to Hibs, with Ross unable to get a foothold in the game. Hibs had a few good half-chances and tested the secondchoice Ross keeper, Woods, on a couple of occasions and who stood up well to the challenge, making a couple of eye-catching saves. This was in marked contrast to the warm-up where he got nowhere near anything. Against the run of play, Ross took the lead midway through the first half. There seemed little danger when Hibs brought the ball tf 50
out of defence. A misplaced pass and a terrific through ball got Gardyne in. A last ditch tackle only succeeded in knocking the ball past the keeper leaving a simple tap-in. Ross understandably came more into the game following the goal without really threatening as the better chances continued to be fashioned by Hibs. The half-time board was showing one additional minute when Hibs forced a corner. The corner was swung towards the penalty spot, Ross failed to deal with it and Fontaine hit an unstoppable shot on the turn to send the green hordes wild and Hibs in level at the break. A word here about the Hibs songbook, which was both varied and unique. A couple got the whole contingent going, no mean feat when you are spread across ¾’s of Hampden, creating a terrific atmosphere.
The second half was more balanced and much better than the first. Both sides attacking at will and creating a hat full of chances, none of which were taken. Ross did have a perfectly good goal chalked off by the woeful referee. Graham got above the Hibs keeper and headed a great goal but the ref thought otherwise. Completely wrong decision. A special word here about the referee. We thought early on that he was allowing the game to ‘flow’, however it became apparent that it was a combination of just missing everything or making it up. When he and his assistants went up for their medals, they were loudly booed by both sets of fans – priceless. As the scoreboard hit 90 minutes I’d enjoyed to second half so much I was looking forward to extratime. However.
The second half was more balanced and much better than the first. Both sides attacking at will and creating a hat full of chances, none of which were taken
Ross broke down the left and a quality cross across www.true-faith.co.uk
the Hibs six-yard box had Hibs defender Fontaine stretching and he only succeeded in wrong-footing the keeper and diverting the ball from where it came and to the waiting Schalk who gleefully slammed the ball into an empty net. This sparked mayhem in the Ross end before everyone momentarily paused when the scorer removed his shirt while celebrating and revealed he was sporting a rather natty bra! Youtube it yourself. To be fair to Fontaine, had he left the ball, Ross had a striker at the far post who would have had a fairly simple task of slotting home anyway. Hibs still had time in the four added minutes for a couple of chances, including a superb overhead kick from the unfortunate Fontaine which Woods in the Ross goal did very well to tip over. When your lucks not in…. Ross survived the corner, the ref blew, and won the cup. Fairytale complete. Now about that bet, and the ref’s part in our day. You remember we had Ross 3 – 1. As already mentioned, the ref ruled out a perfectly good Ross goal in second half. But also, for Hibs last corner they threw everyone up including their keeper, and Ross cleared leaving their striker with a clear run and almost certain goal, only to be halted on the half-way line by the final www.true-faith.co.uk
whistle. Don’t you just love them? Following the trophy ceremony and parade, plans to head straight back into Glasgow were quickly changed as the queue for trains was about ½ mile long. Back to the Clockwork and straight in this time, and past some lairy Hibs fans who were keeping the bouncers busy. The pub inside was a revelation, with great beers, big screens showing the FA Cup and well worth a visit if you are ever up there. After a well spent hour we headed back into the City for a couple more beers before the train home at 8pm. The Hibs couple on way to game had directed us to a good pub near the station so we headed there. We gave ourselves 15 minutes to catch the train and arrived in the station to be told, there were no trains to Newcastle. We
were in the wrong station – this was Central and we needed Queen Street! A slightly drunken jog meant we arrived with 5 minutes to spare and another endless queue. Explaining our predicament, we were fast-tracked onto the train to Edinburgh with the sentiment that you’ll never make your connection. We eventually did and arrived back at Alnmouth at around 10pm. A great day out. Everyone we met was genuinely interested in United, sorry for the mess we find ourselves in and wished us well for the future. We clearly have a lot of sympathisers north of the Border.
Ross survived the corner, the ref blew, and won the cup. Fairytale complete.
Next on the hit list – the Dundee derby, though it may be a couple of years before we get the chance so may have to re-think it. tf 51
This time around in Branded, we’ll continue to explore labels synonymous with world of footballing related fashion by taking a look at another major player, none other than, Lacoste.
Founded in Troyes, France in 1933 by Andre Gillier and Rene Lacoste, the brands roots stem from sport. Lacoste, a French professional tennis player teamed up with Gillier, the owner of France’s largest knitwear manufacturer to produce the now infamous crocodile branded white polo shirt, which he would wear on court. By 1951, the company began to branch out and began creating their polo shirts in multiple different colours, steering away from the tennis white that they had stringently stuck to until this point in time. Soon after this in 1952, Lacoste began exporting tf 52
their shirts to the USA, marketing themselves as “the status symbol of the competent sportsman”, whilst attempting to persuade the upper class to add the brand to their every day wardrobe. During the late 70’s and throughout the 80’s, Lacoste would see major success in doing so, becoming the must have label in a “preppy” wardrobe. They would go on from here to produce other garments such as lightweight jackets, shirts and shorts along with tennis shoes, deck shoes and numerous leather goods. Today, Lacoste still proves
to be a major player in the world of fashion. Current head designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista continues to provide the brand with an upscale yet modern look and it’s place in sports is still apparent with numerous well known tennis players such as Andy Roddick and Richard Gasquet wearing the crocodile on court, along with numerous golfers-another sport the brand reached out to early after it’s inception. What we’re here to talk about in depth however, is the brands association with football and how it became a must have www.true-faith.co.uk
Much like Adidas ruled the roost over footwear throughout casual culture, travelling fans returned to the terraces sporting what Lacoste did best - the polo shirt within the world of casuals. Much like the other brands mentioned within the series previously, Lacoste found its way into the wardrobes of fans in familiar fashionprimarily, through being lifted when travelling throughout Europe in the 70’s. With the label not being widely available within the UK (when it was first sported by groups of football fans, at least) and it being marketed towards a high end buyer, it carried a similar prestige to other European based sportswear brands that
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were to become popular within the subculture, particularly those such as Sergio Tacchini, Ellesse and Fila. As more became spotted in Lacoste on the terraces it followed suit with those before it, in becoming a must have for fans in the know. Much like Adidas ruled the roost over footwear throughout casual culture, travelling fans returned to the terraces sporting what Lacoste did best - the polo shirt. As we mentioned earlier, the Polo shirt
(along with most other of Lacoste’s garments) were originally designed in tennis white for use purely on the court, but as the label’s profile grew outside of it’s native France, their once stringent boundaries were broadened. Polo shirts were produced in an array of different colours (i’m sure plenty of you reading owns numerous and you probably know you haven’t even seen half of them on offer) and all appealed massively to the fashion conscious football fans. Along with wanting
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to go largely unnoticed by police looking to ruin a canny Saturday afternoon out, casuals still desired to stand out from their counterparts through their match day attire. Looking sharp was always the name of the game and there were few better ways to do so than in a brightly coloured Lacoste polo that wasn’t regularly seen on anyone else, if at all. Much like those with an Adidas obsession, amassing a collection of the brands brightly coloured polo shirts would also be met with envy by likeminded terrace goers. Along with their polo shirt, Lacoste track tops would also become popular within the world of football fashion. Whilst brands like Fila and Sergio Tacchini (label’s we’ll come to in time, I’m sure) were largely the name’s of choice for a track jacket to stick over your Lacoste Polo for your away day, the label managed to successfully branch out and provide
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fans with other item’s to wear on the terraces, for all the polo reigned supreme. Today, like a lot of other brands that dominated the subculture of casuals clothing, Lacoste is still a hugely recognisable name. The brand continued to grow as the days of travelling casual’s began to decline and are now largely a house hold name, the green crocodile like so many other brands logos being instantly recognisable. That doesn’t mean that they’re not still held in high regard by football fans however. Like those that came before them, fans of all ages can still regularly be spotted sporting a crisp polo shirt, track jacket or one of many other of Lacoste’s item’s that have became popular as the brand has grown, footwear also becoming a favourite of it’s buyers. Subdivisions of the brand’s name, such as Lacoste Live have been launched and have proven to be a massive success, one of
the most notable features of this being a considerably larger crocodile emblazoning the chest of it’s garments. Whilst maybe not appealing to the purist (the nostalgic of amongst TF readers might stick to the original polo shirts and nowt else), it cannot be denied that the label continues to produce staple items that appeal to football fans of all ages.
It cannot be denied that the label continues to produce staple items that appeal to football fans of all ages.
It is because of this, that Lacoste deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as all the other now notorious labels that dominated terrace fashion at the time. Their appeal to fans was simple-an instantly recognisable piece of clothing that let you stand out from the crowd, an appeal that the label still holds now. You’ll spot plenty of crisp polo shirts in and around SJP on a sunny Saturday afternoon and there’s a good chance that crocodile won’t be far behind.
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It doesn’t feel like two minutes since I’d barely turned double digits and would trundle up the East Stand steps for 7:45pm. Champions League. Top four finishes. Kieran Dyer pulling a hamstring. Little did I know it wouldn’t last. Yet, the Toon are back challenging the top four and maybe even top of the league. Kieran Dyer replaced by Siem De Jong via the likes of Michael Owen and Ryan Taylor. The Toon never fail in having a perennially injured player, their very own Abou Diaby and because of it we’re often near the top of the table when it comes to most injuries and most days missed. Is this the reason for recent mediocrity, would we be already safe without so many injuries? Or is it just a convenient excuse for manager’s to rely on? Lets have a look…
Newcastle Recent Injury History For as long as I remember Newcastle United have had troubles with injury. Whether it be a spate of pulled hamstrings on the training ground, or the international player who never comes back fit. Graeme Souness lamented he was near ‘suicidal’ over 600 days of training lost due to hamstring injuries alone over a three year period. The Scot even went so far as moving first team training to the Academy pitches to stem the flow of injuries. However, soft tissue injuries have been prominent again in recent seasons tf 56
for Newcastle. Indeed 61% of their injuries this season have been soft tissue related, comprising of 1086 missed days due to injury. This is already in excess of last season’s 1003 days missed due to muscular injury. To put this into context the team with the fewest days missed due to this kind of injury (Tottenham Hotspur) only lost 86 days in comparison. With such extraordinary stats it sounds obvious to say that last season Newcastle lost more days to injury that any other team with 1871 days. This is 400 more than second place Arsenal and also 400 more than the three teams
with the fewest injuries cumulatively (Chelsea, Tottenham and Leicester). With stats like those you’d almost forgive John Carver for the difficulty of his job, only having 13 outfield players fit at one stage.
SCOTT TROTTER
That season Newcastle also had the most injuries (39); Siem De Jong out for the longest. The Dutchmen was out for the 6th longest amount of time across all the league’s players at 158 days for his collapsed lung. This pales in comparison to Ryan Taylor in the 2013/14 season who “won” his season missing 267 days. While the number of days lost that season 1303 from 33 injuries both of these www.true-faith.co.uk
were still well above the league averages of 1041 and 27 respectively. To further demonstrate the extent of Newcastle’s injuries during this period during the two seasons from 2012-2014 the magpies had more than 3000 days lost to injury whereas Stoke had barely broken 2700 in the five seasons up until the end of 2013/14. Though these stats in context look atrocious it certainly doesn’t seem to be getting better. As of March 25th we had already lost 1855 days across 55 injuries and with long term injuries to goalkeepers Rob Eliot and Tim Krul as well as a number of other ailments we’re sure to be over last season’s mark already. How it stands at the moment So, how’s the injury list for our lord and saviour Rafael Benitez? Well not so long ago we had a total of 13 injuries, more than anybody else in the league. Currently we’re in third place with 7 injuries, only Crystal Palace and Liverpool have more.
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Here’s a rundown of those missing at the moment. First up, the victims of the cliché international duty injury: Rob Elliot and Tim Krul. Both are out long term suffering from anterior cruciate ligament injuries; Krul rehabbing his way back to full fitness while Elliott will miss this summer’s Euros due to the injury. Elliot had really begun to come of age this season so it’s a shame to have him missing for such a vital run in. As we’ve seen with Krul rehabilitation is extensive and Elliott isn’t expected back until September. This isn’t the first of Elliott’s injury issues however. His ACL injury is the fourth injury he has sustained this season, including 2 thigh injuries. So while his performances are maturing, Elliott’s injury record doesn’t look to be improving and Krul’s track record isn’t fantastic either. Newcastle are going to need a decent third keeper for a while yet I reckon! Then there are those who suffered less traditional injuries, though they don’t
quite live up to Siem De Jong being poked in the eye. Daryl Janmaat is out due to the groin injury he sustained against Southampton. This was obviously compounded when launched his fist into the dressing room wall in frustration. Two broken fingers and a sling later the Dutchman was expected to make a quick recovery in both departments but has already missed two games and there is no return date yet in place for his sixth injury of the season. Curly-haired captain Fabricio Coloccini picked up his calf/shin injury in a warm down… of a game he didn’t play… a friendly against Lillestrom… in La Manga… The dillydallying centreback has been out since mid-February and rumoured to be back just about every week since. Still thought to be close to a return but with a confirmed date, perhaps they just don’t realise how slow he is on his wait for match fitness. The self-proclaimed ‘Bionic
To further demonstrate the extent of Newcastle’s injuries during this period during the two seasons from 2012-2014 the magpies had more than 3000 days lost to injury whereas Stoke had barely broken 2700 in the five seasons up until the end of 2013/14.
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Man’ Steven Taylor is our next injury. A hamstring kept the local lad out for the first half of the season before picking up a knock in March and now being out with a muscular injury. Sadly for the Geordie most now see this as a blessing and can’t wait for him to be offloaded. Taylor said before his first comeback this season, ‘I cannot wait to get back into it and cause absolute mayhem’. This is indicative of the player, mistimed tackles and red card waiting to happen, unfortunately we may have been lucky he has been injured so much in recent years. Kevin Mbabu showed a great deal of promise in that 2-2 draw against Chelsea but has almost been forgotten due to injury since. Out since January with a hip/thigh injury, the youngster couldn’t take the opportunity left in the wake of injuries to Paul Dummet and Massadio Haidara.Again the return time has been vague as the dreadhead was initially thought to be back in good time for the end tf 58
of the season. Even rehab time with cricketer Kieran Pollard hasn’t sped up the process as Mbabu is still highly doubtful with only four games remaining. Finally, here lies Massadio Haidara, the ever promising, ever injured left back. More famous for being snapped by Callum McManaman than anything he’s done on the pitch, the Frenchman has been out since November following surgery to repair knee ligaments. The injury initially occurred during training following a return to full training just the week before. A look at Haidara’s injury card shows a plethora of knee injuries and you have to wonder where he’s injury prone or not being rehabilitated correctly. Does it mean anything and what about the others? Arguably, Newcastle’s best back five are lying on the injury list at the moment but The Toon’s weakened back four has seen the team churn out two quality results. At the moment you could only really see Janmaat coming into the team in place of Anita, and
even then the right back is better going forward than defending.Yet, the team has no doubt suffered from the injuries as Anita’s brief stint a left back certainly wasn’t a rewarding experience. The relegation threatened teams around Newcastle are a mixed bag of injury fortune. Sunderland have suffered a similar fate to Newcastle. The Black Cats have had over 50 recorded injuries this season but only have 3 at the moment (Borini, Rodwell and Lens) with a clean slate expected by the time they face Arsenal on Sunday. The key difference between us and our neighbours is that they have much fewer lost days overall. So although initially it looks like more injuries are the cause of a bad position in the league, Sunderland quite often have a decent proportion of their squad to choose from.
A look at Haidara’s injury card shows a plethora of knee injuries and you have to wonder where he’s injury prone or not being rehabilitated correctly.
Norwich have had mixed fortunes with injuries this term. By the middle of January they’d only had 11 injuries and 243 lost days (Newcastle in comparison had 33 and 1042). This was www.true-faith.co.uk
How long before we look into the way we train, or rehab or the players we buy before something changes? the fourth best record in the league but they still lay 15th in the table. January to April has held 17 recorded injuries for the Canaries with Robbie Brady and Andre Wisdom being the repeat offenders as the team have slid to 17th, only a point clear of the relegation zone. League whipping boys Aston Villa will have trouble blaming injuries for their struggles. Numerous injuries but like Sunderland a limited number of days lost. Indeed they have been one of the teams that has used the fewest players. 23 have been used this season and only Agbonlahor seems to have been persistently injured (or away smoking shisha). Though it must be said some teams can use a strict rotation of players (23 in all but a clear distinction between regulars and single game players) and have few injuries to do well in a season. Leicester City have been deemed ‘fortunate’ by the likes of Matt Elliott but something must be going right on the training pitch as only Vardy has been intermittently injured; minorly at that. Do Injuries Really have an effect on league position? Leicester top with few injuries. Us languishing around the bottom with a lot. Do injuries really impact www.true-faith.co.uk
league position? It’s difficult to tell. Looking over the last few seasons the injury table seem to suggest not. There are certainly some correlations with Leicester and Tottenham doing well with few injuries this season and Chelsea winning the league and having the fewest injuries last season. Conversely Arsenal lost the second most and most days respectively in 2014/15 and 2013/2014, a grand total of 3182 days. Then despite fewer lost days this season, it doesn’t seem like their league position will change much. A 2012 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine described a ‘strong correlation between lower injury incidence rates and superior team success’. Though this was in Qatar and the study acknowledges it is the first to find such results. What the study notes however is in Qatar that players with injuries of greater than six weeks may be replaced and artificially improve performance. Indeed this could be a reason for a lack of a correlation as Premier League teams are constantly buying players to improve the team and cover injuries. Just because Newcastle’s recruits don’t improve position doesn’t mean it won’t help other teams!
Conclusion Though injuries aren’t conclusively proved to effect team performance over a season, it must have some effect. Being short of players is like fighting with one hand tied behind your back. Overall quality dictates how much injuries effect you. Arsenal had a number of injuries but still a good enough team to finish top four, who knows how they might have done in 2013/14 without so many. Similarly, Aston Villa play to a terrible standard and it’s difficult to see how injuries could worsen them. Ultimately, Newcastle United consistently have masses of injuries. We aren’t in Europe, we don’t last long in cup competitions, we don’t have a standout reason why we lose significantly more days to injury than other teams. How long before we look into the way we train, or rehab or the players we buy before something changes? Who knows? Someone like Townsend or Mitrovic avoiding injury could be the reason we stay up… tf 59
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Like many of you out there, I’ve become increasingly detached from Newcastle United over the past few years. Like many, I’ve scratched my head, ground my teeth and pulled my hair out at the sheer incompetence and stupidity shown by the people who own and run our football club. Personally though, Sunday 15th May 2016 will now become the day I officially re-connected tf 60
with my team again. I also felt that many others were feeling the same way. Forget the result ~ although giving any team a 5-1 humping is nice ~ that day was just what I remember our ground and the people in it can be like. Atmosphere through the roof. Loud,
proud and totally behind the team. Hearts firmly on sleeves, and bongeyed defiance shown to relegation and all the things that have been done so badly for so long. After all, we all know it doesn’t take a lot to keep us happy. Despite a media www.true-faith.co.uk
Walking out of SJP on Sunday 15th May, The Smiths song ‘ There is a light that never goes out’ ushered me away to the pub for a celebratory beer. I couldn’t help feeling this was the most appropriate song for that moment and that day. It reminded me that no matter how strained my relationship with my club is, has been, or will be ~ the light will never completely go out. Thanks for the hope again Mr. Benitez, I can’t wait. encouraged lie that we all expect to win the league; a little bit of effort, some skill now and again and a pride and desire shown by those lucky enough to run out onto that bloody magnificent bit of grass is all it takes. I’ve been lucky enough to have watched genuinely world class footballers at St.James, but the list of my all time favourites still has a place for David Kelly. I saw all of those things on that Sunday, and had a tantalising preview of how it could be.
who under previous managers showed little appetite for a fight or pride in the shirt. Rafa oozes class and composure.
And the catalyst for this resurgence in my faith? Rafa Benitez of course. His haul of points from ten games would have translated to the club easily avoiding relegation had he been approached immediately after the Bournemouth game. He wasn’t approached and we didn’t avoid relegation, so how am I so excited!?
Look in his eyes and tell me you don’t see a man who is meticulous in his approach to everything he does. He’s a perfectionist. He demands quality and commitment to the plan. At any level of football, that will be a success in my opinion. It’s not only the attention to detail that he has though.
Probably because we have our first truly world class manager since Sir Bobby. This is a man who coaxed, encouraged and demanded performances from players www.true-faith.co.uk
I’ve heard people say he won’t be able to manage in the Championship, but that’s shite if you ask me. How could he not? What is different about preparing a football team for a game at whatever level? Lack of knowledge of the teams and players doesn’t wash with me. This is Rafa Benitez man.
Joe Harvey, Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby all got what this City and region is about. You don’t need to be born here to have it. Joe was a Yorkshireman, although he did play for us. Kevin’s grand father was born here, so he
had an idea what it was all about before he graced the pitch and the dug out. And then there was Sir Bobby...one of us lucky enough to manage the club. I remember watching him once live on Football Focus. He was giving the presenters a tour around the ground, and I can still recall the pride and passion flowing from him. That he was describing the door frames says it all really! Rafa has that in him. He has a connection with us already. He just seems to get it. And that my friends is an electric mix. Newcastle UNITED will never be defeated. Ashley and Charnley have done little right over the years ~ and I’m still to be convinced the over-all running of the club is in it’s best interests ~ but on this one occasion, they have made the right call. That it has come NINE years into his ownership should not matter at this point. After all, there’s no point looking back, you aren’t going that way. Onwards and hopefully
upwards from this point on. At long last we have a football man looking after the football side of things and I couldn’t be happier. Rafa is a man of the people, for the people. I trust him completely to do the things my football club needs for it to be the very best it can be. Maybe we can even forget about the money side of things because if ~ or should that be when? ~ Rafa gets it right the finances will follow. Walking out of SJP on Sunday 15th May, The Smiths song ‘ There is a light that never goes out’ ushered me away to the pub for a celebratory beer. I couldn’t help feeling this was the most appropriate song for that moment and that day. It reminded me that no matter how strained my relationship with my club is, has been, or will be ~ the light will never completely go out. Thanks for the hope again Mr. Benitez, I can’t wait. Lofty tf 61
It’s early December and sub-zero degrees. After a long day of hard work I am woken from my cotton mouthed slumber by a loud ‘clap’ and several screams. I glance at the TV clock and it’s about 2.15 am, my window is wide open in the hope of defeating the constant de-hydrating hotel air conditioning and I’m 16 floors up. A ‘quiet’ night of litre steins of Tyskie and Zywiec and more red meat than I’ve ever encountered in my life has left me slightly tender and with a mouth like a cats litter tray.
NEIL GATENBY
GEORDIES HERE, GEORDIES THERE... Legia Warsaw 2 Gornik Leczna 1
speeding taxis….welcome to Warsaw!
Stadion Wojska Polskiego, 02/12/15, 5:00 pm, Att: 8,125.
I stand and watch this for some about ten minutes until the local fuzz turn up and chuck whoever they can get their hands on into a meat wagon. In all fairness the same scenes could be replayed on the streets of most UK cities any Friday or Saturday night but it
I wander to my open window to assess the kerfuffle and see a group of large skinheads kicking another man into open traffic and a number of high pitched females attempting to interject with handbags and high heels as lethal
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weapons. Suddenly another group of men run from behind a news stand and wade into the aggressors with a number of misplaced hay makers. The gentleman currently lying in the road does well to commando roll out the way of 2
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puts me slightly on edge as I settle back to sleep. The next evening myself and a couple of my colleagues decide to treat ourselves to some football action under the floodlights. Legia Warsaw are playing at home against Gornik Leczna and with tickets only £9.00 and pints of what can only be described as ‘loopy juice’ only about £2.50, it all made perfect sense. A hard day grafting then an evening watching the team currently second top of the Polish Ekstraklasa seemed both intriguing and a little unnerving in equal measure. I’ve always been fascinated by the role of Ultras in the overseas game and often watch in awe and jealousy at their amazing displays of choreography. I think there is a lot we would do well to adopt from these www.true-faith.co.uk
fanatics but I must admit, the violent side is of no interest and Polish football seems to have its fair share of tear ups. For the record, I found Warsaw to be a brilliant, exciting, beautiful and friendly city but I was still a tad apprehensive. The match kicked off 6.00pm and tickets had to be bought in advance with a passport, so we finished work and rushed up to the ground in the next available taxi. The road up to the ground was exciting and imposing in equal measure with almost every bit of concrete covered with Legia Ultras graffiti and warnings. The fans are known to be some of the most committed and passionate in Poland. They are fiercely patriotic and anti-communist and have been known to be extremely vocal on political
issues both nationally and internationally with some significant racism problems. On arrival at the impressive Polish Army Stadium we asked for tickets in ‘with the locals’ but were advised against it and sold tickets in Sektor 112 (the equivalent of the Milburn at SJP). With 45 minutes to kill before the game and not a great deal to do around the ground in sub-zero temperatures we decided to have a swifty in the supporters bar at the ground prior to the game. The atmosphere was a strange mixture of suspicion and warmth. It was clear this was the ‘local boys’ bar and there seemed to be a level of interest when we ordered in our best Queens english but there was no animosity or intimidation. Little did we know that the hardcore support were inside already.
A hard day grafting then an evening watching the team currently second top of the Polish Ekstraklasa seemed both intriguing and a little unnerving in equal measure.
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We were comprehensively searched and had our ID checked entering the ground by one of the hundreds of stewards who were backed up by hordes of police in riot gear. The stadium was modern, clean and quite impressive but was completely dry in terms of alcohol. We found our seats in what seemed to be in a very sanitised, corporate area of the ground and the crowd seemed pretty sparse apart from about 1500 fans all in white to the right of us stretching all across the equivalent of the Gallowgate End. The end was decked in flags and political banners, some with some particularly worrying slogans in support of the ‘White Legion’, an extreme sector of the Legia Ultras. In the middle of the stand, directly behind the goal, was a set of scaffolding around tf 64
3 metres high with a fan in white hoodie on top with a microphone. Either side were drummers and a banner with a razor blade on underneath. The fan with the mic constantly orchestrated all of the songs and choreography through out the match and it was pretty impressive but the pyro and large scale displays I expected were lacking in a crowd of just under 9000. An early glance around the stadium also revealed a complete lack of away fans but around 20 minutes into the game, with Legia already 1-0 through a goal from fans favourite Nemanja Nickolic, a stream of around 400 hooded fans dressed entirely in black entered the far corner of the stadium. With banners unfurled some decent support followed but they were entirely out sung and out numbered by the home fans.
Nickolic scored again on the 30th minute and put in an impressive performance, along with the Legia number 8 Duda, in an otherwise dull game.The only other action of note during the game was the home keeper trying to comically clear his lines and throwing the ball off the back of his own defenders head and sprinting back to desperately scrape the ball of the line and deny a ‘You’ve Been Framed’ style shambolic own goal. Gornick did manage to pull one back in 87th minute but it was too little too late and the game fizzled out.
The end was decked in flags and political banners, some with some particularly worrying slogans in support of the ‘White Legion’, an extreme sector of the Legia Ultras
All in all, the quality of football wasn’t great and most of my time was spent watching the home fans bouncing and singing their way through the cold winter night but it was certainly an experience and one I’d be happy to repeat. Legia are now one win away from the title….Na zdrowie! www.true-faith.co.uk
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Their Fans: 6 – There’s summat about them I don’t like. Possibly the fact we always fucking lose down there. Heavily. Media View: ‘Sorry Magpies slip further towards relegation’ (Telegraph) SOUTHAMPTON 3 NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 St.Mary’s, Sat 9th April, 3:00pm, Premier League, Att: 31,542. An absolute unmitigated shambles saw us hurtling towards the Second Division and on this ‘performance’, it’s the best place for us. We got off to a disastrous start and you won’t see a worse piece of defending across any league this season. Shane Long, who is quick but limited, morphed seemingly into Lionel Messi and he breezed past three of our defenders, including a mincing ballet from Steven Taylor to fire past Darlow. Things went from bad to worse before half time, when Janmaat rolled over in the middle of the field, allowing Tadic a free run towards our box and his ball fell to Pelle to finish. Janmaat’s attitude has been disgraceful this season and the sooner he f***s off the better, he left the pitch ‘injured’ at this point. Insert Dutch/ going getting tough stereotype here. Wanyama scored a third before the hour and we were heading towards the usual howkings we get here but they eased off a bit and Townsend scored the goal of the game with 25 minutes left, cutting inside his man just outside the box and crashing an unstoppable effort into the top corner. Great goal, but like his one at Chelsea a few weeks before, nowt more than a worthless consolation. We’re knackered like, I can’t see any way back from this. Newcastle United: Darlow, Janmaat (de Jong), Mbemba, Taylor (Lascelles), Anita, Perez (Cisse), Sissoko, Shelvey, Wijnaldum. Townsend, Mitrovic. Our Fans: 6 – Sick as f***.
In-Form: Townsend, solely for his goal. Out of Form: I hope Janmaat never plays for us again and Steven Taylor likewise, albeit for different reasons. Rafa Watch: He’s inherited a load of absolute shite here, must wonder what the f*** he’s done.
NEWCASTLE UNITED 3 SWANSEA CITY 0 St. James’ Park, Sat 16th April, 3:00pm, Premier League, Att: 48,949. This was really our last chance to even give ourselves hope for the run-in and we obliged with what on paper at least was an emphatic victory against a poor Swansea side. If there was an urgency to win the match, you could barely tell for the bulk of the first half as the game was played at half pace in front of near silence. There had been no hint of a goal to come when Townsend swung over a corner as half time drew near but Lascelles got up to bundle it home in front of the Leazes. The second half saw us get on top, although it was marginal and they had a couple of chances themselves and most of us were hoping to hang on for a vital one nowt when we won another corner with less than ten minutes to go. This time, the ball ricocheted around before Sissoko poked it home for, ridiculously, his first goal of the season to mass relief. We still had time to put some gloss on it when Mitrovic bulldozed through a couple of defenders to play Townsend through and he arrowed a shot across Fabianski to nestle in the far corner in the final minute. Three definitely flattered it, but we’ll not worry about that. Newcastle United: Darlow, Anita, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Colback, Tiote (Shelvey), Sissoko, Wijnaldum (Perez), Townsend, Cisse (Mitrovic)
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Our Fans: 7 – Excellent in the second half, funereal for a lot of the first Their Fans: 3 - Pathetic turn out Media View: ‘Benitez wins first game at fifth attempt’ (Mirror) In-Form: Lascelles was excellent and backed up his rant after Southampton with a real leaders display Out of Form: Colback is consistently gash and Wijnaldum did next to nowt again Rafa Watch: First win, absolutely vital, still a formidable task on his hands.
NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 MAN CITY 1 St.James’ Park, Tues 19th April, 7:45pm, Premier League, Att: 46,424. A stirring evening at SJP saw us get a deserved point against the billionaires of Man City, when infact we could easily have got all three. The main talking point of the game happened in the first quarter of an hour when the visitors won a really soft free kick out wide in front of the East Stand. Kolarov whipped a cross over that was glanced past Darlow via the head of Aguero. Within about three seconds, I’d had half a dozen texts saying he was well offside and seeing the replays at half time was an absolute kick in the nuts. A scandalous decision – and not for the first time at home to these. Buoyed on by an indignant crowd, we refused to crumble, as we certainly would have done under McClaren and we were level on the half hour through a really unexpected source. Vurnon Anita bombed down the flank to pick up a ball from Sissoko and cut inside his man to swerve a great shot across Joe Hart and in off the far post. He was brilliant all night, Anita and cemented a man of the match performance by clattering Kolarov, twice the size of him, shortly after. We huffed and puffed a bit in the second half but there were no real clear cut opportunities to talk of from either side, despite a couple of heart in the mouth moments towards the very end. It was a stirring performance and tf 68
although points aren’t really good enough at this stage, it’s more what it does for the confidence going into the final games. We’re not quite dead and buried yet. Newcastle United: Darlow, Anita, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Colback, Tiote, Sissoko, Perez (Aarons), Townsend (Wijnaldum), Cisse (Mitrovic) Our Fans: 8 – Really got behind the team and played their part Their Fans: 2 – Dogshit. Plenty of folk made a lot of the fact that they are in Madrid in a week’s time but the turnout was abysmal and the ones that did turn up were virtually mute. Media View: ‘Result gives us hope we can stay up says Benitez’ (Independent) In-Form: Tiote was superb in the middle and bossed Yaya. Anita possibly edged it though – great goal and a fantastic display Out of Form: That f***ing linesman. Twat. Rafa Watch: This was a point we never expected. Played on the front foot against them and they are clearly grafting for him which is a world away from McClaren. LIVERPOOL 2 NEWCASTLE UNITED 2 Anfield, Sat 23rd April, 3:00pm, Premier League, Att: 43,837. Like the Man City game earlier in the week, this was firmly in the ‘travel in hope rather than expectation category’ and when we were one nowt down inside a minute after some absolutely farcical defending (even by our standards) gifted Sturridge a goal then it looked like a very long afternoon ahead. Lallana made it two on the half hour from an equally defensively awful goal, as we stood off to allow him to pick his spot in the top corner. Nice finish, far too easy. We got through to half time completely out of the game but were back in it just moments after the restart. Anita hit what looked like a hopeful cross but Mingolet made a complete balls up of it and Cisse was on hand to
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head into an empty net at the Kop. All of a sudden we were back in it and Liverpool started to wobble a bit. To the astonishment of the away end, we were level shortly after the hour. This time, Townsend’s cross caused trouble and the attempted clearance fell to Colback who miraculously didn’t look to play the opportunity three yards sideways, instead attempting a shot that was heavily deflected past his ex-Mackem teammate in the net to all round delirium. We were the side most likely to win it, but the point (cliché time) felt like a win in the end and we’ve pulled two points this week when most expected none. Newcastle United: Darlow, Anita, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Colback, Tiote (Shelvey), Sissoko, Perez (Wijnaldum), Townsend, Cisse (Mitrovic) Our Fans: 8 – Backed the team superbly with minimal tedious Scouser baiting Their Fans: 7 – Good until they started to lose the grip on the game Media View: ‘Benitez secures happy return to Anfield after dramatic comeback’ (Express) In-Form: No-one stood out really – Tiote was canny Out of Form: No-one was awful – the full backs both struggled for periods though Rafa Watch: Says everything about him that he was warmly received by all sides of the ground. Whatever he said at half time worked too.
NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 C. PALACE 0 St.James’ Park, Sat 30th April, 3:00pm, Premier League, Att: 52,107 A game that was never a classic but always an absolute must win ended up with us taking the three points and climbing out of the bottom three. Despite the prematch hype around Pardew’s return, the slippery twat barely drew a shrug out of a home crowd more intent on cheering their side on but it was Palace who had the www.true-faith.co.uk
better of a tepid first half, drawing a couple of decent saves from Darlow. There was not much to report by half time though, although the game slowly flickered into life in the second. It took until around 20 minutes to go for us to finally get the all important goal and it was from nowhere. Townsend placed a free kick well outside the area and smashed a curling effort into the top corner with their keeper rooted to the spot. It was probably our goal of the season and the relief spilled out from the stands. There was still time for a proper heart in the mouth moment though when the ref awarded a barely believable spot kick for a non-existent handball at the Gallowgate. With the crowd in virtual stunned silence, good old Yohan did the business, planting a weak penno which Darlow got down to save – hero time for the lad and hearts started again en masse. We’ve got a chance....it’s the hope that kills you. Newcastle United: Darlow, Anita (Shelvey), Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Colback, Tiote, Sissoko, Wijnaldum (Perez), Townsend, Cisse (Mitrovic) Our Fans: 7 – You’ll Never Walk Alone was a lovely touch and they kept behind the side when we were toiling Their Fans: 7- I’ve no truck with them, it’s just their manager. Media View: ‘The Great Escape is on’ (Chronicle) In-Form: Townsend was exceptional ,crowned by a brilliant goal Out of Form: Wijnaldum was anonymous, he said for the 20th time this season Rafa Watch: If he keeps this side up, it really will be miraculous. tf 69
ASTON VILLA 0 NEWCASTLE UNITED 0 Villa Park, Sat 7th May, 3:00pm, Premier League, Att: 33,055. If ever a game summed up Newcastle United over the last decade it was this one. In a game we absolutely HAD to win, we completely failed to turn up and for the second time in recent memory virtually sealed our relegation at Villa Park in front of an away following almost too stunned to be properly angry. From the off, Villa were absolutely abysmal, as you would expect given their laughably pitiful season but the first half was like a pre-season game where quite literally nothing happened. They could barely string a pass together while we made no attempt at all to get after them. We’d followed a pattern, particularly at home recently of containing teams in the first half then having a go in the second and when Colback had a golden chance within a minute of the restart (with the Mackems 2-1 down at home to Chelsea at the time) then our hopes of survival looked on but the useless c*** blazed it a mile over the bar and from there, everything went wrong. Mitrovic had two reasonable half chances, heading wide from one and choosing the wrong option when trying to chip the keeper but the game just fizzled out into nothing, with no real urgency from us. A shameful display, compounded by the Mackems beating Chelsea and putting us back in the bottom three. Make no mistake, we’re down now and after this, it’s impossible to say we don’t deserve it.
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Newcastle United: Darlow, Anita (Shelvey), Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Colback (de Jong), Tiote (Perez), Sissoko, Wijnaldum, Townsend, Cisse (Mitrovic) Our Fans: 7 – Numb to the inevitable Their Fans: 3 – Arseholes. There’s no limit to the number of leagues I’d love to see those pricks fall through. Media View: ‘Disaster for Benitez as Newcastle draw a blank’ (Telegraph) In-Form: They were collectively piss poor. Darlow and Lascelles did what little they needed to do fairly easily Out of Form: There were a few. Cisse was particularly dreadful Rafa Watch: Might turn out to be his penultimate match. The fact that even he couldn’t raise them for it says everything about the bastards pulling on a black and white shirt this season.
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NEWCASTLE UNITED 5 SPURS 1 St.James’ Park, Sun 15th May, 3:00pm, Premier League, Att: 52,183. We finished a terrible season off in an almost perverse style as we hammered a Spurs side that were still in the title race when the tickets went on sale in the sunshine at SJP. With the crowd urging Rafa to stay, we took the lead on 20 minutes when the invisible man, Gini Wijnaldum popped up to put us one up after a well crafted move. Mitrovic put us two nil up before half time with a header and we went in at half time wondering where this United had been all season.
Our Fans: 9 – Backed Rafa to the hilt, backed some of the players blindly Their Fans: 7 – Loads of them in town, didn’t have much to cheer Media View: ‘Relegated Toon run riot’ (Mail) In-Form: All the players who’ve hidden for the last few months – Wijnaldum, Sissoko etc... Out of Form: Mitrovic is a knacker Rafa Watch: Can’t be any doubt that we want him to stay. 12 points in 9 games from this lot is good going. Gareth Harrison - Follow Gareth on @truefaith1892
We were relatively comfortable in the second half until Lamela pulled one back with a shot that beat Darlow at his near post and our task looked harder when Mitrovic got sent off for a stupid stamp on Walker. He’s been shite this season, catchy song or no catchy song. His sending off seemed to spark us into another gear though and we followed it up with a penalty from Wijnaldum, a goal from substitute Aarons and a smart finish from Janmaat to round it off. It was a weird day, the atmosphere was as good as it’s been all season, as was the performance but we ended up relegated with huge question marks as to where we go from here. It’s never simple, is it? Newcastle United: Darlow, Janmaat, Mbemba, Taylor,Dummett, Tiote (Shelvey), Sissoko (Sterry), Colback, Wijnaldum (Aarons), Townsend, Mitrovic www.true-faith.co.uk
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It was an agonising fortnight for us once the season finished but Rafa decided to stay and his terms have been met, in writing, by Ashley. We are told that Rafa will have control over all football-related matters and the club have since announced that ticket prices will be reduced by 10% next season – credit where it’s due but this is expected considering Phil Follow @geordiefuturist we’ll be playing in the Championship!
So what does this mean for Ashley’s approach to the club and how can he build on this momentum to create the proud sporting institution that we all long to support? Well the obvious place to start is on the pitch. We have the manager wewant and now it’s time to build a team worthy of wearing the shirt. It seems Rafa has already begun identifying the players he wants to sign so Ashley must ratify any deals in a swift and decisive manner. I don’t really care whether they’re loan deals or permanent but they must be secured early in the summer to allow Rafa maximum preparation time for next season. Ashley must reverse his penny pinching ideology if it means we sign tf 72
the players Rafa wants not some 2nd or 3rd choice target. Further to player signings for the immediate squad, we need to improve the output from the academy. We’ve been told for a few years now that there are plans for a £25m redevelopment of Darsley Park that will make it state-of-the-art and help develop players. Not that this investment should be restricted solely to facilities, we also need to increase the quality and number of staff at the youth levels. I’ve heard from many people that our current setup isn’t up to scratch and is underfunded.
parents taking their kids to Sunderland or Boro, where they believe they’ll get more one-on-one coaching time. Now is the time for Ashley to invest that money whilst we have a manager that is able to build the infrastructure necessary for future success in youth development.
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Movingontothecommercial side of things. There has been a lot of analysis done that shows our commercial income has dipped since Ashley took over and that the TV money has helped mask this. We’re all awareof the free advertising Sports Direct has been getting but we’re now told they will be paying for the privilege – the cynic in me says Ashley will be extracting the money elsewhere but taking it at face-value it’s a step in the right direction. What else can be done? For starters, Ashley needs to rid the club of it’s association with W*ng*. This is a company that preys on the poorest in society, getting them trapped into a vicious debt cycle that is inescapable – www.true-faith.co.uk
an occurrence that is only increasing to many in the North East thanks to the savage austerity policies of the Tory government. I’m sure we all saw their renaming of the stadium to St. James’ Park for what it was, a PR stunt to lessen the blow to us fans of our club being associated with a commercial loan shark. Thankfully it looks like Ashley might not have a choice in the matter with W*ng* suffering huge losses since their abhorrent practices have been outlawed. So which organisation to replace W*ng*? The idealist in me would love to see free exposure to a charity on the shirt but I realise this isn’t commercially viable for any club - even the mighty
Barcelona succumbed and replaced UNICEF with oilrich Qatari money. That said, we’re talking about ways in which Ashley can build upon the current feelgood momentum at the club. How about Ashley matches the W*ng* deal (£24m over 5 years) but instead of the expected Sports Direct logo, he offersthe spot to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation (or similar local charity). I think everyone would agree this would be a huge step in changing fans perception of Ashley and why he’s at our club. Failing a fantasy like that becoming a reality, the next reasonable step for me would be to agree a deal with a local company that employs people in the region, for example Sage.
the next reasonable step for me would be to agree a deal with a local company that employs people in the region, for example Sage. tf 73
Finally and most importantly, Ashley needs to reconnect with the fans. Not to confuse having a drink with the fans in the stands but instead actually listening and responding to our grievances. There are a couple of quick-wins that come to my mind: reinstate NUST on the fans forum and reintroducing singing areas within the ground. We are led to believe that NUST were banned from the fans forum for not following administrative protocol. That is PR spin and the reality is, NUST were asking the tough questions that the club didn’t want or were unable to answer. Taking nothing away from the fantastic work that the other members of the fans forum do, reinstating NUST would certainly make me
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feel like the club are now prepared to listen and respond to criticism from an organised, democratic collective. Being based in London means I can’t attend as many home games as I’d like but I’ve been disappointed with the (lack of) atmosphere in my last few visits. Creating an intimidating atmosphere for the opposition is something we are meant to be known for! Obviously performances on the pitch don’t help but in my opinion, the larger problem is the increase in sterile, family-friendly enclosures and subsequent decrease in proper singing areas. I should note that I’m all for making the matchday experience suitable for all but we have to accept that the driving force of any
atmosphere, are those fans who are happy to chant for 90 minutes. Some of the best atmospheres you witness (even via TV) come from stadiums with standing areas. You only need to look at Borussia Dortmund as an example of a club that recognises the importance of providing areas for the fans to get the atmosphere going. It now looks like Celtic are reintroducing safe standing areas so why not Newcastle as well? If Ashley could only implement a few of these suggestions, it would still continue to build the momentum at the club and gradually get fans, myself included, back on board with his running of the club. HWTL
...we have to accept that the driving force of any atmosphere, are those fans who are happy to chant for 90 minutes.
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The decision to reduce season ticket prices for young fans and to freeze all other prices has been taken in line with the Club’s policy to make football affordable, reward loyalty, and also takes into consideration that by the start of next season Premier League clubs will be aware of the value of the new television rights deal negotiated by the Premier League with broadcasters, to commence in 2016/17. To ensure season ticket holders gain maximum value and to further reward their loyalty, for next season single tickets for the higher category games will be subject to a price increase and will, on occasions, be restricted to members-only sales, meaning there will be no general sale. Nufc.co.uk - 25 January 2015
TICKET PRICES - THE TRUTH CHRIS HOLT - FOLLOW @MIKEASHLEYLIES Despite the claims of only higher category games seeing a price increase, I’d like to tell you how Newcastle have increased single ticket prices across the board. This is the case for both members and nonmembers but members have suffered the steepest increases, punishing their loyalty above the public and unfortunately not making football more affordable, despite increased TV revenues. Before I get to the detail on that, some credit is due. In 14/15, Newcastle United had 7 different price categories for adult members buying the same seat for 19 home games. In 15/16 there were 6, which is tf 76
a move in the right direction, however it’s difficult to be effusive when the club still has double the number of price categories of almost every other Premier League club. This in turn leads to a major criticism the club has done nothing to resolve transparency. Of the 20 Premier League clubs in 15/16, only 4 have not published match categories and prices on their website throughout the season. Manchester City, Norwich City, Watford and Newcastle United. In 14/15 Newcastle were in a minority of two with Man City because the other two of those are promoted clubs.
This lack of transparency leaves Newcastle fans part of a rare group who are clueless as to the price of tickets outside of the few weeks after they go on sale. It leaves them unable to compare and contrast prices for different opponents and make informed decisions on where they see the best value when choosing which games they may or may not go to. It leaves fans unable to hold the club to account on ticket pricing. This approach to pricing replicates closely what Mike Ashley does in retail, where confusing the customer on price is not an unfortunate accident, but a conscious decision in order to bamboozle them into
But just supposing some loon was prepared to make a bid in the summer to take the club off Ashley’s hands. What would it realistically take?
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paying more than they they might otherwise. I feel strongly that Newcastle United should be compelled to follow the example of the vast majority of other clubs, to categorise games and publish prices from the start of the season. The failure of the club to do this only allows them to fluctuate prices as the season goes on. Dropping prices and giving tickets away to fill the stadium has been seen, but the policy allows the club the opportunity to increase prices too, with little or no awareness amongst fans that it has actually happened. While the club offer cut rate tickets to tourists and employers in the region, those on sale to fans via the website and box office continue to get more expensive. As the club don’t provide any long term information, the following price changes I’ve detailed for 15/16 are only possible after 2 years of personal research where I have recorded the cost of every game as and when it has gone on sale. The averages quoted cover the Gallowgate, Leazes, East Stand and Family Enclosure (See member prices table). The average single ticket price for an adult member has increased by 8.3% Despite the club’s claim of increased prices being restricted to top category games, Everton, Crystal Palace, Leicester, Stoke, Swansea and West Ham www.true-faith.co.uk
Member Prices Visitor
14/15 Average
15/16 Average
% Increase
Everton
£26.67
£32.67
22.5%
Man City
£26.67
£32.67
22.5%
Tottenham Hotspur
£26.67
£32.67
22.5%
Crystal Palace
£23.00
£26.67
15.9%
Leicester
£23.00
£26.67
15.9%
Stoke
£23.00
£26.67
15.9%
Swansea
£23.00
£26.67
15.9%
West Ham
£23.00
£26.67
15.9%
Sunderland
£43.33
£45.00
3.8%
Liverpool
£32.33
£32.67
1.0%
Arsenal
£34.33
£34.33
0.0%
Chelsea
£32.67
£32.67
0.0%
Aston Villa
£23.00
£23.00
0.0%
Southampton
£23.00
0.0%
0.0%
West Brom
£23.00
£23.00
0.0%
Man United
£40.33
£32.67
-19.0%
Burnley/Bournemouth
£26.67
£26.67
0.0%
Hull/Norwich
£23.00
£23.00
0.0%
QPR/Watford
£23.00
£25.33
10.1%
were among the biggest increases. Conversely, the Manchester United game was almost 20% cheaper (the only game to see a price drop) and neither the Arsenal or Chelsea games saw any change in price. The average price for the lowest category games remains unchanged at £23, however the club has moved six of the ten games that were priced in that category in 14/15 into higher categories. Only four games were sold at the £23 lowest category in 15/16. The games that moved to a higher category (listed above as a 15% hike) and the game against newly
promoted Bournemouth cost the same in 15/16 as Everton, Man City and Spurs had in 14/15. The 3.8% increase in the average price for Derby tickets is a result of a price freeze in most stands, but a 10% increase from £50 to £55 in the East Stand. Area
The total cost to a member to see all games increased an average £33. Including the cost of membership it’s a jump from £554.67 to £587.67 and the family enclosure has seen a bigger overall price increase than the Gallowgate/ Leazes. Which seems at odds with the club policy
14/15
15/16
Increase
East Stand
£673.00
£711.00
£38.00
Family enclosure
£403.00
£437.00
£34.00
Gallowgate/Leazes
£588.00
£615.00
£27.00
Average
£554.67
£587.67
£33.00 tf 77
of encouraging younger supporters. The increases in single ticket prices and the freeze on season tickets mean that unlike 14/15, there is now a saving to be made with a season ticket in all of the main areas. The saving in the East Stand for example, is £1. Visitor
and West Ham see the biggest increases, not (as the club said would be the case) top category games. For the public, the only game to see a price drop was Chelsea, one of the top category games you would have expected to go up according to the club’s statement. 14/15 Average
15/16 Average
% Increase
Crystal Palace
£25.33
£28.33
11.8%
Leicester
£25.33
£28.33
11.8%
Stoke
£25.33
£28.33
11.8%
Swansea
£25.33
£28.33
11.8%
West Ham
£25.33
£28.33
11.8%
Tottenham Hotspur
£34.33
£37.67
9.7%
Aston Villa
£25.33
£25.33
0.0%
Everton
£34.33
£34.33
0.0%
Manchester City
£34.33
£34.33
0.0%
Southampton
£25.33
£25.33
0.0%
West Brom
£25.33
£25.33
0.0%
Chelsea
£40.33
£37.67
-6.6%
QPR/Watford
£25.33
£28.33
11.8%
Burnley/Bournemouth
£28.33
£28.33
0.0%
Hull/Norwich
£25.33
£24.67
-2.6%
Public Prices It’s more difficult to compare public prices as games sell out to members. Although, there has been only one game where that happened this season (Sunderland), there were more instances in 14/15 where no public sale occurred so I’ve left those out of this comparison. The average single ticket price for an adult nonmember has increased by 4.8% Once again Crystal Palace, Leicester, Stoke, Swansea tf 78
For some reason Norwich tickets in the family enclosure were £2 less than all others priced the same elsewhere. This moved that game into a lower category of it’s own at an average £24.67 and proved excellent value given the result. Otherwise the lowest category games remain unchanged at £25.33. However, as was seen with members, while ten games were priced in that category in 14/15. Only three remained in 15/16 due to the price increases outlined above.
The total cost to a nonmember to see all available games increased an average £18. A jump from £425 to £443 and the family enclosure has seen a bigger overall price increase than anywhere else - “you know, for kids”. Area
The total cost to a non-member to see all available games increased an average £18. A jump from £425 to £443 and the family enclosure has seen a bigger overall price increase than anywhere else
14/15
15/16
Increase
Family enclosure
£296.00
£318.00
£22.00
East Stand
£527.00
£543.00
£16.00
Gallowgate/Leazes
£452.00
£468.00
£16.00
Average
£554.67
£443.00
£18.00
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the comparisons above are not available to everyone, only those with a youngster.
Other Clubs Where does this leave Newcastle on the Premier League scale? The BBC publish their Price of Football report every year, but according to that, the costliest ticket at St James Park is £45. I’ve already shown above that this simply isn’t the case. Derby tickets were sold to members for £55 in the East Stand, and £70 in the Milburn. Liverpool and Man U tickets were sold to the public at £63.
Newcastle United sell the fifth most expensive tickets in the league and the most expensive outside of London. The £43 difference between their cheapest and most expensive tickets gives them the fifth widest range of prices. Despite boasting of leading the way on ticket prices, eight other clubs sell adult tickets as cheap or cheaper than Newcastle. Including champions elect (Leicester) and London clubs (Arsenal, West Ham and Crystal Palace).
Whether this information was provided to the BBC by the club or their research faltered on the lack of information available without data collection like mine, plugging the actual Newcastle values into their reported prices provides context.
Liverpool supporters and ex-players recently united in opposition to the introduction of a £77 ticket at Anfield. Although they’ve been in the European mix for years, fans walked out of a game early, generating
The cheapest Newcastle ticket in this comparison is £27 because family enclosure tickets included in
substantial media coverage and were lauded for their stance which had immediate results. The club quickly backed down, while the owners defended the idea because it would only have impacted a small number of exclusive seats where those buying can afford such prices,in the face of such scrutiny on the eve of a huge windfall from TV income they couldn’t afford not to respond to the protests. Newcastle United on the other hand have been selling £70 tickets for at least 2 seasons, while fighting relegation and yet no-one has said a word about these inflated prices. Quite the opposite, supporters (both of other clubs and Newcastle) seem to perceive Newcastle as being a market leader on ticket prices. Ashley has perfected the art of strongly publicising
price deals while hiding from scrutiny high and increasing prices. The perception of Newcastle being a cheap club is more widely accepted than the reality, which is that cheap deals are loss leaders that stimulate sales of more profitable tickets. 14/15 Ticket Price Screenshots taken from nufc.co.uk are here and tabulated here. 15/16 Ticket Price Screenshots taken from nufc.co.uk are here and tabulated here.
£100 £90 £80 £70 £60 £50 £40 £30 £20 Arsenal
W. Ham
Chelsea
Spurs
N’castle
Liverpool
Man U
Man City
Max ticket price
£97.00
£95.00
£87.00
£81.00
£70.00
£59.00
£58.00
Min ticket price
£27.00
£25.00
£41.00
£32.00
£27.00
£37.00
£36.00
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B’mouth S’hampton
Stoke
Leicester
Norwich
Everton
Swansea
Palace
Villa
Watford
mackems W. Brom
£58.00
£55.00
£52.00
£97.00
£95.00
£87.00
£81.00
£70.00
£59.00
£58.00
£58.00
£55.00
£52.00
£42.00
£32.00
£32.00
£27.00
£25.00
£41.00
£32.00
£27.00
£37.00
£36.00
£42.00
£32.00
£32.00
tf 79
What is football about? Some people might say football is about winning games, others might say it´s about winning trophies, maybe having the best players…all of them can be right, but for me, football is beyond that. I’m Julen Izagirre, a 27 year old Newcastle fan from Bilbao.
When I was a child I
feelings play a big part in
belonging, being part of a
thought football was about
football. There are more
big family, feeling proud of
winning games and scoring
factors than the game per
the club crest we wear or
goals, and nothing more
se. And those ones are
being loyal even when the
than that. But when we
the most important ones
team is struggling, are the
grow up we understand
for me:
things which make football
tf 80
the feeling of
Julen Izagerre
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more than a game. Apart from enjoying the game as it is, it rewards our lives, like when we share some beers before the match with our friends or when we ease the time at work talking about the club with our work-mates. Experiences we can only enjoy if we support an emotional club. I was born in Bilbao so you can guess what team I support apart from Newcastle. Yes,it is. Athletic Club de Bilbao. You might www.true-faith.co.uk
already know that Athletic is an unique team in the world. Only players from Basque Country or players who have grown up there can play for the team. Now times have changed and it seems to be a disadvantage comparing to the rest of the teams. It is up to a certain point. When richer teams can buy the best players all around the world while your club can only hope there will be good players in your area, there´s no doubt
it´s a tricky matter. But this philosophy is also an advantage even nowadays. Having local players and being at the club for years it assures you they will feel the club in their heart so they will always feel the crest, care about it and fight for the team. Furthermore, looking at these players on the pitch the fans will feel proud of them so they will do their best to encourage those players they feel as theirs. Athletic Bilbao fans tf 81
have always characterised of being very good fans. Even opposition fans say we are lordly fans, the best of the league. We clap an opposition player when he comes off with a serious injury, we also clap legends from other teams when they come off and we even have clapped the rivals when they have made a spectacular performance and they have smashed us. Some people said we were doomed with our philosophy in this modern football. We can all see they were wrong. Year after year we are at the top half of the table trying to be in the Europe spots at the end of the season. Since 2009 we have reached three Cup finals and one Europe League final, and last
tf 82
summer we even won the Spanish Supercup against supergiants Barcelona with an overall of 5-1. Looking at these facts I´m quite sure about the path United has to follow. Newcastle United has to invest in mentality: loyalty, character, desire, caring, solidarity, togetherness. Instead of buying mercenary players who don´t care about the team, United should buy players with character. And instead of buying players elsewhere, United should invest in local talents. A Newcastle United team should be formed by only two types of players: good local players and good players with character. A squad formed by good players who care and the
best fans in England has to be successful come what may. About Newcastle fans, I have to say when I was young I only knew about teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal, because they were the only
1994 - Athletic fans ovation to Newcastle fans teams that were shown by the media (and they still are). Indeed, most people in other countries support those teams because of that. But when I grew up,
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I met Newcastle United. I loved everything about the club: the badge, the colours, the stadium, the players… but it was when I met the fans when I felt in love with the team. I realised they were the same as Athletic fans are. Loyal fans who stick with the team no matter the situation, people who live for the club and think about it every day, people who travel long distances to see their team play and people who know their club isn´t living its best era but they still support it against the modern giants. I know we are in a terrible moment, but as we say here: I prefer to lose with my team instead of winning with other and I prefer to dream about winning a trophy with my team instead of winning it with other team. www.true-faith.co.uk
There´s a Bilbao – Newcastle bond why I´m also a Newcastle supporter and it´s the UEFA tie Newcastle United and Athletic Bilbao played in 1994. I was only six but my relatives told me the atmosphere was unbelievable. It was very friendly and it was fun. I´ve got a theory and it´s that Athletic and Newcastle fans are just the same but in different countries, and seeing they got along so well proves that. Now I´m trying to strengthen this Bilbao – Newcastle bond with my Geordie friends. From the time I went to Newcastle for my first time I´ve met lovely people there and I want to carry on with the great relationship we have and thank them the great people they are. I´m proud to say they are
my friends now. So, Rich, Rich Jr, Eric and Chris, thank you. And special thanks to Mick and Ryan, the people who I met on Twitter and why we all are friends now. To finish with this piece I would like to send a message to the Toon Army: You are Newcastle United. The team without you is nothing. Stay behind the team if you think the club is going forward or stand up and fight for your team if you think it isn´t. But please, don´t ever give up. Better times will come. One day the owner and the board will go, the manager and the players will go, but you won´t. Every one of you is a part of its soul. Thanks to you Newcastle United is great and it´s united. tf 83
Supporting Newcastle United from such a long distance has always been troubling, I was brought up on the East coast of Essex where most of the people supported either local teams or Arsenal and West Ham. The glory hunters, on the other hand, claimed to have family ties in Manchester - therefore chose Manchester United or Manchester City.
THE MAGNETIC
NORTH Whenever someone asked which team I supported, I would tell them ‘Newcastle ‘in quite a firm voice because I knew the reaction that was to follow… ’Newcastle?! That’s basically in Scotland!’ I honestly couldn’t care less, at least Newcastle had character - they had these crazy fans, and this crazyass stadium which had a
tf 84
ginormous, towering stand on side and then this tiny stand on the other. I have always felt that St James’ Park is like an embodiment of the club. The lopsidedness, with the larger stands as a representation of the clubs’ statue and greatness, whilst the much smaller stands showing of the club’s humbleness and connection to the fans.
Jacque Talbot Follow @Jac_Talbot
I remember my grandparents having the one of the first wide-screen TVs in their living room. It was clunky and the back of it protruded about a foot and a half out. It was on this TV, and around this time I remember the sacking of Bobby Robson being shown. This was after we had a bit of a bad run early in the season.
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Though I was obviously hurt, I did remain positive in the hope that we’ll get another top manager in, perhaps someone who had ties to Newcastle, or someone with a creditable trophy record. I listened on the radio for days on end afterwards, in the hope of hearing a top name announced as Newcastle United manager…’Graeme Souness has been appointed manager of Newcastle United’. I was in utter disbelief, I knew we were screwed. I was 13 years old, and I knew that it would go downhill for a while. Shepherd had allegedly chosen Souness to whip the likes of Dyer and Bellamy into shape. The idea that a manager who rules with an iron fist should be able to ‘crack’ results out the players is not what we needed. And sure enough, it didn’t work. Following on from his appointment the club has had an array of laughable managers – perhaps aside from Keegan who just felt he couldn’t work under the wrath of Mike Ashley. www.true-faith.co.uk
So, finally. We have Rafa. I have upmost respect for him. Not just as a manager, but also as a person. The ‘cold-hearted’ man who cries on TV when overwhelmed with support from the Hillsborough families, the man who chooses a club because he feels the ‘love’, the man who immediately after his managerial appointment – takes the time to spend hours with the disability supporters trust. Everything he says and everything he does, makes him like him even more. Sometimes, as a rarity, I forget about football, sometimes I have a bad day. Then I remember that Rafa Benitez is our manager and it makes me smile. Yes, the news yesterday was filled me positivity and hope for this club. I feel like a kid again. I feel like we have picked up where we left off in 2004. It’s understandable why there are still feelings of anxiety when we still have Mike Ashley at the helm. Some journalists are asking ‘have we forgiven him’ or ‘has he wiped the
slate clean?’, for this I say I will somewhat forgive, yet I won’t forget. All the times he has f**ked over this club cannot be forgotten. I will give him leeway as we need to stick together, but one false move and the weight of all the years of shite will come back to my forefront of thinking. He is on a tightrope, and he will always be on a tightrope as far as keeping Rafa is concerned. Maybe though, just maybe he’s seen the light. Maybe after we win the Championship next season and we have a great cup run, he will see a sizable profitable. Maybe he will also feel pretty good that his club is doing well. Maybe he feel happy that the fans are joyous. Maybe he will finally understand what it means to support a great club such as Newcastle United.
sometimes I have a bad day. Then I remember that Rafa Benitez is our manager and it makes me smile.
Sound ridiculous? Well Leicester won the league, and Newcastle United have Rafa Benitez on a 3 year contract in the Championship. tf 85
We stood, arms aloft, mesmerised in a state of euphoria. Five thousand of us, roaring our approval as the orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall played their final notes. This was not the Last Night of the Proms. It was the Hacienda Classical. And it felt spiritual. Five thousand clubbers rose from our seats from the first few beats of DJ Mike Pickering and Graeme Park’s two-hour set and danced until Rowetta brought the night to a belting end with ‘You Got the Love’. New Order’s Peter Hook playing Blue Monday live nearly made us combust. Seeing Shaun Ryder sing Hallelujah while Bez did his maracas head dance transported us back 25 years.
M I C H A E L
Back in 1990 Newcastle was a strange place. Newcastle United were shite. I had been a regular at St James’ Park since 1981 and had been travelling away to a healthy number of away games each year since 1984. After the heady days of Keegan’s playing tf 86
days and the spell in the old Division One, 1990 was a pretty miserable year following the Mags. Nearly every away game I attended resulted in a near death experience. At Sheff Wed we thought a prematch afternoon stop-off in Leeds seemed a good idea. Until my mate said
J O Y C E
to go to the Fforde Grene pub in Harehills just off the A1. To this day this is the roughest and only pub I have ever been chased out of at 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon. We drew 2-2. At Boro we mistakenly walked into the Holgate End, then post match lost the car and had to walk www.true-faith.co.uk
through THAT park in the dark. We lost 3-0. Anyway, the point is that following Newcastle at that time was not always pleasant. It would in later years get worse for me - Southend away 0-4 on New Years Day worse. But now the team were woeful and the well documented fan unrest was at its height. Off-field Newcastle as a city was trying to reinvent itself. The Quayside was on the up and High Bridge Street was buzzing as everyone got their new togs for a Saturday night out. Shops like Reporter, Strand, Recruit, Ground Level, Ricci, Marcus Price, NIL, (back to front N obviously), were chocka with likeminded lads after the latest labels. www.true-faith.co.uk
Unlike today’s vibrant cosmopolitan city, Newcastle’s nightlife scene was stuck in a 1980s timewarp. To gain entry to the bars and clubs of the Bigg Market you had to be female and if not then a) aged 35, b) look like Charlie Nicholas, or c) fully decked out from the latest Fosters catalogue. Lads would spend hundreds of pounds on designer jeans, t-shirts and trainers then be refused entry while some spanner with a shiny suit from Next would waltz in. Mind, I did look about 12 and if I were on the door I probably wouldn’t have let me in either.
yet every bar played nonstop mainstream pop. Saturday night in town as a 19-year-old was as depressing as watching NUFC on the pitch in the afternoon. But house music was where it was at for me. There were a few club nights, Walkers on a Wednesday and some of the World
At that time house music was taking off as were trippy bands like the Happy Mondays and Stone Roses, tf 87
Headquarters nights. But with work the next day and stringent door policies (“If we don’t like your face, you’re not coming in” type policies) it was all too much like hard work. Especially with my face. But things were about to change.One of the lads went to a club in Manchester and returned full of tales of a great place playing house music on a weekend with no dress code. Apparently the door policy was: “no twats in ties”. So the next Friday 20 Jarra lads crammed into a minibus with just enough room to swing our 28 inch flares and headed off to The Hacienda for the ‘Nude’ club night DJ’d by Graeme Park and Mike Pickering. Over 1,500 people in Wallabees, cricket hats, kicker boots and dungarees were going nuts to A Guy called Gerald’s ‘Voodoo Ray’ and it felt like we’d arrived in life.
tf 88
In terms of clubbing Manchester was where it was at. If you look at the old Hitman and Her clips on you tube, the contrast in the clubbers between ‘The Studio’ in Newcastle and Manchester’s Hacienda is plain to see.The atmosphere was electric and there were no fights which was unheard of in Newcastle at that time. At the Hacienda no one wanted the night to end. But end it did and while we did a few more trips to Manchester, blagging time off my job every Friday afternoon to go clubbing in Manchester was raising a few eyebrows amongst bosses. So I left. Thankfully the North East got its act together and we were regulars at top clubs like Middlesbrough Arena, Thursday’s Sound of Music at Rockshots and later Shindig at the Riverside. The football at Newcastle was soon buzzing again with the Keegan management
era and it was a great time to be in the area. It really was a time where we lived for the weekend following Newcastle home and away, finding house music clubs wherever we played such as Back to Basics in Leeds, Cream in Liverpool and messily leaving the Gardening Club in Covent Garden at 5am prior to the Charity Shield debacle. So when I heard that Graeme Park was bringing back the tunes of the past to London’s Royal Albert Hall I had to be there. It was a journey back through time, a real northern working class up for it crowd. The ponchos and hooded tops and headiness may have been replaced by Belstaff and Moncler and mortgages and kids and responsibilities but for one night it was 1990 all over again. Life goes on but some things never change. The Hacienda spirit lives on. Newcastle United are still shite.
Apparently the door policy was: “no twats in ties”.
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In latter years, the true faith Podcasts have become one of the most popular elements of our content. Now led by Pod-Father, Alex Hurst and his PodSquad we are now putting out regular episodes to an ever-growing band of listeners across the Black & White planet. They are becoming MASSIF.
T S A C D O P Y L K E E TF W W O H S O I D A R AND Tune in on radio northumberland 7.00pm Friday night Listen here The Podcasts regularly include guests and special features. Like everything true faith does, they are absolutely FREE.
to and from matches via public transport, in the car, or just as anyone would listening to the radio in the house etc
Our listeners tell us they variously listen to the true faith Podcasts via their smartphones on the way
The Podcasts aren’t a closed shop and if you would like to join the podcasts as a contributor,
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just get in touch with Alex via the TF Weekly Podcast Twitter account and we’ll see what we can do. More recently, the Podcasts have taken a further step forward by adding a weekly Radio show and Friday
nights at 7pm via Radio Northumberland. We are also now taking calls from listeners and attempting to develop a real Mag-led Talk-In show feel which will be something of a first in fanzine culture. Get involved and make it happen.
tf 89
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tf 91
Postcards F rom The Edge Paully
tf 92
Rafael Benitez will next season manage a team in the second tier for a league match at the Pirelli Stadium in Bur ton. Jesus Christ on a moped. Slap me in the face with a pregnant hedgehog and rename me Lilly van Gobblescokz. To be fair, I have been very confident from day one that he would stay even if we went down. He made it clear that the time was right for him to live with the Benitez mob who have remained in the Wirral since his Liverpool days. He has also seen the huge potential of the club and he knows fine well that if he ever delivers us a trophy then Rafa would be the most common name amongst Geordie kids (for both boys and girls) and there would be a statue of him bigger than the World Trade Center erected outside of SJP. He has also been overwhelmed by the magnificent affection shown towards him by our supporters. The last day of the season could not have
materialised any better and thankfully Ashley was in attendance to witness it with his own mince pies. Rafa basically had Ashley by his sweaty bollocks and the owner simply had to cave in to Rafa’s demands and allow him to rebuild the club from top to bottom. Failure to keep hold of Rafa would have seen attendances plummet. I’m certain that we’ll have a 50K plus average attendance next season but without Rafa, I fully expected crowds to be around 30K. He has instilled belief and passion into many fans who had completely fallen out of love with the club. It could only happen at NUFC whereby we have just been relegated yet our fans are desperate for the new season to start. They should just scrap the Euro’s and start next seaso n imme diate ly. Actually, I retract that statement because we’ll miss out on seeing all of those delightful camera shots of various beauties during matches. It must be horrendous when your boss gives you your instructions for the working day ahead; “Can you just concentrate www.true-faith.co.uk
In fact, it could turn out to be one of the greatest signings that we have ever made because if he is here for five years then I genuinely believe that our 385 year wait for a trophy will be over.
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on the flap in the crowd and get as many cleavage shots as is humanly possible”. It looks like the flawed transfer policy has finally been hoyed into the bin and it’s about time too. Scouring the continent (well, mainly France and Holland) recruiting players who are under the age of 26 and where there is a chance that we’ll be able to sell them on for a profit was always going to fail. I’ve never understood how Carr was heralded as some kind of scouting genius for apparently unearthing the likes of Cabaye and Ben Arfa. Yes, the Cabaye and Ben Arfa who were French internationals and who had won numerous league titles. We have spunked away millions on players who were quite clearly not suited to the rigmaroles of the Premier League. The best thing about the signing of Thauvin was being subsequently informed about his lass’ Instagram account. What a magnificent talent she is. It’s no wonder he
looks completely lost and shattered every time he steps foot on to the pitch. Since Carr was appointed in 2010, we have signed an astonishing 15 players from French clubs. Sacré bleu indeed. The manager should always have the final say on incoming players because they have to manage them. Imagine going to the strippers and having some lass forced on you rather than being able to take your time and then pick a specific one to get their boobies out for your pleasure. It’s imperative to weigh up your full options and then carefully select your preferred target. Transfers are a similar process and it is only right that Rafa will decide on exactly who is brought in. Ignoring blatant deficiencies in our squad and instead concentrating on signing players with potentially big sell-on fees even though we already have 29 players who play in their position will certainly not happen now that Rafa has complete control.
Re-signing Rafa on a new three year deal completely on his terms is the best singing that we will make this summer by the proverbial tatty field. In fact, it could turn out to be one of the greatest signings that we have ever made because if he is here for five years then I genuinely believe that our 385 year wait for a trophy will be over. It’s bound to go titsup knowing NUFC but I really can’t see anything over than a comfortable promotion via winning the league next season. His CV makes for majestic reading; 12 major trophies with all bases covered including league titles, both European cups on offer and domestic cups in three different countries. It’s absolutely hilarious hearing so-called experts state that he isn’t the right man because he’s never managed in the Championship and we would have been far better off if we had of appointed Neil Warnock (Colin Wanker). They must sniff glue every hour of every day to come out with utter tripe like that. He also seems to be a fantastic bloke too. He has been a big supporter of the JFT 96 campaign both emotionally and financially and donated £96,000 to help fund their legal case. That man is our manager. I repeat, that man is our manager. This really could be the start of something very special – VIVA LA RAFALUTION. tf 93
60 SECOND
CHRIS LAws
SEASON Players: Mutch, McCracken, Hudspeth, McIntosh, WL Low, Curry, J Low, Smailes, Harris,McDonald, Seymour, Hampson, Russell, Mitchell, Keen, Spencer, Hagan, Bradley,Richardson, Roxburgh, Mooney, Dixon, Aitken, Woods, Jas R Clark, Scott, MacKenzie, JnR Clark Division: Once again, it was the First Division for United. A slight improvement from last year, finishing on 48 points from 42 games (2 more than last year). We still finished 12 points away from champions Liverpool, who won their second consecutive league title.
Manager: You know the drill; Directors Committee once again took control of picking the side. Trainer/Coach: James McPherson continued in his role of Trainer/Coach at United, this his 20th year in the position.
Highest Attendance: The home derby drew the biggest crowd of the season, a 2-1 victory over Sunderland in early November saw 60,000 depart SJP happy. The return game (only a week later, no less) saw our highest gate on the road, 47,000 saw Sunderland gain revenge with a 2-0 win. Lowest Attendance: Away to West Bromwich Albion
in the middle of March saw United play in front of their lowest gate by a long way this season. Only 5,520 saw NUFC fall in the Midlands, 2-1 to a side that would go on to finish 7th. At SJP, West Brom would alsodraw the lowest gate on the Gallowgate, 10,000 watching United run out 2-0 winners at home. Average Attendance: An average gate of 26,690 over the course of 21 home game in the league as another big drop in attendance. Only two years ago, the average attendance was 41,243, a
drop of close to 15,000 in two years. When you add in our single cup game this season, at home to Southampton (we’d go on to lose the replay), the gate jumps by about 70 people, to 26,763. Best Win: A 5-1 tonking of Blackburn Rovers in the middle of March was the best it got for United this season. The result kept NUFC in title contention, and confidence was building, but a run of 5 away games in a row was too much to ask, and we fell away. Worst Defeat: We lost 5-0 away to Cardiff, as the age in our team seem to catch up with us that day. The full-back pairing of Billy Hampson and Bill McCracken were 38 and 40-years old respectively. That’s not to mention the man in the sticks, goalkeeper Sandy Mutch also 38 years old. Something of Interest: As mentioned above, the Hampson (38), McCracken (40) and Mutch (38) is the was the oldest defensive formation United have had
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at those spots. Indeed, goalkeeper Sandy Mutch only made his debut at the age of 38 for the United at the start of this season, after the departure last year of Jimmy Lawrence. Newcastle would win his debut game, and Mutch would go on to keep a clean sheet in a 2-0 win. Mentioned in Dispatches: United were once again in the chasing pack for the title, but in reality, fell a long way short of champions Liverpool. A two-point better points tally from last year, led to a three place better position (7th to 4th) but it was Sunderland who provided Liverpool’s biggest test, and even then they finished 6 points behind Liverpool. Wembley was finished completion and would host the FA Cup final four days after being opened between Bolton andWest Ham (more on that later). It wouldn’t be long before United started a nice tradition with Wembley, and the cup in particular… National Interest: A new Prime Minister takes power this year, as the Conservative government continued Bonar Law is replaced due to ill-health by Stanley Baldwin in May.. February and March brought the first ever BBC broadcasts from Cardiff and Glasgow respectively.. As mentioned earlier, Wembley Stadium is opened, and four days later hosts an FA Cup final. Crowds are too big and crowds are cleared from the www.true-faith.co.uk
Wembley was finished completion and would host the FA Cup final four days after being opened between Bolton and West Ham (more on that later). It wouldn’t be long before United started a nice tradition with Wembley, and the cup in particular…
pitch by mounted police, one on a white horse. This final is what we now know as the White Horse final.. The Queen Mother (as we know her now) is married to George VI in April this year.. Maine Road is opened this year.. The Conservatives win the election in early
December, under the new leadership of Stanley Baldwin.. The Littlewoods Pools is formed by 27-year old Liverpool businessman John Moores.. Patrick Moore (astronomer and broadcaster), Richard Attenborough (actor and director) were born this year. Regional Interest: Coalmining reaches a peak in County Durham employing around 170,000 miners. Harold Macmillan who would later tell us we’d never had it so good is elected for Tory bastard MP
Stockton-on-Tees. I know, I know. Jarrow records an unemployment rate of 80% following a collapse in demand for steel and ships. The Newcastle Aero Club forms in Cramlington. It would later relocate to Woolsington. It is the oldest flying club in the UK. Bishop Auckland win the Northern League. In the league are Eston United, Southbank and Redcar of Teesside who are no longer involved. Chris Laws. Follow @tflawsy1892 tf 95
The tail end of the 2015/16 season was as dark a time as there’s been at Newcastle United in a succession of dark times since Ashley waddled into town almost a decade ago. Despite miraculously ending up with Rafa in charge and even more miraculously managing to persuade him to stay, years of incompetence and neglect saw us relegated for the second time under this regime, just as the mental money was about to kick off with the new TV deal. However, anger at the malaise at the club was nothing in comparison to the shame brought on the club in a Birmingham tribunal when Jonas’ case was successfully heard in mid-April.
Of course, the club had been at tribunal before, back in 2009 when arguably the most popular individual connected with United in the past 50 years, Kevin Keegan won £2m after successfully claiming constructive dismissal in a case which exposed the liars involved with the club and told the fans what they already knew, namely that Ashley, Wise, Llambias et al were wrong ‘uns. As unpalatable as it was to see KK put in this position, it was in a completely different league to being taken to court by an employee tf 96
that claimed he had been discriminated against by the club because he had cancer. That the lad in question was the universally popular Jonas Gutierrez made the situation even more disgraceful and as soon as the support heard that Jonas’ was bringing the case, I doubt many would have wondered who was telling the truth. The background to the case started in 2013 when Jonas was diagnosed with testicular cancer. At the time, he returned to Argentina for treatment,
unbelievably paid by himself and not his employers. When he returned to the North East, he was on the cusp of triggering an appearance clause in his contract which would have seen him awarded a contract extension. Up to his returning home, he’d been a regular in the side and whilst not everyone would agree with his effectiveness as a United player, no-one could argue with his commitment and effort up to that point. Pardew valued him so much that the tribunal noted that he had picked him against
GARETH HARRISON Follow @truefaith1892
Charnley, the Managing Director of our football club apparently reckoned that he didn’t know that 22 times capped Jonas Gutierrez wasn’t an international – this despite him playing in a World Cup in his time at United www.true-faith.co.uk
the club doctor’s advice when he was injured. However, he was farmed out to Norwich on loan with his famous locks gone through chemotherapy before returning back to NE1 for the end of the 2014/15 campaign. His appearances were then carefully ‘managed’ by village idiot, John Carver, culminating in an emotional final appearance when he scored at home to West Ham in front of SJP in a game that secured our Premiership survival. In the aftermath of this game, having being informed in a dual telephone call (classy) with Ryan Taylor that his contract wasn’t being renewed whilst on a coaching course in Ireland, Jonas brought his case that he had been discriminated against under the Equality Act because of his cancer. The case laid bare the effect that the club’s treatment had on Jonas and his family. His mam talked of feeling suicidal at the humiliation of her son and Jonas himself broke down when
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he was goaded by the club’s solicitor as being ‘only in it for the money’. When the tribunal found in favour of the player, I think it’s fair to say that the reaction of the fans was overwhelmingly one of happiness that Jonas had won his case and that the vermin connected with our great club had been shown for what they were, mixed with disgust that these people could behave in the lowest possible way. When the tribunal released their report, it made for stark reading and mirrored what was spelled out in the Keegan case six years ago, with Wise, Llambias and Ashley replaced by Charnley, Pardew and Carver. I can’t imagine ANY Mag thinking that Penfold has done a good job since being promoted from teaboy into the hotseat at United (I’m not crediting him with the Rafa appointment/negotiations by the way – as much as I detest Ashley, I think the ‘credit’ for that one lies squarely with him) but even then, the comments on his
evidence were eye raising. Charnley, the Managing Director of our football club apparently reckoned that he didn’t know that 22 times capped Jonas Gutierrez wasn’t an international – this despite him playing in a World Cup in his time at United. In layman’s terms, that’s either idiocy or a blatant lie, in the words of the tribunal it made him ‘evasive and lacking in credibility’. Having claimed that the clause wasn’t an issue in the ostracising of Jonas post-diagnosis, Charnley was shown to have emailed the club secretary to check that the loan to Norwich wouldn’t trigger the clause by the back door. ‘Inconsistent’. And then there was the hideous human being who unfortunately used to manage our club, Pardew. It would be no surprise to hear that Pardew would do literally anything he was told by the hierarchy at the club in order to hang onto the job which represented a lottery win when he smarmed his way through
The case laid bare the effect that the club’s treatment had on Jonas and his family.
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the door having being on the dole after, cough, ‘that thing’ at Southampton. Having been selected 71 times in 76 games in the preceding two seasons by the club, mainly under Pardew himself, our ex-boss reckoned that he told Gutierrez in summer 2013 that he was now surplus to requirements as his style no longer fitted the plans (don’t laugh) that Pardew had for the side. Which made it even odder he chose to pick him against doctors orders after that ‘diplomatic’ discussion. I’ll give you what the tribunal said about tribunal word for word, then I’ll give you my synopsis of it. Here goes ‘ “Mr Pardew was able to deliver his evidence in a confident, convincing and articulate way. Mr Budworth, in closing submissions, suggested that there was a difference between what was said by Mr Pardew and the way in which he said it. We agree that the detail of what was said was not necessarily as credible as the manner in which the evidence was delivered.” “Ultimately, on the balance tf 98
of probabilities and taking into account our assessment of the respective credibility of the claimant and Mr Pardew, we preferred the evidence of the claimant.” Synopsis – bullshitter’.
‘He’s
a
Carver fared little better, again no surprise given that the man is an utter bell-end, who should never been within a thousand mile of our club, in any role, at any point. Despite acknowledging that he knew that Jonas had a clause in his contract because he’d been told by both Pardew and Charnley, Carver reckoned that this hadn’t affected his team selection because in actual fact he had no idea how many games the clause needed to be triggered. Well fancy that and fancy the coincidence that not only did the entire support of Newcastle United know what the clause entailed, but also that Carver managed to pick Jonas’ for JUST too few games to trigger it. Unbelievable really. Or, in the words of the tribunal ‘very improbable’. Mind, they also called Carver ‘vague’ although I don’t know whether that was in
relation to his evidence or his grip on reality on his not-short-enough time in charge on Barrack Road. Jonas took to Twitter straight after the decision was reached, not only to absolutely slam the people who had treated him with such contempt, but also to thank the supporters and reaffirm that he was always a Geordie at heart. The case embarrassed Newcastle United as a club but just highlighted the total separation between Charnley, Pardew, Carver et al and the lifeblood of the club, the support. Jonas will always be warmly welcomed back in Newcastle and has all of our best wishes at heart. To say that the polar opposite was true of the three amigos that lost their case, and oh, I nearly forgot, still had the brass neck to issue a mind bogglingly classless statement, devoid of apology but stressing their ‘dismay’ at losing and being shown up for what they are, would be a gross under-exaggeration.
“Ultimately, on the balance of probabilities and taking into account our assessment of the respective credibility of the claimant and Mr Pardew, we preferred the evidence of the claimant.” Synopsis – ‘He’s a bullshitter’.
Luckily, two of them are gone never to return. Hopefully, our ‘evasive’ Managing Director won’t be far behind them. www.true-faith.co.uk
Rituals - I am writing on the morning of the Crystal Palace game, and my will girlfriend and I are about to do the weekly shop. For your information we n Food be basing our menu this week on Anjum Anand’s excellent primer, India kerel Made Easy. Today we’re going to try to perfect the recipe for coconut mac the curry from Chennai; a meal for kings. Normally, this being a Saturday and of wine, game being an afternoon one, I would also find a way to go for a glass at a bite of cheese, and some convivial conversation with my peers down Dutch Leiden’s expat watering hole, The Duke. There are a bunch of expat and can tell Mags who watch the match there, and have done for many years. But I ing you now that I not will be joining them. I will be sat in the bedroom read The Robert Graves’s difficult book on the historical grammar of poetic myth, White Goddess. With the radio on at low volume. I am doing this in the full knowledge that I am aiding the team in its fight against relegation. You see, my actions have form, and (no disrespect to Rafa, Anita, Lascelles et al) I suspect the mini revival has been down to me. A couple of weeks ago I had a nasty bout of gastroenteritis. Stuck in bed, unable to do much apart from groan and drink tiny sips of water (in between bouts of increasingly sordid, liquid evacuations) I listened in to the Swansea match and - to further take my
mind off the sickness and a tense first half - picked up the nearest book to hand. The Graves one. Increasingly delirious, I tried to read. The radio commentary droned on. Now, this book is one of those tomes that you can’t remember a bloody word from, no matter how many times you read it. But it’s had a hold on me for years. This time - having nothing else to do but groan and sip water - I was determined to try to understand why the brilliant, mercurial Robert
I was in the court of Benítez Graves used obscure (and on the touchline, before the time-tangled) Welsh poems birth of Gwydion. from the early middle ages I was instructor to Eli and to explain the practice of Enoch and Karl Darlow; Goddess worship in Bronze I have been winged by Age Europe. Lulled by the the genius of the splendid book’s weirdness, and half crozier; listening to the match, I I have been loquacious dozed in and out of a waking before being gifted a throw dream. At some points the in to Swansea; players and the simpatico at the corner to voice of commentator John I was Newcastle, of the merciful Murray entered the poems, son of God; making everything nicely periods psychedelic. Things got way I have been three penalty area of out of hand, and sounded a in the Arianrhod; bit like this in my head. I have been chief director of the knock down by Mitrovic in the tower of Nimrod.
s e l b a t a l f In , s l e s a e W Rituals,
m s i n o i t a u t i S and
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RICHARD FOSTER Incendiary Magazine
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...when he claimed to have solved the riddles to Hanes Taliesin, Anita scored. Clearly; there WAS something in this... Regardless of not really understanding what I was actually reading, I noticed that every time I picked up the book, we enjoyed good passages of play. I noted that putting the book down or leaving the bedroom meant that Swansea enjoyed some good chances. Further, reading some of Graves’s attempts to unlock the actual lines of the riddles of Little Gwyon correlated with the goals. Maybe there was something in this. Maybe the book had gifted me some poetic, seer-like power that I had to use. Just for a laugh I decided to continue the ritual during the Citeh game. The same thing happened. If I put the book down, the Sky Blues enjoyed the lion’s share of the match. If I picked it up, we took the initiative. And whilst trying to work out what Graves was on about when he claimed to have solved the riddles to Hanes Taliesin, Anita scored. Clearly; there WAS something in this, a something that came to a glorious head during the Liverpuddle game. A hangover of Tungsten strength had reduced me and my Good Lady to a www.true-faith.co.uk
state of disrepair that could only be rectified by a long beauty sleep in the bedroom. I stuck the game on, and passed out. Waking up at half time, and pissed off about the score, I noted that I hadn’t yet read any Graves. I thought, well why not, it’s obviously not going to work now, and started to flick through the book. By the end of the game I was gripping it, too scared to put it down, re-reading utter nonsense from the 13th century, and unable to go downstairs despite nearly pissing the bed.* Weasels I hear this week that a weasel has entered the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator at Cern and, by virtue of a serious chewing sesh of some specially selected wiring, closed it down. What cheek! What verve! Despite said weasel suffering a horrible death by frying, I can’t help but smile at the thought that the relentless march of technology and progress and knowledge is temporarily undone by a rodent. Look upon my works and despair, my royal English arse! Classical history
fanz in our support can see it as an animal take on Alexander cutting through the Gordian knot. This weasel can also be seen as a metaphor for the collapse of Newcastle United’s gameplan and a (fleeting?) return to concentrating on the business in hand, football. Just think. All that worship at the altar of fiscal planning; all those spreadsheets and glum, cod-serious evaluations clothed in management non-speak; or motivational bullshit and sneering lies; the North Korean approach to advertising and public relations; all those those cost-cutting redundancies in the name of profit and year-end figures; none of it can ever fully erase the human element in football. Ashley’s robotic obsession with money, and the club’s concomitant, Stalinist, money-driven obsession to control, hurt, or denigrate people (Jonas, KK) has all been undone by the basics, the essentials of “football life” (you know, that weird stuff that happens on the pitch). See the weasel chewing its way into the
nerve net as the metaphor for this collapse. It’s a nice thought to put a smile on your face. And remember, that never-say-die weasellunacy is also in us, the support. Inflatables and Situationism I don’t know about you but (Southampton aside) I have really enjoyed supporting the Mags under Rafael Benítez. Even if we go down, it’s been a gas. A reminder of the fun to be had watching football. The experience, especially recently, has been like winning on the nags, or a summer fling, or finding that forgotten crate of light ales in the allotment shed. My God, a win and two draws has done that to me… In a way, in the bigger scheme of things, it’s pathetic. But I think we’ve all missed the daftness, the giddiness, the joie de vivre of supporting this club. Some of the support has understandably become snarling, selfdoubting, robotic, mute, or mawkish over these past few years. Like Rafa, I will not seek to castigate but ruthlessly cut away the stuff
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we don’t need anymore, and could scratch your Situationist look to what we can do for itch, and make a valid point to Penfold & co. Maybe the ourselves. Ronny Gill could run one of ing adopt by Fun can be had their Buzzfeedy “Here’s Why”, a Situationist attitude to or “5 Reasons Why” articles fitba’. In some ways it’s the demanding change with a few perfect fit in dealing with our baffling slogans (“The Horses dysfunctional club and its of Wisdom Instruct Lee Ryder”, gloriously dunderhead rulers. or “W*ng* Is The Blackmail of To paraphrase crudely from Survival”). Wikipedia, the situationists ionism “asserted that the misery A long time ago, Situat up [sic!] on of social alienation and of a sort flared in the form commodity fetishism was the terraces bles. Those who inherent in every aspect of inflata ber the late 1980s will of life and culture. [...] And remem ber the weirdness of that individual expression remem the sudden appearance of was under threat through Citeh’s bananas. Although expression by proxy; starting as a daft prank it through the consumption also somehow affiliated itself of commodities, which with the acid house culture damaged the quality of that was then making its first human life.” If that doesn’t snakey steps onto the terraces. describe going to the match I always liked inflatables. They and being driven mad by were often annoying, tasteless the inanities of modern and impractical, but they football, I don’t know what were a sign of football fans does. Social alienation and showing their funny side after runs sm fetishi odity comm all the grim shit from Heysel, through every aspect of Hillsborough and Bradford, d. Newcastle Unite as well cocking a snook at a the idiot casual culture that was Situationism movement that looked to glorified being thick and counter the Blue Meanies violent. F*** that. It was a of modern capitalism by true fan-led initiative and not turning things on their those terrible club sponsored or the heads, by subverting the canaries at Norwich, . Grimsby “capitalist spectacle”. This clappers at Lestah (the only was seen through baffling, had blow up fish, ber about their weirdly inspirational slogans, thing I remem St James’). I also like “Save Petrol Burn Cars”, game at memory of Newcastle “Watch,Consume,Conform”, have a bottle in the Corner. Am “Work is the Blackmail of Brown I the only one who would love Survival”, “Everything Is a Rafa inflatable? Fine, Nobody is Happy” and “There Is No Place *PS: (I am writing this addendum Like Hope”. Maybe NUFC- after the Palace game. I’ve been centric slogans like, “Save sat inside the bedroom, holding Money, Buy Good Players” onto Graves’s lunatic treatise, tf 102
too scared to move for 100 minutes or so. I have learned more about the Goidelic Ogham alphabet than anyone outside of a mental asylum should. Listening to Cabaye’s penalty miss and reading about burial chambers was an emotional headf***, akin to the homework scene in Golden Gordon.
I am now off to find refreshment in the ever giving bounty of Guinness. Never again! Or well, maybe one more time for Villa.) PPS: Justice for the 96. I thought I’d give you a load of FULL ALBUMS this month as we need extra music to take our minds off things.
Vanishing Point - Conservation of Energy
Daniel Patrick Quinn - I Sun (LP)
AMP against HUM - 1 (LP)
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Pilocka Krach - David Bowie Will Never Die Bernays Propaganda - Ne sum vekje ubava
Ekke - Chasm (LP) Patrick Cowley - Journey Home
Baaba - EasterChristmas (LP) Laura J Martin - Do It
Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup www.true-faith.co.uk
M.A. Beat - Drowning For Love (LP)
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Supporting Newcastle United should come with a health warning! The years of Mike Ashley’s reign have pushed even the most devoted Toon fans to the limit. There has been little to celebrate, but much to distrust, to bemoan, to be angry about. The stereotypical Newcastle fan that the press insist has such unrealistic expectations and delusions of grandeur, simply does not exist. Until recently, the great majority of fans had got to the point of even giving up on hope. We went to the game because it is what we do. It’s who we are. Because we can’t imagine not going. Because our love for Newcastle United is so deep rooted. And yet, can any of us diehards blame those for whom the effort (because it IS an effort) of supporting a club that just doesn’t care has become too great?
HOPE SPRINGS
ETERNAL Steve McClaren was clearly out of his depth months before he was eventually sacked. I know. I know. The elephant in the room will always be, “Why, when it was so plain to see, wasn’t he sacked and replaced sooner.” Things could have been so different. During the days leading up to McClaren’s sacking there was increasing speculation that Rafa Benitez would be appointed. For most Toon fans, that was tantamount to a cruel joke. We are Newcastle United. We appointed Joe Kinnear. Twice! Who in their right mind would believe that Rafa tf 104
would come to us? But on 11th March things at Newcastle United underwent a seismic shift. It came months too late of course, but Steve McClaren finally got the call that freed him from his living nightmare. And I suspect, despite his arrogant assurances that he would never resign, his release came as a blessed relief to him. And sure enough, four hours later, Rafa was arriving at SJP. Sans straightjacket. And he was smiling! I suspect that most of us went into shock. One coach out and his replacement
appointed on the same day? Things like that don’t happen at Newcastle. Rafa immediately set to work, meeting the players and calling them in from their day off. I bet they wondered what had hit them! What mixed emotions they must have had, never mind the fans. The game was up. They were going to have to put a shift in.
SUE ELLIS The atmosphere at our games was beginning to change because the fans recognised the impact Rafa was having on confidence, organisation and determination.
Three days later, we played Leicester and, okay we didn’t win, but then again we didn’t lose as badly as we probably would have done with McClaren at the helm. But how indicative of our plight was that? Just www.true-faith.co.uk
being thankful that the margin of our loss wasn’t greater? Even within such a short time, Rafa had made an impression. There was better organisation on the pitch. The players seemed to hold their heads higher. For the first time in months there was a tiny seed of hope. Then Robbie Elliott got injured on international duty. There was a certain inevitability about it.Things looking up Toon Fans? Well here’s something to just smack you down again. What happened at Norwich on 2nd April wasn’t part of the Rafa script. We lost. It was excruciating. But it clearly highlighted our lack of investment. We had no attack and no defence. We’ve had neither all season, but in this game it was just there, on a plate, for all to see. Rafa must have been questioning what the hell he had got himself into and it demonstrated what
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a massive job it was going to be to turn round the attitudes and psyches of a crop of players whose losing mentality had them all in its grip. And it was to get even worse in our next game when we had the living daylights beaten out of us by Southampton. Our players looked like they hadn’t a care in the world. We had a comedy defence again and Rafa looked bemused. Even the great Rafa couldn’t work his magic on the likes of Taylor and Janmaat that day. The thing about Rafa was, he didn’t make excuses in his post match interviews. He didn’t grin while thinking up excuse after excuse and telling us that it would all come right in the end. He told it straight. But hope was slipping away. On 16th April we played Swansea at SJP and we
won! It was Rafa’s birthday and the lads made it a good one. I’m not saying we’ve been psychologically damaged or anything, but, when our first goal went in we all just looked at each other in disbelief for a moment. It was like we’d forgotten how to behave when we scored! I’d gone to the match expecting the worst but by the time it was over, could feel the uncomfortable stirrings of hope again. Sometimes it’s easier not to have hope. Just to accept the inevitable. But that niggling, slightly uncomfortable, grain of hope wasn’t going to go away. Drawing with Man City and Liverpool were both results that none of us would have predicted during McClaren’s tenure. The City result was harsh bearing in mind the potentially costly decision to allow Aguero’s goal, but apparently, over
the course of a season, these dodgy decisions even out! (Really?) The atmosphere at our games was beginning to change because the fans recognised the impact Rafa was having on confidence, organisation and determination. We were playing like a team. That in itself was nothing short of a miracle. We played Palace at home and beat them in a lively game, during which Pardew was ignored ( Bet he hated that! Even disparaging chants from our fans would have been preferable to being treated as persona non grata!) and yet Rafa’s name was sung out loud and clear. Townsend scored and Cabaye’s poor penalty attempt was saved by young Darlow, who, despite the odds, was bedding into the role and doing okay actually. We were out of the relegation zone!!!
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The players seemed to be full of confidence, more organised and generally more up for it! There truly WAS hope! And the next game at Villa Park, could see us safe! Except, out of the relative comfort zone of home, our players, couldn’t raise their game against the Villa. We just didn’t turn up. We stood off the team that had been nailed on at the bottom all season. We threw all hope away in those ninety minutes. Hope hurts. I cannot begin to imagine how Rafa felt. And once the implications of failing to win had sunk in, the next thing that had been festering ever since he arrived, but now hit me like a ton of bricks, was that even though we would almost certainly be relegated now, the worst thing about the whole sorry mess would be losing Rafa.The man had given us back some pride in our club. He brought class and
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experience and quality to Newcastle. They’ve been absent too long! And those attributes were going to slip through our fingers. The fact that the lot down the road sealed our fate and will dine out on it for years, is neither here nor there to me. After the Villa debacle, there was a certain inevitability about the final outcome and the part that Sunderland would play. Okay, it was sickening. But at least we could stop hoping and start the process of dealing with our grief and hurt. Except, we still had a game to go and a manager to try to keep. It felt really strange going to the match on the final day. There was nothing to lose. Apart from Rafa. It could have been such a different ending to a miserable season. We could have turned our distrust, anger and frustration on the club, the players, the
management. We could have made our last game one of bitterness. But there wasn’t a hint of that. From beginning to end, SJP was a cauldron of noise and passion. And we sang our hearts out for Rafa. We couldn’t even hear the taunts of the Spurs fans.We glanced overhead and then ignored the Sunderland sponsored banner flying over the ground. We just sang for Rafa. We couldn’t have made it clearer. Going down a division wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to our club. But losing Rafa would be. On 25th May it was confirmed that Rafa Benitez would indeed stay on as our manager, with overall responsibility for recruitment. The misery of relegation and the months of ineptitude leading up to it had served a far more positive purpose than most would imagine. Had the club somehow, just managed to scrape though with McClaren, we would
almost certainly have had another miserably, embarrassing season to ‘look forward to’. Things would have continued in the shambolic manner we’ve become so familiar with. We may not be happy to be a division down, but we have a manager who will lead us with true professionalism and who’s track record will almost certainly have a hugely positive influence on recruitment and consequently on the field of play. For the first time since Mike Ashley’s disastrous reign commenced (apart from the disastrously handled return of Kevin Keegan) we will have a set up at Newcastle that understands football. That’s always a good thing for a football club! It won’t all be plain sailing next year, but at least we now have a manager whose name we can sing with pride and affection
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I first saw Johan Cruyff when he played for Ajax as a 22 year old against Milan in the European Cup Final of 1969. He didn’t make much of an impression as the Milanese won 4-1. To b honest I was much more consumed by our unlikely triumph in the Fairs Cup, so the European Cup was just a sideshow, particularly as there was no British involvement after victories by Celtic and ManU the previous two years. When did I stop wanting English clubs to do well in European competitions? Ironically, the following year, one of the clubs we defeated en-route to Budapest, won the trophy, Feyenoord beating Celtic 2-1 at the San Siro. It heralded a golden era in Dutch football as Ajax won the trophy for the next three years, led by Cruyff while the international
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team introduced a new, fluid way of playing. Cruyff was the central character, the ring master of ‘Total Football’. “Without Cruyff”, said Rinus Michels, his mentor at Ajax, Barca and the Dutch national side,”I have no team”. As a player, Cruyff had few equals. He was voted
European Player of the Century in 1999 by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics(!) and came second behind Pele in their World Player of the Century poll. The magazine France Football placed him third among Ballon d’Or winners of the 20th Century and he
WALLACE WILSON Follow @WallaceHWilson
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was chosen for the World Team of the 20th Century in 1998 and the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002. He won nine Dutch championships, three consecutive European Cups, a Spanish League title, a World Cup RunnersUp medal, European Player of the Year and 48 caps for Holland. He even has a turn named after him, a form of immortality denied even to Pele and Maradona. He was born in Amsterdam in 1947, where his mother and father ran a greengrocers. By the age of 10 he was recruited to the Ajax Academy, without a formal trial, by an Ajax scout who saw him playing with friends in the local playground. However he was only 12 when his father died of a heart attack and his mother, Nel, gave up the shop as she was unable to manage on her own. She took a job as a cleaner at the Ajax stadium. Cruyff left school at the age of 13 to become a clerk in a sport store connected to the Ajax club which allowed him to train in the morning before reporting for work after lunch. ‘Uncle Henk’, the groundsman at Ajax, became his stepfather after marrying Nel and Cruyff would work alongside him at the club in all weathers. It was this experience working at the lower end of the club’s hierarchy which ensured he always acknowledged the hard work staff performed across the whole spectrum of the club. www.true-faith.co.uk
His involvement paid off when he was chosen to be a ball boy at one of the great European Cup Finals, when Benfica took on Real Madrid in 1962 in Amsterdam. The headlines were taken by a Puskas hat-trick for Real and the emergence of Eusebio with two goals for Benfica but Cruyff was taken by the movement, stamina and vision of Alfredo di Stefano. It would provide the template for his own career. See footage of the final on the right. Cruyff was given his debut by the then Ajax manager, Vic Buckingham, formerly a team-mate of Bobby Robson at Fulham, in November 1964. He scored the only goal for Ajax in a 1-3 away defeat to GVAV. Cruyff really started to make an impression the following season as Rinus Michels took over as manager and he established himself as
a first team regular scoring 25 goals in 23 games as Ajax won the Eredivisie, a significant improvement on their 13th place finish the previous season. Michels, whose training regime included gruelling uphill sprints through the woods, was unimpressed by the teenage Cruyff’s chainsmoking habit but made allowances for his talent as he continued to ascend new heights.
The following season Ajax did the League and Cup double and Cruyff ended up as the league’s top scorer with 33 goals and was voted Footballer of the Year, a feat he repeated the following season as Ajax won a third successive title in 1967-68. The following season Ajax reached the European Cup Final but were beaten 4-1 by a very good AC Milan team. As I’ve already said, he didn’t make much of an
Cruyff was given his debut by the then Ajax manager, Vic Buckingham, formerly a teammate of Bobby Robson at Fulham
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impression that night but Ajax’s dominance in the league resumed winning the double once again. Only the Feyenoord team humiliated at St James’ Park by Geoff Allen in 1968 managed to interrupt their monopolisation of the Eredivisie in 1969. I don’t think current NUFC fans give Joe Harvey the credit he deserves for his immense achievement of taking a team that finished mid-table in the First Division in 1968 and winning a major European title against some very good sides. Apart from Feyenoord he also faced decent opposition in every round including Ujpest Dozsa, a team described by Don Revie as the best in Europe, home and away in the final.
progress was halted by a long-term groin injury. He made his comeback against PSV in October 1970 wearing the number 14 shirt and he was to keep this number for the rest of his career, even with the national team. It was an unusual move as teams tended to play 1-11 in those days but Cruyff was an iconoclast who did stuff for his own reasons which he didn’t feel the need to share with others. Coming back from his injury Cruyff scored 6 goals in an 8-1 victory over AZ ’67 but the highlight of the
season was winning the European Cup for the first time, beating Panathinaikos 2-0 in a fairly uninspiring game at Wembley on 2 June 1971 (watch below). Following the victory he signed a seven year contract with Ajax and was voted European Footballer of the Year. The following season Ajax repeated the feat beating Internazionale 2-0 with Cruyff scoring both of the goals. By now it was clear that a giant of the game was among us playing a different style of football. The Dutch media
He made his comeback against PSV in October 1970 wearing the number 14 shirt and he was to keep this number for the rest of his career, even with the national team
But this piece is about the genius of Cruyff and at the beginning of 1970 his apparently unstoppable tf 110
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announced the demise of the Italian style of defensive football which had been so influential in the 1960s, Soccer: The Ultimate Encyclopaedia states ‘Single handed, Cruyff not only pulled Internazionale of Italy apart in the 1972 European Cup Final but scored both goals in Ajax’s 2-0 win’. winning the European Super Cup beating Rangers 3-1 in Glasgow and 3-2 in Amsterdam.
It was an annus mirabilis as Cruyff also scored in Ajax’s 3-2 Dutch Cup win over Den Haag and was also top scorer as they won the Eredivisie once again. Ajax then went on to win the Intercontinental Cup, then
a two legged affair between the champions of Europe and South America, beating Independiente of Argentina 3-0 in Amsterdam after drawing 1-1 away. They followed this up by
Ajax were completely dominant in club football, a fact they confirmed when they won a third consecutive European Cup beating Juventus 1-0 in the Final with the Ultimate Encyclopaedia stating Cruyff ‘inspired one of the greatest 20 minute spells of football ever seen’. Ajax defender Barry Hulshoff described how
the triple European Cup winners played. “We discussed space the whole time. Cruyff always talked about making space and coming into space. It is a kind of architecture on the field. We always talked about speed of ball, www.true-faith.co.uk
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space and time. Where is the most space? Where is the player who has the most time? That is where we have to play the ball. Every player had to understand the whole geometry of the whole pitch and the system as a whole. As Cruyff puts it: ‘Every trainer talks about movement, about running a lot. I say don’t run so much. Football is a game you play with
your brain. You have to be in the right place at the right moment; not too early, not too late’. Some clips of Ajax in action here. It was inevitable that one of the world’s super clubs would come calling and in 1973 Cruyff was transferred to Barcelona for a world record fee of 6 million guilders, approx £833,000 at the
1973 exchange rate. Bear in mind the English record at the time was only £225,000 for David Nish (from Leicester to Cloughie’s Derby County) and you can see this was a stratospheric amount for the time, comparable to what Messi would go for today. Cruyff immediately endeared himself to Barca fans by calling his son Jordi, a Catalan name which did not please Franco’s Fascist dictatorship in Madrid. In his first season he helped the club win La Liga for the first time since 1960 which included a 5-0 defeat of Real Madrid (Franco’s team) at the Bernabeu. The New York Times wrote that Cruyff had done more for the spirit of the Catalan people in 90 minutes than politicians had managed in 30 years. Cruyff was
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voted European Footballer of the Year once again in 1974. While at Barca Cruyff scored a remarkable goal against Atletico when he back-heeled a ball at neck-height past a startled Miguel Reina. The goal was dubbed ‘Le but impossible de Cruyff’ (Cruyff’s Impossible Goal) by the Barca fans. It was featured in the documentary En un momento dado in which Cruyff fans attempted to recreate the moment (see above). At the age of 32, like many of his near contemporaries such as Pele and Beckenbauer, Cruyff took the Yankee Dollar, signing for the Los Angeles Aztecs. Typically, he was voted the North American Soccer League Player of the Year before joining the Washington www.true-faith.co.uk
Diplomats. However, he hated playing on the artificial surfaces which were common in the league so left in 1981. At first it seemed as if he might sign for Jock Wallace’s Leicester City but negotiations fell through and he ended up with Spanish Segunda Division side Levante but he only made 10 appearances before returning to Ajax in November1980 as Technical Advisor to Leo Beenhakker. In December
1981 he signed a playing contract with Ajax and this led to Ajax once again winning the Eredivisie in 1981-82 and 82-83.
Cruyff was voted Dutch Footballer of the Year, the fifth and last time he won the honour. He retired at the end of the season. Although most of Cruyff’s most successful moments came in an Ajax shirt, the lack of televised club football mean that most of the memories fans outside Holland have of him come from his 48 appearances for his national team, especially in the 1974 World Cup where the concept of ‘Total Football’ reached
its zenith. It was also where we first saw the ‘Cruyff Turn’ in the group game against Sweden
honoured just to be part of football history. I think he’s still wondering what happened to the ball….
where he completely flummoxed the Swedish full-back, Jan Olsson and at the same time entering football immortality. Generously, after Cruyff’s death, Olsson said he was
The Dutch coasted through to the final, a class apart from the other teams, beating Argentina 4-0, East Germany 2-0 and the holders Brazil 2-0. Brazil were still revered
In 1982 he scored a famous goal from a rehearsed penalty with Jesper Olsen - see below Ajax decided not to offer Cruyff a contract at the end of the season so Cruyff opted to join their arch rivals Feyenoord. Ajax looked pretty stupid as the Rotterdam team won the League and Cup double although to be fair Feyenoord’s team did include an emerging Ruud Gullit. Once again www.true-faith.co.uk
It was also where we first saw the ‘Cruyff Turn’ in the group game against Sweden where he completely flummoxed the Swedish full-back, Jan Olsson
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following their epoch defining performances in Mexico in 1970 but Holland demonstrated just how rapidly the game had progressed in four years and a team still containing Rivellino and Jairzinho were completely outplayed. Cruyff scored twice against Argentina (who won the cup four years later) and once against Brazil.
a brave decision in the first minute against the hosts. Johan Neeskens scored from the spot and Germany were 1-0 down without even touching the ball. The Dutch dominated the next 20 minutes but seemed content to humiliate Germany by passing the ball around them rather than transforming their possession into goals. It came back to haunt them Alberto said ‘The only team I’ve seen that did things differently was Holland at the 1974 World Cup in Germany. Since then everything looks more or less the same to me. Their ‘carousel’ style of play was amazing to watch and marvellous for the game’. It is a measure of the greatness of the Dutch team and the German misfortune that a very fine side containing some great players were essentially relegated to a supporting role in a contest they actually won.
Holland faced West Germany in the final.Always a grudge match after the German occupation of the Netherlands in WW2, Cruyff started the game as if he was determined to right a wrong. Cruyff himself kicked off and there followed 13 passes before it came back to the captain. He surged past his marker, Bertie Vogts, into the German area where he was pulled down by Uli Hoeness. Jack Taylor of England gave the penalty, tf 114
as Germany themselves scored from a Paul Breitner pen in the 25th minute and then Gert Muller scored with a shot on the turn in the 43rd minute. What had started so brightly for the Oranje became an exercise in frustration as Vogts clamped down on Cruyff and Beckenbauer, Hoeness and Overath dominated midfield. In an interview in the 50th anniversary edition of World Soccer, Carlos
Cruyff
retired
international
It is a measure of the greatness of the Dutch team and the German misfortune that a very fine side containing some great players were essentially relegated to a supporting role in a contest they actually won
from football
in 1977 after having helped Holland qualify for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.The initial reason www.true-faith.co.uk
given for him missing the tournament was his antipathy to the military junta then in control of Argentina. However, in 2008 Cruyff said that the real reason was that he and his family were subject to a kidnap attempt in Barcelona in 1977 and that this had persuaded him to retire adding ‘to play in a World Cup you have to be 200% okay. There are moments when there are other values in life. If you have a look at the clips you will see that, although the stats inevitably focus on goals scored and trophies won, Cruyff was so much more than that. At a time when players with skill were routinely kicked all over the pitch he www.true-faith.co.uk
seemed to be able to float above it, beating players with a grace which even Pele struggled to match. And he probably made as many goals as he scored. Nominally he was a centre forward (and he was a prolific goalscorer) but he dropped deep to confuse the opposition and get away from his markers. He also moved to the wing to great effect. Eric Cantona said ‘He was at the heart of a revolution with his football. Ajax changed football and he was the leader of it all. If he wanted he could the best player in any position on the pitch’. Dutch journalist Hubert Smeets wrote ‘Cruyff was the first player who understood
that he was an artist and the first who was able and willing to collectivise the art of sports’. Watching him in the 1970s it was like seeing the game in full colour 3D after a life of monochrome. He was a truly remarkable footballer. But unusually he also had a major impact as a manager, of which more in the next issue.
Ajax changed football and he was the leader of it all. If he wanted he could the best player in any position on the pitch’.
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A victorious Brazil squad had done it! They had finally shown the world they were indeed the Kings of Football! The team that is considered to be the greatest national team of all time had beaten Italy in the 1970 final to become the most successful nation in the competition with 3 wins, more than Italy and Uruguay, both on 2 each.
O Rei They were hailed as national heroes by the military dictatorship (who took full advantage of the team for a bit of propaganda), the national press and the entire Brazilian population. They were adored. And none more so than the star of the team. O Rei himself: Pelé. He was the heartbeat of that team, the focus of everything they did and now he was the focus of not just his nation, but of tf 116
the entire football world. Pelé was 29, had ended his international career in the Azteca Stadium and was looking forward to a couple of seasons with Santos before hanging up his boots for good. Of course, at 29, however, he still had a lot to offer football, and there were many teams beyond Brazil’s borders who thought he could still offer them something.
The boy from brazil In an age when the oriundo (naturalised foreigners playing for the Italian national team) had been long established in Italy (their ’34 and ’38 World Cup winning squads were strewn with players from Argentina and Brazil), and when Alfredo di Stefáno was winning 5 Champions League trophies with Real Madrid it would be churlish to think the European superpowers were ignoring
JOHN MILTON Follow on @ Geordioca the talents of the greatest player on the planet. In fact, interest had long been simmering across the Atlantic. Approaches had been made by Benfica and Barcelona. Manchester Utd had made enquiries following the Munich Air Disaster in the hope that they could rebuild around him, Real had had a look whilst Juventus were keen to take him to Série A. www.true-faith.co.uk
The most surprising enquiry, however, came in 1971 by a bloke called Clive Toye. Clive Toye was a British sports journalist who had given up his job as Chief Sports Writer at the Express to get involved in the burgeoning ‘soccer’ scene in the US, taking up the General Manager’s role at the Baltimore Bays of the recently formed NASL (North American Soccer League). Having moved to the New York Cosmos in 1971 he was frustrated with the lack of traction that football was gaining in the US and had identified the need to bring in global superstars to kick start interest amongst the www.true-faith.co.uk
It was in early ’71 that Toye first approached Pelé but O Rei, who had his eyes set on a move to Europe after his Santos days was left confused by the conversation they’d had, reportedly telling his friends, “The guy was very nice, but he’s crazy if he thinks I’m going to play in America!”
watched ‘soccer’, and where the sport wasn’t even on the radar of a nation obsessed with the NFL, MLB, NBA and the NHL. The closest I can come to it would be European Footballer of The Year, Kevin Keegan, agreeing to join 2nd Division Newcastle United back in the early 80’s, but I still think it doesn’t even come close.
It’s hard to imagine how it must have seemed to Pelé – the biggest footballing star on the planet being asked not to play in Italy, Spain, or Portugal but to go to a country with absolutely no footballing culture whatsoever, where nobody
Toye had two obstacles to overcome. First of all, Pelé’s ambitions. It is fair to assume he could have chosen any one of Europe’s superpowers and they would have welcomed him with open arms. I’m certain he could have simply decided
population. Top of his list was Pelé.
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which league he wanted to win or chosen the team that would have given him the best chance of winning the European Cup and he could have signed for them. But this wasn’t the most difficult obstacle for Toye, all he had to do was play on Pelé’s ego, as Al Pacino’s John Milton put it in The Devil’s Advocate, “Vanity… Definitely my favourite sin.” Over the coming years Toye met with Pelé and made a very clear and very tempting offer: Go to Europe and you can win trophies, come to the US and you can win a nation. Toye was adamant that with Pelé on-board the NASL would finally start to turn heads and Pelé would be responsible for opening up the biggest market not yet conquered by the Beautiful Game. It was
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tempting, and eventually Pelé agreed to forego immediate success in place of establishing a legacy of football in the States. However, the biggest hurdle Toye had to clear was the one that Juventus, Barcelona and Madrid were unable to. The military dictatorship had declared Pelé a national treasure meaning he had to remain in Brazil. He was far too important for their propaganda to allow him leave the country. It would be lovely to think he played with Santos for 20 years out of love and loyalty, but I’m afraid to say that the decision just wasn’t his to make. It was only 4 years after his first meeting with Toye and when it was acknowledged that he would not be signing a new contract with os peixes
that the junta were open to negotiations. Frantic phone calls were placed back and forth between New York and Brasilia until, finally, Toye was able to hold a press conference, where he brandished a Cosmos shirt emblazoned with ‘Pelé’ across the shoulders, and confidently declared, “Today we have the shirt, tomorrow we will have the man.” It may have been a strange move, but it seemed to have been the right one. Pelé was unveiled at a crammed press conference, soccer had moved onto the front pages and people genuinely wanted to see what this weird foreign sport was all about. Overnight, gates for Cosmos matches rocket from a few hundred into
...Toye was able to hold a press conference, where he brandished a Cosmos shirt emblazoned with ‘Pelé’ across the shoulders, and confidently declared, “Today we have the shirt, tomorrow we will have the man.”
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the thousands. Shortly, and with the help of the global superstars (and not so superstars – Paul Cannell, anyone?) who followed O Rei’s path to the NASL, gates were up into the tens of thousands. The NASL was actually competing with the NFL and MLB. By the time of Pelé’s final game, the Cosmos were packing the Giants’ stadium with crowds of 80,000. 80,000! Playing alongside Carlos Alberto and Franz Beckenbauer and playing against the likes of Bobby Moore (Seattle Sounders), Peter Withe (Portland Timbers), Peter Bonetti (St Louis Stars), Eusébio www.true-faith.co.uk
(various) and George Best (LA Aztecs) it looked like he’d done his job. Pelé and the Cosmos had made soccer hip, attendances had swollen, interest was peaking and proper footballing royalty was plying their trade from coast to coast. Pelé made his final bow in a friendly against his former club, Santos, at a sold-out Giants Stadium in October 1977. He played the first half for the Cosmos and the second half for Santos. It has to be said, too, Pelé in a Santos shirt has become one of the most iconic images of football today.
There is nothing that is not cool about it – the player, the team name, the team strip, the team badge, the city, the era that they were all put together. That, my friend, is a shit load of cool going on.
Pelé and the Cosmos had made soccer hip, attendances had swollen, interest was peaking....
I read Pelé’s autobiography when I first moved to Brazil and I found it somewhat vacant. It reads like a piece of self-promotional, whiterthan-white, holier than thou propaganda. There was no acknowledgement of fault or wrongdoing, no hint that the Pelé we see portrayed in public – the persona of the myth, is nothing but accurate. That he wasn’t just a man and tf 119
that he really was as clean and untainted as his PR machine would have you believe. And that took the shine off him for me. His divorce is brushed over as if he and his ex-wife just sat down together and agreed, for no reason, to end the marriage. His son, who had been jailed for 33 years for money laundering and involvement with drug-dealing was briefly mentioned as having gotten into that situation through his own personal issues – of course O Rei had absolutely no responsibility. The book would have you believe that he spent years in New York, a regular patron of Studio 54 where he partied with the likes of Freddie Mercury, but he never did drugs, only drank a very little, never messed around with any female company and was tucked up in bed by 11pm. I finished that book scratching my head and asking myself, ‘Who the Hell tf 120
does he think he’s kidding?’ The man is riddled with flaws, as we all are, but even here he can’t be honest and own up to who/what he is. To the end, his life will be one of constant selfpromotion: the projecting of a myth that simply does not exist. Sure, professionally speaking we’d much prefer to have 11 Pelés on our team as opposed to 11 Garrinchas, but the problem that Pelé has in his search for an ultra-wholesome back story is that Brazilians just cannot identify with that person! But give them a drunken womaniser, a deeply flawed genius, someone like Garrincha and they GET that, they can relate. I tend to liken Pelé and Garrincha to Lennon and McCartney. Both Lennon and Garrincha had their lives cut tragically short which meant we only have memories of their golden days and, more importantly,
they weren’t given time to become irrelevant. They never had the chance to disappoint us. Although I’m a huge McCartney fan, throughout the late 80’s and 90’s he was definitely seen as being a bit lame, and unlike Pelé he’s managed to actually come back into fashion. We all remember that ‘If I was the one who was killed…’ quote. I think we could attribute the same sentiment to Pelé. Pelé, however, just keeps opening his gob and talking rubbish! There are so many instances when we wish he would just keep schtum. Of course having been made a FIFA ambassador meant that that was never likely, but it also meant that he’s been accused of becoming part of the establishment. He was always a staunch ally of Blatter, constantly photographed hugging the former FIFA crook, sorry, President.
He was always a staunch ally of Blatter, constantly photographed hugging the former FIFA crook, sorry, President.
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He even stood by the crazy Swiss after the latter’s outrageous comments about racism during a game being forgotten with the handshakes at the end of the match! For a man who is so proud for how much he did to help advance the prospects of black players in Brazil and around the world, it was sickening to see him defend Blatter. He went as far to claim racism didn’t exist in Europe because the ‘teams are full of blacks’, and even went as far to say that he never
suffered racism as a player – a ridiculous suggestion at best. The criticism of being an establishment shill became more intense in 2013 when the country took to the streets in protest over the spiralling costs of hosting the World Cup, whilst public services like education, policing, health and transport were being starved of funds. Pelé (alongside Ronaldo) took to the press in an attempt to unify the country behind the tournament, but going
on TV and imploring people who were clearly suffering to ‘Forget politics and get behind the team’ (along with some god-awful badge kissing) was never going to go down well. Romário, not known for shying away from conflicts with other legends of the game, got into a spat with Pelé in 2005. He was 39 at the time and was looking to play a final season with his first club, Vasco da Gama. Pelé suggested that Baixinho (‘Shorty’) should retire, to which Romário responded with, ‘When he’s quiet, he’s a poet.’ That is pretty cutting, and in Portuguese it’s less polite than the English translation (‘Pelé calado é uma poeta’). I spoke to a mate of mine who’s in his mid-20’s and he told me that growing up he heard stories of Pelé’s exploits and what a great player he was and how he was the King of football, but because Pelé’s public appearances and because of the shit he came out with my mate never bothered with him. He thought this Pelé bloke was a buffoon and a bit of a joke, it was
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only many years later when my mate was a lot older that he started to watch films and documentaries of Pelé and only then did he realise that Pelé was indeed a great player. Which is a real shame, really. I think most Brazilians agree with Romário. On the pitch, as Romário goes on to recognise during his famous rant, Pelé was their king, but now they wish he would ‘put a shoe in his mouth’ (keep quiet). Pelé has become famous for backing the wrong sides in arguments, getting involved where people don’t want him to get involved, never being able to predict a result and overstating his own achievements and ability. His defenders will say that we as football fans have placed Pelé on this pedestal and that we hold him to unreasonable standards, but I would argue that he did everything in his powers to be placed on that pedestal and that he, being a human being, is unable to maintain those standards. tf 121
Despite leading the race for promotion to the newly formed Premiership throughout the 1992-93 season, a drop in form returned 2 wins in 9 and a 14 point lead ahead of West Ham had reduced to 5. Always the optimist, manager Kevin Keegan insisted that Newcastle United would continue to build for the top flight and spent over £1m on left midfielder Scott Sellars and the versatile Mark Robinson. MARC CORBY Follow @NUFC_1980_1994 Both made debuts in a midweek 2-2 draw with Charlton that saw United throw the lead away twice and with Gavin Peacock, scorer of an impressive 39 goals in his previous 81 league and cup games, out injured, Keegan persuaded the board to shatter the clubs transfer record a few days later.
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Scorer of 20 goals in 41 games, Bristol City striker Andy Cole had performed so impressively despite The Mags winning 2-1 at Ashton Gate 2 months earlier, that Keegan ignored what others were saying about the 21 year old and ensured his mercurial talents were Tyneside bound. “So many people in the
game were negative about Andy” Keegan recalled. “He had been allowed to leave Arsenal, and some said it was because he had an attitude problem…the vibes were not good about him.” The deal was only concluded once former director and writer of ‘So You Think You Want To Be A Director Of
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A Football Club?’ Peter Mallinger gained financial guarantees from Leicester based business man Trevor Bennett that allowed United to extend their overdraft and be able to fund the £1.75m deal. Since survival was guaranteed in May 1992, this outlay took Keegan’s spend to over £4m and showed yet another statement of intent. Following a debut as sub for Liam O’Brien in a 1-2 defeat at Swindon, Cole would replace the injured Irishman for the following game at home to Notts County as Rob Lee moved back into a more familiar midfield position. With a performance described by The Journal as “showing more promise than fulfilment”, Cole capped a marvellous team performance notching the 4th and final goal when “Kelly picked him out at the near post and he lashed it past Cherry into the roof of the net all in one sweet, poetic movement.” Cole would describe the supporters as “superb, different class” in response to his ovation at full time. However United still wobbled and after Cole
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missed a host of chances in a 0-1 defeat at Watford, a televised game v Birmingham saw him redeem himself slightly when he pulled the first goal back in a 2-2 draw. Normal service was resumed in the following 2 games where Cole’s electric pace and clinical finishing became more apparent as he grabbed a breakaway goal at Cambridge (3-0) and scored a hat-trick v Barnsley in a 6-0 win that could have been so much more. But this was just the start for Cole as, despite losing 0-1 at Wolves, 3 goals in 4 games saw maximum points returned as United clinched the title before the final home game v Leicester. To Keegan’s annoyance, the day was planned as a ‘party day’ with Lindisfarne playing on the partially built Leazes End as well as cheer ladies and acrobats performing. He told the players “All this garbage will mean nothing if we don’t beat Leicester” but even he could not have expected such a response. On a day when 10/10 wasn’t enough merit marks for each player in the new Asics sponsored
Black and White shirt, Cole, who had endeared himself to the United faithful by scoring the first at Grimsby that clinched promotion, took the acclaim of a new song that appeared on ‘repeat’ around St James Park. The chant, albeit a slightly tweaked version of Liverpool’s ditty to Ian Rush, was a ‘cover’ of Boney M’s ‘Hooray1 Hooray! It’s a Holi-Holiday’ and it was obvious from this day forward who the new crowd favourite was.
Grabbing a second United hat-trick in an unbelievable 7-1 win, Cole had grabbed 12 goals in 11 starts and Keegan’s statement of “I liked Cole from the moment I met him. His eyes were bright and he had a hard, lean body. He will score goals and become a sensation” was evidence that the manager could identify the next big player in his continuous re-building of the club.
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Once labelled “the most racist ground in the country” by former Arsenal and England full back Viv Anderson, Cole’s immediate success appeared to influence a vast change in supporter’s attitudes on NE1 despite a major tabloid’s (Ed; The Sun – lying again) unfounded claim that he was christened “Blackie Milburn.” In an era where racist chants and remarks around the ground had thankfully all but disappeared, journalist Brian McNally would later brand Cole as “The first black hero in North East sporting history.” Less than 3 years later, ‘Show Racism The Red Card’ was established by a United supporter from Whitley Bay and has proceeded to be one of the most prominent anti-racism groups in the UK with a range of educational programmes still active today.
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Recently handed the number 9 shirt once David Kelly was unfortunate to be sold and Peter Beardsley returned during the summer, Keegan tantalised the supporters saying, “There’s no great secret. If you’re going to be successful you need good players and the right balance.” Kicking off the 199394 season playing the same vibrant, incisive attacking style that the 2nd tier couldn’t handle, an unspectacular start saw Cole grab 1 goal in the first 4 games that returned 4 points. He would then score 4 in 3 unbeaten games before Beardsley returned from injury at Swindon. “I could see that the Beardsley-Cole combination would give the best of defenders problems” Keegan predicted. But what followed surpassed any realistic expectations as the partnership would take both
players goal scoring record that season to personal heights that wouldn’t be repeated. United won the next 4 games that saw Pedro score his first goal in his 2nd spell whilst Cole scored 9 goals that included 2 hat-tricks v Notts County in the League Cup. More impressively, a performance at the previous seasons runners up Aston Villa had The Independent state “His (Cole’s) pace made Paul McGrath look slothful, never mind mortal” whilst championing an England call up. Extreme praise from Keegan was evidently coming to fruition: “Andy Cole isn’t going to become one of Newcastle United’s striking legends…he already is” he said. Despite scoring his 28th goal in only his 25th game for the club at Southampton, the after effects of a 1-2 defeat
Extreme praise from Keegan was evidently coming to fruition: “Andy Cole isn’t going to become one of Newcastle United’s striking legends…he already is” he said.
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saw the first cracks begin to appear and without doubt the lowest point of Cole’s time at United. Following Keegan’s public dressing down of possibly Cole’s only‘friend’ at the club Lee Clark once the midfielder showed indiscipline when substituted, emerging rumours of homesickness and question marks over his attitude appeared to put Cole and the manager at loggerheads. A tabloid headline of ‘Crisis’ followed an incident before a midweek Cup game at Wimbledon where Cole appeared to “switch it on and off to suit himself” in training and he accepted Keegan’s offer to “Go away and not come back until he was ready to train properly” the manager recalled later. Refusing to train at Arsenal under George Graham a few years earlier all but ended his time at Highbury but thankfully Cole returned the same week and Keegan admitted, “I welcomed him back and we shared the blame. I overreacted and he admitted he was wrong to walk out.” www.true-faith.co.uk
With Lee Clark taken off the transfer list, the club appeared ‘fixed’ and once Cole scored in a 4-0 win over Wimbledon, the pair’s celebrations confirmed the ‘Crisis’ headlines were deemed somewhat melodramatic.
the milkman to the bloke in the paper shop, everyone wanted to talk about football, football, football.”
Sadly, Cole and his girlfriend were also failing to adapt to the adulation he received when socialising. “I enjoyed it at Newcastle, but it was difficult playing there.” he later admitted. “I was a young man and struggled to deal with the level of adoration. I just wanted to play football, go home and go out with my mates. I loved my football at Newcastle, but I felt trapped. And the more goals I scored, the worse it got. From
as, including that win over The Wombles that included a Beardsley hattrick, United won 9 of the following 13 games to move up from 11th to 3rd place by the turn of the year. Beardsley, playing arguably the best football of his career, scored 12 goals in this run but he was still overshadowed by Cole who was at his predatory best notching a further 13 goals to take him to a remarkable 42 strikes in 39 games for Newcastle.
Off the field matters didn’t have an effect on his own performances
...Cole who was at his predatory best notching a further 13 goals to take him to a remarkable 42 strikes in 39 games for Newcastle.
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It was during this spell that saw Cole’s finest moment for The Mags in a game played out Live on SKY from a freezing Tyneside. Cole had scored his 5th United hat-trick in the first half an hour of a superlative team performance and the rest of the country were now seeing how much Cole was loved as The Independent wrote in its Match Report: “If he (Cole) still pines for London, the reception afforded him at the final whistle can have left him in no doubt as to his spiritual home.” With the ‘Andy Cole’ song chanted with great pride around grounds around the country, more calls for an international call up were ignored despite Terry
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Venables replacing Graham Taylor. During a 5 game run where United lost 3 league games, crashed out of the FA Cup in a replay at 2nd tier Luton and Cole missed 2 games through injury, United and Cole returned to devastating form as the striker grabbed 7 more goals as The Mags took maximum points in the next 6 games to give themselves a realistic chance of qualifying for Europe. But it wasn’t just a ‘2 man team’. Sellars, Rob Lee, Paul Bracewell and new signing Ruel Fox were all comfortable on the ball as well as having the ability to play Cole in with a killer pass as an irrepressible United dismantled sides with
ease. With a side heavily influenced by Geordies such as Clark, Steve Watson, Robbie Elliott and Steve Howey, the future looked even more positive as Lee, benefiting from Keegan’s decision to move him inside once Fox arrived, scored 7 goals in 9 games to begin his own claims for an England call up. Failing to win in 3 games was quickly followed by a 2-0 victory at Anfield that ensured United achieved the double over both Merseyside clubs. Any doubts over Cole commanding idolatry on Tyneside would be diminished once he wrote himself into the record books by scoring his 40th goal of the season in the 5-1 drubbing of Villa. Dylan Younger, writing in Newcastle’s Cult Heroes book, reminisced about the goal perfectly: “It brought the game to a standstill as the rest of the Newcastle team mobbed their recordbreaker, backed by a massive crescendo of noisy adulation from the terraces.”
Any doubts over Cole commanding idolatry on Tyneside would be diminished once he wrote himself into the record books by scoring his 40th goal of the season in the 5-1 drubbing of Villa.
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An emotional moment perhaps only beaten when Alan Shearer broke the club goal scoring record in 2006, the supporters “provided a standing ovation almost unprecedented in its scale and duration”, said Younger. Ending the season by qualifying for the UEFA Cup, Cole scored against his old club Arsenal on the back of a new improved contract before winning the PFA Young Player of the Year. However, despite Beardsley’s inclusion, Cole’s achievements were overlooked once again as he was criminally left out of the PFA Team of Year. As Keegan turned to World www.true-faith.co.uk
Cup stars in an attempt to challenge for the title, Cole continued where he left off by scoring 14 goals in the first 17 league and cup games of the season to take his club record to 67 goals in 73 games. With Lee clearly becoming one of the best midfielders in the country scoring 11 goals in 13 appearances to gain that first cap,Venables continued to ignore Cole’s continued progress and tried 7 different strikers, including Beardsley, instead. During this period, a 7th Cole hat-trick in Black and White during a 10-2 aggregate UEFA Cup victory over Royal Antwerp occurred.
Limping off at home to Manchester United in the Coca Cola Cup, an unbeaten and top of the table United then lost 3 of the next 5 games as Cole recovered from shin splints. Returning to score at home to Ipswich in a 1-1 draw, Cole then failed to score in his next 9 games as The Mag’s poor form saw only 1 win and a drop from top to 5th. Following a home FA Cup draw v top of the table Blackburn, United were potentially out of all competitions by midJanuary and although there was a hint of an England call up, an alleged conversation between Keegan and Venables suggested the
...Cole scored against his old club Arsenal on the back of a new improved contract before winning the PFA Young Player of the Year
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Newcastle manager insisted Cole wasn’t “international fit.”
and, as it later emerged,
Two days after the Blackburn game, Keegan shocked the footballing world by selling Cole to Man United for a British record deal that saw United receive £6m and the £1m rated winger Keith Gillespie.
Cole’s agent Paul Stretford
Informing the board of a decision based primarily on the belief that his team “Had become too predictable” playing through the middle, they backed him by insisting “If you think it is right to sell Cole then sell him.” Cole, believing he was on a business trip with Stretford, was informed of the move and instead taken to Old Trafford in a state of shock
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hurt. It was later revealed that informed Keegan of Alex Ferguson’s interest after the rival manager informed him that Cole and Nottingham Forest’s Stan Collymore were the strikers he wanted.
“He is priceless, he belongs to Newcastle United and we are a buying club not a selling club” were the now futile words of Sir John Hall from a year earlier. Supporters feeling let down took their confusion to St James Park where Keegan, to his credit, faced supporters to justify the decision which in typical Keegan fashion ended with
the man receiving a round of applause. Despite the deal looking radical and the pain of seeing Cole join the team that had become United’s biggest rivals, there was an acceptance that the principal thought behind the sale was to strengthen the team and the support shown to Keegan over the following weeks proved that the manager was trusted to give the supporters a brighter long-term future. “I didn’t want the team to become one iota more defensive, but rather attack in a different direction. We had already lost the plot and once that happens it’s very difficult to recover” he said in his autobiography. “I had an offer for Cole and the opportunity of signing a good young player in Gillespie. It wasn’t a major tactical change, more like fine tuning, but it was certainly a major decision” he added. “It presented me with a gamble that, if it came off, would make Newcastle an
Two days after the Blackburn game, Keegan shocked the footballing world by selling Cole to Man United for a British record deal that saw United receive £6m and the £1m rated winger Keith Gillespie.
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What they said: Les Ferdinand: “Andy’s an out and out goal-scorer and probably the best in Britain in that regard. I rate him highly and as a penalty box predator the man is absolutely top class.” Kevin Keegan: “Beardsley’s link up with Cole was superb. Andy was special, Pedro had an extraordinary talent and when you put those two things together you are bound to get something remarkable.”
even more exciting team to watch.” “Stretford wasn’t motivated by friendships, but money” Cole would say in 2010 which some might argue confirms he never wanted to leave United despite the claim of him being unsettled never going away. Les Ferdinand, initially thought of as Keegan’s preferred partner to Cole, signed the following summer thanks in some part to the man he was replacing: “Andy Cole could not speak too highly of his time on Tyneside” Sir Les said. “I had several chats with him about Newcastle even before the deal was actually on. He never had a bad word to say about the club and the fans and when I knew the move was on Andy said there was no better place for a striker to play then at St James Park.” With David Ginola coming in to supply Ferdinand from the left and Gillespie, a highlight during the last 5 months of a season that www.true-faith.co.uk
ended in disappointment, on the right, the change in strategy Keegan spoke of when selling Cole was taking place and United were in a stronger position to challenge for the title. Andy Cole was now part of the ‘enemy’ and his knack of scoring against Newcastle, including 4 in one game, as well as joining in with an offensive song aimed at Keegan and the clubs support just months after receiving a marvellous ovation during Beardsley’s ‘Benefit Match’, tarnished his popularity on Tyneside.
Peter Beardsley: “He was my favourite player I linked up with in attack.” Andy Cole: “I’m stubborn and lazy. And I can be moody. People have the wrong perception of me. When they meet me, they are surprised though. I’m just more private, reserved and maybe shy.” a sub in Steve Harpers testimonial in 2013. Following a near decade of uncertainty under new ownership that only now looks like potentially changing, supporters perhaps look back on the Keegan and Bobby Robson years even more fondly and realise that at times we really were spoilt. Despite
Cole’s stay on Tyneside being relatively short, coming 4th in The Evening Chronicle’s ‘Greatest United Signing’ vote in 2014 might also suggest that, despite the naivety in mocking the people who helped make him what he was, he is still considered one of United’s greatest. With his immense talent backed by an 81% goal ratio, that’s only right.
Cole slightly redeemed himself following his retirement in 2008 saying, “I loved the Manchester United supporters, they were great to me and I also played at St James’ Park and they were incredible…I couldn’t choose between them” which might have contributed to a warm welcome and another airing of the ‘He gets the ball and scores a goal’ chant when appearing as tf 129
The Spurs game could have been played out in nasty atmosphere following our relegation but instead it turned into a Rafa ‘love fest’. He was left in no doubt what the supporters felt...
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IN THE CITY What a season that was! Leicester City Premier League Champions, who would have thought? From my perspective whilst I’m no fan of Leicester it was great to see a team other than the ‘big four’ or is it the ‘big five or six’ winning the league. Whilst in the early part of the season their results were regarded as a bit of a ‘flash in the pan’ and everyone expected them to fall away, they actually seemed to get stronger as the season went on and in the end they won the league comfortably. I’VE CHANGED MY ADDRESS In the meantime, Newcastle United were declaring that we couldn’t compete with the ‘big clubs’-good job nobody told Leicester City- in the end we couldn’t even compete with the ‘little clubs’ either. With
due respect to Watford/ Bournemouth /Crystal Palace and the ilk, surely we were capable of competing with those clubs? Rank bad management from top to bottom over the years finally resulted in our relegation and we can’t really say it wasn’t deserved. Shame on the people responsible! BRICKS AND MORTAR Having said all of the above, a ray of light came shining out of the dark. The appointment of Rafa Benitez. Whilst he was ultimately unable to save us, the fact that he has decided to stay and has been given control of ‘all things football’ gives us some hope. The owner seems to have accepted what has been obvious to most supporters over the yearshis business model was unworkable and the people in charge of implementing it, incompetent. At last
we have some cause for optimism. TIME FOR TRUTH Talking of those responsible for the mismanagement of our club the Jonas tribunal really did put the icing on the cake. How low could the club stoop? It seems lower than we even imagined. What I found interesting was the judges summing up of those giving evidence on behalf of the club, Pardew, Carver and Charnley…. he soon sussed them out, not giving a lot of credit or weight to their evidence. We wait to see how much Jonas is awarded. AWAY FROM THE NUMBERS I think we should give our supporters a massive pat on the back for the part we played in keeping Rafa at the club. The Spurs game could have been played out in nasty atmosphere following our relegation but www.true-faith.co.uk
instead it turned into a Rafa ‘love fest’. He was left in no doubt what the supporters felt, and he obviously realised that if he could get control of the footballing side of the club then the sky’s the limit. I suspect-and hope- he has everything in writing!
Once Palace scored and Pardew did his ‘daft dad dance’ my mind was made up and I was firmly in the Man U camp
TIME FOR TRUTH Talking of those responsible for the mis-management of our club the Jonas tribunal really did put the icing on the cake. How low could the club stoop? It seems lower than we even imagined. What I found interesting what the judges summing up of those giving evidence on behalf of the club SOUNDS FROM THE STREET Word reaches us from Liverpool that when Rafa was in charge he would regularly met with supporters groups to get a ‘feel’ for what rank and file supporters were thinking. Given that it seems pretty much accepted that the Fans Forum has turned into a vessel for the club to get across their messages it is to be hoped that Rafa takes a similar course here at Newcastle.
heard it said that if we had of kept Pardew we wouldn’t have been relegated, but given Palace’s situation/ position and the fact that he had the control over signings he’d not had at NUFC it can hardly be said he’s covered himself in glory!
SLOW DOWN As I sat down to watch the FA Cup final I couldn’t decide who I wanted to win. Neither Man U nor Alan Pardew would be anywhere near my Christmas card list. Once Palace scored and Pardew did his ‘daft dad dance’ my mind was made up and I was firmly in the Man U camp. We’ve often
ART SCHOOL No doubt by the time you are reading this the European Championships will have started .I must confess to not being greatly bothered how England do. Fair enough if they do well but to be honest ,even if they got knocked out in embarrassing fashion I wouldn’t really be bothered.
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There’s only one team…. Newcastle United… nothing else matters. GOT BY IN TIME Our dear friends down the road once again embarrassed themselves with their flyover at the Spurs game. Yes they will be gloating over our demise but howay man, 4th bottom, and near bankrupt, they are hardly in a position to be celebrating. It proves that once again finishing above the Mags is their only concern. They aren’t bothered about doing well themselves! AND FINALLY Following relegation you
would expect the general feeling around Tyneside to be one of gloom but that’s far from the case as far as I can see. Let’s enjoy the Championship whilst we are there and hope that we can make a quick return. I enjoyed the Championship last time, teams coming out just to play football and fans who really appreciated coming to a stadium like ours. As one wag in front of me quoted at the last game of the promotion season…’can we not just win the league and refuse promotion?’ Have a good summer.. tf 131
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