Zen and the art of supporting Newcastle United.
Posted on June 23rd, 2009 | 107 Comments |
Kwai Chang Caine was a Shaolin Monk of the Zen Buddhist persuasion and such people believe that all suffering in life is caused by craving and expectations. If you don’t crave anything you won’t suffer when you don’t get it, if you see what I mean.
Bear with me, I’m getting on-topic now.
It is fair to say that Newcastle United supporters could teach Zen Monks a thing or two about suffering. Since the era of Sir Bobby Robson – and possibly even before that – things have been steadily getting worse for our club, mainly, I’d venture to suggest, because it has been run by clowns. First it was Freddie Shepherd rigging up the bucket of water to fall on our heads and then it was Mike Ashley ensuring we were never short of a custard pie in the face. Oh how we laughed, and so on and so forth.
But you know all that. What I’m wondering is what constitutes a realistic set of expectations from here on?
We presume that potential buyers have accessed the legendary ‘data room’ and are at least considering making an offer, but how long will it take before a firm offer is made, due diligence is performed, the offer is accepted by our current head clown and the club is formally transferred to someone else?
And after that, what can we then expect for the coming season on the pitch?
To continue with my Zen Buddhist analogy, we need to set our expectations in such a way as to avoid undue suffering. I think this is important because I reckon we fans have been guilty of having slightly too lofty expectations in the past, often in terms of wanting too much success too soon. Of course, fans are individuals and I don’t want to sound like the press by casting us all in the same light but, at the risk of being shouted at, I would say that patience isn’t the typical Newcastle Fan’s best quality.
My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that something positive will happen on the new owner front in the next two weeks. I think a prospective owner will declare enough of an interest to move things forward at least a bit. Said owner will be as aware as we are that the new season is approaching rapidly and it is in the best interests of everyone if we’re as prepared as possible. Contracts may not be formally exchanged in that time and the final deal may be subject to further investigations or specific clauses, but I think something will happen to move us forward.
Once that happens, I think Shearer will be appointed as manager. It’s still possible that the new owner may not want Shearer as manager but my gut instinct tells me that he’ll get the job.
Once this happens we really do have to start looking at what can be realistically achieved in the next few years. The only advantage we have over other Championship clubs at the moment is a bigger ground. Most other clubs are ahead of us in the pre-season planning and – with the exception of ‘Boro and WBA – tuned into Championship football (and WBA have only been away from it for a season). They will know how to handle the pace, aggression and fixture schedule of the Championship; many of them will have settled teams and long-term managers.
We have precious few weeks to sort out a new owner, new manager and new squad. We simply cannot expect too much. I believe a mid-table finish will be a good result for next season. I reserve the right to change my mind though because if tomorrow brings an announcement that we’ve been taken over by Mr Arab Moneybags who’ll give us £100m for players and appoint Fabio Capello, Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancetti as the management team, then I think we might do somewhat better. Pigs are however not know for their aerodynamics, so I’m just basing my opinions on things as they stand and how I think they might realistically go from here.
As to Shearer, we have to bear in mind that he’s more a ‘Grasshopper’ than a Master Po in terms of football management. He may not yet be able to snatch the pebble from the master’s hand. Many managers have made a success of things at their first attempt but I can’t deny that, all other things being equal, experience gives a manager an advantage and Shearer doesn’t have that. I am however happier with the idea of Shearer taking over given our lower division situation than I would be if we’d avoided relegation. I certainly think we need to give Shearer – or whoever is appointed manager – sufficient time to do the job. Most managers need a full season just to settle in and I don’t believe we can even start to judge them until the end of their second full season in charge.
So I’m setting my expectations thus: next season we aim to simply survive in the Championship; the season after that we push for promotion; the season after that we get promoted if we haven’t already done so. I’m talking 2-3 seasons in the Championship.
I expect many fans will find that hard to stomach and have ideas about us going straight back up. I hope they’re right but I’m staying in Zen mode from now on, setting my hopes appropriately and hopefully cutting down on the suffering I continually experience on behalf of our club. I’m just going to enjoy things on a match-by-match basis.
There is no reason why we shouldn’t one day be a successful Premiership team again but I think we need to keep our expectations in check for a while and let the club’s rebuilding process take its course.
Now, what is the sound of one hand clapping?
NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen
I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10).
Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.
I’m going to put my feet up and get some appropriate snacks/drinks and read this properly when I get home because it looks like a cracking read. Welcome to the team good sir.