A year in the life of Newcastle United, and NUFC Blog.
Posted on June 1st, 2010 | 183 Comments |
NUFC is one year old, and what a year it has been for Newcastle United! June of last year may have seemed like a strange time to start a ‘blog about Newcastle United, a time when the club had just been relegated, but at least no-one could blame us for being ‘glory hunters’!
It all started on June 1st with a simple welcome blog from myself, but this particular story won’t be a exercise in navel gazing about our own little website, it will be about a turbulent year in the history of our great club, as viewed through the lens of some of contributors, past and present.
Though relegation would hardly seem like the perfect time to ‘kick off’ with the site, there was of course much to write about in the crazy world which is Newcastle United. Mike Ashley caved in to fan pressure once again, and attempted to sell the club for a second time while it was being ripped apart by turmoil.
The first story I have chosen in this trip by memory lane was by ex-contributor, ‘Stardust’ on June 2nd, which covered a statement on Ashley’s second attempt to escape from his Geordie hell with little embellishment. Sir John’s statement cover quite a few of the issues of the time nicely.
The second attempted sale, as we now know, created even more turmoil as the club’s name was traduced further in media, as wild speculation, gossip, and yet more phantom bids from publicity seekers ran rife. The third story I have chosen is once again from Stardust. It was published on the third day of the blog’s existence with the title “Are we unbuyable – unmanageable – uninvestable?”. It looks at the negative PR owning Newcastle United attracts when things aren’t going well, as they often do, and how this may be a deterrent to many businesspeople who may be interested in the aquisition of a major football team.
Next come two blogs on the same theme, the first from a major contributor to the blog in times past, ‘Bowburnmag’, on the fourth of June that year and the second from ‘Geordie Deb’ which was published twelve days later. In these pieces, they go ‘Back to the Future’, looking forward to the then upcoming season in football’s second tier by looking back to the days when their earlier days as fans when we were in the lower divisions. Both stories were entitlted “Standing Room Only”. Bowburnmags is here, and Geordie Deb’s variation on the same theme is here.
Moving on to the end of that month, we had two conflicting views on the same story. The first was another story from Bowburnmag, a firm supporter of the then NUSC (Newcastle United Supporter’s Club), which looked at the NUSC’s demand that Alan Shearer be appointed as manager with immediate effect. The second was another from myself on the same subject, and what I saw as the damage this clueless and opportunistic organisation was doing to the club making bellicose demands on the current owners, while potential new owners may have looked on with horror, then moved on. The NUSC, in their subsequent incarnation as the NUST (Newcastle United Supporters Trust) eventually attempted to launch a bid to buy the club with fan’s pensions and savings, but lost all credibility when they attempted to make the ridiculous claim that Mike Ashley was making £7 million per month profit from Newcastle United, a claim which was obviously false, but more on that story later in the movie. Bowburnmag’s piece was entitled Fans right to send SOS to Mike Ashley?“, and my own, “Wor Al protests: What are they thinking?”
Moving on to July, Bowburnmag published his rather reflective story, “Newcastle: United by faith, hope and stories?” on the 6th, in which he expounded on one of his favourite theories, that fans of other teams are deluded themselves for thinking that Newcastle United fans are deluded. It is an thoughtful and well written piece.
On the thirteenth of that month, goalkeeper, Steven Harper gave a revealing interview about the demoralising effect of a second sale. In the interview, he revealed his frustration at the state of limbo it left the club in, with no way of planning for the future, or even the present in some cases. I covered it in a piece called Steve Harper: Newcastle United “dying slow and painful death”.
On the 25th June, I wrote the first of my match reports for the blog, and what a decisive game it turned out to be in hindsight. It was the 6-1 pummelling by the mighty Leyton Orient. Of course most of you now know about the now legendary post match ‘conference’ which came after this abject and humiliating defeat, and the emergence of Chris Hughton as a leader who could take us back to the Premiership. Anyway, I titled it “The worst Newcastle United performance I’ve ever seen” and despite being a Magpie for many years now, I wasn’t exaggerrating!
At the end of July, the one event which dominated all others was, of course, the death of Sir Bobby Robson, who had fought a long battle with various forms of cancer for many years in the latter part of his career. The whole region and beyond mourned the loss of one of football’s most loved and respected figures, and one of the North East’s greatest ambassadors. It seems a suitable place to bring the first part of this one year retrospective to a close. Of the several stories paying tribute to the great man in this blog, the one I have chosen is Geordie Deb’s excellent and thought provoking “How fans can honour Sir Bobby“. Here she looks at how fans can truly pay their respects to the great man by showing the qualities that he did himself, by showing patience, humility, the abilty to lose with grace, be magnanimous in victory and to show respect.
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
workyticket has written 1091 articles on this blog.
Love the blog – I thought Ed’s could not be beaten but this one has done the trick. Well done to all contributors.