Why do the media hate Newcastle United?

Posted on September 18th, 2011 | 58 Comments |

PJ and Duncan.
Geordies, lets get ready to rumble! (with the media that is)
After reading what I classed as quite hostile comments from Oliver Holt regarding Stevie Taylor’s antics trying to distract Paddy Kenny the thought crossed my mind, why is NUFC always a target for the media, and football fans in general?

Are we deserving of the abuse we get? Is the problem created by the Toon faithful themselves? Or is it just to shift newspapers? In the eyes of this blogger, all 3 have elements of truth. Let’s face it, over the years we haven’t endeared ourselves to other fans, with the sacking of many a manager (let’s not forget Bobby Robson; ever) Constant claims that we are a big club, refusing to play at Stevenage the first time round because at the time we were too good. The list goes on…

However I still grimace every time I switch onto Sky Sports after our latest scandal hits, as they always choose some brain-dead Geordie fan to artificially continue this persona that we are all living in a Shearer/Keegan wonderland.

Another point I would raise is that, in regards to support at least, we are a big club. Back pages on Newcastle United sell newspapers regardless of the truth, or lack of it in them. Many people I speak to hate Newcastle purely because we employed a certain Joseph Barton. Even the ginger guy who sits behind me at work mentioned he now dislikes NUFC purely because of Ashley’s recent strip tease.

I will attempt not to dwell on the Mike Ashley era too much as I’ve highlighted my feelings on a previous blog. But let’s be honest, he isn’t going anywhere until he gets his cash. So the constant calls of Poznan protests and Cockney Mafia flags only go on to hurt NUFC’s perception from the media.

In summary, I want the media to wake up to the fact that most Geordies are actually quite grounded when it comes to the club. We want stability, with maybe the odd foray into Europe for the next few years. The understanding is there that we won’t sign Samuel Eto’o next month or win the league next year.

It’s a terrible example I know, as it’s much, much more serious, but Liverpool fans want justice for the way that they were portrayed so badly by the media, especially the Sun, all those years ago. Why should we put up with the constant Geordie bashing?

NUFCBlog Author: Mick toons Mick toons is a proud nufc fan hailing from Durham. He now lives in Yorkshire with another group of hard done by fans... Leeds United Mick toons has written 13 articles on this blog.

Related Posts:

  • No Related Posts

Posted on by Mick toons in category: General miscellany and Mick Toons and Thoughts and reflections , with tags:
Comment on this post

58 Responses

  2. I think (hope) the negative attention will follow asbo to QPR. I can’t see any of this squad causing trouble (except to opposition defences that is!).

    HWTL

  3. I’ve long since stopped buying papers because of the anti NUFC agenda in the press. I say agenda as I believe it is a premeditated and concerted attempt by the media to sully the name of NUFC and the fans of the club. Anything they can pick on they will. I did not read Holt’s column however what Taylor did on Monday has been going on for years now because a Newcastle player does it, it is a heinous act.

  4. What was the next thing I saw after leaving my last posting ?
    “QPR midfielder Joey Barton could find himself in hot water again after comments made on Twitter following Saturday’s game at Wolves” – several negative postings on newsnow
    – how long before QPR get fed up of it?

    Incidentaly – did you hear Warnock on MOTD boasting what a great coup it was to get asbo free on a “bosman”? Not a bosman mate, a free disciplinary transfer with a year’s contract left, QPR got him cos no one else would buy a raffle ticket!

  5. Don’t buy the papers: simple! I lived in Liverpool for a few years a while back and personally I reckon the idiotic mayor of London had it about right, scousers feel the world is against them, everything that happens to them is terrible, even Dalgleish(a foreigner) has joined in this victimisation – Jamie Carragher has been getting away with penalty-area borne assault for years then one penalty decision and there’s management/refree meetings all over the place – Liverpool aren’t a big club and neither, for the foreseeable future, are Newcastle. My hope is that we can play good football and never, ever, make it into the Europa Cup

  6. Small incidents can form you perspective on a certain person/club. For instance i now dislike Mcleish for the simple reason that he was a sore loser who acoording to him should have won the game (Did he watch the same game i wonder?)

  7. Agree with Mothboy, on liverpool, although they are far from the only ones, most of the big clubs feel they are the most hard done by of all when things go against them. IT’s largely because they are used to getting it all their own way and so it appears a travesty no matter how cast iron a decision may have been. Carragher isn’t even that good a player, had he been across stanley park at everton his whole career (no disrespect to the toffee men of course) he wouldn’t be as highly rated. Liverpool live purely off past glories but the media seem to still love them. The media just see us as an easy target, the proverbial sleeping giant and underachieving side. We get picked on because we’ve come close, missed but would still love to be up there. And for daring to believe we deserve and have the capacity to be up there we get villified. But the majority of us are realistic, we know we’re not going to get in the champions league anytime soon, we just want our owner to show some ambition and the team to play good football. Apparently in the media’s opinion that’s too much to ask for

  8. I disagree with you Mick. If you live outside of the North East, Newcastle United does not generate a lot of press probably because it isn’t a successful club that wins trophies and plays in the Champions League. Fans are interested in their own teams and neutrals in the top teams like ManU, Chelsea, Arsenal and now ManCity.

    On this Sunday’s Sunday Supplement we had positive comments by the journalists. On Saturday’s SKY panel Jeff Stelling looked really puzzled by Matt Le Tissier’s very negative comments about our performance as Stelling, who has a soft spot for Newcastle, must have been told how well we played. There are a few journalists on the Sunday Supplement who either support Newcastle or are sympathetic eg Custis brothers, Richardson and Martin Samuel.

    At the moment nearly all the scathing comments are being directed at Arsenal and Blackburn. Previously it was Liverpool and their yank owners.

    All clubs attract bad publicity from time to time. In the past we have had our share from the board, the players and the fans.

    Which owner/chairman has been as crass as Shepherd and his comments about Geordie women? How many players from other clubs have fought amongst themselves on the pitch? And the xenophobic banners about Cockney mafia only confirmed the impression that many have when the television choose some brain-dead Geordie fan to interview. Can you imagine the outrage and indignation in the North East if a club elsewhere had banners about Geordie Thieves.

    I wouldn’t worry about it Mick. We should let our results speak for themselves.

  9. I agree with all previous posts, you sell more copy by being negative and provoking a reation and it is the size of the NUFC following that I think attracts the media.
    If the club had a gate of 10k and no one in the city cared about the club then the media would look elswhere.
    Maybee we should see it as a compliment, if you ask why are the big clubs not villified then the medai will not s*** in it own nest and take on a London club, MU have been untouchable since the aircrash, and MC time will tell……
    Also we live up north, breed whippets and grow leeks, the London press have more in common with central europe than us – well thats just me being bitter…..

  11. Kamar@8….spot on mate…

    Now that the narcissistic Barton has left the club, apart from radge Nile Ranger and Ashley’s presence at the club, there hopefully shouldn’t be too much more controversy coming out of the club. The remainder of the current squad seem to be professional and behave like angels….fingers crossed…

    Hats off to Pardew for coming through all of this unscathed too, what with all the previous history, players wives, patsy this, puppet for Ashley etc, etc….quite a lot of it coming from people on this blog too by the way, well done Pardew…

  12. Kamar, you may or may not recall, Sir Bobby also took his fair share of stick as England manager…..selective memory recall I call it… but that is par for the course for all England managers, and the negative media connected to the England team in general…

  13. Munich @ 12

    I do recall it and I have never linked it with Bobby personally because like you I think it’s par for the course for any England manager. Why the press have it in for the England manager I do not know. They even had it in for Sir Alf Ramsay!

  14. Kamar…I reckon the media have only one agenda, there own self sufficency. If what they print has owt to do with reality it’s a bonus…

  15. I’m not one to go for conspiracy theories – but the reporting of this game leaves me wondering – yep – they could have been 2-0 up and it may have been a different game then – but they weren’t and it wasn’t – we were much the better side and had almost 60% of the play – away from home! To have such long periods of control and to create a number of chances has really excited me – especially after how poor we were at QPR – I’m not getting carried away, but am not a little surprised and exceedingly excited by the display.
    One of the few newspaper reports that got anywhere near a fair representation of the match:
    Sunday Telegraph: “Shay Given showed the sort of form he used to produce for Newcastle United to deny his former side a victory that would have taken them into third place, ahead of Chelsea.
    Given made three spectacular saves to keep Alan Pardew’s side at bay, although Newcastle are now unbeaten in their first five games, their best start to a season for 15 years.”
    A lot of the other stuff had “Villa held…” – not how I saw the match at all.
    Reality is though – the boardroom antics and farcical nature of some of the things we have doone as a club, are always going to make us newsworthy and fair game – the more we put our house in order the less we’ll get beaten up in the press.

    Gabriel Agbonlahor had opened the scoring for Aston Villa in the 13th minute, but Leon Best equalised early in the second half and Newcastle had enough chances to win – but could not find a way past Given.

  16. Kamar says:
    September 18, 2011 at 1:32 pm

    “Nobody hated Sir Bobby Robson.”

    Kevin Keegan and Alf Ramsay certainly had “issues” with Robson Kamar.

    With Keegan it was over being dropped from the England team, and he was notably absent from the very long list of football people paying tribute to Robson when he died

    As for Ramsey, he just didn’t seem to like to see other people in his old jobs. Of course, Robson and Ramsey are commonly regarded as the two greatest Ipswich managers and then Bobby had the temerity to also take Alf’s old position as England manager.

    Of course, old Bobby was like a Geordie Jesus. He forgave Keegan and didn’t have a bad word to say about him, and he even paid Alf Ramsey’s medical bills one one occaision. To Ramsey’s credit, he did thank Robson’s wife, Elsie for the latter gesture.

    On Alf Ramsey and another Geordie ‘saint’, Jackie Milburn, Ramsey famously refused to give Milburn any advice when he succeeded Ramsey as Ipswich manager.

  17. The thing is the media like to perpetuate stereotypes and amongst the bad press we get a lot of good press aswell. I don’t realy have a problem with either aslong as it’s accurate, which it rarely is. The point is the media only care about their own agenda, at times the media will work both for and against us. Take the era of “the entertainers”, we were supposedly “everyones second team”, though in our relegation season we were football’s joke, the media’s whipping boy and many said we were a farce. The agenda had changed, the attention we recieve now i would say is fairly neutral some like us some don’t that will peobabaly always be the case get used to it. Though spare a thought for LFC fans, now don’t get me wrong the media realy do cosy up to them a lot of the time nowadays but still the myths surrounding Hillsbrough continue, still people blame LFC fans for the incompetance of the police. This is partly down to the media but also the police and government. the response The Sun made, to the Hillsbrough tragedy was disgusting and is the best example of how the British media can twist, manipulate and lie to suit their own agenda. So long as they make money, they don’t care. It is as simple as that unfortunately.

  18. Nobody hates NUFC, other than the odd Sunderland supporter.
    Why should they ?
    In fact a few years back, they were regarded as everyones (except Sunderland fans) favorite second team.
    NUFC fans are regarded with a certain bemusement and certainly as very loyal supporters.
    Their macho image, (no shirts in winter bid bellied, big guys is iconic).
    Perhaps that perception might change if they came onto these blogs and listened to people like myself whine and moan, about everything in general.
    But the same question could be asked of just about any football club, with the same paranoia, when in fact no one gives a damn about other clubs and the media only report on whatever will fill space.
    Soh ! lighten up, NUFC and it’s fans are certainly not being singled out by any means.

  19. Says it all when papers print crap about toon players fighting over what music to play in the dressing room .Enough bad stuff going on in the real world but hey toon in another crisis. This club will always be a joke through the media until the fat controller clears off and that will be the day they sell a lot of papers.

  20. Worky @ 16

    ‘…With Keegan it was over being dropped from the England team, and he was notably absent from the very long list of football people paying tribute to Robson when he died…’

    I didn’t know that Worky about Sir Bobby and Keegan.

    I’m saddened, shocked and disgusted by Keegan’s contempt for one of the greatest and most loved English football manager.

    I hope shame follows Keegan to his grave.

  22. Being that Raylor appears to have lost his deadball touch, can we give Perch a shot at LB, i recall him doing a pretty decent job last time he filled that particular role.

    And suggest before we start playing Santon we have Dr. Steadman take a look at him, (An insurance policy)as i cant say i got much faith in the NUFC medical staff,they don’t exactly have a very successful history over the last few years.

    Can we start Marveaux on the left wing, don’t care who plays on the right, Jonas or Obertan, though the latter appears to be improving with game time.

    Keep Tiote alone in front of the back four, he has to improve on his passing though and not send each man tackled into the stands.

    Like to see Gosling, get a game as ha needs match practice, probably replace the bionic man Tiote when his card collection gets too high.

    Best up front, with Ben Arfa playing behind him, see how it works ?

    So it’s obvious we need to strengthen the back four, with possibly an additional forward, who then ? would we bring in to fill these roles and who in return do we
    need to move on.

  23. Isn’t there still a problem between Shearer & Keegan who declined to attend Al’s testimonial? Shearer was also very frosty when it a “dream team” was suggested with him as Keegan’s no.2 – funny lot footballers, but not as funny as fans! I still hate Gordon Lee!

    Still 4th after sunday’s results! Thanks to 5under1and & Spurs! I see Bramble & Woodgate both scored for the scum – funny old game isn’t it.

    HWTL

  24. Kamar says:
    September 18, 2011 at 6:16 pm

    “I didn’t know that Worky about Sir Bobby and Keegan.”

    There’s more Kamar, but it’s something Newcastle United supporters don’t talk about now since Sir Bobby was ‘canonised’, taking his place in Geordie folklore alongside the permed one.

    When Keegan was dropped by Robson, it was during the time of his “first coming” at Newcastle, ie his two years as a player in the early eighties.

    After Keegan publicly vented his fury at being dropped by Robson, the latter was insulted and spat at by Newcastle United supporters when he next made an appearence at St James’ Park.

    The argument flared up again years later when Keegan himself was England manager. Robson expressed reservations about Keegan being England manager while remaining as Technical Director at Fulham. This was when Keegan was unable to make a trip to see Poland before England played them in the 2000 European Championships. Keegan angrily brought up the issue once again, not for the first time and not for the last either. He retorted that when Robson was a fulltime manager, he still couldn’t find the time to phone Keegan to tell him that he wouldn’t be selecting him after Robson took over from Ron Greenwood.

  25. supermac says:
    September 18, 2011 at 7:13 pm

    “Shearer was also very frosty when it a “dream team” was suggested with him as Keegan’s no.2…”

    “I see Bramble & Woodgate both scored for the scum”

    Aye, he was supermac.

    It was Bramble who knacked wor Mehdi, the big clumsy brute that he is!

  26. Yes, I remember Keegan being dropped on TV and wise Arthur Cox taking him in hand and telling him to cool down – he should have listened & gotten over it.

  27. Chuck @ 21

    Yes we are all fallible, a flawed species but there are some things in life that we should put aside and rise above and show respect.

    To me, Sir Bobby will be remembered as a great football manager and a great man. Not so Keegan.

  29. i think there is a lot of jealousy flying about,because as a people,geordies popularity is at a high.
    in the past we were always known for our strong work ethic,but we had few role models.
    i think the popularity of geordies,is at an all time high,and we do seem to be taking over the media etc.
    we are known for our friendly accent,and outgoing personality,which has converted to show biz circles and beyond.
    for some reason we are viewed as some exotic foreigner,whenever someone from newcastle is mentioned,it is always geordie this or geordie that.
    it’s like we are some kind of stand alone race,that is different to the rest of the country.
    so the only flaw in our character,they can use against us,is the weakness we have for this madcap football club.
    maybe i’m biased because i’m a geordie lol.

  30. supermac says:
    September 18, 2011 at 7:26 pm

    “Yes, I remember Keegan being dropped on TV and wise Arthur Cox taking him in hand and telling him to cool down – he should have listened & gotten over it.”

    supermac, he’ll still be gannin’ on about Ashley and Llambias for decades to come too.

    That one about Ashley knowing nothing about football and Llambias knowing even less than that was an absolute cracker though! :lol:

  31. http://www.true-faith.co.uk/tf/features.nsf/0/E7E356EE62002E6E8025790F003F8997?OpenDocument

    JOSE Mourinho has donated the most prestigious personal trophy of his glittering career to the charity auction in memory of Sir Bobby Robson, his mentor and boss at Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona.
    Real Madrid’s Portuguese manager, 48, was award Fifa’s Ballon D’Or World Coach of the Year award in 2010, the year he won the Champions’ League with Internazionale. He beat off competition from World Cup winner Vicente Del Bosque and rivals including Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola and Sir Alex Ferguson to pick up the award.

    Now he is donating the trophy he received as an auction lot in memory of Sir Bobby, who died two years ago at the age of 76. The online auction, from 8-23 October, and a charity ball next month will raise funds for The Sir Bobby Foundation and Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

    Mourinho has recognised the part Sir Bobby played in his own football development by giving the wonderful money-can’t-buy prize – to the delight of organisers and the Robson family alike.

    Sir Bobby’s son, Mark, said: ‘The entire family is completely astounded by this generous gift from Mr Mourinho. We are so thrilled and so thankful to him. My Dad would have been so proud by the way all the different clubs and football managers around the world are pulling together by contributing such incredible prizes such as this.’

    The auction has also been supported by HRH the Prince of Wales and Prime Minister David Cameron. Auction founder Gina Long added: ‘When I started planning the auction, I could only have dreamt that I would get support from such magnificent people and great companies.

    ‘But now that has been turned into reality, it can only help us achieve our goal of raising more than £250,000 for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and Suffolk Breakthrough Breast Cancer.’

    Mourinho is just the latest manager among the biggest names in the game to donate auction lots and pay tribute to the influence of Sir Bobby.

    Chelsea’s Andre Villas-Boas has given a donation (link here), as has Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson (link here) and Leicester’s Sven Goran Eriksson, a former England manager, as Sir Bobby was.

    Eriksson has described Sir Bobby to sportingintelligence as ‘a father of the game.’

    The Swede said: ‘Sir Bobby was a father of the game of football. You need only look now at the number of people within the game he influenced, to see his legacy.

    ‘As a young coach, starting out in my career, I visited Sir Bobby whilst he was the manager of Ipswich Town. Despite how busy he must have been that day, as they faced Aston Villa, he spent time with me discussing his team selection and his tactics for the day.

    ‘He was a true gentleman, with warmth and sincerity, who gave his life to the game and to his family and friends. There are probably hundreds of icons from the world of sport, but maybe just a handful who transcend popular culture and everyday life. Sir Bobby did just that. He is in the hearts and minds of all of us and he is still missed today.

    ‘I am delighted to be able to offer my support to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and Sir Bobby’s Breakthrough Auction and I urge anyone who can give something to this cause to do what they can to help.’

    For me details follow the link to the auction site, http://www.sirbobbysbreakthroughauction.com

    Sportingintelligence is proud to be among the supporters of the auction.

    Some of the sports-related lots already pledged include:

    A chance to attend England national football training as a guest of Fabio Capello … A chance to play a match at Sir Bobby’s old club, Ipswich Town, with two winning bid teams being trained by Robson-era stars and using the dressing rooms, executive box and boardroom … Tickets to the glitzy, star-studded PFA Player of the Year award bash next April … A rare, signed, limited-edition copy of the autobiography of Pele … one of John Motson’s commentary charts from a big game … the signed Chelsea shirt, tickets and chance to meet Villas-Boas … an England Shirt signed by the majority of the squad involved in the recent friendly with Ghana … hospitality and premier enclosure badges at Newmarket races … a pair of Centre Court tickets in the first week of Wimbledon2012 … a pair of tickets to the final of the Masters snooker at Wembley in January … a racing shirt signed by the British Touring Car Championships drivers, Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal … a framed print of the old Wembley Stadium, signed by Bobby Charlton and Sir Geoff Hurst … a day at “The Audi Driving Experience” at Silverstone, with qualified instructors flown in from Germany especially … a Liverpool shirt signed by Andy Carroll (and match tickets).

    A full list of ‘money can’t buy’ lots, with more to come, can be found at http://www.sirbobbysbreakthroughauction.com. The auction takes place in October, online.

  32. @ 31 – fantastic stuff there mate.

    What have Newcastle given the auction? I’m getting the impression I can guess what we’ve donated…

  33. I can’t remember where i heard this from but apparently Mike Ashley has donated some money and NUFC do have a close relationship with the Sir Bobby Robson foundation.

  34. Nice one Mick,
    You’re right in this post.

    Le Tit’s disgustingly biased ‘view’ of the game on sat was absolutely indicative of what you’ve written here mate.
    We dominated villa at their place 20/60% pounded them with far more shots(on target too), corners, less fouls & still they were apparently the better team cos they missed a sitter.
    I never buy papers either biased crap.

    ;)

  36. I’ve just caught up with this little jem on newsnow –
    “FORGOTTEN striker Fabio Zamblera has left Newcastle United by mutal consent “to rebuild his career elsewhere”. He arrived in January 2008 from Atalanta but, after loan spells at Sampdoria and Roma, failed to break into the first-team.”

    Is this the last link with the footballing genius Dennis Wise?
    Does anyone know if he was any good? He passed me completely by.
    What sort of chance was he given? How much he cost us? Was he one of those bought “to do some agents a favour”?
    Is this the other side of the plans to buy foreign youngsters on the cheap – if it works great – but how much do deals like this (& Xisco) really cost us?

  37. supermac says:
    September 18, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    “Is this the last link with the footballing genius Dennis Wise?”

    No. There’s still Haris Vuckic, Tamas Kadar, Nile Ranger etc…

  38. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    September 18, 2011 at 10:02 pm (Edit)

    “We dominated villa at their place 20/60% pounded them with far more shots(on target too), corners, less fouls & still they were apparently the better team cos they missed a sitter.”

    Clint, I’ve just updated my match report with stats from the game. The ones you mentioned were what the commentator gadgie was saying around half way through. The ones at the end of the game were:

    Possession: Aston Villa 45% Newcastle 55%
    Attempts on target: A Villa 8, Newcastle 8.

  40. Well,
    every report i’ve read claims 41/59% on the possession front mate.
    & some have villa down with 1 shot on target.

  46. One of asbo’s tweets was the claim that he was going to be replaced by the cheaper & younger Cabaye.
    He was right!
    Now we get good positive press coverage saying what a great signing Cabaye was & how well we played –
    & QPR get the bad publicity caused by ‘bargain’ asbo.
    Suits me!
    As we improve off the field as well as on the field then our image will improve.
    Now lets sort out Ranger!

    HWTL

  47. Exactly supermac,
    great point mate.

    Didn’t AP read Ranger the riot act the other day?

    If he can spin it around, he could still be a great player for us.

    Howay Ranger, sort it out kidda!

  48. Thanks Clint Flick mate – you got no work to go to? or are you skiving at work?
    The sun’s come out so I’m off to the garden.

    worky@37 There’s still Haris Vuckic, Tamas Kadar, Nile Ranger etc…
    Do you (or anyone) know where I can get a full list of players retained for 2011-12? Hopefully including their full playing record. I’ve seen the 25 registered with the PL – but this does not include youngsters or players out on loan. Cheers.

    HWTL

  49. supermac,
    i’ve just got there now mate.
    ;)
    Look in our players page mate.
    Also,
    nufc.com is pretty good for players etc.

    Enjoy the sun man.

    I’ll be back in a bit.
    ;)

  50. I hope we push on in the next few games and win every game before we come to that 3 week run of death against City, Man U and Chelsea as that will keep us afloat as its nailed down that we will probably lose, although we do better against the big teams for some reason.

  51. supermac says:
    September 19, 2011 at 10:31 am

    “One of asbo’s tweets was the claim that he was going to be replaced by the cheaper & younger Cabaye.
    He was right!
    Now we get good positive press coverage saying what a great signing Cabaye was & how well we played –
    & QPR get the bad publicity caused by ‘bargain’ asbo.”

    Cabaye had a very good game. But I also seem to recall that Barton scored and captained his team to a 3-0 victory and that once again, Karl Henry tried to hack him to pieces in the game and failed miserably.

  52. Aye,
    JB’s taking over at qpr, did ya’ see that vid of him hoying a bottle at a team mate in an interview?
    Wonder how long before someone gets the hump?

    KH is a lump like.