First off, and probably most importantly, this club is part of me; it's one of the most important things in my life (rightly or wrongly), I think about it-or things associated with it-many times a day. It's the club I grew up supporting, as did all of my friends. My Dad took me to my first match when I was 8 (and he's from Preston and wasn't particularly into football ) and I've been ever since. I mentioned a while back that my best mate who i got my first season ticket alongside died at the beginning of lockdown-well I saw his wife a couple of weeks ago (they lived in Stockport) and she brought with her a carrier bag, inside which were two of his favourite tops which she wanted me to have; he was cremated in his other one. I don't have tattoos but if I ever did, it'd be some sort of Newcastle montage inclusding the club crest. In school I used to daydream about scoring for Newcastle in the Cup final, all the while trying to draw the Bukta logo in my maths book. Some of the very best times in my life have been experienced following us home and away and there is absolutely nothing like that feeling of brotherhood when St James's is in full cry. And...well, there's loads....and the conclusion I've come to is...
I can't give it up.
I'd begun to wonder how I'd feel about still supporting us if the PL rejected the takeover and I was genuinely conflicted. Last Summer I took what I believed to be a huge step by cancelling my direct debit and deciding never to go back until Ashley has left-and I stand by that. He has ruined this club from top to bottom BUT it's still our club and we'll have it back one day.
And this is the attitude I'm going to take as regards the PL. I absolutely take on board everything Geordie says about not wanting to support a club playing in the corrupt PL and I agree with it to the extent of feeling like a hypocrite for saying I'm staying 'on board'. But, nevertheless, for the reasons above and many more, I can't give it up.
Sorry for rambling on but, really, the point of this post was almost to convince myself about what I should do and as I was writing, it just kept coming back to me that I couldn't walk away. I'm not pretending to be an uber fan or a footballing martyr (which is sometimes the case with this type of post) because I know my experience is felt and shared by everyone else on here. No, it's not the club I fell in love with as a kid, our owner is a cunt as are the adminsitrators of the league we play in and we've just had the biggest opportunity in the history of the club snatched away from us. But, much as I hate all those things, I love the club-and what it means to me-more.
Geordie, on a personal note, I hope you reconsider because it's clear that the club still means as much to you as it does to the rest of us.