To jack it all in....or not

[Zippity]

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.

[Geordie1974]

Cracking post Zip and can tell the emotion in it and the fact it is written from the heart. That is what I think will happen, when the dust settles things will go back to normal and our club will once again be also rans and whipping boys in the corrupt league.
If this takeover doesnt get resurrected, its my love for the club that has me giving up on it. Its not the fact there is money lost, that was the only deal on the table. If a consortium came in instead of them I wouldn't be thinking this way because the league would have given it the go ahead. We might not have became a threat.
Sport is about competing, achieving the maximum you can. The corrupt PL has stopped us doing that because they only want 6 competitive teams. We aren't one of them.
Now if people are happy to get a few players in before they go to pastures new to one of the "darling" teams then fine. If you are happy to watch Man City and the like thrash us 4,,5 or even 6 nil with us having 20 percent possession then fine. If you are happy to promote a corrupt PL by attending games and making the product look good then fine. If your happy to have a BT subscription, a Sky subscription when the top 6 have a bigger slice of the pie money wise from the TV deals then fine.
I love my club, I also have self respect and I will not stand there as if everything is fine while a corrupt league stand on our heads and prevent us from improving.
Take my word for it, we have suffered with Ashley without a word said because the PL, the media etc knew we are in our place with him in charge. Football at the top level in this country for all but a self proclaimed top 6 is dead. I want us out of the PL, I dont want my club associated with anything we now know it stands for.

[toptoon]

Two, opposing and well argued points of view.
Even having suffered the Ashley years, this takeover has left me even more disappointed with the situation the club finds itself in.
We now know that the PL is 100% a money making business and that sporting integrity is dead in this league. How can anyone support (even one of the chosen few big 6) in a set up like that? Football is all about hope and we now know that there is none for NUFC in the PL.
This league is fixed and teams like NUFC are there to make up the numbers and keep the money making machine running for those who own the clubs in charge. For me, any win for us from now will be hollow and we remain a sleeping giant until this corrupt structure in the ‘top’ league is broken.

[stillscalpels]

Two, opposing and well argued points of view.
Even having suffered the Ashley years, this takeover has left me even more disappointed with the situation the club finds itself in.
We now know that the PL is 100% a money making business and that sporting integrity is dead in this league. How can anyone support (even one of the chosen few big 6) in a set up like that? Football is all about hope and we now know that there is none for NUFC in the PL.
This league is fixed and teams like NUFC are there to make up the numbers and keep the money making machine running for those who own the clubs in charge. For me, any win for us from now will be hollow and we remain a sleeping giant until this corrupt structure in the ‘top’ league is broken.

The 'top' teams i.e. those who are bankrolled by billionaires would love a closed shop so they and they alone can have their pick of the top players while ensuring that those owned by lesser mortals are hamstrung as to spending power.

In fairness Ashley did save you from a bad situation under Dirty Doug and Filthy Fred but he should have gone some years ago and he might (?) have been remembered, if not fondly, then grudgingly as someone who did a job when needed. Sadly, Ashley has no morals and he's been content to watch 50-52K fans fill the stadium and pay out their hard earned cash knowing he didn't need to get into Europe cos you'd turn up anyway and he wouldn't have to shell out serious money on the very top players and their salaries.

Now the boat appears to have sailed due to the PL and no doubt the pressure put on them by the self styled 'elite' clubs. Ashley's ****ting himself since he needs money to bolster his flagging SD and to try and grab some of Debenhams stores... no doubt to fill with the type of ****e he's flogging in House of Fraser. If the Saudi deal falls through then you'll struggle to get someone who can afford to A) buy the club and finance it to attract the players you need to move into the top 6. By any standards you'd need to be a billionaire to bankroll a PL these days.

I can only guess how you all must feel after hopes were so high and so positive and hope that it does get resurrected, although it doesn't look good right now.

[Zippity]

Well given who you support that's very good of you to say.

Unfortunately, I think that ship has sailed. Ashley trying to personally resurrect the deal is like the medic in a soap opera when a much-loved character is about to pass away. They've been shocking the patient for ages and giving cpr...the Doc shakes his head sadly, looks at the flatline on the monitor and says no, let him go...Ashley jumps on top of the gurney and straddles the patient, frantically pumping up and down on the chest, screaming 'no. noooo, we can't give up, just one more shock, please!!!'

The Doctor gently puts his hand on Ashley's shoulder and says softly 'He's gone. I'm sorry...'

The screen fades to black to the sound of the flatline tone of the monitor.

[toonfalifekevbrown]

Well for me I didn’t watch much of the last 8 games
I refuse to put myself through any more of this absolute garbage the club serves up
Be it mike Ashley in charge pulling the strings
His ****e choices of managers he forces to the front (do these managers not have any self respect left.)
The players forced upon us ,let’s face it we have a lot of crap in the squad
So for me I will look out for results but will not watch another game until a new owner is in charge

[toonphil]

Well for me I didn’t watch much of the last 8 games
I refuse to put myself through any more of this absolute garbage the club serves up
Be it mike Ashley in charge pulling the strings
His ****e choices of managers he forces to the front (do these managers not have any self respect left.)
The players forced upon us ,let’s face it we have a lot of crap in the squad
So for me I will look out for results but will not watch another game until a new owner is in charge

I take a very similar view. Gave up even watching highlights for the rest of the season and had enough of politics getting too involved in sport generally. The empty stadiums were interesting initially but I've detached whilst fans aren't involved. Ashley, PL, no takeover are core reasons I'll look out for results for the time being.

[Geordie1974]

Just seen a statement on Twitter, "people say we are píssed off because we wanted to be the new Man City " to which the reply was "NO, we just want the old Newcastle back ".
I would go back in time without a shadow of a doubt. When we were shíte,but always had hope. Now we are shîte with no hope.

[toonlegend]

Just seen a statement on Twitter, "people say we are píssed off because we wanted to be the new Man City " to which the reply was "NO, we just want the old Newcastle back ".
I would go back in time without a shadow of a doubt. When we were shíte,but always had hope. Now we are shîte with no hope.

You can’t expect anything else when the media have hammered us for years for having “too high expectations” pfft

[Milburn9]

I'm with you Geordie and Kev. I couldn't honestly give a sh1t anymore. I've been watching the champs league matches lately because of my love of football, my love of Newcastle United is dying.