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This is true faith - issue 124 of Newcastle United’s number one fanzine and the most widely read supporters’ led publication in the UK. It’s been an interesting few weeks since the last issue came down the tubes but we haven’t skirted the issues. We’ve had an interesting transfer window and much more beside. All of that is covered is in TF124. We’ve covered all of the last month and a bit as well as much more from home and abroad. true faith – for fans by fans and we’ll never be never any different.
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NEWCASTLE UNITED FANZINE - THE ALTERNATIVE VIEW - 2015/16 SEASON
15/16
ISSUE 124
FEBRUARY 2016
FOLLOW
THE
LEADER
E-MAIL:
editor@true-faith.co.uk
WEBSITE:
www.true-faith.co.uk
EDITOR: Michael Martin
DEPUTY EDITOR:
Gareth Harrison
ART & DESIGN:
Glenn Ashcroft
& Michael Martin
ILLUSTRATIONS:
Marc Jennings
marcjennings.co.uk
PHOTOGRAPHY:
Matt Flynn, Colin Ferguson
& Carl Haynes
PROOFREADING -
Neil Huitson
WEBSITE: Glenn Ashcroft
& Michael Martin
COPYRIGHT: All items(c) true
faith. Not to be reproduced
without the prior permission
of true faith.
STATEMENT: This is NOT
an official product of
Newcastle United FC.
NOTICE: All views
expressed are the views
of the author and do not
always represent the views
of true faith.
CONTRIBUTIONS: All
contributions to true
faith are welcomed,
encouraged and considered
for publication - letters,
articles, photos etc.
NEVER FORGOTTEN:
L.J. & M. Martin.
NEXT ISSUE: TF 125
OUT: 25 MAR 2016
SUBMISSIONS
FOR NEXT ISSUE:
10 MAR 2016
© true faith.
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 3
Editorial.................................................... pg4
TBAWE...................................................... pg6
Introduction:AndrosTownsend...... pg10
JonShelvey-OneWayorAnother!.. pg14
Pavelandme......................................... pg16
Introduction:HenrySaivet............... pg20
Friendsacrossthewater.................... pg24
He’sthekeeper!.................................... pg26
Geordieshere,Geordiesthere......... pg28
Branded:Adidas..................................... pg32
JimmyHillfootballman.................... pg36
Newsfromnowhere........................... pg40
Drumsandwires................................... pg44
Feeleverybeat...................................... pg47
AkickaboutwithRobLee................ pg54
Cartoons.................................................. pg57
Introduction:JonjoShelley............... pg58
Moneyandshare................................. pg62
ORei......................................................... pg66
Goingdown?......................................... pg74
Coulda,woulda,shoulda................... pg78
Postcardsfromtheedge................... pg82
60secondseason................................ pg84
Piechartsandbadges........................ pg86
Pavel,PavelSrnicek............................. pg90
Windows2016..................................... pg96
Bowie-alife......................................... pg98
TheEnd...................................................pg102
Welcome to tf 124.
So, here we are in andaroundtherelegationspots,whichisprettymuchwherewe have been throughoutthe season and where wewere last May. For me,we are where we are onmerit. Sincethe last issuewas published we’ve hadsomedecentperformances,some woeful ones andas we head into the finalstraight for this season allwehavetosavourisagrimbattle against relegation.The pre-season ambitionsas articulated byCharnleythattheclubwastargetinga top eight finish and agood go at the Cups arelaughable given what wehavewitnessedthroughout2015/16.
Thingshavebeendifferentthis season however. FormuchofAshley’stenurewe
havebemoanedhislackofinvestment in the squad.It is arguable the positionwe find ourselves in nowisdirectlyasaresultofthecumulative impact of thatlack of investment overan extended period. Forall thatwecannotdisputewhat has been reportedashavingbeen invested inplayers over the last yearand a bit. The analysis ofAshley’sUnitednowshiftsfromlackofinvestmenttoquestioninghowprudentlyclubmoneyhasbeenspentand the spotlight fallsuponCharnleyandCarr inparticular.
Forroughly£25mbetweenthem,ThauvinandCabellacame and delivered little.Mitrovic at £12m hasshown in flashes whatCarr valued in him. Thereare others – De Jong and
Riviere who have yet todemonstrate anythingmuch to suggest theycanbe assets of NewcastleUnited FC. These areplayers who have beenscoutedextensivelybyCarrbutfromtheverymomenttheycrossedthewhite-lineinthePremierLeaguetheyhaveneverreallyconvinced.Ofcoursetherehavebeensuccesses too – Janmaat ,Mbemba,Perez,Wiljandumand Sissoko are goodplayers (there are otherswho have come and gonetoo–Cabaye,Ba,Debuchy)butwhenplacedalongsideMarveaux,Santon,Obertan,Goufrann, Mbwia therearemoremisses thanhits.Money and lots of it isbeing wasted.There is thewhole separate issue ofHatemBenArfaaswell.
Thelatesttransferwindow
saw the club shop in thedomesticmarketandbringin Shelvey and Townsend.On initial showings theylook to be very positiveacquisitions and obviouslyit’s to be hoped serve theclub for many years andreach their full potentialhere. It is good to seeUnited release itself froma strait-jacket of its ownmaking in regards to itsrecruitmentpolicy.
However, the prioritypositions the club hasneeded to recruit for atleast3-4seasonsremain.
AttheendofthisseasonIunderstand bothColo andS.Taylor will leave United.That will leave us withDummett, Lascelles andMbemba as our availablecentraldefenders.There’snowayCurtisGoodewilleverkick a ball in the Premier
editorial tf 124 February 2016editor@true-faith.co.uk @tfeditor1892
www.true-faith.co.uktf 4
League. So, no matterwhat division we happento be in next season, wehavetothemarketfortwocentre-halves and at leastonewithsomepedigreetoreplace Colo in particular.It’s my opinion, havingwatchedSanton labouronhis wrong side that we’velacked a proper left-backsinceEnrique left theclub.Theclub’sfailuretorecruitaleft-backinJanuaryplacesa big question over thewholeCarr-Charnleyaxis.
But it’s in attack wherewe are sorely lacking agood, proven goal-scorer.United appeared to belinked to several strikerswithamassiveamountofmoney offered for WestBrom’s Saido Berahinofailing to tempt theBaggies Chairman JeremyPeace. Charlie Austin onthe other hand moved toSouthampton for £4m.Ultimately however, theclubfailedtogettheplayerthey have needed sinceDemba Ba hit the roadto Chelsea three seasonsago and so we were leftwith Seydou Doumbia onloan from Roma who hasbeenvariouslydescribedasfantasticbusinessorapoorconsolation prize. We aregoing tohave towaitandseeonthatone.
Of course how the teamhas been set up is vital.We’veplayedreallywellonoccasion and in particular
Follow Michael on twitter
recently were full valueagainst West Ham andWestBromatapurringSJP.Butwe’vebeenlargelydireaway from SJP on far toomany occasions. McClarenseems incapableofsettingthe teamupon its travelsand we look confused,frightened and vulnerabletoooften.Overtheseasonthe Head Coach has flip-floppedwithvarioustacticsand formations but themost successful for me isonewhereweplayonthefront foot and attack. Bigquestions remain aboutMcClarenandI’llbehonesthe’sdonelittletoconvinceme he should last longerthan this season at themost but if he goes soshould Charnley and Carrwhoareas responsible forthisdisgraceofaseasonas
the man they brought tocoachtheplayers.
More positively, thepopularity of this daftwee fanzine goes fromstrength to strength. I amstaggered by the numbersdownloading and readingtruefaithandIknowIkeeprepeating this but one ofthe best decisions we’veever made has been toembrace the opportunitiesaffordedbythedigitalage.It’snohollowboasttosaytruefaithisthemostwidelyreadfanzineintheUKanditiscertainlythenumberoneNewcastle United Fanzineand the same applies toourpodcastandnewsletter.Wearehappytobendtheknee to the peerless nufc.comasthegotoplaceforproper,click-bait-freenews
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 5
onourclub.Butsoshould
the“proper”mediatoo.
There is a tsunami of
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internet but we believe
well-written, original
pieces of the type we’ve
beenproviding since1999
but now with added bells
and whistles are still far
more valued by you all
thanregurgitated,chopped
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That’s not our game and
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Weallhopeyouenjoythis
issue.
Keep On, Keepin’ On…
We’ve played really well on occasion and in particular recently were full value against West Ham and West Brom at a purring SJP. But we’ve been largely dire away from SJP on far too many occasions.
thru black & white eyesDec 11th - McClarenreckons that the only wayisupfollowingthebonkerswin against Liverpool andthat we ‘have enough’not to battle relegationthis season. Time will tellbut Spurs away looks likea daunting prospect. Nohome defeats this seasonand the only game theylost was an opening daydefeat against an abjectManchester United whodidn’tactuallyhavea shotagainstthem.Thatsoundslike something NewcastleUnited would do. Ourrecentrecordintheleagueat White Hart is good,oddly. It’s odd as we’rethe worst statistical awaysideintheleaguefromtheever present teams sincepromotion in 2010. Themassive caveat was theLeague Cup quarter lastyearwhichI’mjustfinishingcounsellingfor.
Dec 13th -Hahahahahahawhat a ridiculous win.
Didn’t really deserve to gobehind, and we showedsome attacking intent.CisseplayedwellandMitroandPerezareMILESbetterfromthebenchcomingonas impactplayers. Wegetdayslikethissorarely.Ontelly,infrontofthenation.Itdoesn’tnormallyhappentoNewcastleUnited.Itdid.Getin
Dec 16th - Fair play toMcLaren. He’s had a raregoodweekortwoasUnitedboss. He’s not gettingcarriedawayandisadvisingthatthere’sneveracrisisfarawayatNewcastleUnited.He’s spot on. The nextrun of games in winnablestarting withAstonVile athome – the biggest gameoftheseason.Don’tmessitup.Vileareterrible.
Dec 18th - If you’re notsure about why we wantto smashVile somuch– Iwroteareminder,here.
Dec 19th -Sigh.
Dec 20th -Yesterdaywasapileofwank. WedrankalldaybeforehandasIwantedto celebrate United’scontinued good form andthe ruin of the worst club,withtheworst fans, intheworstplace–intheworld.InsteadVilewerethebettersideinthesecondhalf.SiemDeJongman.Whatajokeofamiss.20downandIcould be sat onChristmasdaywatchingtherepeatofthat game over and overaswegoon to score5or6.Instead,wefaceEvertonandWestBrom–6and8points ahead of us in theleague. Cisse’s injury looksbad.Mitroisagoodplayer–Ithinkhe’llbegreat.He
isn’t a senior striker. Cisseistheseniorstrikerandhisrestoration to the starting11 has coincided with anupturn in fortunes. Hedoesn’t miss sitters either.Weneedhim.
Dec 22nd -Attentionturnsto January as the strikingsituation remains severe.Confirmation Cisse is setfor(another)lengthybreakistoughtotake. Riviere isnot good enough and notfit, so we go into Evertonwithout a striker on thebench. I don’t think anyother Premier League clubis as badly equipped upfrontasweare. Thenexttwogamesaremassive.
Dec 26th - One down,one to go. These ‘crucial’two games begin with anabsolute sucker punchwhichtheseasonmayneverrecoverfrom.93rdminute.
www.true-faith.co.uktf 6
It’s poor from Elliot. He’sproved me wrong by theway. He is good enoughtoplayinthisleague.He’sso slow off his line andponderous when the ballisintheair.He’scostusapoint,buthe’swonusmorethan he’s lost. One goalagainst two of the worstdefencesintheleagueinthelast week. Relegation stuff.McClarenwillbedoinghisnutwithMitro.Two sittersmissed – one so easy toscoreIcouldhaveknockeditin.We’redrawinggameswe should win and losinggamesweshoulddraw.It’sallvery2009.
Dec 28th -Farce.
Dec 29th - That wasjust rubbish. McClarenhas come out with guff,again, saying we deservedsomething. Wewereabitunlucky. Should have hadapen,probablydidenoughtoscoreASINGLEgoal,butthat’s it. McClaren is adinosaur.Stuckinthepast.Bournemouthmisschancesforfunbuttheycreate7or8ofthemagame.McClarenthinks having two shots agame, and missing one ofthem as sitters is enough.
It’snot.Thisisamanwho’sBoro sides scored just 12goals in 19 away gamesin TWO seperate seasons.He’ll take us down. Onepoint from Vile, EvertonandWestBromwhoareallbottom8.Pathetic.
Jan 1st - A new year.NewcastleUnitedwonjustseven games from 38 in2015.Goodriddance.
Jan 2nd - This is gettingridiculous.Playedwell,gotbeat.WhatdidIsayaboutlosing games you shoulddraw? We could havewon this game arguably.Arsenal prosper yet again.Steve isdelightedwiththeperformance. I’ve seenUnited play far worse andwin, but on the run we’reon–itdoesn’tmatter.Wehave less than a point agameaftermorethanhalfa season. That’s utterlydisgraceful.Nooneseemstopanicking.Alotofnoisesaboutincomingplayers.It’sa massive January. We’regoingdownatthemoment.Wecan’tscore.Weneedacentralmidfielderwhocanpasstheball,afastwingerand most importantlya centre half with PM
experience and a strikerwith the same. I’m notholdingmybreath.
Jan 9th -Out the FaCup.AGAIN. Hard tie, awayfromhometoaPremside.At least he played a fullstrength side. 8th and acup seems a long way off,Steve.
Jan 12th -Asigning!Areal,Premier League signing.Not from France (thoughapparently there’s a ladcominginfromtheFrenchleague) but from England.An international no less.Shelvey signs for £12million and Henry Saivetsignsforaround£5millionfrom Bordeuax. He playseverypositiononthepitchapparently. Well done allinvolvedattheclub.Noneof you should be involvedin a club this size but atleast something has beendoneaboutnothavinganycentral midfielders at theclub. Shelvey is a brilliantplayer. Often frustratingthough, his genius can bemaskedmymediocrity,butit’s there. I hope sectionsof the support don’t getonhisbackforacoupleofmisplaced passes. There’s
alsoagametonight.
Jan 13th - Last night was good. The first halfperformancewasdire.Themedia are full of patteraboutManUtdbeing‘back’as an attacking threat.They’re absolutely notback. A competent sidewould have stuck 4 or 5pastUnitedinthefirsthalf,instead the team fromManchester only got two.The second half was verygood. Great savebyElliotat32tokeepusinit.ThatmakesupforEvertonrightthere. Dummet. What ahit. Huge deflection. Evenbetter. We need to beatWestHamthough,who’vewon at Bournemouthtonightandareflying. It’llbe tough. We can’t startplaying football on 40minutes against them andexpecttowinthegame.
Jan 16th -JesusChristwhatwasTHAT.Well,immenselyenjoyable.It’sthefirsttimeUnitedhaveplayedproperlywell at home since thewin over Chelsea in early2013 after we signed alltheladsfromFrance.Eversince then it’s been poorgamesorcounterattacking
www.true-faith.co.uktf 8
football. West Ham aregenuinelythefifthbestsidein England and we madethemlookaverageforlongspells
Jan 17th - Transferspeculation season hasgonewellintooverdrive.Allsorts of patter about whowe’re‘tryingtosign’.Austinhas gone to Southamptonfor £4 million. It’s a steal.He never wanted to be aNewcastle United player,apparently for familyreasons. Fair play to him– no blame attached tothe club on that. If theyfail to sign a replacementhowever…..
Jan 19th - Saido BerahinoofWestBromseemstobetheonetheclubarenailingtheir colours to. I can’tsee West Brom selling toa potential relegation rival,butthenagainSwanseadid.Isincerelyhopetheclubdowhatever they need to do
togettheirmanasanother‘Lacazette’stylechasetheyknew they’d never win,wouldbemostdispleasing.
Jan 23rd - Another awaydefeatthistimeatWatford.Our third defeat of theseason to them. SteveMcClaren’s black n whitearmy.
Jan 25th - I can’t get myhead around how goodwe were against WestHam, and then McClarenchanging things like that.Whatwashe thinking? Ishethick?Thefirstgenuinelygood performance of histenureandRolandoAaronsisplayedatwingback,nextgame? Another defeatthough.Damaging.
Jan 26th - AndrosTownsendsigns.Good.Pacyanddirect.Tallandlean.Heisn’twhatNewcastleUnitedhasbeenover the past three years,so that’s good. Another
England international aswell. I need to lie down.This isgoodfromtheclub.Big money. Good playerstendtocostyouafewquid.Still, need that CF, LB andCB...
Jan 29th - No gamethis weekend so loads oftransfer speculation. Asidefrom Berahino loads ofspeculation about lads I’venever heard of coming in.McClaren is tetchy whenasked about a strikercomingin–thesignsaren’tgood.
Feb 1st - We don’t getour man fromWest Brom.Neverstoodachance.Wetake a lad called Doumbiaonloan.I’mnotthatgoodat names so the correctspelling of his namemaybe‘GAMBLE’ but timewill tell. For fucks sake.Again.Charnleycannotdoanything right. Apparentlyit tookAshley to call Levy
to sort out Townsend.
Howembarrassing is that?
Having to get your boss
to speak to your equal at
another club as he won’t
deal with you. Come to
think of it Charnley is like
ashorterLevy,worseathis
job. Chances arewe’ll get
relegatednow.Wecannot
score away from home.
McClaren is probably
fuming, rightly so. Let’s
see how he reacts against
Everton.
Fed 3rd - He reacts by
throwing the game. Of
course that’s not true but
I’dratherthinkofitlikethat
than the fact he had 10
days to prepare for it, and
churned outTHAT. Going
down with this man in
charge!
ALEX HURST - FOLLOW
ALEX ON @tfalex1892
thru black & white eyes
For more information or to donate online please visit www.sirbobbyrobsonfoundation.org.uk
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“Wemayhavethecartfinancially,butwenowneedtoboltthehorseson”;MikeAshely,May24th2015.NewcastleUnitedfoundthemselves18thinthePremierLeague,withtheseriousthreatofrelegationloomingovertheirheads.
Introduction:
ANDROSTOWNSEND
September 1st, 2015, andNewcastle United spenta total rumoured outlayof almost £50 millionpounds. Not a singleproven Premier Leagueplayerthroughthedoor,allforeignimportsbarringthelittle known Ivan Toney,signed from League TwooutfitNorthamptonTown.
January 1st, 2016,Newcastle United findthemselves 18th in thePremier League, with theseriousthreatofrelegationloomingovertheirheads.Itallsoundsalltoofamiliar.
January 31st, 2016, andNewcastleUnitedhavesofarspentatotalrumouredoutlay of almost £30million pounds. Twoproven Premier Leagueplayers through the door,bothEnglish,withanotherfaceinSaidoBerahinoalsopotentiallysettoarriveatStJames.Itallsoundstoogoodtobetrue.
MikeAshley,inallfairness,hasstucktohiswordthisseason regarding financialinput into NewcastleUnited, a club so starvedofinvestment,it’sbecomesomewhat rotted to thecore.Playershavecomein(and,inFlaurianThauvan’scase,swiftlygone),yetwestill find ourselves facing
LIAM NORRIS
down the barrel of agun set to shoot us withanother painful season ofChampionshipfootball.
How a club who spentalmost £50 million onplayers in the summercontinues to find itselfin a desperate, doggedrelegation scrap sixmonthslaterissomewhatunbelievable.
However,the£12mspenton Tottenham outcastAndros Townsend maywell representthe biggestchange ofd i r e c t i o nat the clubsince thei l l - f a t e d
tf 10 www.true-faith.co.uk
day Mike Ashley tookthe keys to St James offFreddyShepardwaybackin2007.
The change can bedefined in three words.Proven.British.Talent.
If Mike Ashely is honestwhen he says he has nosay in transfers, then afar bigger proportionof blame must beattributed towards chiefscout Graham Carr. Forevery Yohan Cabaye,Moussa Sissoko andGiniWjinaldum, is a lengthylist of expensive, foreignflopsfeaturingnightmare-inducing names such asYoan Gouffran, RemyCabellaandSiemdeJong.
However,withthesigningof Townsend, it seemsthere’s been a massiveshift in focus at theclub. I always asked thequestion ‘why have wespent £12m of FlaurianThauvan and RemyCabella, when players
of better, proven, Britishqualityareoutthereatasimilarprice?’
WhatyoucanguaranteewithTownsendisaplayerhungry to prove justwhat he can do on aregular basis, in front ofa manager, and fan basewho are willing to givehimtimetoshowushowmuchtalenthereallyhas.
Theboyhashisadmirers,myselfincluded.IthoughthisperformancesatSpurswereexciting,even ifhisendproductattimeswaslacking.Buthe’sonly24,andhasneverbeengivena proper run in a teamto improve on what isalready a very talentedandgiftedgame.Theendproduct will come withthe right training andencouragement.
He’s featured in Englandgamestoo,andimpressedon that stage too. Sincehis debut in 2013, he’sfeatured in ten games,
scored in three of them,andshownhecanmix itwith the best players intheEnglandsetup.Ifhe’sgoodenoughforEngland,he’s sure as hell goodenough for NewcastleUnited.
Sure,thequestioncanbeasked ‘where will he fitintoamidfieldwhichnowfeatures Jonjo Shelvey,Moussa Sissoko, GiniWjilandum, Henri SaivetANDJackColback?’
Its midfield packed withdecent players- a starkcontrast to the muchlamented front and backof the Magpies startingeleven.
However,formeatleast,the answer is obvious-he HAS to start. Whatwe lack,andhave lackedarguablysinceHatemBenArfa, is a thoroughbredwinger-andinallhonesty,BenArfawashardlywhatyou’dcallconsistent.
Since his debut in 2013, he’s featured in ten games, scored in three of them, and shown he can mix it with the best players in the England set up. If he’s good enough for England, he’s sure as hell good enough for Newcastle United.
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In Mitrovic we have apowerhouse striker, aplayer who can hold theballupwithease,hasthepotential to be lethal inthe air, and brings otherfront lying players intoplay. So far this seasonwe’ve been forced toplay too direct at times,not really being able toutilisehisabilityintheairdirectlyinfrontofgoal.
With the addition ofShelvey, we now have aCabaye-esque creativemidfielder. In Townsend,we now have a properwinger on our hands togive us more directionand options in gettingtheball into theboxandultimatelyscoregoals.
Furthermore, TownsendcouldwellrevealwhetherMitrovic is going to trulycomegoodhere,whichisarguablythemostdifficultthing to fathom so farthis season.The Serb hastalent without doubt,and the majority of hisperformances have beenmassively encouraging.However, there’s onerather damning problemforourmarqueefrontlinesigning - goals, or rather,thelackofthem.
Townsend will get balls
intothebox,whileShelveywillpingballstohimfromnowhere- much like hisdevastatingly effectivedebut against WestHam earlier in January.That brought goals, andaddingTownsendintotheequation is only going tocreatemore.
There is hope, for now,that after a reasonablysatisfyingJanuarytransferwindow Newcastle canstay up.With the moneythat has been spent, itshouldbecomfortable.
Alotofhope,expectationand responsibility liesat Andros Townsend’sdoorstep now. If not ona professional level, thenonapersonal level,asheclaims to be in the bestshape of his life, and hasalways had bags of self-belief. The onus is firmlyon him to prove hispotential right, and makealatebreakforaboardingpassonRoyHodgson’stripto France in the SummerfortheEuros.
However, the spotlightis firmly on you, SteveMcClaren. Ashley hasinvested,CarrandcohaveboughtBritish,andwenowhave a squad that shouldstayup-andwithease.
Steve McClaren, you nowCANNOT afford to fail asyoudidsoatDerby,Forestand England. Money hasbeen spent by the bucketload- albeit in the wrongplacesforsolong,butthathas changed this winter.There is no hiding place,
we don’t do brollies upin Newcastle, and theresureashellisn’tanymoreexcuses for continueddisappointment no more.Theball,quiteliterally,isinyourcourt,MrMcClaren.
In Townsend, we now have a proper winger on our hands to give us more direction and options in getting the ball into the box and ultimately score goals
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 12
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JonjoShelveydividedfansatSwanseaCityfortheentiretyofhistwoandahalfyearstayattheLiberty.Manyfansdidn’tevenwanthiminthefirstplace,Ithoughbelievedat£5mhecouldhaverealpotentialanditwasagoodpieceofbusinessbyMichaelLaudrup.
On his day he can befantastic, you’ve alreadyseenfirst-handinyourwinagainstWestHamthathelovestoplaytheambitiouspass andwhen they comeoff it’sa joy tobehold.Hecanbeequallydeadlywhenshootingfromtwentyyards.
Howeverhecanalsohaveoffdaysandwhenthoselongrangepassesdon’tcomeoff(andfrequentlytheydon’t)he fails to recognise thatsometimes the simple ballcanbemoreeffectivethantheambitiousone.Hecanhavearushofbloodtothehead as well and commit
silly fouls and is prone totheoddredcard.Heisalsovery inconsistent, capableofdoingsomethingbrilliantone minute and awful thenext.
IftherewaseveronegametobackupwhatI’vejustsaiditwouldbewhenhisformerclub Liverpool visitedus inSeptember2013.Hescoredafter just two minutesby dribbling into the box,producing a nice turn toopen up space beforescoring with a brilliant leftfooted shot. The Swansfans were still celebratingwhen he received the ball
just outside his own boxand went to slot it backto MichelVorm and failedto notice Daniel Sturridgelurking beyond the lastmanwhoacceptedthegiftto level the score just twominuteslater.
Heendedhisfirstcampaignwithsixgoalsinthirtytwogames.Agoodreturnforhisfirstyearofregularfootballin the Premier League andit includedoneofthebeststrikesI’veeverseen–a40yardhalfvolleyathometoAstonVilla.
In2014/5hedidn’tstartso well and picked
JONJOSHELVEYOne Way or Another!
STEVE CARROLLEditor of Swansea City Fanzine, Swansea Oh Swansea.
follow @StevenSOS1987
sosfanzine.com
www.true-faith.co.uk
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 15
upfivebookingsinthefirstsevengames,manyofthemfor dull things like kickingtheballaway.Hewasthensent off for two yellowsat Everton and received aretrospective ban after anelbow on Adam Lallanaat Liverpool which causedGarry Monk to hang himouttodryinthepress.
This public dressing downseemed to work though,and he was a stand-outperformer in the secondhalf of the campaign, hemanaged to cut out someofthoseneedlessbookingsand although he didn’tscoreasmanyasheshouldhave he was adding somevitalassiststohisgameandwas rewarded with a newcontractinthesummer.
Thisseasonhewasstarted
like a house on fire, aparticularhighlightwashisassist for Bafetimbi Gomisin the 2-0 win over theMagpiesinAugust.Howeverlikemanysincethenhehasfailed to perform and thatis why Swansea have onlywon twice since the firstfourgames.Theclubneededto raise funds to sign astrikertheysobadlyneededand obviously decidedthat Shelvey was a playerwe could do without.Theplayer also revealed in hisunveiling press conferenceoneortwothingswentonbehind the scenes whichmayhavealsocontributedtothedecision.
In theory more thandoublingyourmoneyonaplayerwhohasn’timproveda great deal in two and ahalfyearsisgoodbusiness.
But I thinkwe’ve takenanunnecessary risk selling toa direct relegation rival. Ifhecanrealisehispotentialthen the chances of youstaying up at our expensewill increase considerably.Swansea should have triedto sell him to a team inmid-tableifpossible.
From Newcastle’s point ofviewit’salsoarisk;£12misalotforaplayerwhomaynever become the finishedarticle. But then again ifSteveMcClarencanimprovehis consistency and curbhisrashtendenciesitcouldbe a master-stroke. In thelong termhewill probablydivideyourfanbase,butifin the short termhehelpskeepyouupI’msuretherewillbenocomplaintsatStJames’Park.
But I think we’ve taken an unnecessary risk selling to a direct relegation rival. If he can realise his potential then the chances of you staying up at our expense will increase considerably.
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Pavel and Me
You’llhavetoforgivethetitleofthis,asitgivestheimpressionthatIknewPavelpersonally.
ThatIdidn’tismostdefinitelyasadthingforme,asIlistentoandreadtributespaidbyformercolleaguesandfriends.Itappearsthathewasfuntobearound,enjoyedalaugh,andwas,intrueGeordieterms,a‘cannylad’.
Lofty
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What I’d like to do is givean account of two of myown brief meetings withone of the most popularblokesevertorepresentmyfootball club, and one ofmy own all time favouriteplayers.He’sonacannylistwithShearerandBeardsley!I think they both confirmthefeelingsexpressedbysomanyothersabouthimasaperson.
MyfirstexperienceofPavelwas back in around 1992or1993. Iwasworking fortheNorthEastAmbulanceService at the time, takingpatientstoandfromhospitalappointmentsinNewcastle.Aprettymundanedaywasunfolding on the way tothe RVI to be honest, butit was brightened when Ispotted Pavel standing in
thecarparkattheoldA&Eentranceforsomereason.
Imustadmit tohavingnoregardforfellowroadusersor the passengers in myambulanceat thispoint intimeasthedangerinherentin slammingon thebrakesseemed not to register.Completely star struck, Imanagedtowinddownthewindow(noleccywindowsin those days man) andstutterasentenceaskingifhewasalright.
Quickly sensing that I wascausing mayhem in theentrance to A&E, Pavelquietly,politelyandpatientlytold me he was fine andwasjustwaitingforafriend.Bythistimecarhornswerebeing sounded behind meon Queen Victoria Road,
but Pav took it all in hisstrideandinstantlycalmedthe situationby giving thepeoplebehindthatmassivesmile of his and a thumbsup. Order restored forseconds as the next fewcarsdidthesameoncetheyrealisedwhoitwas!
Eventually regainingsome semblance ofprofessionalism, I lookedbackatthebemusedfacesofmypassengers.Expectingharsh words for the holdup I offered the onlyapologyIcould...”It’sPavelman!!”... job done and nocomplaintsaboutbeinglatefor appointments. He hadthateffectonpeople.
Mynext encounterwasattheheightoftheentertainersperiod. Hundreds upon
Anyhow, this didn’t put him off spending a good ten or fifteen minutes with my little nephew and posing for a photo at the end. A small thing, but those few minutes of his time have stayed with both of us all these years later...
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hundreds of people millingaround Maiden Castle inDurham as Kevin Keeganencouraged open trainingsessions. I took my youngnephew to one of thesesessionsandwithhimbeingthegoalieinhisschoolteam,he was attracted towardsthe session involving Pavel,Mike Hooper and a youngSteveHarper.
Agoodhourspentwatchingendedwithacheekyrequestfrom me to Pavel to allowmy nephew to take someshots at him in the goal.Fearing rejection, I needn’thaveasPavinstantlyglovedupagainandshoutedovertotheretreatingSteveHarper(YouneedtoimaginePav’sCzech / Geordie accenthere) “ Stevie, Stevie. Givemeoneball”.
Oneball later,andtheboyflicksitupandhalfvolleysashotstraightatPav’sface.Idon’tthinkhe’shitasweetershot since.Time stood still
as I pictured Pav with abroken nose and missingteeth, but reflexes and selfpreservation kicked in andhe parried the shot away.“ Jesus!”criesPavel (againwiththatgreataccent)butthen realises he’s sworein front of a child, andimmediately apologises!Anyhow,thisdidn’tputhimoff spendingagood tenorfifteen minutes with mylittle nephew and posingfor a photo at the end. Asmall thing, but those fewminutes of his time havestayed with both of us alltheseyearslater.
Now these two tales areminute instances of Pavelas a bloke, and they arecompletely true. I’ve notrememberedthemwithanyemotionsotherthantotryand portray his effect onpeopleand Iwantedtotrytodothemanjustice.
They sayyou shouldnevermeet your hero’s because
you’llbedisappointed.WellI’m glad I’ve returned towriting this the day afterhisdeath(can’tbelieveI’vejust written that) becauseI’vecontinuedtoreadabouthim, and look at picturesof him with countlessstarry eyed children – andadults-andtheyallgiveasensethatnoonewaseverdisappointed when theymetPav,howeverbriefly.
Pavelgotwhatthefootballclubmeanttousall,buthealsogotusasapeopleandanarea.Andwhenyouputthose two things together,you get an outpouring ofemotions akin to one ofyourownpassingaway.
Ourownpersonalfeelingoflossobviouslycan’tcompareto that of his family, but Ihopetheycantakecomfortin knowing that we willalways remember him aspartofourfamilytoo.
Pavelis,andwillalwaysbe,aGeordie...
Pavel got what the football club meant to us all, but he also got us as a people and an area. And when you put those two things together, you get an outpouring of emotions akin to one of your own passing away
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PAVELSRNICEK-1968-2015
Anotherwindow,anothergamble.Introducing25year-old,SenegaleseinternationalHenriSaivet.MikeAshleyisamanwholikesagamble-it’sonlyahandfulofyearssincehewon£1.3monasinglespinofaroulettetable-butatwhatpointwillhestopgamblingwithourfootballclub,andchangehistactinatransferpolicythatcertainlyinrecentseasonshasfailed.Simpleasthat.Failed.Toomanyplayersforthefuture,andnotnearlyenoughplayersforthenowhasseenUnitedslumpintosuccessiverelegationscraps,andifyouthoughtlastseasonwasaclosecall,youcanbetthisseasonis-atthisrateatleast-isgoingtobeevencloser.Closertothepointwherethequestionhastobeasked-Agambletoofar,MrAshley?
Introduction:
HENRI SAIVET
Now, I’m by no meanswriting off Saivet beforehe’sevenkickedaball.Onthecontrary,SaivetlooksfarmorereadyforthePremierLeague than many ofthosewhohaveflownintoNewcastle Internationalbefore him did. At 25,
he’s more mature, more
physicalthanRemyCabella,
Flaurian Thauvan and
Siem De Jong combined.
Powerful, compact, quick
andcleverwithhisfeet-not
to mention a fine header
oftheball-therearemany
reasonstogetexcitedover
LIAM NORRIS
the potential here. Butthereitis,thatwordagain.Potential.Aby-wordfornewsigningsatUnited.Awordthat inabsolutelymustbereplaced by ‘proven’, andfast.
Signed from Bord-eaux fora report-ed £4.5m Saivetleavesbehindanarrayofadmi r-ers in
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Francegivenhissomewhatremarkable turnaround informthisseason.Theyoung-estplayerevertobehand-ed a professional contractat Les Girondins, Saivet’scareer got off to a brightenough start, becoming aconstant presence on theteam sheet under FrancisGillot.
Hopefully not an ominousfact,butduringthe2011/12seasonSaivetplayedontheopposite flank of currentUnited flopYoanGouffran,and helped Bordeauxqualify for the followingyears Europa Leaguecampaign, a campaign inwhich he would face andimpress United during thegroupstage.
Asithappens,the2012/13campaign would prove tobeSaivet’smost fruitful todate,ashescoredninegoalsinallcompetitions.Provinghimself to be industriousand powerful, coupledwith a creative edge andmaturity which won himmanyplaudits in France, itwould be the two gamesagainst United amongstmany more during this
particularseasonwhichfirstpiqued United’s interest-and Saivet’s stock wouldonly grow the followingcampaign as the Senegalinternational started 33of Bordeaux’s 38 leaguegames, scoring in six ofthem.
Despite Bordeaux’s erraticform,SaivethassparkledinFrance this season. Many,despitetheenormoushypesurrounding the formerFrench U21 international,had prophesised Saivet asanother for the scrapheapfollowing the previouscampaign which wassomewhatstuntedbyinjuryand time rotting on thebench.Startinghiscareerasawinger,Saivethasmovedintoacentral-midfield rolethisseasonandhasthrived.
It’s fair to say given ourdefensive frailties thisseason, Saivet offers thesort of protection frommidfield that has beensorely lacking.WhereTioteonceexcelledasamidfieldrock, his performances inrecent seasons have beenso porous he’s more akinto sand rather than the
mountain that in timesgone by attracted theattention of ManchesterUnitedandArsenal.
As forAnita,his reputationhas never fully recoveredaftersuchanunconvincingand lame start to hisNewcastlecareer.Thehopeis that Henri Saivet is theman to act as aplug to averyleakydefence,andboydoweneedit.
Saivet arrives withinternational pedigree, andit’llsurprisenobodytohearthat the now Senegaleseman donned the blue ofFrance for the majority ofhisjuniorcareer.
Born in Dakar, Senegalin 1990, Saivet’s Frenchconnection comes dueto the fact he grew up inFrance,makinghimeligibletoplayforeithernationality.Breaking into the FranceU16 squad in 2005, heimpressed massively,playingin15games,scoringon8occasions.
His stats were equallyimpressive at U17 level,playing21times,andfindingtheneton9occasions.His
The youngest player ever to be handed a professional contract at Les Girondins, Saivet’s career got off to a bright enough start, becoming a constant presence on the team sheet under Francis Gillot
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game time was restrictedsomewhatatU18leveldueto injury, managing onlyfourappearances,however,he again proved an asset,scoringonce.
His involvement at U21level was restricted mainlyto friendly appearances,asheonly featured intwoof France’s qualificationgames for the U21EuropeanChampionship in2013,a tournamentwhichthe French U21’s failed toqualifyfor.
At 22, Saivet’s allegiancewithFranceended, insteadchoosing Senegal as thecountry he wanted torepresent. Making hisdebut against Zambiain the Summer of 2013,his Senegal career hasbeen encouraging, if notsomewhat curtailed byinjury.It’sinterestingtonotethat Saivet’s deploymentforcountrydifferstothatofclub.Whenoninternationalduty, Saivet is a rightwinger, rather than thecentraldefensivemidfielderwe signed from Bordeaux.Versatility is only to ourbenefit,though.
So, what does the signingof Henri Saivet representtoNewcastleUnited?Well,clearlyitseemsourtransfer
committeecontinuetoseethe French market as onethatcanbeexploited.Onetheonehand,it’scleartoseewhy-aleagueawashwithyoung, technical playersavailable far cheaper thanour English counterparts.But for every MoussaSissoka andYohan Cabayethere’sten,twentyoreventhirty Yoan Gouffran’sand Remy Cabella’s. Wecan’t continue to pursueand risk inexperiencedoverseas talent when ourimmediate aim is survival.What good is building adynastyfromthedepthsoftheChampionship?
As our first signing ofwhat is arguably the mostimportant transferwindowintheclub’shistory,there’spressure on this boy toperform from the outset.For everyone associatedwithNewcastleUnited,thistransfer must prove to besuccessful.Saivet,onpaper,ticks all the boxes - muchlike many before him did.But looking a good fit onpaper is far different tolooking a good fit on thepitch.
With Jonjo Shelvey now adone deal there’s slightlyless of an omen on HenriSaivettobeaninstanthit.It is hoped, and expected,
thatmorearetofollowtheSenegalese through thedoor.Youcan’thelpbutfeelif Saivet was the last ofa handful of signings andhis entrance low key, wewouldn’t be kicking up asmuch of a fuss about theplayer’sorigins.
It’saanotherFrenchforay,andat£4m,astealaccordingtomanyinFrance.Let’sjusthopethisparticularforeignimport works out a littlebetterthanmanyofthosewhohavecome-andgone-beforehim.Here’shoping.
When on international duty, Saivet is a right winger, rather than the central defensive midfielder we signed from Bordeaux. Versatility is only to our benefit, though
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I’vealwaysbeenahugesportsfan.Igrewupplayingsoccer,baseball,andbasketball,sosportswerealwaysbiginmylife.I’mahugeNFL,NBA,MLB,andNHLfan,butIneverreallywatchedEnglishfootball,mainlybecauseofthelackofcoverageitreceiveshereinthestates.However,throughtheencouragementofmybestfriend,adie-hardfootballfan,Istartedwatchingjustbeforethe2014WorldCup.Iwasimmediatelyenthralledbythesport.Thegameisbeautiful,fromthesimplicityoftheobjective–toputtheballinthenet–totheintricaciesofawonderfulstringofpassesthatculminateinamagnificentfinish.Incomparisontoothersports,whereagamewithplentyofscoringcouldbeasnoozefest,Icanfindmyselfthoroughlyenjoyinga0-0footballmatch.AnotherthingthathasdrawnmetothesportisthewayinwhichEnglishfootball’sleaguesareconstructed.
In American sports, theworst team receives thehighest pick in the draft.However,inEnglishfootball,the bottom teams movedown to a lower division!This truly makes everygame vital to each team,
and gives each match the
intensity many games in
the states lack. I also love
thesmallerproximityofthe
teams that play in English
football.
Many times in the United
States, teams travelthousands of miles toplay opponents. However,in the Premier League, thefarthest distance betweenclubs is around 300 miles.Thegeographicproportionsof the clubs add to the
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intensity of the sport, asaway fans are often abletotravelandsupporttheirclub on a weekly basis.The rivalries, or derbies,asthey’recalledinEngland,are another thing that IloveaboutEnglishfootball.When I first saw thepicture of the proximityof Anfield and GoodisonPark, it blew me away.Tohavesuchrivalsbesoclosein distance is amazing,and it absolutely tells thestory of how crazy derbyweekcanbe.Finally, I lovethe fact that there areso many players from somany different places andcountries coming togethertoplaythesportthattheylove. In the United States,most of the players thatareprofessionalswerebornstateside.Everysooften,youwillseeaplayerthatcomesfromoverseas,butitisfewandfarbetween.Toseethewide spread demographicsin English football isincredible. It is great toseeSpanish,Dutch, Italian,French, English and other
nationalities playing onthe same pitch, puttingtheir different skills andtechniques together andplayingthebeautifulsport.
Now, for how I came tosupportNewcastleUnited.First, a bit about myself.As I mentioned before, Iam a die-hard sports fan.When I support a team,I am 100% behind themuntil the bitter end. As Iwas choosing a PremierLeague club to follow, Idefinitely did not want tojust pick one of the “Big4”.Ididn’twanttopullfora team just because theywereinChampionsLeague,orspentthemostmoneyinthetransferwindow.Rather,I would cheer for a clubthat represented my fanhood – a group of fansthat truly backed the clubnomatterwhathappened.EverythingIeverreadaboutNewcastleUnitedwasthattheir fans were the bestfansinthePremierLeague,andattheendoftheday,if the players played their
heartsoutandwent for iteveryweek,thefanswouldbe happy. It wasn’t aboutwinning titles (althoughthat would be welcomed),but it was about makingthecityproud.SoIchosetosupportNewcastleUnited.Ihavebeenwatching,andhavewatchedevery singlematchsince thebeginningof the 2014 season, andhave been infatuated withthe club ever since. I’lladmitthatithasn’tbeenaverysmoothstarttobeingaNewcastlefan.Fromthequestionableintentsoftheowner,tostrugglingthroughmonthsofJohnCarver,toalack of leadership in thesquad,ithasbeenpainfultowatch most matches.Andtobehonest, someofmyfriends that support clubslike Barcelona, Liverpool,and other bigger clubs,oftenaskme,“Whydoyoustill support Newcastle?”Tobehonest,I’vetakentheclubasmyown.Ifeelit’sapartofmylifenow–Iamconstantly readingtransferrumors, checking injury
updates,andsittingontheedgeofmyseatduringeachmatch. I so badly want tosee NUFC turned aroundand to be the club thefans deserve. I will alwaysstayloyaltotheBlackandWhiteuntil they return tothe glory that I can onlyreadaboutnow.
This is another reason Ilove supportingNewcastle– thehistory. I readaboutand watch videos onYouTubeofthebetterdays,often pulling up videos ofthe absolutely incredibleAlan Shearer and readingolder fans reminisceaboutthetimesthatwere.Whileit seems like contendingfor a Premier League titleissofaraway,Ihavefallenin love with the club, thefans and the history, andwill stand behind themuntiltheygetbacktothatpoint. I can say that aftertwoyearsofwatchingthePremierLeagueweekly,I’mamassive football fanandan even bigger NewcastleUnitedfan.
I would cheer for a club that represented my fan hood – a
group of fans that truly backed the club no matter WHAT...
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HE’S THE ‘KEEPER!
RobElliotwasbornintheSpringof1986inGreenwich,London.Hehasthusfarhadwhatcanonlybedescribedasamodestcareer.Afteroveradecadeofbeingaprofessionalgoalkeeper,heonlyhascirca170gamesunderhisbeltat
thelikesofCharltonAthleticandevenlesserluminaries,AccringtonStanley&NottsCounty.Despitealloftheabove,heisnowundoubtedlyahugelyintegralplayerifUnitedistosurvivethedreadeddropthisseason.
Under Alan Pardew’stenure, Rob featuredonly intermittently. Hewas clearly very muchnumber two to TimKrul and whenever hedid get the chance toplay,particularlyinhisearlierdays,NewcastleUnited based social
media was not kind. Iread some rather nastykeyboard warrior typestrolling not only hisperformance but hisphysicalappearancealso.
I think this is where partoftheproblemlies.NUFCsupporters, used to thisregime’s abject pennypinchingjudgedhimbefore
everproperlyseeingwhatthe lad could do. Whilst,everytimeIsawhimplay,the unjustified criticismwhich had come his wayhad me expecting a bitofaduffer,Iwasgenerallyrather impressedbywhatIwhatIwasseeing.
He has been thrustinto the limelightthis season followingKrul’s unfortunate longterm injury and whilstI was sorry for Tim, Iwas pleased that Elliotwas getting a properchance. As it stands,I firmlybelieve thatRobis the better of the twocustodians. For me, Krul
has given up on tryingto control his box andwas being beaten withalarming regularity byshots which frankly, heshouldbestopping.NacerChadli’s25yard‘effort’atthebackendoflastseasona hideous example ofwhichIjustcan’tseemtoforget. Krul has also hasdeveloped a tendency toparryshotsbackintoplay- something I loathe in akeeper.
How good is Elliot?Well, the evidenceprovided by somerecent performancesare very promising.Against Bournemouth
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he was astonishing,versus Spurs and Evertonhe rightly gained manyplaudits for his overallperformances howeverI would temper this bysaying he could’ve donebetteronthegoalsagainstinbothofthosefixtures.
In my opinion, alongsidehisabilityandexperience,even more importantelements Elliot bringsare his drive andpersonality.Here’s aguyused to mainly being asubstitute or playing invarious English footballbackwaters and beingthrust into the relativelimelight of NewcastleUnited clearly suitshim. I have read that heisparticularlyvocalinthedressingroomandyoucansee a bond is definitelydeveloping between himand the supporters. At
29, he should yet to becoming into his prime asastopperandthisshouldhopefully be to ourmutualbenefit.
I honestlywishwehadacouplemoreinhismould.We need more Captainson the pitch. He hassimilar battling qualitiesto the likes of KevinNolan and Joey Barton.These are the type ofplayerswerequireinourcurrent mire. Hopefully,one day our owner willcotton onto this fact.AsIsithere,finishingoffthisarticle, I have anotherglance at NewsnowNUFC on my laptop andallIreadaboutistheoddforeign player I’ve neverheardofandtrophyfuturemercenary types suchas Lyon’s centre forward,Alexandre Lacazette (!) Ifever there was a January
forhimtoseethelightit’sthisone.
Will Ashley suddenlyabandon his stringent“cheapyoung,continental- with future sell onpotential” model and ineffect,seethelight?
Despite the precarious
andpotentiallyfinancially
disastrouspositionhesees
his relegation threatened
clubcurrentlyresidingin?
Amazingly and tragically,
I think we all know the
answertothatone
I honestly wish we had a couple more in his mould. We need more Captains on the pitch. He has similar battling qualities to the likes of Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton.
S V B
GEORDIES HERE, GEORDIES THERE...
AgoodthingaboutlivinginsouthernSpainisthatyoudon’thavetotraveltoofartohaveagoodsummerholiday.WhereIlivethereisloadsofgoodbeachesandwearealsoonthedoorstepofAndalusia(Ed:SpanishBombsin…).LastsummerwedecidedtotakeafamilyholidaydownintheAlgarve(Portugal).OnlyamatterofloadingthecarupandtakingaleisurelysevenhourdrivedowntherewithafewstopoffsinAndalusia.
I received the usual pre-
holiday pep talk from the
wife“NOFOOTBALL!”and
to be fair I was in total
agreement with that. We
werestayinginapicturesque
littlefishingvillage,nextto
Tavira, 17 km east of Faro
andonlyafewmilesacross
theborderfromSpain.
Tony Higgins
BENFICA 0 SPORTING LISBON 1Super-taçaTrophy-09/08/2015,AlgarveStadium)Attendance:28,717
Theideawastorelaxandto
haveafewdayssightseeing
along the full stretch of
theAlgarveanditsAtlantic
coast line, which is very
impressive I should add.
Anyway a few days into
the holiday and I’m lying
on a sun lounger reading
the local sports paper.
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Reading Portuguese isn’tthat different to Spanishbut understanding thespoken word is anotherstory.So,thereIamreadingan article about Benficaplaying Sporting Lisbon, insomething called Super-taçaTrophy. “Look at this”I said to my oldest lad“Canny game, we will tryandsneakawayandwatchit in a bar”, at that pointthinking the game was tobe played in Lisbon. Thenmyattentionwasdrawntothe time date and venue.20:45,Sunday9thAugustattheAlgarveStadium.Ihadbeentothestadium,whenNewcastleplayedafriendlyagainstBragain2012,andIknewitwasonlyabouttenmilesalongtheroad.Wow!I thought, the PortugueseDerby Eterno on mydoorstep! I couldn’t missthat!Now,onlythepricklyissueofraisingfootballwiththe wife. It’s not that our
lassdoesn’tlikemegoingtofootball,itisjustthatIhaveformwhenitcomestothissortofthingandshethinksthat I plan it. During pastholidays ithashappenedafewtimes.OnceinTaragona(Catalonia) our holidaywas interrupted when Ifoundout thatBarçawereplaying Boca Juniors andalso Icanrememberbeingin the Italian Lakes whenMilan played Inter, twogames, I am sure you willagree,difficulttomiss.Iwillspareyouthedetailofhowthe negations went but Iwangleditandwewereofftothegame.
Wearrivedat the stadiumand happened to park attheendwhere theBenficafans were congregated. Ididn’thavethepleasureofgoingtotheREALStadiumof Light when the Magsplayed there in 2013 butwastoldthateveryonehad
agreat time inLisbonandthat both sets of fans goton well. However, lookingat the Benfica ultras theylooked like the type oflads not to be messedwith.ThinkofextrasonanAmerican prison movie ordramaseriestogetmydrift.Theirethicalmixcertainlyreflected Portugal’spast colonial exploits.It reminded me of colddarknights,ontheSevenSisters Road, after Spursawayinthe80s.
Next we had the smallhurdle of not havingtickets to get over and tobe honest I thought thiscould have been majorissue. Nevertheless, gettingour hands on some spareswasn’tasbigaproblemasI had envisaged. We weresoonapproachedbyatout,aswewerestickingoutliketheproverbialsorethumbs,andwhenIstartedspeaking
However, looking at the Benfica ultras they looked like the type of lads not to be messed with. Think of extras on an American prison movie or drama series to get my drift
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Spanish he retorted byanswering “Don’t worry Ispeak English” which hedid perfectly. Thinking hewasonagood thing,withclueless holidaymakers, hetriedtostinguswithsomeOTTprices,whichIlaughedoffandtoldhimwewouldtry our luck elsewhere.Which thankfully we didand soon we came acrosstwo lads offering us twotickets for theBenfica endat face value, €15 a pop!ThatstillmeantweneededanotherticketsoIdecidedtochancemyarmwithourmate the tout. When weapproached he had a biggrin on his face, “Nothingdoingtheneh?”
“YesandnoIsaid,wehavetwo tickets so now weonly need one” The smilesuddenly went from hisface and let’s just say wethenwangledagoodpriceforadecentseat,howeveritwasfortheSportingend.We decided it would bebestifmyoldestladwentinwiththeSportingfansandmeandtheyoungestmadeourwaytotheBenficaend.Onceinthequeueweagainstood out and soon somefanswereaskingwherewecame from. The BenficaladshadnothingbutgoodwordsforNewcastleUnited
and their fans. I oncehad a similar experienceat Athletic Bilbao, whereI wasn’t allowed to buya beer once they knewwhere I was from. Thingslikethatalwaysgiveyouanimmensesenseofpride.
Inside the ground theatmospherewaselectricasbothsetsoffansputontifodisplaysandtheusualarrayof flares, all backed up bya cacophony of noise.Thematchitselfwasquitegoodtooasbothteamswentforeach other from the off.Plentyofskillwasondisplayas the Portuguese leagueis awash with Brazilians.However, it was anotherSouth American, PeruvianAndreCarrillo, who scoredtheonlygoalofthegame,inthe53rdminute,towinthetrophyforSporting.Thegoalcanbeseenbelow.
TheBenficaladsweren’ttoohappy with that outcomeandagoodfewflareswere
thrown onto the pitch as
thegamegametoaclose.
Thismademeabitworried
on how I was going to
retrievemyoldestladfrom
theotherendoftheground
butasithappened,through
thewondersofWhatsapp,
we were able to meet up
withoutanincident.
Sothentofinishoff,anyone
that knows the Algarve
Stadium, an out of town
Meccanojob,willknowit’s
aballachetogetbackinto
Faro from. Nevertheless
after a few quick drinks,
in a local hostelry, we
managedtogetataxiand
rendezvous with my wife
and daughter. They had
spent a nice evening in a
restaurant at the marina,
oblivious to the fact that
one of the biggest derbies
inEuropewastakingplace
a just a couple of miles
away. Alls well that ends
well!
You can read Tony’s excellent e-book: A Homage To Murcia, get it here
The Benfica lads had nothing but good words for Newcastle United and their fans. I once had a similar experience at Athletic Bilbao, where I wasn’t allowed to buy a beer once they knew where I was from.
true faith has alwaysprovided a platformto fans to write abouttheir club and give theirown opinions on whatis currently going on atUnited as well as thedifferent perspectives ofourclub’shistoryandthewidergame.Oh,weloveabitnostalgiaandhistory.
There is no typical truefaithwriter,theycomeinall shapes and sizes andinclude home and awayzealots. young lads and
lasses,veteranfans,seasonticket holders, exiles andwhateverelseyoucaretomention.
You don’t need to be apreviously publishedwriter or have any fancyqualifications.Allwecareabout is whether youhavealoveforNewcastleUnitedandawilltoinformandentertainyour fellowsupporters.Wedon’tcareif your opinions are thesame or are similar tothe editorial position of
true faith and in fact we
welcome those that are
completely opposite in
honesty.
You might want to write
detailed exposes of the
United financial and
business model or you
mightwanttodoamatch-
reportoryoumightwant
to do something we’ve
nevereverconsidered.
We also like dipping our
toes into the waters of
music, film and fashion
soifthat’syourforte,just
dropusalineaswell.
Don’t forget, we
welcome all cartoonists,
photographers and
designers to join us as
well, so whatever your
talent, we can put you
to work with the aim of
establishing true faith as
the best fanzine for the
best supporters in the
wholeworld.
All emails to editor@
true-faith.co.uk
truefaithhasbeenestablishedsince1999asoneofthemostsuccessful,influentialandbest-sellingfanzinesinthecountry.ItssuccessisbaseduponthecontributionsofNewcastleUnitedsupporters.Aswemoveintothedigitalageandtakeuptheopportunitiesfornewformsofsupporterexpression,truefaithisattheforefrontofthenewfanzinecultureanddevelopsitsdigitalfanzine(whatyouarereadingnow),itsmatch-daye-newsletter,TheSpecial,itsPodcasts,itsvideo-blogsandofcoursethewebsite.Wehopetobepositionedforanythingelsethatdevelopsoverthenextfewyearsaswell.
Write for true faith
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 31
Manyofthebrandsmentionedwithinthisseries,aresynonymouswiththesubcultureoffootballcasuals.Itcouldbeargued,thatcertainlabelsactuallyowetheirpopularitywithintheUnitedKingdom,togroupsofawayfanstravellingthecontinent.Thereisoneinparticularhowever,thatduetoitsmainstreampopularityandworldwideacclaim,waspopularthroughoutmanywalksoflifebeforeitmadeitswaytofootballterracesacrosstheUK.
Founded in 1949 byAdolf “Adi” Dassler inHerzogenaurach,Germany,Adidas is widely regardedas one of the best andmost recognisable brandswithintheworldofsports.Originally set up in hismother’s kitchen, Dasslerintendedtoproducesportsshoes for athletes shortlyafter his return fromWorld War I. Joined byhis brother Rudi in 1924,the pair began producingfootwear together, underthe moniker “GebruderDassler Schuhfabrik”. Asthe company expandeddue to exposure at the1936 summer Olympics(DasslerdrovefromBavaria
BRANDED: ADIDAS Ross Jenkins Follow @_Jenky88
totheeventwithabagof
runningspikes,successfully
managing to persuade
participating athletes to
compete wearing them),
the brothers were selling
inexcessof200,000pairs
ofshoesayearintheyears
leading up to World War
II.Withbusinessbooming,
thepairwouldsplitin
1947,aftera
bizarre
miscommunicationwithin
an air raid shelter a few
years earlier. Rudi Dassler
went on to create rival
tf 32 www.true-faith.co.uk
When it comes to the brand’s place in the hearts of football casuals and those on football terraces, the love affair began at the same place as it did for Dassler himself-footwear
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 33
company Puma, with AdiDassler founding Adidasin response. The popularthought that the name isanacronymforthewords“All Day I Dream AboutSports”, is actually anurban myth-the brandsnamesimplybeingcreatedaround the name of itsfounder,AdiDas(sler).
When it comes to thebrand’splaceintheheartsof football casuals andthoseonfootballterraces,theloveaffairbeganatthesame place as it did forDassler himself-footwear.In 1979, Adidas releasedthe Forest Hill silhouette.
A simple tennis shoe, itcomprised of a whiteleather upper, a yellowmidsole and gold threestripebranding-thiswastobe the trainer with whichthebondbetweenfootballfansandAdidaswasborn.Many other Adidas stylesfollowed that wouldappealmassively to thosefond of casual style (andmanyoftheirremakesstilldo, which we’ll get ontolater).The brand followedupwithclassicssuchastheBeckenbauer,SL72,Samba,Gazelle,Spezial,Hamburg,TrimmTrabandtheAdidasHandball, just to name afew. Often derived from
football boots the playersthey were watching fromtheterraceswerewearing,thesilhouettesmentionedabove,amongmanyothers,quicklybecameastapleofthe casual style and thethree stripe branding wasimperative to be had onyourfeetifyouweretoberecognised.
Like most other casualtrends, where the originsof Adidas within thesubculture began isstill argued about tothis day. Like many ofthe continental brandsbroughtbacktotheUnitedKingdom however, the
change in style from thatof the “boot boy” casual(to any young readers-the song probably makesmore sense now), to themuch smarter, sportswearorientatedcasualislargelyattributed to Liverpoolfans.Theirreasoningforthechangewas that they feltmanypoliceofficerswouldstillbeonthe lookout forthose in Doctor Martenboots with shaved heads,whilsttheywouldbeabletogoabouttheirbusinessinafarlesshassledmannergiventheirsharp,highendappearance
One of the brands mostpopular ventures, wasthat of the City Series.Originally released in theearly 70s, the pack waslaunched in two separateparts-European Cities andthenNorthAmerican(thelatter being released inthe late70’sandfinishing
in the early 80’s). Manysilhouettes were releasedhowever the Berlin,Hamburg, London andStockholm models wereparticularly popular. Thecolours were striking andthe series was seen assomethingdifferenttothestandard Adidas trainersavailable at the time. Inkeeping with this line ofthinking,oneofthebrand’smost notable ability wasto keep up with the everchanging styles withinfootball. Whilst brandswouldcomeandgo(whatwas once Fred Perry andSlazenger, quickly becameLyle & Scott and Lacoste.NextwereFilaandSergioTacchini as sportswearbecame the man of thehourbeforehighendbrandssuch asArmani,Valentinoand eventually StoneIsland took over), Adidaswasalwaysaconstant.Forall there were numerous
other sports relatedbrands that were popularwith casuals at the time,anotherchoiceoffootwear(at leastwhen it came totrainers)wasrareaftertheaffiliationwasborn.Adidaswere able to evolve andproduce silhouettes andthat complimented theever changing, fast pacedcasualbrandslistandstyle,allowing them to remainthe main choice for thefashionableterracegoer.
Fast forward to themoderndaygameandforall as we’ve said before,football hooliganism hasdecreased massively, thecasual style is still thereand with it, is Adidas.Still a staple on standsaroundtheUK,theAdidasOriginalsseriesalongwithnumerous special editionremakes and re-releasesof old classics ensurethat the brand is still a
One of the brands most popular ventures, was that of the City Series. Originally released in the early 70s, the pack was launched in two separate parts-European Cities and then North American
www.true-faith.co.uktf 34
Adidas as a brand, but their trainers in particular are regarded not only as classics, but as current favourites, simply because the name resonates with football fans around the world
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 35
favouritewithfootballfansspanning all ages-eitherthose wearing remakes oforiginalstheyusedtoown,orthetimelesssilhouettesstill appealing to youngerfansastheyhavedoneforthe last forty plus years.To return to some of thestyles mentioned earlierin this piece, you’ll onlyhave to take a quick lookaround SJP on a saturdayafternoontonoticeplentyofGeordies,youngandoldsportingapairofSpezial’s,or Hamburg’s. One oftheir most celebratedsilhouettes ever that hasseen a gigantic rise inpopularityoverthelast24monthsistheStanSmith-whilst not necessarily ahugefavouritebackintheprime of casual fashion,it isa traineryouwill seeso regularly in the standstoday, you will almostbecome immune to it. Itis also further testamentto Adidas’ ability to stayrelevant as abrand, alongwithbeingabletocontinueand strengthen that bondnot only with the gameoffootball,butwiththosewholoveitso.
Adidas as a brand, buttheir trainers in particularare regarded not only asclassics, but as currentfavourites, simplybecausethe name resonates withfootball fans around theworld.Whilst others suchas Nike and (to a lesserextent) Umbro sponsorteams and produce gearthat many of us enjoywearing, Adidas, when itcomes to footwear, is theone everyone agrees on.
Adidas brand consultant,Adidas X Spezial curatorand self confessed traineraddict Gary Aspdensummed the brand upexcellently within theworld of football for me,whenhesaid:
“Despite the way that
the whole football casual
fashion would change
really quickly, Adidas is one
of the brands that remained
constant throughout it”
Us as a group of fans inparticular, probably holdAdidas closer to us thanmany others within thefootballingworld.Inanerawhenwe’restuckwithshitePumanumbersthatcloserresemble bin bags thanfootballshirts,IconstantlyfindmyselflookingbackattheoldAdidaseffortsthatmy Mam and Dad wouldrepeatedly buy me as abairn (head to toe-socksand all, worn only with apair of Adidas Predators-that means the boots onthe pitch and the traineralternative off it). Thatgrandadcollarfrom95/96,the shield on the back ofthe97/98kit,theawaykitsofboth95/96and96/97-thesearethememoriesofAdidas I have and cherishandthatlovehasadaptedinto an appreciation fortheir footwear as i’vegrownolder.I’msuremanyother fans are the sameand it is for that reason,thebondbetweenfootballfans andAdidas, footwearand all, will continue tostandthetestoftime.
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Jimmy Hill:Football ManJimmyHillleftalegacywhichisunparalleledinthemoderngame.Youmaynotlikeeverythinghedidbuthewaslargelyresponsibleforthewayprofessionalfootballlookstoday.Hillwasnotanoutstanding
player, appearing for
Brentford as a teenage
before joining Fulham
in 1952, helping them to
promotiontoDivisionOne
in May 1959. He played
over 300 games for the
Cottagers, appearing
alongsidethelikesofJohnny
HaynesandBobbyRobson.
The highlight of his careerwas scoring five goals inan away match againstDoncasterRovers.
Itwasasaunionorganiserthat he first came toprominence, however,campaigning through theProfessional Footballers’Associationagainstthe£20maximumwageuntilitwas
scrapped in 1961. One ofthe chief beneficiaries washis old mate Haynes, whomoved on to a reputed£100perweek,morethanfivetimestheaveragesalaryatthetime.
After he retired Hill tookoverasmanagerofCoventryCity, leading them fromDivisionThree to the First
WALLACE WILSONFolow @WallaceHWilson
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Division. His wide ranginginnovative approach wassoon in evidence fromchanging their kit to SkyBluetointroducingthefirstcolourmatchprogrammes.Heevenpennedanewclubsong called The Sky BlueSong, based on the EtonBoatingSongandorganisedpre-match entertainmentto persuade fans to getthematchearlyandspendtheirmoneyintheground.A career beckoned as asuccessfulmanager(hiswinpercentage with Coventrywas44.5%)butinsteadheopted to enter the worldof broadcasting, becominghead of sport at LondonWeekendTelevision.
Ashebecamemorewidelyknown he was comparedto Bruce Forsyth, havinga similarly over-endowedchin(usuallycoveredwithagoateebeard).However,he quickly becamerecognised for his incisivemind as he revolutionisedthe way football waspresentedonTV.
He fronted ITV’s coverageofthe1970WorldCupandit was his suggestion tointroduce television’s first
panelofpundits-MalcolmAllison, Derek Dougan,Paddy Crerand and BobMcNab. They were eachpaid £500 but instead ofbeing flown to MexicotheysatinastudioinWestLondon and argued aboutwhattheyhadseenthrougha live feed. England’s AlanMullery (later a pundithimself) was so annoyedatwhatwassaidabouthisperformances that on hisreturn toEnglandhewentto the studio to throw hisEnglandcapatAllison.Theviewerslovedit.
One incident sums up hisenthusiasm for football. In1972, the linesman (stilllinesmen then), pulled amuscle and was unable tocontinue. A request wentout over the tannoy atHighbury (still Highburythen)askingforaqualifiedreplacement or thegame would have to beabandoned. As a qualifiedreferee, Hill donned atracksuit and trainers twosizestoosmalltostepintothebreach.Helovedbeinginvolved and in front of acrowd. His involvementwithArsenalpredated that
as he wrote the lyrics fortheirCupFinal song‘GoodOldArsenal’in1971whichsubsequently won a golddisc!
Following his successfultransfer to the TV studiowithITV,theBeebpoachedhimtoheadupMatchoftheDay, taking over from thepeerless David Coleman in1973.WhileheadinguptheBBCcoverageheprovokeda long-running feud withScottish fanswhobelievedthat he had a bias againstplayers and clubs northof the border. Some Scotseven turnedupatEnglandScotland matches wearingfalse chins and unfurlingbannersclaiming‘JimmyHillisaPoof’.Nevertheless,heanchored the programmefor 15 years, making over600appearancesbeforehe,in turn, was replaced byDes Lynam. Most fans ofthe show thought he hadoverstayed his welcome.Inevitably,insuchapositionhe was responsible for anumberofon-screengaffes:
‘England now have three fresh men with three fresh legs’
He fronted ITV’s coverage of the 1970 World Cup and it was his suggestion to introduce television’s first panel of pundits
www.true-faith.co.uktf 38
“It’s a cup final - and the one that wins it goes through’
‘We’re not used to weather in June in this country’
‘And there’s Ray Clemence, looking as cool as ever out in the cold’
Even here, however,not quite a match forColemanballs…
Whilst at the BBC Hillreturned to work atCoventry City first asManaging Director in1975 and subsequently asChairman. It was in thisrole, at a crucial relegationmatchathome toBristolCity at the end of the1976–77 season, Hill wasadvised to delay the kickoffby10minutes for fansstill outside caught in theheavytraffic.Themackems,who were also facingrelegation, were playing atEverton and kicked off ontime, eventually losing thegame 2–0.The Sunderlandresult was flashed up onthescoreboardatCoventry.
Coventry’sgamewithBristolCity stood at 2-2, a resultwhich meant that bothteams stayed up and themackems being relegated.Hill was subsequentlyaccused by mackems ofmakinghisplayerspasstheball around in their ownhalfforthelast10minutesofthegame,therebysavingCoventryfromrelegationattheirexpense.Hilarious!
A subsequent FootballLeagueinquirywasheldbutHill, who at the time wasalso inaseniorpositionattheFootballLeague,didnotstandtoonesidewhiletheinquiry was held.Coventrywereaskednottointerfereagain but the result stood.Obviously everything wasaboveboard.…
In1999HillmovedtoSkySports where he headedup Jimmy Hill’s SundaySupplement, a discussionprogramme which wassupposed to take place inHill’skitchenoverbreakfast.Thefactthatitwasfilmed
onanindustrialestatenearHeathrowdidnotstopHillfrom claiming he was justpoppingout to thegardenwheninfacthewasheadingoutofthefireexit.
While with Sky, he causedoutrage by defending RonAtkinson’sracistcommentsin2004whichhesaidwasthelanguageofthefootballfield.Hillwentontosay
“In that context, you wouldn’t think that words like n****er were particularly insulting: it would be funny. Without meaning to insult any black men, it’s us having fun... I mean, n****r is black - so we have jokes where we call them n****s because they’re black. Why should that be any more of an offence than someone calling me chinny”?
His comments weredescribedas‘mind-boggling’bythethendirectorofKickItOut,football’santi-racismgroup.Heshouldhavebeensacked.
His comments were described as ‘mind-boggling’ by the then director of Kick It Out, football’s anti-racism group
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 39
But itwasasan innovatorthatHillisbestremembered.He commissioned the firstEnglish all-seater stadiumat Coventry, lifted a banonplayermediainterviews,introduced the firstelectronic scoreboard in1964andin1965wasthefirst to show a live matchvia CCTV on four giantscreens while at Coventry.He has also been creditedwith the introduction ofthe three points for a winsystem, pioneered in 1981which has subsequentlybeen introduced world-wide.This,morethanmanyof his other innovations,couldbeseenasapositivedevelopment, persuadingawaysidestogoforawinwhere before a draw wasseenasagoodresult(stillisinsomeplaces).
These innovations havehad a significant influenceon the way the game isplayedandwatchedacrosstheworld.Theintroductionof all-seater stadiums wasseen as the panacea afterthe Hillsborough disasteralthough subsequently the
truthhascomeoutthat itwasprimarilyduetocrowdcontrolmismanagementbySouth Yorkshire Police ontheday.Itgavetopclubsanopportunity to control theenvironment within theirstadiumswhilemaximisingrevenues from supporters.Overrecentyearswehaveseen a reaction to thissterilised experience withthecampaignsforstandingin British stadiums, basedon the German model,giving people a choice ofmatchexperience.
The shirt sponsorshipHill introduced while atCoventry, has led to thedesecration of club shirts,becoming little more thanadvertising hoardings fora variety of organisations,ranging from Unicef tow***a. I am not alone inthinking that the classicshirtfeaturingaclubbadgeonthefrontandanumberon the back looked justfinebut itdidnotproducethe money the apparentlyinexhaustible greed of thecurrentgamerequires.
As ever, when someonejoins the choir invisible,there is a tendency tooverlookthenegativeandhighlight the positive butoverall, Hill’s contributionwas a mixed bag. Someof his ideas have led toa move towards a morecommercially orientatedgame - shirt sponsorship,all-seaterstadiaandsoon.Some were justified - thelifting of the maximumwage, 3 points for a win.Some were flawed inthe implementation -football pundits - I giveyou Robbie Savage andPaul Merson. Some werejust plain wrong - ‘GoodOld Arsenal’?! However,what was unusual is thebreadth of his innovationand influence. Only GaryLinekerhasmanagedsuchasuccessfulTVcareerafterretiringfromplaying.Heisalso remembered fondlybyCoventryCityfanswhonamed a bar after himin 2007. Jimmy Hill diedon December 19 2015 attheageof87afteralongbattle against Alzheimer’sDisease.
Some of his ideas have led to a move towards a more commercially orientated game - shirt sponsorship, all-seater stadia and so on. Some were justified - the lifting of the maximum wage, 3 points for a win
IcanbynomeanscallmyselfafullypaidupmemberoftheHeedArmybutIdohaveahugesoftspotforGatesheadFC.OverthelasttwentyoddyearsIhavetriedtogettoafewgameseveryseason,obviouslythisismoredifficultthanitsoundsbecauseIliveinSouthernSpain.
Duetothatgeographyissueand work I missed theirrun to Wembley in 2014.However,Iwastherewhenthey played Darlo in thesemi-finaloftheFATrophyin 2011. That game goesdown as one my favouriteaway trips in recent years.Gateshead had a goodfew of well let’s just saythemoreexcitabletypeoffan with them that day.At the end of the gamewewereall inafineDarlohostelry, enjoying a post-matchbeer,whenDurhamConstabulary entered thebartokindlyadviseusthatagroupofDarlofanswerewaitinginanotherbar.Theirintention was to give us a
less than friendly send-offback toTyneside.This wasthe trigger for one Heedwagtopipeup“Wheywhydivintyelotf*ckoffthen?”the lookon theplods facewaspriceless!
Anyway,thispre-Christmastrip home, to see myparents, coincided with ahome game against fanowned Chester FC, a clubthat I have a lot of timefor.ChesterFCwasformedby fans from the ashes ofliquidatedclubChesterCityand you can watch their story here.
Sothenitwasanobrainer,I was off to the match
and the editor of this finepublication said that hewouldjoinme.
I decided that a few prematch bevies should bepartakenonGatesheadHighStreet,Ihadn’tdrankthereforyearsandthoughtitwasagoodaplaceasanywhere.BehindtheglitzoftheSage,Baltic, Millennium Bridge,newcinemaandnewTescothere is still an overridingstench of poverty andhardship on the streets ofGateshead. The NorthernPowerhouse, I wonder eh?Pawn shops, charity shopsand bookies…same oldstory.BythewayImisstheiconic Get Carter car park
Gateshead 1 Chester 0InternationalStadium,28/11/15,Att:842
Tony Higgins @higgins1892
NEWS FROM NOWHERE - GATESHEAD REVISITED
www.true-faith.co.uktf 40
andtheTrafalgarpub,whichalways was so welcoming,especiallyforChelseafans.
After a couple of beers Idecided to walk the shortdistancetotheground,justasthemid-winterduskandcoldbegantocut in. Ihadforgotten how quickly itgets dark at that time ofyear in the North East.AsI walked along, pulling mycollaruptoprotectmefromthewinter chill, I surveyedthe landscape. ClarkeChapmans, that employedthousands of people, nowgoneand replacedbynewhouses, which make upthe new Old Fold Estate,which probably has adifferentnamenow?Ireadabigsignthatstates“LoveInnovation,LiveGateshead,Love Gateshead”. Behindthesignliesahugeplotofderelictwasteland.
I reached the ground justbefore kick-off to find thebar closed and bizarrely,just a few weeks before
Christmas, the clubmerchandiseshopisclosedalso. So with nothing elsetodo Igoand findaseat,in the sparsely filled Tyne&WearStand. Ithasbeenwrittenmanytimesbeforebut Gateshead FC really
need to have their own
stadiumsoon.Nodisrespect
toGatesheadcouncil,who
have provided a place for
the club to play, but the
International Stadium is
justnotafootballstadium
and to make matters
worse is freezing on a
late November Saturday
afternoon.AsIfindmyspot
GroovyTrainbyTheFarmis
playing over the stadiums
PAandthattakesmymind
offthecoldforabit.
Thematchwasthefirstone
forTheHeedsnewmanager
Neil Aspin. Gateshead lad
Aspin watched the game
fromthestandsasreserve-
teambossMickyCumminstook charge. Aspin’s firstinterviewasHeedbosshere.
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 41
The match was the first one for The Heeds new manager Neil Aspin. Gateshead lad Aspin watched the game from the stands as reserve-team boss Micky Cummins took chargE
Gateshead started thegame brightly but itwas the visitors whocame closest to openingthe scoring. Tom Shawcollected the ball in thearea and managed to slipitunderneathSamRussell,only for Simon Ramsdentoclearitoffthelinewithalast-ditchslide.Thegameebbed and flowed but atthe interval the teamswent in levelat thebreak.Thesecondhalfwasmuchof the same fayre and ittookanowngoaltobreakthe deadlock. Gateshead’sHamilton, who had beenlively all game, receivedthe ball on the left-handside of the box and hisshotacrossgoalwasturnedinto his own net by AlexWhitmore on 82 minutes.AnervouseightminutesorsotickedbybutthankfullyGatesheadmangedtohangontothewelcome3points.The Heed had only wononeoftheirlastninebeforethisgame.Matchhighlightscanbeseenhere.
AfterthegameMr.Edandmedecidedtoheadtotheofficial home ofThe HeedArmy,TheNagsHeadPubinGatesheadTownCentre.Formethereisnothingquitelikeapost-matchtypicalBritishboozer. Instantly I got thefeelingof camaraderie andtogetherness, something IhavetosayIfeelismissingsomewhat a couple ofmiles across the river. Iam asked what I want atthe bar and I opt for apintofExhibition,adrink Ihadn’tseenforyears. “Areyousure?”mymatchgoingcompanion asks. One sipandInowknowthereasonfor the quizzical question,its rancid, sentimentalityandbeingonhomesoilhas
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got the better of me!We
settledownandontheTV
Leicester City are playing
Manure and they are
winning,whichiscontinuing
theirgreatrun.Thetuneson
thejukeboxaretopnotch,
theClash,theJametc.and
theatmosphereinthebaris
trulywhatgoingtofootball
should be all about. Then
unfortunately it’s time to
gobutIwillbeback,I just
don’tknowwhen.
I opt for a pint of Exhibition, a drink I hadn’t seen for years. “Are you sure?” my match going companion asks. One sip and I now know the reason for the quizzical question, its rancid, sentimentality and being on home soil has got the better of me!
Gateshead’s Hamilton, who had been lively all game, received the ball on the left-hand side of the box and his shot across goal was turned into his own net by Alex Whitmore on 82 minutes.
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I love Public Enemy but I haven’t seen them live before so when I was messing around on t’internet in the summer and saw that they were supporting the Prodigy at Newcastle, I bought myself a couple of tickets and promptly forgot all about it. Roll on end of year and I realised that I would need a like-minded idiot with a tendency to drink excessive amounts and who possesses a ‘colourful’ past. He would be the perfect person to accompany me on the trip to musical heaven.
Step up Mr Greaves whowas equally as excitedaboutseeingthebandsashe was for getting pissedon a school night in thetoon.Actually,hehadseenthe Prodigy back in theday at a rave (hardcore– you know the score)whereas I’d only seenthem supporting Oasisat Knebworth the nightbefore the charity shieldgame again manure (welost4-0,whatasurprise).My recognition was one
of them blowing Oasisaway so seeing themagainwasgoodcrackbutitwasPublicEnemyIwastherefor.
We boarded the trainin Durham and madeour way through to thetoon and quickly foundourselves a spot in theIrish / Dickensian Library/ Railway Bar oppositethe station (whatever it’scallednow)andmadeourway down to the arenaearly to see PE. Quite
a few other people haddecidedtodothesame.Itwasherewhere I realisedhowmuchofadickIreallyam.I’dboughtseatticketswhichsoundedgood(andlookedgood)on line, butare shit when you are ata gig with a nutter. Wepromptly decided thefloorwastheplaceforusand blagged our way inthere ASAP.They openedwith ‘Miuzi Weighs aTon and Rebel without aPause’(oneofthegreatest
The Prodigy/ Public EnemyNewcastle Arena , Nov 26th, 2015
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Ted Edwards
Hip Hop anthems) andkeptupthemajestyfromthen on. Highlights formewereBringtheNoise,Don’t Believe the Hype,He Got Game, Fight thePower and the closingtune of ‘HarderThanYouThink’ but there was alittle solo DJ Set by DJLord in amongst whichwasspectaculartosaytheleast – gotta love a hiphop DJ spinning ‘SmellsLike Teen Spirit’ into hisset. Chuck D is a heroof mine by the way –his voice is brilliant andhasn’tagedasecond.
After caning as manybottles of beer as wepossibly could in theinterval between bands,we made our way backonto thedance floor andwaited for theProdigy tostart. There was a cannymixinthecrowdlikewitheveryone from teenagers
and students to wizenedolddrugaddledravers(MrG)withtheoddhousewifeandcuriousschoolteachertype. It is always at thispoint where your choiceofcompanioniskey.Ifyouarewitha‘decentladwholikesadrinkbutissteadyaway’ type then you areprobably going to take asafespotinthecrowdandenjoytheband.Ifyouarewitha‘like-minded loonywho still thinks he is inhisdrugcrazed20’s’typethen you are probablygoing to make your waydown the front and haveabitofajumpabout.Wechose the second option(and regretted it heavilyfor the next two days).As the band ripped into‘Breath’, we knew it wasgoingtobeagoodnight.I’d personally forgottenhowgoodTheProdigyarelive as their mix of hardcoredanceandrockreally
hitthespot.Asetpackedwith gems (especially‘Nasty’, ‘Voodoo People’and ‘Firestarter’) got thecrowdgoingandthemoshpit was excitable but notmenacing inanyway.Anygig finishing with ‘SmackmyBitchUp’isfinebymeand it was refreshing toseemen in their40’s likeKeith Flint, Maxim andLiam Howlett jumpingaround like idiots. I bettheir knees weren’t asf***ed as mine on theFridaymorningthough!
All inall,agreatnighttosee aband I have alwaysloved and one whichenhancedtheirreputationas a great live band anda great event.The venueis shit mind and nothingwilleverchangemymindabout that. Give me theAcademy/CityHalloranyothervenueinNewcastlefirst!
...and it was refreshing to see men in their 40’s like Keith Flint, Maxim and Liam Howlett jumping around like idiots. I bet their knees weren’t as f***ed as mine on the Friday morning though!
www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk
SPURS 1 NEWCASTLE UNITED 2White Hart Lane, Sun 13th Dec 2015, 4.00pm, Premier League, Att: 35,768
An astonishing victory at a Spurs side seen as outsidecontendersforthetitlesawusrepriseourvisitlastseasonbybeingdogshit in the firsthalf beforewinning thedaywithasecondhalfturnaround.Itwasmorealastquarterturnaroundheremind.Tobefair,westartedquitewell–deJonghadagoalboundeffortblockedbyhisownman inCissebutwestillwentinbehindwhenDiermetacornerandsawhisheaderpalmedinbyEliottinourgoal.
Wedidn’tholdoutmuchhopeinthesecondhalfandweweregoingnowhereuntilfirstCisseandthendeJongwerewithdrawn.WithinsecondsofMitroviccomingonforthelatter,hehaduslevel,tappinginfromaboutaninchoutafterMbemba’sheaderevadedthekeepertosendtheawayendintodelirium.Wesensedachanceforvictorybutourchance lookedtohavegonebeforewewon itdeep intoinjurytimeattheend.Thistime,Mitrovicturnedprovider,steeringWijnaldum’sballintothepathofPerezwhostruckhisshotperfectlytoseeitsqueezepastLlorisandnestleinthebackofthenet.Class.
Newcastle United – Eliott, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini, Dummett, Anita (Gouffran), Sissoko, Colback, Wijnaldum, de Jong (Perez), Cisse (Mitrovic).
Our Fans – 9 – Cock(erel) a-hoop
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Their Fans – 6 – Second only to Chelsea in the Cockney
knobhead stakes.
Media View – ‘Perez grabs late winner to lift McLaren’s
side’ (Telegraph).
In-Form – The introduction of Perez and Mitrovic up front
turned the game...
Out of Form – ...mainly because Cisse and de Jong were
gash before they went off.
McClaren Watch – Back to back wins against top ten
sides. Heady days.
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NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 ASTON VILLA 1St James’ Park, Sat 19th Dec 2015, 5.30pm, Premier League, Att: 48,234.
WefailedtobuildonthebackofourtwohighlyimpressivevictorieswithonlyapointagainstapisspoorVillasideinapoorgamethatwestillshouldhavewon.Withhalfofthecountryunderwater,thegamedidn’tlooklikeitwasgoingtogoaheadanditlookedoddsontobeabandonedcominguptohalftimewhenwetooktheleadthroughanunlikelysource.DeJongputoveragrasscuttercorneranditfoundColocciniatthebackpostandhisshotwentinviaapoorattemptatastopbyGuzan.
Weshouldhavewrapped itupafter thebreakwhen thebloodyawfuldeJongnoddedwidefromaboutayardoutwith an open goal to aim out.Absolutely shocking missfrom one of my least favourite players, which is reallysayingsomethinginthissideandtheylevelledshortlyafterwhenAyewlashedafineshothome.Worryingly,bothsidesseemedsemi-contentwithapointbutwestillhadchancesto win it late on, Perez missing the best chance at thedeathbutallinallitwasapoorafternoon’sworkagainstrelegationcertainties.
Newcastle United – Eliott, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini, Dummett, Anita (Thauvin), Sissoko, Colback, Wijnaldum, de Jong (Perez), Cisse (Mitrovic).
Our Fans – 6 – Nervous.
Their Fans – 7 – Thought they were supportive of a shocking side. Still can’t wait till they go down.
Media View – ‘Magpies pay the price for missed chances’ (Chronicle).
In-Form – Colo has been better of late and the goal was a bonus.
Out of Form – De Jong is a waste of time, fuck him off asap.
McClaren Watch – Back to being underwhelmed.
NEWCASTLE UNITED 0 EVERTON 1St James’ Park, Sat 26th Dec 2015, 5.30pm, Att: 51,682.
Afrustratingafternoonsawusleaveemptyhandedwhenwe deserved a point, albeit no more than that despiteMcLaren’s post-match claims that we should have hadthree.Inreality,wehardlyhadakickforthefirsthalfhourbeforeMitrovicglancedaheaderwidefromagreatpositionin front of goal. Wijnaldum also headed wide when helookedaslikelytoscoreandwecontinuedourmomentumintothesecondhalf,whenwewerewellontopforthe20minutesorsoafterthebreak.
WehadafantasticchancetotaketheleadonthehourbutagainMitrovicdemonstratedhispossessionofafiftypencehead when he headed wide from a fine Sissoko run andcrosswhenhewasnomorethansixyardsoutwithHowardcompletelybeaten.Terriblemissandour‘SweetandTenderHooligan’lookslikehe’sgotsweetfuckallchanceofgettinghalfadozengoalsthisseason,nevermindthe15orsowelikelyneedtokeepusup.Concedinginthelastminuteofinjurytimewasacruelblowand itwasatrulyshitgoal,Cleverley managing to head in from the edge of the 18yardboxoverthreeinchtallRobEliottandtwostatuesquedefendersontheline.Baaals.
Weare,ineverywayarottenfootballclubatpresent.
Newcastle United – Eliott, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini, Dummett, Anita, Sissoko, Colback, Wijnaldum, Perez (Thauvin), Mitrovic.
Our Fans – 5 – Not much Christmas cheer to be had.
Their Fans – 7 – Excellent turnout but not as noisy as usual.
Media View – Late Cleverley header stuns Magpies in dour conditions’ (Express).
In-Form – Mbemba is starting to look like a top defender.
Out of Form – Mitrovic is starting to look like a big fucking plank.
McClaren Watch – Grinning while we bear it.
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WEST BROM 0 NEWCASTLE UNITED 1The Hawthorns , Mon 28th Dec 2015, 3.00pm, Att: 26,313.
We bid good riddance to 2015 with a suitably awfulperformance, losing to a shitWest Brom side and againlookingcompletelygoalshyinapoorgame.Wehuffedandpuffedandprobablyhadthebetterofthefirsthalf–ColohitthebarandGinihadadecentchancebutfailedtobeatthekeeperwhenput throughongoalbut itwasagameshortonqualityandclearchances.Darlowwaspitchedinfor his debut shortly before kick off because of an Eliottfeeling‘ill’–neeideawhatsortofillnesskepthimoutlike,butwefeltilleverytimeaballcameovertoDarlowashereprisedtheghostofJakAlnwickpast.
Thesecondhalfwasnobetter–MitrovicshouldhavehadapenaltybutotherwisewasabigplankandDummetthitthebaraswellbut lostthegametoanabsoluteshocker– Fletcher’s tame header squirming beneath Darlow togift them victory. The noisy away support vented theirfrustration with the side and the rotten club at the end.Whatayear,eh?
Newcastle United – Darlow, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini, Dummett, Anita (Tiote), Sissoko, Colback (Thauvin), Wijnaldum, Perez (de Jong), Mitrovic.
Our Fans – 8 – Team is undeserving of them.
Their Fans – 6 – Canny enough bunch.
Media View – Fed up Newcastle fans boo their team off’ (Star).
In-Form – Christ, nee-one really.
Out of Form – We were collectively shite but Darlow had a nightmare in goal.
McClaren Watch – Difficult to see how he’s going to get us out of the bottom three.
ARSENAL 1 NEWCASTLE UNITED 0Emirates Stadium, Sat 2nd Jan 2016, 3.00pm, Att: 59,257.
Well, at least we’re finding varied ways to lose games Isupposeasweplayedverywellhereandstillendedupwithnowt.Wewerebyfarthebettersideinthefirsthalfagainsttheleagueleadersandhadahandfulofgoodchancestogo in at thebreakaheadbutMitrovic fromanoverheadkick came close, Mbemba should have done better andWijnaldum had the best chance, firing straight at Cechfromabackpass.HethenhadourbestchanceofthegamejustafterhalftimewhenPerezslippedhiminwithalovelypassbutagainheshotstraightatthekeeper.Mitrovicthencontrivedtokneetheballoverfromaboutaninchout–tobefairthecrossfromPerezcaughthimabitunawarebutfuckmeman,weshouldhavebeenoutofsight.
Needlesstosay,theywonitfromadaftgoalwhenPerezwenttosleepfromacornerandKoscielnynippedinbehindhimtopoketheballpastEliott.Westillhadchancestolevelbutourlackofagoalscorerisgoingtosendusdown,it’sassimpleasthatandadefeatisadefeat,nomatterhowwellyou’veplayed.Desperatetimes.
Newcastle United – Eliott, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini, Dummett, Tiote (de Jong), Sissoko, Colback (Thauvin), Wijnaldum, Perez, Mitrovic.
Our Fans – 6 – Came in hope more than expectation.
Their Fans – 6 – You wouldn’t think they were top of the league.
Media View – Koscielny shows instinct of a striker as Gunners march on’ (Mail).
In-Form –
Out of Form –
McClaren Watch – No points for gallant losers. And we are losers under him at the minute.
WATFORD 1 NEWCASTLE UNITED 0Vicarage Road, Sat 9th Jan 2016, 3.00pm, Att: 18,259.
It’stimetoseeifwecanstartoptingoutoftheFACupaswebowedoutatthefirstavailableopportunityforthe63rdtime ina row,whenGeorgeRobledowasthe lastUnitedplayertoscoreawinnerinanFACuptie.Eyebrowswereraisedbythe‘strength’oftheteamnamed.Isaystrength,itwasstillbroadlyshitbutitwasalsoprettymuchourfirstteamwithMbabubuteventhatwasn’tenoughtobeataWatfordsidethatrestedmoreplayersthanus.
ThefirsthalfwaspisspoorbutwehadgoodchancesfromWijnaldum and a lumbering Mitrovic before they wentaheadjustbeforehalftimethankstoalaughablegoalfromDeeney,whocouldhardlybelievehisluckwhenWijnaldumplayed a suicidal backpass that he was able to intercepttoroundEliottandslothome.Wehuffedandpuffedabitin the second half but really our only threat came fromSissoko trying to run through players, with guile in shortsupply.HealmostplayedinMitrovic,whoseacceleration,akin to a supertanker wasn’t enough to connect andsubstituteThauvintookabreakfromrollingaroundonthefloor,beingbooedandavoidinganysortofresponsibilitytotoepokeaneffortintothesidenettingatthedeathbutitwasn’tenough.
WhatdoesthissayaboutMcLaren?PardewrightlyneverrecoveredfromStevenageandBrighton,beforegoingontoathousandmoreoffences.Wheredoeshegofromhere?
Newcastle United – Eliott, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini (Lascelles), Dummett, Tiote (de Jong), Sissoko, Mbabu (Thauvin), Wijnaldum, Perez, Mitrovic.
Our Fans – 6 – Furious, fed up.
Their Fans – 5 – Barely noticed.
Media View – ‘Fans turn on Thauvin and Ashley after cup defeat’ (Shields Gazette).
In-Form – It comes to something when you choose Sissoko, for putting a shift in.
Out of Form – Thauvin got the majority of the abuse when he came on but there were a few dismal performances – Mitrovic looks two fucking stone overweight and ten year older than he is. Shite.
McClaren Watch – I don’t know whether the fact he played a full strength team is in his favour or damns him even further. Pathetic.
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NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 MAN UTD 1
St James’ Park, Tue 12th Jan 2016, 7.45pm, Att: 49,673.
Whatwasbilledasthemostboring game in the worldin the build up actuallyendedupbeingathrilleraswesharedsixgoalswitharopey looking Man Unitedside.Given that we barely
scoreandtheybarelyconcede,wegotoff toabadstartwhen Mike Dean, who was fucking minging all nightawardedthesoftestofpenaltiestothemforanMbembahandballinsidetenminutes.Rooneyscoredandwecouldbarelygetholdoftheballinthefirsthalfhour.Thingsgotworse when they went two up through Lingaard shortlybefore thebreak.Wijnaldum thenhada great chance toequalisebutfiredstraightatdeGeabeforehittingthetargetafewminuteslatertosendusinwithashoutathalftime.
Wewereadifferentsideinthesecondhalfandthoroughlydeservedourequaliser–ourfirstpenaltyin36yearswhichwas awarded when Mitrovic got pulled owa by Smallingfrom a corner.The big Serb stroked the spot kick awayandwebatteredthemforatenminutespellbutcouldn’tconvert.WelookedtohavebeenrobbedofapointwhenRooney curled a fantastic effort home from the edge oftheboxwithjusttenminutesleftbutthedeflationintheground turned to elation when Dummett of all peoplelashedhomealooseballinfrontoftheGallowgateinthelastminute.Homedrawsarenogoodinthegrandschemeofthingsbuttherewassatisfactionintheperformanceandspiritafterthe‘efforts’we’veputinoflate.
Newcastle United – Eliott, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini, Dummett, Tiote (Toney), Sissoko, Colback (Gouffran), Wijnaldum, Perez (de Jong), Mitrovic.
Our Fans – 7 – Noisy in the second half, moribund in the first (courtesy A.Partridge).
Their Fans – 6 – Andy Cole and Shearer songs a-plenty.
Media View – ‘Cracking comeback earns Magpies a point’ (Chronicle).
In-Form – Wijnaldum was fantastic again – our best player this season by a mile.
Out of Form – Perez isn’t at the level he has been, which to be fair is excellent.
McClaren Watch – Things seemed to markedly improve after half time, to his credit.
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NEWCASTLE UNITED 2 WEST HAM UTD 1St James’ Park, Sat 18th Jan 2016, 3.00pm, Att: 50,031.
A longoverdueandmuchneededwincappedanall tooraregoodweekforNUFCandweproperlypaggeredthemforthefirsthalfhourwiththefeelgoodfactorofhavinga midfielder who can pass a ball more than three yardsin a straight line and in a forward direction clear for alltosee.Shelveyplayedakeyroleinbothgoals–thefirstwasabeautyashepickedoutWijnaldum,whosecutelayoffwascurledhomeexpertlybyyoungAyoze–satisfyinggoalallroundandgreattoseethelittlefellabackonthescoresheet.ThesecondwasevenbetterasShelveypickedoutJanmaatwithapinpoint50yardcrossfieldballwhichthefullbacktookontherunandpulledbackforWijnaldumtosmashhome.Twoupinsideaquarterofanhouranditcouldhavebeenatleastacouplemorebeforehalftime.
TheycamebackinthesecondhalfandpulledonebackjustafterthebreakthroughJelavicbutwewereasdangerousastheywereasthegamedrewonandbutforsomewastefulfinishing,wecouldhavewonmorecomfortably.Thatwouldbe splittinghairs though, itwasa farbetterperformanceandthingsfeelabitbetterallofasudden,despitethefactwe’restillfirmlyintheclarts.
Newcastle United – Eliott, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini, Dummett (Saivet), Shelvey, Sissoko, Colback, Wijnaldum, Perez (Gouffran), Mitrovic (Lascelles).
Our Fans – 8 – Something to shout about at long last.
Their Fans – 6 – Plenty of them but pretty quiet.
Media View – Shelvey stars on Magpies debut’ (Independent).
In-Form – Shelvey had a great debut, but Gini was the man again.
Out of Form – No-one had a bad game. Saivet looked a bit off the pace for his half hour cameo.
McClaren Watch – It’s been a good week for him – good signing and good results, he has to build on it.
WATFORD 2 NEWCASTLE UNITED 1Vicarage Road, Sat 23rd Jan 2016, 3.00pm, Att: 20,611.
Annnnnd back to the drawing board. I didn’t feel goodaboutthiswhentheteamsheetwasannounced,McLarenisalwaysdesperatetodropPerez,theprickbuttobringinAaronswhohasbarelykickedaballallseasoninhisplaceafterscoringlastweek?Lascellesatfullback,Saivetstraightintothemiddle–fairenoughthosetwowereforcedbutwelookeddisjointedalthoughitwasthealltoofamiliarfailingsthatcostus–Ginigoingmissingawayfromhome,MittyWhitehurst incapableofscoring inabrothelwithtwentypoundnotestiedroundhischopper,shitedefending,fallingasleepinthefiveminutesafterthebreak–thereforalltoseeandWatfordtookadvantagetobreaktheirownrunofpoorformtobeatusfortheTHIRDtimethisseason.
Imightaswelljustcutandpastefromtheotherreports–Mitrovichadourbestchanceinthefirsthalfandcouldhavescored,Ighalotookadvantageofthefactwe’dbeentakingwobblyeggsathalftimeandscoredwithinamillisecondoftherestart,Cathcartgotanotheraftersomemiserabledefending andalthough Lascelles pulledonebackwith afineheader,wewereleftplantedinthebottomthree.Eightdaystobuyaminimumofonetopclassstriker,isn’tgoingtohappensowe’regoingdown.
Newcastle United – Eliott, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini (Riviere), Lascelles, Saivet (Perez), Shelvey, Sissoko , Wijnaldum, Aarons (Gouffran), Mitrovic.
Our Fans – 7 – In pretty good voice with a clawing sense of déjà vu.
Their Fans – 6 – Inoffensive enough.
Media View – ‘What now for United after damaging defeat?’ (Chronicle).
In-Form – Difficult to pick anyone out – possibly Lascelles if only for the header
Out of Form – Gouffran was a disgrace when he came on.
McClaren Watch – Fed up with the usual ‘we played well, we’ll be fine’ dogshit after the match, he called the line up completely wrong and is presiding over us being relegated. Fuck off.
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EVERTON 3 NEWCASTLE UNITED 0Goodison Park, Sat 6th Feb, 3:00pm, Premier League, Att: 36,061.
So where does that rank in our shittest performances ofthelastshittyfiveyears?I’dhaveitinthetophalfdozenatleastasweabsolutelystanktheplaceout,beingluckyto get awaywith just threeputpastus in anabsolutelyshambolicperformance.Theformationwasalltopotfromthewordgo,withPerezparkedupfrontasalonestrikeranditwasaminormiraclethatweonlywentinonedowntoaLennongoalinthefirsthalfastheycompletelydominated.And let’s bear inmind that theywere on a dreadful runthemselvesandshortonconfidence.
Thesecondhalfwasnobetteratallandagain,itwasonlya surprise that it took themuntil so late in thegame toget the goals to kill us off, both from the spot. Aarons,ludicrouslybroughtonathalftimetoreplaceDummettatleftback,ludicrouslyhauledLennondowntoallowBarkleytoconvertfromthespotandthenLascellesgothimselfsentoffininjurytimeafterhackingdownBarkley.ThistimehechippedinhisspotkickandIfeltsorryforEliott–therestofthemcanallgoandfuckoff.Ohandwe’venowgotthreedefendersinjured/suspendedfortheweekend.Still,atleastwe’vegotstrengthindepthhey?Dreadfulnight.
Newcastle United – Eliott, Janmaat, Mbemba (Lascelles), Coloccini, Dummett (Aarons), Shelvey, Saivet (Mitrovic), Sissoko, Wijnaldum, Townsend, Perez.
Our Fans – 5 – Tired ‘Scouser’ songbook.
Their Fans – 6 – Couldn’t believe their luck.
Media View – ‘Barkley shines as Toffees get back on track’ (Mirror).
In-Form – Eliott is the only one to emerge with any credit, saving us an embarrassing scoreline.
Out of Form – Wijnaldum might as well not bother getting on the bus for the aways, Sissoko was MIA and Dummett was abject. The others were different shades of shite.
McClaren Watch – If he honestly thinks, as he suggested after the game that the scoreline flattered Everton, he needs his head looking at. And his fucking hair.
NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 WEST BROM 0 St. James Park, Sat 6th Feb, 3:00pm, Premier League, Att: 50,152.
AmustwinthatwewongotusoutofthebottomthreeandleftusscratchingourheadsastohowthefuckWestBromhavegotanypoints,letalone29,theywerethatbad.Wewerethebettersideforninetyminutes,hadthreegoodhalf chances in the first quarter of an hour and thoughtwe’d taken the lead on the half hour, butTiote had hisswervingeffortfromoutsidethearearuledoutforoffside.The injusticedidn’t last longasMitrovickepthisheadtocoollyconvertalovelypassfromShelvey,whoseallroundplayisimprovingus.
We should really have had another three in the secondhalf–Wijnaldumheadedoverwhenheshouldhavescored,Townsend hit the post and Sissoko shot just wide andAlbionresembledapubside,withloadsofoverweightladshumping the ball aimlessly up front. They nearly got acompletelyundeservedequaliseratthedeathbutRondonfluffedhis lineswhenhecouldhavesquaredforBerahinobutintheendwewerewellworthourvictory.WeneedanotherfivefromsomewherebeforethemiddleofMay.
Newcastle United – Eliott, Janmaat, Taylor, Coloccini, Aarons, Shelvey (Saivet), Sissoko, Tiote , Wijnaldum, Townsend (Perez), Mitrovic.
Our Fans – 6 – Plentiful, nervy, ultimately relieved.
Their Fans – 3 – As nondescript as their team.
Media View – ‘Mitrovic ends drought to haul Magpies out of drop zone’ (Express).
In-Form – Janmaat was excellent going forward, pretty much everyone played well though.
Out of Form – Wijnaldum was quiet.
McClaren Watch – By God did he need a win here and he got it.
Gareth Harrison - Follow Gareth on @truefaith1892
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www.true-faith.co.uktf 54
OnSaturdaymorning(beforetheWestHamgame),thetfweeklypodladswerekindlyinvitedtotakepartinagameoffootballandchatwithNUFCheroRobertLee.Weweretreatedtoaroundrobinof7-asidefootball,withRobtakingaturnoneachteamfollowedbyacasualQ&AwithsomegreatstoriestoldabouttheNUFCofthe90s(whenweweregood!).
A KICK-A-ROUND WITH ROB LEE
The event, jointlyorganisedbyPlay with a LegendandLast Night of Freedom was terrificallyrunandwasaresoundingsuccess. Josh and thelads did a great job ofrunning the event whilsttakingtimetoengageandinvolveeverybodythere.
As clichéd as it sounds,Rob Lee was a real gent.Everything I would haveexpectedfromoneofmy
childhoodheroesandhowan NUFC captain shouldbe! It’s hard to imagineyour modern footballerinteracting with fans inthe same way. Can ColoevenspeakEnglishyet??
The FootyPlayed at Soccer Leaguein Gateshead, each sidegot a couple of shortgames with the mainman involved. In trueEntertainers style, with
RobontheTrueFaithsidewe had some ludicrousresults. First game, TFabsolutely dominatedwith Rob Lee in themiddle - about 10 shotson target in the space ofa12minutegame....Finalscore, 0-4, obviously.Thegoalkeeper and eventual‘manof the tourney’ hadourlives.
Game2,aswewereshortof numbers, Rob Lee
Simon Campbell (tf Weekly POD)
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kindlystayedonourteamand some wrongs wererighted! Courtesy of a Si(Pod)screamerandaRobLee Penalty, a 3-0 winbooked our place in thefinal.
Inallseriousness,at49,andnearly twice the averageageofour team,RobLeeput us all to shame. He’sstill got it! Touch andpass that (before seeingShelveythatday)noneofthecurrentNUFCmidfieldcomecloseto.
Rob joined up with thelegendsladsagainforthefinalwhichtheyeventuallywon on penalties. Nonamesmentionedforwhomissedfortf.
After the GameAfteraquickphotosessionwith the group (some of
us looking disgracefullyworse for wear after45minsofexercise)WeallgottositdowntoaQ&Asession with everyonebeforeRobkindlyallowedus to do a few morequestions,recordedjustfortrue faith. Some crackingstories of better times atUnited. Amazing to hearhowdifferentthingswerejust20yearsago.Playersgetting mortal weekly– which was perfectlyfine ‘as long as we werewinning’; David Batty,absolutelyhatingtraining.
The most humblingstories he had were ofKevinKeeganandhowhe‘made every player feel10 foot tall going outon to the pitch before agame’.Afurtherreminder,if needed, of how unique
andbrilliantKevinKeeganwasandis.
Can you imagine SteveMcClaren instilling thatkindoffeelingintheladstoday? Giving VurnonAnita the confidence tomatch theYayaTourés ofthe modern game? No.Notachance.
Seriously though, acrackingeventandthanksagaintoboththeorganisers@ P l a y w i t h a L e g e n dand @LNOF. I wouldrecommendbothfortheirgreat efforts in providinga memorable day. Thiswas made better still bya class performance andfucking vital win overWestHam.
You can listen to Micky’sinterview with Rob Lee here.
In all seriousness, at 49, and nearly twice the average age of our team, Rob Lee put us all to shame. He’s still got it!
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Cartoons
www.true-faith.co.uk
a small proportion thatwhenYohanCabayecomesto mind, on the oppositeend of the scale comesRemy Cabella, RomainAmalfitano,Yoan Gouffranandthelikes.
While the arrivalShelvey isn’t aguaranteed nordefinitive endpoint of ourcurrent policy, it’ssignificant inthefactatsomelevel within theclub change hasnot only beensignalled- but followedthrough. Furthermore,with rumours ofbids tabled forT o t t e n h a m ’ sAndros TownsendandwantawayWestBromrogueSaidoBerahino,itseemsencouraginglylikelyGrahamCarrancoarenowgoing for Premier Leagueproven quality ratherthan the aforementionedunknown quantities- andmy word, not a momenttoosoon.
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MarkHaddonisbestknownforpenningtheawardwinningnovel‘TheCuriousIncidentoftheDogintheNight-time’.Thebookisfullofintrigue,plottwistsandconfusion,wherebytheendingremindsusanawfullotoftheintroduction.Youmightcallitsatisfyingsymmetry.However,I’mfarmoreinterestedinthetaleofJonjoShelvey,ataleyoucouldcall‘TheCuriousIncidentoftheOutcastatTheSwans’.It’sastoryfullofintrigue,plottwistsandconfusion,wherebytheendingisnothingatallliketheintroduction.Addinagoodmixtureofpromiseandhope;miseryandwoe;ecstasyandanguish,andyou’dbeforgivenforthinkingMrShelveyandNewcastleUnitedareasomewhatperfectfit
Introduction:
JONJO SHELVEY
Jonjo Shelvey is a playerwhoneedsnointroduction.He’s made quite theimpression since hisreported £12m move totheNorthEastfromfellowstrugglers Swansea, andarrivesatStJames’switharatherchequeredhistory.Aplayer who has been bothwonderful and woeful in
equal measure, Shelveydeparts Swansea with apoint to prove. There arebothgoodandbadaspectstothistransfer,wecanonlyhopethatintimethegoodfaroutweighsthebad.
OneofthebiggestpositivesofthistransferisthatJonjoShelvey represents a steminthetideofforeigninfluxthat has so frustrated fansforthelastfiveorsixyears.Whilst a proportion havebeen a success, it’s such
LIAM NORRIS
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It gets better than that,though.SinceYohanCabayejumped ship, quite literally,to join PSG in January2014, everything that wasgood about Newcastlefast dried up. Goals driedup, the defence becameleakier than the rockbeds of Lake Windermere,and our form dippeddramatically,culminatinginthe situation we currentlyfind ourselves in- zerocreativeedgeandscrappingin a second consecutiverelegation dogfight. WhatShelveybringsusisnotjustknowledge of the PremierLeague, grit, character andfight,butcreativityinbagsfull.There’snodoubtaboutit,theboycanplay.
During his time in theearly part of his career atCharlton Athletic, Shelveywouldn’t just creategoals, but he would scorethem too- something usMagpies would soon findout ourselves during hisLiverpoolandSwanseadays.Hemadeahugeimpressionduring his time at TheAddicks, who at the timewere used to slumming itat the bottom end ofThe
Championship- not muchhasreallychangedinrecenttimes on that front mind.In the two years he spentat The Valley, he featuredin42leaguegames,scoringseven times. Itwasn’t longbefore Shelvey attractedsomewhat more desirablesuitors,anditwasacertainMerseyside club that wonthechaseforhissignature.
Shelveysignedforperennialbig-heads Liverpoolfor £1.7m in May 2010,having been convincedby then Liverpool gafferRafael Benitez that theupcoming 2010-11 seasonwas ‘going to be theiryear’. Benitez resignedtwo months later. Puttingthe managerial merry-go-round of Liverpool to oneside,ShelveyspenttheearlypartofhisRedscareerouton loan, briefly having asuccessfulspellatBlackpool,beforebeingrecalledduetoLiverpool’s massive injurywoes. During his threeseasons on Merseyside,Shelvey impressed hugely,but couldn’t quite naildown a starting elevenplace consistently enoughunder Roy Hodgson and
later Brendan Rodgers.It was midway throughhis time at Liverpool thatShelvey was called up totheEnglandsquad,makinghisdebut inOctober2012againstSanMarino.Hardlyworld beaters, but a startnonetheless.Liverpoolcouldbe viewed as a big stepslightly too soon.While itwasapparent intime,withthe right coaching andguidance, Shelvey coulddo it at the top level, age,poor temperament andbad timing led to an exit,170 miles South and ajump across the border toSwanseawasnext,andthisis where the Shelvey storybecomesclouded, colludedandawfullyconfusing.
The question has to beasked- What the hellhappened at Swansea?Signed in July 2013 fromLiverpool for a reportedinitial fee of £5m, Shelveyand Swansea seemed acatch. Swansea needed athoroughbred playmaker,a passing craftsman, whileShelvey needed a PremierLeague club on the up,wherehecouldsettle,growandcementhisplaceinthe
Shelvey and Swansea seemed a catch. Swansea needed a thoroughbred playmaker, a passing craftsman...
England fold. What couldpossiblygowrong?
Well,itallstartedverywell,actually.InhisdebutseasonatTheLiberty,Shelveyfastsettled into life at ThePremier League’s mostsuccessful foreign club,scoringsixfromhismidfieldhub, while assisting seveninaseasonwhichsawTheSwansfinish12th,ahandfulof points and a couple ofplaceslowerthanourselves.So far, so good. Thefollowing season, however,iswherethingsbegintogetconfusing. Having firmlycementedhimselfasafirstteam regular and a fansfavourite, Shelvey had theworld at his feet. EnjoyingEngland call ups and firstteam football inwhatwasa very good footballingside under Gary Monk,fromtheoutsideitseemedShelveycoulddonowrong.From the inside, however,rumours of a bad attitudeand a hellish ego wererife, and again his Achillesheel appeared to be histemperament- somethingwhichMonkhadnoqualmsabout criticising in a verypublicmannerinJanuaryoflast year. Disciplinary andattitudeconcernsaside,lastseasonprovedtobeanotherextremely fruitful one forShelvey, scoring three andsetting up six as Swanseasoared to an all-time highofeight-puttingNewcastlefirmlyintheshade.
2015/16hasbeenthemostbaffling, unpredictableseason in Premier Leaguehistory. Undisputed. JonjoShelvey is a metaphor for
how England’s top flightcan be summed up sofar this term. Dropped bySwansea for poor formand bad attitude, goes onto be man of the matchfor England in Septemberagainst San Marino. Quitesimply, bizarre. After beingdroppedbySwanseabeforethe Man City game thisseason, Shelvey reportedlyrangSwanschairmanHuwJenkins almost in tearsasking what was going on.His reply was somethingalong the lines of “yourheadsnotinagoodstate”,and that was seeminglythat. Confusing really. Allplayers have dips in formand it very much seemsShelveyhasbeenoutedasthe fall guy for Swansea’satrocious fall this season.Unfair? Justified? You’rebetter of asking those inSouth Wales what theythinkofJonjoShelvey’sexitfromTheLibertyStadium.
Whilst it’s great to see asix-time capped Englandinternationalarrivethroughthe door, Shelvey does sowith a ratherwreckedanddoggedreputation,atemperas shortashishaircutandhaving been branded withan awful attitude- soundsawfully familiar doesn’tit… Joey Barton, anyone?WecanonlyhopeShelveysettlesanawfullotquickerand calmly than Scousegob-shiteBartondid.
JonjoShelveycouldwellbeNewcastleUnited’ssaviour.Finally we have a YohanCabaye-esque player, whonot only has talent, but amassive point to prove. It
can only bode well for usthat Shelvey’s parting gifttoSwanseawasawarning,a warning that the Welshside have made a hugemistake in letting him go,andthathe’llflyhighwiththeMagpies.It’saclichéinfootballthatwhenaplayermovesclubshedoessowitha point to prove. Judgingby his debut performanceagainst West Ham, JonjoShelvey seems determined
toseehispointgetsacross.The start is good.The taleof JonjoShelveycontinues,I for one hope that, muchlike ‘The Curious Incidentof the Dog in the Night-time’, the end mirrors thebeginning. As I surmisedat the start- satisfyingsymmetry. Itwouldbe theperfect remedy to whatso far has been an almostfatal season for NewcastleUnited
www.true-faith.co.uktf 60
Jonjo Shelvey could well be Newcastle United’s saviour. Finally we have a Yohan Cabaye-esque player, who not only has talent, but a massive point to prove.
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tf 62 www.true-faith.co.uk
Herewegoagain.Thejoysofanotherseason
battlingitoutwithsuchillustriousfootballgiants
asBournemouth,NorwichandSunderlandtoavoid
anotherignominiousdroptotheChampionship.
Afterourpracticerunlastseason,we’reobviously
attemptingtogoonebetterin2016.
But to be fair to the club,they are showing somesignsofatleastattemptingtoremaininthetopflight.At the time of writing,Henri Saivet and JonjoShelvey have arrived for£16m. Rumours (probablystarted by Lee Charnley)are that more will follow(what’s Shefti Kuqi up tonowadays?).
Sohowmuchwilltheclubspend in January? Well,second guessing MikeAshleyisnevereasy.
Inthepast,hisstrategywasto spend on the basis ofwhattheycouldafford(i.e.they wouldn’t spend anymore than they earnedthrough their variousincome streams). That’sresulted in profits in thelast four sets of publishedaccounts.
When we were relegated in 2009, the impact on our finances were pretty shocking - a £33.6m or 39% drop in our income
MONEY AND SHARE ANDREW
TROBE
In Januaryhowever, I thinktheir spending will bedrivenbyadifferentfactor.That factor is the amountof money that they couldpotentially lose in incomeif they are relegated. Inother words, they will notbeconcernedaboutmakinga relatively small loss thisseason because relegationwill result in an absolutelycolossallossnextseason.
So what would relegationcosttheclub?
The financial costs ofrelegationhaveneverbeenhigher. When we wererelegated in 2009, theimpact on our financeswere pretty shocking - a£33.6mor39%dropinourincome.
And that was just oneseason. If we hadn’tbounced straight back,that % drop would havegot progressively worse assponsors dropped away,parachutepaymentsceased
08/09 £m 09/10 £m Change £m % Change
Match Day 29.0 20.9 -8.1 -28%
Media 37.6 16.1 -21.5 -57%
Commercial 19.4 15.4 -4.0 -21%
Operating income 86.0 52.4 -33.6 -39%
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 63
So a relegated club will probably lose over £80m in media income every season.Ouch.
andevenourstoicsupportwaned.
Andsincethenthecostofrelegationhasgotawholelot worse. And the reasonit’s got worse is down totheTVdeals.That’schangedeverything.Letmeexplain.
Media Whilstrelegatedteamswillreceive£65minparachutepayments (over 4 years),the TV income in theChampionship is buttonscompared to the PremierLeague’s.UnderthecurrentTV deal, Premier Leagueclubs are guaranteed aminimum £63m a seasonin the Premier (made upof merit money, facilityfeesandTV income).Nextseason that’s estimated toriseto£99m!Soarelegatedclubwillprobablyloseover£80m in media incomeeveryseason.Ouch.
And when you considerthat£99m isestimated tobe the minimum mediaincome for a Premier club(i.e.fortheLeague’sbottomclub),thecostsofrelegationin reality are likely to bemuch higher. For example,each place you climb upthe Premier League table,currently earns a club anextra£1.2mmeritpayment.So the costs of relegationcompared to even a mid-table finish will be in the
region of £100m in mediapaymentsalone.
Whilsttheimpactoflosingtheir premier league TVmoney would be prettydire for Newcastle, thereareclubswhowouldsufferevengreaterconsequences.The more reliant on TVmoney, the more severetheimpact.Thetablebelowshows the percentage ofturnover generated by TVincomein13/14.
CrystalPalace 81%
Hull 79%
Cardiff 78%
Stoke 77%
WestBrom 76%
Swansea 75%
Southampton 73%
Everton 71%
Sunderland 69%
Fulham 69%
Norwich 68%
WestHam 64%
AstonVilla 62%
NewcastleUtd 60%
Tottenham 50%
Liverpool 38%
Arsenal 31%
Chelsea 29%
ManCity 28%
ManUtd 21%
Match DayNewcastle’s attendancesheldup remarkablywell inthe Championship whenwe were last relegated.The average attendancedropped from 48,750 to43,388 (an 11% drop).When you consider thelower away followings inthe Championship thenthat means over 90% ofNUFC fans stuck by theirteam.Stunningsupport.
However whilst averageattendancesdroppedbyonly11%, match day incomereduced by 28%. And thisdespite an additional fourhome games. This has tobe down to prices. It’s aninferior product in thechampionship (though notnecessarily less enjoyable)andthepricesreflectthat.
Newcastle’s last reportedmatch day income was£25.9m(13/14).Ifrelegationresulted in another 28%reduction then thatmeanstheclubwouldsufferahitofover£7m.
CommercialIt is now commonplacefor sponsorship deals tohave clauses that pay outa lot less in the event ofrelegation.
With our last relegation,commercial revenuedropped by 21% from
tf 64 www.true-faith.co.uk
£19.4m to £15.4m in theChampionship. NorthernRock’s extended deal wasworth only £2.5m (abouthalf the previous contractof£4.8m).
In my opinion, Newcastleare still suffering for thatrelegationnow.Despitefiveconsecutive years in thetop flight, our commercialrevenue has only justrecovered to that pre-relegation total (althoughwe haven’t yet had the14/15figures).In2007,ourcommercial revenue wasgreater than Tottenham’s.Nowit’slessthanathird.
We are still unable tocommand the commercialdeals that the‘big6’ clubscan negotiate. And thereasonforthatisthatwe’rearelativelynewlypromotedclub. It’s about the club’sprofile. We simply haven’tgotthecommercialmuscleofthetopclubstodemandthe big money. The clubsthat command the bigcommercial deals are themost successful. Certainlynot those that have beenrelegated recently andbattle relegations on aperennialbasis.
Playing staffWell run, profitable clubsin the Premier League will
suddenly face huge lossesintheChampionship.Thisisthe commercial risk facingall but the top sides. Dothey gamble on investingin theplayingsquadordothey attempt to maintaintheirpremier leaguestatusonachampionshipbudget?
Take Swansea. Generallyregardedasamodelclubfortheir finances, they madea £21m profit in 12/13(up from £17m in 11/12)and have no debt. But ifthey were to be relegatedthensuddenlytheseprofitswouldbe transformed intomassivelosses.
Tomitigateagainstthisrisk,clubshaveaddedrelegationclausestoplayers’contractswhich substantially reducetheirwagesintheeventofthedrop.
Ofcourse,Newcastleneveranticipated their relegationin2009andhadtopaytheircontractual obligations infull. I’m always tickled bythe myth that Newcastledeterminedly held on toa core of players in thechampionship which theyhad expertly assessed ashaving the character toreturn the club to the topflight.Thetruth is thattheplayerswekeptwerethosewecouldn’toffloadasclubs
weren’tpreparedtomatch
theirwages.Whoonearth
in their right mind would
pay £50k a week forAlan
Smith? Er, apart from us,
obviously.
Financial compensation
A further costwhichmost
clubs are likely to incur
when relegated is the
compensationpaidtotheir
manager (and back room
staff) after the inevitable
dismissal. In 2009, we
paid out compensation of
£5.3maswewentthrough
a managerial merry-go-
round. Presumably sacking
McLarenandhisstaffwould
costsomethingsimilar.
Debt
Despite huge cost cutting
afterrelegation,Newcastle’s
netdebtrocketedby£43m
to £150m in 2010. It’s
since reduced to less than
£100m. Relegation would
seethedebtrocketagain.
Summary
IfNewcastle get relegated,
the cost to the club will
benorthof£100m.Ashley
will be acutely aware of
this.Hewon’tspendtogive
Newcastlesupportersaside
theycanbeproudof.He’ll
spend because of the fear
ofwhathemightlose.
In my opinion, Newcastle are still suffering for that relegation now. Despite five consecutive years in the top flight, our commercial revenue has only just recovered to that pre-relegation total
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 65
Long standing true
faith writer, Tony
Higgins who regular
readerswillrecognise
from his Real Spain
articles has his first
bookoutnow.Travel
with Tony through
the undergrowth
of Spanish football
and life for only
£4:99.Onlyindigital
format.
Pelé‘s story is one that transcends your average rags-to-riches, kid-from-the-backstreet-to-global-superstar, fairy tale. In fact, his story beggars belief. So when the editor asked me to give it a bash I rolled my sleeves up, hit the books, and pieced together the journey of the little black kid from the backwaters of Minas Gerais to FIFA Player of the Century as best I could.
Edson Arantes doNascimento was born inthe rural state of MinasGerais in the small townof Três Corações (‘ThreeHearts’). His father, JoãoRamos do Nascimento,nicknamed Dondinho, wasaplayerofsomeabilitywhoplayed for various smallclubs around Minas Geraisstate.Dondinhomovedhisfamily to the dilapidatedneighbourhoodofBauru inSãoPaulowhereheplayedforBauruAtléticoClubeuntilligament damage forced
him into retirementat theage of 35. Dondinho wasdesperate for youngEdsonto follow in his footstepsbut his wife, Celeste,constantly reminded hersonoftheprecariouslifeafootballer leads: the familywere in constant moneytrouble due to Dondinho’sinability to earn a decentliving. SheurgedEdsontopursueacareerinmedicineorteaching.
It was obvious that Edson,then known as Dico, was
agiftedplayer. His father,obviously chuffed, advised,guided and encouragedhis son. It was at aroundthis time,whenEdsonwasabout 8 years old, that hepicked up the nickname‘Pelé’. I’ve heard variousstorieswhereitcamefrombut it’s most likely that itcame from young Edson’smispronunciation of thenameofhisfavouriteplayeratthetime,VascodaGamagoalkeeper,Bilé.Peléclaimsto have forgotten exactlyhow he earned his new
monikeranditsoundslikeitwasn’t complimentary, butthe more Edson objected,themoreitstuck.
Despite the teasing hereceived from his peers,Pelé began to dominatethe local football scene.The amateur teams heplayed for were winningtournaments around thecity and young Pelé wasgettingnoticed.Attheageof13hewastakenonattheyouth team at his father’sclub, Bauru, where he was
www.true-faith.co.uktf 66
JOHN MILTON Follow on @ GeordiocaO Rei The boy
from brazil
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 67
coached by Waldemir deBrito – an ex-player whohadrepresentedhiscountryat the 1934 World Cup.WithPeléleadingtheteam,Bauru won 3 state youthchampionships between1954-56.
In1956Brito tookhis starplayer to the port city ofSantos for a trial with OsPeixes.AfterasingletrainingsessionSantos signedPelé,he would stay with theclub for the following 20years. Pelé scored againstCorinthiansinhisfirstgameattheageofjust15,bythetimethe1957CampeonatoPaulista (São Paulo StateChampionship)started,thenow16yearoldhadbrokeninto the first team andwas getting regular starts.Although Santos wouldlosetheirtitletoSãoPauloFC the boy wonder didn’tfail to impress, ending thetournamentastopscorer.
DespitesettingthePaulistafootballworldalightduringhis debut season, Peléwas a complete unknown
to the wider Brazilianfootball community. Aswell as being without thetelevisionsaturationofthesport that we have today,therewasalsononationalChampionship. Until thefirst national league wasestablished in 1971 it wasthe State Championshipswhich were the be-all andend-all to clubs and fansalike. Each Championshipwas played out in almostcomplete isolation withonly the results of thestrongesttournaments(theCarioca (Rio de Janeiro)and Paulista) attractingattention.WithCariocaandPaulistafootballdominatingtheBraziliangame,itislittlewonder that the nationalteam was made up fromthe cream of these twotournaments.
Pelé had made hisbreakthroughattheperfectmoment–astopscorerinthe Paulista just one yearbefore the World Cup, hehad caught the attentionofBrazil’srotund,jovialand
maverick coach – VicenteFeola. Today Feola has areputation as being toorelaxed, for allowing hissenior players to run histeams,andforeventakingnaps on the bench duringtraining sessions andmatches. However, thatreputation is beginning tobechallengedtoday,mainlybe the players who hadplayedforhim.Feola,aboveall else, was an innovator.How else can you explainhis decision to include anunknown17yearoldonhisquesttogaintheHolyGrailofBrazilianfootball?
Onthedaythesquadforthe’58 World Cup in Swedenwas announced there waswidespread confusion andscratchingofheadsalloverBrazil.EventhestarsoftheCarioca tournament werebemused, Mário Zagalloand his colleagues fromRio nudged each other onseeing the little black kidfromSantosatthetrainingcamp – ‘Quem é ele?’,‘Who’s he?’, they asked
eachother.Theyweresoontofindout.
That squad was the bestprepared squad in thehistory of football at thattime. They added Sovietstyle sports scienceto their natural SouthAmerican flair. They tookan army of backroomstaff including physios,doctors, dentists and evena psychologist. Luckily for
www.true-faith.co.uktf 68
world football, Feola knewfar more about footballthan Dr. João Carvalhaes:the psychologist declaredGarrincha too naïve andPelétoo immaturetoplay.Feolaalsoknewquiteabitaboutkidology. Hidinghissecret weapons during thefirst two group games (a3-0 win over Austria anda 0-0 draw with England)he unleashed what wouldbe Brazil’s greatest everattacking partnership,Garrincha and Pelé, inBrazil’s must-win groupgame against the fanciedandfearedSovietUnion.
To keep his opponentsguessing Feola linedhis team up in randompositions while journalistsvisited during trainingsessions, meaning nobodyknewwhattoexpectwhenPelé and Garrincha tookto the field. What theygot has been describedas the greatest 3 minutesof football ever playedas Brazil launched waveafter wave of attack fromthe get-go, usually downthe right hand side with
Garrincha obliterating theSoviet left back time andagain. With the legendaryforwards Didi and Vavábolstered with Brazil’s twonewestsuperstars,VaváwasabletoputbothgoalspastLevYashinintheSovietnetfora2-0win.
Waleswerenextup intheQuarter Finals but werewithoutJohnCharles,whileBrazil were without theinjuredVavá,meaningevenmore pressure on Pelé toperform for his country.Despite plenty of intentfrom the canarinhos thegame remained 0-0 tillmidway through the 2ndhalfwhen,withhisbacktogoal, Pelé received a passfrom Didi. He controlledwith his chest, swivelled,knockeditpasthisdefenderandburiedintothebottomcorner for his first everWorldCupgoal. ThatgoalwasenoughasBrazilmovedontotheSemi-Finalwherea formidable France, andeventual tournament topscorer Just Fontaine, werewaiting.
Report of Pele’s ‘chapeu’
‘58 Final
www.true-faith.co.uktf 70
Vavá was restored to theteamandBrazilwereready.Vavá scored in the 2ndminuteandallseemedwelluntil Fontaine equalisedjust 7 minutes later. Theperceived mental fragilityof the Brazilians cameunderscrutiny–thankfully,however, Didi scored anabsolute Thunderbastard™beforehalf time to restoreBrazil’s lead. 2-1 and thegamelookedinthebalance,butnobodyhadcalculated-inthePeléfactor.Grabbingthegamebytheproverbialscruff of the neck, theyoungster grabbed a23-minute, 2nd half hat-trickasFrancewereblownaway. An 83rd minutegoal by Piatoni was hardlyconsolation as the gamefinished5-2.
Into the finals and Brazilfacedthebiggestthreattotheir dominance to date.No,notthehosts,Sweden,who had also made it tothefinal,buttheirownself-doubt. Brazilians are aninsanelysuperstitiousbreedandtheirsuperstitionswerealmost their undoing. Ashosts, Sweden rightfullyrequested to wear theiryellow shirts, but Brazilrefused to acquiesce. Itbecame quite ugly as the
CBFrefusedtobackdown.Eventually a coin-toss wasagreed upon and justicewas seen as Sweden wonit. Panic spread quicklythrough the Brazil campuntilaquick-thinkingtrainerbegged some spare shirtsfrom the French squad.Handing the modifiedstrips to the team he toldthemitwasablessing:thebluewasthecolourof thepatronsaintofBrazil,NossaSenhoradeAparecido.
Sweden scored a quickgoal which really knockedthe stuffing out of Brazil,but the imperious captain,Bellini, slowly picked theball out of the net andcalmlywalked to the spot.By the time he had giventhe ball to the forwardstheteamhadsettled.Vaváscoredtwogoals (bothsetup by Garrincha) beforePeléscoredathird.Zagalloadded a fourth beforeSweden pulled one backthrough Simonsson. Pelérose in the 90th minuteto score with his head –a goal that would providewonderful symmetry withhis exploits in1970. Withthe goal came the finalwhistle: 5-2. Brazil wereWorldChampions!
While Garrincha wasconfused(“Isthatit?Butinthe Carioca we play themtwice!”) the moment wasnot lost on the baby ofthe team. Pelé, overcomewith emotion, could notcope with what had justhappened.Hebrokedownin floods of tears, imagesof the boy burying hisface ingoalkeeperGilmar’sshoulders as he sobbeduncontrollably endearedhim to football fans theworldover.
Having left Brazil as anunknown 17 year old,Pelé returnedasthemostfamous player on theplanet. Now dubbed oRei (The King) he wouldbereceivedlikeapopstarwhereverhewent.Luckily,unlike so many otherfootballinggreats,Peléwaswellpreparedforfame.Hehad a fantastic attitudeandwas fullyawareofallthetrappingsoflifeinthepubliceye.Hisemergencecoincided with that ofGarrincha,theywouldplaytogether for the nationalteam until 1966 duringwhich time Brazil didn’tlose a single game whentheyplayedtogether–anastoundingfeat.
Benfica x Santos Pele x Portugal, ’66
Having left Brazil as an unknown 17 year old, Pelé returned as the most famous player on the planet. Now dubbed o Rei (The King) he would be received like a pop star wherever he went
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 71
Although many (myselfincluded) argue thatGarrincha was betterplayer, Peléwasby far themost professional of thetwo. In fact, these twolegends could not havebeen more different fromeach other off the pitch.While Garrincha has beendescribed as the mostunprofessional professionalto have played the game,Pelé was always a coach’sdream. Garrincha wouldgoon5daybendersbeforewaking up on a Sundayafternoon and destroyingwhichever unfortunate leftback was up against himthat day (he usually didn’thave a clue who he wasfacing) before meeting upwithhismates todo it allagain.Pelétrainedhard,hetook care of his body, heunderstood tactics and heknewhisworth.Garrinchareliedonhisnaturalabilityand enjoyed the highlife, Pelé worked hard toimproveoneveryaspectofhisgame.
By the 1966 World CupGarrincha was overweight,knackeredwithinjuriesandstrugglingwithalcohol.He
was finished. Pelé wouldhaveanotherWorldCupinhim.
Backto1958andPeléwasnow a global brand and aone that his club, Santos,wereeagertoexploit.Theywentonepictours,usuallyaround Europe, where thepublicwouldpaytopdollartoseetheboywonder. Inthe 4 years before the ’62World Cup Pelé played ahuge amount of gamesandthegoalskeptcoming.After his debut season in1957,Peléwoulddominatethe Paulista scoring charts,ending as top scorer in 9consecutive seasons from’57-’65 (including anastonishing58goalsinthe1958 tournament). Addedto this were his goals ontour and for his country –he won the golden bootatthe1959SouthAmericaChampionships with 8goals.
Bythetimethe1962WorldCupcamearoundPeléwasinhotform–thiswasmeantto be his tournament.Unfortunately, by thenmost teams had given uptrying to find a legitimateway of stopping him and
he had become a markedman. In Brazil’s openinggroupgameagainstMexicoPeléscoredthe2ndina2-0win but in the next gameagainst Czechoslovakia hetore a hamstring and histournamentwasover.NotonlywasthisadisasterforBrazil,but itwasadisasterfor FIFA, too – Pelé wasthestarattraction!Nottoworry–Garrincha steppedout of Pelé’s shadowsand took responsibility.He inspired his team anddid what only one otherplayerhaseverdone:singlehandedlywonaWorldCup.
Pelé, although obviouslydisappointed, was asgracious and humbleas ever – he has alwaysthanked that team forwinning theCup,“WithoutGarrinchaIwouldnotbea3timeWorldChampion.”Itwas this humility that hadendearedPelétotheworldanditwouldbethisattitudethat would continue tocement his place in fan’sheartsaroundtheworld.
Despitethedisappointmentof ’62, fans didn’t have towait long for Pelé to begiven the chance to shine
“Without Garrincha I would not be a 3 time World Champion.”
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on the international stage.Santos won the 1962Copa Libertadores (theSouth American versionof theChampions League)puttingthemupagainsttheEuropean giants, Benfica,in the IntercontinentalCup. In the 2-legged finalPelé would be up againstthe player dubbed ‘TheEuropeanPelé’–Eusébio.
The first legwasplayedatRio’s Maracanã, it was anervyaffairwithsomecut-and-thrust. WhileEurope’spretender failed to score,the real deal scored 2 inSantos’3-2victory.
In the return leg, held inthe real Estadio da Luz(Stadium of Light) Peléwould play what he hasdescribed as his greatestever game. In a blisteringdisplay of raw power,deft touch and positionalawareness Pelé produceddribbles,back-heeledpassesand tricks galore as he
single-handedly temperedBenfica’ssoaringpre-matchconfidence. By the timeEurope’s finest were ableto get to grips with theSouthAmericans and theirrampaging forward theywere already trailing bytwoPelégoals. Wherehisfirst was a simple slidingconversion,his secondwasa stroke of genius – aftera feint allowed him to gopast his first marker hissheerstrengthallowedhimtopowerpast2defenders,despite stumbling, beforesmashing a left foot shotinto the bottom rightcorner. His feints anddummies continued tocause consternation,constantlyghostingpastorpoweringthroughgroupsof3or4defendersatatime.
He continued to tormenthis opponents in the2nd half, which allowedCoutinho a simple tap-inafter being left in acres ofspace in the Benfica box
– the Portuguese by nowbeingcompletelytransfixedon Pelé. Pelé’s hat-trickcamewith thegoalof thetie. Collecting the balljust insidehisownhalf hedribbled and powered hiswaypast4BenficaplayersintotheboxbeforehisshotwassavedbyPereiraintheBenfica net, but the goaliecould only parry, allowingPelé to pick up the piecesand slot home. Pepescored Santos’ fifth beforeEusébio and Santana gotconsolationsinthefinal10minutes.PeléwasaWorldChampionagain,followinganow-familiar5-2scoreline.
ThefollowingyearfollowedasimilarpatternforSantos–they successfully defendedtheir Libertadores titlewhich meant they wouldface AC Milan in defenceof their Intercontinentalcrown. In the first legSantos lost 4-2 in Milan,O rei getting both goalsbefore suffering an injury
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 73
whichruledhimoutofthereturn leg. Despite thisblow,histeamreversedthescoreline, notching a 4-2win at theMaracanã. Thedecider was played in thesamestadiumanditwasavicious affair as the Italianteam, including Trappatoniand Maldini gave as goodastheygot,indeedcaptainMaldiniwas sentoff alongwithSantos’Ismael.Santosgot the goal they neededthrough Dalmo and theywere now considered themost formidable side inworldfootball,andPelétheundisputedking.
In the period betweenPelé’s breakthrough untilthe ’66World Cup Santosbuiltadynastytorivalthatof Europe’s best – in theirall-white strips and hugesuccessitislittlewonderthattheywerecalled‘TheSouthAmericanRealMadrid’.Thisgolden era brought them2 x Intercontinental Cups,2 x Libertadores and 6 xPaulistatitles.AndPeléwasthebeatingheartofitall.
1966 is black hole inBrazilian football, firmlyplacedinthe‘bestforgotten
about’ column. MostBraziliansdon’tknowwhenEngland won their WorldCup because it happenedat this tournament. Peléwas at the height of hispowers. He was 25 andhad been top-scorer inthe Campeonato Paulistafor the ninth time. ButunlikePelé,theseleçãowasnowherenearready.Feolahad been hastily draftedin at the last minute, themeticulous preparationandattentiontodetailthathad accompanied the ’58and ’62victorieshadbeenabandoned and the squadwaslargelymadeupoftheveterans of the previouscampaign. They were outof shape, aging and ill-prepared for the rigoursof tournament football.Garrinchainparticularwasashadowofhisformerself– having been ravaged byinjuryandalcohol.
Itwasadisasterfromwhichthecoach’sreputation,andthoseofmanyofhissquad,wouldneverrecover.
It is said that Pelécarried an injury into thetournament, we can’t be
surehowaccuratethatis,whatwedoknow is thatBrazilwereabject.All3oftheirgroupgameswereatGoodison.InthefirstgameBulgariawerebeaten2-0,both Pelé and Garrincharolledbacktheyearswitha goal apiece, bringinghope that experiencewouldbeenough.Itwas,however, a false dawn.Theylost3-1toHungarybefore Eusébio camelooking for revenge withPortugal.TheyknewtheycouldbeatthisBrazilsideand they weren’t wrong.Another 3-1 defeat andthe defending championsweresenthome.
Pelé and Brazil havealways maintained thatthis World Cup was tooaggressive, that theofficialsallowedtoomuch
physicality,andtheymight
have a point. Pelé had
been left unprotected in
all3gamesbefore finally
suffering an injury that
wouldrulehimoutforthe
coming months having
beenkickedmercilesslyby
thePortuguese.
He trudged down the
tunnelhavingbeenunable
tofinishthegame.Hewas
dejectedanddespondent.
Disgusted with what had
happened, looking back
at the pitch he made his
mind up that he would
walk away from football.
Heresolvednevertoplay
agameoffootballagain.
Gratefully, this wouldn’t
be the last chapter in
Pelé’sphenomenalstory.
To be continued...
Song – O nome do rei é Pelé (Jorge Bem Jor)
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Going Down?AsIsithereaheadofwhatIsee–asanabsolutelycrucialFACup3rdroundfixtureforNewcastleatVicarageRoadtomorrow,Ifindmyselfastoundedatthenumberofmagswhowouldhappilyseeusgetbeat.ItwouldappearthatMikeAshleyandCharnley’snonsensicalpropagandahasfinallycaveddownthewallsofhope,belief,anddreamsinsomeofourfanbase.Thereislittleproofthatgoingonacuprunimpactsonformintheleague,andinfact–lookingatthepastfewyearsofearlycupexitsonTyneside,thattheoryisalmostturnedonitsend.
Rich
ard
Smit
h @
rich
ysm
ith1
00
We haven’t made it past the 3rd roundin the past four years, and look howgoodourleagueperformancewas–nearlythree relegations in that period.Anyway,howdoesthisalllinktomyarticle?Well,regardlessofourFACupperformancethisseason, we find ourselves in an all toofamiliar sticky spot with relation to ourtop-flight status. In 17th position at thehalfwaypointofthecampaign,areUnitedfinallygoingtobedoomedforthedivisiontheyhaveflirtedwithinrecentyears?
Where do we stand right now?Probablythemostblackandwhitewayofevaluatingourpredicamentistolookatourcurrentleagueposition,andcomparethistorecentmiserableseasons.FollowingourdefeatatArsenal,wefindourselvesnestledin17thposition,twopointsaheadofthemackems, but more crucially, two pointsbehind16thplacedSwansea.Arguably,weareaboutninepointsawayfromapositionof comfort given the current standings.Perhaps worthy of note is our miserablegoal difference, which given the numberofpoorsidesintheleaguethisyearcouldend up being a critical factor. It speaksvolumeswhenpre-seasonrelegationcerts
Bournemouthhaveafour-goalcushionon our goal difference. So how
doesthiscomparetootherseasons?Wellexactly
a year ago itwas a
starkcontrast.Unitedsatin10thpositionon 27 points, a comfortable 10 pointsfrom the drop zone. A pretty mediocreseven wins had been achieved, yet thatlooks momentous when benchmarkedagainstthisseasonsreturnoffour.Weallknow what happened afterwards underthe desperate watch of Carver, howeverour position at this point in 2015 lookslikeacomfortblanketcomparedto2016’ssheetofnewspaper.
Lookingatleaguepositionfurther,perhapsa more tangible comparison would beto look at where we were after twentyfixtures in the relegation campaign of08/09. Depressingly – we were furtherahead than where we were now by acrucial five points in fourteenth positionwithapaltry five victories.Toput it intoLehmann’sterms,weareinaworseleaguepositionnowthanwehaveeverbeensinceour involvement in the Premier League.Gulp.
The Form BookWhilst I’m a firm believer that leaguepositiondoesnottellanylies,cananyhopebe scraped from our form this season?Looking at the previous ten matches,Unitedhaswonthree,drawntwo,andlost five.Overthecourseofaseason,thistypeofformwouldPROBABLYsee you
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Looking at the six clubs around us – United have beaten only two of them after the first round of fixtures, with two losses, and two draws.
safe–witharoughmentalcalculation seeing a returnof close to 40 points. Itsnot as transparent as thathowever, as if you sawunited return the samesecond half of the seasonto their first – that wouldsee a total return of 34points. That total wouldhaveseenusrelegatedlastyear.Wecantakeheartthatourbetterformthisseasonhas came against the socalledstrongersides intheleague–pickingupmassivevictories in recent weeksagainstLiverpoolandSpurs.Theproblemis,ourPremierLeague safety will not bebasedonusgainingsurprisevictoriesagainstthisprofileof side, but against theclubswhomwearebattlingwith inthebottomhalfofthetable.Lookingatthesixclubs around us – Unitedhave beaten only two ofthem after the first roundoffixtures,withtwolosses,and two draws. It’s a fairold mixed bag against theweakestsidesinthedivision,and therefore probably
quite telling of where wefind ourselves. Ultimately,without meaning to statethe obvious- in order tosurvivethedrop–Newcastleneedtomassively improvetheirform.23pointsstandbetweentheircurrenttotalandthemagic40,whichtokeepthingssimple–wouldneed United to doublethe number of wins theyachievedinthefirsthalfofthecampaign.
Our relegation rivalsI always balk at thecomment which getspushed out every seasonfrom certain corners that“youshouldn’tbeconcernedabout the results of otherclubs – worry about yourown team”. Given thatrelegationbattlesarealwaysfundamentally about howmany points other teamsachieve,thenthisstatementisutterbollocks.Whenyourteam is struggling to pickpointsuponthepitch,theONLY thing you can restyour laurels on is hopingthat your relegation rivalsdo not steal a lead on
you. I’ve already eluded tothe state of the quality ofother sides in the bottompit of the Premier League,and that has to be seenasaglimmerofhope.Villahavesomehowmanagedtorelegatethemselvesalready,and the mackems-despitebeatingusagainareastoiletasever.Whilst thebookiesarenighoncertainthatourlocal rivalsaredestinedforthedropthisyear,you’dbea fool to forget how theyhavemanagedtosomehowpull themselves out ofsimilar drastic positionstimeandtimeagain.Oftendown to new managersyndrome admittedly, butthe reality is that theyhave the experience ofpulling themselves out oftroublewhentheyneedto.Swansea are a team on arapiddeclineasfarasleagueposition is concerned,and rolling the dice bysticking with caretakermanager Curtis has an airof the ‘Carver’ about it.Bournemouth frustratinglyhasstartedtopickupform
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when you would typicallyassume it to be the otherwayaround.Ican’thelpbutfeelthattheirlackofsquadquality will finally take itstoll however – similar toBurnley in 09/10. Norwichare again a side who havestarted to pick up form inthepastfourweeks,andyouwouldassumeChelseawillstart climbing the leaguenow. Taking this all in toconsideration, unlike lastseason–wearen’tblessedwithaplethoraof sides tofightitoutwithasitstands.
What about us…?Well in small bursts,we have seen theimprovements in playingstyle compared to thedrosswehavebeenservedup in previous seasons.Whereas last season, itwashardtocomeupwithawordtodescribeUnited’splaying style – McClareninparts,hasgivenusmoreofanidentity.Thetruthof
thematteristhatplayingstylecountsforverylittlewhen you aren’t scoringgoals whilst concedingthem–something,whichour Head Coach appearsreluctant to admit.We have the strongestsquad we have had since2012/2013,andonpaper– a lot better than theclubs around us. Despitethat, the same gapingholeswearesickandtiredofcomplainingaboutstillexist in our playing staff.Lack of options at theback , limited creativityinthemiddleofthepark,and nobody putting theball in the back of thenet up front.Add to thisour desperate lack ofquality Premier Leaguehardened experience, andalarmbellswillringwhenpinning hopes on playerswhohavelittleknow-howof grappling out of thesesituations. Whilst clearlydisillusioned and pissed
offathowanotherseasonhasendeduplikethis,thefans are not (yet) in asmuch revolt against theteamandmanagerastheywere with Pardew andCarver. The team needsto give something backtotheundeservedsupporttheygetweekafterweek.
To summariseWeighing all of the aboveup, the future does looksomewhat bleak as far asour Premier League statusis concerned. Being in aposition we have neverfound ourselves in beforeatthisstageofacampaignistestamentinitselftothejob the club have in frontof them for the secondhalf of this season. TheJanuary transfer windowis absolutely crucial toour fortunes movingforward, with muchstrengthening required.Something tells me nottoholdmybreath.
The January transfer window is absolutely crucial to our fortunes moving forward, with much strengthening required.
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 77
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COULDA, WOULDA SHOULDA.
ForyearsthetransfermarkethasbeenaperiodofhopeandwonderforNewcastleUnitedfans.ThedreamsoflandingthenextShearer,CabayeorLaurentRobert.Unitedsowner,theshrewdandruthlesssportinggoodschainownerMikeAshleyhashadthewoolpulledoverhiseyesbyincompetentsenioroperatorsattheclub.
Itbegsthequestion.Whatifwehad somecompetencyinplace.PersonallyIdreamof local legend and Godof the Geordies AlanShearer in a director offootball role. Somebodywho understands the fans,and can seek recruitmentand would garnishrespect from agents andownersalike.
The likes of Joe Kinnear,DennisWise,DerekLlambiasand Lee Charnley. Menwho were given jobs tohandle player recruitmentwiththeassistanceofchiefscoutGrahamCarrforone
of the wealthiest clubs intheworldhadnobusinessin doing so. Frankly Iwouldn’t let themoperate a toasterlet alone NewcastleUnited.
Looking backthrough the years theabsolute cock ups andinexcusable mistakesthat have beenmade by this club.Surely unbeknownst toMikeAshleyinthetransferwindowwhoisalwayskeenon turning a profit fromplayer sales makes onethink.Didhejusthandthe
John BrownFollow @downt0wn
www.true-faith.co.uk tf 79
keys to St. James Park totheseidiots.
It wasn’t until this pastsummer we saw someproper investment inthe club. Investments thatshould have been madeoverthelastfiveyears.Butwhat’sevenmoreamazingisthedealswejust“couldn’tgetovertheline”let’shavealookatsomeofthebiggernames that slipped awayby offering pathetic andderisory offers who haveallturnedouttobequalityplayers. It’s just not howbusinessisdone.
Newcastle were heavilylinkedwithaDutch strikerwho, inevitably arrived atthe NUFC on loan by thenameofLuukDeJong.Wewere heavily linked withhim in the summer of2012,whereadditionsweresurelyneededgoingintotheEuropa leagueonthebackofawonderseasonneverofus will forget. The sumsbeing bandied about wereanywherefrom8-10millionpounds. Ironically then,manager Steve McClarenof FCTwente was holdingout for a sum closer to£15millionforhis21yeargoal scorer who netted25 times in the Eredivisie.When we picked him up
onloanhewasoutofformand never given a properchance under the tutelageof Alan Pardew and hassinceguidedhiscountrytoa title and through to theknockout round of thechampionsleague
Secondly, many willremember whenrecruitments were broughtin to fend off relegationin our Europa leagueseason. Legend has itthat Mike Ashley wasdirectly involved in therather swift recruitmentof Haidara, Sissoko,Mbiwa and the like in theJanuary window of 2013.Many forget that wewere tipped for a doubleswoopfornowindemandstriker Pierre EmerickAubameyang and fellowSt. Etienne defensiveprodigyKurtZouma.Weofferedareportedmeasly€10.5 million for thelatter. Looking back nowit’supsettingtothinkwhatcould have been, and nodoubt the profit Mr.Ashleycraves.Youwouldn’targueifhewentfor£30millionplusnow.
This one hurts, Loic Remy.ThemanwhogotwhiskedawayfromourgraspbyQPRinalastminute180move
for more money. Is he amercenary,damnright.Butin today’sgameallplayersare. The man who arrivedfinallyonTynesideforaloanspell that saw him singlehandedly keep Newcastlesafe had a very minimal£8.5 million buy outclause in his contract. Alittle ambition from ourhierarchy would have hadthemovemadepermanent.He’sanaturalgoal scorerwho,muchlikeDemba
Ba has seen his talentswasted on the Chelseabench. Bothofwhichnowseem to have realized thegrass isn’t always greener.Oh how we could usehisgoalsnow!
The rumour mill tears attheheartsofNUFCfansallovertheplanetwithnameslike Wilfiried Bony, DelleAlli and the list goes onthatwe’vebeenlinkedwithover the years that haveprovedtocomegood.Withalittleforesightimaginetheteamwewouldbefielding.
FlukeseasonsthatsawusinEuropeunderPardewwouldnolongerbeoneoffs,butratherbecomethe expectation. ThiswindowmaybeMikeAshley’s last chanceto make a mends,most fans afterwatching his shockinterview gavehim another
chance after somebig promises to
come good. Moneywasfinallyspentbut I feartoo little to late. Fingerscrossedfellowsupportersofourgreatclubthatwegetout of our mess that hasbeen brought on solely byineptitude in the transfermarket.
we were tipped for a double swoop for now in demand striker Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and fellow St. Etienne defensive prodigy Kurt Zouma. We offered a reported measly €10.5 million for the latter.
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PostcardsFromThe EdgePaully
“IfIcandealwithHatemBenArfa,thenIcangetEmmanuelAdebayorplayingagain”,AlanPardew.Theaudacityofthissmarmybull-shitterisoutrageous.It’slikeJosefFritzlclaimingthathewasafantasticfather.It boils my urine that themedia don’t question thecomplete and utter tripethat comes out of his daftannoyinglips.Isuspectthatthey afford him a lot ofleewayduetothefactthatthere aren’t many rent-a-quote gobshite managersleft in the Premier Leaguewhat with Mourinho andSaggy Bracket now notmanaging. I’m intrigued toknowexactlywhathemeantby“dealwith”.WeallknowthatHBAisnotthecleanandsacred son of Jesus Christandhisheadcansometimes
becomeasfrazzledasanout of date packet ofFrazzles but Pardew’streatment of him wasdisgraceful. ‘The king’(as he has referred tohimself before in thepast) selected the likesof Gosling, both ofthe Ameobis, Obertan,Gouffran and Raylorto name some ahead
of HBA in his position.He completely ostracised
the most naturally-giftedfootballer that we havehad since Ginola and it’sa travesty that he’s stillnot ripping the bum-holesout of defenders for us.Tothink that we literally paidtogivehimawayandhaveso far spent £25 million
on two players to replacehimwhowehavedeemedare not good enough is aballs-upthatnotevenAlanPartridgecouldmuster.
I’ve said for a long timethat centre midfield wasourweakarea so I’mverypleased with the signingof Shelvey and we didextremely well to get himbefore Harry Potter got aholdofhim.We’vemissedacentremidfielderwhodrivesus on and who constantlylooks topass forwardeversincethedepartureofthatbeautiful Frenchman. He’salso a bit of radge packettoo like Cabaye which isa good thing in my book.With Shelvey in there, wecertainly won’t get bulliedin the middle of the parkevenifBullyfromBullseyeisplayingforouropponents.Anita and Wearside Jackare far too lightweight asa combination and offervirtually zero protectiontowards our centre halves.Thegingeroneshouldbeasquadplayeratbestandhealsoshouldhavehadthreeof his fingers chopped offwhen he signed for usbecause of that photo.Shelvey should improveour set-pieces but thenagain,arhinoconfinedtoa
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wheelchair could probably
deliver better crosses than
what we’ve produced over
the last few seasons. My
only concern with Shelvey
isthatduringanextremely
hot day, if his baldy nut
deflects the sun too much
ontoColo’spermthenthere
isagoingtobeaseverefire
whichcouldturnouttobe
catastrophic.Hopefully,the
presence of Mbemba with
his hair-free noggin near
Colowillstopthispotential
disastrous situation from
occurring.
The style of football that
we’re playing is the most
pleasingon themincepies
since Pardew stumbled
upon (and quickly got rid
of) that 4-3-3 with Ba,
Cisse and HBA causing
completepandemoniumup
top. There are no aimless
long ball hoofs and we
constantly try to play out
from the back. You have
to give Schteve credit for
sticking by his philosophy
even when results haven’t
been going our way. Our
recent performances have
warrantedalotmorepoints
tf 83www.true-faith.co.uk
than what we have gained
but if you fail to convert
simple chances then you
willgetpunished.Wecould
quite easily have taken
12 points from the four
matches that surrounded
theseasonofthefat,daft-
bearded, house-intruding,
redandwhitepig.DeJong
missed a virtual open-goal
header at 1-0 vsVilla and
I’m amazed that he didn’t
fracturehishairlineindoing
so.He’sprimedforaroleon
Casualty every week once
hehangshisbootsup(not
asadoctoreither).Mitrovic
did likewise with a similar
chanceathometoEverton
at0-0andweweredenied
a blatant penalty atWest
Bromwiththescoreat0-0
when Mitrovic was taken
to Suplex City by Brock
Lesnar. The biggest hat in
Hat-landisnotbigenough
to contain the chances
that we missed atArsenal
againat0-0withGini’sthe
easiestofthebunchandwe
weredulypunished.Weare
missing a natural finisher
andwesimplyhavetobring
somebodyinduringJanuary
becausewe’rethinnerthan
ananorexicstick insectup
top. It could well be the
differencebetweenstaying
upandgoingdown.
Very sad news that NUFC
diehard Cliffy Ahmed has
passed away. Anyone who
has travelled to away
matches over the years
will have definitely come
across him. He was an
eccentric who followed us
everywhere. I’ve been on
hundredsofbuseswithhim
andonetriptoHollandfor
thatratherlivelyUEFAcup
encounter in Breda stands
out.Itwasatriporganised
by another two NUFC
diehards who have both
alsosadlybeentakenaway,
Billy Swift and John the
Badge.Hedecidedtowrite
“For sex, phone Clifford”
withhisphonenumberon
to numerous beer mats
inside of a bar on the day
of thematch. I assumehe
didn’t receive any phone
calls because he hadn’t
included the international
code never mind the area
codeofhisphonenumber.
R.I.PCliffy.
Very sad news that
NUFC diehard
Cliffy Ahmed has
passed away.
Anyone who has
travelled to away
matches over the
years will have
definitely come across
him.
tf 84
Players: Lawrence, McCra-cken, Hudspeth, Curry, Low, Finlay, Aitken, Ward, Harris, Smailes, McIntosh, King, Hagan, Hampson, Mooney, Pyke, Dixon, Gray, Phillipson, Mitchell, Ramsey, McDonald, Roxburgh, Russell
Division: After finishing 8th last season, we improved somewhat this campaign, finishing 5th with 50 points from 42 games. We finished 9 points behind eventual champions Burnley.
Manager: New year, same old! The Directors Committee continued to pick the team for NUFC this season.
Trainer/Coach: James McPherson took the side
SEASON60 SECOND CHRIS
LAws
again this year.
Highest Attendance: An opening day 61,080 gate at home to WBA was our biggest league gate of the campaign. They saw us start the season with a 1-1 draw at home to the Baggies. Including cups, a mega gate of 62,073 turned out to see us play Liverpool in the 2nd round of the FA Cup in late-January. United won 1-0 thanks to a Neil Harris strike. The attendance was a record crowd at SJP. Fantastic.
Lowest Attendance: A gate of only 15,000 turned out to see our mid-April league clash at home to Bolton Wanderers, the size of the crowd quite a surprise con-sidering both sides were at the right end of the league (Bolton would go on to fin-
ish 3rd, 2 points above us). NUFC got the better of the game, winning a tight match 1-0.
Average Attendance: Around a 4,000 jump from last year, as Football began to settle back into the nation’s lives after the war. 41,243 was the average gate at SJP over the 21 league matches played. That figure jumps slightly when you fac-tor in our three FA Cup ties at SJP (Nottingham Forest x2, Liverpool) to 41,921. The Forest tie was originally scheduled for Nottingham but was moved to Tyneside in agreement. When the
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first match ended in a draw, the replay took place, as it would, on Tyneside.
Best Win: One result stands head and shoulders above the rest. 09/Oct/1920; Newcastle United 6-1 Sunderland. Our biggest result over our rivals. It was a masterclass of attacking football from United, Stan Seymour, Smailes (2), Neil Harris (2) and Ted Ward all netting in the win. United would go on the week after to play Sunderland again, this time on Wearside, and com-plete the double, winning 2-0. Another six-star per-formance from United came later in the campaign, as we beat Manchester United 6-3 on New Year’s Day 1921.
Worst Defeat: There wasn’t one big defeat that got to United this year, it was more a culmination of poor results towards the end of the campaign that stopped NUFC’s title challenge in its tracks. In a one-month peri-od from mid March to mid April, United lost at home to Blackburn Rovers (1-2), Oldham Athletic (1-2), Derby County (0-1) and away to Bolton Wanderers (1-3). The campaign never got back on
track after it.
Something of Interest: Obviously, the derby dem-olition of Sunderland took centre stage this season, especially as United were in with a chance of title sil-verware for the majority of the campaign, being as high as third in early-April with 6 games left, only to fade away and finish in 5th place. The Liverpool cup game was also noteworthy, given the record attendance that was there that day, as Tyneside showed it’s passion for the FA Cup. After being rewarded with a 1-0 win, United were drawn against Everton away in the next round, and fell to a 3-0 defeat, being outclassed on the day by a team that would finish three points below us at the end of the season.
Mentioned in Dispatches: Newcastle were once again the big spenders this year, breaking their club record fee and also paying big bucks for a hat full of players. Neil Harris came in from Patrick Thistle for £3,300 (a club record) and would prove to be worth the outlay, finishing the club’s top goalscorer with 19 goals this season. County Durham native Stan Seymour returned to the North East after a very successful spell with Morton, £2,500 the fee. He’d finish the cam-paign with 10 strikes. Billy Aitken and Tom McDonald were bought from north of the border, at Rangers, for a combined fee of £4,500. NUFC suffered their first loss in 17 years on the continent this season, as FC Barcelona beat United 3-2 on 17th May in a post-season kickabout.
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National Interest: Car tax disks are introduced in early January.. Winston Churchill is appointed Colonial Secretary in February.. With unemployment now over one million people in the UK, the government announces an increase in unemployment benefit.. Tottenham Hostpur beat
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 at Wembley in the FA Cup final.. The province of Northern Ireland is created in May this year within the UK.. The British Legion is found-ed as a voice for ex-service-men.. Unemployment rises once again, from one-mil-lion earlier in the year to
2.2m in the summer.. Bloody Sunday occurs in July, as clashes between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast result in 16 deaths.. On 11 November, the British Legion hold the first official poppy day.. The driest year in UK history happened in 1921, and it hasn’t been close to being broken since..
Regional Interest: The first council houses are built in Newcastle. They are part of the Government pledge to ex-servicemen of homes fit for heroes, an expression repeated with bitterness as unemployment rocketed in the North East. The after-math of the Easter Rising and the fight for Irish self-deter-mination was felt keenly on Tyneside, where there was long established a large community with strong Irish lineage. Numerous politi-cal groups proliferated with the Irish Self-Determination League strongly supported but Jarrow was also home to a specific IRA brigade and
officially recognised by the army council following an oath led by Liam McMahon. Richard Purcell became the Officer Commanding, Gilbert Barrington the Quartermaster, and Joseph Connolly the Adjutant. An inner circle also held mem-bership in the highly-se-cretive Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), includ-ing Purcell and Barrington. Women were not admitted to the IRA itself, but had their own organisation - Cumann na mBan (League of Women). There was a branch in Jarrow, under the leadership of Cissie Brennan. The Jarrow IRA bri-gade carried out numerous operations across Tyneside including bombing oil refin-eries and before the treaty was signed in Ireland there were plans to blow up the High Level Bridge. Several of the Jarrow IRA received pris-on sentences..
Chris Laws.
Follow @tflawsy1892
However football stats can
serve a purpose for us, the
lumpenproletariat.Whenin
visual formtheycanclarify
a situation better than any
outburst on Facebook or
Twitter. A case in point is
the rumoured new badge
forNewcastleUnited.Inmy
opinionthenewNewcastle
United badge should be a
HappyNewYearfellowsufferers!Asreadersofthiscolumnwillknow,
Iamnotfondoffootballstats.Thereisnothingtobegainedfrom
knowingfootballstats.Andweshouldrightlyscornanyonewhohas
theaffronttoaccostusoutsideGreggsandtellusaboutthevarying
directionsinwhichVurnonAnitakicksafootball.Andwhowishesto
wakescreaminginthenightwiththememoryofSammyAmeobi’s
crosscompletionrateonWyscout?Notme,Squire.Thisknowledgeis
fool’sgoldinanycase.Itwon’tsaveusfromtheravagesofIsilorthe
(neverending)bloodychocolateofferatWHSmiths.
“stat” in the form of a pie
chart.
A teacher friend once
showed me an assignment
from his school. The task
wastoshowhowpiecharts,
graphs,andthelikeworkas
a visual analysis.The visual
correlationoneofhispupils
chosewasthelinkbetween
fruit eating and differences
in hair colour. A herculean
taskyoumaythink,butno
stonewasunturnedinalong
report stuffed with graphs,
pie charts, the names of
many fruits, and the hair
colour of classmates. The
Achilles heel in the project
was, undoubtedly, the
evidence pertaining to the
depressing uniformity of
the class’s hair colour. Hair
colourwasdescribedthusin
a pie chart: “brown”, “light
brown”, “mostly brown”,
“dark brown”, “lighter than
average brown”, and “very
dark brown”. Realising
that something special
tf 86 www.true-faith.co.uk
Pie charts and badges
RICHARD FOSTER
Incendiary Magazine
was needed to divertattention away from thedamning evidence of saidchart, a discussion of themeritsofvariousfruitswasundertaken; (the raspberrybeingtoofullofseeds,andapples apparently provingindigestible) before aconclusion worthy of anymember of the Charnleyfamilywasdelivered.Towit:“Although the evidence Iusedhasprovedmewrong,my analysis was provedcorrect”.Thisismagnificent,andworthmuchmorethanthe1/10foreffortthatthereportreceived.
This pupil’s pie chart gotme thinking about theproposed new NewcastleUnited badge. Using thepie chart as our visualtemplate, the new badgecould encapsulate thecurrent state of affairsat the club, and can givean expert résumé for anypotential investors. Colourco-ordination is vital, as Iam sure youwill agree; soforthecolour,Ihavechosendogshitbrown.Thewordingonthebadge’spiesliceswillbeasfollows:“shit”,“terribleshit”, “mostly shit”, “deepshit”, “worse than averageshit”, and“very deep, dark,shit”.Astrongandaccurate
message,nodoubt.
Moorhens and Star WarsActually, thinking aboutthekid’spiechart remindsme of Newcastle United’srecent woeful displaysagainst the press. Forgetthe disappointments onthe pitch over the festiveseason, we need to knowwhat on earth is SteveMcClaren smoking beforethese pressers. Has hebeen reading Steve Black’smotivational notebooks intheBenton“ThroneRoom”?Recentforayshaveinvolvedstanding toe to toe withWest Bromwich Albion,refusingtogetsweptaway(probablytoHebdenBridge)and - most bafflingly - anassertionthat,heisfuriouslypaddling underneath acalm exterior. Becausehe has more information.About what, or paddlingwhere?Andinaboatorasa bird with webbed feet?That, we will never know.I fear Mr McClaren hasbeen watching the newStarWars film with SteveBlack and Bobby Moncuratsometerriblefestivegettogether, and now seeshimself as some kind ofknight fighting against theevils of a corrupt systemand an uncaring fanbase
whocan’t,orwon’t,seethe“real” Emmanuelle Rivierefor what he really, reallyis*.Maybetheinformationbeing kept secret is thatSteve McClaren’s torsostraddles dimensions;bravelypaddlingtokeepatleast half of his body inthe real world. Eschewingthe light sabre or starship,maybeMcClarenhasoptedto morph into a creaturethatishalfman,halfaquaticbird.Ifonlyhisplayerscouldsee how hard, and withwhat unyielding vigour hewaspaddling, andhowhisbackroom staff supportedhis paddling, then maybethey could paddle too.Onthe surface a Premiershipmanager, but beneatha cosmic incarnation ofbird and man; a worthysuccessor to Loki or Odin,butcursedbythefactthatonly an elect few see hispowersofmotivation.
It’s interesting the bird-related metaphor thatWor Manager picks.Not for Steve McClarenthe imperious cry of themajestic eagle, the swoopof the keen-eyed falcon,the rapscallion thieving ofthe crafty magpie, or the
mystic insightsofthewiseraven.No;wegetpaddlingwithacalmexterior,whichleavesuswithbadtemperednutcaseslikemuteswansordivers(akaloons),anykindof duck (for argument’ssake let’s at least pick anattractiveone,thepochard)or boring nonentities likecoot,grebe,ormoorhen.Fie,Sir! (Yet another indicationthatthestrictures imposedby Ashley’s proto-Stalinistregimecandrivepeople totalking utter rubbish.ThinkofyourfamilySteve.)
A Strip Too FarItseemsthatrecently,manypoordeludedMagsactuallyseeking entertainment,enjoyment and a smidgenof success from football(fancy that!) have resortedto following non, or lowerleague games. Whetherat Blyth, Spennymoor,Gateshead, North Shieldsor South Shields, there isa wide choice in the area.I too, am no stranger tothis trend. Ever since theFoster family seat movedsouthwestwards toLancashire, I have tackedmy“second club” pennanttothemastofthegoodshipAccrington Stanley. I can’t
we need to know what on earth is Steve McClaren smoking before these pressers
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really say The Reds have
given me that much room
tocheerovertheyears,but
Ihavemanyfondmemories
oftheCrownGround,some
very funny days out, and
some marvellous highs.
I also love the fact that
Newcastle East End wore
a red top (like Stanley’s)
and that East End was the
footballing club for Stanley
CC (Geddit!?!?). Historical
synchronicitymostblessèd.
Untilthisseason.Therehave
been dark changes afoot.
Firstly, the club’s ground
is now named the Wham
stadium;luckilyafterabrand
of plastic goods, not the
effete 1980s singing duo.
But still, the name brings
up queasy memories of
thoseappallingsongs,prissy
appearances onToppy, and
some fearful outfits. I can
live with that, however. But
what I draw the line at is
lookingatthenewkit.Iwon’t
offendmyreaders’sensibilities
with a picture. Suffice to say
it’sredandwhitestripes.How
darethey.HowcanIgonow?
This aversion to cheering on
ateamwearingthesecolours
has meant that (since living
in The Netherlands) I can’t
imagine paying to watch
Sparta Rotterdam (friendly,
cult club) or PSV Eindhoven.
I’mnotgoingbacktoStanley
till they get rid. And they’re
doing really well this season.
Buggeration.
*A new signing, of course!
Here are ten tunes and mixes
various that should consign
the Austin Maxi of 2015 to
the crusher of history.
The Sound of Belgium - New Beat mix 1
“Happy Birthday to You”
“Jingle Bells” - Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble (PRK)
Angelia Prince - No Bother With No Fuss
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Byron Lee & The Dragonaires - Love At First Sight
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Max Berlin - Elle et Moi
Pat Kelly - I’m Coming Home
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FirstspottedinSeptember1990forhisclubBanikOstravaina1-3UEFACupdefeatatAstonVilla,NewcastleUnitedmanagerJimSmithinvitedgoalkeeperPavelSrníčekforaonemonthtrialbeforea£350,000feewasagreedinFebruary1991.
Pavel, Pavel SrníčekMaking a reserve teamdebut soon after, the 22year old former soldierplayeda further13gamesincluding a 1-2 defeat atEverton the night beforehe’d make his first teamdebut.LeagueCupfinalistsand promotion chasingSheffield Wednesdayvisited St James Park asnewmanagerOssieArdilesturnedtoyouthtotryandspark life into an ailingUnited.
Following a steady ifunspectacular first match(1-0), Pav soon admittedhis debut had given himmixedfeelings:
“I’m sorry that John Burridge was the man who made way for me. John has given me a lot of advice and help since I arrived at Newcastle. He has been very kind and spent hours working with me as I’ve tried to adapt to the English game.”
Despitetheclamourofthesupporters to give Budgiea farewell once it wasconfirmed he’d depart inthe summer, Srnícek keptgoal for the remaining 6games but failed to addfurther clean sheets asUnitedfinished11th,some10 points off the play offplaces.
Speaking of Budgie’slooming departure Pavwould say: “I will be sorry to see him go but I suppose that is football. It’s a job and I have to try and make the most of this opportunity.”
DespiteArdiles intentionsof putting his faith inun-tried youngsters,United were one of thefavourites for promotiontothetopflightgoinginto1991-92. However thefirst 11 games returnedonly 1 win, 23 goalsconceded and 0 cleansheets asThe Mags wererockbottom.
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MARC CORBY
At this point our Number1wasexperiencingatorridtime and his credentialsbecame morem suspectas United conceded 3 at3rd Division Crewe and6 at Tranmere in the cupcompetitions.
A home game v Leicesterfollowedanddespitea2-0winanda firstcleansheetsincehisdebut,Pavelmadeway for Tommy Wrightfor the remainder of theseason. WithOssiesackedand replaced by KevinKeegan in February 1992,Pav only featured in onegameathometoTranmereasUnited,headingtowardsthe 3rd Division, lost 2-3.Wright returned for thenext game and safety wasguaranteedonthefinaldayoftheseason.
With Keegan confirmed asmanager, backed by theboard to revitalise Unitedand the supporters fullybehindhim,TheMag’sbeatallbeforetheminthefirst11gamesoftheseasontakingmaximum points. Keeganhadkept faithwithWrightonly giving Srnícek matchtime in the Anglo ItalianCupbeforetheIrishmangotinjured in a 3-2 midweekgameatBirminghamwheremidfielder Kevin Brockreplaced him in goal. Pavwould return for only his
2nd league game in 13month and kept a cleansheet in a 0-0 televiseddrawwithSwindon.
Winningthenext4gameswith 2 more clean sheetsachieved, the returningWrightwasstillexpectedtoreplaceSrnícekbutKeeganconfirmeditwas“Pav’sshirttolose”andtheCzechwouldkeepgoalfortherestoftheseason as United marchedimpressively towards thetitleandpromotion to thenewPremierLeague.
Despite the odd error,Srnícek kept another 10clean sheets in the leagueincluding 3 in a week attheendofFebruary.Ashisconfidence grew, alongsidea massive improvement incollecting crosses, we firstwitnessed the benefits oftraining under Keegan.Keen to show off hisfootballing skills, part ofhisrepertoirewouldbetodealwithabackpassbynonchalantly throwingtheattackeradummybefore shifting theball directly to ateam-matesfoot.Thesupporterslovedit.
Famously, followingthe 7-1 annihilation ofLeicester on the final dayof the season, Lee Clarkhanded Pav a t-shirt towear before the end of
season lap of honour. Inacknowledgement to thewords on the top, a newchantof‘PavelisaGeordie’bounced around St JamesParkandfromthispoint itwasclearPavhadendearedhimself to the supportersandearnedhimcultstatus.
Starting life in thePremierLeagueasKeegan’sNumber1choiceshowedhowmuchPavhadimprovedsincehisearly days. Howeverhe would seered in the2ndgameofthe seasonand failedto replaceWright in theleague uponhisreturn.H e
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In acknowledgement to the words on the top, a new chant of ‘Pavel is a Geordie’ bounced around St James Park
Get Pavel is a Geordie here
did feature in the LeagueCup where an unforcederror gifted Notts CountyashockleadbeforeUnitedwon4-1.
Keeganshockedsupportersby selling Wrightand signing Liverpoolreserve Mike Hooper for£550,000. Explainingthis some years later,the manager explainedhe was “swapping onegoalkeeping style foranotheraswehada lackof height at that time.”Hooper stood 1.5” tallerthan Srníček and despiteonly playing an averageof7gamesaseasonover8 years was the newNumberOne.
With United getting offto a slow start in 13thplace, Hooper’s signingcoincided with a massiveupturn in form as Unitedwon 11 of the next 17matches and Keegan’s
decision appeared astuteas 7 clean sheets wereachieved.
However,afailuretomovefor a Matt Le Tissier freekick in January appearedto turn supporters againstHooperandfollowingpoordisplays at Luton in theFACup andWimbledon inthe league he’d reachedan apparent point of noreturn. Keegan threatenedtoquitiftheterraceabusefrom a minority didn’tstopbut reinstatedPav forthe remaining 15 gamesregardless.Itwasapopularand ultimately correctdecisionasUnitedwon10,qualified for Europe in ahugelyimpressive3rdplaceand Pav played his partkeeping7cleansheets.
As the 1994-95 seasonkickedoff,therewasasenseofdéjàvuasPavwassentoffatLeicesterbutKeeganappearedtohavecomplete
faith in him by instantlyrestoringhimbackintotheteam.
Keeping a clean sheet onhis International debut inOctober,Srnícekwentontobecome themost selectedUnited player that season.His 52 League and Cupappearances returned 17cleansheetsbutTheMag’sfinishedadisappointing6th.
Startingthefollowinseasonsuspended following a 3rd(and final) United sendingoff in the penultimatehome game v Tottenham(3-3) the previous season,new signing Shaka Hislopreplaced Pav for the first17 leaguegamesofwhichUnitedwon12andsattopofThePremiership.
Shaka picked up a thighinjury away at Chelseaand in the days a keeperwasn’t always named as asubstitute,Pavcameonto
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It was a popular and ultimately correct decision as United won 10, qualified for Europe in a hugely impressive 3rd place and Pav played his part keeping 7 clean sheets.
face, and then pick a DanPetrescu free kick straightout of the net in a 0-1defeat.
However the next gamev Everton saw the Czech’sfinestmoment.1-0upbutdownto10meninthelast10 minutes, Pav pulled offa save thatGordon Bank’sputinhis“all-timetoptengreatsaves.”
The Independent’s matchreport stated: “TheNewcastle goalkeepercapped a sparkling displaywith a stunning save,changing direction in mid-divetokeepoutadeflectedAnders Limpar shot. ItsavedUnited2points.”
Rather criminally, the savewasleftoutoftheseason’s
videoreview‘SoClose’butthe spontaneous ovationfrom the supporters thatrepeated itself at full timewas well received andfondly remembered by allwhowere there aswell asthe‘AdoptedGeordie’:
“That feeling when thewholestadiumstandupandclapped and shouted myname. I don’t know if toomany players experiencethat”hetoldMartinHardyfor his ‘Touching Distance’book. “It’s somethingpeople will never have.Theywillwin trophiesandmoneyandeverythingtheydreamofbuttheywillneverhavethis.”
Winning6ofthefollowing7gameswhereafurther3cleansheetswereachieved,
United were still top andfavouritesforthetitlebutanawfulrunof4defeatsin6with12goalsconcededsawchampionship aspirationsfade.
Following a 3-4 defeat atLiverpool,PavanddefenderWarren Barton would bethe fall guys losing theirplacesfortheremainderofthe season where 4 winsin 7 wasn’t enough to pipManchester United to thetitle.
At this point Pav had 4caps prior to a call up tothe Euro 96 squad hostedinEngland.Failingtomakean appearance due to theformofPetrKouba,hesoonbecame The Czech’s firstchoice. Hewouldretain ifforthenext5yearsbefore
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...Pav pulled off a save that Gordon Bank’s put in his “all-time top ten great saves.”
bowing out on 49 capsfollowing a 0-1 defeat vBelgium that ended their2002WorldCuphopes.
PavwouldplayatWembleyforUnitedinthe0-4CharityShielddefeattoManUnitedbut losthisplacetoShakafortheopeningdaydefeatat Everton before claimingit back for the followinggame (a clean sheet athome to Wimbledonmore memorable for AlanShearer’s first United goal)andthefollowing17.
The uncertainty over whowasfirstchoicekeeperwaslaterexplainedbyKeegan:
“We were always tryingto find the next greatgoalkeeper and we nevertoldShakaorPavthattheywerenumberone.Itwasuptothemtoearnthatstatus,and theyweregivenequalopportunitiestodoso.”
At the time Pav shruggedoff rumours that Keeganhad bid £4 million forBlackburn’s Tim Flowerssaying: “Ever since I camehere Newcastle have been
connected with othergoalkeepers.”
Heearnedafurther3cleansheetsinthatrun,includingoneinamemorable5-0winover Man United, before aterriblerunofformreturnedonly1winin9gamesandadropto6thplace.Keeganwouldchangekeepersagainbefore quitting and Shakawould maintain his placeundernewmanagerKennyDalglish.
Despite a game free lastweekend in April, Unitedreceived no help fromthe FA who honouredSKY commitments overre-shuffling fixtures. ThismeantTheMag’s,aimingtobe the firstEnglishclub toqualify for the ChampionsLeague in2ndplace, facedthe tough prospect ofplayingtheir final4gamesin8days.
Srnícek was surprisinglyrecalled for the 1st gameatArsenalandkeptacleansheetina1-0win.
Goalless draws at WestHam and Champions
Man United followedbut United were stilloutsiders. Needingto better Arsenal’sresult and hopeLiverpool failed towin, Newcastleran riot againsta relegatedN o t t i n g h a mForest sidewinning 5-0.While theplayerswereonthehabitualendofseason‘lapofhonour’,newsofLiverpool’s drawand Arsenal’sinferior score-line confirmedUnited hadearned a placewithEurope’sElite.
Asthesummerdeveloped,itwasapparentDalglishwas willing to cash inon major assets to keepthe newly formed PLChappyandSrnícek,arguablyplayed to be put in theshop window, was transferlisted once Dalglish signedthehighlyratedShayGiven
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fromhisoldclubBlackburn.
Despite named sub on afew occasions, Srníček’slaststart forUnitedwouldbe a 1-1 home draw withBlackburninOctober1997.
Leaving soon aftersupporting United atWembley in the FA CupFinal defeat v Arsenal,Srníček eventually signedfor Sheffield Wednesdayand received an extremelywarmandgraciouswelcomeon his Owls debut, at StJames Park in November1998. Despite being partoftheopposition,hisritualofapplaudingbothcornersof the goal line for aslong as possible would beperformed.
Following Wednesday,Pav played for a host of
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otherclubs inEnglandandEurope before returning toNewcastle as goalkeepingcover in October 2006.Named as a sub on 10occasions due to injuries,PavcameonfortheinjuredGiven to a rapturousreception for the finalminutesofa3-1winoverTottenhamatGallowgate.
Starting on Boxing Day ina1-2defeatatBolton,Pavwasnamedsubfor15moregameswithoutdirtyinghisgloves. Departingagain in
What they said:Kevin Keegan:“A very good shot-stopper. Prone to the odd mistake but at Newcastle that weakness was exaggerated by the way we played – it didn’t make life a bed or roses for defenders and goalkeepers.”
Mick Quinn:“[He was] shy, only a kid and I seen him go from a shy kid to blossom into this lovely personality. He had this wicked sense of humour. If you’ve done well for Newcastle, they never forget you and they were singing ‘Pavel is a Geordie’”
Lee Clark:“He was liked by everybody, he was the one that everyone took too. You wouldn’t meet a more popular guy and he was a fine goalkeeper. We seen him come through and improve year after year to become one of the best in the Premier League.”
Journalist Martin Hardy:“[Pav was] someone who caught what their football club meant to the people of Newcastle, who matched the warmth and generosity of a region that grew to love him.”
Paul Joannou, The Ultimate Record.“An untested goalkeeper who eventually commanded popular backing”
For The Record:League Appearances: 149(2)
Goals Conceded: 157
Clean Sheets: 51
Other Appearances: 38(1)
Goals Conceded:50
Clean Sheets: 12
June 2007, rather fittinglyhis competitive career hadendedonTyneside.
Despite starting life atUnited inconsistentlywhere an error one weekwould be matched by aworldclasssavethenext,Pav, enhanced by a farsuperiorback4,improvedimmensely and hispopularity soured as hebecame an integral partof the 1993 promotionwinningcampaign.
He simply got what itmeant to play for suchan ardent and ferventcrowd and this small clipcelebrating Newcastle’swin over Sunderland inApril1993showsamutualappreciationthathasgrowneversince.
Atremendousathlete,agileand a brave shot stopper,us supporters embracedPav,adoptedhimasoneofourownandwatchedhimplayamassivepartinKevinKeegan’s revolutionisingof Newcastle United that,looking back, really werethebestoftimes.
Hiscultherostatus ispartoftheromanceinthisgamethatwillneverfadeaway.
ThankYouPav.R.I.Pbonnylad.
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The transfer window – the overhyped rhetoric making giddy men who have never kissed a girl, excited over a loan deal for their football club has passed again. This time Newcastle United were involved to the full. They strengthened and not with the usual influx of cut price foreign football-ers from inferior leagues. Not that buying from inferior leagues is always a negative, Gini is prime example of that. Yet this time we have been linked and actually purchased young, England international footballers, added pace and if I am honest a bit of an unknown in the shape of Henri Saivet.
Jonjo Shelvey arrived fromSwansea for a potentiallybargain £12m. Only timewilltellwhethertheSouthWelshclubwillregretsellinga top quality, if somewhatinconsistent talisman tooneoftheircurrentrivalsintheleaguetable.Hestartedlike an express train andhis first half performanceat home to West Hamhad a lot of fans purring.Yet he went off the boil atouch in the second halfand was fairly anonymousat Watford (mind, whowasn’t?). Ifwecanget theconsistencyfromhimasheages,maturesandcurbstheill-discipline that has seennumerous yellow cards
and flash points in recentseasonsthenwecouldhavesomeplayeronourhands.At23,he isyoungenoughtogrowoutofthat,whilstmaintaining the fire thatultimately fuels players ofhis nature. He has a goodrangeofpassing,canscorea goal, likes a tackle andas important as anythingfor me, can use both feetproperly!
Henri Saivet is a bit ofan unknown in terms ofwatchinghimplayregularly.Those who watch Frenchfootball regularly (really?)willtellyouhewasawingerthat Bordeaux convertedinto a defensive midfielder
and has been one of theirstronger performers thisseason. He started ourplaying for the Frenchnational team but hasdecided now to play forSenegal and that couldcauseustomisshimwhentheAfrican Nations comesaround. Yet positively headds more strength in aposition where the franklyaverage (and that’s beingkind) Colback, the finishedTiote and the overworkedAnita have been toilingsince the start of lastseason. Anita is a goodplayeranddivides support,butultimatelyhe’sprobablytoosmallphysicallyforthisleague.
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The signing that reallygripped everyone’sattention and showedNewcastle’s intention inthe window was that ofAndrosTownsend. I’d beentippedthewinkthathewascominginFebruaryandgoton at 14/1 so I was evenhappierwhenthedealwasfinally done. Daniel Levy’sinsistence that we pay£14m for a reserve playerwas met with dismay bymost but to be fair toNewcastleUnitedwestoodourgroundandpaid£12mforanEnglandinternationalwho could really add asparkandsomedesperatelyneeded pace to a mostlyvery static side. It will befascinating to see how helinks up with Shelvey andGini both intricately andwithhispaceinbehindthedefencesoftheopposition.We all know his tendencyto want to be on his leftfoot but I have seen hima couple of times recentlyfortheu-21s(Iknow,brassneckofmegoingonaboutwatching French football,butitwasonlytoseehim,honestly) and he wasn’t
as reliant and one-footedas when I have seen himagainstusinthePL.
Onthesubjectofpacewefinally made the strikingaddition we needed in theshape of Seydou DoumbiawhocomestothePLwitha dodgy record in Italianfootballbutasparklingonein theCL.The 29 year oldnettedagainstManUtdthisseason, from the reboundofapenaltyandhasagoodyardofpaceandhopefullywill bring his Europeanrecord here, and not hisItalian one. Ultimatelywe needed somethingalongside Mitrovic andGouffran and Riveire werenot the answer; unless thequestion was ‘what’s lessworthwhilethanhavingthetwo old women fromTheLesDawsonsketchshowupfront?’.
We attempted to make acoupleofother signings inand around the deadlineday including want awaystriker Saido Berahino. I’mnot sure how I feel abouttheir reluctance to sell,becauseontheonehandI
wouldlovetoseeusshowthat resolve but on theother, the lad isn’t playingand it makes little senseto keep someone, who ispalpablyunhappyataclubforthesakeofanironwill.Ultimately, he wasn’t forsaleandwemoveon.Therewere also moves for twoSpanish left backs whichwentwestandanattemptto reunite us with JoseEnrique, yet he decided tostayinLiverpoolandeathisownweightintapas.
Generally speaking mostNUFC fans would havebeenpleasedhadtheybeencanvassed after we failedto beatVilla on December19th about our transferdealings had they knownthe outcome would havebeenlikethis.Some,myselfincluded would be evenhappier if Sky’s ultimateprized prat (and let’s behonesthe’supagainstsomepretty stiff competition)JimWhitehad keeledoverin the forced excitement.Until May, let’s win somegames,havesomefunandenjoy supporting NUFCagaineh?
Generally speaking most NUFC fans would have been pleased had they been canvassed after we failed to beat Villa on December 19th about our transfer dealings had they known the outcome would have been like this
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Itstilldoesn’tfeelreal.Almosttwoweeksafterthenewsofhissadandunexpecteddeathfromcancer,theknowledgethatDavidBowieisnolongerwithusonPlanetEarthjustdoesn’tfeelright.AsIwaspreparingtogotoworkonMonday11January2016,Iflickedoverthenewschannelsandthereitwas.‘BreakingNews–DavidBowiehasdiedafteran18monthbattlewithcancer’.Thissimplycouldn’tbe.ThemediawasawashwithBowievideosandfeaturesforhisbirthdayontheFridaybeforeandtheimminentreleaseofhisalbum,‘Blackstar’.Hewas,inmymindandmostpeople’s,aliveandkicking,andreadytoreceivetheplauditsforwhatmanypeopleweredescribingashisbestalbuminyears.Hecouldn’tpossiblybedead.
Buthewas.DavidBowie–aperennial,permanentandmagical figure inmy life–haddied.
I can remember comingbackfromafamilyholidayinWalesandthenewsthatElvis Presley had died. Ican remember when JohnLennon was shot. I wasvery young when theseevents happened but Iunderstood that theseevents meant something.The relationships peopledevelop with music andsongs and artists and popstars and are complexand powerful. Whateverit does to the humanmind, you can’t ignore ordismissthefactthatitcanbe a profoundly deep andenriching experience. Yougrow up with these songsandthepeoplewhowriteandperformthem,anddevelopa strong emotional bondwith them, sometimesveering into idolatry or
fanaticism –and it feelsgood to have thesepeople – these idols,these stars, theseheroes,inourlives,even just for oneday. And withDavidBowie,itfeltmore than good tohavehiminourlives.Itfeltgreat.
Regularreadersofmycontributions to truefaith will know that Ilostmymothertocancerin2013.DavidBowiewasherfavouriteartist,andoneofmyearliestmemoriesofherwasher singing“Rebel,Rebel” tome. Oneofourfirstfamilyholidays,whenIwasasmallboy,wasona barge on the NorfolkBroads(Ibizacamelater)–andIcan’tlistento“LifeonMars?”withoutb e i n g
BOWIE - A LIFE
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transported back to thatholiday and to the earlyto mid 1970s in generalreally,it’ssoofit’stime.In1987, when David Bowieannounced thathewas tobringtheGlassSpider tourtoRokerParkofall places,my mam bought ticketsforthefamily,andtheoneand only time I was everallowed to bunk off fromschoolwastoseethemanhimself. So, when I heardthatnewsonthatMondaymorning that David Bowiehaddiedofcancer,aloadofotheremotionswerestirreduptoo.
So,growingup,BowiewasthereonTopofthePops,ontheradioandonourstereo–myyoungmindabsorbinghis utterly unique singingvoice and his wonderfulear formelody,with thosedistinct key changes thatwere one of his manysignatures. Writ largethroughout his glorious
career was his ability toreinventhimselfandcreatepersonas whilst still beingDavid Bowie. The Bowieof“SpaceOddity”morphedseamlessly into the Bowieof “Ziggy Stardust” – acreation of a perfect popidol that evoked Iggy Popand Lou Reed via TheMan that Sold the World.There’s absolutely nothinggood about the death ofDavid Bowie, but one ofthefewcrumbsofcomfortfor me is the knowledgethat there’s a whole bodyofwork that Ionlyhavealimited knowledge of. Yes,I’mfamiliarwiththesingles,but Hunky Dory, DiamondDogs, andAlladinSanearealloutthere,justwaitingtobelistenedto.
He decamped to the USafterreleasingthesealbumsand regenerated into the‘plastic soul’ of YoungAmericansreleasingoneofhisfinestsingles,theutterly
prescient “Fame”, wherehe worked with a youngLutherVandross. (Anothermajor influence on myearly youth from the 70salso regenerated and wasnotofthisearth.)
BBC’sbrilliantdocumentary‘FiveYears’showedjusthowmeticulous and focusedBowie was during thisperiod to create this newsound, to reinvent himselfand move away from theglamrocksoundoftheearly70s. He also discoveredthe excesses of the musicindustry,whichinthemid-70s,unsurprisinglyinvolvedhigh-grade cocaine, andhis appearance on theDickCavettshowsawhimsniffing, twitching, anddrawing imaginary shapeson the floorwithhiscane.ButAmericalovedhim,andhe was fast becoming aglobalsuperstar.
Then came his nextpersona –TheThinWhite
Writ large throughout his glorious career was his ability to reinvent himself and create personas whilst still being David Bowie.
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Duke, which, given his“astronomic”cocainehabit,wasquiteapt,andsawhimbridge the soul and funkof Young Americans intothe abstract electronicaof Heroes and Low, withStation to Station, analbum influenced by theicy Teutonic grooves ofNeu!, Can and Kraftwerk.Kraftwerk’s Trans EuropeExpress actually namechecked Bowie, whoreturned the complimentwithV2Schneider
These influences saw himmove to Berlin (BowiedescribedStationtoStationas“apleatocomebacktoEurope”), starting a trendamongst musicians tomove to the city to tapinto the magical creativityintheair,thewatersupply,or maybe just the drugsupply. Here, famously,hebegan working with BrianEno,andembarkedonwhatis now considered as hismost creative period - theresulting albums, Heroes,Low,andLodgerproducingsomeofhisfinestmoments.It’sworthpointingoutthat,in 1977, David Bowie was
a bona fide rock superstar,andamainstreamstarandmoved to Berlin to recordtwo albums that, despitecontaining two of his bestpop songs “Heroes” and“Sound and Vision”, were,toall extentandpurposes,exercisesinthemoreavant-garde spectrumofmodernmusic containing as theydid, a high percentageof gloomy, atmosphericinstrumentals.
In the mid-70s he alsostarred as the titularcharacter in The ManWho Fell to Earth, whichstarted a long associationwith the cinema. Two ofmy favourite films, MerryChristmasMrLawrence,andThe Hunger, starred DavidBowie in central roles, andhis appearance on screenwas always intriguingand interesting. HisperformanceinTheHungeris beautifully understatedandpoignantasavampirefacedwith theunexpectedrealisationthat,afterall,hewasn’t an immortal as hispartnerCatherineDeneuvewas.Lifeimitatedartinthelongrun.
HealsoworkedwithMartinScorsese, playing PontiusPilateinTheLastTemptationof Christ, and with DavidLynch on Twin Peaks: FireWalk with Me. This alladdedtotheperceptionofmy mind, that he was anomnipotent presence. Hefeaturedinsomanyofthethingsthatbroughtmejoyinlife.Andwhoelsecouldappear as a Goblin King,wearing those tights andthat mullet, dancing andsinging with puppets, andstillretainhiscredibility?
My next Bowie encounterwould have been agedeight seeing him dressedasaclownintheAshestoAshesvideo.Andthissongwillalwaystakemebackto1980.
The burgeoning NewRomanticsceneheldBowieup as a figure head withhis divergent approach tomusic,fashionandart,andhe featured many of the‘Blitz Kids’ in theAshes toAshes video including thelate Steve Strange. Hewasalsoadirect influenceon many of the bands I
The burgeoning New Romantic scene held Bowie up as a figure head with his divergent approach to music, fashion and art
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wenton to follow suchasJoy Division and DepecheMode.
The next milestone in mymemorywastheLet’sDancealbum. A highly polishedNile Rodgers-producedaffair and probably hiscommercial peak. Bowiefirmly embraced the MTVgeneration–andthealbumcontained anumberof hitsingles with memorablevideos,alongwiththethemefor Cat People, workingwith Giorgio Moroder –another demonstration ofhisaffinitywithcinema.
For me, “Loving the Alien”wasprobablythelastclassicBowie single, although1995’s “Hello Spaceboy”was a camp and highlyenjoyable Eurodisco rompwiththePetShopBoys.HethentouredhisGlassSpidershow,comingtoRokerParkonTuesday23June1987.Iwas there on that gloomysummer’sday,andI’vesincediscovered that Bowie’sopening greeting to thecrowd was “Good EveningNewcastle”. Now, Bowieis a fairly knowledgeable
blokewhoshouldknowthedifference having playedboth cities over the years.Either he was wrapped upin his rock star bubble, or,hewas taking thepissoutof the Mackems. Let’s gowith the latter shall we?Anyway, I was there, andI’msogladIsawhimintheflesh,performingonstage.
Thankfully, Bowie didn’tgo acid house or technotowardstheendofthe80sand into the 90s, creatinginstead his noisy rock TinMachineprojectandtouringhis greatest hits package,Sound andVision. He didhowever,flirtwithdrumandbass on 1997’s Earthlingalbum, and he embarkedonaUKtourthatsawhimvisitNewcastle’s legendaryRiverside. A formercolleague at NewcastleCity Council used to livenexttoTheRiverside’sAndyBalman, and she told meof themorning she lookedoutofthewindowandsawa rather dishevelled DavidBowiestumblingintoataxi.InWylam.
In the period immediately
after his death, the mediawas awash with personalstories about the man,and it made his deatheven sadder, as tale aftertale described how funny,how encouraging, howpersonable, and howbloodybrillianthewas.HisappearanceonExtrasisstillhilarious and brilliant. Hisfinal album, Blackstar, washisgoodbyegift,anditfeltinretrospectlikeafinalactofconceptualartinkeepingwith his entire career - adark meditation of a manfacing his own mortality.Whichwe’llallhave todoat some stage. That finalphoto of Bowie smiling,looking dapper with a haton, on a NewYork street,suggested a man that hadfound some kind of peacewithhissituation. Ifyou’dhad his kind of life andcareer, I’m sure you mightaswell.
So, he’s gone, and it’s nothyperboletosaythathewasone of the greatest artiststhe UK, and indeed theplanet, has ever produced.TravelwellStarman.
His final album, Blackstar, was his goodbye gift, and it felt in retrospect like a final act of conceptual art in keeping with his entire career - a dark meditation of a man facing his own mortality.
Having decided to cancelmyseasonticketandmakemyweekends‘thebesttheycan be pound for pound’,I saw the recent transferwindow as an opportunityto pause and reflect. Notjust the efforts to addresslong-standing failings withsomepre-crisisinvestment,but the increasingrealisation that Ashley isbecomingeasier topredict
and,whisperitquietly,issignificantly
weaker than he was ontaking over United in May2007.
No longer do nationalcommentators talkof Ashley as themisunderstoodormaverickprivatesectorsuccessstoryunloved by the parochial,state dependent northernmonkeys demanding heinvest squillions or theywillboycottthenewawaytop. No, huge momentumhas built around outingAshley’s business practicesas short-termist, flawed,unresponsive to a
changing environmentand stocked withunqualifiedpersonnel.
The parallels withUnitedarestark:
For Kinnear,L l a m b i a s ,Charnley andMoncur readthe whimsicalappointmentof futures on- in - l awM i c h a e lMurray tothe £250Mp r o p e r t yof arm ofSportsDirect,including adirectorshipof a certain
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StrawberryPlaceNewcastleLimited.One time studentparty organiser Murrayrepresents a furtherexample of Ashley’spenchant for putting faithin an under-qualified innercircle. Concerns amongshareholders about thecomposition of corporategovernance within SportsDirect - the discernablelackofexpertise,challenge,rigour,strategicacumen-ismirrored in our very own‘board’ - a kind of beigejunta of self-preservationwho are now seeminglylate converts to the ideathatscoutingBelgianyouthfixtureswillnotkeepyouinthePremierLeague.
Then we see Ashley’spledge to invest £10M toboost the wages of SportsDirectemployeesfollowingThe Guardian’s exposeof working practices atShirebrook HQ, followedby the line about makingSportsDirectthe“besthighstreetemployerbehindJohnLewis”.No laughingat theback but how many of usaresurethatthiswassomekind of moral awakeningormaybetheserarepublicutterances are linked to£400Mbeingwipedofftheshareprice,decliningprofitforecastsandevenariskofdropping out of the FTSE100.Rewindtothe“boltingthehorse” statement fromAshley before the finalfixture of last season andwe know that Ashley andhis acolytes will say or dojustenoughtoavertacrisis.Whena£5.136BnTVdealis sharedamongEPL clubsbetween2016-19(including
between £105M - £118M‘prize’moneyforCharnley’starget places of between10th and 16th) then therecent transfer windowshouldbeviewedasoneofexpediencyandnomoreachange of philosophy thanGeorge Osborne’s U-Turnontaxcredits.
We also see the wideningof cracks in the SportsDirect business model -over-stocking shops within-house brands, only 10%of transactions completedon-line (Ashley’s brother isICT lead at the company,bytheway)andcustomers’growing mistrust of theconstant ‘discount’ and‘sale’ signs - little wonderalmostallcityanalystsfeelthatSportsDirectiscedingground to JD Sports. Thepoint is surely that Ashleyis fallible and has a blindspotforthezeitgeist.Peoplewant low-cost goods, buttheyalsowantqualityandhigher-ticket brands. Likeourtransferpolicy,sourcingcheap and selling on getsyouonlysofar.
Ashley’s share meddlingwith Debenhams, Tescoand Findel has causedmuch angst among SportsDirect shareholders andhis tendencies to dabbleas a hostile investor arehemorrhaging into publicfarce at Rangers. Croniesbooted off the board andnow reprimanded by thecourts for “ridiculous”litigationagainstDaveKing,a man used to winning,domineering and being incontrolisslowlylearningtotucktail.
The sports pages may talkof Shelvey and Townsend,McClaren may speak ofa new era of investmentbut history and Ashley’sfootprints across currentaffairs suggests we shouldinterpret recent outlay tobe last-ditch, reactive -throwing the hedgehog atthedartboard,ifyouwill.
Ashley is an ideologuewhose broad hypothesis isthat NUFC could not goonlivingbeyonditsmeansfollowingtheLuque,Owen,Boumsong hedonism ofthe Shepherd years sohas reverted to the onlyoperationalmodelheknowswithoutanyunderstandingof how this translates torunning a Premier Leaguefootball club, delegatingresponsibility (but nevercontrol) to a loyal innercircle who will never rocktheboat.Itisclassicglobalsupply chain economics.Arrivals to SJP are sourcedthrough similar logic. Irecently read a defence ofGraham Carr’s methods,citing the expensive errorsofViduka,Smithandothersbut this misses the point.No-one want to returnto that, but they do want
to see the club bringthrough academy players,use the loan market, buyestablished top-flightperformers interspersedwith properly scoutedpotential from Europeanleagues. McClaren is rightwhenhetalksofthesquadneeding development over3-4windows(making follyof his earlier commentsabout judging him after10 games) but what doesthis say about NUFC in2016?Whatistheplan,thestrategy, the underpinningphilosophy? The juryis in - there simply isn’tone. Ashley can’t andwon’t change so Unitedcan’t and won’t change.Plan B? There is no PlanA-justexpediencyandanobsessionwiththebottomlinefromadistractedownersurroundedby thegratefuldim and that culture haspermeatedeveryaspectofthe football club. There isabsolutely no connectionoremotionalbondbetweenany of the key personneland people in the street.Thousands used to watchNUFC training sessions,now they send you anemail.Winsalwaysfeellikefalse dawns and defeats
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My relationship to the club has been reduced to little more than a transaction so the single most significant action I can take is to cancel my direct debit making August 2016 the first time since the 1950s that a member of my family will not be present at SJP for a home game.
which once used to ruina weekend barely register- like an aged boxer, thepunches have stoppedhurting.
Jumping back to TheGuardian investigation intoSports Direct, I recall theopening paragraph of thearticle without needing tocheck the text; “Cogs inthe machine would be acliche, but that really doesnot capture the disdain ofSports Direct towards itsworkers”.For‘workers’,youcouldtransplant‘supporters’and if we learn anythingfrom the revelations thatSports Direct staff aresearched before leavingShirebrook (among otherDickensian, penny-pinchingpractices) it is that Ashleylikes to sweat themargins.Myrelationshiptotheclubhas been reduced to littlemorethanatransactionsothe single most significantactionIcantakeistocancelmy direct debit makingAugust2016the first timesince the 1950s that amember of my family willnotbepresentatSJPforahomegame.
That’s me done - I amwalkingaway.
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