(Originally published in Percy Main v Ashington Colliers programme on 19th March 2011)
Why does cold reality never match up to our fond imaginings? Take the Premier League results of Saturday March 5th. Arsenal were odds on to beat a Mackem side who’d lost their last 4, Man United had to be fancied to bounce back away to the hated Dirties, resolute Villa would no doubt get at least a point at the Reebok and Newcastle were shoo-ins to complete a double over Everton. If those results had happened, The Magpies would be currently sat in 6th place, with the chance of a Europa League spot and we’d all be referring to the Mackems as North East Crisis Club sunderland. Instead, with none of them happening, Newcastle fans of my acquaintance have now decided that, since their team managed to lose their first game in 5 and second in 11, leaving them in 9th spot, 6 points above the drop zone with 9 games to go, that they might be going down. Have some belief for goodness sake!
The reason for this witless gloom is said to be the threadbare nature of the squad and, in particular, the absence of Joey Barton. This may be a controversial thing to say, but you have to feel sorry for Barton. Having been largely a passenger for the first 3 years of his time on Tyneside, he’s been brilliant this season (alongside Nolan and Tiote, whose 6 year contract is viewed with suspicion by those I’ve talked with) and was ready to sign a new contract on the day Carroll was sold. That deal meant all bets were off and the Gallowgate rumour mill has Barton not injured, but on strike. As the press who, in the shape of The Grauniad’s Lousie Taylor, fingered Barton for a non-existent Nazi salute celebration versus Villa and an imagined elbow against Liverpool, regularly hang him out to dry without a scintilla of hard evidence, have not picked up on this, I think we can assume it is fiction. However, just imagine the reaction of the tabloid hacks and FA top brass if Barton had shot a work experience kid with an air rifle, like the loathsome Ashley Cole has been identified as doing, or enacted either the Wigan elbow like Rooney or Carragher’s challenge on Nani. We’d be talking lifetime bans.
I’ve spent a bit of time with semi organised Newcastle fans of late. Firstly, the day bitter old Kevin Krackpot launched another misguided, populist tirade at the club he walked out on twice and then sued for as much as he could get, which Derek Llambias correctly pointed out could have caused Newcastle United irreparable fiscal damage, a “meeting of the minds” involving several supporters’ groups, took place in the Irish Club, to try and chew the fat about where to go next as regards fan representation and organisation on an official and unofficial level. Former NUST committee members Bill Corcaran, Steve Hastie and Neil Mitchell called the meeting, as the club had hinted at being amenable to representatives of supporters being invited to discuss burning issues among the support with NUFC executives. Newcastle United have made it clear that they will not talk to NUST, so this symposium was called to explore this possibility.
In attendance were representatives from Toon Talk fanzine, as well as many pressure groups, websites, message boards and bloggers. The guiding principle from the off was that any future organisation wouldn’t be an organisation, but an umbrella group, comprising a loose amalgamation of any interested parties, where all opinions and viewpoints were welcomed and not a new, fully constituted fan group. This seemed important to me, as that route involved a lot of work and the chance to run in to the kind of negativity that NUST’s impotence has engendered among fans. What occurred to me was that Newcastle’s support is as fractured and contradictory as the messages coming out of SJP; at the same time as the L7 singing section is closed, a brilliant 10 year season ticket deal is offered. Barton doesn’t sign a contract and Enrique looks like being punted as well, while Tiote pens a massively long deal. No wonder those at our meeting displayed a massive range of opinions, which was entirely in keeping with the breadth of support Newcastle United has.
Meanwhile, despite the fact NUST has died (17 at their AGM showed that), new Chair Norman Watson embarked on a bolting of the stable door charm offensive, sending two emails in successive days in early March to invite me to a presentation on fan ownership by a representative from Supporters Direct at Northumbria University. I didn’t go, mainly because I was working, but I’ve heard nothing substantial emerged. Basically it reinforced my belief that the person at our meeting on the Tuesday who advocated Trotskyist entrism to take over NUST for the next election had it wrong; NUST is irredeemable. The only way forward is the umbrella talking shop reporting to Messrs Corcoaran, Hastie and Mitchell, with them taking the consensus of involved fans to a meeting with the club.
Two cheers for democracy eh?
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