The
1980s began in grand style; the archetypal Thatcherite decade was less than 3
hours old when I started vomiting the contents of half a dozen semi digested
cans of McEwans Export into a hedge on Rochester Terrace at the bottom
of Holly Hill in Felling. Thankfully I recovered in time to walk to and from
town to see Peter Cartwright, Alan Shoulder (pen) and Tommy Cassidy grab the
goals in a 3-1 win over Sunderland, back in the days when we sometimes actually
beat them. Indeed, I remember us doing them again 3-1, courtesy of a Peter
Beardsley hat-trick, on New Year’s Day 1985. My old man was at that one, as
well as the next year when we drew 2-2 with a very handy Everton side, partly as
a result of Billy Whitehurst doing Paul Bracewell; for both of those games, I
was lucky enough to cop a lift.
The
1990s didn’t start off so well on the pitch; a 4-1 hammering by Wolves, with
Steve Bull grabbing all of them in a 12 minute spell. Two things stand out
about that game; our goal was a superb Kevin Brock free kick at the Gallowgate
and when they went 3-0 up, someone jumped out the Milburn Paddock and started
throttling Jim Smith on the running track. These days you’d get a life ban for
that sort of carry on; back then the Bald Eagle apologized to the fella for his
tactics and the result. At least it gave us something to laugh about when we
trudged back across the Tyne Bridge, up Deckham bank, along Split Crow Road and
into The Greyhound for a gallon of Ex.
Fast
forward to 1994; we beat a poor Man City 2-0 and I walked there and back then
as well. However since we were living in Spital Tongues at the time, it wasn’t
too much of an ordeal. We were in the same house when 1997 came calling, but the
3-0 battering of Leeds in what was Kevin Keegan’s last home game of his first
spell, took place without me as we were snowed in at the in-laws’ place in
South Yorkshire. By New Year’s Day 2003, I’d moved across the city to High
Heaton and the 1-0 win over Liverpool saw a brisk walk in, a load of pints
afterwards and a taxi home, with the same story being true of the 2-1 win over
Birmingham City in 2005 and the 2-2 draw with Manchester United in 2007, which
was the last time we played at home on January 1st.
What
links all these games is that in every instance over the past 34 years, there
has been zero public transport on the first day of the year. Considering my
first ever game was the 2-2 draw with Leicester on January 1st 1973,
on the day my other team Hibs saw off Hearts by the small matter of 7-0, with
my dad again doing the driving, there is an almost knocking bet that the past
42 years have seen a total lack of public transport on New Year’s Day. That, I
feel, is a scandalous state of affairs.
It
came as something of a shock to discover NYD only became a statutory public
holiday in 1974; before then it was a voluntary, generally regional thing.
Presumably our geographical proximity to the Scotch enabled us to see New Year
as a major date in the football calendar. The world is a very different place
these days; we shop 364 days of the year for a start and I’m sure town will be
open for people itching to spend their way out of a recession and into debt.
Unfortunately, they’ll not be doing it on the bus or Metro. So what you might
say; well, what about us non drivers? How am I supposed to get from my current
abode in Tynemouth to SJP for the Burnley game and back again? The choices
appear to be walk, cycle or lash out a fortune on a taxi. This is ridiculous
whichever way you look at it.
In
late November, when Nexus announced their festive travel timetable, I
immediately emailed Lee Marshall, the Fans’ Liaison Officer at the club, Norman
Watson the Chair of NUST, the Altoonative Travel website (who had no idea there
were no buses on New Year’s Day, depressingly enough) and the Football
Supporters’ Federation. The latter organisation didn’t get back to me;
presumably because Michael Brunskill is still in a sulk after my article in
issue 4, questioning the moral basis to the FSF awards being sponsored by a
bookmaker. Norman did get back to me after about a week, offering to ask Lee
Marshall about this subject. However, Lee responded to me almost immediately
the Friday morning I wrote to him.
Lee
is a smashing lad, and I feel desperately ashamed that he suffered from boorish
ignorance from someone who should know better at the FSF / NUFC Fans United pre
Derby do in The Bridge Hotel, but he was utterly unable to offer anything other
than sympathy for my plight. However well he dressed up his words, basically he
could only say “tough” and make it clear the club was utterly unable to
intervene with Nexus. Nor were the club willing, or possibly able, to sort out
alternative transport for fans from outlying areas by booking a fleet of buses.
As he reasonably pointed out, which areas would they run them from?
In
retrospect, we all should have been quicker off the mark about this one,
contacting Nexus in July when the fixtures were released, to try and sort
something out. I fully support the RMT drivers in their entitlement to a
holiday, but I’m sure triple time for a skeleton Metro service from 11 to 7,
same as Boxing Day last year versus Stoke, as well as similarly reduced buses
from Arriva, Go North East and Stagecoach, could have solved this logistical
nightmare. Instead, it looks like I’ll have to miss this game, unless anyone
comes up with a bright idea for transporting me and 50,000 others to and from
this game, especially the non drivers and those who fancy a last few holiday
period jars before the horror of January really kicks in.
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