The Bald Prima Donnas

I know this isn’t one of my cultural blogs, which tend to get about 10% of the audience my football related pieces get, but I’d like to start off with a review of a book; David Goldblatt’s Game of Our Lives: The Cultural Politics of English Football, which is the first essential thing I’ve read in 2015. Goldblatt is an academic, football fan and author, who combines a clear left wing sociological perspective (though avoiding the mendacious opportunism of avaricious Trotskyites) with a deep and abiding love for Tottenham Hotspur and an adopted affection for Bristol Rovers. As a teaching academic, he is aware of the importance of lucid prose and a strong authorial voice, where the ideological viewpoint is crystal clear. He manages this with aplomb and his book is consequently both a joy and an inspiration; nowhere else could I imagine nodding in furious agreement with relentless haranguing of all that is wrong with the game, while simultaneously finding myself wrapt with nostalgic joy at anecdotes and asides about the history and culture of the game, which encapsulates both the past, the present and the potential future of all aspects of the game. He may not namecheck every one of the 92 league clubs by name, but he comes damn close, showing his learning lightly and effortlessly throughout the whole book. I urge every one of you to go out and read this book; you will not regret it and hopefully you will be as inspired by the contents as I was.

I’m very aware of appointing the equivalent of a fans’ Pied Piper, but Goldblatt is nothing like that; he’s a democrat and of unimpeachable moral probity. He doesn’t want to be a fans’ leader; he is simply blessed with an intelligence and articulacy that enables him to vocalise what so many of us instinctively feel, but may struggle to phrase effectively. Before Christmas I was contacted by Tom Reed of Stand fanzine, asking if I could attend a meeting in Crouch End at the end of November about fan engagement, which David was chairing. It was a non-starter for many reasons, mainly to do with work, but David was encouraged enough by discussions with Tom and me to suggest a similar meeting on Tyneside early in 2015, charging me with the responsibility of organising it. This is where things became difficult. In the past, I’ve made literary allusions to Samuel Beckett, Franz Kafka, David Peace and Berthold Brecht in pieces about Newcastle United. This time, I think we’re talking Eugene Ionesco’s theatre of the absurd.

Under which organisation’s name could the event take place? Obviously there’s the Newcastle United Supporter’s Trust (NUST), of which I am a member and whose AGM was scheduled for 21^st January. The major problem with NUST, an organisation created by the storm of righteous supporter anger at the disgraceful treatment of Kevin Keegan in 2008, it seems to me, is that NUST has subsequently lost its campaigning zeal and stagnated to the point of ossification from 2010 onwards, to the extent that the wider support, if they even recognise its continued existence, view the Trust with either indifference or disdain verging on contempt. If they were not seen as a fit vehicle for such a meeting, and I would privately doubt if the politics and personalities involved with NUST at the board level would countenance involvement with anything I suggested, then who?

The only viable answer was the vibrant and inclusive independent supporters network NUFC Fans United (@NUFCFansUtd), created in 2012 out of frustration with the inert and ineffectual NUST, who still have a permanent seat on the official NUFC Fans’ forum, unlike NUST of course, who got themselves kicked off for breaching protocol after the first meeting. We’re going over ancient history now, so suffice to say that after last year’s NUST AGM, where the elected board promised more openness and engagement with the membership, NUFC Fans United took a step back from organising events to give NUST a chance to redeem themselves. We gave them the rope, but they couldn’t be bothered to either corral some new members or hang themselves trying.

In 2014, following NUFC Fans United’s policy decision to take a step back from organising meetings, NUST had a chance of really pushing on with 3 newly elected board members: Graeme Cansdale and Ciaran Donaghy, who I know to be lifelong Newcastle United fans, and Michael Martin, who edited the magazine True Faith when it existed in print form and I now believe runs their website. However, 2014 was not a good year for NUST as far as I can see. Since their last AGM, NUST have overseen the farcical and confusing 69 minute walk-out against Cardiff that was ignored by 90% of the crowd and hosted a pre-match meeting with Ian Mearns MP and Mary Glindon MP, who are personal friends of members of NUFC Fans United anyway, of which nothing more was heard. This was the day of the Hull City game, so at least it wasn’t the most notable fiasco that afternoon; the Sack Pardew demonstration (dear oh dear…) breasting the tape in triumphant fashion in that race to the bottom. In praise of NUST, they launched a credit union which may be of help for those in serious financial difficulties, though I don’t know the details of that branch of their activities.

Meanwhile, members of NUFC Fans United continued to represent supporters on the Fans’ Forum and launched the wildly successful Popular Side fanzine, which produced 5 issues between August and late December, as well as keeping cordial relations with the whole panoply of Newcastle United supporters. This involved attending the pre Derby do in The Bridge Hotel that was organised by the Football Supporters Federation, which is an organisation I have little time for, not least because of its willingness to accept money in the form of sponsorship for its annual awards from William Hill bookmakers. The FSF’s dauphin Michael Brunskill took an almighty strop with me when I wrote a piece about this in issue 11 Stand (http://payaso-de-mierda.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/another-hill-of-beans.html), but that wasn’t the reason I chose not to attend their soiree in The Bridge; Whitley Bay versus North Shields had my undivided attention that night. And more of that next week, if I’ve not been silenced by then…  

Despite all the brouhaha about Newcastle United striking a sponsorship deal with Wonga, some people seemed only too pleased to bask in the reflected glow of the publicity afforded by  the FSF annual awards. I know for certain at The Popular Side we’d have had nothing to do with a business that exploits human weakness and greed, but not everyone has our moral standards. We’re comfortable in our own skin and don’t need to feel vindicated by a bookie sponsored ego massage. However, if you don’t win, try not to get too upset. Certainly that could explain the stories of crass rudeness towards Lee Marshall, the NUFC Supporters’ Liaison Officer and a very personable young man whom I’m delighted to call an acquaintance. I mean, I wasn’t there, but to try and reach out and understand what they were going through, perhaps the disappointment affected their natural bonhomie.  Seriously though, I feel heartily sorry for Lee because of what he endured that night, but I have to say he’s not the only one to get it in the neck from NUST board members, whatever (sun)hat they are wearing.

Let’s face it; some people don’t like Mike Ashley. Some people think it’s acceptable to bracket every NUFC employee alongside the owner and treat them abominably. Some people think it’s acceptable to reprint private emails without permission. Some people don’t like The Popular Side. Some people, amazingly enough, don’t like me. All of those things are acceptable in theory; certainly none of them are hanging offences, even breaching acceptable boundaries of confidentiality with emails. However, as an ordinary member of NUST in good standing, I wonder just where the line is to be drawn regarding acceptable conduct by elected board members towards ordinary members. I also wonder just what can the ordinary member do to voice his criticisms of the direction chosen by a supporters’ trust.

Of course I recognise fans fall out with each other all the time; modern life is like a series of smartphone playground spats. For goodness sake, just look at the cyber casual brotherhood who tore each other asunder in the autumn because Grandmaster Sash was proving himself to be more interested in profit than being a prophet. There were people wearing Odor Eaters in place of poppies at the Real Estate gig at the end of October, in memory of all the young men who’d fallen in senseless slaughter on social media. I’m sure they’ve got over it by now; some are still on the moral high ground and others are laughing all the way to the bank. That’s how it goes, but we’re talking about the elected members of a supporters’ trust here, not an on-line Tufty Club.

I realise that many complex and insecure people find themselves in public life and struggle to cope with criticism of their (in)actions. Highly strung and easily led, wracked with self-doubt, these weak characters often seek the company of supposedly strong male figures of authority, who can grant them the reassurance they need, whether these authority figures they flock to have instrumental power, such as club chairmen or other elected representatives, or influential power, by being overly aggressive, alpha male gang leaders. In addition there appears to be a certain strata of volunteer bureaucrats, often to be found in the Trotskyist blind alley of left wing politics, obsessed by notions of their own infallibility, who luxuriate in power, but struggle with ordinary social interaction. Perhaps it is part of their DNA, I don’t know, I’m no medical professional; or perhaps they gain the kudos they crave by acting out the role of the unblinking tyrant with a clip board, ruling willingly obsequious underlings with a rod of iron. Whether such roles are adopted out of conscious or unconscious psychological need, or whether there is an acknowledged element of implied homoeroticism, I do not know. I’m almost frightened to peek beneath that Freudian rock and see the bugs clinging to the surface.

Steve Hastie tells the hilarious story of the Cardiff City trust board member worried that his organisation, designed to fight back against the Tan regime (well done on getting the shirt colour reversed by the way), was being high jacked by members of the Soul Crew who simply wanted to have the away fans moved next to the home end for ease of pre and post-match paggers. Hilarious and frightening, but that’s democracy. Before realising that NUST as an organisation was institutionally inert, a number of us countenanced a simplified Trotskyist policy of entrism to take it over and try to make it a suitable vehicle for campaigning by winning the elections. On reflection we abandoned the idea as not worth the effort, but if we’d been successful, that wouldn’t have been a coup d’etat, it would have been democracy. Just because you don’t like the message, you can’t stifle freedom of speech; there is no such thing as a semi democracy.

However I do wonder where NUST is headed, when I consider the pair of meetings that should have been of interest to all followers of Newcastle United who seek to do more about the state of our club than simply whine and grumble about the owner on a variety of social media platforms, that I attended in the last week.

On Thursday 15^th January, NUFC Fans United hosted a meeting, Fan Inclusion: Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, at the Tyneside Irish Centre where the keynote speaker was David Goldblatt. Those who filled the upstairs concert room on a bitterly cold evening were rewarded with an inspirational talk, whereby David outlined a draft manifesto for footballing change, outlining the cause and effect of the rotten core of our national game, the inability of current legislation and legislators to actively challenge these problems and a series of suggestions, both practical and theoretical, that could help us to reclaim football for the people who really matter; the fans. I’m sure the details of the manifesto will emerge soon, but suffice to say, no-one who cares about the game can fail to respond to suggestions that ticket pricing, the match day experience, especially as an away fan, institutional racism, chronic underfunding of the grassroots, the refusal of many clubs to pay all employees a living wage and the lack of effective regulation of clubs, owners and supporters’ trusts, need thorough examination and, in several instances, legal intervention.

As part of a fact finding tour to take the temperature among committed activists up and down the country, David had already hosted a gathering in London before Christmas in conjunction with Stand fanzine and, having flown up at his own expense (we did treat him to a curry in Café Spice on Chilli Road afterwards though), was off to Manchester the day after to attend a similar event, with meetings in other cities in the pipeline. The purpose of David’s visit was to listen, to learn and refine the 11 point manifesto that will hopefully, in advance of the May election, provide a coherent document to encourage politicians to think seriously about our national game. For more than 2 hours, debate was maintained on a wide range of issues with supporters, not just us lot but those of Middlesbrough and Hull City, a pair of whom had driven 120 miles to be there. Everyone present was able to contribute positive suggestions in an atmosphere of mutual support and admiration. As the meeting drew to a close, NUFC Fans United resolved to work hard to ensure that this appetite for structural change is channeled positively, by holding future monthly planning meetings for the purpose of organizing an event related to the launch of the manifesto at a game in April. The Popular Side is fully behind this and will give any meeting or event maximum publicity in print and on Twitter. 

On Wednesday 21^st January, NUST held its Annual General Meeting at The Mining Institute by Central Station. At the meeting, there were no apologies asked for or taken and only those NUST board members who spoke announced their names; consequently I am unsure exactly how many members of the elected 12 member NUST board were actually present, but certainly several were inexplicably absent, such as Ciaran Donaghy and Mark Jensen. In addition there was no representative in attendance from either the Football Supporters Federation or Supporters Direct. If there had been, one wonders exactly how they would have reacted to the unequivocal announcement by one member of the NUST board that “public meetings don’t work.” This statement was not a point for discussion; it was presented as a desperately depressing fact. Frankly I find the suggestion that a supporters’ trust would no longer seek to provide a platform for all fans to attend and give their opinions quite staggering and another reason why, as much as owners and boards of directors should be subject to regulation as to their activities, we need the regulation of supporter organisations. Currently, there is no effective regulation of supporters’ trusts; if there were, would NUST still be banned from the NUFC Fans’ Forum? Who knows? However, the plain truth is that if NUST were an effective vehicle for fan interaction and representation, there would be no need for NUFC Fans United to exist.

Simply, I do accept that supporters’ trusts are to an extent hampered and hidebound by their constitutional requirements, but NUST’s future plans for contact with members by inviting a select few to attend board meetings or to hold “surgeries” seemed to me akin to the activities of a constituency Labour Party in the 1980s; regulations, rules and procedure being more important than activism. The irony being that during the 46 minute AGM, several NUST board members recognised the need for campaigns about ticket pricing and the need to pay a living wage, not to mention calling for an agreed national political strategy in advance of the election. Unfortunately the endless round of committee meetings with other trusts will no doubt result in any enthusiasm being squeezed out of a project that should run in conjunction with the visionary work of David Goldblatt that will undoubtedly empower and inspire fans across the whole country.

I make no bones about the fact I feel that the attempt to ride the zeitgeist of spontaneous fan activism as espoused by David Goldblatt has far more chance of capturing the imagination than the meticulous paper-shuffling of supporters’ trusts. However, here is a reality check. NUFC Fans United attracted 31 to the David Goldblatt talk-in and the NUFC Trust AGM was attended by 23 of the 769 fully paid-up members. Meanwhile, 49,307 watched the Southampton game and even 509 frozen human peas rattled round the St James Park pod for the Under 21s game. That is what we are up against; the seeming indifference, cynicism and despair of 99% of NUFC supporters. The choice is clear; we either throw our hands up in despair or we grit our teeth and redouble our efforts to take the argument for greater fan involvement and better regulation of the game to all fans. As far as I’m concerned, the matter isn’t up for debate. We don’t despair; we can’t despair. We must keep on fighting!

Finally, I will always renew my NUST membership each year...