In April 1992, a General Election
that was seemingly too close to call resulted in a narrow but decisive victory
for the Tories, caused primarily by an unceasing media campaign of personal
invective directed at Neil Kinnock. The subsequent political map of the country
showed a stark split between the red areas of north and Inner London versus the
blue south, which was of little succour to those of us in Durham, Tyne &
Wear and Northumberland whose votes had bucked the national trend and returned
Labour members with increased majorities. The resulting, unexpectedly damning
ideological despair could be offset to an extent by renewed belief in the
region’s main football club, as the second coming of the messianic Kevin Keegan
gave Newcastle fans faith in the Magpies again. The next few years have
supposedly attained semi-mythical status among followers of all clubs, as KK’s
glorious, romantic style of play was always doomed to end in beautiful
failure. Or at least that is the
accepted narrative told to supporters by the media. The reality is a more
prosaic one; we’d have been happy to play dull football if it could have gained
us a trophy. You win nothing with entertainers…
Fast forward 23 years; the 2015
General Election, viewed by many as odds-on for a hung parliament, creates
despair and intense foreboding in the hearts and minds of all those with a
social conscience as the Tories obtain an unexpected majority that enables them
to enact a vicious programme of austerity that will condemn huge swathes of
society to multi-generational penury. Perhaps the main cause for the result was
the Labour Party’s inability, and indeed disinclination, to offer any
meaningful rebuttal of the nonsensical lie, peddled by the Tories and
proselytised by most sections of the media, that fiscal rectitude is essential
because the economic crash of 2008 was not the fault of greedy, rapacious
bankers and the essentially rotten nature of capitalism, but was rather an
unavoidable natural disaster, comparable to earthquakes or flooding. Meanwhile,
the north east woke late and demoralised on May 8th, having returned
a slate entirely comprised of Labour MPs with increased majorities. Sadly,
there was one major regional cultural difference from 1992; Newcastle United
had failed to maintain the respect and affection of its adherents. There was no
Kevin Keegan; only John Carver. No Gavin Peacock or David Kelly, just Yoan
Gouffran and Mike Williamson. Nor was there the ultimately discredited John
Hall; in his place is Mike Ashley.
In the bizarre world of cyber
football one-upmanship and the ratings obsessed gossips in broadcast and print
media, there is a clear, negative narrative that holds ideological supremacy
whenever the Magpies are discussed. The
argument runs like this; firstly, Newcastle fans are deluded because they have
never been a big club, as they have never won anything (well, that’s not true;
we’ve amassed 11 major trophies in our history, though none since 1969).
Secondly, they are fickle because they used to get crowds of less than 13,000
(that is true, though not since the reign of Ossie Ardiles; imagine back in
1991 the bafflement that would have resulted from a rival fan referring to your
club’s attendances in 1967 to make a snide dig?). Thirdly they are ungrateful
and insular; Alan Pardew was hounded out because he was a Cockney (despite the
atrociously ill-conceived Pardew Out
campaign, that was an unmitigated disaster, he actually left of his own accord
after 4 fraught years to take over at his boyhood club; his tactics, team
selections and press conferences caused more unrest than his family ties) and
Mike Ashley is hated because of where he comes from, despite all he’s done for
the club (admittedly the Cockney Mafia
Out bedsheet brigade are a cringe-inducing embarrassment, but they aren’t
representative of the support as a whole; there are many reasons to denounce
Ashley other than his birthplace).
Despite the rampant mendacity
inherent to the statements listed above, it is sadly unsurprising that they are
widely accepted as facts. Without going into arcane discussions about false
consciousness and the Gramscian theory of hegemony, it is plainly obvious that
if the Labour Party, with all of its history, resources and influence, is
unable to effectively challenge the lie that austerity is the only possible
response to a supposedly unavoidable financial catastrophe that has blighted
our world these past 7 years, caused presumably by the caprices of the gods,
then Newcastle supporters are never going to have the power to persuade the
media and large numbers of other fans just what the truth about our club really
is. Indeed, it is almost impossible to make them listen to us when we try to
explain things.
The truth is this; the main
problem with Newcastle United is Mike Ashley. My mantra is that it is
essentially irrelevant where the club finishes, who plays for and who manages
the team while Ashley is in charge. We need Ashley OUT now and 100% fan
ownership IN, though I’m prepared to accept 51% as a transitional demand.
However, I realise I am speaking only for myself and not for NUFC fans as a
whole, a statement that contains the kernel of the primary impediment to
previous attempts at organised supporter protest on Tyneside. It is no secret
that Newcastle’s fanbase has been fractured and fractious for years now. The
heady days of autumn 2008 when the organic Newcastle United Supporters’ Club
grew from righteous rage at the departure of Kevin Keegan, are long gone. NUSC
became a largely inert and ineffective supporters’ trust (NUST) that has
haemorrhaged members over the years, but claims legitimacy by
maintaining links with the FSA and Supporters’ Direct. Those frustrated at the
lack of progress left to form NUFC Fans United, a loose amalgamation of the
whole supporting spectrum, which keeps
in contact with the club by means of the Fans’ Forum, the brainchild of
hardworking Supporter Liaison Officer Lee Marshall; though this body is viewed
with cynicism if not hostility by many supporters. With the activists wasting
energy in internecine spats of futile enmity, the remaining majority of the
support, whether they were clad in Wonga tops
or bona drag fashionista casuals in designer apparel, have been
effectively emasculated to the role of passive conformists, marching mutely up
to SJP once a fortnight to the sound of the Ashley drum.
Then, something changed;
something that gave hope. Spurred on by a catastrophic run of defeats in the
spring that made relegation, unthinkable at the turn of the year, a strong
possibility, the faceless organisers of the failed Pardew Out project suddenly felt the scales drop from their eyes,
as they relaunched as AshleyOut.com to
focus their ire on the organ grinder responsible for making monkeys of us all. Instead
of just words of frustration and anger, there were actions. A boycott of the
Spurs home game in April was announced and almost 10,000 stayed away, many
protesting outside the ground beforehand, though the club announced a
nonsensical crowd figure based on ticket sales. This campaign, launched
initially on social media, was a success for two main reasons; firstly, it was
made clear that anyone attending the game would have their wishes respected
(this wasn’t the Miners’ Strike after all) and secondly, the anonymity of the
organisers meant that old scores did not need to be settled. Certainly, when
compared to the fiasco of a 69th minute walkout versus Cardiff
organised by NUST at the end of 2013/2014 that saw less than 3,000 leave the
ground, the presence of new blood among activists was a great success. AshleyOut.com accepted that some people
simply want to support the club and hold no real interest in affairs beyond the
90 minutes on the pitch and don’t judge those who still go. Equally
importantly, they do not condemn those who have already voted with their feet
and binned season tickets, seeking instead to draw them back into the fold by
campaigning against Ashley. It is a moot point whether this will work; local
Northern League clubs such as FA Vase winners North Shields, Whitley Bay and
Newcastle Benfield have seen their crowds multiply as disgruntled Mags opt for
the grassroots game.
Undoubtedly, AshleyOut.com’s subsequent tactics following the Spurs boycott,
including a 34th minute stand up protest against Ashley in the
Swansea game (on account of the unspent £34 million NUFC earned last year
that’s earning interest in the club Post Office savings book) rattled the owner.
Having realised the smug indolence that was the keynote of club philosophy post
Pardew, as exemplified by non-decisions such as failing to strengthen the squad
and giving John Carver (a man whose previous Tyneside managerial history
included getting The Denton relegated in the Newcastle Sunday League) the hot
seat, had blown up in his face, Mike Ashley took the unprecedented step of
speaking in public. Before the crucial last game of the season at home to West
Ham, he offered insincere promises of a brighter future by muttering vague
platitudes and blandishments into a microphone held by an obsequious Sky Sports
minion. We stayed up by winning 2-0, including a goal by the heroic Jonas
Guttierez, whose celebrations included bellowing volleys of abuse in the
direction of the owner. Carver got the bullet the next day, resulting in the
decidedly underwhelming figure of Steve McClaren getting the SJP gig and a seat
on the board, along with former captain and Ashley loyalist Bobby Moncur (aka
Bob Concur). Since then McClaren’s appointed his backroom staff, started
pre-season training, sent out a ghostwritten email pleading for patience among
the fans and signed absolutely nobody. At the time of writing, season ticket
sales, described by the club as “comparable” to last year, are running at about
32,000, which is about a 25% shortfall. Possibly this is because match by match
discounts make it cheaper than a season ticket, if you don’t mind a seat up in
Level 7.
More likely this is part of the
“Ashley Embargo” announced by AshleyOut.com
whose website entreats fans to boycott all companies owned wholly or partly by
Ashley and offers suggestions how to avoid indirectly funding the Sports Direct brand. The question as to
how effective this will be cannot be judged in the short term, unlike the
football team. It may take years to get Ashley out, but the whole region seems
now to have judged; there is no going back. As far as the football goes, McClaren
may be uninspiring, but he must be able to motivate and organise whatever
players he has at his disposal more effectively than Carver did. Mid table
mediocrity, the preferred level of achievement for the club since 2007 will be
more likely to kill supporter spirits than failure. If we’re bottom of the
table, it’s time to get angry. If we’re tucked in between West Ham and Stoke,
it won’t matter much either way and the older supporters and their righteous
anger will melt away and die. What a depressing thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment