Our Party?

Newcastle United; the last few games...

Remember that brief, inglorious moment last summer when naïve, pinko reformists were all breathlessly telling us that Your Party was going to be the shining path that leads us to the Parliamentary road to Socialism? How wrong they, predictably, were. Your Party’s founding conference on 29 and 30 November, held in Liverpool while Newcastle were trouncing Everton in their own back yard, sealed its fate as a backward, social democratic unpopular front. The conference was dominated by a Corbyn-led clique of Labour left has-beens and their fair-weather, opportunist allies among the Independent Alliance of MPs, along with the petit bourgeois left organisations which have flocked to Your Party in pursuit of their own equally pro-Capitalist interests. It will remain simply the latest iteration of a supposed leftish electoral vehicle for those ideologically bankrupt reformists who no longer have a political home in the Labour Party, until they do a Jamie Driscoll and end up in the Greens.

When Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana announced Your Party’s establishment in July, virtually the entire so-called left agreed that: it had to be set up quickly, it was vital that Corbyn be in the leadership (these Reformists and their Leninist fellow travellers love a strong leader) and, thus established, Your Party would be a huge step forward for the working class in Britain. However, it was clear to Socialists that this venture could only be a dead end, as it was merely the continued embodiment of reactionary Labour politics of the past. Even if, therefore, it won a parliamentary majority, the ruling class would ensure it was unable to enforce even the mildest of supposedly radical economic programmes.

Consequently, it was inevitable that Your Party’s dull conference, like a dog’s breakfast of a curate’s egg, would cement the grip of the social democratic, avowedly pro Capitalist trend represented by Jeremy Corbyn and his allies. These forces had organised ruthlessly to stitch up the entire agenda, control contributions and pre-empt any discussion. They saw off with ease the limited challenge to their control posed by other supposed left-wing organisations, by which I mean ‘left of Labour.’ Far from representing ‘a new kind of politics’, the entire programme reflected the bureaucratic and politically backward, pro-Capitalist reformist tropes of the old Labour left and left of Labour structures from which the majority of those attending the conference clearly hailed. What little political dissent there was, was stifled.

You know what? Your Party’s intrinsic lack of direction, purpose or a credible, defining ideology reminds me so much of the current state of Newcastle United as the Premier League season approaches the halfway point, with the team sitting in a mediocre 11^th position. Wins against Spurs and Chelsea, the former thrown away and the latter scandalously stolen by incompetent officiating, would have seen us sitting 6^th at Christmas, but the wholly depressing statistic of 13 points wantonly discarded from winning positions, predominantly on account of appalling play and even worse tactical cowardice, means we do not deserve to be anywhere other than where we currently are. Ten points above the drop zone and the same distance away from third top Villa, who began the season in something approaching crisis, this is the very same spot in the table Benitez and then Bruce had us welded to between 2018 and 2021. Admittedly we’re in the semi final of the Carabao Cup, with City probably the toughest draw we could have been handed, and almost certain to nail down a play off spot in the Champions’ League, but if we don’t win either of those competitions, I can’t see any way on this earth we’ll be competing in Europe in 2026/2027, which will have dire repercussions on the composition of the squad and future of the club going forward. Those continuing to “trust the process” of the utterly discredited PIF murderers need their heads examined.

So, how did we get here? I last wrote about NUFC after the deserved, but lopsided, win over Burnley. Since then, we’ve played a further four games, winning one, drawing two and losing the other. Clearly the most galling aspect of that run of results is the collection of only a single point in the league, but of almost equal concern is the fact that for one and a half of those games, we played as dreadfully as we have on any occasion since Howe arrived.

Before the Leverkusen game, the mood music was to do with the continuous, infuriating concession of late goals. This problem showed no signs of going away, after an 88^th minute equaliser by the hosts took the gloss off an otherwise impressive second half performance. Woltemade’s intelligent harrying for the ball won us a penalty and Miley’s stunning header had us ahead. It could have been more. Flekken, who’d always appeared shaky when at Brentford, made a stunning save from Thiaw and we twice struck the inside of the same post, so that the disappointment of their late goal was almost volcanic at full time. However, in the cold light of day, it can’t be denied that their equaliser was crafted by an outrageous dummy that absolutely killed Tonali and the opening own goal was an utter fluke. Some may wish to blame Ramsdale for them both, and I have to admit to being utterly unconvinced by his performances thus far, but I struggle to lay any fault at his door for either of the Leverkusen goals. Then again, a point is not the worst result in the world when you recall how lucky Thiaw was not to see red for his foul on Quansah when we were already a goal behind and playing like dummies in the first half. As a consequence of this, we sit 12^th in the Champions League table, when we could have been 6^th, still needing another positive result from our last two games to assure a play-off spot, while daring to dream of the brace of victories that would see us in the last 16 by rights.

All that is for next year and a very different world than the one inhabited by our nearest and dearest on Wearside, which is where we tipped up next. I didn’t watch the game, and I still haven’t seen Woltemade’s own goal. You see, back in the day, I used to view these games as being like an exam you hadn’t revised for, but that level of intense emotional investment has died off over the years. Frankly, Percy Main’s home loss to Winlaton the day before stung far more than this result did. Let’s face it; this wasn’t unexpected. Sunderland are unbeaten at home, while we’ve been dismal away (and not much better at home, half the time) and have been more than impressive on their return to the Premier League after just shy of a decade in the lower leagues. I may only have heard of 3 of their starting XI and a further 4 of the substitutes, but that didn’t matter as the tactics Howe employed were as timid and fruitless as any Benitez or Bruce could have come up with. Post match, Bruno claimed we had a far superior team to them, which made the loss all the more unacceptable, but he’s wrong. Yes, we have an excellent squad of players (and Joe Willock), but Sunderland have a real team ethos and that’s why they’re doing so well. Fair play to them. Incidentally, no Vapes, coins or mobile phone power packs were used in the production of this report.

Next up was the League Cup quarter final at home to Fulham. I’d secured a seat in the East Stand, courtesy of John and found that my levels of stress and anxiety associated with attending games (this was my third one of the season) are starting to diminish and remain well within manageable proportions. I enjoyed a glorious shawarma chicken wrap in the Wafi Lounge next to the Dog and Parrot with my old mate from work Mick, before slogging up to the ground and enjoying a perfect view from Row E, after a quick pint of Guinness, which I’m getting a taste for on these cold winter nights. Fulham started well, but we took the lead when Wissa pounced on a loose ball in the area to hammer us ahead. All this came from Jacob Murphy doing what he does best: firing in almost unplayable crosses for the centre forward to finish off. If Barnes has to play when Woltemade does, which he should, then Murphy must similarly be paired with Wissa. On terms of ability alone, Gordon should be in the starting line-up regardless, which leaves the enigma that is Elanga. What to do with him, I simply don’t know.

While contemplating this conundrum, Fulham equalised on 15 minutes from an unmarked header and proceeded to play for penalties for the remainder of the game. During breaks in play I’m sure I saw Willock and Smith-Rowe sharing a joke about how they weren’t just too shit for Arsenal, but for the Premier League itself. No matter, we won, setting up a run of 4 home games in a row in early in the New Year (Palace and Leeds in the League, Bournemouth in the FA Cup and then City; so much for dry January). Thiaw sorted everything out at the back, with Schar showing imperious passing skills and Bruno ran his blood to water all game. At least he was determined to put the Mackem debacle right. We may not totally have done that, but we more than deserved the win, despite a curious reluctance to shoot all night. A pinpoint Tonali corner was headed imperiously home by the superb Miley. With Sean and Anderson sold and Burn on the sick list, he is the beating Geordie heart of the squad, and he did his club proud once again.

A word about the support. We were vociferously all game and showed great support for Woltemade when he came on, though I did hear a few boos aimed at Elanga. Meanwhile the quite impressive Fulham turnout blotted their copybook with chants of “1-0 to the Saudi Boys.” Considering they were once owned by Mohammed Al-Fayed, I don’t think they have any right to the moral high ground over any questions of ownership.

Thus we come to the Chelsea game, where we had two points stolen by incomprehensible, inept refereeing. While Woltemade should have bagged a hat trick before the break, the two he got were highly encouraging and just reward for a tip top performance. Despite Chelsea getting their two goals after the break (the first I blame Ramsdale for and the second I cut some slack to Thiaw for), we should have won this game. Barnes should have scored the winner, and was fouled late on, when nothing was predictably given, but it wasn’t a penalty. Chalobah hauling down Gordon was and so was Reece James wiping out Barnes. The sheer lack of consistency is enough to make you sick. However, while being in the bottom half of the table simply is not good enough and even more unacceptable when considered alongside the shameful away performances, this game and the performance we put should be reason enough to finally give some belief to the squad and allow Howe and the coaching staff to let our attacking instincts come to the fore, especially once Pope is back in goal. Will this be the case? Ask me after Man United and Burnley.