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Pessimism rife among Toon fans

Alan Pardew and Crystal Palace are in trouble.
Expert
23rd April, 2014
22

When I was young, having witnessed Newcastle United’s second consecutive failure to win the FA Cup, my Geordie dad gave me some sound advice. “Get used to this,” he warned.

A few years later, as Sir Bobby Robson’s men threatened to challenge for silverware, he tried to, kindly, explain why he wasn’t sharing my excitement.

“As you get older, you get more and more pessimistic. You’ll see,” he told me apologetically.

I was sceptical. Surely the Toon would break their duck sooner rather than later? In all other aspects of life, my dad was as optimistic as they come. He still dreamed of seeing his side lift a trophy before he died, unfortunately that never happened.

In 2004, I travelled to Newcastle to visit family and, naturally, to watch my first Toon matches. What followed was a 0-0 draw against Arsenal and then a 2-1 victory over Chelsea on April 24. Alan Shearer turned Marcel Desailly and unleashed a thunderbolt past Carlo Cudicini in front of the Gallowgate end for the winner.

It was Newcastle’s time. Success would surely follow.

Yet now, almost a decade on, I’ve reached the stage that many Newcastle fans have inevitably come before me. Youth breeds optimism and encourages dreams of the unthinkable. Maturity crushes that hope, but not without a bit of help from a football club.

On Saturday afternoon, I watched on as the Toon lost their fifth consecutive EPL match against Swansea. It was the first time I had managed to get to St James’ Park since 2011. The atmosphere in the ground had dropped to dire levels, no longer the rocking venue it was when I first walked to my seat and joined 50,000 fans to scream out the Blaydon Races in 2004.

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While the ever-loyal Toon fans ensured there were still 50,000 people packed into the terraces, there may as well have been 5000. The fans looked on at the drab performance, suffering in complete silence. The once-electric atmosphere was seemingly extinct or, at the very least, reduced to a whimper. A far cry from the Robson era I grew up in.

Turn the clock back to February 10, 2009.

Derek Llambias, managing director and owner Mike Ashley’s PR man, released details of the club’s “five-year plan”.

“In five years’ time I would hope we would be challenging for everything,” he said.

“You need to have solid grounding under your feet. We inherited so much. We are knocking down walls and rebuilding. As far as we’re concerned we see Newcastle United as having an exciting future.”

Ashley, who forced Geordie legend Kevin Keegan out of the club, brought in hated man Dennis Wise, installed a clearly deranged Joe Kinnear and tried to sell the club – not once, but twice – had set out plans for a bright future.

It may have been ambitious, but it wasn’t entirely implausible.

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Fast forward to May 24, 2009, and the plan wasn’t going well.

Circumstances were similarly as dire as present, if not worse. The venue was Villa Park. Newcastle fans were in tears. I was in front of a computer in Cologne, in total disbelief. The Toon had been relegated, after a lifeless performance and a Damian Duff own goal.

Yet there was also a sliver of relief.

It was what the club needed. It was a chance to rebuild. It was an opportunity to cut the wage bill and release the deadwood. Relegation provided hope of a new beginning.

Now, almost five years later and despite promotion back to the EPL, it seems the plan is nowhere near completion. Yet, despite the animosity directed at Newcastle’s ‘cockney-mafia’ management, it’s not all bad news.

The club is in a healthy position. Finances are in the black, the wage bill is manageable, ticket prices have been reduced and there’s no chance of the club emulating the exploits of a Pompey or Glasgow Rangers. But, unlike those two clubs, the Toon no longer has a heart. It’s been ripped out and lies at the bottom of the Tyne.

In 2013, Llambias departed the club and slowly the club’s relationship with its fans and the media descended into a circus. Joe Kinnear made a shocking second coming, the local press was banned from using media facilities, and the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust was barred from the club’s fan forum.

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PR descended to an all-time low. And so did performances on the pitch.

On Saturday, manager Alan Pardew became the first man in the club’s history to preside over five consecutive EPL defeats. Since the club’s 5-1 victory over Stoke City on Boxing Day last year, which was fortuitous to say the least, the team has lost 13 games in 17.

Pardew’s baffling decision to field a 3-4-2-1 against Swansea smacked of desperation. Despite the “attacking” formation, it appears the tactics practiced at the Darsley Park training ground during the week consisted of posting four men up front and getting keeper Tim Krul to knock long balls forward. Granted, the tactic actually succeeded. In the 23rd minute Shola Ameobi nodded down a Krul launcher, collected the return ball from Luuk de Jong and proceeded to score his first goal in an incredible 1399 minutes.

Yet what followed were two injury-time goals from Wilfried Bony, one in each half, and a lifeless performance.

This was the last match that Pardew was consigned to the stands following his head butt on David Meyler seven weeks ago. Yet what his animated figure could have imposed on this dishevelled bunch without physically tackling opponents himself remains a mystery.

Apart from Krul, right back Mathieu Debuchy and loan-signing Loïc Rémy, there isn’t a player that deserves a place on the first team sheet. It isn’t the current season that is unbearable, it’s the future prospects of the team which is most depressing.

Pardew must go, but there is no reason to assume he will. His target this year was a top ten finish and it’s entirely possible he may achieve that, if only by default. There’s also the issue that he still has six years to run on his ludicrous eight-year contract.

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Even if he were to get the boot, there is also no certainty Ashley would install an adequate replacement. Kinnear may even make his third appearance on Tyneside. Nothing surprises anymore. Ashley has taken the club as far as he can, yet there are no signs of an alternative investor. He must be given credit for the way the club is now run, but it’s come at the expense of Newcastle’s identity.

Football makes this city tick, yet that tick has now all but disappeared. The days where the whole ground followed the Gallowgate end in song are gone. The famous “Toon, toon, black and white army” chant was heard for perhaps a full minute on Saturday, before the players bottled it under pressure and began gifting Swansea the ball.

Instead it was the 800 Swans fans, sitting high up in the Sir John Hall Stand, which made all the noise, even if their team was equally woeful. That was once considered sacrilegious in this ground.

During the match, many Toon fans spent most of their time looking up at their counterparts. Yet the stares weren’t full of anger, hate, or even annoyance. Instead, there was a hint of sadness to the wandering eyes. The looks were full of disappointment, resignation and hopelessness.

The club is losing its greatest asset – the support of its fans. They will still turn up each week, but they need a reason to hope and dream. Pardew bizarrely praised the crowd for their “support” after the match. Perhaps he was just thankful they didn’t boo the team with too much gusto. The crowd simply couldn’t be bothered. A few boos could only briefly be heard over the sound of thousands of feet stamping out of the ground. Many more were already out on the streets.

Considerable investment is needed if this five-year plan is to be fulfilled. It’s the reality of modern football. But Toon fans didn’t set the five-year plan and they aren’t necessarily demanding one. All they want is to fall in love with their team again.

Yet under current management, the doom and gloom surrounding St James’ Park will continue, and the ruthless, yet honest, words of my dad will ring true for a long time to come.

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Janek is a former Newcastle Herald journalist who has moved to Berlin to take up freelance work and connect with his roots. Follow him on Twitter – @janekspeight

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