Tucked away in the far north east corner of England lies the picturesque city of Newcastle upon Tyne, more commonly known as Newcastle. Newcastle is able to boast some iconic and stunning examples of architecture, particularly being famous for its bridges that span the River Tyne. The locals are generally considered to be friendly and warm to tourists (if you can understand them through their thick and heavy ‘Geordie’ accents). Simply put, it’s a place of energy and the people there take great pride in their northern roots.
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Perhaps the greatest source of pride and joy for the local residents is their local football side, Newcastle United – a one club city in a football mad region. The fondness and devotion of this city for its team means its not uncommon for home games to be sell outs and away ticket allocations to be entirely sold out for most matches. Just last week, the away allocation was sold out at Selhurst Park, the home of fellow Premier League side Crystal Palace, for a midweek third round tie in the not-so-glamourous Capital One Cup (League Cup) competition. It is made more impressive when you consider that the distance between London, where Crystal Palace hail from, to Newcastle is just shy of 400kms.
The club, despite a lack of recent success (you need to go back to 1969 for their last piece of major silverware), is widely renowned for the loyalty and passion of its fan-base affectionately known as the ‘Toon Army’ – a fan-base that can boast the third highest average attendance in the English Premiership, even more than cashed up giants such as Manchester City, Chelsea, and Liverpool. The home of this club, St James’ Park is a true sporting cathedral, dominating the Newcastle skyline and situated in the city centre. It is in many ways the true heart of both the club and the city. Despite the lack of on-field success or silverware that a club of Newcastle’s size should normally expect, the Toon Army are generally an unassuming lot. All they want is a team that represents their city with relentless grit, determination, and effort.
Unfortunately for the Toon fans though, there is a palpable sense of doom and gloom hanging over the club. Ultimately, this is because of the owner, billionaire Mike Ashley. His questionable running of the club in recent years hasn’t enamoured him to supporters. Every decision he makes seems to directly put him at odds with the fans that initially welcomed him to the club, whether that is: the banning of journalists from press conferences; the bizarre staff appointments, including the senile Joe Kinnear as Director of Football (infamous for mispronouncing names such as the then Newcastle star midfielder Yohan Cabaye as ‘Yohan Kebab’ and the star striker Cisse as ‘Sissy’); the renaming of the stadium from its traditional name; the plastering of free advertising he gets at the ground; the lack of investment in the team; the public smearing of club legends; or choosing legalised loan shark company Wonga to be the club’s main sponsor.
Things have hit a boiling point on Tyneside this season. There has been mounting pressure and unrest for current manager Alan Pardew to be sacked after a dismal run of form in 2014 – five wins in twenty-six games, which leaves the team anchored towards the bottom of the table. Pardew, the pantomime villain and face of the regime, has been subjected to a growing ‘Sack Pardew’ campaign due to his constant excuses, going so far as to blame the fans and media for the team’s struggles. Additionally, he has been criticised for his inability to change tactics that are clearly not working and for his growing rap sheet of indiscretions, which include shoving an official during a game, abusing a fellow manager, and head-butting an opposition player.
For all his flaws, Mike Ashley has done some good at Newcastle. He has brought in stable financial management and tighter wage control, resulting in the club being one of the very few to actually make a profit year-on-year when so many clubs are laden with debt. It is quite the achievement in a money-hungry league where survival and participation in the league ensure the vast riches of television revenue. Indeed, clubs receive upwards of $52m pounds just for participating in the premier league, with the current TV broadcast rights to show live games in England costing Sky and BT Sport a cool $3.018 billion for a 3 year deal.
It is this overly frugal approach though that has also robbed the club of ambition and much needed investment in the squad. Ashley’s model involves the purchasing of young cheap talent from abroad and selling those same players on for profit when a bigger club comes sniffing. This is all well and good if the money is reinvested back into the team and is the unfortunate reality of a league and game driven by money but when the money is pocketed, where does that leave the fans. With no wins to cheer, the team struggling to score goals and playing ‘ugly’ football, there’s not a lot of joy for Toon fans at present. When the club have also said they do not consider either of the domestic cup competitions as priorities, the drought for silverware looks to continue for the foreseeable future.
Perhaps of most alarming note is a recent poll where over 70% of voters would welcome relegation to the second division if it meant the back of Ashley and his running of the club. The fans are fed up and disillusioned and they want their club back.
In these dark times, the old adage ‘hope springs eternal’ rings true, and perhaps there is a sliver of hope for the Toon Army. Mike Ashley’s reported interest in Scottish giants Rangers has seen him increase his ownership stake to 9%. Under the current Scottish Football Association’s regulations, no person can own more than 10% of a club if they already own a club. Rangers are a massive club in desperate need of money and sound financial management – two things Mike Ashley can bring to the table. They also generate higher merchandise revenue than Newcastle United, making it lucrative for Ashley’s sporting goods business empire. One final drawcard is that outside of Celtic, no other clubs in Scotland can match Rangers for size, prestige, stature and match day revenue. For a man who likes to keep a tight fist on his money, Rangers would need minimal investment to remain competitive at the top end of the Scottish Premier League.
Perhaps the chance to sell up (making a nice profit on his initial investment) and move north of the English border will be too tempting for Ashley. He is rumoured to want to bring his Sporting Goods empire (Sports Direct) to Europe, and comparatively, Rangers would be a more effective and cheaper vessel for him to advertise his brand in this market through participation in the Champions League.
For now though, the Toon Army needs to be united in their demonstrations against the regime that has sapped the life and joy out of this proud club. The motto for Newcastle upon Tyne is ‘Fortiter Defendit Triumphans,’ which translates to ‘Triumphing by brave defence’. Now is the time for the soldiers of the Toon Army to stick fast and take a stand. Ashley has shown he has little regard for the fans and their objections to the direction of the club under his watch. The best way to get the message across is to hit him where it hurts (his wallet) and to boycott games. Not only would this deprive him of match day revenue, it would also reflect poorly on audiences seeing an empty stadium littered with numerous Sports Direct banners, not exactly projecting a positive image of his business to the global audience of the premier league.
Maybe then, Ashley will finally get the message. If not, the fans will stick by their team and their mantra of ‘support the team, not the regime’. Perhaps the following lines from Lindisfarne’s ‘I’m Coming Home Newcastle’, a popular folk song from the region, best sums the current plight of the Toon Army.
I’m comin’ home Newcastle
If you never win the Cup again
I’ll brave the dark at St. James’s Park
At the Gallowgate End in the rain
I’m coming home…
