Hi Everyone
Just thought I'd let you read a piece from today's Daily Express
NO TOON ARE NOT THE SPECIAL ONES !
LEADER OF THE PACK: Keegan pictured in 2002
Wednesday January 23,2008
By Mick Dennis Have your say(0)
KEVIN KEEGAN has achieved something nobody else in Newcastle’s long history has managed. He has made the rest of the country loathe them.
For generations most of us have rather liked Geordies. On the whole they are sociable folk, and it is good they have a strong sense of identity and are proud of their area and its heritage.
Most of us have quite liked their football club as well. And we have empathised with their lack of trophies, and cherish memories of the kamikaze style they developed the last time Keegan was in charge.
But his third coming as a Messiah has helped sustain the Geordie delusion that Newcastle are a “special” club, whose success is pre-ordained – and that has infuriated the rest of the land beyond endurance.
Newcastle is a one-club city, agreed. Their ground is in the city centre. It is the fifth biggest stadium in England (after Wembley, Twickenham, Old Trafford and the Emirates) and because St James’ is built on raised ground it looks absolutely huge. If you visit as an away fan, you have to climb 14 flights of stairs and sit so high in a corner of a towering stand that the players look like Subbuteo figures.
When he tells us that we don’t understand the passion of the Newcastle fans, it enrages the country.
Okay, it’s a big ground. It is central to the life of the city. We accept all that. But all that mick about Geordies being more passionate and loyal than the supporters of other clubs is an insult to fans in the rest of the country – and statistics show it is a myth.
Newcastle (population 280,000) had an average attendance of just 16,879 when they had a dodgy season in what is now the Championship in 1991. Norwich (population 126,000) had an average of 24,545 last season despite a dismal Championship campaign.
Or what about Leeds? They know a bit more about disappointment than Newcastle, I’d suggest, yet in the third tier attendances have averaged more than 27,000.
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When Manchester City were playing at that level, they drew an average of 28,273. Nottingham Forest, another club who could tell Newcastle a tale or too about unfulfilled hopes, managed an average of 20,612 in League One last season.
Of course, attendances are not the only measure of loyalty or passion. That’s why I’d nominate the supporters of Rochdale as being truly remarkable. There are fewer than 3,000 hardcore fans, but they punt up week after week to cheer, despite having precious little to cheer about. Dale are the least successful club in the history of the Football League.
Most clubs are unsuccessful. That is the inevitable and irrevocable truth about football. Yet the level of support all the way down the game’s pyramid is astonishing. No country on the planet can match it.
That is what is special – not the fact that a big city with a big stadium attracts big Premier League crowds.
If you go to any motorway service station on any Saturday morning in the season you will find knots of supporters from all over the country. They are spending their time and money criss-crossing the land following clubs who would give anything to reach 12th place in the Premier League (which is where Newcastle sit).
Keegan, from Doncaster, tells us that Newcastle are a unique club, with unique supporters who deserve success. He makes it sound like an evangelical crusade. He said something similar when he took over at Manchester City, by the way, and it is wrong-headed bunkum.
When he tells us that we don’t understand the passion of the Newcastle fans, it is an affront that has enraged the rest of the country.
We do understand it. We share it. It is the way we feel about our clubs
So There you have it, it's good enough for me ! Toon are nowt special after all!
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