Newcastle United supporter group, Toon For Change has launched its ‘Era of Ambition’ scarves campaign, which it hopes will act as a symbolic rejection of Mike Ashley’s ownership of the club.
The maroon and blue scarves take inspiration from the club’s famous 1995/96 away kit, a season which saw Newcastle United finish second in the Premiership.
Joe Halliday, a spokesperson for Toon For Change explains:
“We know that match boycotts are divisive and we have created the Era of Ambition scarves to bring anti-Ashley Toon fans together, rather than drive us further apart.
“The objectives for the campaign is to pay homage to a time when ambition and hope were things associated with our football club, but to also act as a symbolic rejection of Mike Ashley’s ownership of Newcastle United. We want the scarves to celebrate a time when we competed with the biggest clubs in the world, when we showed the ambition to become the best club in England, which sadly, will never happen under Mike Ashley.
“The scarves’ colours are also inspired by the strip that the side were wearing in Benitez’s last match as Newcastle United manager, a man who was a real symbol of hope and who understands the fans, the club and our region.
“Whether you go to games, or don’t – we want fans who believe that Mike Ashley should sell our football club to wear a maroon and blue scarf with pride – and as an act of solidarity with likeminded supporters.
“We don’t believe that Mike Ashley genuinely wants to sell our football club and it’s now up to supporters to take action together, to force his hand.
“There probably isn’t one single thing that is going to force Ashley out of our football club, but we want to work alongside fellow supporters on a long-term, co-ordinated campaign to make his position at NUFC untenable.
“We hope that the Era of Ambition scarves will play a visible role in showing the world that Newcastle United supporters have had enough and are taking a stand against Ashley.”
Toon For Change has partnered with an independent retailer that will handle the manufacturing, stocking, sale and distribution of the scarves.
The scarves will be sold for £7.99 which includes free UK postage, from Football Shop Online: Buy one HERE.
International delivery will also be available and Toon For Change will not receive a financial contribution from the sale of the scarves. The fan group will however, donate 50p per the first 100 scarves sold to North of England Children’s Cancer Research (NECCR).
Joe continues:
“Over time, we want the scarves to become a protest tool and we have a number of ideas on how we can bring them to life. Imagine scenes like those at Shearer’s testimonial when tens of thousands of fans whirled scarves in the air. Now, instead of celebrating a club great, we want to celebrate a time when NUFC was a great. We want fans to imagine the club competing for trophies again and for that to become a reality, we need to force Ashley out.
“The initial quantity is limited, but if demand is high, we will do everything we can to ensure that there are always scarves in stock. If the initial batch does sell out, we’ll be posting stock updates on our social media channels and via our newsletter.”
- Twitter – @ToonForChange
- Facebook – Toon For Change
- Email – [email protected]
