The past week should confirm one thing to every Newcastle fan out there: life supporting this club can be pretty soul destroying.
Injury woes, an in-house bust up and a High Court ruling that’s left us “0-2 down before kick off” in the takeover’s arbitration hearing. This isn’t the Coronation Street cobbles or Emmerdale Farm, this is your average week in a black-and-white world.
On the subject of bad news, let me start by wishing my sincerest condolences to the family of Glenn Roeder; a man who played for, captained, and managed NUFC. An amazing holy trinity of achievements that we could only dream of accomplishing. The outpouring of tributes from fans and ex-players following his death epitomises just how well thought of he was by everybody at the club.
Reports of his passing kickstarted a turbulent week on Tyneside, with the news of Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron facing lengthy spells on the treatment table putting a colossal dent in our Premier League survival hopes. It was bad enough being without top scorer Callum Wilson, so this really was a cruel blow.
Then, on Wednesday, Craig Hope’s ‘exclusive’ for The Mail sent shockwaves across the city when it revealed a huge dressing room bust-up had taken place between Steve Bruce and Matt Ritchie.
This quickly became the big talking point across social media, turning our club into a circus once again.
An explosive press conference from Steve Bruce then followed ahead of our biggest game of the season at West Brom, with a certain North East reporter getting banned and all hell seemingly breaking loose at every possible angle.
Unfortunately, the NUFC Gods weren’t done playing games just yet, as news broke that we had lost out on a High Court judgement to have Chairman of takeover arbitration panel removed. Toon supporters have endured a string of negative news over the past 18 months. This is something we have learned to become accustomed to.
Some will say you have to take the rough with the smooth. That may ring true for life in general, but it is hardly ever the case at Newcastle. For those of us who’ve supported the Toon during Mike Ashley’s tenure, you’d be right in saying it is almost always rough.
What makes it all worthwhile, though, is the buzz we feel collectively in those rare moments of pure ecstasy.
The overwhelming emotion of #cans last year, the “Rafa Benitez, we want you to stay” encore after beating Spurs, despite already being relegated. Smashing our transfer record on Almiron after 15 years while beating Man City on the same day, or, perhaps more recently, grinding out a hard-fought 3-2 win against Southampton in the thunderous rain with just nine men on the field.
These short, quick rushes of adrenaline are always sandwiched in a time of persistent turmoil, making the topsy-turvy nature of following our football club that bit more addictive – even if most of what we’re dealt drives us insane!
Our climax to the season will epitomise the nature of this club – literally anything could happen. Lose at West Brom and that sinking feeling will be stronger than ever, but beat the Baggies and all the bad news we’ve been dealt will temporarily disappear, seeing us move SIX points clear of the unthinkable.
With a relegation dogfight on our hands and the takeover legal battle uncertain as ever, times may seem testing right now. But as you already know, there is always light at the end of the NUFC tunnel and a couple of good results could bring back the feel good factor once again.
I urge every Newcastle fan to buckle up and hold on tight, because as ever, we are destined to be in for a rollercoaster ride.
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Sorry to say but a couple results will not paper over the cracks the whole house needs pulling down we are in such a mess. We need massive investment
Stephen(Quote)