Mike Ashley generation on the brink of a moment like never before – Over to you, England

Eternal underachievers. A phrase that epitomises the only two football teams I have ever had the unfortunate honour of supporting through thick and thin.

If, like me, you are born from the mid-nineties onwards and happen to follow Newcastle United and England, you would have also never seen your team come close to sniffing any silverware.

The similarities between supporting Newcastle and England are blatant. Both have unparalleled, die-hard fan bases but one that often attracts the label of “entitled” or “arrogant” due to the weight of expectations it demands.

Hyperbole and scandal are also never far away from either, with a media circus often surrounding the club and country that I support.

What can’t be denied, however, is the amount of talent that both have possessed over the years without ever translating that ability into success on the pitch.

I was born in 1997; only an infant for the failed FA Cup final attempts in 1998 and 1999. Euro 96 has been an ever present theme chosen by the media for this summer’s tournament to help reignite the emotions that the country went through that year. Myself and many others – including most of the current Three Lions squad – are too young to have lived through that epic experience.

My earliest memories of football take me back to when I was just five-years-old; being dragged into school early just so I could watch Ronaldinho knock England out of the 2002 World Cup. Heartache in 2004, 2006 and 2010 I remember vividly. 2018 was a beautiful time to be alive but one that, ultimately, also ended in a “what could have been” feeling.

It gets even worse from a Newcastle point of view. My earliest memories of living in a black-and-white world was the Champions League era under Sir Bobby Robson. Oh how I wish to be my current age while living through this period.

My naivety at the time told me that this was the norm. Yet, when Mike Ashley bought the club in 2007, multiple relegations, a total lack of ambition, protests, anger and disillusionment followed.

A win for England in tonight’s crunch semi-final clash against Denmark gives my generation of Geordies our first chance to see the team we support in a cup final.

After years of watching other nations and clubs taste success, we may finally get the opportunity to experience the nerves and drama of a big day like this for ourselves.

Tonight’s opponents are no fools. Denmark are an extremely solid outfit and have an unwavering drive to win for their teammate Christian Eriksen.

But I have complete confidence that Gareth Southgate and the lads can stave off the Danish invasion at Wembley tonight. We look to have hit form at just the right time and, if things don’t go to plan, we have an abundance of talent on the bench to help drag us out the dirt.

England are not just playing for Queen and country tonight, but also for the lost generation of Toon supporters who have never had a taste of success.

Come on England!

237 thoughts on “Mike Ashley generation on the brink of a moment like never before – Over to you, England

  1. Sorry to see Darlow has Covid. He is a young, fit lad so I wish him a quick recovery. The vaccines are supposdly 99% effective so I dont really get why UK cases are so high. 52,000 new infections on July 16. The death rate is very low though so it must have killed off the most vulnerable.

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  2. Eric:
    Sorry to see Darlow has Covid. He is a young, fit lad so I wish him a quick recovery. The vaccines are supposdly 99% effective so I dont really get why UK casesare so high. 52,000 new infections on July 16. The death rate is very low though so it must have killed off the most vulnerable.

    I’ve been very ill since Wednesday – the day after I had 2nd jab. I initially thought I was just having really bad side effects to pfizer vaccine, but I’ve just tested positive for COVID this morning.

    Makes a lot of sense as I’ve never felt this bad in all my life. Splitting headache, high temperature one minute, then shivery. Aching and exhausted – I can barely walk up and down the stairs! Awful chesty cough, blocked nose, dizzy, lost my appetite, stomach pains, no taste/smell and too uncomfortable to sleep as a result of all the above. Horrible.

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  3. This whole Wembley fiasco is a total fiasco. I have seen a few articles on it now and it was a disaster. The police are blaming fans and fans are saying they did nothing wrong. They targeted the disabled people’s entrances FFC. There are quotes from disabled fans saying they were terrified. 19 police were injured. One “fan” said he wasnt doing any harm because the seats werent occupied anyway. There were supposedly 5,000 who got in by bribing stewards and crashing the disabled entrances.

    But the police say they were prepared and did a good job. No you werent and no you didnt.

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  4. Olly Hawkins: I’ve been very ill since Wednesday – the day after I had 2nd jab. I initially thought I was just having really bad side effects to pfizer vaccine, but I’ve just tested positive for COVID this morning.

    Makes a lot of sense as I’ve never felt this bad in all my life. Splitting headache, high temperature one minute, then shivery. Aching and exhausted – I can barely walk up and down the stairs! Awful chesty cough, blocked nose, dizzy, lost my appetite, stomach pains, no taste/smell and too uncomfortable to sleep as a result of all the above. Horrible.

    Sorry to hear that Olly. Get well soon mate. My brother who lives in England had it. He said he was in bed for a week. Another friend in England said it laid her up for 2 weeks. This is serious stuff and you would think that having been in intensive care with Covid that Boris might be more cautious.

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  5. Fair play to Joelinton for agreeing to hand Wilson the 9 shirt.

    Toon fans hammer him, but I hope they are ready to acknowledge the gesture.

    Hopefully the weight of the shirt not being on his shoulders any more might see an upturn in form too.

    He’s well liked by all the players & has never hidden away.

    Rob Lee is my favourite ever toon player & Joelinton now has his number – I really don’t mind one bit ??‍♂️.

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  6. I have to say again that I hope Olly makes a full and swift recovery. But I do have to say a little bit more about the lifting of Covid restrictions. Mainly because all of the data was pointing to a surge in cases whilst the government merrily went ahead with their plans. Cases are now at January levels even though 68 % of the population are vaccinated. Drs and Scientist are warning that the UK could be a super-spreader-state and be a danger to the whole world. If anybody has been to the cattle market known as Heathrow Airport, you will know how this might spread.

    It seems this new variant spreads more easily. Monday is “Freedom Day”, more like freedom-from-sanity-day! And now the health minister has it. And he was in a long meeting with Boris on Friday so BJ might have to isolate now. It is pretty ironic really.

    Sajid said he needs a 2nd test to confirm he has Covid. But he said he went home feeling “groggy”. This sounds like spin to me to try to go ahead with “Freedom Day”.

    I dont know what the answer is to any of this is, but having almost full capacity at Wembley and the Health Minister catching this as cases spike does not sould like a good plan. But what else would you expect from Boris? He is the British Trump. Just look at their haircuts to see they are morons.

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  7. Only the 54,564 covid positive cases on Saturday. 54,565 if you include the health secretary who tried as hard as he could to spin his way out of his first positive test. No wonder he was “giddy”. His second test said he had Covid.

    I am not trying to belittle him or make light of his illness. But this was all about spin after he was diagnosed and I am guessing BJ will not isolate and they will plough on with their wrong headed plan on Monday.

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  8. Eric:
    Only the 54,564 covid positive cases on Saturday. 54,565 if you include the health secretary who tried as hard as he could to spin his way out of his first positive test. No wonder he was “giddy”. His second test said he had Covid.

    I am not trying to belittle him or make light of his illness. But this was all about spin after he was diagnosed and I am guessing BJ will not isolate and they will plough on with their wrong headed plan on Monday.

    I meant groggy, not giddy.

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  9. Eric – there is zero exit strategy at all over here – we are reopening everything on the 19th regardless.

    Firstly, let me make it clear – I want life as back to normal as anyone else. My family have been effected in the same way as anyone else – and it hasn’t been easy or enjoyable.

    But to avoid having to go backwards again, there needs to be more than ‘right loads of people have had the vaccine, so off we go’. The vaccine reduces the impact of Covid, it does not give you skinchies.

    Our new health Secretary now has Covid, following on from our old health Secretary – but he didn’t mind, he could bunk up with his bit skirt for 10 days & dish out his dodgy deals via his personal email.

    I’m reading this morning that our PM and Chancellor will ignore their isolation ping – despite the PM telling everyone we MUST continue to follow the instruction from the app only a matter of days ago.

    It’s farcical mate, but it’s peoples health, mental health & livelihoods these clowns are mucking round with – and there is zero challenge or accountability.
    He stands there at PMs questions and dodges every meaningful question with some BS retort and NOBODY says cut the cr@p and answer the question!!

    The media add to the problems – twisting about restrictions & the hardships it brings – then driving fearing & anxieties with how the covid cases are on the rise – yet rarely what actual impact that has on our NHS.

    I’m largely switched off from it all for most of this year to be honest, coz it’s bored & frustrated me in equal measures.

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  10. Sharpy17:
    Olly – didn’t you go down London for the final?

    I did mate. Being brutally honest, I had to get out for the sake of my mental health – even if it did feel like a risk / COVID free-for-all!

    I’d been so careful up until then, so it’s sods law really.

    In other news, I’ve just written a match report after the 1-0 defeat vs York.

    NEW THREAD – https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2021/07/18/newcastle-lose-pre-season-opener-in-york-but-biggest-concern-is-latest-injury-blow/

    Back to bed I go! :/

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