It’s safe to say that social media was divided after the 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Saturday.
One the one side – which included myself – was people frustrated with a lacklustre performance and another winnable game ending in a draw.
On the other was those who chose to remain positive in light of our league position, place in the League Cup final and a myriad of other factors. Both are reasonable positions. But when they clash, it can get ugly.
The season as a whole has been so overwhelmingly positive that, when we complain, it can feel a bit too negative. There’s a prevailing opinion that we should just be grateful that we’re already so far away from the doom and gloom of an Ashley-Bruce dual nightmare.
But should this insistence on focusing on the positives get in the way of legitimate debates?
No supporter base will agree on any one thing besides their collective love for their club. Even opinions that seem like common sense to most – like Eddie Howe being a sublime NUFC manager – are debated.
Debate is good. Football is, in large parts, about opinions. But disagreeing with someone – or even disagreeing that they’re talking about something that’s not positive – doesn’t need to descend into arguments and attacks.
If you choose to consistently focus on the positives, I commend you. Lord knows it’s a trait I wish I had. It’s something I’ve found fairly easy for the majority of this season. But nobody chose to be negative after that game – as all supporters will know, emotions ride high during matches, and we don’t get to choose how we feel after them.
Shutting down legitimate conversations about poor performances, a concerning lack of attacking threat when we’ve been prolific many times this season and even worries around injuries by telling people to stay positive…isn’t positive.
Objectively, we’re still having an unbelievable season. We’re still in the top four, with one (undeserved) defeat all season and a quite frankly mind-boggling streak of 17 league games without a loss.
I don’t think anyone could have predicted we’d be in this position so soon after the takeover. At the start of the season, I expected a modest but successful push for the Europa Conference League. Now, I think that’s the bare minimum we’ll achieve.
But being “reminded” of this – nobody needs reminding, we all know – as a way of shutting down what people perceive to be negativity is not helpful. That in itself is negativity.
It feels like the league is slipping because we’re in a cup final – a correct decision, because this final is so important. But why can’t we express or acknowledge frustrations at some of these performances?
Where do we go as a fanbase from here if we can’t ever be constructive or talk about the negatives?
As the song goes, we are the loyalest football supporters the world has ever had. And along with that loyalty, we need unity.
We are the most united I’ve ever seen us at matches, especially at home. But on social media, it’s much more divided. Twitter is endlessly fun when we’ve won, but it can get pretty sour when we don’t – from both sides of the debate.
But we are – or should be – UNITED.
I don’t know where you’re coming from here. That may be you’re experience, but I certainly don’t see this in the discussions on this site. I don’t see anybody being ‘shut down’ on here.
PremAndUp(Quote)
With all due respect mate, it’s a different world on Twitter!
Comments on here may not show that, but other parts of social media can be rife.
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
Newcastle will struggle against high flying Manchester United. It will go to penalty’s, any teams gift. Serve P.I.F right, not getting Madison for mid field. We have a Bruce era mid field. The real name for the Premier league should be….Premier league rugby opera tacticians….
Ascot7(Quote)