5th April 2005
By
Gosport Toon
I read with great interest the views
expressed by Howaythetoon on behalf of himself and no doubt countless
other members of the Toon Army. However I did not find that the content
of the piece reflected my feelings following the events of Saturday
afternoon. The main thrusts of the article appeared to revolve around
the following points:
1) We've endured a disgraceful season, the players aren't fit to grace
the stadium, they are overpaid and have flash cars and luxury houses
and some are thugs who don't give a damn about the people who are
paying their wages or the Club. And that young supporters should not
be subjected to seeing their heroes fighting on the pitch.
2) The Club has no respect for the fans and has shown them contempt
which was proven when the fans weren't listened to with regard to
which manager should have been appointed.
3) The Club is managed incompetently by people who deceive the fans
with propaganda stories of players we are trying to sign and this
manifests itself in the behaviour of players such as Bellamy, Dyer
and Bowyer and the handling of the sacking of SBR.
Now maybe I'm out of tune with all the supporters of NUFC but I'd
like to put forward the following points with regards to the season
so far culminating in the weekends fracas to see whether anyone out
there shares my views.
The Players:
1) I think we all agree that today's top players are grossly overpaid
for the job they do but we aren't likely to change that and we all
contribute to it and enjoy it through the purchase of replica kit,
match tickets, programmes, etc. etc.
2) We have an excellent stadium and the fans enjoy it as much as the
Toon and visiting players enjoy playing there. It is true that without
such a big fan base this could not have been achieved but without
Club Officials and some sort of management structure what we have
now would never have been achieved.
3) I for one believe that many of the players at the Club care greatly
about the supporters and that many are also desperate to win some
silverware. Except for the Geordies' in the squad I don't think the
players are ever going to be as passionate about the Club as the fans
but that is the same the world over and at the and of the day it is
a job for them and they move on when they or the Club feel the time
is right.
4) I am not in any way shape or form going to defend Bowyer in this
piece but I will say that he has shown as much if not more commitment
and determination to win matches for the team as just about any player
in the squad. I didn't want him to be brought to the Club but up until
Saturday I don't think he had been in any trouble at all except for
a few bookings.
5) In comparison to Bellamy, Bowyer has almost been angelic and yet
the same Toon Fans who are so up in arms about everything Howaythetoon
describes are to a great extent Bellamy apologists who would rather
have kept him on despite his antics and sacked the manager who was
strong enough to put him in his rightful place. He was one of, if
not our best player at the time and therefore some would forgive him
anything.
6) Week in week out Bellamy was shouting foul mouth abuse at officials,
opponents, coaching staff and even his own manager yet there were
still many who backed him on the off chance he could win us some silverware.
7) There has been justified complaints by supporters that many players
have often shown not enough commitment and passion to warrant wearing
the black and white shirt. On Saturday up until the sendings off the
2 players at the centre of the controversy were the 2 best players
in a Toon shirt. They both appeared desperate to try to salvage something
from the game and their commitment resulted in emotions running so
high, even at the point in the game when all hope of even getting
a goal never mind a draw, was gone.
8) One cannot condone what Bowyer did, and he does appear to be very
much the main culprit, but nobody was injured and I don't see it as
big an issue as it would have been if he had tried to hit an opponent
or an official. I think it has had a bigger shock factor than it deserved
because it was so unusual in that it involved 2 players from the same
team.
9) In comparison to Cantona's infamous kung fu kick, Prutton's and
Di Canio's pushing of referees and the recent mass brawl of Boro and
Everton players at the Riverside recently it is a storm in a tea cup.
It was slightly more than the normal hand bags at 10 paces but it
was nothing like the weekly bust ups supporters watch at Rugby and
Ice Hockey matches.
10) Before Saturday we were all on a relatively upbeat about the season
as it stood and if the events of Saturday weren't going to result
in 3 match bans for the players involved I don't think as many of
us would be getting all hot under the collar. And from what I've seen
the most Dyer deserves is a one game ban and arguably he should have
the red card rescinded and not suffer any ban at all. He was guilty
of having a verbal spat with a team mate and then having to defend
himself against a physical assault.
The Club and the Fans:
1) There is no doubt that the Toon Army should have been able to enjoy
some success in the form of silverware over the years and that we
should all be rightfully proud of what we have contributed to creating
in the form of SJP and everything that goes with it.
2) There is also no doubt that mistakes have been made by those running
the Club in all aspects of its operation. However I don't think any
of these mistakes have been deliberate and as a Club we are not alone
in ruing decisions made. One only has to look at Leeds United to see
how badly wrong it can go.
3) The Club has a difficult task of competing against the likes of
Man U and the top London Clubs when they are much more able to attract
the really top players. We've had to pay over the odds for players
transfer fees and wages to try to compete and there are players we
have tried to sign who are not interested in us.
4) This brings me onto the Owen issue. Rightly or wrongly I for one
think the Club are seriously trying, against all the odds, to bring
him to the Club and I do not think it is a gimmick. I don't think
Shearer would be a party to deceit of that nature and I think he would
know if it was just propaganda to appease the fans.
5) I don't think we are too far away from bringing some success to
SJP and the playground spat seen on Saturday should not result in
the whole Club imploding but , as GS is trying to do, it should be
used to galvanise our efforts over the next 8 weeks or so. If it means
Bowyer not playing again for the Club so be it but if it was purely
a heat of the moment bust up with no history to it then a 3 match
ban should suffice and he can be sold or retained come the summer.
6) The fans could have been better treated over the years but one
could level that argument against most other PL clubs, it appears
to be the nature of the beast that we all help to feed.
7) Regarding SBR, his sacking could have been handled much better
but as I understand it the Club have continued to pay his basic wage
of £100,000 per month and the dispute is as a result of SBR wanting
the win bonuses he would have been entitled to as manager to be paid
on top of that. I like SBR but I think he is trying to screw the Club
unfairly on this one and would be taking money out of the Club that
could be used to help fund transfers, wages, etc
8) And lets not forget that it was SBR who brought Bowyer to the Club
with all his baggage, he also didn't deal firmly enough with the likes
of Bellamy and Dyer over the years and that softly softly approach
blew up in all our faces on a number of occasions.
In Summary:
We have got so close to the success we all crave in the last few weeks
that now it is liable to be snatched away as a result of a moment
of madness by one (possibly 2) of our players we are liable to over
react and see everything in the Toon Garden as the opposite of rosy.
One player has maybe shot us all in the foot.
But that is no reason to go totally over the top with a scatter gun
approach to laying the blame for all sorts of issues at everyone's
feet except the loyal fan. If NUFC is in such a bad state then everyone
needs to look at themselves and consider whether they could have done
more. e.g. opposed the purchase of Bowyer, demanded the sacking of
Bellamy and or Dyer for past incidents.
I for one think Souness is the man for the job as it is at the moment
and I am confident that he will sort out many of the issues that are
at the root of our problems. I expect certain players to be leaving
the Club at the end of the season and that they will be replaced with
better, in every sense of the word, players.
Lets let the dust settle, let the FA deal with the offenders as they
see fit, see how the players/team react over the next few games and
how the remainder of the season unfolds. We are going to learn a lot
about our Club (management, players, fans) over the next 8 weeks and
I am hopeful we will learn some good things. The odds are that it
will all end in tears again but hope springs eternal.
If a film was made of the season we have experienced one would say
it could never happen, and maybe it could only happen to NUFC. However
if a trophy is forthcoming it will have been secured in the face of
unimaginable adversity and as a result savoured even more than one
could ever have imagined.
The Newcastle United love affair roller coaster has taken on Alton
Towers proportions and we are unable or unwilling to get off the ride
in the quest to taste the success that many of the fans, players and
club officials truly deserve. |
 |
Toon
Shirts |
|
Sponsors |
|
|
