10 Reasons Why Newcastle Fans Wish It Was The 1990s Again
After another bleak season, most supporters must wish they had a Delorean on their drive.
Ask a Newcastle fan if they are glad to see the back of the 2014/15 season and their reply will be an unequivocal and forthright, yes. Because it has been a season punctuated by the strains of protest from indignant supporters whose patience has finally evaporated. A season so grim, tainted by regression and a near-fatal flirtation with relegation, that it prompted Mike Ashley, Newcastle's notoriously non-communicative and vehemently detested owner, to thrust himself in front of the TV cameras in an attempt to placate the fans, whose ire he is the root cause of, with promises of club-wide reform.
It comes as no surprise that a majority of fans - ground into pessimism by this oppressive regime - dismissed Ashley's interview as a transparent PR ploy choreographed by the club's public relations guru Keith Bishop.
And it has been a season when fans will have resorted to comforting themselves with a straight dose of nostalgia to numb the pain of the present.
To describe the 1990s as a rollercoaster would be an understatement. Saved from relegation to English football's third tier by a returning club legend, coming within inches of winning the Premier League and qualifying for the Champions League playing an enthralling brand of attacking football. It's a period of relative success that black and white disciples yearn to be replicated on the modern stage.
Here's why...
10. There Was No Malevolent Mike Ashley
There's a rather profound quote in Sir Alex Ferguson's autobiography which encapsulates why there exists such a volatile friction between Mike Ashley and Newcastle's disenfranchised fans.
"People try to apply to football the usual principles of business. But it's not lathe, it's not a milling machine, it's a collection of human beings. That's the difference."
By applying the business principles of his lowbrow sports retail brand, Ashley has created an empty shell of a club, transforming Newcastle United into a soulless, drifting vessel where mediocrity is championed and even the faintest whiff of ambition is quickly extinguished. Add to that his flagrant mining of St James' Park for advertising profit and an association with an unscrupulous payday lender, and it's clear why Newcastle fans feel so irretrievably detached from the club at present.
In contrast, the 1990's was an era when Newcastle only ever looked up. Sir John Hall and Freddie Shepherd weren't everyone's cup of tea during their respective ownerships, but at least the nucleus of their intentions were noble and in the best interests of the club. In short; they cared about more than the profit column on a balance sheet. Nowadays it couldn't be any different.
To sum up by paraphrasing a famous quote from John F. Kennedy; it's not what Mike Ashley can do for Newcastle United, but what can Newcastle United do for Mike Ashley.