7 Ups & 5 Downs From Premier League 2019/20 Opening Weekend

2. Unrest Continues At St. James’ Park

What to do with a problem like Mike Ashley?

After the usual pre-season chatter about a potential takeover, it looks as if the Newcastle faithful are stuck with Ashley for the foreseeable future – and the Toon fans are never afraid to vent their frustrations.

Against Arsenal on Sunday, a reported 4,000 Newcastle fans boycotted the game as they again look to make it clear that they want Ashley out of their club.

For any football fan that has been in that situation, it’s such an awful thing to experience – you obviously want to go and watch your side, yet you don’t want to have any part in showing support for the people running the show.

In the game itself, Newcastle offered up a few bright spots against Unai Emery’s Arsenal – in particular, Brazilian forward Joelinton looking a handful – but it looks like it’s going be another season of off-the-pitch unrest for the Magpies.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.