A lot has been said about Newcastle's infamously anti-cup agenda. With primary focus on the Premier League and survival to retain as much TV money as possible and make sure the club can remain self-sustaining, the prospect of winning in the League Cup or FA Cup seems to have been entirely dismissed (as if it was ever on the cards in the first place). In many ways, the past two years in the League Cup have played into the club's hands: two consecutive draws against Man City mean that there's a ready made excuse for failure without ever having to reference the fact that the club's objectives lie elsewhere. But those draws don't mean Newcastle should role over, and there should be some consideration made for the fact that the away end will now be sold out to the tune of 3000 Newcastle fans. For a game that the club ostensibly don't want to win. For a game that would be difficult to win at the best of times. Perhaps it's time to do some PR that actually benefits the fans. Perhaps Keith Bishop should be looking at this situation as a means to garnering some serious good publicity, because Man City might be there for the taking. Or as there for the taking as a team of millionaires assembled by a billionaire playing real life Football Manager can be anyway. City will be focused on the game against Man Utd at the weekend: they do not need to win the League Cup any more, it's small fry. They need to win the Premier League and the Champions League, and thanks to the bulldog spirit of West Ham, they probably have to work a little harder in the Premier League this weekend to make sure they don't lose twice in a row (a relative catastophe for them). That means they will field an under-strength side against Newcastle, as they did last year, and if Newcastle respond by playing as strong a team as possible, including Cabella and Sammy Ameobi after the Spurs heroics, then there could be a victory. And that victory would count as part of Bishop's publicity charge, because who's going to be complaining about the manager as much if we get past City? Who's going to notice the league table for a few days if we're all looking forward to another cup game? Of course that's simplifying it massively (and ignoring how ingrained the issues at Newcastle are), but that's how the PR team will think, and that would be a good thing for the 3000 fans who so desperately want to see their team win, despite the clear and present obstacle that the club don't really want to go for victory overall. Maybe it's time they had some sort of reward?
