For many years we Newcastle fans have been accused by the media of having too high expectations. We have been portrayed as being impatient and wanting immeditate success, even though we have not won a trophy for over 4 decades. I have always thought that this has been a bit unfair, as, in my experience, most of us fans just want to see our team compete, and for the players to put in 100% effort whenever they pull the shirt on. Also, with the fanbase, and the revenue that it generates through ticket and shirt sales, is it not reasonable to think that we should be able to compete with the top 7/8 teams in the country? The media have accused us of being too quick to get on the manager's back, but when people like Souness and Allardyce are brought in, the type of managers that few fans of other clubs would be happy to see in charge of their teams, and that no-one really wanted at the club in the first place, is it any wonder that the fans voice their unhappiness when things go wrong? Lets also remember that Souness inherited a team that had finished 5th the previous year and then went about systematically taking it apart. However, our relegation to the Championship seemed to force most of us fans to re-adjust our expectations, even though we bounced back with a record amount of points the following season. Most of us would have settled for 17th place last year, before a ball was even kicked. Can you imagine being happy with that in the years prior to our relegation? In the end we finished 12th and I was happy with this and found the season to be one of the most enjoyable for many years. Most of the fans that I know felt the same and hoped that we could improve this year with a top 10 finish, but were still not looking any higher than 8th place. Then of course we had a rollercoaster of a summer, with the departure of several of the most influential characters in the team, the introduction of our own Foreign Legion, and the "will he spend it, won't he spend it" saga of Mike Ashley and his Andy Carroll money. Once again this led to the majority of fans lowering their expectations for the forthcoming season, with avoiding relegation being set as the goal by many. And so we started this season with many of us fearing the worst. After a resiliant draw against Arsenal we have remained unbeaten with a points tally of 9. Even though our performances, on the whole, have not been great, there are signs of good things to come. No-one seems to be getting carried away with the fact that we have had our best start to a Premiership campaign for many years, with the fans seemingly content to live by that old football cliche of "taking one game at a time". My hopes for this weekend is that we take all three points at home to Blackburn and put in a decent performance with our players managing to put together more coherant, flowing moves and creating a few more scoring opportunities than in recent Premiership games. The difference is that this is what I now hope for whereas in previous years it would be what I expected from a home match against Blackburn.
I have always believed that the BIGGEST mistake the club ever made was hiring Souness when he was about to be sacked by (i think it was blackburn) Souness clashed with our best players , and that included kicking them out of the club, the likes of Robert, Bellamy..all when we had the best team we've had for years... And as my Liverpool friend has told me likewise, it was Souness who destroyed Liverpool in the early 90s as well.. EDIT: I forgot to mention he brought in..............wait for it..........Jean-Alain Boumsong...not to mention Michael Owen for freaking 17million and Albert Luque
I've learned never to expect anything from this club, just hope. We can win on Saturday and we can finish top ten, which is the target set by the board. I also like to think European qualification is within our reach as early as this season.
Good post. I go into every game always hoping rather than expecting. We've all played football and watched enough games to know that anything is possible, be it beating Barcelona or losing to Stevenage. All I want is to see a team that puts their all into getting a result for the cause. I know that we can beat Blackburn tomorrow if we apply ourselves like the Villa game but I worry that the players may get complacent after a positive run of results. Hopefully the manager and backroom staff can keep them fired up and we can post another 3 points on the board.
Agree. Well written article too. I haven't seen a journalist spouting the old 'Deluded Newcastle fans and their high expectations' nonsense for a while now either so maybe they're finally getting the point. I agree too that with the support that Newcastle has, the stadium that it has and with 6 top five premier league finishes it has under its belt; it's unsurprising that fans would have a high expectation anyway. Relegation changed all that entirely and as fans we've had to accept a sort of blank canvas in the PL, start from scratch and build back up again.
Top marks well written mate. I view all games as winnable or at least able to get draw, I hope rather than expect a win as I do belive Blackburn were lucky against Arsenal (2 OG's and an offside goal). Plus people are banging on about them winning 5 of their last 6 visits to SJP, records are there to be broken just like our london hodoo a few years back. As for deluded we were never deluded just had high expectations after what we had been served up. Nearly winning the league, Champions League football (seeing Tino score a hat tricj against Barce), what do people expect. Like Man u (minus the success) we were always in Europe, so it came to be expected. After relegation that expectation has been knocked down. As long as the team go out and play with passion and commitment they will always have my backing. It's when the the spinless money grabbers who can't be bother to play for the shirt piss me off. For now, I'm enjoying the ride and long may it continue, the way we are going I think we'll surprise a few people this season.
Good article. I take one game at a time and look for a good team performance. The glory day's of CL football are long gone but a good cup run and maybe a top 10 finish would be nice, I do think we have the player's and spirit in team to achieve this.
