‘Mbappe announces’: how Saudi-backed Newcastle United takeover left ailing fan dreaming of happier days
NEWSCASTLE: It’s been some weird days for Newcastle United, a football team that has been in the weird day business for as long as I can remember.
I’m still trying to work things out, but at this point all I can tell you is this: As a Newcastle fan for 35 years, I started the week by negotiating the usual numbness associated with defeat and ended it by supporting the football team more rich in the world.
Would legendary Italian manager Antonio Conte want to live in the upscale Jesmond suburb of Newcastle, or would he rather stay in the city center and absorb the culture when he becomes a manager? It would be a question for another day.
When the takeover came, it was as quick as it was unexpected. At least the quickest and most unexpected which can be anything that has been rumbling for 18 months. For me, the $ 410 million deal to buy the club by a consortium consisting of PCP Capital Partners, Reuben Brothers and Saudi Public Investment Fund was dead in the water, dragged into the frigid depths of the Premier League tested by questions. of directional separation and transmission rights.
So, imagine my surprise last week when everything suddenly went well and I found myself subconsciously typing the words “announces (footballer Kylian) Mbappe” on my Twitter feed. What can I say? Football is an unpredictable lover.
Of course, now is the time to dream if you are a Newcastle United fan. We dream better than others because we have had nothing else to do in the last 52 years (the last time we won a major trophy).
For the uninitiated, supporting this team isn’t really something you choose to do. It is a birth gift or it comes from the date of the place. It sounds cliché, but just as the stadium dominates the city skyline, so too does the football team make people’s hearts and minds. What happens here is important, and in such an often disadvantaged part of England, a successful football team has the potential to make a difference.
For years I have worn our lack of success as a kind of badge of honor. Anyone can follow Real Madrid, but you try to sit in the pouring rain and watch your decidedly average team struggle to take down even the weakest opponent. Then come back and do it all again, at home and away, year after year. It could very well be the football equivalent of self flagellation, but I am proudly proud to support this club and to be with the thousands who have done the same for decades with no real reward.
By the way, I consider myself a lucky Newcastle fan. I was there for the first transformative acquisition in 1992 when local businessman Sir John Hall rescued the club from years of austerity. Languishing in the old second division (now Championship), Hall’s first big appointment was Kevin Keegan as manager. I remember the delusional excitement of it all, even though I couldn’t imagine what it could actually mean to support a winning football team.
What followed were four and a half seasons of swashbuckling in which Newcastle went from near certainties for relegation (again) to contenders for the title in the English top flight. It was a time when we became known as The Entertainers, where “don’t worry if they get three points because we’re going to make four”, and it was glorious.
Even after Keegan there was Tino Asprilla’s hat-trick against Barcelona and Sir Bobby Robson’s pure passion for the Juventus cause, adventures in the Champions League and purchases of money. Of course we haven’t won anything yet, but at least it was fun.
Then came Sports Direct supreme Mike Ashley and a second club buyout that was … less exciting, shall we?
In truth, I’ve felt a disconnect with my club for a while now. But then 14 years of neglect will do it for you. Public relations scams, questionable signings, and the sole purpose of protecting an asset in the Premier League were just the finer details. By the time the end came, Newcastle United had been nearly blasted to dust, blasted by a lack of investment, care and intentions. A club whose main asset had always been the most loyal supporters was to see them leave en masse, cutting in an excruciating way a rope that has stretched generations.
But then, just as you think you are out, they put you back in. A new series of guardians that make us, at least at this budget point, the most powerful football team on the planet. I’ll be your equal, it’s disconcerting.
At this point we should probably discuss expectations. Although fans at other clubs often worry about the misunderstanding that we expect to play for league titles and Champions League seats (an expectation that literally no Newcastle fan has, by the way), I am willing to play quietly in terms of what we can achieve by going forward.
Frankly, I imagine consistent success would be utterly overrated. Just look into the glassy eyes of a Manchester City fan who wins the Carabao Cup for the 18th time and tell me that’s not true.
Anyway, football isn’t really about trophies, is it? It is about hope and pride. It’s about the excitement that maybe this will be your day. This is a staple that Newcastle fans have been deprived of for 14 years.
It is worth mentioning that the new owners have declared their intention to become part of the Newcastle community. It is not just about success on the pitch, but also over the long term, against the regeneration of the area. In a place where more than 10,000 children live in poverty and which has one of the busiest food banks in England just two kilometers from the stadium, the acquisition of this football team has the power to change more than one life. one way.
What happens next is no one’s guess. But for the moment, Newcastle United fans have earned the right to dream again. Maybe, just maybe, it’s up to us to savor success?
Now, Mbappé announces.
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