Well it was confirmed on Sunday that next year games at Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United will be replaced with Peterborough, Scunthorpe and Barnsley!
Newcastle United have been relegated to the Coca-Cola Championship after 16 years in the Premier League.
At the end of the day the club has been in decline for 5 years now, since Bobby Robson was sacked and replaced by Graeme Souness, the club has been on a downward spiral.
Years of mismanagment stupidity, vanity signings and management who have chosed to concentrate on the first team and St James Park, at the expense of the academy, reserves and training facilities, have culminated in our relegation.
The finger of blame for our fall must point at owner Mike Ashley first of all. However there is a long roll of dishonour and some of the people responsible for the decline of our great team include Freddie Shepherd, Derek Llambias, Douglas Hall, Graeme Souness, Chris Hughton, and Dennis Wise have all played a part in this sad and sorry affair.
We have a team full of overpaid, under performing millionaires in it for the cash, not the club. Newcastle United needs a complete rebuld, from the top down.
We need a boardroom that are not yes men for the owner, who will tell him the harsh truth and ensure that he does not treat the club as his own personal plaything.
We need players who are in it for the love of the club, not simply money, and if that means we have to field this years reserves as our first team next season, then so be it.
We also need a club that does not act so arrogant as to assume that just because it had some glory days in the past and we have a big stadium, that we are a big club. We need to act humble and stop stripping fans of every penny they have for new strips every season and the ever increasing price of a ticket. We need a club that places itself at the centre of the community.
People might think that we Geordies are taking this too seriously, but this region has been ignored by the rest of the country, culturally, socially and politically. Geordies are easy to make fun of and easy to forget, so for us our football club was what put us on the map and made us proud.
For a decade we were spoiled by the beautiful teams of Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson, and now we are to endure Championship football.
The difficulties we have faced these past few years will hopefully help the club to rebuild and come back to the Premier League for the 2010-2011 season stronger than ever. I am reminded of some words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
“The more difficulties one sees in the world the more perfect one becomes. The more you plough and dig the ground the more fertile it becomes. The more you cut the branches of a tree the higher and stronger it grows. The more you put the gold in the fire the purer it becomes. The more you sharpen the steel by grinding the better it cuts. Therefore, the more sorrows one sees the more perfect one becomes.”
Hopefully this is true for Newcastle United.
But it is not all doom and gloom, we are favourites to win the league next season, we will have the biggest stadium in the league and if we have to come back via the playoffs we will likely play at the new Wembley before Sunderland. Plus there is also an away trip to Blackpool to look forward to.
So lets pray for success next season.
Michael
