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Just a few short weeks ago you could argue optimism was rife across the city of Newcastle.
After enduring over a decade of Mike Ashley’s ownership of their football club it seemed that the dark days were nearly over and a takeover was imminent.
Better yet, better to an incalculable degree, the potential new proprietors were rich. Staggeringly so. The figurehead of the takeover, Sheikh Khaled was an Emirati member of the Abu Dhabi royal family no less and we had all seen how transformative a comparative takeover of Manchester City had proven to be.
For Newcastle United’s long-suffering fans this must have felt like instantly going from famine to feast; a whopping big compensation pay-out for wrongful imprisonment because under the deeply unpopular Ashley, the remit was clearly and consistently to prioritise profit over ambition at all costs.
It was a policy that directly or otherwise led to two relegations to the Championship during his long tenure. It was a policy that directly led to sustained protests multifarious in their scope, protests that were increasingly accompanied by utter exasperation.
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Fast forward to now and the takeover talk has gone eerily quiet. Worse yet, Rafa Benitez has upped sticks to China and the club’s star striker Ayoze Perez has joined Leicester in a £30m deal. Whether that money is reinvested remains to be seen but historical evidence suggests it won’t be to any significant extent.
For Newcastle supporters, this is cruel indeed.
To extend on the wrongful imprisonment analogy it must feel like finally seeing a chink of light equating to freedom only to immediately be sent back to the cells and deprived of all privileges because they dared to hope.
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This reversion to type has prompted protestations towards the present hierarchy to intensify with fans believing the only way Ashley will act on their grievances and sell up is if he is hit in the pocket.
To that end many fans are refusing to buy the new club shirt. Many too are planning to boycott Newcastle’s first home game of the season against Arsenal.
But it was the reaction of rival fans that most piqued interest as the latest depressing chapter of ‘Newcastle United: The Mike Ashley Years’ scribbled itself out over a balance sheet.
With social media and 24/7 football coverage, we are more tribal and divided than ever before as football fans.
We are entrenched and consequently, it is hardly uncommon for one set of supporters to find another group’s suffering to be humorous.
Yet here there is anger. There is annoyance. That’s how dire the situation at Newcastle has become – the time for gloating and chuckling is over and we have all had enough of it.
So why don’t we – just for once – show some solidarity. Why don’t we stand together as one instead of being divided by our club colours?
It would not be the biggest sacrifice in the world to forego travelling to St James’ Park this season to watch our team play there. It’s just one game.
Yet a half-empty away end, coupled with a half-empty home section would make a hugely powerful statement; one that would ripple beyond the north-east throughout the rest of the sport.
It would inform football’s authorities and the TV companies and the owners that there is a line. And when that line is crossed we have each other’s backs.
