This ‘Outside Perspective’ is brought to you by Tranmere Rovers fan Matty Robinson. Huge thanks to him for taking the time to answer the following questions. What does he make of the trials and tribulations of NUFC this season? Find out below:
What memories do you have of your team’s matches against Newcastle United over the years, do any particular games stand out?
My club, Tranmere Rovers, played Newcastle in the cup in each season between 1998 and 2000, losing all three games. Sadly I am too young to remember any of them, although I do remember the buzz around Birkenhead when Rovers played the Toon in the FA Cup in 1998.
Can you think of any players who have played for both teams, what kind of impression did they make?
When I started going to watch Tranmere at the turn of the century, I remember players like David Kelly and Liam O’Brien, who had previously turned out for Newcastle. They probably fall into the ‘good honest pros’ category. Since then the only player I can really think of who came to Tranmere from Newcastle is Calvin Zola, who never made a first team appearance for Newcastle. He did ok at Tranmere, an enthusiastic target man without much finesse, ran like Bambi on ice.
I think the only player who might hold hero status at both clubs would be Ryan Taylor. When I got into the swing on seeing Tranmere on a weekly basis ‘Super Ry’ was coming through as a youth player and it was fantastic to really watch him grow into a quality player. I was really gutted when he left, but he had clearly outgrown League One, and I am made up he had a decent impact on the Premier League. He had a knack of scoring against Sunderland I think, so he must be a legend in the North-East as well as on the Wirral.
Have you ever visited St James’ Park and/or the city of Newcastle, what did you make of your time there?
I have, I have been twice, both draws! Both games also feature comebacks for the Toon and opponents scoring who would later go on to represent Newcastle.
My first visit to St James’ Park was September 2012 for a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa. Ciaran Clark scored the opener for Villa with Hatem Ben Arfa scoring a spectacular 25-yard equaliser. I think Newcastle struggled a bit that season as they tried to balance and domestic and European commitments after finishing 5th the season before.
My second visit was exactly two years later in September 2014 for a 2-2 draw with Hull City, then managed by a certain Steve Bruce. Jelavic and Mo Diame put Hull two ahead before Papiss Cisse came off the bench and scored two for Newcastle, including an 87th minute equaliser. That would have been in the last few months of Alan Pardew’s tenure before the interesting spell under John Carver.
I have loved both of my visits to St James’ as the fans are so passionate and just clearly love the routine of heading into town, having a few pints, chatting about the match with anyone dressed in black and white, heading to the game, supporting the lads and then heading back into town for a few more pints. I love how the stadium is right there in the city centre, I think it helps add to the carnival like atmosphere going on around the ground on matchday. It’s a shame that good feeling I saw a few years ago has not been seen inside the ground much in recent years, albeit for good reason.
Hypothetically, if your team’s next match was at home to Newcastle in the league, would you be quietly confident of three points?
Absolutely no chance! We have made a slow start to life in League One after back-to-back promotions, and despite Newcastle’s current woes, they would surely still beat us.
Newcastle fans have often been referred to as ‘deluded’ by some sections of the media, unfair and untrue, entirely justified or somewhere in the middle?
100% unfair and untrue to me. Of course there will be the odd sort who rings into radio phone-ins and asks why Newcastle are not signing Lionel Messi and appointing Guardiola as manager, but every club has those. I see Newcastle fans as wanting their team to give maximum effort. I do not think the type of football needs to be flashy or highly technical, but I see the baseline as being committed, attacking football.
I think there are deluded fan bases out there; Manchester United fans expect their team to have a divine right to walk their way to the title each year seemingly, whilst Arsenal fans demand wads of cash continue to be chucked at their unbalanced squad. I don’t see Newcastle fans demanding anything unrealistic. They want to enjoy going to the match, to see players who want to give their all to Newcastle and for ownership to give management the means to put together a competitive squad. All of that is entirely reasonable.
‘Newcastle United is not a big club’ How would you respond to this statement?
It is hard to define what makes a big club. Is it purely historical success? If so, does that make Preston, Sunderland and Nottingham Forest bigger than Man City and Chelsea? It is obviously a mixture of historical achievement, infrastructure, size of fan base and general public feeling.
Newcastle certainly meet two of the criteria, with their gigantic stadium and loyal, sizeable fan base. Their modestly sized trophy cabinet might let them down in the eyes of some and the circus around Mike Ashley’s ownership, I imagine, leaves a lot of the general public having a negative feeling towards Newcastle generally.
The potential is there for Newcastle to be a huge club under the right guidance, and they were there in the late 90s and early 00s. If they could have turned one of those two 2nd place finishes into a title victory I think they would be cemented in the public’s mind as a ‘big team’.
What does Mike Ashley’s ownership of Newcastle look like from the outside?
Hugely embarrassing for Mike Ashley and a sorry state of affairs for any other stakeholder in Newcastle.
Firstly, Ashley. The affair shows him to be a hugely selfish, compassionless individual. What interest does he have in running a social institution? Purely financial. I would have thought the argument of his ownership of Newcastle providing a great advertising vehicle for Sports Direct is now redundant as there is so much negativity, and even toxicity, around that association. So, in that case, why is he sticking around?
Secondly, stakeholders. I use that word, and not just the fan base, as there are so many good employees and third parties associated with the club that must be suffering. If you work at the training ground, work in the ticket office, work at a local newspaper, etc, your job must have been made so much harder by what Ashley has put the club through. This also extends to contracted players and prospective signings. I wonder how many players have sought to leave Newcastle, or have refused a transfer to Newcastle, due to the ill-feeling associated with Ashley.
Would you swap the current owner of your club for Mike Ashley?
This is the easiest question of the piece, an emphatic no! We are owned by Mark and Nicola Palios. I won’t go on about what they have done for the club, as there have been a lot of well written pieces about them released around our visits to Wembley over the last couple of seasons (worth a quick Google search). They are really accessible, honest, always explain their decisions around initiatives or transfer market activity and constantly keep the fans updated about where the club is standing in terms of their long-term plan. They are pretty much the opposite of Mike Ashley.
In this day and age of massive TV revenue, do you believe supporter led protests such as boycotts etc still have the power to bring about positive change?
Yes absolutely, as long as they are not done in a half-arsed manner. I think the Liverpool supporters did well a couple of years ago in opposing ticket price increases ownership wanted to implement. They arranged a walkout late on in a game (against Sunderland I think) and it is perceived that the walkout led to the late equaliser Liverpool conceded in that game. Ownership felt that as soon as results were being affected, and as soon as their club was at the centre of negative news headlines,they had to listen to the fans and take action. Liverpool’s ownership is now generally considered to pay close attention to what fans want.
The problem is that selling any football club is difficult, but selling a club of Newcastle’s stature is fraught with issues. Look at the struggle ‘little’ Blackpool fans went through to oust the Oystons; their fans went several seasons without seeing their team play at home. It worked in the long-run though.
I believe some sort of mass action could go some way to changing things at Newcastle. It may not directly lead to Ashley leaving the club altogether, but it certainly could lead to some sort of change.
Where do you think Newcastle will finish in the league this season and why?
I think they will avoid the relegation battle many believe they are heading for. I don’t think Steve Bruce is the out-of-touch dinosaur some believe, but there will be a drop-off from Rafa. He had some really good seasons at Wigan, Hull and Birmingham City, although they are a bit of distant memory compared to recent failings at Sunderland and Aston Villa. I think he’ll seek to play attacking football and hopefully bring some light relief on the pitch to fans, and hopefully will have a decent cup run.
The squad has been weakened by the departures of Ayoze Perez, Mo Diame, Kennedy and Solomon Rondon,with Joelinton the only notable signing ( written with still a week of the transfer window left). Joelinton is a good signing, Almiron was a great signing a few months ago, and the central defender group and goalkeeper are of a high quality, so I believe there is enough quality there to stumble towards a safe 12th or 13th place finish.
Do you think the manager’s job at Newcastle has become something of a poisoned chalice?
Perhaps, but I don’t think the club has helped themselves sometimes with certain appointments. Appointing the likes of Joe Kinnear, John Carver and maybe even Alan Pardew, are just asking for criticism. Rafa was welcomed with open arms and given all the time in the world to gets things going in his style. I get some of the furore around Bruce’s appointment given his association with Sunderland, but he deserves a chance.
Going back to what I said above, Newcastle fans are not deluded and just expect organisation and effort on the pitch. If a manager, despite reputation or previous employment, can get that going in a Newcastle team then the fans will give them space and time.
What would represent ‘achievement’ for Steve Bruce in his first season as manager of NUFC?
Giving the fans something on the pitch to take their minds off things going on off the pitch. No relegation trouble, a run in one of the cups and some decent attacking performances.
If you could choose one current NUFC player to sign for your team this summer, who (if any) would you choose and why?
I think every player in Newcastle’s first team squad would be an upgrade for us, which is simple evidence of the widening gulf between the Premier League and the Football League.
To answer the question fairly, we have just lost a modern-day legend in James Norwood. He has left on a free transfer after dragging us to successive promotions, so someone like Joelinton, or perhaps more realistically, Dwight Gayle to fill the void would be beneficial. We are also lacking in flair, so someone like Miguel Almiron, who I admire greatly, would be fantastic.
Are there any former NUFC players that you wish had played for your team rather than the Toon?
Similar to the above, pretty much any player you had in the Premier League era would have improved Tranmere. Every team loves a goal scorer, so any one of Alan Shearer, Les Ferdinand or Andy Cole in the late 90s could have fired Tranmere into the Premier League (we were close to getting there at one point, honest).
In more recent times, I would have loved Jonas Gutierrez. Players who run their socks off and get involved in the wider community around the club are really well received at Tranmere, as at almost every club.