‘I’m massively conflicted – I still love that football club’: Newcastle fans in the face of a tarnished takeover – The Independent, Independent
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F or a situation that’s an emotional maze, Norman Riley is straight up about Newcastle United ‘s takeover , and admirably honest.
“I’m saying to you now, I’ll still go to matches,” the contributor to True Faith podcast says. “And I have a masters in human rights. I’m fully aware of Saudi Arabia’s record. I’m massively conflicted. I still love that football club. The reality is I am going to engage in behavior that’s hypocritical. There are no two ways about it. ”
Newcastle supporters are forced to look multiple ways right now, because of a genuine moral dilemma that this takeover poses. One long-time fan The Independent spoke to was privately close to tears about the situation, not least about some of the online fan backing for Saudi Arabia. Riley fairly describes it as an “awkward, awful position to be in.”
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That almost always seems the luck for Newcastle in the modern era. They get their wish, but it comes with a heavy price, much greater than that the £ m PIF-led consortium are set to pay for the club.
The supporters have finally rid themselves of
Mike Ashley , which is a genuine reason to rejoice. There is a hope the club can at last be released.
Amid such euphoria, though, there is already this growing noise that the new owners may be worse. Morally, much worse.
Many fans just don’t want to confront this right now. Many more find it very complicated. Others don’t know what to think.
For some outside the club, the thinking seems obvious. Such a deal – to use the words of democracy activist Iyad el-Baghdadi – is “disgusting”. It won’t be Newcastle as they know it. It will be a host organism for a sportswashing exercise, from one of the most criticized states on earth.
Worst of all, a specific part of that exercise is using the fans and their emotional connection. The thinking is they should walk away, boycott, whatever.
For those involved, though, it really isn’t that simple. The same has long applied to Manchester City supporters. Because what is actually involved are deep psychological connections to clubs, that aren’t easy to break.
“I went to my first match when I was seven years old,” Riley says. “You start getting into football as a kid. And all the politics, all the rest, you’re not exposed to it. That love you develop, it’s really difficult to pour water on. I think that’s the position a lot of fans are in. To extinguish that is really tough. ”
Greg Tomlinson, who is on the board of the Newcastle United Supporters ’Trust, goes even further.
“It leads you to that famous Bobby Robson quote about what a club is. It’s not the directors or the owners. It’s the fans. We’ve been here before any owners, and we’ll be here after any owners have gone. ”
They’re about to outlast Ashley, and all spoken to for this piece admit this greatly influences the current mood about the next owners. Alex Hurst, the host of True Faith, is equally honest about his feelings.
“I’m excited. Delighted. The easy thing would be to sit here and say I’m conflicted, but the feeling of everyone I know who supports Newcastle is one of massive excitement.
“You’ve got to remember this is a weary fan base. There’s been huge internal conflict. I’ve got criticism because I’ve continued to go to games. Everyone has a story like that.
“The fanbase had given up on fighting Ashley and had started fighting each other.
“So, before you even get into new owners, it’s that Ashley’s leaving. It could be anyone. It’s like a weight has been lifted from everyone’s shoulders. ”
Many might fairly scoff that the “suffering” under Ashley isn’t sufficient to so overlook the real-life suffering caused by the Saudi Arabian state. It was only 13 years of mostly mid-table finishes, with two seasons in the Championship. That actually mirrors more of their history than the glory days of the s, as even Hurst admits.
“That period hangs over everybody as ‘this is how things are supposed to be,’ whereas Newcastle since the s has really been lower mid-table, for one reason or another, and I’d always say that’s about bad ownership. ”
Such scoffing would also overlook the sense of aimlessness, futility and frustration caused by Ashley’s time. Newcastle, really, were just existing.
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