Newcastle United Fan View: Back where we belong - in the Premier League

What a night, what a season, what a relief!

Last weekend’s results did Newcastle United a massive favour going in to the Preston North End game last night. With Huddersfield and Reading both losing it meant that a win last night would get us back to the Premier League and that is exactly what Rafa Benitez and Newcastle United delivered.

As for the game last night, well the 4-1 scoreline definitely flattered us; we took an early lead but Preston equalised soon after and missed a lot of chances to potentially put the game to bed before the halftime whistle. Thankfully, a Christian Atsu goal minutes before halftime essentially won us the game and we ran riot in the second half against a 10 man Preston side who definitely had the look of a team with nothing to play for. I’ll take it though, a win is a win and we have been promoted – mission accomplished!

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Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get to the game (kids!) last night despite having a ticket so I watched the match unfold on TV and I found it an interesting experience to say the least. The commentators were on a real downer with the Newcastle United crowd pretty much throughout the game, at one stage blaming the crowd for the poor display on the pitch. I’ve not seen many Newcastle United games on Sky this year but I get what people are saying now, they really don’t like us do they?

Now, I get how the St. James’ Park crowd can go quiet but then what set of fans sing throughout an entire 95 minute game? None that I know of and I have been to a lot of football matches over the years. The crowd were nervy last night and rightfully so – we needed a win to get back in to the big time and we weren’t playing all that well and in danger of throwing the game away!

What I found most interesting watching the TV coverage of the match was the line of questioning after the game. There was a little on the promotion but then the talk immediately turned to whether or not Rafa Benitez will stay. I’ve written a lot on this over the season and I am sure most fans will be hoping he does stay but I think we all have to take a leaf out of Rafa’s book and listen to what he said last night.

Whilst not confirming he would be staying or not, he said now is the time to enjoy the promotion and I think as Newcastle United fans we have to do just that. Now is not the time to analyse the season, it is not the time to make lists of players who we want rid of, or want to sign and I’m sure that there will be plenty of talk during the summer (and I very much include myself in that) about whether Rafa will stay and given there isn’t an international football competition this summer, we will have plenty of time on our hands to cover such issues but now is not the time. Now is the time to celebrate and believe me I am in serious pain writing this article given the amount of “celebrating” I did last night!

Not many teams bounce back to the Premier League at the first attempt, we’ve now done it twice in 10 years and while the relegations were a horrendous experience I very much do not want to revisit, we have to look at this season as a huge success. This season has been totally different to any I can remember over the last decade; we have a manager we all believe in and we have a set of players who want to play for the side, they have a real connection with the fans and want to be at Newcastle United.

The season still has two games left; Cardiff City away and Barnsley at home. While the title is unlikely, it is still achievable and I for one will be celebrating until the last minute of the game on 7th May. Howay the lads! Get in! Today I am a very, very proud Newcastle United fan.