Newcastle United Fan View: The rotten Wembley run continues

Newcastle United fans shouldn’t be too disheartened by the loss against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley last night.

There were a great deal of positives to take from the game and against lesser opposition we would have taken all 3 points. That being said, the defeat means we have now lost 4 games in a row and face a tough Chelsea side in our last game of the season on Sunday this weekend. I wrote last week that our season is in danger of going flat and flat is exactly how I feel this morning.

It has been an odd season full of ups and downs. I certainly did not expect Newcastle to be sitting in 10th place going in to the final game of the season but it is hard not to think “what might have been” had we grabbed some points earlier on in the season. There have been a lot of games that could have gone either way this season; home games against Bournemouth, Everton and Brighton to name a few where we should, and could, have ended up with the magpies taking all 3 points.

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What I need to keep reminding myself of is that this season has always been about survival, consolidating our place in the Premier League and building on that for next season but with Mike Ashley holding the purse strings, having any hope of a bright future is a difficult feeling to achieve.

With Mike Ashley as our owner I do tend to worry that when the side overachieves, much like it did when we finished just outside the Champions League places when Alan Pardew was in charge, Ashley tends to see that as job done – only Vurnon Anita was signed that summer. Sitting in mid-table with a solitary game left to play in a season where we were favourites for relegation could be seen as an equal over-achievement.

In reality, the job is only just beginning, as Rafa keeps reiterating, and I fear that a lack of investment this summer could signal a hat-trick of relegations under Ashley’s reign next year. If no noises are made soon with regards to investment, or even a cast iron guarantee that the club will be sold, Rafa will walk. We all know that, even if it is something we do not wish to face.

It seems daft to be talking in such a downtrodden and negative manner but this is the exact thing I have talked about throughout these blogs this season. As a Newcastle United fan it is incredibly hard to focus our energy and passion in to football when Mike Ashley is in charge – yes sure when we lose it is disappointing and only natural to fear the worst but even when we have won games it is hard not to get too over excited and celebrate too much.

I started talking about the Spurs match a few minutes ago and immediately I am drawn to the likely dark times ahead if Ashley stays in control; it is ridiculous and I am quite annoyed that I find it so hard to feel good about the team I love. Other teams’ fans will read this and not know what I am on about; why complain, you have Rafa Benitez as manager, some highly talented youngsters, the youngest team in the Premier League and you are sitting pretty in 10th.

An outsider would wonder what on earth is the problem but for us Newcastle United fans we know exactly what the problem is. Mike Ashley.

Here’s my little prediction for what will happen following the full time whistle against Chelsea this Sunday. After a day or two there will be noises made in the press (most likely The Mirror), that Ashley still intends to sell the club and that there are buyers queuing up.

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This story will spread on social media and some fans, actually a lot of fans, will start to look ahead at what the club may be like under a new owner, a new owner who wants to invest and bring the good times back (think back to November- January and you’ll remember what that feeling was like).

Meanwhile, absolutely nothing is happening at the club, nothing at all; the new contract for Rafa seems to have disappeared, no transfer offers are made as “the club is for sale” and the fans lay off Ashley as “the club is being sold” (once again, think back to Winter). As the summer drifts on it soon becomes clear that the club is not going to be sold and for the last 2 months the owner and chairman have been sunning themselves in Barbados.

Cut to July (Rafa has walked by now of course) and there is a mad panic to buy players. Numerous players are linked, none are signed bar a couple of loan signings in the last week of the window. The season has already started by now and new manager Alan Curbishley is already batting away criticism for the way Newcastle have lost their opening 4 matches of the season.

This may sound like a bit of a far fetched scenario and granted some of it has been written tongue in cheek but this scenario has happened before. Ashley is the master of creating a story to deflect away the real issues. Ashley needs to sell up quick or completely change the way he runs the club. The club needs investment and whether that is from Ashley or another new owner, I do not really care one bit.

I promise I’ll try to make the last few blogs of the season a little more positive!