Comments on: Why, Oh Why, Are You A Newcastle Fan?

By: john

john — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:19:55 +0000

i am a newcastle fan and i have to say that we definitely have wonderfully unique supporters and yes we hav got one of the best fans in the country but i think people are being ignorant because other clubs also have great supporters such as pompey reading colchester liverpool west ham nd even the mackems arent half bad though i would say we beat them by far, its probably a contest between us and liverpool even if they have had great success over the years

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:43:34 +0000

Why do we support Newcastle United. Cos me Dad said and thats it!

By: Gregg

Gregg — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 22:10:35 +0000

I always find it remarkable that individuals in the media and individuals from other clubs (with the exception of the mackems of course)seem to be continuously trying to knock the club or its support off some unseen pedestal. I could understand it if we had dominated the premiership/first division for the last twenty years or had been bought by a multi billionaire and subsequently signed every world class player for funny money.

I live in the USA, I have done for the past four years, I have supported the club since before I could kick a ball. I spent many a happy Saturday watching us demolish the opposition and also spent many in despair as we were demolished. Do I think of myself as one of the most passionate fans in the premiership? of course I do but then so do the many expat supporters from various clubs I talk to out here. The media have decided to label us the most passionate, just as they labelled Keegan’s team the entertainers.

If there is an axe to grind I would suggest that these “other supporters” grind it with them. This does not include the mackems because the rivalry between Newcastle and Sunderland is traditional and mostly friendly with Geordies and Mackems working side by side and in the mainbeing friends and colleagues, this all changes at 3pm on a Saturday of course!!!

By: Gareth

Gareth — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 18:26:53 +0000

Oh dear. Well, one reason why we can safely ignore this writer’s comments is the line about it going dark in Newcastle at 3pm in the height of summer. Hate to break it to you, but the sun goes down LATER the further north you go in summer.
Plus, any criticism directed at Butt has nothing to do with him not being good enough for us – I’m sure all Newcastle fans would welcome signings of players with a proven winning track record. All we ask is that they show the same determination and commitment as they did at their previous club, the point where Butt spectacularly failed to deliver.

By: Chancy

Chancy — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 13:22:31 +0000

i live in cape town south africa ive never been to england, never seen st james park,never spoken to a goerdie but i support the club religiously. wheather it be buying overpriced shirts because nobody cares to supply them or because i check every internet site daily to keep up with the latest news. there is no one reason why i love the club. maybe it could be the fact that we never win anything let alone come close, or because we had an incredible marksman in shearer who instiled hope every time he hit the back of the net. even though we all know our defence will leak two and we will be waiting for another inspirtional yet unforfilling moment.

its that fix we desire whether it be scandal or news that james milner hopefully wont be leaving.each has his own personal reason these are just some of mine.
Chancy Cooke

By: Kris Marshall

Kris Marshall — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 12:13:26 +0000

My first impression is of the article itself. The writer seems to lack insight, judgment and most importantly indepth research to back up his opinion. Every football club is the same, once you drop a division or two the support inevitibly diminshes. There are many reasons for this, one being the lower away fan attendances and another being the quality of players on display (more people want to watch Rooney and Henry than Trundle and Booth.)One thing that all football clubs maintain in the lower divisions is their hardcore fan base, and when it come to this I believe that Newcastle have one of the most, if not the most, loyal hardcore fan base in England. The author of the article is quick to point out the attendance against Luton in the Milk Cup, but fails to mention it was a Wednesday night, and even by north eastern standards the weather was abysmal (I remeber getting soaked to the bone!!)I must point out at this point that Arsenals lowest attendance was 4,354 and that was in the old first division, not in the Milk Cup, yet the author fails to give the article balance, which is most probably why he has to air his views on a small internet portal rather that in a broadsheet.

By: David

David — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 09:12:10 +0000

As I was born in Newcastle, I seemed to inherit St. James’ Park as a second home. I’ve been in every end of the ground watching them, in executive boxes, even working in the food kiosks on matchdays just to soak up the atmosphere and maybe catch a glimpse of the game. The passion is contagious. My guess is whoever wrote the article is jealous of this and his comments certainly won’t upset me. I’m proud to be a Geordie and proud of the stigma that goes with it.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 00:19:54 +0000

The person who wrote this article is one of the many football ‘fans’ who get frustrated by the likes of Newcastle because they simply can’t understand us. They can’t grasp why we can be so blindly passionate and loyal about a team that doesn’t win trophies.

Newcastle united is definately not the best team around. The club is one of the worst managed clubs in the league. Our chairman thinks that one big signing can mask the reality of a small squad and changes managers more times than his socks. The stability of the team in general is poor.

However….the fans genuinely love the club. Not because of success or big signings, but because it’s ours. The best way I could describe it would be a fathers love for his daughter. From day one you know that you are going to be there rain or shine and regardless what anyone else say’s, to you that girl is the most most special person on the planet! No if’s and no buts!

When you are born in the shadow of St. James Park you bond with the club and you simply can’t change your stripes. When things are going bad it hurts but that doesn’t stop you loving your team. The city reacts to the team like no other city I’ve encountered. I’m not saying that no other city does, but Newcastle is a very special place after a home win.

Are we the best supporters in the world…..that could never be proved so I will not say we are. We are great suporters though and nobody can deny us that.

To the person who wrote the article…..I’m sure that you’re pleased with the signing of Schevchenko but if it all goes pear shaped, Arsenals ground isn’t too far away!!

By: MattyDread

MattyDread — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 20:57:50 +0000

I think the sentence

“even Geordies are bright enough to realise that supporting Newcastle represents the best option by some margin. ”
says everything you need to know about the person who wrote that article.

By: Andrew S

Andrew S — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 20:53:24 +0000

Why do we support Newcastle United? Because that’s where we are from. Who else is a Geordie going to support?

As regards to claims to being the best, I don’t think it is particularly Newcastle fans that make this claim, more that people in the media do this for us. I often hear such comments from the pundits on Sky Sports, many of whom have barely been to the place. I’m sure many Newcastle fans are happy to go along with these claims, but that is hardly the same as making them ourselves.

Man City are another team about whom this is often said, though they seem to have a real chip on their shoulder about it. Witness their constant tedious chants of “where were you when you were sh*t?” It is noticable that Man City can’t fill their new stadium (which is smaller than ours), despite all their posturing.

What we can say is that given the complete lack of domestic success (ie trophies) that Newcastle United have had over the past 50 years, we have extremely loyal and long suffering fans. We had over 31,000 for a 1st round Intertoto game in July the other week, and 20,000 turned up to see Michael Owen sign. League games are always full to capacity with 52,000 present.

In the old 2nd division, we weren’t getting 40,000. Then again, the top team in the first division (usually Liverpool) wasn’t getting this either! In the early to mid 80′s, we were regularly in the top 5 attendances in the country despite being in the 2nd division. Even in the darkest days we averaged over 20,000 which was a big attendance before the Premiership boom.

I wouldn’t like to say we are the best supporters, that is not a judgement for us to make. Most other top flight teams have had more tangible success than we have yet do not attract anything like the numbers we do.

Maybe it is blind loyalty, maybe it is the hope that our luck must change soon. What is true is that the team do not deserve the loyalty of the fans they have. Despite all this, we will always love the Toon. And we can always console ourselves with the fact that it could be worse – we could be Mackems!