Article on the Geordies from last week's Pink...

[dave u]

This was in the pink last saturday from Bascombe. I didn't know that one of their backroom team slated Bellamy in the press before we played them. Anyone know if it was Terry Mac or someone else?

 

 

 

 

FIRST impressions can be misleading. All of us put trust in people we believe are our friends, but as times pass differences emerge and you forget why you ever liked them to begin with.

 

A lot of Liverpool supporters feel that way about Newcastle. There was a time the Geordies could be categorised neatly alongside the Celtic fans. Essentially, the same breed with a stranger accent and different colours. You could sense the solidarity whenever the clubs met. It was as if there was some kind of unofficial brotherhood of downtrodden, shat upon working

class supporters, and Newcastle could be relied upon to join the alliance.

 

In the mid-1990s, when Kevin Keegan was the Magpies hero, the common bond took on even greater resonance. The list of Anfield and St James' Park heroes overlapped more. True, the Geordies resembled more of an unofficial Liverpool Masters team long before Sky invented that competition, but with the likes of Terry McDermott, John Barnes, Ian Rush, Barry Venison and Peter Beardsley on board, it's no wonder Kopites were happy to go along with the perception of Newcastle as a favoured 'second team'.

 

The Geordies joined in 'You'll Never Walk Alone' at Anfield not so long ago, even when they'd just suffered a beating which ended their title dreams, and the clash was a guaranteed mutual appreciation society.

 

Fast forward to this century and the contrast couldn't be more disturbing. In fact, the visit of Newcastle fans is now even less appealing to those of Manchester United.

 

With Manchester, you know what you're getting. Much as they're disliked, they have justification for claiming they're a highly successful club, and they tend to originate the anti-scouse chants which others, like Newcastle, tediously claim as their own for the next five years.

 

You know where you stand with United. Rightly or wrongly, unsavoury or not, there's no ambiguity or attempt to dress it up as anything other than what it is.

 

With Newcastle, it's become more unpleasant because there's an undercurrent of treachery about their attitude towards Liverpool fans. It's not supposed to be like this. We used to be mates. You don't get Mancunians coming to Anfield singing about 'never getting a job'. They indulge in much worse, but at least there's some mental line they're not prepared to cross.

 

Yet Newcastle fans, many of whom pride themselves from coming from tough estates in Gateshead, have no qualms about mocking a period in Merseyside history during which they suffered the same plight.

 

For God's sake, did none of them ever watch Auf Wiedersehen Pet? It's the equivalent of Kopites penning a ditty celebrating how Thatcher closed down all the North East's shipyards and left them to burn. It's just not the done thing.

 

Maybe such callousness hurts more when it comes from supporters you hoped and believed were so much better.

 

And of course, it's the latest in a series of misdemeanours which has led Scousers to dissolve any sense of kinship with the Geordies. It's surely no coincidence those on the Gwladys St feel the same way. In truth, it robably began for The Kop with Kenny Dalglish's ill-fated spell in Newcastle.

 

His treatment at the hands of the so-called 'Geordie nation' was so appalling, it was inevitable there would be repercussions. That a man held in as much esteem as Shankly and Paisley in Liverpool was considered 'not good enough' to serve a club which, until his arrival, had never required directions to Wembley would have been laughable if it wasn't so tragic.

 

A week after Dalglish was forced out, Liverpool turned up at St James Park to be met by 35,000 Ruud Gullit wigs.

 

Such a rank display of classlessness signalled the beginning of the end of illusions of empathy. Since then, examples have been frequent, culminating in their gloating following Michael Owen's nonsensical decision to sign a tear-stained contract, and refusal to ignore the reality of why he joined them, not Liverpool, andlast summer's claim they didn't really want Dirk Kuyt and 'stepped aside' to allow him his dream move.

 

This week signalled a new low, as an existing Liverpool player was the subject of a barrage of abuse in Newcastle's local paper by a member of their coaching staff.

 

Fans of all clubs may never forget nor forgive former players, as Owen will testify from his Anfield experience last season, but others know better than to publicly put the boot in and must have regretted their comments when they reviewed the national papers on Friday.

 

Craig Bellamy is getting a chance at Liverpool, and any attempt by those outside the club to undermine that will merely strengthen the resolve of most supporters to get behind him even more.

 

What could, and should, have been a beautiful friendship between Liverpool and Newcastle is over.

 

Perhaps it was over-exaggerated to begin with, but there are some relationships which are doomed to fail from the start.

[Al Campbell]

Bollocks to 'em. Small time Geordie bin men.

[Guest molbyscorchio]

He's got a point.

[RedKnight]

Good read that. I can't stand those Geordie knobs, thinking they're a big club. Win something!!

[King Emlyn]

I've never liked them, how a team that's won fuck all can class themselves as a massive club has always puzzled me.

[Section_31]

This freaked me out in the match report as well

 

This fella's work rate is already winning him friends,and he kept acool head despite predictable abuse from the visiting section and, latterly, the Newcastle coaching staff who taunted him as he left the pitch.

[Al Campbell]

40,000 of them crawled out of the woodwork when Keegan took over as well. If Roeder struggles this season watch their attendances fucking plummet.

[philyhamann]

Their attendances already are dropping, they have about 45k for the match against the shite.

[fivetimes]

Started ranting then...deleted it, cant be arsed its all been said before.

[Barrington Womble]

i never felt anything for them in the 1st place, so i've no idea what he's getting at to be honest. i wasn't aware they were liverpool fans "2nd team". i normally like bascombes articles, but this is a load of old arse.

[fivetimes]

i never felt anything for them in the 1st place, so i've no idea what he's getting at to be honest. i wasn't aware they were liverpool fans "2nd team". i normally like bascombes articles, but this is a load of old arse.

 

Totally agree. I have always like Bascombes stuff but not sure about this.

I thought they were nothing, replica kit wearing arsewipe SKY fans 8 yrs ago. I still do now. Delusions of granduer (13,000 in early nineties for a one club city) and the epitomy of the "new" fan. Articles like this will make them think that their delusional shite they are fed/believe is actually true!!!

 

Maybe the echo should have looked the meaning of "treachery" when they shit on Fowler after he left for Leeds and they screwed him over on the front page?

Or their juventus issue?

[fivetimes]

A lot of the stuff in the Pink is tongue in cheek and begging for a reaction. So maybe we have given them what they wanted!

[rome 84]

I actually haven't got a massive problem with the Geordies apart from some of the knobhead songs they sing and the delusions of grandeur so many of them have.

They are actually one of the few clubs who fill away ends all over the country and they've got one of the worst gigs of all cos of where they are in the country.

They packed the Anfield Rd out last week and that was to watch a side featuring the likes of Craig Ramage and Babayaro.

Contrast this with our friends from across the park who only sold half their allocation for the trip to the North East the other day. If it's shit, deluded fans you're looking for then the mob across Stanley Park should always be our first target.

[Gray Riley]

Yeah but mention to a blue that you reckon Newcastle are are much bigger club than they are, sit back and enjoy the fireworks. Two piss poor clubs with differing opinions on why they are the bigger of the two. Comedy genius

[Juniper]

I wouldnt say I ever had a soft spot for them before anyway, but looked forward to our games with them in the past due to the normally high scorelines

 

Reading Bobby Robsons (a man I respect a lot) book 'farewell but not goodbye' and I've lost even more respect for the club (would say the chairman, but I've always hated the twat anyway)

 

Small time club, just a shame their fans dont realise it.

[Big Ig]

They packed the Anfield Rd out last week

 

No they didn't, about 80% full

[rome 84]

It looked full from the Kop but fair enough if it wasn't.

[Kopite]

Yeah but mention to a blue that you reckon Newcastle are are much bigger club than they are, sit back and enjoy the fireworks. Two piss poor clubs with differing opinions on why they are the bigger of the two. Comedy genius

 

Is right. Whenever Newcastle FC is talked about on Taffyweb you can feel the rage.

[Hermes]

He's got a point.

 

That's more than Newcastle ever get at Anfield.

[drewy]

That's more than Newcastle ever get at Anfield.

 

He's here all week!