Are Newcastle United really saying goodbye to their oldest friend?

Just a little follow up to my article about the lottery of football ownership, in particular, what has been going on at Newcastle United and Sunderland.

After the anger at finding out exactly who owned what percentage of their club earlier this week had subsided, Sunderland fans instantly began talking of an immediate boycott. That takes bottle and I would have commended their actions in the circumstances.

The Sunderland board reeling from the backlash, then quickly trying to appease supporters by saying that majority shareholder Kyril Louis-Dreyfus was now keen to purchase the 39% of shares that belong to Madrox’s finest, Stuart Donald and Charlie Methven, therefore raising his stake to 80%.

It was reported that if the price was right, Donald and Methven may be willing to sell.

This seems to have temporarily calmed the rebellious factions on Wearside down to an extent.

Even though we as Newcastle supporters have the wretched near decade and a half Mike Ashley regime still etched fresh in our memories, the current saga at Sunderland has reminded me more of the miserable Westwood and McKeag years at St James Park in the 1970s and 80s.

In other words, ‘tinpot men’ trying their utmost to keep a regional institution down amongst the also rans in the second division (and in the poor mackems; case, third tier).

After all the hurt on Tyneside since those dark days in the seventies (with the fleeting exception of the Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson eras), Newcastle United now have the ambitious ownership plan we have always craved.

In four and a half months we have became the talk and envy of the football world because of the vast wealth of the Saudi PIF.

This makes life one hundred times worse for Sunderland fans, as their beloved Black Cats lurch from one crisis to another.

I read one of the Sunderland supporters stating that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the club go into administration, before despairingly adding that eventual liquidation couldn’t be ruled out (with their massive overheads), if they didn’t move up the leagues soon.

Although I am a lifelong conservationist, I have no intention of starting a ‘Save the Mackems’ campaign.

However, after seeing a World Wildlife Fund advert on the plight of the African elephants, one of the quotes that resonated with me was….

“Are we finally saying goodbye old friend and taking one last look at them.”