Newcastle: Too Big to go Down?

The Toon Army has a massive following of 55,000 supporters, that sell out St. James’ Park every week, despite their glaring lack of trophies. With this support, they have been able to attract talent that their level of success has not merited. If one measures the size of a club on the level of support it enjoys, as opposed to it’s trophy cabinet, it is fair to say Newcastle United are not exactly a small club. So are they too big a club to be relegated? The answer, quite simply, is no.

Nottingham Forest, despite being one of only four English clubs to lift the European Cup, were relegated in the first season of Premiership football. The departure of Brian Clough, a man who had helped Nottingham Forest to win not one European Cup, but two, coincided with said relegation. A club with an extremely rich tradition was to play their football in the lower levels of English football, and it truly was a loss to the top flight.

Leeds United, most will agree, were one of the proudest clubs in British Football until their relegation in 2004. Despite divulging into the lower leagues on numerous occasions, Leeds has also won the old Division One thrice, an FA Cup, and reached the last four of Europe’s top prize on two occasions. Granted, Leeds are not exactly a Real Madrid or a Manchester United, but they have much more on their honours list than Newcastle. Leeds’ financial situation provided too many difficulties for the club to see the top flight again, and administration one threatened the Yorkshire side. Following their relegation, there was a mass exodus of talent, including players such as Jonathan Woodgate, Alan Smith and Harry Kewell. The club clearly had talented superstars, but could not evade the drop.

All that, and support has yet to be mentioned. In high pressure games from now until the end of the season, the crowd will act against Newcastle, as opposed to in favour of them. From a faithful that has always demanded so much from their team, will be bred even more pressure onto the field of play, and whether Newcastle have players with enough character so respond is another matter. Players such as Joey Barton and Alan Smith have had their problems in the past, and in reality, their team is now littered with more thugs than stars. While some of their players may have sufficient ability, such as Martins and Owen, they have players with extreme fallacies in their character, like the aforementioned Barton and Smith.

It seems the worst thing Newcastle have done in recent times was sacking Sir Bobby Robson, as they have never been able to recover from that managerial loss. One of my very first memories of the Champions League was Mathias Almeida thrashing a 25-yard volley into the roof of the net at St. James' Park for Inter Milan, but that is too distant a memory now. Managers, ranging from Glenn Roeder and Sam Allardyce have tried to bring stability back to the club, and not even the return of the 'Messiah'-like Kevin Keegan could do the job. No manager that goes to St. James' has been given the time to work with the squad to bring their own imprint onto the team, and hence they no longer have an identity. This cut-throat style of business has found Newcastle scrapping at the wrong end of the league in recent times.

And if Newcastle United are relegated, it is hard to see them coming back up. The club will lose money through television rights, and will not be able to attract the stars they once have been able to. Also, players like Duff, Martins, Owen and Gutierrez will seek new employers to create an exodus of players from Tyneside. Whether the club will be able to attract the large following they once did will also be discovered, if they do fall into the Championship.

It is easy for the fans to blame the players on the pitch, or the manager in the box-seat, but if they are relegated, the harsh truth is the fans only have themselves to blame. After David Moyes got Everton to a 7^th place finish in his first season in 2002, he finished 17^th the following season. One has to wonder whether he would have kept his job had he been employed by Newcastle, I suppose not. Despite not having a glorious past, the fans at St. James' Park seem to demand so much than what their team merits, and it is this confusion of ideals that has corrupted and alienated a club that could have been much more successful. It seems, despite Tottenham Hotspur's efforts, that Newcastle United truly are the joke of the Premier League.