So, welcome to this new blog! This is the new Diary of a Fan, where I rant even more. Here goes.
Reflections on the season gone. Well, we weren't good enough. My old Newcastle pages used to say somewhere near the top "simply the best team in the world." That pretty much isn't true. We're not even close to being the best team in the country (I still believe that we're one of the best teams to support but that's different). Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd are all way ahead of us (I don't think Liverpool are that far ahead). To be fair the big three are way ahead of everyone else in the league. That's what hurts. How did they get there? It was us. With Keegan in charge we were promised european glory, and soon. And for a while it looked like it might be true. Then Keegan left and we had two managers who I still can't bring myself to talk about without growling. Now we have Sir Bobby. Is it better?
It is better than the last two but that really isn't hard. Gullit in particular never understood Newcastle United, at least Robson does. And that means that our situation must hurt him too. He has made questionable decisions and holds debatable views about some players but in general isn't doing a terrible job. And just who would you get to replace him?
On to the players then. Ah. The best players we have are all almost retired. Shearer cannot be replaced, we can only hope to compensate for his absence. Speed is still providing the real leadership in midfield, without him we may struggle. Yet there are actually more pressing issues. The defence never looks solid. Even when they keep a clean sheet it is a surprise. For the great teams it is a surprise when the defense concedes a goal. Woodgate stand above the rest, but is injury prone. My pet theory is still that a large part of the problem stems from the fact the second best centre half we have is playing right back. The defense needs investment, in a right back (Hughes is unavailable we're very light there).
The midfield has talent and much frustration. Robert I think is a subject for another day. On the right we inexplicably sold the best player we had (Robson's one big mistake, though you might wonder if it was all his doing). Some investment there might be wise.
And upfront. Well, Shearer continues but someone will have to come to fill those boots eventually. Ameobi has never looked like a goal scorer to me. Bellamy is fast (but that's about it, his finishing needs work). Investment needed.
Now read back. Note the recurring theme. Investment is needed if this team is not to slip further down to be overtaken not only by Liverpool but Villa, Charlton and the rest. The board need to invest, there is no other way to become successful. Either that or find someone who is willing to. The fans will support whatever (and that might be part of our downfall), but the chance to become legendary is there. Sell a couple of players if it helps (Bellamy and Dyer come to mind) but only if you buy better. It looks like we don't have a transfer budget to shout about. Don't these people understand? They cannot sit there and call themselves fans when those tens of thousands of season ticket holders would happily invests the millions if they had them, just to see a black and white success. We have waited too long. We must invest, move forward, or we will slip far to far back to recover to where we should be in anything like the next ten years.
(@12:06)
