The End Is Nigh
The end is nigh, the finish line is in sight and a miserable, volatile season is drawing to a seismic, once-in-a-generation conclusion.
Will the sad story have an unexpectedly happy ending or will the end be as agonising as the build up to it.
The bottle is about to stop spinning, the roulette wheel is slowing down, but will it fall on red or black and white stripes. Fates are about to be decided, fortunes made or broken. It's not a time for the feint hearted.
Given the excitement in pre-season, as Kevin Keegan and Roy Keane sat on their thrones, few could have predicted we would be here, with Newcastle and Sunderland going into the final game of the season with nothing more than relegation on their mind.
We used to talk about progress, European football and challenging for silverware. Now all we talk about is damage limitation and survival. If either drop into the Championship it will be a disaster for all concerned.
Sunderland are the better prepared of the two, their recent experience of English football's second tier, plus the safety net of wage cuts for players if they are relegated, as well as the financial backing of Ellis Short, means they are well equipped to survive the fall and be in shape to fightback.
At Newcastle, the ramifications will be huge, but no more hurtful. They have no recent experience of the Championship and they do not have a safety valve in place in any contracts to relieve the financial pressure of relegation.
They will have big name stars on big wages who they must sell if the club is going to avoid meltdown over the next year or so.
Whatever is left will be a shell of a first team squad and is highly unlikely there will be the sort of money needed to rebuild it in the short term.
It could take years to recover from. If Newcastle go down they will have to come straight back up the following year. If they don't, United fans had better take a close look at where Leeds United are now.
And it all hangs on 90 minutes of football. Just a game? I don't think so.
Of course, having said this isn't a weekend for the feint hearted I would like to stress there is nothing wrong with my heart, it's very strong and healthy thanks.
However, on the biggest day in North East football for decades I will be on holiday in Italy. Last day of the season, as if anything will be riding on that says the Journal's Chief Sports Writer as he hands in his holiday request form!
Mind you, fine food, fine wine, little day trip to Venice, few days in the sunshine by Lake Garda. I'll be thinking of you all...
Older/Newer
« Ellis Short To Stay Means Ricky Sbragia To Go | Alan Shearer's Future Hanging By A Banker's Thread »
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: The End Is Nigh.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.lukewhostalking.co.uk/cgi-bin/mt421/mt-tb.cgi/128537
6 Comments
Leave a comment
Blog Authors
Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
Well Luke, your first sentence summed up my feelings. A season which has made us a laughing stock time and time again is finally nearly over, and I can't wait for it to end - whatever the outcome.
For months now I've expected us to go down, yet that typical Geordie mindset in me has frequently thrown up hope that we'd have clawed our way out of it by now. But that sums up Newcastle's on-field season - countless missed chances to capitalise on situations. Everytime we've had a chance to climb up to the dizzying heights of 14th or so, we've fallen again. I've been banging on about silly dropped points, Stoke & West Ham at home costing us four points and how vital they are now.
So, if it's to be the Championship, then so be it. It's been taunting us for so long now that I just want to be put out of our misery which is what my head says will happen come Sunday. My heart however, with that over-optimistic Geordie trait keeps butting into my thoughts saying we could yet just escape - in fact it even got into my dreams last night as I dreamt we sent Hull down on goal difference!
So while I'll have chewed my nails down to the elbow and have aged my heart by a decade in just 90 minutes desperately hoping we do it on Sunday, when it's all over I'll be pleased to say good riddance to this disgrace of a season.
I just can't get wound up about Saturday, because I don't honestly think the players are that bothered. You hear them banging on about how desperate they are to get out of the current situation, then witness performances like Fulham last Saturday. Nolan was once again a pedestrian, Guthrie & Butt had shockers, Duff looked as disinterested as ever and Viduka just kept wanting to fall over. I get the feeling that certain players are confident of walking straight into another Premier League side regardless of whether we stay up or not.
I have a mate who's a Villa fan and he's going for an away win because their form is so poor and they are in his words 'fodder for struggling teams to beat', but I just can't see where the win is coming from. I would like to think we'll win to stay up, because I think we need 3 points to have a chance and hope that Hull and their arrogant bozz-eyed manager get sent back where they belong. I don't want Sunderland to go down either, because everyone loves a Derby Day, except Northumbria Police!
As Sy mentioned, we've dropped points with silly goals against Stoke, Wigan and even Man. City. There's 6 points that would have ensured safety weeks ago. It's just so sad and embarrassing that it's come to this.....
Man City - that was the third prime example I was looking for this morning which was escaping. Cheers Fauntleroy!
I hope your Villain mate is right - and I'll be ecstatic if he is because I think Chelsea will comfortably take out the Mackems for us - but I think the best we can hope for is scraping a point and Fergie's kids taking out Hull to try and get them into his CL squad.
Howay the lads - do it for us.
Hi Luke -Firstly have a good holiday regarding the game tomorrow _I have this awful sinking feeling we have had it - I have never met so many people who want us to go down-we seem to have sunk to a new low-Ashley must surely be thinking now of the dreadful mess he has made of things-getting rid of Kev and keeping the poison dwarf-I can never forgive him for -what price his skin flint transfer policy now ? He must surely know Kev was right and he was wrong -The man has a dangerous ego though and whats the betting he still thinks he was right-well proof is in the pudding and he will know by 6pm tomorrow -as we all will. This is the death of all our hopes -all our feelings and I just cant bear the thought of us going down. Thanks for nothing Ashley-The sooner you go the better -whatever happens tomorrow.
Hi Luke -Firstly have a good holiday regarding the game tomorrow _I have this awful sinking feeling we have had it - I have never met so many people who want us to go down-we seem to have sunk to a new low-Ashley must surely be thinking now of the dreadful mess he has made of things-getting rid of Kev and keeping the poison dwarf-I can never forgive him for -what price his skin flint transfer policy now ? He must surely know Kev was right and he was wrong -The man has a dangerous ego though and whats the betting he still thinks he was right-well proof is in the pudding and he will know by 6pm tomorrow -as we all will. This is the death of all our hopes -all our feelings and I just cant bear the thought of us going down. Thanks for nothing Ashley-The sooner you go the better -whatever happens tomorrow.
Wa Doon RIP!