The last few weeks I have followed the demise of Newcastle United with a series of “Relegation Watch” blogs. I have been asked by a few people why I have a dislike for NUFC and why I wish relegation upon them…

Out of all the teams in this season’s Premier League, no club deserved to be relegated more than Newcastle United. This is not because of individual games, or even this season alone, it is a series of errors and mistakes which have occurred over many years at St. James’ Park.

I have not always disliked Newcastle United. In fact, like many, I admired them under Kevin Keegan during the late 90’s. They were everyone at school’s second team, and even those who were not huge fans of football, like myself, were aware of the success in the north east.

More recently in 2002/3, Newcastle had a wonderful season in the Champions League, reaching the quarter finals. By that point I was a massive football fan, and while Newcastle were not my team, I enjoyed following them throughout Europe, drawing similarities to Leeds’ Champions League campaign two seasons previous.

The first signs of trouble at Newcastle, and indeed a large step towards my dislike for the club and the fans, occurred at the end of the 2003/4 season. Sir Bobby Robson, one of the greatest men in football and a perfect gentleman, guided The Toon Army to 5th place in The Premier League, narrowly missing out on a place in The Champions League.

The Newcastle fans were not happy with the fact their club had failed to infiltrate the ‘Top 4’ and on the last day of the season, shunned and criticised their team and great manager. At the same time, Leeds United fans, whose team had been relegated after a nightmare of a season, congratulated their players and manager in scenes which resembled that of a team who had just won the league.

The start of the following season was average, but far from disastrous. Still, this was not good enough for the self-proclaimed ‘best fans in the world’ who demanded their great manager be sacked. Robson was not backed by the then chairman, Freddy Shepherd, who met the fans’ demands and sacked the great man, without loyalty or compassion.

Newcastle then preceded to work their way through three managers; Graeme Souness, Glenn Roeder and Sam Allardyce; each finishing in respectable positions and even reaching the latter stages of the UEFA Cup.

Still this was not good enough for the fans, who showed little patience, demanding the manager be sacked, even resorting to barricading themselves in St. James’ Park in protest of the board’s failure to sack Allardyce.

In a desperate attempt for success, a king’s random was spent on unimaginative signings, including £17million on Michael Owen – a figure which other clubs would struggle to justify spending on their entire team.

The fans were crying out for the messiah, whether it be Kevin Keegan, Alan Shearer or Ant & Dec. They eventually got their wish and Keegan joined The Toon during the 2008/9 season, keeping them in the Premiership.

As always, things were not as simple as that, and chairman Mike Ashley brought in Dennis Wise to oversee transfers and in turn, undermine Keegan. Predictably, this went wrong, resulting in bad signings being made, popular players departing and Keegan leaving the club in August 2008.
The 2008/9 season was a farce. More money was thrown at the team, more farcical mistakes from the chairman, more heartless performances from the players and more cries for further change from the ever-fickle fans. Then, fittingly on April Fools Day, The Toon Army finally got their wish. Alan Shearer was appointed to keep his beloved club in the Premier League. Despite having no managerial experience, the deluded fans were ecstatic – the messiah had returned.

As we all know, Shearer failed to keep Newcastle United in the Premier League and The Toon Army were relegated to the Coca Cola Championship.

The fans are already talking about giving Shearer the job on a full time basis, despite being unproven, and winning the league. They are obviously unaware of the fact most established Premier League sides who are relegated to The Championship rarely bounce back at the first attempt, and more often than not, find themselves in League One – Leeds, Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester, Wimbledon – the list goes on.

So that is why I wanted Newcastle down – overspending, arrogant, incompetent chairman; fans with ridiculously high expectations, delusions and shameful disloyalty to players and managers. Good riddance.

The nation is recovering this morning after joyous celebrations in towns and villages up and down the land, all enjoying The Newcastle United Relegation Party.

I was lucky enough to be one of the 42,585 fans at Villa Park who witnesses the relegation of the self-proclaimed “Premiership giants”. How we laughed.

Here are some pictures and videos from the celebrations…

A team of astonishing talent, boasting world class players, won the league yesterday. This team has been by far the best side in the country, having already won the cup and a place in the Champions League Final. A marvellous effort by a team, envied by rival fans the world over. Congratulations to the fully worthy champions, Barcelona!

Ha! I got you! While I want to congratulate Barca on their wonderful victory, I couldn’t possibly forget another massive team who also won the league yesterday. A lot of people may not like them, and unlike Barca, I am certainly no fan, however their achievements must be recognised. Many, many congratulations to Inter Milan!

That is all.