Braced for winter of discontent at Newcastle United

Nov 4 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Everything seems to be going to plan on the pitch but are we in for a stormy winter at St James’ Park? Chief sports writer Luke Edwards reports

THEY are top of the table, unbeaten at home, no longer for sale and have finally appointed a permanent manager to try to lead the team to promotion. So far so good, but don’t make the mistake of assuming everyone is happy about it.

There is no doubt the vast majority of United fans would have settled for the position the team currently sits in a few months ago, two points clear at the top of the Coca-Cola Championship with almost a third of the season gone.

When the Magpies were relegated back in May, it was widely thought they would go into free fall, spinning into a financial crisis which would send them crashing into the depressing lower reaches of English football.

Instead, the players who did not leap from the sinking ship have stuck together and launched a promotion challenge which, despite a worrying wobble in October, has still been good enough for them to maintain their position as Championship front-runners.

Indeed, it could be argued United’s players, with support from their newly-appointed manager Chris Hughton and his coaching staff, could not have done anything more to pacify any angry mob. Yet, still it bubbles just below the surface. Still the hatred festers. Still the fury rages and still a militancy courses through the hardcore support which is once again threatening to explode.

It has been a difficult process to get your head around, like a juggler tossing burning balls into the air knowing that at some point he is going to get his fingers singed and drop one of them. On one hand there is a loyalty to the club, its badge, its colours and the players who wear them. There is tradition and ritual, tens of thousands of fans whose lives have been partly shaped by their passion for football and a love for Newcastle United.