100million reasons why not.
Protesting is the reason I turned up along with 250 others on that night over a year ago and its the reason why I and others stepped forward when it was needed. Its what we felt at the time was required, it soon transpired however that not everyone (or even many for that matter) felt the same. What we thought was the majority of fans turned out to be a vocal minority, getting abuse in the street while leafletting because people felt this bloke was the saviour of the club, having "financial stability" and "balance sheets" given as an argument for the fat man, being called worse than shit by fellow fans and then getting a police caution because the club didnt like what we were doing. Those Saturdays made me feel good, gave me a rush and a belief that I was helping gain something, that rush however only lasted for a Saturday afternoon by Sunday morning I was down again, frustrated by the lack of support and quickly realising it was having no effect on those it was aimed at but I did it because it was what I believed in and what I thought was needed.
Its not what I believe is needed now though and, with the greatest of respect to the likes of yourself and others that feel the same way, I think Im qualified to say that because I was there doing the things you talk about at the time when it was needed, when it did have a chance of working. Were you? Did you take part at the time or where you one of the majority who believed we were doing more harm than good?
The NUST are currently working with major players to try and get this club out of Ashleys grubby hands, to sit down in the boardroom on a Friday and talk about money, long term aims, sustainability and the ability of the fans to help run the club in a sensible and measured way and then on a Saturday pick up a banner and threaten to burn the place down does not mix. We'd be laughed out of the meetings and shunned by those we all need to make this happen.
On top of that, where would we get the backing and promotion of the protests from? currently theres only one fanzine that supports the protest angle, True Faith. The other two big players (The Mag and .com) have made it clear that they dont believe that protests are the way forward and frankly its taken us long enough to get Biffa back on board. Lose them then both the protests and any fan ownership chances are dead in the water.
More importantly though, its what Ashley wants. He knows he has zero credibility among fans and any he has elsewhere (except Wearside) is plummetting however once you start getting into a protest situation then some of those media outlets will turn and start portraying him in a different light.
He wants to be able to turn around and issue another statement saying "you're all nasty to me, I know Ive made mistakes and Im not putting any more money in because of it" then he'll pull the "family at risk" card and a dozen muppets on NO will say hes hard done by and not such a bad bloke after all. He wants to discredit us fans as much as possible, just take a look at his last statement, the whole "I put £20m in each year, that more than the rest of you plebs put together" bollocks. This is now a game of wits, its a slow drawn out affair and one which cant be won by the side with the most muscle, it will be won however by the side that keeps its cool and works hardest.
Ashley has bigger problems than Newcastle United, more pressing affairs than where our next win is coming from. Hes shitting bricks as far as business goes, hes caking it that he could be fined more than the value of this football club and could actually end up behind bars.
Should that day ever come then there will be dancing on the streets of Byker until then I believe it has to be more of the same.
Its going to be another cold hard winter.
Cracking post that Pud.
TBH when I posted my bit about protests last night I was seething.
I knew as I was writing it that no more than a few hundred would ever get off their arses to do anything more than chant "Sack The Board" after a game.
Still seething, but a bit more clear headed this morning.
Ah well, back to fruitless frustrate-o-
