Maybe I’m showing the effects of my maturing years but there are a lot of things happening in life now that seems to be there to grind my gears.
Whether it’s the latest fashion or trend that people are expected to follow, maybe it’s a new gadget or television programme, something that has a hidden meaning behind it I feel.
Maybe it’s in our advancing years’ before we notice the patterns or unwritten rules that we are expected to adhere to or have I just uncovered some world secret that sees me disappear from………
Jokes aside, back to the point of my venting in that, I see it in the world of football and nowhere so further than us here at St James’ Park.
Nationally there is this fabricated version of us in that we are a demanding bunch and we have a great owner who does wonders for us but locally the score has been advertised for the best part of a decade.
This so-called brilliant businessman who has amassed a fortune through his various escapades but has so far failed massively as a football club owner.
Whilst the national stories have Mike Ashley down as saving the club with his handouts, the facts show a different story with two relegations on his CV already and a third being oh so close so many times. Maybe that time will come in the next six weeks or so, we’ll soon see.
When Ashley gambled on buying us over ten years ago, we were a team that had fans expectations of achieving so much more than they are now.
The majority of us thought that every year was a chance for us to win a cup competition with others thinking European qualification could be achieved and why couldn’t it considering we’d qualified in nearly every other season we’d been in the Premier League.
There would have been others with thoughts of top four or even higher with it not being dismissed as so pie in the sky.
Whilst our official target this season is now to finish higher in the table than three other teams, this would have been branded a disgrace just those few short years ago but on the back of a negative outlay allowed by Ashley for Rafa, it is more than commendable.
The danger that follows a successful relegation battle is that expectations will have been further artificially suppressed and we’ll be allowed a little expansion on the current trend.
Some people need to broaden their horizon and look around at the bigger picture but then again maybe that’s the real Ashley plan.
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