It’s been a while since we’ve been able to go to St. James’ Park and for over a year we have had to express our frustrations at home instead of being surrounded by 50000 likeminded people.
A drab 0-0 draw with Burnley in late February was the last time that St. James’ saw a crowd but the wait could almost be over with Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown.
The PA News agency report that the Premier League are set to reschedule the last two game weeks to give all sides one chance to play in front of their home fans before the season is up.
Of course, like everything at the moment there is restrictions and it will likely be a maximum of 10000 allowed into the stadium to start with, which is a start I guess.
The 37th round of fixtures commence on the 18th and 19th of May and all being well, 10000 Toon fans will be lucky enough to watch their side take on basement club Sheffield United, in a game that could be absolutely pivotal to their chances of survival.
At parts of this season, you would have done well to find 10000 people willing to go and watch Newcastle but the longer the wait has been, I feel the more we have missed it.
In a weird way, going to watch Newcastle hasn’t been about the football at all for the last few years and instead spending time wit friends and family and I have definitely missed the social element that football brings.
Let’s hope that United are safe by then and there is no pressure and the fans in the ground can just enjoy it for what it is, finally being back in the ground after a long absence.
One man who may not be so happy at this news is Steve Bruce. Despite the fact that the ex-Manchester United defender has put on record his desire to see fans back in the ground, I reckon the reality is that he is dreading their return.
The feeling towards the head coach is so bad that if the game were to be going the wrong way, the atmosphere could be pretty toxic at a partially filled St. James’ Park.