Pre-season friendly or not it's hard to not be utterly shocked by the 6-1 throttling of Newcastle United by Leyton Orient. I'll be paying more attention to the Championship then ever to keep tabs on the plight of Geordie nation. It's no surprise to anyone that the influx of wickedly insane Russki Oligarch, American leveraged and Middle Eastern cash has permanently changed the face of the Premier League and European footy. As a result, the idea of a Premier League club going down and immediately coming back isn't much of a reality an longer. In fact there are just as good odds (1 in 3) that the Magpies get relegated once more. It's been a meteoric fall for a team that once finished second in the league for consecutive seasons (albeit ten years ago), and has one of the most passionate fan bases in England. Let's be honest-- they're probably screwed and could be taking on Leeds in League One a year from now.
The unfortunate thing is that one could argue that it's as much arrogance as mismanagement that helped see Newcastle to the point they currently occupy. By not learning from the Leeds, Bradford City and Charlton disasters and not putting relegation clauses in the players contracts, Newcastle finds themselves with an unreasonable wage bill full of players who didn't perform at the top flight and surely won't perform in the Championship. With revenues down, TV money down and less fan interest Newcastle will surely have to go at it with a bunch of overpaid veterans who have little interest in the Championship, and a mixture of on-loan players and youngsters not fit for the physical brand of football they'll find.
The true test will be how they respond and whether Chris Hughton or whoever lame duck Mike Ashley appoints can make them respectable. He's surely going to have to get some positive play out of the Alan Smith's, Joey Barton and Mark Viduka's of the world. For Ashley this could be a chance to rebuild his legacy among the Geordie faithful. If he can somehow guide team to a respectable showing he may be able to salvage the ownership--- highly unlikely. One wonders how much Ashley regrest making a fool of himself during last falls visit to the Middle East, compelte with stiffing a potential ownership group to slam pints at the pub with Dennis Wise. Newcastle looked to be a lot more appealing potential club to own than Portsmouth-- now with their own deep pocketed Arab ownership. It's going to be a hell of a road. I'm thinking Obafemi Martins won't be hanging around too long, especially after the Orient drubbing. You'd have to think that Colicinni and Guiterrez will be on the way somewhere else by the December window at the least.
It's going to be one heck of a long year. At this point I think avoiding relegation another time would be a success. And just when things couldn't get any rose they reveal the most hideous road kit to come down the pike since...the new Everton road kit. At least their road shellackings in at Doncaster and Swanse City will be resplendant with the ugly mustard looking kit in history.
Stay tuned.
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