Glenn Roeder got into hot water the other week by wondering whether Newcastle were so used to underachieving, that it has become “stitched into the badge.” To be fair, he also added that somebody had to unstitch it and he wanted to do it. Stu Allen from the British Columbia Toon Army sent me a book recently, Newcastle United: Fifty Years of Hurt by Ged Clarke. It is very illuminating reading. Some of the Dr Glooms in our midst will no doubt say “I told you so.” But let’s see what the author says.

We can agree with Sir John Hall in his Introduction when he says that to be a great club, you not only have to win some trophies but win constantly. The Big Four in the Premiership have certainly done that. So have the big European clubs. In terms of English silverware, Newcastle hasn’t won anything since the heady FA Cup days of the 1950’s. Yet during that time, we’ve had some great players (Shearer, Sir Les, Supermac, Moncur, Beardsley), great managers (Keegan, Sir Bobby, Jack Charlton, Joe Harvey, Ardiles), and some supportive Directors (Hall). As a player and a manager, Kevin Keegan has twice taken us to the stars. But the inevitable result was that we came tantalisingly close – only to be pipped at the post. Thirty-two other clubs, including Mackems and Smoggies, have won silverware. Why can’t we?

It’s certainly a puzzlement that Newcastle, one of the wealthiest clubs in Europe, with arguably the most loyal supporters, and with a worthy history and stature, have gone so long with nothing to show for their labours. The law of averages alone would dictate that we should have won something. A team cannot be promoted to the Premiership and the next year be 12 points ahead of the table in January; or be in two successive Cup finals in the late 90’s; or annually play in either the Champions League or the UEFA Cup; and be considered a second rate club.

Is there some sort of jinx at St James’ Park? Don’t forget that the Gallowgate End reminds us that this was the Tyburn of Newcastle in Medieval times. Are there restless souls still hanging around (so to speak)? Owen, our 16 million pound signing played only a third of a year before being injured, only to miss this present season almost entirely. More realistic theories have been vigorously debated revolving around poor leadership, strife in the Boardroom, critical local media, player immaturity, managership, throwing money at the problem, etc.

Although the cup-winning phenomenon of the early 50’s is taken as a start-line for the Toon’s decline, it’s usually forgotten that the team’s First Division performances then were not outstanding – we were almost relegated in 57-58. Perhaps the Boardroom civil war then between the aristocratic McKeag and the plebian Stan Seymour set the scene for the next 50 years of non-achievement. In the early 90’s we missed relegation to the Third Division by only a few points because of such behind-the-scenes squabbles.

One Newcastle trait that has occurred quite frequently is that managers are allowed to buy new players during the summer, begin the new season, and then are fired before Christmas if they don’t get off to a flying start. Clarke notes that this has happened seven times at Newcastle.

Another trait is that Newcastle always seems to have had a poor away record. Until the last few years it has been downright disastrous against the London teams, as well as at Merseyside, and also against Southampton (until the recent third-round cup win at the new St Mary’s ground).

Newcastle are marvelously unpredictable. A superb 4-2 home win against Alkmaar is followed by a dreadful 2-0 loss away. This season we played well against Arsenal away, Man U at home, twice against Chelsea, beat Liverpool at home, only to lose at home to teams that are below us in the Premiership. Newcastle can beat anyone on the day (remember 5-0 against Man U?). Unfortunately they can’t always beat anyone on the BIG day. This seems to happen year in, year out. Liverpool win a European championship by sheer, dogged determination, yet we can’t get to the Cup Final despite being often in the final rounds. One factor that separates us from the Big Four is therefore consistency. These teams all play consistently well. The only Toon player who does this now is Shay Given. In the recent past you could always rely on Shearer, Lee, Ferdinand, and Beardsley for this consistency.

The book constantly comes back to antics in the Boardroom. Do the Directors regard Newcastle as their own private little club? An apt comment by the Chairman of Newcastle City Council in the 80’s was “The club is run by a handful of people basically in the interests of themselves and frankly with little regard for one of the most loyal bands of supporters in the country.” Right at the beginning of our 50-year period, there was the disharmony between Stan Seymour and the McKeag family. In the late 80’s there was the Revolution, when Sir John Hall took control over the Board (paving the way for the Keegan Wonderland). In recent years there’s been debate about whether Shepherd has too much control at the Park – for team selection, for managers, and for buying players.

As Clarke says, if we’d broken the spell in ’96, we might now be one of the Big Five. Does anyone have the right answer for the club? One day it will happen! “In the meantime we will keep supporting, because, like our club, we [50,000 Geordies] are a little bit special too.”