Newcastle v Liverpool tickets madness

Newcastle v Liverpool tickets went on sale this morning.

The scousers visiting St James’ Park on Saturday 18 February, a 5.30pm kick-off.

This is my current position on supporting Newcastle United and tickets.

There were four of us who sat together with season tickets in the Milburn, not the posh seats, the ones at the bottom towards the Gallowgate End.

As we sank ever deeper into the Mike Ashley era, we increasingly spoke about giving our season tickets up.

Not because we wanted to…

Instead, it was simply a case of seeing no other way of potentially releasing the club from the deathly grip Ashley had NUFC in.

We nearly did it at the end of the 2018/19 season after Mike Ashley relegated Newcastle United for the second time in only eight attempts, as surely Rafa Benitez wasn’t going to sign a long-term deal. The club set to sink fast and the sooner it hit rock bottom and Ashley accepted there was nothing left to milk from NUFC, the quicker we could start coming back up. Continuing to give Ashley our money as he employed yet another stooge / patsy (in the style of Pardew, Kinnear, McClaren etc) would have just been helping to prolong the agony.

However, the multi trophy winning Spaniard did commit and like thousands of others, me and my three mates continued. The feeling was that despite Ashley remaining, with Rafa agreeing to continue, just maybe there had been an acceptance by the owner that the club now had to be run properly and he would step back and let that happen, employ proper people such as Benitez and others to make the decisions.

Yes, amazing what a little bit of blind hope does!

Watching Newcastle United in the Championship doesn’t bother me, in terms of whether I go to games or not, I go to support NUFC not the opposition or whatever competition we are in. It was supporting Mike Ashley that I had a problem with.

The rest of course is history, simply because Rafa had given us a bit of hope by staying, St James’ Park was full across 23 second tier home games, an average of over 51,000 in the Championship, that would happen with no other club.

Anyway, as we know, once promoted, the truth became apparent. Ashley breaking all promises to support Rafa Benitez and run the club properly.

However, like thousands of others, us four kept buying our season tickets. Rafa Benitez was still here and rumours continued of Mike Ashley selling the club, instead of just pretending he was trying / willing to do for over 10 years.

Then we got towards the end of the 2018/19 season and the ‘If Rafa goes we go’ moment.

Thousands of fans seeing this as the key moment, will Mike Ashley sell, or failing that, convince Rafa Benitez to sign another contract, with cast iron written guarantees that he will honour any promises. Or failing that, bring an equally credible manager in.

Rafa Benitez was forced out and we got Steve Bruce, yet another patsy / stooge who wasn’t up to the job, as per McClaren, Kinnear etc.

As I say, the rest is history. Thousands of season ticket holders including us said enough was enough, forced ourselves to walk away, in the hope that Mike Ashley would then also walk away.

Attendances alarmingly dipped, Mike Ashley desperate to fill those massive areas of empty seats next to his tat adverts, giving away 10,000+ FREE half season tickets.

The end was nigh, with that desperate move it proved Ashley knew he had to go. Accepting he had to sell Newcastle United and that of course came to pass.

Us four straight away tried to get season tickets again after Mike Ashley left the building but the new owners weren’t allowing any to be sold.

Fair enough.

So since then the four of us have had memberships and are primed when tickets go on sale.

All four of us sitting at our respective works / homes, waiting for 10am to come around and get tickets for the game going on sale next.

Which brings me to Newcastle v Liverpool tickets.

They went on sale at 10am this morning and as our NUFC accounts / memberships are all linked, any of us can buy the four tickets.

We all get places in the queue and whoever ends up with the lowest number in the queue buys the tickets that time (no, it isn’t a punishment if you have the best / lowest number, we do each give the money over.

The places we had in the queue for Newcastle v Liverpool tickets this morning when it got to 10am were in the…

17,000s

24,000s

21,000s

and the…4,000s.

Yes, it was truly crazy this time.

I was the lowest / best one on this occasion, number 4,000 and something, a pretty good number actually.

Yet when it came to my turn at around 10.35am I think it was, when I got on there weren’t any tickets at all left on sale in the lower bowl, only roughly around 1,000 left in Level 7.

I swiftly grabbed three and then after doing the payment stuff, five minutes later I had a look back at the SJP ticketing map and I think there were less than 500 tickets left.

Now I know that Newcastle v Liverpool tickets have always been one of the most popular, for whatever reason(s).

However, this was truly mad.

I hate to think just how many people tried to get tickets and failed this morning. Literally tens of thousands of NUFC fans. People just like you and me.

Remember as well, this is only season ticket holders and members who could try and buy today, never mind all of those Newcastle supporters who don’t have a membership / season ticket.

The club stopped selling memberships because so many had bought them.

Remember as well, this is a club that still hasn’t won a trophy for 54 years, hasn’t won a domestic trophy for 68 years, is coming up to 100 years since winning the league.

If anybody is still claiming that Newcastle United don’t need a bigger stadium capacity then it can be for only one reason. They have a season ticket and don’t care about those who don’t, an I’m alright Jack attitude, more Newcastle United fans need to be able to get to watch their team, this generation and especially future ones.

A fanbase that can fill St James’ Park in the second tier, when Mike Ashley was still the owner, is absolute proof that 52,000 only scratches the surface.