Reclaim the game

What have NUFC and MUFC got in common? Clue: I am not talking about the contents of their trophy cabinets over the last fifty years. Sponsorship: Man United’s sponsor AIG the insurance giant were recently saved from bankruptcy by the US government in a £48 billion rescue package which is the biggest nationalisation in human history outside a communist country. So MUFC follow NUFC and Northern Rock and join us in a round about way as a state sponsored team.

The world wide credit crunch and bank runs have coincided with the mother of all crises at SJP making it difficult for Ashley to flog NUFC off at a handsome profit. What have we learnt from the last few weeks? We know that fan power works. Although we felt angry we also felt powerless as we saw the club we love being dragged through the mud. This has changed as supporters are starting to come together. The anger has turned to action and the new supporter’s group is a big positive leap into the future. Other Toon fans are taking a longer view and questioning the whole ownership structure of the club we love. Projects for a fan’s takeover of NUFC have been started and wheels are turning. However while most fans are sympathetic they do not feel it is realistic or possible. Official Tyneside opinion in the press poo-poos the idea and the speculation turns as usual on which billionaire is going to honour us with his presence at SJP next.

Now, as I was brought up never to ignore a poo-poo and I will endeavour to answer those who doubt a fan run club is possible at NUFC.

Poo poo Nº 1 ‘Fan ownership is not realistic in this day and age and we need a billionaire to invest in the club to compete with the best.’

Club owners including Ashley do not put their own money into clubs, despite what they say. They usually use their shareholder’s money.

The richest 20 clubs in Europe have a yearly income of almost £3 billion. Due to television money in football, even the side finishing bottom of the Premier League is guaranteed £60 million. The television deal means that many clubs could allow supporters into games for free and still make a huge profit. This football income is generated by us the fans. Club owners are in the game for what they can get. Ashley and the like do not ask what they can put into the game we love rather they are in it for what they can get out of it.

John Hall sold just 9.8% of his shares and made £16 million. Martin Edwards received £100 million on selling his shares to the Glazer family (his father bought them for £1 million) Ken Bates of Chelsea bought Chelsea and its debts for £1; he sold Chelsea along with its debts for £17 million. Even Peter Ridsdale while he was bankrupting Leeds United still managed to pay himself £645,000 in 2001.

The myth is that owners like Ashley are doing us the fans a favour by investing their money in clubs. Nothing could be further from the truth. Name one owner who has walked away from a football club a poorer man.

However it does not have to be this way. There is an alternative.

Real Madrid which is a not for profit sports club is regularly quoted as the richest club in the world. It simply is not necessary to have a rich backer for a football club to have enough financial resources to compete at the top level. A fan owned NUFC would still generate a massive income from season tickets, shirt sales and TV money. Sponsors would not run away from NUFC, they would be queuing up to have their product on our black and white shirts.

Athletic Bilbao which is a fan owned club does not bother with shirt sponsorship and Barça only allow the UNICEF logo on their tops.

In this day and age of credit crunches and institutions like AIG and Northern Rock collapsing a fan owned club with thousands of ’socios’ would actually be on a sounder financial footing than those clubs who depend on the whims of passing here today and gone tomorrow billionaires. Better to have thousands and thousands of loyal shareholders / members / ‘socios’ than a dodgy fat cat just in it for themselves – surely?

Poo poo Nº 2 ‘It would be impossible to organize.’

Why? Are we saying Barça fans are more passionate or better organized than us? I do not. There is unlimited potential for a fan run NUFC due to the unique nature of our loyal support. How do Barça do it? What can we learn from them?

Barça is owned by its ever-growing membership of 156,366 members who pay Euros 150 each year. The members have representatives on the board.

The representatives have a major input on issues such as sponsorship, finances and sporting affairs. The president of the club is elected every four years in a poll of all members.

Barça are honour bound to try and play open, attractive and attacking football. Why? Putting it simply it is because the raison d’etre of the club is to play good football and win. They do not exist to make a profit for an owner who could take the money out of the club. Profits are indeed made but they are ploughed back into youth development and social projects. Also the people who run the club have over 150,000 members overseeing their stewardship. It’s an organic structure which works extremely well.

Patrick Barclay recently commented on Barça in the Telegraph:

‘Only members can buy season tickets, with membership fees contributing to the overall price of the ticket.

Fiscal rewards for membership include discounted tickets for the club’s various sports teams including football, basketball, handball and hockey as well as club magazines, e-mail updates, sporting and cultural activities and free entry to the Nou Camp tour and museum.

Ultimately, though, it is not the material rewards which make the Barça membership structure so prestigious.

In a modern game spoiled by disaffected supporters and unaccountable owners, it is FC Barcelona’s utopian democracy which justifies its famous slogan ‘More than a Club.’

Imagine how proud we would be of NUFC if we could take the Barça road?

Poo poo Nº 3 ‘Ok. That’s fine on the continent but it not going to happen here.’

Wrong. It is already happening.

In the 16 years of the Premier League over a third of all professional clubs have gone into administration or near bankruptcy. Nott’s County the oldest professional club in the world almost ceased to exist. Leeds United who at the start of the Premier League were a top three club have gone into administration twice and sank into the third tier of English football.

The Premiership boom is not as secure as it is portrayed. Bubbles can and do burst.

Since 1992 there have been 42 cases of insolvency proceedings, involving 37 clubs.

Supporters’ trusts have representatives on the board at over 25% of clubs in the third and fourth tier of English Football and almost 50% own a proportion of their clubs. This shows the desire of working class fans to own and control their clubs, unfortunately it is limited control, even at AFC Wimbledon which was set up when Wimbledon was moved against the wishes of the fans 50 miles away to Milton Keynes and became MK Dons.

Fans raised money and formed AFC Wimbledon the true inheritor of the history of Wimbledon, this club now gets crowds of 3,000 and is working its way back up the non League structures back to where they belong in the League. FC United of Manchester was formed by fans after the takeover by the Glazer family, they too get respectable crowds. The AFC movement reflects the massive opposition to franchise and corporate football.

I would just love it if NUFC became the first fan owned club in the premiership. This is about The Toon and the club we love but it is also about the game of football and its future.

To quote one of the greats from English football, Stanley Matthews, in an autobiography written shortly before his death: "The money that has arrived from television has definitely helped the game, but more at the top than the lower leagues… although those that market football tell us football is once more a ‘family game’ I think it is one of the biggest fibs currently being told. Football has rid itself of the hooligans, but how many ordinary working people can afford to take their family to a football match these days? Too many clubs having worked hard to rid their stadiums of racism and bigotry are now simply practising economic bigotry."

Football was never purely a business. In the late nineteenth century players and fans came together to form FOOTBALL CLUBS not PLCs. Football came from the working class communities and that is why football fans feel their club belongs to them despite it being quoted on the stock market. We do not feel the same about Lloyds Bank or TESCOS. The Premiership ultra big business period has been a blip. It is time to return to the roots of football if we want it to continue as a sport. At Newcastle we have the opportunity to save our club by taking it over and in so doing showing the way to the rest and reclaiming the game for the fans.

‘Mc’ Trotsky

Painted for me by a Castlemilk comrade when I was working in Tommy Sheridan’s General Election campaign in 1992 IN Glasgow.

The Freeman’s Resolution by William F. Denton (1823-1883)

I will not bow to a titled knave,
Nor crouch to a lordly priest:
A martyr’s torments I’d rather brave,
Than be of my manhood fleeced.

I’ll bend my knee to no fancied god,
I’ll fear no ghost so wan,
Erect and free I’ll stand on the sod,
And act as becomes a man.

I’ll pin my faith to no bigot’s sleeve;
I’ll swallow no griping creed;
I’ll ask my Reason what to believe,
And ever her answer heed.

I’ll hide no truth in a coward heart,
The world would be blest to know;
My boldest thought as it wills impart,
Nor check the mind’s onward flow.

I’ll love the true, I will do the right,
Ruled only by Reason’s sway,
Let all do so; and the world’s dark night
Will melt into rosy day.

(Published 1879)

John Hird Challenge Cup

Nov 17 2007 by Tony Hodgson, Evening Chronicle

WINDY Nook Primary School beat last year’s champions St John’s Primary School 6-1 to lift the John Hird Challenge Cup at Gateshead Stadium.

The event, organised by Gateshead Council, featured eight five-a-side teams from the Felling area and is held in memory of long-term Felling ward councillor John Hird.

St Johns started promisingly with a 5-1 quarter-final victory over Falla Park Community Primary.

Windy Nook also put in a strong performance, beating Bede Community Primary 6-2.

Colegate Community Primary School also had a clear margin between themselves and opponents Brandling Primary School with a 3-1 victory.

The most emphatic result, however, went to The Drive Community Primary, who beat St Wilfrid’s Roman Catholic Primary 9-0.

Despite that huge win, Drive could only manage a 2-2 draw against St Johns in the last four, leading to a penalty shoot-out which St Johns edged 4-3. Windy Nook battled past Colegate 2-1.

In the final, Windy Nook’s Ross Wilson grabbed a hat-trick with Ryan Beard, Alexander Bainbridge and Jay Kirtley also on target.

Also in the winning team were Jack Parker, Jonnie Bolman, Harry Simpson and Lloyd Simpson.

Every child who competed was awarded a medal by the Mayor of Gateshead, Coun David Lynn, and the winners were presented with their trophy by Mrs Hird.

Coun Linda Green, spokesperson for culture at Gateshead Council, said: “All of the children involved gave their all for their schools and put in some fantastic individual performances.”

The event proved a big success and it is planned to stage a similar tournament in 2008.

Two Things about Racists in Spain

1. They are not funny.

2. They can’t spell for toffee.

Fans lose their voice in football’s sanitised stadia

Sean Ingle’s article

Re: Atmos at Spanish footy: Ah….the grass is always greener in the next valley isn’t it? But the truth is somewhere in between.

I always found the atmos at Spanish footy matches a bit hit and miss. They don’t have the sheer numbers of supporters the Premiership has even though it is much cheaper for a ticket.

Real Madrid and Barcelona got an average attendence of 70,000 + in 2006/07 while the next three – Sevilla, Atletico Madrid and Valencia got around 40,000 which compares well to English footy. What Spanish footy hasn’t got is the strength in depth of the clubs outside ‘the big four’ and the lower leagues  in England.

But I digress. Despite big crowds for the big teams and matches I find the atmos to be a bit lacking in Spain – whistling when the other team has the ball which unfortunately is creeping into the English game and generally not getting behind your team when they are behind or in difficulties. There is definitely a ’sing when we’re winning – boo and whistle when we’re losing’ attitude.

As for Barça vs. Real Madrid ‘derbies’ they always seem a bit too choreographed for my liking – printed cards held up in a ’spontaneous’ show of support.

Which brings me to the Premier League. Many of us have pointed this out for years but it is precisely the ‘middleclassisation’ of footy which is killing the atmosphere in English footy matches. Middle class people just don’t have the same craic as us working class people. Harsh but true.

I find it ironic that on the one hand loads of bloggers here look down on ‘thick working class footballers who can’t speak English’ (comments I’ve heard regularly on this blog) and have a  sneering attitude to clubs like Newcastle and Liverpool and their fans. (Two clubs who have managed to keep their working class base) Yet on the other hand these new middle class fans whinge that the atmos is not like before. You can’t have it both ways.

SAF, the FA fat cats, the press and yes middle class fans are all to blame for ruining the atmos at football matches. You’re killing the goose that lays the golden egg by pricing the working class out of football.

But the grass is always greener….. The Premiership is televised by Spanish tv and the commentators are having orgasms this season about the atmosphere in England. ‘They even cheer corners!’

Bienvenido Mr. Follett

Escritores Vascos

Comentarios sobre la visita de Ken Follett a Vitoria – Gasteiz en enero de 2008.

Mi Comentario:

Como británico me parece lo de dedicarle una estatua un poco embarazoso y además huele mas de ‘marketing’ para Mr. Follett y la fundación del catedral y el ayuntamiento.

Mr. Follett merece su presentación, conferencia y la publicidad gratis ¿pero una escultura? ¡Por favor no!

Hay gente de Gasteiz que merece mucho mas una estatua que un escritor británico. Deberíamos lanzar una consulta popular para preguntar ‘¿quien realmente merece una estatua en Gasteiz?’

Para empezar yo voto para las victimas del 3 de marzo.

Pollock 1992 – 9,000 Votes for Socialism

For the 1992 election I was sent to the Glasgow Pollock constituency to work for Tommy Sheridan. It was to be my last act for the organisation of which I had been a member since I was seventeen. I was not to know that afterwards I would be jettisoned back into normal life or in reality to start my life afresh as an adult without the certainties of Militant and the coming world revolution.

Tommy was the leader of the Anti Poll Tax campaign and had been jailed for his pains. He won a eat on Glasgow City Council from his prison cell after the General Election of 1992. Pollock was the strong hold of Militant in Glasgow. There seemed to be an endless stream of young working class revolutionaries. Tommy had real support on the housing schemes and his jailing was just plain vindictive and increased his support as a fighter. He stood against a right wing Labour dinosaur who had not lifted a finger for the working class of Pollock while Tommy was in prison, being punished for his inspired leadership of the mass civil disobediance campaign.

I stayed in Castlemilk one of the largest housing schemes in Europe. I was brought up in Gateshead and thought I had seen and lived in rough places but Castlemilk was another planet for me. Planet desolation. From my window on the 12th floor all I could see were more tower blocks, more misery, all the way down the hills to Glasgow City centre.

I had read the statistics on the train up from London so I knew the majority of the people on the scheme were on the broo and a lower percentage were on drugs and every other social problem was to be found in Castlemilk. I felt desperate as I looked down on the suffering caused by he callous policies of Thatcherism.

My host made it clear that he was too fucked up to work in the election. He was a member of Militant but his only contribution to the election campaign was to put me up. He knew what full timers were like so I was not to presurise him in any way to get out and do things.

He could only offer me a cup of tea because he was between giros when I arrived but he showed me a few tins of EEC suplus food which were given to the poor of Glasgow. I was advised not to visit the only pub in the scheme on my first Friday in Castlemilk. I later learned that the pub served as an outlet for the various drugs sold on the scheme.

On my first Friday night in Castlemilk I stayed in with the comrades who did not touch alcohol but got out their stuff. They were surprised that I did not partake. I had been brought up in the Militant to regard drugs as a hippie and petit bourgeois deviation which deflected us from the struggle. However I could see things were different in Castlemilk and I had no arguments of any worth as I sipped from my can of lager.They told me it was the only way they could survive and stay sane in Castlemilk. Instead of pissing their giros against the wall every two weeks and probably becoming violent they bought their stuff, smoked together, relaxed and talked.I was not tempted to join in mainly because of my pathalogical hatred of smoking.

Other weekends I went to Glasgow and joined the madness in the city centre pubs. The city seemed to me to be a mix of friendly warmth and the threat of indiscrimate violence alaways in the air.

One Friday night I travelled back to Castlemilk on the last bus. As we climbed the hill, couples snogged, drunks stared into the distance and everyone else ate their chips. I heard a shout from the top deck and a bloke in a suit fell head first down the stairs. He lay flat out on the bottom deck, eyes closed. Nobody moved as the bus climbed further up the hill.Then from behind I saw the first drops of a dark crimson lake coming towards me from his head. Still nobody moved except me.

I thought he was dead. It looked like half his head had caved in. A guy told the driver to stop and radio an ambulance. “Is he that bad pal?” he shouted back at us.

“Turn him on his side incase he throws up.” We decided against that because we thought he had broken his neck. I gathered fish and chip papers and laid them behind his head to soak up the blood which by now had reached the back seats.

“Are we not moving?” complained a passenger.

Then he woke up. He did not cry or shout out. He just said, “ma heeds wet, what´s wrang wi ma heed.”

“Just a little cut pal, don t worry.” I lied. We kept him still by giving him a cigarette. I thought that only happened in the movies. When the ambulance arrived they put him on stretcher and gave him words of comfort.

“I don´t want to go to hospital. Ma Ma will kill me. Don’t tell her ‘am lathered.” I thought that was the least of his problems.

I got into the routine of the election. I was in charge of the middle class area of the constituency where it was felt there were fewer opportunities for us. I worked with a young team of new comrades who never stopped. Of course there were skivers and cynics amongst us but on the whole we gave it our all.

There was the night of the thousand posters. The Labour Party had resources but not the enthusiasm of youth and revolutionary ideas. We decided to raise our profile in the week before the election. A team of young people went out and collected mountains of cardboard and we made posters for the lampposts. One night they were put up and in the morning ‘VOTE TOMMY SHERIDAN,’ was everywhere. Labour sent a team to take them all down. Fired by anger we put them all up again. There were street meetings, car cavalcades and mass canvasses. Our candidate was in prison yet he had more presence than all the other candidates put together.

We collected for the Anti Poll Tax Campaign outside the football grounds. Comrades assured me that we would get more money from Celtic fans. Comrades who were Rangers fans insisted it was because it cost more to get inside their ground and not for any political reasons.

Inside Paradise on Tommy’s birthday a message flashed up on the giant electronic scoreboard; “Happy Birthday Tommy from Scotland’s millions of non payers.” The LP complained in the Sundays that Celtic was getting involved in politics.

I could see how famous Tommy was and in what respect he was held although people doubted he could win the election. The only opposition I encountered was from folk who thought he was too good to be true, they cynically predicted he would turn into a Tommy ‘McHatton.’ People wanted to believe but decades of being sold out by Labour had knocked the stuffing and belief out of them.

In the end Tommy got over 9,000 votes and second place. Labour´s donkey he-hawed on about having seen off Militant once and for all in his victory speech. It struck me that many of those in positions of power have not got a clue about what is going on around them in politics.

At the count Tommy’s agent gave a sober speech and mentioned that Major had probably won down south. That cold water dampened any gloating Scottish Labour were thinking of indulging in at our expense. The workers of Britain had lost yet again due to Labour´s incompetence, their preoccupation with expelling socialists and socialist ideas.

“Stand under your own banner and see how you do!” They used to mock us. Well we did and look what happened! As we marched out clenched fists aloft singing the Internationale we passed Donald Dewar and his team hurrying away to hold a debriefing on Labour´s disastrous night. His face said it all. He looked at us with a mixture of hate and fear.

The next day I caught the train back to London. At the station I wandered into a bookshop. I picked up a copy of Kinnock’s biography from the cheap bin. I did not have an ounce of sympathy for the oaf. Two days before he had been contemplating his future as prime minister yet such a man who came so close to winning power could not see and would never see how he grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory. I laughed my socks off as I handed over my 50p for the book and realised we had probably heard the last of the Welsh Windbag’s empty oratory. So the 1992 election was not all bad then!

Football Picnic

Spanish 2nd Division

Alaves 1 – 1 Numancia

Officially you are not allowed to bring alcohol into football grounds in Spain, at least not in bottles and cans. However the rules are just for show. You are checked at the turnstile and your enormous bottle of kalimotxo is usually found by the security guard. The conversation goes like this:

‘Qué es esa botella?’

‘Er coca cola.’

‘Pasa.’

As tonight’s match was an evening kick-off the fans were hungry and thristy well before half time. The family in front had a picnic with cold meats, bread and wine.

Three lads beside me made the biggest sandwiches I have seen for a longtime filled with cheese and four different types of ham.

During the feast Alaves took an early deserved lead then Numancia equalised when Alaves’ goalkeeper Bernardo misjudged a long ball and Javier del Pino scored with a header.

Alaves continue to improve.

How to be left

Arguments within the left are often bad-tempered and devoid of nuance. Instead, a spirit of comradeship is called for

Article by Keith Kahn-Harris

My Comment

All well and good but if you are so into socialism I suggest you get a proper job, join a trade union and participate in the struggle to form a new party of the working class in the UK. Until we achieve that the chattering of the middle class liberals will just be irrelevant drivel.