Mike Ashley gave away 10,000+ free season tickets and then this happened… | OneFootball

With so many Newcastle United fans finally saying enough was enough and boycotting, Mike Ashley was forced to give away 10,000+ free season tickets to fill the increasingly embarrassing number of empty seats that surrounded his (free!) retail empire adverts.

Steve Bruce was doing his best to get United relegated at his first attempt.

Newcastle United without a single goal in their last four Premier League matches, only one win in the last ten.

A season where Newcastle United’s top Premier League scorer would end up being Jonjo Shelvey with six goals.

Then despite the woeful negative clueless football, Brucey got one of those significant slices of luck that kept coming along every so often to prevent total disaster under him.

Exactly five years ago today, 7 March 2020, Southampton had a player sent off in the 28th minute.

Despite that, the ultra negative Steve Bruce approach appeared destined to produce a goalless draw at best, away against 10 man Saints, not great with United in relegation form and set to make it one win in eleven.

Then out of nowhere there was Allan Saint-Maximim poking the ball home late in the game and the 3,051 Newcastle United fans in the 30,096 crowd celebrating.

Little did they know what was to come.

The thing is, Mike Ashley forced to give away more than 10,000 free season tickets, wasn’t even the biggest story of that season as it turned out, not even close to it.

The season ended up lasting almost fully 12 months and Newcastle United fans weren’t allowed to watch their team in the flesh for the next 17 months(***).

Following that 1-0 win at Southampton five years ago today (7 March 2020), six days later it was announced that football would be suspended indefinitely.

Covid!!!

It all seems a bit of a dream now, or should I say, nightmare.

Even though not all that long ago, it feels a bit like ‘did that really happen???’

Obviously, Covid touched all of our lives in many ways, for some, tragically.

Purely in football terms though, Newcastle United fans would have to wait three and a half months before they could ‘see’ their team play again. A crowd of 00,000 at St James’ Park and fans watching remotely, as with Newcastle United once again struggling on the pitch with the game goalless, Steve Bruce yet again got a helping hand as Sheffield United got a man sent off on 50 minutes and NUFC then scored three times to make it consecutive Premier League wins, three and a half months apart.

That 2019/20 Premier League season eventually ended on 26 July 2020, Newcastle losing 3-1 at home to Liverpool, with still no fans allowed into St James’ Park.

On 12 September 2020, Newcastle United kicked off their 2020/21 Premier League season with a fortunate 2-0 away win at West Ham, still no fans allowed into matches.

It is funny how at the time, that Covid era felt as though it was never ending, yet now it just feels a little surreal looking back at it.

Another turgid season on the pitch under Steve Bruce, ultra negative football and so reliant on individual inspiration from the likes of Callum Wilson and ASM, plus then Joe Willock who came in on loan and everything he hit went in, even though Brucey regularly put him on the bench.

A mini/major milestone came when the Government allowed a very limited number of fans into the final couple of Premier League matches.

At St James’ Park, 10,000 Newcastle United fans allowed in to see Brucey preside over a dour 1-0 win against a Sheff Utd side who had long been relegated and who finished rock bottom, Willock with the goal.

The very final NUFC match that season a 2-0 win away at Fulham, in front of 2,000 fans, though no Newcastle United fans allowed as I recall.

Things returned eventually to ‘normal’ on 15 August 2021.

The first time St James’ Park had been properly open to Newcastle United fans since 52,219 (that official figure including 10,000+ free season ticket holders and those who had paid (or not) but didn’t bother turning up) on 29 February 2020 had watched a woeful 0-0 draw against Burnley in the Premier League at SJP.

Little realising then, that it would be seventeen and a half months before they (apart from the 10k allowed into that Sheff Utd match) could once again get into St James’ Park.

On 15 August 2021, Steve Bruce and Mike Ashley still in control, as some 47,000 Newcastle United fans and 3,000 West Ham fans (total attendance 50,673) watched the Hammers win 4-2.

A return to watching live football in the flesh but nothing else had changed at Newcastle United.

Little were we to know that within two months EVERYTHING would change at St James’ Park.

Mike Ashley having been forced into selling the club after so many Newcastle United fans had boycotted, triggering him agreeing to sell the club. So whilst during the Premier League delay on approving the deal, Ashley tried to wriggle out of the sale after realising he could get far more than the £305m he’d agreed with the Saudi led consortium, he found himself contractually obliged to follow through at that agreed sale price.