When the grass was greener and you were looking in TV shop windows and waiting for The Pink | OneFootball

Another new season has finally kicked off this weekend.

The close season, as they call it, has been quite eventful for fans of Newcastle United and there’s been no shortage of activity to keep us occupied.

When I was considerably younger than I am today, the close season was a real bind.

No football for three months, unless the World Cup or Euros was taking place, but even then, if you’re talking late 70s and early 80s, England only qualified for two of the four tournaments held between 1978 and 1984, meaning my interest was perhaps more limited than it otherwise might have been.

One standout memory of the close season growing up, was that the pitch in the park near to where I lived was always re-seeded and on the opening day, both goalmouths had a smattering of grass.

Pitches up and down the country looking resplendent was definitely a sign that football was back, although it wouldn’t last long, quagmires returning by late autumn and those of a certain vintage will recall the Baseball Ground, home of Derby County, where they famously had to bring on a pot of whitewash to re-mark the penalty spot in front of the MOTD cameras.

Another thing about opening day was the hope and expectation returned.

Like the elation when Micky Burns scored an injury time winner in the curtain raiser of the 1977/78 season when we beat Leeds 3-2. Alas, that was the last time Newcastle United would win in the league until 22 October 1977, and relegation ensued after an awful season.

Football returning after a long lay-off also meant I’d rekindle my interest in the Saturday afternoon TV show, Grandstand. As the time approached twenty to five, the teleprinter, which was of course, the forerunner to what Jeff Stelling turned into an art form all those years later.

After the classified check and the tables went up, a half hour wait for the van from Thomson House to dispense copies of The Pink, doing so without stopping as the guy in the back chucked a bundle onto the pavement before the driver sped off in the direction of their next drop.

In today’s era of 24/7 news and social media, it’s hard to imagine that missing the classified check and being unable to collect a copy of The Pink would likely mean not knowing where the toon stood in the table and having to wait until the Sunday paper arrived.

Of course, if you weren’t at the match or sat in your living room, it’s a fair bet you’d miss the classified check altogether. If you were out and about, praise be for the TV shop on the high street, which was undoubtedly the go to place come quarter to five on Saturday afternoons, the assembled crowd that would gather outside the likes of Rediffusion or Rumbelows squinting through the glass window in the hope of catching a glimpse of the final scores.

All in all, more innocent times it would seem, but the excitement of opening day still remains and getting off to a flyer seemed even more important than ever.

All eyes were on Villa Park for our first league encounter since defeat against Everton in our last game of the 2024/25 campaign still ensured Champions League football because tomorrow’s opponents couldn’t get the better of Man U.

We headed to Birmingham looking to avenge last seasons humbling 4-1 reverse. It’s a ground where we hadn’t enjoyed much success in recent times, only one win in our last nine visits and as we were sick to the back teeth of hearing, without our £150 million striker.

In the event, a very decent performance in the circumstances on Saturday at Villa Park and an excellent point, though of course it could/should have been even better, if only somebody had converted the chances as United proved the better team on the day.

Now the small matter of the first home match of the new season, always a massive occasion.