Why Newcastle United should be championed by the rest of the football family against the Septic Six | OneFootball

About five years ago and long before the Saudi Arabia PIF takeover, I was out having a pint with Newcastle United 1970s striker Paul Cannell.

He got on about how attractive the North East actually was to potential star signings, Paul was of the opinion that Newcastle were at a disadvantage to clubs in London and in the North West, due in the main to geographical reasons.

I have always disagreed with this often churned out rhetoric, peddled incessantly within the media.

However, I do recall Peter Schmeichel once saying that a move to Newcastle in the 1980s fell through after his Danish coach had falsely derided our region.

In the 1990s, Newcastle United had no problem in attracting the likes of Sir Les Ferdinand, whilst we nabbed David Ginola from under the noses of David Dein and Arsenal.

And who can ever forget Tino Asprilla turning up in the snow at St James’ Park in a fur coat that Bud Flanagan would have been proud of?

I wrote an article about a year ago when we were struggling, based on the Kevin Costner movie ‘Field of Dreams’.

My reckoning being… ‘build the club up and they will come’.

Having worked all over the country and also abroad, I can categorically say that London and the North West were two my least favourite ports of call.

My two favourite counties are Cornwall and our very own Northumberland, whilst I also enjoyed being in Rutland a few years back.

One of our greatest ever players, Malcolm Macdonald, hails from London and famously arrived in Newcastle in a gold Rolls Royce back in 1971.

Supermac still lives in North Shields and we couldn’t ever really get rid of him, even after Gordon Lee sold him to Arsenal.

The higher the profile of Newcastle United, the easier the recruitment process will be, and we certainly now have all the right people at the club to ensure that we will eventually be competing with the best when top footballers become available.

It wasn’t that long ago that the journalist Steven Railston of the Manchester Evening News was stating that the Reds should sign Bruno Guimaraes and Sven Botman.

After the recent Cristiano Ronaldo shambles, maybe these self-entitled fools should devise a more sensible transfer strategy.

The delusional folk in Tooting, Torquay and Sunderland were also seen crawling from beneath their rocks yesterday, after some more lazy journalism.

Some bloke called Simon Chadwick had claimed that the Saudi Arabia PIF could dump Newcastle United, now that Manchester United were up for sale.

Apparently Chadwick is a ‘financial expert’ and so it was rather surprising to see this little pearl of wisdom coming from a man of his position.

The reaction to this little team in the North East who play in black and white stripes having been taken over by the mega-rich Saudis, has been a joy to behold these last fourteen months.

I remember when some scoffed about the idea of the likes of Mbappe joining Newcastle United.

Well we have certainly got them all rattled big-time, and if we ever do go for the big name players in the next few years, don’t bet against them coming.

There’s more to England than jellied eels down south and eternal rain in the North West, and there always had to be more to the EPL than the Septic Six.

Their treachery over the last couple of years that has saw them trying to kill football in this country through their sheer greed, not once but twice, should never be forgotten.

Newcastle United should be championed by the rest of the football family, for helping to expose the shameless elitism and rank hypocrisy that exists at the very top of the English game.