Toon not alone in trying to get hands on more Wonga

Crikey, but you really have to feel for Newcastle United’s long-suffering fans. Bad enough that ‘one of England’s biggest clubs’ hasn’t claimed a major trophy since the Fairs Cup in 1969 (we’re not of a mind to include the 1992/93 Division 1 title or the Intertoto Cup they ‘won’ six years ago) but how is it that one organisation can so consistently find new ways to generate so much negative publicity?

Freddy Shepherd anyone? Mostly though, it has tended to be for nothing more convoluted than their uncanny ability to slide down the table — and sometimes off it entirely — despite spending enormous amounts of money. Even on those occasions when they got it mostly right they still ended up getting it horrendously, laughably wrong.

Think Kevin Keegan and you may well remember the wonderful football his team played but you sure as hell won’t have forgotten how his side let a 12-point lead slip in 1996 when his “I would love it if we beat them” rant painted a picture of a man melting underneath Alex Ferguson’s fearsome glare.