TYNE'S UP, LADS

Toon fans are stuck in an Ashley-Bruce nightmare and won’t be happy again until both are gone

NEWCASTLE are trapped in a recurring nightmare and won’t snap out of it until both Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce are gone.

Rival fans and pundits don’t understand Newcastle and their supporters. They think Geordies are always moaning, carping on and on about the Kevin Keeganinspired glory days. They suspect their hatred of Ashley lies in his Cockney roots.

And they argue that nothing will ever be good enough for a fan-base they reckon has turned whinging into an art form. But consider the reality. In the 14 years before Ashley bought the club in 2007, Newcastle had eight top-seven finishes in the Premier League. They enjoyed 10 European campaigns, including three in the Champions League, and reached a UEFA Cup semi.

In the domestic cup competitions they progressed to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup seven times, and finished runnersup at Wembley twice.

In the 14 years since Ashley paid £133million to take charge, there has been only one good season – in 2011-12 when Alan Pardew (left) led the club to fifth and the Europa League quarter-finals. In that time they have been relegated twice and finished in the bottom half nine times. And an amazing 23 domestic cup campaigns out of 28 have been over by round four.

There have been further indignities, like the disrespect shown to legends like Keegan and Alan Shearer, the renaming of St James’ Park to the Sports Direct Arena, and the flirtation with pay-day loan sharks Wonga as shirt sponsors.

Clubs can’t live off past glories, and many have fallen further than Newcastle have, but this is a club that appears trapped. A club whose fans hate the owner, a club whose owner appears to hate the fans.

It is little wonder that Newcastle had to give away 10,000 season tickets last season because empty seats looked embarrassing on TV as long-serving fans concluded a berth at St James’ Park was no longer something to covet.

Nowadays the height of Newcastle’s ambition appears to be merely to survive in the Premier League. Somehow you suspect that if Ashley was offered 17th spot for the next 10 seasons, he’d happily accept.

In the summer there was the failed takeover to rub salt into Toon wounds.

Newcastle were about to become the richest club in the world, fans were told, backed by Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund.

But the promises of a consortium led by Amanda Staveley (left) were all empty. How rival fans laughed as the Geordies were saddled with a regime they despise.

Now relegation is on the cards for a third time under Ashley – unless manager Bruce can rescue them from their tailspin. That’s Bruce, an unpopular figure when first appointed and even more unpopular now.

Yes, Newcastle really are trapped in a recurring nighmare – and won’t snap out of it until...