WELCOME PARTY IS OVER
Kane & Co give new Saudi owners a major headache
FIRST the celebrations, then the reality check. After 11 days playing fantasy football, musing on which superstar could arrive and director Amanda Staveley saying the Saudis were targeting the title in five to 10 years, the scale of the Newcastle job was shown to the world. The Magpies, supposedly the richest club in the world now, remain winless and second bottom of the Premier League. Relegation, not the Champions League, is the immediate possibility. Spurs, inspired by a resurgent Harry Kane, made this game an embarrassment for the new regime.
Kane ended a six-game goal drought in the league and made one for Heung-Min Son.
“You’ll always be sh*t,” sang the Spurs fans.
If Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman was tuned in on his newly legal beIN Sports subscription, he would have turned off early.
It took just 108 seconds for Callum Wilson to get the new Newcastle owners off to a flier.
St James’ Park was alive with anticipation and hope, but the party was over after just 22 minutes and it will probably be 1,000 games and out for manager Steve Bruce.
The £305million Saudifunded takeover has stirred stomach-churning moral questions and left some fans queasy. This loss added to that.
It was heaving outside the Gallowgate End two hours before kick-off. The statue of Jackie Milburn was brought alive with Mike Ashley’s head on the ball.
The noise was initially intense inside, as much for Ashley’s departure after the years of lack of ambition as for what might come.
Wilson headed home from close range after Javier Manquillo whipped in a cross
on the overlap. In the directors’ box, new chairman and Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan leapt off his seat to roar his approval while holding up a scarf. Soon he will be writing the cheques.
There are things 10 percent stakeholders Staveley and Jamie Reuben have got right, like the fan expecting to be charged £2.50 per duplicate after leaving his tickets at home receiving them for free. Or Reuben saying he would match every pound given to the NUFC Foodbank until the season’s end. The Wor Flags fan group were back in the ground after their boycott following the departure of Rafa Benitez – and put on quite a display. It all added up to a dreamy start – until Tanguy Ndombele curled home a 17th-minute equaliser.
Five minutes later, Kane broke his drought with a neat lob from a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg pass.
The game was delayed after a Toon fan in the stand needed emergency medical treatment.
When it resumed, Lucas Moura sliced open the home defence, Kane crossed and Son had a simple finish.
Moura hit the bar as Spurs, up to fifth after back-to-back wins, dominated.
Substitute Jonjo Shelvey was booked twice in 22 minutes, and a late own-goal by Eric Dier, left, counted for little.
“We want Brucey out…” sang the home fans as thousands walked out early.