‘It sums up the passion we all feel about the club’
FLAG GROUP EXPLAINS MESSAGE
THE Wor Flags group have spoken for the first time since the pre-match display that captured international attention – pledging to “continue displays with a positive message”. The group unfurled a banner ten minutes before kick-off against Burnley that read: “Don’t ever give up on your club. Keep supporting it, it’s your club and trust me, one day you will get your club back and it will be everything you wanted it to be. Newcastle United is bigger than anyone. It hurts I know, but just keep going. He is only one man we are a city, a whole population. Trust me.”
It made headlines in England and overseas, and was praised by exNewcastle players including Alan Shearer – who said it proved how much supporters care.
We understand the club have not moved to censure or ban the group despite last Wednesday’s display being interpreted as a criticism of Mike Ashley, borrowing, as it did, from Kevin Keegan.
And they say they will have “normal, regular conversations” with the club about future displays. Indeed Ashley – who was not named in the display – is not understood to have sent any message to club staff about the banner. The Flags group have now explained the intention behind their banner – and revealed plans for future “positive” displays.
“As ever, our intentions are to create something that rallies the support behind the team – ‘Keep supporting your club,’” they said in a statement released to the Chronicle.
“As a quote, it sums up the passion that everyone who supports Newcastle feels for the club, even through times of incredible frustration.
“We had hours of discussions as a group before settling on this banner and this message and then even more hours spent working away in the cold to produce it, so of course we are delighted with how it has been received by fans – not only here but worldwide.
“It is incredible to see club legends praising the message, and that the love we all feel for the club clearly comes through. It is just as satisfying to hear that kind of thing from fellow supporters in the ground, as at the end of the day it is that impact on the