GIBSON The fans have to behave if they want that ultimate goal

WHY CALLING OFF THE PLANNED BOYCOTT WAS DEFINITELY RIGHT MOVE

IT HAS come to something when Newcastle United fans begin to believe what Mike Ashley is telling us.

I mean, first True Faith fanzine called for the fan boycott of tomorrow’s match against Wolves to be called off and then the Magpie Group organisers did just that.

Why? Because for once there seems more than a grain of truth in Ashley’s television utterings that a sale is “closer than ever before.”

What a shift in stance that is by United’s foot soldiers who have increasingly, down barren years, believed in the old adage that Ashley must be fibbing because you can see his lips move!

Let me say straight away I thoroughly understand and agree with why the boycott has been abandoned. Bottom line, no one should want to jeopardise Rafa Benitez’s efforts to keep his team afloat, we don’t want to put off any prospective buyers who may believe they are taking on a rebellious crew, and above all we don’t want Ashley’s minions to be able to point the finger directly at the supporters if they make a hash of the latest sales pitch. That last point is extremely significant.

Let temporary peace break out, however uneasily, and let Mike Ashley get out. A horrendous home record – six defeats in eight Premier League matches – must be addressed on Sunday and the best way of doing that is to have a 50,000crowd as one with the players on the field. I can thoroughly understand fans threatening to take up the cudgels again if Ashley fails them for the umpteenth time - but their vision cannot be distorted by dislike which most certainly has not gone away.

Let us remember, too, the proposed demonstration at United’s last home match, however well-intentioned, did not work.

The thousands needed to make an impression by boycotting the kick-off did not materialise and ironically as the hundreds who had stayed on the concourses filed to their seats in the 11th minute West Ham took the lead.

I think every Geordie’s inclination is to rebel against the suffocating leadership of Ashley but it simply is not in every black-and-white heart to miss out on supporting their team.

It is both the crowd’s weakness and its strength. The theory of staying away en bloc is brilliant, the practice much more difficult. Regardless of what is said on social media, be it by extremists or merely the frustrated, there is a silent majority who will do things their way.

I will not believe Ashley has gone until I see his exhaust fumes disappearing over the Tyne Bridge. There have been too many false dawns.

However, we have to be cuter than being merely bullish.

This is our club from cradle to grave, not Ashley’s nor the last owner, nor the next.

Let him get out because there is no longer enough money to be made here apart from profit on a sale with his interest in this particular toy having plummeted. He can toss it out of his pram as far as we are concerned.

What we want left is a football club, not a pile of rubble.

Let talks continue and let Ashley for the very first time in his life give Geordies the Christmas present they crave. Surely that is long overdue.