The more things change, the more they stay the same | OneFootball

Bill Shankly once said, a packed stadium was an essential part of a great match.

Last night at St James’ Park we had the former but not the latter.

I’m not blaming AFC Wimbledon, who seemed to be playing for a penalty shootout from the first minute and had only two wayward attempts to score in the entire game.

That’s their right, their privilege.

Playing with 11 men behind the ball whenever they lost possession is a tactic some Premier League clubs have tried at St James’ Park. The Wombles defended stoutly, kept their shape and made life difficult for a less-than-dynamic Newcastle United.

We rarely troubled their keeper and struggled to get out of second gear until Guimaraes arrived for the second half.

Almiron ran his socks off. Schar was coolness personified with the spot-kick. Those two apart, nobody stood out in black-and-white.

The fans who made a midweek return  trip of nearly 600 miles were in high spirits throughout, singing, chanting and mocking the hosts. Where indeed was our “famous atmosphere.”

My favourite little ditty was: “Premier League. You must be trite. Playing the Wombles on a Tuesday night.” Or something like that. Self-deprecating humour at its best.

At the end they continued to stand and applaud their heroes. It was proper Old School and I have great respect for the boisterous teenagers, twentysomethings and older travelling supporters who were all around me in Level Seven. When you own 75% of your club, you are entitled to be passionate.

The alleged sell-out at St James’ Park included, in reality, about 500 empty seats, many in the west stand near the halfway line. They were clearly visible. Far clearer than the PA, whose quality is as bad as in the 1970s, or the rubbish wifi. On second thoughts, the PA in the Leazes End is now worse than 50 years ago.

I remember an announcement mid-match in the 1977-78 season that prompted a massive outpouring of schadenfreude. “Could Mr [insert name here] please report to the club offices. His shop in Whitley Road is on fire.” Oh, how we laughed. Last night, almost nobody would have been able to hear that news.

The official attendance of 51,739 was below capacity partly because some home fans had declined to buy corporate hospitality, which started at £180 last time I checked. If you wanted a three-course pre-match meal and drinks, the price was nearly £300. Hence those particular empty seats, as well as some in the away end. In modern parlance, it’s not a good look.

If those packages are unsold 24 hours before kick-off, they will almost certainly remain unsold. Why does the club not make them available to normal fans as normal seats at normal prices? Or better still, give them away to people unable to pay the £20 or £10 price?

One thing that hasn’t changed, despite the Saudi Arabia PIF ownership, is the feeble or non-existent attempts at pre-match and half-time entertainment.

At the climax of our best season in a generation, when Brighton and Leicester visited in May 2023, a few supporters were invited onto the pitch to kick a ball towards a goal. They were doing that when I was a teenager. And it is no more entertaining now than it was then.

Last night there was nothing apart from a few rock and pop songs before kick-off that sounded as though they were amplified through a Dansette record player.

The biggish screen in the north-east corner kept showing adverts for this, that and the other, but little in the way of useful information. There were no score updates from the Champions League or the Championship, either over the PA or on the screen. Is that too much to ask?

We like to believe we are a big club, we certainly have a big fanbase, but since the PIF took control what has been improved, apart from the performances on the pitch?

Our current owners have in many ways worked wonders in three years. They have restored hope and helped to make match attendance a pleasure rather than a chore.