They may sing when they're winning, but the viciousness of Newcastle United football fans when they're losing has taken recent signing Joey Barton aback. Even if the northeast of England is a place where "young talent has traditionally been spotted, encouraged and nutured" (from the second edition of the Rough Guide To English Football), the long simmering (and suffering) passion of the fans for real success in the terms of Man United, Liverpool, and Arsenal was bound to express itself in displeasing ways when those high expectations had proven exceedingly lofty.
Now Barton, in his first season at Newcastle after being with Manchester City last season, has been quoted, in the aftermath of last week's 3-0 loss to Liverpool, as using words such as "vicious" and being "shocked" at what he heard from the crowd at St. James' Park. Doubtless Hugh and Micheal, two Boro fans I've become friends with, would not be shocked, they've bandied terms about those "unrealistic expectations of the delusional fans" as good reasons to never, ever cheer for the barcodes. Those comments, seen in the context of only losing to a very good Liverpool team, may seem somewhat harsh, but when combined with the previous home thrashing, 4-1 to an fairly ordinary Portsmouth squad, then it certainly appears that a crisis of sorts has arrived. Of course, the arrival of a new manager (Sam Allardyce) has compounded matters a bit, but he must be given a chance to prove his mettle, and certainly Sam has proven that if he can do good work at a club such as Bolton, then similar success can hoped to be achieved at a bigger club. Ah, but as a Spurs fan, I can attest all too well of the sword of lofty expectations, and how painful it is to come up way too short of them.
VICIOUS
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