Newcastle United or Sunderland to be relegated and 60/40 – The pub split with Mackems in the snug | OneFootball

I’m walking up the hill to the Garden House pub, along with my big Dutch mate Maurice.

I’m not looking forward to the next few hours as I can’t see this day going well.

That’s because it is May 24th 2009 and it’s the last day of the season.

The Gods have decided that today it’s very likely either Newcastle United or Sunderland are going to be relegated .

I have an excuse for putting myself through this agony, after all, I’ve been born into NUFC.

However, why is the six foot lad from Maastricht keeping me company when he could have had the choice of all the usual English suspects.

Well, the reason is that he happened to fall in love with a girl friend of mine from Alnmouth. This was back in 1992 and his first few years coming to St James’ Park were the Keegan years. Now that was a time to be alive.

The poor lad became intoxicated by this club but here we are, seventeen years later, walking into the pub to watch us get relegated.

Of course, there is hope, because if Newcastle United win and Sunderland or Hull lose, we will stay up.

However, the reality is that we have won just two of our last 22 games. We have been awful since Xmas and my faith in this team turning up at Aston Villa and saving this season isn’t there. I am not alone, you can sense the fear all around you.

There is also quite a bit of bitterness toward our players. This isn’t a team of average players like the one that went down in 1978 or 1989. This team has big name internationals like Owen, Martins, Viduka, Duff, Geremi, Beye and Butt.

Big names certainly but absolutely no team spirit. They are just a bunch of individuals, many of whom seem to be thinking about who their next club will be.

So this day is going to be bad enough but I’d decided to make it even worse.

You will probably have no idea where the Garden House pub is. It’s in Durham, just down from the hospital. Durham is probably split 60/40 between the two teams, so to accommodate the punters the pub has also split itself in two.

A home and away end, if you like.

We have the bigger following, so the owners have given us the main bar end, while Sunderland have been put in the snug end.

We have been given the bigger bar area. but they have the toilets, which could be a bit awkward after three pints.

I worried that things are going to kick off but I guess it’s difficult to square up to a rival fan while you have your hands on your todger.

On 34 mins we go one down to Villa, so if we don’t sort this out quickly, it matters not what’s going on elsewhere. We are relegated.

The bar is getting very angry, not so much with to the Mackems gobbing off in the other room, more so with the gutless bunch on the pitch.

The noise from the telly is our fans singing ‘attack, attack, attack’ , while the players stroll about and hardly have a shot on goal. We are truly abysmal and deserve our fate.

As the games come to an end, the pub is weirdly quiet.

Both ends are half empty as the more sensible punters decide to vacate the place before the inevitable Armageddon happens.

But Armageddon doesn’t happen.

Two very excitable young lads, full of beer, start shouting at us, in a manic call to arms.

“Come on lads, let’s get into them, let’s charge the snug.”

Silence, then the bar erupts in laughter.

Big Charlie answers him.

And so we disperse into the night in relative silence, but I do remember this conversation, between two lads who were workmates .

As the Mackem goads the Geordie, the Geordie in true Del Boy fashion tells him to make the most of it, because this time next year Newcastle will be back.

Geordie was right, we did come back, but as we all know nothing really changed for another decade.

Until now.

This week watching our first team outclass Arsenal, then our second team refuse to be bullied and kicked out of the FA cup by Thomas Shelby and his gang, I now support a team with guts, a team with a backbone and a team with belief in itself.