I've lived in Newcastle for nearly 30 years and only managed to persuade half of my kids to follow me and United, so I have got some experience of both clubs. I was also at St James Park on Saturday for a hugely entertaining match, for the neutral.
I shared the Dane Whitehouse thread with my colleagues and whilst we all agreed with the sentiments, and wish we could have that back, its also fair to say that we all agreed that football has moved on and maybe we haven't.
To me it's really interesting that the two biggest overachievers in the league this season, Leicester and Bournemouth, are serial abusers of the administration system. Newcastle and United can resent that and argue that we suffer from solvency and the caution of owners whose who are carrying debts built up over half a century. I've always thought that if a club can't pay its way at any level it should be sent back down to the county leagues and asked to work its way back up. That is a fair exchange for the kind of baggage Newcastle and United are continuing to carry.
What you can't argue with is how Bournemouth played on Saturday, free of fear, hardworking without being overly physical and an absolute joy to watch, even in pink. That's with a team that both of our clubs could easily have had on the park if we had appointed the right people and not tried to be over clever with our recruitment policy. In Newcastle's case they could have afforded Bournemouth three times over.
