BOYCOTT .... what boycott?

Matchday .... first one of the new season.  Newcastle home to Arsenal. It was wet.  Heavy rain the whole time.  Not pleasant at all.  But never mind.  I was at the footie.  It felt good to be there . 

During the summer break there was a campaign launched by disgruntled fans who were calling for a boycott of today's game in protest against the Newcastle owner Mike Ashley.  He is not liked by any of the fans - including me.  But there was no way I would boycott.  I love going to the match too much.   And I wasn't going to be bullied into staying away - there has been a lot of bad feeling on various Facebook fan pages with those in favour of a boycott being really nasty about anyone who voiced their intention to attend today's match.

In the end the official attendance was 47,635   -  down on the usual gate of around 52,000 but I wouldn't call it a successful boycott. 

Newcastle started well. They were enthusiastic and I thought they did try hard in the first half which ended 0 -0. However they flagged in the second half and any chances they had just wouldn't go in the net.  Arsenal scored on the 58th minute and that was it.  A defeat in the first game of the season.  However listening to some fans afterwards I think the feeling seemed to be a positive one.  We weren't overwhelmed by Arsenal and we only let one goal in.  Our new signings were OK.  Obviously with 3 new members of the team it will take time for them to fit in.  I'm trying to be positive. Its early days - so I'm not worried ( yet ).

After the match I was spotted by my next door neighbour Ed. He is also a season ticket holder in the same stand as me.  We had a chat before he headed for the pub and I headed for Waitrose.  It was still raining heavily so I got the bus home from the bus station instead of walking to my usual stop which is outdoors. Its continued to rain all evening.  Everywhere is drenched.

Musical link  - Shed a Tear by WET WET WET

Apologies for all the above if you have absolutely no interest in football.