I shook a Mackem’s hand today and had a laugh with him.
Black t-shirt with the original Sunderland club badge, half my age but having lived in London for years he still had the Mackem twang.
He was with Ben Clasper, chairman of Dulwich Hamlet (my local non-league team, as a Newcastle United exile living in London) and having celebratory beers after beating Leyton Orient Under 21s on Tuesday night in the London Senior Cup semi-final ( the final will be played at Champion Hill next month).
In the background were the flat screen TVs that seemed to be endlessly recycling Sky Sports news images of Eddie Howe and Sandro Tonali. No sound…but I gathered the general drift.
The media is cranking up their love in with the so-called big clubs and then of course the Rat appears in his Liverpool kit to rub salt into the open wound that Sky TV is revelling in.
No sound in the clubhouse but the media beat is getting deafening in creating the wished for sales of our top players to their select clubs.
The pressure appears to be cranking up on Eddie Howe, which is unfathomable in my opinion.
Money being a deciding factor in all the goings on in the Premier League and the way that Newcastle United have been hamstrung and unable to compete financially.
Seven games to go and the media seems to be focussing on seven games for Eddie Howe to save his status as the manager who brought us silverware for the first time in decades.
Great game on Tuesday night though with Dulwich Hamlet coming from behind. The big number nine Danny Mills playing a blinder and getting serenaded in the bar afterwards with the classic Boney M track.
Turns out that financial issues run through all the divisions as Ben Clasper pointed out to me. Hashtag United having asked to be relegated as the club’s YouTuber owner not happy with their financial situation. Oh well, it seems everything boils down to money. Turns out Hashtag United are Hamlet’s last game of the season.