Quote of the day

"Went to London for dinner. Wish I hadn't. Scumbag football hooligans turn Covent Garden into a disgusting Cesspit"

Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, takes to Twitter to comment on Sunderland supporters enjoying themselves in the capital ahead of this afternoon's League Cup final.

Much as we like to mock the Mackems, on this occasion we're firmly in their camp. Post-Hillsborough verdict, you'd have thought Tory MPs would be rather more reticent to use such inflammatory language - though, as the FSF are keen to point out, football supporters continue to be demonised in certain quarters. In any case, as numerous people have pointed out on Twitter, there was much more littering and mess as a result of the celebrations surrounding William and Kate's wedding and the Jubilee, as well as every year after New Year's Eve and Ascot - presumably that put Mr Halfon off his supper too...

Quote of the day

"We can keep the passion, but lose the poison. Let's make this a derby to be proud of."

The conclusion of a joint statement from both sides of the Newcastle v Mackems divide, issued via the Football Supporters' Federation. Hear hear.

Bursting the bubble

My enemy's enemy is my friend. So goes the old adage - which explains the curious entente cordiale between Newcastle and 5under1and over the timing of, policing of and away fans' transportation to and from the forthcoming derby on 1st February.

The encounter was initially designated as a "bubble" match, meaning that all of the away supporters would have had to travel to St James' Park on official transport - a move allegedly determined by Northumbria Police. Fans of both clubs united to oppose this curb on individual freedom, with the Football Supporters' Federation throwing their considerable weight behind the challenge too. This led to a statement from the police force saying that they "cannot direct changes" to transport arrangements or kick-off times - which resulted in the Mackems bowing to supporter pressure and scrapping the bubble.

That wasn't the end of the story, though, with both clubs then following their fans' lead and joining together to condemn the police statement as "false and absurd". They went further, vowing to set derby kick-offs to suit themselves, the league and TV companies from now on and to expect the police just to turn up as required. Somewhere, there appear to have been some crossed wires...

Two Unfortunates twice unfortunate

It was a case of close but no cigar at the Football Supporters' Federation Awards last night, as the blog for which I occasionally moonlight, The Two Unfortunates, missed out on the trophies in the two categories for which it was nominated - Independent Website of the Year and Blogger of the Year. No shame in that - though there was in the fact that I queued up to get the signature of Player of the Year Luis Suarez but didn't bother to ask ex-Toon left-back Olivier Bernard for his. As the other half of Black & White & Read All Over has pointed out, I chose to shun a passionate anti-racism campaigner and yet shook hands with someone previously banned for using a racist term. I'm blaming the complimentary wine.

From a Newcastle perspective, interest was provided in the form of the opening remarks from the FSF's Toon-supporting chief executive Kevin Miles. Aside from the predictable comments about it being nice to be at the Emirates Stadium and not cursing another mauling, and about an unfamiliarity with trophies, he concluded by proposing JFK as a readymade replacement for AVB to Spurs...

Meanwhile, the Fanzine of the Year category saw True Faith up against Mackem rag A Love Supreme, but neither was victorious, the award instead going to the non-club-affiliated (and rather childishly named) Stand Against Modern Football.

The Two Unfortunates contingent were sharing our table with the duo behind the Man City podcast Bluemoon (harshly pitched against the likes of the Guardian's Football Weekly, which won) and a couple of staff who work on fan liaison at Arsenal and who were the recipients of the Away Day of the Year award. Those of a cynical nature might have been forgiven for raising an eyebrow and wondering how ticket prices for travelling fans at the Emirates squared with the FSF's own Twenty's Plenty campaign... We would have had another award-winner on our table, had Sky commentator Martin Tyler elected to sit in his designated place rather than elsewhere in the room.

While Tyler might not have been keen to rub shoulders with nerdy internet oiks like us (even ones who'd made an attempt to scrub up for the occasion), other mainstream media award-winners were quick to praise. The Torygraph's Henry Winter (Writer of the Year) and the team behind Football Weekly seized the opportunity to hail the efforts of semi-professionals and amateurs doing what they do as a labour of love. Magnanimous or patronising? In Winter's case, perhaps the latter - his comments came across as somewhat glib.

And finally a mention of the food, and in particular a main course of steak and ale pie, mash and peas that was at once a knowing nod to traditional matchday grub and a significantly superior version of it. If the pies you get at grounds were even half as good as that one, I'd be very happy indeed.

Things can only get better?

My most recent contribution to The Two Unfortunates - about football and so-called "failing" towns - might be focused on other clubs (the Smogs and Hartlepool among them), but it does include some reflections on Newcastle fans' responses to the Ronny Gill's recent question as to what the club means, so might be of interest.

On a related note, and if you'll excuse the trumpet-blowing, the site has been nominated in two different categories in this year's Football Supporters' Federation awards - so, if you think it would be deserved, your vote would be very welcome.

Cost-cutting exercise gets thumbs up

At last, some cost-cutting we can get behind. As was rumoured earlier in the week, it's now been confirmed that we can take pride at being at the forefront of the drive to reduce ticket prices for away fans. The Football Supporters' Federation have been pushing for a figure of £20, but we've actually gone further and agreed a reciprocal deal of just £15 with West Brom. We also have a £20 arrangement in place with Swansea, who've negotiated their own deal with Hull. So much for those who suggested that the FSF's recommended price was fanciful or naively idealistic.

The lustre of the good news story is dulled somewhat when you consider that Premier League clubs were handed £200,000 each to subsidise the cost of introducing reduced away tickets. If it took that - a piddling amount relative to the sums teams in the top flight splurge on transfer fees and salaries - to persuade the club to take action, then it's a bit embarrassing (though not as embarrassing as for all the other clubs who've yet to do anything at all). Nevertheless, the action that's been taken is positive, so in this instance the means by which change was brought about are irrelevant.

Away the lads

After last week's depressing arrests stat, some more positive fan-related news on the PR front: according to the Independent, we're set to offer a pioneering arrangement whereby we charge £20 a ticket to away supporters of any club that reciprocates the offer for our own.

If this does become reality, then fair play to the club for being forward-thinking - even if they, like the rest of the top-flight clubs and the Premier League itself, are only reacting to the pressure applied by the Football Supporters' Federation's Twenty's Plenty campaign, rather than being proactive. The FSF have already hailed the potential significance of our move, one which would do much to protect that increasingly endangered species, the away supporter, by helping to ensure affordability.

A score and no more

Thanks to .com for alerting us to the Football Supporters' Federation's Twenty's Plenty campaign, which calls for a cap of £20 on tickets for away fans. It's a campaign we're more than pleased to support. After all, fans - and particularly those prepared to travel the length and breadth of the country in support of their team - are the lifeblood of football. Their loyalty should be acknowledged and respected rather than cynically exploited.

It's good to talk - and listen

Last spring, the Football Supporters' Federation published the results of research into the quality of fan charters of clubs in the top two divisions. We amassed 16 points and were ranked 12th within the Premier League. A year and a half on, and we were awarded 11 points (just below average) and dropped to 13th, having apparently not addressed the failings identified last time round (primarily, not being up-to-date). The findings temper the satisfaction of knowing that the club offers fans comparative matchday value for money, at least according to the BBC's Price of Football survey.

That revelation that a day out at St James' Park is the cheapest in the Premier League - and indeed cheaper than some days out at League 2 clubs - can hardly have helped the cause of NUST (though the inadequacies of the fan charter might). The organisation has been quite quiet until fairly recently, since when there seems to have been a burst of activity and communication. The cause? The Wonga deal, inevitably. There will be some fans who look scornfully on NUST for eagerly seizing on bad news like waiting vultures and for trying to make hay while the sun doesn't shine - but the truth is that when everything's apparently rosy it doesn't take people long to forget (if not actively forgive) misdeeds of the past. Plus the point they're attempting to make is a very valuable one.

NUST's initial founding objective was to oust Jabba and seize control of the club for the fans, but the Yes We Can campaign has now been downgraded, effectively. This lowering of sights is probably out of the widespread (if grudging) recognition of the fact that, whatever their faults, Jabba and co have done a good job of steadying the ship financially. Nevertheless, as Colin Whittle noted in a recent post on their blog, "the ‘German model’ has proved that fan ownership can be a massive success; here in England we’d appreciate a seat at the table to start off with". However, even the idea of fan representation at board level seems like a bit of a lofty ambition when the club won't even acknowledge NUST's existence.

When I discussed the issue with this 'ere site's co-author Paul, he suggested that the club's attitude might be because NUST's membership is relatively small and so they can't possibly claim to be truly representative. I'm not sure that there are other equally organised rival fan factions with competing voices to whom the club, were its resolve to weaken, would also be obliged to listen, but I do accept Paul's general point. However, it's a Catch-22 situation for NUST - if the club showed a willingness to engage with them, then you'd imagine membership numbers would grow simply because fans would know their views might be represented and heard. So long as NUST's pleas continue to fall on deaf ears, and the organisation continues to have negligible demonstrable success in achieving its main aim, supporters are less likely to sign up.

Nevertheless, while it might be laborious and demoralising, NUST should in my view persist stoically and relentlessly with their demands, even though the club seems to show no signs of acceding. Surely it's not too much to ask for "a little more conversation", as the title of Whittle's post does, and perhaps over time the hierarchy can be worn down. If opening up lines of communication and engagement with the supporters - the club's lifeblood, after all - can help to prevent the PR disasters of the stadium rebranding and Wonga deal, then it's an objective worth pursuing. Anyone doubting the value of membership should remember too that, aside from fighting for a fan voice, NUST are also involved in numerous community projects - so there are other spheres in which their achievements are more immediately evident.

A sense of perspective

So, I was going to write something about the results of the Football Supporters' Federation's 2012 National Fans' Survey - about the headline stat that more than 90% of fans feel ticket prices are too high, about the fact that three-quarters of respondents would welcome a salary cap, about the frequently costly havoc that the short-notice rescheduling of games to suit broadcasters wreaks on supporters' best-laid plans, about the unsettling fact that nearly a fifth of respondents have witnessed racist and homophobic abuse in grounds in the last year.

But then along came Wednesday's news about Hillsborough - an unequivocal and damning if horribly overdue indictment of all involved except the much vilified Liverpool supporters, who were exonerated of all blame - to put it all into perspective. Those supporters were the victims of prejudice and ultimately of an extraordinary cover-up perpetrated by everyone from the emergency services to the press. 23 years on, there may still be problems within the beautiful game - most obviously, the FSF survey underlines that fans' loyalty is often taken for granted and milked for all it's worth - but it's safe to say that things have most definitely changed for the better. Going to watch football in the UK may often be a sterile experience, but at least it's not a downright dangerous one.

(PS Now that it's been established that events that day in April 1989 were preventable and that lives could have been saved, can people please stop calling it a "disaster"?)

Are you being (well) served?

One of the key findings of the recent NUST survey was that respondents almost unanimously disagreed that "the club actively listens to its fans". So when the Football Supporters' Federation announced that they'd scrutinised and rated the club charters of all those in the top two divisions, I suspected that it might strengthen the case of those who feel that Jabba and his cronies have precious little regard for the ordinary paying punter. However, the results are more complex than that - while by no means rated the Premier League's best, the club was also judged to be some way off being the worst, placing 12th overall.

Between one and five points were awarded across a range of different criteria relating to the charter, which governs the club's commitment to its fans: accessibility, currency, quality, complaints procedure, league details, Independent Football Ombudsman details and bans process. For accessibility our charter merited a maximum five points, while the complaints procedure was also found to be broadly clear and effective, meriting the award of four points. Recently, the club has at least shown a willingness to engage in dialogue with fans affected by the displacement of the Level Seven "singing section". The overall quality of the charter was rated as a solid if unspectacular three.

The club fell down in the remaining four categories, scoring just one in each - though, in its defence, if the charter isn't current then it's not too surprising it doesn't include the correct details for contacting the league or the IFO. It's also fair to say that these areas were where most other clubs' charters were found wanting - and at least we've got one, unlike Everton, who apparently don't and were thus awarded a big fat nil point...

Of course, it's debatable how much this research actually proves. The acid test is not so much how good the charter is on paper but how well it works and how rigorously it's adhered to in practice. Surveying personal experiences of those who've had recourse to refer to the charter might conceivably produce a very different verdict.