The Final Away Day

Newcastle Utd 0 - 1 Everton

Having had a few hours kip and let my boiling blood from last night drop a few degrees, I’ve come to realise why we're all Blues and by far the greatest fans in the world.

When we arrived back into Lime Street station last night, the place was full of them. Rather than be celebrating their league title, all they wanted to do was goad the 40- or 50-odd blues who had just got off the train.

Had that been the other way round, we wouldn’t be that bit interested in them; mind, there wouldn’t have been a couple of thousand Blues in Lime Street station waiting to catch trains to wherever they were going.

This season, like every other season on ToffeeWeb, there has been a lot of negativity and much berating of fans by each other – some justified, most of it not – but we’re all from the same family, a family none of us would swop for anything… and certainly not for them!

We had a great day yesterday… well, up until that last few minutes arriving back into Lime Street. A good journey up to Newcastle, arriving about 12:15, so plenty of time for a pint or two.

We headed to the Mile Castle, a Wetherspoon's, just a couple of minutes walk from the station. The place was already full of Newcastle fans, and as most of you are well aware, my hatred to the Skunk Maggots is not far off that of the tourists' club… but fair play to the Skunks, they were fine with us.

We had plenty of banter with them, mainly about our new stadium and how they are so looking forward to visiting it next season, and also their dislike of the Red Shite, one even telling us he went to a Liverpool - Newcastle game a few years back with his wife, and was set upon in a pub near Anfield by Red Shite fans when they heard his accent! Unbelievable!!

Anyway, bearing in mind the thought of negotiating those steps we have to climb, me and Dave left about 2:15 and walked up to the ground, the “He’s a Mackem, he’s a Blue” booming out as we approached the away section.

Luckily we managed to get in the turnstile near the lift, so we jumped in the lift and were up. No climbing the 140 steps for us!! All the Blues were in great form on the concourse, I’m sure we could have been heard down the other end of the stadium.

As kick-off approached, there was still no sign of Steve or Jon. An extra pint in the Mile Castle meant they missed the first 20 minutes of the match.

That Pickford song really got to the Newcastle fans, who had no real response to it. In fact, the only time we really heard them was when news of Aston Villa losing came through, which got even louder with them conceding a second goal. 

I won’t comment on the game, as there are plenty of other reports, but safe to say, it was a terrific performance by everyone, capped with a superb goal by Alcaraz. We really need to sign him permanently, and Gana Gueye who deserves a new contract. 

So the final whistle, and both sets of fans able to celebrate, meaning our walk down those steps and out of the ground was met with nothing more than a few police and stewards, with all the Newcastle fans staying in for the lap of appreciation and celebrating their Champions League place.

Obviously there were a few Newcastle fans around, but none of the usual hatred towards us when we usually leave. We headed back to the Mile Castle, as our train was not due until 19:40.

We had a couple pints in a still crowded pub, no doubt because it being a bank holiday weekend. Followed by a quick visit to Greggs for some food then M&S for a couple of cans, before boarding the train.

Unfortunately, we were delayed by 30 minutes, apparently due to th'e fact they couldn’t close the doors because the train was rammed. We finally left at 20:10, and headed off. You’d think Transpennine trains would have longer trains when Newcastle play at home, as it was full of their fans, getting off at Durham, Chester Le Street and Darlington. Anyway once they had all got off, there were only Blues left on it, and a few day travellers. 

So the approach into Lime Street station. Not for one minute thinking it would be full of them, as surely there can’t have been any trains leaving at that time?

To compound things, our bus home was not running its usual route, meaning me and Dave had to walk down to Liverpool One, passing every bar and pub full of them. Horrendous… but nothing like it was last Sunday for us. God help Liverpool city centre when we get our hands on a trophy, which we surely will in the next year or two. So we finally get our bus home, and I got in around 20 minutes past midnight. 

So, another season doing all the aways comes to an end. As usual, they’ve all been great aways, either by train or coach, and sometimes ruined by the 90 minutes of football in-between… but I wouldn’t swop being a blue for anything.

It all looked pretty grim back in January, but not for 1 minute did I think we would go down, so poor were the Bottom 3.  I think it would have been a lot closer than any of us wanted had Dyche still been in charge.

It’s annoying to think of those games when we were 2-0 up, only to throw them away, as we could possibly have been pushing for Europe. Still, that will come in a season or two.

As has been said on other threads, Moyes has come in and done an unbelievable job, and I guess if anyone can lead us to the promised land, then it’s him, but he needs the full backing of the new owners. 

So now we're all eagerly awaiting the fixtures to come out in June and see who we play first in our state-of-the-art stadium on the Banks of the Royal Blue Mersey? Weirdly, I wouldn’t mind Newcastle!!

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