What is the newcastle feeling from all the sh*t last year?

[Simo]

Im an outsider looking in, Syd born and bred I marvel at the Knights supporters throughout the years in particular when you finished last but topped the crowds a couple years back.

But I also just get news and cliches such as 'newcastle is rugby league city' 'newcastle now soccer city' ' fans backlash over smith' 'locals kicked out of team' 'house painted in newcastle colours' etc etc type stuff and have no idea of what its really like in newy.

When I visited friends of the misses a few years back I expected a big footy town but they didnt even watch it!!!

So anyway, rather than get crap from newspapers and such could those of you in newcastle give me the rundown on your team and town support and reaction to the events of the last year or so (smith being signed, smith culling all your players, Johns retiring, johns drugs, jets taking over, buderous leaving or not leaving etc).

Does the city still want the knights without so many locals? Do you support what Smith has done?

I like the Newcastle side over the years but the last couple of years you have been pretty crap and I would pick you for bottom 4 material this year (Just looking on paper and whats gone on).

Gimme the actual Novacastrian perspective rather than telegraph crap that I get please!

 

[KniGhTs BaTTLeR]

Personally. I think i'm the only one here that is pissed off with that has gone at the Knights with Smith. I knew we had to go through a re-building fase and get rid of some dead wood but I don't like the way he did it. People were always going to get pissed with the sacking of locals but it had to be done.

Soccer is getting more popular but as said before it's not really a contest like that Con Constantine fella is trying to turn it into. They are plyed at different times. I haven't lived in Newie for 2 and a half years now so I dunno what the buzz is like now but back then people loved the Knights just as much as ever, I know I do.

As for our team this year, I think we will turn some heads, we still have alot of our juniors playing and alot of up and comers. Its still our team.

 

[roopy]

We have a great young side who will surprize a lot of people.
Smith is popular in Newcastle because the Newcastle Herald will never write a negative word about him.
The only thing that will hurt is that Johns was worth between 5 and 10k bums on seats every time he played and we will miss his drawing power.
If the team goes badly this year the crowds will be horrible.

 

[keeney]

The team is looking stronger across the park than it did last year. Much better depth and hopefully with the modernisation of our staff, techniques and facilities we'll see a team that finishes in the bottom of the 8 with improvement in 09.

 

[Jobdog]

So anyway, rather than get crap from newspapers and such could those of you in newcastle give me the rundown on your team and town support

Honestly, over the last couple of years (2006 was the exception) I've noticed that the atmosphere at home games has just about dissipated. That could be attributed to the team sucking - when we start to be up near the top of the ladder again, IMO that atmosphere will return.
The town still supports the team and will continue to do so forever, but there can be little doubt that over the last three years the Jets have taken off and so have their crowds. They're probably not quite up there in regards to the towns love-affair with them, but what they've done in 3 years has been remarkable.

reaction to the events of the last year or so (smith being signed, smith culling all your players, Johns retiring, johns drugs, jets taking over, buderous leaving or not leaving etc)

As mentioned, the events last year were tough with people not too sure what to make of the Johns drugs thing, with general feelings ranging from disappointment, to anger, to sadness. Joey retiring, as roopy said will hurt the Knights not only on the field, but also off it - the sad realisation is that crowds of 20,000+ have disappeared and will only come back when the team start to win regularly.

Does the city still want the knights without so many locals? Do you support what Smith has done?

IMO I am of the belief that we would like our team to have a vast majority of locals in the team, but we are also knowledgable enough to know that whoever runs out with that blue and red jersey on will get our support no matter where they've come from. The general consensus is that Smith did the right thing by getting rid of all the "deadwood" - something Supercoach didn't do. For too long we had to cope with being mediocre and hard decisions had to be made. And they were.

Btw I am a Knights and Jets fan, not only a Jets fan

Jets fan from October to March, Knights fan from March to October ;-)

 

[antonius]

The Jets in the past two seasons have had a far more vocal crowd than the Knights. I think that's due to the fact that when attending Knights games in recent years you're sitting there not quite knowing what to expect from the side. With the Jets they are new and successfull (the crowd has a lot more to cheer about) The atmosphere at last Sundays game was unbelievable, it was electric.
I'm still to be convinced on Brian Smith.

 

[Newie is God's Country]

2008 is the biggest year in this club's history as far as winning the local folks collective faith back. If the Jets win the A-league then the Knights are in for the fight of their life this year. I think that shouldn't be the case but the fact is the Jets popularity is off the charts right now.

 

[Knightmare]

I'd hardly be worrying about the Jets yet. They played their biggest game of the season to date on Sunday, at their home ground, and drew just over 16K. Even last year, the lowest Knights home crowd for a regular season game was about 1K less than that.

The Smith bashing is a load of News Ltd. crap being handed out for a job he was brought in to do.

 

[Pika]

Newcastle loves a winner.

Both the Jets and the Knights crowd figures reflect that.

Brian Smith has a five year plan in my opinion.

1. Removing not only those who are poor performers, but those whop refuse to move forward and embrace the modern training methods required.

2. Rebuild and prepare. Scraping in the top eight and having a well drilled squad.

3. Top four, to activate automatic contract extension. Fine tune and tweak.

4. Serious assault on top two and a very real attempt at making the GF.

5. The team is his, and 100% ready. If it was not the year before, its this year. If not this year...... we may be back to year 2.

This is all my opinion, I have no real idea. Haha, who am I kidding, I have not got a clue.

 

[TooheysNew]

Haha, who am I kidding, I have not got a clue.

It sounded good, mate. lol

 

[Misanthrope]

I'd hardly be worrying about the Jets yet. They played their biggest game of the season to date on Sunday, at their home ground, and drew just over 16K. Even last year, the lowest Knights home crowd for a regular season game was about 1K less than that.

You point out one shocking crowd as if its indicative of the entire perceived conflict. During the 06/07 season, the Jets drew more for their home final against Sydney FC than Newcastle drew for their home final against Manly.

 

[Burwood]

I'd hardly be worrying about the Jets yet. They played their biggest game of the season to date on Sunday, at their home ground, and drew just over 16K. Even last year, the lowest Knights home crowd for a regular season game was about 1K less than that.

Not too bad of a crowd considering the exorbitant prices that the FFA were charging for tickets, and the short notice given to most fans to attend the game.

The biggest thing that hits me every time I attend a Jets home game is the amount of fans i see wearing the official club merchandise- it is a sea of gold looking out across the crowd.

 

[Alex28]

Personally. I think i'm the only one here that is pissed off with that has gone at the Knights with Smith. I knew we had to go through a re-building fase and get rid of some dead wood but I don't like the way he did it. People were always going to get pissed with the sacking of locals but it had to be done.

Soccer is getting more popular but as said before it's not really a contest like that Con Constantine fella is trying to turn it into. They are plyed at different times. I haven't lived in Newie for 2 and a half years now so I dunno what the buzz is like now but back then people loved the Knights just as much as ever, I know I do.

As for our team this year, I think we will turn some heads, we still have alot of our juniors playing and alot of up and comers. Its still our team.

How did you expect him to get rid of the dead wood without pissing people off? Let them hang around for a few years and gradually get rid of them? Is he here to be a good guy or is he here to win premierships?

The club has needed someone to tell it how it is and finally someone has done it. We shouldn't have to settle for mediocrity because it might upset a few players that have outstayed their usefulness to the club (in some cases by many years).

I love the Jets as much as any one, but they are not winning over the city like the Knights have. The biggest match in their history and they couldn't sell out the stadium?

 

[Big Tim]

Red & Blue rigtht through.

I am not a Soccer/Football fan, I have never been to a Jets game and frankly I dont think I will. I have 2 teams I support and they both play at seperate times of the year.

The fact of the matter is that the Knights have supporters that IMO the Jets will never have. The Knights represent the Area from the Coast to the QLD border, and Knights fans travel those distances weekly to get to games.

I dont see why we have to "compete" with the Jets???? Our seasons dont overlap, so there is no reason why people cant be fans of both teams if they like.

As far as the Johns things go: His retirement put me and my mate in tears, and his drug problems dont effect my memories of him. He is not the first, and wont be the last.

Any parent who is upset at him because he was a role model for their child has far more problems than Joey himself.

Smith: Great coach. Has started doing the things we have needed done for some time. In a few years we will be the team that only makes one off-season signing and are the best on paper. The person who takes over from him will have a very simple job.

 

[antonius]

I'd hardly be worrying about the Jets yet. They played their biggest game of the season to date on Sunday, at their home ground, and drew just over 16K. Even last year, the lowest Knights home crowd for a regular season game was about 1K less than that.

The Smith bashing is a load of News Ltd. crap being handed out for a job he was brought in to do.

The previous home game v the Mariners was a full house. Anyway the point I'm really trying to make here is the atmosphere at the games, and unfortunately ATM the Jets crowd has the points by a mile. The Knights home crowds in recent years have been very subdued.

 

[KniGhTs BaTTLeR]

How did you expect him to get rid of the dead wood without pissing people off? Let them hang around for a few years and gradually get rid of them? Is he here to be a good guy or is he here to win premierships?

The club has needed someone to tell it how it is and finally someone has done it. We shouldn't have to settle for mediocrity because it might upset a few players that have outstayed their usefulness to the club (in some cases by many years).

I love the Jets as much as any one, but they are not winning over the city like the Knights have. The biggest match in their history and they couldn't sell out the stadium?

I know it had to be done I said that.

 

[Hanscholo]

Id like to be proud of my football team/ club again. Smith is working on doing that as far as i can see, so i support him. Our results speak for themselves, they are unacceptable. As i said a few times last year, ask the players who are disgruntled about not being offered deals wether or not they see our results over the past 4 years as acceptable. They can get as upset as they like, its a profession and like most professions when you are not good at what you do your moved on regardless of how nice you are or where you were born.

As far as crowds are concerned, the Knights and the Jets will both be facing the same issue over the coming seasons. Once the freshness of the Jets wears down and we have a few perth glory type seasons the crowds will drop off. Im am an ardant Jets fan, but i have watched every single one of their games on Fox. Granted i live in Sydney, but even when i was in Newcastle the lure of live TV covereage of every home match was too much for me, i like to watch the games on television too much. I started off watching 90% of the knights games live at the ground, in fact id get there before 12pm most game days and watch all three sides. That dwindled because of the extremely poor facilities, i just got over being there for 4 hours and not being able to see the game in the way i wanted to watch it. So i basically stopped going and watched on TV, then i moved to sydney and the choice was pretty much removed for me.

I really think the Knights and the Jets would profit by co-packaging season tickets for reasonable prices. Live football, w/e the code is great to see no doubt. The quality of the facility and the performance of the team need to be in excess of the price however to compete with the superb coverage Fox is providing. Fox for all of its gifts to the game has hurt it in a lot of respects, i dont know what to do about it but there is a huge issue there that needs to be addressed. The cricket model of not broadcasting local games unless its a sellout has seem to have worked, in saying that, i absolutely hated it and could never understand why a governing body would pass up any television coverage. I wish i had the answers, but its really up to the knights and the NRL long term.

I am very excited about the side Smith has put together this year, i dont even expect they will make the finals i do however want to see some pride in their performances and progression into the following year.

 

[macavity]

simo, I think on average we are cautiously optimistic.

Newcastle is a town divided at the moment - probably 75% agree that Smith did the right thing and are looking forward to improvement, and perhaps 25% are happy getting flogged every week, as long as the likes of Tanner gets a run.

the proof will be in 2008 results. if we start poorly expect calls for Smith's sacking by about round 5. If we start well and keep it up expect a statue of him somewhere by round 20....

I don't think the Knights are worried about the Jets, nor should they be.

infact I think the Jets success will assist the Knights in 2 ways
1) that good-vibe winning feeling will continue over, and
2) hopefully the fantastic atmosphere at Jets games can carry over to Knights crowds - Knights crowds have been very subdued since about 2003, and I think the wide public exposure to the singing, chanting etc at Jets games might just encourage people to try to create a similar atmosphere at Knights games - I know that is the Crusade's plan (the Knights supporter group) - and I hope it can get going.

 

[Simo]

thanks for all the relplies its interesting to hear from the horses mouth rather than from the other horses mouth (rebecca wilson and co.....)

 

[The Camden Leisure Pirate]

The hardest thing last year was to watch a team that used to play with so much heart, no matter what was going on off the field, start to look like a bunch of spoilt brats.

Some of our first graders would have lucky to get a run in any other club in the NRL. But to see the reactions of players like Renyaldson etc when the truth was spoken about them and their ability was to me, astounding to say the least.

Supporters were angry about the treatment of players, but those same supporters should have been at odds with the haphazard way in which those players approached being selected for 1st grade. It was as though some players thought it was their birthright to be picked week in week out no matter how their form was travelling.

Last year our club took some huge steps forward (Not being run like a club form the 80’s). Players now see it’s not a matter of being a Knights jr or being a good bloke. You are not an automatic selection. There is no more Joey. No more free rides. No more 4 years of mediocre 1st grade performances, a premiership win, a golden hand-shake and a lap around Energy Australia stadium.

Earn your spot. Earn some respect.

I just hope that the clubs sticks behind Smith and the changes he has implemented.

08 is not going to be an easy road, but hopefully we’ll get some good results and prove some nay-sayers wrong.