Newcastle United Supporters Trust

The first NUST roadshow since the Yes We Can campaign kicked off arrived in the Blacksmiths Arms on Gosforth High Street. The pub, affectionately called ‘the blackies’ holds many memories for me personally, I began my drinking life in that bar at the tender age of 16 (sorry I mean 18 of course, 16 would be illegal!!). At the time of my first ever visit the landlady ‘Betty’ ran the pub in that good old fashioned way. Tonight on the occasion of the NUST roadshow there is of course a different landlord, and its incredibly ironic that he is called Mike Ashley!! Yes I said Mike Ashley!! Must say at this stage that this Mike Ashley was more than accommodating and he runs a very good and welcoming pub

As we set up the table, pa system, banners etc at one end of the bar in front of the pool table the room began to fill up nicely. There was a feeling of big anticipation as to what the night would bring with the Yes We Can campaign in the second week and still in its infancy really. By the time Bill our MC for the night opened up on the mic the room was healthily full with what looked like a good mix of fans, young and old, male and female.

By this point the quiz had been taken round the room with the attendees readily participating. A big up to Tom Lynch who handles all our quizzes, tonight we had a picture quiz with former toon players in the spotlight. I took one look at the quiz sheet, thought I knew 7 or 8, but as usual Tom had 2 or 3 really difficult ones in there, would be interesting to see what the winning score would be.

Bill introduced Colin Whittle to talk about the NUST, why NUSC had moved to become the NUST, and how supporter’s trusts were so important in fan involvement in their football clubs. Colin spoke with passion, with knowledge, with a real sense of purpose. The room full of toon fans really warmed to Colin and it was an excellent start to the night. Colin was followed by Steve Hastie who talked about our More Than a Trust document and the community and tradition aspects of NUFC and the NUST. Fantastic initiatives like the young achievers, local charity support, and soon to be developed hall of fame were explained by Steve to the audience.

Bill then introduced our guest speaker for the night, the excellent sports journalist John Gibson. John passed on his thoughts on the current situation, how well the team were doing, but also stressing how poor the championship league is. The current playing staff were discussed, with John particularly praising Jose Enrique for his attitude and improvement to the point where he clearly looks our best player.

Then a break was taken and a chance for one on one chats between members of the audience and NUST committee members. The quiz sheets were marked and the good old domino cards were sold!

After the break John Gibson came back on and entertained the audience with stories of Gazza when he was in Rome with Lazio and how Big Jack bought Tony Cunningham without seeing him play and went to meet him at the central station, obviously didn’t recognise him, and looked straight past him when Tony was trying to introduce himself.

The night finished with a question and answer session with Gibbo and committee member Mark Jensen on the Yes We Can campaign taking questions from the floor. Some really searching and quite justified questions were asked. The campaign is well underway now and about to enter its third week.

A great night was had by all and we gained several new members on the night, who joined at the membership table manned superbly by our membership guru Tony.