Newcastle ended 70 years of misery by lifting the Carabao Cup, while Chelsea fans try to find their voice.
CHELSEA FANS TRY TO FIND THEIR VOICE
Passion is something that you can’t go into a chemist and ask for as an over-the-counter fix to your problems, and Chelsea continues to have an issue with fans who go silent when the team is struggling. So much so that 120 season ticket holders have been given a “singing section” in the Shed End to try to raise the atmosphere.
It was trialled in the recent Conference League match against Copenhagen, won 1-0. Next up to feel the “noise” will be Liege Warsaw in the quarter-final first leg. And to think, they used to call Arsenal’s Highbury “the library” before their move to The Emirates.
… BUT BLUES TAKE LEAD IN TICKET CRACKDOWN
In this digital age of online ticketing, touts are finding profitable ways of beating the system. Newcastle fans have long complained about losing out on match tickets in ballots, only to find the tickets resurfacing online at vastly inflated prices.
Fair play to Chelsea, who hired an investigative unit to look into the increasing problem. They discovered that one tout had “linked” 340 different memberships to his profile and was selling tickets.
A total of 1,000 fans have been stopped from entering Stamford Bridge with fake tickets this season and 1500 membership accounts cancelled.
NEWCASTLE END 70 YEARS OF HURT
When Newcastle beat Liverpool to win the Carabao Cup, it was their first “major domestic trophy” since lifting the FA Cup 70 years ago. Since then (1955), some 35 different English clubs have won a domestic trophy, which means Newcastle became the 36th.
They join these, in alphabetical order (see if your club features here!):
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Chelsea, Coventry, Derby, Everton, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Man City, Man Utd, Middlesbrough, Norwich, Nottm Forest, Oxford, Portsmouth, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Stoke, Sunderland, Swansea, Swindon, Tottenham, West Brom, West Ham, Wigan, Wimbledon and Wolves.
MAGPIES FAN RUBS IT INTO SUNDERLAND
Banter is what makes the football world go round and you have to hand it to a Newcastle fan who arrived at the Stadium of Light entrance this week in a van. Security asked him his purpose and he said “I’ve come to deliver trophy polish”.
The puzzled security guard made a few enquiries on his walkie-talkie and when he explained to the driver it wasn’t on the delivery sheet, the driver replied, “Is this Newcasrtle’s stadium?”
The security man said, “No, it’s Sunderland”. To which the obvious retort was, “Oh, I’m at the wrong stadium, there are no trophies here”. The clip was posted on social media.
SPARE A THOUGHT FOR THE LONG SUFFERERS!
Now that Newcastle have broken their 70-year trophy drought, here’s a run through the less fortunate of current English Premier League clubs.
While Man United and Man City have the FA Cup and EPL trophies in their cabinets, and Liverpool will soon get the League’s in theirs, there are some whose cabinets have been bare for decades. Southampton last won the FA Cup in 1976, but they’re only 15th down the list!
Brighton (123 years), Bournemouth (126 years), Brentford (135 years), Fulham (146 years) and Crystal Palace (164 years) have never won a major trophy!
HAALAND ADDS R100M CAR TO HS GARAGE
It depends on what sources you find reliable, but let’s agree for now that Erling Haaland takes home £400,000 a week. This means that it will take him (have taken) 10 weeks to buy his latest toy, a £4m Bugatti Tourbillon.
He is now the owner of only one of 250 ever made, a petrol and electric hybrid V16 that can go from 0-100 km/h in two seconds. Apparently.
And can reach a top speed of 430km/h. It goes into his garage alongside a Mercedes AMG, a Ferrari Monza SP2, a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a Range Rover Sport, an Audi RS6 Avant Quattro and a Porsche 911 GT3.
