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To be more precise it will feel like all their Christmases have
come at once.
With the clock ticking down on the deal, Newcastle fans began
gathering at the club's St James' Park stadium amid an
atmosphere of mounting excitement.
While rival fans smirk at what they regard as delusions of
grandeur at the north east club who have not been English
champions since 1927 and have not won any domestic silverware
since 1955, those who flock more in hope than expectation to St
James' Park truly believe the club is a slumbering giant.
Even the hope has largely disappeared in the past decade, with
Newcastle, under the ownership of Sports Direct boss Mike
Ashley, becoming the epitome of mediocrity.
Londoner Ashley is so despised by Newcastle's fans that they
would welcome just about anyone into the club, provided they
bring with them the precious commodity of hope.
While there are well-publicised moral concerns over so-called
Saudi Arabian 'sportswashing' as the oil rich nation seeks to
soften it's overseas image, the Magpies' fanbase are clearly not
concerned from where their saviours arrive.
A poll undertaken by the Newcastle United Supporters Trust
showed 93.8% of the club's fans support the reported 305 million
pounds ($415 million) takeover. Like the bird of their nickname,
the glint of silverware is intoxicating.
Since Ashley's takeover in 2007, Newcastle have twice suffered
relegation from the Premier League and, apart from finishing
fifth under Alan Pardew in 2011-12, have stumbled around in the
bottom half of the Premier League table.
CUT-PRICE SIGNINGS
Present manager Steve Bruce is deeply unpopular -- held up as
the perfect example of Ashley's lack of ambition, a manager
hired to fight relegation battles with cut-price signings rather
than win trophies.
It has not always been like this though.
For a while at the start of the Premier League era, in the early
1990s, when former player Kevin Keegan arrived like a returning
Messiah, it appeared that anything was possible alongside the
banks of the River Tyne.
With millionaire local property developer John Hall as chairman,
the old stadium was revamped and Keegan was given the funds to
create a team in his image with the likes of Peter Beardsley,
Andy Cole, David Ginola, Robert Lee and Colombian firecracker
Faustino Asprilla, to name but a few, arriving.
Newcastle finished third in the Premier League in 1994, their
first season back in the top flight, having almost fallen into
the third-tier a couple of years earlier.
Dubbed the "The Great Entertainers", Newcastle were runners-up
in 1996 after suffering a late collapse that saw them pipped by
Manchester United in a finale to a season that will forever be
remembered for Keegan's wide-eyed "I will love it" rant at Alex
Ferguson.
With Shearer signed to lead the line they also finished second
to Manchester United in 1997 before Keegan left and Freddy
Shepherd replaced Hall as chairman.
Kenny Dalglish and then Ruud Gullit both failed to as managers
before former England boss Bobby Robson staged a renaissance
with fourth and third-placed finishes, only to be sacked in
2004.
The days when Ginola, Beardsley, Les Ferdinand, Shearer and the
like had the Toon Army in dreamland now seem like a distant
memory -- which is why this week's developments have once again
had fans gathering outside the stadium.
After seven games of the new Premier League season,
second-from-bottom Newcastle are still without a win and the
squad at Bruce's disposal has relegation battlers written all
over it.
($1 = 0.7353 pounds)
(Corrects paras 16 and 17 to say Keegan's rant was in 1996)
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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