Newcastle United: A PR own goal? Reviewing the Magpies’ trip to Australia
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00:00 In the here and now, of course, Newcastle got back from their trip to Australia, which we mentioned briefly last week.
00:07 It was an interesting one, wasn't it? Of course, a draw and then win on penalties against Tottenham,
00:12 with a lot of first-teamers playing and then a few kids towards the end.
00:16 Then they play the A-League All-Stars game and, let's be honest, they put a youth team out and it didn't go too well,
00:24 I think is the nice way of putting it. Was that a bit of a PR disaster, Jordan, in your opinion?
00:33 Because, of course, I know the fans got their money's worth in the Tottenham game for those fans down under.
00:38 But, let's be honest, it was a bit of a horror show when it came to the second game, wasn't it?
00:44 Yeah, it was a pay-our-own goal, I thought, because the Tottenham game, I think, if the trip stops at the Spurs game,
00:54 it's a very successful trip and it feels like they had nothing to gain from the second game against the A-League All-Stars.
01:02 Again, I see it from both sides. I see why the ownership or the commercial guys accepted the invitation to take part in Australia
01:12 because of those PSR pressures and that need to get extra money no matter where you can.
01:20 That's what they've done and I understand that, but it also put Eddie Howe and his players in an impossible position as well.
01:29 You just played a long Premier League season, Champions League games, Cup games, I think it resulted in 51 games, I think it was, last season.
01:38 You then fly out two hours after playing your final game of the Premier League season in Australia.
01:45 Bear in mind it takes about 25 hours to travel over there. You're then playing the next day.
01:50 So, the players that he put out against Spurs actually did very well to play that game.
01:54 Eddie Howe for player care, etc., as the rest of the players, I understand that, but it's also left Newcastle open to what proved to be a disastrous result.
02:06 In many ways, Newcastle, without knowing it, have probably made a mockery of the Australia trip, the A-League All-Stars game.
02:16 The reason why I say that is because that's one of the biggest dates on the Australian football calendar.
02:22 The All-Stars have played Barcelona, Juventus, and recent years, both of those teams, big European teams have put out strong teams, the strongest teams that they can.
02:34 Then Newcastle rock up and put out the kids, essentially, and the scoreline probably got what they deserved.
02:43 But I'm not going to sit here and criticise anyone at Newcastle because, as I say from both sides, I say exactly why the commercial guys wanted the money, because of the PSR rules.
02:53 I say exactly why Eddie Howe arrested these players. I'm not lying, blame it on anyone's door. I just think it was disappointing to see that result come in on a Friday.
03:07 Had it stopped at the Tottenham trip, it would have been really successful. I think the result against the A-League All-Stars perhaps overshadowed the trip a little bit.
03:17 It did, yeah. You could argue, was it a case of did they play too many of their first teams against Tottenham?
03:23 Then you could have perhaps split it a little bit, so at least both games had an element of competitiveness.
03:28 Because, of course, there were still some first-team players around when it came to the A-League game.
03:34 But, yeah, I think you're right in the sense that if they'd just had the Tottenham game, that would have been really good and it would have been a PR win.
03:44 But then after that, to then let something like that happen, it's not great.
03:50 I see it as well from a non-league football perspective, because of course they've scrapped FA Cup replays of late.
03:57 You think, well, if they're going to do that for player welfare, then they're going to allow them to go halfway across the other side of the world.
04:04 But then, of course, Eddie Howe has then not played them, so he's clearly looking at the player welfare.
04:08 But the fact that even they were allowed to go to Australia anyway, I know obviously from a commercial sense, it's a financial boost.
04:16 But there's a lot of avenues you can talk about when it comes to that one.
04:19 But I think for the Australian fans as well, because let's be honest, they have been a bit short-changed.
04:27 They've had a game against Tottenham, that's all right.
04:32 But then they've had a big game that they all wanted to go and see, and they've witnessed a mauling, to be honest.
04:39 It's awful.
04:41 That's who I feel sorry for the most, the Australian fans, because you'll have expats and Australia-based Newcastle fans who have been really looking forward to seeing these games.
04:53 And they've almost been stuck in the middle of, say, the owners wanting money and Eddie Howe wanting to protect these players.
05:01 And it's obviously, me in the end, ended in a bit of a disaster in terms of that result.
05:06 So that's who I feel sorry for.
05:11 So, I mean, the trip as a whole, I think it generated Newcastle £5 million.
05:17 That would have been lots more than what they would get if they advanced in the latter stages of the Europa Conference League.
05:23 So it just shows how much that money means to Newcastle, if you like, in terms of the PSR rules, etc.
05:32 I don't think Newcastle fly to the other end of the world two hours after the final Premier League game, the season of PSR, doesn't exist.
05:41 Oh, yeah. It wouldn't happen, would it, to be honest?
05:45 There'd be no need to, that's all. That's the thing.
05:48 It's literally, they've done that because they just want to get over that finishing line in terms of balancing the books sort of thing.
05:57 And that's a real shame, isn't it?
05:59 Well, it's not a shame because, of course, it's given fans on the other side of the world a chance to see the team.
06:03 But the only reason that they actually go in there is not because they want to go and meet those fans,
06:07 it's because they're having to balance some books.
06:09 And so it's an ulterior motive, really, isn't it?
06:11 So it's one of the issues of modern football, I think, is what it is.
06:20 And even though it's appeasing other fans in other parts of the world, they've actually been shortchanged because of what they've been served up.
06:27 So, again, it's... And that's another part of modern football, of course, is the player welfare.
06:32 So, all in all, there's a lot of things you can unpick about that trip and a lot of issues.
06:39 I mean, as I say, if it ended after the Tottenham game, fine, because that was a good spectacle.
06:44 I know that neither side were really playing at their best, but at least it was a competitive enough match
06:49 and it went to a penalty shootout and the crowd got something to go home with.
06:54 But as I say, after that, it just was a bit of a disaster.
06:58 But, you know, we'll leave that to those involved in the commercial side of Newcastle United.
07:04 Let's hope that they've managed to, well, I don't know, get the financial boost they were so looking for after all of that.