BLYTH IGNORE
While Newcastle may be the latest and most high-profile club in the north-east of England to be linked with an autocratic foreign state renowned for its laissez-faire attitude to human rights abuses, they are certainly not the first. Fans who turned out at Croft Park to watch Blyth Spartans draw 2-2 with Spennymoor in the National League North on Boxing Day 2018 were somewhat taken aback by the sight of a new pitchside billboard imploring them to “Visit North Korea”. Paid for by a University of Sunderland student who has a side job organising tours to the world’s most secretive country, it is unknown how many of the fans in attendance that day had actually visited Pyongyang. It is unlikely to be many, given that one told the Newcastle Chronicle “You’d struggle to get anyone to visit Ashington here, let alone the People’s Republic of North Korea”.
Now in the Premier League North, the seventh tier of English football, Blyth are back in the headlines after sacking Nobby Solano as their manager just six games into the season. The Peruvian, a former Newcastle midfielder and cult hero who achieved near-national treasure status among fans when it was discovered he could play the trumpet, was only appointed Blyth manager in May but have failed to win after six games, losing three of them, leaving his side second from bottom of the table.
Famous for hiding in the bushes and repeatedly annoying an increasingly exasperated Bobby Robson at the training ground with long, loud honks, Nobby has sadly been relieved of his own managerial role and will now have more time to devote to his solo game. His former assistant David Stockdale, the “kind, frank and likeable” ex-Brighton and Fulham goalkeeper, will take charge of this weekend’s FA Cup qualifiers alongside Campion. “The club would like to place on record its thanks to Nobby for his efforts at Spartans,” read a statement, set to the melodious strains of Chet Baker’s Lullaby of the Leaves.
Meanwhile on the banks of the River Trent, Solano’s beloved Newcastle will face Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in one of the second round ties of the Fizzy Cup and will almost certainly welcome back Sandro Tonali, who is eligible to play for them again after serving a 10-month Naughty Step ban for breaching betting rules. The Italian, who has since admitted to a gambling addiction, spends some of his time helping other problem gamblers and warning academy players in his native Italy about the dangers and pitfalls of betting, but will no doubt be delighted to finally be back on the pitch. “I think we’re going to get a different player back, a stronger player mentally, someone who is going to enjoy his football and probably cherish every moment because that’s been taken away from him for a long period of time,” shouted Eddie Howe in the build-up to the 24-year-old’s return from his suspension. Football is football, so let’s hope the Italian isn’t too bothered by the bright, colourful electronic signs advertising various betting companies on all four sides of the pitch.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Tomorrow is a good day, we’re going up north to Anglesey and meeting new people and exploring the country. I haven’t done that since I was a young man, it might be the last time I’m in Wales so for now, I just want to find peace with it, explore as much of Wales as I can and meet as many people as I can and really make the most of it” – Craig Bellamy on how national duty has the added benefit of helping him explore lesser-visited parts of his homeland.
David Beckham is often mocked as a man who lacks eloquence due to his limited brain cell space when busy making friends. However, I read the Quote of the Day yesterday about his last meeting with Sven-Göran Eriksson and felt he poured out all the sadness and emotion of losing a friend to cancer in simple, emotional and touching language” – Colin Reed.
The football world is poorer today with the retirement of Wojciech Szczesny (Yesterday’s News, News and Information, full email edition). A gentleman throughout his career, he remained a gentleman in retirement. Didn’t slink off to China, Saudi Arabia or the US. Much maligned at Arsenal, through no fault of his own, he flourished at Juventus and for his home country at the World Cup. Your name may be hard for us to pronounce and spell, but we will miss you!” – Krishna Moorthy.
Football Daily’s credibility as a modern-day Nostradamus was completely tarnished by your prediction that Goodison Park would be ‘half empty’ for Doncaster Rovers’ visit (Football Daily yesterday). In fact, the attendance of 37,245 was well short of the 39,414 capacity and your prediction of a 2-0 scoreline was also wrong. In other words, you can’t make predictions on toffee” – Adrian Irving
Jonjo Shelvey has signed for Turkish club Eyupspor. His links to Yorkshire are unclear and Shelvey did not have to ‘go to the top of the ladder’ to sign the deal, but I’d like to think the photo opportunity with a flat cap and a whippet was taken into consideration” – Kevin Worley.
Write to the.boss@theguardian.com. The winner of today’s no-prize letter is… Colin Reed. Terms and conditions for our competition can be found here.
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