OzyBoy

It's been deleted now but something like "Is it too early in the season to start blaming individual players?", then a picture of Almiron, Joelinton, Bruno, and Burn. They're now claiming it was misinterpreted.

To be fair, this was one prominent NUFC Twitter account tweeting something stupid, which was almost universally ridiculed. That account has been haemorrhaging followers since, and has finally deleted the tweet, claiming its intentions were misunderstood. But yeah, some fans are morons.

Haha yes I see now

Did someone say rocket polisher?

You're giving Newcastle supporters, and by extension supporters of any club, and by further extension *most people*, far too much credit - they're not actively "endorsing despotic regimes", they're just passively ignoring it - and maybe that's worse. They simply don't think about it; they're apolitical; politically uneducated, indifferent, and disinterested. If people, in general, cared beyond their immediate sphere of relationships, then you wouldn't have "stop the boats" as a perceived top-5 priority of the British people. But people's views are generally parochial and narrow; what happens around them is far more important that what happens far away. In the same way that people aren't, generally, interested that their clothes are made by exploited kids in sweatshops, they're not interested in what's happening in the Middle East; it's too far removed from their daily lives for them to care about. Basically I agree with you - people are shit.

Supporting a football club is pretty arbitrary, and generally comes down to a quirk of birth, where you happen to be born. As such, one fan base is substantially similar to any other. Of course there are differences; North London supporters will typically be more middle class than supporters in working class cities like Newcastle or Liverpool, or Birmingham or Leeds. But, as a population, the views represented by Newcastle fans, and their values, will be very similar to those represented by Villa fans. Individually, you'll have people, much like on this forum, that would rather walk away than support their club if it were taken over by Saudi ownership; and there have been Newcastle supporters that have done that. And that's very commendable. But if you think, en masse, there would be any difference between how Newcastle fans have reacted and how Villa fans would react; or how excited Newcastle fans are now and how excited Villa fans would be, then I think you're mistaken. When you label rival fans as "morons" or "scum" or "rocket polishers" (and I've genuinely no idea what that means), you may as well label your own fans or, in fact, humanity in general, as the same. Dislike for specific other teams or supporters is basically irrational. This isn't a defence of Saudi ownership, it's more a recognition that if this takeover had happened to any other club, including Villa, then the reaction from the vast majority of the fans of that club would be exactly the same.

Just wanted to say I hope Mings makes a full recovery from his ACL - don't like to see any player suffer an injury like that, but Mings in particular seems a credit to Villa and to football in general. Hope he's back before the end of the season. On the game itself, the offside law is broken. I've no idea if the second goal stands because of incompetent officiating or incompetent law making. I thought you missed Moreno badly.

Honestly impossible to tell when people are trolling or not these days.

Luckily the game is played on grass

I think we would have seen Schar pinging balls over your high line all day long, but he's unlikely to play, so he'll be a big miss.

I wouldn't take that as particularly representative. 1 - of course; 2 - first part ok (much stronger bench now), second part nonsense; 3 - yes we think we're a better team, but not vastly better; 4 - I'd be surprised if Tonali starts; 5 - yes, Wilson on bench; 6 - nah; 7 - nah, we've no idea how to handle Watkins, or your passing through the lines. FWIW Villa are about the last team I would have wanted first match - the type of team we need to beat to be serious top-4 contenders again, but this will be really tough. Our lack of pace at the back is really worrying, and the way Howe had no answers in the 3-0 fills me with dread.

Yeah, agree with a lot of this. Villa's passing and movement was pretty slick; our back three all at sea - I don't see 3-4-2-1 surviving for long. We exploited your high line, which I think could cost you a few goals against decent teams. Buendia excellent, Anderson excellent, Karama a bit lost, Tonali a bit overwhelmed. I think ViIla will be very strong next season and I wouldn't be surprised if you were ahead of us. Emery a more sophisticated coach than Howe, but Howe has the desire to improve. Both Emery and Howe showing how a quality manager can completely transform a club and how the likes of Gerrard and Lampard are absolutely stealing a living.

Stellar performance by Emery to clean up Gerrard's mess and turn your season around. Elite manager. Villa and City away the only games Newcastle were never remotely in. Next season will be very interesting.

Yeah, completely agree.

I think this "rivalry" is in the heads of a few dozen twitter accounts maybe, on both sides. For the vast majority of NUFC fans Villa are just another team to beat, and I'm sure Villa fans generally feel the same way about Newcastle.