When Newcastle United meet Everton, expect fireworks.
Under the lights at Goodison Park, strange things have happened when two historic powerhouses of the English game meet.
Florian Lejeune’s crazy two goals in the dying embers of a game Newcastle were losing on Merseyside in 2019 will live long in the memory, as will Hatem Ben Arfa’s wonder strike almost a decade earlier.
For years, Everton and the Magpies represented two former strongholds of the English game to have fallen on hard times.
Now, however, the situation is different. Newcastle are on course for the Champions League, whereas the Toffees look bound for the second-tier for the first time in a generation.
Newcastle Twitter account pokes fun at Everton after 4-1 win
Indeed, such is the dire situation Everton find themselves in, sections of their support went out of their way to make life difficult for the traveling Newcastle squad.
In their bid to make Goodison a fortress, swathes of Everton fans greeted the team bus with blue fares to ramp up the atmosphere ahead of kick-off.
A tactic they deployed, admittedly successfully, last season, there have also been reports of sections of the Everton fanbase letting off fireworks outside of team hotels to interfere with the opposition players’ night sleep.
The administrator of the Newcastle Twitter account appeared to have that in mind at full-time.
Once the final whistle blew, they simply tweeted: “FIREWORKS AT GOODISON PARK.”
We shouldn’t gloat too much
Clearly, Newcastle fans are going to enjoy a 4-1 win that puts them on the brink of Champions League qualification. There is nothing wrong with that, nor should a bit of tongue-in-cheek banter be taken too seriously.
Still, Newcastle were in a similar position not too long ago. Mismanagement at the top led to more than a few relegation battles, two of which the club failed to win.
It’s horrible to go through.
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