Newcastle United’s tour of New Zealand has moved on to Wellington.
Touched by the heartfelt tributes laid on in
Dunedin for John Alder and Liam Sweenyat the Forsyth Barr Stadium and overwhelmed by the warmth and kindness of folk on the south island, the hospitality of another friendly city was there for all to see on day four of United’s seven day stay down under.
Fresh from the clean winter air of picturesque Dunedin, United have touched down in the self-dubbed “coolest little capital in the world”. It was a boast they’re entitled to as well by the way.
With a harbour as plush as Monte Carlo F1 nut Alan Pardew can only be impressed. This place has a bit of everything.
In “Welly” there are coffee shops and cool shops like New York, capable cars that glide down to the harbour like Barcelona and friendly banter just like the Toon.
The football stadium is also based in the city centre like St James’ Park and while the winter chill in Dunedin was a shock to the system for Newcastle players and Pardew, who was worried his players could slip on the ice at the Forsyth Barr, it was mild as the teams arrived in Wellington.
United may have thumped Sydney 4-0 on Tuesday night but they were all friends together as they shared a flight from Dunedin Airport on Monday. Newcastle players and staff settled down to take in West Ham’s clash with
Wellington Phoenix last night at Eden Park in Auckland.
The organisers are trying hard to make the Football United Tour a success. A bumper crowd of 30,000 is the hope on Saturday as the Hammers clash with Sydney just after United’s encounter with the Phoenix.
Phoenix have put together a tournament that was two years in the making. Plenty of calls back to Tyneside were needed to persuade Newcastle to make the long journey of 11,000 miles in pre-season.
Maybe Newcastle’s trip to New Zealand is a similar distance to, say Liverpool’s trip down under last summer. Then crowds of 90,000 flocked to Melbourne to see the Kop side on tour.
Liverpool also scooped $5million dollars for that trip, which boosted their global fanbase even more. It is understood that United won’t get anywhere near that amount for this tour.
There is a match fee for both games and travel and hotels have already been paid for, with Newcastle bringing around 40 staff members on the trip including players, coaches, three media staff, the club ambassador Bob Moncur and security.
Wellington’s chief executive officer David Dome has worked hard to put the Premier League teams on the map though – and Phoenix are delighted to host the Magpies here.
But this hasn’t come cheaply. He said: “Business class air travel, five star accommodation; this is not a cheap exercise.”
Newcastle’s last long haul trip to the United States was so successful in their eyes they haven’t done it since.
For some reason, despite offers to play in the US where a huge chunk of their global fanbase are, Newcastle have resisted the calls to go back there.
Although there have fans from Australasia here to cheer them on that’s only a portion of the support of Liverpool last year. The crowd was 9,500 or so in Dunedin was made up of exiled Geordies, locals and a handful from Sydney.
The attendance on Saturday at the Westpac Stadium will be made up of West Ham, Phoenix and Toon fans, plus the few from Australia supporting Sydney.
Dome admits that Newcastle aren’t getting what they might in other countries this pre-season.
He said: “New Zealand may not be so lucrative but the money is banked and the surroundings are familiar.”
The Magpies are also being treated very well. Newcastle are staying in a plush hotel and are being looked after like royalty - which is like the All Blacks around here.
Dome said: “Well this is what we do when the All Blacks or the Wallabies stay here.” And it doesn’t get much better than that round here.
than
when walking thorugh hood like surroundings.
no one gives a fukk about newcastle here. they really had to insert a meaningless lie to make themselves feel better huh 
