Noel Gallagher Set For Rocky Ride At North Concert

Some might say rock star Noel Gallagher is in for a stormy welcome when Oasis play in the North East on Wednesday after he slammed the club on a radio show.

Speaking on Russell Brand’s show on Talk Sport in April, the guitarist and songwriter said he wanted Newcastle to go down.

He also joked that “there is no greater sight than seeing fat Geordies crying on Match of the Day”.

United supporters yesterday said it would be interesting to gauge the reaction of any Newcastle fans present when Oasis play to a sell-out crowd at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light on June 10.

It is quite a reverse from 1997 when Liam Gallagher wore a Newcastle shirt and gave constant score updates through an Oasis gig at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena when United beat Barcelona 3-2 in one of the proudest nights in the club’s history.

The offending comments came in one of the first shows Russell Brand had appeared in after his ban over the Andrew Sachs scandal.

Noel said: “It would just be brilliant if they go down.

“I don’t think there’s a greater sight than seeing fat Geordies crying on Match of the Day.

“Topless Geordies crying. They should make it a sport in the Olympics: make a Geordie cry. And all that Geordie nation nonsense; the Geordie nation? What does that mean?”

After momentarily backtracking, saying “the people are all right”, Noel continued: “The club’s rubbish. The Shearer appointment is madness. I speak for a lot of football supporters when I say ‘I hope they go down’.”

Greg Tunney, a member of the Toon Ultras supporters group, said Gallagher could expect a hostile welcome.

“If he’s walking about on the street, people are not going to be welcoming him.

“Obviously, the exact welcome he gets will depend on how much people like him for his music. There are going to be a lot of people who he has upset though.

“I don’t know if people will have stopped buying their music but the fans who like the club more than Oasis are going to be annoyed by what he’s said.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Newcastle United Supporters’ Club said the Geordie people would be big enough to ignore the comments.

“My response first of all is that what he’s said shows him up for the ignoramus that he is.

“In terms of what kind of welcome he will get, people from Newcastle will rise above such childish comments.

“The comments should be treated with the contempt they deserve. He has shown a complete lack of understanding to be fair.

“He is probably doing it for a bit of publicity . . . he wants to get a reaction.”

Sunderland FC has spent thousands of pounds and is employing almost 1500 members of staff for the massive logistics exercise of hosting the Oasis gig.

The show is expected to pull in a crowd of 50,000.

Source: www.sundaysun.co.uk

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