Why are we asking this?
The only entrance for players, staff, deliveries and construction vehicles to the current Training Centre site is a narrow, single public lane that is shared by vehicles and pedestrians.
As the number of people gathering at the Training Centre increases, so too does the risk of serious injury with so many vehicles and people sharing a small space.
As crowds gather, people are stepping into in the lane and creating a risk to their own safety and to road users. Individuals also continued to pose a risk to themselves and others by entering busy roads to approach players’ vehicles while at traffic lights up to a kilometre away.
Please avoid the Training Centre entrance
To support public safety, we have instructed players and coaches not to stop their vehicles upon entry or exit.
We do not take this step lightly.
We value the incredibly strong connection that exists between supporters and our players and coaches. But safety must come first, and we trust our fans will support the club, players and staff by adhering to this request.
We will continue to organise opportunities for supporters to meet the players through the season, which will be communicated through newcastleunited.com and official channels.
Charity policy
We appreciate some supporters seek signed items on behalf of charitable organisations. Our charity policy can be found here.
Newcastle fan Adam Pearson said: “2-0 win against Tottenham last night at St James’ Park, which means five wins in our last six games. What a result and also what a cup draw, following in the quarter-final.
“I tell you what, one of the perfect ideal fixtures we could have got last night, we ended up getting. A team that’s a real relegation battle. I don’t think they’re going to have the capabilities and the squad depth to even consider challenging for a cup this season.
“Respectfully, Newcastle should be getting past them, which would be our third semi-final in the past four years.
“What a time it is to be a Newcastle United fan, which is why it’s also depressing to see such a firm history-making statement today from Newcastle, especially when you look at the history of the training ground, because anyone that’s older watching this video that remembers the during days when it was Kevin Keegan, the open training sessions, you’ll remember tens of thousands of fans flooding the training ground.
“You used to always go to the training ground and meet the players, they’d meet the manager, they used to see the training session and back then it was mental, I could imagine for anyone that was able to experience that.
“But even during my childhood, you’d look back at Newcastle during the mega-ashy years, even then you could still go to the training ground during the half-time holidays, you’d meet the players.
“Demand wasn’t too big back then either, so you could actually have a proper one-to-one with the player when they stopped the call, you’d take your photographs, you’d have your signature sorted.
“Past the takeover, the first couple of years of the takeover, I still had a few great times going to the training ground, being able to meet players, and all of a sudden over the last couple of years it has got a bit, I would argue, toxic outside now.
“I’m always someone, I know you guys obviously watch my videos, have had a chance to do so for a long period of time, I don’t go to the training ground that much, there seems to be a bit of a misconception where I seem to go to the training ground 24-7, I don’t.
“I honestly only go there now whenever there’s a new player coming through the door, so for my videos during the summer window.
“Isak was a somewhat exception because of the fact that East Sac was going to the training ground separately, of course that newsworthy, so I used to go there.
“I guess more of a journalist than perhaps a supporter, I used to always go there whenever I felt like there was something to talk about or something to cover.
“But yeah, Newcastle United has effectively banned supporters without it being a ban. Now Newcastle United legally by law cannot ban fans from standing outside the training ground because it’s public land.
“No matter what the club says, of course they ask you respectfully not to attend the training ground anymore, but legally they can’t stop you, is basically the situation here and why Newcastle has unfortunately not quite got the control that we would want.
“And I want to, I guess, go through the statement first and just explain fully what’s going on.
“So Newcastle United has said, to ensure the safety of all supporters, players, staff and members of the public, we are asking people to avoid gathering at our training centre entrance and surrounding roadways.
“Why are we asking this? The only entrance for players, staff, deliveries and construction vehicles to the current training centre site is a narrow, single public lane that is shared by vehicles and pedestrians.
“As the number of people gathering at the training centre increases, so does the risk of serious injury with so many vehicles and people sharing a small space.
“As crowds gather, people are stepping into the lane and creating a risk of their own safety and to road users.
“Individuals also continue to pose a risk to themselves and others by entering busy roads to approach players vehicles while traffic lights up to a kilometre away.
“That’s the big message for me, that little paragraph there. And I want to tell you a couple of stories as well, because this has been something that’s happening for a long period of time.
“But for some of our younger supporters, I go there of course, kids, lads during the half-term holiday and the fact that this statement came out during a half-term holiday would actually suggest to me and unfortunately imply that something perhaps might have happened earlier in the week which has maybe instigated the club to then put an official statement out in the social media.
“But this has happened for ages by the way, so you get lads there and you’ll get kids that basically turn up without their parents, so they’ll be there on bikes or be on a group, like whatever.
“But the issue is, it’s not the fact that they’re without their parents, the issue is they would actually purposely go out of their way, so they’ll basically go to the top of the road where the cars come out.
“So when the cars come out, there’s then the actual public road and what those lads would do, they’ll go to the bottom of that road and they’ll purposely time the traffic lights.
“So they’ll press the button for the traffic lights when the players’ cars have just got out of the training ground and they do that on purpose.
“So of course, the car is stationary when it’s waiting for the traffic light to turn green, the lads would then run onto the road to go to that particular player’s car and that’s how they would essentially, behind the club’s back, get autographs, get photographs taken. It is mental.
“I’ve seen my own eyes and this is something that does generally happen at the training ground.
“You get supporters there that strategically go out of their way to stop the traffic just so they can meet the players and of course, this is an active live road, which doesn’t just involve you can’t stay, it involves real public members, which of course would then involve Northumbria Police and I feel like the club probably gets loads of sticky, imagine, off the police and off the community for something they’ve got no control over.
“Necastle time and time again have stated in recent years that we have stopped autographs, we’ve stopped photographs, we’ve taught staff members, we’ve taught players not to stop their cars for you and lads continue to go there and still try to look, which is probably the reason I would say, without looking at anything else, I think is the main reason why this has stopped happening at the training ground.
“Now I’m a bit displeased to be honest, I couldn’t care less most of the time but I’m not pleased to say that some people have suggested I’m the reason this has stopped at the training ground, like are you mental?
“I go there to make YouTube videos, I’ve never once disrespected anyone at the training ground, I’ve never caused a risk or danger to anyone and they’re not my kids, I’ve got nothing to do with them, I don’t safeguard them, I don’t look after them, they’re not my children, they’re not my responsibility.
“I’ve always filmed my videos, you guys watch my videos at the training ground, I’ve always said in my videos, things that are going on, I’ve always said things you should do and shouldn’t do at the training ground, yes of course they’re not my children but I do try my YouTube videos to at least let you all know what’s going on, hopefully to try and help people out but yeah, some people still continue to misbehave and do whatever they want basically, so that’s why is firm on it.
“So they’ve been said as well, to please avoid the training centre entrance, to support public safety, we have instructed players and coaches not to stop their vehicles upon entry or exit, we do not take this step lightly, we value the incredibly strong support that exists between supporters and our players and coaches but safety must come first and we trust our fans, we support the club, players and staff by adhering to this request, we will continue to organise opportunities for supporters to meet the players through this season which will be communicated through Nicasna.com and official channels.
“That’s the message there, do not go to the training ground and attempt to meet the players, it’s basically about the same and the fact that it’s got to that stage for me is a real shame and I’m almost a bit livid.
“Not with the club because I can understand the club’s point of view but the thing that pisses me off quite a lot is that 99% of people that are there at the training ground are genuine people, you know, there’ll be kids that go there that never misbehave, they’re there with their parents, they’re always respectful, they always treat the players and staff members with respect and 99% of people, they don’t go there every single day, they go there a couple of times, you know, they want to meet the players, they get a chance to do so and then they go about their day and the 1% of people.
“Unfortunately, the ones that are there literally every day of the week, they’ll be the ones that will stop the traffic lights, they’ll be the ones that will draw on the players’ cars, that’s happened before, they’ll be the ones that will intentionally run onto the road in front of the players’ cars to attempt to stop the player which of course then adds quite serious health risks and they’re the ones that just makes it unpleasant.
“Even when you’re there, even when there’s nothing going on, you actually hear from some lads sometimes like, you’re talking six, seven years old, they’re using foul language, they’re doing very disrespectful things, I might sound like a proper Karen in this video but trust me, like when you’re there at the training ground, you won’t believe the background of some of these lads and some of these children like that.
“It’s just not pleasant at all and just see things escalate at this stage where it’s got quite, I would say quite toxic at the training ground, it’s not nice at all.
“It gets to a stage where people just point the finger at me because I feel like I’m an easy target to point it towards because you know, I’m the lad there that’s making YouTube videos, you know, I’m the one there that you could argue is promoting this behaviour, absolute rubbish, I mean honestly, sheer rubbish, I do not promote any of this type of behaviour at all, I go to the training ground, I do my videos, I go home, that’s it and of course with Newcastle United now asking people not to do that.
“Admittedly, I’m not going to deny it, whenever a new player goes to the training ground, I’m still going to go there and do the videos because Newcastle United doesn’t have a problem with that, they have a problem with people standing outside the training ground acting in quite a dangerous manner and going out of their way to just make it unpleasant for the staff members and players, I’m just in and out and I would argue for Newcastle United as well, especially with the traction of course, me being out there, being able to spot players going in, it just helps to build up for eventual club announcements and I would say it does benefit the club in that respect.
“The message now is act and we do not go there, the players won’t stop for you, the manager won’t stop for you, they will drive straight past you and the message from the club is to wait for official club events for the opportunity to arise and if I was going to be critical towards the club on anything, I would say it’s the club events because I actually look at the club events last season, this has come from someone as well who was at Singapore this summer, I was in South Korea this summer, there wasn’t any real opportunities to meet first team players, there was a couple of Q&A sessions but the players would go in and they’d go straight afterwards, there was no real opportunity for fans to actually physically meet the players unless you went out of your way to stand outside the hotel or stand at the training facilities.
“Newcastle United needs to be able to have these opportunities available because I’m someone who goes to every game, I’m always at the events, I’m always out and about and I’m everywhere, I’ve never seen any real opportunities where fans can actually meet players, there’s been a couple of events last season with the mags plus membership which cost you £40 to buy.
“There’s a couple of events last season where you’re talking less than 100 people there, they meet a couple of the first team players or maybe an exclusive event with a partner like JD where they might put something on, you’ve got to apply for it and then 24 hours later you find out whether you can go or not, it’s just real strict and real small venues for meeting opportunities, I just don’t think realistically there’s actually been a proper meet and greet event last season.
“So I’m hoping Newcastle now, if they’re going to be this strict on no one being allowed to meet players at the training ground, hopefully they do get some bigger events on, hopefully they do more events as well because players I think, it’s not even just the fans.
“I think the players themselves need these meeting opportunities as well because they need to understand the local culture, they need to understand what they mean to our younger fans, what they mean to support us.
“I feel like as well not just for fans meeting players, players also need to meet fans, I feel like it’s a real healthy good relationship between the club and players and I hope that the club doesn’t get that disconnection because you need to keep that there.
“The training ground is a huge piece of history in terms of how fans actually meet players and when you took it all away now, it’s going to be a real downer for some people, I think the full situation is sad.
“I’ll say it again, there’s a lot of people there that have done nothing wrong and they’ve been punished for what someone else has done and that’s just not on in my opinion and I think Newcastle has got a right to do it as well.
“I don’t even think it’s Newcastle being I guess awfully protected or being hard, I think Newcastle has got a justified reason for doing this, I don’t think some of the supporters there have been behaving at all and they’ve been warned time and time again, they’re still not behaving so yeah it is what it is.
“But one final message from me, what do you guys think, do you think this has been harsh towards everyone, do you think it’s a real sad thing to see, do you think it’s my fault I guess because I seem to still get the finger pointed at me quite a bit, it’s got nothing to do with me but yeah, I’m sure you guys have your own opinions anyway so please do let me know down below, appreciate you watching as always, take care and we will see you all in the next one.”
