Newcastle United in Japan - was it a success? - video Dailymotion

NewcastleWorld

NewcastleWorld writer Jordan Cronin spent the week in Tokyo with Newcastle United.

Transcript

00:00so this is the final edition of my tokyo video day diaries now i've got to confess i'm not

00:09actually in tokyo right now i am in shanghai waiting for my connection flight to manchester

00:16before i get on that long train back up to the northeast so when you see this i will be back

00:25in england because um well i didn't know you might have but i didn't there's quite a lot of things

00:33restricted on chinese wi-fi and yeah can't get on facebook can't get on x can't get on youtube

00:44um yeah can't get on many things but i can record a video and then i say upload it when i am back

00:52on english soil which i'm very much looking forward to after a long week in japan now i say

01:00it was a long week but it was a really really enjoyable week and i think eddie how and his

01:05players will probably feel the same um if you take away the weather conditions because

01:13as it's been well documented it's been hot and humid in tokyo heat personally i've never

01:20experienced before i'd guess it was probably the same for for some of those players as well maybe

01:25not your bruno's etc how we used to play them in south america but you know quite the quite a lot

01:32of the english call wouldn't have enjoyed that plenty of other players as well it was really

01:36tough conditions here and i think that's i think that's one of probably the it depends what you

01:42look at it i suppose eddie how new coming here what the conditions were were going to be like

01:48um he said that would hopefully help help newcastle you know it's fitness now only time

01:54will tell if that will be the case um because you know the premier league season now was only

02:02as i said here now just under a fortnight away southampton at home but before that

02:08they obviously got the seller weekender against girona and stad brist so yeah it could work in

02:16newcastle's favor but they played very two challenging games i would say made even more

02:24difficult because of the weather conditions i would say the first game against eurora

02:33probably didn't affect newcastle as much as it could have because there was a downpour

02:39before kickoff um at the site on a stadium so that cooled the temperatures down and it probably

02:46showed in the result for one win that and newcastle dealt well with conditions that day

02:52and were relatively comfortable in that in that victory and really i suppose an even first half

03:00if you like newcastle probably edged it and then in the second half uh yeah they wiped the floor

03:06with their their j league counterparts but it was a very different story um the the next game

03:14after japan national stadium against yokohama so hot um it was the probably on the hottest

03:24days of the week and it was just so happens that newcastle had to go out on the pitch and

03:29and play for 90 minutes and yeah as much as newcastle i think again if you look at it in

03:35both halves newcastle probably shaded it in the in the first half but i do wonder how much that

03:40heat did play an impact in terms of that final ball of the lack of concentration in the the

03:47final third that just newcastle's final touch wasn't quite there and yeah in the second half as

03:54well anyhow made seven changes and then later on in the in the second half from 60 minutes onward

04:00there was more changes so with the weather conditions and the disruption of all the

04:06substitutes it all sort of came to a head for newcastle then they got fortunate that say it

04:11rained in the previous game but yeah there was no getting away from that heat yesterday it was

04:16absolutely scorching but of course this this trip wasn't just about what happened on the pitch

04:23of course usually you know pre-season results don't don't matter at all really um you like you

04:29like to win as a as a as many would say but it's not the be all be all and end all i think what was

04:37the most important thing about this trip was newcastle connecting with a with a new fan base

04:43new people japan as we sort of come to learn over in tokyo it's a very untapped market

04:52market in newcastle to be fair i've got a really strong core of their black and white supporters

05:02and fan events which will come on now later and in a minute the away ends at both stadiums

05:13see a black and white flags and it felt like it was it was really heartwarming to see actually

05:21so chosen you can still got a core fan base but if you want to get a wider fan base then

05:26that will only come with naturally success signing big name players and you know probably signing a

05:33a japanese base player would probably help that as well when you look at

05:38brighton with mitoma and of course um tottenham as well that ange costacoglu he previously managed

05:44in japan so those type of um additions help if you like but yeah the the it was it was a

05:52heartwarming i'd say the fan event uh hours before the game on saturday against yokohama at the

05:59rooftop bar in uh shinjuku city it was a really really nice moment there was there was fans from

06:07four corners of the world coming together um obviously of course japan base fans there was

06:15people over from hong kong sinapore australia dubai there was there was a lot of it just it

06:24as much as newcastle have got a long way to go before building a really really

06:29strong international following it shows that they've got a really really good core and they

06:35all came together at that final event and of course at the games as well and i think that was

06:39a real positive from this trip and the main positive for me and doing trips like this will

06:45of course naturally help newcastle to continue to build to where they want to be but yeah there was

06:55not a lot of fun event was was excellent um sure i mean we'll be doing a q and a

07:01and had fans chanting about sandro tonali lots of sun and chance this trip as well um

07:10there's a fine event of course that tonali appeared up early on the week um which tonali's

07:20english was very very good um and excitement is building towards his return now i think

07:28if you want to look at sort of highlights from the trip i would say probably tonali

07:34appearance was was one of them because it's not long now until he is indeed back available and of

07:40course starting september now in tottenham hotspur visit st james's park but going off a bit of a

07:47tangent there as as you usually do i think that the trip overall was a was a real positive one

07:53and i'm sure newcastle will endeavor to go back in to japan in the the coming

08:01years i think they'll have other markets they want to explore um but yeah i think i think it

08:09was a roaring success to say i was i was surprised by the amount of fans newcastle had over there

08:19i think you'll probably look at the first game there was only 13 000 fans in attendance against

08:25eurora but that core fan group was was really really vocal and really strong and then

08:33the attendance at the japan national stadium i didn't get an official figure there was

08:38suggestions that there would be 50 000 attendance before the game i don't think it was it was quite

08:43that um but again another strong core following from the japanese fans and other supporters who

08:52were flowing in from from elsewhere as well so newcastle didn't used to do things like this of

08:59course they've been to shanghai before where i'm currently sat now under on the steve bruce but

09:05international fan events weren't a thing and they're doing that now and i say trips like

09:13this one will help newcastle become a hopefully a global but there's a there's a long way to go

09:19but the signs are positive newcastle are doing all the right things and yeah i think they they

09:26leave tokyo having left a really big impression on some of the local people and then the japanese

09:35newcastle supporting fans already it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of them there

09:39there was somewhere i didn't actually i hadn't seen newcastle united play before so it was yeah

09:47it was a it was a lovely event and a lovely weekend you know i'm sure newcastle will be

09:53doing more of those trips whether that be japan maybe the middle east plenty of other

09:59untapped markets which i'm sure darren eels and peter silverstone will be planning um ahead of

10:05next summer as well so yeah to round off a bit of a ramble this um day diary i do

10:12do apologize it's been a been a long week but overall it's been a positive one so thanks

10:18everyone to well thanks everyone who tuned into newcastle world over the last week and read

10:25the content it was much appreciated i do hope you enjoyed it um i'm away for a

10:32probably a couple of days rest and probably take us to recover from this sleep deprived

10:38trip but we'll be back on friday and saturday for as i mentioned at the start there the cellar

10:45weekender where newcastle play on friday and saturday the final games of pre-season before

10:53that all-important southampton opener the premier league opener so thanks everyone for watching

11:00we'll see you in a week's time

Newcastle United in Japan - was it a success?

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