Clock Runs Out On Pittsburgh Friendly

Bad news for American Toon fans: Organizers have called off efforts to arrange a Pittsburgh friendly in early August between A.C. Milan and Newcastle United, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting.

Earlier this summer A.C. Milan had announced plans for an Aug. 3 match at Heinz Field, home of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, and Newcastle United had become the lead candidate to serve as Milan's opponent. However, local organizers in Pittsburgh - including the Steelers - are choosing to hold off for this year because time to promote the match has run too short, according to the Post-Gazette.

This likely ends whatever hope was left for American fans to see an NUFC match in the U.S. this year. However, a Pittsburgh friendly is still in play for 2013, and given the rise of Newcastle United in the Premier League and the spirited turnout by Newcastle fans in the U.S. during the 2011 tour, we hope a return to America isn't too much farther in the future for the club.

Comments

[Justin Braman]

You guys should arrange a trip for a big group of followers of the blog to head to Newcastle for a game. Because of the time of figuring plans, tickets, and prices it may not be right away but possibly early next season could be a realistic time period. I've seen them play over here (Columbus) but to watch a game in St. James' Park is on my bucketlist! We should do it! Seriously!

[Neil (LA Toon)]

As an ex pat from Newcastle my wife (an American) and I visited Newcastle this April and went to see the Toon v Stoke. She is now a confirmed memeber of the Toon Army!!!

[Bob]

Justin, we've had the idea of arranging a group trip to Newcastle and SJP through the blog, and we had such a trip offered to us by a tour operator last season. But we were scared off by the risk of fixture movement, and in fact both matches we were planning to see eventually were moved to different dates and the trip would've been a disaster. If the Premier League was like American sports and the schedule was firmly fixed, a tour would be easy to set up. Unfortunately match dates aren't guaranteed in England, and that makes the risk of advance travel preparation pretty high. We're still trying to figure it out; perhaps with travel insurance we can do it someday.

[Lynxie]

Guys. The one games which can NOT be moved are the Europa League games. If you want to experience the NOISE at its best, Thursday nights at St James' Park this season. Go for it, you wont be disappointed.
Good luck, and RESPECT for all you USA Magpies!

[Belton]

It seemed like most of the matches that got moved occurred after January, so you could probably arrange a trip for August/September with relative safety. 2 of 3 matches that I saw last year in April were moved but luckily I'd left some flexibility in the plans to accommodate it (they were only moved by 1 day each). It seems like the moving occurs mostly to accommodate later-round European tournament schedules or to maximize TV interest after the table's had a chance to shake itself out a bit -- neither of which should be much of an issue very early in the season.