Let the bells ring out... Newcastle United are mathematically safe. Again.
Let the church bells of Tyneside ring out. Let the people rejoice. Newcastle United are mathematically safe from relegation in the Premier League.
It's fine to feel a sense of relief at this. In a year of online discontent within the Black and White Nation, know this: you're not letting down your comrades by wanting your team to stop up.
You've probably known, deep down, that Steve Bruce would get this team over the line and it's alright to have enjoyed the recent wins against Burnley, West Ham and Leicester. You probably worked out the Fulham "revival" was fool's gold. But this is not what you aspire to be. You want to be more, to feel more.
The problem is, you don't know if there is "more" or just "more of the same". The club has existed in a state of limbo for over a year and it's insidious. Until the skies clear, until the lawyers do battle, until the ship comes in, everything just carries on as it is now. If you're reading this, you already know the situation.
If the ownership stays the same, everything most likely stays the same. The details, the names, and the faces may change slightly. But the ceiling will never be raised. It'll never feel different and the hope, that most precious commodity, will not return. Don't forget, the "Mike Ashley lack of ambition" problem pre-dates the current takeover saga by more than a decade.
But, If the ownership changes, everything changes. It may be better, it may be worse. You wouldn't know where each journey was going to end, but at least it would be different. At least it wouldn't be this unsettling, monotonous limbo.
Steve Bruce has his own decision to make. He's basically overseen the same season twice now and his own personal battle for Black and White hearts and minds appears lost. Invoking the "Geordie Great Expectations" argument in a national radio interview this week hasn't done him any favours. The Head Coach might decide he's had enough. But he's under contract so, as things stand, you'd expect him back next season.
And as things stand, next season will probably be rather like this season and the season before. Unless the skies clear, the lawyers do their thing and Newcastle United wakes up one morning to a different life.