But that’s not telling the whole story: that doesn’t tell you about the euphoria of avoiding relegation (largely, but not exclusively, attributable to THAT win at Bristol back in February). It doesn’t tell you about some of the terrific rugby we’ve seen this season. It doesn’t tell you that we did all this amidst fears that the club were going bankrupt, were facing potential legal action from sponsors and HMRC, and had seen communication with supporters fall to an all-time low.

So here we are: for better or for worse, here’s a retrospective view of the 2008-2009 season as seen through the eyes of a Falcon fan.

Our Falcons ended the 2007-2008 season as firm favourites for the drop in many people’s eyes; deservedly so, as our squad had been thoroughly depleted by the departure of Mathew Tait, Toby Flood, Ben Woods and Matt Burke (to Sale, Leicester x 2 and the Waratahs respectively). Losing the ECC semi-final to a resurgent Worcester team at Sixways was the catalyst for a fairly dismal season run-in, a 51-10 thrashing on the last game of the season (to Worcester once more) seemed to indicate trouble ahead in the forthcoming battle for survival in 2008-2009.

Finishing a mere place above relegated Leeds Carwash, the Falcons managed to win only seven games in the GP in 2007-2008, tasting bitter defeat on fifteen separate occasions. If it hadn’t been for Leeds’ abject implosion as a squad, we would have been playing ND1 rugby in 2008-2009 – even the bargain basement team managed to push us hard though, losing by two points at Kingston Park and grabbing the fastest ever Premiership try in the reverse fixture at Headingley (a 16-15 victory for the ex-Tykes).

During the off-season, Tommy May managed to grab the Falcons Player of the Season award, Steve ‘The Master’ Bates was confirmed as permanent DoR after taking over from the unfortunate John Fletcher earlier in the season and his coaching squad was bolstered by the recruitment of ex-Falcons Stuart Grimes and Alan Tait (as lineout and defence coaches respectively).

The appointment of Bates was extremely contentious: Dave Thompson had already wielded the knives in the sacking of Fletch and Peter Walton for a string of results that the Chairman deemed to be ‘unacceptable’ and many fans and pundits alike foresaw nothing but misery for the season ahead with Bates at the helm.

June saw better news with the announcement of Tane ‘Tulip’ Tu’ipulotu’s acquisition from Wellington, the Junior All Black scheduled to arrive in the UK following the conclusion of the Air New Zealand Cup. The pre-season friendly against Western Force was confirmed as being the chance to say farewell to the great God Burke (causing a debacle in terms of ticketing, as season ticket holders had been promised free entry to a pre-season friendly but this never materialised after rumours of Munster pulling out of an agreed game at KP) and the Falcons were forced to change kit supplier after only a single season wearing the Nike kit – Cotton Traders took over the supply of kit and leisurewear but it appears that something was not quite kosher about the deal as the Falcons were forced into an embarrassing apology to Nike during the season.

Adam Balding was announced as the next new arrival at Kingston Park during the first week of July, signing a two-year deal with the Falcons and leaving his homeland of Gloucester after a successful four year stint with the Cherry and Whites. Danny Williams added his name to the squad for 2008-2009 later in the month, making the switch from the 13-man code where he played for Leeds Rhinos and adding to the Falcons talent at wing.

The first game of the new season was ushered in by the arrival in the North East of the Aussie Western Force team who ran out 15-25 winners in the friendly at Kingston Park – tries from Tom Dillon and one courtesy of the ref were insufficient to outclass a Western Force team without their biggest names, but still full of class, including ex-Irish player Scott Staniforth.

The Middlesex Sevens tournament at Twickenham saw the Falcons fall at the semi-final hurdle with defeat to an exuberant Harlequins team who went on to win the tournament, ex-Falcon Epi Taione getting himself on the score sheet with a well-taken try. Andrew Fenby also made his first team debut ahead of the imminent game against the Cardigans.

The second pre-season friendly saw the Falcons make the short journey down the A1 to Headingley for a 25-21 defeat to newly-relegated Leeds, Rory Clegg making his first team debut but not figuring on the score sheet as Rudd, Swinson and Jones ran in three tries but the boot of Leeds’ Strange proved to be the difference between the two teams. The pre-season was not looking brilliant at this point, defeat in the first two games did not bode well for the beginning of a long Premiership struggle for survival.

The final pre-season friendly saw the Falcons travel over the water for a clash against Top 14 side Racing Metro, a convincing 10-37 win for the travelling Geordies helped allay some of the fears that had been building up after two defeats on the trot. Swinson grabbed his second try in two games along with Dowson, Brent Wilson and Tommy May; Steve Jones and the youthful Rory Clegg sharing kicking duties and racking up seventeen points between them.

Next: the serious business starts.

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