Hughton backed by board.Much of the speculation surrounding Newcastle over the last week or so has been regarding the future of current manager, Chris Hughton.
Now let me go on record early in this article to say that I am fully behind Hughton and believe that in no way, shape, or form does he deserve to get the boot from the St James’ Park hotseat.
Anyway, most of this speculation has been dreamed up by a number of people in the press, with Newcastle “fan” Alan Oliver being one of the main culprits, as Workyticket highlighted in his excellent article entitled Alan Oliver desperately tries to keep Hughton sacking story alive. Sadly, that particular media bandwagon has gathered some pace in recent days and has led to certain betting markets being suspended. This has, of course, all been fuelled by the club dithering on making any official announcement on the future of Hughton, who only has a contract until the end of this season. (more…)
Unlucky Timmy.....Newcastle lost 4-0 against Arsenal last night in a match that put an end to any lingering hopes the home side may have had of making an appearance at Wembley.
The 4-0 scoreline suggests that Newcastle were dominated all the way by an Arsenal side that was slightly stronger than you would expect to see Arsene Wenger field in the Carling Cup under normal circumstances.
The fact is that we weren’t dominated, and despite the harsh scoreline I actually believe there are a fair few positives that can be took from the match last night.
Chris Hughton made nine changes to the side that beat West Ham just four days ago in a move that signalled what most of us already knew anyway – that the derby, and a chance of three points on Sunday are more important to the club than progression to the quarter-final stages of the League Cup. (more…)
A warm welcome to The Gunners.Newcastle entertain Arsenal tonight in a match where both sides will be looking to progress to the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup.
Newcastle beat Chelsea in their own back yard a few weeks back to get this far, and they have been rewarded with a tough tie against another top team in this round.
Arsenal have been accused of devaluing the Carling Cup over the years as Arsene Wenger has tended to stick with his youth players and use the competition to give them some match experience. Early signs suggest that Wenger is eyeing the Carling Cup as a chance to and a five-year trophyless run (boo-hoo eh!) which could mean that he is willing to risk more first-team players than he would normally.
As for Newcastle, well I would say that we can expect a mix of youth, experience and fringe players to feature for us tonight with some first-team players on the bench ready to come on and try to make an impact if it is needed. (more…)
It's my birthday...... kind of.....Right, well, those of you who have been looking closely, very closely, will have noticed that this is indeed my 500th ‘blog for nufcblog.org.
I’ve been scrabbling around trying to think of something special to do for it, but I haven’t been able to come up with much to do for it in way of a celebration. I could just put some photos of me up, but whilst it would look good, of that there is no doubt, it would be very NUFC related would it?
So what I have decided to do is hand pick a selection of Newcastle matches from over the years that hold some special memories for me personally, starting with the first ever match I went to. Now I’m only 28, so my reference period may not be as long as some of yours, but it’s always nice to have a look back, a wander down memory lane if you will, through the good times and the inevitable bad times. (more…)
It's a Landon thing?Newcastle United are rumoured to be interested in signing USA international Landon Donovan when the January transfer window opens in the new year.
Rumours suggest that Newcastle will be going toe-to-toe with Everton as both clubs try to sign the pacey midfielder on a three-month loan deal, much like Everton did last season.
It is for that reason that I suspect that this is just a rumour, a bit of speculation. Donovan was at Everton for three months last season, and you would have to say that would put Everton at the top of the list for the USA international if a similar deal was offered again. A return to familiar surroundings at a ground where he bacame a bit of a crowd favourite would be on the cards in my view.
Still, with the transfer window only two months away it was perhaps inevitable that the rumour mill would start cranking into life, and along with the rumours comes the return of our old friend, the club source. (more…)
