St James' will be rocking against Ipswich.The final home game of the season looks set to be the stage for the biggest party seen on Tyneside for many years as Newcastle United take on Roy Keane’s Ipswich Town outfit. Of course, there isn’t just the match to be considered tomorrow as we also get the chance to see our players lift the Championship trophy on home turf in front of what will be a fifty-thousand plus crowd.
Should we remain unbeaten tomorrow, then we will have set another three records, one for becoming the first team to gain promotion to the Premier League with an unbeaten home record, another one will see us grabbing the record of the biggest Championship attendance in history, a record we already hold but look set to improve upon, and the final one will see us become the first Championship team to have 1 million fans pass through our turnstiles in a season. Add that to the records we have already set this season, such as being the team to secure promotion in the least amount of games, and the list looks really quite impressive, and indicative of the fact that maybe, just maybe, we do belong in the Premier League, even if the result’s of last season suggested otherwise. (more…)
Butt in action, but for how much longer?Newcastle United manager, Chris Hughton, speaking in an interview, has given a very strong hint that this may be Nicky Butt’s last season at Newcastle, and that he may be retiring from the playing altogether as our spell in the Championship reaches it’s close.
Hughton said of Butt:
“If I look at the period of time I’ve been here, Nicky has been a wonderful ambassador,”
“I knew of him before, of course, and his achievements at United when he was one of that group of young quality players.
“What I’ve seen of him in my time here is exactly that – someone with the grandeur he had at United.(more…)
Chrissy has the balls to keep us going forward.Who would have thought it eh? Who would have thought way back at the end of last season when Newcastle were relegated that in just a year the fortunes of the club would have seemingly been turned around so dramatically?
The shame of watching such an abject display at Villa Park and the embarrasament of bowing out of the Premier League has been replaced with a healthy optimism and a feeling of pride has been restored to Tyneside. One man must take the broad chunk of the credit for it – Chris Hughton. Since being appointed as Caretaker back in pre-season, Hughton has hardly set a foot wrong. That in itself is startling when you take into account that the guy didn’t know from one day to the next whether he would have a job or if he would be working with the same players again or even who his boss would be. Yet he just got on with the job in hand, ignoring all of those factors from within the club and numerous factors from outside the club trying to undermine him. (more…)
The boys of '93: Better than the boys of 2010? It’s a simple question really. Out of the last two promoted Newcastle United sides, which one is better?
Here I am going to try to dissect the two sides and, with your help, try to come up with an answer for that question. Are the romantic memories of the Keegan side that won promotion back in 1993 clouding our view of the set of players we have now? Or is the current team stronger in some more vital areas?
I think from an achievement point of view then obviously the 1993 side trumps it, although the current side should not go without any merits. In fact in many ways the achievement of both teams are very similar. Whilst the current side looks like gaining more points than the 1993 side did, some will point to the fact that we should as our current squad contains more players that have played in the Premier League, get paid a lot more, and as such the expectation of a promotion charge is greater than that of the team of ’93 who were the great over-achievers in some ways. (more…)
Reading: A trickier proposition than last time?After two games at home, the lads venture away from home today for a trip to see the ‘Royals’ of Berkshire, Reading FC.
With promotion already secured, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Magpies still have two targets to aim for: The Championship title, and along with that, what is arguably one of the two most historic trophies in world football. Secondly, just to show off, a final tally of 100 points or more is still up for grabs, with a potential maximum of 104 if we win our remaining few games, which would just be short of what Reading themselves achieved under Steve ‘laughing boy’ Coppell with their record busting 106 points in 2005/6. (more…)
