Another award for el Capitán - This time it's the big one!Well, 1485 of you have voted, and we can finally declare that the NUFC Blog readers’ “Player of the Season” is (drumroll):
Fabricio Coloccini!
Second in our 2010 vote, and third in 2011, it’s a case of third time lucky for the curly locked Capitán Colo after beating second placed Tim Krul and third placed Yohan Cabaye convincingly to finally clinch the greatest honour a Newcastle United player can receive. His excellent defensive performances apart, perhaps it was his leadership role this season, a season which saw Newcastle United make it into the Europa League for the first time since 2006/7, which has finally clinched it for him this time?
Though undoubtedly small beer now he has scooped this, the ultimate award, our captain was also the only Newcastle United’s only player to make the Professional Footballers’ Association Premiership “Team of the Year” for his key role in what has been a very good season for the Magpies overall. (more…)
Following on from part one of Newcastle United’s 2011 / 2012 season review, we begin at the start of the new year with a home tie against Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
January – Man Utd humbled / A Nightmare at the Cottage / The new number nine…
A stunning display from Pardew’s team saw champions, Manchester United, comfortably beaten 3-0 at St James’ Park. Two brilliant goals from both Demba Ba and Yohan Cabaye put United on course to victory, with Phil Jones putting through his own net to complete the rout. It was a tremendous start to January, and helped eradicate the previous month’s below par performances. Pardew got the tactics spot on, knowing that Man Utd’s centre backs Rio Ferdinand and Phil Jones couldn’t handle the physicality of Magpies front men, Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi. (more…)
The end of the season is finally upon us. A season in which defied all expectations. A season where even the most optimistic of Toon fans would have struggled to predict what would be.
Newcastle United gate-crashed the top six, and also knocked on the door of the Premier League’s top four. As it turned out at 5pm on Sunday the 13th of May 2012, Newcastle United were confirmed as finishing in 5th place, above Chelsea, above Liverpool, and above the majority of peoples expectations.
The Europa League awaits the Magpies next season, a new chapter or perhaps a new beginning is on the horizon. But before we look forward into what might be, I’m now going to relive the season that was. Cast my mind back and tell the tale of Newcastle United’s 2011 / 2012 season. I hope you are all sitting comfortably… (more…)
The fall and rise of Newcastle United?It is certainly fitting of Newcastle’s unexpectedly successful season that, on the night of the 12th March, after a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates, they trailed the 4th placed Gunners by eight points.
It looked like the wheels had come off the North East bandwagon and they would slip into the mid-table mediocrity that had been predicted after a summer of unrest at the newly named “S_____ D_____ A____.” However, under the stewardship of manager Alan Pardew, what has followed has been remarkable: Five straight wins means they close the gap on a now third-place Arsenal to three points, and have moved level on points with Tottenham Hotspur who occupy the last of the four Champions League spots. (more…)
We ain't seen nothing yet!Venue: St James’ Park. Date: Sunday, 1st April, 2012. Kick-Off: 1.30pm (Sky TV). Referee: Martin Atkinson (W.Yorks).
Well, Newcastle United might well be going into this fixture feeling more confident than they have for quite some time against the reds of Merseyside.
King Kenny’s men have lost their last two Premiership games, and they were against Premiership bottom feeders, Wigan and QPR, to boot. They have lost no less five of their last six Premiership games, though the other one was a 3-0 victory over local rivals, Everton, with a hat-trick from Steven Gerrard. This very poor run, especially by their usual standards, leaves them eight points behind us in the table in seventh, with an ever decreasing amount of games to catch up.
One thing Liverpool do have though that we don’t so far is a guaranteed place in Europe, not to mention a trophy already this season. This is something we haven’t managed for a whole 43 years now, and in that period, the scousers have won no less than eleven League Championships, five European Cups, three UEFA Cups, three UEFA Super Cups, six FA Cups, eight League Cups and twelve Charity Shields, though one or two of the Charity Shields were shared. (more…)
