"It's all your fault!"It’s time for the long awaited second installment of this series looking at Alan Pardew’s role at the club, and if he know what he’s doing? (Hence the title). Because of recent events, I have decided to do a piece on his tendency to blame all and sundry other than himself for some disappointing performances this season so far.
Part II: Playing the Blame Game
Because of all the success we had last season, anything that went slightly awry, (and there were many of them, but that’s for another day/blog) became difficult to criticise. Fans seemed to soften their opinions towards the fat man and Casino Derek (or at least turn them down to avoid derision from more optimistic supporters), and why wouldn’t they? The team was doing well and we looked like we had found stability and a vision for going forward into the future. This season however has been a different story.
The optimism gained from 11/12 was slowly eroded away, even the most committed Pardew apologists have doubts in their minds and most people now feel that he has overstayed his welcome. This deterioration in confidence doesn’t only effect the fans but also the players, the owners, but most importantly the manager. In an effort to avoid coming to terms with the reasons why his Newcastle career has gone so far downhill, Pardew now almost routinely blames different elements of the organisation (or at least ones that don’t have the platform to fight back) game to game. (more…)
Benny’s 3rd round FA Cup goal against Blackburn Rovers from January 2012.
You may have heard already that Newcastle United’s Hatem Ben Arfa is one of ten candidates for the FIFA “Puskás Award” for the best goal of the year.
However, this competition is also up for a public vote on FIFA’s official website, and I wouldn’t be doing my duty if I didn’t encourage all you Toon fans out there to get on the site and vote!
To crib unashamedly from the Wikipedia, it is described thusly:(more…)
Second fiddle, but still in it to win it says Silver Supremo.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Thusday 30th August, 2012. Kick-Off: 8:00pm. Referee: Stephen Studer . UK TV: ITV 4.
Hello, good evening and welcome to our latest “match banter” feature for this evening’s Europa League game against FC Atromitos of Athens.
With a shortage of success in the transfer window so far, Alan Pardew has now been playing down the importance of this competition, even though it is over five years since we last tasted European football with Glenn Roeder’s legendary Intertoto winning “Dream Team” back in the 2006–07 season. Speaking in the pre match press conference for the game, the Silver Supremo said that he will be prioritising the Premiership and the FA Cup, seeing the League Cup and the Europa League as a chance for younger players and squad players to “show their wares,” though he did add that the priority would be raised should the club reach the latter stages of the competition.
Speaking on the fringe players, Pardew commented:(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…)
30 minute Tyne Tees Television special programme from 1984, where David Burton reviews Newcastle United’s 1983-4 promotion season. Featuring Arthur Cox, Kevin Keegan, and some classic Keegan, Waddle and Beardsley goals from the days when the club had a front three that I’m sure quite a few Toon fans would happily include in their NUFC all time “Dream Team”. One telling point was the commentator looks back at when the club were ninth early in the season and had problems scoring goals, “but the signing of Tyneside born Peter Beardsley changed all that”. It certainly did. As well as being one of the club’s great goalscorers, he was also quite possibly the greatest goalmaker in the club’s history. Despite all the above though, the real star of the show for me is the old St James’ Park scoreboard with those daft little gadgies kicking a football across it.
Warning: As this is the eighties, these videos do feature lots of men running around in VERY tight shorts, and a streaker! (more…)
