McManaman – No further action from the FA.The FA have finally made their statement on Callum McManaman’s vicious attack on Massadio Haïdara’s knee on Sunday, with news that they will be taking no further action.
In their statement on the assault, they claimed that “at least one” of the match officials saw the incident and chose not to take any further action at the time, hence they are powerless to take any further action. It read as follows:
“The FA can confirm that no action can be taken against Wigan Athletic’s Callum McManaman retrospectively following his side’s game against Newcastle United on Sunday 17 March 2013.
“Following consultation with the game’s stakeholders (the Premier League, the Football League, the Professional Footballers’ Association, the League Managers’ Association, Professional Game Match Officials Limited and the National Game) in the summer, it was agreed that retrospective action should only be taken in respect of incidents which have not been seen by the match officials.(more…)
The Premier League’s top six on recent form.All you Magpies fans out there out there may have noticed that their has been a distinct upswing in Newcastle United’s form since the end of January, with the club rising from 16th to 13th in the Premiership table.
Our last six Premiership games since that time, starting with a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa at St James’ Park on 29th January has seen a return of 12 points from four victories and two defeats. As you can see from the images above and below, this now places Newcastle United at fourth in the Premier League’s club form table, measured on Premier League clubs’ performances over their last six games.
To put this into context, the side’s previous six games before that resulted in only one single victory with a draw and four defeats, bringing in a total of only four points. Hence, we have been exactly three times as good in our last six Premiership games as we were in the six games before that! (more…)
Who is right?Speaking in recent interview on Swansea City’s Europa League campaign next season, Chairman Huw Jenkins knocked Europa League knockers such as Alan Pardew, who has frequently used midweek European competition as an excuse for his poor League form this season (amongst other things), with Jenkins dismissing such talk as “rubbish.”
Meanwhile his manager, Michael Laudrup, has also welcomed the extra games next season, seeing no need to significantly increase the numbers of his small squad (around 23 currently) for next season’s European campaign. On this Laudrup commented:
“I know one year that Barcelona played with 19 first-team players, as well as a few younger players, and they played every three days. It is possible.
“I know again the risks if you get an injury. Look at what happened to us when Neil Taylor broke his ankle the day after the transfer window shut. That has special implications, but I don’t believe in having 27 or 28 players (27 was about the size of Newcastle United’s first team squad before the new French player were beought in). You won’t have 27 players who are at the same level, so you will still have five or six who never play.(more…)
Another stiff test for the lads.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Weds 2nd January, 2013. Kick off: 8.00pm. Referee: Martin Atkinson (Yorks). UK TV: Sky Sports.
Hello, good evening and welcome to our “match banter” for this evening’s game against Everton at St James’ Park.
Of course, this will be our first game of 2013, and the last of what has been a very tricky trio of games over the Christmas and New Year holidays, with the Magpies conceeding a whopping eleven goals in the first two. Well here’s hoping that 2013 starts on a better note than 2012 ended!
It will be tough though. Despite a narrow defeat in their last game against Chelsea, Everton’s recent form has been very good, with the record in their last six games (most recent first) being L|W|W|D|W|D, leaving them at sixth in the Premiership table going into this game. On the other hand, our recent record has been L|L|W|L|L|L, though if you only count Premiership games, it has been L|L|W|L|L|W which is slightly more respectable. (more…)
Just what we need right now!Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Sat 15th December, 2012. Kick off: 12.45pm. Referee: Andre Marriner (W.Mids). UK TV: Sky Sports 2.
Newcastle United’s Christmas of horror begins with a visit from last season’s Premier League champions, and the only club whose name sounds like a Gay night at Rockshots, Man City.
As you may have noticed, our run of games over the Christmas period could be a nasty business. Following this one, we have what should be a bit if respite with another home game against troubled Queens Park Rangers, though it wouldn’t surprise me if their fightback under new manager, ‘Arry Redknapp, started against us. Then it’s the other Manchester away followed with a trip down to my neck of the woods, North London, to face Arsenal. Finally, for the first game of the new year, we have the not to be sniffed at Everton. The word is that Derek Llambias has a collection of out of work managers including Big Ron and Jim “Bald Eagle” Smith on speed dial in case it all goes “tits up” for our current Silver Supremo over the holiday period. Llambias might also go down the ex NUFC legend road tried before with Keegan and Shearer as Malcolm ‘Supermac’ MacDonald is no longer otherwise engaged since the “Legends” show was axed.
