SuperMac's poisonous words.....Derby day fever has certainly caught up with me now, which is why I haven’t slept a wink all night and why I decided to get up at 5am rather than rolling around trying to get to sleep, and getting irritated in the process.
Anyway, I was perusing the ‘comments’ section on the ‘blog to see if I had missed anything and to catch up on the gossip when one thing struck me. It seems that the media bandwagon regarding the future of our manager is rolling on.
Those who listened to ‘The Legends’ radio phone-in during week will have heard Malcolm Macdonald bleating on about Chris Hughton and launching some quite scathing attacks on our current manager. The reason being that he is somewhat annoyed by the team selection that Chris Hughton made against Arsenal in the Carling Cup in midweek.
Now I see things differently and fully backed Hughton’s decision to rest a good number of first-team players in midweek as I wanted our best possible team to be available to play in today’s derby, but I understand that others feel differently and feel that fielding a weakened team during the week equates to us missing out on an opportunity to progress into the Carling Cup quarter-finals at the expense of a team that has scored an average of three goals in every game this season. (more…)
Joey Barton - Pedro look-a-like?Joey Barton has built up a reputation based on his controversial past, but if you take the time to listen, then you could well be pleasantly surprised at what the Cheshire lad has to say.
When Joey speaks he come across as quite an articulate person and has a stunning habit of talking a lot of sense, the kind of sense that if he himself had listened to earlier in his career he may not have found himself in some of the situations he has been in.
Anyway, Joey has been speaking to The Shields Gazette where he talked about Newcastle’s troublesome home form and the upcoming derby match against Sunderland this Sunday.
“It’s a derby game, and form will go out of the window. Sunderland are a very good side. Steve Bruce has built a good, young team,” said Barton, who will play in his third Tyne/Wear derby match on Sunday.
“But we’re on our own patch, and there’ll be 50,000 Geordie lunatics cheering us on, and hopefully we can get the result we want and send them all out on the town happy.”(more…)
Court case looms....This week signals one of the most important weeks so far for both Newcastle United and Andy Carroll.
Carroll’s court case starts today and although it is only scheduled for three days initially there is a possibility it could roll on for longer than that, with the worst case scenario being that the Geordie hitman will have to spend some time at her majesty’s pleasure.
If that happened it would be disastrous for Newcastle, who are back in action against Arsenal on Wednesday night before hosting the first Tyne/Wear derby of the season next Sunday.
Now obviously I’m not going to make wild assupmtions of what went on and what is going to happen, as quite frankly I wasn’t there and I’m not a lawyer so wouldn’t be qualified to make an assumption, but if he is found guilty I would hope he is subjected to the extent of the law, much like you or I would be. On the flipside, if he is found not-guilty then I would hope that people will stop using it as a stick to beat the lad with.
I am sure that the details will be revealed soon enough, but assault occasioning actual bodily harm can be a very serious offence. Carroll will plead not-guilty to the charges that are laid out in front of him. (more…)
Oh dear.....It looks like Andy Carroll and trouble have found themselves thrust together again.
Hot on the heels of the weekend escapades that resulted in Carroll having to face court on Monday morning comes another spot of bother for the Gateshead lad.
It appears that Carroll’s new chrome-plated, all singning, all blinging, Range Rover has been torched whilst parked on the driveway of team-mate, club captain, and current landlord, Kevin Nolan’s family home. Nolan’s garage door was also daubed with graffiti relating to the lanky striker in the process according to the police and fire services who attended the scene, and Nolan’s house is now sporting a 24/7 security presence as a result of these events.
Now I may just be getting paranoid about the whole thing, but trouble seems to be starting to follow bigger lad around somewhat. This latest event comes smack bang inbetween the court case on Monday and his, arguably bigger, court case due to start next Monday. (more…)
Undroppable?A day in the life of a Newcastle fan is seldom dull. I for one have supported them ever since they began telecasting EPL games in Goa, which would have been way back in 1996.
In that length of time, I can quite honestly say that I must have witnessed a record number of highs and lows as compared to any other aspect of my rather eventful life. I can therefore only imagine what some of you other fans out there must have experienced in a much longer length of time of following The Toon.
This very season, for instance, I have seen our team perform in the most erratic fashion possible. We have beaten Everton, Aston Villa, and Chelsea only to face defeat at the hands of Blackpool and Stoke. At times, at the expense of better and more talented players, we have to endure seeing their seemingly lacklustre counterparts played week in and week out.
This brings me and my poison pen to analyse one point alone. Why do managers pick teams that, even to us humble fans, look suspect from a mile away? What makes the players that represent these line-ups so special that they make us want to tear our hair out? Why do managers unleash ‘The Undroppables’? (more…)
