Koura: A bonny lad who certainly knows where the goal is!In the last game for Newcastle United’s Reserves clash against a Hamilton Academical 11, it was a young French trialist (named only as “Trialist” on the team sheet) who undoubtedly stole the show.
He scored two goals, narrowly missing out on a hat-trick in a 3-1 victory for the second string Mags.
Newcastle United’s club reporter, Dan King, wrote of the mystery Frenchman:
“Two well-taken goals from a French trialist helped Newcastle Reserves start their pre-season campaign with a win against an experienced Hamilton outfit at the Magpies’ Benton training ground.
“The teenage winger, who has played for his country at youth level, scored twice in the first-half and Marcus Maddison added a third from the penalty spot before Alister Crawford netted a late consolation for the Scottish First Division side, who beat Sunderland’s second-string 3-1 earlier this week and included a host of senior players. (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…)
Thumbs-up to fans, says PardewAlan Pardew praises Newcastle United fans for their support this season and reckons the fans have been worth an extra place or two for the team.
So, just the one game to go then. And then what are we going to have in terms of football until next season? Well I suppose there’ll be the Euro’s to keep to keep us amused, although I’m finding it hard to raise any enthusiasm for England at the moment. One thing we will have though is a fair few extra fixtures next season thanks to European qualification and, assuming we don’t manage a miracle next weekend, that’s looking like it’ll be the Europa League.
If we finish 5th, we’d start in the Play-Offs, which take place on the 23rd and 30th of August but if we get bumped down to the 3rd qualifier – maybe due to Chelsea winning the Champions League or us only managing to finish 6th – then we’d have two ties ahead of that on the 2nd and 9th of August.
There will of course be plenty of rumours about players leaving and joining during the summer and it will be interesting to see how our squad looks at the end of the summer transfer window, which opens in July. We’ve already had press reports about teams who might ‘swoop’ for our players and on the weekend the press was suggesting Arsenal would be in for taking both Yohan Cabaye and Demba Ba. As is often the case with such reports, no evidence by way of direct quotes from any official at the club has been offered, so it’s probably all tosh. (more…)
