A more palatable form of happy slapping from JoeyA Shola juggle and finish, a cameo from veteran Dean Windass, a terrible away strip, a rare goal from Jonas Guiterrez and seven goals from the boys in yellow. This one had almost everything. No wonder the travelling contingent thought it was “just like watching Brazil”.
Newcastle ran out 7-2 winners at a sparsely populated Northern Echo Arena but the harsh reality of it, is that Darlington were distinctly average and Newcastle barely got out of second gear to roll them over.
My day started by scrapping around looking for some company to take to the game with me. Alas, due to last minute organising I had no takers, so made the short but lonely trip down the A1 from Bowburn. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to this and as I turned on the multi-disc changer in the car and I came across The Stone Roses, I started to enjoy myself.
Parking up opposite the Copper Beech pub I hurried down Neasham Road anxious to get to the ticket office, after warnings of queues for ‘tickets on the day’. I needn’t have worried, as they were relatively small queues. Standing in line, I managed to duck out of an interview for Look North but couldn’t get out of camera shot when they asked the guy in front. I hope my hair looked ok. However, due to some bad advertising and organisation, a number of Mags managed to stand in what looked like a generic ticket queue, only to be told after 15 mins they wouldn’t sell us away tickets!! A short irritable while later I had my North Stand ticket in hand and followed some black and whites round to the turnstiles. (more…)
Smith to Blackburn?The Chronicle reports that Big Sam might be taking Alan Smith off our hands. However, he may only take him on a season long loan at Blackburn because he’s nervous about Smith’s £60,000/week wages, which is annoying because it was Big Sam who signed him for us on that wage.
At the bottom of The Chronicle’s article there’s a quote from Jonathon Brill, Ashley’s PR man, about the sale of the club: “There are a number of interested parties and there are no deadlines imposed by anybody,” he said. If Ashley is hoping his PR man is enhancing his image with terse statements like that, he’s wrong.
A club spokesman apparently also added: “I’m afraid there is no further news regarding the sale of the club.”
Today’s player complaint is from Steve Harper who tells The Journal:
“The players are very disappointed with the situation. Obviously what happened at the back of last year, to fall a goal short was demoralising.
“Players like structure and discipline and at the minute the structure is up in the air. The players don’t know whether they’re going to be here or elsewhere come the start of the season – none of us know at the moment.(more…)
