Who's best?Looking back over Newcastle United’s last two seasons since we were promoted from the Championship, one thing it’s hard to argue with is that most of the club’s major signings have been a success.
Much of the credit for this has gone to the club’s current chief scout, Graham Carr, who was brought into the club in February 2010 by previous manager and Carr’s former Tottenham colleague, Chris Hughton. Of the players included below, Carr was involved in all but three of them (James Perch, Demba Ba and Gabriel Obertan).
I have listed eight of the signings made since the club was promoted below. Of course, there have been more but I have left out more peripheral members of the squad such as temporary loanees like Stephen Ireland and Sheffki Kuqi, bairns for the future such as Mehdi Abeid, those who haven’t been able to make much of an impact one way or the other through injury such as Sylvain Marveaux and so on. All of the players listed below have made at least ten first team competitive appearences; here’s a brief résumé of their Toon histories so far. (more…)
A view from the bridge.Walking into Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening, chatting to Chelsea fans, it was plain to see that they seemed to think Newcastle were only there to make up the numbers.
But I had a good feeling about the game as we went through the various security checks and finally into the Shed (lower level gate 1). We found our seats then turned our attention to drinks. But this isn’t Ashburton Grove (Goonersville) and it was disappointing to say the least that nothing alcoholic was allowed or even for sale. Weird!
Anyhoo,
The guy with the mic walked onto the pitch to start the crowd ‘wind up’.
It was good to see that Alan Pardew put a good attacking team out. Danny Simpson didn’t make the team through injury but I wasn’t worried by the inclusion of James Perch at right back, as he’s shown us how he’s come on this season recently and was once again a stand out performer. (more…)
Going all out for 4th placeNewcastle United gained a valuable 3 points at Stamford Bridge that keep the prospects of a Champions League finish alive. Here’s some reaction to the match and to the prospect of playing Manchester City on Sunday.
Mancini was in the crowd at Stamford Bridge yesterday, no doubt composing his tactics for the weekend’s game when Manchester City visit St James Park. And it’s going to be a high-pressure game for both teams, neither of which can afford to drop points if they’re to achieve their respective targets for the season.
Pardew is going to go all out for a 4th place finish and Champions League qualification:
“It’s not often in a professional career that you get an opportunity to actually break into the top four in this country,” said Pardew.
“We’ve been in and around it all year, we’ve touched fourth placed and touched third a couple of times.
“We’re going to give it everything. If we miss out, it’ll still have been a phenomenal season and I’m looking forward to the highlights video because some of the goals have been unbelievable, they really have.” (more…)
Please Blow The WhistleVenue: D.W. Stadium, Wigan. Date: Saturday, 28th April, 2012. Kick-Off: 3.00pm. Referee: Mike Dean.
United went into this game with confidence sky high on the back of six straight wins, sitting fourth in the table and chasing an unexpected place in next season’s European Champions League.
Wigan, although one of the teams fighting relegation, had a good recent record too, having won 3 of their last 4 games beating Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, although slipping up in their last game with a 2-1 defeat at Fulham.
This was the first of our final 4 “cup finals” and the 4500 United fans took over one end of the ground to make sure the team felt right at home in a vital away game. It was 4th top v 4th bottom with United having “momentum”. What could possibly go wrong? Surely even the ominous pre-match news that top tipster Mark “I always get them wrong” Lawrenson had tipped us to win couldn’t stop the Newcastle steamroller? (more…)
The fall and rise of Newcastle United?It is certainly fitting of Newcastle’s unexpectedly successful season that, on the night of the 12th March, after a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates, they trailed the 4th placed Gunners by eight points.
It looked like the wheels had come off the North East bandwagon and they would slip into the mid-table mediocrity that had been predicted after a summer of unrest at the newly named “S_____ D_____ A____.” However, under the stewardship of manager Alan Pardew, what has followed has been remarkable: Five straight wins means they close the gap on a now third-place Arsenal to three points, and have moved level on points with Tottenham Hotspur who occupy the last of the four Champions League spots. (more…)
