I didn’t realise that I’ be travelling up from London to SJP to cover this match, so it was all a bit of a rush, and I felt a little disoriented to find myself back inside the mothership at such short notice after some time away. Observations on my return were that the mighty SJP can be a bit of a big, echoey barn when there isn’t a huge crowd in there, though of course, 20,000 plus (a rough guesstimate) is of course more than respectable for a Championship team in a midweek Carling Cup match. Returning old boy and ‘Udders manager, Lee Clark got a friendly reception as expected, and things seemed to be happy enough at this stage.
Nee Stevie Tayla, not even on the bench was the word when the teams trotted out, though the also absent Collocini received less mention, despite a decent performance last time out. The crowd sounded in fairly good voice anyway, despite the stadium being half empty. I was looking forward to having a look at Kadar again, in what was to be his debut start, along with wor Kazenga LuaLua. The much anticiapted young Slovenian destroyer, Haris Vuckic, who was rumoured to be playing a role tonight, was only on the bench though apparently. On a gossipy note, the latest ownership candidates, Barry Moat and latecoming Uncle Fester-a-like, Graham Sheard, didn’t seem to be in attendance this evening. (more…)
Well that was a bit drab then! I don’t think anybody expected that sort of entertainment but Newcastle ran out 4-3 winners against Huddersfield Town in a pulsating Carling Cup game after coming from 3-1 down to put us in the Third Round draw.
With old boy Lee Clark was back in toon, his side were also in tune as both teams gave the supporters value for money. As predicted Hughton gave some of the youngsters their debuts and that probably gave Huddersfield more opportunity as the new-look team tried to gel early on.
Having taken the lead on the half hour through Guthrie, Newcastle went 3-1 down but with the grit and resolve we sorely lacked last season coming from the current squad this season, we fought back with goals from Geremi, an Ameobi pen and then although Nolan seems to have been awarded it, he and Shola may fight it out for that honour as Nolan appeared just to help his header over the line for the winner.
So this is more like the character we’ve been looking for, albeit against slightly inferior opposition but they were there to beaten and they still gave us a scare. However, as John Anderson mentioned on Radio Newcastle, we’ve got back into the habit of winning and that’s crucial. To have a team that doesn’t know it’s beaten is a valuable thing and it seems that’s how we are at the moment. (more…)
In the absence of my esteemed ‘news round-up’ colleague, here’s a briefing of some of today’s newsworthy pieces concerning our dearest club. And a low-key announcement that the ‘news round-up’ is no more (sorry MT).
First and foremost, our old favourite the ‘sale saga’ and as documented by workyticket in amused fashion last night, we’re hearing a little more about Geoff Sheard’s latest involvement. Sheard has now clearly stated that he is only acting as the middle man in the proposed new bid for ownership of the club.
He is allegedly acting on behalf of a multi-billion pound New-York-based company, who are seeking to push through a deal before the end of Big Mike’s self-imposed one-week deadline. The Chronicle suggest the consortium is led by someone with big links in US Sports and that the group will aim to deploy Omnicom Group to rebrand us globally.
Speaking to The Chronicle, Sheard had this to say: (more…)
Newcastle have a home draw against League One’s Huddersfield in the second round of the Carling Cup.
Huddersfield are currently managed by Geordie Lee ‘Jigsaw’ Clark who played for us between 1990-1997 and 2005-2007, the latter period including time as first team coach and reserve team manager under Glen Roeder.
I don’t think it’s fair to once again mention the ‘Sad Mackem Bastards’ T-shirt Lee Clark wore to the 1999 FA Cup final whilst he was a Sunderland player, so I won’t.
According to The Chronicle, Mike Ashley and Barry Moat are both due at a dinner in aid of The Newcastle United Foundation at St James’s Park on Saturday, although they’re apparently forbidden to discuss anything to do with Moat’s alleged bid for the club (why?).