Heading away for a well earned break.After getting the chance to lift a trophy in front of the home fans last Saturday, Jonas Gutierrez now heads off to the sun for a well earned rest before the start of the World Cup in the summer.
There is no need for him to stick around Tyneside when he isn’t needed and all the targets that really matter are all sorted already, so why not give a player that is sure to be heavily involved this summer the chance to rest for a while? After all, he has been one of our most consistent performers of the season and has worked wonders when combining down the left hand side of the pitch with another one of the three amigos, Jose Enrique. We have even got to have a look at this Spiderman mask malarkey that we had heard about, the one that the Premier League wouldn’t allow as part of it’s ‘no fun’ policy. As it happened it was largely irrelevent anyway as Spidey never really looked like scoring in what was a fractured team last season. (more…)
The boys of '93: Better than the boys of 2010? It’s a simple question really. Out of the last two promoted Newcastle United sides, which one is better?
Here I am going to try to dissect the two sides and, with your help, try to come up with an answer for that question. Are the romantic memories of the Keegan side that won promotion back in 1993 clouding our view of the set of players we have now? Or is the current team stronger in some more vital areas?
I think from an achievement point of view then obviously the 1993 side trumps it, although the current side should not go without any merits. In fact in many ways the achievement of both teams are very similar. Whilst the current side looks like gaining more points than the 1993 side did, some will point to the fact that we should as our current squad contains more players that have played in the Premier League, get paid a lot more, and as such the expectation of a promotion charge is greater than that of the team of ’93 who were the great over-achievers in some ways. (more…)
Reading: A trickier proposition than last time?After two games at home, the lads venture away from home today for a trip to see the ‘Royals’ of Berkshire, Reading FC.
With promotion already secured, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Magpies still have two targets to aim for: The Championship title, and along with that, what is arguably one of the two most historic trophies in world football. Secondly, just to show off, a final tally of 100 points or more is still up for grabs, with a potential maximum of 104 if we win our remaining few games, which would just be short of what Reading themselves achieved under Steve ‘laughing boy’ Coppell with their record busting 106 points in 2005/6. (more…)
Taylor: Muckraking hypocrite.Football’s most risible muckraker, The Guardian’s North East football correspondent, Louise Taylor, has declared war on football supporters with computers who have the nerve to queer her own pitch; spreading specious tittle tattle and general nastiness about virtually anyone associated with Newcastle United football club.
Obviously distressed by the competition, her latest piece of astoundingly hypocritical venom is entitled “Blog standard lies in the gutter”. It concentrates on Louise’s latest hobby horse, the alleged incident between Andy Carroll and Steven Taylor and also a recent rumour about Aston Villa’s manager, Martin O’Neill which have allegedly been doing the rounds on Aston Villa sites recently. I’ll leave that section for the Villa fans to get furious about, and concentrate on the latest chapter of Taylor’s hateful screed about Newcastle United, it’s staff and it’s supporters.
After casually describing football supporters (her own readers) and the ‘web as an “increasingly noxious mix” who should have their fingers taped together every time they go near a keyboard, she then smears us all by association with the tags of racism and homophobia. As she has in all her stories in the past few weeks, she then moves on to her own latest smear story, which she simply will not shut up about, her mischief making about the “ALLEGED altercation” between Andy Carroll and Steven Taylor. In what could be a remarkably accurate description of her own jaundiced drivel, she rants: (more…)
Chris Hughton: The sixth manager to gain promotion for NUFC.On the event of Newcastle United’s promotion to the Premier League, I decided to take a look at some of the statistics of Newcastle United’s season in the Coca Cola Championship, and here are some of the results.
Chris Hughton is the sixth manager in Newcastle United’s history to acheive promotion into the top tier of English football. The first was Frank Watt and the Newcastle United Selection Committee of 1892-1929. Watt was the longest serving and most successful manager in Newcastle United’s history, though his teams were selected by commitee. The full list is below.
1897-8: Frank Watt and the Newcastle United Selection Committee 1947-8: George Martin 1965-66: Joe Harvey 1983-84: Arthur Cox 1993-4: Kevin Keegan 2009-10: Chris Hughton (more…)
