Preston North End: A proud history.A warm Geordie welcome awaits the visit of the Lancashire lads as Newcastle take on Preston at St James’ Park for a somewhat rare Saturday 3pm kick off. Newcastle fans will be hopeful of another strong performance straight after Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Coventry.
After watching The Toon hammer in 9 goals in the last 2 home games, Preston manager Darren Ferguson is sure to have his troops fired up for a strong defensive performance whilst possibly trying to sneak a winner on the break, and with players like Danny Wellbeck and Jon Parkin up front, that is a possibility. The Lilywhites have more than enough in their armoury to have a go at Newcastle and will have one eye over their shoulder as another defeat could jeopardize their current 14th place in the table and see them slide further towards the relegation zone.
Preston’s last league trip to St James’ Park came way back in 1981, with Newcastle running out 2-0 winners on that occasion. Our most recent meeting with them was the 1-0 win away at Deepdale back in November with Kevin Nolan scoring the winner. (more…)
Fergie Junior.Speaking in his post match interview after after Newcastle United’s 3-1 triumph over Peterborough, Posh manager, Darren Ferguson, gave fulsome praise to Newcastle United, and unpopular London manager, Chris Hughton. He even went as far as saying that his Peterborough United team played the club who WILL win the Championship on Saturday.
Firstly though, he expressed some disappointment with his own team’s performance, saying:
“We didn`t give ourselves a chance and that is disappointing.”
Getting on to Newcastle United and Hughton, he remarked:
“You have seen the team that will win the league. The manner of losing the first two goals was awful. We left ourselves a mountain to climb. They are on a roll at the moment.
“Chris has done a good job and stabilised the whole club, so it was always going to be difficult for us.”
Ferguson, like Hughton himself, has been the subject of some criticism recently. (more…)
Peterborough's most famous landmark.Big spenders. To be frank, Peterborough squad are the ‘Poundland’ of the Championship. Promoted last year through the playoffs, some of the figures paid for Newcastle United players in recent times would pay for the whole Peterborough squad. They even make Scunthorpe look like Real Madrid. However, if any stray Posh fans are reading this, I come here to praise Peterborough, not to bury them. For despite their current, rather lowly position in the Championship (second bottom on goal difference with 11 points), they have been minor miracle workers who, on paper, shouldn’t even be in the Championship at all. But, like Rocky Marciano, plucky Posh have managed to punch above their weight very admirably overall. They also have the ability to slay giants too, including Newcastle United on more than one occaision.
To illustrate my earlier point, here is a list of Peterborough’s ‘Big Money’ signings (nicked from Wikipedia)
Joe Lewis Signed for £500,000 due to promotion Ryan Bennett Signed for £500,000 Gabriel Zakuani Signed for £375,000 George Boyd Signed for £260,000 Tommy Rowe Signed for £225,000 Toumani Diagouraga Signed for £200,000 Lee Frecklington Signed for £175,000 Dominic Green Signed for £175,000 Aaron McLean Signed for £150,000 Sergio Torres Signed for £150,000 Craig Mackail-Smith Signed for £125,000
