Toon cup winner, the stuff of legends...Some sad news over the weekend, that former Newcastle United player Charlie Crowe has passed away at the age of 85. Charlie made 216 appearances and scored 13 goals for The Toon but unfortunately had been suffering from Alzheimers disease and passed away on Saturday evening.
An FA Cup winners medal, earned with Newcastle United way back in 1951 will undoubtedly be the highlight of the local lads career and he leaves Vic Keeble as the only surviving member of our FA Cup winning team and ultimately our last domestic success.
Charlie was predominantly a defender and signed for Newcastle back in 1944 but was unable to play competitively as the football leagues were suspended due to the war. It wasn’t until January 1946 that Crowe was handed his debut in a match against Barnsley, although he only featured a handful of times up between then and the 1950/51 season, helping Newcastle finish 4th in the first division and win the FA Cup. (more…)
Sting in the tail from the 'Orns?Newcastle travel to Watford, looking to build on two good victories at home against Coventry and Preston respectively. We’ve struggled from travel sickness on the road in the Championship, but Toon fans are hoping for a change in fortunes.
Yours truly misses this one and will be watching keenly for ways and means to listen to or watch this afternoon’s game. No national TV coverage but reports coming through that it can be caught on some online channels, so if anyone can find tv/radio links etc to the game for people who don’t have it, I’m sure that would be appreciated.
As ever, this can be the place to come together during the match and p*ss and moan, as we usually do. (more…)
Taken over the mantle?Whatever lies ahead, Steve Harper seems to be in good spirits at Newcastle and just trying to enjoy the current situation for what it is now. The Premiership is obviously the ultimate goal for everyone involved in the club but having waited painstakingly for an opportunity to make the No.1 shirt his own, as he heads to Watford, Harper insists he looks forward to the somewhat less prestigious trips to the likes of Vicarage Road, because his role is now undisputed.
Having had to watch from the bench as arguably one of the greatest goalkeepers in the world, saved Newcastle’s bacon week in week out, Harper could have been forgiven for feeling a little sorry for himself. But his love for the club (and probably the decent wages he was on), meant he stuck around anyway and, in fact, he still managed to play in some pretty high profile occasions, including a Cup Final appearance and Champions League football. And he’s been speaking to The Journal about those days:
“I am sure we can reach those dizzy heights again but realistically that is a long way off,”.
“The stadium is there, the fanbase is there so that has to be the ultimate aim but our first aim is to get out of the Championship, stay in the Premier League and then build year on year.(more…)
Vicarage Road will be buzzing...Newcastle United go looking for their first away win since December on Saturday as they take on Watford at Vicarage Road. It hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for us over the years, our last win was way back in the 90/91 season, but I’m sure The Toon will be going all out to secure a vital 3 points and to put this away ‘hoodoo’ behind us.
This won’t be an easy game though, as Watford have been impressive at home, losing just once in their last 6 games, scoring 11 goals and conceding just 2 in the process, and it seems that some of their players are fired up by the chance of getting one over the current league leaders. Boyhood Newcastle fan and current Watford striker Danny Graham explains:
“Newcastle is a massive game – it’s one that every team looks forward to in the Championship; they’re a very big team in this league.”
“We can’t wait for them to come down to Vicarage Road where we are very good and strong hopefully we can give them a difficult game and take all three points.”(more…)
Part of the furniture?This week marks manager Chris Hughton’s two-year anniversary at The Toon, and I’m willing to bet that when the guy signed on at Newcastle that he couldn’t foresee what was just around the corner.
It has been easy to forget about Hughton amidst all the turmoil of the past 2 years but you have to give the guy credit for sticking around when many others wouldn’t.
In his two-year tenure as an employee at St James’ Park, Hughton has overseen:
– Working with Kevin Keegan who brought him to the club.
– The subsequent fallout from ‘Keegangate’ which resulted in him being placed in temporary charge amidst protests and fan boycotts.
– Working with Joe Kinnear.
– Being handed temporary charge again after Kinnear fell ill.
– Working with Alan Shearer and ultimately failing to keep the club in the Premier League.(more…)
