'Ruff' justice for Tykes fans?Seventeen years ago, give or take a month, a vibrant Newcastle side swept aside Barnsley 6-0 as a certain Andrew Cole began to find his feet in town. After roughly forty minutes of stop-start first half football, your money wouldn’t have been on a similar outcome today. But after Barnsley ‘keeper Luke Steele saw red just before the break, the floodgates effectively opened and Newcastle ultimately demolished the ragged Tykes.
A minutes applause was impeccably overseen by both sets of supporters as they paid respect to Charlie Crowe and Keith Alexander, as I took up my usual vantage point. Unfortunately for me, the stewards were particularly jobsworth-like and were intent on contradicting the usual free-for-all-pick-your-seat process that goes on in much of Level 7, so I spent the first 20 minutes just trying to find somewhere else to stand. Of course, I could have just gone up to my seat but it’s one row from the back of the Level 7 corner and I just didn’t think I had the extra thirty steps in my legs. Those who know that part of the ground might sympathise. (more…)
Tykes bite worse than the bark?Newcastle United welcome Mark Robins this weekend as he brings his Barnsley team and the travelling Tykes fans to Tyneside, and they will no doubt be looking to head back down south with 3 points and a massive scalp in their collective bag.
Of course it’s up to us to stop them and every game requires maximum concentration to minimize the possibilities of any slip ups, particularly in front of what is expected to be a near 50,000 crowd at SJP on Saturday. Mark Robins knows that all the pressure is on the hosts to extend their excellent unbeaton home run. Speaking to the official Barnsley website, Robins had this to say about Saturday’s match:
“We are going up to a fortress this weekend and that home record is a challenge for us. We have done well for the majority of the campaign and this is one we will look to enjoy in front of 50,000 fans. I would love to be playing in this one.”
“We know we have to start well and maintain that throughout the game. If we dip at any time in the match then we’ll come unstuck. We have to go there and take the bull by the horns, we have nothing to lose.”(more…)
Pilgrims game moved for Sky TV coverage.The away game at Plymouth Argyle has now been moved to Monday 19th April in yet another shocking display of respect for the fans from the TV companies, namely Sky in this case. It will take our haul of televised games to 18 for the season which is fair enough and all that, but surely someone must realise that some of these games being moved have casued trouble and inconvenience for the travelling Toon Army.
The game was originally supposed to be a normal 3pm Saturday kick off on the 17th which would give travelling fans the ideal opportunity to get there, watch the game and come home although most of their weekend would have been used up by the time the 800 odd mile round trip draws to a close.
Now the game has been moved it gives fans little choice other than to miss work for 2 days or fork out over £100 on a flight to get there should they choose to keep disruption to the minimum, even then they will still probably lose a day of work. (more…)
He had fighting spirit...Rumours will no doubt have reached most Newcastle supporters that Habib Beye is reportedly unhappy with his time in the Midlands. Part of the villainous collective that saw us relegated last season, Beye became an official Villain when Martin O’Neill took him to Aston Villa in the summer in a £2.5m deal.
Arguably one of our most consistent performers while at the club, it was inevitably a kick in the teeth when he jumped ship following our drop into the Championship. Some will argue that he was entitled to leave and play as high as he could, having almost always put in a decent shift for the Mags. Others will insist he should have stayed and fought to get us back up, some even cynically considering that a deal was brokered on the day of relegation at Villa Park.
The Senegalese international has only turned out five times so far for Villa and the Daily Mail suggest he will inevitably move on in the summer. Putting two and two together, you might think a versatile defender with a connection to the club, experience of the Premiership and who would be available for a relatively decent price would be an obvious option should we get promoted. But it’s never that easy, especially given the circumstances under which he left.
Assuming the rumours are true and he’s available in the summer, would you have him back? (more…)
Van Aanholt: Good while it lasted.Most of us are aware that Saturday’s game at Watford marked the end of Patrick van Aanholt’s short term loan move from Chelsea and that he has now headed back down the A1 to the bright lights of London. Chris Hughton did try to extend the loan but Chelsea were unwilling to play ball as they suffer their own defensive crisis.
I can understand Chelsea wanting the boy back as he has been nothing short of exceptional in his brief spell on Tyneside, but with Jose Enrique now fit and raring to go in our next match against Barnsley, there would be little point in stifling the young lads development by sitting him on the bench, especially when we have young Tamas Kadar who can play left back should anything happen to Enrique.
It seems the Newcastle United supporters have made quite an impression on the Dutchman. After the final whistle blew at Vicarage Road on Saturday, van Aanholt split from his team-mates and walked over to the travelling Toon Army to pat a final farewell, for which he recieved rapturous applause. Reflecting on his reception, van Aanholt had this to say: (more…)
