Ready to prove himself?Amidst the many transfer rumours on the go at the moment is some managerial speculation, as the Dail Mail writes that Newcastle legend, Alan Shearer has put his name forward for the vacant managerial post at Sheffield Wednesday.
‘Big Wednesday’ was an American coming-of-age film portraying the ‘growing-up’ of a group of young surfers, dealing with the changes in their lives, and contemplating ‘the mythical day when the greatest, cleanest, most transcendent wave of all will come’. And maybe Shearer’s ‘Big Wednesday’ is close, when he finally gets chance to prove his managerial credentials, or not.
Some will argue that Shearer has already had his chance and proven that he’s not up to task, having singularly failed to have the impact we were desperate for in our relegation run-in. And it was ultimately under his guidance that we dropped like a black and white stone to the depths of the Championship.
But he was undoubtedly given an almost impossible task, as the damage was arguably already irreversible. Morale was shot, and the league position was damning when he took over. However, even his most resolute supporters were disappointed that he failed to inspire any sort of reaction from the hapless squad, and arguably the one thing we expected in abundance from Shearer, was inspiration for the troops. Though they may stop short of laying the blame squarely at his door, one win in eight was disastrously short of what we all hoped for. (more…)
No repeat of 1988.Controversy, casual defending and a lack of commitment put paid to a full three points at Hillsborough, and so our Boxing Day jinx continues, as it’s now 21 years since we last recorded a win on our travels. A sluggish-looking Newcastle might as well have been back on the bus as Sheff Wed took the lead in the 14th minutes as O’Connor played the ball into the box unchallenged, and Luke Varney similarly without black and white company headed the ball past Harper to make it 1-0.
A very determined Sheff Wed start had put us continued pressure, culminating in them taking the lead but that seemed to wake us up and it was only five minutes later that we equalised. A hopeful ball bounced awkwardly on the edge of the Wednesday box and fell invitingly to Guthrie who produced another magnificent assist to go with the one against Boro. Nolan arriving in the box was really his only option, and it was a great ball but Nolan still had work to and finished his header brilliantly, planting the ball back across defender and goalkeeper.
And it seemed like business as usual when Ameobi was afforded the benefit of a late Christmas present from the linesman, who refused to acknowledge he was at least two yards offside. Shola didn’t need any encouragement though, and with a lovely turn and sidestep past two defenders he screwed the ball into the bottom corner to give us the lead. (more…)
Owld acquaintance?Following on from the previous games threads, I thought it would be a good idea to put up another article for the Sheff Wed game, that you can just use for the match banter. Yours truly won’t be in attendance but I’ve got the option of Sky Sports, with leftover Christmas dinner and a few cheeky beers but not all Toon fans are lucky enough to be there or have access to Sky.
So if anyone can find radio, video 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. Squad news is on the preview article but hopefully we’ll get line-ups on here before the start.
As already mentioned in the preview, Boxing Day is notoriously bad if you’re a Toon fan, and we last won away from home on Boxing Day in 1988, ironically down at Hillsborough. (more…)
Uncle Fester meets Collina?North West sports businessman, Geoff Sheard has sensationally entered the race (if you could call it that) to buy Toon. Sheard was also involved in a unsuccessful bid to buy fellow struggling giant, Sheffield Wednesday in 2008.
Newcastle United’s Managing director, Derek Llambias gave some substance to the reports when he confirmed that Sheard is in contact with Seymour Pearce’s Keith Harris, who is brokering the sale. Llambias said:
“Geoff is dealing with Keith Harris and we are still waiting for proof of funds.”
However, the Sheffield bid was a long drawn out affair with no satisfactory conclusion, and it emerged that Sheard for merely a figurehead for other, secret interests, and was putting no money of his own into the bid. Darryl Keys, then chairman of ‘Wednesdayite’, a Sheff Wed fans group with a 10% share of the club said at the time (in terms eerily familiar to Newcastle supporters at present):
“The club can’t stay in limbo forever. We’ve had lots of assurances but no clarity or verifiable evidence that he can conclude the deal.(more…)
Healthy position after 3 games.Thanks to last night’s win over Sheffield Wednesday we go 3rd in the Championship, behind Cardiff and ‘Boro on goal difference, sharing 7 points with 5 other teams. Chris Hughton said of the game:
“I don’t think it was the prettiest win, but nonetheless it was very pleasing.
“I think we needed that second goal for the game to open up but their keeper has made some terrific saves.
“We got the early goal like we’d hoped and it was a great goal, real route one stuff and another fantastic finish from Shola.
“After that both sides have had a couple of good chances and we’ve got Steve Harper to thank for two great saves in the second-half.
“But we’ve got the win and that’s the most important thing.
“We’re back up to third and confidence is high and two successive wins.” (more…)
