Harper: The one with the s**te sculpture (again).Anyone who doubts Newcastle United’s players total loyalty must take a look at comments made since the derby victory.
Shola Ameobi, Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton have now been joined by long serving, and long suffering goalkeeper, Steve Harper, in endorsing Hughton’s hopes for a new contract.
Harper, who has worked with 10 managers since joining the club in 1993 should be more knowledgeable then as to what United need from their boss.
And Speaking to the Telegraphy. Harper has now outlined the characteristics which make Hughton “perfect” for United:
“He has been the ideal manager for us. He doesn’t work the crowd; he just gets his head down and gets on with the job. He doesn’t milk it; he gets on with things irrespective of things going on around him.”
“He is incredible. He is always the same, he doesn’t get carried away when things are going well and he doesn’t get too down when they are not. He is very level-headed, which is what this club needs. He is the perfect man for the job.”(more…)
The Boys Are Back In Toon!Apart from having headlines telling you that you had just won the lottery, isn’t a 5-1 drubbing of the unwashed the perfect reading material?
A certain amount of trepidation had begun to creep in on the generally buoyant Geordie spirit after a series of mixed results. At the same time, there was a lot of paper talk that the club had decided that Chris Hughton’s time at the helm was quickly approaching an end. The club promptly went out, decided to be more vocal (about time too), and stated where they stood regarding the situation. With the expectations higher than ever, the need to put more points on the board, and a manager clearly favoured by the board, the excitement surrounding the always enticing ‘Tyne-Wear Derby’ had now reached fever pitch.
In fact, I wonder whether Chris’ contract talks are already fairly advanced and more lucrative than before. For a man apparently working for peanuts, that was a pretty sharp suit he was wearing.
Anyway, the player’s fairly outstanding performances, are summed up below:(more…)
SMB's, you will see!Derby day fever is starting to get in full swing and we are now less than 24 hours away from the event itself.
The cheesy chip eating, trampy blue pop drinking brigade will be ruining the look of the landscape in Newcastle for a few hours tomorrow afternoon, so let’s hope we can send their distorted faces back home without anything to smile about!
Sunderland are wandering around at the moment believing they are the best, and they could have some justification for that to be honest. Afterall, they didn’t spend last season in The Championship, unlike us.
Still, I have a newsflash for them – they are not as good as they seem to think they are!
A bit of luck, and a few own goals have gained them points at home against some good teams. If they had lost that bit of luck then they wouldn’t have anywhere near as many points as they have now. To illustrate just how a bit of luck can play a part in the table, if we had some luck we would be four points better off already.
Steven Taylor will miss the match although he is back in full training and will be back in contention for a first-team recall soon enough. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for Dan Gosling, Hatem Ben Arfa, Steve Harper, Sol Campbell and Leon Best. (more…)
Hughton: Which way will he turn tomorrow?Chris Hughton will begin the toughest week of his NUFC career tomorrow when his United side begin a home double against Arsenal in the Carling Cup before a derby day with Sunderland on Sunday.
Tomorrow night’s last 16 meeting with the Gunners was unexpected for Hughton and arguably a game he did not want his side to have after his second 11 edged Chelsea in a 4-3 thriller at Stamford Bridge.
But here we are facing a mid week game five days before his first derby as the United boss at home to Arsene Wenger’s side.
The big question however is what approach will the mild mannered Magpie boss take tomorrow? Will United again call upon the reserves of our limited squads with the likes of Nile Ranger and Peter Lovenkrands returning.
Or will he gamble against what is sure to be a young Arsenal side, after all If we can get past Arsenal that would leave only Manchester United left from last season’s top 6 assuming they get past struggling Wolves tonight. (more…)
