Newcastle United Blog

Well its been a while as Newcastle have been up and down like a yoyo with their form and i’ve had various commitments with the flu on top as the cherry but the positive is… we are heading into Christmas seemingly on the up!

With such a poor record against us for the long hard slog to Portsmouth I don’t think anyone expected us to get a result. Well we showed them! A great team effort put Portsmouth to the sword and a Michael Owen masterclass to Defoe and Crouch of how to take your chances when they come.

In a first half which left honours even I still felt comfortable for first time as a Toon fan in a long time. We had the better chances I was only thinking in back of my mind that we probably would slip up 2nd half and not turn up. In fact we went up a gear. I thought we were good for our scoreline to be fair as Portsmouth only really huffed and puffed the odd time.

Our back four stood strong and when you look at how organised they are not at keeping the line etc its nice to see reward with 3 away clean sheets back to back. In all honesty it should be four as we had done the hard work against Stoke. That game boiled down to Martins wrapping it up but missed the chance to bury them for 3-0 to Stoke coming back 2-2. A point which evidently proves why we need Michael Owen signed up! He’s world class and scores goals. A 2:1 ratio is the mark of a true goalscorer and that boy is certainly that.

For all I enjoy watching Martins I know he is no Michael Owen. A great goal scorer no, a scorer of great goals yes is how Martins is summed up.

It was good to see Enrique have one of his better games but still a left back should be on the menu come January together with a central midfielder as the legs of Nicky Butt and fading. Unfortunately Kinnear has admitted defeat with Riise unfortunately who I think would have been a fantastic addition to our Premier League squad. I also wish that Kinnear would make a play for Elano at City if he is surplus to requirements. A mixture of 2-3 permanent and 2-3 loans would boost the squad immensely. Where Santa obliges after hes Christmas Eve slog who knows lets just hope hes doing overtime come the New Year and that includes a new owner.

Its unconfirmed as yet but it is understood that Roy Keane has left Sunderland. SHAME!

I always thought Roy Keane was a good young manager and quite frankly has worked wonders at Sunderland. Its been a bit of a wobble of late but the first major amount of pressure and hes walked. Clearly he wasn’t as keen on the mackems as many thought.

Having not won since the derby (unfortunate) his stock with his fans has plummeted. Its likely that Keane has walked rather than pushed however. This certainly makes things a little bit better for us Toon fans atm. All we need is Ashley out and a good owner in…

In a move which was widely expected - Joe Kinnear has taken charge of Newcastle United until the end of the season. Due to no quick sale for the club Joe has been given the post until the end of the season having initially taken it on a rolling contract.

Effectively it was tipped that Joe would be approached by other clubs about his position and had he wanted to leave Ashley would have had no control. Kinnear has done a fairly good job since taking charge after a lukewarm reception by fans.

This would certainly indicate that the sale of the club won’t take place not until nearer the end of the season. It was hoped by many fans this would happen prior to the January transfer window - but with the current financial climate football clubs are starting to feel the ‘credit crunch’. Something most fans about 2 years ago would have thought was some sort of slimming breakfast cereal.

The move should effectively not allow Kinnear to do a little bit of wheeler dealing in the winter transfer window - something lets hope is more successful than the summer one without the departure of a manager at the end of it.

On the list please definitely a left back and some stability!!! The irony if JFK was the first manager in a long time to bring some success…

Gonna put up a match report when I get the chance but fair play the match winner from Richardson was a superb freekick which was worthy of winning any match.

I thought in some respects we battled well at a time when we are very much struggling still. I think it was a time for people to realise things are still very much up in the air. There are still positives in that once again we battled best when behind. If we can transfer that to playing at anytime we’ll do fine. If Guthrie had not taken a previous yellow for ‘F’ all in the first place from Riley (another poor referee decision) then he would have taken out Diouf earlier than when Butt had to nulling the freekick situation but thats by the by.

Fair play to Sunderland though their after match reactions say alot about them - but if they hadn’t beat us at our worst at this present moment in time it would have took a brave man to predict when they would have.

Out of the traps we were in a spirited start to be completely undone by referee Rob Styles… well he certainly tried didn’t he? In his first game back after 2 games demoted for a poor penalty decision he goes and gives another. Is this guy on the take? Well it certainly did more to bring the Newcastle players together and fight with pride and passion to produce an outstanding result which could easily have been a famous 3 points against moneybags Citeh.

After a great start Man City caught us on the break in the 14th minute with Robinho through on goal Beye slid in to take the ball cleanly. Instantly Mr. Styles decided to award a penalty and send Beye off in his first game back! Great missing for 3 games we all think. Well hopefully not as Styles has decided to take another look.

And yes Robinho put the penalty away…

Well it did nothing to silence the crowd and lifted the players to sweat blood and tears. We made Man City look rather average for all their multi million pound signings as we knocked the ball around to create a few changes the best falling to Damien Duff he shot tamely at Hart.

Shortly laterly some deserved luck after a couple of ricochets put Ameobi in to slice past Hart to end a 2 year goal drought. The relief was plain for all to see. Perhaps this could be the start of Shola kicking back into some form at an important time. Shola went on to have a great game for the Toon.

Shortly after the break we continued to dominate and got our rewards after a corner results in Dunne smashing through his own net. Naturally though as the game went on we got deeper and even though we defended well our legs looked tired and we got caught out as we couldn’t hold onto the ball in midfield.

Ireland was put through with a lovely ball from Robinho 3 minutes from time to slot to past Shay and into the back of the net. The signs certainly were their as Shay had kept out Man City’s best player moments earlier with a superb one handed save.

We managed to hand on for the point but Ireland almost got the winner immediately after. It would have been undeserved though and in all honestly Newcastle probably deserved all 3.

A night when most fans went away overjoyed with the performance albeit not the right result. If they continue in this reign of form of playing for each other, the shirt and the fans it won’t be long until we are out of danger whilst continuing to win over the fans. JFK’s stock is rising…

In a match which entering the final few minutes of the 1st half was in danger of spiralling out of control but Newcastle came back from two down and in all honesty over the 90 minutes looked the better team apart from early shaky defending.

Joe Kinnear took charge from the stands serving the final match of his touchline suspension and managed to miss not one but two of our goals either side of half time. Joe was on his way down to the dressing room for the first and had not taken his seat for the equalising second.

Our first from Taylor will have certainly changed the mood of the team talks in both camps but obviously more in ours as Taylor crossed immediately second half from a great run out wide for Duff to slot home in one of his more inspiring games we’ve seen him make in the black and white stripes. Taylor has also put to bed some of his recent performances.

Butt however has some thanking to do as he once again gave away a clumsy penalty in the exact place that he gave away his penalty at Hull. In my opinion so far this season Butt has looked a bit slow out the blocks compared to previous seasons and may be a sign that his head and legs aren’t quite up to the rigors of the Premier League. Arteta dispatched the penalty sending Given the wrong way and it was shortly followed by a front post finish from Fellaini to put the Toffee’s 2 - 0 to the good. Coasting in far too easily between our centre halves.

In a match I honestly would have thought except for the 2 goals conceded early on that Everton would be the club in the most trouble. Newcastle over the 90 minutes could have won the game with 2 goal line clearances in an eventful match for left back Leighton Baines that spared Everton their blushes.

Well the rot has stopped and hopefully this is something to build upon over the international break. Perhaps the sale of the club can gain some momentum as we really need off the pitch matters sorted to correct things on it with some stability.

Well certainly Joe Kinnear has gone up in my estimation. Its about ******** time in Joe’s words that someone stood up to them. The only snag is they will probably try to hit back with absolute horror that someone has done so - probably even worse than prior. If we think we’ve had a rocky ride for years in the press - expect worse now!

Full Joe Kinner rant in audio

Full Joe Kinner rant in text

Still it clearly shows up - by all the sniping attacks from the press today in the papers, radio interviews and television that they simply cannot swallow what they serve. What a shock eh?

The press are very clever and in the conference even tag team Joe from where I read into it. Trying to back him into corners and so forth to get the information they want. Even to sum it up the numpties state, “no wouldn’t like it” and, “no, but you know how it works sometimes” - is it right, “well no it isn’t”.

Good journalism as Joe put it… Lies, lies, lies.

Yet im sure the press will be brought out whiter than white. Does Joe and NUFC need to make it easy for these vultures to make a living off - do they F***.

Well done to Joe - lets hope he can work a little bit of the same magic with results on the pitch but only 90 minutes will tell that story and the best way to answer the press.

And to the journalist who said all the fans read their papers… so what? I stopped reading their rubbish a long time ago!

Anyone wanting to see me can now catch glimpses of the top of my hair on NUFC.com Im underneath the banner “Ashley stop killing our club” brought out at the Gallowgate for which I totally agree. If you after more information about the Newcastle United Supporters Club check out their newly formed website. The lads brought the banner out at the end of another humiliating performance as I had clapped Michael Owen off the field.

The word on the grapevine is that Kinnear is here for 6 weeks and a buyer is in place with Keegan to take over once the duedilligence as taken place.

Lets hope this isn’t just a false promise…

Well well put two and two together and you get Wise pissing in the cake mix again for this temporary management position.

We really have fallen from grace even though this is temporary. Joe (pardon my language) fucking Kinnear. Hasn’t been around for about 5 years so quite WTF the cockney mafia think he will do is beyond me. Might as well have gotten Terry Mac doing the job but hey ho they pee’d him off as well.

So yet another clueless piece of PR that will only make no one turn up for a game. I honestly don’t feel like bothering tomorrow I really don’t.

Ashley here’s a tip… listen to fans. They know more than Wise. You could have gotten more from the sale of your club by:

a). Sacking your cockney mafia buds (but that would be going back on your word with your mates… oh dear)

b). Saying you were wrong and still wish to sell the club

c). Reinstall Keegan as the manger

Your status would go up again amongst fans while you can negotiate your sale and results on the pitch would pick up.

What do you do though? Listen to a bunch of Muppet’s who ain’t got a clue. Stick to selling cheap sports clothes in future please after you sell the club.

VENT of anger over.