Brothers Hit the Big Leagues

Now that blogger has decided to start letting me upload pics again, I can catch up a little.

So this past weekend the brothers back in England did their bit for charity by playing footy in a tournament in aid of Bobby Robson's cancer charity (pretty certain that was the cause, but you can correct me in the comments if I got it wrong). One of the perks of signing up teams was that each one was allocated a former Newcastle player as "coach" for the tournament.

Daniel and Matthew kinda lucked out I'm guessing, and got Stevie Watson. He's a local lad who was (and still holds the record by the way) the youngest player to ever play for Newcastle's first team, when he was still only 16. He played for us a lot in the 90's, when I was in the "go to as many games as I could" phase of my life (all home of course, and plenty of away games too), so I was a big fan. He had a pretty incredible touch, and enough skill that he ended up playing pretty much every position at one point or another in his career. Ruud Gullit made plenty of mistakes in his time as manager of Newcastle, and one of them was selling Steve to Villa. I'm pretty jealous I wasn't back home this weekend....

Same Old Shearer

Always scoring.....

Well, not really any more, but another exiled Geordie sent me the link to this little video below, just in case anyone's forgotten the playing career of the man attempting to do the impossible and keep Newcastle up this season.

After Monday's win, everything's back in our own hands - two games of the season left - two wins would be nice, but to be honest, just staying up is the only target now, so whatever it takes. I think there's a little bit of belief back in the team now that they've won a game, so here's hoping tomorrow is another victory. Still wishing I was there to watch it, but will have to make do with the texts, calls and photos from my brother as usual to keep me in touch with the atmosphere.

Haway the lads.....

Huge Sigh of Relief

Wish I had been there, but not sure I could have taken the pressure. Newcastle's future status in the Premier League is back in their own hands, so although we're not out of the woods yet, tonight's win over Boro was a huge step in the right direction. I am officially starting to breath again (until Saturday I guess). Haway the lads - you can do it!

Update - pic from my brother from inside the ground (while he's using my season ticket I might add...)

King Kev has left the building

After the mystery surrounding the last couple of days, it's not really a surprise that he's gone. I'm kind of dumbfounded now - the club is once again the laughing stock of the nation, we're managerless a few weeks into a new season, and I can't imagine who would actually want to walk into this job given the circumstances of Keegans departure (he stated he was forced to have players in his squad who he had no interest in).

As usual, it's always exciting being a Newcastle fan, but I'd take a few years of not quite as exciting for some decent progress and playing on the pitch, rather than in the papers. Whoever gets the job next, good luck, you're going to need it.....

Freddy Shepherd, Quote Machine

Always one for a classic quote, Freddy Shepherd, former Chairman of Newcastle United came out with this one today, in response to questions about him buying a stake in (dirty, dirty) Leeds United.

"It's in my blood. You can get rid of the wife or the bank manager, but a Geordie can never get rid of Newcastle"

Kevin and Dennis - a Wise choice?

It looks like Mike Ashley is bolstering his Newcastle board with the appointment of Dennis Wise as "Director of Football".

Not sure how I feel about this - it never seems to quite work out as planned when clubs appoint people in this position, but only time will tell I guess. I do think it's a good thing that the owner is putting a decent amount of money into the infrastructure and support roles at the club though, so fingers crossed this gives Keegan the time and freedom to get the team playing to their full potential.

Keegan Returns

Bit of a shocker, and just breaking, but Keegan is back in management at Newcastle. BBC has the news here - this will definitely improve the amount of attacking the team does, but will we win anything this time around?

One of his more famous moments at Newcastle was following the away game at Leeds (which I happened to have gone down to, coz those were the days when I actually lived in England), when he got pissed off with what Ferguson was saying and went ballistic on Sky (see the video below for what I'm talking about). That was one of two classic post match listening to Five Live moments on the BBC (both times I was actually with Pete, who now gets to spend all his time on football) - the second being when Cantona karate kicked his way into the crowd when Man U were playing Crystal Palace.

Big Sam is Gone

In a move that is slightly surprising (but not really given it's Newcastle), their manager Sam Allardyce left the club yesterday by "mutual consent" (meaning he got fired, but took the payoff to go quietly).

Performances and results haven't really been the best since he took over the job, but given this was meant to be the long term appointment we needed to stabilize the ship, the fact that he only got 8 months in the job is a little disconcerting. I guess the main factor may have been that the Chairman hadn't appointed him - he was brought in just before the takeover.

Anyway, we enter the usual manager merry-go-round again, and wait to see who will take on the most unstable job in the Premiership. The Great One might be good (although some of his signings for Chelsea seemed a little on the dodgy side), but the fact that Harry Redknapp is being mentioned is a little worrying. Shearer as usual has distanced himself from speculation he's taking over (in both words and distance, supposedly talking to people back in Newcastle from the comfort of a beach resort in Barbados). You'd hope that Mike Ashley had someone already lined up (or at least a candidate or two in mind), but only the coming days or weeks will tell us that.

ToonTastic Start to the Season

Oh happy days - Newcastle travelled away to Bolton today to kick off the new Premiership season, and came back with a 3-1 win. Martins (pictured) scored twice and either Charlie Zog or David Rozenthal scored the other, depending on which commentary you read. Rumour has it that Martins first was an overhead kick, but I haven't seen any highlights yet to confirm.

So, I guess I'm in a little shock, but with a smile as wide as the Tyne. It's still way to early in the season, but we're top of the league, and long may it last 8-)

Who Ate All the Pies?

Ever since Mickie Quinn retired, it was obviously Mark Viduka, and we're pleased to announce today that he's following in Quinn's footsteps by signing for Newcastle United. A two year contract, with an option for a third, and hopefully lots of goals from the Aussie pie eating champion.

Details here (on his signing, not his pie eating).

Newcastl United get Buyout Offer

Mike Ashely (girls name, but lots of money) has made an offer to buy out Newcastle United, paying 1 quid a share. Given the price only a few years ago was around 20 pence, thats a pretty good markup (stock closing before the announcement was at 84 pence).

He has already bought out Sir John Hall and his family (I really hope that means Douglas has gone the distance) - now he just needs to persuade Freddie it's time to sell (it is Freddie, in case you're looking here for some advice).

Anyway, I pray Mr Ashley (who just happens to have floated Sports Direct recently, earning himself a nice round 900 million quid) has honorable intentions, and wants to see Newcastle at the top of the league and winning trophies, something which hasn't happened since before I was born...

Roeder Resigns (allegedly of course)

I must admit, I was a little surprised this morning when I found out Roeder had 'resigned'. I know the result (and from what I can gather, the performance as well) was terrible, and we're sitting at the low end of mid-table, but the fact that a manager is actually leaving at an ideal time is a little unusual for Newcastle. In the past few years, we've normally waited until the manager has spent all the funds for a year, gone through pre-season with everyone, and then had the usual bad start to the season before he goes. I guess this time, we're at least trying to get the order right.

Obviously, all the money is on Big Sam to come in and take over, although nothing has been confirmed yet - just seems a bit of a coincidence for Roeder to go one game after Mr Alladyce left his beloved Bolton. I have heard he's a pretty progressive manager, and very impressive to speak to, but to be honest, I just want someone who can come in and help the team win something. Of course, if it was that easy, we'd have done it before now....