Worth waiting for

Newcastle Utd 3 - 1 Peterborough

Mutiny may have been in the air before and after Saturday's match at St James' Park, but on the pitch all the fight was from our team who ripped the heart out of a visiting Peterborough side, and in doing so drove Fergie junior to the departure lounge.

Having waited fifteen months for his first goal for the club Spiderman produced a stunning solo goal to open the scoring. Taking the ball with his back to goal in our half, he turned his man before racing down the left flank with the ball seemingly glued to his feet, before cutting inside as he got the box and lifting the ball in to the Gallowgate net with his right foot. Disappointingly we didn't then see the web shooting masked celebration we've been waiting, with our Argentine winger preferring a low key celebration, apparently in protest at recent speculation linking him with a move to Roma.

A second goal quickly followed, with Andy Carroll powering a header home from a corner to leave Posh with a mountain to climb. The visitors may have knocked our callow side out of the League Cup, but against the bigger boys they were simply outclassed, even after our flying winger hobbled off with a slight injury to be replaced by Ryan Taylor after only 22 minutes.

Danny Simpson became the second player to break his duck for the club with a left footed lob early in the second half. From then on, it was simply a case of keeping the visitors at bay, after they finally roused themselves from their torpor. Having been left pretty much alone for much of the match, Steve Harper was called into action, and having denied a couple of decent chances, he was eventually beaten after we failed to clear a ball which pinballed around our area and eventually fell to Dean Keates to score a consolation for the visitors.

However, there was never any real danger that we'd allow Fergie's team a way back into the match, and with many of the chasing pack dropping points we're now 6 points ahead of the teams in the play off places. The one note of caution to add is the sight of the smoggies now firmly in mid-table after a couple of defeats under new boss Gordon Strachan. To be blunt, we simply can't afford to take our foot off the peddle.

Other reports: BBC

A Month Of Saturdays: October 2009

Talk about getting off on the wrong foot.

October began with the tribunal presiding over the club v Keegan dispute delivering its damning indictment of the current hierarchy: Keegan HAD been constructively dismissed (as he'd claimed); the club had issued deliberately misleading statements in the press in what it bizarrely described as "an exercise in public relations"; the loan signing of mystery man Ignacio Gonzalez - which was against Keegan's express wishes and therefore in breach of his contract, and which prompted his departure - was a dubious and expensive "favour" for a couple of South American agents in the hope of getting their richest pickings in future. In its subsequent supplementary award of costs to Keegan, the tribunal declared that the club's "defence on the primary liability issue was, in our view, wholly without merit and it chose to make entirely unfounded allegations against Mr Keegan". As is so often the case with us, the dirty washing was there, hanging on the line for everyone to see.

While Fat Mike and Llambiarse kept stumm in the days following the verdict (no "exercise in public relations" in sight, strangely), they had a gobby apologist in the unlikely form of the Poison Dwarf. Like a dog that's taken a boot in the ribs but that remains stupidly loyal, Dennis Wise - sacked by Ashley at the same time as Alan Shearer's temporary appointment in April - seemed intent on towing the discredited party line, thereby flying in the face of the facts and the legal judgement. If the Gonzalez deal really was an act of behind-the-scenes back-scratching that would reap handsome rewards in the long term, for instance, then where was this flood of supposed superstars for whom we'd paid our blood money?

It was only natural that Wise would express bemusement at Keegan stubbornly opposing the Gonzalez deal and turning down an alleged out-of-court settlement, after all, being an unscrupulous, unprincipled little shit. But hey, Dennis, at least your pathetic boo-hooing to the press about how the episode had damaged your career didn't go completely unheeded, with one journalist at least wishing you a swift (if unhappy) return to management...

When Fat Mike did belatedly break his silence, there seemed to be a measure of chastened contrition: "I never said I was an expert in football clubs. I tried my best. But I accept my best was woefully short". But this vague and grovelling attempt to win the fans' sympathy was shown up as nothing more than thinly disguised self-pity in light of his subsequent comments arrogantly belittling our support and loyalty: "I have to put £20m a year into the club — I spend more than every other fan put together puts into the club each year".

Wrapping up his post reporting on the tribunal's findings, Paul noted: "All that can be hoped is that the conclusion of this process means that the sale of the club can now proceed quickly and the fat Cockney bastard gets out of our club". For a while, it looked as though our hopes would be realised. The papers brought fresh reports of Barry Moat and a South African consortium jockeying for position while the Newcastle United Supporters Trust launched their Yes We Can campaign aimed at acquiring a stake in the club. And then in steamrollered the US-based Star Foundation, whose British spokesman Geoff Sheard had a distinctly American bullishness about him in claiming: "We will push it forward this week and it will be resolved. It’s all done as far as we are concerned. It’s all down to the solicitors now."

That, like all of the other buyout talk, turned out to be nothing but hot air. On the 28th came the bombshell. On the one hand, Chris Hughton was rewarded for his steady guiding hand and his two consecutive Manager of the Month awards with a permanent appointment (in the same month, it should be added, that Shearer also received a prestigious appointment - to the position of Deputy Lieutenant of Northumberland). But on the other, Fat Mike had taken the club off the market and declared he was staying put. And, worse still, we were seriously considering renaming St James' Park for commercial gain.

The news was disturbing enough without realising we were in agreement with Fat Fred on the issue - and just one look at Ashley's predecessor is enough to underline that there isn't much he finds unpalatable. The full horror of the decision wasn't actually revealed until the calendar had flipped over into November, but Paul was still so moved by anger he indulged in a spot of undemocratic renaming himself, christening Fat Mike with the less flattering nickname Jabba.

Unsurprisingly, any other off-field matter over which Jabba didn't cast his blubbery shadow seemed like little more than a footnote. For instance, the loss of Richard Money to Luton (I still think we should have gone with "Money walks" as the title of the post...) was largely buried amidst the wrangling, but could prove to have significant consequences for the Academy, just as the defection of chief scout Lil Fuccillo to Swansea in September might have long-term ramifications. There was also ASBO's interview with Sky Sports, in which he somehow managed to utter even more infuriating drivel than the Poison Dwarf talking about the tribunal - whether talking about his "respect" for Shearer, the fact that he might have reacted differently to his training ground disagreement with Hughton had he been "a bit more hot-headed and not as mature as I am now", or his decision to 'fess up belatedly about his injury for the good of the team (what do you want, Joey - an effing biscuit?!).

And in amongst it all, lest we forget, there were some football games. Not that they provided much respite or succour, our early season wings suddenly clipped by a succession of dogged opponents. If our 1-1 draw at home to QPR on the final day of September looked much better in the context of the rich vein of form the Londoners subsequently hit, the goalless stalemate with Bristol City three days later wasn't very clever in any light. OK so the Robins were occupying a respectable league position, but that was solely down to their home form - they hadn't won away. They posed an attacking threat in the first period, but for the most part all of the frustrations were ours - Homer struck the post early on, Steven Taylor and Kevin Nolan both rattled the bar, we should have had a penalty and did most of the pressing but couldn't make the vital breakthrough.

The international break provided an opportunity to regroup and refocus - but what followed were back-to-back defeats on the road. Our visit to the City Ground unfortunately coincided with the hosts hitting form, and amidst a spicy atmosphere we looked off the pace and fell behind to a solitary Dexter Blackstock goal seconds before the break. Again there was a second half onslaught, and again we were denied a spot-kick. Throw in a Nolan prod disallowed for a debatable offside and a chronic hesitancy to shoot when presented with the chance to do so and it was another disappointing game from which we knew we should have taken something. There was a further psychological blow, too - our three-point lead at the top of the table had been eroded. So what we really didn't need in our next fixture was to gift Scunthorpe's Martyn Woolford two easy goals either side of a Nolan equaliser.

When, after four games without a win, we did at last get back on track, at home to Doncaster Rovers, the victory was hardly straightforward. Not only were we trailing at half-time, we also conceded a penalty and finished up with ten men, Zurab Khizanishvili dismissed for not unreasonably taking exception to a sly punch on his teammate Tamas Kadar. But at last our luck was in - Martin Woods carried the curse of being an ex-Mackem and squandered the penalty before Nolan popped up with an injury-time winner to send us back into pole position.

Something to smile about, then - but Jabba's bombshell was only a few days away.

The entertainers executioners

It seems Saturday's defeat at our hands was rather more damaging for Peterborough than simply sending them to the foot of the table - reports are surfacing that Darren Ferguson has been sacked.

It's bizarre, to say the least - Posh may be struggling to acclimatise to the Championship, but Fergie Jr had led them to successive promotions and only in the summer was acclaimed as "the best young manager in the country" by his chairman Darragh MacAnthony. As for the timing, it's not honking our own horn to say that we'll comprehensively outplay a lot of our rivals on our own patch this season, so for the Posh hierarchy to fully expect their team to take something from the match is rather unrealistic. I thought much the same earlier in the season when we beat Plymouth by the same 3-1 scoreline and there were rumours about Paul Sturrock getting the boot. Surely it's losses to the teams in and around them that are the most important?

Still, the fact that a promising young manager has lost his job has nothing to do with us. To be hard-nosed about it, let's hope we keep repeating the trick and more managers wind up on the dole queue shortly after we've put their sides to the sword.

Speak no evil

I'm sure I'm not alone in finding most things about The Football League Show pretty excruciating to have to endure - from presenter Manish Bhasin and that weird aircraft hanger of a studio to the jolly bonhomie with which Mark Clemmit assaults his interviewees and of course the attempt to give us fans our say (which actually gives idiots their say) by text. Perhaps its most redeeming feature is the fact that it's available after the event on iPlayer, something we should be thankful for - the rights could still be with ITV, after all...

But fair play to call girl Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes, who in last night's installment pointedly and deliberately refused to refer to St James' Park by its new name to avoid giving Jabba the oxygen of any more advertising.

Still, it's distressing how many people in the media are using that ludicrous new name. Is this because they're sadistically enjoying the discomfort of us fans, something which should gradually wear off, or (more ominously) because the name change really has been taken seriously?

(Paul's report on yesterday's match to follow shortly.)

Grin and bear it

Has your club just saddled its famous old ground with a ridiculous moniker that sounds more like an email address (even if it might prove to have been a trend-setting move among the big boys)?

Has the decision earned your club no extra revenue whatsoever? (And this when it's announced that the club's revenue has halved as a direct consequence of relegation?)

Has the idiot who dreamt up the idea - the latest in a long line of catastrophic decisions - just announced he's taken the club off the market and will be staying put for some time to come?

Does your club have to suffer the potential ignominy of being cherry-picked by the likes of Bolton?

Hey, but at least there's a game of football tomorrow (albeit sandwiched by protests). We kick off top of the league and at home to Darren Ferguson's already relegation threatened Posh. It could be worse, you know. Of course you do.

Shit name, no fans

Apparently, despite a petition and an Early Day Motion to the contrary, and a protest planned before Saturday's home match to Peterborough, St James' Park has been renamed with immediate effect.

We now officially play our home games at the sportsdirect.com @ St James' Park Stadium.

Seriously, does anyone expect people to refer to our home ground as anything other than St James' Park?

Jabba, get out of our club, and take your crappy sportswear website with you.

Make your voice heard

As highlighted in the comments box a few days ago, a protest is being organised against Jabba and his plans to further ruin the club by changing the name of St. James’ Park before this Saturday's home game against Peterborough.

Put simply, it is time to make our voices heard and to stand up against this man who is doing his best to destroy our club.

Before the match protests will take place under the Milburn stand. This is to be followed by 90 minutes of backing the team.

Once the match is over the intention is to resume the protest (regardless of the result) by staying behind in the ground and continuing to make our voices heard.

Spread the word, invite your friends and be sure to get involved.

New name: not in my name

Order, order! The possibility of St James' Park being renamed is bang out of order! That's according to David Clelland, at least. The MP for Tyne Bridge, a long-standing and committed fan, feels so strongly about the spectre of rebranding that he's tabled a motion in the House of Commons to register opposition.

I wonder whose support he can count on. A shame old Tony Blair isn't still in power - he'd probably aye away, appalled at the thought of the stadium where he used to sit in the Gallowgate being renamed...*

The BBC's report of the story seems like an exercise in euphemistic understatement. The report's author refers to Jabba's reign as "a turbulent period" in our history before quoting Clelland as saying: "Mr Ashley has not been particularly good for the club". What next? Last season could have been more of a success? We didn't see the best of Xisco? ASBO's a cheeky little blighter?

Anyway, you can record your own disgruntlement by signing the petition on the Newcastle United Supporters Trust site. Llambiarse's pathetic attempts to mollify us today - "Our intention is to have whoever the sponsor is - say SportsDirect.com @ St James' Park. We are never going to lose St James' Park, it is always going to be @St James' Park" - have been rejected by the Trust, and rightly so. The battle will go on.

* It's an urban myth, if you didn't already know, but one I'm quite happy to perpetuate.

Quote of the day

"We went to Leyton Orient and it was a disaster. But I think what came out of it was that everything came to a head.

It was clear that five or six of the players wanted to leave which was fair enough. We had a meeting when we came back from the game - just us players. We said ‘whoever wants to leave they can leave and we'll help them to go. Whoever want to stay then commit yourself to stay’. That was a massive turning point. In a way, getting that bad result was the best thing that could have happened. It was screaming out what needed to happen.

The lads who wanted to leave, left and the rest of us stayed. It wasn't just me who called the meeting, it was decided amongst us because it was that obvious to see what needed to be done. it was just a case of ‘lets do it’, a team thing. It was one of the strangest things ever. We were managing ourselves. Fair play to them, a few lads stood up and said 'I want to go' for whatever reason, to play Premier League football and the like. You can't hold people back.

Chris knew that we were having that meeting and he stood back and let us sort things out."

Alan Smith, talking to the Times ahead of last night's game, lifts the lid on what precipitated the flood of sales in pre-season. Personally, I find it pleasantly surprising but mainly encouraging that the players actually felt the need to do something and cared enough to take responsibility. Calling the meeting suggests a degree of collective maturity from a bunch who were by and large lazy underperforming shirkers last season - and it also explains why, as has been shown more often than not this season, commitment to the cause has been more evident from those turning out in our colours.

Smith also commented: "The camaraderie is great. Last year there was a big divide between players, fans and football club. This season you can see a togetherness". I think he's got a point, but only up to a point. The divide between fans and players has narrowed somewhat - but there's even more of a yawning chasm opened up between the fans and the club thanks to our fat friend Jabba...

Blades blunted

Sheffield Utd 0 - 1 Newcastle Utd

Back at the start of the season, we thought Sheffield Utd would be challenging at the top of the league. Recent form would, however, suggest that we were wrong, and the disgruntlement of fans towards manager Kevin Blackwell was plain to see last night as we somewhat fortuitously left the Steel City with all three points.

The victory owed a fair amount to luck, with Kevin Nolan's robust tackle on Kyle Walker allowed to go unpunished by referee Keith Friend, only for Ryan Taylor's ensuing shot to take a big deflection off home defender Chris Morgan into the net, with 'keeper Ian Bennett stranded.

However, regardless of our good fortune in front of goal, the margin of victory owed more to the excellent performance of Steve Harper in our goal, who produced a number of fine saves, particularly during the five minutes which were added on at the end of the match, to ensure our miserly defensive record continued.

The relative novelty of being the most defensive sound team in the league is something which we should take a great deal of satisfaction in, and the sterling efforts of Harper in particular are deserving of much praise. In front of him, Jose Enrique in particular looks to be enjoying a fine season, and we can only hope that his marauding runs and defensive solidity continue throughout the campaign. With Coloccini returning to the side last night (and lucky to get away with twice leaving his studmarks on Blades forward Darius Henderson), and Steven Taylor on the road to recovery, Chris Hughton may once again be able to field his first choice back four.

In front of him, last night's game was one for the workers, with Smith and Butt together in the centre of the park and Kevin Nolan initially employed to support lone striker Bigger Lad, who struck the post with a superb header early in the second period. As the game wore on, Hughton opted to introduce Homer and Nile Ranger to form an attacking triumvirate. By that stage, however, Taylor's deflected shot had given us a lead, and it was as much about having some additional height in defensive situations as it was about hoping to add a second that saw their appearance from the bench.

If we can continue to grind out results even when not quite playing at our best, as we did last night, then we might be able to open up a bit more of a lead at the top of the table in recent weeks. However, to do that we need to continue to apply ourselves properly as, without that work ethic, the whole enterprise still threatens to come crashing down.

Other reports: BBC, Guardian

Sol seeking

According to today's Guardian, Sol Campbell and Newcastle Utd are currently embroiled in a process of flirtatious glances which might ultimately lead to some form of marital bliss.

Sol mysteriously states that he has "his reasons" for being attracted to Newcastle, which would appear to stretch beyond simply the fact that we're top of the Championship and prepared to pay him a decent wedge to do what he does best.

I seem to recall that at the time when we last exchanged flirtatious texts with Sol, before he ran off for his ill-advised dalliance with Sven, that Campbell's current partner is based in the North East, and they'd just bought a large house somewhere in Northumberland. It therefore makes sense that Sol would rather play around much closer to home.

Of course, the union does depend on the small matter of his divorce from Notts County ever coming through, the jilted bride reportedly insisting on a five year gagging order to prevent Sol from selling his kiss and tell story to the press.

Where's the Money gone?

Luton Town, apparently.

According to the club, Academy Director Richard Money has left the club with immediate effect to take over the vacant manager's post at Luton Town.

With our academy having produced a number of recent first teamers, it is to be hoped that his loss is swiftly replaced by the club, who, for all their many other failings, have at least seemed to grasp the merits of investing in developing young talent.

Return of the Geordie

Following on from the latest grim developments on Tyneside, and our realisation that the current owner is not dissimilar in appearance to a certain Star Wars character, we thought it might be worth trying to lighten the mood by inviting suggestions for other stars in our recasting of Return of the Jedi.

Please note, this is not simply some cheap shoddy stunt to mention the prospect of Cheryl Cole dressed as Princess Leia in a gold bikini throttling Jabba with a chain. (Which incidentally, if ever released on DVD would surely generate sufficient income to buy the club).

The question is, how far can we realistically stretch the metaphor?

Is Chris Hughton prepared for a Han Solo role (currently groping in the dark, blinded by the light)?

Is Kevin Nolan's physical resemblance enough to land him the role of Luke Skywalker?

Will the spirit of Sir Bobby crop up at certain points to instruct our heroes to "use the force"?

What do you think?

Quote of the day

"There are some things that money can't buy."

Look how far you've pushed us, Jabba - so far that we find ourselves in pretty much complete agreement with the latest outpourings of your piggy-eyed oaf of a predecessor and nostalgically viewing his time in charge as halcyon days...

Jabba's Palace?

Confirmation of the worst - the club has been taken off the market (again). Presumably Barry Moat couldn't find the £80 million cash that Jabba the Hutt wanted to sell the club and fuck off back to Tatooine, so instead we're condemned to live out a further few months (at least) of bare faced lies and insults as our club is dragged further into the mud by the cronyism of the current administration.

Displaying an unenviable gift for kicking people when they are down, this particularly delightful news story also contains the gem that as well as renegotiating our shirt sponsorship deal next season, lucky punters will also be able to bid for the right to name St James' Park. Not even Fat Fred was greedy enough to try that one on.

Seriously, is anyone going to call our stadium anything other than St James' Park, in the same way that most right thinking individuals still talk about the Gallowgate and Leazes ends of the ground?

The third snippet to emerge from the club is that Chris Hughton has now been given an 18 month contract as manager. Nice though Chris Hughton seems to be, working under what must be incredibly trying circumstances, I just don't think he has a sufficiently steely streak to make it as a top class manager.

Obviously I desperately hope to be proved wrong, but for my money he's all too reminiscent of Glenn Roeder, and even if he does take us straight back to the Premiership, I can't see him having the pulling power to attract players good enough to keep us there, or the motivational skills to get the team going when the going gets particularly tough.

For a slightly more measured response, read George Caulkin's comments here.

Better late than never

Newcastle Utd 2 - 1 Doncaster Rovers

The line between success and failure is, as has often been observed, a very thin one indeed. So it was yesterday, when, reduced to ten men and with the clock ticking into injury time at the end of the 90 minutes, we looked on course for a fifth consecutive game without a win. But then up popped Kevin Nolan to sneak a goal which stopped the rot and sent us back to the summit of the table. Happy days.

Not that it had been much of a happy day up to that point. Homer was restored to the starting line-up in place of Geremi to form a two-pronged strikeforce with Bigger Lad, but repaid that faith with a similarly listless performance to the one delivered at the City Ground last week.

Meanwhile, Danny Simpson's ankle injury meant a start for Tamas Kadar - and Kadar it was who was largely at fault for Donny's goal, Billy Sharp escaping his attentions to set up Dean Shiels from close range. We gradually began asserting our authority on the game as the first half wore on, though (as Chris Hughton noted afterwards) there wasn't much in the way of creativity or invention, and neither Spiderman nor Bigger Lad were able to convert very presentable opportunities that came their way shortly before the interval.

Bigger Lad fluffed an even better chance early in the second period, but credit to him for plugging away. Hughton bolstered our offensive threat on the hour by replacing Homer (now seemingly a target for the boo boys) with Nile Ranger, and seven minutes later we were level, Bigger Lad ghosting in at the far post to sweep Danny Guthrie's pass home on the volley.

We now looked by far the likelier winners - until, that is, Ryan Taylor rashly handled when going for an aerial challenge in the area. But ex-Mackem Martin Woods stepped forwards and blasted his penalty wide of Steve Harper's right-hand post and we began thinking our luck might be in after all. Further evidence: old boy James Coppinger was withdrawn soon afterwards having failed to score against us.

The notion that for once fortune might be smiling on us was tested when Zurab Khizanishvili was red-carded for his reaction to Sharp's sly punch on Kadar, for which the Donny man was only booked. An appeal is in the pipeline - hardly surprising, given the circumstances and the fact that we're already without Simpson and Steven Taylor, and Fabricio Coloccini still isn't quite ready to be risked.

Even with ten men, though, we weren't to be denied the win our superiority (if not the overall quality of our display) merited, Nolan continuing this season's decent goalscoring form. That sealed our first win since the thrashing of Ipswich, and was the first time we'd scored more than once since that game at Portman Road - the obvious message being that we need to be more ruthless in front of goal.

The result edged us back into top spot, one point ahead of Cardiff who, like the increasingly potent QPR, recorded a four-goal victory on the road. West Brom and Blackpool both played out goalless draws away from home, while Preston and the Smoggies drew 2-2.

Sheffield Utd are our next opponents - many people's tip for promotion, the Blades are in a bit of a rut and defended like drunken toddlers against Cardiff, but our last two away performances have been sub-standard and I expect we'll need to improve to bring anything home from South Yorkshire.

Other reports: BBC

Quote of the day

"We direct that the Club should pay Mr Keegan’s costs on an indemnity basis given the manner in which it conducted this litigation: its defence on the primary liability issue was, in our view, wholly without merit and it chose to make entirely unfounded allegations against Mr Keegan."

The damning verdict detailed in the supplementary award of the club v Keegan tribunal (available in full here, which has ordered the former to pay all of the latter's costs, estimated by some to be as much as £1.5m. So, Mike, if you set out to blacken Keegan's name, it certainly backfired, didn't it?