Newcastle United's activity in the January transfer window can be described as less than spectacular. But, when you take a closer look at the details, it seems like there might be an actual thought process given to incoming transfers. Who would have thought it? Whatever your feelings for Mike Ashley, let's put them a side for a moment and take a look at the players Newcastle have signed:

• Danny Simpson: 23 years old.

One of the many things we have come to like about Chris Hughton, the Newcastle manager, over the last 11 months, is that he prepares so well for every single game, and never understimates any team. Shola Ameobi celebrating with Newcastle fans at Plymouth It was a lot easier to underestimate teams last season in the Championship, than [.

It seems Shola Ameobi has another hamstring injury, and Shola has always had a struggle with hamstring injuries, for whatever reason. Danny Guthrie - could he start Saturday? There were rumors on Sky Sports before the game that Shola would not play because of a thigh injury, and since he just lasted for 45 minutes, [.

Off to St. James' Park for the late Saturday kickoff.

And a lead-in that's going to be dominated by talk about the idiocy of Mike Ashley. Rightly so.

There's a brief yet significant detour prior to launching into the football, and it obviously involves the aforementioned idiocy. The dismissal of Chris Hughton, about whom I will not pretend to know more than I do, has been a surprising and upsetting revelation for most folks following Newcastle United and the Premier League.

Marlon Harewood? Seriously?

Rumours in the papers this morning suggest that Arsenal will turn to West Ham forward Carlton Cole in a £9 million deal to solve their current striker deficiency, only if Nicklas Bendtner fails a fitness test on Friday.

Peter Lovenkrands, whose father died last Friday, is in the starting line-up tonight for Newcastle's crucial encounter with WBA. Lovenkrands partners Shola Ameobi in attack with a midfield four of Danny Guthrie, skipper Alan Smith, top scorer Kevin Nolan and Jonas Gutierrez, and this is probably Newcastle's strongest side on current form.

So, just who is Mike Williamson? Good question!

The lad stands at 6ft 4″, way taller than either Coloccini or Steven Taylor (and Shola Ameobi for that matter). He's had spells at both Wycombe and Watford, and by all account was pretty decent during his time at the Hornets. Since most players seem to be on the chopping blog at Portsmouth, any decent bid for a Pompey player has always looked odds on at being accepted.

Having a small squad has it's distinct challenges but so does a bigger squad. Shola Ameobi - still has part to play at Newcastle And one of the challenges when you have a sizable squad is to keep the players happy, by giving them frequent games. That certainly hasn't happened to Shola Ameobi recently, but manager Chris Hughton [.

It seems that we may be getting down to a few fit strikers for Saturday's game at Watford. Nile Ranger keep give the lad some run-outs With Shola Ameobi still out injured with his hamstring problems, and Peter Lovenkrands very doubtful, the striking duties will need to be shared between Carroll, Best and young Nile [.

Newcastle got the job done tonight in front of a home crowd of 45,987, and the crucial goal that put Newcastle ahead came from Shaola Ameobi, who broke the deadlock on 71 minutes. It was a tough game as expected, and the first half was played a frenetic pace and at half time the scores were [...]

Shola Ameobi has come back into the side, starting last Monday night after a few months out with injury, and has two goals in two games for the Magpies. Shola Ameobi wants as many goals as possible this season In fact Shola has 10 goals in 10 start this season, and has been in his best [...]

Shola Ameobi has had a good season, even though he's been out for a while through injury. Shola Ameobi - start of something big? While we always have to remember it's the English second division, Shola got off to a great start last August and was Newcastle's best player in August when he bagged 5 goals.

Newcastle were beaten 2-1 this afternoon by a decent Norwich City side. Both Norwich goals were scored by Chris Martin, and Norwich won this game on merit. Ameobi got Newcastle's goal to make the score a respectable 2-1. Martin scored his second goal with a header in the second-half, and he had scored in the [.

It's a little worrying that Andy Carroll felt his back in the first half at Rangers on Saturday afternoon, and was replaced at half time by Shola Ameobi as a precaution. Andy Carroll Newcastle still assessing his back injury Newcastle withdrew Andy yesterday from the England U21 squad to play Uzbekistan tonight, as a further precaution, [.

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Até na fria e cinzenta Inglaterra o calor não desarma. Não deve ser como por aqui, mas pelos vistos Sol Campbell e Ameobi, divertem-se com o pequeno duche.

The story surrounding a possible England call up for Everton's Mikel Arteta rumbles on. Craig Levein has now added to the debate:
"The way I understand it, the home associations have an agreement," said Levein. "I'll tell you how I know. I tried to get Shola Ameobi at Newcastle a while back [to play for Scotland], because he has not played for England but has lived in the UK and has a British passport, so I thought he might be able to play for Scotland.

Liverpool Reserves claimed their second point of the 2010-11 season as they came from behind twice in an enthralling 2-2 draw with Newcastle United in the North East on Tuesday evening.
Philip Airey put Newcastle ahead on eight minutes when he converted a penalty after being tripped inside the box by Chris Mavinga.

Love him, hate him, or you may just even be not bothered by him, but Shola Ameobi is no doubt a player that divides opinions on Tyneside. On this day, ten years ago, Shola Ameobi was given his first-team debut against Chelsea by Sir Bobby Robson. Ten years? It seems like yesterday! But given the fact [.

Shola Ameobi celebrates 10 years of playing for Newcastle United this week. Shola Ameobi 10 years on Tyneside Shola joined the Newcastle club as a 13 year-old back in 1995, but it was 10 years ago that then manager, the legendary Sir Bobby Robson, gave the then 18 year-old his debut for the Tyneside [.

Have you regained your breath? I haven't.

It was a classic. A classic that no Chelsea supporter will care to remember.

A header in the final minute of regular time from Shola Ameobi yes, Shola Ameobi expels Chelsea from the Carling Cup, 4-3 at Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool's poor start to the season continued as they were sent crashing out of the Carling Cup by League Two side Northampton 4-2 on penalties in a night of shocks.
Nathan Eccleston shows his frustration after missing the penalty.
Abdul Osman scored the winning spot-kick after Nathan Eccleston missed his for Liverpool.

One remembers Shola Ameobi as a talented goalscorer before a series of injuries consigned him to the wilderness before he came back last season with some big goals that helped gain promotion for Newcastle. Well he is back and with a bang. Today, he scored two goals including a stoppage time winner against Chelsea in their Carling Cup fixture.

Liverpool's poor start to the season continued as they were sent crashing out of the Carling Cup by League Two side Northampton 4-2 on penalties in a night of shocks. Shola Ameobi's last-gasp winner secured a surprise 4-3 win for Newcastle to send Chelsea crashing out as well. Nicolas Anelka's two late goals looked to have been enough to force extra-time at Stamford Bridge, but Ameobi's glancing header from Jonas Gutierrez's cross sealed an impressive win for the Magpies.

The FA Cup is constantly being referred to in some form of the superlative as the world's greatest cup competition (the World Cup begs to differ), so you can understand if the Carling Cup gets a little bit jealous now and again. This year that jealousy has turned to rage and it too would like to run side-by-side alongside the FA Cup and the gliding unicorns; so at its altar it offered three sizable sacrifices: Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool.

Hughton has some selection decisions to make for tomorrow's game against Stoke, and we have to believe a couple of the players who played at Chelsea will keep their starting positions for the Stoke game. Chris Hughton two more goals please In our poll after the game, Shola Ameobi and young Shane Ferguson were [.

Andy Carroll will come back into the side today against Stoke City, even though Shola Ameobi had one of his best games ever for the Magpies on Wednesday night at Stamford Bridge, where the Chelsea defense just couldn't seem to contain the local lad. Andy Carroll - mmm And today Newcastle manager Chris Hughton has [.

Surprisingly, Andy Carroll has been left out of Newcastle United's starting line-up for this afternoon's game at Manchester City. Andy Carroll is on the bench this afternoon for the important game at Eastlands, and we have to think that Shola Ameobi has been impressive in training this week. He certainly had a great game in [.

Shola Ameobi has been in good form lately and he was rewarded for that by displacing young Andy Carroll in Newcastle's starting line-up at Eastlands on Sunday. Shola's in there somewhere after scoring winner at Chelsea what a goal! Ameobi believes that if he can get a prolonged run in the side, it [.

Andy Carroll has been given the nod today to start today and another surprise is that Chris Hughton also has Shola Ameobi in the starting line-up, for Newcastle at West Ham this afternoon. For the first time in a long time away from home, Chris Hughton has gone with a 4-4-2 formation, and Kevin Nolan the [.

Shola Ameobi has had some excellent games in the past in the Tyne Wear derby, and he could just be the difference between the sides on Sunday afternoon. Shola Ameobi - could be the difference on Sunday Shola has four goals so far this season, and has looked in good form, and had a game [...]

By all accounts it has been a rollercoaster week for Newcastle United boss Chris Hughton. After an impressive win away to West Ham, bookmakers suspended betting on Hughton been the next Premier League manager to lose his job.

The pressure was heightened after the Toon were dumped out of the Carling Cup by Arsenal , but today Hughton's side were in stunning form as they brushed aside Sunderland to record a stunning 5-1 win over there local rivals.

In a week holding fixtures such as Blackburn Rovers-Chelsea and Arsenal-West Ham United, you can be forgiven for being surprised at the lack of goal-fests. Chelsea and Arsenal stumbled towards unspectacular wins, whilst Manchester United undid Tottenham Hotspur with a comedy goal on their way to a 2-0 victory.

Our two local strikers, Shola Ameobi and Andy Carroll, have both started up front in the last two league games, and we've won both games with two excellent performances and 7 goals scored. Shola - showing great form this season so far The 2-1 win at West Ham showed Newcastle at their best after the [.

Shola Ameobi has been in great form this season, and of course we should also remember the start of last season, when he scored a valuable 5 goals in August, to get the lads off to a great start down in the Championship. Chris Hughton can he keep Shola fit? But usually what happens, if [...]

Anyone who doubts Newcastle United's players to 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 [.

As we half expected it's another brave team selection today by manager Chris Hughton, as he keeps both local strikers, Shola Ameobi and Andy Carroll, in the starting line-up which is unchanged from that which tore Sunderland apart 5-1 last Sunday afternoon. Both returning center-backs Steven Taylor and Sol Campbell, the former Arsenal great, are [.

A lacklustre performance from Arsenal saw Newcastle come away from the Emirates Stadium with all three points on Sunday afternoon.

Magpies 'keeper Tim Krul pulled off a couple of top drawer saves, the best of which was a full length dive to stop a Samir Nasri drive. Lukasz Fabianski at the other end dropped another clanger as he came for a ball he was never going to win and saw Andy Carroll barge his way in for the winning goal.

Lineups are in:

Arsenal: Starters: Flaps, Sagna, Clichy, Koscielny, Squillaci, Song, Wilshere, Cesc, Nasri, Theo, Chamakh Bench: Wojo, Rosicky, van Persie, Arshavin, Bendtner, Djourou, Eboue

Newcastle: Starters: Krul, Enrique, Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, Nolan, Tiote, Gutierrez, Barton, Carroll, Ameobi Bench: Slo, Smith, Routledge, Tayler, Ranger, Soderberg, Lovenkrands

Well, that is the exact starting XI I picked yesterday, and the big news, lineup-wise, is that Arshavin starts on the bench for the first time this season in the league.

As expected Newcastle are unchanged from the side that did so brilliantly at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon, when they defeated Arsenal 1-0. There had been a slight doubt about Shola Ameobi, who was said to have a thigh strain, but it looks like the local lad is ready to go to war again [.

It will be 19 year-old Nile Ranger or 30 year-old Peter Lovenkrands who will start tomorrow, if Shola Ameobi, as expected, isn't fit to line up alongside Andy Carroll against Fulham FC tomorrow afternoon. Nile Ranger could get first start in Premier League tomorrow If Ameobi doesn't start it's going to be a tough decision between [.