Thoughts and reflections
"This was our 50th game today, which goes a little bit unnoticed. With all the travelling involved as well, that's tough. Clubs will look at us and the impact it can have, because it's not only the extra games but the injuries we've had on the back of that. There's no doubt that our league [...]
"We were tighter as a team. We kicked the ball longer. We tried to get as many bodies around the ball as we possibly could to make it difficult for their passing game." - Newcastle United first team coach Steve Stone praising a route one performance against Swansea City (which we lost). "Alan Pardew will [.
This is a fairly brief note to let you all know that my latest blog for Metro.co.uk is now published. Entitled "How the Wilfried Bony to Newcastle United story started," it takes a look at how a piece on this site extolling the virtues of Vitesse Arnhem's prodigious striker eventually led (via the Telegraph) to [.
Just a quick note to let you know that my latest piece for metro.co.uk has now been published. Entitled "Alan Pardew says the funniest things sometimes," it is a brief (they're only supposed to be around 500 words in there) reflection on some of Pardew's words after Newcastle's victory against Stoke, where he marked the [.
Speaking in recent interview on Swansea City's Europa League campaign next season, Chairman Huw Jenkins knocked Europa League knockers such as Alan Pardew, who has frequently used midweek European competition as an excuse for his poor League form this season (amongst other things), with Jenkins dismissing such talk as "rubbish.
It may not have escaped the attention of you fans out there that Mike Ashley has recently had a windfall of around £100 million after selling aprroximately 7% of his holding in tacky sportwear retailer, Sports Direct. Reading about it in the Guardian's "Market Forces 'blog" this morning as I enjoyed my Eggs Benedict.
In our game against Southampton this afternoon, along with our next one against Swansea City, we will be facing the teams of the two most talented and admired young coaches in the Premiership, Mauricio Pochettino and Michael Laudrup. Of course, English fans including those of Newcastle United are very familiar with Laudrup the coach now, [.
Since I wrote a few pieces on how Alan Pardew's Newcastle United had become the biggest "long ball" side in the Premiership this season some time ago, It piqued my curiosity to look beyond and see how the "route one" style favoured by Pardew this term compared with that of his predecessors, and possibly, what [.
In Joe Kinnear's "Talk Sport" interview just over a week ago with Richard Keys and Andy Gray, besides being touched as Kinnear recalled the awful series of events which befell him after his reign at Newcastle, not just the heart episode which forced him into retirement but also the loss of his only son Elliott [.
This is just a quick 'blog to let you all know that my latest piece for Metro.co.uk was published earlier today. Entitled "Sissoko was great, but let's hear it for Gouffran too" it takes a look at Yoan Gouffran's excellent performance against Chelsea on Saturday, a performance which might be overlooked in the midst of [.
There has been much talk amongst fans in the past few weeks on the situation with Newcastle United's captain, Fabricio Coloccini. While there is no doubt that the player is having personal problems at the moment, that he made a request to go back and join his family in Argentina, and that one of his [.
Well not if your surname is "Ferguson," "Wenger" or "Mourinho" perhaps, but for most, if not quite all of the others who won the award, it has seemingly been a ticket to disaster, despair, and possibly permanent career oblivion, or at least a prelude to a big dent in the manager's CV. In this story, [.
NB: If you are having problems playing these videos, it is probably a dodgy Firefox update. I would suggest using Internet Explorer or another browser until Mozilla gets it's act together. "‘Phenomenal' was all a breathless Fred Rutten (Vitesse Arnhem's manager) could say. A word so rarely uttered in the Eredivisie it took many by [.
News has been circulating all over the UK and French media that a deal for Lille full back Mathieu Debuchy had been resurrected, and that the Frenchman would sign for Newcastle United for a fee of around £5.5 million in the imminent January transfer window. So I decided to probe deeper and chase up the [.
Venue: St James' Park, Newcastle. Date: Sat 12nd December, 2012. Kick off: 3.00pm. Referee: Kevin Friend (Leics). UK TV: None. Hello good afternoon and welcome to this extra special Christmas match banter for Newcastle United's home match with the "R's" of Queens Park Rangers. To say that this was an important game for Alan Pardew [.
Writing in his column for the Sun, Alan Shearer has laid the blame squarely at the door of Mike Ashley for the club's current lack of form. "Newcastle missed a huge opportunity in the summer" he began, continuing: "Having punched above their weight last season and almost made it into the top four [sic], this [.
"Alan Pardew backed by 95% of fans Chronicle poll reveals" wrote the Chronicle. This staggering revelation would give Toon's Silver Supremo the same kind of popularity as Kevin Keegan in the heyday of his "Entertainers" side, or Bobby Robson when Newcastle United were once again a top four side who were competing in the Champions [.
As it starts to dawn on more fans that Alan Pardew is not bringing a more attractive, "fluid" style of play to Newcastle United after all, the Magpies continue to extend their lead as the biggest long ball team of the Premiership. Using OPTA statistics for the Premiership season so far, which define "long balls" [.
Of course, Newcastle United's game against West Ham on Sunday will see the return to St James' Park of two ex Magpies, Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll, and also an ex manager, Sam Allardyce. In this piece I intend to concentrate on one of those, Kevin Nolan, who has received much undeserved flak from the [.
He is according to football stats site "whoscored.com" anyway, where he is Newcastle United's only representative in their Premiership team of the season so far. In this he joins players such as Robin van Persie, Juan Mata, Gareth Bale and other top players, just nudging out Tottenham's Jan Vertonghen as best centre back, and tying [.
Alan Pardew has revealed to the Shields Gazette that though he feels that Mike Ashley has found the manager of his dreams at last, he's going to need players who can pass the ball better to improve the team. Although some of us might say that the teams problems in possession might have something to [.
"And how the poverty of these unfortunates, among whom even thieves find nothing to steal, is exploited by the property-holding class in lawful ways." Frederick Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England. It is no longer news that Internet loan shark "Wonga" will be the club's sponsors from next season for a [.
If you have been reading Newcastle United stories in the media recently, you will probably have noticed the announcement that Mike Ashley has decided to give Alan Pardew and his backroom staff, John Carver, Steve Stone and Andy Woodman eight year contracts. There has a recent precedent of course, with chief scout Graham Carr having [.
With today's game against Norwich City seeing Alan Pardew's predecessor, Chris Hughton, returning to St James' Park for the first time since his sacking in December 2010, there has been far more of the usual pre match words from the managers on both sides. On the Pardew side, amongst other things, he has been anxious [.
Part one – C.S. Maritimo. Team: F.C. des Girondins de Bordeaux. League: French Ligue 1. Position last season: 5th. Stadium: Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux. Last major trophy: Ligue 1, Coupe de la Ligue, Trophée des champions 2009. Fixture dates: Thurs, 4th Oct (H), Thurs, 6th Dec (A). A silver haired Supremo in his early [.
Team: C.S. Maritimo. League: Portuguese Primeira Liga. Position last season: 5th. Stadium: Estádio
dos Barreiros, Funchal, Madeira. Last major trophy: Campeonato de Portugal, 1926. Fixture dates:
Thurs, 4th Oct (A), Thurs, 22nd Nov (H) Though Maritimo play in Portugal's Primeira Liga, Maritimo
(Maritime) are situated on the island of Madeira, some 600 miles from the [.
Team: C.S. Maritimo. League: Portuguese Primeira Liga. Position last season: 5th. Stadium: Estádio dos Barreiros, Funchal, Madeira. Last major trophy: Campeonato de Portugal, 1926. Fixture dates: Thurs, 4th Oct (A), Thurs, 22nd Nov (H) Though Maritimo play in Portugal's Primeira Liga, Maritimo (Maritime) are situated on the island of Madeira, some 600 miles from the [.
It seems a lifetime since signings like Michael Owen and Mark Viduka wore the black and white. Declining, injury prone and nearly always overpriced; these marquee players from the Shepherd era were one of the main reasons we were relegated at the beginning of Ashley's reign. On massive wages and having already achieved something notable [.
It's always intriguedme how individual NUFC fans see their club's relationship with our eternal rivals down the road. I mean we all chant 'we hate Sunderland' onmatch days but does therivalry mean different things to fans living where they hardly ever come across the great unwashed such as the North bank of the Tyne or [.
Many thanks to "ToonBano" from the Toon blog www.toonbano.com for his fifth guest blog here – wt. As I get over the shock of actually winning a game from behind for the first time in over two years and trying to get my head around winning back to back victories for the first time this [...]
It's time for the long awaited secondinstallment of this series looking at Alan Pardew's role at the club, and if he know what he's doing? (Hence the title). Because of recent events, I have decided to do a piece on his tendency to blame all and sundry other than himself for somedisappointing performances this season [.
Many thanks to "ToonBano" from the Toon blog www.toonbano.com for his fifth guest blog here – wt. Apologies for the sensationalist headline but bear with me there's a point to it. My patience with Alan Pardew has been down to a thread for most of this season (just have a little look in my archive [.
Alright, I'm "FarmerG" and this is my NUFCBlog debut post. I'm going to start with a biggy; so bigin factthat I'm goingto split it up intobitesizechunks for your digestion. Basically, this series of blogs will investigate NUFC head honcho Alan Scott Pardew's role at the club, delving deep into the important issues surrounding the clubs [.
Many thanks to "ToonBano" from the Toon blog www.toonbano.com for his fourth guest blog here – wt. As we managed to fall over the line to a 1-0 'win' over QPR its got to be said that was one of the worst games of football I have ever seen in my whole life. Which was [...]
Many thanks to "ToonBano" from the Toon blog www.toonbano.com for his third guest blog here – wt. A couple of weeks ago, the Evening Chronicle asked fans to take part in what they called 'The Big Toon Survey' on how they felt about Newcastle United's season thus far. Many fans did as they saw it [.
Many thanks to "ToonBano" from the Toon blog www.toonbano.com for his second guest blog here – wt. Today is the two year anniversary of Alan Pardew's very first game as NUFC manager, when we defeated Liverpool 3-1 thanks to goals from Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Andy Carroll. Just looking at the goal scorers that [.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a guest blog this time! Many thanks to "ToonBano" from the Toon blog www.toonbano.com for his thoughts wt. What a relief. NUFC have stopped the rot of 4 straight defeats, got a clean sheet and scored three well worked goals in the 3-0 victory over Wigan. What is even [..
Following the departures of Leon Best and Peter Lovenkrands Newcastle United have only three
recognised strikers in our 12/13 squad – fact. A much documented lack of transfer activity has
left countless Geordies despondent with the size of our squad entering a hectic season, yearning
for the signature of a new striker.
Following the departures of Leon Best and Peter Lovenkrands Newcastle United have only three recognised strikers in our 12/13 squad – fact. A much documented lack of transfer activity has left countless Geordies despondent with the size of our squad entering a hectic season, yearning for the signature of a new striker.
The Rest
Going against my parents wishes was nothing strange to me, but the day I am about to describe where I did just that definitely set the course of my life. I was born in Brunton Park, Wideopen, to Cynthia and Bert, a firm upbringing but nontheless loving. I mostly had a carefree childhood 'til my [...]
