in association with NewcastleStats.com

For the first SOTW of the new season we’ve decided to investigate how previous NUFC managers have performed in their opening Premier League fixtures. That is to say:

Who is The Man when it comes to that tricky first fixture of the season?

(more…)

Reading were the surprise favorites of last season, early favorites to go down after spending relatively little preseason, they not only avoided the drop but finished only one point below a European spot Steve Coppell always maintained they didn’t want, with largely the same first team that had won him promotion. However managing to stay up in your first season in the Premiership does not mean that you can take it easy second time around, as Ipswich, West Ham and others have found out in recent years. Whether they should have been favorites for the drop is questionable however, as they finished first in the Championship the season before, with 106 points and 16 ahead of Sheffield United in second.

(more…)

When England’s own Michael Owen jogged nonchalantly onto the field with 20 or so minutes to go in the drab 0-0 draw with Aston Villa, what were you thinking? Was he the saviour of the club? Was he the club’s record signing, the fan favourite and the perfect replacement for the retired Alan Shearer? Or was he a mercenary? A man greedy enough to join a club heading nowhere managed by Graeme Souness to pick up a reported £100k/week wages? Or was he just a cringe-worthy trophy signing which has worked out well for neither him nor us? Nope, he’s not any of those things.
(more…)