Nick Hornby once described George Graham as a wise father-figure. Whilst many Arsenal fans pleaded for brighter football, and were baffled by his decisions, George calmly imposed his own ideas, knowing full well that the road to success was often an ugly one, and there was no point in trying to please people along the way. Arsenal ground their way to two league titles, and of course no-one complained. Our relationship with Big Sam may be on similar lines.

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Newcastle’s unbeaten run continued last night, as they triumphed over a valiant Barnsley side, 2-0 at Gallowgate. £27m strike pair Michael Owen and Oba Martins were the goalscorers, on a low key night where a tough Barnsley outfit challenged United bravely - for 45 minutes atleast.

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Big Sam and his troops made the short journey down the A19 to face the Red and White “army” that awaited them at the Riverside stadium. So far unbeaten this season, Allardyce decided to stick with the same men that served him so well at Bolton, but played worse against Villa a week later. The fully fit Owen, Caçapa, Enrique and Ameobi were either left out of the 16 altogether or benched, with the midweek fixture against Barnsley firmly in the back of the mind of our well loved gaffer.

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Newcastle United were held to a goalless draw by Aston Villa in their first home match of the season on a rain-soaked afternoon at St James’ Park.

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Well, to be fair to the lads, we were always in the game until Team X scored their first goal. We had Y amount of players out injured and my boys gave their all. Sloppy individual errors cost us again. I’m afraid Lady Luck is against us and it’s stitched into the badge of Newcastle United.

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Looking at the team sheets:

Nedved, Iaquinta, Trezeguet, Buffon, Zanetti.

Edgar, Troisi, Pattison, Barnett and Lough.

It’s a no contest, isn’t it? As everyone connected with Newcastle United know very well, football isn’t played on paper. Not the force they once were, but still regarded as European giants, the Old Lady came to town expecting to locals to roll over and fold to their superior skills.

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Two first half goals from forgotten man Albert Luque helped Newcastle United to victory over Scottish Champions Celtic in Sam Allardyce’s first home match in charge of the club.

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The sunset barely crouched over the shoulder of the horizon, on our ambling approach to the Madejski for Monday night’s trip to Reading. Seated in the East Stand, the pitch looked luscious, the banter tickled both sets of fans just right and even the PA guy wasn’t without a certain affable levity.

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Come the morning papers, the return of Michael Owen will hopefully extinguish any lingering thoughts about the dismal performance that Newcastle United displayed on Monday evening. In what was a dire display from the playing staff, and an equally pitiful showing from the manager, the Magpies inexplicably went down by 1 goal to nil against a distinctly average Reading side at the Madejski Stadium.

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A pitiful display from both manager and playing staff on Thursday evening saw Newcastle crash depressingly out of the UEFA Cup for the third time in four years. A gutless and bored performance from the Magpies, complete with insanely negative tactics from the laughable Roeder, had the 1000 travelling supporters suspecting the worst from only the first few minutes. Newcastle had kissed their European prospects goodbye for yet another year, literally from within the opening stages.

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A scintillating first half performance from Newcastle saw them overcome dangerous Dutch counterparts, AZ Alkmaar by an impressive four goals to two on Thursday night. Obafemi Martins was a pinnacle figure throughout, scoring two goals before half time, both of them sublime finishes.

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Another fine defensive display from centre-back Titus Bramble helped Newcastle maintain their winning run, following an uninspiring 1-0 victory over Belgian counterparts, Zulte Waregem. The stocky centre-half has undoubtedly impressed over the past two matches, and one hopes that he can continue his good form into the Premiership matches to come. On the whole though, it was a drab and lifeless performance from the Magpies, Martins’ 68th minute goal a rare spark of quality.

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A muscular performance from Newcastle centre-back Titus Bramble inspired the Magpies into a comfortable 3-1 victory over Zulte Waregem in Gent last night. The Toon were never in any real danger throughout the match, the Zulte goal coming from a rare foray into Steve Harper’s penalty box, and the three United goals did not really do justice to Newcastle’s dominating performance.

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Newcastle United were in London once more on Saturday, but the Magpies were unable to continue their recent run in the capital, with Fulham claiming a 2-1 victory in what turned out to be a dull and derivative fixture. (more…)

Newcastle’s Carling Cup venture came to an abrupt end on Wednesday evening, as League Champions Chelsea overcame the Magpies on a bitterly cold night at St James’ Park. Didier Drogba’s solitary goal left the supporters dawdling home in disappointment, reminiscent of the scenes that occurred only a week ago. The Ivorian hitman’s thunderous strike was all that separated the two teams after 90 minutes.

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