Bernard
On His Way?
Today's Independent are
reporting that Birmingham City are interested in Olivier Bernard
who as we all know, will be a free agent at the end of the season
and can talk to interested parties now. The Blues are apparently
looking to strengthen their left-back position and it seems
our Frenchman fits the bill. Souness has already stated that
nobody will be leaving in this transfer window but it remains
to be seen whether Bernard who was demoted to the stiffs the
other week, will be a United player come January the 31st.
Daveed's
'Advice' To Larry
Former Toon winger David Ginola speaking
to the Mirror about Laurent Robert's current situation at United:
"Laurent is the sort of player that the fans love but if
the manager doesn't want to play him, then there's nothing he
can do about it.
"If he is serious about being involved for the World Cup in
Germany, I think he should consider his options.
"I had the same situation at Villa with Gregory - he didn't
want to play me and had nothing to say to me.
"The problem the player has is that he can do nothing about
it if the manager doesn't like you. That's the way it is, whether
the player likes it or not."
Not the best person to take advice from, given how his own career
unspectacularly tailed off...
It
Happened On This Day: 1898
Promotion in the unlikeliest manner...
On this day 107 years ago Newcastle United beat Leicester Fosse
(later to become City) 4-2 at St. James' Park in front of 10,000
fans with the legendary Toon centre-forward of the day Jock
Peddie grabbing himself a hat-trick and defensive stalwart Andy
Aitken grabbing the other. The win was United's 14th in 20 games
as Frank Watt's men charged up the League, eventually finishing
2nd on 45 points in the old Division Two behind Burnley.
Back then promotion from Division Two could only be achieved
after a series of Test Matches - an early version of today's
Play-Offs. Both United and Burnley had to compete against Blackburn
Rovers and Stoke City, the two bottom sides from Division One
in a mini-League of April that year to see who would play in
the 1st Division the following season.
Newcastle began with a 2-1 win over Stoke at the Old Gallowgate
with William Smith and John Harvey grabbing the goals. Without
the injured Peddie however United were beaten 1-0 at the Potteries
in the return match. A double header ensued against Blackburn
and United lost the first match 4-3 at Ewood Park after battling
back from 3-1 down due to Rovers going down to ten men.
That defeat meant Newcastle's chances of promotion was virtually
over unless they ran up a big win in the return game and for
a winner to come from the other match.
However Burnley and Stoke only needed to draw and both clubs
would be promoted regardless of United's result.
Newcastle did what they had to do, winning big, thumping Blackburn
4-0 in front of 13,324 Geordies with Tommy Ghee, James Jackson,
Harvey and Johnny Campbell, United's two veteran recruits from
Sunderland, scoring the goals.
In the Stoke Vs Burnley match the two teams predictably played
out the required draw that guaranteed them both top-flight promotion.
When the news filtered through to Tyneside of how the draw was
fashioned with both teams opposed to attacking each other, virtually
playing at a snails pace, there was an outcry that the result
had been fixed prior to kick-off in a gentleman's agreement,
a common practice in those days.
The Football League, conscious of damaging the game's reputation,
took note and as a result the Test Matches were scrapped and
all 4 clubs were to play 1st Division football with the top-flight
extended to save from further controversy.
Newcastle finished a respectable 13th in their first ever Division
One campaign the following season and 7 years later the Black
& Whites would be crowned Division One Champions for the first
time in their history. |
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