A roundup of media reaction to Newcastle’s 2-1 win over Levadia in the UEFA Cup on Thursday night that saw United make the group stages.

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A statement from the official website about Tommy Craig’s departure:

Newcastle United has reached an agreement with Tommy Craig over his future which will see the coach leave his post in the next few days.

The club wishes to make it clear that his departure is purely down to further re-structuring of the coaching staff following several changes that have taken place during the period covering the departure of Graeme Souness and Glenn Roeder’s full time managerial appointment.

Tommy, a past captain of the club, has served the club for over eight and a half years as Reserve Team Coach. He leaves with the best wishes of the club.

Tommy wishes the club and the fans with whom he has a wonderful rapport every success in the future.

People usually leave their job for one of the followng reasons:

1: Better job offer
2: Illness
3: Work dispute
4: Sacked

My guess with Tommy Craig is a combination of 3 & 4.

A strange thing happened the other day - I found myself agreeing with Sepp Blatter. The occasion was his proposal to find an alternative to penalty shoot-outs, and although he did not seem to come up with a better idea, it was very encouraging that he’s prepared to at least try and find something new.

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I would not normally be sufficiently enthusiastic to put pen to paper - or should that be finger to keyboard - for the UEFA games, but in all fairness to the team, Thursday’s match merits a mention. Though a very brief one.

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As a Toon fan, nothing compares to standing amongst 52000 fellow fans in SJP (not at the moment though arguably), but sometimes it takes a new environment, a new stadium and watching another team live to appreciate what we don’t have and no doubt the game left me with quite a few questions? Enter Real Madrid V Dynamo Kiev in the Bernabẽu.

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The contrast between our previous game and the next one could not be greater. From the home comfort of SJP against minnows Levadia Talinn, we step into Old Trafford against Manchester. It’s a good test to see if the team has made any progress as last season we were soundly even if not adequately reflected in the 2-0 scoreline.

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Mike Dean, from Heswall in The Wirrall, Cheshire, is 38 years old, and takes charge of his 1st Newcastle match of the 2006/07 season as we travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on October 1st in the Premiership.

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Toon captain Scott Parker has been named in Stevie Mac’s England squad for the October Euro 2008 qualifers with Macedonia and Croatia.

From the FA:

England Head Coach Steve McClaren has called up Scott Parker and Wayne Rooney for the Euro 2008 Qualifiers with Macedonia and Croatia.

Newcastle captain Parker has been in excellent form for his club and is a straight replacement for Owen Hargreaves who is recovering from a broken leg. Parker, whose debut came in the 3-2 defeat to Denmark at Old Trafford on 16 November 2003, will be hoping to win his third cap.

Well done Parker lad, well deserved.

The club have confirmed that “just visiting” Pavel Srnicek, who isn’t actually a Geordie, has been handed a contract until January.

Speaking to the official website Roeder said:

“I haven’t really come across Pav before but after watching him in training this week I have to say he is in great shape.

“We invited him to the game with Everton last Sunday from Italy where he is living at the moment and he made such an impact on us we then asked him to train with us this week.

“He’s 38 but he really is superfit and there is no way anyone can say he is past it. And don’t forget keepers like David Seaman played until they were 40.

“I have to say that Pav has looked great in training and by bringing him back until the end of the year it will be great for our team spirit.

“He will be good for our young keeper Tim Krul and they tell me him and Steve Harper got on like a house on fire when the pair of them were here before.

“He was still playing football in Portugal in May and if we need him we will all have complete confidence in him.”

Welcome back to Toon Pav.

Newcastle are through to the UEFA Cup group stages following a 2-1 win over Levadia Tallinn at St. James’ Park tonight to wrap up the tie 3-1 on aggregate.

Roeder made several changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Everton at the weekend bringing Taylor in for Moore at the heart of defence, Butt for Parker in central midfield and Sibierski up front to partner Martins.

And it was the Nigerian who turned the tie on it’s head after a goaless and dull first-half, leaping well to head home his first goal at the Gallowgate 2 minutes into the second 45 and moments later crashing in a second with a stunning left footed strike from the edge of the box.

Zelinski grabbed a consolation for Levadia on 65 with a header that should have been saved by Harper in goal but overall United deserved the win despite not playing well.

Teams & Stats

United: Harper, Carr, Bramble, Taylor, Ramage, Milner, Butt, Emre (Parker 80), N’Zogbia (Duff 70), Martins (Luque 70), Sibierski. Subs not used: Krul, Moore, Ameobi, Pattison.

Goals: Martins 47, 50.

Levadia: Kotenko, Sisov, Lemsalu, Cepauskas, Kalimullin, Dovydenas (Sander Puri 55), Vassiljev, Nahk, Dmitrijev (Kink 63), Purje, Voskoboinikov (Zelinski 63). Subs not used: Stonys, Marmor, Kristian Malov, Regelskis.

Booked: Dmitrijev.

Goals: Zelinski 65.

Att: 27,012.

Ref: Kristinn Jakobsson (Iceland).

Newcastle are in action again this evening (Thursday) with a game against Levadia Tallinn of Estonia in the second leg of the UEFA Cup first round proper.

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Newcastle United have signed up to Amisco Pro claim the Guardian newspaper - the sports management software not too dissimilar to ProZone which Toon fans may remember Sir Bobby Robson once fuming over because the club refused to install the software when he asked for it.

Other Premiership clubs to use Amisco apparently are Chelsea, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham and according to the Amisco Pro official website:

See what cannot be seen! Do you want to finally be able to observe the movements of all the players and to measure their physical performances?

AMISCO PRO is the only one to answer these needs; it is the most powerful system of market analysis available.

Thanks to “intelligent sensors” AMISCO PRO allows a precise performance analysis of all the players during the full 90 minutes.

AMISCO PRO is superior to all existing video and/or statistical systems in that it produces a 2 dimension animation as well as exclusive tactical and fitness data.

Gain the immediate benefit of a unique knowledge base by opting for AMISCO PRO today. Several big European clubs have already, why don’t you?

Err, canny.

For more information visit here

Toon manager Glenn Roeder has today admitted his surprise over Kevin Bond’s rather hurried sacking by United, talking to Sky Sports News Roeder said:

“It (Bond’s sacking) was a surprise and there has been no time even to give that any thought whatsoever, not with the game coming up.”

Meanwhile one paper today claims that Roeder was less than impressed with Bond anyway, since appointing him. Although there were no quotes or anything to back up such a claim.

An in depth look at each individual performance from the 1-1 draw with Everton at St. James’ Park, rating the players, the manager, the opposition and the referee.

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The club have today terminated assistant manager Kevin Bond’s contract following the 49 year-old’s involvement in the BBC’s bungs documentary shown by Panorama last week.

A statement issued to the Stock Exchange this morning read:

Newcastle United has terminated Kevin Bond”s contract.

There is no further comment from the club.

Meanwhile Bond, chosen and hired by Roeder just 6 weeks ago, had this to say about the bungs enquiry and being sacked:

“I am extremely disappointed Newcastle have terminated my contract without any proper investigation into the allegations.

“My lawyers will shortly be going to court to compel the BBC to release full transcripts of the recordings.

“Rather than waiting for this and the outcome of any Football Association investigation, Newcastle have made their decision solely on the basis of a few sentences carefully selected and edited by Panorama.

“I intend to pursue all legal avenues to vindicate my reputation and restore my career and livelihood.”

Back at St. James’ Park Lee Clark is being talked about as a possible replacement for Bond, although what qualifications he has to do the job other than being a Geordie, are open to debate…