Newcastle sealed top spot in the group with a goalless draw in Frankfurt.

What did you think of the performance? Can we win the tournament? Who do you want to draw in the next round? Have your say.

The heart of this particular correspondent sank when he heard that Portuguese referee Pedro Proenca has been given the task of refereeing our final UEFA Cup Group Stage tie in Germany tonight.

Portuguese referees tend to be one and the same - card happy. We have seen this at first hand on a couple of occasions. In 2003 we went to the San Siro with a real chance of qualification if we could beat Inter Milan. This chance was virtually taken away from us by a display from Lucilio Cardoso Cortez Batista which cannot be described as anything other than scandalous, showing 7 yellows. And more recently, Antonio Almeida Costa took charge of our 1st leg tie with Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin in 2004, showing 6 yellows and 2 reds.

Good job we haven’t got many 1st teamers fit to rack up yellow cards towards a suspension. Or Pedro, you could prove me wrong and be fantastic.

With qualification very much secure, Newcastle’s final task in the priorly anointed ‘Group of Death’ is to attempt to secure a point or more against Frankfurt, to ensure that they meet a side that finishes third in another group in the next round, as oppposed to a Champions’ League dropout.

Squad: Given, Babayaro, Forster, Solano, Bramble, Taylor, Huntington, Ramage, Butt, Emre, N’Zogbia, Milner, Pattison, Troisi, Gate, Edgar, Martins, Finnigan, Sibierski, Luque, Carroll.

Antoine Sibierski’s second-half winner saw Newcastle end a 9-game winless streak in the Premiership with invigorating vim at St James’ Park. There were plenty of positives to take away from the game as Newcastle attacked with frightening pace throughout.

What did you think of the game? Is the tide turning for Newcastle now Kieron Dyer is back? What do you think of Solano at right-back? Where do you think we can finish? Does this result only paper over the cracks? What do you make of the improvement of the team in the absence of Carr?

They say money can’t buy you love, but if just half the reports these past few weeks are to be believed regarding Toon takeover talks then it would appear that the Belgravia Group looking to acquire Newcastle United, hope to do just that as they look to capture the hearts and minds of the Magpie faithful - on and off the stands.

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Mark Halsey, 45 years old and originally from Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire but now based in Bolton, Lancashire, takes charge of us for the 2nd time this season as we play Portsmouth in the Premiership later today.

His one United game so far this season was our 2-0 loss at Liverpool, where we had numerous strong penalty appeals waved away. He refereed this corresponding fixture last season, as we won Glenn Roeder’s 1st game as Caretaker boss 2-0, with Alan Shearer scoring his 201st goal for the club in the process.

Halsey replaces Mike Riley, who was originally appointed to the game but swapped games with Halsey after Mark was appointed to a UEFA Cup tie on Thursday. Riley instead took West Ham’s win over Sheffield United.

Goals in either half from Antoine Sibierski and Steven Taylor saw Newcastle recover from a first-half Nestor Cannobio goal to seal safe passage into the knockout stages of the Eufa Cup.

What do you think of Newcastle’s impeccable European record this season? Is Europe an unnecessary distraction given current domestic difficulties? Where should Newcastle’s priorities lie? Have your say.

Our subservient chairman yielded to the almighty lifeblood of Newcastle United, and respectfully installed Glenn Roeder as manager in accordance with the wishes, and indeed demands of the fans. (more…)

I’ve been reading Alan Shearer’s ghosted autobiography, which was published in 1998, after his second season at Newcastle, and with Kenny Dalglish about to embark on his last few weeks as Manager. Like many such books, it is rather bland and diplomatic. Juicy revelations are somewhat thin on the ground, with, for example, the historic chinning of Keith Gillespie being a subject that is not-so-strangely absent.

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Newcastle earned a draw at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon against an on-form Arsenal. The 1-1 scoreline allowed the Magpies to climb out of the relegation zone ahead of Sheffield United who lost today. There appears to be more injury woe however with Craig Moore taken off near the end with a suspected hamstring problem. Could our squad get anymore paper thin?

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Martin Atkinson of West Yorkshire takes charge of a Newcastle United match for the 3rd time this season, and the 5th overall, as we travel to the all new Emirates Stadium for the first time to play Arsenal in the Barclays Premiership tomorrow.

Atkinson is just 35 years old but has already made the FIFA list, and refereed the Community Shield in August, confirming his rise to the very top rank of the refereeing pyramid, and has shown himself to be highly competent while not throwing cards around like some of his more obtrusive colleagues.

His 1st United game was our 1-0 FA Cup win over Southampton in February, followed by the 0-0 bore draw at Birmingham in April. He then came to St James’ on the opening day of the campaign to oversee our only home win so far, 2-1 against Wigan, before taking charge of our 1-0 “derby” defeat to Middlesbrough last month as a late replacement for fellow West Yorkshireman Mike Riley.

The draw for the Quarter Finals of the Northumberland Senior Cup took place last night. United’s Reserves will face Whitley Bay, while in the other ties Blyth Spartans face a trip to Bedlington Terriers, Morpeth Town play Prudhoe Town and Ashington will travel to Newcastle Benfield Bay Plastics.

The ties must be played by January 27 2007, and more details will appear here when released by the clubs.

(The draw was originally reported on the club’s Official Site as an away tie for United, but that appears to have been an error…..)

You know when you see a small child jumping up and down and performing daft tricks to try and impress their parents? “Look mam, no hands,” they’ll shout, normally before falling spectacularly off their bike with a crash, writhing around in pain, thinking “I probably shouldn’t have done that.” They never learn though, do they?

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For 87 minutes on Saturday lunchtime, United were as shoddy as at any point over the season. But in the final five minutes, the lads somehow managed to find an ability to pass, shoot and attack and almost grabbed an undeserved victory at the City of Manchester Stadium. Here’s what the rags had to say about it…
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We found an interesting snippet tucked away at the end of the Guardian’s Man City/NUFC match report where they comment on Sir Bobby’s backing of Freddy Shepherd as reported by the Mail on Sunday, but also claim the former United manager was due to meet up with the chairman last week.

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