Newcastle-Online.com forum regular Dr Spectrum gives us the lowdown on his beloved Manchester City…

Newcastle’s first game of 2008 sees Manchester City make the journey north-east for a Wednesday night game. City’s superb home form has not been reflected on their travels, so the match represents a chance to avenge September’s 3-1 defeat at the City of Manchester Stadium. (more…)

Martin Atkinson of Leeds takes charge of his 1st ever Tyne-Wear derby and his 2nd Newcastle match of the season at the Stadium of Light today.

He was last on a Newcastle game in October as we beat Everton 3-2 at St James’ Park, and last on a Sunderland game as they lost 1-0 at Old Trafford to Manchester United in September.

Derby day. The most nervous day of the year. Winning is everything, losing unthinkable. As Newcastle prepare for their latest battle with ‘them over the road’, it’s time for a quick look at the Tyne-Wear clashes in the Premiership. (more…)

Chris Foy from St Helens will be the man in the middle at St James’ Park this afternoon as we take on Portsmouth.

It will be Foy’s 3rd Newcastle game already this season, having been in charge on the opening day when we won 3-1 at Bolton Wanderers, and in September when we lost by the same scoreline at Manchester City.

Phil Dowd of Stoke-on-Trent will take charge of our game at the Madejski Stadium against Reading this afternoon. Last season he took charge of 2 of our games, defeats at Chelsea and Fulham.

Steve Bennett, from Orpington in Kent, is 46 years old, and takes charge of his 2nd Newcastle match of the 2007/08 season as Wigan Athletic travel to St James’ Park to face us in the Premiership. We have a bit of an unhappy history with Mr Bennett, who has made several controversial (but not necessarily incorrect) decisions against us in the past.
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Martin Atkinson of Leeds in West Yorkshire will take charge of our game with Everton at St James’ Park today. It will be his first Newcastle game of the season, with the last time he refereed us being our 2-0 defeat to Blackburn in the final home game of last season.

Chris Foy from St Helens will be the man in the middle at Eastlands this afternoon as we take on Sven Goran Eriksson’s rejuvenated Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium.

It will be Foy’s 2nd Newcastle game this season, having been in charge on the opening day when we won 3-1 at Bolton Wanderers.

Howard Webb of Rotherham in South Yorkshire will take charge of our Carling Cup 3rd Round tie against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in North London tonight. It’ll be the second time this season Webb has refereed us, having been in the middle for our 0-0 draw with Aston Villa in August.

Peter Walton, 47 years of age from Northamptonshire, will be the unfamiliar face in the middle at Pride Park as we take on Derby County in the live Setanta Premiership match on Monday night. It will be just Walton’s third appearance in the middle of a Newcastle match.

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Steve Bennett, from Orpington in Kent, is 46 years old, and takes charge of his 1st Newcastle match of the 2007/08 season as Wigan Athletic travel to St James’ Park to face us in the Premiership. We have a bit of an unhappy history with Mr Bennett, who has made several controversial (but not necessarily incorrect) decisions against us in the past.
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The referee for tonight’s Carling Cup Second Round tie at St James’ Park will be Graham Salisbury of Lancashire. Salisbury is 44 years old and joined the National List in 2001. So far this season he has refereed 3 Football League games, and also took charge of Hartlepool’s 2-1 victory at Championship side Scunthorpe in Round 1 of this competition. In 4 games he has shown 13 yellow cards and 1 red.

Mike Dean, from Heswall in The Wirrall, Cheshire, is 39 years old, and takes charge of his 1st Newcastle match of the 2007/08 season as we make the short journey down the A19 to Middlesbrough today.

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The season started with a bang last Saturday, literally in the case of this correspondent, who was hospitalised and unable to bring you the lowdown on Chris Foy, who took charge of our 3-1 victory at Bolton. Therefore, kicking off this season’s profiles of the men in black (or yellow, or green) is Howard Webb.

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A youthful United Reserve side kicked off their pre-season campaign with a 3-2 win at Sam Smith’s Park against a hard working and spirited Benfield. After an even half hour, Kazenga LuaLua drove forward down the left, cut inside and shot, with a deflection taking the ball past the Benfield keeper to give United the lead. Just two minutes later the advantage was doubled as James Marwood this time cut in from the right and struck the ball beyond Grainger.

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