tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80526952009-12-01T00:32:32.454ZBeing the true and painfulle historie of the trialls and tribulations of two long-sufferynge Newcastle Utd fans<br><br><br> "<em>Well written and very balanced</em>" - When Saturday Comes<br><br><br> To support the Newcastle United Supporters Trust's Yes We Can campaign, click <a href="http://www.nust.org.uk/">here</a><br><br><br> To donate to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, click <a href="http://www.sirbobbyrobsonfoundation.org.uk/">here</a><br><br><br>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comBlogger1260125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-84174112303756317952009-12-01T00:29:00.002Z2009-12-01T00:32:32.463Z

"I was ­annoyed because people were saying the only reason I wasn’t going anywhere in the summer was because there weren’t any offers. That wasn’t true ­because the club and ­myself were getting a lot of offers."Fabricio Coloccini not-so-subtly suggests that we should be grateful for his loyalty. Look mate, you're playing well this season, but we haven't forgotten your pitiful contribution in our

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-77435518743922043332009-11-30T00:27:00.002Z2009-11-30T01:15:40.801Z

Newcastle Utd 3 - 0 SwanseaAs a child, you're taught that swans are dangerous beasts - stray too close and you may end up with a broken arm. Similarly, ahead of Saturday's match we'd been slightly fearful of the Swans, who were arriving at St James' in top form and with the second meanest defence in the division. But, after this ringing of their necks courtesy of a hat-trick of headers, we could

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-91407659089942550952009-11-30T00:21:00.002Z2009-11-30T00:27:30.555Z

Not satisfied with sending us to Plymouth in the league this season, the fixture gods have also decreed that we must to travel the length of the country and face the Pilgrims on their home turf in the FA Cup too. And with the third round match due to be played on the weekend of 2nd/3rd January, it's not as though fans will be flush with cash for the trip.Fingers crossed all that isn't compounded

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-6230343161144188272009-11-25T00:33:00.003Z2009-11-25T00:41:09.594Z

"Surely these were things a secretary could do? It was a Jeeves role."Judge Richard Seymour QC on the services provided to Obafemi Martins by NVA Management Ltd, who are suing our former striker for unpaid fees. It seems that not only was he incapable of managing his own affairs, he found it difficult to survive on £75,000 a week. And to think - they say footballers have lost touch with reality...

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-49890363983943486632009-11-25T00:07:00.002Z2009-11-25T00:33:01.114Z

Could the headline really be correct: "Mike Ashley joins Supporters Trust"? Yes, it could...

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-61581084633665582672009-11-24T00:27:00.002Z2009-11-24T01:25:58.462Z

Preston 0 - 1 Newcastle UtdFor tonight's match, see the wins at Cardiff and Sheffield Utd before it: another middling performance, another nicked goal, another clean sheet, another very welcome three points against close promotion rivals.In a game that did its best to dull the sparkle and razzmatazz with which it had been garnished by Sky, Kevin Nolan's smartly taken eighth of the season with 15

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-71019036511409363412009-11-23T22:37:00.003Z2009-11-23T22:50:23.327Z

It's a hearty "Bienvenue a Tyneside, bonny lad" to Fabrice Pancrate, whom we've signed up on a season-long deal. While on trial, the former Paris St Germain player featured in a 3-2 win over Hartlepool for the Reserves, after which Chris Hughton commented: "His biggest asset is his experience – he’s played in a couple of positions, is good on the ball, works hard and I enjoyed watching him

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-30923614917759806412009-11-23T22:29:00.001Z2009-11-23T22:37:11.446Z

"I have reached a stage in my career where I would love to play international football, and realistically it’s not going to happen with England."As the employee of a club that outsiders rarely associate with realism, Big Lad seems to have a pretty firm grasp of it in expressing his desire to represent Nigeria.The Ronny Gill's take on the story was, of course, to stir up trouble by suggesting

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-75042550380388081732009-11-18T13:17:00.001Z2009-11-18T13:24:02.008Z

Last night was not a good one for Bigger Lad, in action once again for England U21s. Following Saturday's assist against Portugal, he will have been hoping to go one better - but managed only a hat-trick of misses (header wide, post struck, crossbar shaken) as his side drew a disappointing blank against their Lithuanian opponents when a win could have taken them above Greece to the top of the

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-46445491206590907902009-11-18T13:10:00.004Z2009-11-18T13:25:37.632Z

Over on The Two Unfortunates (to my knowledge, still the only blog devoted to coverage of the Championship), in what was initially intended to be a more general piece (hence the fact it didn't appear here first), are some musings on Jabba's decision to change the name of our stadium. That I managed to resist the temptation to use industrial language is, I think, very much to my credit...

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-22128633747770572182009-11-17T01:25:00.002Z2009-11-17T01:32:48.932Z

"Unfortunately we live in a world where football is big business, and the gap between the Championship and the Premier League is getting bigger all the time. So you have to do things to close that gap."Barry Moat tells Sky Sports that sullying the name of our ground with corporate sponsorship and thereby urinating on over a hundred years of tradition is a sensible and necessary strategy. So

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-6663700765637142272009-11-17T00:59:00.002Z2009-11-17T01:25:04.793Z

Noteworthy contributions from two members of the current Newcastle squad in the weekend's internationals: Bigger Lad - operating as a lone striker as he has for us for much of the season - provided the knock-down for Danny Rose to score the only goal of England U21's home win over their Portuguese counterparts, while Cameroon qualified for next summer's World Cup thanks in part to Geremi, whose

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-5598542312403750472009-11-13T14:00:00.002Z2009-11-13T14:00:02.082Z

In a post which first appeared on his marvellous personal site Crinklybee, occasional guest contributor Jonathan muses on the demise of terracing, recalling the day when he quite literally nearly died for the cause.* * * * * It may or may not have something to do with Newcastle United's megalomaniac owner taking it upon himself to tear up 130 years of history and rename our ground after his own

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-73233263042697355432009-11-13T00:24:00.003Z2009-11-13T00:46:22.222Z

Let us announce (belatedly) our support for the NUST's Yes We Can campaign, officially launched on Tuesday, by giving them a platform and posting their rallying cry:"Today the Newcastle United Supporters Trust formally launches an ambitious bid to take back our football club. We need supporters like yourself to back a supporter takeover - for more information visit http://www.nust.org.uk. There

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-7576054385600292692009-11-11T17:05:00.001Z2009-11-12T01:42:25.115Z

Newcastle Utd 3 - 1 PeterboroughMutiny may have been in the air before and after Saturday's match at St James' Park, but on the pitch all the fight was from our team who ripped the heart out of a visiting Peterborough side, and in doing so drove Fergie Junior to the departure lounge.Having waited fifteen months for his first goal for the club Spiderman produced a stunning solo goal to open the

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04247955697414914365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-8452459852786888102009-11-10T17:37:00.001Z2009-11-10T17:37:23.395Z

Talk about getting off on the wrong foot.October began with the tribunal presiding over the club v Keegan dispute delivering its damning indictment of the current hierarchy: Keegan HAD been constructively dismissed (as he'd claimed); the club had issued deliberately misleading statements in the press in what it bizarrely described as "an exercise in public relations"; the loan signing of mystery

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-16138819429571197022009-11-09T21:29:00.005Z2009-11-09T21:52:03.426Z

It seems Saturday's defeat at our hands was rather more damaging for Peterborough than simply sending them to the foot of the table - reports are surfacing that Darren Ferguson has been sacked.It's bizarre, to say the least - Posh may be struggling to acclimatise to the Championship, but Fergie Jr had led them to successive promotions and only in the summer was acclaimed as "the best young

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-66659565220761802132009-11-09T00:19:00.002Z2009-11-09T00:31:03.929Z

I'm sure I'm not alone in finding most things about The Football League Show pretty excruciating to have to endure - from presenter Manish Bhasin and that weird aircraft hanger of a studio to the jolly bonhomie with which Mark Clemmit assaults his interviewees and of course the attempt to give us fans our say (which actually gives idiots their say) by text. Perhaps its most redeeming feature is

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-89099525505634140872009-11-06T17:43:00.002Z2009-11-06T18:02:51.537Z

Has your club just saddled its famous old ground with a ridiculous moniker that sounds more like an email address (even if it might prove to have been a trend-setting move among the big boys)?Has the decision earned your club no extra revenue whatsoever? (And this when it's announced that the club's revenue has halved as a direct consequence of relegation?)Has the idiot who dreamt up the idea -

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-9582313781329122052009-11-04T15:39:00.002Z2009-11-04T15:44:09.822Z

Apparently, despite a petition and an Early Day Motion to the contrary, and a protest planned before Saturday's home match to Peterborough, St James' Park has been renamed with immediate effect. We now officially play our home games at the sportsdirect.com @ St James' Park Stadium.Seriously, does anyone expect people to refer to our home ground as anything other than St James' Park?Jabba, get out

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04247955697414914365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-27439697599532103342009-11-04T13:30:00.001Z2009-11-04T15:51:02.718Z

As highlighted in the comments box a few days ago, a protest is being organised against Jabba and his plans to further ruin the club by changing the name of St. James’ Park before this Saturday's home game against Peterborough.Put simply, it is time to make our voices heard and to stand up against this man who is doing his best to destroy our club.Before the match protests will take place under

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04247955697414914365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-63851350385620388322009-11-03T23:17:00.003Z2009-11-03T23:45:15.494Z

Order, order! The possibility of St James' Park being renamed is bang out of order! That's according to David Clelland, at least. The MP for Tyne Bridge, a long-standing and committed fan, feels so strongly about the spectre of rebranding that he's tabled a motion in the House of Commons to register opposition.I wonder whose support he can count on. A shame old Tony Blair isn't still in power -

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-7787058654422544902009-11-03T22:58:00.002Z2009-11-03T23:16:47.747Z

"We went to Leyton Orient and it was a disaster. But I think what came out of it was that everything came to a head.It was clear that five or six of the players wanted to leave which was fair enough. We had a meeting when we came back from the game - just us players. We said ‘whoever wants to leave they can leave and we'll help them to go. Whoever want to stay then commit yourself to stay’. That

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-74948973548320113162009-11-03T17:29:00.002Z2009-11-03T17:33:59.092Z

Sheffield Utd 0 - 1 Newcastle Utd Back at the start of the season, we thought Sheffield Utd would be challenging at the top of the league. Recent form would, however, suggest that we were wrong, and the disgruntlement of fans towards manager Kevin Blackwell was plain to see last night as we somewhat fortuitously left the Steel City with all three points. The victory owed a fair amount to luck,

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052695.post-22484333700129612672009-10-30T17:00:00.001Z2009-10-30T17:00:03.330Z

According to today's Guardian, Sol Campbell and Newcastle Utd are currently embroiled in a process of flirtatious glances which might ultimately lead to some form of marital bliss.Sol mysteriously states that he has "his reasons" for being attracted to Newcastle, which would appear to stretch beyond simply the fact that we're top of the Championship and prepared to pay him a decent wedge to do

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04247955697414914365noreply@blogger.com