Don’t get us wrong, we’d rather see you in the Champions League than the Gooners, but we really, really, really needed this one. I’ll have to watch the highlights show on Fox Sports World this evening, to see how on earth Jermaine Jenas missed an open net.
Freddy Sheppard says a permanent manager will be appointed before the end of the season. Unfortunately, one of the prospective candidates is named “Eriksson”.
Damian P.
The BBC’s Stuart Roach has a nice piece about the highs and lows of being a Reading supporter, from the days when they were in the Fourth Division and couldn’t draw 2,000 fans, to clinching promotion to the Premiership yesterday.
At least he has something to be happy about…
Newcastle slumped to their fourth successive defeat as an unfortunate Lee Bowyer own goal assisted Charlton to victory at The Valley.
Damian P.
The Geordies’ loss to Chelsea yesterday means Alan Shearer will almost certainly end his playing career in Newcastle without a trophy:
Dreams of Shearer ending his playing days with a Stanley Matthews-style happy ending proved unrealistic but Glenn Roeder’s team simply did not have the power to match Jose Mourinho’s double-chasers and they finished the game with 10 men after a harsh red card for Robbie Elliott in the last minute.John Terry scored the only goal in the fourth minute to book the Blues into the last four along with Liverpool, West Ham and either Charlton or Middlesbrough.
Shearer will retire at the end of the season, bringing the curtain down on 10 years as a Newcastle player. He will end it as the club’s all-time record goalscorer, after breaking Geordie legend Jackie Milburn’s long-standing record this season.
But he will not emulate Milburn’s achievement of bringing the FA Cup back to Tyneside. Shearer’s decade in black and white is destined to end in disappointment.
The only silverware he will have to show for one of the greatest careers in the modern era is a lone championship medal with Blackburn in 1995.
Everyone is talking about the manager situation at Newcastle, but I think we should be talking about the chairman situation. There is simply no excuse for a club of Newcastle’s size and prestige to finish in the bottom half of the table for two consecutive years, and a housecleaning at the top is long overdue.
Damian P.
The Daily Telegraph says the Geordies are making a bid for Ruud Van Nistlerooy to replace the retiring Alan Shearer:
Newcastle United have unofficially launched their campaign to recruit Manchester United’s striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.
St James’ Park has let it be known that they are interested in signing the Dutch international who would be the ideal successor to the talismanic striker Alan Shearer, who will retire from playing this summer.
Newcastle have said they are “monitoring” the situation of Van Nistelrooy, 30 this summer, who has apparently become restless at Old Trafford.
Even though Newcastle have no permanent manager, they could well be calculating that the prospective arrival of Van Nistelrooy might help them to attract Martin O’Neill who remains the club’s top target to take over from the interim coach Glenn Roeder.
[…]
The acquisition of Van Nistelrooy would no doubt be popular with Michael Owen, although the England forward’s future on Tyneside looks uncertain. Rumours persist that Owen would be able to open talks with potential new employers should there be a £12 million bid for his services.
Speaking of Roeder, who I’d still like to see take over the manager’s job permanently even after last Sunday’s belly-flop, it turns out he doesn’t have the required UEFA Pro Licence, which means he can only serve as interim manager for 12 weeks. The League Managers’ Association wants the rule enforced, which means a permanent manager would have to be appointed by April 22.
Damian P.
The Geordies’ undefeated streak ended against Man U this afternoon. The final score was 2-0 - both goals scored by Wayne Rooney in the first twelve minutes - but with a little luck, they could easily have made it 6-0. (Actually, I thought Rooney’s shot which hit the post did cross the goal line.) Newcastle played noticably better in the second half, but their first 45 minutes was one of the most pathetic performances I’ve seen all year, especially from the back four.
Peter Ramage can take some solace from the fact that he’s not the only player whose backpass was intercepted for a goal today. But the Mags, who haven’t won at Old Trafford since 1972, blew a great opportunity to vault themselves into the top ten - and it won’t get much easier against Liverpool next Sunday.
Damian P.
With a 3-1 win over Bolton today, one of the goals scored by a gentleman named Shearer, Newcastle is back in the top half of the Premiership table. And only six points separate the fifth-place Gooners from the Magpies. I don’t want to jinx it, but all of a sudden, a spot in the UEFA Cup is a realistic goal.
If Newcastle can keep up this astonishing pace, the case for keeping the Roeder-Shearer management team will be unanswerable.
Damian P.
Michael Owen might, and I emphasize the word might, be back for the Geordies’ FA Cup match against Chelsea later this month:
The 26-year-old England forward broke a bone in his foot on 31 December and says he is on target to be fit for the start of April.
But he has not ruled out making the trip to Chelsea on 22 March.
“The Chelsea game in March is a target I suppose but that is still three weeks away,” he said.
“I won’t risk it for the sake of it. I’m still setting my sights on returning in April.”
Damian P.
My club and Mike Campbell’s club go at it tomorrow afternoon. Lawro is predicting a 1-1 draw. Amazingly, Rogers Sportsnet is showing the match at 12:30PM Eastern.
The Magpies are absolutely rocked with injuries these days - in addition to Shearer and Owen, Titus Bramble and Kieron Dyer were hurt in last week’s FA Cup win over Southampton. Michael Owen, at least, could be back for the FA Cup match against Chelsea next month.
Damian P.
Despite a shaky performance by the Mags’ back 4 - according to the BBC, anyway - Newcastle beat Southampton to secure a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Charlton and Liverpool are also through, while Bolton and West Ham will need a replay. A question: we have 4 English-language all-sports cable channels in this country, so why aren’t any of them showing the FA Cup matches this year?
Another question: at what point do the suddenly-hot Mags forget about searching for a new manager and just let Glenn Roeder keep the job permanently? (By “permanently”, of course, I man “until Shearer decides he wants to manage.”) Maybe it’s just relief at getting rid of Souness and Shearer finally breaking the club scoring record, but Roeder must be doing something right.
Damian P.
Claudio Ranieri says he is interested in the manager’s slot at Newcastle United.
Something tells me that Freddy Shepherd’s idea of a winning management style isn’t inspired by the way David Bowman rearranged the memory modules of the HAL 9000.
The Magpies deserve better. Hold out, Geordies!
Paul Canniff
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