THE BEASTS @ The Riverside - Sunday 26th August 2007



I never look forward to visiting Smogland, the cereal box type stadium and cheesy fans with their shite about us having won nowt for years.

Have you noticed when they score a goal the fkers think they have won the European cup – Bastard arseholes.

Take off your NBC suits you twats you will never be anywhere near us, as usual for this fixture empty seats three parts of the ground.

I thought the Bull would have started today and also Owen if he is fit he has got to start – but Big Sam decided to keep the same team that was so disappointing against Villa.

Carr limped off and I would have dropped Geremi back to right back because the game passed him by.

For the first twenty minutes was there any Boro fans in the ground it was like the library and I was concerned Charlie boy was getting the run-around, then a foray into their half and bang 1-0 up but typical defending and 1-1 with Mido looking offside.

I am glad this fella didn’t go to Sland because he looks useful even though the shit goaded us and was rightly booked.

Half time and pint number errrrrr, thank you Mr Lawson.

Second half and after Sam’s Rocket? We would press forward but it was Boro who were first out of the traps and a lot off fans getting restless for Owens introduction,

Why was Martins the fall guy again( he is not a happy chappie) is the manager trying to justify his signings?

Fair enough Viduka got his goal although a bit dubious but did very little else, Geordies want to see among other things work-rate for 90 mins. we have just got rid of one lazy alleged footballer to Ajax.

Too good to be true Dyer and Luque in ten days saving the club around 150k a week, brilliant and I don’t think this would have happened under FFS.

Boro made it 2-2 through Mackem reject Arca and really we never looked like scoring in the last ten minutes.

The stats, Stevie Harper pulled off a couple of great saves again, Rossi looks assured in defence but the game passed by a couple of big players the most notable, skipper Geremi. What is his role he seems to be playing more forward and Smith holding back surely the roles should be reversed, and this 4-3-3 system does not look too clever even though we have played only 3 league games.

Must mention Nicky Butt again what a model pro, he is top lad at the moment for breaking up and distribution and never lets us down.

Next match its Barnsley in the cup and a few will get a run out but I hope Sam does not take them to lightly, we should get the first sighting of the Bull!

28,000 for a match against Boro(I will not call it a derby) is quite frankly a disgrace, why don’t they give us one end of the stadium 7,000 – 8,000 we would sell out and anyone with a financial brain would see that they are losing 200k plus the mugs.

Them and Quinn’s spuds a big club – my arse.

Steve & Taylor Harrison



Over the past few weeks there were several uncertainties surrounding the leadership of NUFC. Questions about our financial situation were lifted again and again, and the future of Ashley and Mort in the Toon were asked a few time, with rumors of foreign takeovers coming from Iceland or China.

Then yesterday's game arrived. Watching it on the box gave me clear view of Ashley, sitting with an NUFC top, cheering, looking very confident and most important – looking like one of us.

That look of him was stunning. I can't recall an owner or a chairman of any team sitting on the ground with a football jersey before. This down to earth attitude is what we really need at the toon. Of course, we see it in many other levels as well: with the new ticket prices scheme, with the attitude towards the young supporters and with the general environment surrounding our club. Now, Ashley, let's expand it and be clear about everything. We want to know what exactly is OUR financial situation, we want to know the near future plans for the club, we want to know if the expanding plans for St. James' are still on and we want to know the exact situation of the team squad. Who's coming, who's going and for how much. The question marks surrounding the trades of Luque, Solano and Bolton's Faye is something we expect to know much more about.

The game itself started where the Villa game ended. We played with a decent defense, a poor midfield and an attack which is only threading on paper. Though it was against the run of play, Zogy's goal was beautiful, and seeing Ashley smiling was very uplifting. Mido's goal, as proved by TV replays, was scored while he was offside, but the result was fair.

The second half was a complete different story. Sam's new formation, taking Geremi down, Zogy to the centre, and moving Milner to the left side (alongside with Zogy) meant that we controlled the field. Zogy is a waste down in the defense, same as Alan Smith is the midfield. Butt looked mint, again.

We went ahead again, but couldn't keep the result. It would've pissed me off, but Boro's second was a fluke and I can't blame our players for that. We could have won it, we didn't, but at least we gave a decent performance.

Avi, Israeli Mags



Drink can often make things better than they really are, however, no amount of drink can ever make Middlesboro into a decent side and that is exactly why they should have been humped in their own 'back yard.' Well chemical, ozone destroying hell hole.

No doubt cursing the British weather the Smoggies woke up to find no hint of snow in the air, on the deck or on a few of the cobbles outside the ground so it was game on.

Newcastle named the same team and frustratingly the same formation which 'earned' a point against Aston Villa last week and opted for the aerial approach from the off.

It really seems as though Alan Smith, Obafemi Martins and James Milner in particular are struggling to come to terms with the 4-3-3 formation which Allardyce favours and as a result once again we found clear cut goal scoring chances hard to come by.

With Boro at home the onus was on them to come out and force the issue although they really don’t have the players to do so.

I’m actually quite lucky as I passed Sports Science at College but I cant remember at any point covering what you should do if your full back is allergic to the opposition's winger and that's all I can put Charles N'Zogbia's and Peter Ramage's decision to mark their men from a different post code down to, but this allowed the Boro midfielders an easy pass and gave me 377 heart attacks. Thanks lads.

I remember Alan Smith saying when he signed he would be playing in lots of different positions, how naive of me to assume they would be ones he was good at. A note to Allardyce.... This 3rd man in the midfield 3 is doing Alan Smith no favours at all. He should be playing centre forward alongside Mark Viduka/ Shola Ameobi or not at all.

Again we missed the creativity of an Emre or a Joey Barton and at times Obafemi Martins looked a passenger. I hope his huff at the substitution was disappointment at his own performance rather than a gripe with the manager as which ever silly sod put a 13 million quid get out clause in his contract has had some serious hours on acid.

Charles N'Zogbia showed exactly why he should be playing further up the pitch with a stunning goal which caused my hat to fly off my head in the celebrations. No sooner had I found it when Mido waltzed through our defence, rounded Steve Harper and poked in an equalizer. We then sat back and felt relieved to see half time.

The second half brought not a great deal and it looked as though 1-1 was going to be how it would end until Mark Viduka's alarm went off and realised he had a match. Taking a pass into his body before turning and drilling a cracking shot into the far corner with only around 10 mins left had many people believing we would go on and secure our 2nd successive away win. No sooner had I reclaimed my hat for the second time when we failed to clear a routine corner and the unmarked smelly, unwashed, Mackem, tramp, Arca made it 2-2.

The Boro fans who didn’t stay at home to watch it on the telly thought they had won the European Cup and many youngsters fled their Cleveland homes in fear.

In truth we didn’t deserve to win the game but if Michael Owen had converted the sitter he fluffed then we may well have done.

On the positive side we are 3 games in and undefeated and in the top half. On the down side we now have another 2 injuries and are in desperate need of more quality players. What the fuck is going on with Nolberto Solano as we are missing his input badly. At least we might now see Geremi revert to right back and he can stop marking Nicky Butt in the centre of the park.

Its hard not to be down hearted when shitty teams like Boro should be beaten with comfort and having seen Blackburn do them 2 weeks ago it is obvious we are far, far away from a top 5 or 6 finish with this squad.

Its Barnsley up next and a debut for Jose Enrique so we will get to see a genuine left back in action for the first time this season and hopefully the supporter friendly prices will see a canny crowd.

Chris Betts



An end to end game, finishes with us needing to invest before next friday and confirms my own personal feeling that we need the dirty Turk back asap, having the most 'honest' midfield in the country is good but we need a bit of guile and I hope that Emre will offer us that. On the game itself I honestly didnt believe we would conceed two goals to them and fancied that we would score more, however this was based on the assumption that Woodgate would be missing or off the pace and in the end he was neither. This idea of using the left footed Martins on the right and the right footed Milner on the left is good in theory (cut inside to your stronger foot and let fly) but i feel they need to switch sides more effectively so the opposition dont know if the ball will be shot or crossed especially as we starve Viduka/or Ameobi by not crossing more often.

As always roll on the next game so we can convince ourselves we are on the right track.

Dave Jenkins



The working practices of Newcastle United Box Office baffle me. After regularly attending away games for a while now (not all I admit) I was a bit baffled as to why I didn’t get a ticket for the Boro game, while people I knew who had way less away games under their belts got more than one ticket. After getting no joy from the lads and lasses in the box office I purchased a ticket in with the home fans and it is something I will be loathed to do again. Sitting, unable to even speak, should my Northumbrian accent give me away, I observed the Toon Army in good voice and winding up the Smoggies with chants such as “Mido is a paedo” and “La la la la, Mark Viduka”. I have to admit that I have never felt less comfortable in a football ground before, and when a couple of my mates waved at me from the away section I just nodded politely and hoped no-one around me had seen. Chants from the Smoggies had me sniggering, “You’re a fucking ugly, smelly bunch of bastards” was thrown from a 20 stone chap, who had about 5 teeth in his head (all which were the colour of the Tottenham third shirt last season) and looked like he hadn’t had a bath in a month. Then there was the nice chap who shouted “Why can’t you sit your fat arses down, do you ‘ave no settee at ‘ome?” and then proceeded to tell the Geordies about 10 seats along from him (separated by a barrier of course) that he was proud of his badge and kissed it. The fact that he was wearing a Fred Perry Polo shirt and not a Boro top didn’t seem to bother him.

The game itself was ok, I suppose. Zoggy scored a lovely goal, a curling shot which flew into the top corner, but we were quickly pegged back from a goal which, had Harper stayed on his feet a few seconds longer, could have been avoided. With Carr injured, Steven Taylor showed Peter Ramage how he should be defending before he was stretchered off too. Who else but the Duke could return the advantage to the jubilant Toon Army (and I must admit I nearly jumped up to celebrate this one but controlled myself just in time). However ex-mackem Arca squared things up again a couple of minutes later. The game ended all square, and we felt as if we had lost while the Smoggies all looked absolutely delighted.

Diane Pringle