Coverage for the week of the 24th - 30th October

Just another quiet old week then. 3 games, plenty of talking points and news off the pitch as well. At least we’re not talking about “roasting” in all of that. No we’ll leave that to other clubs now shall we? Good.

We start with the win over the great unwashed. (Article) Turkish delight indeed! (Article) Predictable, but sometimes these things just have to be done and on this occasion why the hell not! For once, not too much waffle from yours truly, just lots of links that you can savour, over and over again! (Article) (Article) (Article) (Article) (Article) (Article)

Shola Ameobi, finally let his head and feet do the talking instead of his mouth, as has been the case so far this season. Not just his goals but his all round display has brought plenty of due praise. (Article) (Article) (Article) (Article) Now he MUST build on this if he genuinely is to show that he can be a real alternative option up front. Peter Ramage also did well and showed the kind of no-nonsense attitude we like. (Article) His development owed in no small part to the return to the club of Lee Clark (Article). One Love. And if that is the kind of spirit that is forming in the junior ranks it HAS to be a good thing.

Meanwhile the club manage to pull off a masterstroke, the kind of which I only ever seem to see Man U and Arsenal getting away with, over Parker’s booking in the derby match. (Article) (Article) Get the ban transferred to a player who isn’t fit for the next game anyway. (Article) Genius! Trouble is though; you can see where someone like Keith Hackett is coming from when he asks if this kind of thing undermines referees. (Article) That said if they got more things right more often there wouldn’t be a problem would there? And there’s more to come on this score later in the week.

The build up to the trip to Grimsby in the Carling Cup started with fears that Shearer needs a hernia repair, probably sooner rather than later. (Article) In typical fashion he is determined to delay as long as possible and even battle on regardless. (Article) (Article) Puts some of those frequent visitors to the treatment table into perspective doesn’t it? We went into the Grimsby game making the right noises about team selection and avoiding complacency however. (Article) (Article) It is a much-maligned competition but a cup there to win none the less and a passage into Europe. Of course from The Sun, who else, we got the usual anti-Newcastle “come on the underdogs” crap that they seem to revel in. (Article) (Article) I still haven’t forgotten Stevenage either. Meanwhile rumour had it we may see the King of Bling make an appearance. (Article) (Article) Of course he didn’t in the end. A note from his Mum perhaps?

Ultimately we saw Grimsby off in an unspectacular game (Article) where we did what we had to in what is always a no win situation for a Premiership club. The major talking point was, of course, the assault on Shearer by the opposing captain right in front of the referee that went totally unpunished. (Article) What gets me most about this is the reaction, or rather the lack thereof, from referee Mark Halsey. (Article) I remain utterly convinced that once he realised that it was our number 9 on the receiving end he bottled it. There would appear to be, and has been for a number of years, a group of “elite” officials who seem determined to give Shearer NOWT. The attempt by some no mark to get his name in the headlines for a week was nothing short if disgraceful and most of the press seem to agree. (Article) (Article) (Article) And I think that Shearer’s reaction is human and also the mark of the man that he was professional enough to exact his revenge by dumping Grimsby out of the cup and not by actually planting one on the pillock. (Article) That said there remains a rather sinister section of the media who remain so determined to make Shearer out to be the bad guy, its no wonder a referee may think twice before actually giving him anything. Take this article from The Telegraph for example. (Article) So Shearer’s the bad guy for making his comments to Sky post match and not the lad that split his lip then? And then when you get someone like Mick Dennis from the Daily Express (a more stereo typical football journalist you could not see) making derisory comments about how “Shearer’s been getting away with it for years” on Sky’s “Jimmy Hill’s Sunday Supplement” programme you begin to wonder what some of these people actually see when they watch football. Oh the same individual then tried to go on to say Shearer’s elbowing cost us the Argentina game in the ’98 World Cup. Not Beckham getting himself sent off then? Funny how the tune changes to suit. Despite the efforts of the club (Article) you can’t defend the indefensible.

Friday saw the release of the clubs financial results. (Article) These figures are down on last year. But then again we’ve had another year without Champions’ League football and a poor final league position. So they were hardly going to be better were they? Depending on the spin you put on it we’ve either seen a drop in profit, (Article) (Article) or made a loss depending on what spin you want to put on the story, of course. (Article) The doom mongers and makems are of course making much of this. The real fact of the matter? (Article) Once you take amortisation and player trades into account we have made a loss, of £104,000 or thereabouts. Ok we’ve just tipped over the magical 50% mark when comparing wages to turnover but only just but I bet that won’t stop some of the so called “experts” trotting out the Leeds analogies. The bottom line on it all is we need a better League placing and suddenly things look much rosier. No pressure then Mr Souness.

The week’s coverage ended with the build up to the West Brom game. Dyer’s “comeback trail” continues, apparently. (Article) Souness learning from his chairman in the art of buck passing over who decides on Mr Bling’s fitness. (Article) At least we are getting players back and I hope when Souness does have to play the bad guy and make some decisions he makes some better ones than he has in the past. (Article) Meanwhile we received good news from the Court of Arbitration for Sport that Charles N’Zogbia remains a magpie. (Article) At £200,000 he’s already looking like a bargain.

So what to finish with this week? Firstly perhaps the most accurate piece of comment from Alan Oliver I have seen in ages. (Article) Right on all 3 counts in my humble opinion. The holiday obviously did you some good! Or the tablets, possibly. Either way keep it up. Secondly is it just me or does everyone want to be a football journalist these days? Nicky Campbell suddenly does. (Article) That said I can see where he is coming from. I actually quite like Souness the man. He comes across as honest and speaking from the heart, he is obviously proud to be the manager at NUFC and is passionate about it. He seems to have the dressing room firmly behind him and the support of the chairman, and yet I just can’t help but get the feeling he is doomed and still have reservations about his managerial style and decision-making. Or is it just that Nicky Campbell would prefer to have him back at Rangers? Finally if you think we have problems with referees, as unbelievable as it sounds it could be worse. We could be in Spain, for example. (Article) No wonder when they produce gems like this one. (Article)

NM