End of season (almost) review

The boredom of mid-table obscurity

Well the season  is, thankfully, almost over. In years gone by, no matter how poorly we had performed, how disappointing our cup runs had been, or how pathetic our league finish was, I always mourned the passing of the Premier League season, and looked forward to the next one with gusto. I must admit that this is the 2nd year running that I am longing for the end of the season and willing the start of the next one to never come.

To some this will seem like an alien concept that is quite unfathomable, to others I will be putting words to how they already feel, but genuinely I am going to try to be as objective in my analysis of our season as I possibly can…who am I kidding? It was shite. Even the times when we weren’t quite as shite as we are now, we were still relatively shite. We relied heavily on 2 key players; Cabaye and Remy, neither of whom will be lining out in black and white next season, and without them, the true nature of how shite we are was exposed.

Amidst the plethora of pathetic performances we did manage to nab some excellent results and even some half-decent performances, so I will pay lip service to those now before launching back into my tirade – Liverpool at home, Chelsea at home, Spurs away, Manchester United away, Hull away (despite Nut-Gate) are all results worth mentioning. While we escaped from White Hart Lane following a miraculous Tim Krul master-class, and nicked 3 pts at Old Trafford in a season when even the likes of West Brom and Sunderland are winning there, the shine is taken off it somewhat. The reality is, we’ve had a mediocre season, and have been saved by the mediocrity of others coupled with performances from players who are either no longer here, or will no longer be here. Not exactly the stuff of dreams now is it?

There are some who will look at me and think I am on a different planet, “But we’re 9th in the league! How can that be a bad season?” To them I say it is not about where we have finished in the league, rather it is more about how we’ve finished there. At the start of this season, following our horror show last time out, would I have accepted 9th? I would have thought it an improvement yes. However, when one considers that at Christmas Newcastle United were sitting on 30 points – 6 points behind Liverpool, level with Spurs, 2 points ahead of Manchester United and a massive 20 points ahead of Sunderland – it becomes quite clear where the source of frustration comes from. An opportunity was missed in January to kick on and turn what has been a relatively bland season into a great season. The sale of Yohan Cabaye was an apt demonstration of what Mike Ashley intends to do with our club; secure safety before January, if that has been achieved then flog your best player and muddle on through to the end of the season. So yes, we are 9th in the league. So what? 9th isn’t a trophy. 9th hasn’t excited the fans. 9th couldn’t keep Yohan Cabaye from wanting more. What exactly is 9th? Nothing. Interesting to note, that with one game left we could still finish 10th. Top 10 means bugger all to me.

I’m not going to dissect the god awful run of form Newcastle United have been on since Boxing Day, we’ve all experienced it, and got riled up about it so I’m not going to raise it to the fore. Nor am I going to mention the blatant stupidity of Pardew for nutting David Meyler other than to say it is testament to the lack of class the man has as well as the unwillingness of Mike Ashley to part with his prized mouthpiece. The only thing I am going to say about the 2nd half of the season is this – expect more of the same next season. There are those praying that this awful run of form will see Ashley sack Pardew, or that when Remy leaves Ashley will splash the cash for next season. Think again. The squad we will start next season will no doubt be lesser in quality than the one we started this one with, with returning loanees paraded around “like new signings”, and with Shola inevitably getting a new contract to “lead with his experience” as he’s a real “goal-getter” (3 goals in 53 appearances since Dec 2012 would seem to question that logic…) and we will be told how we couldn’t get anyone over the blasted line, which is more like an insurmountable mountain to NUFC. We will also be told how we cannot financially compete with the likes of Southampton, and the goalposts on how many players we are after will change depending on the wind – Pardew says 3/4 this transfer window, Lee Charnley says 1/2 per calendar year – who do you believe? I am no soothsayer, or some form of mystic. Any NUFC fan who has a memory spanning longer than 12 months will know that we’ve heard this all before. The club doesn’t even put any effort into their lies any more because they know we will readily gobble it up without question..

Thankfully, at our last home game of the season, thousands of fans joined in with a walkout protest to show their disgust at the regime and show them that not everyone is willing to gobble up their lies. Thousands more applauded their efforts and stayed to provide a toxic atmosphere aimed at Ashley and Pardew. These people deserve our praise, but likewise so too, do those fans who have already voted with their feet and abstain completely. These fans, many of whom are former season ticket holders, and die-hard Mags, deserve to be commended. A special shout goes out to the fine folk at the Mike Ashley Out Campaign. They literally voted with their feet by putting on a protest march back in October, as well as providing a constant presence at home games all season (even in the pouring rain) and engaging in some self-deprecating humour with their “Magical Misery Tour” which saw an open-top bus parade for our fiscal security as a facetious look at how Ashley is running the club. They have taken a lot of flak from a lot of people all season, simply for doing what they think is right by our club.

The walkout seems to indicate that those who scorned protests in the past, are now slowly beginning to see the ever-growing need for change, and while walking out once may seem like a seismic shift, it is but a drop in the ocean and is one small step in a long journey that us NUFC fans need to travel together if we are to stand a chance of succeeding. But the message must always remain – we can succeed.

Even if you are of the persuasion that fan pressure can achieve nothing and that Ashley will not sell until he is fine and ready, you may be right, but isn’t it worth putting pressure on him? If that pressure makes him sell up a year, a month, a week or even a day before he otherwise would have done then surely that counts for something? A wise man once said that all it takes for evil to triumph is for a few good men to do nothing. Don’t do nothing. Not when our club is at stake.

This article is not really a season review. My articles have not really related to the football side of things, and I haven’t been able (or motivated) to write on a regular basis on the subject of NUFC. To me, this is my own personal reflection of how hollow and empty the football side of things makes me feel. I want to gorge myself on the subjects of transfer speculation, tactical permutations and specific performances but I won’t. Not while Ashley is in charge, because what stands as NUFC is not a football club – not my football club – but rather an empty shell masquerading as Newcastle United.

One day we will get it back.

Time to take stock and ask – where are we going?

What is next for NUFC?

Happy Monday people, as you may (or may not) have noticed, your ‘esteemed’ editor has been lying dormant for little over a week now for a number of reasons. Primarily due to shock following yet another derby defeat, our 3rd consecutive defeat to the Mackems for the first time since 1922/23. On top of that fact was the similarly significant departure of Yohan Cabaye, and the subsequent failure to replace our best player. As we sit in 8th place in the season following a dismal hammering at the hands of title contenders Chelsea at the weekend, pretty much adrift from the European places, and knocked out of all the cups, it would appear to be a decent time to ask – “where are we going this season?”

Many would suggest that sitting in 8th represents progress and stability, and while our cup failings are disappointing, they are forgiveable as we have performed reasonably well in the league. While others would suggest that Ashley has the club exactly where he wants them, not near enough the dreaded European places which so nearly cost us our league status last season, yet far enough from the drop that we could afford to flog our best player mid-season without replacing him.

Regardless of what your perspective is on our season, one thing we surely can all agree on is that our season is now over. The selling of Yohan Cabaye without replacement is as clear an indication of the lack of ambition currently emanating from SJP and the myth that we have a relatively strong squad has been dispelled. The injuries and suspensions suffered in recent times have rendered our paper-thin squad even smaller. We are lacking any form of quality up front, and Tiote’s absence meant that Santon, a supposed left back, had to perform against a Chelsea midfield who dominated Manchester City at the Eitihad. He didn’t disgrace himself, but the very fact that he was thrown in there shows how short of options we really are.

It may seem abhorrent to some fans to even think about protesting while we are in the top half of the table. These people’s thought around the club seem to ebb and flow with every passing result, showing no consistency in their mindsets. We could win every game between now and the end of the season and Mike Ashley will not change the way he runs this football club – he will still fail to adequately invest in the first team. We will still have an Academy that falls short of our local rivals Sunderland (and even Middlesbrough). We will still have an average manager, with average coaches. We will still have poor communication between the club and the fans – despite the fraudulent construct of the UEFA directed Fan’s Forum and the ‘best efforts’ of Supporter Liaison Officer/club spin doctor Lee Marshall.

Results will not change any of these facts. If anything, they will ensure that the club is mismanaged going further. Consider this. Would Mike Ashley have sold Yohan Cabaye had we been sitting 3 points off the drop? Not on your life. If anything, had our league form been suffering, we may have seen 1 or 2 additions to the first team squad. Compare last January’s business to this January’s business and that is the only logical inference. Ashley will spend cash simply to keep NUFC in the league – if that has been assured then the chequebook remains closed. Simple.

What can you do as a fan if you do not like the way the club is run? Well in my last article I informed season ticket holders that if they wanted to cancel their season ticket, they would need to inform the club by the 31st January. By all accounts, plenty of season ticket holders have decided not to renew their tickets for next season, and it will be interesting if one could get a hold of the number of cancellations this season.

If refusing to go to SJP is too much of a sacrifice, you can still stick it to Ashley by boycotting all outlets and retailers within the ground. Do not buy any food/drink, club merchandise, or match-day programmes. It will all eventually add up.

Want to get more involved in activism? The Mike Ashley Out campaign are calling on volunteers to help with their campaign against Mike Ashley. If you want to check out the Mike Ashley Out Facebook page you can find the link here 

Our season is over. In all likelihood, every season from now on could well take on this same pattern. Safe in the league by Christmas, out of the cups before the end of January, while our best players go off to pastures new to win silverware and compete at the highest level. Let’s take some action now, let’s get our bums off our seats and defend what this club stands for. Together we can make a difference.

Newcastle’s small squad filled with rubbish

1 rubbish player offloaded. Who’s next?

Newcastle United have a small squad. So any talk of selling any of our players must seem odd. However, there exists, in the Newcastle squad, a class of players who are either so far from the first team, or should be so far from the first team, that their presence in our 25 man squad is an absolute embarrassment which makes a cull of the Newcastle United first team squad necessary at some point in the near future.

The first part of that cull was put in operation with the decision to offload Jonas Gutierrez to Norwich City on loan with the option for them to buy him for £3 million in the summer. Despite loyally serving the club since 2008 I would have to say that he is a terrible player and should have been ditched quite some time ago.

Some might think this harsh but I would hold similar feelings for players like Steven Taylor, Gabriel Obertan, Romain Amalfitano, Sylvain Marveaux, Shola Ameobi, Papiss Cisse, Robbie Elliott etc. So there is a sizeable portion of our squad whom I don’t think will make the grade at our club.

However, we are in somewhat of a quandary as there is a fear that if we were to sell these players, Mike Ashley would not adequately replace them, and this is a concern that I myself would share, which is why I wish to retain these players in order to make up the numbers. While Mike Ashley is in charge we will always have a squad that makes up the numbers, rather than be competitive which is why most Newcastle United fans are reluctant to see any players leave.

This should not be the case. If a player is not good enough to play for the club they should not be here. They should be sold and then replaced with someone of a higher standard. Simple. I’ve heard some people make ludicrous suggestions that Mike Ashley’s transfer policy is much better than Shepherd’s – we don’t buy expensive players at crazy wages I will grant you that but we still make terrible signings even with the expert guidance of chief scout Graham Carr and what is worse, we refuse to sell them on even when they are proven to nothing but duffers.

Newcastle United’s squad could be faced with a crisis in the summer. Players like Cabaye and Colocinni – our actually decent players – are more than likely going to be on the move in the summer, Shola’s contract is expiring and Loic Remy will be moving on to pastures new after his lease is up. Our pathetically small squad will be even smaller, and still lumbered with the same tripe that currently masquerades as first team players.

Our squad is short of 3/4 quality players as it stands. With the fact that we are going to lose at least 3 players from that squad in the summer it would appear that we would then need 7 first team signings in order to bring it up to scratch and that is without replacing any of the rubbish in our squad. If we were then to sell someone like Marveaux or Cisse, they would then also need to be replaced, meaning that an extraordinary amount of signings would need to be made. It would make sense if 1 or 2 of those signings were made during the January window in preparation for this exodus that we will be faced with but given that we are half way through the January window I am beginning to think that, once more, Ashley is hanging our squad out to dry.

We are regressing under Mike Ashley. We have a poor squad, an average manager and the teams that we should be competing with – Livepool, Spurs, Everton – will be moving forward leaving us in their dust. Unless we begin to operate ambitiously in the transfer market we will always be among the “best of the rest” in mid-table. If you’re happy having a paper thin squad, your season finished in January, no cup run, and no chance of Europe, then perhaps you should give Mike Ashley a call. There may be a PR job waiting for you…

Latest survey is not good reading for Ashley

Quickly losing support

The Chronicle has, once more, taken its Big Toon survey halfway through the season to gauge the feelings of its readers on how Newcastle United’s season has been going thus far and how the fans feel about the likes of Pardew, Kinnear and Ashley.

While these results are not a conclusive representation of the feelings of Newcastle United fans, it can be taken as a cross-section of the Newcastle United support and it must be said that the last 6 months have not been kind to Mr Ashley, as the results show.

The last Big Toon Survey was taken at the end of the 2012/13 season, with a surprising amount of Newcastle fans putting their faith in the current custodian of the club. 23.6% of the fans were content, and massive 38.3% were content but waiting for results to improve. While a surprising 29.1% are content with Ashley, only 16% are content but waiting for results to improve.

In the last survey, 6.9% of fans said they were very happy with Ashley and that figure has dipped to 4.2%.

It is in the negative category where results have taken a massive swing however. In the last survey, 20.5% said they were unhappy with Ashley while only 10.7% said it was Time for Change. This time around those figures are much higher with 25.5% unhappy with Ashley’s stewardship and 25.1% now thinking that it is Time for Change.

As I said, many will doubt the validity of these results – probably because they did not bother to fill in the survey themselves – and I agree that they do not reflect the views of every single Newcastle United supporter, but they are meant to act as a representation of a cross-section of the support. With that in mind it would appear that many Newcastle United fans are opening their eyes to Mike Ashley and getting seriously fed up.

It is also worth noting that the survey was conducted before we crashed out of the FA Cup, thus ending our season in January, and if we see another window close without investment, it is beyond the realms to think that many more would become disillusioned with Ashley if that were the case.

Personally I dislike Ashley, I disagree with his method of running the football club. I disagree with the way he treats loyal fans with contempt. I disagree with the ‘Money is my God’ approach he takes to our football club. I disagree with his ‘minimum input, maximum output’ manner of managing the depth of our squad. I disagree with the sheer lack of honest communication that comes from the club. I can safely say that I probably disagree with nearly every aspect of Mike Ashley’s existence in a Newcastle United context.

I look forward to the next Big Toon Survey at the end of the season – which could effectively be taken now because we have little or nothing to play for now given that we have secured our Premier League survival. Ah, the joys of supporting Newcastle United…

Will lack of depth be Newcastle’s undoing?

Missing this weekend

The Newcastle United team basically picks itself when we are at full strength. That isn’t because we have a set of 11 players who are on such red-hot form that picking anything other than those 11 players would be sheer madness. No, it is because our bench/fringe players are so lacking in quality that Pardew has no other choice but to pick the same players week in week out – with the possible exception of  M’biwa, Haidara and Anita who could, on their day, stake a realistic claim for starting.

So needless to say, when injuries and suspension hit, some serious shuffling needs to be done, and as is always the case when a settled team has to shuffle around, sometimes cracks appear, as was the case in our FA Cup disaster last weekend at home to Cardiff. Arguably we had a strong enough team on show to win that game, but also in the same token, it could be said that by playing players who had just come through a long, arduous Christmas period, they were dead on their feet and needed to be rotated. Gouffran was one such example.

While the likes of Lee Charnley and John Irving, in the latest Fan’s Forum on Monday, intimated that the team on display was strong enough to win the FA Cup game against Cardiff, I personally disagree. I looked at the areas in which we rotated – Rob Elliott came in for Tim Krul, Steven Taylor came in for Mike Williamson, and M’biwa came in for the injured Colo. Santon moved to right back in place of the suspended Mathieu Debuchy and Massadio Haidara replaced him at left back. Papiss Cisse replaced Loic Remy up front, Anita came in for Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa replaced Shola. As I said before, with the exception of M’biwa, Anita and Haidara, the other replacements were simply not good enough, and will never be good enough to provide sufficient depth for a Premier League side.

Rob Elliott is a decent understudy, but is Championship level at best. He performed well enough when called upon last season in place of Tim Krul when he was suffering various different injuries and he seems like a model pro. However, he is no Harper/Given. He is no Krul/Harper. Newcastle United have a history of having quality understudies in nets and unfortunately Elliott, while good, does not seem like he will ever make the grade in the top flight.

Papiss Cisse is an enigma. Despite scoring 13 goals in his first 14 games for the club, I have had to come to the conclusion that he is simply a poor striker who no longer deserves to be at this club. While he may have scored last weekend, it was a rare, and rather bundled goal. His only other goals this season have come in the League Cup against Leeds, and a gift, quite literally, from the penalty spot against Stoke in the 5-1 victory a few weeks ago. Some argued that it was a dip in confidence that did it for him, due to Demba Ba being preferred up front on his own, and Cisse being farmed out to the right-wing, and when Cisse was played down the middle, the goals would come. I even believed that story myself, but alas it was a false prophecy. 8 league goals last season is testament to that fact. He makes poor decisions, makes poor runs, is not clinical enough in a one-on-one situation and has no other redeeming features that could possibly make him a decent option for the team. His hold up play is non-existent, lacks any aerial ability whatsoever, and unless he is firing on all cylinders, like he was when he first signed, is an absolute liability. As things stand, Shola Ameobi is higher up the pecking order than wor Papiss, and when that happens, you know you’re out of favour. Papiss Cisse will never make it at this club and I hope the club sell him and replace him with someone who could actually give Pardew a few selection headaches due to the options they bring to the team. As it stands, Cisse is giving the fan base a collective headache with his sheer inability to do anything of worth.

However, it is in defence where I worry the most. Mike Williamson has come from nowhere this season and has made himself No 1 centre-half this season. While I will continue to dispute that he is not really good enough to be considered our best centre back, I must concede that on form, this is indeed the case and long may it continue as he has been nothing short of a revelation this season. What has complemented this partnership is the return to some semblance of form of Fabricio Colocinni. He still remains a shadow of his former self, but alongside Williamson we have seemed to have found a combination that works well for us. With the emergence to stardom of right back Mathieu Debuchy we also seemed to have unearthed another gem this season. So you can imagine how worried I was last weekend – following the injury to Colo and the suspension of Debuchy – when I saw Steven Taylor lining out at centre back and Davide Santon lining out at right back.

Let me put this in unequivocal language. Neither Steven Taylor, nor Davide Santon, should be let within 10 miles of a Premier League defence. Steven Taylor is clumsy, lacks concentration, cannot hold the line to save his life, and is an all-round buffoon who reminds me of the heady days of Bramble and Boumsong *shudders*. Davide Santon lacks any of the attributes required of even the most basic, bog-standard Premier League full-back. He has no spatial/positional awareness. He fails 9/10 to close down the cross. Lacks any strength in the tackle. Has no aerial prowess. Needs constant guidance to hold the line, and isn’t even that good going forward from defence into attack, and when he does (and inevitably loses the ball) he takes forever and a day to get back into position. All of this is when he is playing in his preferred left-back position! He is even worse when he is playing right-back!

I am not even going to broach the subject of Hatem Ben Arfa in this essay because my feelings on him are akin to my feelings on Santon, and have been for some time. I feel that some of our fans are more lenient in their assessments of these 2 because they can do pretty things with the ball at their feet. Well I am sorry. I care more about what a player brings to  the team, than what he can do for his own ego.

As we head into a very difficult game on Sunday, against a side brimming with confidence, and brimming with goals, I fear the worst. Our midfield and forward line picks itself due to lack of depth, and we can pretty much guess which four will be lining up in our defence on Sunday (albeit the permutations may differ) and that fills me with dread. I would be amazed, and impressed if we escaped on Sunday with a clean-sheet and unless something is done either in this transfer window, or at the very least, the summer transfer window to rid our squad of some the inept mediocrity that is plaguing it – I haven’t even begun to lay into Obertan, Marveaux and Jonas! – and replace it with young, hungry, talented players who could actually provide something for our first team, I think we will be looking at mid-table and early cup exits for a long time to come.

Negative? Yes. Wrong? Not on your life.

 

Will Pards pay the price for having a go?

Went for it last night

I must admit to have not seen the League Cup game against Manchester City last night, and by all accounts, we gave a really good account of ourselves. Having taken a sneak peak at highlights, as well as engaging fans who had watched the game there was a consistent trend that came out of conversation – Pardew gave it a go last night. While he did rest players like Cabaye, Ben Arfa and Remy, our set up was a seemingly positive one. Shola played an integral part in holding the ball up and bringing others into play, Haidara looked like he will be knocking on the door for a left-back spot when he fully recovers from his injury and while we are still suffering from a severe like of clinical ability up front, we were playing a vastly superior squad with options from the bench that we could only dream about.

The League Cup, along with the FA Cup, has been deemed off limits by the powers that be. We don’t want silverware according to John Irving, one of Ashley’s lieutenants, but last night seemed to paint a different picture. Pardew will have been all too aware of the fan backlash following these comments from the club, and in light of recent fan protests against Ashley it would appear that Pardew wanted to at least give the fans something to cheer about by putting in a decent shift last night.

While that is all well and good, what Pardew must also be all too aware of, is how threadbare in quality our squad is. Given how our next two games involve hosting Chelsea on Saturday and travelling to Spurs a week later, we could be in for a rather tough time of it if some of our key players don’t get back to 100% fitness again. Losing Haidara to injury was yet another blow as his presence could have kept both Santon and Dummett on their toes, and with the continued absence of Coloccini and Taylor, we are still looking light at the back. The decision to rest Remy was both bitter sweet, as we needed to keep him fresh for Saturday, but he is the only striker at the club who looks capable of scoring. All of the above could quite easily be remedied had Ashley done what any sensible owner with foresight and ambition would have done and invest in a few more bodies who would not only provide strength in depth, but also depth in quality as well.

While Pardew is not known for acts of rebellion against the owner, I for one am willing to contend that by playing a strong side, and bringing on some of our key players off the bench, he wanted to show that he was willing to give it a go, which was a token gesture given how we still lost but appreciated nonetheless. Whether Ashley is as happy with this show of ‘ambition’ remains to be seen, and negative results against Chelsea and Tottenham could put Pardew under serious pressure. With winnable home  games against Norwich and West Brom to follow, question marks will surely be resting over Pardew’s head if he doesn’t get maximum points there.

Interesting times at Newcastle United. Not for the right reasons of course.  Our next 4 games are crucial. If we can manage to get something from Chelsea and Spurs, then the pressure will not be quite so intense, but defeats to these two will make our games against the other mid-table teams vital, especially home games.

Many fans seem to think that if we are in the bottom half in the run up to Christmas, then Pardew has to go. I personally believe that Pardew is Ashley’s greatest asset, as he provides a buffer of bull**** between Ashley and the fans. Will Ashley dispense of his puppet if it becomes increasingly popular to do so? What do you think?

Keep up to date with everything the NUFC Daily is doing by following @NUFCDailyBlog on twitter or by liking the NUFC Daily Blog Facebook page!

Show your support! Bring your Chronicle!!

Light reading material

From scanning the twitter-sphere I have come a cross a brilliant idea that has been put forward from some fans who are angry about Mike Ashley’s recent decision to ban the three local newspapers – Chronicle, Journal and Sunday Sun, from St James’ Park, The idea is a simple one, but if we could get all fans going to tonight’s game (and future games) to join in, it would send a powerful message.

The idea is for every fan going to the game to bring with them a copy of either the Chronicle, the Journal or the Sunday Sun, and in a message of solidarity, wave it in the air with your fellow fans – almost like the white hankie protest that is demonstrated on the continent by fans who are showing their anger at the club, the owner or the manager.

This would send out a very strong message to Mike Ashley that he has made a powerful enemy by banning the newspapers, and that if he does not want them as an ally, then the supporters of this great football club will welcome the media with open arms and stand side by side with them in a fight to rid this club of Mike Ashley once and for all.

While waving the newspaper may be a small token gesture in itself, given how we will have television coverage both in tonight’s game and in our home game against Chelsea on Saturday, the gesture could potentially reach millions of people across the globe. We need to send a message to Mike Ashley consistently – Newcastle United fans are not to be messed with. You have had your way for too long, and now it is time for change. Ashley’s bully boy tactics, amply demonstrated by his decision to ban the press, is a step too far and we will no longer stand for it.

So if you are going to the game, bring your copy of The Chronicle, Journal or Sunday Sun with you and stand proudly side by side with your fellow Newcastle United fans as you show Ashley that enough is enough.

Keep up to date with everything the NUFC Daily is doing by following @NUFCDailyBlog on twitter or by liking the NUFC Daily Blog Facebook page!

Home-grown duo could be invaluable this season

Upcoming Geordie talent

Following Newcastle United’s impressive victory in the Capital One Cup at home to Leeds last night, two players came in for praise for their performances. In a Newcastle United side that included international stars like Debuchy, Coloccini, Tim Krul and Papiss Cisse, it was 2 local lads who stole the show last night. Paul Dummett and Sammy Ameobi were the bright sparks in last night’s victory. Here is what Alan Pardew had to say about the local lads.

“I don’t really need to talk it up, I think it spoke for itself. The real highlight was obviously Dummett and Sammy.

“We have had Paul since he was nine, we have had Sammy since he was 14.

“I bumped into a lady today when I was popping out for my lunch and she said, ‘You are looking after my nine-year-old at the moment’. I said, ‘Well, there is a route to the first team’. There’s nothing better than having local players on the pitch and we are really pushing those two to see if they can crack a regular first team spot.

“They were terrific tonight and I am pleased for them both.”

It is great to see young players come through the youth set up, but I feel it has been their individual time on loan that has given these lads the confidence, maturity and desire to break on to the Newcastle United first team. Paul Dummett had a very successful spell on loan to Scottish side St. Mirren, while Sammy had a short stint at local rivals Middlesbrough in the Championship. Both have emerged from their spells on loan as seemingly different players, which is great news.

The emergence of both Sammy Ameobi and Paul Dummett as contenders for the first team is a relief, given how lacking in depth our first team squad currently is, and it is good to know that we have a few fringe players who can step into the team and do a job. However, I would think that Dummett and Sammy Ameobi are just short of being first team regulars, and if injuries begin to mount up, we could see these young lads thrown into the deep end. If we have a season like the one we had last season, this could be damaging to their development.

It’s a case of sink or swim time for some of our young players, and at least these two are keeping their heads above water. Long may it continue.

What do you think? Were you impressed with Dummet and Ameobi’s performance last night? Will they be able to step in to the first team if injuries pile up? What other young players do you think will make the grade this season? I’d love to hear your views.

Keep up to date with everything the NUFC Daily is doing by following @NUFCDailyBlog on twitter, or by liking the NUFC Daily Blog Facebook page

 

Will it be more cup woe for United?

Capital One cup

Every Newcastle United fan knows how long it has been since we last won a trophy (1969 when we won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in case you didn’t) and it has been even longer since we last won a domestic trophy (1955 FA Cup win over Manchester City) so it is an understatement to say that us Newcastle United supporters are due a cup win.

However, we haven’t exactly given the cups a decent crack in a while, and our last appearance in a domestic cup final was when we were beaten 2-0 by Manchester United in the FA Cup final in 1999. That is ambitious compared to how long it has been since we were last in a League Cup final, though, as it has been nearly 40 years since we last contested this domestic trophy (1976 to be exact).

Under Alan Pardew, we have been nothing short of terrible in the cup competitions, having failed to make any sort of impact in either of the domestic competitions in his 3 years in charge of the club. Why have Newcastle United been so shocking in the cups when teams like Swansea, Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic have lifted some silverware in recent seasons?

Well, firstly, you would do well to look at what division two of the three teams mentioned are currently playing in and perhaps you will get an impression as to why we do not attack the cups. Both Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic, who won the League Cup and FA Cup respectively, suffered relegation from the Premier League. the same season. It would appear that the rigours of a cup run do indeed take its toll on a small squad to such an extent that Premier League form can drastically suffer.

Given the fact that Newcastle United do have a very small squad in terms of depth, and how we, ourselves, suffered drastic dip in form trying to balance a Europa League campaign, perhaps an executive decision has been made to sacrifice our place in the cup competitions in order to preserve of Premier League status. After all, it is where all the big money is (!)

This is a frankly disgraceful approach however. A team like Newcastle United should have a deep enough squad to cope with a competitive cup run as well as remaining comfortable in the Premier League. Are we to compare ourselves to the likes of Wigan Athletic and Birmingham? And let’s not forget that Swansea won the League Cup last season and still managed to finish 9th. Are we to believe that Swansea have a more resources than Newcastle United?

It comes down to ambition. Are we ambitious enough to provide a squad capable of winning a cup? Are we ambitious enough to do something that hasn’t been done in nearly 35 years? Or are we simply willing to bow down in the cups to the likes of Brighton, Blackburn and Stevenage as we have done in recent years?

I am a young man, and hopefully I will get to see my beloved football club win something in my lifetime, but the immediate signs are not good. Given that Ashley more than likely sees the cups as a distraction, do not be surprised if Leeds come up to St James’ Park and walk away with a win.

What do you think? Do we have a strong enough squad to win a cup? Would you see Premier League form suffer if it meant winning some silverware? Or is it right that we preserve our league position by sacrificing our place in the cup competitions? I’d love to hear your views.

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