By Mark Billen, Newcastle United fan, 23rd February 2003

There are weeks in the life of a football supporter when all those slightly traumatic times seem worthwhile. Beating Leeds 3-0 on Saturday capped off seven days that also saw a blunted Toon re-ignite their Champions League dream. Again much was made of Shearer and Bellamy’s imposed redundancy and with our wobbly away form the eyebrows were raised. It was a shock then to find that the German opponents – ordinarily well organised, disciplined, not to mention experienced – had sacked their coach after a poor league run.

Remember that this is a Leverkusen who went the distance in last year’s competition and can still boast a plethora of world class players. Thing is you always worry about a backlash in these situations but in reality Bayer’s troubles were exposed for all to see. The magpies put on a top-notch, not incredible but professional performance with the deputy strikers Lua Lua and particularly Ameobi showing clinical attitude. Personally I was delighted to see that ruthless aspect in our game where in the early period any sniff of a chance was taken. Now ok the opposing defence was woeful but top teams make people pay for their mistakes and if being critical the point could have been hammered home further second half. Many supporters would agree that Newcastle often infuriate you by grabbing an early lead and then dropping off and inviting pressure. This didn’t happen last Tuesday as the drive to extend the lead continued, and rest assured this was no fluke because that focus was there again at Leeds.

Actually Kieron Dyer’s superb brace against the whites just reiterated the change in fortunes for the Yorkshire club. The magpies have been responsible for making life rather miserable for them recently, but it’s not long ago O’Leary was chasing Dyer. At that time Leeds were becoming a haven for the most promising youngsters in the game and doing great things both at home and abroad … actually does that sound familiar?

Anyway can’t leave Leeds alone just yet because the exciting news is of course Woodgate’s expected debut against Chelsea next week. Unfortunately he wasn’t allowed to play against his old club because they thought he might get called some nasty names OR have some sort of decisive influence on the end result (cough, sorry). No matter because we’ll need him at his best against the blues, which could be a make or break title match if anyone believes we are still in it.

But wait! There’s the home fixture vs. Leverkusen to take care of first, and the team cannot afford any complacency. It’s just one crunch match after another at the moment – and don’t we just love it!

Cheers,
Mark

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By Mark Billen, Newcastle United Fan, 13th February 2003
Can Newcastle beat Leverkusen? - Have your say here

When Thierry Henry ghosted through our ‘flat’ back four last Sunday to give Arsenal the lead, things looked gloomy. Hyped to the maximum this game was a textbook six-pointer. In the end it took a battling performance to hold the fluent Gunners as the ten men magpies had to rally round. The funny thing is that given the circumstances earning a point against the best rival going should be good enough…but…

Ok you couldn’t fault the performance and the lads could even have snatched it but sometimes the team leaves you wondering what if? Admittedly given our modicum of league success in recent seasons your standards change as a supporter; often a draw is as bad as a loss. Now I’m not moaning here because we’ve had a good run and things could be worse (um…Sunderland?) but you need this mentality to win titles. Bobby hit the nail on the head when he asked whether Robert’s great equalising goal could have been the catalyst for the win – that is at least before he was dismissed. It just seems that in big fixtures the team tends to self-destruct and do something stupid that potentially blows their chances. Although I felt the sending off a tad harsh, fact is the player shouldn’t be giving the ref an excuse to show the red card. Most of us would agree that if the team is beaten fair and square then you take it on the chin but inflicting our own damage is sickening. Remember also that this type of indicipline has occurred before and particularly in THAT European tie with Inter.

So the motto of this story? Well Mr. Robson might say something like "To step up a level it is critical we learn from our inevitable mistakes"… perhaps.

More positively this week it was refreshing to see Jermaine Jenas get his rumoured England call up and get MOM! It’s early still to make a judgement but some of his work on Wednesday night befitted Sir Bobby’s spurious Vieira comparisons, and put the crazy Rooney coverage into perspective. Oh yeah and it seems I did the player a disservice in my last article when I mentioned his recent goal tally – it was 4 in 5 games sorry!

Similarly an apology should go out to Peter Ridsdale who I blasted previously for mucking about in the Jonathan Woodgate saga. The next day we captured him for £9 million and the problems that faced the Leeds board were appreciated by all.

For now though, bring on Leverkusen!

Cheers

Mark

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By Mark Billen, Newcastle United Fan, 29th January 2003
Can Newcastle Win The Title? - Have your say here

Flippin’ heck! we’re going to get labelled boring if we carry on like this. That’s two nervy 1-0 wins for the Mags on the trot and get this, the latter was away from home! Yes tonight we shot into second spot just 5 points behind Arsenal, after a last gasp winner against Spurs. That London hoodoo seems a distant memory and it’s fantastic to see us grab maximum points again and maintain some pressure. By the looks of things it was a game we just edged albeit luckily after seeing Gus Poyet’s disallowed goal.

Last Wednesday was a similar story where most fans would admit that the Toon didn’t play vintage stuff to beat Bolton – but you won’t find us complaining. The plucky Trotters were no pushovers and again may have been left ruing some dodgy refereeing decisions. However, it’s encouraging to see successive clean sheets and the beginnings of an ability to snatch those wins when not on top form. Plus there have been some whispers about Jermain Jenas getting a full England call-up seeing as he’s developing a valuable goal scoring touch – that’s 3 in 4 games!

It would have been equally nice to report some productive transfer developments this week, but as most will know we remain empty handed. Following on from the players I mentioned last time, it seems our confirmed bids have either been too low or simply ignored. A club delegation flew out to Brazil to capture a keen Kleberson from Athletico Paraneanse but depending on which party you believe, were a tad stingy with the cash (?) so watch this space.

The opposite seems to be the case with Mr. Woodgate who Robson hoped to land with Saturday’s reported bid of £10 million. Frankly since then this story has descended into a farce and done nothing but reveal the poor professionalism behind Leeds United. Personally I don’t care whether we get Woody or not and far be it from me to criticise the running of another club, but honestly. If you overspend and gamble for success you were never guaranteed, things will catch up with you. Peter Ridsdale understandably doesn’t want to part with a prize asset but by simply ignoring a problem solves nothing. It’s almost like The Office’s David Brent running a football club i.e. (Ridsdale to Assistant:) ‘Didn’t I tell you there was a special file cabinet for any Woodgate bids…it’s called the bin’. Needless to say, stop wasting our precious window time and either reject the offer or ask the player what he wants - thankyou.

Until next time, ‘Haway the lads!’

Cheers

Mark

Ends

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By Mark Billen, Newcastle United fan, 19th January 2003
Which central defender should Newcastle sign - Woodgate? - Have your say here

Thank goodness for St. James’ Park. With everyone quick to remind us of our leaky defence and poor away form it’s amazing to see what we’ve achieved in the Toon’ this season. It does of course beg the question of where we could be if the team could sort these factors out, which proved to be Achilles heels even when KK was at the helm.

Speaking of king Kev, he brought Manchester City to a freshly relayed SJP on Saturday for the first time in the Premiership and I for one wondered whether old ghosts would haunt. However the team shone again at home with some slick attacking play and a clean sheet(!) to leapfrog Chelsea into 3^rd. Bobby Robson has turned our stadium into a fortress again and although realistically the title will just be beyond us this term, the big guns won’t relish their visits. On that note you’ll remember that last season we disappointed in a period of crunch matches so let’s hope we’ve learnt from past mistakes and keep ourselves in it. Of course this week yields that much hyped game in hand with Bolton which much of our title talk hangs on so we’ll see – it might be at home but not a foregone conclusion!

On the transfer front, I believe supporters would agree that for too long the defensive area of our recruitment policy has been neglected. Sure we like the exciting players and the football they bring but ultimately we want success. Shipping soft goals the way we have this season just undermines those we score and hinders us scraping results so it has to be addressed.

My feeling is that we need stiffening up in midfield along with at the back. The top sides all have at least one strong utility player who will sit in the middle of the park, track back, break things up and win possession. My tip would be world cup winner Kleberson who’s young but experienced and would be available for around £4 million like the bargain Gilberto was for the Gunners. Rumour is we may be tracking him along with Everton now that initial interest from Leeds looks doomed. Ironically this could hinge on whether we lure Woodgate away from the cash-strapped club but that’s unlikely.

In that department we seem to share targets with Man Utd, chiefly Forest’s promising Michael Dawson and Marseilles ‘new Jaap Stam’ Daniel Van Buyton. I just wonder whether either has the presence or pedigree we really need. Ideally our defence needs a character offering what Shearer brings the attack – leadership and knowledge. This may mean bringing in a world class defender approaching the end of his career which would echo Bobby’s pursuit of Martin Keown last summer.

However with the top sides unwilling to part with their prize assets it would probably be more productive to wait for the seasons end.

For now ‘Haway The Lads!’

Cheers,

Mark

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By Emmet Donaghey, Newcastle United fan, 18th August 2002
How far can the Toon progress in Europe? - Have your say here

As u might have seen on the news, it is the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's deaf. But the King is alive, the king of football that is! It is of course Alan Shearer.

He has just turned 32 but he still has the power to continue every single week for THE TOON ARMY! As we head in2 our first season in the Championss League wif SIR Bobby Robson we look 2 AL 2 stear us 2 glory in domestic and european formats.

He has said in the newspapers that he has told is teammates not 2 lose against the Bosnian opponents because he has waited for SEVEN years 2 play against the best teams in europe in the Champions League.

In transfer news Newcastle Utd have been linked wif Barcelona & France International Defender Christanval. Barca are ken 2 offload him and have told Newcaste they can take him on a season loan and have an option 2 buy him. Bobby Robson will decide during the weekend if he wants 2 loan him out

Cheers,

Emmet

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By Emmet Donaghey, Newcastle United fan, 14th August 2002
Can Newcastle win in Bosnia? - Have your say here

My name is Emmet Donaghey. I'm from N.Ireland and support Newcastle United! My first column is about the Toon army's trip to Bosnia! - Will we win or lose our champions league dream?

Will We Cum Out Wif Our Dream Dead Or Alive?

As we go in2 a country or terror will we cum out wif our champions league dream alive or dead? We have the better squad and we have beat better teams but we knew their weak and strong parts of their teams! But the Bosnia's r unknown about! Will we cum out dead or alive? We will find out at 10pm Wednesday!

Cheers,

Emmet

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