I’ve been waiting a bit to write this post because it hasn’t really sunk in yet that we’re actually champions. It may sound daft, but after all the issues that happened during the summer, I feel more a sense of relief than anything else really.

I remember the relegation and the last game of the season against Villa like it was yesterday. I remember Phil Brown prancing around at Hull being glad to have finished above us and avoid relegation. I remember the turmoil last summer and wondering who was going to be chairman, owner, and manager of our fine football club.

We can now put those memories to bed. Say this and say it proudly: Newcastle United are champions of the Championship and are headed up to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Feels good doesn’t it? It makes me proud to be a Geordie and proud of our fantastic football club. Proud of the hard work which has gone on behind the scenes by both the players and backroom staff. Proud that while the media tested and ridiculed the club on the back pages last year, Chris Hughton and his staff got on with it. Proud of our fans who traveled the length and breadth of the country to follow their club while they could have complained about watching Championship football.

Sir Bobby would have been proud.

Next season may be a struggle, and we should expect one, but we’re made of sterner stuff than this time 12 months ago. Anything less than what we’ve given this season won’t be good enough to survive. But I honestly feel that we can now push on from here. Why? Because everyone at the club is united. They all want the same thing – for Newcastle United to be a Premier League football club.

Howay the Toon

On a day which will live long in the memory of Toon fans, we were promoted back to the Premier League without having to kick a ball yesterday, and I must say, it feels great. I remember how I felt when we were relegated and it wasn’t a nice feeling. I also remember how fans of other clubs and media pundits were all too quick with their criticism, and how Newcastle were ‘going to do a Leeds’ and that we were headed for ruin.

I’m proud today to call myself a Geordie and Newcastle United fan. I’m proud that Newcastle United is my football club, and I’m proud of the players and playing staff who have worked tirelessly this season. Let’s not forget what kind of team spirit we had at the end of last season. What a difference a year makes. The players and staff seem to all be pulling in the same direction. The Chairman? We’ll have to wait and see about that one, the jury is still well and truly out. Hopefully he’ll put his hand in his pocket and give Chris Hughton a decent transfer fund.

You could see what it meant to Chris Hughton at the end of game interview, the guy was very emotional. We could do far worse than have him as manager.

I’m expecting a season of struggle next year. Not because I’m pessimistic, but because we haven’t played decent football this year and we’ve still won. Some of the mistakes made at a Championship level will get punished in the Premier League and as fans, we have to acknowledge that. It has been nice to get that winning feeling around the place though, and with a new influx of decent players we should be alright.

Wait, was there a game yesterday? Oh aye, Newcastle beat Sheffield United 2-1.

Rumour has it that the Toon are in for Swindon’s young striker Charlie Austin. The 20 year old joined Swindon from non-league Poole Town. He’s recently came to the limelight because of his 16 goals in 22 starts.

Austin has been watched by Newcastle several times this season, most recently last weekend against Hartlepool.

He certainly fits Mike Ashley’s transfer policy – a young up and comer, who the club could sell on for a profit. But is this the kind of signing we need to be making? If we’re to stay up in the Premier League (should we get promoted) we need to sign proven Premier League players. While Austin would certainly be a good buy for the future, the task of leading our front line next against Premier League defenders needs to be done by a proven player, otherwise it could well be a season of survival.

In what was tipped as a potential banana skin for Newcastle, we could have been forgiven if we went into this game with a small amount of trepidation. After all, West Brom visited Ashton Gate and came away with nowt, so that meant anything we picked up, would be a bonus. A win would have ensured a play-off place.

Bristol City were managerless after sacking their manager Gay Johnson during midweek but it didn’t seem to dampen their spirits any. City went one up in the 10th minute thanks to a Lewis Nyatanga goal. The Toon came back into it though and there were several chances which we squandered, most notably by Leon Best who wasted several good opportunities. Things went from bad to worse though for NUFC as Nicky Maynard scored an absolute belter right before half-time. Newcastle could have clawed one back right on the stroke of half-time as Danny Guthrie failed to make the most of his chance in front of goal.

In a pretty even second-half Newcastle United waited until the 71st minute to get their first thanks to a poor throw by Bristol’s Keeper Dean Gerken. Gerken’s dodgy throw went straight to Gutierrez and the Argentinian put Newcastle back in the game and completely changed the momentum of the match. Just three minutes later, Andy Carroll managed to get the Toon level after he nodded home a Wayne Routledge cross which sent the Toon fans crazy.

The game was definitely Newcastle’s to lose and they pushed forward to try and seal the game. However, it wasn’t to be as several blocks by City defenders and a couple of decent stops by keeper Gerken made sure a share of the points was the end result.

All in all, a decent result and the manner of the fightback was superb. We only have to hope the injury to Fitz Hall won’t be too serious and we’ll be back on our merry way to the Premier League.

Newcastle United were once again, found wanting in front of goal as they face Plymouth in the third round of the F.A Cup. Boss Chris Hughton decided to use the full squad with players such as Krul, Kadar, and Nile Ranger getting first team run-outs.

The Toon Army, who descended on the South Coast in their thousands, could be forgiven for wondering why Newcastle weren’t taking the F.A Cup seriously. The likes of Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool have such large squads that they can afford to rotate players. Clearly, this is a signal of intent by NUFC that the league is their priority, but the question has to be asked, would you rather take a lesser squad with the chance of a replay, or take your first team squad and win the game at the first time of asking?

The pitch at Home Park was hardly one that allowed free-flowing football, but Fabrice Pancrate, who could have had a hat-trick, could hardly blame the surface of the field for being so wasteful. Hopefully the Frenchman’s stunning finish at St. James’s Park a few weeks ago wasn’t a fluke.

With Newcastle building momentum, Nicky Butt had a delicate chip tipped onto the bar by the Plymouth Keeper. Lovenkrands and Gutierrez were brought on to replace Pancrate and Alan Smith, but the goal Newcastle were threatening to score never came.

So, we have to play one more game that we could have done without, but we’re in the hat for the fourth round of the F.A Cup.

After our inability to put away our chances yesterday, Chris Hughton (after speaking with the Chronicle), has admitted that Jermaine Beckford is one of a few players that Newcastle United are interested in signing. Beckford has always been fancied by Newcastle – Kinnear wanted him, Shearer wanted him, now it looks like it’s Hughton’s turn. The judgment on whether he’ll take us to the next level are out though – is he Premier League material?

Also mentioned is Michael Chopra. Chris Hughton looks like he fancies the combination of one biggun’ and one luttlun’ up front for Newcastle and we have Ameobi and Carroll as the biggun, and Lovenkrands and Ranger as the littlun’. Bringing in Chopra could mean that Lovenkrands plays out wide. However, unlike Beckford, the Chopra stories have so far been unsubstantiated.

A centre-half and a striker have been the playing areas Hughton has gone on record as saying he’d like to strengthen. But with Coloccini and Taylor doing a pretty good job, who would make way? It was thought that Sheffield United would like to cash in on defender Mathew Kilgallon before his contract ends at the end of the season. Their manager Kevin Blackwell confirmed that their star defender could be set to stay with the Blades until his contract ends. If the Toon want Kilgallon in January, they’re going to have to put up some cash for him, and he may not come cheap.

The January transfer window opens on Friday lads and lasses, and there’s only a matter of time to see whether Mike Ashley will put his money where his mouth is and back the Newcastle United manager in the transfer market.

Goals from Lovenkrands and Fabrice Pancrate were enough to send Newcastle United four points clear of second placed West Brom. Even though Kevin Nolan received his marching orders for a second bookable offence, the Toon now extend their unbeaten to eleven games (in all competitions).

When Newcastle were relegated, many pundits and fans of opposing clubs warned us that the Coca Cola Championship would be a difficult league to get out of. Well, I’m sorry to say that this league is becoming a bit of a cakewalk. It’s definitely not the huge physical scrap we’d thought it be, and we can undo many of the teams we play because of the quality we have. Make no mistake, we deserved to be relegated but quite clearly the players that we have are a step above other Championship players.

On-loan signing Marlon Harewood retained his spot in the starting lineup and managed to play his part in the Toon’s opening goal. Harewood chased down a backpass played by Craig Cathcart to his goalkeeper and played the ball across to Peter Lovenkrands who just had to slot it into an empty net.

Kevin Nolan’s harsh sending off reduced Newcastle to 10 men and Watford managed to put some pressure on the Toon’s backline. However, Watford didn’t make their pressure count as they lacked the extra quality to open Newcastle up. On came Nicky Butt to aid in defence and Fabrice Pancrate made an appearance in the 83rd minute. The Frenchman’s impact was almost instantaneous after holding the ball up in the box, managed to turn two Watford defenders and fire in an unstoppable shot past Scott Loach. Fabrice Pancrate’s goal was Newcastle’s second and finally made sure that Newcastle  held onto the victory.

Even though it’s great to be sitting here talking about the goals we’ve scored, we have to give credit where credit’s due. That’s another clean sheet for us with a total of 11 all season, and the Newcastle United defence can all be proud of the work they’ve put in over the past few months (I never thought I’d be saying that!). The record speaks for itself, the Toon have the best defensive record in the league.

Another three points, another home victory and we’re certainly in good form right now. It’s going to be difficult to see us not winning the Championship. We’re 10 points clear of third place and looking good to go straight back up to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

This blog is very proud to promote the Newcastle United Supporters Trust. Mike Ashley lost my support and respect a long time ago. For the future of NUFC, it belongs to the people who care about it the most ~ the fans. That’s why the lads and lasses involved with the NUST get my full backing and support.

Howay the Toon.

After what seems like an age since we last played football, Newcastle United were back in competitive action tonight as they faced Preston North end in the Coca Cola Championship. With a win, Newcastle could return to the top of the league – a draw would mean that they would end up a point behind West Brom.

Newcastle were due to start with Ryan Taylor but lost the player during the warm-up because he was still getting over a virus. Big Toon striker Andy Caroll was also under the weather but was deemed fit enough. Marlon Harewood replaced Taylor in the NUFC lineup.

When Newcastle have played away, they’ve often been under the kosh for the majority of the game. Such is life in the Championship – they players may not beat you with their skill, but they’ll battle and fight for every ball. The Toon almost got off to a perfect start though as Steven Taylor put a diving header just wide.

Neill Mellor, the former Liverpool striker was Preston’s main threat throughout the night and had several chances, one of those coming in the first-half as the striker brought a comfortable save out of Steve Harper. There were several chances for both teams (no surprise, Jonas missed one) and NUFC’s Alan Smith received a yellow card. The game went in at half time nil-nil.

A collision between Preston defender Youl Mawene and his goalkeeper saw the defender replaced at half-time by Liam Chilvers who struck a shot just wide. Christ Hughton replaced Any Carroll around the hour mark with young striker Nile Ranger. The Newcastle youngster almost made an immediate difference and forced Preston’s keeper into a smart save. Newcastle’s goal came from Kevin Nolan, who turned and fired home from about 10 yards. That makes it 8 goals for Nolan who was clearly delighted with the strike. The 3,500 travelling Newcastle fans weren’t half pleased either!

There were disappointing performances from Jonas, Carroll and Harewood, but a win is a win and another three points in the bag. We now sit atop the table clear of second-placed West Brom by two points.

Update: The official site now confirms that Pancrate has signed a deal that will see him spend the rest of the season at Newcastle with an option to extend.

When Barry Moat‘s Newcastle United takeover bid failed, a lot of supporters feared that without money to invest in players, we’d struggle to add to our already depleted squad. The current Newcastle squad is probably just good enough to get out of the Championship, but without further investment, it’s looking bleak for our future Premier League survival.

One thing that we’ve lacked this season is pace. Only Lovenkrands possesses any kind of natural speed, and in games where other teams shut up shop, a burst of speed can often make the difference. Fortunately, a French bloke called Fabrice Pancrate looks like he’s got bags of pace, which Chris Hughton has certainly picked up on during training and Pancrate’s debut against Hartlepool reserves earlier in the week.

Hopefully this deal can go through, and Hughton has gone on record saying he’d make a decision by the end of this week, so it looks like we’ll find out soon enough.