大象传媒

newcastle need to get themselves sorted into a proper football club. the game today showed they are good enough to get out of the championship but only if they can get the right man in that will provide the players with a barrier to the drama off the pitch. shearer must get the job, it was ridiculous that he was at the game as a pundit. it is plain for eveyone to see how well he fits into the position, he is the right man to spearhood their promotion charge so give him the job!

As a Newc fan myself, I'm disappointed with just a draw today; imo today should have been a statement of intent for the rest of the season.

We played well in the first half but all too often once we go behind the heads go down.

Also, we desperately need signings; Ameobi was nowhere today, and as always Coloccini is dreadful; if anyone Kadar should have started.

And bringing off Carrol for Barton? What was that about; if anything Carroll should have stayed on and Colocinni brought off.

good blog ... first blog of the new season...
and first comment!!
:)

#2 If Coloccini was so bad, why bring off Colocinni instead?

If Newcastle want promotion this season, then there are 2 things and 2 things alone the club needs to do.

1. Appoint a manager NOW!
2. Get the manager to sort the wheat from the chaff ... the nucleus of the squad is fine ... apart from Mr.Collllocccccinnnniiii (rubbish, always was, always will be).

P.S. I'm NOT a Newcastle supporter, but have always like their style of play!

Where are the goals going to come from?

Really happy with the draw today. The lads were fantastic. Smith has to be my man of the match, he never stopped running and put in a real battling performance. Krul was a close 2nd and Carroll was also good. I'm hopeful for the future because we won't be playing the likes of WBA (our promotion rivals) every week. Most crucially, we must win the games against so called weaker Championship opposition and I think we will brush aside many sides with the team we had out there today...

For more.

Interesting post. It was a good result for Newcastle, first game of the season, away from home and against a good ex premiership side. All in all a draw was a good result.

The only slight doubt I have about Newcastle this season and there chances of promotion are:

1) The club is in a mess, they need to sort out not only a manager but the sale of the club.

2) Newcastle have been a premiership side for such a long time now, every team is going to naturally raise there game when playing them, wanting to beat them. It's like when a smaller club is drawn against a big name club in the FA Cup, they always give 110%, and considering Newcastle have not got the greatest team at the moment, I feel a lot of those 110% efforts (against a premiership side in there eyes) are going to cost Newcastle.

Time will tell but I would not be too confident of there chances of promotion and as Terry Venables said, there not too big a club to be in league one next season, although that is something I think is very very unlikely.

Coloccini is never gonna last in the championship, get rid of him before transfer window closes. but with such a small squad they need to get new players in, players who actually want to play in this division and are not just there for the money.
West Brom will have no problem, Di Matteo looks to be a good bet.
well done to the bbc, live football on saturday nights are great, long may it continue!

I think in many ways it was a false dawn for Newcastle yesterday - by playing another ex-Premier League club they avoided a "slap in the face" introduction to the Championship. I remain doubtful as to how well their less resilient players will cope with Championship football away from home, in the middle of winter, when faced with "up and at 'em" opponents.

Hey all you Newcastle fans can say what you like there is no chance of a return to premier football with the team which played last night. You are not the big club you like to think you are no quality players will want to come to St James Park and you will now know how we here at the Boro have felt for the past 20 years or more. Struggle, struggle and more struggle as the frustration builds and disillusioned fans spending good money on watching over paid footballers going through the paces.

Newcastle definitely have the potential to get promoted this season, I hope they do, but that performance against West Brom showed how much work they need to do. Hopefully they can make a few badly needed signings before the window is up and get things on track for a fine season.

I'm very happy to see Duff score, he can be a great player to watch.

Yesterday's result was an encouraging response to the on-going media tirade, in which Newcastle are almost expected to be facing a dogfight from back-to-back relegation. The defending was as calamitous as last year's - step forward Fabricio Colloccini. Considering he's one of the players that will almost certainly leave before the end of the transfer window (please God), i think the sooner we start preparing with a squad that is actually sustainable, the better. Kadar should be introduced as early as possible this season and i hope i'm not the only one mystified as to why Ameobi was in ahead of Nile Ranger? We need to start rearing the young talent quickly and the power of Carroll and pace of Ranger will be a perfect partnership in my books.

As it was, with no manager, no owner, no new signings and the transfers of arguably our 3 best players from last season; a 1-1 draw was the best Newcastle could've asked for. Less forgetting that West Brom away will be one of the tough fixtures for teams in the Championship this season. It's difficult to forsee if the fight will remain for the course of the year but then again, there's certainly more players to leave and hopefully some new players to come in and re-generate things. As long as we've got players like Smith, Taylor, Carrol and Harper amongst the ranks, i can't see the squad taking this league lying down by any stretch.

Bartons bust up did wonders Collocini was class(don't know what match robsep2b was watching it was his best game for a while. Smith excelled and Krul if he is not 1st choice will be gone very soon he had a great game and had he not been there Newcastle could have easily lost by 3 goals..Taylor and Carroll also had good games.
Gutierez as always was like a headless chicken amd Nolan might as well have not been there.
Ashley has had 40 million from transfers Milner,Given,Martins,Bassong and Beye as well as season ticket sales and when two or three more go it will all balance out for him and he will stick to his 100m and be down about 60m when he does sell,it is no good for Newcastle so the fans should be happy with yesterdays result it can only get worse this team is mid table if that.

How predictable, the 大象传媒 finally having Football League coverage and in it's first weekend, Newcastle get way more coverage than any other team.

Harper was apathetic and was to blame for the goal,he radiates no confidence and should move over for Krul who if not 1st choice will soon disappear..Get the kids in Houghton they can do as good a job as Nolan and Gutierrez.

Theres definitely some positives for Newcastle based on that performance. Alan Smith was a revelation as the holding midfielder, breaking up play and distributing the ball well. Carroll also showed a lot of commitment in getting the ball back when it was lost upfield, which is not something you normally see. However there werent enough chances created and i think they will have to try and get some better service to Carroll and Ameobi from crosses and set-pieces because their overall technical ability on the floor is not great. Also, get rid of Collochini because he is off the pace and doesnt work hard enough. A good defender will at least react to a loose ball in the penalty area, and though you couldnt blame him for the Martis goal, he didnt make any effort to get to the ball.

I think newcastle need a better central defender and another option up front. Then theyll have a chance of automatic promotion i feel

A draw might not seem that much, but all in all I was pleased with Newcastle yesterday, with the exception of Collocini and Gutierrez. Set piece defending really needs to improve, and to do this Collocini needs to go. Gutierrez should be skinning defenders and getting crosses in, but for some reason he refuses to take a touch and then has a tantrum when he gets tackled.
We could really do with a goalscorer, as Amoebi looks short of ideas. Hats off to Alan Smith, as he did a great job in midfield and Duff was lively with a well taken goal, although he seemed to have been underused with a lot of play going through Gutierrez.
Great work from Krul, but lets not get too excited, its a long season and until Fat Ashley gets the club sold and we can get some proper investors, it will be hard to get the stability he club desperately needs.

There was a time when I wouldn't have minded O'Leary being in charge of the club but I'm not so sure now. He hasn't been in the game for about 3 years. This is of course all speculation.

You would've thought Newcastle would've learned from appointed Souness as their manager...but now they're going for O 'Leary - Newcastle become more of a laughing stock every day.

I think Ashley staying will be good for the club in so many ways.

It will mean the club can begin to look to the future with new stability. It will mean a new long term excellent manager. It will mean Ashley will back the club with his own money.

also, I don't think Ashley has ever done much wrong, other than appointing Wise to take over the buying of players.

But he's admitted to his mistakes and will learn from them, which will only benefit Newcastle in the long run.

He's a sensible owner and I've always thought he should stay.

Interesting blog. We will see how Newcastle manage to win agains the weaker teams and how they manage to play without a manager. West Brom looked good.

On yesterdays performance.....

I thought Newcastle played very well.

With the amount of possession they had in the first half, they should have been more of a threat in front of goal but the final ball, especially from the otherwise excellent Gutierrez, was very poor.

Smith was fantastic in the middle of the park.

I think they need to add a couple of goalscorers to the squad, however.

I like the Championship. I often think it's a welcome release from the boredom of of the 'top 4'. The run in is usually tense and there seems to be a lot of competition. I won't be following it so much this season because in the last 2 years I have come to despise Newcastle as a club and as a story. The should just wear a grey strip to go with the monotonous consistent rubbish that is written about them. They are not getting promoted. They are useless. They can't play as a team, they have no defence, they have a bunch of players who are clueless and lack intelligence otherwise they would have gone looking for a real club before hand. This positive feeling about Newcastle is giving the term clutching at straws a New meaning.
I think Kinnear did a solid job, I think O Leary will do a solid job if he is there, but he has shown in the past he needs money. I think Ashley is clueless. I could do a better job myself. I think it's a shame to the other teams in the championship, so much of this season will again be about the Bananas in pyjamas. They merit better as a league and Newcastle should be relegated by Christmas.

Whilst its nice to see the praise of West Brom in this article. Why has all of the reporting of yesterday's match... Every single bit of it been nothing but Newcastle bias?

For example, when Jonas Olsson's goal was disallowed for offside, Lawro said "Nearly more heartache for Newcastle"

Excuse me? 4 promotions and relegations in 8 seasons... Newcastle don't know relegation.
It was great to see live league football on the 大象传媒, but please find some balance next time, it was the Newcastle love in.

To follow the trend, i was impressed with Newcastle yesterday - i thought that for a club who are otherwise in limbo (notably without a manager) they seemed to get their heads down and get stuck in. Taylor is a great player and his determination is evident, and Smith played very well in the centre, although his passing is sometimes a little slack, his effort can not be questioned and his tackling, whilst bordering on reckless, was superb. Gutierrez has the ability and at times he was very good, yet he needs to release the ball perhaps a little earlier. Duff played well although he lack the pace he used to have and he is a little predictable. Krul was good but so is Harper so don't get ahead of yourselves on that one. Carroll has potential and you can tell he is desperate to do well for Newcastle, but the team, overall, lacks pace. I would like to see a fast striker brought in to play alongside Carroll as Ameobi seems short of creativity, and i would like to see Coloccini (whilst 10 million is a lot of money) dropped from the team or sold and replaced with a fast centre back. I'm a Liverpool fan but i've always had a soft spot for Newcastle and was desperate for a win yesterday - it will be tough but if everything can be sorted out off the field, and you definitely need a few signings because your squad is thin, (Ryan Taylor is a right mid, and Jose Enrique is a liability) and then you could use this division to remember what it feels like to win games, and kick off back into the premiership in style.

"17-year-old New Zealander Wood did not look like the finished article on the evidence of Saturday's display."

Did you expect him to be?! I thought Wood had a terrific game considering it was his first ever start for Albion. He looks an excellent prospect.

It was a hard fought game yesterday, and a fair result in the end. Albion didn't play as well as we can, but Newcastle made things difficult for us and Krul was just unbeatable.

Tim Krul is the most seventies looking player ever. He waas born at least three decades too late.

#10, I was unaware Boro had enough fans turning up every week to spend good money?? I think I've been to the Riverside more than most of them. Obviously another football 'fan' who revels in other teams failures than their own success, spending time writing spite filled messages about other teams fans. our performance last night was quite impressive in the circumstances, especially against a side who looked dangerous at times.

Must say the bias of Adrian Chiles and Frank Skinner was strange to see on the neutral 大象传媒, at least Shearer tries to remain so.

I am confident that Newcastle are a club of sufficient quality to get themselves out of the Championship in one season.

In which direction, however, is another matter.

I don't understand the NUFCs fans insistence on Shearer as boss... he managed them for a handful of games, inheriting a team and set up that was already in place... I'm not saying that it is his fault that they went down but how can there be so much of a craving for Shearer when he is the least experienced manager in the football league. Is there any Newcastle fans who are of the opinion that he should be given a back room place - maybe head coach, or assistant manager rather than the big job. Yes, he must bring a fantastic atmosphere and moral to the dressing room but this is not enough when your team is fighting for promotion in the Championship - probably the most highly competetive league in europe, a laegue, don't forget, Shearer has no experience of.

A club cannot run on emotions and sentiment alone.

Surely there is a better man for the job.

newcastle really need to sort out the owner status as soon as possible, i'm sure there's enough ability there to bring them back up to the premiership but as steven taylor said "its a joke" - there's just too much uncertainties with mike ashley on the helm.

"Must say the bias of Adrian Chiles and Frank Skinner was strange to see on the neutral 大象传媒, at least Shearer tries to remain so."

Interesting, as it was the only bit of direct Albion coverage in the Newcastle United Match of The Day Special. Cause the other team, the better team on the day, wasn't even mentioned before kick-off, and that part was the only comment about Albion during the half-time window!

I still don't see enough goals coming. No proven scorers at the club and a still hopeless defence = ??

Personally, no matter how much I like Newcastle as a club I don't think they'll be making a quick return to the Premier League this season as there defence is absolutely terible, if anything they need to sell Coloccini before the transfer window closes & bring in a well organised defender who is reliable at the back. Coloccini just makes too many mistakes!

They also need to bring in more players like Alan Smith and Micheal Owen (Who I know is at Man Utd now) but mainly another striker who will be able to score goals week in week out at Championship Level!
I would probably suggest Gary Hooper of Scunthorpe.

does robsep2b like their style of play because it is rubbish?

Cox was reportedly not quite fit for the game after being injured in the final game of pre-season.

David O'Leary could be a good move for NU. Never mind the emotional Shearer/KK reflexes, it's time for NU to get real. O'Leary will have his controversial moments, but his record as a manager is excellent.

I'm really disappointed in the 大象传媒's coverage of the Championship. I was very excited when I heard they'd got the rights but after this week's selection I'm starting to think it's going to be a very tedius season.

Out of all the games that could have been selected the 大象传媒 choose the ones featuring three relegated Premiership teams and the team that got to the playoff final. Constant bombardment of the big four spoilt the Premiership, now you want to spoil the most competitive league in the world. According to The Football League Show the Championship's big story is Newcastle. No. The Championship doesn't do "big stories", it does decent honest football.

How about promotion-chasing Cardiff Vs newly promoted Scunthorpe. How about Clough Vs Ferguson? How about a cracker of a South Yorkshire derby?

Newcastle secured a good away point against a team that, by rights, should be challenging for a return to the Premier League this season. All in all, a decent start.

Once again the Newcastle fans are deluded. Not a good standard game.......both teams mid table or below on this performance. Interesting to hear Shearer say he is still interested in the job so he could finish what he started.............laughable, hey? Curbishley is your only choice if you want to stay in the Championship

Watched most of the West Brom game. The replacement keeper did well. I thought that Newcastle were quite impressive in midfield especially Smith who I would like to see come to Spurs as Captain in the centre of midfield! Ameobi will struggle in the championship but I thought Steven Taylor was very good yesterday while Colocini looked ok. In reality Smith Nolan Duff and Barton should be good enough to literally fight their way out of what can be a brutal division.....the barcodes to come straight back up if they can put waay the chances at home.

I have supported Newcastle for nearly seventy years through thick & thin

These two on field against West Bromwich should not get in the team Ameobi the so called striker, when we play with him we are playing with 10 men, The centre back Coloccini is a liability.

Why oh why don鈥檛 we give Ranger chance it鈥檚 impossible to be worst than Ameobi.
Apart from these two the team really put effort into their game

Was really impressed with Krul the goalkeeper. Have always supported Duff he had good game.
The midfield did well played well,
I am not lover of Smith but he played his socks off he played captains game.

They need Shearer as manager; he had 7 players lined up & he knew which players were surplus, what did the Chairman do nothing. Sold some of best players on the cheap
The referee was nightmare.

To comment 2;
I agree Ameobi was poor and Carroll should have stayed on... but surely u didnt expect us to turn up and beat west brom on saturday?? i was pleased with the point and the spirit shown by the players to recover from going 1 nil down so i dont understand the point you make about heads going down - i thought we played the better football throughout although didnt have the better chances.

Handing Kadar a debut would have been suicidal in those circumstances... Collocini is very very suspect and has never really looked like an international or even comfortable in english football.. but to throw an 18 year old into the mess that is NUFC could have ruined him (Ramage, huntingdon... where are they now?)

I鈥檓 unsure whether you actually watched the game, or are in the pre-determined 鈥渃all Newcastle shambolic鈥�, no matter what they do, to keep the Man Utd fans happy.

Seriously, we didn鈥檛 defend that badly. It鈥檚 just the fact that if Newcastle make one mistake in defence, they are a shambles. If Aston Villa make the same mistake, you don鈥檛 even report it.

Just a media culture of preaching to the (baying) converted, to keep them reading. If you actually report on what happens, rather than what people want to read, it would be a much better article.

Anyway, bearing in mind West Brom are probably one of the strongest teams in the league, I thought we were pretty comfortable.

In truth, the home team barely got a touch in open play, and only threatened from corners and free kicks. I thought we were a different class for most of the game.

Seriously 鈥� if that鈥檚 the best the Championship has (as in a top 6 team), then I don鈥檛 think we will struggle to get back up at all.

Bearing in mind we were away from home, and had no manager, and still got a deserved draw?

I was watching the game, and just didn鈥檛 think the standard of opposition was that good. So much space. We were keeping the ball easily, and with better final ball, could have scored 3 or 4.

How many times did Gutirrez or Duff get to the byline?!

Again, away, to one of the leagues best teams, and a pretty straightforward draw, with no real manager 鈥� us toon fans are hardly quaking in our boots at what the rest of the league has to offer.

I don鈥檛 think many teams will take points from us a St. James鈥�. Put it that way

"Once again the Newcastle fans are deluded. Not a good standard game.......both teams mid table or below on this performance. Interesting to hear Shearer say he is still interested in the job so he could finish what he started.............laughable, hey? Curbishley is your only choice if you want to stay in the Championship"

Both teams are mid table? Sad, glory supporting loser.

Can't handle the fact that we didn't get thumped.....

"They also need to bring in more players like Alan Smith and Micheal Owen (Who I know is at Man Utd now) but mainly another striker who will be able to score goals week in week out at Championship Level!
I would probably suggest Gary Hooper of Scunthorpe"

Your joking right? We'd still be in the premiership if Shearer didn't play owen?

How many one on ones did he miss. About 8. Him missing sitters cost us. Not our defence

When West Brom came up last time Phillips scored a fair portion of their goals. Cox really does have to hit the ground running and if he gets injured they could have problems. I'll be surprised if Moore plays a great deal he doesn't carry enough of a goal threat or cause problems in any other way whereas at this level Miller and Bednar do.
Otherwise I thought West Brom seemed very organised and particularly moved the ball from defence to attack very quickly and deliberately - which has been an aspect of every successful team I can think of.

On the whole Newcastle kept possession well - particularly in the first half. The most noticeable of their problems is one they've had for ages - the positional sense of the defenders isn't great. They need to get a defender who positionally not only knows what he's doing himself but can also tell everyone else where they should be during the game. I'm not convinced they need to be quicker that would just be bailing out the poor positioning. I'd be looking for experienced Championship level defenders if I was them and they need a new left back and if Ryan Taylor is their only choice at rightback they need a new one of those as well.
I thought several of the players were trying to do too much. I don't think Carroll should be dropping back to the half way line to get on the ball and I don't think Duff should be wandering in pitch to get on the ball either - they need to stretch the width of the game and play quite tightly to their positions. Man-for-man they will be better than most other teams so they need to make those battles are one-to-one as much as posible.
I don't know where they fit him in but they have to play Barton - as he showed in the short time he was on the pitch not only can he produce an accurate cross but also the speed with which he reacts to situations and particuarly loose balls is going to create opportunities.
I'd go so far as to say that Newcastle don't just need a new manager they need new coaching staff. The lack of organisation at defending set pieces, players wandering out of position, the substitution that made no sense and I don't know if it's just an illusion of the banana shirts but several players looked top heavy like they'd spent most of pre-season working on their abs (additional weight that's going to make them a yard slower without adding much to their game). I'm not sure a new manager alone sorts that out.

Skinner and Chiles were interviewed because they are two of the Baggies 'celebrity' fans. NOT because they both work for the 大象传媒 so it wasn't bias. I'm sure if Tim Healey had been in the crowd or Jimmy Nail or even Neil Kinnock (yes he supports the Toon)they'd have asked them for their thoughts too.

I'd also like to know how West Brom are favourites when they finished below the Toon AND Boro?

As for Ranger it's just a matter of time before Shola get's knackered again so he'll get his chance soon enough then it'll be difficult to drop him. Statistically Tim Krul is our best ever keeper. 2 competitive games 2 clean sheets.

this is stupidity, loom at the players we've missed out on thanks to the lack of manager, lita, john, soon beckford, their are so many great players out their most on a free transfer, we need to get a manager anbd soon if we dont make any signings we're finished

get some defenders in and some strikers and we'l be fine

Say hello to the Beeb's coverage of the Championship this season. Newcastle vs 23 other teams who are being a bit of a pain by distracting interest away from the circus around St. James Park.

I'am sick of the media being so harsh on the championship, it is not the footballing backwater it is being painted as. It is in fact the home to some large teams, and is the fourth most watched division in europe.

Good luck to Newcastle!! They sure are gonna need it!!

After sitting through 90 minutes of QPR v Blackpool it did feel like watching the Premiership when I watched our game in the pub. Yes Coloccini isn鈥檛 the best defender in the world, neither is Steven Taylor. Both will do ok in the Championship though and we鈥檙e stuck with them as Ashley is clearly not going to be buying anyone. On that, the sooner he sells up and moves on the better. It鈥檚 gone on too long now for any other outcome. Talk of taking it off the market and bringing in O Leary will just drag the whole saga on longer and no one wants that, least of all Newcastle fans.
The squad is a bit thin but the first eleven is decent and they all played well enough on Saturday with the exception of the front two. Haven鈥檛 seen anything of Ranger but if he鈥檚 got pace and his second touch isn鈥檛 a tackle then get him on there in place of Ameobi who still looks out of his depth in the Championship.
As for the manager, Shearer did sweet FA as far as our performances towards the end of the season and he hardly comes across as inspirational. If Ashley moves on I鈥檇 have Keegan back any day as getting teams into the Premier league is what he does best. For the moment though the best bet would be to make Hughton manager with Calderwood as assistant and just get on with it. The players are good enough, the support is there so lets stop whining and enjoy the season. It should be a good one where we might actually win a few games back to back and I鈥檓 looking forward to it.

Mike Naylor, you are exactly the sort of one eyed, delueded Newcastle fan most people talk about. Newcastle's defence has been shocking for many, many years. I looked at the WBA v Newcastle game as a neutral, but a follower of the Championship.......I don't really care if Newcastle win, lose, draw or fold.......the game was a reasonably boring spectacel between two mid table teams

#25 "It was great to see live league football on the 大象传媒, but please find some balance next time, it was the Newcastle love in."

I agree. It's already getting very, very boring.
The Football League show was a little bit pro the supposed big 4 (3 of whom were relegated for being consistently bad over the season, just like Newcastle) but it wasn't nearly as bad as all the Newcastle attention has been.