The fact things could get worse before they get better is of little comfort either. Three successive losses could so easily come five if you consider the fact the Black Cats' next two games are away at Everton and Arsenal. That is followed by a home game against resurgent Liverpool and a trip to Manchester City.
So suddenly, that European push is faltering, and even the hope of a top eight finish looks as if it could be in jeopardy. The Wearsiders are wobbling and they could be about to take a nasty little tumble just as the finishing straight moves into view.
]]> Yet, while three defeats is three defeats, nil points out of nine, it is important everyone remembers how far Steve Bruce's side has come in such a short period of time.In truth, European football was probably always going to beyond them this term, particularly since Darren Bent decided he would rather play for more money at Aston Villa in the January window, but a top eight finish isn't.
Bruce's target was a top ten place in the summer and that is still very much on despite the recent slump.
Everyone must remember that a defence which has conceded nine goals in just three games is also a defence which had kept more clean sheets than any other team in the top flight up until the turn of the year.
Craig Gordon and Titus Bramble were at fault for the goals against Tottenham last weekend, yet they have been two of the best performers in a miserly defensive unit before the Stoke game.
Gordon's confidence appears to have suffered badly as a result of that Stoke bombardment in which he never looked convincing, but Bramble has never allowed a mistake to cause any lasting damage.
Both, though, need to take a deep breath this week, enjoy a few days off and then get back to business in preparation for the trip to Everton the following weekend.
Sunderland have looked a little jaded mentally in my opinion and a few days off can do wonders for that.
Supporters irritated by the downturn in results at the Stadium of Light, should keep one eye on an injury situation which has deprived Bruce of his captain and best defensive midfielder Lee Cattermole, as well as striker Danny Welbeck in the immediate aftermath of Darren Bent's abdication.
Fans need to be mindful of the fact that Asamoah Gyan is playing as a lone frontman in his first season in English football and new signings Sulley Muntari and Stephane Sessegnon are still trying to settle in at a new club.
They should also take comfort from the fact that, after a home game against Liverpool and another difficult away game at Manchester City, Sunderland have the sort of run in every manager in the Premier League would want.
You can never assume anything in football, but Sunderland's last seven games are all against sides in the bottom half of the table.
Bruce is almost certainly going to have Welbeck and Fraizer Campbell back in his plans, while Michael Turner and Cattermole should also be in contention.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, Sunderland just need to make sure they are in a position to make the most of it when they get there.
]]>But on Saturday, at St James' Park, a little of my faith was restored. Not all of it, but enough to make me remember why I fell in love in the first place and that is a start.
]]> I have never covered a game as wonderfully dramatic as Newcastle United's 4-4 draw with Arsenal and, for the first time in ten years, I leapt up and celebrated a goal in the press box when Cheik Tiote's volley hit the back of the net.In 90 minutes, Newcastle United had illustrated everything that makes it special as a football club, plunging to the depths of despair before rising again, hurtling towards a state of unrestrained euphoria.
It will fall again, it will trip itself up, it will shoot itself in the foot. This is what Newcastle United does, it is what Mike Ashley does best, but even he will never be able to erase the memories of that magical second-half comeback.
It was not so much the game itself, or the result that made is special, it was the manner in which it was achieved.
Newcastle's supporters and players have had the stuffing knocked out of them struggling to come to terms with the decision to sell Andy Carroll, but at their lowest point they found the collective strength to pull off something remarkable, roared on by supporters who could have spent the entire 90 minutes chanting for the head of an unpopular owner.
That they didn't owes much to the realisation there were two sides to the sale of Carroll tale and neither made for enjoyable reading, soured as they were by greed and lies, but it also owes much to the special relationship between those who grew up supporting the black and white stripes and those who wear them.
United's players and supporters drew strength from each other at the weekend and Arsenal, a magnificent team littered with magnificent players, wilted in front of a raging fire.
It was breathtaking stuff, an experience that made all the politics, finance and skullduggery disappear and the timing could not have been better.
Had United slipped to a heavy home defeat, you fear for the direction their season would be heading under Alan Pardew, but instead they have come away with a point which felt like a victory.
The sale of Carroll will not be forgotten and it will not be forgiven after just one thrilling game of football, but at least the events of the weekend have shifted the agenda and given the club, its staff, supporters and players a chance to move on.
Only time will tell whether the sale of Carroll was a clever piece of business or a disastrous one, but at least the players who remain have shown they were and always will be far more than just a one man team.
That had to happen and it had to happen quickly. It was a draw worth far more than just a Premier League point.
]]>It isn't just what has happened at St James' Park since I became a sports reporter ten years ago, although that clearly hasn't helped, it is everything the game has become. From Sepp Blatter and Fifa to the conniving, money grabbing agents who get rich off the talent of others.
From the hype and hyperbole of hours of Sky Sports coverage, to the constant failures of England's preening, pampered stars. From greedy, arrogant and selfish players to dishonest owners, via self-serving managers and deluded, irrational armchair fans.
]]> At the end of the January transfer window, Newcastle and Sunderland have both sold their top, English goalscorers for a combined fee of £60m to rival Premier League clubs. A lot of money has been received, a lot of hope has disappeared.Both players were adored by fans and both players made all the right noises about loving them back, in Andy Carroll's case, even after he had agreed to sign for Liverpool.
In both cases, Darren Bent claimed he had been forced out by the Black Cats and Carroll said the same thing. Yet, in reality, all this "forcing out" amounted to was a refusal to offer them a lucrative new contract to replace the lucrative one they already had.
Regardless of semantics, it basically boils down to the argument pay me more or I'll go elsewhere. It is cold, hard, brutal and calculating. There was no love there, there was no special relationship and there was no biding contract. There was just money.
These are market forces at work. This is capitalism. It is ruthless and unforgiving. It is not kind, it is not emotional. It does not care about anyone's feelings, it only responds to cold currency.
Football does not care about you and it does not care about me. We are customers, but cash cows would probably be a more accurate description. Football clubs see us in terms of balance sheets and cash flow forecasts. They see us as bums on seats and add on sales, refreshments and merchandise.
They see players as assets and commodities to be bought and sold. They see profit margins and bank balances, not talent and ability.
Football is not a sport anymore, it is big business, an entertainment industry. The players are just looking for their slice of the pie and they want to make sure it is a wedge not a slither.
Can we blame them? Well, if somebody offers to pay you more to do the same job you are doing for a rival company, nine times out of ten as a young man in your twenties, without any family ties, kids in school or wives to think about, you will accept that offer.
Pay me what I want now or I'm off. The threats were made and subsequently carried out. Yet, I do not only blame the players for this. There are the agents whispering in their ears, unsettling and disrupting, looking to get things done, looking for an opportunity to make some money while the transfer window is open.
Agents make money by making their clients money - it is why players love them - but to do so they can often do things which the players did not actually want to do until the agent suggested it.
For all of the words about regret, sadness and the crocodile tears, Bent and Carroll left because they wanted to. Sunderland might have fought a little harder to keep Bent and Newcastle were ridiculous to sell Carroll on the final day of the transfer window without a replacement lined up after weeks of insisting their star player was not for sale at any price.
But everybody lies in football, everybody pretends and it is the lies and pretence that hurt. We are angry at ourselves because we allowed ourselves to believe what we were being told.
I don't believe Carroll wanted to leave Newcastle, but neither do I believe he went to Liverpool kicking and screaming, devastated to leave his hometown club. If he was so upset, he did not have to sign. There was no gun to his head and he would have been welcomed back by manager Alan Pardew with open arms.
He had a choice to make and he took it. From what I can gather from what I've heard so far, he wanted more money and he wanted it straight away, did not get it and handed in a transfer request.
Other players have done that before and stayed, others have been sold when they actually wanted to stay, some have simply got their wish.
As for Newcastle they saw the size of the bid in front of them and they took it. They did not fight to keep Carroll, they could have rejected the request, they allowed him to leave because they felt the deal was too good to turn down and then leaked information about transfer requests to protect themselves from the backlash.
It was a business decision, not a football one, but when football clubs are run as a business are we really that surprised? Did we honestly believe Mike Ashley wouldn't be willing to sell a homegrown player for a huge profit and buy three or four new ones with the money, hopefully to sell each of these for a profit somewhere down the line?
I'm not picking a side in this argument, I'm just wish I did not have to stand between them in the whole ugly mess, tainted by their greed and deceit, sour and bitter because of it.
Football saps your energy and your optimism and there are times when I wonder whether I should find a new job and a new pastime to enjoy.
And then you see that Leyton Orient, the club I love and cherish, the club that does not even own its own ground as the chairman bought it and built flats in each corner, the club that is under threat of extinction from two Premier League clubs who want to move next door into an Olympic Stadium far too big for its own modest needs.
A club that has constantly struggled to keep its head above water, a club that will never play in the Premier League, a club that has always had to sell its best players when a bigger one calls, has drawn Arsenal at home in the FA Cup Fifth Round and I love it all over again!
I'm addicted, I'm hooked and even though I know football is not good for my health, I will always want more and I will always keep coming back.... it's what football counts on and gets.
I'm going to go for the short option. Is football sexist? Yes. Will it ever change? Probably not. Should Andy Gray have been sacked? Yes, because he questioned the ability of all women to officiate in a game when there is no basis for his prejudice other than the prejudice itself.
]]> As for the rest of the argument, football is a game played predominantly by men in a predominantly all male environment. When you put a lot of men together, a lot of the time they are going to talk about women in a macho, sexual and, yes, I suppose derogatory way if you believe women should not be viewed or discussed by men in an overtly sexual manner.But it goes on at building sites, in changing rooms and offices everywhere. The feminist movement has achieved many things, but men will always be attracted to women - or not as the case may be - and as much as we would all like to take the moral high ground on this issue, that is not going to change.
There is a reason why the lads mag market became so big. Men like to look at women and they like to talk about sex, sometimes in relation to a specific woman.
Just as women sometimes like to talk about men in a sexual context with their pals on a night out, at work, or on the phone, but hopefully not when the microphones are still on and the tapes are running.
Women should not be discriminated against on the basis of their gender, which is what Gray and hairy hands Richard Keys have been guilty of, they should not be discriminated against on the basis of their looks.
But a beautiful woman will always attract male attention and with subsequently became the subject of male conversations.. Women's looks will always be assessed by men in the same way that a woman assesses a man's.
And, let's face it, for all the women in football who are suddenly crying sexism, how many of them have actually used their gender to their advantage at times in their profession?
I don't mean sleeping with anyone, but the very fact they are different to the norm? It attracts attention, it offers a different perspective. It makes them stand out from the crowd.
Female radio reporters, for example, are all the rage at the moment because the bosses believe people are more likely to talk to a woman when a microphone is shoved under their faces as they are more polite and less threatening.
Sexism is everywhere, but sometimes it has more to do with the differences between the sexes rather than discrimination.
Gray and Keys deserve to go for the reasons I've discussed earlier, but let's not pretend some of the conversations that have taken place do not occur regularly in all lines of work.
Contrary to popular belief, the moral high ground does not always give you the best view!
]]>But, as I watched Newcastle soak up Tottenham Hotspur's second-half pressure and consistently threaten to score a second goal on the counter-attack, I began to contemplate the Magpies returning to European competition.
Alright, so they are outsiders, but the very fact I can type this knowing you are not going to be spluttering all over your keyboard/iphone/smart phone/ipad when you read it means United have made remarkable progress this season.
That dream was promptly shattered by Aaron Lennon's injury-time equaliser and the failure to hold on to three points at Sunderland, and again against Spurs, is probably why Newcastle will be happy just to finish in the top half of the table, but I, like most of you, would have been content with top flight survival in May.
These points, do not forget, came against two sides sitting in the top six of the table and Newcastle could reasonably argue they should have beaten them both.
Newcastle aren't safe yet and it would be prudent to concentrate on making sure that target is reached before worrying about anything else, but it all bodes extremely well for the future.
For the first time in years Newcastle look to be building from a position of strength. They have the nucleus of a really good team and, while the squad lacks strength in depth, and the quality is not there in certain areas to maintain a top six challenge, with the right additions and the right investment - yes that's right Mr Ashley, that refers to you - Newcastle should be optimistic about what the future holds.
Europe, if we're honest, is probably beyond them this year and given the fact the likes of Aston Villa and Everton will surely improve over the next 12 to 18 months, it probably will be again next season.
Factor Sunderland into the mix, with £24m to reinvest from the Bent deal, and the competition for Europe has never been stiffer, but at least Newcastle look like they can be in it again.
It is a target that looks achievable once more and nobody would have expected that to be the case at Villa Park in May 2009 when they were relegated to the Championship.
Gradual and sustainable improvements should be the model for every club chairman with half a brain and I can actually see Newcastle doing this.
For all his faults, and there are many, Newcastle United are starting to look like a proper football club with a proper plan for the future under Ashley.
I'm sure that image can be shattered with one public relations disaster, and it will be interesting to see what happens between now and the end of this month's transfer window, but nobody is talking about the owner for a change and that can only mean one thing - things are running smoothly.
Newcastle clearly need to sign a couple of players and Alan Pardew has not been shy in stressing that. After all, Chris Hughton played the game in public, never did anything to upset the board and still lost his job, so why shouldn't Pardew make his argument for signings in the media?
Stephen Ireland would be an interesting purchase. I really liked him at Manchester City, but he has lost his way at Aston Villa.
Newcastle are right to be only trying to sign him on loan rather than a permanent deal as he has a lot to prove, but January is a difficult month to stick to your principles in.
Newcastle are tough negotiators, but they are playing a risky game. The manager wants players and if Ireland doesn't arrive, there does not seem to be much sign of anyone else joining.
Having allowed Wayne Routledge to re-sign for QPR you would have thought there is a wide player lined up, but where is he?
The squad is severely stretched as it is and the sight of James Perch coming on at the weekend to play in the centre of midfield says it all.
Newcastle are possibly only one more injury away from a crisis. Should that injury occur to either Joey Barton, Fabricio Coloccini or Jose Enrique, it would be disastrous.
So much to be positive about, yet so much to fear...
]]>It was interesting to watch Bent in his first press conference as an Aston Villa player. He looked nervous, uncertain and unsure what to say.
He tried to cling on to an argument he left Sunderland for purely footballing reasons, yet ultimately, the reason his relationship with the Black Cats soured was due to the failure to give him an improved contract.
]]> That is the bottom line. As with so much in life, particularly the work place, Bent's decision boiled down to money and a desire to earn a load more of it, £20,000-a-week more to be precise.If we're talking football motives, why would you leave a team which is sitting sixth in the Premier League for one which is only keeping itself out of the bottom three on goal difference and who have been beaten twice by the Black Cats this season?
Why would you move to a club where the manager, when Sunderland visited earlier this month, was booed and jeered by his own supporters and walked down the dugout with refrains of "you're getting sacked in the morning" from the home fans?
Sunderland look like a club which is capable of progress under Steve Bruce, Aston Villa look like one which is in danger of going backwards under Gerard Houllier. Aston Villa are in a relegation battle, Sunderland are pushing for Europe. The club have, effectively, swapped places over the last 12 months.
Indeed, Bent talked about the potential and league positions being false, but Villa are not a bigger club than Sunderland and they do not have more potential either.
Okay, so they've spent more consecutive time in the Premier League and they have won a few cups in my lifetime, unlike Sunderland - or come to think of it Newcastle - but they are no more likely to compete for silverware than either of the North East's big two in their present guise.
The reason Villa are where they are now is down to Martin O'Neill and he isn't there anymore.
The reason Newcastle broke into the top four was down to Sir Bobby Robson and he isn't there anymore.
The reason Sunderland are pushing for a top six or top eight finish is down to Steve Bruce and he is still there!
As the Yanks say, do the math. No, Bent knows the real reason for his decision and that is why he looked so uncertain.
He didn't expect to face such hostility in his opening press conference, but the Midlands press pack were merely underlining my argument.
They will be delighted Villa have managed to sign such a quality goalscorer with such a wonderful track record, but that doesn't mean they have to understand why Bent has left Sunderland. They don't.
He does and it is, I'm afraid, because Bent is one of the nicest footballers I have met, down to cold, hard cash and a perception he was under-valued at the Stadium of Light. This was the third time he has tried to leave and clubs and managers simply can't hold on to players like that long term.
Slighted by the failure to improve his contract, it was a situation his agent could manipulate perfectly, and it also means Bent will be that little bit closer to his family home in Cambridgeshire.
Bent will be a brilliant signing for Villa and I'm sure his goals will help keep them in the Premier League.
His loss is big blow to Sunderland as Bruce is going to have to do what he can in the transfer window, patch up his squad and sign a proper replacement in the summer. It may well cost them continental competition in 2011.
The departure of Bent leaves a big hole to fill - he has scored roughly 50% of the team's goals under Bruce - and, despite a major dip in form since the end of October, he has still scored nine times this term.
He was the talisman of the Bruce team and his departure hurts. He talked about becoming a Sunderland legend, of loving the North-East, the club, the fans and the region, yet all the time Darren Bent was thinking about money and how much he could earn of it.
He is not alone in that, but it is because of everything he said while he was a Sunderland player, that it will hurt so much to see him wearing another club's colours.
]]>I missed a combustible atmosphere which threatened to ignite into a blazing inferno after the final whistle, I missed the idiotic Sunderland fan who shoved Steve Harper in the back, I missed Steve Bruce's wild man celebrations and I missed the Black Cats rescuing a point in a game Newcastle thought they had already wrapped up.
I missed out on Kevin Nolan's fourth goal in a Tyne-Wear derby (an impressive ten for the season), I missed the drama of Asamoah Gyan's fortunate (you make your own luck in this game, whatever that means) late equaliser and I missed out on Darren Bent's final appearance in red and white stripes.
]]> I will not go into the ins and outs of Bent's transfer request in this blog entry, I'll wait until he has actually put on the Villa shirt for the first time and talked about his desire to be a Villa legend (hmmm, where have we heard that before).What struck me after Sunday's result was if the Black Cats are genuine European contenders this season - and I believe they are - what does that make Newcastle United?
Admittedly, I only saw the highlights and read the reports, but by all accounts Newcastle were the better side for long periods against opponents who sit pretty in sixth place in the Premier League and who, until recently, had looked unbeatable at the Stadium of Light.
The defeat to Notts County in the FA Cup, and the home loss to Blackpool in the league over Christmas, have brought the jitters back on Wearside and Newcastle also arrived knowing the pressure was on their hosts to make amends for that 5-1 humbling back in October.
It was a tasty mix for the Magpies to exploit and they did that. Four points from the two games this season ensure they will retain local bragging rights until the next time the two clubs meet.
Sunderland supporters will dispute that if they finish above Newcastle in the league, but only European qualification will really mean anything in terms of superiority. A mid-table side is still a mid-table side whether they finish seventh of 15th.
For me, Sunderland still have a better chance of finishing in a European berth, although the loss of Bent weakens them badly in terms of goals. He may not be the same player he was last year, but he is still the team's top goalscorer this term.
He needs to be replaced this month if Steve Bruce is going to have any chance of keeping the Black Cats where they are in the table. He also needs to get Lee Cattermole, Michael Turner and Danny Welbeck back into the side, as these are three key men in three key positions.
Indeed, there will be those on Tyneside who feel they could also challenge for Europe. I think that is unlikely given the lack of strength in depth at St James' Park, but who knows.
The Magpies continue to surprise us, on and off the pitch, and the transition from Chris Hughton to Alan Pardew has been a relatively smooth one so far.
Nobody expected Leon Best to have a cat in hell's chance of staking a claim for a first team place, but he has blossomed under Pardew and, fully fit, he is doing a good job in the absence of Andy Carroll.
The worry for me about Newcastle is what happens if the likes of Jose Enrique or Joey Barton get injured? Enrique remains the only specialist left-back on the books and United's form dipped horrendously when Barton was suspended for three games.
Indeed, for all of his final ball faults, what happens if Jonas Gutierrez picks up a long term injury? He is the only player in the team (Wayne Routledge continues to flatter without even deceiving) capable of beating a defender and getting a defence to back peddle with the ball at his feet.
The team is not blessed with creativity and while Hatem Ben Arfa is due to return slightly ahead of schedule, he won't be anything like match fit when he does comeback after a disrupted summer waiting for his move to Newcastle and then a broken leg after just four appearances.
In the end a draw was a decent outcome for both teams. A late equaliser always feels more significant than it is and a draw saved Sunderland from humiliation, while Newcastle emerged from enemy territory with a moral victory that doesn't mean anything in real terms and a useful away point.
It is what happens between now and May which will decide who really is the North East's top dogs.....
]]>Nobody has been the subject of more transfer tittle tattle over the last few months than these two, but no matter how many time you are told they are off to this club for that much, and that club for this much, rest assured the pair are here to stay - at least for now.
Nevertheless, it would be naive to think the two youngsters, born and raised on the banks of the Tyne and Wear, will still be playing for their hometown clubs in five years time.
Football simply doesn't work like that. The brutal fact is, there are bigger clubs out there with more money and more opportunities to win things.
There will come a time when Carroll and Henderson will want to play in the Champions League and can you see either Sunderland or Newcastle offering them that in the next four or five years?
They will want to earn more money and they will want a fresh challenge. Few players remain at one club for their whole career, even if they did used to dream about playing for them as boys.
They will be tapped up and they will be touted around. The England get-togethers which Carroll and Henderson look set to be a part of for a long time to come are like unofficial recruitment centres for the big clubs.
Players get their heads turned by their international teammates and there is only so long, it seems, anyone can resist the lure of football at Europe's top table and the chance to compete regularly for silverware.
It probably isn't a question of whether they leave, it is more likely to be a case of when.
What does work in Newcastle's favour is that Carroll is a Geordie, who has always aspired to wear the number nine shirt. He is not agitating for a move in any way, shape or form because he is happy playing for his club. It is the same for Henderson at Sunderland.
They are local lads doing what they always wanted to do. They have a deep affiliation with the area, its people and its football clubs. There is an emotional attachment, but I still suspect that will only hold them for so long. It will keep them here for longer, but it won't last forever.
As depressing as it is to think about their departure, it is probably best to prepare yourself for that sad day. If it doesn't great, but it almost certainly will.
Carroll may decide he has no desire to spread his wings and remains on Tyneside for the next ten years, shattering Alan Shearer's goalscoring record in the process.
Henderson may decide he does not need to earn more than ã100,000-a-week in Manchester or London to satisfy his football ambitions. He may well get to play in Europe with Sunderland and he knows he has already got a slot in the England squad while playing on Wearside.
But, ultimately, when the offers start to come in, the temptation will be there, not just for the players to move on, but also for their clubs to sell them.
Even in today's deflated market, Carroll and Henderson could command transfer fees well in excess of ã20m each. Should they stay on their current trajectory, both could go for more than ã30m in the next couple of years.
That is a hell of a lot of money to turn down for a single player when you know you can buy four or five replacements with that amount of money, strengthening other areas of the side while sacrificing one star name.
Football has been like this since the dawn of time. As nice as it would be to see Newcastle and Sunderland battling for titles and European Cups, the gap is a huge one to bridge.
The balance of power will shift, Tottenham have broken up the old Big Four and Manchester City's billions mean they will do the same, but the big clubs maintain their strength by stealing the best players for the clubs who might one day be in a position to compete with them.
In my opinion, neither Carroll or Henderson should contemplate leaving. If I was in their shoes I'd be looking to stay put for at least another two seasons after this one.
They are happy and they are developing at a rapid rate. They are guaranteed regular first team football and they are already earning more money than they realistically know what to do with.
There isn't much more a player of 20 or 21 can ask for, but that will not always be the case.
]]>It rarely bothers me if people slag me off, my job is to report information and opinions, to spark debate and to deal with the facts. Where necessary, I offer my view as well. But this time, you've managed to get a bite out of me!
So let's get a few things straight. I did not agree with the sacking of Chris Hughton and I said as much to the United hierarchy this week. I have even argued with them about it.
]]> He was, as I've said elsewhere, a good man doing a good job. He did not need to be replaced and if he was going to be replaced it needed to be a really top class, experienced manager with a CV to match.But it is also my job to present the argument behind the sacking, which is what I've done this week.
Alan Pardew is not the manager I expected to see in the chair as his replacement, he does not have a great CV and he is not vastly experienced.
He has a tough job ahead of him to convince supporters and media alike that he is the right man for the job.
He will also suffer because he has got the biggest job of his life in grubby circumstances, he will be slipping on a murdered man's shoes at his press conference today.
However, I also feel he has to be given a chance to prove me and the rest of you wrong. He is running uphill, as I said in the paper this morning, but does he deserve to be shoved backwards and downwards by the club's supporters as well?
I don't think so, that is my personal opinion, just as it's my personal view it was a mistake to sack Hughton.
However, Pardew is the manager now and he has enough on his hands winning round the players in the dressing room without dealing with protests against his appointment from the fans.
He will live and die by his decisions as a manager, not on accepting a job offer after a popular manager was sacked.
Even if he was talking to the club while Hughton was still in place, is that his fault or the fault of the people who are in charge?
I will judge him what he does in Newcastle interest's from here on in. That is how I have treated every single man who has filled that role in the nine years I have been covering the club.
If results and performances are good, I will say so. If they are bad, I will criticise as I have done in the past.
If Pardew fails, that is the time to take aim on the board because they will have made a horrendous error in judgement.
What is done is done, it's not a decision that is going to be reversed. If there is anger there, the fans have every right to voice it. It is their club, not Mike Ashley's after all. If there are protests, that is their right.
What I don't see is how that is helpful to the team and the players. If fans hope they are going to force Ashley to sell, they won't. He's already ridden out worse than this. He has already tried to sell, twice, and failed. He isn't going to put the club up for sale again.
So, no I don't think Pardew is a great appointment, but I will at least give him the chance to prove me wrong. He won't be condemn by me before he has taken charge of a single game.
Sorry if you don't agree with that stance, but quite frankly, I'm just as entitled to my opinions as you are.
I'm not anybody's pay roll other than The Journal's, I'm not licking anyone's behinds and I'm not scared of criticising anyone. I'm just, in my opinion, being realistic.
]]>I was not friends with Hughton, we didn't go drinking together and we didn't chew the fat for hours on the economic policies of the Lib-Con coalition, but I did respect him as a man and I appreciated the job he had done as a manager.
He was a good man, a likeable man and an honest man. His treatment this week was a kick in the teeth for those who like to see good people doing good things in an ugly business.
]]> He should be respected for what he did at St James's Park and he should be thanked for it. He did a fantastic job in difficult circumstances and if there is a small grain of comfort for him as he waits for his compensation package, he was given the boot before his reputation was soured by anything like bad results.He will be loved on Tyneside long after the ink has dried on his next manager's contract and he will be welcome back anytime. He deserves the next job he gets and he will get one, don't worry about that.
He has done enough at Newcastle to ensure his application form is put at the top of the pile by a Championship chairman looking for someone to open the door to the Premier League riches
There is a ridiculous idea that United fans want to worship a Messiah. They don't, they want to see a manager who works hard, gets the best out of his players and understands that makes their football club special. Hughton did all of those things.
In getting the club back into the Premier League at the first attempt, he has played a significant role in saving the club from financial ruin - certainly as much as owner Mike Ashley and he was the man who covered the financial cost of it all.
There is little room for sentimentality in football - or business - and Hughton's chair will soon be filled by another manager who I will work with closely again, but I will definitely miss Chris.
In the modern football world, a lot of managers aren't willing to take calls from local journalists, Kevin Keegan didn't for example and others will only speak to you on their terms - after a good win for example.
Hughton took calls through thick and thin, whether he was high as a kite after the Sunderland win or down in the dumps after a thrashing at Bolton.
He leaves on the end of Ashley's boot, but he leaves with my thanks and the thanks of thousands of Newcastle supporters ringing in his ears.
For me, there is only one apppintment that makes sense. Martin O'Neill, but why would he want to come to Newcastle United?
]]>If I had written anything last week it would have gone something like this. Fifa are a bunch of ****, Sepp Blatter is a slimy ????, and we should **** the lot of them, grab our ball and take it home with us.
As regular readers will know, I'm not a raving nationalist, I'm not a frothing St George's flag waving mad man and I'm not a blinkered supporter of our national interest, but yes, as you can tell, this has wound me up.
]]> Perhaps we are sore losers. In fact, I'd like to confirm, yes, I am a sore loser because I cannot stand defeats which are unjust and unfair.I can cope with defeats when the better man/team won, but I do not take kindly to ending up on the losing side when there is the whiff of corruption and/or foul play.
First things first, according to Fifa's own inspectors and assessors, England's bid was the best of the four that made it to the final round, yet we picked up two votes - one from our own rep - and went out in the first round.
It wasn't even close because the 22 delegates already knew who they were going to be voting for long before those reports were drawn up. They were a sham to maintain the illusion of a real bidding process.
There is absolutely no proof that any Fifa delegate was bribed in the bidding process, there is no evidence that delegates traded their votes for money or other favours.
None at all, but that does not prevent me - and those who were actually involved in the bid process - from suspecting that is precisely what happened.
It isn't just the fact Russia won the World Cup in 2018, with billionaire Roman Abramovich in the background - wonder how long his interest in Chelsea will remain now he has to sort out building all those football stadiums in the Mother Land?
They beat us, but there is a bad taste in the mouth, because the 22 men who run Fifa never wanted England to have it. However, it is at least a viable alternative to our own bid.
The World Cup has never been in Eastern Europe before. Russia is a massive country, a rich country, and it has a long and proud football history.
The real sickener is the prospect of playing the 2022 tournament in Qatar. Blatter claims he wants to leave a legacy by taking the World Cup to new countries, of breaking through new frontiers.
So why Qatar and not Australia? Australia haven't had a World Cup before, it's in a part of the world not particularly known for its football prowess, but it is in a part of the world that has embraced the sport and could do with a boost.
Australia have qualified for the last two World Cups on merit, Qatar have no hope. So what does Qatar have that Australia doesn't apart from 42 degree summer heat and an entire tournament held indoors? Oh yeah, money, wonder where that could have ended up?
So what do I propose as a suitable response? We can't just detach ourselves from Fifa and go it alone. They run the game in our name and we have to accept that, but what we can do is fire a warning shot. We want to be a part of future World Cups.
Blatter is so concerned with taking game to new areas he is neglecting the countries which actually provide most of the interest, and therefore money, in the sport.
When the biggest clubs in England got annoyed with the FA's power and control they created the Premier League and look what happened.
My idea is to arrange a tournament, not an official Fifa tournament, just a little summer get together and invite, shall we say, Italy, Spain, Holland, Argentina, Germany, Brazil and, oh go on then, the USA.
With us, that makes eight teams, two groups of four, top two from each play in the semi-final and so on. A good name? How about the World Super Cup?! Final at Wembley in 2013!
Two years later, we could expand it to 12 teams and invite Jqpan, France, South Korea and Australia. Only this time, I wonder if Germany would like to host it. Two years after that, another four countries and another host!
It's just a little friendly tournament, that's all, a friendly tournament with a nice big prize fund paid for by corporate sponsors. I'm sure Virgin would be interested, what about Vodafone?!
Nothing sinister in that, just an end of season tournament amongst old friends, but it might just focus a few Fifa minds! It is the threat of what could happen, rather than anything we actually do which will get the message across.
They want to maintain control of the game? Fine, no problem, but they might just remember where football really matters and where people are really interested in it before they carve any more deals up without us!
I don't think there is a manager in England - oh alright Harry Redknapp trumps him - who likes to wheel and deal as much as Bruce and as injuries start to cause problems on Wearside he will be trying to persuade the board to give him some money to spend like Oliver pleading for gruel.
]]> He will not be alone. There will be desperate pleas from managers all over the country over the next few weeks, whining about the lack of strength in depth, the dangers of failing to add the missing pieces of the jigsaw, the problems with injuries and so on and so on.Given his last January recruit on Wearside was Matthew Kilgallon, a player he sent out on loan to Middlesbrough a little over six months later, will not stand him in good stead.
The former Sheffield United defender cost more than ã1.5m and played just seven games and was, as we say, a panic buy!
Sunderland have never taken their eye of Wigan winger Charles N'Zogbia, and Bruce had vaguely hoped to get him in January, although I think he knows that, with the amount of money he would have to spend, the summer is more realistic.
In the meantime he can only hope nobody else snaps him up. Birmingham City had a ã9m offer accepted back in August before N'Zogbia turned down the move to St Andrew's and it would take a similar offer to even tempt Wigan to part with their best player in the middle of the season.
Sunderland, unless they have been stuffing cash under the sofa and Darren Bent's bed, have not got that sort of money to spend at the moment.
N'Zogbia would be the final piece of the jigsaw as far as I'm concerned, offering pace and goals on the left flank, but Bruce is more concerned about his defence at the moment.
The loss of Titus Bramble and Michael Turner has been acutely felt and it shows what a good buy Bramble has been that the defence has conceded five goals in the two games he has been missing with a knee injury.
His partnership with Turner has got to be one of the best in the top flight, but they will not play again with each other for at least three months.
Bramble should be back in two, but Turner's injury is more serious and could even sideline him until the start of March.
Bruce's problems have been accentuated by John Mensah's fragility. The Ghana international was supposed to provide the cover so as not to put too much of a strain on his glass frame, but he is injured again and struggled badly at Wolves when forced to play with the shoulder discomfort.
Sunderland do suddenly look a little light in the middle - Paulo Da Silva has never look suited to English football and Anton Ferdinand is not a top ten club defender - but I can't see Bruce getting much joy trying to sign another centre back.
All being well, Bramble will be playing again before the close of the window but I'm sure that won't stop Bruce from trying anyway. If there is a deal to be done, Bruce will always be trying to do it....
]]>There was an air of arrogance and complacency about the Magpies at the Reebok Stadium.
There were plenty of players walking around with their chests puffed out at the weekend with that unique, peacock strut professional footballers have, but there was nothing to back it up.
For me, United went to the Reebok thinking and acting like a big club again. They behaved like they did in that miserable relegation season, expecting to get something from a game rather than concentrating on how to get it.
They forget the things that have served them so well over the last 15-18 months. Hardwork, honesty and endeavour. They did not look like a team, they looked like a group of individuals.
They thought they would be too good for Wanderers and they thought they were good enough to get something out of the game because, by and large, that is what they have done away from home this season.
For the first time in over a year, for the first time since that loss at Scunthorpe in the Championship last October, they had the rug pulled from underneath them and their arrogance exposed in rather embarrassing fashion.
It was a surprise to be honest. I thought those days were behind us and it is sad to say that the worst culprits were those who have generally been so important to everything that has been good about the team.
Kevin Nolan, Alan Smith, Jose Enrique, Fabricio Coloccini, Mike Williamson, Danny Guthrie and Danny Simpson were all, in my opinion, worth three out of ten for their performances on Saturday and there isn't a team in football that will do anything other than lose if so many players play so badly on the day.
It is important we do not start to panic, but this was a reminder that relegation is something Newcastle still need to worry about. It was a defeat which should re-focus minds and attention on the challenges ahead.
It also shows how fragile the Newcastle squad is. Hughton does not have an alternative to Enrique at left-back, but he isn't playing well at the moment, while the loss of Joey Barton and Cheik Tiote has been acutely felt.
The lack of pace in midfield when Guthrie joins Smith and Nolan is frightening and this area of the pitch was utterly dominated by Bolton, which allowed them to batter a shell-shocked defence into submission.
It might get worse before it gets better too, Chelsea are the next visitors to St James's Park at the weekend and while Newcastle have generally played better when they are expected to struggle this season, it is difficult to see the reigning champions losing three league games on the trot..... let alone twice to Newcastle in the same season!
]]>If the 5-1 thrashing of Sunderland was a once in a lifetime opportunity to revel in the demise of their local rivals, the 1-0 win at Arsenal was just as rare and tasted just as sweet.
]]> In fact, given the thrashings the Gunners have dished out in the past, given how many times I've seen both North East sides out-classed, toyed with and tossed aside at the Emirates, this was a remarkable result.The biggest compliment I can pay Chris Hughton and his players is they made Arsenal look ordinary.
Alright, so the Gunners hit the crossbar twice and Tim Krul pulled off one truly incredible save, but overall, if you watched the whole 90 minutes, United were rarely under any sustained pressure and rarely in any real trouble.
The win over the Black Cats lightheartedly lead to talk of a top half finish this season, but the win over Arsenal should give the Magpies the belief they can achieve far more than just a battle against the drop this term.
I'm getting a little carried away aren't I? But three successive league wins, two of them away from home, does that doesn't it and so does seeing United looking down on the rest of the top flight from the lofty heights of fifth.
If I'm honest, I thought they'd be doing pretty well if they were fifth from bottom at this stage. However, before anyone starts to get over-excited we should remember that, at the moment, the Magpies are taking teams by surprise.
That won't last and neither will their good luck with injuries. What happens, for example if Andy Carroll, Chiek Tiote and, say, Joey Barton all picked up injuries which kept them out of action for a six to eight weeks at the same time?
It's a small squad and I have a feeling it might get smaller in January when players leave because of a lack of first team football.
Alan Smith and Peter Lovenkrands are two of the names that spring to mind, while surely Leon Best will be packing his bags sooner rather than later. And what about Ryan Taylor?
Injuries have a habit of kicking in when the weather turns colder and the matches pile up over the Festive period, so let's not start thinking of this as anything more than an excellent start to a long hard race.
Hughton's contract situation does not paint the board in a particularly positive light, but it's also getting a little boring talking about it the whole time. They have said they will sit down with him in the New Year and it isn't the New Year yet.
If they don't get it sorted in January, then we can start to question what is going on, but the decision to effectively put the manager on trail at the start of the season made sense at the time.
Hughton had never managed in the Premier League before - at least not as a permanent manager - so of course he had to prove himself.
For me, he has done that and deserves to be rewarded with a more lucrative, shall we say, three year deal. I hope that happens, but I also wish we could stop banging on about it as well.
Nothing is going to happen this week, Derek Llambias is on holiday, so let's just hope everyone focuses on trying to pick up six points from the two home games against Blackburn and Fulham.
They do that and they will be more than halfway on the road to Premier League survival, and for all the excitement generated by recent results, that has to remain the primary objective.
]]>Bruce has taken a right old battering this week as some supporters use the derby demolition as an excuse to kick their manager's achievements on Wearside.
As ever, a sense of perspective is needed. When you are in pain, you lash out, normally at those who are closest to you and Bruce is an easy target.
]]> He is the manager and he is ultimately responsible. It was a dreadful performance and a humiliating defeat, but it was not entirely Bruce's fault and neither does it mean Sunderland are suddenly a bad team.They had a bad day, no, they had a terrible day, but it was only their second league defeat of the season, they are still unbeaten at home and a win against Stoke at the Stadium of Light this weekend would lift them back into the top nine or eight. Hardly a club in crisis.
Sunderland have shown steady improvements over the last 15 months and that should not be allowed to go to waste just because one woeful derby performance and the embarrassment that follows.
Bruce has already come out fighting, and he will be backed by Niall Quinn when the Sunderland chairman speaks to the press today to mark his decision to become a patron of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
Now the players have to do the same. They were the ones who didn't turn up last weekend, they were the ones who were out-played and out-fought by Newcastle and they were the ones who conceded five goals at St James' Park.
They have shown this season that they are more than capable of holding their own against the best teams in the country, now they have to prove they have the strength of character and the professional pride to bounce back from a major setback.
If they slip into another four month winter slump like they did last year, then yes Bruce's position will be under threat, but not now, not after one bad defeat. That is just stupid.
Bruce has responded to the defeat by finally pairing Darren Bent and Asamoah Gyan against Stoke, while John Mensah will return to the defence in the place of the suspended Titus Bramble.
These are two players Bruce has placed a lot of faith in, yet neither have really played this season because of the good form of others.
In particularly, having spent ã13m on Gyan and sold Kenwyne Jones to get him, big things are expected of the Ghana international.
Bruce needs him to start repaying some of that faith as well as the club record fee. If he doesn't perform over the next few weeks the manager might really be in trouble.
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