I break away from writing on recent television programmes to comment on an excellent day on Easter Monday (2012) to visit St James Park, but now known as Sports Direct Com by the owner, to witness the emergence of Newcastle United as a major Footballing skills and winning ability team in the UK and consequentially in Europe.
This involved eating a large spoonful of humble pie on my part because disgusted by the treatment of Kevin Keegan and the general conduct at the time by the relatively new owner of the club Mike Ashley; I had vowed and placed on record my intention not to return to visit the stadium for a Newcastle game while he remained. For a while it looked as if he intended to sell the club and I had hoped that the Middle East billionaire who bought Man City had selected Newcastle for his venture. It would have been geographically fairer if he had chosen the North East, Yorkshire or the Midlands for his location and now we have the imbalance of the top two teams in the UK located in the City of Manchester.
So what has happened to change the position taken four years ago? Whatever his original motives and approach in fairness Mr Ashley has stayed the course and whether by luck and good fortune or by skilled business and football antennae he has now created a situation which has caught the football world unawares.
According to recent statements made by the club it is now solvent having taken five years to clear the kind of massive debts which has and is threatening some of the best teams in the land as they attempt to stay ahead of the competition. This perhaps explains why a year last January the club did not immediately invest the £35 million gained from the sale of one Andy Carroll to Liverpool in new players, particular a goal scoring centre forward.
Carroll who then had major questions about his character to answer was purchased by Liverpool who had made £50 million by the sale of Carlos Tevez to Chelsea. Both these players have been failures as centre forwards and ac cording to commentators about the game. For a time it looked as if Liverpool or Andy’s agent was trying to offload him back to the Toon where he was regarded as one of the lads in the pejorative use of the term. Those now in charge of Newcastle had other ideas and so far it has worked.
It is worth my time placing recent developments in perspective. Until the appointment of Kevin Keegan as Newcastle manager in February 1992 and I had been an established supporter of Sunderland at Roker Park since being impressed by their 1973 FA Cup win over Leeds and moving to a house a short walk from the stadium in the following season. I had held a season ticket until their relegation from first to second and then to third division as it was.
Going to St James Park to watch Newcastle during their first season back in the Premiership was tantamount to a change of religion and some individuals have never forgiven for the change in allegiance, although in fairness to me I also remained a Sunderland supporter through those dark years and witnessed with pleasure the development of both clubs with super stadiums and a combined support of over 100000 from throughout Northumbria, North Yorkshire and Cumbria in addition to Tyneside.
Both clubs therefore have the support to make a financial successes but winning trophies has eluded both in Cup and League competitions apart from getting back from the lower divisions into the Premiership. For a period it seemed to me that the getting promotion fight was the only period when having a season ticket was worthwhile. There is no pleasure in watching visiting superior teams wining at home or making the effort and undertaking the expense of watching away games although this was something I did for three decades.
I attended two Wembley Finals for Newcastle, once getting the most expensive seats, and they lost on both times mainly because Alan Shearer failed. I also watched a semi Final at Cardiff which they also lost. Kegan failed and then walked away from the club the first time round when he felt he could take it no further. Terry McDermott took over until the appointment of Kenny Dalgleish, a great Liverpool player but in my judgement he is too dour a personality to ever make it as a front line manager as his present failure with Liverpool in the Premiership demonstrates. Ruid Guillot is another who had been an exciting player but failed the Newcastle Test and Steve Clark was something of a stop gap until the appointment of local hero Sir Bobby Robson, the former England and Ipswich Manager.
The club maintained its position as a leading club during the five years of his reign during which he achieved a Champions League position twice It was difficult to understand why after a sudden drop in fortunes the ownership decided to change and commenced a period of eight years in the wilderness with John Carver taking temporary charge followed by Graham Souness, Glenn Rodder, Nigel Pearson, Sam Alladyce, Nigel Pearson as caretaker.
Kevin Keegan back for a brief and controversial second period of 8 /9 months was followed by Joe Kinnear, Alan Shearer, Chris Houghton and now Alan Pardew. He is the 19th appointed manager/ caretaker manager since 1992 which makes it around one a year! The longer term problem has been matching the ambitions of Club and supporters against the realities of the contemporary Premiership.
Part of the problem was Alan Shearer the legendary man from Tyneside who scored more goals in the number 9 shirt as anyone in the Premiership during their career as. But you cannot build a winning team based on one man however good they are at their role and during his time at Newcastle the club won nothing.
In terms of being the manager Alan Pardew is still a long way short of the achievement of Chris Houghton who holds the record for winning nearly two out of every three games he managed during the past three decades. What Pardew has achieved however is to take the team forward into the top group of clubs against all expectations. It is only in part because the club is now playing three of the most exciting and inventive forwards in Europe. What has impressed me is the organisation and character of the team which is due to Pardew and his team.
He had a good if not brilliant professional career playing for my boyhood club Crystal Palace in that famous 4.3 semi final win which took them to an F Ay cup final replay against Manchester United which they lost.
Pardew made his name as a Manager with the rise of the Berkshire club Reading taking them from the second to the first division, finishing fourth his the first season and losing out in the playoffs to Wolves.
His success led to West Ham making a bid and although Reading refused to give permission, Alan resigned and this forced the issue. Alan again took the club into the play offs where he again lost but he was successful the following year and the team gained ninth position in the 2005 2006 season and to a Wembley Cup final losing to Liverpool on penalties. The following season although the new owners of the club stated their support in the best tradition they sacked him soon after.
He was almost immediately appointed manager at Charlton his most unhappy and unsuccessful time where the supporters wish for him to be sacked was granted. His period at Southampton was also mixed so that his appointment to replace Houghton was a great surprise, given that Houghton had taken the team back to the Premiership. Pardew was not the fans first choice with fewer than 6% said to favour his appointment. He has become known for the club’s 3. 1 defeat in the cup against League 2 Stevenage but also for the heroic fight back at Arsenal from 4 0 down at half time to 4.4. This was first indication of a determination which has been carried forward coupled with attention to developing a defensive mentality which was also the weakness of the Kevin Keagan’s original era.
It was at the commencement of the present season that he led the club to an astonishing series of opening game wins and an unbeaten run of eleven games in all competitions that got the football world talking but no one believed it would last. Pardew himself expressed caution about the club’s ability to continue to match the likes of Manchester Unity and Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal and the also resurgent Spurs under the favourite of the England Managers Job Harry Rednapp, under the cloud for taxation evasion until cleared in court later in the season and where the authorities have decided not to name their new man after parting with the current manager only weeks before the start of the European Cup Competition.
Before the start of the game on Monday the club had won their previous four games placing them in sixth position and a chance of getting not just as a place in European competitions next season but the converted European Championship competition. Before the recent run it looked as if they had faltered with heavy loss at rivals Spurs and defeat at Arsenal and with home draws against relegation likely Wolves and North East rivals Sunderland.
The last quarter of the season ten games are always the most testing and will make the difference to how the whole season is viewed. The solid 1.0 home win against Norwich did not signal what was to follow with an impressive 3.1 away at WBA. It was the professional 2.0 win at home against long standing rivals Liverpool where in Keegan’s day they twice lost 4.3 at Anfield in exciting talked about games. Their 2,0 win at Swansea was also professional and it was this professionalism as well as the exciting goals scored by their three forwards which led to me on impulse to decide to get a ticket for Monday’s game late at night on Sunday.
I had a struggle to remember my log on details and then to find an inexpensive seat in the area which interested. I had intended to go into Newcastle for a cooked meal but stayed home longer than was needed so when I arrived in the city it was already packed with others with the same thing on their minds, only they had arrived an hour before me. I thought I would find something suitable at the Monument Mall Food Court only to discover that since February the top two floors have been closed for building work. In fact only Tymark on the lower floor seems to functions as usual. McDonalds was as busy as I have seen it. The seating area is huge but was full with standing room only. In the end I opted for a local Tesco sandwich deal of a chicken and bacon sandwich, a small bottle of orange fruit juice and a small tin of Pringle crisps for £2.50 which I eat standing against a barrier at the roadside having abandoned the earlier plan to collect the ticket from the ground and then find somewhere to have a relaxed meal. The change in plan and late start meant that I went for the ticket as the ground was opening to spectators although obviously those taking hospitality packages had arrived and were enjoying their food and drink.
The ticket was not immediately available and had to be printed. I was still one of the first at the stadium with over an hour to wait. It was a great squeeze to get through the turnstile and I had forgotten the introduction of the electronic ticket into stadiums.
Although I had a book with me I was not in the mood to read. On the way I had remembered that the old box office had been moved to the former shop and you have to go to the first level of the Gallowgate end for the two banks of booth for tickets allocated by phone and on line to be collected;. I checked out the concessions which unlike those at Sunderland are concentrated into three outlets on the long L shaped walkway which continues along the North end of stadium and to one side until reaching the police monitoring area and the Magpie restaurant. My seat was over the corner flag back at the top of the middle tier with a cushioned bar against the concrete. Being at the back meant that I could stand when I wanted. I was one seat in from the aisle. The seat on the other side remained free throughout the game although I think the occupant was sitting n the step one up with permission from the steward who he knew suggesting a season ticket holder or someone who managed to book the seat on a regular basis. The seat is at the level as the first tier of boxes in the man stand and below that of the second tier. You get a good over view of the play but nothing like as good as the seat I had for about five years in the stand opposite
The seat cost £21 plus a £1 administrative fee. Had I remained a club member it would have been £1 less. Initial membership costs £25 for a year with a presentation box which previously includes a pack of photo cards. It cost nearly half that of seats in the special areas with individual lounges. An end of the season hospitality deal for a party of 12 coasts £175 plus VAT for the tour, meal, drinks and four car space deal with match programme and team sheet. My day would cost £24.50 using my metro travel card which costs £25 and where a one day travel card costs £4.20. If you do not pay the annual concession fee then you pay the adult fare so all you need to do is make more than 6 trips of three zones to gain. With not having a season ticket I do not make that many trips, with so far this year this was my third but there are the two three visits planned by train, two London and one Brighton. I will also make use of the Ferry across the river a couple of times.
The aspect of the last couple of games seen on television was the way the team is organised and its disciplined professional manner prepared not to entertain or show off unless the situation merited and where the win and the invaluable three points is the priority. Thus it was a largely uneventful first half with a few supporters commenting that the team had not turned up. It is difficult for your average supporter not to realise that playing two games so close together is a great challenge even for these players. Usually I would have little expectation for games played at Christmas, New Year and Easter if they are the second game closely following another. I was not disappointed especially as it was evident that there are an extraordinary number of skilful players in this team and several will be wanted by the European Championship teams so qualifying means that the temptation to sell to the highest bidders will be resisted.
In the second half it looked for the first 20 minutes or so that the opposition would spoil the party as they had three good chances to score the first goal and which could have changed the outcome. It was evident that that the goal when it came was special but I needed to watch several replays on the evening programmes to appreciate that it will be considered the goal of the season or one of the runners up. It was that good.
Hatem Ben Arfa is regarded as one of the best attacking midfield players in France. He has played in ten of the first team games this year scoring 7 goals. Earlier he was not always in the side because he could be caught in possession tending to hang onto the ball when it should be passed. On Monday all his shortcomings past and the future were forgiven. He got hold of the ball in his own half and by a clever surge in pace and twist of body left the defender dead and another surge and step avoided a potentially crunching tackle. He continued to run forward and Cissé had run into an excellent position on his left to receive the ball which he signalled for. Most in the same position would have gladly passed because out of steam the ability to manoeuvre and shoot in the net eludes most players. Arfa side stepped the third defender and slid the ball with sufficient pace but not great pace into the net. Everyone stood as they do but the applause was prolonged. Whatever the result we had been there and seen that. Later in the 85 minutes he was taken off to receive the public adoration he deserved again the applause was prolonged and he was clearly delighted with himself and the reception.
Between the goal and standing down he had one more similar effort although this time he passed the ball to Cissé who misfired when the expectation was, probably that of Cisse that he would go it alone once more. Cissé was to continue his club record of scoring in every game since his transfer to the club in January.
Papiss Cissé is an African from Senegal who previously played in Germany. He was acquired for £10 million as a number 9 replacement for Andy Carroll sold the previous January. He works hard always on he move which means defenders have to watch him closely. I noticed that for the greater part of the first half two defenders concentrated on trying to keep Ben Arfa contained. This meant others were stretched because of the movement around the final third which Cissé generated. There is a question that his goal should have been declared off side although repeated showings of the position if you watch the cut squares on the turf suggest that he was not. His legend continues.
Until his arrival the accolades were going to Demba Ba another Senegalese footballer although born in France. He played a year for Watford as a youth player and since then in France and at West Ham where his knee condition meant his future became suspect. Since joining Newcastle in the summer he has scored two hatricks and became one of the leading scorers with 16 goals to his credit. There was interest from a number of clubs. With the arrival of Cissé he has lost his position as lead striker and plays to the right with Ben Arfa going to the left in a three pronged forward attack. The Newcastle team has other players of established quality which makes the idea of competing in Europe not as far fetched as it would have seemed commencing the season. I will cover these if the run of success continues.
There was further good news before leaving the ground as Norwich beat the Spurs at home and Chelsea later were only able to draw. This means that spurs in 4th have the same number of points and played the same number of games as Newcastle 5th with Chelsea in sixth two points behind. Spurs have hit a bad run off form while Chelsea who has recovered from their blip having a semi final game against Spurs this coming Sunday and then a two leg semi final game in the European Championship. Newcastle’s next home game is when I am away in London.
Before returning home I visited the supermarket for something for the evening meal and for breakfast but although I bought a cheap pizza I decided on some fish with the rest of he beans and tomato from the previous day. It was a good day as I stayed up to view the replays and highlights.
Sitting watching the rest of the stadium arrive I was struck by the number of families with young children and also the groups of young people, some students and some visiting football teams. It is a very different crowd from those dark days in the late seventies and eighties.
This involved eating a large spoonful of humble pie on my part because disgusted by the treatment of Kevin Keegan and the general conduct at the time by the relatively new owner of the club Mike Ashley; I had vowed and placed on record my intention not to return to visit the stadium for a Newcastle game while he remained. For a while it looked as if he intended to sell the club and I had hoped that the Middle East billionaire who bought Man City had selected Newcastle for his venture. It would have been geographically fairer if he had chosen the North East, Yorkshire or the Midlands for his location and now we have the imbalance of the top two teams in the UK located in the City of Manchester.
So what has happened to change the position taken four years ago? Whatever his original motives and approach in fairness Mr Ashley has stayed the course and whether by luck and good fortune or by skilled business and football antennae he has now created a situation which has caught the football world unawares.
According to recent statements made by the club it is now solvent having taken five years to clear the kind of massive debts which has and is threatening some of the best teams in the land as they attempt to stay ahead of the competition. This perhaps explains why a year last January the club did not immediately invest the £35 million gained from the sale of one Andy Carroll to Liverpool in new players, particular a goal scoring centre forward.
Carroll who then had major questions about his character to answer was purchased by Liverpool who had made £50 million by the sale of Carlos Tevez to Chelsea. Both these players have been failures as centre forwards and ac cording to commentators about the game. For a time it looked as if Liverpool or Andy’s agent was trying to offload him back to the Toon where he was regarded as one of the lads in the pejorative use of the term. Those now in charge of Newcastle had other ideas and so far it has worked.
It is worth my time placing recent developments in perspective. Until the appointment of Kevin Keegan as Newcastle manager in February 1992 and I had been an established supporter of Sunderland at Roker Park since being impressed by their 1973 FA Cup win over Leeds and moving to a house a short walk from the stadium in the following season. I had held a season ticket until their relegation from first to second and then to third division as it was.
Going to St James Park to watch Newcastle during their first season back in the Premiership was tantamount to a change of religion and some individuals have never forgiven for the change in allegiance, although in fairness to me I also remained a Sunderland supporter through those dark years and witnessed with pleasure the development of both clubs with super stadiums and a combined support of over 100000 from throughout Northumbria, North Yorkshire and Cumbria in addition to Tyneside.
Both clubs therefore have the support to make a financial successes but winning trophies has eluded both in Cup and League competitions apart from getting back from the lower divisions into the Premiership. For a period it seemed to me that the getting promotion fight was the only period when having a season ticket was worthwhile. There is no pleasure in watching visiting superior teams wining at home or making the effort and undertaking the expense of watching away games although this was something I did for three decades.
I attended two Wembley Finals for Newcastle, once getting the most expensive seats, and they lost on both times mainly because Alan Shearer failed. I also watched a semi Final at Cardiff which they also lost. Kegan failed and then walked away from the club the first time round when he felt he could take it no further. Terry McDermott took over until the appointment of Kenny Dalgleish, a great Liverpool player but in my judgement he is too dour a personality to ever make it as a front line manager as his present failure with Liverpool in the Premiership demonstrates. Ruid Guillot is another who had been an exciting player but failed the Newcastle Test and Steve Clark was something of a stop gap until the appointment of local hero Sir Bobby Robson, the former England and Ipswich Manager.
The club maintained its position as a leading club during the five years of his reign during which he achieved a Champions League position twice It was difficult to understand why after a sudden drop in fortunes the ownership decided to change and commenced a period of eight years in the wilderness with John Carver taking temporary charge followed by Graham Souness, Glenn Rodder, Nigel Pearson, Sam Alladyce, Nigel Pearson as caretaker.
Kevin Keegan back for a brief and controversial second period of 8 /9 months was followed by Joe Kinnear, Alan Shearer, Chris Houghton and now Alan Pardew. He is the 19th appointed manager/ caretaker manager since 1992 which makes it around one a year! The longer term problem has been matching the ambitions of Club and supporters against the realities of the contemporary Premiership.
Part of the problem was Alan Shearer the legendary man from Tyneside who scored more goals in the number 9 shirt as anyone in the Premiership during their career as. But you cannot build a winning team based on one man however good they are at their role and during his time at Newcastle the club won nothing.
In terms of being the manager Alan Pardew is still a long way short of the achievement of Chris Houghton who holds the record for winning nearly two out of every three games he managed during the past three decades. What Pardew has achieved however is to take the team forward into the top group of clubs against all expectations. It is only in part because the club is now playing three of the most exciting and inventive forwards in Europe. What has impressed me is the organisation and character of the team which is due to Pardew and his team.
He had a good if not brilliant professional career playing for my boyhood club Crystal Palace in that famous 4.3 semi final win which took them to an F Ay cup final replay against Manchester United which they lost.
Pardew made his name as a Manager with the rise of the Berkshire club Reading taking them from the second to the first division, finishing fourth his the first season and losing out in the playoffs to Wolves.
His success led to West Ham making a bid and although Reading refused to give permission, Alan resigned and this forced the issue. Alan again took the club into the play offs where he again lost but he was successful the following year and the team gained ninth position in the 2005 2006 season and to a Wembley Cup final losing to Liverpool on penalties. The following season although the new owners of the club stated their support in the best tradition they sacked him soon after.
He was almost immediately appointed manager at Charlton his most unhappy and unsuccessful time where the supporters wish for him to be sacked was granted. His period at Southampton was also mixed so that his appointment to replace Houghton was a great surprise, given that Houghton had taken the team back to the Premiership. Pardew was not the fans first choice with fewer than 6% said to favour his appointment. He has become known for the club’s 3. 1 defeat in the cup against League 2 Stevenage but also for the heroic fight back at Arsenal from 4 0 down at half time to 4.4. This was first indication of a determination which has been carried forward coupled with attention to developing a defensive mentality which was also the weakness of the Kevin Keagan’s original era.
It was at the commencement of the present season that he led the club to an astonishing series of opening game wins and an unbeaten run of eleven games in all competitions that got the football world talking but no one believed it would last. Pardew himself expressed caution about the club’s ability to continue to match the likes of Manchester Unity and Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal and the also resurgent Spurs under the favourite of the England Managers Job Harry Rednapp, under the cloud for taxation evasion until cleared in court later in the season and where the authorities have decided not to name their new man after parting with the current manager only weeks before the start of the European Cup Competition.
Before the start of the game on Monday the club had won their previous four games placing them in sixth position and a chance of getting not just as a place in European competitions next season but the converted European Championship competition. Before the recent run it looked as if they had faltered with heavy loss at rivals Spurs and defeat at Arsenal and with home draws against relegation likely Wolves and North East rivals Sunderland.
The last quarter of the season ten games are always the most testing and will make the difference to how the whole season is viewed. The solid 1.0 home win against Norwich did not signal what was to follow with an impressive 3.1 away at WBA. It was the professional 2.0 win at home against long standing rivals Liverpool where in Keegan’s day they twice lost 4.3 at Anfield in exciting talked about games. Their 2,0 win at Swansea was also professional and it was this professionalism as well as the exciting goals scored by their three forwards which led to me on impulse to decide to get a ticket for Monday’s game late at night on Sunday.
I had a struggle to remember my log on details and then to find an inexpensive seat in the area which interested. I had intended to go into Newcastle for a cooked meal but stayed home longer than was needed so when I arrived in the city it was already packed with others with the same thing on their minds, only they had arrived an hour before me. I thought I would find something suitable at the Monument Mall Food Court only to discover that since February the top two floors have been closed for building work. In fact only Tymark on the lower floor seems to functions as usual. McDonalds was as busy as I have seen it. The seating area is huge but was full with standing room only. In the end I opted for a local Tesco sandwich deal of a chicken and bacon sandwich, a small bottle of orange fruit juice and a small tin of Pringle crisps for £2.50 which I eat standing against a barrier at the roadside having abandoned the earlier plan to collect the ticket from the ground and then find somewhere to have a relaxed meal. The change in plan and late start meant that I went for the ticket as the ground was opening to spectators although obviously those taking hospitality packages had arrived and were enjoying their food and drink.
The ticket was not immediately available and had to be printed. I was still one of the first at the stadium with over an hour to wait. It was a great squeeze to get through the turnstile and I had forgotten the introduction of the electronic ticket into stadiums.
Although I had a book with me I was not in the mood to read. On the way I had remembered that the old box office had been moved to the former shop and you have to go to the first level of the Gallowgate end for the two banks of booth for tickets allocated by phone and on line to be collected;. I checked out the concessions which unlike those at Sunderland are concentrated into three outlets on the long L shaped walkway which continues along the North end of stadium and to one side until reaching the police monitoring area and the Magpie restaurant. My seat was over the corner flag back at the top of the middle tier with a cushioned bar against the concrete. Being at the back meant that I could stand when I wanted. I was one seat in from the aisle. The seat on the other side remained free throughout the game although I think the occupant was sitting n the step one up with permission from the steward who he knew suggesting a season ticket holder or someone who managed to book the seat on a regular basis. The seat is at the level as the first tier of boxes in the man stand and below that of the second tier. You get a good over view of the play but nothing like as good as the seat I had for about five years in the stand opposite
The seat cost £21 plus a £1 administrative fee. Had I remained a club member it would have been £1 less. Initial membership costs £25 for a year with a presentation box which previously includes a pack of photo cards. It cost nearly half that of seats in the special areas with individual lounges. An end of the season hospitality deal for a party of 12 coasts £175 plus VAT for the tour, meal, drinks and four car space deal with match programme and team sheet. My day would cost £24.50 using my metro travel card which costs £25 and where a one day travel card costs £4.20. If you do not pay the annual concession fee then you pay the adult fare so all you need to do is make more than 6 trips of three zones to gain. With not having a season ticket I do not make that many trips, with so far this year this was my third but there are the two three visits planned by train, two London and one Brighton. I will also make use of the Ferry across the river a couple of times.
The aspect of the last couple of games seen on television was the way the team is organised and its disciplined professional manner prepared not to entertain or show off unless the situation merited and where the win and the invaluable three points is the priority. Thus it was a largely uneventful first half with a few supporters commenting that the team had not turned up. It is difficult for your average supporter not to realise that playing two games so close together is a great challenge even for these players. Usually I would have little expectation for games played at Christmas, New Year and Easter if they are the second game closely following another. I was not disappointed especially as it was evident that there are an extraordinary number of skilful players in this team and several will be wanted by the European Championship teams so qualifying means that the temptation to sell to the highest bidders will be resisted.
In the second half it looked for the first 20 minutes or so that the opposition would spoil the party as they had three good chances to score the first goal and which could have changed the outcome. It was evident that that the goal when it came was special but I needed to watch several replays on the evening programmes to appreciate that it will be considered the goal of the season or one of the runners up. It was that good.
Hatem Ben Arfa is regarded as one of the best attacking midfield players in France. He has played in ten of the first team games this year scoring 7 goals. Earlier he was not always in the side because he could be caught in possession tending to hang onto the ball when it should be passed. On Monday all his shortcomings past and the future were forgiven. He got hold of the ball in his own half and by a clever surge in pace and twist of body left the defender dead and another surge and step avoided a potentially crunching tackle. He continued to run forward and Cissé had run into an excellent position on his left to receive the ball which he signalled for. Most in the same position would have gladly passed because out of steam the ability to manoeuvre and shoot in the net eludes most players. Arfa side stepped the third defender and slid the ball with sufficient pace but not great pace into the net. Everyone stood as they do but the applause was prolonged. Whatever the result we had been there and seen that. Later in the 85 minutes he was taken off to receive the public adoration he deserved again the applause was prolonged and he was clearly delighted with himself and the reception.
Between the goal and standing down he had one more similar effort although this time he passed the ball to Cissé who misfired when the expectation was, probably that of Cisse that he would go it alone once more. Cissé was to continue his club record of scoring in every game since his transfer to the club in January.
Papiss Cissé is an African from Senegal who previously played in Germany. He was acquired for £10 million as a number 9 replacement for Andy Carroll sold the previous January. He works hard always on he move which means defenders have to watch him closely. I noticed that for the greater part of the first half two defenders concentrated on trying to keep Ben Arfa contained. This meant others were stretched because of the movement around the final third which Cissé generated. There is a question that his goal should have been declared off side although repeated showings of the position if you watch the cut squares on the turf suggest that he was not. His legend continues.
Until his arrival the accolades were going to Demba Ba another Senegalese footballer although born in France. He played a year for Watford as a youth player and since then in France and at West Ham where his knee condition meant his future became suspect. Since joining Newcastle in the summer he has scored two hatricks and became one of the leading scorers with 16 goals to his credit. There was interest from a number of clubs. With the arrival of Cissé he has lost his position as lead striker and plays to the right with Ben Arfa going to the left in a three pronged forward attack. The Newcastle team has other players of established quality which makes the idea of competing in Europe not as far fetched as it would have seemed commencing the season. I will cover these if the run of success continues.
There was further good news before leaving the ground as Norwich beat the Spurs at home and Chelsea later were only able to draw. This means that spurs in 4th have the same number of points and played the same number of games as Newcastle 5th with Chelsea in sixth two points behind. Spurs have hit a bad run off form while Chelsea who has recovered from their blip having a semi final game against Spurs this coming Sunday and then a two leg semi final game in the European Championship. Newcastle’s next home game is when I am away in London.
Before returning home I visited the supermarket for something for the evening meal and for breakfast but although I bought a cheap pizza I decided on some fish with the rest of he beans and tomato from the previous day. It was a good day as I stayed up to view the replays and highlights.
Sitting watching the rest of the stadium arrive I was struck by the number of families with young children and also the groups of young people, some students and some visiting football teams. It is a very different crowd from those dark days in the late seventies and eighties.
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