Well, I may be the exception, however I was pleased to see Eddie Howe win today. There are not many English Managers of his stature.
I also believe that success in the North East is a boost for the region. As much as Liverpool are the best team overall (in the EPL) they failed miserably in the Champions League and the best “Team” won today.
Some on here may not like the Geordies, but then I am not keen on Liverpool fans, having had to work with them in their territory.
@pedro I’m not keen on the Barcodes’ owners I’m afraid. I like Geordies though.
@jarkko - Yes Newcastle Uited has won major honours though it was mostly many years ago.
4 league titles - 1905, 1907, 1909, 1927
6 FA Cups - 1910, 1924, 1932 and then a blitz in the 1950s with 1951, 1952 and 1955 (which is where the "70 years since the last domestic honour" comes in).
Inter City Fairs Cup - 1969
(And an Inter Toto Cup "win" in 2006 which isn't actually a cup, but I understand several teams each got a scroll or something similar to put on the wall. There were in fact 11 co-winners of the competition which had 3 rounds, and the 11 "winners"qualified for the 2nd Qualifying Round of the the UEFA Cup. Newcastle got deeper into the UEFA Cup than the other qualifiers so were deemed winners of the competition. A certificate was presented to the Newcastle captain to denote the fact before the club's next game in the UEFA Cup, in the last 16).
And even if by some miracle we were to get there, can any of you see us beating any of the current top five over two legs? We’re so incredibly inconsistent, and oft times, as e as they have a superior goal difference of 5 goals. Eight games to play, including Leeds, Blackburn and habitual nemesis Coventry. I still think it’s extremely unlikely we’ll make the final cut. at Swansea and Luton, we’re pathetically soft-centred. We’ve been poor as an attacking ‘force’ since the transfer window. We’re simply not good enough to go up, I’m sorry to say.
There seems to be a view that we would struggle against any of the top 5. Personally, I find that our way of playing is better suited to playing other proper footballing teams than it is to playing the long-ball/physical teams who tend to press us or knock us off our style. Look at our run of results against Sheffield United, West Brom and Burnley, even the games with Leeds and Sunderland which were played out at a completely different skill level to the lower division kick-and-rush style practiced by Luton on their poor pitch or by others like Portsmouth.
It may sound crazy, but I'd be happier in the play offs semi-final and final against Burnley and Sheffield United than watching some of these games against teams fighting for survival. I still think that it's unlikely that we'll get that far but if we do, I will be looking forward to the games.
Finally, if we were to go up, I'd view the season as a chance to have some fun. I'd suggest that we should spend as little as possible, save the money to pay off debts, quite likely get relegated and hope to go up again to complete a financial renewal of the club.
UTB
One positive of the current international break is that it will allow JH to train and get fit to play. 😉
On second thoughts, better not let him train as he might get injured again! 😉😎
Yes, I knew they had won trophies, but never thought they were soooo loooong time ago!@jarkko ...
6 FA Cups - 1910, 1924, 1932 and then a blitz in the 1950s with 1951, 1952 and 1955 (which is where the "70 years since the last domestic honour" comes in).
And thanks for clarifying the 70 years period as @Martin -I think it was he - was referering to a shorter time.
When did we win the Anglo-Italian Cup? Our only honour before Mogga's playing time and then McClaren and the League Cup win.
Up the Boro!
Hopefully the noise from up the road may subside over the next couple of weeks, glad I no longer work in Newcastle it would have been insufferable, I wonder ifthe look north presenters will all be wearing replica kits tonight, the cherry on top of the unpleasant cake would be if the Makems get promoted, woe is me.....
@jarkko Not me, I’m afraid. I guess that Trophy Virgins banner will have to go in the bin now.
@jarkko - Your memory AND mine must have had a hic-cough (you may sometimes see the spelling: "hiccup" which is how the word is pronounced). I also had it in mind that Boro won the Anglo-Italian Cup. WRONG! It was the first playing of the Anglo-SCOTTISH Cup which Boro won, beating the very English team Fulham in the final by 1-0 on aggregate in the 1975-76 season. The competition was only played for 6 seasons and St Mirren (the beaten finalists in 1977-78) were the only Scottish team ever to win (in 1979-80, beating Bristol City 5-1 on aggregate).
Nottingham Forest's win in the 1976-77 season (beating Orient 5-1 on aggregate) was Brian Clough's first trophy with Forest but he and Forest obviously went on to much greater things. He treated the competition with serious respect, unlike Newcastle United which was expelled from the 1976-77 competition after playing a weakened team against Ayr United in the Quarter Final first leg.
That banner was genius! The whole of the ground laughed uproariously, except the Geordie troglodytes, of course, who were most upset. Their reaction just made us laugh the louder.
Let’s hope it’s another 70 years before the barcodes win anything else!
Maybe ,just maybe if we had dug out results like this in the past when we should have, the long losing stretches wouldn't have happened.
Some say horrible, ok, but a we have a defence completely devastatingly depleted ,I think the tactics were obviously set out to ,get a point, and hope to nick a win, you can't blame the coaches for that.
It's true we are lightweight, but the minimum of working and closing and blocking we should expect, this lot have no idea what that is, So a complete rethink in recruitment,is absolutely necessary..
The Luton manager admitted that they knew we were weak in the air and so were just punting the ball forward at every opportunity and trying to muscle us out of the game. We were lucky but, like you, I admired the effort. We could easily have had 4 or 5 more points through the season by just digging in when ahead and fighting a bit better.
UTB
@forever-dormo But why BOTH of us think there was a cup like that? I even think we played Notts County in the Anglo Italian Cup. Like some EPL teams play each other in the "Champions" League now.
I might have a look in the internet or some Boro Boro books I have. Just for fun. Busy at work now. Up the Boro!
@jarkko - There WAS an Anglo-Italian Cup and Boro played in it three times: 1970, 1993-94 and 1994-95. However Boro was eliminated in the Group Stages each time, so never won the competition, unlike the Anglo-Scottish Cup which Boro won in 1975-76 (the first year of that competition).