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We can see you sneaking out! January 31st Window has now closed This time last year we were filling your minds with all the wonderful players that Newcastle were linked to in the 2007 January transfer window - in the end that was a disappointment as no one of any substance joined us. This year is looking even worse - we haven't filled you in of any news because quite simply, there hasn't been any. With the transfer window closing TODAY until the summer, we are keeping track of any coming and goings at St. James Park: IN No one! OUT David Rozenthal - Lazio (Italy) - Loan - Surprise move this one although the defender was reportedly upset about being on the bench most of this season and then being played out of position when he did get on. For such a small squad though this is a surprising move and he was no worse than the likes of Cacapa and Faye. We've seen it all before... January 29th Final score from the Emirates: Arsenal 3 (Adebayor 40, Flamini 72, Fabregas 80) - Newcastle 0 Same scoreline but an even worse performance than Saturday's run-out and things are getting grim for our new boss. Arsenal were a little slow to get out the gates but deserved to take a lead into the half-time interval with that man Adebayor scoring yet again and the game was over when Flamini scored a cracker to make it 2-0. Fabregas added a third to compound our misery. We've had better weeks in the history of the club and with the transfer window closing very shortly it looks like Keegan will have to make do with what he has until the summer. This could be a long 4 months.... Learn from our mistakes? January 28th This game is LIVE on Fox Soccer Channel. It will be interesting to see what we've learned - if anything from last Saturday's 3-0 defeat against the Gunners.  We go into this game with King Kev still searching for his first goal and his first sign of life from his adopted misfits. We are still without the suspended Emre and Martins, Geremi, Faye and Beye that are still away at the African Nations tourney. Mark Viduka will miss this one - as he did on Saturday, although there is expected to be a place on the bench for Barton, although who knows what mental state he'll be in. We hope the King Kev revolution kicks in soon to save what's left of our season, although we think that's more likely to happen on Sunday against Boro than it is tomorrow. ToonArmyUSA Prediction - Arsenal 2 - 0 Newcastle United - Get your predictions in! Possible line-up: Given, Carr, Taylor, Rozenthal, Enrique, Butt, Smith, Duff, Milner, N'Zogbia, Owen Wise Move? January 28th In what can only be classed as a really, really bizarre move, we have signed Dennis Wise - the former Leeds manager as the New Director of Football. Quite what that position means at the moment is unclear but it's believed he wont have any say over the actual team itself. Not only is this strange from our point of view but exactly why he would leave a managerial position and take on a "back-seat' role at this stage of his career is baffling, it's almost like taking a step backwards. Wise will always be known as the little annoying cockney who had had a complex much bigger than his height....and we doubt things will change much. Second Half Disaster January 26th Final score from the Emirates: Arsenal 3 (Adebayor 51, 83, Butt OG 89) - Newcastle 0 Despite a decent first half, normal service resumed down in North London yesterday when Arsenal turned on the style and we lost our way in a 3-0 defeat, that could have been more towards the end. No silverwear for us this season... We looked positive in the first half and were perhaps unlucky not to go ahead when Alan Smith had an effort cleared off the line and while the Gunners kept Shay busy in the first 45, we also had our chances - Taylor heading over the bar from a free kick. We rode our luck at times though - and that luck ran out when Adebayor's first effort came back off the post - and back to the striker whose second attempt flat-footed Shay. It was downhill from there with our lot having no notable attempts on goal, and forgetting how to defend or pass the ball it would seem, as Arsenal ran circles around us - Adebayor netting a second (despite Eduardo unfairly blocking our defender) and Nicky Butt heading into his own goal just to round things off. So King Kev really has work cut out and it also looks like we've lost out on Jonathan Woodgate despite reports on Saturday he has turned down Spurs and opted to join us for a second time. Gunner be tough January 25th This game is LIVE on Setanta (North America & Canada) Looks like King Kev has got his work cut out as we start a double header against Arsenal tomorrow. Despite some rather pie-in-the-sky rumors, nothing solid has came in way of transfers and time is running out for Kev to get players in - and we need them. In addition to missing Beye, Faye, Martins and Geremi at the African Nations, we are also without Emre (suspended) and Viduka (injured). We do welcome back Alan Smith and Nicky Butt from suspension however. Despite last season being pretty awful, we actually played quite well at the Emirates and we would need another repeat of that 1-1 draw to at least be in the draw for the next round. Our task might be made that little bit harder following Arsenal's humiliating 5-1 defeat against Spurs in the middle of the week. They wont want to be eliminated in two cups within three days... ToonArmyUSA Prediction: Arsenal 3 - 1 Newcastle - Get your predictions in! Possible line-up: Given, Carr, Taylor, Rozenthal, Enrique, Butt, Milner, N'Zogbia, Duff, Owen, Ameobi New era, same old problems January 20th Final score from St. James Park: Newcastle United 0 - 0 Bolton New era but same old problem for our lot as the spark of King Kev never materialized on the pitch and we failed to have a single shot on target during the whole game... We started with Ameobi up front and he showed us all why he hasn't been near the first team this season with a pretty rubbish performance alongside Owen who really doesn't look like the player he did in his Liverpool days. Bolton started brightly but never looked like troubling Shay too much while we looked like a team that didn't know what to do with the ball in the final third - something no doubt Keegan will be eager to fix. His style of football requires creative midfielders, something we lack at the moment. So plenty of work to do for the new gaffer but we all knew that as the ghosts of Big Sam firmly remain on Tyneside. KEEGAN!! January 17th The news broke early on Wednesday but we've been too busy toasting the man's arrival to stop and update the website. Incredibly after 11 years since he held the job previously, Kevin Keegan has returned to manage Newcastle United. Known as the "entertainers" at the time, his teams were always attacking minded, preferring to win 4-3 than 1-0 - and they often did. Although the league title didn't quite make it to St. James Park, we played some of our best football the club has seen in the last 30 years under King Kev - and we hope to see it all again. The announcement simply over shadowed our 3rd round FA Cup tie with Stoke - and it's a bit of a shame it did as we don't often write about 4-1 victories. It was clear to see that the news of Keegan signing had lifted the club, the crowd and the city and poor Stoke were on the receiving end of a spirited display which saw goals from Owen, Cacapa, Milner and Duff. But back to the main man - Kevin Keegan, who will he bring is as his number two? Our money is on Alan Shearer - a partnership made in heaven and our former number 9 has been making all the right noises about wanting to take it - only time will tell. If we can stop celebrating long enough we'll write a Bolton match preview but what we think you'll see are 11 lads play their hearts out in front of a capacity crowd and no more left wingers at left back. Did you ever see Ginola in our own half???? Running on Empty January 15th As far as we know - No North American TV Coverage. After a woeful display against Stoke earlier this month, we get a second opportunity to beat the Championship side, this time with a different manager. This time last year a similar scenario saw us hammered 5-1 by Birmingham who were a Championship side at the time. After watching us play last Saturday, an identical score line may not be out of the question. We are without Butt and Smith (suspended), Martins, Geremi, Faye and Beye (international duty) and Barton who can't play because of his bail terms (which makes us laugh every time we write it). Stoke are unbeaten in 12 but lost a couple of players during the 1-1 draw with Ipswich. That said, if there is any time to play us - now is it. Positives? Well, a win would lift a little of the gloom on Tyneside - especially with a big game against Bolton coming up this weekend. It would also give the club a little more breathing space to find a manager - we don't want any hasty decisions! Oh and for the winner of this game - Arsenal, away. ToonArmyUSA Predicition: Newcastle United 1 - 0 Stoke - Get your predictions in! Possible line-up: Given, Carr, Enrique, Cacapa, Taylor, Emre, N'Zogbia, Milner, Duff, Owen, Viduka Guess who? January 15th As always the English media are having a field day randomly guessing who the next Newcastle manager will be. Despite coming very close to getting Harry Redknapp over the weekend, nothing happened and we are still in the hunt for a new leader. The following managers have been mentioned though: Mark Hughes (Blackburn) - according to Blackburn yesterday there has been no contact between Hughes and Newcastle - yet. Gerard Houllier (France) - The French federation said he was sticking with them for now. Graham Souness (Unemployed) - Souness said he wanted another crack at the job. hahaha Kevin Keegan (Unemployed) - Hasn't ruled out the job although an official approach hasn't been made. Alan Shearer (Unemployed) - Said he would like the job at some point in his career but to date has no managerial experience. Didier Deschamps (Unemployed) - Reports on Tuesday have the French man as the favorite to take the job but it would be a surprise if this materialized. Was managing Juventus in Italy (and bought Boumsong!!). Hit for six January 12th Final score from Old Trafford: Manchester United 6 (Ronaldo 49, 70, 88, Tevez 55,90, Ferdinand 85) Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. In true Newcastle fashion we self destructed at Old Trafford yesterday as a terrible 45 minutes saw us concede six goals to a Man Utd side that had struggled to break us down in the first half. In fact if it wasn't Man Utd at Old Trafford the linesman may have gave the marginal decision to allow Owen's goal which instead was wrongly chalked off for offside. Still though we expected a goal or two for the home side in the second half but not quite six. We were unfortunate to concede the first - Ronaldo missing his shot completely and as he had done all game, fell over and got himself a free kick which he dispatched straight under our wall. Some shocking defending allowed Tevez to tap in a second but we made a bit of a go of it after that and Owen should have pulled one back but he made a hash of a rebound from Van Der Sar. Before the game we promised to do shots every time Man Utd scored so by the time Ronaldo made it 3-0 the memory was starting to go and we certainly don't remember, and don't want to remember the fourth, fifth and sixth goals. Ouch. Not 'Arry January 12th After a good nights sleep to think about it, Harry Redknapp has confirmed he wont be taking on the managers position at Newcastle United - thank god. In what would have been a "Big Sam part 2", Redknapp was wise enough to stay down south at a team which has much lower expectations than ours. So what now? Was he our first choice? Who knows what weird and wonderful alternative we'll come up with but we have a feeling it aint gonna be pretty. LOST January 11th This game is Live on Fox Soccer Channel (US) and Setanta (Canada) With the captain overboard and the boat lost at sea, the rest of the crew are heading into a massive storm – and the end result doesn’t look pretty. We Manchester United tomorrow, a team in fantastic form and looking to extend our miserable record at Old Trafford to another year. We haven’t won at their place since the 1971/72 season…. And the chance of that changing this season is very slim to say the least, even with Big Sam not at the reigns anymore. Ronaldo and friends are likely to have a field day against our defense which looks vulnerable every time the ball is in our half. Up front, we are lucky to see a shot on goal these days, never mind a goal itself. Adding to the doom is the African Nations Cup which deprives us of Beye, Faye, Geremi and Martins -  the latter not returning to play as originally planned.  Who knows what state Barton is in, but there is some good news, Carr is back in contention… If the club does want Harry Redknapp as their next manager (please god no), they might want to get him to sign the contract before he realizes the extent of the problem at 12pm ET. ToonArmyUSA Prediction: Man Utd 2 – 0 Newcastle United – Get your predictions in! Possible line-up: Given, Taylor, Rozenhal, Capaca, Enrique, N’Zogbia, Butt, Emre, Milner, Duff, Owen Who's the next victim? January 11th Managing Newcastle United has to be one of the hardest jobs in English football. We have a team of internationals with a fantastic following, huge stadium and a wage structure and transfer kitty that most teams would die for. But with that comes an incredible expectation from the fans and when they aren’t happy heads roll – just ask Big Sam. So who the hell would want to manage us? Regardless of their credentials and what they’ve achieved in the past it all goes out the door, and only one thing matters – winning games and playing attractive football – from day one. Forget the fact it takes time to mould a team into a winning formula, if the new manager doesn’t hit the ground running and somehow turn our bunch of misfits into winners they’ll be out the door too. And we predict that whether we get Jose Mourinho or George Bush, they’ll be struck with the Newcastle curse and we’ll be looking for their replacement at the end of next season. Who do we want next then? Well in an ideal world the club would be looking right at the top of the managerial hierarchy and at the likes of Marcelo Lippi, Jose Mourinho and Gus Hiddink. If they didn’t want the England job though it’s unlikely they’ll be interested in our lot, but we do have a billionaire as an owner and we’ve thrown enough money at “big name” players, we might as well take a risk by throwing it at a big name manager. We’re on the fence about the rumors of Mark Hughes, Martin Jol and Harry Redknapp. Although all are established Premier league managers, that obviously isn’t enough for success – just ask Big Sam. Finally there are some stinkers out there that I bet would love the job - Steve McClaren springs to mind, fresh from destroying England. Hopefully our new owners have some sense though and we don’t see a repeat of the Souness era. DON'T PLAY IT AGAIN SAM January 9th Amazingly, after just 21 league games in charge, Big Sam has been fired as boss of Newcastle United. Nigel Pearson will take over for our trip to Manchester United this Saturday. It's a shock to us - despite of what we've seen on the pitch in recent months. For all of the talk of "long term" strategies and no more knee-jerk reactions, we've fired a manager after just over a half a season, incredible. At the start of the season Big Sam told us all that it would take time to get things right, perhaps even a few seasons but alas he didn't even last one. Granted some of his tactics were questionable and recent performances have been poor but it takes time to get things right and we have to wonder with the season already a right-off, did it make any sense to fire him now? With relegation unlikely, why not give him a full season? So who next? Well thankfully Shearer has already ruled himself out (the guy's a hero - why would he want the worst job in football?), but worringly Harry Redknapp is up there as one of the favorites although we don't think he's any better than Big Sam. Never dull. One Out, Two In January 8th Folloing the departure of Matty Pattison to Norwich, the club has signed two youngsters in the January transfer window. Firstly, Ben Tozer has joined from Swindon Town for an undisclosed fee - believed to be around $2.2 million. The 17 year old who is a left-back has signed a four year contract and is expected to be loaned out to a lower league side for experience. The club also today confirmed that 18 year-old striker Wesley Ngo Baheng has joined from French side Le Havre (same team we signed Charlie from). If he's anything like Charlie that might be another decent piece of business by the club. The rumour mill is also in full swing and we are currently being linked with Wes Brown (Man Utd), Martin Laursen (Aston Villa) and Lassana Diarra (Arsenal). Finally our ex-stripping french midefielder Laurent Robert is back in England - he signed for bottom side Derby County. ARSEnal January 7th Should we beat Stoke in our FA Cup replay our reward is a trip to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal. We believe the saying rhymes with "clucking bell." The London side, flying high in the league have already dumped us out of the League Cup and it would be a major surprise if they don't do the same in the FA Cup. Sunday Snooze January 6th Final score from the Britannia Stadium: Stoke 0 - 0 Newcastle Another largely uninspiring performance from our lot saw us come away requiring a replay after a goalless draw at Stoke. Once again Big Sam shuffled the pack, playing Rozenhal at right back, Enrique at left back, Duff right wing and N'Zogbia on the right. Owen and Viduka started up front. As we did against Man City, we started brightly enough but the killer pass or shooting opportunity never really presented itself and when Owen did find himself one-on-one with the Stoke goalkeeper he wasn't able to convert. A couple of goal mouth scrambles at both ends during the second half was as close to a breakthrough we were going to get - although credit to Given, Taylor and Faye who all made some crucial interventions when it mattered. Big Sam gave Lua Lua and the recently recalled Andy Carroll some first-team action towards the end with Lua Lua showing some decent dribbling skills. Again though we lacked the killer touch with the majority of our second half efforts coming from Nicky Butt - enough said. No doubt the media will be given more fuel for the fire as we failed to see off a Championship side but in a weekend of upsets, it was a relief to at least be able to get them back to St. James Park where we should be able to comfortably finish them off. Although I think we said the same about Birmingham last season... Matty Out For Good January 5th Norwich City confirmed this weekend that midfielder Matty Pattison has signed a permanent three-and-a-half year deal at the club. Pattison was on loan at Norwich who are currently managed by ex-Newcastle manager Glen Roeder. Matty's last game for the Toon was on the final day of last season against Watford - ironically also Roeder's last game. I doubt anyone will be crying themselves to sleep now he's gone. For a player in his position (usually wide-midfield), he lacked pace and the ability to cross the ball. Rumors are still going round that Shola Ameobi who is out of favor at Newcastle could be joining Pattison in the near future. Poll Result: Should we fire Big Sam? January 5th Last week we asked our forum members the following question: Q: Should Big Sam Go Before The Transfer Window Opens? And this is what they said: Answers: Yes - 20% No - 80% So the majority of our forum are still backing Big Sam to turn things around and it would be a nice change for the club to take a long-term stance when it comes to managers but if we lose against Stoke tomorrow then the pressure could reach breaking point. One winner this Christmas... January 4th ...is loche from New York state, the winner of Prediction Corner in December! The book titled "The Toon," by Roger Hutchinson is on it's way to you! Stay tuned for January's prize and don't forget to get your predictions in! Start with Finishing January 4th Final score from St. James Park: Newcastle United 0 - 2 Man City (Elano 36, Gelson 76) How did we lose this one? Despite some decent football from our lot we couldn't find the killer touch in front of goal and were made to pay for it when Man City took both of their chances. Typical. Some of the football we played for the first half an hour was fantastic stuff, best we've seen all season and it seemed to be only a matter of time until a breakthrough came along. Well it did - but for City, with Elano given far too much time and space, he bent the ball around Given to put the visitors ahead. Down but not out, and after half-time we should have been level when Michael Owen (on as a half-time sub) was denied by the foot of the Man City goalkeeper. Had that gone in, it would have no doubt revitalized our attempts to get a winner but as it stood we eventually ran out of ideas and Gelson's goal was the nail in the coffin. So another disappointment and  more pressure on Big Sam but we played well although again looked vulnerable at the back. Special mentions for N'Zogbia and Faye who were both fantastic. New Year, New Attitude January 1st This game is Live on Fox Soccer Channel So his hasn’t exactly been the Christmas we all hoped for, taking just one point in a possible nine and with a player spending New Year in jail. Whether the players are to blame or the manager, we have to get behind the team and rally them through this difficult period. The club has gone on record this week to say that Big Sam won’t be going anywhere in the near future, which we believe is good news. Yes, some of his tactics and playing people out of position is incredibly annoying at times, but we need to be in this for the long haul and I think we all agree that changing managers almost every season is certainly not helping. It’s hard to know who Allardyce will play tomorrow as he seems to be throwing names at a wall and seeing what sticks. We believe though he’ll adopt an attacking stance for a game that we must win, otherwise the pressure on club, manager and players will be unbearable for the tricky FA Cup tie against Stoke. He’s without Barton for tomorrow (jail!), while Smith and Faye are doubts with head and arm injuries respectively. Duff and Owen came through the Chelsea game unscathed. Man City got off to a fantastic start this season but have struggled slightly in the last few weeks. It’s a game we can win, if we want to – and we think we’ll shrug off our recent form to record a victory. ToonArmyUSA Prediction: Newcastle United 3 – Man City 1 - Get Your Predictions In! Possible line-up: Given, Beye, Taylor, Faye, N’Zogbia, Butt, Duff, Milner, Emre, Martins, Viduka

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