If you come across any interesting items you'd like to pass on to other Toon Army supporters, send them to Gary.

Nobby's move to Aston Villa has been a sad day for the fans. He had some great games for the Toon and did a stalwart job on the right side. He could always be relied on to send in some fine crosses, and he scored some great goals too. At 29-years old he couldn't be expected to compete with the other very young midfielders, especially given SBR's intent to 'build for the future' and the squabbles over Nobby playing for his home country. He already has assisted in some of the goals in his first match for the Villa. We wish him well. We hope someone else can take up his guitar.

At the start of another year, let's give a vote of appreciation to Allison Menjivar who stalwartly maintains our Toon Army website (in between working 60 hours a week). And to Gary Clementson who makes our merchandise caps and T-shirts, in between fighting New York rush-hour traffic. Thanks guys.

The Toon started off the New Year in fine fettle with a thumping win over Southampton in the third round of the FA Cup. That ought to put paid to the jinx of never winning at Southampton. Then there was another excellent win against Fulham at home, when Nobby set up all three goals and Robert did some incredible acrobatics to get the ball into the net. So we were all looking forward to the fourth round of the Cup - even though it was away at Liverpool. But it was not to be as the Toon went down 2-1. The lads played well however, and Woodgate marshalled his troops with another impressive defensive performance. Newcastle's close passing was excellent, but their finishing wasn't. Alan Shearer was very unlucky not to score from a blockbuster shot with a minute to play. So now we're back to looking at the UEFA Cup and fourth place in the Premiership.

Alan Shearer was rightly indignant after the Moan U game in which goalkeeper Tim Howard tripped him just as he was going for an open goal. Shearer asked the ref, Paul Durkin, why he wasn't booked for diving if it was not a foul. The other ref's decision to disallow Silvestre's goal when he was accused of shoving O'Brien raised fewer eyebrows. The key to the Toon's performance was Woodgate's complete bottling-up of Van Nistlerooy. The Toon fans had a boisterous field day barracking Rio Ferdinand over his missed drug test.

Titus Bramble was fined £2,000 and banned from driving for seven weeks after he was caught speeding at 102 mph. He was pulled over in his £50,000 BMW X5 on the A14 near Ipswich. He has only a provisional driving licence and didn't have L plates on his car. (Last week the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute Bramble and Chelsea's Carlton Cole for the alleged gang-rape of a 17-year-old girl at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, London last September).

George Best, who recently received a liver transplant as a result of alcohol addiction, was accused by his mother-in-law of "totally spoiling everyone's Christmas" after he allegedly attacked his wife in the early hours of Boxing Day (26 December). After being locked up for 11 hours by Surrey Police he was released without charge.

Harry S
Editor-in-Chief
Harry's Rant