sherm

Andrea Gasbarroni's agent had contacted me after training, saying that Andrea wouldn't be signing a new contract, meaning that he would be available on a bosman at the end of the season. They agreed to come to Newcastle and have a chat with me, and have a look around the ground. I arranged to meet them at the airport on Thursday morning, and hopefully I can get him to sign a pre-contract agreement.
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The Bolton game was not one I was looking forward to, as they were one of the ugliest teams to watch in the Premiership. I didn't have anything personal against Sam Allardyce, I just felt he moaned too much, and he was also a hypocrite. It was fine for his midfield to kick the hell out of players, but as soon as someone does it to his team he's on at the referee. Well if any of them try it here then I have told the lads to play the same way, but throwing in a few sly kicks back. We took a 5th minute lead, Albert Luque latching on to Vanden Borre's long ball and slotting the ball underneath Jaaskelainen. We took our foot off the gas for some reason, and we paid dearly for it as Jared Borgetti equalised on the half hour. I gave the boys a few words of encouragement at half-time, and replaced Scott Parker with Petit, who could take a few kicks and dish them out if he needed to. This was exactly what happened, as Kevin Nolan caught him hard in the first 5 minutes of the half. Petit swung a leg at him, and Phil Dowd was focusing on the play up the other end of the pitch. This prompted Allardyce to start having a go at me, asking I need to win football games by "...f*****g kicking other f*****g players" and with that I told him that his team does it, so he should take it on the chin and stop being a "moaning c**t" In the process of all this, Michael Owen had broke clear of the Bolton defence and put us 2-1 in front. with 12 minutes left, Nolan went straight through the back of Petit (revenge for earlier) and earned himself a straight red card. We escaped with no injuries and all 3 points, although Sam refused to shake my hand after the match and walked off down the tunnel.

sherm

Allardyce's reaction had made me laugh. He was like a schoolboy who had been told off for something he didn't do. He said to the press that we were "lucky" to win and that he would take all 3 points next time. I just said that Nolan deserved his red card, it was a bad tackle, and we deserved the win. I told the boys to focus on the next game, which was away at high-flying Everton, who were sitting in 5th, carrying on from their amazing season last year. They had surprised me, if I'm being honest, as I though that last year was a fluke. I had a different view after the match though. They were the better side, and deserved better than the 1-0 defeat we inflicted on them, thanks to Shay Given being on top form and making some superb saves. We didn't have any notable chances, except in the lat 2 minutes where we had 3 chances, the third of which resulted in Emre floating a beautiful cross onto the head of Alan Shearer, and we snatched all 3 points.

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I sat down to watch 2 of our close rivals, Manchester United and Chelsea, battle it out to a 2-2 draw, and noted the form of a young Chelsea midfielder who was in for the injured Claude Makelele and suspended Michael Essien. Lassan Diarra was the best player on the pitch, and it was probably the first time ever I had seen Wayne Rooney so ineffectual, after being marked out of the game, and resulted in his substitution after an hour, although his replacement, Alan Smith, did score the equaliser. Diarra duly picked up man of the match, aswell as grabbing my attention.

sherm

We soon focused our attention on the League Cup again, with a trip to Bramall Lane to face under-achieving Sheffield United. I had taken the chance to give some senior players a few days off, with the likes of Luque, Emre and Owen all out of the squad for the cup-tie. This was mainly because of the next game after the cup-tie, which was at home to Arsenal, and I wanted the big players fresh. The gamble seemed to work in the first half, with Peter Ramage feeding Shola Ameobi down the right and he crossed for Kris Boyd to finish from 6 yards out, and we went in at half-time leading by 1, although it should have been more. The second half was more like a cup-tie, end-to-end all the way, with Sheffield United grabbing an equaliser in the dying seconds of stoppage time, which was no less than they deserved, after having some good chances. I was glad I had blooded some youngsters in the match, as I wouldn't have wanted many of the first team squad going into extra time. It was a dull 30 minutes, and the game was decided on penalties. It's a cruel game, as the best player on the park all game, Phil Jagielka, missed the decisive penalty to send us through, and it was harsh on Sheffield United

November 2005 results

Manchester United 0-0 Newcastle

Newcastle 2-1 Bolton Wanderers

Everton 0-1 Newcastle

Sheffield United 1-1 Newcastle (League Cup 4th Round, Newcastle won on pens.)

sherm

We had reached the most vital part of the football calendar now, or at least I thought so. Many a title challenge has been dismissed as a mere whimper at Christmas and New year, and many a team have been sucked into that dreaded relegation dog-fight. I didn't want us to be known as "just another hopeful", I wanted us to cement our place as a contender. We had the toughest possible start to December, with games against Arsenal at home and champions Chelsea. If we could stay unbeaten through the month then that would mean we had played everybody once, and not lost a league game. I was confident though, more confident than I had been for the last couple of months. We were starting to gel as a team, and we were finding out rhythm in games, but we had to be at our best against Arsenal and Chelsea. There was some good news on the eve of the Arsenal game, Thierry Henry suffering a groin strain, and Jose Reyes pulling a muscle, so that meant Arsenal went into the game with a strike force of Lupoli and Bendtner. They never really got going, and although Lupoli looked quite sharp, he was dealt with easily by Boumsong and Bramble. We took the lead through a typical poacher's goal from Michael Owen, and Luque doubled our advantage. We kept coming at Arsenal, who never had he fight to compete, and we completed the rout 4 minutes from time, Owen getting his second and our 3rd, to complete a miserable day for Arsene Wenger and his team. He was gracious in defeat, and commented that if we keep playing like that then the top 4 should be attainable.
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I knew Chelsea wouldn't be so easy, especially at Stamford Bridge. We started well though, and should have taken an early lead through Emre but John Terry cleared off the line. We went behind against the run of play, Didier Drogba latching onto Babayaro's bad backpass and neatly chipping the ball over Shay Given. We still came at them, and we managed to draw level 6 minutes into the second half, Michael Owen seeing his shot parried and Nobby Solano on hand to put the rebound away. We then fought a Chelsea onslaught for half an hour, managing to keep them at bay, and I thought we would get away with a richly deserved point. Two minutes later and that had completely changed, as Frank Lampard stepped up to stroke the penalty home for his team, and give them a 2-1 lead. Uriah Rennie had given the penalty for an adjudged handball by Titus. It looked dubious, but I was delighted when Shay saved the penalty. Rennie ordered it to be taken again, claiming Shay had strayed off his line, and Lampard put the second attempt away. I was absolutely furious, and I ran all of 40 yards to get to Rennie at the end of the game to ask why he had felt the need to cost us a point. It ended with Jose Mourinho and Alan Shearer pulling me away and calming me down, but I was livid.

sherm

*note-[/I]the penalty wasn't taken twice but I had to find a way of getting a two game ban in for the two games I did holiday[/I]

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I had been slapped with a 2 game touchline ban and a £20,000 fine for my "aggressive and abusive behaviour towards an official" after the Chelsea game. I had seen that coming, and I knew I was in the wrong but I was furious at Uriah Rennie. It wasn't just the fact he had cost us a well deserved point but the fact that he had thrown away all the team's hard work at the blow of a whistle. I was in the stands to watch the Blackburn game, but I was feeding instructions to Alan Murray through the dugout phone. We stifled ex-Newcastle boy Bellamy and his strike partner Shefki Kuqi, but didn't find the breakthrough ourselves till the 74th minute, Ameobi crossing for Khizanishvili to turn past his own keeper. Luque added a second late on to seal the points, and a good response to going down to our first league defeat the previous game

sherm

The League Cup handed us a home tie against Charlton in the quarter final, and I felt we could win the match without stretching too much. I gave Alan the instructions to rest a few key players, and give the youngsters that had got us this far the chance to shine again. I had asked Louise to accompany me to the game and then for dinner afterwards, and she took her place in the press box for the match. I had driven down with her, as I wanted the team focused and not distracted by my presence, considering I wouldn't be on the touchline. We cruised the first half, and only managed to find the one goal, thanks to a shocking piece of defending by John Fortune, leaving Titus free at the back stick. Charlton flew at us in the second half, and scored 2 quick goals through the two Darren's, Ambrose and Bent. Emre got us back in it with a peach of a free-kick, and took us to extra-time. Neither side had the energy for the extra 30 minutes, and penalties loomed for the second successive cup-tie. It was an impressive exhibition of penalty taking. We scored all 5 of ours through Ramage, Emre, Shearer, Dyer and Bramble, while Charlton scored their first 4 (Bent, Ambrose, Johannsson and Rommedahl) Hermann Hreidarsson had his penalty saved by Cgaig Gordon, and sent us through to the Semi-Final.

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We drew Chelsea in the Semi, and I was determined to get revenge on them for inflicting our first defeat in the Premiership. I also vowed to stick by the youngsters that had got us this far, and they all seemed delighted at that. I want to win this competition now, especially having got this far. The first leg is at the Bridge though, which will be tough.

sherm

Due to a quirk in the fixtures we met Charlton again a week later, this time in the Premiership, and this time at the Valley. They started better than us this time, and they took the lead, Darren Ambrose feeding Danny Murphy who slotted home the edge of the box. We hit back straightaway through Emre, who fired home a drive from just inside the area. It stayed level until the 56th minute, Michael Owen scoring a wonderfully crafted goal, one touch passing between Luque, Emre and Parker before Owen broke free and lofted the ball over the keeper. We had to hang on for a while then, Charlton cam at us desperately looking for the equaliser, and because of this we were able to break to leave Hreidarsson on his own against Owen, Shearer and Solano. Owen played Solano in and he wrapped up the points with a placed shot into the bottom corner. Another good 3 points, and another super performance by Scott Parker, who is relishing that holding role.

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Portsmouth were next up, and they visited the fortress that is St. James' Park. They were determined to do all they could to stop that though, and they flew out of the blocks, storming into a 2 goal lead by half-time, with goals from Bertrand Robert and Gary O'Neil. I gave the lads a real roasting in the dressing room, and they responded brilliantly. I brought Ameobi on for Boyd and he was the instigator, setting up the first goal with a lovely first time pass to Owen. Owen returned the favour in the 77th minute, rolling Shola in and Shola didn't waste the chance, drilling it home. We could have gone and won, with Portsmouth clinging on to a point but they managed to hold on, and after a poor start to the game we came out and responded well.

sherm

December 2005 results

Newcastle 3-0 Arsenal

Chelsea 2-1 Newcastle

Newcastle 2-0 Blackburn Rovers

Newcastle 2-2 Charlton Athletic (League Cup Quarter Final, Newcastle won on pens.)

Charlton Athletic 1-3 Newcastle

Newcastle 2-2 Portsmouth

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Scott Parker picked up the Player of the Month accolade, and seemed to me to be pushing for a place in England's World Cup squad. I was quietly pleased, as we had got Christmas and New Year out of the way without any major blips, just the one loss to Chelsea, which is no shame really, and we still sit proudly atop the Premiership as we enter 2006.

irishregan

Well done Sherm, for w hile I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to lose again! Might be time for a transfer window splurge in January to try and stay top.

irishregan

that should read *for a while*