Magpies must get Samthing to cheer

Having just resurrected his managerial career at Blackburn Rovers, Allardyce has quickly inherited a visit from his old employers as so often happens when soccer's merry-go-round comes to a halt.

Blackburn, like Newcastle, are fighting relegation and so the Premier target for both tomorrow is three inviting points.

Unbelievably, United are even lower now than when he departed from our gaze, and that says oceans about the 'progress' made under a new regime which came to power amid much optimism, but has subsequently produced only heartache and burning anger.

No doubt Big Sam will be hoping personal history repeats itself.

When he made an immediate return to Bolton with United at the beginning of last season he wasn't welcomed with garlands either, but left the victor by a clear 3-1, and another such scoreline in his favour would do him fine.

It would be just about the finish for long-suffering Geordies.

The travelling Toon Army will most certainly make feelings heard tomorrow, but it's the result that matters most and there's no question a new manager brings an instant response at most clubs. It would have been easier with Paul Ince in the opposing dug-out.

The FA Cup replay defeat by Hull only heaped more humiliation on to an already depressing season.

Injuries inevitably hold the key for Joe Kinnear tomorrow because United haven't had a clean bill of health all season, and how he juggles those available will be interesting.

Who he is allowed to bring in, too, apart from trialists and short-term fixes, will be fascinating.

Geordie targets are becoming more Coco than Kaka, I fear!

Such is the current madcap state of play that United had the Xisco Kid and the Lone Ranger in their posse on Wednesday night.

Xisco actually made the rarest of starts, but put in the usual inept shift and Nile Ranger was a sub for the first time amongst other kids.

However, there was still enough seasoned seniors on the park to have beaten Hull's reserves at home, and players' body language tells us morale is lower than a snake's belly.

Allardyce, who watched Newcastle's demise on Wednesday with growing glee, has seen Blackburn take five points from the three Premier League games he's tactically
orchestrated, but figures suggest United have become more resilient away from home.

Four matches out of the last five without conceding a solitary goal is testament to more understanding and defiance at the back where Shay Given rules, and it must continue even if the sky is dark and foreboding.

Kinnear's decent record has taken a battering recently with two draws and three defeats in his last five matches, but overall United's boss needs to turn Premier League draws into victories to gain ground quicker in what is a congested field for the big race, the Relegation Stakes.

We don't want United to become favourites for the dreaded drop and that means a decent harvest over the next four absolutely critical games.

A tall order, maybe, but an order nevertheless.