Recently by Stuart Rayner
NEWCASTLE United's impending fixture pile-up will not alter the club's transfer strategy this month - but manager Chris Hughton is desperately hoping it does not worsen this week.
The Magpies boss promised there will be no panic buying ahead of the club's next Championship game, a meeting with West Bromwich Albion a week today which could be crucial to both sides' title ambitions.
Already in 2010 Newcastle have lost one game - Saturday's trip to Reading - to the cold weather and gained another with an unwanted FA Cup third round replay at home to Plymouth Argyle.
RYAN Taylor has admitted Newcastle United did not get what they were hoping for over Christmas, but the versatile Merseysider will be delighted if their current run of form is "as bad as it gets".
The Magpies went into the Christmas programme with a 10-point lead in the Championship, only to see it whittled down to six by West Bromwich Albion, who have a game in hand.
Newcastle drew both their festive matches against relegation-threatened opposition. And, while Taylor concedes they were targeting maximum points, he is in no mood to panic.
STEVEN Taylor has warned the Championship's chasing pack Newcastle United are still a long way from hitting top form. And the centre-back has told fans unhappy with the Magpies' scrappy style of play: "deal with it".
United are ten points clear at the top of the table, albeit having played a game more than the rivals they look a class apart from. But ominously for West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City, Taylor warned the best is yet to come.
"We are getting there, but I don't think we have hit top form yet by any means," said the England Under-21 international. "I really believe that. As long as we win the Championship I don't care about how many points we get, just as long as we win it. I will only be delighted if we go up as champions in first place, not second.
JONÁS Gutiérrez blamed poor passing for the two points dropped by Newcastle United at the weekend.
Not since Manchester United in October has a team left Barnsley's Oakwell with a victory, but that was no consolation for the Argentina international as his side's seven-match winning streak came to an end with a 2-2 draw.
The result was so hard to swallow for the Magpies and their 6,987 travelling supporters because they had twice taken the lead, through Kevin Nolan and substitute Marlon Harewood. The latter's 79th-minute goal looked to have rescued a victory carelessly let slip until Barnsley right-back Bobby Hassell headed home a corner three minutes from time.
STEVEN Taylor's growing understanding with Fabricio Coloccini is helping Newcastle United to "win ugly" - something which the 23-year-old hopes they continue to make a habit of this season.
The Magpies' latest 1-0 victory - at Preston North End on Monday - was far from a classic.
But a ninth clean sheet this term highlighted their new-found solidity. Taylor puts that down to a settled combination at the back, and singled out his much-maligned central defensive partner Coloccini for praise. "Preston threw a few different types of strikers at us, but I thought we dealt with them really well," commented Taylor. "I thought the defence was fantastic. Jose (Enrique) and Danny (Simpson) did really well, and I feel I've got a really good understanding with Coloccini at the minute.
NEWCASTLE United battled the odds to return to the top of the Championship last night but Chris Hughton was left wishing his players could make life easier for themselves.
Kevin Nolan's second-half goal was all that separated United from Preston North End at Deepdale last night. The win was achieved despite the withdrawal of the injured Ryan Taylor in the warm-up and Hughton revealed Andy Carroll had played through an illness.
"We lost Ryan Taylor in the warm-up (to a calf injury) and Andy Carroll was ill for most of the day," the manager revealed.
ON a day when protests were all the rage at St James' Park, Jonás Gutiérrez explained his refusal to celebrate his long-awaited first goal for Newcastle United was down to one of his own.
Saturday witnessed the Magpies' first match at their home ground since plans were announced to sell its naming rights. That coincided with Chris Hughton's appointment as permanent manager and confirmation that Mike Ashley has put plans to sell the club on ice for a second time in 12 months. Before, during and after the 3-1 win over Peterborough United there were protests at the name change and Ashley's continued tenure. Gutiérrez gave the owner a vote of confidence, and explained his downbeat reaction to finding the net was a result of untrue transfer gossip.
"I did not celebrate because there was speculation I wanted to leave," said the Argentina international. "I do not know who said it but for me it is incredible, because I never said nothing.
CHRIS Hughton has urged the Football League's best supporters to set aside their differences with Newcastle United's owners and back the team against Peterborough United tomorrow.
Posh will be the first visitors to the re- branded sportsdirect.com@St James' Park since Magpies owner Mike Ashley officially took the club off the market.
The potential for rebellion is obvious, but so far this season Newcastle supporters have focused on supporting their team's promotion push during matches. On the day United were officially named the 18th best-supported football team in Europe, Hughton asked them to continue in the same vein.
NEWCASTLE United are still working with a Premier League wage bill despite dropping out of the division costing them £50million a year.
Managing director Derek Llambias has revealed that despite a summer of savage cost-cutting in which 11 senior players left with only one permanent signing - Peter Løvenkrands - to replace them, the Magpies' wages are still not at what he considers an "acceptable level" for the division they have unexpectedly found themselves in.
So far the gamble is working, with United top of the table and one of the players they kept, Kevin Nolan, voted by fans as the division's player of the month for the second consecutive time.
FORMER chairman Freddie Shepherd has criticised Mike Ashley for trying to sell Newcastle United's soul.
The Magpies will listen to companies interested in sponsoring St James's Park, which would have its name changed to incorporate theirs.
It is not a new concept, and one which is widespread in the United States but yet to be adopted by the traditional homes of any leading English football club.
Shepherd revealed he turned down the opportunity after interest from three or four companies including an insurance firm following United's 1997 Stock Market flotation because "there are some things money can't buy".
"I can remember when we had the chance to change the name of the ground when I was chairman," said the businessman, who ran the club from 1996 to 2007. "It was just after flotation and big-name companies were falling over themselves to get involved in football - and back then, Newcastle were right up there with the Manchester Uniteds, Liverpools and Arsenals.
Recent Comments
"Happy New Year!!! Beckford in should be good news... I'm surprised there is not much gossip about No..."
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"im sorry like but my eyes must have fell out of my head when i watched the barnsley game! when did w..."
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"Hmmm......"
"To be honest Shepherd has got quite a nerve !!! Where has he been for the last few months, whilst Mo..."
"I agree, why not turn up and ‘verbally chin’ the well fed and cerebrally redundant owner as he leads..."
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