Saving Newcastle’s Season

Article by Newcastle United Correspondent Sophie Hedley

As a Newcastle fan, in recent years I’ve seen countless managerial sackings. The players perform poorly, the club sinks towards the bottom of the league table and many fans grow disillusioned with the Toon, calling for a sacking. However, when the inevitable sacking happens and we fail to bring in a manager of a higher calibre, we complain: we panicked, things will only get worse, we’re a laughing stock again…Newcastle United fans are just too difficult to please.

This season has followed in the same vein. A hammering at the Etihad on the opening day of the season followed by a grim, lifeless, goalless draw against West Ham left Alan Pardew the bookies favourite to be sacked. He is still in charge, albeit probably wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for our best first half performance of the season in a 2-1 win at Cardiff.

Our season needing to be saved is perhaps a drastic headline. After all, it’s only mid-October with seven league games played. I’m seemingly in the minority, wanting Pardew to stay on. I’ve been called naïve, but I tend to think of it more along the lines of not wanting to wake up one morning, finding we couldn’t replace Pardew with anyone but Joe Kinnear, who then sends us into a Leeds United-esque decline. I’m hoping to draw some inspiration from the bright sparks we do have at the club, instead of waiting for a world-class manager to come in, followed by world class players (unfortunately, this just isn’t going to happen). I like to think of it as realistic positivity (if those two words ever go together in regards to Newcastle United).

My realistic positivity comes from:

1. Loic Remy.

I’m the first to admit, personality wise, I don’t like Loic Remy. Being lured by money and QPR over my beloved club was never going to win me over. However, with Papiss Cissé going 13 Premier League games without a goal, we’re in desperate need of a goalscorer and so far, Remy has fit the bill. With five goals in his last three games, Remy is stepping up. Of course, with his run of good form, we seem to have less of a chance to secure him on a permanent deal with Tottenham being the latest club linked. But focusing simply on this season, if he continues in a similar fashion, we’re going to be hard-pressed to not pick up some good results along the way.

2. Yohan Cabaye.

Cabaye is back on top form, having seen his chance of a move to Arsenal collapse. Even without his great goal against Everton last month (and who saw his stunning strike for France against Australia?), Yohan Cabaye at his best surely gives a lift to his teammates. He drives the team on and his role in the starting line-up is an important one. Like Remy, Cabaye’s future is also unclear. Maybe he’s playing so well as a way of showing the Gunners what they’re missing. Yet, for whatever reason he’s drawing his inspiration, his level of performance is much needed in a team who’ve suffered from some miserable results this season; losing to Hull at home, anyone?

3. Yoan Gouffran.

Yoan Gouffran may not be Pardew’s favourite player; until recently, he’s rarely played a whole 90 minutes. But for me, there’s no doubting that for whatever amount of time he’s on the pitch, he always has it in him to change the game. The effort he puts in every game competes to the level of Jonás Gutiérrez, who despite how hard he works, is often criticised for his lack of creativity. Gouffran doesn’t suffer from this problem however; he’s always lively and can grab a few goals himself. Whether starting from the first minute or being brought on as a second half substitute, the Frenchman has it in him to be a bright spark in Newcastle’s campaign.

Of course, whilst I believe in drawing positives where I can, come this Saturday evening and the aftermath of our home game to second place Liverpool, we could be managerless all over again. After all, there can’t be many Newcastle fans who’ve forgotten the 6-0 battering we took at home to Liverpool at the end of last season, or who’ve failed to recognise our desperately struggling defence this season. However, currently sitting 11th in the table, our season is nowhere near being disastrous just yet. Throw in a bit of possibly blind optimism, and maybe we won’t need to wake up to the nightmare of Kinnear in charge, part two.

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