Category Archives: News

"Newcastle United v Zulte Waragem, 2007 (2)" by User:Responsible? - Self-photographed. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Newcastle_United_v_Zulte_Waragem,_2007_(2).JPG#/media/File:Newcastle_United_v_Zulte_Waragem,_2007_(2).JPG

A Timeline of Woe: How Newcastle found themselves on the brink of relegation

Ahead of the last game of the season, we’ve taken a look back over Newcastle’s campaign, which sees them dangerously close to the relegation zone with only a game left to play.

Should results not go their way on Sunday, Newcastle could find themselves plying their trade in the Championship, a division they escaped in 2010, next season.

In part, this is a result of the policies of the owner, Mike Ashley.

A poor summer of recruitment caused a bad start to the campaign.

However, manager Alan Pardew turned it around in staggering fashion, climbing to seventh in the league.

Having not been given assurances over transfers in the January window, however, he moved on to Crystal Palace, who he saved from relegation with plenty of time to spare.

John Carver was then put in charge, and coming into the last weekend of the season, he has lost nine of the last ten games, putting Newcastle only two points above the relegation zone.

They could still go down.

Featured image credit: “Newcastle United v Zulte Waragem, 2007 (2)” by User:Responsible?Self-photographed. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Revealed: Football fans are broadly optimistic

With summer upon us, most football fans are starting to think about next season, and whether their club can achieve their goals next time around.

Most clubs, it has to be said, don’t do anything of note in any given campaign. We therefore thought it’d be interesting to find out whether most football fans think next season will bring about more joy for their side.

We put out an appeal on Twitter for responses to a survey, and fans were incredibly quick to respond.

The results

Looking at the data, what this revealed is that most football fans are generally quite positive about their next campaign. This makes sense, otherwise they wouldn’t keep attending.

However, surprisingly, the difference between fans who are excited and fans who aren’t isn’t that great. This might, in part, be due to the increasing discrepancy between those who can achieve, and those who can’t. Many fans are increasingly overwhelmed by the idea that their club will never do well, which explains some of the responses.

Video: Leeds United vs. Rotherham, fan review of the season

The season may be over, but prior to Leeds United’s last game of the campaign against Rotherham Town, spoughts.co.uk reporter Amitai Winehouse went down to Elland Road to ask fans how they felt about the season.

Things have changed at the football club since, with head coach Neil Redfearn being replaced by former Wigan Athletic manager Uwe Rosler. However, if anything, the clear opposition to Massimo Cellino that can be heard in this video is as fervent as it was at the time.

The game between Leeds and Rotherham ultimately finished 0-0, with neither side able to score a goal. Rotherham’s safety in the Championship had been confirmed prior to the game, despite a three point deduction, meaning that it was something of a dead rubber for both sides.

It also turned out to be Redfearn’s last game in charge of the first team. Unsurprisingly, given that he saved Leeds’s Championship status, Redfearn was highly praised in our conversations with fans.