This year the Toon News will not be deleted after a few weeks. Instead it will be renewed monthly and the older months kept on this site !

Older editions so far are :-

Saturday 31st October

Newcastle United 0 - 3 West Ham

Newcastle have had a flu virus to contend with this week, the team is just about at full strength, although Speed and Charvet may not be fully fit they are still selected. Robert lee is still not fully fit so is given the day off. So It's the same team as started against Tranmere with Harper, Barton, Pistone Gillespie and Ketsbaia on the bench.

 West Ham are the visitors on Halloween and immediately Young Paul Dalglish puts the frighteners on them with a couple of good shots in the first few minutes . Dabizas, Glass and Solano also come close in the first 25 minutes although it is far from one sided and Given does make 2 fine saves. In the 29th minute Solano once again makes a great cross this time finding the head of Shearer who finds the net , making it One Nil to Newcastle, But NOOOOO says the ref Shearer fouled a defender, NOOOOO goal. Shearer doesn't like it and neither do the the crowd . Not long after and Dalglish is brought down in the box, PENALTY???? .......NOOOOOOO says graham Poll., " Minutes later another bad foul , this time it's Impey bringing down Dalglish. NOOOOOOO penalty says Poll the prat. he's got it in for us today. As the half time whistle blows boooos echoes around St James's park, not for the players who have played well but for the ref he is dreadful.

The second gets worse for the Ref . after only 3 minutes Pearce challenges Trevor Sinclair for a header, Sinclair goes down holding his face . There was no real contact, but Graham Poll takes the opotunity to FIX THE GAME and sends off Pearce. The players and crowd go mad, No way should Pearce be off. Gullit makes a tactical change and brings off Glass . Solano comes more into the centre and Pistone is brought on giving us a 4-3-2 formation. The noise level is raised as the angry crowd get behind the team. The team responds and turn up the pressure, They goal for a quick goal but the plan backfires, Ian wright makes a break and shoots past given. Football can be a cruel game. The lads don't let there heads drop and keep up the pressure. Shaka makes a couple of good saves at his end and Griff gets back to clear off the line for the second time of the match on the hour mark. 2 minutes later Solano is replaced by Ketsbaia in a last ditch attempt to get an equaliser . Whilst the team is settling down Kitson gets the ball , finds Sinclair , who with Newcastle a man down and with so much space can't fail to score their second. Newcastle still go forward throwing caution to the wind, trying desperately to claw their way back into the game. Gillespie is brought on for a tireing Dalglish , he makes no differance and we leave ourselves so open at the back that Ian Wright grabs a third in the dying seconds . The Referee gets a police escort from the ground as the ones that stay in the ground at full time give him a real earbashing as he leaves the pitch.

THE SENDING OFF WAS A TERRIBLE DECISION . GRAHAM POLL IS A USELESS BASTARD AND SHOULD BE SACKED IMMEDIATELY. IT WAS THE MOST ONE SIDED BIASED PIECE OF REFEREEING THAT I HAVE EVER WITNESSED.

HOW ARE 10 MEN EVER GOING TO WIN AGAINST 12?

Tuesday 27th October.

Its off to Prenton park tonight for the Worthingtons cup tie with Tranmere Rovers.

Ruud Gullit shows that he is serious about this competition by fielding our strongest team. The only change from his ideal eleven is the inclusion of Gary Speed in midfield . Robert Lee is being rested for Saturdays game. On the subs bench there are also a few changes with Harper, Barton, Gillespie, Georgiados and Hughes the chosen five tonight.

The Line up (Riks Ratings in RED)

With this game having to be settled tonight , both teams started brightly. Speed managed a couple of early shots, narrowly missing two chances in the first five minutes. Alan Shearer was next to come closest to opening the scoring when his header was saved off the line in the tenth minute. Not to be outdone by his strike partner Paul Dalglish broke lose just a minute later and if it had not been for some fine defensive work he would have bagged the first goal. Young Dalglish was on fire in the first half hour, he was on the receiving end of a superb ball by Solano in the 29th minute, he volied it wide. He wasn't to be denied though as 2 minutes later Solano once again found Dalglish in space, this time he rounded the keeper and scored his first ever goal for the senior side.

 Tranmere did manage to come back into the game, with Kenny Irons looking most likely to score. Shay given once again saved Newcastle , making some fantastic saves on the night.

In the 65th minute Tranmere brought out their Secret weapon, the infamous Dave Challinor and his incredibly long throw ins. Tranmere have adapted Prenton park to enhance Challinor talent by leaving large gaps between the advertising hoardings. Challinor uses these gaps to lengthen his run ups before the throws. This bloke has to be seen to be believed. he can throw the ball from the half may line to the head of a player in the opposing penalty area. He is also assisted at home by the ball boys, who give him a towel to dry the ball every time it goes out.

He isn't a bad player either keeping David Batty quiet in right of midfield. Why he is still at a mediocre first division side is a mystery. He generally plays a a right back, I am he would be a great addition to our team (GO ON RUUD GET HIM) we could always play him on the right and Griff in the position that he played at Stoke , left back.

Despite Challinors introduction Newcastle held out and we go through to the next round where we will play Blackburn Rovers at home.

Saturday 24th October

Newcastle 0 Tottenham 2

Why is it we always lose in London?

The team was a little different from that which played so well last week, Dabizas was suspended so In came Serrant for his debut. He played as left back with Stuart Pearce coming into the centre. Stuart Pearce was playing with a broken toe and Shearer was not fully fit.

The first half was fairly poor. Given saved us on numerous occasions throughout the first half . In the 38th minute Ginola got onto the end of a pass and took a tremendous volley that Given saved again brilliantly. Just 2 minutes later though Spurs took the lead with Iversen who came on for injured Les Ferdinand getting the first goal. On the stroke of half time Shearer had a good chance but it went wide.

Newcastle started a lot better in the second half but couldn't manage to get a goal. After an hour Gullit decided to change things. He took off Glass, who had been ineffective and replaced him with Gary Speed, he played in the centre with Lee going to the right wing and Noddy switching to the left. Up front Dalglish was replaced with the out of favour Guivarc'h. It was obvious why Guivarc'h is out of favour . HE WAS SHIT, the worst player on the pitch. Whearas Speed was running about trying his best to regain his place Guivarc'h 's heart just was not in it. He will not play for us again. Griffin who had had a reasonable game for most of the match made a right hash of things and halfway through the second half he gave the ball away to Stefan Iversen who made no mistake with the free gift , making it 2 - 0. There were chances for Newcastle to get one back but it wasn't to be our day. We need a Quality forward to work with Shearer, Guivarc'h is Shite, Dalglish isn't really quite ready yet, so I can't see us doing too well until our new striker arrives. We didn't play too bad today , there was not much difference in the two teams. They were better in the first half and we were better in the second . We were unlucky not to get something from the game, but thats football. "You Can't win em all !" We drop a place to seventh for a full results update of all the Newcastle teams CLICK HERE.

Lets hope that by the next League game we can sign a new striker which should ensure us a good home win against the hammers next week . Next up is Tranmere in the cup in mid week, I think Gullit will play the same team in midfield and Attack. the only change may be in defence where he might just give Aaron Hughes a game alongside Griff, Pearce and Either Charvet or Dabizas making way for the youngster. The reason for this would be to give him some experience in the centre of defence as Dabizas and Given are both to miss the Sheffield game due to International commitments on November

Saturday 17th October

Newcastle United 2 - 1 Derby County

Its 2 weeks since the last game, Steve Watson has moved on to warm the bench at Aston Villa and as yet Ruud Gullit hasn't had the chance to spend the money. He Opts for a "Fans Choice " team with Griff in as right back instead of Barton , Batty In for Speed and Paul Dalglish up front with Shearer. The weather is absolutely awful, there is torrential rain and strong wind, If the weather had been Ok then you would be looking at a single goal either way but on a day like this anything could happen .

Derby field 4 attacking players and for the first 5 or 6 minutes it looks like they could do us some damage. Dabizas makes a couple of bad mistakes in the first 10 minutes and we are lucky not to go one behind. Then in the 13th minute the tables are turned when Newcastle are awarded a corner. Solano takes it and up pops Dabizas to score our first goal in the match and his 3rd with his head this season. 4 minutes later Newcastle find themselves defending a free kick. Rob Lee intercepts and lays a good ball to Solano on the right. He takes the ball to the half way line and makes a splendid 40 yard diagonal ball to Glass . He takes the ball down with one touch and shoots goalwards. It's a magnificent shot deadly accurate, Newcastle 2 Derby 0 . From here on in its Newcastle all the way, Solano finds the head of Dalglish who is unfortunately hits the post. He is very lively today as are the other young lads. Glass, Solano and Griff are playing really well. Pearce, Griff , Lee and Batty all have shots at goal. this week as opposed to the last game in which we had one shot all game. What a difference a couple of players can make, you have to think that today Ruud Gullit has found the ideal team a good blend of youth and experience .

In the second half the weather clears up but the game slows down, Solano misses a couple of sitters, he can't half cross a ball but he needs shooting practice. Newcastle look comfortable and nearly score a third one in the 75th minute, once again Solano misses a good chance. Shortly after Dion Burton pulls one back for Derby and Newcastle go into safe mode. Late on Speed replaces Solano and Kets replaces Dalglish. The scoreline does not represent the way the game went. we should have won 5-1. More of the same should see us climbing up the league again.

After the match Ruud says he was very happy with the way the team played especially the younger player such as Dalglish, Glass and Griffin. It Looks like they have earned their right to start the next match and the team may be settling down until BETTER players arrive.

Which Better players do we need?

Read Rik Reckons

Sunday 4th October

Arsenal 3 Newcastle United 0

Gullit stuck to the same team that played on Thursday in Belgrade. The injured and sick players have still not recovered and Paul Dalglish is on the bench.

Its a really poor performance by Newcastle in the first half . We looked Ok on the left with Griff and Solano looking like the best players for us. Unfortunately 2 players playing well is not what we need against Arsenal, who are back to their best. On the 20 minute mark Anelka threads a ball through to Bergkamp and It's one nil. 8 minutes later the roles are reversed as Bergkamp sends a ball over the top to Anelka and it's 2-0. In the whole of the first half Newcastle get 1 shot that was well wide. In comparison Arsenal have 9 shots, 6 on target and get 2 goals. This team just isn't working together well at all.

Half time and Ketsbaia is replaced by Paul Dalglish, he makes a big difference and for a while it looks like we may be back in it. Seaman saves the day with a brilliant save from Solano. Then in the 66th minute Charvet fails to tackle Overmars who goes into the box. Dabizas makes a lunge for the ball , he misses , Overmars goes down, Dabizas goes off and Bergkamp makes it 3 from the penalty spot. Stephen Glass, who had been infective is replaced by Phillipe Albert who slots into the back 4. from here on in , It's a damage limitation exercise. Guess what happens next. Phillipe Albert gives away ANOTHER penalty. What the hell is our team up to, A Penalty means a goal. That is normally the case but not this time as Given manages to save this one. Shay was certainly man of the match and saved us from a real thrashing. Griff did OK up against Overmars, as for the rest, very very poor.

The game Ends 3 - 0 we were the worst that we have been for a long time, but credit must go to Arsenal they are looking good again.

Riks Ratings in RED

After the match, Ruud said he was disappointed with some of the players and also disappointed at the failure of the board to back him with funds for some better players. Ruud must be given a loan to buy in some world class players, some of our lot just are not good enough to compete with the best.

READ RIK RECKONS