Newcastle are proof that dropping out of the Premier League doesn’t mean you can’t immediately find your feet in the Championship. 

Newcastle United v Derby County
Coca Cola Championship
St. James Park, Newcastle
28th December 2009, 5:20pm
 

The Toon:
Current League Position:  1/24
Leading scorer:  Nolan 10lg 1cp
Manager: Chris Hughton
Kit home: Black & White stripes/Black shorts
Kit away: Yellow & White stripes /Yellow shorts
Last game: Newcastle 2-2 Sheffield Wednesday
 
Quotes from the manager:
 
Chris Hughton following Wednesday’s controversial equalizer;

"It was most definitely a foul for their equalizer, but it wasn't one of our better performances.”
 
"We have no given right to win any game and we faced a spirited Sheffield Wednesday side.”
 
"We didn't start the game well and gave away a poor goal.”
 
"I think it's disappointing, whenever you lead in a game, if you don't go on and finish the job off."
 
No.  Position.  Player.
1    KEEPER Steve Harper
2    DEFENDER Fabricio Coloccini
3    DEFENDER Jose Enrique
4    MIDFIELD Kevin Nolan
7    MIDFIELD Joey Barton
8    MIDFIELD Danny Guthrie
10   MIDFIELD Marlon Harewood (on loan from Aston Villa F.C.)
11   STRIKER Peter Lovenkrands
12   DEFENDER Danny Simpson (on loan from Man U)
16   MIDFIELD Ryan Taylor
17   MIDFIELD Alan Smith (vice-captain)
18   MIDFIELD Jonas Gutierrez
20   MIDFIELD Geremi
21   MIDFIELD Fabrice Pancrate
22   MIDFIELD Nicky Butt (captain)
23   STRIKER Shola Ameobi
24   STRIKER Andy Carroll
25   MIDFIELD Kazenga LuaLua
26   KEEPER   Tim Krul
27   DEFENDER Steven Taylor
28   DEFENDER Tamás Kádár
30   STRIKER Nile Ranger
31   STRIKER Frank Wiafe Danquah
32   MIDFIELD Wesley Ngo Baheng
33   KEEPER Ole Soderberg
35   DEFENDER Ben Tozer
37   DEFENDER Callum Morris
41   MIDFIELD Shane Ferguson
42   STRIKER Ryan Donaldson
44   DEFENDER James Tavernier
45   DEFENDER Darren Lough
46   MIDFIELD Haris Vuckic
47   MIDFIELD Bradden Inman
 
The Rams:
 
Quotes from the manager:
 
Nigel Clough following the 2-0 Home defeat on Boxing Day from BBC Radio Derby
 
"We seemed incapable of doing the simple things. We looked very nervous and short of confidence.
 
"The confidence is very fragile and we looked for short of ideas. At times we couldn't pass to a white shirt."
 
"We relied on our wide players to create things and I don't think they put in one useful cross. The back four also struggled."
 
Current Rams Squad:

1 Keeper Stephen Bywater
2 Defender Paul Connolly
3 Defender James McEveley
4 Midfield Paul Green
5 Defender Miles Addison (vice-captain)
6 Defender Dean Leacock
7 Midfield Lee Croft
8 Midfield Robbie Savage (captain)
9 Striker Rob Hulse
10 Midfield Kris Commons
11 Midfield Gary Teale
12 Striker Chris Porter
13 Keeper Saul Deeney
14 Defender Shaun Barker
16 Midfield Stephen Pearson
17 Defender Jake Buxton
18 Midfield Ben Pringle
20 Striker Steve Davies
21 Midfield Dean Moxey
22 Midfield Arnaud Mendy
23 Defender Mark O'Brien
24 Midfield Jake Livermore (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)
25 Striker Paul Dickov (on loan from Leicester City)
26 Midfield Lee Hendrie
27 Defender Fredrik Stoor (on loan from Fulham)
28 Defender Mitchell Hanson
32 Striker D. J. Campbell (on loan from Leicester City)
34 Keeper Ross Atkins
 
What the Bookies think:
 
Home Win: 4/11
Draw: 19/5
Away win: 7/1
First Scorer: Shola Ameobi  3/1, Rob Hulse, Chris Porter 9/1
 
Information for travelling fans:
 
Driving: It’s about 170 miles to Newcastle and the route is fairly straightforward. Take the M1 north to the M18 then join the A1. Follow the A1 until J65 where the A1(M) ends. Stay on the A1 to the junction with the A184. Follow this road and bear left onto the A189 which crosses the Tyne. The ground is easily visible from here. Follow the dual carriageway to the Gallowgate End.
 
Parking: The ground is right in the City centre and there are plenty of places to park. That being said, this is Christmas weekend and it’s likely to be busy getting in and out of Newcastle. 

Having been stuck for hours trying to get out of Newcastle on a bust weekend before, I’d go with the suggestion from Footballgroundguides.co.uk and park ay Heworth Metro Station near Gateshead and get the Train into the City centre. You should find it easier to get back on the A1 after the game as well.
 
Drinking: As the stadium is in the city centre, there are literally hundreds of places to drink.  They do tend to have a downer on away colours however so cover up.
 
Mick’s Prediction:
 
Another televised game in Newcastle’s seemingly easy romp back to the Premiership. I was one who thought they would struggle like all of the other teams who drop into the Championship.

Somehow they have managed to ignore the debt and expenses, going for it big time. The bookies odds above are long on us achieving anything – if you check further at William Hill, the Toon have fully 8 players ahead of Rob Hulse & Chris Porter as first scorer.
 
Many of the people drifting away from Pride Park on Boxing Day are beginning to turn on the manager. The name ‘Clough’ will only protect you so far. This wasn’t helped when Clough came on the radio afterwards and said that Blackpool had been effective as a 4-5-1 when we had been pilloried for playing 4-5-1!
 
This was the best quote I found about that statement; “You see Nige the big difference was they didn't hit it high every time to a center forward who had no support, they played it on the ground either into space for players to run on to or made defence splitting passes. No one minds 4-5-1 when it's effective.

Also note how high their defence played this afternoon thus not allowing us the time to regroup and pick out effective passes if they lost the ball, nor did their keeper launch the ball 80 foot into the sky......should I go on or do we begin to see the problem here?”.

I simply don’t know where to begin on the current squad – another posting caught my eye:

DET today says we're bringing back Addison even though he's still suffering from a foot injury, because our stand-in centre half Mcalamity has to go back to left back because Moxey is suspended, we didn't want to play our conference centre half twice in two days because he's still recovering from a hernia op, but our other stand-in center half who's a league 1 standard right back will have to move back because we can't afford to keep Fulhams 4th choice right back.

Our only decent centre midfield player returns to the squad to play right wing in place of our overweight right winger who can't cross or beat a man, because he can't get in to centre mid because of our 37 yr old captain who plays the whole game 3 yards outside our penalty box and Mr. anonymous who is slightly better than nothing.

On the left we've a choice between a right winger who hasn't got the confidence to play on the right, so he plays on the left where if he does get in a good position he has to try and hit it in with the outside of his right boot or the only player we've got who can pass more than 2 yards who fell out with our manager for being fat and hasn't played all season, and up top we've got a player we're looking to sell because we can't afford him, who's making way for a 20 yr old loanee with dodgy knees, a player who's been out for nearly a year with a hip injury, and Leicester's 5th and 6th choice strikers.

Proving, if nothing else, that we still have our sense of humor.
With DCFC it’s usually darkest just before the dawn. There’s been a lot of false dawns but let’s hope we can pull off a shock at St.James’s. the Wendies exposed a few weaknesses; let’s hope Nigel and his back room staff know what they were.

Team: 

Bywater, McEveley, Addison, Buxton, Connolly, Savage, Pearson, Hendrie, Green, Commons, Porter - Subs: Livermore, D.J, Davies, Dickov, Croft, Teale, Deeney.

Prediction:

I can’t see us getting anything in this game.
 
Happy New Year to all RamZoners!

Photo: Action Images

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