PAUL’S PREDICTION:
United 2 – 1 Reading

Last season, United beat Reading by 3-2 in a great game at St. James Park. I’d gladly settle for that outcome again right now. Reading went through a spell of losing 8 games on the spin, but have recently regained their winning ways and beat Birmingham 2-1 last weekend to pull closer to Premiership safety.

Steve Coppell is a very nice bloke and a good manager to boot. He has done very well at Reading and his players seem to respond to his managerial style. He may not be hailed as the Messiah in the way that Kevin Keegan is on Tyneside, but the Royals fans hold him in very high regard.

Much of their play comes through Harper and Hunt in midfield and United will have to work very hard to stop their forward momentum. Whether Keegan persists with the 4-3-3 formation remains to be seen, but Viduka, Martins and Owen all love to score goals and just need the right service to enable them to do just that. They will have to get past the impressive Marcus Hahnemann in goal, but hopefully they can. We aren’t out of the woods just yet, but 3 points would certainly see us on the path toward the clearing.

When former Chairman Freddy Shepherd appointed Sam Allardyce as manager of Newcastle United last summer, I was cautiously optimistic. The previous manager Glenn Roeder had done a great job alongside Tommy Craig, Terry McDermott and Alan Shearer following the departure of Graeme Souness, but as with Souness, it became very clear very quickly that he was not the man to take the club forward on a long term basis.

So, enter Allardyce. Months earlier, the Midlander had been courted as a potential England manager and in my view, he was more suitable to that post than Steve McClaren, who ended up with the job and then the sack.

He was remembered as a big, somewhat lumbering centre half, known as a man who was keen to try new things, a keen advocate of the Pro-zone statistics, sports science and nutrition. He brought in his own men both behind the scenes and on the pitch and there were signs that things were working.

In pre season, David Rozenhal looked like a strong, assured central defender, proven goalscorer Mark Viduka arrived, as did Joey Barton, Habib Beye and Alan Smith as well as Abdoulaye Faye and Brazilian defender Claudio Cacapa. The season began with a great 3-1 victory at Bolton Wanderers, Allardyce’s former employer and then moved on. Slowly and steadily at first and then picking up a succession of points with decent wins against the likes of Everton and a struggling Tottenham Hotspur in a game that proved to be Martin Jol’s last as manager.

After the Tottenham game, a journalist said that the performance was reminiscent of the days when Newcastle were challenging for trophies and Allardyce said that he wanted Newcastle to play winning football, rather than sexy football. In the end, he did neither and the Tottenham game was probably his high point at the club. The best start to the season for many years went on to become a rapid decline into mid table mediocrity.

Undone by a late goal at Reading, blitzed by 3 goals in 4 minutes at home to Portsmouth and outclassed at home by a Liverpool side whose 3 goal winning margin would surely have been more than doubled if Fernando Torres had not been so unfortunate in front of goal.

True, it is a massive task to turn Newcastle into a side that will win games on a regular basis and he did need more time. But the question is, what was he going to do with that time and how was he going to improve the team. His tactics were obviously either alien to his players or not to their taste. His team selections and deployment of players was sometimes confusing and the tactic of hitting a long ball to the strikers worked at Bolton, but the delivery at Newcastle was poor and the midfield never close enough to pick up any ball on the rare occasion it was won.

The poor form continued. Robbed by a poor decision at Chelsea, unable to muster a shot of any description at Wigan and then losing at home to Manchester City were poor, yet all too predictable outcomes. On the positive side, a battling 1-0 win at Fulham with Joey Barton scoring his first goal with a late penalty was a bonus, but we needed a late goal from Viduka to spare our blushes with a 2-2 draw with bottom of the table Derby County, denying them a win double over us this season and yes, they have not beaten anybody else this term.

Last weekend, we battled away for a 0-0 against Stoke in the FA Cup and the replay beckons, although a trip to Arsenal is hardly a reward for victory, but it would be a financial boost for the Potters.

Whatever has said at the football club will stay at the football club, or at least it should. Sam gets a big payout to soften the blow of receiving his P45 and will probably head off for a holiday in the sunshine before resuming his career elsewhere.   

Harry Redknapp was the owner’s choice to succeed Allardyce, but he rejected a move away from Portsmouth and his life on the Sunny South coast of England. He looks to have made a shrewd move if the first game in the post Allardyce era is anything to go by. A 6-0 reverse at Manchester United, despite having gone in at half time at 0-0. I suppose that rules caretaker manager Nigel Pearson out of the running for the vacancy.

So, who will get the job? Mark Hughes is favourite, followed by the likes of Alan Shearer and Martin Jol. Who do I want to get the job? I don’t honestly know. I certainly don’t want Steve McClaren.

What I do want is somebody to sort out our defensive frailties, get shot of the players who shouldn’t be there or don’t want to be there and will play football which involves passing along the ground to team mates, attacking the opposition, working hard for each other and having shots at goal. Whoever that may be, I wish him every success.

Editors Note: Since writing this report Kevin Keegan has been confirmed as the new Newcastle United manager. We'll have a full update on this exciting development soon.