Opposite View – Newcastle

This week’s Opposite View comes from Paul from the fantastic nufc.blog.org.  I asked Paul a few questions on Sunday’s big match, Newcastle and the waving of shoes in 2007. Here’s what Paul had to say

Greetings Paul and welcome to Man City Blog’s Opposite View. We’ll start with a few questions about Newcastle United.

How do you rate Newcastle’s start to the season?

Erratic to say the least. Beating Aston Villa 6-0, beating Chelsea away in the League Cup yet losing to Blackpool and Stoke at home. I think that this can be normal though for a team which is developing. Manchester City may be similar for a while too, albeit with much higher expectations bearing in mind the huge sums being invested in your club.

Alan Shearer briefly took charge but failed to keep Newcastle up. Would you have liked him to have taken the job full time?

No, especially not with Iain Dowie playing “Igor” to Shearer’s Dr. Frankenstein.

In 2007, Newcastle had signed Joey Barton, much to the delight of both sets of fans. Has City’s former chief trouble maker now settled down?

Seemingly, but there’s a long way to go yet. He has shown shown some admirable restraint recently after being targeted by some rival clubs and this is to his credit.

During our game in 2007 at Eastlands, Newcastle fans inexplicably waved their shoes in the air. I can’t remember if an explanation was given so for those who don’t know, can you tell us why this happened?

There’s a chant:

“Stand up if you love the Toon!

Shoes off  if you love the Toon!” etc

I seem to recall that someone, somewhere on the Internet once offered an explanation involving public executions at Newcastle’s Gallowgate (as in the Gallowgate end at St James’s Park) in the good old days, the state of the leaky old lavatories there, again back in the good old days, and one or two other things for good measure, but I have doubts about that one!

Would you welcome back Shay Given to St James’s Park?

That’s OK, you can have him! 😉

City and Newcastle have something in common in the way we have both inflicted defeats on Chelsea this season. Did you expect that Newcastle to win that game?

Bearing in mind that it was fairly predictable that a few of the more peripheral players were going to get a run out on both sides in the League Cup, it was hard to say until the teamsheets were announced. I wouldn’t say that I “expected” a win, but it didn’t shock me. I genuinely thought that the match could have gone either way in the Cup, even before the game.

Okay, turning to Sunday, who do you feel will be Newcastle’s main threat to City on Saturday?

One of our latest signings, Hatem Ben Arfa, is a VERY talented player and could be a threat. He is still settling in though so it’s hard to tell.

And who in City’s line up will The Toon not relish playing against?

Carlos Tevez. I have been a big fan of his since the 2004 Olympics when I saw him score a hat-trick and he looked like a young Maradona. Despite all the fancy players heading towards Eastlands at the moment, he is still one of the very best in my opinion.

City played Juventus on Thursday. Do you think Newcastle have an advantage for the game?

A bit of an advantage perhaps, but this will be outweighed by Manchester City’s large squad.

What do you think the score will be?

I used to be not bad at predictions, but that has gone out of the window this year!

The optimistic me says a draw, 1-1 or 2-2, but of course with a squad like Man City’s and home advantage, you should win it convincingly really!

Where do you think Newcastle will finish this season?

They are so erratic at the moment, it could be anywhere between above the relegation zone and Europe!

And what about City?

Fourth.

Who, apart from Sunderland, would you like to see go down and who do you think will go down?

It gives me no pleasure to see teams go down, unless perhaps they are the really thuggish ones who set out to target players, like Wolves did against Joey Barton.

And which non Man United team will win the league?

Chelsea. Man City’s time will probably come, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that it took a few years before the Chelsea revolutiuon came to fruition in terms of winning the League, and even they best players need time to settle when a whole new team is being built.

Cheers Paul. Enjoy the game (but not too much) and best of luck for the season (apart from Sunday and the return at St James). Have a few bottles of brown ale ready for our visit.