The Tale of Two Newcastles - And A Hotspur

Newcastle Jets Out of 2012-13 A-League!

As if it hasn't been blitzed enough already, the currently embattled Hyundai A-League has suffered another bombshell today with the news that Nathan Tinkler, owner of the Newcastle Jets and Newcastle Knights rugby league team, has handed back the Jets' A-League franchise back to the FFA, citing financial and organizational difficulties. This means the Jets will join the now-defunct Gold Coast United on the sidelines for next season leaving the league with only 9 clubs - 1 short required for the FFA to fulfill its latest television contract.

Newcastle - A-League champs in 2007

Perhaps, this bombshell comes as a bit of a shock for football followers outside the Hunter region although rumblings have been going around in recent times about the club's future. It is a sad shame really and hopefully the FFA will come to some sense and help bail out the 2007 A-League champions. After all, unlike Gold Coast United, the Jets actually got people to games and are a respectable side.

But has the A-League probably jumped the gun by expanding the game to the country at the start? While the Central Coast Mariners have been a surprise success story, the likes of North Queensland, Gold Coast have been abject failures and now Newcastle is set to join the scrapheap.

Stay tuned for a further blog on how the A-League can be viable in the future - although those in Dubbo and Charters Towers might not like it.


Newcastle United into 2012-13 Champions League?

Yes, the Toon Army are still marching on well into April and look set to finish in its highest spot in the league since 2004. It's been one heck of a season for Alan Pardew's men from Tyneside and have proven many people wrong that they didn't have the squad to sustain a season-long challenge at the top of the table.

The key to their success has been the acquisitions of firstly Djemba Ba and then Papiss Cisse. Both have scored plenty of goals and while Ba may have gone off the radar, Cisse has stepped up to take his place and score the winning goals the Toon needed. Key players have also hit form, especially Hatem ben Arfa who is now finally showing the Premier League the talent that he has and made many tip him to be the next Zinedine Zidane when he was at Marseille. The defence has also somewhat recovered from the loss of Steven Taylor for the season. 

Cisse - Newcastle's new great no. 9

As it is, Newcastle sit 5th and will miss out on the Champions League on goal difference to a limping Tottenham Hotspur, but will still entertain European football for the first time since 2005 next season at this stage - and should Liverpool and Tottenham make the FA Cup, they will definitely be in Europe next season as long as they don't finish outside the top 6.

Their fixtures as follows:  
21 April - Newcastle v Stoke City
28 April - Wigan v Newcastle
2 May - Chelsea v Newcastle
6 May - Newcastle v Man City
13 May - Everton v Newcastle

Tottenham's fixture list looks easy but given their form and the fact that they lost to Norwich at home, it's hard to figure out how Redknapp's men will go in their last couple of games. Thus, Newcastle's chances of returning to the Champions League for the first time since the glory days under the late Sir Bobby Robson and Alan Shearer are actually better than ever.

They may not be the same free-flowing attacking side that Keegan and Robson built. But Pardew's side might actually be that better than those sides given they actually have a spine at the back to allow for some decent attacking football to be played. And there can't be anything boring about the way Cisse is scoring goals right now.

What's Gone Wrong at White Hart Lane?

Alas, after looking like Premier League champions, Tottenham have definitely gone off the boil and it appears that they have been badly affected by the curse of the speculation regarding the England manager. For since Redknapp was linked with the job left vacant by Capello in February, Tottenham have definitely collapsed and are in danger of losing out on Champions League football which they looked destined for back in February when they were 10 points ahead of 4th placed Arsenal. 

But another key factor must have been the loss of influential captain, Michael Dawson, for the season. Without him one of the pillars at the back was lost. Yes Ledley King is still rather good but Dawson had become the leader defacto at White Hart Lane and is also better going up front too. As a result, Spurs have become much weaker at the back and effective sides like Norwich and Stoke have figured out how to negate the attacking prowess of Gareth Bale and Rafa van der Vaart.