An amazing night, with an amazing atmosphere was capped off on full time when the toon faithful invaded the pitch to celebrate with the Newcastle United players.

I have to say though, the Plymouth fans and officials were amazing sports. Before the game they paraded a banner congratulating Newcastle (see pic below) before handing the banner over to the Newcastle fans, and then on full time our fans were allowed onto the pitch while “The Blaydon Races”, “We Are The Champions” and “Local Hero” were played out on the speaker system. Plymouth fans also came onto the pitch and congratulated the Newcastle fans which was very nice of them.

(Click Image For Full Size)

A summer of rumoured takeovers and mis-management led to a 6-1 thrashing by Leyton Orient in a friendly on July 29th, but that was the day that Newcastle United was reborn and a new era began.

Out with the overpaid mercenaries, Martins, Beye, Bassong, Xisco and Duff, and we were left with a squad of players who wanted what all the fans wanted, and that was an immediate return to the Premier League.

That result on day 1 away against Wet Brom was a sign of things to come. A never say die attitude was well and truly part of this set of players, but even at this stage of the season the fans still didn’t have a clue what was happening off the pitch. Were new owners coming in? Was Shearer coming back? Was Hughton good enough to get us back up?

Slowly but surely though, we got more and more good results and eventually Chris Hughton was given the managers job full time. We were top of the league. Could we stay there?

I’m no fan of Mike Ashley, and never will be, but the best thing he did this season was get rid of all the uncertainty by taking the club off the market and appointing Chris Hughton as full time manager. I think that was a major factor in our eventual promotion. What happens in the big league is another story. Will Ashley invest the kind of money needed to keep us up or will he try and do it all on a shoe string? Right this minute, i’m not thinking about that. I’m enjoying promotion right now, and the feel good factor around this club and city. Our next job now is to get promoted as champions.

Chris Hughton has done an amazing job this season. He has moulded together a squad of players with confidence as low as it could go at the start of the season to a team now brimming with confidence. He has brought in a number of players who have done a job at this level and contributed to this successful season. Simpson, Routledge and Williamson to name a few. Are they premier league quality? That isn’t the point. They were bought to get this club promoted, and they have done their job.

I’m looking forward to the last few games of this season, and after the pain of actually getting relegated last May, i can honestly say i have thoroughly enjoyed this season. Football is a funny game.

The above photo is a panoramic picture of St James Park, after the game with Sheffield Utd on the day promotion was secured back to the premier league. Click the image for a larger version.

It might not be the kind of opposition i thought we would be playing back in 2003 when he was born, but that really doesn’t matter. I’ve been thinking about this day since before he was born, and i wanted to be sure that his first game, would be a moment he would remember. I could have taken him to a game as a baby or a toddler, but honestly….. what would be the point? He’d never remember it. He’s 6 and a half now, and i know he will actually sit in his seat and watch the game, and he already knows 2 songs off by heart. “We are the Geordies, the Geordie boot boys”, and “Theres only one Bobby Robson”.

I still remember my first match my dad took me to in 1989 when we played West Ham, and i’m hoping that this is a moment that my son remembers in the years to come. My biggest memory from that game in 1989, was sitting on my dads shoulders in the Leazes End and almost getting him beat up when i said, “Dad, you’re a West Ham supporter aren’t you?” (He is a cockney. Luckily, i was born in the North East.)

I suppose in years to come, i will have to apologise for introducing him to Newcastle United, as i am sure he will experience years of hurt and disappointed, but i also know that during his lifetime following this club, he will have times that he will never forget and he’ll then know exactly why we follow the toon.

I really hope we get a good game. I wish i had chose the Cardiff game, but the experience of going to the game with my little boy is an experience i can’t wait for, and just being there together is good enough for me.

Now enough of the sentimental stuff…… Come on Newcastle!! We need 3 points.

UPDATE: We won 4-1. An amazing night.

I went down there today to take a look, and it was extremely busy. The outside of the shop looks just like a lot of their other bog standard stores, they weren’t going for an iconic store style like Fifth Avenue New York or Regent Street London, but i dont really care about that. It looks great in my opinion. You can see a quick photo i took below.

(Click The Image, for a larger version.)

I’m just hoping Apple release a new iPod Touch with a camera built into it, and then i’ll be back to pick one up, plus i like the look of the huge 27″ iMac’s.

Overall the new St Andrews Way mall in Eldon Square is great. The quality of shops is high and the huge spacious feeling you get when you first walk through all adds to a pleasant shopping experience. I’ll take a better look around once the huge crowds die down and have a look in some of the other shops. Today, i just wanted to check out Apple.

Last night we lost 3-0 away to Derby, which was a huge blow but unfortunately for me, this wasn’t a huge surprise. I’ve got no confidence in Newcastle getting wins away from home and thats a major problem for a club that would like to either win this league or get promoted in 2nd position.

When it comes to home games, i think we can beat every team in this league, but the chances are, between now and the end of the season, we will drop points in at least 2 home games. Our home form isn’t a problem and it doesn’t worry me at all, but something needs to be with our away form. Draws aren’t enough. If we want to get promoted, we need to be able to beat teams like Derby and Leicester. We only got 1 point from those 2 teams.

Last season, Wolves won the Championship whilst winning 12 away games all season. This season, we have won 6 away games so far. We have 9 away games left this season. The question is, can we win 6 out of the 9 away games to match last seasons Wolves record?

We’re playing Swansea this weekend, and we really need to win this game to stop this poor away form. Its been over 2 months since we won an away game, and we’re starting to get a bit of an away day phobia, and this problem will be our down fall.

I’m no tactical genius, so i really don’t know where to start when it comes to setting the team up when we play away from home, but i truly believe it is a mental issue. We started with exactly the same team at Derby that thrashed Cardiff, but then we go and get beat. Football……. don’t you just love it.

I’m going to ask the question straight up….. What are you playing at?

I really don’t think you understand that you are playing with the emotions of many many thousands of die hard Newcastle United fans. These fans have been on the St James Park terraces since before you were born, and will still be here long after you are gone. Newcastle United is much much more than just a way of making a bit of extra cash. Its not a marketing tool or a game you can throw under the bed when you are bored of it. Newcastle United is our life. You will never understand that.

From the start of your reign as the Newcastle United “Owner”, you have made mistake after mistake, and when you have actually made decisions that have pleased the majority of the fans, you then go and mess it up every time. Its as if you are doing it on purpose to just annoy us.

Wrong decisions such as selling our best players, forcing our much loved manager (Keegan) out, then not allowing Shearer to put into action his long term plans of turning this mess of a club around all led me to not renewing my season ticket this season, although i have still been to all the home games so far, as this club is in my blood. Its a drug, and that’s exactly why you think you can continue to take the piss out of us the fans. You think we will just continue to take it, but the time really has come now where we’ve had enough.

Right now you are the most hated person in the North East, and for months we have been waking up every morning to check the news to see if you had sold up yet, but that news never came. Finally the news came out of the club that you had taken Newcastle United off the market, but if that kick in the goolies wasn’t enough, in the very same statement you let us know that our home, St James’ Park, is to be renamed. Are you for real?

This just goes to show how much you know about football. You just dont rename football grounds. If you move to a new stadium, then fair enough, but you just dont rename St James’ Park. 113 years of tradition gone, just like that.

How much will you get for the naming rights? £2m, £3m, £5m? If that’s the case then that’s the cost of an average midfielder. Is that really what our clubs history and tradition is worth? Why don’t you just rename the club altogether and change the black on our strips to red.

From a personal point of view, my son is 6 years old and he is just starting to understand what football is all about and at the age of 6 he already knows what “St James’ Park” means. He knows the black and whites play there on a big field, and he’s just about to have the rest of his life taken over by this club, but that’s the thing Mike, you don’t understand that. My Dad took me to the match for the first time when i was 7 and i’ll do the same with my son. St James’ Park has provided families for generation after generation every single emotion possible and for all the bad ones i have experienced i also have some of the best memories in my life in that place.

Please don’t mess with St James’ Park. The fans will not allow it. Do yourself a favour and get out now.

Sell up now and leave. You’re not wanted here.

I know who i would choose, and i know a lot of other Newcastle fans would disagree with me, but thats the great thing about football. We all have our own opinions.

I’ll come straight out…… My choice would be Kevin Keegan, and this is why.

Remember, these are just my own personal opinions and feelings, but from 1992, Kevin Keegan gave me the most enjoyable 5 years as a Newcastle United supporter. Keegan took us to within 1 game of winning the Premier League and this is something no other manager has done since or even come close to. Sir Bobby took us to 3rd in the league, but we were still 14 points away from the Champions Man Utd.

Keegan was the guy that took Newcastle from the bottom of the 2nd Division (The Championship now), to almost Premier league champions, and this allowed our club to build one of the best stadiums in the country and be able to spend £15m on players like Alan Shearer. Had we not been taken up to the premier league, we would never been able to invest in multi million pound players. Had we not been taken to the heights of challenging for the premiership title, we wouldn’t have received the sort of financial income that allowed us to build an amazing training ground and acadamy.

I know Keegan has his down sides, but i truly believe that if he is given the right backing and support and is allowed to actually Manage his team, just like how Mike Ashley didn’t allow him, then i feel that in time, he would of taken Newcastle back upto the top end of the Premier league.

In the 8 months during Keegan’s 2nd spell on Tyneside, there were already small signs of him being able to put together a team that could play and excite the Newcastle fans like he did during his first spell.

Last week though it was proved that Keegan was force out of Newcastle United by Mike Ashley and his cronies, and i just cant help but feel like what a waste. I waited 11 years for Keegan to return, and then it was over in just a few months. If he’d been allowed to just do his job, then we wouldn’t be in the Championship today, thats for sure.

As for Alan Shearer. I know Kevin Keegan wont be coming back to Newcastle back in the real world, so right away i’d love Shearer to be our manager. I think he is the person who can build a team and also plan in the long term to build a club that can challenge in the top 10 of English football again.

Kevin Keegan is my number 1 footballing hero, dating right back to my early childhood, thats why i’m thinking with my heart when i say i’d love him back at Newcastle in a heart beat, but unfortunately i dont think that will happen, so its a win-win situation between Shearer or Keegan as the next Newcastle manager.

Below, i have selected my all time favourite starting 11. I have selected this team using players when they were at their peak during their Newcastle United Careers. I’ve also gone for the bog standard 4-4-2 formation.

Goalkeeper: Shay Given

Right Back: Habib Beye

Left Back: John Beresford

Centre Back: Philippe Albert

Centre Back: Jonathan Woodgate

Right Midfield: Nolberto Solano

Left Midfield: David Ginola

Centre Midfield: Peter Beardsley

Centre Midfield: Robert Lee

Striker: Andy Cole (Very Close To Being Les Ferdinand, but Andy Cole did score 41 goals in one season)

Striker: Alan Shearer

Manager: Kevin Keegan (Again, Bobby Robson Was Close, but for me it was Kevin Keegan that created the Newcastle United that was saved from relegation in 1992, then promoted the next season to the Premier League to finish 3rd in their first season, then to play European football and to be able to spend £15m on players like Alan Shearer. If it wasn’t for Keegan, we wouldn’t have been at a high enough standard to be able to appoint Sir Bobby Robson in 1999).

Owner/Chairman: Not Mike Ashley

Football shirts, scarfs, flowers, letters, photos, paintings and teddy bears were just some of the things left by well wishers, and once the stadium was closed to the public 9 days after his death an amazing site was left on the Leazes End at St James’ Park, a site which couldn’t help but move you.

I visited the stadium a few times in the days after Sir Bobby’s death and i took some photos and a short video of the tributes left by fans from all over the world.

Please click the images below for larger versions.

Sir Bobby Robson Tributes Taken 3 hours after news of his death was made public.

This is Sir Bobby’s personal seat in the directors box in the Milburn Stand at St James’ Park.

More photos can be seen on my Flickr page.

Growing up as a youngster, we all have our heroes. West Ham fans worshiped Bobby Moore, and Man Utd fans George Best. My hero though was Sir Bobby Robson, and today has been a massive shock to me as i didn’t expect to feel this upset. Whenever celebrities died and i saw people on the TV crying, i could never understand that, as i always though, “But You Didn’t Know Him/Her”. Today though, it all makes sense now and i fully understand it.

I only ever came close to Sir Bobby on a couple of occasions when i got autographs from him, but right from the age of 7, when he lead England to the world cup semi final, i always felt i knew him, and when he became Newcastle manager that was my dream come true.

Today, myself and my son went along to St James Park and paid our respects along with hundreds of other fans, and not just Newcastle fans. Below you will see a picture of the first few tributes that have been laid, and i’m sure over this coming weekend thousands of people will enter St. James Park to pay their respects to this true Legend.

(Click Image For Larger Version)

Update:
Here is a photo taken on Monday August 3rd 2009.

(Click Image For Larger Version)