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Luke Edwards is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.

As well as football, Luke also regularly takes a wry look at the biggest sports stories from across the North-East and beyond. From cricket to rugby and basketball to boxing, some are criticised and some are praised.

Sometimes provocative, sometimes laugh-aloud funny, but always interesting Luke Who's Talking also gives you the chance to interact with Luke and have your say on all the major sporting issues.

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October 2007 Archives


Danny Higginbotham And Frank Gallagher

Posted by Luke on October 1, 2007 1:44 PM

When you have just contributed to a damaging home defeat, often, the last thing you want to do is talk about it to a bunch of strangers who will point out your blunder to the world. So hats off and a pat on the back to Sunderland’s Danny Higginbotham at the weekend.

The defender had gifted Blackburn their second goal at the Stadium of Light with a weak back pass in the second half, he was feeling terrible about it, he had just apologised to his deflated teammates in the dressing room and then he had to apologise to the supporters, via the media.

You might say it was only the sensible and correct thing to do after a costly personal mistake, but you would be surprised how many footballers would have shuffled away from the ground and into their expensive car without saying a word publicly.

Continue reading "Danny Higginbotham And Frank Gallagher" »

Aussie Rules Are Over

Posted by Luke on October 3, 2007 3:57 PM

There is a favourite sport in Australia, more popular than rugby, cricket and that stupid game they play called Aussie Rules - presumably because they are the only ones who understand it and are daft enough to play it. It is called Pom bashing.

Australians have two main topics of conversation. How brilliant Australia is and how rubbish Britain, and in particular England, is. However, as they are a largely insignificant country, culturally and politically, situated somewhere south of Japan, the only way they can express their national power and pride is through sport.

And, let’s be honest, they have gleefully rubbed our faces in the dirt and kicked sand in our faces plenty of times through the years. For every Ashes triumph there have been a string of humiliating series defeats. For every World Cup Final victory there are plenty of hammerings on the rugby pitch.

Continue reading "Aussie Rules Are Over" »

Patience Please Ladies and Gentlemen

Posted by Luke on October 4, 2007 3:29 PM

Until recently I would have confidently predicted Newcastle United would qualify for Europe next season, but it seems Sam Allardyce has rather more work to do than we first thought at St James’s Park.

I’m not going to join the hopelessly premature calls for the manager’s head or anything like that. To call for a manager to be sacked after nine competitive games in charge is like calling for a General Election a couple of weeks after the votes have been counted.

Allardyce wasn’t everybody’s first choice for the job - I personally advocated Sven-Goran Eriksson’s case - but it is far too early to be writing him off just because of a couple of bad results against Derby and Manchester City and a cup defeat against Arsenal’s reserves.

Continue reading "Patience Please Ladies and Gentlemen" »

Emre The Turkish Teletubbie

Posted by Luke on October 8, 2007 1:08 PM

I’m not allowed to have favourite players as a journalist, but if I had to choose one at Newcastle it would be Emre, a player I have affectionally nicknamed the Turkish Teletubbie.

Some of you will be mystified by my choice, some merely a little surprised, but I rate the little midfielder more than most a) because he reminds me a little of Maradona with his low centre of gravity b) he’s a rare creative rose in a Newcastle midfield of prickly thorns c) because he looks like a cuddly teddy bear.

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England's Michael Owen - The Truth Behind The Rumours

Posted by Luke on October 10, 2007 12:50 PM

Surprise, surprise, some people are trying to suggest there is a rift between Michael Owen and Newcastle United manager Sam Allardyce over the striker’s involvement in England’s Euro 2008 qualifiers against Estonia and Russia.

Blimey, next thing you know they’ll be telling us the Australians are a little upset about losing in the Rugby World Cup to England last weekend.

No, seriously, this sort of thing gets on my nerves, it’s just stirring the brown smelly stuff for the sake of, well, stirring the brown smelly stuff and it is Newcastle United who ultimately suffer.

Continue reading "England's Michael Owen - The Truth Behind The Rumours" »

I Told You Everything You Needed To Know

Posted by Luke on October 15, 2007 1:32 PM

We are used to being disappointed when it comes to our national teams as they lurch from one cringe worthy humiliation to the next, but for once, what a weekend to be an Englishman!

A thrashing for the (erm) mighty Estonia at Wembley in the football and a World Cup semi-final win over France in the rugby courtesy of that guy Jonny Wilkinson’s boot. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and so on and so on..... Don’t you just love jumping on a bandwagon?

As someone whose experience of playing rugby at school amounted to one competitive game, when I stood shivering on the wing with my sleeves pulled over my hands for protection from the icy wind, I wouldn’t say I was a rugby expert as such!

Continue reading "I Told You Everything You Needed To Know" »

A Not So Flexible Friend And A Robbery

Posted by Luke on October 16, 2007 12:26 PM

Did you know that plastic is perhaps the greatest invention known to man, but quite why England have to play football on it against Russia is beyond me.

However, if England’s players think they have got it bad on the astro-turf in Moscow, spare a thought for Sunderland midfielder Dickson Etuhu whose first call-up to the Nigeria squad has been soured, ever so slightly, by the fact he was robbed in Mexico.

Continue reading "A Not So Flexible Friend And A Robbery" »

Who Wants To Go To Austria Anyway?

Posted by Luke on October 18, 2007 5:34 PM

Do you ever get those sinking feelings, when your guts feel like they have been turned upside down and shaken around like a cat in a tumble dryer? Well I had one the moment Steven Gerrard somehow managed to steer his shot wide from just six yards against Russia.

There was just something about the miss, the fact it was so easy, the fact he was unmarked and, nine times out of ten would have smashed it past the stranded goalkeeper without any fuss at all, that made me think, “this is all about to go horribly wrong.”

A nice dive, a poor-sighted referee and a fumbling idiot of a goalkeeper later and things had, indeed, all gone a little pear-shaped for Steve McClaren and his players.

Continue reading "Who Wants To Go To Austria Anyway?" »

Never Met A Nice South African

Posted by Luke on October 19, 2007 5:09 PM

For those of you old enough to remember - I never thought I’d use that phrase - there was a song sung by the Spitting Image puppets called “I’ve Never Met A Nice South African....” and never has a truer word been said by the satirical puppeteers!

Of course, that dates back to a time of apartheid when black people couldn’t vote in the country and Nelson Mandela was still locked up in a prison cell. Things have moved on a lot since then, but I still reckon the England players should play it in the dressing room before the game to get themselves in the mood for the fight.

Continue reading "Never Met A Nice South African" »

Points Not Plaudits For Sunderland

Posted by Luke on October 22, 2007 4:45 PM

Roy Keane said he wants points not plaudits after the defeat at West Ham at the weekend so I’ve got a point to make with no plaudits. Shouldn’t Sunderland be a little braver away from home against teams like the Hammers?

The Black Cats certainly held their own at Upton Park and, had it not been for a wonderful instinctive save from Robert Green to deny Grant Leadbitter after Kenwyne Jones had headed in an equaliser, they might have taken something back to Wearside with them.

Instead, they left east London with no points for the third game in a row - it was also their 20th in London without a win - and have failed to win a single game away from the Stadium of Light so far this season. Things are certainly better than they were under Mick McCarthy, but Keane’s right, they need to start taking points, not collecting hard luck stories.

Continue reading "Points Not Plaudits For Sunderland" »

Anyone Want To Buy a Goldfish?

Posted by Luke on October 23, 2007 2:36 PM

If Jermaine Jenas was relishing the chance to return his former club with Tottenham I’d hate to see how he played when he wasn’t looking forward to it.

The poor guy (or should that be goldfish) had an absolute shocker, despite his bold boast about thriving on the animosity aimed at him at St James’s Park. By my count, he passed the ball straight out of play three times, failed to have a single meaningful shot and was responsible for United’s third goal as he failed to close down James Milner.

Continue reading "Anyone Want To Buy a Goldfish?" »

Why Does Everyone Hate Fulham?

Posted by Luke on October 26, 2007 5:03 PM

It’s not much fun being Fulham is it. I mean, how would you feel if every team promoted to the Premier League spent the season declaring they had to beat you?

It’s strange that a team apparently as harmless and inoffensive as Fulham should be treated in such a harsh manner by their rivals. If you despised Chelsea, fine, but there really isn’t much to dislike about the Cottagers is there?

They are owned by some Egyptian guy who also owns Harrod’s and is convinced the British government killed Princess Diana and his son Dodi in one of the most enduring conspiracy theories since some guy called Oswald popped JFK from some grassy knoll in Dallas, but that isn’t a reason to hate them is it?

Continue reading "Why Does Everyone Hate Fulham?" »

Back To Earth With Yet Another Bump

Posted by Luke on October 29, 2007 12:24 PM

I have to admit, I was one of the lucky ones. I didn’t have to travel to Reading to watch Newcastle United serve up yet another sickening away performance. Then again, when you consider the fact I was at the Stadium of Light to watch Sunderland struggling against Fulham, maybe I wasn’t so lucky after all!

At least I didn’t have the 12-hour round trip to deal with and I suspect anyone who did travel to Reading will feel as though Sam Allardyce has ruined whatever goodwill he had built up in recent weeks.

For me, there is nothing worse than watching a side being easily beaten which has been set-up with the sole intention of being hard to beat. That, though, is what Newcastle became at the weekend - dull, unambitious and unimaginative. To borrow a phrase from some American teen drama or other, that sucks!

Continue reading "Back To Earth With Yet Another Bump" »

Like Bolton But Not Even Hard To Beat

Posted by Luke on October 31, 2007 11:59 AM

Surely if Glenn Roeder can get another management job in football, Sam Allardyce can decide to change his football philosophy away from home.

Thanks to the readers of this column, I’ve been informed of some rather alarming comments made by Newcastle’s manager on Sky Sport’s Goals on Sunday programme last weekend. One of the first rules of journalism is to check something and then double check it, but I’m willing to take your word on this one.

Sam, apparently, was on the show alongside best pal and former Sunderland manager Peter Reid and, when asked what he could do to improve Newcastle’s away form, suggested sacrificing a striker for a five-man midfield. What!?

Continue reading "Like Bolton But Not Even Hard To Beat" »