Right then, so that’s that for another football season. All that is left is to wrap up the good, the bad, the great and the ugly from the last nine months in the 2008 Luke Who’s Talking Football Awards.
Newcastle finally got rid of Freddie Shepherd as chairman, appointed two new managers and remained a mid-table Premier League side, albeit with the brief worry of relegation to keep things exciting.
At Sunderland, Roy Keane spent more than £40m to keep the Black Cats in the Premier League and now he wants to revamp the squad by getting rid of some of his - ahem - less than successful signings.
As ever, there is plenty to get your teeth into so here are the categories. I’ve given my choices with each question but please send me yours as well...
1 Player Of The Season: Michael Owen
Hard pushed by Sunderland’s Kenwyne Jones and Newcastle teammate Habib Beye, but this was the season we finally saw why United paid £17m for the England striker. Without his goals - 13 in 28 starts - the Magpies may well have been relegated and it is absolutely vital Newcastle keep him at the club next season if they are going to challenge for a European place.
2 Worst Player Of The Season: Paul McShane
There are plenty of candidates, but the flame-haired McShane steals the crown because of his hapless display in the Tyne-Wear derby at St James’s Park. Having been dropped by Roy Keane after a series of shaky displays at right-back, he returned to the side and had a nightmare. Lost Owen for United’s first and was lucky not to score an own goal when he was saved by the referee’s whistle. Hauled off with only two minutes remaining when he hit a free cross high into the stand behind the goal.
3 Best Signing: Kenwyne Jones
More than a few eyebrows were raised when Keane spent £6m on the Southampton striker, but he is now being linked with the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal after an eye-catching first season in the top flight. Superb in the air and strong on the ground he has been compared to a young Didier Drogba. Still needs to score more goals, but a major reason why Sunderland are still in the Premier League
4 Worst Signing: Greg Halford
He is an excellent player on Football Manager 2007, but if ever there was evidence needed to show computer games do not reflect real life this is it. Lasted six months at Reading before Keane paid £2.5 for him last summer, but looked totally out of his depth in the Premier League, was sent off twice in eight games and was quickly packed off to Charlton on loan. Sunderland will be desperate for a buyer.
5 Best Match: Sunderland 3 - 2 Middlesbrough
The Black Cats made a habit of scoring important late goals and this was the pick of the bunch as it was the result which ensured their top flight status. This was English football at its best. Fast, frenetic, extremely passionate and with the odd little bit of individual magic thrown in as well. A great game and a vital result.
6 Worst Match: Newcastle 1 - 4 Portsmouth
There is nothing worse than watching a side which is set up with the main aim of being hard to beat, being beaten easily, but that is precisely what happened to Sam Allardyce’s Newcastle against Pompey. The visitors dismantled the Magpies defence and made a mockery of Allardyce’s much-heralded new signing Claudio Cacapa. With hindsight, it probably spelt the end of his reign as manager as it appears to have sown the seed in Mike Ashley’s head that Harry Redknapp would be the man they would target as his replacement.
7 Strangest Story Of The Year : Harry Redknapp Is The New Newcastle manager
Not a great one for Newcastle as they had their job offer publicly rejected by the cockney wheeler dealer and not a great one for all those newspapers who wrote on Saturday morning that Harry had accepted the job. The Journal, thankfully, was not one of them. At least it meant Kevin Keegan returned to the North East I suppose.
8 Best Goal: Dean Whitehead vs Manchester City / Obafemi Martins vs Tottenham Hotspur
Whitehead’s was perhaps the most spectacular, a volley from just outside the area, but I just loved Martin’s solo effort in the 4-1 destruction of Tottenham. Picking up a through ball from Joey Barton, the Nigerian scared the you know what out of last defender Teemu Tainio and then dumped him on his backside before slotting the ball into the bottom corner. Fantastic.
9 Best/Worst Talking Point: A 39th Game
Closely followed by Roy Keane slagging off footballers who listen to their wives and girlfriends when deciding where to move, or his attack on hypocritical managers. Kevin Keegan caused a stir with his claim the Premier League is too predictable, but who can beat the plan to play a round of Premier League games in exotic cities around the world in January so that Premier League clubs can make more money out of foreign “customers.� Everything that is wrong with football summed up in one neat little package.
10 Most Memorable Moment: Sam Allardyce Sacked
It came as a complete shock as I had been speaking to Allardyce only a matter of minutes before he was sacked. He had no idea the bullet was coming. Big Sam’s face never seemed to fit at the club and, even if he was never given the time to be a success, the quality of football was pretty dreadful and few mourned him when he left.
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