April 2010 Archives

You wait 17 years for Newcastle United to win a trophy and I miss it. Yep, thanks to Volcanic ash clouds and gridlock on the continent's transport network a short four day break to Portugal turned into a mammoth ten day extravaganza.

My name is dirt in the office - not my fault the Civil Aviation Authority was scared of a little ash is it - but thankfully I've finally managed to get a flight and I'm back in time for United's Championship coronation against Ipswich this weekend.

In truth, few would have bet against them going up as champions as soon as they secured promotion last month, but that should not take away from the size of the achievement.

Sunderland only need one more win to guarantee their Premier League safety, although in reality fears about relegation vanished weeks ago. That is, when you look at the last two seasons, significant progress.

So what have we learnt about the Black Cats this season? Steve Bruce has done a good job, the team has progressed from 12 months ago and they are starting to look like an established Premier League club.

Darren Bent has been a phenomenal signing and could go on to become on the club's all time greats, while the likes of Lorik Cana, Michael Turner and Lee Cattermole have strengthened the spine of the side.

Nobody should make the mistake of thinking Newcastle United's promotion back to the Premier League was a formality and anyone who does clearly has a very short memory.

Newcastle were expected to be the new Leeds United. But we have seen a new Newcastle United, driven, focused, determined and unified in their quest to return to the Premier League.

There isn't a phoenix in sight as a far as I can tell, but from the ashes of relegation, the Magpies fly again.