Recently in Newcastle United Category

As impressive and as enjoyable as Newcastle's thrashing of Aston Villa was last weekend, it would be foolish to get carried away with one result, just as it was stupid to write the team off after the 3-0 reverse at Manchester United.

Having spent the last few days being chucked around various rides at Alton Towers, I'm afraid it's time to draw the old rollercoaster analogy ahead of the trip to Accrington Stanley in the Carling Cup.

There are going to be plenty of ups and downs this season and, while the win over Aston Villa was, as Chris Hughton would say, "er, very much a high" for "this group of lads", there will be some nasty little dips along the way to turn the stomach.

It is something Newcastle United fans are going to have to get used to this season if they want to preserve their sanity. Trawling for positives in an ocean of apparent disappointments.

Newcastle were well-beaten and, at times, out-classed by Manchester United. However, they will not be the last team to have their pants pulled down at Old Trafford this season and I have seen plenty of United sides - far better ones than this on paper as well - given an equally torrid time at the Theatre of Nightmares, sorry dreams.

It was, as returns to the top flight go, a baptism of fire which scolded plenty of Newcastle fingers, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really mean anything in terms of what the Magpies are trying to achieve.

The resignation of Martin O'Neill does not immediately have any ramifications for North-East football, but the departure of such a high-profile and respected Premier League manager will eventually influence some major decisions this season.

When a manager as good as he sits at home, waiting for the next job opportunity, Premier League chairman are far more willing to push the button on the manager's ejector seat at their own clubs.

It is a remarkable thing the transfer market. Protracted, unpredictable and often frustrating? Of course. But it also exciting, compelling and richly rewarding when the right deal gets done for your football club.

Newcastle United's signing of Sol Campbell is one of the latter deals. Turns down Sunderland, apparently Arsenal bound, and then he turns up in Newcastle for a medical.

It is the sort of transfer which, with one swish - actually I'm not sure that is what you do with a pen in your hand - makes me feels a whole lot better about Newcastle's chances of staying up this season.

Chris Hughton has got more calls right than wrong since he became Newcastle United's manager and his decision to give Andy Carroll the number nine shirt was a definitely the correct one.

Ok, so a player who has a court case for an alleged assault hanging over him, and one who was involved in a training ground bust up with another teammate last season, may not, on the face of things, seem like the ideal choice to fill such an iconic shirt.

However, with the number comes responsibility and by handing him the famous shirt, Hughton is challenging Carroll to not only score goals for Newcastle United, he is asking him to grow up and take on more responsibility.

With adverts for the new Premier League campaign virtually on repeat on any Sky channel we are already been herded up for another gruelling ten months of domestic football.

When the England team fails, we always round on our domestic game, its failings and its shortcomings, the lack of young players coming through and the sheer number of foreign imports blocking their way.

And then.....we forget all about it as soon as we get to within excitement distance of a competitive ball being kicked..

I don't know enough about James Perch to say he is not going to be a good signing for Newcastle United, but it is slightly worrying to hear Nottingham Forest fans are perfectly happy to see him leave.

Apparently Perch had turned into a bit of a fall guy at Forest last season and the general impression on a brief visit to a fans forum suggests he was a nice guy who was never particularly rated on the pitch.

For a defender who has not played a game for England Steven Taylor is attracting a hell of a lot of interest from rivals clubs this summer. I wonder which top European side will be in for him this weekend! Real Madrid perhaps? Inter Milan?

Taylor is a fine player, but I find it a little strange he is supposedly on the wanted lists at clubs like Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Everton, particularly as he is not an international player and has got nowhere near the England squad in the last couple of years.

However, that is not to say some of the above are not genuinely interested and I would not be surprised in the slightest if Taylor leaves St James' Park this summer.

If there is no money to spend at Newcastle United, there is no money to spend. If there was one positive from Sunday's night bleak official club statement, at least we know where we stand.

But that really was about it. The rest was just depressing. Newcastle will not be spending any money because Ashley has decided he wants to clear debts more than he wants to make sure United stay in the top flight. Oh and nobody on the board will ever feel the need to explain themselves ever again!

Balancing the books is more important, apparently, than the rather more pressing concern of making sure the squad is good enough to stay in the top flight. The business needs to be sorted out and the team can fend for itself in the meantime.

There are a couple of contenders for the chant of the year at Newcastle United, although my personal favourite has to be the one about Fabricio Coloccini and the liberties he can take with supporters' wives.

Apparently the Argentinian did not know anything about it until I politely told him during an interview and tried to give him a vaguely censored grasp of the song's lyrics. I've since been told he liked it even more when he learnt exactly what they were singing.

So no longer does Coloccini have the best haircut in English football, he has one of the best chants as well. But I wonder how Andy Carroll and Steven Taylor feel about the latest popular terrace ditty?