Newcastle United Fan View: A fabulous weekend for Toon fans

A convincing 4-0 victory for Newcastle United took them above Brighton, to once again top the Championship table. It was a good performance but you could argue that Rotherham had the best chances in the first half – especially the chance that Rotherham fluffed when Karl Darlow had let the ball slip his grasp mid-way through the first half.

It was a comical attack; Darlow ran to the edge of the box to gather the ball but his momentum was taking him out of the box and he never had control of the ball, the Rotherham attacker nicked the ball and a goal looked a certainty given there was no keeper in the goal and the Newcastle United defence were still chasing back.

What came next was a moment of wonder from Darlow, he somehow managed to get back in to his area and save the shot – I haven’t seen a replay of it yet but for the save alone, it is worth catching the highlights!

I left the game with a huge smile on my face, a 4-0 win, top of the table, a clean sheet, a good performance and I’d had a bet on 4-0 and Matt Ritchie to score (although I confess to chickening out and cashing out on 82 minutes!). Newcastle United top of the Championship and flying. Sunderland bottom of the Premier League and drowning. Magic!

I actually went to the game with my wife and two kids, it was my son’s first game at a Newcastle match so it was a proud moment for me – although, at 5 years old he found the experience “too shouty” and left with my wife after 21 minutes! My daughter’s first game was last season, a 3-0 defeat at home to eventual champions Leicester City so she came along to her second game with a little cynicism already built in to her 8 year old brain! Mind, as soon as the first goal went in, she was clapping, shouting and cheering with us all and it was a nice moment to see a kid get the football bug. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that now begins a lifetime of misery, suffering and disappointment…

We now have a 10 day wait until our next league game, another home fixtures, this time against QPR who we mauled 6-0 in the reverse fixture and given today’s performance, I suspect QPR will not fancy facing us right now.

Sandwiched in between today and QPR is of course our FA Cup 4th round fixture against Oxford United on Saturday 28th January but given the close proximity to the QPR game, I suspect Rafa will field an experimental side in the cup. I can’t blame him though, the league is a priority. The FA Cup is certainly not a distraction, I want us to do well but not at the expense of league form.

The big question on every fans’ lips right now though is whether or not we will be making any signings between now and the end of the month. Numerous names have been mentioned, most of those names have either gone elsewhere or have had a massively inflated price tag slapped on them. The name that won’t go away though is a certain Andros Townsend so I thought it would be timely to put my thoughts out there on the issue.

Andros Townsend was a revelation when he signed last season from Tottenham Hotspur. He was arguably our player of the season, which given he only played the last 50% of the season, is saying something. He was a fantastic player at Newcastle United but as soon as relegation was confirmed, he couldn’t get out of the club quick enough and I can’t deny, that doesn’t sit well with me. So at the moment, I am split. Part of me wants him to stay at Crystal Palace, part of me wants him to get relegated with Palace, how beautiful would that be under Fat Sam?

The thing is though, he is a quality player, we all know that, and we do need a winger to compliment Matt Ritchie on the other flank so on paper, Townsend is perfect. It is rumoured that he wants to return to Newcastle and I suspect, should he actually sign before the window closes in a week and a bit, there will be a hell of a fire in his belly wanting to get a lot of the Newcastle United fans back on his side. If the price is right I would take him and by that, if the price is significantly less than what we sold him for then it is a no-brainer. If Palace are asking for their money back I would move on. End of story.