The first babble

OK, here we go. One day to go until Glenn's army attempt to get us in the UEFA cup. Am I worried? Yes. Not only am I worried that no UEFA cup football this season will plunge us into a downward spiral of misfortune, I am worried that without a European adventure this campaign we will we lack the finances and the attraction necessary to bring in players capable of helping us succeed. For the last few seasons Newcastle United has been a club about to break through and become successful, but I feel that this season we have something to prove. Fans of other clubs and pundits alike are no longer predicting great things for us, we are fizzling out of the football experts' mental list of big clubs. This season is about playing good football, winning and staying disciplined. We must make some good signings, not big names, players who didn't arrive for huge fees and have less pressure on them to perform. Personally I would like to see the likes of David Nugent from Preston, Robert Huth, Steed Malbranque, all quality players who can be obtained for much less that £10 million each. I also think fat Freddy should swallow his pride and take some players on loan, the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wayne Bridge, Javier Saviola or dare I say it, Theo Walcott? My preference for a replacement to Alan Shearer would be Feyenoord's Dirk Kuyt, but it seems Liverpool are leading the race to sign him and maybe we don't have the financial firepower.

Lillestrøm. A team I expected us to beat. I didn't think it would be easy because of their superior fitness, but I thought one or two nil wouldn't have been too much to ask. However I'm not upset at the performance, the fitness and sharpness obviously played a part in our failure to win. They have the away goal so we now find ourselves at a disadvantage playing away from home, whether this pressure with spur the players on is yet to be seen. Part of me wonders whether going into the UEFA cup would be a bit of distraction like it was Middlesbrough last season, and I also remember the agony of watching our UEFA cup dream of 2004/5 slip away as Sporting Lisbon banged in the goals to complete an astonishing and truly heartbreaking come back. I am the first admit that, that night was the first time I cried at the end of a Newcastle game. And as we sank out of the FA Cup just three days later, the end of the season was just some sort of numb haze as it floated ungracefully to its insignificant close.

Maybe this season is the season that every new manager talks about, or maybe we will be confined to another 'almost' cup run and a bottom half premiership finish. Then there is Roeder's habit of taking a team to 7th place in the league and successfully relegating them the next season. Yes, it's happened twice. Third time lucky?