To me it was a little late coming but Mike Ashley finally acknowledged his role in the whole relegation saga. In a statement, Mr Ashley said:

“Seeing Newcastle United relegated from the Premier League has been a catastrophe for us all,” he said.

“I fully accept that mistakes were made during this and previous seasons and I am very sorry for that.

“I would like to say sorry to our magnificent supporters who have turned up in their thousands, home and away, up and down the country and who have given the team amazing backing throughout.

“And I would also say sorry to all of the club’s hard-working staff, who have gone about their jobs all year long.”

He later stated that securing Alan Shearer’s services for next season were high on his to-do list. Considering that reports are once again re-surfacing of a possible take over, I’m annoyed that Ashley wants to cut ‘n’ run and not stay for at least another season to try and fix things. We all know the time when we endured a frustrating time earlier in the year when the people at the top failed to communicate anything to the fans or team. This is still rumour which I hope is not true. If he can turn Newcastle back into a winning side I believe it’ll give Ashley a much needed injection of credibility which he sorely needs.

Negotiations with Shearer at the Darsley Park training ground are on-going and wrestling transfer cash is yet again a sticking point as it was for Keegan and Kinnear during their brief tenures. I hope that Shearer manages to take a job which doesn’t involve any heavy handed-ness from Ashley or Llambias. Those two have already publicly said that they screwed things up and putting too much power in their hands has lead us to relegation already. I’m sure myself and other fans are urging related parties to get on with it and start rebuilding the club from the ground up. The more time they waste the less chance we’ll have to hit the ground running come August.

An update on the players side, a few have spoken ou t as to regards to staying or not. Viduka will probably either retire having lost his place on the Oz international team and unlikely to receive another contract. Peter Lovenkrands’ agent has already expressed that the striker wants Premier league football next season. Good chances he will be out. I believe a few  players will await the Shearer decision before deciding their future. Taylor, Duff, Beye are all keen that Shearer stay on. We’ll have to be patient.

I’ve been dreading the last match of the season since the start of the week. It’s been like a dark cloud hanging over me. The crunch match on Sunday will be a thrilling spectacle of guts and determination from Newcastle United. I’m pretty sure of it. We have some injuries on the cards namely Beye. Bassong is definitely out after an appeal on the red card received in the Fulham match on Saturday. This is my most nerve-racking experience I have had as a fan in a long well.

Anyhow, Alan Shearer doesn’t want to be despondent about Sunday’s match. Click here for an interview given at press conference today. It’s good that he remains confident on the proceedings. What any Newcastle fan wouldn’t want to see is a piss-poor effort in any half. If the players are worth their salt then they’ll give all. We can speculate as to whether he stays on after the match as manager but I’ve read that some people have been saying he can’t sit with the MOTD lot so soon after all that’s happened. Personally, I want him to stay on and tweek the side and ‘learn the trade’ as it were at Newcastle. Other worries are obviously what side Manchester United will field against Hull as their result is very much depending. I’m not worried there. I think it’ll hurt Man Utd’s prospects in their remaining competition matches if they lose against Hull.

It’s also worth pointing out that North East sides in general have been taking a battering this season. Although I don’t care less about Sunderland or Boro, it does make me stop and think what the hell’s going on.

Enough that, I’m sure I’ll await with some nervousness about the result and watch Sky from behind the sofa, through our hankies etc. whilst clutching a rabbit’s foot.

Speak to you again after the dust has settled. There’s a celebratory Newcastle Brown waiting for me if we perform the greatest of escapes.

The second half was closely fought and it took a mistake from Dunne to accidently put the ball in his own net to leave the St James Park crowd in raptures. However, a win was not to be as after 80 minutes, Stephen Ireland managed to make the scoreline level once more. In the end it was another display of grit from the black n white and maybe there will be light at the end of the tunnel as Kinnear begins to whip the players into something that might actually be self-belief. As Spurs drift further behind and Newcastle head to a very winner-able game against Sunderland, it does look promising on paper at least.

The latest today is that the red card against Beye has at last been nulled, leaving the player available for the big derby. Good news indeed. As for Styles; his days as a Premiership ref may well be numbered.

It took a combined effort of Martins, Owen and Viduka to crush Reading with a goal each. This result left the home crowd and Keegan with a huge smile. Yet again the three pronged attack formation proved deadly and let Owen net 4 goals in 4 matches. The rest of the team performed excellently with Habib Beye taking in most of the credit for his assistance in the last goal involving Viduka and his performance throughout.

Keegan said afterward:

“I’ve been excited with a lot of the football we played against Spurs and here.

Not just the three up front but the way we’ve passed the ball and moved it.

The third goal was a real classic> A lot of one-touch passing -cutting open Reading with incicsive football”

Us fans are now looking forward to another season in the Premeirship and for once I feel that things could be different with Newcastle once again a force to be reckoned with. It’s not over yet for this season, however. We face off Pompey this weekend and we’ve all heard Harry’s constant reasons for snubbing the managerial job in January. It’s time to put him in his place.

The Premier League and club representatives gathered to discuss extending a season to play 10 extra league games abroad. The ambition ‘international round’ plan are a way of promoting the Premier League globally and bringing additional revenue from new fans abroad. The league has already attracted a following in countries like China but the move will benefit all the clubs and not just the “top 4″. What this will mean to crowd control and other unsavory activities associated with international football is anybodies guess but I can only think of positives with such a move.

The African Nations Cup draws to a close. We are expected Beye and Faye to return to the squad against Villa whilst Martins also comes back but as I heard is nursing a slight ankle injury. Geremi is still in the tournament as Cameroon take on hosts, Ghana.

Our back line didn’t exactly do any favours for us with Beye and Rozza both making mistakes to let both Barnes and then Miller put the ball past Shay. Both goals showed that defensively we are still fragile and no doubt Allardyce would be worried.

Our saviour was Viduka whose goal brace put the smiles back on the Toon army. Both Martins and Emre also came close to scoring but it was not to be. Drama also included a blatently sound penalty shout as Smith was pushed in the back whilst attempting an overhead kick.

Not the result the fans wanted today and showed again that we still need work at the back. But on the postive side, Viduka looked deadly and showed what a good aquistion he is. Also, today marked the return of Damien Duff from injury as he put on a decent performance but in time we hope he’ll return to some of the form he showed when he was at Chelsea.

Next up, it’s to the JJB to face Bramble and co.

Throughout the second half, the game was evenly poised with no team making head way to get that elusive winner. But at the 90th minute, Beye was fed through by Emre via a corner and the defender duly headed (shouldered?) the ball past the Birmingham keeper. An amazing outcome which saw us rightfully pick the three points up despite our frailities.

Some words from Allardyce:

“We have worked very, very hard over the last seven days – Blackburn and then Arsenal and now Birmingham – and now finally got what we deserved.

“Birmingham, for us, is a winnable game. It would have been a huge disappointment had we not won this game today. I would have had to say ‘this is not good enough’.

We should be going in the next fixture in the right frame of mind as we travel away to Craven Cottage next Saturday. As long as Allardyce deals with the defence and inadequate midfield passing at times, we could be bagging more points. However, Fulham will be another tough test but tonight we re-enter the top half of the table again and for me, the right direction.