Our unbeaten record continued on Sunday, and Joe Kinnear's managerial record at Newcastle got even better, with our annual win against Tottenham. Despite their the confidence of their lovely fans, with one claiming "the cheerleaders look more fearsome [than any of our team]" (although which cheerleaders he's been watching I have no idea), they once again left disappointed from a fixture which they have only won three times since the birth of the Premiership.

Despite a slightly nervy start in which Lennon fired a slightly worrying cross near Shay Given, the first real chance of the game came in the 12th minute when some great route one football saw the ball leave the foot of Given, beat the defence, and, after N'Zogbia fought his marker he calmly got to his feet and turned to slot the ball past Gomes to make it 1-0. It wasn't long, however, before Spurs were back with dangerman and one time Newcastle target Luka Modric chasing a ball which Michael Dawson stole from Shola Ameobi and slotting past the stranded Shay Given. Appeals for offside against Pavluychenko were rightly ignored, as, despite being a long way offside, he never moved towards the ball and the defenders couldn't fairly claim he distracted them. Viduka replaced Ameobi around the half hour mark, and the match continued with no other notable incidents until half time.

The teams came out at half time unchanged, and the game picked up from where it left off with no real chances for about 20 minutes of the second half, until the ball fell to Michael Owen about 10 yards out, and, being the prolific goal scorer he is he promptly put it straight... over the bar. At the other end Frazier Campbell missed a free header from a great cross by Lennon, and the match seemed to be going for a draw, until up steps Joe Kinnear, tactical genius, to bring on Duff for Jose Enrique, who would have no doubt been disappointed having played a good solid game. Within minutes, Duff got the ball, played a pass to the feet of fellow substitute Viduka, who played a lovely back heel to complete the one-two, and Duff calmly put the ball into the back of the net, to nick all three points in the dying minutes of the game.

The match was certainly a huge change from the Stoke game, only two weeks ago, when Joe Kinnear's poor substitution choices gave away a two goal lead, but he seems to be learning from his mistakes, his substitutions are more attacking and a lot braver, and as we rise into 12th place (above both the mackems and the small town in Yorkshire) we can only congratulate his tactical nous helping us to a great Christmas gift.

The NUFC-forum.com Man of the Match award, as chosen by the fans themselves, goes to Sebastien Bassong, for yet another brilliant performance at the back. He's certainly trying to singlehandedly quash those rumours of Newcastle having a poor defence. Thanks Bassong

Feel free to comment on the game and read comments from other supporters on the forum

The sporadic match reports couldn't miss such a fantastic result, so they return, with the aim of being more regular (but I'm sure I said that before).

Newcastle headed on their longest journey of the season, all the way down to the south coast, to play a match that no one had held much confidence going into. Portsmouth were unbeaten in 5 league games and Crouch and Defoe had formed a somewhat formidable partnership, so Newcastle fans could be forgiven for thinking their record of two clean sheets on the road, and unbeaten in their last 4 games, would end abruptly. The players on the other hand had other ideas.

After a long drought of match reports, they're back, and I'll try and get them going regularly again.

A gutsy performance gave us a very important point, as the defence held strong against what should have been a good Chelsea side. Despite being battered constantly for 90 minutes (26 shots to our 2) a good team performance kept the score level for the whole match, and stopped us shipping yet more goals.

The losses aren't coming as much as a surprise now for Newcastle fns as the crisis at the club deepens, and our team once again failed to deliver as we came up against a side whose manager had left in similar circumstances to Keegan less than 3 weeks ago. Unlike Newcastle, however, West Ham quickly replaced their manager, and succeeded in limiting the damage of Curbishley's departure, bringing in a former Premiership favourite, Gianfranco Zola.

A terrible week for Newcastle was made worse as newly promoted Hull beat an under strength Newcastle side at St. James' Park.

From the BBC:

Kevin Keegan's future as Newcastle manager remains uncertain, despite assurances he has not quit the club.

His second spell at the helm looked to have ended after only eight months amid claims he had clashed with owner Mike Ashley over transfer policy.

But the Magpies insisted he had not been sacked, while the League Managers' Association said he had not quit.

"Newcastle Football Club and its fans are massively important to Kevin," said LMA chief executive Richard Bevan.

Bevan revealed he had spoken at length to Keegan, 57, on Tuesday evening.

"He has not resigned, he's in a difficult position and he'll be discussing important issues with the Newcastle board over the next few days," Bevan told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"I can understand there is an eagerness for more information on the problems but at this stage it is important that we let the parties communicate and it would be inappropriate for me to pre-judge any outcome or explain the issues much more at this particular point.

"I'm just saying he has not resigned, he will be working hard to communicate with the Newcastle board and we'll have to wait and see what the outcome is over the next few days."

He added that the LMA will keep supporters, media and other stakeholders within the game fully informed of developments.

eegan's future came under the spotlight after he made his feelings plain over the Premier League club's summer transfer activity at a meeting on Monday.

Following those talks, he was again summoned by the hierarchy on Tuesday morning as rumours of his exit started to surface.

BBC Sport understands Keegan had at one stage left the club, although Newcastle issued a statement later on Monday, insisting he was still their manager.

"Newcastle United can confirm that meetings between members of the board and manager Kevin Keegan were held both yesterday (Monday) and today (Tuesday)," it read.

"Kevin has raised a number of issues and those have been discussed with him.

"The club wants to keep progressing with its long-term strategy and would like to stress that Kevin is extremely important, both now and in the future.

"Newcastle United values the effort and commitment shown by Kevin since his return to St James' Park and wants him to continue to play an instrumental role as manager of the club.

"For the avoidance of doubt, the club has not sacked Kevin Keegan as manager."

The cause of the latest crisis at St James' Park seems to centre on Keegan's unhappiness with the club's relative lack of signings in recent weeks.

He had voiced his belief on Friday - after winger James Milner's £12m departure for Aston Villa - that he would have three or four more players at his disposal by midnight on Monday.

In the event, only striker Xisco and loan signing Ignacio Gonzalez arrived on Tyneside, while troubled midfielder Joey Barton was the subject of an unsuccessful approach from another top-flight club.

The role of former Leeds manager Dennis Wise, who occupies the position of executive director of football at the club, is another subject likely to have been under discussion at the meetings.

Following news that Keegan's position was under threat, Newcastle supporters flocked to St James' Park on Tuesday to register their support for the manager and protest against Ashley, calling for him to step down.

It was a very different reaction for Ashley back in June 2007, when he was deemed the club's saviour after completing a £135m takeover.

He then sacked Sam Allardyce as manager at the start of 2008 after a run of poor results and shocked the football world by bringing back Keegan for a second spell in charge.

In his first stint as manager, between 1992 and 1997, he saved the Magpies from dropping into the third tier of English football and almost guided them to the Premier League title in 1997.

Keegan's relationship with Ashley was also not helped when in May he said he did not believe Newcastle could become a top-four club.

The Magpies currently lie 11th in the table after a promising start to the new campaign.

After drawing 1-1 with Manchester United, they beat Bolton 1-0 before losing to Arsenal 3-0.

Newcastle progressed to the next round of the Carling Cup with a win over Coventry City, but only after a nail-biting performance saw the match go to extra time. In typical Newcastle United fashion, the team made things hard for themselves after Coventry goals in stoppage time of both halves cancelled out a well deserved lead.

He’s only played one game this season, but with it he’s already scored a goal, and shown he’s back and means business. And ahead of our Carling Cup game tonight against Coventry, canvassing their fans led to one unanimous call, Michael Owen is the man they all dread to face.

Owen has been out over the summer with mumps and a calf strain (he never was the luckiest of chaps when it came to illnesses and injuries) but he made a great goal scoring return when he came on as a substitute against Bolton on Saturday, and he’s shown that he can still score goals like the best of them. Given this, it’s no real surprise that fans on both www.coventrycity-mad.co.uk and www.skybluestalk.co.uk rate him as the player they fear most in the meeting with Newcastle.

They also claim that the match will be close, while obviously hoping for a win, and that Newcastle should fear Aron Gunnarsson, the 19 year old midfielder who has obviously made an impact on fans since joining in June, and Michael Mifsud, the 5’5” striker who enjoys scoring in cup games, especially against bigger teams. Most hope Coventry can finish around 8^th while predicting a better season for Newcastle, although still only high mid-table.

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While I was in Chester for the weekend, our boy from Chester was having a much more productive time. Michael Owen marked his first appearance for Newcastle this season with a goal, which turned out to be the winner on a day when Keegan hoped to get revenge against a side which ruined his return in the last fixture. And all this was despite people seemingly forgetting to tell Steven Taylor that “rush and scramble” goalkeeping only applies in the park, and not in the Premiership.

With Mike Ashley stating in the press about wanting a partner, having had a pretty disastrous year with Sports Direct (very much to do with Steve Mclarens failings as a manager) it got me thinking.

Having heard a lot about the proposed investment from the Binladen group I was quite excited.  I'd heard Andy Brassell talking about this group before as they renovated a club in France, giving them a new stadium complex with top notch facilities.

As chairman of a club hoping to attract investment, it probably wasn't the best of ideas to start waxing lyrical about people from "some cave in Afghanistan", especially considering Bakr and Mohammed Binladen have no remaining connection with Osama, if not a little insulting it was certainly unprofessional.

I like the guy, some sides of him seem fantastic and I'd be very interested to meet him, but there's what seems like a slightly tight attitude beneath it. 

I don't want him to throw money at managers in the same way Freddy Shepherd did and I'm watching moves in the transfer market with extreme interest.

He seems to have bought some exciting young talent in a Wenger or Benitez type way - Zamblera, Kadar and Tozer being bought in this way with a few others supposedly lined up, Aaron Spear for example, I think he's trying to build a future generation, a squad that will flourish under his guidance from above, so to speak.

Perhaps this is what we've been crying out for all these years wasting astronomical amounts on players with little ability, drive or commitment. 

It might take a few years but, together with the appointments of Dennis Wise and Kevin Keegan, if he can steady the ship and push on, all players and staff pulling in the same direction, it could be an exceptional step in the quest to bring success back to St James'.

Seemingly scrapping the mercenaries, the big money, headline grabbing buys - because lord knows he can afford them, despite Sports Direct making half of last years profits, being a thrifty man could well, if you'll excuse the pun, pay off.

One example I've been thinking about to illustrate my beliefs is Ronaldinho.  You know as well as I do that had Shepherd been in charge it wouldn't have been Man City being taken in by his agent, used to bump up the value, throwing a blank cheque and a pen at him and yet our name was barely mentioned - something that delighted me, astonishing as it was!

So here's hoping you don't get to be worth as much as he is by throwing money around.........

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