Is history repeating itself at Newcastle? - The Northern Echo

Is history repeating itself at Newcastle?

8:00am Wednesday 8th May 2013 in Sport By Scott Wilson

WITH Newcastle in deep relegation trouble ahead of the final two games of the season, there is a chance the club could repeat 2009's dramatic drop into the Championship. Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson highlights the similarities and differences between the two campaigns

SIMILARITIES

1. "Too good to go down"

Back in 2009, no one saw relegation coming. Newcastle boasted a squad packed with established Premier League names, and even when they flirted with the bottom three for much of November, it was always assumed that the likes of Nicky Butt, Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Mark Viduka would haul them out of trouble.

Fast forward four years, and once again we have a scenario where a Newcastle side that looks packed with quality on paper is failing to live up to its billing on the pitch.

Relegation wasn't even being discussed as a possibility in the first half of the season, and no one batted an eyelid when Alan Pardew twice described his side as "safe" this spring. Suddenly, though, the true strength of the Newcastle team is being reassessed.

2. Dreadful March and April

While Newcastle spent all bar one week of the 2008-09 season in the bottom half of the table, things only really came to a head when they collapsed in the spring.

From the middle of February to the beginning of May, they went ten games without a win, a calamitous run that ultimately sealed their fate.

Things haven't been quite as bad this time around, and the Magpies were starting from a much stronger position, but from the middle of March to the middle of May, they have won just one of their last seven games. Throw in the heaviest home defeat of their history, and you have another debilitating blip.

3. Handicapped by injuries

Alan Pardew has repeatedly bemoaned his side's injury record this season, and there is no doubt that the absence of key players has contributed to Newcastle's struggles.

Tim Krul, Fabricio Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa have all missed large chunks of the campaign, with a number of other players also suffering long-term injuries.

Four years ago, injuries were also influential. Owen and Martins both missed crucial spring matches, while Viduka was restricted to just one league start before he finally returned in April. Joey Barton was another player who barely featured, although on the evidence of his sending off at Liverpool when he did return, perhaps that was just as well.

4. Sold a key player in January

For Shay Given in 2009, read Demba Ba in 2013. For all that Steve Harper proved a decent deputy, Given's departure had a significant effect as the Irishman was regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League when he joined Manchester City.

His departure also had a symbolic importance as it was interpreted as one of Newcastle's most loyal servants leaving a sinking ship.

Ba's exit was much less of a surprise given the much-publicised buy-out clause in his contract, but his January move to Chelsea nevertheless robbed the Magpies of a striker who had scored 13 goals in the first half of the season. Crucially, he has still not been adequately replaced.

DIFFERENCES

1. Managerial stability

Think back to the 2008-09 campaign, and the overriding impression is one of chaos borne of repeated managerial upheavals. Kevin Keegan was dismissed at the start of the season, Joe Kinnear was appointed as his surprise replacement, Chris Hughton replaced Kinnear when he suffered heart problems, and Alan Shearer was eventually parachuted in with eight games to go. The whole thing was a monumental mess.

Things could hardly have been more different this time around, as not only has Alan Pardew been in situ for the whole of the campaign, he was even given an eight-year contract to underline the strength of his position in September.

Will stability ultimately prove Newcastle's salvation? It is to be hoped so, although a growing number of supporters have been agitating for a change after growing disillusioned with Pardew's selections and tactics.

2. Key additions in January

In the relegation campaign, the January acquisition of Kevin Nolan and Ryan Taylor proved insufficient to stop the rot. In hindsight, wholesale changes were required, but Kinnear was never afforded the opportunity to sign enough players to alter the course of the campaign.

This time around, Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias accepted the need for change when the mid-season transfer window opened. Five players arrived from France, with a couple of signings brought forward from this summer to address the mounting problems.

Have they improved things? The jury remains out. But if they safeguard Newcastle's Premier League status in the next two weeks, they will have repaid their transfer fee at a stroke.

3. European campaign

Fixture congestion was certainly not an issue when Newcastle last went down. They weren't in Europe, and they exited both domestic cup competitions at the third-round stage. Whatever else went wrong, it's impossible to claim burn-out played a part.

Pardew's protestations about the effects of European football grew tiresome this spring, but even so, it is impossible to claim that Newcastle's position has not been adversely affected by their participation in the Europa League.

Saturday's game at QPR will be the Magpies' 53rd of the season - a challenging programme that has contributed to their failings.

4. A hungrier first-team squad

Rightly or wrongly, the prevailing view at the end of the 2008-09 season was that Newcastle's players had been relegated because they simply didn't care.

The likes of Owen, Martins and Damien Duff were repeatedly chided for not showing enough commitment, particularly when the chips were down in the latter half of the campaign.

It has been argued that all is not well in the squad this time around - although the club could hardly have been more vociferous in their denials of a split in the camp.

Whatever is true, it would be unfair to suggest the current crop of players are comparable to the over-paid, over-hyped contingent that took Newcastle down four years ago. They just have to prove as much in their next two outings.