Football Season Guide

Newcastle United suffered a poor campaign last season and were very close to relegation at one point before eventually saving themselves. The Europa League campaign took its toll on a squad that was constantly blighted by injury problems and Alan Pardew will now look forward to a more focused and effective campaign from his men who definitely punched below their weight last season. Yet, the summer has not really went to plan for Pardew whose authority as a manager was massively undermined by the nonsensical appointment of dinosaur Joe Kinnear as a director football. The man who spent a few months as a Newcastle manager back in 2009, is definitely not the man to continue bringing in quality and cheap players to the club, a policy that had the club in good stead for the last couple of season. The decision to put him in that position was clearly to rattle Pardew who is tied to a long-term contract at the moment and cannot be really sacked even if owner Mike Ashley wants it. It is a messy and dysfunctional system at the moment but the players will be told to focus on improving their performances on the pitch and start getting results on a more regular basis. The manager has only managed to bring in forward Loic Remy so far on a loan deal after being rejected by the striker in January when a deal for a permanent transfer was agreed. Remy is a fine asset to have when he is bothered though and is highly effective and penetrative both as a lead striker and as a winger. There is more midfield cover needed though after the wretched season Cheik Tiote just endured. Moussa Sissoko will look to get back to the form of his early Newcastle days in the winter before he faded and may well become the fulcrum of this side. Papiss Cisse is staying on after the almighty row over the famous Wonga shirt but one would feel that the ill-feeling between the parties remains and he will not be as committed as last year. Generally, Newcastle contain some good players and should be able to finish in the top half of the table but the feel-good factor from 12 months ago is definitely gone and it is once again a mystery which direction the Magpies will head to - destruction or overachievement.