Put a Fork in her

i am writing this from my ipod touch!!! This horrible, seemingly never-ending train wreck of a season has finally come to an end. My congrats to Manchester United for taking the season as they justifiably deserve. Newcastles was that of a bit of a roller coaster - and honestly - if it was a rollercoaster it would have been a DAMN good one - almost all downwards at terrifying speeds.

Here's a bit of a recap:

August wasn't too bad for us a great first win at Bolton under Sam Allardyce for his first match. Oba scored a thrilling overhead kick and all seemed great. A couple bore draws followed, then an easy 2-0 win over Barnsley. Clearly we were on to both a Premiership title AND the Carling Cup championship.

September, however, was a different story. We were able to continue our points rise by barely beating Wigan 1-0. But the next match could have marked the beginning of the very early end. a 1-0 loss to Derby. DERBY. This will have been Derby's ONLY victory this ENTIRE season. After a quick 3-1 victory over the Hammers, we continued our slide with two bad losses against Arsenal and Man City.

The next two matches were better - home victories over Everton and Tottenham. Where's the consistency?? They're both great teams and we can't beat Derby? But after that fleeting moment of hope, here is where it started to get really really bad. Loss to Reading. Bad loss to Portsmouth. (I remember this one well - my buddy Paul came over to watch the match. He got to my place a bit late - in the 15th minute. We were already 3-0 down.) A VERY lucky draw to the scum of Sunderland. 3-0 loss to Liverpool at home. 3-1 loss to Blackburn. That was December 1.

At this point, knives were out. The next match was against Arsenal, we're in a free fall, fans are SERIOUSLY up in arms about Allardyce's continuous lack of ambition to go forward. So when we drew 1-1 v Arsenal, I was on top of the world. Then we WIN 2 matches in a row!! So the next week we have Derby at home. I think - heck yes this is an easy 3. I convince Mrs. Architecturefootballandfood to come to the pub for a nice match and Irish breakfast - telling her - hey, we're playing Derby at home. You'll get to see a win today. Nope. 2-2 draw and a lucky one at that. We actually left before we scored the tying goal,a nd I was in a sour mood for the rest of the day. Thanks, NUFC.

Oh boy - then it gets even better. Loss to Wigan. Loss to Chelsea. Loss to Man City. Draw to Championship side Stoke City. Then - on Wednesday January 9th, Big Sam got the Sack. Initially I took this negatively, then slowly realized that it was the right move at the right time, no matter what the papers from London said. What did they know, anyway?

Well, Nigel Pierson took over for us and didn't help much - a 6-0 drubbing at Man United. But then - on Wednesday the 16th, exactly one week after Sam's departure, on the same day as the Stoke replay, we announce Kevin Keegan as our new manager. We go on to win that match at home vs. Stoke 4-1 and EVERY member of the Toon Army was grinning and looking upwards. Until reality set in.

Scoreless bore draw to Bolton. Two CONSECUTIVE 3-0 losses to Arsenal. Middlesborough draw. Villa 4-1 loss. Another HUGE Man United loss. Blackburn loss. Liverpool Loss.

This brings us to Monday, March 17th. Can you believe this? Basically from middle September to Middle March, the season has been RIPE SHITE. But at Birmingham this night, with even MORE rumors of sacking the manager around, we went down 1-0 in the first half, came out the second half and FINALLY put on a display. We got all our African players back, we got players back from injury, King Kev had a full squad to choose from and he went with his new, genius formation - the 4-3-3 with new captain Michael Owen in a pulled back striker position. This is when the floodgates opened. VICTORY to Fulham. VICTORY at Tottenham. VICTORY to Reading. Draw AT Portsmouth. Easy 2-0 victory over rivals Sunderland. All of the sudden, due to Keegan taking control of HIS team, now we put a great run of victories together. We then drew at West Ham, lost a hard match to Chelsea, and finished the season with a poor 3-1 loss at Everton.

So there's your season. Basically a high at the beginning, a HUGE run of poor results, and then a nice patch at the end to save our butts.

Good Season went to:

Nicky Butt, Steve Harper, Steven Taylor, Habib Beye, Abdulaye Faye, Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins, Kevin Keegan, Chris Mort, Mike Ashley

Bad Season went to:

Sam Allardyce (obviously), Alan Smith, Geremi, Joey Barton, Mark Viduka, Sanchez Jose Enrique, David Rozehnal, Damien Duff

Next season we're going to need a LOT more dedication from players, a better game plan from the coaches, and more monetary dedication from the owner. Let's get back into Europe, okay?