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Leicester City (a), Premier League, 14/03/2016: Lost 0-1 Rob Elliot: Elliot began Rafa Benitez's time at Newcastle as the first choice keeper following Tim Krul's season-ending injury he suffered the previous October. Elliot's performances in the 2015/16 season earned him the fans' choice for the club's player of the season. However, soon after Benitez's arrival, he picked up a serious injury which kept him out for a year. This gave Karl Darlow the chance to shine and he was

Steve McClaren was a rather unpopular appointment at St. James' Park. Following Alan Pardew's departure from Newcastle in December 2014, speculation was rife surrounding McClaren being linked to the job on Tyneside. His Derby side were on course for promotion back to the Premier League in the 2014/15 season, they were top of the Championship in March and went on to finish below the play-offs. McClaren later claimed that the speculation with being linked to Newcastle had distr

The appointment of Alan Pardew was a controversial and bizarre one in December 2010. Newcastle's week began in turmoil when news broke that Chris Hughton had been sacked the day after a 3-1 defeat at West Brom. It was still a huge shock for many fans that Hughton was sacked, he managed to guide the club to an immediate promotion back to the Premier League earlier that year as well as achieving wins against Aston Villa, Sunderland and away at Arsenal. Despite a difficult run o

Bolton (h), Premier League, 19/01/2008: Drew 0-0 Shay Given: Given became a Newcastle United and Ireland legend for his excellent goalkeeping in his many years on Tyneside and is still today seen as a much loved icon. After departing Newcastle in January 2009 to Manchester City, he moved to Aston Villa where he once again became the main man between the sticks before Brad Guzan came in to restrict his chances. He returned to the north east in the form of a brief loan spell wi

Allardyce got off to the perfect start in what turned out to be a brief spell as manager of Newcastle. Soon after Glenn Roeder's departure towards the end of the 2006/07 season, Allardyce left Bolton after serving there for eight years. He helped the Trotters gain promotion to the Premier League and kept them there. Coincidentally, Allardyce's first game for Newcastle was a return to Bolton for the opening day fixture. He got off to a flying start thanks to goals from Charles

Glenn Roeder stepped into the managerial hot seat immediately after Graeme Souness' sacking in February 2006. Roeder's appointment was initially intended to be temporary. However, excellent results from the time he took over and until the end of the season took the club from a relegation battle into qualifying for Europe and giving the legend Alan Shearer the best possible end to his career. The good times came rolling in with Roeder. Unfortunately they failed to last. The 20

Sir Bobby Robson was controversially sacked after failing to win Newcastle's opening four games of the 2004/05 campaign. Many believe that Robson was on ever decreasing thin ice at the end of the previous season after failing to qualify for the Champions League and a 5th placed finish with a UEFA Cup Semi-Final finish fell below Freddie Shepherd's high standards. Graeme Souness promptly left Blackburn to take on the job at Tyneside. The Scotsman got off to an excellent start

Back in March 2016 with the club facing a very difficult battle against relegation from the Premier League, I, for one, simply could not believe our luck when Rafa Benitez came to Newcastle with the short term mission of achieving survival. Despite being unable to turn things around in time, we did manage to go unbeaten in the final six games of the season including a 5-1 thrashing against (keeping the pressure on specialists) Tottenham. Another remarkable blessing came our w

The way in which the 2014/15 season finished for ourselves, it was simply too close to comfort and with another season on the way, the board reacted by sacking John Carver. Steve 'wally with the brolly' McClaren was an interesting choice. The former England manager had been manager of Derby County since 2013. Things were going well for Derby in the previous season, with 13 games remaining in their Championship campaign, they were five points clear of third-placed Ipswich (yes

After a 100% win record from his first spell as caretaker charge (albeit after one match), Carver's last management spell in English football will be remembered for several wrong reasons. After Pardew's departure, Carver was left in caretaker charge for the first few games of 2015. After defeat at home to Southampton, Carver urged the board to sharpishly appoint a replacement but was given the job the following week until the end of the season. Remi Garde turned down the job

Alan Pardew was appointed as Newcastle manager just a matter of days after the controversial sacking of Chris Hughton. With the second half of the season still to play, the Magpies finished the season in mid-table with a similar record to what Hughton achieved that season. In his first full season in charge, it was the club's turn to become the Premier League's surprise package of the season with a fifth placed finish influenced by new captain, Fabricio Coloccini and new sign

A great manager and a wonderful man took the reins at St. James' Park in the midst of a chaotic time for the club. Hughton initially took temporary charge following Kevin Keegan's departure. Three weeks later, Joe "f*****g" Kinnear became interim manager and seemed to lose more dignity at every turn until he became ill which left Hughton in charge for six weeks before Alan Shearer stepped in to try and save the club from relegation. Shearer was not given the job full time aft

Of course Kevin Keegan's second spell as manager of the club ended in tears as well as anger directed towards Mike Ashley. Keegan's return in January 2008 sparked wild celebrations on the night Newcastle beat Stoke in an FA Cup third round replay. Later that week, he stepped out of the tunnel as Newcastle manager once again as we took on Bolton in a game that ended in a hardly eventful goalless draw. A difficult run followed with only three draws and five defeats from his fir