Now that Graeme Souness had been given the long-awaited shove, the club was in a difficult position and the target for the second half of the season was to secure safety. I am not sure whether all fans felt the same way and/or whether fans had a funny feeling how the end of the 2005/06 season would pan out.

Alan Shearer ended ten years at the club with regular goals including his record breaking strike along with his 206th and last Newcastle goal. In the summer of 2007, young striker from Inter, Obafemi Martins had massive shoes to fill and was given the club's famous number nine shirt. The Nigerian international provided a decent amount of goals in his first season, scoring 17 in all competitions.

Following from the great success of Roeder's first few months in charge, expectations were high going into the 2006/07 season. However the season failed to live up to those high expectations as he could only accumulate 11 league wins from 37 games which was a disappointment after he won 10 of his first 15 in charge.

Date: 2nd February 2006 to 6th May 2007 (458 days)

Records

League: Played: 51, Won: 20, Drawn: 11, Lost: 20, Goals for: 64, Goals against: 60, Goal difference: +4, Pts: 71. Win ratio: 39%

Home (league): Played: 28, Won: 14, Drawn: 8, Lost: 6, Goals for: 41, Goals against: 26, Goal difference: +15, Pts: 50. Win ratio: 50%

Away (league): Played: 24, Won: 7, Drawn: 3, Lost: 14, Goals for: 23, Goals against: 34, Goal difference: -11, Pts: 24. Win ratio: 29%

Domestic Cup: Played: 7, Won: 3, Drawn: 1, Lost: 3, Goals for: 9, Goals against: 11, Goal difference: -2. Win ratio: 43%

Europe: Played: 14, Won: 10, Drawn: 3, Lost: 1, Goals for: 20, Goals against: 8, Goal difference: +12. Win ratio: 71%

Home (all competitions): Played: 39, Won: 21, Drawn: 10, Lost: 8, Goals for: 57, Goals against: 37, Goal difference: +20. Win ratio: 54%

Away (all competitions): Played: 34, Won: 13, Drawn: 5, Lost: 16, Goals for: 36, Goals against: 42, Goal difference: -6. Win ratio: 38%

Total: Played: 73, Won: 34, Drawn: 15, Lost: 24, Goals for: 93, Goals against: 79, Goal difference: +14. Win ratio: 47%

Season by Season

2005/2006

Premier League: 7th (Played: 15, Won: 10, Drawn: 2, Lost: 3, Goals for: 27, Goals against: 14, Goal difference: +13, Pts: 32)

FA Cup: Quarter-Final (v Chelsea)

2006/2007

Premier League: (Played: 37, Won: 11, Drawn: 9, Lost: 17, Goals for: 37, Goals against: 46, Goal difference: -9, Pts: 42)

League Cup: Quarter-Final (v Chelsea)

FA Cup: 3rd Round (v Birmingham City)

UEFA Cup: Round of 16 (v AZ Alkmaar)

Landmark Matches

First match

Newcastle United 2 (Charles N'Zogbia 41, Alan Shearer 64) Portsmouth 0 – (04/02/2006)

Glenn Roeder was only in the job for two days when he witnessed a piece of Newcastle United history as Alan Shearer slotted the ball past Dean Kiely to become Newcastle United's leading goalscorer by overtaking Jackie Milburn's tally of 200 goals for the Magpies. The win against Portsmouth kick-started a recovery as we bagged our first league win of the calendar year and regular wins were once again flowing on Tyneside.

Biggest win

Sunderland 1 Newcastle United 4 (Michael Chopra 60, Alan Shearer pen 61, Charles N'Zogbia 66, Albert Luque 87) – (17/04/2006)

You know how it goes (do not be afraid to sing this out loud): 1-0 DOWN, 4-1 UP, ALBERT LUQUE WRAPPED IT UP WITH A NICK-NACK PADDY WHACK, GIVE A DOG A BONE, ALL THE MACKEMS F****D OFF HOME!

Another thing to note as well is that this match was Alan Shearer's final senior appearance and capped off an exquisite decade at his boyhood club with a goal which came from one of his trademark penalties with his trademark raised arm celebration to match. This win came in a near-perfect month of April for the club as we won five out of the month's six matches, a run of form that proved crucial in achieving European qualification.

Last win

Sheffield United 1 Newcastle United 2 (Obafemi Martins 17, Steven Taylor 80) – (07/04/2007)

Steven Taylor scored a late winner at Newcastle's last visit to Bramall Lane. Coming nearly a month before Roeder left his post, this win made it one win in the last five league matches. With no more wins on the way, Roeder would end his time at Newcastle with one win in the previous ten causing something of a mediocre finish and no challenge was made for European football.

Further landmark matches

Biggest defeat: Newcastle United 1 – 5 Birmingham City – 17/01/2007

Last match: Newcastle United 0 – 2 Blackburn Rovers – 05/05/2007

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