EAGLES SOAR ABOVE CITIZENS

At the end of last season I wrote quite the despondent blog about the rise of a new dynasty within the English domestic game. Thankfully that proved to be anything but prophetic.

So as we draw to the end of this 24/25 season let me tell the story of how some lowly Eagles, from the wrong side of the tracks, rose above their history of failures when it mattered to put the final nail in the coffin of that dynasty that seemed so untouchable 12 months ago.

Crystal Palace trace their history all the way back to 1861 and an amateur team of the same name that became a founder member of the Football Association (FA) in 1863 and entered their first FA Cup in the 1871-72 season.

The amateur side would be disbanded 3 seasons later and though the current professional team wasn’t formed until 1905, they claim to be a continuation of that amateur team that hadn’t played a game in 30 years.

This claim is disputed by experts far more qualified than me but what is undisputable is that in all that time, especially the 101 years since they made their home at Selhurst Park, is that they have failed to achieve success at anywhere near the level of their rivals north of the Thames.

Whilst Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United have all filled their trophy cabinets with various major trophies and even little QPR have had forays into European competitions, especially the 1976-77 UEFA Cup, Palace’s trophy cabinet has gathered nothing but dust.

For all their passionate support and an unbroken dozen seasons in the Premier League, they had never won a Major Trophy of any description.

They have never mounted a credible title challenge for any first division title and the height of their achievement has been losing 2 FA Cup finals.

The first of these they reached by beating a title winning Liverpool side 4-3 in a pulsating semi-final in 1990, where they pushed an Alex Ferguson led Manchester United all the way in an end-to-end 3-3 draw only to lose the replay 1-0 just 5 days later.

It would take them 26 years to reach their second final which was against Man U again, though this time led by Louis Van Gall and though the South Londoners led 1-0 with 10 minutes to go, it was ultimately the Mancunians who would carry the Trophy off the hallowed turf once more. Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard the ones to shoot down the dreams Jason Puncheon had set flying for the Eagles.

That second loss will have hurt for one man more than most who was now the one Palace man to know what it was like to lose an FA Cup Final to the same team as both a player and a Manager, Alan Pardew.

You know what they say though, third times the charm…..

Thankfully for Palace fans they would have to wait a mere 9 years for that third opportunity to present itself. Unfortunately for Eagles’ fans they would yet again find them facing the greatest team Manchester could muster, 4-time reigning Premier League Champions Manchester City.

The noisy neighbours were now in full voice in the north west, winning 8 of the previous 13 Premier League titles, and cementing themselves as the overlords of English football.

Sure the Citizens had surrendered their League Title to Liverpool this season, but with the FA Cup their last chance of silverware for such a magpie team they entered Wembley on Saturday as firm favourites.

A team that has never won a major title against a team that has monopolised domestic trophies for much of the last decade and were motivated by both beating off the spectre of a trophyless season and the chance to avenge their derby defeat in last season’s final.

On paper the trophy was City’s for the claiming, but the beautiful game is played on turf.

On that hallowed turf, under the glorious arch of hope, on Saturday 17th May 2025 the Eagles defied all expectations to claw the trophy free of it’s shackles and send their fans wild with delirium.

City started stronger, but even when Kevin De Bruyne chipped a sumptuous cross on to the toes of Erling Haaland just 6 yards out the Norwegian marksman was unable to hook it past the wall of Henderson…Dean Henderson. The Palace keeper was majestic throughout the game a one man wall of steel, springing every which way and ensuring his team only needed the single goal to win.

It was in the 16th minute that his team-mates would oblige with a move as fast flowing, serene as the calmest river, taking just 10 touches to guide the ball from one end of the pitch to the other where Eberechi Eze wrote himself into the football folklore of South London by sweeping the ball home from next to the penalty spot.

Eze wheeled away in celebration before kneeling in prayer as manager Oliver Glasner pumped his fists in delight on the touchline and limbs and beers going wild in the stands where tens of thousands of success starved South Londoners joined together in extasy.

City’s best chance to ruin the party came from 12 yards after Tyrick Mitchell was adjudged to have felled Bernardo Silva and with goal machine Haaland taking it there was no doubt the scores would be levelled, only he wasn’t taking it…. he had started with the ball under his arm sure but once reality struck of just what this kick represented Haaland stepped away and handed over responsibility to Omar Marmoush.

Omar struck it hard to the keeper’s left but Henderson sprung into action like a coiled spring and leapt to his right like a salmon to parry the ball away before dropping like a stone onto Haaland flick across the 6 yard box to smother the chance and preserve his team’s lead.

Daniel Munoz provided the assist for Eze’s opener and thought he had one all of his own in the second half, only for VAR to chalk off his poachers finish from point blank range thanks to a deflection on his original rasping drive by Ismaïla Sarr. That was frustrating for sure but this was a day where nothing was going to puncture Palace’s party.

As they lifted the trophy high into the sunny skies of Wembley, whilst ‘Glad All Over’ blasted out over the stadium PA their fans roared in delight and everyone across this great nation knew that the Eagles Reigned Supreme.

Palace’s party will continue for days to come in Croydon as City slink back north to the autopsy of their first season condemned to be trophyless since the coming of Pep in 2016/17.

Glad All Over is how Palace fans will be feeling for weeks to come as the club and the players plan the defence of their title next season.


CONGRATULAYIONS CRYSTAL PALACE, FA CUP CHAMPIONS!!!!

Final Questions Answered

So this weekend the 2024/25 EFL season was slammed shut and up and down the country fans found out the final fate of the team they love and in some cases live for.

For many of those fans they already knew which league their team would be playing in next season, but for the lucky (or unlucky) few there was still a lot to bite your nails about.

With Carlisle United and Morecambe already confirmed to be dropping through the non-league trapdoor, lets start with the few things left to confirm at the other end of the EFL.

Sure we already knew that Burnley and Leeds United were yo-yoing straight back up to the Premier League this summer, but not which one of them would be crowned champions.

Leeds went into the final day as firm favourites for the trophy for surely a Plymouth Argyle side already relegated, in every way except mathematically, wouldn’t defeat them and prevent them from reaching 100 points to allow the Clarets to snatch it away.

Then an own goal by Sam Byram gifted the hosts the lead in Devon and just 18 minutes into the day Leeds were overtaken at the top by a Burnley team carving out a 1-1 draw with Millwall back in Lancashire.

By the 53rd minute the brilliant Willy Gnonto had drawn the Whites level and back into title position, only for the ribbons to turn Claret again as Jaidon Anthony edged them ahead at Turf Moor 11 minutes later. Burnley further increased their lead when Josh Brownhill completed his brace in the 93rd minute and the full-time whistle was met by jubilation of the home fans.

It would have been so much sweeter if Manor Solomon hadn’t completed the come back at Home Park to pull the title across to West Yorkshire in the 91st minute. The streets of Leeds will be bouncing tonight whilst across the border in Lancashire their joy at promotion will be tempered by becoming the first team in EFL history to hit 100 points without an accompanying title. Missing out on goal difference will make that pill an more bitter swallow.

Below them Sheffield United and Sunderland always knew their season would be continuing into the playoffs, but who would join them was still an open question.

Millwall’s loss in Lancashire saw them miss out, whilst Blackburn’s draw at Brammall Lane prevented them joining their hosts in the post-season leaving the match in the Midlands as a winner takes all showdown between Middlesbrough and their hosts Coventry. A Jack Rudoni brace being enough to secure play-off football for the Sky Blues.

The final place off place would end up falling into the laps of the lads from Ashton Gate, though it’s fair to say the Robins made it hard for themselves. Going 2-0 down to a Lilywhites team looking for a result of their own to secure safety at the other end of the table.

Ross McCrorie would salvage the day for Bristol City with a beautiful brace to send the home town faithful wild, the point would be enough to secure them the playoffs and it would prove enough to keep Preston North End up to boot.

That was only confirmed, alongside Hull City’s safety despite a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park, thanks to a Luton Town side that spent last season in the Premier League falling to a 5-3 defeat at the Hawthorns that saw them complete a brace of relegations in as many seasons.

The Hatters will be join Plymouth Argyle and Cardiff City in League One next season.

Their opponents will not include Cardiff’s fellow countrymen Wrexham as they completed a third promotion in as many seasons with a 2-0 win at Lincoln City, following a Birmingham City team that succeeded in their pursuit of 111 up into the second tier next season.

Luton will instead face Doncaster Rovers, Port Vale and Bradford City, who all secured automatic promotion from League Two.

Rovers tied up the title with a 2-1 win at Meadow Lane on the final day, that also locked their hosts Notts County out of the automatic promotion places and into the playoffs.

If they had dropped points on the final day Port Vale would have taken the title with a win, but they could only treat their home faithful to a disappointing 1-0 loss to Gillingham and head into the summer with a whimper.

Walsall’s season has been going out on a whimper for some time now, but they still entered the final day with a chance of automatic promotion if they beat Crewe at the Mornflake Stadium and Bradford City tripped up against Fleetwood Town at Valley Parade.

The Saddlers belied their abysmal form by winning 1-0 in Cheshire and looked to have secured the most miraculous promotion at full-time, till news came in of Bradford’s own miracle 96th minute winner that saw the Saddlers slide into the playoffs instead. Antoni Sarcevic is the man all Bantam’s fans owe thanks to for their timely winner.

The Saddlers and The Magpies will be joined in those playoffs by The Real Dons and The Spireites.

AFC Wimbledon secured their place after Sam Hutchinson’s 52nd minute winner to break their hosts’ hearts in a winner takes all showdown with Grimsby Town, whilst Chesterfield pounced on Salford City dropping points in a 2-all draw away at Carlisle for Will Grigg’s winner to fire them into the playoffs up at The Wham stadium in Accrington.

League One lived upto it’s name by having just one thing left to settle on the final day. Shrewsbury Town, Cambridge United, Bristol Rovers and Crawley Town already confirmed as League Two teams for the 2025/26 season.

Stockport County, Charlton Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers were already securely playing off in the coming weeks, the one left to settle is whether they would joined by Leyton Orient or Reading.

It would have been a great way for Reading to celebrate the club being sold and it’s future secured, but they never looked likely to beat Barnsley from the second the Tykes took the lead in the 52nd minute. Barnsley would end up winning 4-2 in a result that was rendered academic anyway after Leyton Orient terrorised the Terriers at the John Smith’s stadium in West Yorkshire.

Hopes of Huddersfield playing party poopers for the O’s evaporated the moment Dan Agyei gave the visitors the lead within the first 2 minutes of the match. A 4-1 victory for the East Londoner’s saw them secure that final play-off place in League One to wrap up the final question of the EFL season.

For those that made it in the playoffs await and for everyone else it’s “roll on August” when Barnet will be joined by one other team, likely York City, in coming up into the 92, whilst Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton re-join the EFL from the other direction for the 2025/26 season.



The Pursuit of 111

Many of the matters across the EFL have been settled with baring miracles in League Two, only relegation from the Championship an open question on the final day.

In the second division of the EFL there is at least something for the Blues to play for on their final day trip down to The Abbey Stadium, the pursuit of 111.

Birmingham City head to already relegated Cambridge United with the chance to become the first team in EFL history to top 110 points in a single season, having already smashed the all-time points record for a season with a 2-0 win at Bloomfield Road yesterday.

That win in Blackpool saw them overtake Reading’s 106 point haul from the 2005/06 championship season, despite losing more games than the Royals did in that record-breaking season that saw them promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their history.

When Birmingham City return to the Championship next season it will be off the back of a season that has seen them go unbeaten at St. Andrews, only dropping 8 points in their fortress all season.

To be fair to the rest of the league it should’ve been easy to see that coming as The Blues have only spent 3 seasons as low as this in the league system in their 150 years in existence, with an 18-year streak in the top division during the 1920’s and 30’s.

They were always likely to destroy the rest of the League and so it proved as they rushed into a lead at the top, following up an opening day draw with an 8-game win streak before The Addicks ended their ‘Invincibles’ hopes with a 1-0 win at The Valley.

After that loss on October 3rd they would not be beaten again until a trip to the meadows of Shropshire on November 23rd as the League Champs elect came unstuck against the Salop Shrews, now doomed to finish bottom of the League. Bottom beat top 3-2 in November though, the big blot on their otherwise flawless season.

That humiliating loss spurred the Midlanders on to new heights and they wouldn’t lose again till March 4th away in Horwich as Bolton Wanderers came from 1-0 down to pull off a spectacular 3-1 comeback victory, on their way to a top 10 finish, narrowly missing out on the playoffs themselves.

Never again would they be beaten in a season during which only a Leeds United team on their way to 100 points in the Championship have a better attack and only the West Yorkshire side and Burnley, securing automatic promotion with them have stingier defences.

Only 5 of their wins have come by more than 2-goals, their first such win being a 3-0 win at the Brick Community Stadium against the Latics being their only such win on the road.

Whilst that may not fill Blues’ fans with joy as the head to the Abbey Stadium chasing 111 points on Saturday they can draw hope for a big victory from the fact that they smashed their hosts 4-0 at St. Andrews in the reverse fixture.

City have had at least one huge win every month in 2025, a 4-1 revenge demolition of the Shrews filling their March quota.

Their final home win of the season saw them score 4 again to condemn Mansfield Town fans to a depressing trip home last Sunday, but that was only the after show to their incredible 6-2 victory against a 10-man Tykes team at the beginning of April.

Those were the greatest wins in this incredible season for the St. Andrews’ faithful, in a season of insane results that will almost certainly be a on-off and could be topped off with the successful pursuit of 111 being completed this weekend.

Even in the vanishingly unlikely event that The Blues fall short of their 111, there is no way anyone could call their season a disappointment. Any team securing 3-figures has to be considered a historic achievement and the players that achieved it will go down in the hall of fame.

Enjoy the celebrations on Sunday Blues’ fans and then it’s down to business again to fight for promotion to the top-table next season. The pursuit of 111 is almost complete, now for the true test of this incredible team, back-to-back promotions back to Birmingham City’s natural home, The Premier League.

CONGRATULATIONS BIRMINGHAM CITY!!!

What The Walsall??

Football in the West Midlands has been on fire this season.

Aston Villa have made it to the Champions League Quarter-Finals and beat Southampton 3-0 this weekend despite failing to score 2 penalties.

West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City stand at 6th and 7th in the Championship, with the formers incredible goal difference and the latter’s game in hand over Bristol City above them making playoff qualification a realistic proposition for both.

Birmingham City have romped to automatic promotion from League One at the first time of asking and have a 13-point lead over 2nd placed Wrexham-wood whilst keeping 2 games in hand over the rest of the top 9. The Blues have lost 3 times all season, scored 73 goals in 40 matches whilst conceding just 29 and need just 5 points from their final 6 matches to break into 3 figures for the season.

At the dawn of 2025 it Walsall were on track to challenge Birmingham for the title ‘best team in the Midlands’ as they ran away with the League Two title, or so it seemed…..

After destroying the Bedfordshire franchise (MK Dons) 4-2 at the Poundland Bescot Stadium on January 18th Mat Sadler’s Saddlers had amassed 58 points from a mere 25 matches, scored 52 goals whilst conceding just 23 and had built a 12-point lead over second placed Crewe Alexandra (which is Alexandra? eh, Jim Daly).

Then their season fell apart.

In the 17 games they have played since that win over the empty stadium lot the West Midlanders have won just twice, amassing just 14 points in the last 3 months.

Given that and the fact that their last win came up on Morecambe bay back on February 22nd against a Shrimpers team that is careening through the trapdoor to non-league and even then it took their hosts going down to 10-men early in the second half for the Saddlers to score.

The last time Walsall won against a team that finished with everyone still on the pitch was a week before that Shrimpers win as they came from being 1-0 down at half-time to crush Chesterfield 3-1 and send the Spireites back to Derbyshire licking their wounds.

In their last 10 the Saddlers have seen their gap at the top evaporate as their form goes diving into Challenger Deep.

Just 6 draws and 4 losses in their last 10 matches is relegation form. Despite securing just 6 points from the last 30 on offer it took until they lost 3-2 at home to Port Vale on April 5th for them to be knocked off top spot by their conquerors that day, the first time they had been off the top spot on December 7th.

Going into those 10 matches the Saddlers still possessed an 8-point lead at the top of the table and were leading the Vale by 11 points, that’s how badly the wheels have fallen off for Mat Sadler’s men.

Ending February by surrendering a 2 goal lead in the 89th minute to be thanking their lucky stars to be escaping Cheltenham with a point was definitely a bad sign, but when they followed that up with a home loss to Swindon without scoring the alarm bells would have started ringing.

Back-to-back thrown away early leads followed in the week after Swindon as a home loss to Grimsby Town followed a humiliating draw with The Cumbrians at Brunton Park, Carlisle United joining Morecambe in being flushed down into non-league next season.

In their next game they had to come from behind twice at Haynes Lane just to draw with a Bromley side enjoying their first season in league football in their 133-year history.

Following that up with a 0-0 draw in Gillingham and an 87th minute equalise to steal a point at home to promotion rivals AFC Wimbledon left the Saddlers with just 4 points to show from 6 games in March.

Finishing March with a useful point against a promotion rival was followed up by a 90th minute equaliser in Doncaster, a 4th draw in a row to set them up for the showdown with Port Vale on April 5th.

They made it back to back losses this weekend as The Bluebirds swept them aside at Holker Street as Walsall’s downward spiral continued up in Barrow.

Impossible though it may seem even this form implosion hasn’t been enough to see the Saddlers drop out of the automatic promotion places… yet.

What it has done is bring them down to within striking distance of missing out on the playoffs, let alone those auto places, with just a 7-point cushion over 8th place Colchester United with 12 points to play for.

The distance they have over the playoff places has been whittled down to a single point, with Doncaster Rovers able to knock the Saddlers out of the auto places with a win in their game in hand at Salford City tomorrow evening.

Without an Easter miracle to resurrect their season Mat Sadler’s Saddlers could drop as far as 6th, their vastly superior goal difference the only thing that will stop Grimsby Town also leapfrogging them, with just a point separating them from missing out on the playoffs and two matches left to hold on.

Thankfully for the Saddler’s faithful that miracle seems possible, with a trip to a 20th placed Harrogate Town side that haven’t beaten a team currently above them in the table since February 15th, followed up by a trip to South Wales and a Newport County team in 18th who have picked up a single point from their past 6 matches.

Finally Saddler’s fans, you will be facing teams in form as bad as your own so here’s praying for an Easter miracle that will keep you in with a shout of automatic promotion. If you end the season in the playoffs there isn’t a team you could play that wouldn’t fancy their chances against you.

Having secured what look like an unassailable lead heading into the last festive season to trying desperately to prevent the season finishing in disappointment at The Mornflake Stadium on May 3rd is a huge fall from grace for the stuttering Saddler’s.

A fall from grace that has the rest of the West Midlands’ asking ‘What The **** Walsall?’

3rd of May… Destiny Day

So the day we could see coming a thousand miles away finally arrived last Sunday as The Saints finally fell through the Premier League trapdoor after a 3-1 loss at White Hart Lane.

Blimey Southampton, as if securing the earliest relegation in Premier League history wasn’t bad enough you had to have it confirmed at Spurs of all places. What an awful way to go.

Earlier in the week it had all looked so much rosier for Saints as they came within seconds of their 3rd win on the season, in their 30th game, before conceding a 90th minute equaliser off the head of Matheus Franca.

They held on for the draw though and secured the point that clawed them up to double figures for the season, a huge achievement for the sorry, sinking Saints.

Now they have made it to double figures they have one goal left to aim for, Derby County’s 2007/08 season tally of 11 points. Many say that Derby were the worst team in Premier League history and Southampton have 7 matches left to keep it that way.

Seven opportunities to secure a whole point or two, dependent on whether matching or beating Derby’s tally is the goal, would be more than enough for most teams but this is Southampton. Even with 4 of those 7 taking place at St. Marys none of them look even vaguely winnable for the hosts.

One Win For The Hosts Here This Season

The first of those home games is tomorrow against Champion’s League Quarter finalists Aston Villa, who will be looking to take out their frustration on the South coasters after a chastening defeat in Paris on Wednesday.

After losing to the Villains tomorrow they’re home again on the 26th playing host to a Fulham team who will be fighting hard to close their 5-point gap to the top 5 and Champions League qualification for next season. An easy 3 points in Hampshire will be too tempting for the cottagers to turn down especially with revenge for a 0-0 draw in the return match motivating the Londoners.

Their penultimate home match lands on May 10th and whilst most teams will have nothing to play for by then, which might give underdogs a chance of securing a shocking win, The Saints have no such luck with their opponents. Manchester City have had a disappointing season by their standards, but they always finish strong and with a Champions League place still within their reach I expect them to add the one tradition to St. Marys that they’ve avoided so far this season, the 9-0 hammering.

As for their swansong match, they’re hosting the Arsenal team that swept aside Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League Quarter final this week and have conceded 26 goals all season. I have only one thing to say about the host’s chances of scoring points on the final day…. good luck with that!

The Worst In Premier League History??

With their hopes of any further points at home dealt with it’s time to turn our attention to where The Saints might pick up points, their travels.

Not their first travel coming up though, cause although West Ham have only won twice at home in 2025 the atmosphere the home fans can create at the London stadium will prove far too much for the fragile Saints. The passion of West Ham fans is legendary and if in nothing else gets Graham Potter’s team over the line, the fear of letting those fans down will.

It is also the passion of the fans that rule out the chance of away points on Saints final travel day of the season.

Sure they secured their first win of the season hosting the Toffees back in November but that Everton team was a different beast to the one The Saints will face at the final outing of Goodison Park on May 18th. David Moyes has supercharged their season since returning to the Everton dugout and the shambolic Saints stand no chance of stealing the show on the final outing of their historic stadium with the full force of Scouse fury backing the Blues.

So that’s 6 of the 7 games ruled out as points scoring opportunities for Southampton and if all those predictions are prescient then there is one true opportunity for the Hampshire side to avoid being the worst team in Premier League history.

That chance presents itself at the King Power Stadium against Ruud Van Nisterooy’s hapless Leicester City team on Saturday 3rd May…. The Saint’s ‘Destiny Day’.

This is the best chance for Southampton to secure the 3 points that would lift them up above Derby’s 11 for the simple reason that Leicester have been almost as abysmal as them all season.

The Foxes are doomed to join Southampton in dropping through the trapdoor and haven’t even managed to score a goal in a league match since they beat Spurs 2-1 in London on January 26th, Saints have scored 8 goals in that time.

Further omens for a positive time at the foxes den are that Saints only went down 3-2 in the return game back in October after a penalty and red card 16 minutes from time bought the scores back to 2-2, in a game they lead for a full 36 minutes, before Jordan Ayew capped off the Foxes’ comeback in stoppage time against the 10 men.

To have gone so close at home against a Foxes team that had scored in every game so far that season and were looking half decent for a good run, surely they have to believe they can grab a win at full strength against a team that is stuttering down the trapdoor with them.

Leicester are a shell of the team that won the title 9 seasons ago and are the only other team in the league that have scored less than a goal a game, 25 to 23 in Leicester’s favour. The Foxes’ defensive record is as abysmal as the Saints too, with 70 goals conceded to the southerners’ 74.

Add to that the fact that the Foxes only have 17 points themselves and are the only team in worse form than the Saints it’s clear that this is the game Southampton have to target.

Good luck to the Saints on the 3rd of May, their Destiny Day.

70 Years in 7 Minutes

No one will be sleeping on Tyneside tonight as the Toon Army takes over the North-East of England to celebrate their beloved Magpies pinching silverware out of the Scouser’s laps this afternoon at Wembley!!!!

Newcastle United are League Cup Champions

Where the Fans are Incredible

The Toon Army has been starved of success for far too long, their last silverware of any type came in the same year Neil Armstrong took “one small step for man” and that was in the now defunct Inter Cities Fairs Cup.

Sure that was a European success that they had to beat Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon and Rangers to win, but they also faced a Real Zaragoza team that has spent the last dozen years in the 2nd tier of Spannish football and a Vitoria de Setubal team that was relegated down to the Portuguese 6th tier last summer.

Their final opponents aren’t much to write home about either, Ujpest of Hungary are currently 3rd from bottom in their top tier.

To find Newcastle’s last domestic success we have to go back to a month after Winston Churchill resigned at the end of his second term as Prime Minister and Queen Elizabeth II had been on the throne for just 3 years.

Welcome to 1955, the rationing of World War 2 had only been gone 12 months and Newcastle United step out onto the hallowed turf to face down Manchester City in the FA Cup Final.

That’s a final line-up that doesn’t sound too unusual 70 years later, the players back then were a different breed. Legends on both sides lined up to do battle, with Jackie Milburn lining up alongside Bob Stokoe, Ron Batty and Vic Keeble. The legends facing them were no shrinking violets, Don Revie would later gain notoriety as Leeds United Manager and the England Manager that resigned for more money in the UAE.

The biggest legend on the field that day though has to be Bert Trautmann who fought in the Luftwaffe during the war, but when offered repatriation after the allied victory chose instead to settle in England. He would end up on the losing side in 1955 but a year later his City side would defeat Birmingham City 3-1 despite Mr. Trautmann playing the final 17 minutes with a broken neck!!!

They don’t make players like that anymore.

Where The Toon Army Worships It’s Heroes

What they finally make again on Tyneside is trophy winners, as witnessed by 88,513 at Wembley today.

The manager that has led this team to victory is Eddie Howe, who turned Bournemouth into a premier league team but wouldn’t have been many tynesider’s first choice when he was appointed but now he is destined to be remembered as one of the greatest managers in Newcastle’s storied history, maybe even on Bobby Robson levels….

His starting line-up for this historic victory was: Nick Pope, Tino Livramento, Fabian Shar, Kieran Trippier, Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Harvey Barnes, Jacob Murphy, Dan Burn and Alexander Isak. Heroes of the Toon Army one and all.

They will go down in Newcastle folklore as the men that bested the runaway League Champions and returned glory to the North East, beating Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley to secure the silverware.

From the first minute it was clear they wanted it way more than their exalted opposition, whose eyes are clearly trained on the league title, and whilst it took till the dying seconds of the first half for the deadlock to be broken the destination of the title never looked in doubt.

Weekends are the best part of life and this weekend will go down as the best ever for Dan Burn, who followed up his first England call up by thundering a header home to open the scoring and leave the Toon Army staggering towards their half-time pints drowning in extasy.

Newcastle showed no sign of letting that goal go to their heads as they burst out of the traps in the second half and doubled their lead within 7 minutes through talisman Alexander Isak.

Isak has been a nightmare for defenders all season and he proved to be again on this most historic of days, ghosting in unmarked at the near post to snaffle home from point blank range as Caoimhin Kelleher scooped a scuffed shot into his path. It was a scruffy goal, but they all count and not a single soul in the triumphant Toon Army cares how the goals went in, only that they did.

Sure Federico Chiesa scored a 94th minute consolation for Liverpool to ruin the Magpies’ clean sheet, but it couldn’t change the result and the richly deserved victory that reverberated across the country.

Newcastle have been on the up for a few seasons now and this victory is their crowning glory. Drawing momentum and belief from this victory is crucial for them, you’ve all seen what Manchester City have gone onto achieve since breaking their 36 year trophy drought with FA Cup success in 2011.

If 2 goals in 7 minutes ending 70 years of hurt can have a similar effect on the Magic Magpies then we are in for a decade of dominance from the sleeping giants of the North-East. No set of supporters deserves it more than the Toon Army, who are known nationwide for their raucous support that travels long distances in huge numbers to cheer on their team.

Miracles Come In Threes

This season one team has become notorious nationwide for late collapses and this weekend Manchester City were once again at the centre of a devastating collapse.

Unfortunately this time around it wasn’t the home faithful left devastated at the Etihad, as City collapsed the fairy-tale Fa-Cup progress of the Plymouth pilgrims.

Being from the football wasteland of Devon and sacking their ex-boss, Wayne Rooney, on the eve of their visit to the Brentford’s fortress, having not won away from home all season, few gave the Pilgrims a hope in hell on their 3rd round visit to West London…. then a miracle happened.

That victory looked to be a mere blip in their hellish form, as they picked up a mere 2 points from their following four games in January. Then February came and with their 4th round tie against run away Premier League leaders Liverpool looming they masterminded a late comeback victory against West Brom to launch them into it.

Sure that made them unbeaten in 2 games, but they were still expected to be destroyed by the surging scousers who had won their last 4 domestic matches and were fresh off destroying Spurs in the League Cup Semi-Final.

Once again a miracle was required but this time with a partisan home crowd at their backs and once again a miracle was delivered for the crusading pilgrims.

With miracle 2 secured it was back to the league for the mighty green and straight into pulverising Millwall 5-1 at Home Park just 3 days after conquering the Merseyside goliath.

True they followed that up by securing a paltry 2 draws from 3 matches, but this was an improvement on their previous form and has even seen them haul themselves off the bottom of the table. The fairy-tale was on and the next goliath on the list was the wounded champions Man City, but a beast is at it’s most dangerous when it is wounded.

Plymouth would wound it further before reaping it’s wrath.

When Maksym Talovierov headed home from a corner in the 38th minute the pilgrims thought another miracle was on the cards. It would have been a personal miracle for the defender himself to be the deliverer of the miracle as he only joined the pilgrims in January and has family in Kyiv who could have done with the good news.

Unfortunately the miracle was not to be a three-peat as that goal awakened the beast and before half-time it had drawn itself level through 19-year old Nico O’Reilly, who doubled his tally to draw the beast into the lead and bring the miracle collapsing down on the Pilgrims heads with 14 minutes left in proceedings.

The final nail in the miracle’s coffin was hammered home by Kevin De-Bruyne in the final minute, but by then the damage had been done by one of City’s new generation of world beaters who has had no part in their collapses and will cause many more for opponents in the coming decade.

Plymouth’s pilgrims may have headed home with their hopes destroyed but with the momentum of their miraculous cup-run fuelling their belief that miracles exist they have pulled themself off the foot of the championship table and have 11 games to bridge the 6 points still separating them from safety.

Miracles can happen and maybe the collapsing of their FA-Cup fairy-tale is so they can focus on making the miracle of survival a reality. I’ll be praying for the pilgrims.

As for the task of collapsing Man City’s miracle resurgence, that now falls on Plymouth’s south coast neighbours AFC Bournemouth. From Devon to Dorset the torch passes.

The Great Form Flip

So Manchester City avoided yet another embarrassing collapse, Liverpool rebounded from their derby day disappointment to claw out a victory over Wolves, Everton held off Crystal Palace to become the Premier League’s form team, Chloe Kelly became happy again and AFC Wimbledon beat Salford City to move into the automatic play-off places in League 2, so what??

Something much more miraculous occurred in East London on Saturday, Brentford won their third away game in a row!!!

To put this into perspective it took until our visit to Goodison Park on 23rd November for us to pick up our first away point of the season and it wasn’t till our post Christmas trip to the Amex Stadium that we doubled our tally on the road.

Our home form stood in stark contrast to that abysmal away form, dropping just 2 points at our fortress before it was finally breached by Nottingham Forest on 21st December.

The first home loss of the season was the tipping point that initiated the great form flip, as we have failed to win at home since. This dreadful home form in 2025 can at least be mitigated by the hellish run of opponents we have been faced with, since Forest we have seen Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Spurs visit our heavenly patch of West London.

Facing the current top 4 in back to back home games was always going to be difficult, so maybe it’s no surprise that our only point in that run came from glorious comeback from 2-0 down in the final 10 minutes against the collapsing champions.

Losing to Spurs without laying a glove on them is just plain embarrassing, though perhaps not as humiliating as being dumped out of the FA Cup at home to a bunch of managerless Pilgrims that were pinned to the bottom of the Championship. A whole league separated us from the our Devon visitors, though having a front row seat for the game I couldn’t have told you that from the 90 minutes.

Our saving grace so far in 2025 has been our travelling prowess.
That draw at the Amex being followed 8 days later by a 5-0 demolition of the St. Mary’s saints, though few would have guessed that destroying a team on track to be the worst in Premier League history would signal a change of luck on our travels.

We followed up that masterclass by taking over South London with a 2-1 win at Selhurst Park, just having to hold on after they scored their consolation 5 minutes from time, despite 3 home games in the interim.

Our third away win in a row came this past weekend out in East London against the Hammers, who Shade shattered just 4 minutes after kick-off.

This third away win on the trot saw my beloved bees make it 4 away games unbeaten picking up 10 points along the way, having managed just a single point from our previous 9 such matches.

Our home form has gone in the opposite direction with just a single point secured from our last 5 games at the Gtech, having harvested a bumper 22 points form the previous 9.

Eighteen is how many home and away games respectively we get each season and this time it seems that someone has decided to play the ultimate prank on us by flipping our form on it’s head.

With relegation zone Leicester City our travel destination this Friday followed by the visit to the Gtech of the revived Everton team under David Moyes it seems that our great form flip is destined to continue through to at least March.

I expect the form to flip back at that point though as our travels take then take us to Bournemouth, Newcastle, Arsenal and Nottingham.

Enjoy the great form flip whilst it lasts, it may soon flip right back.

Devon Double Dreamland…. Denied

After Plymouth shattered the aura of invincibility of a Liverpool team tearing up both Premier and Champions Leagues, the appetite for giant-killing made its way across Dartmoor National Park to Exeter City and their St. James Park.

The giant-killing they were looking for was Nuno Espirito Santo’s high flying Nottingham Forest, a huge 59 places above them in the pyramid and on course to return to the Champions League next season.

Nothing much for a team struggling near the bottom of League One to hope for then, but this is Devon and the FA Cup….

It took just 5 minutes for the Grecians to take the lead through the opportunism of Josh Magennis to pounce of Carlos Miquel’s handling error and stab home from point blank range.

Sure that lead only lasted 10 minutes before they were pegged back and when Taiwo Awoniyi fired Forest into the lead 7 minutes before the break it seemed that the hosts hopes were slipping through their fingers.

Clearly no-one told Magennis, who scooped home the rebound of his own header 5 minutes into the second half to claw the hosts level.

Having survived the rest of the half it looked to be collapsing in front of their eyes as Ed Turns saw red on his debut for kneecapping Morgan Gibbs-White in full flow 3 minutes from time, but the hosts held on to force extra time.

A gargantuan backs-to-the-wall defensive masterclass was called for to survive 33 minutes a man light against the surprise package of the Premier League and that’s exactly what the Grecians delivered, now all they needed was the fairytale ending.

Victory on penalties would’ve worked, but that’s when David finally succumbed to Goliath.

Reece Cole and Angus MacDonald were the unfortunate souls to be denied from 12 yards crushing the dreams of a Devon Double in the FA Cup over 2 of the top 3 teams in England.

So near and yet so far, but surely pushing one of the best teams in the country so close after playing a third of the 120 minutes a man light will inspire them to launch themselves clear of the drop zone, currently just 5 points below them.

A trip to bottom of the league Cambridge United this Saturday is a perfect place to start.

Devon Heaven

Sometimes there are things so beautiful they light up a whole county and the lives of many beyond it’s borders, an FA Cup upset is one such thing.

This weekend a team in Green from the sunny coasts of Devon and a city better known for it’s naval history than it’s footballing prowess provided that delicious upset against a team that has been conquering European and English football all season long.

Plymouth Argyle have been enduring disastrous league from all season with just 5 wins from 30 matches, scoring just 29 goals along the way, and pinned to the bottom of the Championship currently sitting 4 points from safety.

Sure they secured a comeback win against promotion hopefuls West Bromwich Albion but that was their first league win in 13 weeks so there would only be one winner when all-conquering Liverpool came to town.

That’s what the logic says anyway, but since when has that mattered when facing the magic of the cup.

Arne Slot decided to switch up his team for the tie and even though his second-string team commanded 75% of possession their seaside stroll fell apart when Harvey Elliot blocked a flick towards goal from the edge of the area to gift the Pilgrims a chance to answer all their prayers from 12 yards.

Ryan Hardie gave the Pilgrims the answer they wanted, sending Caoimhin Kelleher the wrong way and sending the home fans into delirium.

With 37 minutes to hold out few would have backed a team that conceded 63 goals this season to last the distance, but with divine favour on their side they succeeded.

Sunday 9th February 2025 will be a date remembered forever in Plymouth and across Devon for this incredible victory.

Their league form may be abysmal, but in the cup Argyle have now conquered 2 Premier League teams and tomorrow they will find out who in next to feel their divine wrath.


UP THE GREENS