The saga of Newcastle AFC goes on and on

In the mid 1960's according to the musical Hair we entered the age of Aquarius and now with McCain and Palin forming the Republican Presidential ticket, Peter Mandelson returning to the Cabinet of beleaguered Prime Minister Brown and Keegan, Ashley, Wise and now Joe Kinnear at Newcastle we can be said to have returned to the age of the Maverick, the Creative.

I was up in time to listen to the Sunday Supplement reveal that when he attended his first press conference, Joe Kinnear, went at specific journalists who had ridiculed his appointment with a torrent of swearing. In most circumstances he should have been sacked. However the point about Keegan is that he is a Maverick as much heart as head and that is true in relation to Joe who like Keegan was out of the game for several years and therefore out of touch with the market and the way the dressing home has changed with players all millionaires and only prepared to submit to authority they can respect. The present team has loss confidence and has only one natural goal scorer. The new defence has not worked so far and critics agree that so far this season apart from the performance at Manchester United they have look a team that will struggle to reach mid table whoever is in charge, Keegan knew this and this is why be became so angry when for whatever reason the club failed to provide the players in the pre season transfer market. So he had worked with the players for a week and done the talk and now he had to sit in the stands because of an inherited ban from the pitch side. We would all be able to see the situation when he faced poor start Everton who had not year won a home this season on Sky at four this afternoon.

More importantly the programme revealed the gap between Michael Ashley's objectives when he bought the club and the aspirations of the 50000 who packed the stadium. The programme also revealed the ignorance and bias of some sports writers and their contempt for the average football supporter.

Lets begin with the reality. Newcastle was an average club well supported, but included a significant number of racist yobs, reflecting Newcastle as a City in the sixties and seventies, industrial working class, anti education, anti middle class culture and excessively tribal. The club had a number of tough and pushy centre forwards who went down well with the core fans. A good crowd was 30000. Two men were responsible for getting the crowd over 40000 to the 52000 when the stadium was completed. More than this the club was able to sell all its season tickets and at one point to have a waiting list in thousands. Tickets for homes games became gold dust and the club became the fans second favourite club after their own. The reason for this was the style of play under Kevin Keegan and his charismatic leadership, But the man who had the vision, the drive and the money to create the stage for the dream was Sir John Hall, also a Maverick and someone who I once met with his son and son in law.

The departure of Kevin Keegan was a great blow, but unlike his departures from Fulham, Man City and England there was regret and sadness at what might have been rather than anger. The appointment of Bobby Robson was seen an as attempt to reconnect the club and fans and for a time he was successful with both. However there were those who wanted nothing less than the championship win where Keegan had come so close. It was Robson's departure so early in the season which marked the effective end of the dream, and also heralded the fundamental change in British football with the arrival of the billionaire willing pay £1000000 a week wages and endorse cheques of £10, £20 and £30 million to bring to the premiership the best players in the world. From the commencement of the twentieth century it was apparent that only a handful of clubs would be able to command the attention of the best players because of that combination of financial backing, theatrical stadium, media and public interest and ability to perform every year in European as well as English competitions.

There are now three options facing those clubs who do not have these ingredients. Sell the club to someone or an organisation with the necessary funding which is what has happened at Manchester City.

You can buy one or two known and experienced world class players and attempt to build round them a mixture of experience and youthful promise, hoping to gain sufficient points to have a chance of making the second European competitions direct or through winning one of the two domestic cup competitions. There was a hint this morning that Keegan wanted to bring Beckham back to England and United or someone similar who would help the crown to get through an otherwise moderate season. Home supporters might expect to win at least a third of the home games and draw the majority of the rest, winning at least once in the most important local derby and giving the big four or five a good game and a surprising win. The season ticket holders need to feel that their investment in time and money and in all weathers and times to suit TV has been justified.

There is a third way which requires the confidence of Board and supporters to take a long term view as there is no attempt to achieve a quick fix. You commence to build a team from scratch, knowing that you will not attract big name players until you are to have more than one season at a time in Europe. Such teams have to be greater than the sum of the individual parts. A key aspect I the creation of an effective world wide scouting structure finding the young men as early as possible and bring them into the academy or directly into the playing squad. The two most successful managers in British Football of the last two decades have accomplished this more than once at the same club, Ferguson at Manchester United and Wenger at Arsenal.

In their instance, they did it themselves with appropriate help and neither would have tolerated a Director of Football acting for the Owner Chairman Board. The truth of the matter is that when Ashley bought the club he may have had this approach in mind or may have been persuaded to adopt this approach but he failed to communicate with club and more importantly its supporters. He anticipated bringing Harry Redknapp which could have worked except Harry had too much sense to buy into the operation whether he knew who would become the Director of football or not. The second decision was to appoint Kevin Keegan, cashing in on the brand name and supporter's enthusiasm, but h also must of known he needed to take Kevin with his plans or he would walk away. He was a maverick in the business world and is among football club owners and demonstrates the problem that when Mavericks foul up there are no half measures. He is said to be intent on selling the club although there would be more belief in anything's said on his behalf if he had not misrepresented the physical threat to himself and his family and inflated the asking price which despite the alleged reduction is said to want to make a profit in the tens of millions of pounds. So much for putting personal money into the club and wanting what was best for the club and supporters. To the sports writer who attempted to defend the indefensible I would remind that the road to hell is always paved with good intentions, but also leads to eternal damnation if the intentions are not good ones.

When this afternoon/s game commenced t was quickly evident that there were two desperate team who were throwing caution to the winds. Newcastle were two down with half time in sight and it seemed that Everton had won the gamble and Newcastle defeat and disaster. However they fought on and scored either side of the half, goals which the Manager did not see as he was making his way to or from the dressing room from his position in the stand. Both teams had the opportunity to win the match which ended in a an honourable draw and with Spurs beaten at home again by Hull of all teams, Newcastle was able to climb a place but remain in the bottom relegation three. Hill is now is the top three. Liverpool managed to score three goals in the second half to win at Man City. Joe Kinnear also lives to fight anther day.

Being Sunday it was also a day for political commentators to assess the impact of what has happened across the pond and at home. The decision of the USA Congress to ratify the Presidential plan to write the toxic loans featured. That is the loans which bankers should never have made and from which they made great personal profit, may or may not work and is not an approach which either the Prime Minister or Shadow leader would support in the UK unless there was no alternative. Far greater attention was directed to the reappointment of Peter Mandelson to the Government, a man who is said to have masterminded the first two Labour Government victories at the Polls and also had an important say in the third. The Tory party, caught out by the dramatic collapse of confidence between banks and between banks, government and the people were floored by the appointment of Mandelson, nearly as much he was when approached as late as the day before the announcement. He is said to have consulted Tony Blair before agreeing. Yesterday/Today the press was briefed that within the past weeks Mandelson had dropped anti Prime Minister poison to the opposition. This was immediately denied by Mandelson who said the cause of the story was likely to have been a conversation between him and the Tory Shadow Chancellor on a Greek Island in which they had both talked politics and political personalities. He reminded Mr Osborn that he would never reveal such comments, this taking the high ground and serving a warning shot that he is no lightweight and from now on he is joined at the hip with Mr Brown and the government. This also a good warning to those on the left of the party and those continuing to plan a coup on Mr Brown that from the moment of the decision to accept the invitation he is now in the corner of Mr Brown I have said that Mr Brown needed a miracle to survive. He has just created one.

Durham Cricket Club become County Champions for the first time

A brilliant day in which Durham became County Champions, they got drunk on the coach ride back while they waited for confirmation and I tried to get drunk on a bottle of Asti Spumanti which I had travelled in the sunshine to Fulwell to the Sainsbury's as I knew there was an offer of 25% reduction for six bottles paying £22.20 instead of £26.94, taking the opportunity to buy two 12 packs of Peroni where there was a similar 25% reduction.
The last four Kent wickets had fallen quickly at 197,198, and then 204 and 204 in successive balls by Steve Harmison with Thorp completing his bowling at 7 for 88 and 9 for 145 for the match. There was then a four hour wait while Hampshire ended the Nottinghamshire second Innings around 4pm. Sky contacted the captain on the coach but he was not in a sober enough condition to have an interview. Fortunately they had pre recorded interviews in the hope of the eventual result. The trophy will be presented to the annual club dinner on Monday with those not attending able to show their appreciation at a reception at Durham from five to six.

The drink helped to overcome the disappointments of the day as after scoring first at Aston Villa, Sunderland gave away two goals following free kicks. There was also a sad say at Newcastle with the attendance down to 45000 and a 2.1 defeat by Blackburn. However Hull went and won at the Emerites stadium which was truly amazing.

I watched Strictly Come dancing after a fashion enjoying a third to a half a roast chicken for the evening meal, having also enjoyed a simple vegetable stir fry for lunch. The Do you know who you are subject is one of the female dancers, the tall model Jodi Kidd and descendent of Lord Beaverbrook.

Interestingly the chairman of the judges and his Italian side kick form two of three judges for an American version where the celebrities may be well known in the USA but were unknown to me.

The unexpected treat was the X Factor which is concentrating on finding unusual talent with several exceptionally talented female singers noted.

I watched an interesting documentary about an artist photographer, his wife and her lover. The photographer set out to record the passing of the steam train in his community and the photos are remarkable pieces of USA history. When seventy years of age he married a much younger sexually attractive woman in her late forties. It was not a love much on her part except that she fell in love with his work and helped him greatly in terms of running the business as well as the household. She liked to spend and he liked to buy for her. Such was his interest and enthusiasm for steam trains that he bought a junked train to restore and found someone with engineering skills to assist him. This man fell in love with wife of the photographer. Over the years it was claimed that various photographs and negatives were given to both his wife and the photographer.

The marriage deteriorated and led to divorce in which the wife represented herself and was left with only her personal possession and received no portion of his, despite ten years of marriage. He was therefore 80 and she in her later fifties. The husband employed major lawyers with the Bill coming to $700000 protecting an estate subsequently said to be worth $7 million

Subsequently, in documentary the wife claimed that her husband had developed bizarre behaviour and commenced to lose his memory asking her to manage his affairs which led to her copying his signature to make payments. A divorce lawyer said she was amazed at the lack of any settlement in favour of the wife due she felt to the woman representing herself.

However the husband appears to have become paranoid and bitter and claimed that he was missing 1500 photographs. She claimed they not exist and the list of these was a fabrication. She was charged with first degree theft but offered a plea bargain without imprisonment if they were returned. She returned some things but not the 15000 photos and went to prison after being convicted by the jury and sentenced to six to twenty years. The lover waited and upon release they married.

A couple of years later some photographs and slides given prior to the divorce were sold by them and this led to a request for more unbeknown that this later request was a sting set up by the authorities after the trader had become suspicious. The woman's second husband was charged but she was not. None of the this material was that listed as missing and which had led to her going to prison. The obvious point has to be made as to why this material was not disclosed at the time of her trial. Unfortunately the photographer had died so was unable to give evidence either way.

I thought the black and white photographs were brilliant and the rest of story sad but I was not clear what the purpose or the moral of documentary was intended to be.

It was bed time and then I discovered there was a showing of the first double feature dramatization of Brideshead Revisited the iconic book of Oxford University life for the upper middle and aristocratic classed by Evelyn Waugh by from just after World War one until during the second when the main character finds himself posted to Brideshead. Being one of proletarians on the fringe of the University, spoken of with disdain by characters in the book I only had limited contact with the subjects of the book although did come across a few who attempted to maintain the tradition of using college life to as the base for a non stop social life centred on good food and lots of drink, with recreational drugs. The TV drama faithfully covers a 400 page novel in 11 one hour episodes ( the first a double) so I wonder what will be made if the film version which is about to reach cinema theatres and lasts just over two hours. The TV adaptation features Jeremy Irons as the studious public school educated young man brought up by his father John Gielgud going up to Oxford on a modest allowance although his father is clearly not without a bob or two living in a large house with a man's servant, By accident he encounters the younger son of Catholic Aristocracy who demonstrate all the contradictions and eccentricities for which the British upper classes remains infamous The Catholic mother played by Clair Bloom is protective and lives a separate life from her husband Laurence Olivier. Their daughter Julia is a coming out debutante who married an American businessman and then has a relationship with Jeremy (the book is sub headed the sacred and profane memories of Captain Charles Ryder). However the first part of the work concentrates on the relationship between Ryder and the young son Sebastian played by Anthony Andrews clutching his large teddy bear with him everywhere and while this is shown as love there is no hint of sex even though one of Sebastian's circle is a camp gay, so it will be interesting how this aspect is treated in the film and if they are able to retain the quality of refinement and visual beauty.

Sporting weekend September 2008

I devoted my weekend primarily to sport for two reasons. I enjoy watching excellence, especially when it is exciting with a close finish although sometimes when the later happens I cannot bear watch.

I also believe that individual and collective team performance has a greater significance than sporting achievement when it demonstrates the power of an individual or group of individuals to overcome adversity by hard work and will power, in addition to natural talent and developed skill.

I believe that as our understanding of the universe increase and the sub atomic particle smashing experiment which has commenced operationally in Switzerland reveals the origin, and deepens our understanding of matter, together with the shift to understanding more about the working of the brain and its control of perception, understanding, memory and sensation, we will come to be able to prove that mind can control matter in ways beyond all present understanding. This will lead to a pantheist understanding of God and a human mind creation of the devil and black magic.

There were good examples of what I mean in the coverage of the four sports of interest over this weekend: Tennis in a Davis cup world qualifier; Cricket in the County Championship involving Durham and the Sunday play off as who will play in the last pro 40 season 2009; Football with Sunderland playing the Boro and Newcastle away to West Ham where the manager also walked away from the club because he no longer had control over which players joined and left to the club; and then the Ryder Cup in gold which Europe has won the last three bi annual encounters, the latter two one side affairs.

There was other TV of interest with the X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, and Tess of D’Urbervilles, and on Sunday the preliminaries to the Labour Party Conference.

I have recently been hard on young Andy Murray for his lack of commitment to Britain, the concept, borne from his alleged Skittishness and anti Englishness. He may be become able to win one or more of the Grand Slam competitions, France, Australia, USA and Wimbledon and become recognised as the World's Number One, especially as he has youth on side, and without identifying himself as a Britisher and gaining the support and an adulation of the British public in general. He may make a lot of money as a consequence. He may also exhibit national pride and recognition if Scotland becomes an independent nation, but as a Scotsman, especially if his nation gains its independence during he next decade, and which is likely to become even more of a political issues if the forthcoming by-election is won by the Scottish nationalists with a significant majority. But I believe he will regret, as the years pass, and his playing days are over, that he did not attempt to endear himself to the British public as a genuine Britisher. You do not have to be British to achieve recognition and approval of the British public and there is a long line of World Class male Tennis players who achieve this. The most interesting of these, someone who alienated sections of the British media at times, was you must be joking John McEnroe, who has become an elder statesman welcomed each year back to Wimbledon

I became concerned at the attitude of Andy Murray towards the Davis cup contest with Austria he mentioned that he was not 100 percent fit but hoped to be so. I also recognised that while he has become one of the top players in the world the rest of the British team as singles players are second raters, although his brother is a good doubles players with potential.

Having watched parts of his two performances this weekend winning his two singles games, I am prepared to modify my opinion in that he did all that was required and appeared genuinely appreciative of the support given to him by the Wimbledon crowd. It was not his fault that the rest of the team was not up to the task and lost their three matches. One swallow does not make a summer, so we shall wait to see.

Charles Clark is a former Cabinet Minister who held a number of important positions in the Blair Government and now believes there should be a quick resolution of the whether there should be a new Labour Leader, and Prime Minister or not, and John Prescott was Deputy prime Minister throughout the Tony Blair Premiership and is highly regarded by insiders as the man who was pivotal in keeping the Party together and Gordon in the Cabinet rather than open warfare between Blair and Brown over the Premiership. Polly Toynbee is the highly regarded Guardian political writer and all three expressed important and thoughtful comments during an half hour debate in advance of the Labour Party conference this week.

The facts are these. In recent decades no party with one exception has managed to overcome the kind of unpopularity presently experienced by the Labour Party and Gordon Brown personally, with one exception, the Conservative Party in the early 1990's who got rid of their most successful and highly regarded leader, Margaret, now Lady Thatcher, and then went onto win the next election. Since the subsequent loss to Labour they have tried a number of different leaders in the hope of finding one who could win a general election. There was agreement between those on the "platform! that the general public is not yet convinced that the present Conservative leader is the right person. However the message of the these facts is that the Labour should replace Brown with someone who can win the next general election but then look for someone else to take the Party forward. The political argument being that while the outcome might be a loss, with change this is not as likely as it will otherwise be.

At heart of the present situation is family and individual finances and the need for people not to feel threatened and feel that their position is advancing. Labour had been good on protecting the most vulnerable but failed with the majority in the middle while the wealthiest got wealthier giving themselves more and more in bonuses which led in turn to take greater and greater risks by loaning money to those with the least ability to pay it back. As with the windfall energy tax system there are longer term risks associated with taking populist measures now, but there was unanimity among the activists and others in the programme audience that something had to done and shown to be effective to tackle the present lack of confidence and justified belief that the present system is unfair. The Prime Minister will need to make the speech of his life this week and even this is unlikely to save him if the by-election is lost. This was a point strongly made by Diane Abbot in the evening political show on Thursday which impressed others on the programme. The underlying issue is the lack of confidence in his ability to regain public support regardless of what they are saying to media and will say at the conference.

Returning to sport the second issue of interest this weekend was whether Durham could progress to winning the county championship. They could only draw against Kent on Saturday while Nottinghamshire leapt ahead with a win to 178 points, Somerset are now second with 170 and Durham third with 168, closely followed by Hampshire with 160 and Lancashire 152, Kent 151 and Sussex 151. The points system is such with 8 maximum bonus and 14 for a win 4 each for a draw that the permutations are endless. If Durham wins at Kent with the maximum bonus points they will have 190 points. If Nottingham can only draw with maximum bonus points they will also have 190 points, but Durham would be champions because of six wins out of 16 games against 5. Somerset are also at home to Lancashire and if they win with maximum bonus will have 192 points and take the championships if Notts only draw. The games commence on Wednesday and I am glad I did not book the trip to Canterbury as there is so much else on and I fear it would have ended in disappointment. With Surrey relegated to division 2 and Middlesex remaining, the possibility also being relegated, the possibility arises of three of the traditionally big four:- Yorks, Lancs, Surrey and Middlesex being in the second division of the championship. How times have changed. If Yorks go down the cause will have been Darren Gough and the approach he took to the 1 day and 20 20 competitions.

I planned to eat a roast chicken dinner later to day in the hope that I would complete writing for Saturday without the usual tiredness after having a lighter lunch of a small dish of pasta with cheese sauce and a banana. However I decided to attend to the plants which requiring cutting out the dead material as well as some watering. Soon I will start to clear containers in preparation of Spring bulb planting, and a glass of red wine and then later the remaining four pieces of anchovy on dry crackers. I am sure those in the Greek labelled tins are not anchovy by small sardines. However the consequence this and the political programme and watching the TV resulted in changing my mind and leaving the football and the Ryder cup for Sundays' writings.

One of the distractions was Strictly Come Dancing. I have been hopeless at ballroom dancing. I have a number of painful memories about my efforts as an adolescent and a young to learn to dance not appreciate the extent of my lack of coordination with together with self consciousness was a great inhibitor. I thrived on the informality of contemporary dance from the rock era onwards. I used to watch the original Come Dancing series and the attempts to maintain the interest of the changing generations, primarily by the females wearing more and more scanty and sexy clothing although the two are not the same. The reincarnation of the programme matching professional dancers with celebrities from sport, acting and TV presentation proved a brilliant idea form the first series with some surprising outcomes, notable Darren Gough and Mark Ramprakash. Sadly the publicity surrounding the show led to the revelation that Mark had a long standing affair and the break up of his marriage of 14 years and family of two daughters. The marriage of Eastenders former star Letitia Dean broke up while she appeared on the show due to differences about wanting a family. Former presenter of the Show Claudia Winkleman separated from her husband because of differences of view about their work commitments, There was also accusation and country accusation between two male and one female professional dancer Flavia Cacace. So there has been a downside to the weekly exposure on peak time family viewing Saturday and Sunday nights.

It is surprising that so many offer to make a fool of themselves when clearly they lack the essentials to progress even with the world class partners and support structure provided by the BBC. The programmes combines a nostalgia for the times when dancing was dancing with the present day fascination with the lives of personalities behind their well known roles to-date.

End of seasons at the Riverside

I enjoyed Sunday despite the seething turmoil below the relaxed exterior. I had risen early and reviewed the Sunday papers on line and watched the news on Sky and the BBC and then listened attentively to the Sunday Supplement. I prepared a lunch of lamb shank with gravy, carrots and peas and settled down to watch Sky News Sport News at 1pm when the programme announced that it was the last day of the Pro 40 Cricket League Competition and announced the scorecard at Durham Riverside.

I had previously checked that the last home Championship game commenced on Wednesday and overlooked this important final game where just about everyone had a chance of winning the nine team league or faced relegation to the second division. The weather looked good so I abandoned everything I had thought of doing including watching the Italian Grand Prix and set off without packing any food or drink.

Fortunately I was able to get the last car parking space in my preferred area and arrived to take a seat behind the wicket as the sixth wicket fell of the Gloucestershire innings with the score at only 81. Gloucestershire had lost their first wicket at no runs but had then established a good but slow start with 63 runs from a partnership between Ali and Porterfield before a collapse with had seen five wickets fall for 18 runs. There was a short recovery as I settled in my seat in hazy sunshine and had a little heavy eyed siesta after the good food and hasty journey before the last four wickets fell for 19 runs. I had left my haversack in the car and fancying a cup of tea I made my way around the ground to the Member's lounge watching the last two overs as I went in time to get into the queue before the main rush.

I had to wait until later to establish the details of all the bowling although I had heard that Steve Harmison had completed his eight overs for 32 runs and three wickets and saw Breeze take his three wickets for eight runs and followed this with 20 important runs secure the winner by five wickets after Durham themselves had mini collapse losing four wickets for three runs early on. De Venuto appears to have hit form at he right time scored unbeaten 52 and captain Benkenstein an important 25 at a crucial time. There was also a good crowd and Durham finished third in the table which is not bad after gaining promotion last year and shows the strides the team has taken over the past two seasons. Sussex had an amazing win scoring 52 in the last five overs and with only two wickets left, including a six off the last ball.

The rest of the day was taken up with the situation at Newcastle United. I had an evening meal of soup and a bacon sandwich and must have drunk a whole pint of orange juice as well as cups of tea consequently. It was midnight when I went to bed and the news that Ashley and told Alan Shearer that he was no longer required as club Ambassador had not broken, The man has now alienated himself from the football nation as well as Geordieland.

The mess at Newcastle AFC continues

A strange thing happened to-day. I relaxed without guilt until the evening when an announcement resurrected feelings of being helpless again the power of nature and men of power and wealth

I did not have much to write about until then. I played lots of games on the computer stopping at a run of 55 games of level one chess, 37 percent wins of Hearts and 83% at Spider Solitaire.

I am puzzled by the number of good chefs there are creating sophisticated dishes which presumably some people eat at great expense. I must find one, save up and go and have a gourmet meal sometime. I thought this after watching the semi final where two of four young men battled for the opportunity to work in one of the great kitchens with a ember of the Roux family.

The previous night I had watched Get Carter for the umpteenth time and with every viewing I see something I did not see before or did but no longer remember. I thought if was a fitting film to remind of what had been old Newcastle. A grim colourless city with twice the national average level of unemployment and areas of major social deprivation and an under belly of criminal gangs with wafts of corruption in high places.

I found myself counting the number of people Michael Caine kills during his revenge mission for the murder of his brother covered up a suicide. The girlfriend of his brother was instrumental in his daughter become involved with the local crime gang with pornographic films as one money making venture; He kills her and then arranged for her to be found on the estate of the many behind the film making; the second woman participated in the filmmaking with the young girl although technically Caine does not kill her directly as she also is placed in the car boot, but the vehicle tipped into the Tyne my gangsters employed by his London boss; the man who seduced the girl I saved until towards the end of the film and is tipped into the North sea along with other coal waste; the man who participated in the film runs gaming machine along the coast and is dropped from the iconic car park in the centre of Gateshead onto the bonnet of a passing cars, then there are the two men sent by his boss in London to take him back, having found out that he was planning to run off with the bosses girl friend to South America and they are shot on a Tyne ferry across the river, and finally his brother's friend who was instrumental in covering up the murder of the brother by his silence.

Caine is also the cause of the bosses girl friend suffering severe facial injury. Although he plans to run off with this young woman during his stay of a few days on Tyneside he sleeps with his landlady and the woman who stars in the film which led to the murder of his brother. Moreover during the film he does not deny that he slept with his brother's wife and is the more likely father of the daughter. He does expose the gangster to the police who funded the porn film business and who uses his home for drug and sex orgies but this another action of revenge and social concern. So why do we feel disappointment when Caine is killed by another criminal assassin in the final scene of the film? Because it is Caine? And why does the film have a continuing appeal beyond Tynesiders, who enjoying working out where all the scenes were shot? One aspect is the haunting and unique musical sound track.

Newcastle has risen from this background with significant new landmarks and cultural developments although the process is ongoing an integral element has been the rise of Newcastle United Football stadium over the past twenty years from when it reflected the cultural isolation. The ground has been developed into one of the biggest and modern stadiums in Britain and for a few golden years in the early nineteen there was a magic mix of class football played with flair and a title chasing team who also played in Europe. There was Peter Beardsley one of the most skilful players in Britain There was great centre forwards Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand and then Alan Shearer. Above all there was Kevin Keegan although Sir Bobby Robson also achieved success in getting to club into positions where they were able to play in European competition for season upon season.

It is almost two weeks since the most dramatic of weekends in British Football, with Manchester City taken over by an Arab business, quickly followed by buying a real Madrid player for over £30 million with another £30 million plus paid Man United for Berbatov. Then the bombshell that Keegan had left, had been sacked, then he had not been sacked, Then the information that the issue had been his control over players recruited to the club or put on the market and sold. There was reports of meetings between Keegan and the Newcastle Board involving the football manager's association but these came to nothing. Almost every known Newcastle Football player of the past two decades was interviewed and supporters by their thousands telephoned text and e mailed.

The Owner, the Chairman and the Director of Football all London based were declared enemies of the people. A number of protests were said to have been planned with controversy over whether people should stay away from the next home match or attend and voice their dissent.
Peter Beardsley, a Tyneside legend who it was my privilege to see play then appeared on television on Friday evening, appealing for the fans to attend the game and not stay away, but also appeared to be defending the owner and board.

Then later in the evening there was film of the owner attending an annual meeting of his main company and refusing to talk about any aspect of the situation at Newcastle United.

Then there was the news that Keegan had returned from his home in Majorca for a meeting with the Owner in London and an official statement was that various matters were discussed without resolution and no further meetings were planned.

On BBC Sports news on the internet there was reference to the likelihood of five organised protests in and outside the ground and of some supporters not entering the ground for the match.

I went to bed very late after watching TV and a film debating whether I would visit to Newcastle to assess the situation, whether I would participate in any protest, or if I would stay home and watch the lunch time televised game between Manchester United and Liverpool and the early evening game between Manchester City and Chelsea, listening to radio broadcast commentaries of the Newcastle game and of Sunderland away to Wigan.

Ella Simmonds

The greatest moment of the entire Olympic celebration occurred this morning when 13 year old Eleanor Simmonds who now lives in Wales and who suffers from dwarfism, won a gold medal at her first attempt in the 100 metre freestyle. There had been hopes that she might win a medal although he main aim was to give her experience prior to the 2012 games. She was trailing the field at the beginning and appeared to be competing for a bronze as the race was ending but somehow as others tired she found the strength to push herself into a personal best time by two seconds and won the gold by 100th of a second.

Whereas Andy Murray finds it difficult to impossible to accept that he is part of Great Britain as well as being a proud Scotsman, Eleanor had Union Jack on her back and red white and blue fingernails. It was her interview afterwards which led to my hoping the media will take her up and that she will win the Sports personality of the year. I am pleased to say that she did make to the national news along with one of most amazing escapes of all time.

A young family Mark Baxter and his wife Beverley were walking at Durham River Chester Le Street, the park land and children's playground next to the cricket ground, with their two daughters Leona aged 3 years and older sister about five years and the family dog splashing about the water left after the rain storm. Suddenly the three year old and her dog disappeared having been sucked into an uncovered and unmarked storm drain. Her father attempted to get her out but he had disappeared. Then in a moment of extraordinary inspiration he worked out that the drain would go straight to river and rushed off to its bank some seventy metres away and was able to see her coat being swept along then realising that it was his daughter face down, he jumped in, started to get the water out of her lungs before getting back to bank. His wife gave her first aid as paramedic, police and fire service arrived. The girl was taken to the North Durham Hospital where she was treated for shock and for bruising but by late evening she was seeking ice cream and chocolate and her relieved parents were telling the world how lucky they were. I wondered what were the odds of survival in that situation in terms of girl being caught in the drain underground, of if her father had not and the inspiration to get to the river and work out the direction the drain might be going to the water. What could have happens is difficult to think about although such tragedies occur every day somewhere.

It was the one bright piece of news in the evening regional news and sport programmes which concentrated on the flooding of Morpeth and other parts of Northumberland which has been the worst for over half a century as in one of the quirks of nature the water bearing clouds suddenly came to a halt over the town and wider areas unleashing over a month's rain in a few hours over already saturated ground. Again the possessions of a lifetime were destroyed but fortunately no lives were lost in this area as a consequence

The regional TV programmes also reminded of the statements made over the weekend my Newcastle Football Club and on behalf of Kevin Keegan to which was added the news that two other coaches and close associates had also left the club, fuelling the anger of supporters and where the momentum for a boycott appears to have gained ground and for standing in protest outside. A spokesperson for the managing company said there had been no approach to buy the club which suggests that unless the owners have some rabbit to pull out of the hat then their will be a test of will but hopefully not of strength on Saturday. I assume there will be a significant police presence to prevent crowds forming outside the ground unless they are entering with a ticket, but which in turn runs the risk of those bent in creating trouble doing so elsewhere in the city. It is a very worrying situation.

Yesterday I had seen again a film about the power of belief called Constantine and the Cross. This 1962 film feature Cornel Wilde and Belinda Lee and had its moments of engagement as long as one made no attempt to check its historical accuracy. The film focuses on the battle for power after the Empire was split between to rulers with Caesars as their deputies and how Constantine was converted to Christianity after his mother had done so. It also has a loyal friend Hadrian whose also falls for a Christian girl who may have been slave or a member of a minor family but there is no happy ending for them. Constantine triumphs and purges Rome of its nastier elements, for a time.

In contrast Alexander the Great viewed a couple of days before and which starred Richard Burton (unconvincing as a young man) nevertheless had a fine script giving the film gravitas. There was a balance on intrigue and on relationships rather than action and spectacle, as with Shakespeare's work which I liked but not the critics. The film made in the mid fifties did get slightly better reviews than Oliver Stone's 2005 epic which lasted nearly three hours. I enjoyed both.

I also enjoyed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind which I saw five years ago at a Cineworld in Chelsea and was again shown last night as I also watch Blue Velvet which I had not seen previously, occasionally flipping over to New York in the hope that Murray would find the mental strength and courage to break out of the crushing play of his opponent in he final of the USA open. Federer sense he could get his number one spot back and was without mercy.

I was much less critical again than the critics about Confessions. They disliked this first Directorial black comedy satirical film by George Clooney and which starred Sam Rockwell as the young man making the confessions and Drew Barrymore as his long term girl friend and Julia Roberts as a Marta Hari. Most did not like the plot or the script. Basically I believe most did not understand the psychology and most Americans would not appreciate the underlying self criticism of the American illusion. Sam Rockwell plays a creative who decides to use his talents on a series of brainless money making games shows. The first we knew in Britain as Blind date with Cilla Black. Three young people of same sex are interviewed by someone of the opposite sex who asks them three stupid questions and from their answers one is picked to have a blind date, someone a inexpensive local meal out, but more often an expensive few days in some exciting place. Usually they have a difficult time and cannot wait for the date to end, although I believe there was one wedding. In the film the producing team are told they can make the show as stupid as they like but warned that they will be sent to prison if they included anything which Uncle Sam then regards as un-American.

It is at this point that George Clooney enters the film as a special squad of state assassins and recruits Sam after claiming authorship for the idea of sending the couples on romantic trips and adventures around the world as cover for Sam acting as chaperone with the film crew to do "jobs" for his country. He is helped in these activities by Julia Roberts.

The need to find new shows is constant and as Sam progresses in popularity and double life he creates an earlier form of American Idol and the X factor except without the talent and restricted just to the worst would be performers willing to humiliate themselves on TV for the enjoyment of the masses. It at this point that a double agent comes to the fore and the principals set about trying to eliminate each other so Sam has a breakdown and goes into hiding before working out who the villain of villains is. The films has a kind of happy ever after ending and to add spice the story is put about that the take was not entirely fictitious. As with Blue Velvet it is intended to be taken at various levels. I loved the idea of the game show in which three old men review their lives and the one who does blow his brains out with the loaded revolvers given to them wins the prize of a new fridge or washing machine.

The critics were much more enthusiastic about Blue Velvet because it was about the diversity of human sexual behaviour, albeit of the darker and nastier kind and had lots of arty and surreal sequences which I thought pretentious. My interest was with the female star whose voice reminded of Ingrid Bergman so I played a hunch and looked her up on Wikipedia which confirmed that Isabella Fiorella Ellettra Rossellini was indeed a daughter of Ingrid and the Italian film director Roberto who was married three times. She was brought up in Rome. Santa Marinella and Paris before coming to New York when 19 years where she worked at Finch College as a translator, a ring master in a circus and for RAI TV. She appears to be one of those children of famous/infamous parents who do not come into their own until the death of the parent/parents.

She married Martin Scorsese 1979-1982, then a German ,model and later had relationships with David Lynch the film director of Blue Velvet, Gary Oldman and George Mosher. She also became a model being photographed by some of the best of the day and at one point was the front face for Lancome which she held for 14 years until on reaching 40 she was sacked for a younger person. Apart from the notoriety created by Blue Velvet she appeared in a number of films and TV series gaining minor award and nominations for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. In later life she became involved with various good causes and became a US Ambassador for UNICEF although she continues to hold joint citizenship. She remains part of large extended family as her father had three wives and in addition to her twin sis she also has a half sister from her mother's first marriage.. What I like about her most is that she wrote a book entitled my father lived to be 100, now what am I calling the book about my mother?

I went out walking in the morning as the rain had stopped for a day as bought a Daily Mail or a copy of the Culture Club record which was great value as it contained a number of hit songs. Visit to the bank for statement and cash and then to Asda just for milk as I bought grapes and strawberries at the station greengrocers completed the trip. I decided to start chasing up things outstanding and with day's task the free AOL Car Warehouse laptop which had clearly been lost between the various interests involved. It should arrive in less than two weeks. I had ordered some black ink cartridges over the weekend and the garage door is now working as it did when first installed which shows that it is better to face things than put them off.

More woe at Newcastle United 2008

The day began soberly with the focus on the Sunday Football Supplement programme with informed and balanced discussions about Newcastle, West Ham, Man City and the transfer window.

Several things which were stated or hinted at elsewhere were confirmed. The Abu Dhabi group had approached Newcastle first but Ashley had rejected because they wanted overall control. This alone will finish Ashley and his cronies in this region. Apparently he is ready to sell up but not for the £135 which he bought the club but the £232 million which he has put in the club. He has also hired ex SAS men and others to protect him, presumably from the media which will follow him until he makes some kind of public statement. Apparently the Indian entrepreneur has 20 billion and would bring Kevin back so the end of this story remains to be written.

While the new European approach of separating the role of Manger from the person who recruits can be successful, l if one is an elder statesman rooted in the club and its traditions and has the same outlook, approach and ambitions as the manager, it has not at Newcastle, West Ham or Tottenham and has not been needed to bring success at Manchester United or Arsenal. It led to the departure of Murinho at Chelsea over the recruitment of the Russian player now elsewhere. There were also pointed comments on the behaviour of the Tottenham chairman who is said to have briefed the media throughout the day against the behaviour of Manchester United over Berbatov but then agreed to withdraw any complaints for roughly an additional £5 million payment. It is to the credit of the player that he resisted more money at man City because he believed his future would be better as part of the United Team.

Yet another information technology scandal hangs over the future of the government as the names and addresses of prison governors have gone astray and could involve the relocation of officers and their families if the information falls into the hands of the criminal underworld. There is also why it took a couple of months for the information to passed to the Home Secretary/Minister of Justice.

Not only had the rain stopped when I awoke but there were moments of sunshine so around midday I rang Durham cricket Club to learn that the ground conditions were such that the game was cancelled.
It had rained in Belgium too and these conditions suited Louis Hamilton but early when the race commenced he spun and had to settle for second position from then until the final laps when he undertook a manoeuvre which led to him being penalised by twenty five seconds with the consequence that he was placed third instead of the winner. Later the Racing Team announced they would be appealing against this decision.

I missed the final laps having switched over to the BBC 1 for their review of the first day of events at the Para Olympics where over the past decade the level of competition and performance together with the assessment has significantly improved. The coverage also included mini films about the backgrounds of those who had previously won medals or whose story merited bringing to the attention of the public in general. Welshman Simon Richardson aged 41 attending his first Olympics won a gold in 1 K time trial for those with impairment in their legs, and Aileen McGlynn from Scotland who has a severe visual handicap only being able to see shapes and shadows won the Tandem time trial with her lead cycle from Wales Ellen Hunter, both setting world records. Darren Kenny 38 then smashed his world record in the semi final of the 3000m pursuit and in the final caught his opponent after only 1000 metres which meant the race immediately end and he became the gold medal winner. Kenny who is from Dorset suffers from cerebral palsy after an accident from which he was not expected to survive. The British Swimmer Sascha Kindred who won four medals in Athens won his first event today bringing the total 4 and Britain equal first in the medal table after Day 1. The sight of some swimmers using their arms and upper bodies without the ability to control their legs, or using their legs and upper bodies with one or more arms and hands disabled was truly inspiring as the cyclists with severe damage to legs who use lightweight and strong special artificial legs.

After the evening stir fry I enjoyed Soccer Aid at Wembley in which a team of legendary footballers and celebrities played the rest of the world. Each team had a former professional goal keeper in the first half and a celebrity in the second. And they were allowed to have four out of their five former professional other players on the pitch, throughout the game if they wished. England had a forward lime of Alan Shearer who scored a penalty and a class one header and Terry Sheringham who scored first. Other ex professionals included David Seaman, Graham Le Saux and Jamie Rednapp, Harry's son whose pregnant wife did the pitch side interviews, included her father in law who managed the team with Bryan Robson. The game had mass appeal from several viewpoints. The celebrities acquitted themselves and of course had their fans from their day jobs. There was the opportunity seeing some former world class players with De Canio, Figo and Romaro in the rest of the world with Jaap Stam. They showed their skill and the 4.3 win to England just about reflected the play although no one would have complained if there had been a full time draw and the game gone to extra time/penalties.

It was then time to for Andrew Murray in the adjourned semi final against the brilliant Nadal who had won Wimbledon and just about everything else and had the world at his feet. Contrary to the BBC news Nadal did not quickly win the third set. There was one extraordinary game where Murray had seven break points and then also fought back to level twice after Nadal had gained the advantage point. This appeared to be the turning point in the match as Murray failed to win the game and collapsed to lose his serve game with Nadal taking the set. When Nadal broke Murray's service early on in the fourth it looked as if worst fears were to be realised but Murray's not just held nerve but went to the offensive playing some amazing shots of power and also of skilled accuracy and one had the sense that it was going to be his day to become first Brit to reach a semi final of a major tennis tournament in a decade and the first ever Scot/ he has alienated English support in the pat emphasing his pro Scots anti Englishness rivalry and last night further created problems by emphasising that he was playing for himself and family and that Britishness was along way on his list of priorities and interests.

Because of the sporting interests little project work was accomplished but I went to bed content