Hull City 0 - 0 Newcastle Utd

Shay Given once again succeeded in putting himself in the shop window, as his heroics against a second string Hull team kept our name in the FA Cup hat for at least a week and a half and ensured we left the KC Stadium with a draw on Saturday.

With injuries limiting JFK’s options, he handed Andy Carroll a rare start up front and welcomed Sebastien Bassong back into

Happy New Year from both of us at Black & White & Read All Over. May 2009 bring us rather more joy than 2008 did…

According to JFK, Shay Given - “the best goalkeeper in the Premier League by a country mile” - is going nowhere in January.

With the transfer window about to open and Given’s outstanding performance against Liverpool on Sunday the only thing that prevented the league leaders from registering double figures, that the Irishman’s future would once again be the subject of speculation was inevitable

So, Steven Gerrard MBE has been charged with assault and affray after an incident in a Southport nightspot on Sunday evening. It’s alleged that being part of a group of men who administered a severe beating once that day just wasn’t enough…

While we can be forgiven for bemoaning why the incident and arrest couldn’t have taken place before the demolition job at St James’s, in which Gerrard was

Newcastle Utd 1 - 5 Liverpool

And there I was thinking the demolition job the Scousers did on us last season was bad. Having contrived to put a positive slant on the news that the club has proven unattractive to investors, Mike Ashley presumably had his head in his hands when the final whistle blew on this latest debacle, wondering what on earth he’s done to deserve being left saddled with it.

According to a statement released today, 2009 will be the year in which “we drive the club forward together”, with owner and fans back in harmony and striving to achieve the best for the club.

Ashley has apparently taken the decision to withdraw the club from the market so that we might “continue to progress under the new management team”.

Far be it from me to raise a cynical eyebrow at all of

Wigan Athletic 2 - 1 Newcastle Utd

Ah, the annual festive ritual: picking over the bones of the Christmas turkey and then picking over the bones of another miserable Boxing Day defeat. Given the catalogue of misery recorded in the history books and the four defeats we’d suffered on our four previous visits to the JJB, the fixture computer’s Christmas gift of a Boxing Day trip to Wigan was about

Merry Christmas from us at Black & White & Read All Over. Enjoy your day - after all, our annual 1-0 defeat at the JJB is just around the corner…

So the wait is over, kind of: Little Saint Mick’s staying - for the time being.

The good news is that the man whose goals kept us up last season has “no intention of leaving Newcastle United in the January transfer window” and remains “committed to ensuring the club ends the season on a high” - which at the moment, mindful of how tight the bottom of the league is and knowing our own capacity for

Newcastle Utd 2 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur

At long last, a precious three points at home lifted us back towards the relative security of mid-table.

Goals from Charles N’Zogbia, and a last gasp winner from Damien Duff were sufficient to overcome a Spurs side whose only goal inevitably came from one-time Toon target Luka Modric.

With Ameobi replacing Martins in the starting line up, with the Nigerian