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Another quiet year huh?

By Lee Ryder on Dec 31, 06 01:29 PM

There's never a dull moment in the world of Newcastle United and 2006 proved to be no different.

I mean how many teams do you know that have managed to squeeze in two relegation battles and a European campaign into one year?

It could only happen on Tyneside and it did in 2006.

Graeme Souness had reached the point where he had to go and in came Glenn Roeder who has steadied the ship.

Oh and by the way one of the greatest strikers in English football retired, smashed a long standing club record and raised the roof on an emotional night in one of the best testimonials in the history of football against Celtic.

And don't forget 2006 will be the year that his former England strike partner Michael Owen shattered his knee and played just 29 minutes in a black and white shirt sparked off by a broken foot injury sustained 12 months to the day.

Shearer reaching 206 goals - against Sunderland no less - has to be one of the main highlights of the year.

But you cannot forget the job Roeder did by guiding United away from trouble and into the Intertoto Cup.

That meant a passage into the UEFA Cup and we sit happily in the last 32.

Not bad work considering that Roeder has been working with other people's players and a shocking injury crisis.

We did snap up Oba Martins and Damien Duff as cash signings too but we are yet to see their full potential, perhaps we will next year.

Martins has nine goals but went out of 2006 on a low with a penalty miss at Everton yesterday in the dire 3-0 defeat.

Still with 2007 likely to see the return of Owen, Duff and perhaps more new faces, you just cannot predict what is around the corner!

It could go either way and 2006 is evidence of that after a pre-Christmas slump saw United in the bottom three before a little run of form guided us back to the middle of the table.

Still in the FA Cup, still in Europe, and not a million miles behind the top six chasing pack.

Nobody is going to make rash predictions but there is something to work with when players crawl out of the injury room.

Here's to a great 2007!

Happy new year.

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Lee Ryder

Lee Ryder - Proudly born and bred on Tyneside, the Chronicle's chief sports writer has followed the fortunes of the club over the last three decades as a Toon fan and football writer.

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