Newcastle United Football Club - Match reports

Season 1999-00
Reading (a) Friendly

Date: Saturday 24th July 1999, 3.21pm
(start delayed due to crowd congestion)

Venue: Madejski Stadium

Conditions: Sweltering

Admission: Ł10

Programme: Ł3
(joint programme with Southampton friendly)

Rather peculiarly, free programmes were given away with each purchase -being unsold copies of last January's Reading v Wrexham game. Lucky us!

Reading		Newcastle
	2 - 2
Half time:	2 - 0

Score Sheet:
(7) Caskey (20) Williams		Coppinger(pen) (63) Robinson (82)

	Teams
Howie Gurney Gray Parkinson Hunter Polston Hodges Caskey Williams Scott Brebner		Perez Charvet Beharall Hughes Barton Kerr Coppinger Hamilton Robinson Maric Serrant

Substitutes:
(52) Casper for Scott (52) McIntyre for Brebner (56) Hammond for Howie (63) Lockwood for Hunter (63) McClaren for Williams (83) Kromheer for Polston		Speed for Hamilton (46) Gullit for Beharall (46)

Subs not used:
None		Ketsbaia Martin Domi Goma McClen

Bookings:
None		None
Dismissals:
None		None

Referee: Dermot Gallagher, who popped in from home in nearby Banbury to dispense his own brand of "refereeing", complete with the obligatory useless linesmen.

Attendance: 16,884 (around 5,000 away supporters in the South Stand, who appeared in at least twelve different variations of toon shirt; wardrobes all over the South East having presumably been ransacked for what was a rare chance to pay on the gate and see the lads.) Built in the same style as other new stadia elsewhere in the country (Boro, Derby etc.) Madejski Stadium suffers from the same problems of woefully inadequate provisioning of catering facilities, a dangerously limited number of exits from the stands and laughably small car parks. The lack of the latter was confounded by away fans being directed to parking areas that were found to be for permit holders only. Of course being built on land nobody wants, there isn't a boozer for miles but McDonalds is but a stroll, as is a DIY superstore. Welcome to 21st Century culture, UK style. At half-time we were treated to John Madejski doing a fine Norman Collier impression. He'd tried to give his rabble-rousing speech before kick-off but a terminally-ill microphone had let him down. A second attempt wasn't much better, the owner spluttering his way through his diatribe as stray phrases like "promotion"..."full-stadium"..."wonderful fans" leaked out. As Madejski left the pitch to a mixture of huge applause (home fans) and mild derision (away fans) the spectacularly loud PA system boomed out an upbeat Lightning Seeds number, whose first line was: "You're lying again..." Whoever was responsible for the dodgy mic may soon be in receipt of his P45, and the DJ could also be looking for a new gig.....

Goals

7 mins: The foul-mouthed home support were angered as the referee brought back play for a free kick in a central position just outside the United area, Williams having poked the ball into the net.
Justice was soon done as Darren Caskey curls the free kick past a motionless Lionel Perez. 0-1.

20 mins: David Beharall was guilty of an awful lapse as he failed to cut out a through ball and Martin Williams was left with time and space to pick his spot and convert easily. 0-2

Half time: Royals 2 Magpies 0

63 mins: An exquisite long pass from Gullit released Paul Robinson, who was bearing down on goal from the left wing when he was bundled over on the edge of the penalty area by Hunter. Referee Gallagher for once gave us a positive decision and James Coppinger smacked in the spot-kick.

Interestingly, a small exchange took place between Coppinger and Silvio Maric, with the Croatian appearing to turn down the opportunity to take the penalty. 1-2

82 mins: Having seen the ball whipped away from him after working it into a dangerous position, Paul Robinson chased and retrieved it before setting off on a mazy dribble into the Reading area, culminating in a well-timed twelve yard finish. The applause from away fans behind that goal was generous and deserved - a personal triumph for the exciting youngster. 2-2.

Full time: Royals 2 Magpies 2

We Said

Ruud Gullit said:

To follow

They Said

Tommy Burns:

To follow

Stats

United made their first-ever visit to the Madejski Stadium, which opened in August 1998.

Pre-season pitch time (in minutes):

Andersson 37+0+90+0+0+0=127 (1 goal)
Barton 90+45+45+90+45+90=405 (1 goal)
Beharall 0+45+45+0+21+45=111
Caldwell 0+14+45+0+0+0=14
Charvet 90+45+90+45+90+90=450
Coppinger 90+14+0+49+0+90=243 (3 goals)
Dabizas 0+45+0+0+25+0=70
Domi 0+0+90+90+90+0=270
Dumas 90+45+90+90+0+0=315
Dyer=0+69+45+90+0+0=205 (1 goal)
Glass 90+0+0+0+0+0=90
Goma 90+45+90+90+90+0=405
Griffin 90+0+30+0+0+0=120
Gullit 0+0+0+0+0+45=45
Hamilton 0+0+0+0+0+45=45
Hughes 0+45+0+0+65+90=200
Kerr 53+21+45+0+69+90=278
Ketsbaia 0+90+90+90+90+0=360
Lemmens 33+0+0+0+0+0=33
Marcelino 0+90+0+45+0+0=135
Maric 0+76+0+90+90+90=346
McClen 90+45+90+41+45+0=311 (2 goals)
Perez 57+90+90+90+90+90=507
Robinson 0+0+0+0+21+90=111 (2 goals)
Serrant 90+45+45+0+69+90=339
Shearer 0+76+0+0+0+0=76 (1 goal)
Speed 0+45+90+90+90+45=360

Neither of our two old boys featured: Jimmy Crawford (injured) or Paul Brayson (out of favour) but there were familiar faces on the bench in Royals manager Tommy Burns and coach Kevin Dillon.

Reserve/academy goalkeeper Ian Martin was an unused substitute for United.

Debut in a black and white shirt for an R. Gullit, who looks to have a great future.

Waffle

I'll admit it, the pre-season preparations of Ruud Gullit have confused me.

Discounting the air mile-building itinerary and inevitable injured list, this starting line-up was surely intended to prove a point to someone, somewhere; including as it did only one of his signings.

One theory that has been aired is that up until now, the lack of a front line has been a form of test for the rest of the team's defensive qualifications, but the continued inclusion of allegedly discarded players continues to baffle.

As well as pre-season regulars Lionel Perez and Carl Serrant, today's old face was Des Hamilton, while Brian Kerr continued in midfield and Robert Lee was again conspicuous by his absence.

The two most noticeable things in the first half were the lack of quality tackles made by the away side, together with an uneasiness in defence with the five man backline against an average attack from a third tier team.

Presumably that's why the majority of the players on show won't be in the first choice eleven, but rumours that messrs Harper, Given, Shearer and Ferguson won't be available for the first proper game of the season in a fortnight should have alarm bells ringing all over Tyneside.

As for the second half appearance of Gullit, who knows what this was intended to achieve…perhaps he couldn't quite believe how bad his charges had been in the first half and wanted to see things from a different angle; maybe he wanted to embarrass the team he picked into mounting convincing attacks or just fancied a run out in the tropical conditions.

Whatever the reason, his arrival on the field was an inspiration to team and crowd alike, and the young front pair of Coppinger and Robinson profited richly from the supply of direct and accurate long passes from the cultured boot of the Dutchman. The latter looks like a genuine prospect.

Today's Maric Miss never actually happened as he shied away from making a goal attempt (and the penalty), but did manage to burst seven balloons out of seven in a pre-match stomp across the pitch. It's a confidence thing…

As previously mentioned, the lack of car parking and catering facilities is something expected from a Victorian relic, not a purpose-built new stadium on an out of town site.

It was apparent that the stewards and catering staff simply couldn't cope with an away stand filled to capacity and a small number of exits from the stand didn't fill one with confidence either.

The total lack of ventilation under the stand also contributed to a polluted atmosphere when the Toon fans lit up their Regals and the queues for beer and burgers meant a fight to get near the toilet entrances - more evidence of poor design.

There was ample legroom in the seats, in contrast to other new constructions such as Old Trafford.

For the third game in five days (Livingston, Dundee United, today) the crowd was "entertained" by some geek dressed up in a Lion costume. Is this some terrible new FIFA ruling designed to get the Teletubbies generation into football and if so, could Andreas Andersson take that role at SJP?

PPS: Ever wonder what happened to the stout geriatrics who formed the Roly Poly's dance troupe ? Well at least two of them are apparently employed here as crowd control stewards (and probably sightscreens during the cricket season.)

Biffa

Page last updated 19 November, 2019