Have we improved in the last year? 

Certainly, if the results of our two home warm-up games are to be believed, even if this performance was rather less majestic than one or two reporters reckoned.

Back in 2002 a packed house generously saluted Patrick Kluivert and Barcelona, partly due to their deserved 3-0 success on Tyneside but mostly because there wasn't a massive amount to cheer amongst the home ranks. 

Fast forward twelve months to what was an ostensibly meaningless game, but in many ways more of a contest than the previous visit of German opposition to Gallowgate - that one-sided champs league victory over Bayer Leverkusen.

However, like Robert it only takes a quick look at the stats for last season in the back of tonight's programme to appreciate that it's worth the effort to harness individuality for the greater good of the team. 

Besides, when their stand-ins are Viana and Cort respectively, the contributions (not to mention availability) of Laurent and Shola begin to look a bit more consistent....

To put each player under the microscope in what was a practice match is perhaps a little unfair, but we're a week away from our first competitive game of the season and after that the challenges come thick and fast, both at home and abroad.

While it's excusable for tackles to be a little less than whole-hearted in games like this, the fact that the ticket prices made no more than a token gesture towards the fact this was a kickabout (£20 here, £25 for the champs league in a few weeks) should mean that a modicum of effort is expended on both sides.

Happily this was the case, and even though we could have done without the below-par officiating of the Stockton tangoman and the diving histrionics of a number of the visiting players. Still, that's the sort of thing that one encounters every week during the real stuff, so it's as well to re-acquaint oneself with it now, whether you're a player or watcher.

To end this report on a positive note, a draw was probably the best result, with the victory that one of those late goals would have brought perhaps leading to unrealistically-expanded hopes of success this season. As it was, the  "honours even" outcome keeps things going in the right direction without uprooting conifers.

Finally, mention of the large number of younger fans who took advantage of the £5 admission to make a rare, or in some cases debut visit to the mansion on the hill. 

As a hard-bitten cynical old so-and-so it's easy to forget the sheer thrill and excitement of going to a game, any game at what must seems like a giant's back garden when you're only a little 'un. And there's always something special about a night match at SJP, with the lights on and the grass almost seeming to shimmer...

For those new fans alone, the sight of Shearer banging one in at each end was enough to send them home with a head full of memories of their big night out. 

Long may it continue. 

Biffa

Reports