51mins The decisive goal came as a result of Kieron Dyer's dallying with the ball on halfway for no good reason. Robbed by Doyle, Seol then crossed from the right, Oster dummied it and the unshackled DaveKitson powered home a left foot effort.

To complete the comedy of errors, Steve Harper rushed off his line and although he couldn't get close to the goalscorer, ended up in a heap with Antoine Sibierski - who then had to leave the field with a broken bone in his forearm.  0-1

Full time: Reading 1 Newcastle 0

Glenn Roeder said:

"Michael did not go to last summer's World Cup fit. He played 29 minutes at Birmingham last year.

"His metatarsal was sore, he was in pain, he went off and joined the England squad and the coach must have thought he was fit but he should never have gone to the World Cup.

"I'm not worried about a fully-fit Michael Owen playing for anybody, as long as people realise he's a Newcastle player first.

"I can't look into the future but he'll now play two more games before the end of the season.

"He won't be 100% match fit after three games having been out so long but by the end of our last match against Watford he will be that bit fitter.

"Michael Owen will tell you Newcastle comes first because it does. We're all pretty fed up at the club with people saying it's England and then Newcastle.

"It's the other way round - Newcastle comes first and then England. Anyone who thinks differently is completely out of order.

"We know he's a world-class striker but he's a Newcastle player first.

"I'm sure he'll be fine for Saturday and will finish the season with three Premiership games under his belt. Thereafter we'll have to go and see what happens."

"Down the years Newcastle have always been an easy target for speculation - it happened with Graeme Souness, Bobby Robson and now me.

"It's the same with the players. That's the animal and I do not lose one second's sleep over it. I've been through too many things in my life to worry about the speculation."

When asked about an England recall, a smiling Michael Owen said:

"You'll have to ask Steve McClaren. I'm hopefully going to fine to be playing in the last two games for Newcastle and then it's down to whether Steve McClaren picks me.

"And if I'm fit and playing for Newcastle, obviously I'd jump at the chance to play for my country. Its a fantastic honour.

(Fighting off accusations of excess curmudgeoness, can I just say that seeing Michael's cheeky grin on SkySportsNews at 4am when I walked back through the door didn't improve my grim mood one bloody iota.....)

Further Owen quotes:

"For the first hour when I did my cruciate, my feeling was one of guilt – to the chairman and the fans and even down to the people who sponsor our boots and invest so much in you. I’m one of those people who feel sorry for others before they think of themselves. But you have to live with it.

“Hopefully I can make up for lost time. I’ve put so much work into getting back that I don’t think there was anyone out on the pitch who was as fit as me. I’m 100 per cent fit and I have been for quite a while. The knee is firmly behind me.”

“It would have been ideal to make my return back at home, but unfortunately I had a groin problem and that’s why I couldn’t play against Chelsea. But the next best thing is just to play. You can’t be picky. Just to be out there is great and I’m really looking forward to a home game.

“When it’s been taken away from you for so long, it’s always nice to get out with the lads and be playing, especially at St James’ with a massive crowd.”

“I’ve put on a lot of weight since I’ve been out and I can assure you that’s not fat,” he said. “I’ve probably put on about 10lb, which is quite a lot for a lad of 5ft 8in.

“I feel like a stronger player, as though I could hold people off, win headers and back into people. With the half a dozen balls that did come my way, I don’t think the defender got a free header, which was probably unheard of in my younger days. I used to get knocked about a bit, but I feel as though I can hold my own. And I still feel just as quick. 

“I’ll leave whatever the chairman wants to argue about for them to sort out (referring to Freddy Shepherd's spat with the FA over compensation). It’s nothing to do with me, really, but hopefully I’ll be involved with England.”

Steve Coppell commented:

"The first half was hard for us because they came with a shape we weren’t expecting. I was half expecting Owen to play but I thought they would match up against us. They had extra men in midfield and it was tight. Although it didn’t give us problems it meant they had more possession.

“We had to work hard and really bomb around. I was quite glad to get to half-time and have a chat and we got more into the game in the second half.

"I thought we were the better team up there, but their match winners came up with the goods. Emre scored a good goal up there to win the game and we felt hard-done-by.”

"Newcastle have done a great job getting Michael (Owen) fit.

"It's just his match fitness to come now. If I was in the England set-up I'd have a look at him because he must have bundles of enthusiasm at the moment."

First, the good news - Michael Owen played 95 minutes of his comeback game without obvious discomfort, while the returning Ameobi managed 41 minutes in similar fashion. 

End of good news.

The contrast between these two managers couldn't be greater - even if there wasn't much between their respective sides over the ninety minutes.

In the blue corner: Steve Coppell, Euro-sceptic. Fretting about accepting a UEFA Cup place due to the limited size of a squad assembled at minimum cost and about as un-bling as one can imagine.

In the red-faced corner: Glenn Roeder. Desperate to somehow shoehorn a side assembled at laughable cost into the Intertoto place that those same players appear to be desperate to avoid.

The memories of an early start to this season seem to have influenced his side into a colossal "f*ck that", as they continued their successful campaign to remove any semblance of a chance of Intertoto qualification.

After having had to make do and mend where strikers were concerned all season, Roeder started with two on the bench and five on the pitch (counting occasional strikers Dyer and Milner).

This gave our selection the look of a side going into the second leg of some playoff or cup tie trailing on aggregate. Mitigating circumstances included the non-availability of Butt and Parker and the realisation that Pattison isn't an option but it was still a bold lineup.

Roeder though may regret having gone against his defensive instincts and fielded (or brought on) the fifth defender which may have lessened the ongoing shambles in the middle of the park we witnessed.

That situation was exacerbated when both Sibierski and Emre departed in obvious pain after the break with us a goal behind. Time then for some wise words from the man with the armband? 

Unfortunately our captain for the night was nowhere to be seen or heard and instead we had Solano and Milner trying vainly to organise a side into some semblance of order. 

At times we looked like a ragged mess, with six outfield players randomly scattered in front of the back four - and none of them willing or able to drop back into a holding midfield role.

And still we could have got something from this game, as we created chances against average opponents who failed to exploit the gaping gaps in front of our defence.

That continued right to the final whistle - even when we were apparently down to ten men (a great chance to give a player zero in the merit marks was missed tonight - step forward Charlie Zog, former footballer of this parish).

In a season of constant disappointment though, a new low was surely reached when Dyer was handed the captain's armband. Of all the players down the years who have led this team, it's hard to imagine one less deserving of the accolade.

Let's hope this was a last attempt to force him into onfield maturity. At least we can now call him by his proper name after his pre-match coin duty....Chief Tosser.

It's a couple of months short of eight years since he joined up with his new colleagues on our pre-season tour of Dutch clog makers XIs. 

Since then we've had trials, tribulations, tempers and tantrums - but no trophies and no big performances when it really, really mattered. Value for money? If this is what we get off the bloke when he's fit then he should have stayed gimpy. 

But the armband wasn't even top of our grievance list. 

No, that came after the game when Roeder told us poor uneducated plebs that, "the majority of people do not understand Kieron Dyer."

If dropping Shearer (and Ferguson) against the mackems was Gullit's so-called suicide note, then this deserves to be Roeder's epitaph. 

Put me in that non-comprehending group - tell me where I send my subs. As someone else once said, I may not be a gynaecologist, but I know a **** when I see one. 

Absent from the home side was midfielder Steve Sidwell who is alleged to have been tempted into a pre-contract agreement with us in exchange for the promise of large sacks of swag.

Assuming the lad hasn't found a get-out clause already, let's hope he imports some on-field organisation and work ethic to our lot, rather than becoming infected with whatever debilitating disease routinely pollutes them. I give him three months.

Things are coming to a pretty pass when Stephen Carr playing on the wrong side of defence is as effective as anything we've got - actually pretty pass is a misnomer - better to write big dirty useless rotten ones to nobody in particular.

It could have been so different if Owen had connected or Shola and Oba directed when chances came, but that's the story of our season/decade/history....if only someone had blocked that AZ/Sporting Lisbon/Anderlecht/Hereford pass etc.

With the local elections due this week, this may ultimately prove to be the night that Roeder was unseated - ruined by a manifesto of unfulfilled promises and betrayals within his ranks, both on and off the field.

Elected on a tide of post-Souness relief and doing well in the polls with his back to basics policies, the second term has proved to be too much for him. A pledge to reduce hospital waiting lists proved hollow, while foreign policy proved ultimately unworkable after early gains. 

But while the swingometer readings improved as a result of promoting junior staff, domestic attempts to appease both the centre ground and both wings fell well short of expectations.  

It's the key marginals though that will cost Roeder his candidature and see him deselected.

Birmingham Ladywood. Middlesbrough. Manchester Central. Bolton West. Liverpool Walton. Hammersmith & Fulham. Wigan. Greenwich & Woolwich. Portsmouth South and now Reading West.

Unfortunately those figures can't be seasonally adjusted.  

We remain an expensively-assembled side of misfits - consistent only in our underachievement. 

As this season limps to a conclusion, clear issues of motivation, discipline and organisation remain. 
Too often this season this team has verged on the unwatchable - not even flattering to deceive.

The indifference and lack of care plainly exhibited on the pitch has been reflected in the stands - to what extent will only become clear after the season ticket renewal date has passed.

A win on Saturday might make the first post-match pint taste better and cut down the booing, but any positive sounds will just be ones of relief that it's all over (barring Watford).

But like the return of Shola and Owen it's too little, too late.  

The mortal blows were inflicted on Souness in soulless stadia outside Wigan and Manchester - Roeder's were Alkmaar and Reading, plus the accumulation of everything else that he inherited or had to deal with.

Emre's disciplinary problems, the decision to play Shola into the ground rather than treat him, the failure to cover crucial positions in the last two transfer windows - the list is endless.

Put aside sentiment, ignore the injuries. Cold hard cash will ultimately see Roeder jettisoned and the whole process start again - and we have no faith things will be any different this time.

Another fine mess, Freddie.

Biffa

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