Bramall Lane is a happy hunting ground for Harewood

It’s difficult to confidently argue in favour of either team ahead of tonight’s TV offering of Sheffield United v Newcastle, with the hosts winless in six and the Magpies having ended three of their last four away games empty-handed.

Therefore, our attention turns to Marlon Harewood, a boo-boy victim during last weekend’s 2-1 home win over Doncaster. Assuming Chris Hughton is brave enough to risk the wrath of the Toon Army by starting the Hare, his Betfair odds of 3.75 (11/4) to score are worth a glance.

The 30-year-old isn’t the most prolific striker in the world, which is why his record of five goals in his last seven meetings with Sheffield United - and two on his last three visits to Bramall Lane - is worth paying attention to.

It could also prove a blessing that he is playing away from the sceptical St James’ Park support - six of his last eight league goals have come on the road.

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Scorched Earth football style

The last time Newcastle United made permanent a caretaker manager’s stint, Glenn Roeder was the beneficiary, as he managed to wangle an extra year of shuffling nervously along the touchline. He signed Antoine Sibierski and Olivier Bernard, finished 13th in the table and contrived to lose 5-1 at home to Birmingham City in the FA Cup. What’s more, demonstrations against the Shepherd regime throughout the season, ironically served to usher in the new chairman.

Nevertheless, the past must be a foreign country to Mike Ashley, as he has rewarded caretaker Chris Hughton with an 18 month deal, for unconvincingly managing to keep the best squad of players at the top of their division by a single point.

Yet as anyone who has visited some of his sport shops will know, Ashley isn’t one to leave in tact any fragment of class. Hence his subsequent announcement that naming rights for SJP (not Sarah Jessica Parker - pay attention) are up for grabs. Leave your suggestions below Mackems…

Can the North East side bounce back from utter rubbishness?

“It’s disappointing and embarrassing,” said Newcastle caretaker manager Chris Hughton following Newcastle Utd’s humiliating defeat at the hands of Leyton Orient on Saturday.

Around 1,500 Geordies made the long journey to Brisbane Road (and Derek Llambias made the relatively short journey from his Essex country pile), where they witnessed their beloved side lose to a League One side in highly lethargic fashion. A poor result considering the fact that the team was extremely similar to the one that played in the Premiership last season.

Despite getting knocked for six on Saturday, most bookies are putting Newcastle as favourites to win the Championship next season. On the basis of this kind of performance, however, Leyton Orient fans can probably look forward to taking six points from Mike Ashley’s woeful bunch in League One in 2010/11.

So, will Newcastle make it back to the promised land, or are they about to start a lengthy period in the Football League wilderness? Let us know your thoughts below…

Chow down at the Championship’s biggest stadium this Sunday

Newcastle fans desperately searching for a Father’s Day gift for the old man they don’t particularly like are in luck.

The club are advertising a lunch at St James’ Park this Sunday, designed to remind maligned relatives of the misery they have had to endure for the past year at the home of the Magpies. And it’s only £19.95 per person (or a seemingly impossible £9.975 for kids) - that kind of money wouldn’t buy a bread roll at a Premier League ground!

Don’t delay - remind your dad of the disappointment his club have piled on him now! (Just don’t blame us if the chefs turn out to be as incompetent as the board.)

Before The Spoiler was distracted by this thoroughly tempting offer, we were going to mention the fact that Newcastle appear to have neglected Alan Shearer in their future plans. Season ticket applications have finally been sent out to fans, and the accompanying literature makes no reference to the latest Geordie Messiah.

The soft southern journalists at the Daily Mail believe Chris Hughton will take the managerial reins at the club, fulfilling the wishes of managing director Derek Llambias.

The Magpies would be bottom if their Messiah was there all season

The charming table above displays the records of all four Newcastle bosses this season and reveals where the club would have finished over 38 games based on each manager’s points average during their spell in charge.

It makes grim reading for Alan Shearer, whose record is only better than caretaker Chris Hughton’s because he was in charge for one less game. The statistics also suggest that Newcastle were well on their way to safety before Joe Kinnear had to step aside.

So is Shearer the right man to guide the club through a summer of wheeling and dealing - where Iain Dowie is likely to be influential in deciding who arrives having managed in the division with three clubs - or should someone else be given the chance? Let us know with a vote and comment below:

Will he be as successful as Jol or as useless as Santini?

As well as having Chris Hughton and David Pleat (three times!) in as caretaker manager, Spurs have had seven full-time managers prior to Harry Redknapp in the twelve years that Arsene Wenger has been in charge of Arsenal.

Here are how those managers rank in order of points accumulated per league game as well as their league win percentage at the club:

The big question is: how does Redknapp compare with those former Spurs bosses? Give us your prediction with a comment below on where ‘Arry will rank (1-8) on points per game at the end of his White Hart Lane tenure. The answer will probably be revealed on October 25 2009!

Wow, did anybody see this one coming?

Just when you thought things couldn’t get even more bizarre at St. James’ Park, Newcastle have announced former Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear as their new interim manager.

Having left his previous Premier League post at Selhurst Park in 1999 after a heart attack, Kinnear is surely ill-advised to make his return at a club in freefall, where the fans feel a hatred towards the chairman, and Dennis Wise is hugely influential.

The Irishman resigned from his last job as manager of Championship side Nottingham Forest in 2004 with the club stuck in the relegation zone. Kinnear is under no illusions that he won’t be at the club for long and said:

Winless Spurs prepare for more misery in the North East

A year ago, Newcastle caretaker Chris Hughton was assistant manager of a Tottenham team that had achieved consecutive fifth-placed finishes before being sacked with Martin Jol. Tonight his former club visit St. James’ Park in the Carling Cup with the two worst teams in the Premier League in 2008 both desperate for a win. Our friends at Chickendinner have compiled seven reasons why Hughton will be having the last laugh tonight:

1. Newcastle have won the last five clashes between the two sides both home and away.

2. Spurs have won on just two of their last seventeen visits to St. James’ Park.

3. The last three times that the two clubs have collided in cup competitions, the Magpies have been the team that have progressed.