He is my Newcastle United player of the season and that is some accolade, given the competition | OneFootball

I nipped into North Shields Terminus Club on Saturday to pay for my framed picture of ‘Newcastle United Carabao Cup Winners 2025′.

The regulars were in good fettle and a couple of season ticket holders were in for an early drink, everyone confident that we would bounce back from last weekend’s loss at Villa Park.

Once back in the house I watched a fair bit of the lunchtime kick-off, Chelsea v Everton. I don’t think this Chelsea team are all that good and I’m a bit surprised by their lofty position in the EPL.

Nevertheless, they scraped a victory over the ever pedestrian and boring scouse mackems.

Then it was time for the main event of the day at St James’ Park.

It was great to see King Eddie back in the dugout and the sun shining down on the players as the game kicked off.

Ipswich Town have struggled to compete in the Premier League after a 22 year hiatus in the EFL. They had nowt to lose in this game as relegation beckoned but for over half an hour they frustrated United.

They then had a player sent off for a daft second yellow and it was only a matter of time before we broke the deadlock, Ice Cold Alex firing in from the spot on the stroke of half-time.

I knew that we had more goals in the locker and the new “Frank Brennan” (as one very elderly man informed me recently) rose to the occasion once again. Big Dan Burn is my Player of the Year and that is some accolade with the current competition.

Great to see Will Osula getting a run-out too. This lad is raw, a bit rough around the edges, but he certainly looks hungry enough and had the natural talent for Eddie to nurture into the real deal.

Young Will’s thunderous header into the top corner for our third goal of the afternoon only confirmed his potential.

So it was a canny day at the office and United are back up to third in the table.

I poured out a single malt and afforded myself a little chuckle after I had switched on Final Score, the mackems had been beaten yet again.

During the week there were a few South London lads in Tynemouth Club. They were on a four day ‘man break’ and a couple of them were Crystal Palace fans.

They had tickets for Palace’s FA Cup semi-final and I think they were taken aback when I stated that I fancied the Eagles to turn Aston Villa over at Wembley.

This they duly did and in some style. Villa’s season is now unravelling, Unai Emery’s side doing a canny little job of dodging trophies.

After a fatigued United succumbed to the Villans last weekend, you could have been forgiven for believing that Aston Villa were world beaters, especially if you listened to the hype spouted by the press and media.

A month or so back, The Mag asked a few of it’s contributors for their match predictions in the remaining Newcastle United fixtures – Win, Lose or Draw.

So far, I have got every result right. I believe my fellow contributor Barry Paul Henry, our man in Wales, predicted exactly the same outcomes as me at the time.

Next up for the Magpies is Brighton at the Amex Stadium and we will as always treat the Seagulls with the necessary respect.