YESTERDAY'S game saw former Newcastle United favourite Gary Speed line up against his old club in direct competition to the man who replaced him, Nicky Butt.

It was the first time Speed had faced the Magpies since his £750,000 transfer to Bolton Wanderers in the summer. His reluctant move to the Reebok Stadium and the magnanimous way he conducted himself before, during and after his departure will ensure a warm reception on every future return to St James' Park.

Newcastle fans were split over Speed's move to Bolton. Half thought chairman Freddie Shepherd was justified to claw back some of the £5.5m he gave Everton for his services in 1998, because at 35 years of age, his best years were behind him. Others thought the former Wales' skipper still had two good years of Premiership football left in his United tank.

The chairman's decision to sign Butt from Manchester United for £2.5m was supposed to soften the blow of losing United's influential midfielder. But when you talk to the Tyneside faithful in the City's pubs, the bar prefers Speed whereas the lounge favours Butt.

There is no doubting Speed's credentials as a top flight footballer, the fact he has appeared more times than any other Premiership player speaks volumes for that, and on Sunday, he took to the field for the 530th time.

In his early days at Leeds United and Everton, Speed was a typical box to box player who regularly scored ten goals a season. But in his later United days this changed, and through experience, he learned to curb his attacking instincts and adopted a more defensive holding role while Sir Bobby Robson built and nurtured a young side blessed with blinding pace and skill around him and Alan Shearer.

If United have missed anything since his departure then it his prowess in the air. His heading ability is still second to none when either defending or attacking in set-piece situations; as he showed yesterday in Wanderers' opening goal and he caused United countless problems from Jay Jay Okocha's throw ins.

Nicky Butt arrived at St James' Park on the back of 13 glittering years at Old Trafford. Only a handful of footballers can boast more trophies in the English game than United's current new recruit.

Pele, arguably the world's greatest footballer even heralded the Magpies' midfielder as the player of the 2002 World Cup in Japan.

Despite this glowing endorsement, critics of the midfield spoiler say he is too negative; does not score enough goals; only ever got a game for Man Utd when one of: David Beckham, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes or Ryan Giggs were injured, and cite that from his 270 league appearances for the club, he was used as substitute in 116 of those occasions.

If any further fuel was needed to throw on to the critical fire, then if his pedigree was as high as people say it is, why did reserve full back Phil Neville keep him out of the Red Devils' first XI last season?

But evidence so far this season suggests the Magpies have stolen the 29-year-old from Man Utd.

At the Riverside on the opening day most of his work went unseen. But those with a learned football eye would have recognised the ease and composure the England man displayed when under pressure. He broke up and disrupted several Middlesbrough attacks and frustrated the home side's attempts to find any fluency by occupying defensive positions in front of United's vulnerable back four.

Butt had been fundamental in preserving Graeme Souness' unbeaten run until yesterday and made the Magpies more difficult to beat on the road with his tenatious tackling and unselfish work off the ball.

And as for criticism for not scoring enough goals, had Thierry Henry scored with a scissors-kick volley at St Andrews against Birmingham, as Butt did, then the football world would be salivating!

Butt may not be as useful as Speed from set pieces or score as many goals but he is vital to the Newcastle cause if they are to challenge Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd.

As far as yesterday's game was concerned: while Craig Bellamy was making a nuisance of himself, as usual, Patrick Kluivert displaying his wide arrange of flicks and slick passing and Shearer bludgeoning the Bolton back line, most of Butt's best work went unseen - again.

To separate the pair as footballers would be virtually impossible and Sunday's game provided further evidence of that. Speed will always score more goals than Butt but the United man will always be fundamental in preventing others from causing problems.

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