A precedent for North-East teams

A fantastic win in Cardiff and a fitting tribute to chairman Steve Gibson for all the work and money he has put into the club over the years.

Not only is the Carling Cup final win brilliant news for the town of Middlesbrough, but for the whole region too. Hopefully that will set a precedent for other teams in the North-East to follow.

And there is still a good chance Newcastle and Sunderland can earn some silverware this season.

Newcastle made their way into the next round of the Uefa Cup this week - with Alan Shearer back in the side against Valerenga.

I read reports last week that Alan was furious with Sir Bobby's decision to leave him out of the first leg. There's a strong chance he may have been taken out of context - you never know with some reporters!

Alan is a great professional and I'm sure he would have accepted it. As a manager, dropping a player like Alan Shearer might be a difficult decision to make but if it was for the good of the football club I would do it.

Sir Bobby took the decision to rest him to keep him fresh for the Premiership, which makes complete sense.

I had a similar situation with Marco Gabbiadini when the goals dried up for him towards the end of our play-off season four years ago. We had two games left, at Carlisle and at home to Lincoln. I lost count at the amount of times I played with the idea of leaving Gabbas out at Carlisle.

In the end I left him in and that was a decision I went on to regret enormously. We came away with a draw and had to settle for a play-off place, despite beating Lincoln a week later.

One decision I will be sure of next week is that Ashley Nicholls will not be starting against us for Cambridge.

We let Ash move down there on loan on the provision he does not play against us.

And after seeing LuaLua scoring against his 'own' club Newcastle for Portsmouth at the weekend, I stand by my decision.

It was good to see another one of my old clubs Liverpool put things right with a good result in Bulgaria on Wednesday night.

Steven Gerrard came out last week and said everything he has achieved in football has been down to Gerard Houllier. I think that's a lovely gesture by the lad and I'm sure those comments will have gone a long way in bringing the team together after all the stick Gerard has taken this season.

There is a lovely feeling in our dressing room at the moment but the next few weeks are going to be crucial, on and off the pitch.

I was disappointed to hear at a meeting this week that the Supporters' Trust and the Supporters' Club would be going their separate ways. Both parties united at the end of last year to form 'TASK', aimed at raising funds for the football club.

The scheme raised over £8,000 which is a fantastic achievement and I must thank everybody who contributed. Hopefully we can use some of that to buy new training equipment we badly need.

The Trust are still working on raising funds to gain a place on the board, so good luck to them because it will take a phenomenal amount.

With no buyer forthcoming as the March 6 deadline approaches I have been disappointed with the lack of activity.

I keep crying out for it but we really need to bring in a crowd of 6,000 in home games to break even. The postponement of our game against Cheltenham hasn't helped financially -it has cost us £3,000 for their travelling expenses.

The administration team declined an offer for Barry Conlon this week, which is virtually unheard of, especially for a club in our position.

The administrators are very conscious of the football position and what's important to this town. For that reason they were happy to go along with me and turn down a bid from Swansea.

Finally, there were some tears shed in our household this week on my behalf.

There is a women's clothes shop on Grange Road which has just opened called Elan. I know for a fact my wife will be frequenting their premises on a regular basis from now on.

With a bit of luck the owner, Bradley Woods, will give the Hodgsons a 10 per cent discount!