Curtain closes on a year of change for N-E clubs

All experienced, for different reasons, memorable years but the theme they shared has been the appointment of new managers, all five hiring a boss over the last 12 months. Norther Echo Sport looks at how our clubs fared in 2006.

MIDDLESBROUGH

P55 W19 D11 L25 F66 A76

'WE'RE just a Small Town in Europe' was the cry from the stands at the Riverside Stadium on more than one occasion last season, as Middlesbrough embarked on their second UEFA Cup adventure.

And, just as 2004 will be remembered for lifting the Caring Cup, 2006 will remain in Teesside folkore as the year in which Boro climbed all the way to a major European final.

That alone, given the paucity of Boro's Premiership form, was sufficient for the club to produce an England manager in Steve McClaren, while it also left chairman Steve Gibson looking for a suitable replacement.

After losing out on both Terry Venables and Martin O'Neill, Gibson turned to club captain Gareth Southgate, amid controversy as he didn't hold the required coaching qualifications.

And today, with the Premiership's bottom club Charlton in the North-East, Southgate will face one of the sternest tests of his burgeoning managerial talent.

A failure to succeed could leave Boro in the relegation zone, hardly the Christmas present Southgate was hoping for when he took over in July.

A testing first few months mirrors what life was like under McClaren in the final few months of last season, without the excitement of a UEFA cup run to appease.

Southgate, though, has a long contract which suggests he is safe in his job. But, having won just four of his 19 games in charge, that will not be the case indefinitely.

Winning only four matches has been poor enough but it has been the fact Middlesbrough have lost ten this season - including an early Carling Cup exit to Notts County - that has made their situation worse.

January will be a big month for Southgate and Gibson. A failure to attract the men required to change things around could have a disastrous impact on their long term league status.

By PAUL FRASER

NEWCASTLE UNITED

P W D L F A

54 27 11 16 67 48

IT has been an eventful 12 months on Tyneside, as it usually is. The Magpies made an appalling start to 2006 but manager Graeme Souness clung on to his job until February 1, after his side ineptly stumbled through two rounds of the FA Cup against League Two opposition.

A wretched performance, in a 3-0 Premier League defeat at Manchester City, eventually brought the curtain down on his 15-month spell in charge at St James' Park before Glenn Roeder sparked a late renaissance as caretaker boss.

The former United captain steadied the ship and the Magpies sailed in to the Intertoto Cup with a seventh-placed finish, following a run of games where they won ten and drew two from their final 15 fixtures.

Roeder also guided United to the FA Cup sixth round where they lost 1-0 to Chelsea.

The season also saw the abdication of Alan Shearer's ten-year golden reign. He bowed out with a record number of 206 goals, beating Jackie Milburn's total by six.

Roeder saw his side stutter in the early stages of this campaign, and briefly occupied a relegation position, before a run of four wins and two draws from seven league matches lifted them to 12th.

But while Newcastle's league form has fluctuated they have excelled in the Intertoto Cup and UEFA Cup competitions. United waltzed through the early knock out rounds and group stages, against fierce opposition, in to the last 32.

Roeder has done a fine job in difficult circumstances especially while working under a fiercesome chairman. Whether he remains in charge with an impending takeover bid remains to be seen but, he deserves to have some role.

By WILL SCOTT

SUNDERLAND

P45 W13 D7 L25 F47 A67 (Statistics before last night's game at Crystal Palace.)

A YEAR to forget, or a year to remember for Sunderland fans? Ask the same question six months ago and it would undoubtedly have been the former. Today and it will almost certainly be the latter.

The monumental first year back in the top-flight under Mick McCarthy had already descended into farce when the Black Cats, propping up the Premiership without a win, entered 2006.

By May it had got little better. A home league win arrived to lighten the mood, but the state of affairs on the pitch never improved and manager McCarthy paid the price.

But, in retrospect, what the fans were put through last season - losing 29 of their 38 league games - looks to have been to the benefit of the club and the whole of Wearside.

Had Sunderland managed to enjoy better campaign then the likelihood is that a change at the top - and the Bob Murray regime - would not have been forthcoming.

Instead, even if the takeover process was a drawn out affair, Niall Quinn's wealthy and ambitious Drumaville Consortium has complete ownership at the Stadium of Light and they started by delivering a manager few could have dreamed of appointing: Roy Keane.

Keane's tenure is still very much in its infancy, yet over the past couple of months there has been huge inroads made towards taking Sunderland into a play-off place.

The signs have been encouraging during the first 25 weeks of the Keane-Quinn partnership, it is likely that will only continue in the opening few months of the new year - given that the January transfer window is nearly upon us.

Going down as the worst club in Premiership history is hardly something to be proud of but, if promotion can be achieved at the first time of asking, it might just have done everyone connected with Sunderland some good.

By PAUL FRASER

DARLINGTON

P50 W21 D11 L18 F69 A83

Darlington were the last of the five North-East clubs to change their manager in 2006, but David Hodgson's position had seemed fragile from the moment he clashed with club officials in July.

He was not sacked for another three months, amid claims he had breached Football Association rules, bringing a sorry end to Hodgson's third tenure at a club which saw him take charge of over 300 games.

But a failure to finish in the top seven for two seasons running coupled with a poor run of form, having been given a free reign in the transfer market this summer, could have been an equally justifiable reason for his exit.

Next month, when the transfer window opens, Hodgson's successor Dave Penney will be signing more players in an attempt to strengthen a squad with the aim being to go at least one better than eighth place.

Hodgson's two consecutive eighth place finishes demonstrated that Darlington were not far off being good enough to compete with the top clubs in the division. With George Haughton's ambition, drive and, most importantly, money, there will be no excuse for missing out on the top seven this time around.

The chairman has already signalled his intentions by breaking the club transfer record with 100,000 spent on Julian Joachim and in January Penney will be permitted to improve a defence that has looked vulnerable ever since the departure of Shelton Martis after two games.

After a miserable run of form, Penney had seemed to have steered Darlington around the corner with six straight wins, but they promptly reversed back around it with four consecutive defeats.

However, as Quakers have proven in the last two seasons when they have lost almost as many as they have won, it does not take much to succeed in this division, so nobody should be too concerned about being 11th at this stage.

By Craig Stoddart

HARTLEPOOL

P48 W15 D19 l15 F46 A54

HOPES at Victoria Park of staying out of the bottom division for a record fourth consecutive season were ended in 2006.

But the rot had already set in during 2005 and it's only now has the depression been stopped and things are back on track.

After the time the manager departed, following a horror show and a post-match dressing room bust-up in January, things settled down.

Paul Stephenson was put in temporary command and, while the style of football and on-pitch attitude improved, it wasn't enough to keep them up.

But what looked a lost cause was taken to the wire and it was only on the last day of the season that Pools were relegated. A win over Nottingham Forest and a last-gasp draw at Brentford gave hope, but there was only tears and frustration on May 6 when a 1-1 draw with Port Vale brought relegation.

Stephenson returned to the youth team and in came Danny Wilson - the first time a boss with real Football League management experience had been appointed since Cyril Knowles some ten managers and 17 years earlier.

Many thought, with by and large the same players who proved what they are capable of by taking Pools to the Millennium Stadium in 2005, a swift return up the league ladder was a formality, but it's taken Pools a few months to get over the traumas of relegation.

There's been some insipid displays this season, but the current winning streak of five successive victories is the best since April 2004.

It's taken some time for the swagger to return and, while there's no way the wily Wilson will get carried away by recent results, there's no reason why 2007 shouldn't herald celebrations like those seen each May from 2001 - 2005.

By Nick Loughlin