Some questions that need answers

Having spent the last week on holiday in Scotland I’ve been pondering North-East sport. And after a week of reflection, I’ve come up with some questions that need answers. Maybe you can provide them. Maybe you couldn’t care less. Either way, I feel like I have to get them off my chest.

1 When will the nonsense at Newcastle United end?

Never is my best guess – or at least not until Mike Ashley closes the exit door at the whatever the hell it’s called this week.com @ St James’ Park Arena for a final time.

Just when you think things have hit rock bottom, another hairbrained scheme appears to plunge the club into an even graver crisis.

Ashley is clearly concerned at the mutinous mood brewing amongst Newcastle fans, but this week’s name-change farce suggests he is completely incapable of rectifying it.

This week’s lowlight was Derek Llambias’ claim that the people of Newcastle should start ‘supporting their team’. Forty-four thousand did exactly that against Doncaster Rovers.

The MD was probably too busy dreaming of a giant screen to notice.

2 Can Steve Bruce take Sunderland into Europe?

This season, probably not.

But at some stage in the future, the current Sunderland boss certainly looks capable of guiding the Black Cats into the new-look Europa League.

At the moment, they remain a work in progress.

Sporadically brilliant (Man United, Liverpool), occasionally awful (Burnley, Birmingham). But Bruce has established a spine from which Sunderland can build in the future.

Ellis Short should ensure that the finance is there, and with Darren Bent clearly loving life in the North-East, attracting big names to Wearside should not be the problem it once was.

3 What will be a good enough finish for Gordon Strachan?

On the evidence of Steve Gibson’s sacking of Gareth Southgate, somewhere in the top three.

Gibson clearly feels Middlesbrough are capable of automatic promotion this season, but it is important not to expect too much, too soon.

There are major weaknesses in a Boro squad that lacks leadership, experience and a proven goalscoring centre-forward.

After last month’s upheaval, a play-off place would represent an adequate end-of-season return on Teesside.

4 When it comes to Steve Harmison, are England or Durham right?

Past it when it comes to the forthcoming Test tour of South Africa, yet good enough to earn a new fouryear contract at Durham, just what is the state of Steve Harmison?

I argued long and hard for his inclusion in the summer series with Australia, but Harmison hardly impressed during his brief appearance in the Ashes. He will not be involved when England travel to Australia next winter, so there’s little point in taking him to South Africa now.

The Ashington Express’ international days are over, but at county level, he remains arguably the most potent strike bowler around.

He has been integral to Durham’s two County Championship victories, and will deservedly spearhead the county’s assault on a third crown next summer.

England’s loss is undoubtedly Durham’s gain.

5 Why does National Hunt racing refuse to move with the times?

There I was at Wetherby last weekend, cheering My Petra to victory in the showpiece hurdle, when jockey Barry Geraghty took a wrong turn and promptly got himself disqualified.

The actions of Geraghty, a seasoned jockey boasting more than 1,000 winners, were baffling. But so were the pathetic attempts made by Wetherby’s stewards to mark out the course.

A race worth more than £35,000 in prize money, and that attracted a betting pool than ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds, was decided by Geraghty’s failure to interpret the promptings of a man with a rope.

Surely, in this day and age, horse racing needs to move on from the era of bailer twine, handkerchiefs and semaphore.

It’s time to devise a proper system that ensures National Hunt courses are adequately marked, and while we’re at it, why don’t racing’s rulers also do something to clear up the sloppiness of the start?

In one race at the weekend, a horse set off fully 30 lengths behind the rest. If it was a planned policy, shouldn’t punters who were betting on it have been told?

■ Follow Scott Wilson on Twitter: Scottwilsonecho