Archive for tag: Premier League Fair Play league.

A bit of good news for Newcastle fans.

December 29th, 2010 | 66 Comments |

The yellow card - A familiar sight this season.
The yellow card - A familiar sight this season.
Newcastle have had a habit of picking up yellow cards this season. In fact indiscipline has arguably played a large part in our season to date.

A quick glance at the ‘Fair Play’ table should tell us all we need to know. It doesn’t make for pretty reading, but Newcastle have racked up 45 yellow cards and one red card in their 19 games so far this season and sit second from bottom of that particular league. Add Joey Barton’s and Mike Williamson’s respective three match bans for violent conduct into the mix and things don’t look so pretty.

I think it’s pretty safe to rule out qualifying for Europe via the ‘back door’ for this season. Incidentally, the team currently leading the way in the Fair Play league is Fulham, closely followed by Blackpool. Imagine that eh? Mind you, with the way Blackpool have equipped themselves so far this season I wouldn’t rule anything out!

Anyway, I’m getting off track. The pitfalls of picking up so many yellow cards are pretty obvious, as evidenced by Kevin Nolan’s absence yesterday and the suspension of Cheik Tiote a few weeks back. Yellow cards equal suspensions, and with Andy Carroll and Joey Barton both just one away and Jonas Gutierrez, Fabricio Coloccini and Jose Enrique all two bookings away from picking their fifth booking of the season, the consequences could be disastrous. (more…)