The Premier League has served up some stories fitting of your Christmas dinner table this season: Newcastle have had two separate home runs, going unbeaten in the 2011/12 campaign at St. James’ Park, but losing 2 from 3 since it’s renaming to the Sports Direct Arena; Steve Kean has managed to record a PL win ratio of 12%, but still get support from every other, seemingly Scottish, manager in the Premier League and Manchester City are top of the Premier League table to be the 3rd different team at the summit in as many seasons, slamming any critics claiming the league is predictable.
However for every cracker we’ve had in the 2011/12 campaign, there has been some real turkeys too: England’s captain, John Terry, has managed to get himself tangled up in a vicious and embarrassing race row, as has Luis Suarez; Mario Balotelli set fire to his house with fireworks, just to be mistaken for a burglar when he returned to collect his belongings and Manchester United failed to qualify for the second round of the Champions League, just 6 months after their Champions League final appearance at Wembley.
Yet, whatever has happened up until now, may hold no relevance come May 2012 or it may hold such a relevance to you, that you put your house on it. For those fans who follow in their manager’s traits who are just following, well, ancient tradition of annually reviewing one’s performance and setting targets for the New Year, more popularly known as a New Year’s resolution, Christmas throws up some interesting figures when it comes to going up and coming down. But what does Christmas bring for your club?
Well, despite Newcastle’s strong start to the season, going unbeaten until they met fellow unbeaten team Manchester City, they now sit on a run of six games without a win and have the worst 6-game form in the Premier League, picking up 2 points from an available 18.
Premature talks of European football, next season, rumbled around Tyneside, but unless Pardew can steer the ship through the rough seas, a mid-table finish is their best hope. After all, the last time to be in the top ten at Christmas, but relegated come May, was only last season: Blackpool.
When it does come to relegation, mind, Steve Kean, if he wasn’t already limited in talent, is limited in survival chances: in the previous six PL campaigns, the team scraping at the barrel when St. Nicholas comes to town donning a large red coat, have finished bottom. If Blackburn are to break the trend, I’d advise they break their contract arrangements with Steve Kean too. *Cue many Scottish managers to speak out at ugly protesting*