Allardyce breathes again after Beye late show

WHAT a difference a year makes. Birmingham City guaranteed an annus horribilis for Newcastle United and their long-suffering supporters in January when Steve Bruce’s team strode into St James’ Park and promptly hit the home team for five in the third round of the FA Cup.

For many, that devastating result was the first nail in the coffin of the club’s previous manager, Glenn Roeder. The former Newcastle centre-half never quite recovered from that most humbling of blows and did not survive the season. Six of that triumphant City side returned to the north east on Saturday and yet, despite another performance rich in passion and potential, there was to be no repeat of that famous scoreline.

Where the Blues sent Roeder crashing into a downward spiral of depression and self-doubt, their inability to defend a last-minute corner may have breathed new life into the regime of current Newcastle manager, Sam Allardyce. But it could have been very different.