Only room for TWO Newcastle players as the Championship Team of the Season is announced – 4 in for Brighton

The Sky Bet Championship Team of the Season has been announced this morning, with just TWO Newcastle United players making the cut, as 4 Brighton players are selected:

Dwight Gayle’s 21 goals this season see him rightfully chosen, with Jonjo Shelvey also picked, after an impressive season pulling the strings at the heart of the Newcastle midfield.

It has came as a surprise, however, to see just two Newcastle players in the line up. After all, Newcastle have scored the most goals and conceded the least in the league this year, sitting top of the league.

The club wasted no time showing their surprise at Ciaran Clark’s failure to be included, as they posted this superb tweet in response to the announcement on Twitter:

A case could also be argued for Matt Ritchie’s inclusion. The summer signing has been the heartbeat of our team on countless occasions, with 9 goals & 7 assists to boot.

Whilst Brighton deserve real credit, with Anthony Knockaert, Lewis Dunk and David Stockdale fully justifying places in the side, I am surprised at Glen Murray’s inclusion. With 18 goals, the 33 year-old striker has done brilliantly, but calls for Bristol City’s Tammy Abraham to take his place are fully justified, given the 19 year-old striker has scored 19 goals (a goal more than Murray) in a side fighting relegation.

Players such as Fulham’s Tom Cairney and Wolves’ Helder Costa are unlucky to miss out, having had superb seasons with the aforementioned Ciaran Clark and Matt Ritchie also justify inclusions, given their performances this season. It must be said , however, that the standard has been at an all time high during this Championship season, so there was bound to be several names miss out, who may have been nailed on in seasons gone by.

Interestingly, this would be the current Championship Team of the Season based on average player ratings clocked up by WhoScored.com throughout the campaign:

( No surprises to see both Matt Ritchie & Tom Cairney feature!)

Finally, Manager of the Season has been awarded to Huddersfield’s David Wagner. Given the resources available to him and the way in which Huddersfield have performed this season, it’s fair to say no one can begrudge him of that.

Huddersfield were tipped for relegation at the start of the season yet they now compete for automatic promotion, telling you everything you need to know about the job he’s done this season.

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

33 thoughts on “Only room for TWO Newcastle players as the Championship Team of the Season is announced – 4 in for Brighton

  1. Fans will never be happy with the final chosen team, it’s human nature Olly. Got to say though considering what position we are in I would of expected another one or two in there.

  2. From the last thread: the latest injuries should not be that much of a worry as they are to peripheral players apart from Clark. Having Hayden back and moving Diame to midfield should also solve the Colback problem.

    We can probably field our strongest team, apart from Clark, even with the injuries. There have also been calls for Rafa to take another look at MBemba who was back on the bench on Saturday. So this might be his chance.

  3. Also from the last thread: I am still disappointed at Olly that he can only get to 3 conclusions. Lee Ryder “learns” 5 things after every match so that makes him better. In the Spinal Tap “this one goes to 11” way.

  4. georgio:
    Where did the Clark out for the season rumour come from?

    It’s on The Mag site mate,knee ligament damage

  5. Getting like eds blog now… only 6 comments on last hread. Enforce we get a new one. No chance to continue a discussion leading to people posting like … “continued from last thread” … sorry but have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. They are good articles but by the time I read through comments I’m 2 threads behind…

  6. DT: it is better than Ed’s because it is all in one place and you can read as much or as little as you want. Plus there is more original content because Ed often does an almost cut and paste of other articles and adds the odd comment. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what Uncle Ed does but it is also hard to have any real insight writing at 4am from North Carolina.

    Hopefully when people get the hang of where to look on this new format it will be easy to follow. I do not expect that to happen during the international break though as that is where BLOGS go to die. I expect very few comments in the next week or so.

    I might even write an Arsenal or Rooney rant just to keep myself amused. Nah, I think I will write a Mackem rant to twist that knife. Fckers should never have flown those banners over SJP.

  7. Yeah I agree, I’d say there’s been some very good and unique Toon articles over the past week from Olly. Surely more articles are a good thing if they add value?

    And yes, you’re right, international breaks are the bane of this blog. Looking forward to a Wayne Rooney rant. Maybe do it in a Lee Ryder type-style? ‘8 things we learned about Wayne Rooney this week and then another 4 things just for good measure’

    Eric Sykes:
    DT: it is better than Ed’s because it is all in one place and you can read as much or as little as you want. Plus there is more original content because Ed often does an almost cut and paste of other articles and adds the odd comment. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what Uncle Ed does but it is also hard to have any real insight writing at 4am from North Carolina.

    Hopefully when people get the hang of where to look on this new format it will be easy to follow. I do not expect that to happen during the international break though as that is where BLOGS go to die. I expect very few comments in the next week or so.

    I might even write an Arsenal or Rooney rant just to keep myself amused. Nah, I think I will write a Mackem rant to twist that knife. Fckers should never have flown those banners over SJP.

  8. If you have peeked into Ed site it’s been the same for a long long time,a lot of kids on there at least they act like it,all they do is rubbish and get aggressive with each other not much talk of sensible footy crack,not my cup of tea,you can keep it,used be a couple of guys on from USA but they quickly went,if you enjoy a bit of abuse your welcome to it

  9. “there’s been some very good and unique Toon articles over the past week from Olly. Surely more articles are a good thing if they add value?”
    I’d question that premise Andy. I’ve been coming to this site several times a day for years now. I come for the banter, discussion, debate, rants and info sharing with loads of Toon fans from all over the world. I get to express my own opinions and have others comment on them. That’s the inherent nature of a blog. Nobody goes to a blog to read articles.
    Sometimes this site has had the same thread/article up for a week and had hundreds of comments, sometimes into 4 figures.
    Now I appreciate your efforts to update and improve the site. It looks better, more pics etc but you quickly lose the sense of conversation. Probably if I make a comment at 11am, only two people will read it before it disappears into history when a new article appears at lunchtime. This is not to disrespect Olley’s efforts either. But if I want to just read articles there’s much better places to look and probably articles that bring more insight into NUFC too. I’d be interested to know what you think Andy and anyone else too (if this article lasts long enough for anyone to read.)

  10. Georgio-

    For me, the key is finding the right balance between articles and comments. The week-long articles with hundreds and hundreds of comments became rather difficult to navigate, and you want new articles on a regular basis, to drive discussion and bring up different topics (otherwise you’d just be reading rants about Rooney and former NUFC managers 😉 ).

    At the same time, I completely agree that the recent surge of articles has stunted the discussion a bit. It’s all personal preference, but my ideal ratio would be a new article every day or two. Something like an article each to preview and recap any matches, with a few other articles throughout the week to cover various injuries, major transfer news, and other general thoughts and news (like this article).

    Another piece of it is that we have readers from various time zones all over the world – if there are 3+ articles a day, some bloggers might not ever be reading/commenting on the same article, which I think would diminish the strong sense of community (and the banter) that’s been developed on here.

  11. Thanks Charlie and that is a balance that would be more in line with my thinking too.

  12. We’ve been linked with McCarthy for ages now but looking at it today he’s out of the Ireland squad with yet another hamstring injury. It’s just one after another. Leave it alone Rafa!

  13. georgio:
    We’ve been linked with McCarthy for ages now but looking at it today he’s out of the Ireland squad with yet another hamstring injury. It’s just one after another. Leave it alone Rafa!

    Don’t rate him anyway. Plus he’s a right dirty git

  14. CP: you didn’t like my Rooney rants 🙂 They were usually during international breaks/tournaments about the most high profile player in England.

    And regarding Pards, I am like a super-hero, here to defend the weak-minded (Troy) against the indefensible (Arrogant Alan). Whenever there are cockney lies and keeping it tight against Wigan for the first 20 minutes I will be there.

  15. Eric-

    I actually rather enjoy your Rooney rants and your crusade against Troy. Very entertaining, especially during the dire international breaks. I also enjoy hearing about Chicago – I lived there for five years, but am now in North Carolina. I dearly miss The Globe and AJ Hudson’s.

  16. CP: you should have been here for the Cubs World Series, it was absolutely mental.

  17. And you have to keep Troy in his place, which now seems to be permanently in his laundry basket. That is not surprising when you have a 100% record of being wrong on everything.

    They should give out Blog awards at the end of the season. I nominate Troy for the 110% Club. Only in football can you give 110% so maybe it is possible for Troy to be wrong 110% of the time?

  18. Hey guys,

    Thanks for your input.

    First of all, I would respectfully disagree with the ‘nobody comes to a blog to read the articles’ comment. If that were the case, then what is the point in writing anything? Surely we should just stop writing any articles and turn the site into a forum if that’s all that matters? If you’re not reading the articles, then who are we doing this for exactly?

    I think our ideas of what constitutes a blog are not the same in this case, which is fine, everyone has their own interpretation. A blog for me is where someone blogs aka writes the article in a more informal manner and people have their opinions on the piece in the comments underneath.

    “Sometimes this site has had the same thread/article up for a week and had hundreds of comments, sometimes into 4 figures.”

    People aren’t happy when this is the case as well so it seems like we can’t win sometimes. Not enough articles, too many articles. Where’s the middle ground exactly? Because it doesn’t seem clear to me. I think if we had three main threads up every day which were all just rehashed news from the Chronicle, I’d agree that this would add no value.

    Going forward, we will aim for probably 1, maybe 2 main feature pieces each day. Now the international break is in full flow, the blog will probably die as Eric says and resurrect like Jesus over Easter.

    All I’d say is give it a chance. For the time being we will continue doing 1/2 main threads every day.

    georgio:
    “there’s been some very good and unique Toon articles over the past week from Olly. Surely more articles are a good thing if they add value?”
    I’d question that premise Andy. I’ve been coming to this site several times a day for years now. I come for the banter, discussion, debate, rants and info sharing with loads of Toon fans from all over the world. I get to express my own opinions and have others comment on them. That’s the inherent nature of a blog. Nobody goes to a blog to read articles.
    Sometimes this site has had the same thread/article up for a week and had hundreds of comments, sometimes into 4 figures.
    Now I appreciate your efforts to update and improve the site. It looks better, more pics etc but you quickly lose the sense of conversation. Probably if I make a comment at 11am, only two people will read it before it disappears into history whena new article appears at lunchtime. This is not to disrespect Olley’s efforts either. But if I want to just read articles there’s much better places to look and probably articles that bring more insight into NUFC too. I’d be interested to know what you think Andy and anyone else too (if this article lasts long enough for anyone to read.)

  19. 1 to 2 a day seems ok, you get that on a match day anyway, or we always used to. There’s been a few times when no match thread has gone up, usually if someone is busy or ill. Actually 1 a day would probably be enough apart from match day’s. One a day gives folk on other times zones a chance to join in the banter. Been enjoying Olly’s articles Andy, good edition. If I ever get my drains sorted I might try and write an article as not done one in a while.

  20. Kimtoon:
    Anyone speak with Big Dave?, he’s not been on in ages, hope he’s ok.

    I speak to him now and again,last time I spoke with him he was fine,as is Batty

  21. I think there has been a happy medium reached with the new format because the new articles appear in one place but not all are open to comments so that the discussion can continue on previous articles. It therefore really doesn’t matter how many articles are written per day as you don’t have to read them all if you don’t want to. An example is that I haven’t read Olly’s latest on Thauvin yet which is below this thread. However, I could comment on here about it and reference what he said if I wanted to.

    It is better than Ed’s which is all over the place and The Chronicle which was like that until recently. Even the Chron realized they had to have all of their stuff consolidated in one place and created a “latest news” link thread.

    BTW I am always surprised by how FEW comments there are on Chronicle articles. Maybe Uncle Ed steals their readers by reprinting all of their articles 🙂

  22. Just read Olly on Thauvin and I agree that it is best that he plays in Marseilles. Some players just are not suited to the PL and I think this applies to him and Cabella. I don’t think it is wrong that we got them though as players of his type have succeeded in the PL such as Pires and Ginola. It was a gamble by Carr but it could have had a massive upside.

    A lot of players have not succeeded in the PL for various reasons, such as:

    Schevchenko – old, lost a step
    Balotelli – immature
    Falcao – after-effects of injury
    Robinho – overrated

    And many more, especially defenders who I could fill a whole page with but will leave it at Jean Alain Boumsong.

    The one that probably surprised me most who didn’t make it in the PL was Juan Sebastian Veron who was a superstar at the time and his game seemed suited to the PL and he was coming into one of the best teams in Europe at the time.

  23. Jamie Vardy has revealed he received death threats after his supposed part in the sacking of Ranieri. That is totally insane from people who must be totally insane. As much as I despised Pardew (it was never hate) I would never wish him any physical harm. There are some crazy people out there and the internet facilitates it. I am surprised that there are so few trolls on here, actually. Me, you say? I am just trying to move the discussion along 🙂

  24. Eric Sykes:
    Jamie Vardy has revealed he received death threats after his supposed part in the sacking of Ranieri. That is totally insane from people who must be totally insane. As much as I despised Pardew (it was never hate) I would never wish him any physical harm. There are some crazy people out there and the internet facilitates it. I am surprised that there are so few trolls on here, actually. Me, you say? I am just trying to move the discussion along

    Cannot just blame Vardy there was quite a few of them that just did not try one bit,I know Kante was one hell of a miss he’s improved Chelsea ten fold,had to smirk at Jose when he said he didn’t sign him because he was to small for a m/f player,I still don’t know why the players did not work for the manager after he won the title with them,what went wrong??

  25. ERIC
    thoughts of Don Hutchison

    why didn’t you like Alan Pardew?

    I didn’t ever get on well with Alan – I always thought he was arrogant and when I played for him at West Ham it was all about him.

    I liked managers who recognised it was all about the players: guys like Howard Kendall, who was like a second father to me. I always thought Alan wanted to take some of that attention away from the players, as if it was all about him. My take on it was that he had a massive ego and I think we clashed on several occasions.

  26. Icedog: I speak to him now and again,last time I spoke with him he was fine,as is Batty

    That’s good to hear Ice, say hello from me when you next talk .

  27. Leicester players all need to look in the mirror, all equally to blame imo to varying degrees. Death threats are pathetic and there are some totally unhinged folk out there, but if you are famous and take to twitter that seems to be the price you pay. It is perfectly possible to be famous and still lead a normal-ish life, there are lots of celebs who don’t get papped or indulge in twitter. Part of me thinks twitter and facebook is mostly about needing constant reassurance or ego boosting, a modern day keeping up with the joneses .

  28. Kimtoon: Part of me thinks twitter and facebook is mostly about needing constant reassurance or ego boosting, a modern day keeping up with the joneses .

    Part of me thinks twitter and facebook is mostly about needing constant reassurance or ego boosting, a modern day keeping up with the joneses .you got it dead right there Kim

  29. Who use twitter more than anybody else apart from boy bands?

    Donald Trump
    Joey Barton
    Piers Morgan

    Need I say more 🙂

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