A recharged Eddie and the Hotrods will give a good account of themselves at Craven Cottage

The festive period now seems like a lifetime away, whether we are talking Newcastle United or whatever.

I had a fantastic Christmas Day entertaining my friends Allen and Shirley. And that was about it.

I never had much enthusiasm going into the New Year and I thought I was suffering from some premature January blues.

It was only in the immediate build-up to the mackem cup tie that I knew what the problem had been.

The 6th of January will forever go down in history as the date in 2021 that a deposed American President nearly caused an insurrection after the riot on Capitol Hill.

After watching that chaos unfold three years ago, I had a similarly uneasy feeling heading into the mackem match at the Stadium of Light.

So had a few others who had initially embraced and even celebrated when the draw had been made a month beforehand, judging from what I had been listening to.

Newcastle United were on the crest of a slump and I was very straight to the point in reminding some folk that in future they should be very careful what they wished for.

What everyone went on to witness was a ‘Premiership v Championship / Men against Boys’ contest, between two completely mismatched football clubs heading in totally differing directions.

Local pride was never in doubt from the first whistle.

We followed the easy win against our most loathed, with a spirited display against current multiple trophy winners Manchester City. Although Newcastle United were glorious losers on the day, this game gave me a feeling of enormous pride in our club.

We are now coming to the end of a two week ‘winter break’ and face Fulham in the 4th round of the FA Cup.

There have been no significant incomings or outgoings at Gallowgate so far in this January transfer window.

I am hearing that a few of our badly missed injured players are nearly ready to return.

I am also confident that a recharged Eddie and the Hotrods will give a good account of themselves at Craven Cottage.

Finally, a belated Happy New Year to you all.