The Festive Season is upon us in Newcastle, and after a good, if uncomfortable November we’re looking to really lay down some form in the run up to Christmas. There are six games here, plenty to affirm our title aspirations, or plenty to watch them slip away. Depending on how you look at it.

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First up in December is the visit of Oxford. Brian Horton’s men sit toward the foot of the table, and have inconsistent. They are capable of big, impressive wins, and of silly, surprising defeats. The Duke of Marlborough sits in the Directors Box, which at the crumbling St. James’ Park just means there is a waist-high wall between him and the common man. I want to send his privileged hide packing.

Oxford play a flat 442, with Steve McLaren driving through the middle to create space for Mark Stein, who has eight goals in 20 league appearances but has decided he is too good for the club. We’ll stay as we are, make it tough, and hopefully he will shy away from the brutality of our defence.

It’s a relatively comfortable afternoon, all things considered. Oxford set out to stifle our play, but a lovely little interplay between Kevin Brock and Micky Quinn undoes them midway through the first half. It’s just past the hour when we secure the result, Liam O’Brien getting on the end of a Lee Clark cross to head home. A win is a win is a win, but it would be nice to have some fireworks at some point. Portsmouth’s draw sees us return to the top of the table.

We hear as the game ends that Chelsea have parted way with Bobby Campbell. The club sit in 11^th, closer in points to the relegation zone than the title. In his place they have turned to a fresh-faced unknown who has done well in Sweden. I suspect this Roy Hodgson fella might just have a long career.

The FA Cup Third Round draw throws us up against Sheffield Wednesday. The Owls are properly good in 1989, and they will be properly good in 1990. Young forward David Hirst won his first England cap in November, and goalkeeper Chris Turner seems to constantly be in the conversation for his as well. It’ll be a real test, but if we want to compete at the top then it will be a good marker of how far we have to go. But back to the bread and butter. But we can scout out Hillsborough, as we head to Brammall Lane to take on Sheffield United.

They are another inconsistent side, sitting in mid-table. They have only one player of real note, a young Brian Deane. But he’s big, he’s physical, and he roughs up defenders. Andy Thorn and Kevin Scott are in for a long afternoon. We stick to the 4141, because while I’d like an entertaining demolition to keep us at the top of a table, I’ll settle just for winning.

Far from winning, we were lucky not to be beaten. John Gallacher picked up the ball in his own half on 21 minutes, and a mazy run took him past three Blades defenders before firing beyond the stricken Simon Tracey, but that was as good as it got in the first half. Deane bullied his way onto the end of a cross to knock down for Duffield to score right on half time, and our heads dropped. They dominated in the second half, and Deane got himself on the scoresheet after Wright fumbled his shot right back at his feet. I threw on Mark McGhee and Roy Keane, and we stabilised before Ray Ranson headed a late equaliser. We don’t deserve a point, but we take it back north with us.

Harry Redknapp’s form at Bournemouth has caught the eye in the east end, and he has returned to West Ham in an inevitable move. For our part, we tie down young hotshot Lee Clark to a 4-year contract, but Bjorn Kristensen has decided that he will leave us at the end of his contract. He’s a classy little player, but he never really found his feet in our unnecessarily aggressive defence.

We host Middlesbrough in our next fixture, our local rivals sitting in mid-table with an outside shot at the playoffs. Bernie Slaven is the main man up front, getting onto the end of Alan Comfort’s magical crosses. We’ll need a better performance than we had in Sheffield, even though Portsmouth’s own loss of form sees us remain top. Clark comes in for Brock, who is stalling on a new contract while weighing up an offer from Norwich.

It’s another poor performance, and this time we’re punished. Gary Parkinson curled in a free kick on 32 minutes after a silly foul from Gary Brazil, but Brazil equalised just 6 minutes later. But we were never really at the races today, and when Putney rose higher than any of our defenders to get onto the end of an Alan Comfort cross, we had no response. Lee Clark was awful so I hooked him off. I threw on McGhee but to no avail, and we pick up our third defeat of the season. Portsmouth draw to stay below us, but Leeds have drawn level.

We’re half way through the season, and sit top of the table on 50 points. Repeat that to reach 100 points and surely we will be back in the top flight. But the dip in form is worrying. We haven’t got much time to work on it though as the games come thick and fast. We focus on recovery and prepare for a trip to Upton Park. Harry Redknapp has the side playing an attacking 532 and has seen their form pick up. Not an ideal place to visit when we need to pick up a win. Kevin Brock has decided to leave us for QPR, so against my better judgement I stick with Lee Clark.

It’s a win, but there’s not much more you can say about it. Micky Quinn heads home a corner on 19 minutes, but West Ham had all of the play, with twice as many shots as us. We’ll take the three points as an early Christmas present, but we were very lucky. The second half we just retreated deeper and deeper, even when I dropped Warren Barton into the back line to try to provide some impetus. But we got over the line. Leeds lose but Portsmouth win, and we stay top. Just.

I pick at my Christmas turkey, and only have a handful of chocolates. And a large drink. And another one. My festive spirit has been drained by the looming spectre of Robbie Earle. He is the best player in the division this season, and back in September he tore through us with ease. Nicky Cross, who notched a hat trick against us in the same game, has recently dropped into the midfield four alongside Earle but hasn’t dropped his performance levels. Port Vale make the trip to St. James’ Park on Boxing Day.

Weirdly, despite putting us to the sword so ruthlessly, Vale’s season has seriously tailed off since September. They sit 15^th, comfortably out of trouble but nowhere near the kind of position their early dominance suggested. I’m tempted to try something new, but perhaps with the players a little hazy from the festivities we’ll stick with what we know again. January, when we can sign some players, that’s the time to have a look at things. Fereday comes in for Clark.

It’s better, but not brilliant. Fereday starts with a point to prove, and scores after a quarter of an hour after collecting a pass from Warren Barton, but we can’t keep Earle and Cross out of the game completely. They have a couple of chances and so do we, but we can never make it comfortable. This goes down as a poor performance from Port Vale rather than a good performance from us. Andy Thorn picks up a knock just to compound the problems.

We finish the decade with a trip to Valley Parade. Terry Yorath likes to play a flat 442 with Peter Costello and Mark Ellis rampaging up the wings. They are creative and they are solid, but Jimmy Quinn hasn’t been scoring as he should and as a result the Bantams sit in 10^th. Of course, a quality striker out of form against the table toppers? I think we can all guess what’s going to happen here. We reshuffle because of Andy Thorn’s injury, and Roy Keane comes in.

This one hurt. We were much better, dominating the game from start to finish. We hit the post, we hit the bar, we force save after save from Mark Evans, who finishes as Man of the Match. I make the change, put two up top to try to force a breakthrough, and McGhee then starts peppering the Bradford goal with shots. And then, just when I start to think we’ll be taking a point, Gavin Oliver has a pot-shot from range that’s never in danger of threating the goal, but it is deflected off of Kevin Scott into Brian Tinnion’s path, and the Bradford man wins the game.

We are second in the table as we enter the 1990s, but it’s a miserable way to end the decade.

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Band Aid II top the Christmas charts. It’s not as good as the original 1984 version, but here is Do They Know It’s Christmas anyway.