While there have been many things that have made the season at Newcastle another disappointment for their loyal fans - there are some positive things that hopefully will auger well for next season.

With so many injuries again, youngsters were moved into the first team and performed admirably. Paul Huntington, David Edgar and Andrew Carroll all made their debuts and looked at the very least like promising players for the future.

Add to these Stephen Taylor, Peter Ramage and Matty Pattison and we have excellent young players coming through the ranks. Certainly, the youth academy is starting to show results, and for the second season running the youth team made it to the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup.

While Roeder has had his problems this season he is continuing to organize the club behind the scenes and in addition to putting the youth system in place he is rebuilding the scouting system – so we can be on the look-out for young emerging talent before they become well known.

Roeder is a great admirer of Arsne Wenger and if he can do just half as well as the great Wenger in identifying young world-class talent then Newcastle will do very well indeed.

Some of our players have also had excellent seasons – not least of which is Nicky Butt – who has put the disappointments of the last couple of seasons behind him and has performed admirably for the club.

It also looks to be a key turnaround season for Kieron Dyer – who has not only remained injury free since his comeback - but has put in some gritty performances and scored six valuable goals for the team. When you add to this the fact he regained his place in the England squad – it’s been a rewarding season for Kieron – and well deserved given the courage he has shown.

Obefemi Martins – although still inconsistent – has shown he can be a real force in the Premiership and it should be a joy to watch him link up with Michael Owen next season.

Antoine Sibierski has also proved to be a good acquisition at Newcastle – given his signing on August 31^st last year was met with some derision by Newcastle fans. He has performed admirably for the team, has a terrific attitude and loves the club – so let’s hope he’s still a Newcastle player next season.

The signing of Nigel Pearson as head coach was an excellent acquisition by Glenn Roeder. Nigel is obviously an excellent coach and did well last Saturday when coaching the England under 21s. It was good to see the youngsters playing so well and with such spirit – such a contrast to their senior colleagues’ performance in Israel that same night.

All credit to Pearson and it’s easy to see why he’s held in such high esteem by the FA.

Of course the negative aspects of the season has been the crippling injury list, where at one point thirteen of our first team, squad were unavailable due to injury.

We also had injury problems in the previous season when Graeme Souness suggested it was linked to the playing surface at the Little Benton training facility. The club really needs to find out why we have so many more injuries than other clubs - it would be well worth our while to pinpoint what it is – and get it fixed.

Of course, when we had important games, particularly in the FA Cup against Birmingham and in the UEFA cup against AZ Alkmaar – we buckled completely under the huge expectations, for no apparent reason. While we can explain the Birmingham travesty to perhaps being linked to having so many youngsters in the team – there is no such excuse for the Alkmaar defeat. In fact, at the time, we had many first team players returning from injury, which is why the mood was so upbeat.

I don’t think Glenn Roeder is the problem at all – and as he points out – we need some consistency in the management of the team and with Pearson they make a good duo.

If we can get three top class defenders, including a center back and left back during the summer (how about Anton Ferdinand, Curtis Davis and Leighton Baines), the squad for next season could be a lot better than many expect…..but as always we will have to wait and see.