All 21 Of Newcastle's Premier League Opening Day Fixtures

Date: 17 August 2008

Venue: Old Trafford

Result: 1-1

Starting XI: Given; Beye, Coloccini, S. Taylor, N'Zogbia; Duff, Milner, Butt, Guthrie, Gutierrez; Martins.

Goals: Martins (22)

Debuts: Coloccini, Guthrie, Gutierrez

Manager: Kevin Keegan

What Happened?

Newcastle produced arguably one of their best opening day performances and really should have left Old Trafford with three points instead of one. Jonas Gutierrez was hailed as the "most impressive Premier League debutant" on the opening by Alan Hansen on Match of the Day, whilst it was clear why Kevin Keegan fought so hard to bring Fabricio Coloccini in to marshall his defence. Martin's 22nd minute header opened the scoring and Newcastle would likely have held on to that single-goal lead, such was the discipline and quality in this display, only for Darren Fletcher to score two minutes late from close range whilst the Magpies were down to 10 men as Steven Taylor received treatment.

League Position: 11th

Was It A Sign Of Things To Come?

No and you all know the story by now. Keegan quit after feeling he was undermined by Mike Ashley's newly implemented football board and was replaced by the walking profanity generator that is Joe Kinnear. He succumbed to heart trouble in February, with Ashley turning to Alan Shearer in a thinly-veiled attempt to stem the tide of hate against him. Shearer failed and Newcastle went down.

Final League Position: 18th RELEGATED