Season’s greetings mio Stadium fans! Are we in December already? Time is traveling a lot faster than I would like. However, over the duration of the last 13 weeks, Barclays Premier League fans have been treated to a barrage of excitement, drama and shock that Jim Cameron himself could not script!

By this point, you should all know that I am a Geordie (and yes for all you doubters, my English half resides in Cramlington, Northumberland). As a Geordie, and a loyal member of the Toon Army, I, like any other, am no stranger to having my emotions toyed with like an angry toddler’s boxing clown. But I am pleased to finally admit that I am not lying when I say that my emotions have seen more bliss and belter than disgrace and dismay.

The Magpies have been soaring so far this season but like any team, they experience peaks and troughs. It just so happens that the trough came in the form of arguably the three best teams in Britain.

It’s no accident that you haven’t seen an entry from me in a while: it was strategic. I wanted to allow Newcastle’s last three fixtures play themselves out before putting to paper my thoughts.

Manchester City away, Manchester United away then Chelsea at home – in quick succession mind you. So that’s nine points. In all honesty, I believed that we would take away at least four points. Given Newcastle’s run of form, not just as a team, but also as individuals on the pitch, it was certainly not an unfair prediction. I believed it so much; I even took bets from my friends.

I didn’t expect us to claim a victory at the Etihad – we lost 3-0. But we certainly didn’t get trounced or humiliated, as a trouncing would suggest conceding six goals against your local rivals. Manchester United was undeniably humiliated. Enough said.

My prediction of claiming a point apiece came to fruition against “the humiliated” when Newcastle traveled to Old Trafford. Enough said.

However, I firmly believed in my gut that the Toon would be jubilant after defeating Chelsea at the Sports Direct Arena St. James’ Park but as we all know, it was not to be. Mind you, playing against a team of 15 as opposed to 11 was probably the cause for our demise. “How was it Newcastle were playing against 15?” I hear you ask.

For anyone who was at St. James’ on December 3rd and anyone, bar Chelsea fans of course, who watched live on countless televisions across the world will have seen that the two Chelsea goal posts and referee Mike Dean seemed to favour Chelsea. All right, maybe I’m overreacting. But, there is no denying that David Luiz should have been sent off for his clumsy run of play on Demba Ba as it was clearly a goal scoring opportunity.

In my opinion, Mike Dean knew this to be the case at the time of the incident but bottled it as there had only been five minutes played. Let me tell you something Mike: better the wrath of angry Chelsea fans than those of the Toon Army. I’m convinced that had Chelsea been brought down to ten men for 85 minutes, particularly after losing a defender, Newcastle would have taken four points out of the last possible nine. Not the best way to start the season to be jolly.

Having said that, however, Newcastle have some good fixtures lined up for December (Norwich away, Swansea at home, West Bromwich at home, Bolton away and Liverpool away) so perhaps there will be plenty to celebrate come Boxing Day.

In the meantime, when my friends open their Christmas presents from me with a look of bewilderment on their faces, I’ll tell them to blame Mike Dean!!