Newcastle and Middlesbrough blow hot and cold

Consistency has always been a hard word to find in the north-east football vocabulary.

Newcastle United and Middlesbrough, who last season were joined by neighbours Sunderland in the top flight, have traditionally struggled to maintain their good form for a long period of time, particularly in league commitments.

The only time in the past few years that one of these rivals enjoyed a consistent run of results was in the seasons they spent in the second grade of the game and then bounced back to the Premier League.

When Sam Allardyce took over at Newcastle, after the sacking of Glenn Roeder in May 2007, the fans had great hopes of an upturn in their team's fortunes in light of Big Sam's achievements at modest Bolton.

After a bright start, Newcastle lost to Derby − the Rams' only win of the campaign − and suddenly their season went from bad to worse.

Owner Mike Ashley, who had reportedly planned to dismiss Allardyce after taking control of the club, wielded his axe and sacked the English manager.

Gareth Southgate, Middlesbrough's rookie manager, had another turbulent campaign. In their first 15 Premier League outings, the Boro managed to chalk up only two wins and another manager might have had to face the music but chairman Steve Gibson gave the former England defender a vote of confidence.

Faced with the threat of relegation, the Newcastle board re-appointed former boss Kevin Keegan, the tried and trusted, who had brought stability in his first spell at the club.

Keegan had a difficult start and seemed to have forgotten his plot after being away from the game for a long time. However, the tide started to turn at Tyneside and the team began to obtain vital results until Newcastle made sure of Premier League survival with some matches to spare.

Keegan's forward trio of Michael Owen, Mark Viduka and Obafemi Martins gave the fans a treat as attractive football became the order of the day at St James' Park.

The 4-1 annihilation at Tottenham summed up the Toons' improvement and the former England coach and the fans turned their attention to next season in the hope of a more consistent and rewarding campaign.

Newcastle supporters have fond memories of the old days when Keegan was at the helm and many still see him as the right man to take them forward in search of glory.

For their part, Middlesbrough continued where they left off in the previous season, giving some of the big boys a shock. This time, they caused an upset with their victory over Arsenal and two draws against Man. United, outcomes that gave the fans something to cheer about.

Their poor performances at the end of the season saw them finish in mid-table.

Record signing

In January, chairman Gibson delved into his pockets once again to strengthen the team's firepower. This time, Southgate went for a club record signing, splashing about £12m for prolific Brazilian striker Afonso Alves. They still love a Brazilian up at the Boro after what Juninho had given them during his time with the club.

After an indifferent start, Alves started to find his feet and also the back of the net. His partnership with Turkey forward Tuncay Sanli has given the Boro fans good reason to be optimistic about a better league performance by their team in 2008-09.

Middlesbrough's attacking potential was highlighted in their last outing of the campaign at the Riverside, where they trounced Manchester City 8-1.

In the domestic cups, Boro reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, yet they failed to escape from the shocks reserved for the big boys, bowing out to Cardiff at home 0-2. In the League Cup, they went out at Tottenham 0-2 in round three.

Newcastle fell to North London side Arsenal who knocked them out of both cups at the Emirates Stadium: 0-2 in the League Cup (third round); 0-3 in the FA Cup (fourth round).