History repeating as officals confirmed for Newcastle United's opening game of new season - Fabian Schar better be careful
Newcastle United will take on Aston Villa in their first game of the new season on Saturday. Kick-off is 12:30 pm at Villa Park, live on TNT Sports.
After a very difficult pre-season on and off the pitch, it might actually come as a relief to get proper, competitive football back underway for Eddie Howe and his team.
It's easier to drown out noise when there's high-stakes football to focus on rather than pre-season friendlies, of which Newcastle failed to win any other than a behind-closed-doors game against Carlisle United.
Starting the season on the road isn't ideal, even less ideal when it's at Villa Park, where we've won just twice in the past 10 attempts.
Craig Pawson will referee Newcastle's opening game for the second season in a row
Newcastle's task may not be any easier after it was announced that Craig Pawson will be the man in the middle on Saturday lunchtime.
Pawson had the honour of refereeing Newcastle's opening game last season when the Magpies battled to a 1-0 win over Southampton. The performance was poor, the win was unconvincing, but the big talking point was Fabian Schar's red card.
The Swiss defender was sent off for a 'headbutt' on Saints forward Ben Brereton-Diaz despite replays showing some pretty Oscar-worthy acting by the Chilean. Unfortunately, contact or not, the rules of the game say that if you go for the headbutt, it's a red card.
Craig Pawson failed to award a red card in another game involving Newcastle last season
Pawson's other games involving Newcastle were hardly any better, but at least in one case, he did award Newcastle a penalty, albeit one that was missed in the 0-0 draw against Everton.
However, against Brighton, former referee Dermot Gallagher told Sky Sports News that Pawson had bottled the decision to send off Brighton's Mats Wieffer after clattering into Sandro Tonali.
Let's hope he's had a nice, relaxing summer and has his head in the game on Saturday.
