Heerenveen v Newcastle Utd: Hope, history and the small Dutch club Heerenveen collide with Newcastle tonight - and it is imperative for United and their manager of five months, Graeme Souness, that they do not come off second best.
Do so and Newcastle will have begun pessimistically a seven-day period that will define their season. On Sunday Chelsea are at St James' Park in the FA Cup and the second leg of this, the first knockout round after the UEFA Cup group stage, is next Thursday. Newcastle will wish to be still in at least one cup competition then because, if they are not, then Bolton's visit in the Premiership on Sunday week could herald a fan backlash.
There is developing disenchantment but, although their form under Souness has contributed to the disaffection, it pre-dates him. Without a domestic trophy since 1955 or a European one since 1969, their fans are, to say the least, running out of patience. "It's hard to take for supporters that the club's not won anything for the best part of 40 years," Souness said prior to departure. "That's a lot of frustration."
Newcastle arrived here yesterday without the ill Kieron Dyer, the injured Nicky Butt and the cup-tied Jean-Alain Boumsong, but they should have enough quality to overcome Heerenveen.
Souness, who last night went to watch the Ajax full-back Hatem Trabelsi in their game against Auxerre, hopes his erratic Dutchman, Patrick Kluivert, can be the inspiration against Heerenveen. They have met English opposition only once before, losing 1-0 in both legs to West Ham in the Intertoto Cup in 1999. However, four seasons ago they made the Champions League and this is their fourth European campaign in seven years.
The club's rise has been overseen by a 62-year-old coach Foppe de Haan, who has just handed over team matters to Gert Verbeek. De Haan, who remains at a club where he has been for two decades, holds a romantic place in Dutch football not dissimilar to Kevin Keegan's at the beginning of his management at Newcastle.
His philosophy is "to be a nice club playing nice football" and "winning isn't everything". Down the years he has discovered and sold, among others, Ruud van Nistelrooy, to PSV Eindhoven, and Jon Dahl Tomasson, to Newcastle. Tomasson flopped there, only to prosper at Milan. Newcastle cannot afford to flop at Heerenveen.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
HEERENVEEN (4-4-2): Vanderbussche; Haarala, Breuer, Hansson, Rzasa; Hestad, Vayrynen, Bruggink, Radomski; Yildirim, Huntelaar.
NEWCASTLE UNITED (4-3-1-2): Given; Carr, O'Brien, Bramble, Babayaro; Bowyer, Faye, Jenas; Kluivert; Ameobi, Shearer.
Referee: Z Szabo (Hungary).
