NewcastleBloggers

Newcastle Draw Up Impressive January WishList But Will Have Back-Up Plan In Place – Report

Neil Harrison — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 18:12:27 GMT

Recent reports have Newcastle aiming for the sky in January with some top players on their wishlist. The dream scenario is that Newcastle can land such talents as Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman, [...]

The post Newcastle Draw Up Impressive January WishList But Will Have Back-Up Plan In Place – Report appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

Eddie Howe warns Newcastle players considering exit as he hints at 'detailed' transfer plan

ec.news@ncjmedia.co.uk (Ciaran Kelly) — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 18:00:00 GMT

Newcastle United will need to make room to bring in new signings in the January transfer window but Eddie Howe does not want his players thinking about a move away

Rafa Benitez fails with request to get Everton match called off

Jackie Smithfield — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 15:47:31 GMT

Rafa Benitez and Newcastle United fans are set to have their reunion after some two and a half years apart.

The Spanish manager forced out by Mike Ashley at the end of June 2019.

Now he is at Everton, with a spell in China behind him.

Like Eddie Howe and Newcastle United, Rafa Benitez now finding himself in a relegation fight…

Rafa Benitez and Everton face four other clubs who are also in the bottom eight in their next four matches.

First up is Burnley away on Boxing Day (Sunday), though Rafa Benitez says he is “really surprised” that the match is still due to go ahead after claiming that Everton have just nine senior outfield players available due to positive Covid cases cases and injuries.

Rafa Benitez and Everton asking for a postponement but the Premier League knocking that idea back.

For Newcastle United fans this is of obvious interest, as it is only seven days before NUFC play at Goodison on 30 December.

The Everton boss says that he has got Calvert-Lewin back and he may have to play the full Burnley match. If that happens, it is difficult to see him starting against Newcastle.

After playing Newcastle, Rafa Benitez and his team face Brighton and then Norwich in the Premier League. Everton looking well capable of getting properly involved in the relegation scrap.

That game at Goodison could be a massive opportunity for Newcastle United and needs to be taken if at all possible.

Rafa Benitez press conference ahead of Everton game at Burnley on Boxing Day – 23 December 2021:

“We have six injuries and five players with Covid.

“I am really surprised we are playing this game.

“We have followed all the rules, we have done lateral flows every day, we do the PCRs and we have worn the masks.

“We have players in three different dressing rooms [to reduce the risk of transmission].

“But we cannot control if you go to a game, if a player is positive but has not got any symptoms, he can pass the virus to the others.

“After we played against Chelsea, we found we have five positives.

“We have nine outfield players and three keepers.

“And then we have to bring five new young players into the team, who are not even 21 years old.

“We have players who have knocks and we have to push them.

“Dominic [Calvert-Lewin] has been out for two months and maybe has to play for 90 minutes.

“It is a massive risk.

“We have to wait to see which players are available.

“It is a difficult situation. When you talk about what is going on and the number of Covid cases in the country, we will have more and more cases every day.

“I don’t know the conditions of every club. I know our situation, we have six injuries, five players with Covid and now we have to pick players who have been out for a while or young players, and we have to take a risk putting them on the pitch and possibly in different positions.

“It will not be easy and I think it is not fair.

“What teams around Burnley and around us [in the Premier League table] will think in terms of the integrity of the league, I don’t know. Clearly, in this case, it is a surprise that we have to play this game.

“Now, I have to think about if I have 11 players fit and where can I put them.”

7 days window of opportunity for Newcastle United to make key January signings

Dale Thompson — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 15:09:16 GMT

An important part of the season is approaching for Newcastle United.

Indeed, for most people it is by far THE most important.

Ever since the new Newcastle United owners took control, all eyes on January.

With 31 days to bring in signings to improve the existing NUFC squad.

The thing is, I would narrow it down far further than that.

Rather than 31 days, I will be looking at what happens in the first 7 days once the window opens on 1 January 2022.

You look at the way the fixtures are laid out (see below).

With Man Utd home and Everton away before the January window opens.

Then Southampton away on 2 January.

Following that, Newcastle have Watford at home on 15 January and Leeds away on 22 January.

Nobody is under any illusions, especially those inside the club, as to the help that is needed via new signings, if relegation is to be successfully avoided.

Obviously they have had almost three months build up to this window and Eddie Howe will have made clear which players he would like, a list no doubt with a number of options for them to go out AND much of this work surely to have been done before the window actually opens.

Looking at the fixtures, obviously Southampton away on 2 January will be too early for any new signings to come in and be ready to play.

However…I absolutely think that Newcastle’s season is likely to rise or fall on what happens in the first week of the window, before the FA Cup match.

If signings are to be made and realistically be ready to play against Watford on 15 January, they have to have at least a week to work with Eddie Howe and the other players.

Once you then get to that Leeds match on 22 January, after that you only have 15 more Premier League games and I honestly think that both Watford and Leeds will be two clubs who will be bottom four or five this season. Newcastle very likely needing to finish above one if not both of them.

The new NUFC owners have a huge task on their hands in terms of turning the club around and this transfer window will arguably be their biggest challenge in the short-term.

I hope and expect two or three new signings to arrive in those first seven days of January, some massive games coming up.

Newcastle United upcoming matches until end of February 2022:

Monday 27 December 8pm – Man Utd home (Sky Sports)

Thursday 30 December 7.30pm – Everton away (Amazon Prime)

Sunday 2 January 2pm – Southampton away

Saturday 8 January 3pm – Cambridge Home (FA Cup third round)

Saturday 15 January 3pm – Watford home

Saturday 22 January 3pm – Leeds away

Tuesday 8 February 7.45pm – Everton Home (BT Sport)

Sunday 13 February 2pm – Aston Villa Home (Sky Sports)

Saturday 19 February 3pm – West Ham Away ***Subject to change

Saturday 26 February 3pm – Brentford Away ***Subject to change

Newcastle Knocked Back In Loan Approach For 19-Year-Old – Report

Neil Harrison — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 14:09:06 GMT

There is some news this morning that Newcastle have made a loan approach for Manchester City’s Cole Palmer. The 19-year-old attacker has made 9 appearances for The Citizens this term providing 2 [...]

The post Newcastle Knocked Back In Loan Approach For 19-Year-Old – Report appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

Newcastle United turned down in January move for Cole Palmer – Report

Graham Porter — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 14:00:39 GMT

Cole Palmer was a January target for Newcastle United but after making an approach, have been knocked back.

This claim has come from The Athletic, who are normally pretty reliable when it comes to transfer stories and other updates, including Newcastle United’s search for a Director of Football.

The Cole Palmer reporting comes as part of a bigger report from The Athletic on Manchester City’s transfer window activity. As they say that with Man City set to sell Ferran Torres to Barcelona, Pep Guardiola doesn’t intend to sign a replacement striker, with Cole Palmer set to be given more of a chance.

The Athletic say that Eddie Howe wanted to bring in Cole Palmer on loan for the second half of the season.

I must admit, I hadn’t heard of Cole Palmer until he came on in the second half on Sunday at St James Park. The attacking midfielder replacing Mahrez with 13 minutes remaining and United already 3-0 down.

I find it difficult to imagine Eddie Howe identifying the 19 year old as a January target, as I would have assumed he’ll want players who can hit the ground running.

Cole Palmer may well be a great prospect but he has had very little first team football and to be thrown into a relegation battle would have been a big challenge.

He has played only 121 Premier League minutes this season, just the one start in a 3-0 win over Everton, then three sub appearances. Two League Cup matches with one start one sub appearance and one goal, plus three very brief Champions League appearances as a sub.

David Ginola advises new Newcastle United owners

Jackie Smithfield — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 13:38:55 GMT

David Ginola has been talking about the Newcastle United takeover.

The former NUFC star emerging from the Jungle (Welsh castle) to find that things hadn’t dramatically changed when looking at the Premier League table.

For most Newcastle fans, they can see clear improvement since Eddie Howe came in, when it comes to NUFC’s overall play. However, atrocious mistakes from Newcastle players, a series of appalling decisions from match / VAR officials, as well as a complete absence of (good!) luck, conspiring to keep the club second bottom of the table.

For David Ginola, he sees decisions in the near future being crucial for the future of the club, telling the new Newcastle United owners that the right appointments need to be made, both on and off the pitch.

Ginola fearing a ‘shambles’ if the NUFC owners get it wrong.

Such a massive job and made so much difficult when coming in mid-season, this January transfer window could be pivotal.

Issue 80 – August 1995

David Ginola speaking to Talksport – 23 December 2021:

“We [Newcastle fans] need to wait a little bit because we have new owners, new investors.

“It is not going to be in a few weeks or in a few months, we’re thinking about three, four, five years.

“Obviously they [Newcastle fans] are very proud of the club, they look forward to the new investment that will be made for the club.

“It’s going to be difficult but I hope they are not going to use people within the club that are going to use silly investments.

“The main thing is to retrieve what is good on the pitch, the way of playing football.

“The players need to be devoted to the club and not just about wages.

“It’s relevant to say that the next year is crucial for the club, in terms of who they’re going to appoint as people who will decide in the name of Newcastle.

“Otherwise it’s going to be a shambles or a mess.

“They need people making the right decisions at the right time.”

Premier League call off 2 more games – Now 12 in total

Graham Porter — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 13:13:00 GMT

We now have another two Premier League matches that have been called off.

Thursday afternoon seeing the pair of games postponed.

They were both due to be played on Boxing Day but now are delayed until a future date.

Leeds and Watford requesting the postponements due to Covid outbreaks, so Wolves v Watford and Liverpool v Leeds are no longer going ahead on Sunday.

That makes it 12 Premier League games (details below) in total that have now been postponed so far this season due to Covid.

The good news for Newcastle United was that on Thursday morning, Eddie Howe revealed that as things currently stand, there are no positive cases at NUFC.

The game on Monday set to go ahead as Manchester United players have now returned to training.

Premier League announcement – Thursday 23 December 2021:

‘Following postponement requests from Leeds United and Watford as a result of COVID-19, the Premier League Board met this morning and regrettably agreed to call off the two affected clubs’ Boxing Day fixtures.

The two matches are Wolverhampton Wanderers v Watford and Liverpool v Leeds United, both due to be played on Sunday at 12:30 GMT.

The Board today was able to make its decisions in advance of Boxing Day to give clarity to clubs and their supporters. We apologise for the inconvenience and disruption caused to those fans’ festive plans.

The League is aware that the decision to postpone these two matches will disappoint supporters and understands their frustrations at a special time of year when fans look forward to attending and watching football games.

The League aims to provide as much clarity as possible, but unfortunately postponements sometimes have to be made at short notice, as safety is the priority. The League will endeavour to keep supporters updated if matches become at risk on a matchday.

The Board concluded that Leeds will not be able to fulfil their fixture this weekend due to the number of players with COVID-19, injuries and illness. The club’s training ground has also been closed after consultation with the UK Health Security Agency and the Premier League.

Watford continue to have an insufficient number of players to field a team after their match against Crystal Palace last Saturday was postponed following a COVID-19 outbreak.

Due to players coming out of isolation, it is fully expected Watford will be available for their fixture on Tuesday 28 December, against West Ham United.

The Board assesses applications to postpone matches on a case-by-case basis, based on existing rules and adapted COVID-19 postponement guidance introduced to clubs in light of the new Omicron variant.

The Board will assess a number of factors, including the ability of a club to field a team; the status, severity and potential impact of the COVID-19 outbreak at the club; and the ability of the players to safely prepare for and play the match.

The Board must also consider the wider risks to the opposition and other people the club representatives may come into contact with.

While recognising a number of clubs are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, it is the clubs’ and the League’s collective intention to continue the current fixture schedule where safely possible.

The health and wellbeing of all concerned remains our priority and the League will continue to monitor and reflect public health guidance, always proceeding with caution.

In light of the recent rise in COVID-19 cases across the country, the Premier League has reintroduced Emergency Measures. These include protocols such as more frequent testing, wearing face coverings while indoors, observing social distancing and limiting treatment time.’

The Premier League games cancelled so far:

Sunday 12 December

Brighton v Tottenham

Tuesday 14 December

Brentford v Man Utd

Wednesday 15 December

Burnley v Watford

Thursday 16 December

Leicester v Tottenham

Saturday 18 December

Aston Villa v Burnley

Man Utd v Brighton

Southampton v Brentford

Watford v Crystal Palace

West Ham v Norwich

Sunday 19 December

Everton v Leicester

Sunday 26 December

Liverpool v Leeds

Wolves v Watford

Astonishing – 11 weeks of new Newcastle United owners hasn’t put right 14+ years of Mike Ashley

Dean Wilkins — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 12:43:54 GMT

What are the new Newcastle United owners up to?

They have already been here fully 11 weeks.

Quite astonishing they haven’t by now put everything right after 14+ years of Mike Ashley neglect.

For the benefit of any of the hard of understanding that happen to be reading this, yes, I am being just a little sarcastic.

Today marks exactly 11 weeks (77 days) since that amazing moment when we found out that finally we were free of Mike Ashley.

I think it was always going to be that way, completely out of the blue.

With the near two year campaign by the consortium to buy Newcastle United seemingly fading away, suddenly on Wednesday 6 October 2021 there were media claims that it could actually be ON.

A lot of scepticism naturally, due to the countless false dawns we had seen down the years.

However, only 24 hours after the media claims had emerged, the new Newcastle United owners were indeed in control.

A surprise agreement reached between beIN Sports and the Saudi state which took TV piracy out of the Newcastle United ownership issues. With then the Premier League having then swiftly been able to wave the deal through, not that TV piracy was no longer an obstacle, the actions of the Premier League having been carried out on a confidential basis as was fit and proper, which led to such a short run of time for Newcastle United fans to prepare themselves for that Thursday 7 October 2021 very special moment.

Thousands and thousands spontaneously gathered at St James Park to celebrate the departure of Mike Ashley.

At least now having some hope of their club trying to be the best it possibly can be.

After those long long 14+ years of Mike Ashley, these 11 weeks of the new Newcastle United owners have flashed by.

However, very important to repeat, it has only been 11 (ELEVEN) weeks.

That though hasn’t stopped our enemies from ridiculing both the new Newcastle United owners and the NUFC fans.

‘Newcastle United are still rubbish’

‘All that money and where’s the difference’

‘Would have been better off keeping Mike Ashley’

Yes, as well as fans of other clubs, we have seen the lowest of lowlifes who pass themselves off as journalists and pundits, mocking what has / hasn’t happened at Newcastle United these past 11 weeks.

If somebody had told me in the first few days of October that by this Christmas we would be free of Mike Ashley, Lee Charnley, Steve Bruce the all of the Sports Direct branding, I would have thought that all my Christmases had come at once.

The problem is, amongst others, that nobody outside of Tyneside has cared whatsoever about how Mike Ashley has ran Newcastle United for a decade and a half.

When Newcastle fans and others have tried to explain exactly how bad his ownership has been, the joke that is the media in this country has now been the faintest bit interested, never mind concerned.

No matter what has been said since 2007, quite amazingly, all they have wanted to interpret it as, is that Newcastle fans are deluded and think they have some given right to be winning trophies.

Something that bemuses pretty much any normal Newcastle United fan who has ZERO expectation of ever winning anything and just wanted / wants to see a club and team that tries to compete.

The new Newcastle United owners have got an absolute shedload to do.

Something made infinitely more difficult thanks to the timing.

As they said though, it was a case of getting the deal done in early October or else the opportunity to get it out of Mike Ashley’s grasp might have never came along again.

Inheriting a team in a relegation spot, not a single win two months into the season, a useless Head Coach in place, an equally useless Managing Director in place, a completely unbalanced squad that had been totally neglected in terms of proper professional appraisal and correction, then with still three months to go before any changes could be made to the playing squad.

And those were just some of the immediate issues to tackle.

Never mind that in over 14 years not a penny had been allowed to be spent on St James Park, the training ground or academy, unless Mike Ashley had no choice. Little wonder that one of the first things to be done was for the new Newcastle United owners to give both the inside and outside of St James Park a proper clean.

The number of key senior staff needing to be brought in is staggering, as Mike Ashley had stripped NUFC down to the bare bones and had Sports Direct lackeys like Justin Barnes and Keith Bishop running the club remotely on his behalf, Barnes in particular making the key decisions above Charnley’s pay code.

A Chief Executive and Director of Football are such important positions as so much else will flow from them, including assembling a proper hierarchy of key professional staff that are needed to properly run an ambitious Premier League club.

Yes we all want them to be employed ASAP but I think pretty much all proper Newcastle United fans accept the massive overriding importance of them employing the best possible candidates in these key top roles.

The two people who will effectively be running the club alongside the new board, overseeing a club that pretty much has to be rebuilt from the bottom up.

Yes, relegation is of course an important issue and I’m absolutely sure that the new Newcastle United owners will be doing everything they can to avoid it. However, that is only one of many plates that they need to keep spinning.

Eddie Howe will no doubt have identified various targets that he wants to bring in during January and the board with the temporary assistance of Nick Hammond will be doing their best to make those deals happen. I have no doubt much has been done already on that front and to be honest, I think far too much smoke and mirrors surrounds transfer windows, in the vast majority of cases it is simply down to whether you are prepared to pay the transfer fee and wages, that I think covers around 90% of the issues / work.

Mike Ashley showed this to be the case in January 2013, panicking because he had dragged the club into yet another relegation fight, the then owner pushed the button and as if by magic, we had five new signings within a couple of weeks.

As Ashley came to more and more rely on loan deals and free transfers for Newcastle’s signings, he dragged the club ever further down by the fact he wouldn’t then compete for loan deals that required significant loan fees (and wages), nor free transfers that were the best quality.

That is why we end up with a squad containing frees such as Hendrick, Fraser and Carroll, as well as joke loan players like Rose and Bentaleb.

The Willock loan was simply a a cheap and cheerful late transfer window fluke, a midfielder who had scored once for Arsenal in 40 Premier League appearances, suddenly scoring seven games in a row (hopefully those aren’t the last goals we will see from him…).

So we come to this January and I think taking all circumstances into consideration, in a relegation fight the vast majority of transfer targets were always going to be loan signings, though with possible permanent options in the summer.

Don’t believe the nonsense that players won’t come to Newcastle United, or that clubs won’t allow them to. It is a long time since clubs had the power in terms of dictating what players did or didn’t do AND bottom line, if you are willing to pay the price tag, especially if it is loan fee and wages, you can sign players.

I think we will see some very uplifting signings in January, albeit it mainly on loan.

As for everything else the new Newcastle United owners need to do, good luck to them.

The essential new training complex and academy won’t happen overnight, neither will improvements to and expansion of St James Park. Make no mistake, we need to maximise the capacity of SJP as much as possible, both in terms of as many fans able to get in as possible AND to maximise revenues that will allow the new owners to reinvest (money spent on stadium expansion, as well as on the academy and training complex, doesn’t count towards FFP, so extra match ticket revenue is indeed purely extra money when counting towards how much a club can then spend on transfer fees and wages).

Every Premier League home match is predictably selling out once again and we are second bottom and rubbish.

Imagine if we ended up second top (or better…) and not quite so rubbish?

Just how many people would want to watch Newcastle United?

Howe Provides Update On Injured Duo And Covid Testing

Neil Harrison — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 11:00:02 GMT

Eddie Howe has given his press conference ahead of Monday’s match against Manchester United. He has provided a timescale on the injuries to Federico Fernandez and Jamal Lewis. Fernandez injured his thigh [...]

The post Howe Provides Update On Injured Duo And Covid Testing appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

Eddie Howe makes public Newcastle United Christmas plan – Press Conference

Joe Dixon — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 10:58:19 GMT

Eddie Howe had a lot to cover at his latest press conference.

The Newcastle United Head Coach speaking four days ahead of playing Man Utd on Monday.

Eddie Howe revealing the plan for how he and the club are approaching Christmas.

With Newcastle United having their Boxing Day match moved to the night of the 27th, he is allowing the players to train individually on Christmas day so they can spend a bit more time with family, then back to the training ground on Boxing Day.

Eddie Howe revealing a clean bill of health in terms of no Covid cases and insisting he has always wanted games to go ahead.

The NUFC boss speaking for us all when saying the use of VAR isn’t quite meeting expectations…Newcastle United having written to the Premier League with their concerns.

Some positive news on Jamal Lewis in particular, when he came off injured at Liverpool it was feared he’d be a long-term casualty but Eddie Howe thinks he will be back playing before the end of January. Whilst Federico Fernandez shouldn’t be far behind the left-back, according to Howe.

Eddie Howe on the festive schedule:

“We’ll ask the players to follow the guidelines but we also want them to enjoy their Christmas.

“They’re human beings and we want them to enjoy their time with their loved ones and look forward to a great game against Manchester United.

“They’ll train individually on Christmas Day.

“The way the week has gone, we have trained and prepared but with the game being a day later we think it’s right, and within our schedule, to let them spend Christmas with their families.

“They will be working just in an individual way.”

Eddie Howe on VAR:

“When VAR was introduced I think it was used regularly to try and get the right decision because that’s what we’re all after.

“I think the use has been diluted and I don’t see it effectively intervening as much as it did in a positive way.”

Eddie Howe on fixture postponements:

“I’ve always said I want to play.

“My point has been that for the benefit of the league you want a level playing field.

“It’s a tough challenge for the Premier League with postponements but the integrity of the competition is fundamental.”

Eddie Howe on Covid cases:

“We have a clean bill of health currently and we’re going though our testing every day. With the current infection rate around the country, we’re doing well at the moment to stay clear of it.”

Eddie Howe on Federico Fernández:

“It’s a difficult one to put a timescale on but it’s weeks rather than months.

“We’ll wait and see how he responds.

“He’s definitely going to be out of the Christmas period and most of January but he’s working hard and improving every day.”

Eddie Howe on Jamal Lewis:

“I don’t think it will be too long.

“It’s not a major injury but it’s enough to keep him out of the festive period and some games in early January.

“Hamstring strains are usually 3-4 weeks minimum and I think that’s probably where he’ll be.”

Eddie Howe on Ralf Rangnick:

“I have had a couple of conversations with him over the years and he is someone I highly respect and admire.”

“He is one of the culture change managers who have brought in a lot of new ideas that a lot of people have followed.

“A definite pioneer.”

Eddie Howe confirms 4 Newcastle United players ruled out for Manchester United but 3 back available, hopefully

Joe Dixon — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 10:13:57 GMT

Eddie Howe has been speaking to the media on Thursday morning.

The Newcastle United Head Coach talking to journalists ahead of Monday’s match at St James Park.

Eddie Howe and his players set to take on Manchester United at 8pm on Monday 27 December.

Howe now looking to bounce back after a tough week of games.

The NUFC Head Coach grateful for an eight day gap to prepare for Man Utd after a horrendous three games in a week.

A week of self-inflicted harm, shocking decisions from the match officials and three defeats, conceding eleven goals and scoring only one.

Man Utd is a touch challenge but not an impossible one, with NUFC having won two of the last four matches against them at St James Park.

As for injury / fitness at Newcastle United, Eddie Howe giving an update this morning on the availability of players for Monday night.

Federico Fernandez and Jamal Lewis continue to be out for the foreseeable.

Whilst Paul Dummett also remains unavailable and hasn’t played a single Premier League minute this season, though the good news is that this week has seen him take a major step forward, as finally the Geordie defender has returned to start training with the main group.

Meanwhile, Isaac Hayden is suspended for this game after picking up five bookings.

In better news, Eddie Howe hopes to have Jonjo Shelvey back from injury after missing Man City, although he couldn’t be seen in the training photos from Wednesday that the club released.

Javier Manquillo and Emil Krafth weren’t fit enough to be considered to start on Sunday but the NUFC Head Coach thinks both will be ok after recovering from illness.

In more good news, Eddie Howe also confirming that there are zero Covid cases at the club at the moment.

Eddie Howe talking to BBC Newcastle about the injury / fitness situation ahead of Monday’s match against Manchester United:

“We’ll have – hopefully – Manquillo and Shelvey fit and available (for Man Utd).

“Fernandez will not be available for a period of time – I think he’s going to miss the entire Christmas period and probably most of January.”

Eddie Howe on Paul Dummett:

“He did train yesterday but it was his first day.

“It’s brilliant to have him back – I was very impressed with him as a player, as a person and a character in the group. I loved working with him, but I can’t put a timescale on when he could come back.”

Eddie Howe speaking in the main press conference on Covid cases:

“We have a clean bill of health currently and we’re going though our testing every day.

“With the current infection rate around the country, we’re doing well at the moment to stay clear of it.

On player availability:

“We have a few players that are still out.

“Federico Fernandez, Paul Dummett and Jamal Lewis will all miss the game but we’ll hopefully have Emil Krafth and Javier Manquillo back from illness.”

How Will Newcastle Do Against Manchester United On Monday?

Neil Harrison — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 10:03:39 GMT

Newcastle have two matches remaining before the winter window opens in January. The hope of a positive run to put us in a decent place to attract targets has just never materialized. [...]

The post How Will Newcastle Do Against Manchester United On Monday? appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

Marcus Rashford looking forward to win at Newcastle on march to ‘where the trophies are’

Jackie Smithfield — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 09:48:20 GMT

Marcus Rashford can’t wait for the visit to Tyneside to come around.

By the time of Monday’s match, providing it goes ahead…Manchester United will not have played for 16 days.

A Covid outbreak has seen them postpone games against both Brentford and Brighton.

This week has seen a staggered return of Man Utd players back to the training ground and Marcus Rashford revealing that the final players will return today (Thursday), four days ahead of playing Newcastle United.

Marcus Rashford looking at this Newcastle United game as one that could start them off on a run towards greater glories…’So, if we have a good Christmas period now, then we can keep that momentum going and that will take you into the big games where the trophies are, come the end of the season.’

In reality though, Man Utd are already 17 points off Man City and indeed 11 points off Chelsea in third, so in effect, the only ‘trophy’ league-wise that they are playing for, is the prize of fourth place and Champions League qualification.

With surely zero chance of winning the Champions League, Man Utd who are also out of the League Cup, only realistically have the FA Cup to play for…just like Newcastle United, although the survival trophy is also pretty high on the importance list for NUFC.

Interesting to look at how the mighty have fallen after their period of domination, as it is nine seasons and soon to become ten, since Man Utd last won the title.

Indeed, since Newcastle United returned to the Premier League in 2017, Man Utd have won the same amount of trophies and have been to the same number of cup finals as NUFC.

When people have talked about this tough set of fixtures in December, they have bunched Man Utd in with Man City and Liverpool, which to me is laughable. Those two are way out on their own and their easy 2-0 and 5-0 wins at Old Trafford sum that up.

It won’t be easy on Monday but Newcastle United have beaten Man Utd twice in the last four matches at St James Park, so absolutely no reason to be writing this game off, as no chance of picking up points.

Eddie Howe has eight days between matches to prepare for this one, after having had three tough games to play in a week. A perfect time to have a proper lift-off under Eddie Howe and the new NUFC owners, here’s hoping the players can cut out the daft mistakes that have proved so costly AND a little bit of luck (and match official justice) will also flow our way finally.

Marcus Rashford speaking ahead of playing Newcastle United:

“The lads have been training and today [Wednesday 22 December] we brought all the rest of the lads back to training, there are only a couple left that will be coming in tomorrow.

“So, we’ve pretty much got the full squad back, which is a positive going into the week.

“Everyone is looking forward and everyone is very positive at the minute [looking forward to playing Newcastle United].

“We were all disappointed when the last game got cancelled but, at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can really do about it.

“We have to just focus on the next game [at St James Park] that will be played and hopefully that game goes ahead.

“Yeah, I definitely enjoy this time of year.

“I think the way you start the season and the way you play, and the results you get around the Christmas period, are probably the two most important points [in the season].

“So, if we have a good Christmas period now, then we can keep that momentum going and that will take you into the big games where the trophies are, come the end of the season.”

Stockholm Syndrome, Newcastle United and reaching Premier League safety…possibly

Jinky Jim — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 09:05:13 GMT

The term Stockholm Syndrome originated back in the seventies, from a bank siege in the Swedish capital.

There have been many incidents of it over the years but a good example was an aid worker who was captured by the Taliban .

When the marines stormed the compound to rescue her, they shot dead her guard.

Which set the woman off in a blind rage and she started to try and kick lumps out of the bemused soldier.

Why? Because “he had killed a lovely family man.”

Stockholm Syndrome is an emotional response and happens to some abuse and hostage victims when they have positive feelings toward an abuser or captor.

Well it could be argued that 14+ years of abuse had turned us into willing hostages, 50,000 zombies waiting for the next kicking.

However, not any more.

No longer the turgid 90 mins of Bruce ball. No longer the fat man. Now our club is heading for world domination.

Except that’s not going to happen any time soon. In fact, it’s not going to happen for some time.

For me, recent results have been just what I expected.

Why would they have been any different?

We could have Pep, Conte and Klopp as our management team, but it is still the same squad.

For a little while longer.

So I’m on the Eddie Howe bus, until the man is given some players who are actually Premier League standard.

As a kid, I was rubbish at school, with the only subject I was any good at being Maths. Probably from spending my lunch time studying the horse odds and putting my dinner money on a treble at Kempton (via a mate’s older brother). It has stuck with me and I’m still obsessed by statistics.

Which is why I have real doubts about whether, even with four new signings in January, we can turn this around.

Our only hope is for another season like the last, with three other truly rubbish teams. It would mean just 29 points being enough needed to stay up.

I don’t see how we can get 37 or more points. Its simply mathematics.

With 20 games remaining, if we accept that we are not beating any of the top six, we would need to win at least 7 or 8 of the remaining 14. Its a big ask.

So we must beat the likes of Watford, Leeds, Brighton, Palace, Southampton, Brentford, Norwich and Burnley. No gallant draws, we have to beat those around us. In addition, we need one or two points from the likes of Leicester, Villa, Everton and Wolves.

However, we know football isn’t played on a spreadsheet, so we may just go and beat Man Utd. Maybe.

The next five months are going to be seriously stressful and you know that our survival is going to come down to Burnley away on the last day, with the entire country and the Ref, being Burnley fans.

So bring it on.

Who would have thought this time last year, that we would be in this position? Fair enough, being bottom of the league was very very predictable, but having the resource to build our club back into something really special, is something that I for one just didn’t see it happening 12 months ago.

I’ve just read Michael Bennett’s piece about Leicester staying up in 2014/15, so we know it can be done. We are no longer hostages to that Stockholm Syndrome attitude.

Just accept the stuffings that will happen along the way…but let’s just get the lads over the line in these cup finals coming up.

This time next year Rodney…

Newcastle Release Images As Paul Dummett Returns To Full Training

Neil Harrison — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 19:35:46 GMT

Newcastle United have released images from today’s training session as the lads prepare for Monday night’s match against Manchester United. The big news is that Paul Dummett has finally returned to full [...]

The post Newcastle Release Images As Paul Dummett Returns To Full Training appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

Newcastle 'leading race' to sign Tottenham centre-back Joe Rodon as Leeds United challenge deal

ec.news@ncjmedia.co.uk (Matty Hewitt) — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 18:00:00 GMT

The Spurs defender has falling down the pecking order since the arrival of Antonio Conte

Sunderland beat Premier League clubs to sign highly sought-after teenager

ec.news@ncjmedia.co.uk (James Hunter) — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 16:43:41 GMT

Nicky Gyimah has joined Sunderland on a deal that runs until the end of the season

It’s Uplifting How Eddie Howe Operates In The Transfer Market

Dr. Ed Harrison — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 14:57:55 GMT

The January transfer window will be a vital one for the new Newcastle United and for Eddie Howe. We need at least four good players, better than we have in the current [...]

The post It’s Uplifting How Eddie Howe Operates In The Transfer Market appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

'You've got to nail this deal' - Newcastle owners' additions hint at reassuring transfer plan

ec.news@ncjmedia.co.uk (Ciaran Kelly) — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 12:57:00 GMT

Newcastle United owners have turned to head coach Eddie Howe and temporary recruitment consultant Nick Hammond and ChronicleLive has taken a look at how the pair operate in the transfer market

Video – Eddie Howe’s Sky Sports Interview – What He Thinks About At Xmas In One Word

Dr. Ed Harrison — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 10:49:24 GMT

Here is Eddie Howe’s Sky Sports recent interview where he praises the Tyneside area and asked what he thinks about at Christmas – he says “points”. He will be moving his wife [...]

The post Video – Eddie Howe’s Sky Sports Interview – What He Thinks About At Xmas In One Word appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

Newcastle Join Race For Exciting Young Championship Star

Neil Harrison — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 08:57:35 GMT

A new name has popped on Newcastle’s radar in Nottingham Forest Academy product Brennan Johnson. This comes from an exclusive by Toby Miles in The Mail, which names Newcastle, Everton, West Ham, [...]

The post Newcastle Join Race For Exciting Young Championship Star appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

Newcastle Are One Of Four EPL Clubs Linked With Welsh Defender – Report

Neil Harrison — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 15:21:49 GMT

Newcastle have conceded a league-worst 41 goals this season. If not for Norwich’s paltry return of 8 goals scored, The Magpies would likely also have the worst goal difference. As it stands [...]

The post Newcastle Are One Of Four EPL Clubs Linked With Welsh Defender – Report appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

Reports Claim 24-Year-Old Has Rejected Approach From Newcastle

Neil Harrison — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 13:06:12 GMT

Recent reports from France could forecast a potential problem for January – Newcastle’s ability to attract players. While plenty of money is available to tempt clubs and players alike, our dire league [...]

The post Reports Claim 24-Year-Old Has Rejected Approach From Newcastle appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

Eddie Howe reveals Hammond and Nickson's 'intent' as Newcastle prepare for January transfers

ec.news@ncjmedia.co.uk (Ciaran Kelly) — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Newcastle United need to bring in new signings in the January transfer window and Eddie Howe has spoken about working with Steve Nickson and Nick Hammond for the first time

French Striker Again Emerges As A Winter Target For Newcastle

Neil Harrison — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 08:52:53 GMT

Newcastle have found the back of the net just twice in the last six matches. During that span, we’ve also conceded 14 goals. That’s not exactly a recipe for success. Star striker [...]

The post French Striker Again Emerges As A Winter Target For Newcastle appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

Newcastle Linked With Unlikely Move For Veteran Striker

Neil Harrison — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:10:42 GMT

Over the weekend, The Sun’s Alan Nixon reported that Newcastle were weighing up a loan offer for Manchester United’s Anthony Martial. The 26-year-old has struggled over the past few seasons and could [...]

The post Newcastle Linked With Unlikely Move For Veteran Striker appeared first on The Newcastle United Blog.

Fresh Newcastle United Anthony Martial reports with January loan fee mooted

ec.news@ncjmedia.co.uk (Matty Hewitt) — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 10:36:10 GMT

The striker is out of favour and looks to be on his way out at Manchester United

Sven Botman Newcastle United transfer could resolve Eddie Howe defensive dilemma

ec.news@ncjmedia.co.uk (Josh Williams) — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 08:00:00 GMT

The Toon are linked with a January transfer move for the Lille centre-back

Newcastle 'should be all over' Jesse Lingard after latest Man Utd contract speculation

ec.news@ncjmedia.co.uk (Matty Hewitt) — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 16:00:00 GMT

The Magpies have been repeatedly linked with a move for the England international since the completion of the Saudi takeover

I am quitting Newcastle United. Or not

Bob — Sat, 20 Nov 2021 14:58:26 GMT

This was going to be a post about how I’m quitting Newcastle United.

Our blog and podcast stagnated along with the club. Under Mike Ashley, there was nothing to write or say about NUFC that hadn’t been written again and again by ourselves and others. I had a notion that one day perhaps we’d start up again, if ownership changed and any of us were still alive.

But Saudi Arabia? Owned – don’t kid yourself – by the country itself? A place where I, as a gay man, would be tortured or killed for who I am?

I don’t begrudge true Geordies their club. They didn’t ask for this ownership. For native fans to abandon NUFC over this would be tantamount to letting Saudi Arabia rip out the heart of the city. I hope the club soars to the top and the lifelong dreams of the native fans are finally realized, as the hypocrites from all the other rich clubs howl. Let’s face it. This is what soccer has become. It’s finance banking in shorts. The sport is awash in money tainted more ways than a person could count.

Not being a native-born Geordie, however, I can pick any other soccer club. Or none. My house lies five minutes from the arena of the best pro basketball team in the world, and I have season tickets. My state is home to the most legendary American football club, and I’m a part-owner. I don’t need Newcastle United.

Funny, then, that I’ve spent time each morning since the takeover reading every word I can find about it. I’ve followed this fiction-esque reversal of fortune as closely as any NUFC development since we began writing about the club. Hating myself for it. And doing it anyway.

At this point I could paste in a number of plausible rationalizations. I could talk about how Saudi money is everywhere in the life of everyone on the planet. I could talk about how the Saudi investment fund improves the lives of millions of Saudi people who are not that different from you or me, who support human rights, who detest torture and murder. I could talk about how a country is not the same as its government, and how Saudi Arabia is an important ally of the United States and England alike, in a complicated world.

The simple fact is, Newcastle United is in my heart, and I can’t get it out of there. My moral indignation is not as strong as the affinity I feel for this club and its city. I’m just not that righteous or noble or good.

I can’t speak for the others who have written on this blog. For myself, I’ll keep supporting NUFC. And use this platform, as events dictate, to hold the club accountable for not becoming a weapon against basic human rights. It’s up to Newcastle United’s football management – and its fans – to be at the forefront against racism, homophobia and all types of human persecution. Otherwise we are complicit with the extremists of the government of the country that is ultimately the owner of our club.

With that, howay. Let the new era begin.

Why Are Manchester United Judged Differently To Newcastle United?

GhostfaceKillah — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 13:17:28 GMT

So this debacle at Man Utd, the uproar around a team that looks devoid of direction, a team looking like they haven’t been coached.

Ex-professionals like Graham Souness saying that at the very least Ole Solskjær needs to bring in some new coaches as whatever they are doing isn’t working.

Jamie Carragher saying Ole isn’t the man for the job. This is a team that would have gone 4th with a win against Liverpool.

Meanwhile, there’s Newcastle United – 7 wins in 39 games in all competitions under Steve Bruce, a team that hasn’t won all season long, second bottom of the league, and we are told the manager is doing a GREAT job apparently, and how stupid and unrealistic we are as supporters for wanting a change.

Okay, so it isn’t lost on me that the Man Utd squad is on a different planet to ours, and these critics who have targetted us could easily turn around and say if Bruce was performing the same way with a better group of players, they would be saying the same things as they are now… but that’s just it, they wouldn’t, because whilst our squad is in woeful need of improvement, it is also in woeful need of coaching.

Witness Gary Neville, bleating on about how he just wants to turn up to Old Trafford to watch a team with a plan, as they don’t seem to know what they are doing right now.

How is that different to what Newcastle United fans wanted?

When you are conceding shots, chances and goals for fun, how about you coach the team to be more defensive, train every day of the week and actually coach the players?

Graeme Jones said it after the Palace game. He acknowledged that the attacking display wasn’t good enough, but he needed to focus on being more organised defensively.

This is no different to what Rafa did. He knew the limitations of the squad, so he coached them to play a certain way, to be organised at the back, and then break forward when there was a chance.

Only an idiot would open up a game with our midfield. This is a team that knew what it could do under Rafa, and instead of Rafa being applauded for it, the mainstream media, not to mention certain quarters of our own fans, called him negative and boring.

There is one stat that is easily missed when comparing Bruce and Rafa points tallies. Rafa’s Newcastle conceded 25 fewer goals in that period of comparison, despite only scoring 3 less goals, and not having the likes of Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson to single handedly win a game.

Steve Bruce said in his recent Daily Telegraph interview that when he won he was called lucky… Steve, that’s because you were lucky most of the time!

In some of those games Allan Saint-Maximin would take on 3 or 4 players and slot the ball home. This wasn’t your coaching, this was a maverick playing off the cuff. We rarely deserved to win a game, I am not saying it didn’t happen, Leicester away for example, but these games were in the minority, the rest were fluked by the brilliance of mainly one player, Allan Saint-Maximin.

I know I should let sleeping dogs lie, but I just couldn’t help but listen to the comments after the Man Utd v Liverpool game, and wonder why Man Utd are judged differently to Newcastle United. It’s all comparable, Man Utd should be challenging for the title with that squad, just as we should be 12th/13th with ours, and neither club is close to their respective target and both need/needed a new manager.

Steve Bruce flukeing results was never going to continue, Rafa coached our players to reach mid-table, without any star players, and anyone who sits there and compares Bruce’s record to Rafa’s, without acknowledging how both managers reached the same target, should quite simply shut-up and concentrate on something they know and understand. One would work year in and year out, reliant on training, coaching and organisation, and the other worked when ASM and Wilson were fit.

It’s just over to Graeme Jones in the short term to try and redo what Bruce has spent 2 years trying, and succeeding, to undo.

What do you think? As ever, we would welcome your comments, opinions and views below.

You can also join the discussion at the UTD111 Forum!

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Steve Bruce SACKED?!

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 15:01:00 GMT

Steve Bruce may be sacked any time now.

Sky Sports presenter Pete Graves sent out a tweet of two eyes that was quickly deleted.

Looks like Bruce has been sacked. Also just heard the same in the last few minutes
Looks like Bruce has been sacked. Also just heard the same in the last few minutes #NUFC https://t.co/smBP2hSFcz
— Kev Lawson (@Edit_Kev) October 19, 2021

pic.twitter.com/ZZ7rGo0T1q
— Dayvee Gee (@DavidJG00615083) October 19, 2021

pic.twitter.com/ivflOxWGs9
— Dayvee Gee (@DavidJG00615083) October 19, 2021
Rumours are now widespread that the club have sacked Bruce.

Watch this space! It could finally be happening!

Steve Bruce has gone AWOL: Sack him now!

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 14:51:00 GMT

It's Tuesday afternoon, two days after being beaten and somewhat humiliated by Spurs live on Sky Sports with a very comfortable 3-2 win over Steve Bruce's boys and Bruce with his players are no where to be seen.

They haven't refused access for reporters and fans to enter the training ground or anything, no, no...the team aren't there. They're not training today. They are on a second back to back day off after a match. It beggars belief.

I can not believe what I am seeing here. Just think about it, you've not won a game all season. Your team are unfit. Your team are unorganised. And you spend not one but TWO days sitting on your arse watching Homes under the Hammer? I'm fuming.

The players have been given another day off, so no training again today #NUFC
— NUFC360 (@NUFC360) October 19, 2021

The reason this is so enraging is this isn't a one off. Steve Bruce's team have more days off than the Queen. This was a factor when Ashley was here and it has continued into this new regime.

Where is the blokes pride of work? Where is his logic here? The man is an absolute fraud. A lazy one. You would think he would be putting in the extra hours to impress HIS new employers to give him a good crack at this job wouldn't you? Isn't that what he wants?

🗣️ "I'll have a crack, I'll give it a go."

Steve Bruce addresses the media for the first time since the #NUFC takeover. pic.twitter.com/h0PnKyUIWl
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) October 15, 2021

If this is his best effort in a) impressing his new employers he is the man for the job and b) turning around the team's fortunes than the man isn't fit for purpose. But tbh, we already know that. We already know he should be nowhere near the job...and in his own way he is obliging! Where are you??

To be even more cynical is to suggest he is purposely acting this way, by that I mean downing tools, as he wants to be sacked. He is practically begging for it. Openly goading the owners to push the button and give him is £8m pay off. This is the level of the man.

Newcastle takeover 7/10/21
8/10 - day off
9/10 - day off
10/10 - day off
11/10 - training
12/10 - training
13/10 - day off
14/10 - training
15/10 - training
16/10 - day off
17/10 - game
18/10 - day off
19/10 - day off

😡😡😡 what the fuck? 7 days off in 11 days! @NUFC
— Samuel Brown (@sammyb9999ipad1) October 19, 2021

As professional as a teenager forced to do community service. Bunking off whenever he can. Doing the bare minimum. Yet crying like a little bitch whenever he gets the opportunity. The man is clown. 1000 game fraud.

How he is still in the job I have no idea. I don't know what the new owners are waiting for. The rumour is Staveley and Reuben wanted to sack him last week before the Spurs game but didn't recieve the ok from majority owner PIF.

Well, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, our new chairman, was here on Sunday. Literally in the room so why was the decision not given the ok on Sunday night? The whole stadium was calling for "Bruce Out!" so why is he still here 48 hours later? I'm baffled.

Newcastle's new chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and owner Amanda Staveley receive a massive reception from the fans ⚪️ ⚫️ pic.twitter.com/6WKFUumi1j
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 17, 2021

Sack him. Pay him off and let Graeme Jones take the team for this weekend. He will work the players all week long and give him the best chance of a result as we desperately need it.

Bruce is dead man walking and he knows it. Having two days off training directly after a match that you lost is a total piss take when you haven't won a match all season. He wants to be sacked? Do it. Get rid. He is lingering around like a really bad smell.

Honestly, I am fuming. The team continues to suffer with a lack of fitness (they are knackered in EVERY match) and plan to actually win a game. All because this waste of space is too lazy and selfish to do his job. Get out.

Newcastle Takeover Fallout: You're asking the wrong crowd, mate

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 16:46:00 GMT

I've seen lots of articles from the sporting and none sporting media, as well as comments flood in from fans of other clubs slating this NUFC takeover and venting directly at Newcastle fans.

Must say, this is all a bit strange. For the record.
We don't like beheadings. We don't accept flogging. We don't approve of stoning people. We don't celebrate journalists being chopped up. We don't laugh at any kind of atrocity.
So why are you telling us about them like we do?

Our football club first and foremost has been relieved of Mike Ashley. Party time. Big party.

Today we've turned down the 30+ media requests. We said our piece yesterday and got the message out there standing up for #nufc fans in local, national and international media.

We are United. #NUFC pic.twitter.com/nljwMuczkd
— Greg Tomlinson (@GregNUST) October 8, 2021

The football club has been chased by Amanda Staveley for 4 years and she chose the PIF as her big backer.
She, for what it's worth, doesn't like or approve of any atrocities either.

This is a business and she has put together a business deal that the PL have (finally) accepted. A legal agreement is in place that shows seperation from the KSA and we crack on.

📸 Amanda Staveley and @ghodoussi get to work as they met with #NUFC staff at St. James' Park earlier today.

⚫️⚪️ pic.twitter.com/BPU76o417P
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) October 8, 2021

You may think that seperation between PIF and KSA is bogus. You may think lots of things. But to judge, ask questions of or blatantly decide you now dislike Newcastle and its fans is just a bit weird.

The easiest thing to counter is to offer you're a bit jealous and salty about it. But let's say you're not. Your anger needs to be directed at the following:

The Premier League, Amanda Staveley and Mike Ashley.

They are the ones who have made this business transaction happen. No one else. Not Newcastle fans.

Don't get me wrong. Some will be sportwashed beyond help and will embarrass the club somewhat (already seeing it before this deal landed). Nothing the rest of us can do unfortunately. Just have to stomach it.

'Newcastle can hope for top four, but realistically all the loss of their soul has bought them is a chance at the Europa league and the scorn of all other fans everywhere.' #Mailbox #NUFC https://t.co/wC3ecuhqfd
— Football365 (@F365) October 9, 2021

But to see some of the things being thrown at all NUFC fans is pretty ridiculous.
PIF have invested in many companies across the globe. Having a go at Newcastle fans, judging them & asking them about the KSA makes as much sense as:

Dragging a passenger out of an Uber and asking how he feels about KSA human rights record.
Going through an airport and demanding what people waiting for their Boeing 747 plane to arrive are doing and asking them about KSA public flogging.
Stopping Barbara from sipping on her Starbucks and demanding she tell you her feelings on KSA attitude towards women.

Nobody would because that's a bit mental. PIF have bought into those and many other companies and yet here we are (it will likely fade) seeing NUFC supporters getting this treatment. Pretty bizarre if you take a step back and think about it.

By all means ask us about player recruitment being funded by oil money if you like. That has more relevance. But the murder of a journalist? You're asking the wrong crowd, mate.

(Some of PIF's investments as of March 2020)

It's also a clear case of picking and choosing. Not one single person in the media asked Newcastle fans what they thought of Mike Ashley's Victorian working conditions at the Sports Direct HQ and staff having to give birth in the toilets.

No radio presenter on BBC radio 4, or TalkSport for that matter, got Kevin from Gosforth opinion on that, because it had nowt to do with NUFC. It was Ashley and his issues. We were associated with him but in a completely separate entity.

You cant pick and choose which outside events are to be used to beat football fans with. Football things for football fans.
Footballers taking the knee? Yea fair. Politicians attacking PL players wages? Maybe. Middle East Country treatment of its people? What?

Ask the PL if you like. They may tell you PIF and KSA are separate. Well, they definitely will. If you wanna judge that badly, go ahead.
But do us a favour. Don't be judging a bunch of football club supporters. It's all a bit weird.

Enjoy your next Boeing flight, Facebook update and Disney movie. Genuinely, guilt free. What the KSA do has nowt to do with you enjoying those things. Also, enjoy the Newcastle game.

Ashley has gone and almost have to pinch myself. I’m excited for my beloved Newcastle United but also understand the worries about human rights.

My column on #NUFCtakeover for @TheAthleticUK https://t.co/hQjac5jyqC
— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) October 8, 2021

NUFC Takeover: Let The Good Times Roll!

Marcelimpo — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 12:25:22 GMT

Like loads of other United fans, I switched off from the outside world on Thursday and sat all day glued to Sky Sports News waiting for updates on the potential takeover of Newcastle United by Amanda Staveley’s consortium.

Also like other fans after four long years of Wor Mandy’s fight to take over and so many past setbacks and let-downs in this particular story I was hoping and praying that this time it would be different. This time it would be good news. This time, just for once fate would smile on Newcastle United – the club I have loved for decades. The club I have stuck to through thin and thin all these years.

I sat there watching the updates come and go, pretty much repeating each tantalising detail they had already announced 10 times before – but enjoying the repeats. Words like “it looks like a takeover of Newcastle United by the consortium headed up by Amanda Staveley could be back on”

The words of Sir Kevin Keegan rattled around my head “I would love it, just love it………”

Things looked promising. The news came through that a broadcasting piracy dispute between Saudi Arabia and Bein Sports in Qatar – seen as one of the major stumbling blocks to a deal – had been settled. This was important, as it had been billed as one of the main stumbling blocks to the consortium passing the Premier League “Owners & Directors” test. So that obstacle had apparently been removed.

As the day progressed the updates seemed to get more and more optimistic – or was it just my imagination?

Eventually, the update that mattered came through.

4.50PM Thursday 7th October 2021 “Our understanding is that shares from St James’ Park Holdings (Mike Ashley’s Company) have been transferred to Amanda Staveley Consortium”

And the rest, as they say, is history!

Cue massive celebrations amongst United fans as thousands headed for the cathedral on the hill for a party.

Mike Ashley had gone. 14 wasted years had finally come to an end. 14 years of the club being run like a sports shop with costs and expenditure cut to the bone. 14 years of a plan that was just about surviving in the Premier League and nothing else. 14 years of no ambition, no hope, no communication, nothing, just pain, frustration and anger.

It’s only two days later – yet already we can see how different life is going to be under the new owners. Amanda Staveley seems to have been everywhere, meeting fans, talking to the media and communicating more in just two days than the previous regime did in 14 years.

The atmosphere amongst fans is electric. Words like hope and optimism are being freely used and there are big big smiles on every face I see.

And that’s before we even talk about the money. Newcastle United have just become the richest football club on the planet due to the power of the Saudi PIF who now own 80% of the club.

There are plans to invest in upgraded training facilities, the academy system and of course in player aquisition. There will also be a fully professional women’s team to compete at the very top.

Amanda Staveley, Chief Executive Officer of PCP Capital Partners, told the Newcastle club website: “This is a long-term investment. We are excited about the future prospects for Newcastle United.

“We intend to instill a united philosophy across the Club, establish a clear purpose, and help provide leadership that will allow Newcastle United to go on to big achievements over the long term.

“Our ambition is aligned with the fans – to create a consistently successful team that’s regularly competing for major trophies and generates pride across the globe.”

I’m going to leave the final word to Ghostfacekillah, a regular contributor to the United forum, who always hits the nail on the heed in his thoughts – and in my view her’s done it again!

I know every fan of every club is entitled to want success, and I don’t doubt this sounds arrogant, especially when you look at what Leeds, Shieffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest etc have been through, but we deserve this, we have been absolutely peed on from a monumental height for years. Just sat in limbo, ultimately knowing a 3rd relegation is around the corner, and likely this season but for what has happened in the last 24 hours.

I am over the moon. I will enjoy laughing at us being linked with stupid managers and stupid players, I want some silliness back, some enjoyment. I want the talking point to be X player isn’t worth 80 million, where are we going to play Y player who we got for 90 million. For years I didn’t want to be another Man City, but then you look at what we have endured over the last 14 years and we are due a bit of a bender. This is like the ultimate holiday for all of us where we can go silly, it’s a one way ticket currently, with no return flight booked, and unlimited spends.

Even with a sensible spin on this, just to be genuinely interested in who owns the club, how they will develop the ground, the training ground, extra facilities for the city. Man City get a lot of grief, but you can not dispute what they have done to try and improve a pretty down trodden area of Manchester, and I hope the same happens for Newcastle.

We have our club back, this is amazing, enjoy it everyone, we have stuck this out, watched games more through a feeling of responsibility than for enjoyment, and this is our time to have some fun!

What do you think? As ever, we would welcome your comments, opinions and views below.

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“A Hollow And Empty Football Club” Alan Shearer’s Verdict On United

MickG — Sun, 12 Sep 2021 13:15:37 GMT

Worried

Well, United’s game against Man U yesterday came and went.

The result was pretty much what most United fans had feared, but the 4-1 scoreline flattered Man U, mainly down to the untypical mistakes of our 3rd choice goalie Freddie Woodman.

Our overall performance – in the first half in particular – was probably better than we expected. The midfield worked well as a unit with Almiron tirelessly covering every blade of grass and Longstaff getting back to his best showing why he has to be a better choice than Shelvey even when Shelvey is fit again.

Willock is beginning to show once more what he’s capable of and why we brought him back.

Smokin’ Joe Linton just ambled around as usual as if tomorrow would do, vainly trying to get attention by falling over from time to time. As ever he had pretty much zero impact on the game.

Steve Bruce tinkered with the centre of defence again – Fernández and Schär dropped, and in came Clark and Hayden to make up the three with Lascelles.

Manquillo was restored at full back and as expected provided some solid defending there, although the trade off for this change is that we lose the forward running and crossing capabilities of Murphy. Not a criticism of Manquillo though, who played well and scored a cracking goal after great counter-attack running by Almiron and being fed through by St Maximin.

Hayden isn’t a centre half, and given his defensive midfield capabilities, he’s a bit wasted there. It would have been good if the media had asked Steve Bruce his thinking on playing Hayden and putting recognised centre backs on the bench – but if they did I missed it.

Allan St Maximin was a lone figure up front trying his best to feed on the odd scraps that came his way.

Whilst there were positive signs of life from United, and we were up against the ridiculous media circus and hype surrounding that veteran portuguese bloke who’s name escapes me, it is nevertheless pretty clear that we are in for another season of attrition as we face what is becoming our annual battle against relegation.

Somehow the battle feels harder this season – given that every other team in the Premier League has strengthened their squad and we haven’t.

Add to that the increasing pressure on Head Coach Steve Bruce who has masterminded 1 point from 4 Premier League games as well as a cup exit, added to the restlessness of the fans who are openly chanting for his sacking – and we have the makings of a “perfect storm” around our beloved club.

Last season, of course, grounds were empty and there were no crowds giving vent to their feelings when things weren’t going well. Criticism of the Head Coach was therefore confined largely to social media and could be dismissed in interviews as a “small minority”.

This season, the crowds are back – and towards the end of the match Steve Bruce was subjected to some chanting against him from some of the Toon fans in the away end in front of his adoring mancs.

Bruce has always claimed to be thick skinned, but is lately showing a distinct inability to accept and respond to criticism. This was unfortunately demonstrated again when he appeared to lash out at reporters in his post-match press conference:

Sir Alan Shearer (geordie knight), speaking on BBC Match of the Day was scathing in his criticism of the way the club is being run:

“I hate what my club is or has become. It’s been a long time now, it’s a hollow and an empty football club – there’s no hope or ambition and I’m pretty sick of it to be honest. It’s copy-paste-repeat every season”

“they give players who have been at the football club new contracts because they can’t sell them on, then they have an excuse that they can’t bring other players into the football club because those players are being paid a salary”

“It’s cheaper to keep them on the books rather than buying other players. The fans deserve better. Every manager has the same problems – as I said, it’s copy-paste-repeat every season”

The gloom has definitely descended on our club given the disappointing summer transfer window and recent unfortunate events and results. Losing in our next game against Leeds United is unthinkable, but if it happens, it could quickly bring things to a head.

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Newcastle United v West Ham United Reaction

MickG — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 13:06:37 GMT

Well, yesterday saw United play West Ham in our first game of the 21/22 season.

The return of the crowds to football which somehow is allowed under the Eton Mess’s strange and illogical “road map” meant that United fans could once again fill St James’ Park to watch the Toon.

And a crowd of 50,673 duly turned up to witness the unfolding events.

As usual, opinions vary amongst our fans about how this season will go and where we will finish up in the EPL table this season.

Judging by the comments I’ve seen on social media most fans seem to think we’re in for another relegation battle, with our cause not being helped by the continuing takeover saga and our open warfare with the allegedly corrupt English Premier League, the continued lack of investment by our clearly disinterested billionaire owner who says he just wants to sell and get out and also the continued presence of Steve Bruce in the manager’s chair.

Personally, I have to say that when the team sheet was published at 1pm I found myself wondering what Bruce was playing at with his defence selection.

Against a background where everybody knows (well, everybody but Bruce knows, apparently) that West Ham bombard the opponent’s defence with crosses and get most of their success that way, Bruce left on the bench the best, most effective player we have for dealing with crosses – Jamaal Lascelles. Instead, he stuck Krafth, a full back who is still trying to be a full back, in there.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only United fan thinking WTF??

You don’t have to have a very long memory to remember when Rafa Benitez and his coaching team used to spend hour after hour drilling a group of average defenders into a well oiled machine, capable of going to places like Man City, frustrating the hell out of them and coming away with a hard earned draw.

We had a solid, effective defence.

Those days are clearly long gone and have been replaced by a different training regime with – if you believe the rumours – apparently more days off!

We can only hope that there are NO days off this week after the crappy capitulation we saw yesterday, and West Ham scoring four times – albeit one of which was a penalty which wasn’t a penalty.

But it wasn’t just the defence was it? West Ham dominated far too much of this game as we were outplayed in too many areas of the pitch. Is Bruce’s approach (let’s not call it tactics as apparently he doesn’t do tactics) really to let the opponent have the ball and hit them on the counter when we get it? Or do the players we have mean that we don’t have a team capable of winning the ball and keeping it?

Are we really relying heavily on Wilson’s goals and the odd flash of brilliance from Allan St Maximin? What happens when those two are injured – as they often are?

These are serious questions which are obvious even after what was just the first game of the season. If answers aren’t found quickly, it’s going to be a long hard winter in a season which could fall apart very quickly.

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A Day In The Life Of A Newcastle United Fan/Protester

Geordie1 — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 12:21:13 GMT

3.00am Alarm goes off I think to myself should I just turn over and have an extra half hour?

No, I get up and put the Coffee on as my taxi is booked for 4.20am to take me to St James Park for the bus pick up at 5am.

Anyway after a gruelling coach journey of 6hrs 15mins we arrived in London, Parliament Square and met up with others who had travelled down independently. Then at 1.00pm, we unfurled all the flags and banners with a number of media outlets there recording what was going on.

This is where I discover that I should have practiced with my phone to take photos and videos etc as I could not get the damn thing to work! – so I will upload the best YouTube video instead sorry folks.

After our hour and a half long demonstration in Parliament Square, we all go for some refreshment and the only pub nearby was The Red Lion, not far from No10 Downing Street. However there was hardly any room because of Covid. I managed to sweet talk a lass who let me jump in her seat so after paying £6 a pint(!) four pints later we head off to 10 Downing Street with banners, flags, TOON shirts and a petition to hand over for the attention of Bojo.

At first the police would not take the petition to Number 10 as we were only authorised to be at the gate but after a few songs of TOON ARMY you work/for with us an officer agreed to take in the letter.

Now it’s off to the Premier League!

We got the Tube to Paddington station and walked to the PL headquarters. Well they must have been told we were on our way because police sirens were going off all over the place and when we arrived there were three riot vans waiting with a line of cops around the Premier League building.

We tried to hand in our petition for transparency only for the coppers to stop us getting into the building. However after a little persuasion a copper took the letter into the reception area to hand in.

No sign of Masters and cohorts to be seen however we had created a lot of attention from the posh apartments opposite the PL building and one of the residents came on to his balcony and took one of the banners and draped it on his balcony railings for which he got a loud vote of approval from the Geordies below.

5.00pm pick up time back at Parliament Square. London rush hour on a Friday is not recommended it took nearly an hour just to get to the outskirts never mind the M1 motorway.

Anyway, we arrived back at St James’ Park at 12.30am and after walking for 6 miles around London I can honestly say that I was knackered.

Would I do it again? without a doubt but maybe I’d go by train next time!

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Are Newcastle United Safe Yet? No We Are Not!

MickG — Mon, 03 May 2021 13:05:52 GMT

Are we safe yet?

That’s the question most United fans are concerned about. Have we done enough to stay in the Premier League so that we can spend another dreary, wasted season under the clueless Ashley and Bruce?

Well, before the Arsenal result yesterday, I reckon most of us were quite confident. We’d had a mini-run of better results and had hauled ourselves 9 points clear of 3rd bottom Fulham. And this belief was reinforced when, as expected, Fulham lost to Chelsea.

That mini-run of results had almost convinced us that United were beginning to play well now that our “big” players (as Bruce calls them) were back. All we had to do was beat Arsenal and that would be it – safe for another season.

But as we now know, beating Arsenal didn’t happen. Because of Arsenal’s impending cup match this coming week, they even tried to help us by fielding a weakened side. Yet, as anyone who saw the game knows, it was too easy for Arsenal. They stroked the ball around, scored two goals and made us look like a 3rd division outfit.

There was no pace, no effort from the United players and they looked clueless when given the odd chance to go forward. The team looked like they already had their flip-flops on and were thinking about their summer holidays.

It didn’t help hearing Bruce telling a TV interviewer how difficult it always is against these “big” teams. If he’s saying the same things in the dressing room, no wonder his players were beaten before they even ran onto the pitch.

You know, there have been discussions this season that some teams are missing having a crowd in the ground more than others. I think that’s true. And if 50,000-odd geordies had been at St James’ Park yesterday I doubt if our team would have been allowed to get away with that display. They would have been given a kick up the posterior in no uncertain terms – something our hapless manager seems incapable of doing.

Anyway, back to the question – are we safe yet?

Mathematically no we are not. Fulham are 9 points behind us with 12 points to play for. If they win their last 4 games, a tall order, I agree, they would reach 39 points and have a better goal difference.

it would then all depend on whether we can get any more points this season – we would need 4 points to be safe.

So where would those 4 points come from?

We have 4 games left – Leicester City, Manchester City, Sheffield United and Fulham.

If we play like we did against Arsenal, we can forget about getting anything from Leicester or Manchester City.

Sheffield United are down already and playing for fun – and I’m sure nobody needs reminding that they already beat us this season – at the time ending their run of 20 games without a win! So no guarantee of any points here.

Which would leave Fulham. From what I’ve seen on social media, a lot of United fans think it will all come down to this last game – and quite a few think Fulham would beat us and send us down.

So, how likely are Fulham to win their remaining 4 games? Bearing in mind, this is a team that have only won 5 games all season!

Their 4 games are: Burnley, Southampton, Manchester United and Newcastle United.

Well, Burnley, Southampton and us are all “winnable” games. And even Manchester United is a possible, given that by the time Fulham play them, Manchester City will have probably been declared title winners and the Man Utd players will have their flip-flops on dreaming of a sunny beach somewhere.

So are we safe?

Well we are certainly in a stronger position than Fulham – we’ve got the 9 points in the bag, whereas they’ve got it all to do if they are going to catch us.

But my gut feeling at the moment is – until the fat lady sings, this isn’t over by a long way.

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Newcastle United Supporters Trust Announce Major Opportunity For United Fans

MickG — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 13:40:20 GMT

Thursday 8th April 2021 could one day prove to be a major milestone in the history of Newcastle United, and in particular the club’s magnificent but long-suffering fans.

It is the day on which the Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) announced a significant initiative – the 1892 Pledge inviting fans to band together to build up over time a fund which would be used to buy a stake in the club should Mike Ashley eventually sell to a new owner.

Worth noting that this is not about raising enough money to buy the club outright. The current selling price, as quoted to the Amanda Staveley Consortium is £300M which is way out of range as a sum fans could raise. However if for example we raised £3M, which is considered feasible over time, this could allow the fans to buy a 1% stake.

Having looked at the detail of the initiative, it is quite obvious from the sheer professionalism of the presentation that a lot of thought and hard work has gone into its development.

Many of the questions which might otherwise be forthcoming from fans are largely already addressed by the management arrangements which have been put in place.

For example, how and where will the money contributed be held and managed, and who would be responsible for it? – this is covered by the appointment of four “Guardians” separate from the NUST Board and these are well known, trusted individuals such as ex-United full back Warren Barton (centre partin’), well-known Journalist George Caulkin, Ian Mearns MP for Gateshead and Lee Humble, a chartered accountant who brings the necessary financial know-how to the table.

The 1892 Pledge Scheme won’t deliver instant results and is accepted by NUST as obviously long-term. However as the ancient chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” In other words however difficult a task is, you can only complete it if you first start it.

The concept of fans being involved in the club in this way has been talked about for a number of years and now NUST have taken the initiative and the first step of the journey has been made.

Now it’s up to Newcastle United supporters to decide whether they want to take part and back this scheme.

Well done to the lads and lasses at NUST for all the hard work they have put in to give us this opportunity.

The press release which introduces the 1892 Pledge is set out below:

Supporters of Newcastle United are launching a bid to buy part of their club.

Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) is spearheading the drive to take a stake in the future of Newcastle United Football Club.

The Trust, which has more than 14,000 members, is asking United supporters to pledge small amounts of money for a fund that aims to buy part of the club when it is sold by the current owner, Mike Ashley.

The 1892 Pledge – named after the year Newcastle United was formed – has been three years in the planning and has already attracted support from the worlds of football, politics and the media.

Through the 1892 Pledge, NUST aims to build a pot of money that can either give supporters a small share of the club if it is sold while in the Premier League or see fans ready to step in to help save the club in the event of relegation and the financial consequences that could see a change of ownership.

Greg Tomlinson, Chair of the Newcastle United Supporters Trust said: “For decades, fans have been told they are the lifeblood of the club, but when major decisions are made, they are always left out.

“It is an unfortunate fact that in football, as in life, money talks. Therefore, we feel that if we as fans really want to be an active part of conversations that will dictate the future of Newcastle United, we have to put our money where our mouth is.

“Raising funds will give us the financial backing to make our voices properly heard as and when the club is eventually sold.”

Alex Hurst, Trust board member and the driving force behind the 1892 Pledge, said:

“The 1892 Pledge could mean we, as fans, can invest in our club, that could be in the form of a percentage stake in NUFC if it is sold whilst in the Premier League or, if things take a turn for the worse and the club’s fortunes sink further, we would be there standing ready to provide investment and potentially be part of a buying consortium.

“Supporters must have a say in what happens to NUFC and we believe this campaign will give us a real voice in the running of the club – not just now but for years and decades into the future.”

Fans are being asked to pay in what they can, when they can to fund the 1892 Pledge.

Supporters are encouraged to set up direct debit payments through a dedicated website – www.1892pledge.co.uk – which will display the total amount raised by fans on a daily basis.

Alex explained: “It is important to stress we are not asking fans to part with their life savings or cash in their pension pots – this is not what Pledge 1892 is about.

“Instead, it’s about making small, regular donations of a few pounds a month (or more if people can spare it!) which will build up a fund over time.

“It’s also about bringing NUFC supporters together in a common goal, not just fans in the North East and the UK but all over the world.

“We believe there is nothing that fans of this club can’t achieve when we are truly united and this is a chance for us to prove it.”

The Trust has appointed four ‘Guardians’ to safeguard the money raised and ensure it can only be used for one of two purposes.

The first purpose is to buy shares in Newcastle United FC.

The second is that if NUST fails in its attempt to buy a part of the club when it is sold because they have failed to raise the funds or a new owner did not want to sell a part of the club to supporters then all of the money would be donated to charities based in the North East of England.

The Guardians of the fund are:

• Warren Barton, former NUFC and England defender

• Ian Mearns, MP for Gateshead

• George Caulkin, North East football reporter for The Athletic

• Lee Humble, chartered accountant.

Alex Hurst said: “All four of our Guardians are passionate about Newcastle United and its supporters.

“They believe, as we do, that the future success and viability of the club depends on the fans – even more so with the financial problems brought about by the pandemic.

“Before Covid-19 hit, some people were confident that Premier League clubs could essentially survive on TV money, but that has been blown out of the water over the past 12 months.

“The financial situation faced by clubs across the league, not just NUFC, demonstrates just what a vital role fans play.

“We already have power and financial clout. Imagine what we could do with a proper stake in the club.”

In return for the fans’ financial backing, NUST would like new owners to allow the Trust to work within the club, either through an executive board position or another role which can allow the Trust, its members and the supporters of Newcastle United to influence the club and its future direction.

Alex said: “There is a huge and ever-growing disconnect between the people who run Newcastle United and the people who support the club.

“This is not just confined to the question of who manages the team – recent polls in the Chronicle and The Athletic have flagged up the intense disaffection which fans have with the entire running of the club.

“This situation is unhealthy and unsustainable. We believe the 1892 Pledge is the first step towards writing a better future for Newcastle United.

“This is an ambitious project designed to begin the hard work of protecting the club for the next generation of Newcastle United fans.”

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Newcastle fans have finally LOST THEIR MINDS with this latest stunt!

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 15:25:00 GMT

So, the Saudis have pulled out of the takeover deal. Some say it's a stunt or a tactic, if so, they didn't tell Amanda Staveley who was in tears on the phone to one of our top NUFC dedicated journalists.

Chances are any talk of it being a stunt is misguided, as the fact is they weren't getting anywhere with the Premier League, they never felt wanted, so they pulled out. Lots of fans have reacted with outrage and shock and have attacked the Premier League verbally over this takeover failure but have they actually asked properly why it failed?

"The Premier are corrupt!" some scream. They got the hashtag #PremierLeagueIsCorrupt trending on Twitter and many were lapping it up. Someone showed a picture of that hashtag tattoed on themselves. If true, they are a mental case.

I agree with Newcastle fans #PremierLeagueIsCorrupt
— kieron macdonald (@kieronmacdonal4) August 2, 2020

But they don't quite go as far as that fruitcake who was filming himself down at the PL HQ offices badgering PL receptionists and staff, asking if Richard Masters was at home. Embarrassing. The look on the receptionists face who was polite enough to give him the light of day said it all, cringeworthy.

He promised to keep going back with updates but as I write this, he has already given up. So 24 hours that campaign lasted for and comments of support he was getting on Twitter was skin crawling. "You are doing a great job" some would say. Doing what? Making up stories?

According to this clown, Richard Masters sneaked away from the building under heavy guard using a back entrance so he didn't have to face him. None of this on camera of course, just in his mind. Who is he stalking? The President of the United States.

I would say give it a rest pal but it seems he already has. His latest post said he isn't going to PL today (he has only been once!) and instead he is going around London trying to find "famous people" he can film and I assume ask awkward questions to? Who the hell knows. Crack pot.

Here we go again. pic.twitter.com/c9zuQgG9rY
— Tyler (@HaddawayMan) August 4, 2020

Going back to the question of have the fans actually asked why the Saudis have got nowhere with the PL and why are they pulling out? Are they actually interested in the reality of the situation or are they more interested in petitions and hashtags?

Oh, very quickly, that petition has managed to gain almost 100k signatures which is some going but has anyone actually read it? I laughed out loud when in the opening paragraph states the petition is 'requesting a government investigation into why the takeover failed.'

A government investigation? Are you being serious? By whom? Boris himself? Jacob Rees-Mogg? Theresa May isn't as busy these days. You've lost your minds. Tyneside has finally snapped. Or was it always off it's head and this is just exposing it?

If you wanna know why the Saudis haven't got anywhere with the PL and have pulled out, then I will tell you. It's pretty straight forward to be honest. You see, the Saudi state have been stealing the PL product for years and the PL know it. The WTO confirmed it to the world with their report.

...& this is PL boss Richard Masters to MPs last month: “What the PL wants to do off the back of the WTO report & our own efforts & the efforts of other sports is for Saudi Arabia to respond positively to the situation & to allow sports rights holders to protect their rights.”
— Matt Slater (@mjshrimper) July 31, 2020

So, the PL don't like that. In fact, they hate it. They hate it beyond anything else. You may be able to get away with murdering a reporter in your own Embassy but steal PL rights and give them away for free? No, no. The PL won't stand for that carry on, at all.

With this the PL played a blinder. You see what they will do is use their own owners and directors test how they see fit. So what they did is they asked PIF to provide a member of the Saudi state to sit on the board of directors at NUFC so they would be O&D tested.

Once tested they would fail on two counts. 1) they have been shown to be stealing PL rights based on the respectable WTO report. Fail. 2) they have been strongly accused of murder by Amnesty International and many others. Fail.

Part two of the plan is to put the issue back into PIF hands. They either comply and fail the test or refuse and eventually walk away. Part two has happened and PL are well happy as they haven't needed to make a decision. Jobs and good un.

BREAKING: The Saudi-backed consortium led by Amanda Staveley has formally withdrawn it’s bid to buy Newcastle United. They say the amount of time the takeover has taken, coupled by global uncertainty, has forced them to pull out of the deal #NUFCTakeover
— Keith Downie (@SkySports_Keith) July 30, 2020

Now, you may not like that as a NUFC fan but put yourselves, if you can, in the PL point of view. A country has been stealing your product from one of your major partners and giving it away for free. How would you feel about this country or more specifically, this state, this Kingdom? Would you like them?

Would you welcome them with open arms if they wanted to buy into one of your members and join the exclusive 20 party membership that is the Premier League? The answer is no, you wouldn't. To pretend otherwise is disingenuous.

Have the Premier League made it very difficult for the Saudis to buy in? Yes. Impossible? No, I wouldn't say so. Money can still talk and if PIF wanted in, then they would have to make the PL an offer they simply couldn't refuse. What that is I couldn't say but they haven't made such offer and the deal is off.

As for us fans, we need to move on. Signing petitions and creating hashtags may feel like it's constructive but it isn't. You may feel like going down to PL HQ and annoying receptionists is fun but it won't help our cause. In fact, I would say it will harm it.

If PCP and Amanda Staveley believe in their project and the club then they need to come up with a new plan. A new major backer. My initial thoughts are can PCP convince the Reuben Bros to go all in and own the club themselves, well 90%, and take it from there?

Newcastle takeover: Reuben brothers second richest family in UK worth £18bn, Chelsea fans and own super yacht worth £54m https://t.co/d17EGiUWBI
— The Sun - Newcastle (@SunNewcastle) January 29, 2020

It will be a slower build but these lads are the second wealthiest family in the country. They are richer than Roman Abramovich, so they aren't short of a few bob. They already own property in the North East, as we know, as well things like the Racecourse.

I can't see why they are so against ownership but who knows, maybe they aren't. Maybe they were happy for the Saudis to be the big cheese, seeing as they dwarfed every other football club owner by a long way and would take their 10% returns.

Now PIF is out, 90% return sounds a lot better if this club reaches its potential. Make no mistake about that. This club can be worth a billion if you get it right and it won't need an entire Kingdoms money to do it. If Spurs can do it, so can NUFC.

So first step, try and get Reuben Bros to go for it. If not, find a new major backer to get this club out of the hands of Mike Ashley once and for all.

Find me on Twitter @TheGingerPirlo_

How Mike Ashley can get away with this latest stunt is ridiculous

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 11:24:00 GMT

Another home defeat for the Toon with another two goals conceded. We had never started a season losing our first four home games in a row, but that stat has well and truly gone. We are in dire straits.

Jamie Vardy converted a softly awarded penalty before Harry Maguire sealed our fate late in the second half, as the England heroes put us to the sword. I don’t even remember the last time we had an England hero, that tells its own story.

I joined Football Index last month and I have genuinely made hundreds. If you want to try it for yourself follow this link and deposit at least £20 and send me a message on Twitter @TheGingerPirlo_ for any advice. I will help you get started.

Mike Ashley was in the crowd

We had an extra guest in the stadium on Saturday afternoon in the rotund shape of Mike Ashley. The Newcastle Utd owner has had the nerve to show his face at two games in a row now, after he sneaked into watch us at Palace last week.

How 50,000 angry and disillusioned Geordies can allow this man a) into the stadium, b) tolerate him sat there with his mates with a fat clueless grin on his face and c) let him get back out the stadium with all of his limbs still attached is completely beyond me.

This man is overseeing Rafa Benitez walking away to a top job somewhere else and this football club going back down to the Championship for which it may not return for a very long time. We are in crisis mode and all the fans can do is sing “stand up if you hate Ashley”.

This lad is not a comic book villain you love to hate. This man is killing this football club and needs to be removed asap. Don’t sing songs about him. I won’t go into details, but the fans job is to make this man know under no uncertain circumstances that it’s time to cut and run. Now.

Long hard season

Last seasons 10^th place finish looks like an absolute miracle compared to this year. We have similar players but look a shadow of the side that managed to beat Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal. We are without doubt one of the three worst teams in the league.

I can’t see how we can win any match at the moment. We can’t score goals and unlike last season, we can’t keep them out either. What makes it 10 times worse is we are looking elsewhere at Mitrovic banging them in for fun and Dwight Gayle helping West Brom storm the Championship.

These two strikers were part of our team that helped us get in the PL and Gayle especially, helped us stay there. Yet some genius thought it was a better idea to have Rondon and Muto instead. Absolutely ridiculous.

Rondon doesn’t have a decent record at PL level and Muto was an average forward in the Bundesliga. Whereas Dwight Gayle may not be the PL best striker himself, but at least we know what we are getting when he is in the line-up. We are desperate for goals and don’t look like getting any soon.

January business

Looking back at our 10 years of Ashley, the only time he lets the club spend money in January is when it looks like it might be relegated. A couple of years ago when we did go down, we made a desperate attempt to prevent it by bringing in Shelvey, Townsend and Saivet. It was too little too late.

A few years before this we went on a booze cruise across the channel and brought in five French players all in one go. We managed to stay up that year and baguette sales went through the roof. This year I suspect something similar might happen.

Partly because its obvious we need players, and secondly because Rafa will demand it like he has never demanded it before. If he doesn’t get it, there will be massive trouble.

Mike Ashley is a small-time, cheap, unambitious, pig-headed, clueless, stubborn fool

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 11:18:00 GMT

Mike Ashley has done a lot of things at Newcastle. Most of it inconceivable to a Newcastle fan. But his latest venture in making Rafa Benitez' time on Tyneside untenable tops the lot.

The question is why is he doing what he is doing? Why is he blatantly refusing to support him and not making every effort to keep him here for years to come?

Some say it's perhaps there is a possible sale of the club in the offing so for him to spend any money isn't in his interest, nor is the future of the club. This is wide of the mark IMO.

Others say it's because he refuses to allow a manager with one year left on his contract to spend money on players and then leave at the end of the year, which would then leave a scenario of a new manager wanting his own players. This is closer to the mark IMO.

But even this doesn't really make sense as the ONLY way Rafa would sign a new deal is if the club back him. Not the other way round that Ashley wants it. If you sign a deal, then we will spend...promise. Despite our diabolical record of doing so. Rafa is not so stupid to lock himself into a no-win situation, again.

Mike Ashley is a stubborn clueless fool who only plays by his own rules based on the fact it has served him well in creating the UK's biggest sports retailer, so in his head, why change?

Well isn't it obvious why you should change? If you have the record Ashley has over the past 10 years as NUFC owner, whatever mindset you had must be torn up and start again, This should have been done years ago, never mind now.

If you have been making terrible mistakes and nonsense decisions time & time & time again, then at some point you basically give up trying to make decisions and let someone else do it.

That person should be Rafa Benitez. Ashley has a hard time trusting people. He tends to trust morons and con artists like Llambias, Jimenez, Kinnear, Wise etc. Which says a lot about his character.

Ashley should be feeding off Rafa and listening to his plans and be helping him build his project. The man clearly knows what he is doing. It's obvious. Look at his career!

But no. Ashley refuses to be playing second fiddle to some Spanish manager who thinks he's special. It's his club so he calls the shots. Total ego-maniac moron. The lack of ambition inside the walls of the boardroom is frightening. Terrifying in fact.

Imagine having a manager whose last job was Real Madrid and has the trophies he has on his CV and not trust him to make signings when we were in the Championship not long ago?

Imagine not allowing him to do what he wants to do? Unthinkable to anyone with a brain. Or to anyone with true ambition. Charnley, Bishop and Barnes are not fit for purpose.

All men hired by Ashley are idiots and con men. This massive stain on Ashley's character is the biggest issue NUFC have had and continued to have. We never have the right men in place where it counts.

We have a thoroughbred horse of a manager in the stable but his keeper doesn't know how or even want to feed him and his trainer can't be bothered to keep him fit. His owner nowhere to be seen and deprives him of what he needs. So will he fulfil his potential? Of course not.

Newcastle need a new owner. Once they do this will bring a new chairman, CEO etc and finally the manager can be able to do his job. There is only one way this happens and it's if Ashley sells up.

Two things can create a sale. Someone comes along from no where and pays a fee Ashley can't refuse or Ashley lowers his price and looks for a sale himself.

The fans have a job to force Ashley's hand. A half empty stadium speaks volumes. Disrupt his Sports Direct stores, this will also send a message to him "directly". The fans must try to force Ashley to sell as a random billionaire coming along has much chance of a Euromillions win for you or me.

The fans must do their part. To continue to just fill out the stadium and carry on regardless will do nothing. Rafa will leave in the summer and Ashley will remain to do whatever he wants.

Ashley is a small time, cheap, unambitious, pig-headed, clueless, stubborn fool. He must be removed for Newcastle to ever reach its potential. This is a fact.

The Ginger Pirlo

Newcastle accused of signing Asian players for purely commercial reasons.

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 10:54:00 GMT

Newcastle Utd are set to sign their second Asian player in a matter of weeks with Yoshinori Muto on his way to Tyneside from Japan to complete his medical. This follows the free transfer of Ki Sung-Yeung from Swansea.

This raises some questions of what is the sudden interest in Asian players, considering that before these signings Newcastle had never had an Asian player in their history? Ever.

Now I am not saying these aren't good players and won't do well for us. They might. However, if you take a look at our new shirt I think the main answer is staring us in the face.

As of last season, NUFC gained a new shirt sponsor from the awful Wonga debacle to the new and 'funky' Fun88bet.com who are an Asian online betting company. So I don't think it really requires an investigation from Sherlock to work out where I sudden interest in Asian players has come from.

Now, I am not saying investing in Asian players to make moves into the Asian market is a bad thing, in fact I have been asking why Newcastle haven't done this in the past as it's easy money to be made with the right player on the books.

However, given our massive restraints in signing football players, especially ones that Rafa Benitez wants, if we are in anyway signing footballers for mainly commercial reasons to appease our main sponsor, then more serious questions need to be asked of this Ashley establishment.

I personally have analysed Bundesliga matches for two seasons as part of my job as a performance analyst and I can sum up what I have seen of Muto as; he is ok. Nothing special. So, to spend just under £10 million on him would be a massive punt on our part.

If Muto ends up being our only investment in the forward line come the start of the season then Lee Charnley deserves to be hauled up in front of parliament never mind a petition. Muto at best will serve as competition for Ayoze Perez in the no.10 position. He is not a prolific goalscorer by any stretch.

I am still of the belief that once Mitrovic is sold to Fulham we will bring in a No.9, most likely Rondon from West Brom but I will put nothing past our administration in leaving any sale until deadline day and we end up with no replacement.

However, sticking on point, Fun88 bet will be extremely happy with our two Asian signings and no doubt they will both be front and centre of all our commercial campaigns this season as they promote the bright blue Fun88 logo with pride.

It just so happens Keisuke Honda is available on a free transfer and reminded everyone of his quality in the World Cup so don't be surprised if Charnley has made an enquiry to his agent.

I am just surprised he hasn't brought in Southampton's Maya Yoshida instead of Fabian Schar...

All hail Fun88.com. Bet now!

We need a campaign to finally get rid of Ashley #DontTakeYourSeat #DontBuyTheShirt

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 10:46:00 GMT

Newcastle Utd are at a crossroads.

Ashley and Rafa have drawn their line in the sand on how this football club moves forward.

On the side are the fans, they have a choice and must make a decision on which side of the line they want to be on.

Ashley side of the line is to carry on regardless, filling out the stadium and accepting lack of investment in the team.

Rafa's side is to make a stand against this nonsense and refuse to accept it. This choice is the most obvious, however, is the most difficult to make. As it would require some harsh actions...

Ashley's side of just carrying on regardless in this mindless fashion of sitting motionless in back seat of a car as it rolls down a hill towards the edge of a cliff is pathetic.

Two things are set in stone in the current climate. Rafa Benitez WILL leave in the current state of play at the end of the season and there WILL be anger and uproar when it happens.

So my question is very straightforward. If we know both these things WILL happen, why wait? Why are 50,000 people buying the new shirt, filling out the stadium and waiting for inevitable?

What are they mindless, cowardly sheep?

I have witnessed and lived through every situation under Ashley in the past 10 years but I have to say this latest one is showing badly on the fans more than him.

We all know what Ashley is by now. A cheap, ignorant and unfathomable moron when it comes to his understanding of running a football club. He doesn't know what he is doing.

He only understands a handful of things. A premier league team, with passionate supporters filling out a 53,000 seater stadium with his Sports Direct banners all over it promotes his baby.

That is it. That's why he is here.

So fans must realise that they have it in their power to get rid of him? Surely?

If you want rid of Ashley then don't fill out the stadium. It's that simple. An empty stadium on a Premier League level embarrasses him. It embarrasses the logos surrounding the empty seats.

This embarrassment is the only message that will get through to him. Bed sheets spray painted with small cliche messages don't get through to him. He laughs at you. You know why? Because you paid him the privilege of getting into the stadium and paying for your seat.

The situation of Mike Ashley vs The People of Newcastle has come to a head now. It must be resolved. The fans have a direct choice.

Continue to fill out the stadium, sell out the £65 new kit and try to enjoy Rafa Benitez last season as manager.

Or

Kick up a fuss and refuse to take your seat or buy the new kit and make Ashley realise once and for all what he needs to do. He needs to go.

Once Ashley enters serious and genuine negotiations to sell the club, then the Toon Army can flock back into the stadium to support Rafa and his boys.

It's short-term pain for long-term gain.

Newcastle fans have the power in their hands to end this nonsense and save the club from inevitable doom.

The only way forward is with Rafa. The only way to keep Rafa is if Ashley goes. The only way Ashley will go is if the one thing keeping him here is killed. That one thing is passionate match day support to a worldwide audience that actively promotes his sweatshop.

Once he goes, the new owner will invest in the team and in Rafa and we will be free to reach our potential.

If he stays, Rafa will leave, some average manager will come in and we will go round the same old wheel of misfortune all over again.

It's your choice lads and lasses. Make it.

#DontTakeYourSeats #DontBuyTheShirt

Ginger Pirlo (I've not stepped foot in St James nor bought a kit for 10 years now. It really isn't that hard knowing it's for the greater good)

Why Rafa Benitez taking the Spain national job makes sense.

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 11:41:00 GMT

Fernando Hierro has left the Spanish football federation and with it leaves the Spain job open for a new manager and beginning.

Rafa Benitez name has been linked and dismissed by many as nothing but paper talk. However, when you consider it logically, it makes sense.

Spain have been horrendous in the last two World Cups since becoming champions of the world in 2010. Dumped out in the group stage in 2014 and embarrassingly losing to Russia in 2018.

Defensively they were shocking and in attack they were several lacking in cutting edge as they pass, pass, passed the ball around side to side seemingly for the sheer sake of it.

Their midfield maestro's of Xavi and Iniesta are now gone and Cesc Fabregas won't be around come the next World Cup and wasn't even picked in the squad for Russia.

What Spain need is a new generation and with it a new style. Tiki-taka looks like yesterday's style and boringly out of date. They also don't have the right players to do it.

When you have Diego Costa up front then passing the ball around for fun is not going to get the best out of him. Going slightly more direct is just what the doctor ordered.

They have young players like Asensio who is full of pace and full of running. Iago Aspas is in a similar mould. They need a manager who will carry the transition from purely possession based football to effective football. Rafa Benitez could be the perfect fit.

He will build their team from back to front and make sure they are defensively sound first and foremost. He will also pick and develop the players that will do the best job to do the end goal; win.

Rafa also has an incredible record in cup tournaments. Champions League, UEFA Cup, FA Cup & Italian Cup are on his CV. He knows how to win. Plus he is obviously one other thing. Spanish.

Not just Spanish but a boy from Madrid who would be nothing but proud to take control of his country. He cried tears of joy when appointed Real Madrid manager. He would do the same as Spanish national coach.

As a Toon fan, I clearly don't want it to happen right now as he has a job to do building my club into something special. But if Mike Ashley messes him around over the next few weeks of the transfer window, it could be an offer to good to turn down.

Let's hope Spain don't ask....

Mitro is on fire and making Rafa look ridiculous

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 11:56:00 GMT

Just a word on the Mitrovic situation.

Mitro has not been given one league start all season. The one game he did start was in the League cup and scored. He mugged off Joe Hart in a Premier League game whilst scoring, elbowed someone and seemed shunned for it.

On fire

His (basically) replacement Joselu has been nothing short of terrible in front of goal this season. He had a 7 game spell where he started each game but scored in none of them. Yet Mitro was not brought in to end this nonsense.

Joselu has only 4 goals to his name in 20 appearances. One of those goals was the ridiculous ricochet against Liverpool and two were open goals. Mitro was only two goals behind despite no starts and a handful of appearances which were mainly 10 to 20-minute spell at the end of games.

Mitrovic has gone to Fulham on loan and has already bagged 5 in 4 games. He is actually Newcastle Utd's top scorer with 7 goals...

Sheff Utd boss said the following after he tore their defence apart, "Mitro is too good for the Championship and should be playing for Newcastle. He is a £15m Premier League striker who is going to the World Cup."

Whereas Joselu hasn't started any of Newcastle's last four games or had many minutes off the bench since ironically the 31st January, deadline day, where he missed a penalty and missed a massive chance against Burnley to seal all three points. We ended up dropping two points that day.

Rafa Benitez may be a lot of things. He may have a lot of trophies. But if Newcastle Utd are relegated this season by a point or two, than Rafa Benitez will be 100% responsible. 100%.

I want to make it this perfectly clear so everyone understands this.

It won't be Ashley's fault. It won't be Lee Charnley. It won't be Amanda Staveley. It will be Rafa's. Ashley gave Rafa a shorthand this season, no doubt about it. Rafa moaned every week at the lack of quality to choose from and rightly so.

Useless

However, he has refused to select arguably our best all-round striker for the entire campaign, who no doubt would have scored and created more goals than Joselu and would have put more points on the board to have kept this club up.

Make no mistake about it. Don't be confused. This is pretty much a cast iron fact
when you look at the young Serbian tearing up the Championship and dragging his country to the World Cup.

Rafa Benitez hasn't properly explained his decision as to why he has made our clubs job a whole lot harder in trying to stay in this league. Quotes of 'not working hard enough in training' or 'he doesn't fit tactically' are weak explanations to say the least.

Especially when you consider just how dire Joselu was and still is with his
supposed extra ability to run more in training and tactical efficiency. Plus speaking of tactics, I could go on about how Rafa's over-cautious approach in home games has also cost us this season but that's for another day.

Bye and good luck

If we go down. Rafa will walk off into the sunset to a top job and restart a project for himself somewhere else, whereas it will be the Newcastle fans who are left to pick up and deal with the unimaginable sh**house he left behind.

Explaining himself isn't even the start of it.

Mitro's on fire and Newcastle don't have a pot to p**s in. Work that one out. And people say beggars can't be choosers.

@ToonBano

Weird Transfer XI - Some shockers in here!

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 13:19:00 GMT

There have been some weird transfers over the years. Some that just didn't make sense at the time and seem even worse when you look back. Here are some that stick in my mind:

GK: Edwin Van Der Sar - Juve to Fulham.

The whole thing was just weird. Clearly too good for them. Eventually made his move to Man U and won it all. What's unreal is he was at Fulham for FOUR years. What a total waste of time.

RB: Mat Debuchy - Newcastle to Arsenal.

May not seem that weird but as a Newcastle fan, we couldn't believe Arsene Wenger paid us twice as much as we did for him, to take him off our hands. He's done nothing at Arsenal and none of us are surprised. Weird.

(I also have to mention Julian Faubert from West Ham to Real Madrid on loan. Very strange one)

CB: Laurent Blanc - Inter to Man Utd.

Seriously this one was weird for the entire time he was there. He was clearly too old and contributed to Fergie's worst ever season in the Premier League. So ridiculous.

CB: David Luiz - PSG to Chelsea.

This one was weird right? No-one could understand it. He then helped them win the league. So weird. He's now not in the team. Not so weird.

LB: Mikael Silvestre - Man Utd to Arsenal.

I found this one just very strange. I couldn't get my head around it. Fergie never sells to a rival, so he must have been past it, but he wasn't that bad, which made it all just weird.

CM: Thomas Gravesen - Everton to Real Madrid.

Has there ever been a weirder permanent transfer? He actually played as well. Twilight zone.

CM: Edgar Davids - rocks up at Barnet.

This wasn't a transfer and he was player-manager (kind of) but come on. Edgar Davids playing for Barnet? Weirdo.

CM: Ivan Campo - Real Madrid to Bolton.

I could have put Fernando Hierro in this team or even Djorkaeff but Campo was still in his prime and had only recently stopped polishing his Champions League medal. He would spend six years at Bolton. Six.

FW: Nicolas Anelka - Fenerbahce to Bolton.

PSG, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Man City, Fenerbahce, Bolton, Chelsea, wait what? If Anelka were to go for a job interview, he would need to explain the gap in his CV for that 2-year spell at Bolton Wanderers. How? Why?

FW: George Weah - Milan to Chelsea.

This was just weird. It's like it never happened but it did and I for one can't forget it. George Weah was a mirage, a mysterious idol to be watched only on Football Italia, winning World player of the year. Not struggling to play up front with Chris Sutton. No. No. No.

FW: Ian Rush & John Barnes - Leeds & Liverpool to Newcastle.

First off, these are two players so technically makes my XI a 12 man team. However, they came at the same time and given their ability at their respective ages, they just about make up one players worth.

As a Toon fan, I watched Kevin Keegan sign Ferdinand & Ginola in 1995 and almost won us the league. I then saw Kenny Dalglish sell them both in 1997 & replace them with over the hill Ian Rush & John Barnes. What? I know they say 'sign what you know' but this destroyed our team and put the club back for years. Perhaps forever. Why Kenny? Why? Utter nonsense.

Follow me on Twitter @ToonBano

Mike Ashley: Lies, Damned Lies And Spending Statistics

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 11:38:00 GMT

Now that the January window has slammed shut. Let's take a look at how much clubs spent on their squad and also net spend, for the season as a whole.

Newcastle Utd are the second lowest spenders with only £36 million being spent on permanent transfers. Only Bournemouth have spent less with £30 million.

Now, you could put the Cherries spend into context, in that they sold nobody and gave Defoe a massive contract & signing on fees for his 'free' transfer, so could be seen as more than £30m, but there we are.

If you look at Net spend (everyone's fave) then there are 6 clubs below Newcastle in the "table" who themselves had a net spend of a putrid £11m.

They are Liverpool, West Ham, Burnley, Arsenal, Swansea and Southampton. Now, let's look into that for all of two seconds.

Coutinho £146m, Ayew £18m, Michael Keane £30m, Oxlade-Chamberlain £35m, Sigurdsson £45m and Van Dijk £75m.

Each of those clubs had at least one major sale which drove down their net spend massively. Some had more than one.

Whereas Newcastle didn't. They sold their prized assets last season after relegation. The only option they had this year was to spend.

To put this into some context, if you look at fellow promoted teams in Brighton & Huddersfield who also have no prizes assets to sell.

They spent £57m & £49m respectively, with total net spends of £57m & £43.5m. This places them 5th and 8th in the net spend table.

This is where you would expect them to be given their lack of selling power. Brighton sold nobody for eg.

All of this means one thing. Mike Ashley has drastically under-funded his business that he is supposedly looking to sell.

To the point that if NUFC were to go down, it will be worth half as much and he will have cost himself millions.

He will also be unable to receive the total amount he has invested in his time at the club. Around £250m. So he will have lost money if and when he sells.

In the last two occasions that NUFC have gone down, he has been obliged to pump in his own money into the club to keep it running. The only time he has ever spent something himself.

"Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has loaned the club £33m to help it cope with the effects of relegation. ... The £33m loan has been made available through St James Holdings Ltd" - The Chronicle, 6th Jan 2017

So even if he doesn't sell, he will cost himself millions by needing to spend to keep it running and there is no guarantee the club will bounce back up.

So to conclude, not only will relegation mean the business he is trying to sell will be worth half as much than if it were in the Premier League, but it will cost him a fortune to keep it running...again.

People say Mike Ashley is a sound businessman. They base this totally on his supposed wealth and Sports Direct.

When it comes to running a football club, he is arguably the dumbest owner in football history.

At least when other idiots make mistakes, they sell up and leave. The bloke has been here for 11 years!!!

He has learned nothing over that time. Nothing. What kind of a moron would act the way he acts over and over again? How dumb can you be?

He said if he couldn't find a buyer before Christmas he would invest in January, he lied. He spent nothing.

He said he turned PCP's £250m offer for the club down because he has other people willing to pay the £350m. He lied, he doesn't.

The man is a compulsive liar and has been proved to be so in court when Keegan took him to trial.

Yet, amongst all of this, his chosen mouthpiece in Sky still hire people like Craig Bellamy, Simon Jordan and Dennis Wise, plus others, to tell the viewing nation he has done a great job and that they really like him.

It's a disgrace that this man isn't known throughout the world of football for exactly what he is. A liar and a terrible football club owner. One of the worst, if not THE worst in history.

Follow me on Twitter @ToonBano

On the Air: Decanonizing St. Rafa

Matt — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 14:21:11 GMT

After an extended break because of a holiday that our listeners from outside the US don't celebrate, the podcast is back! This week, Tom, Phil, and Matt decide to take some shots at the recent managerial decisions made by Rafa Benítez (while acknowledging, of course, that his presence over the past two years has basically kept Newcastle United afloat). Like all of us, Rafa's still human, and it's worth pointing out mistakes, in our view, when they happen. (Though the joking wish for Mitro to pull a Latrell Sprewell on the sideline on Saturday is all Phil; direct your comments accordingly.)

iOS users, apologies that we're getting tons of inscrutable error messages as we try to put the show back on iTunes. However, for Android users or people with iPhones who don't mind downloading another app, we are available on both Stitcher and TuneIn. Thanks so much for your support!

IWIWAG 12-8-17

On the Air: International Break Ennui

Matt — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 15:00:00 GMT

NUFC may have had the weekend off, but the podcast never rests! (Unless you count last week, when there wasn't one. Though we did record a show that ended up being unusable...so we didn't rest!) This week, Phil, Tom, and Matt slide right past the 1-0 defeats against Burnley and Bournemouth, instead looking forward to Saturday's trip to Old Trafford. How would the three of us line Newcastle up for the daunting trek to the red side of Manchester? And will Rafa Benítez actually agree with our preferred XI? We also do some over/under guesses on how dominant Man U will look on the stat sheet (even if we're able to steal a win).

We also take a look at the state of the playing staff, specifically the pet peeves for both Tom and Phil. Regular listeners will know that Phil's been ride or die with Aleksandar Mitrović since the Serbian striker joined the club. Given Joselu's poor form, is it finally time for Mitro to take center stage? Or maybe it's worth taking a second look at Dwight Gayle, who actually looked dangerous in the first half against Bournemouth. And Tom lays into Jonjo Shelvey, who's been pushed for an England callup by a subset of Newcastle fans, for his defensive liabilities. Is his ability with long passes and free kicks enough to build a team around, or should Shelvey be part of Rafa's "don't trust" list once Mikel Merino returns from injury?

Finally, we look at a couple transfer rumors floating around, namely Turkish international and Beşiktaş striker Cenk Tosun and Atlanta United's Paraguayan attacking midfielder Miguel Almirón.

IWIWAG podcast 11-16-17

On the Air: Who is the Perfect 10?

Matt — Thu, 26 Oct 2017 14:55:13 GMT

After a breathtaking, thrilling, action-packed 1-0 win against Crystal Palace...so exciting, in fact, that only one of us watched it...the pod crew is back once again to talk all things NUFC. First, Tom and Phil cede the heavy lifting of the Palace recap to NBC Sports Gold subscriber Matt. Branching out from that, we all share our thoughts on Ayoze Pérez after a disappointing showing on Saturday. Is he doing the job Rafa is asking of him? And if that role isn't as a creative string-puller in the Newcastle attack, is it really correct or fair to refer to Pérez as a number 10 at all?

Looking at the bigger picture, we wonder whether 7th place in the table is an accurate reflection of the way NUFC has played this season and if that form is sustainable...even if a prolonged sale process means that this squad could be set in stone through the January transfer window.

We also turn the show over to Tom for another edition of Great Moments in the Mike Ashley Era, featuring a 3-3 draw against Palace where anyone crazy enough to put money on the three Newcastle goalscorers can probably afford to buy the club from Ashley right now.

IWIWAG 10-26-17

On the Air: Mandy and More

Matt — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 15:34:43 GMT

After a very sad international break for all of us here in the States, the pod is back! Phil and Matt, the most prepared hosts in the business, who never flub the intro multiple times or have weird audio issues, break down the two main stories involving Newcastle United this week.

First, of course, we talk about the continued developments in NUFC's ownership situation, as Amanda Staveley's PCP Partners group kicks open the club's books to see what havoc Mike Ashley has wrought. Will Ashley find a way to dash supporters' hopes once again? And how comfortable should we feel about Newcastle's outlook this season, knowing that a prolonged sale would likely mean no transfer business in January whatsoever?

Then we take things back to the actual sport for a bit and look at Sunday's 2-2 draw against Southampton at St. Mary's, trading our thoughts on the blame for Southampton's first goal and the effectiveness of Ayoze Pérez and Christian Atsu as part of the 3 in Rafa's 4-2-3-1 formation.

IWIWAG podcast 10-19-17

The shocking truth behind Newcastle's failure on Kenedy deal. It's totally unacceptable...

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 11:03:00 GMT

As a Newcastle fan, it is obvious our window was beyond a joke built up of lies and misery. However, I just want to make clear to everyone how either incompetent our administration is or how scumbaggery they are towards our official 'UEFA Elite Coach' Rafa Benitez. Or perhaps they are both.

We had in place a deal for Chelsea left back Kenedy sorted TWO WEEKS AGO but it could only be finalised once Chelsea brought in a first team wing back themselves. Fine.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was their first choice but that fell through on Deadline Day morning as he joined Liverpool. So, my amazing club concluded that the Kenedy deal was off.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has signed for Liverpoolhttps://t.co/VYn2yCcDcQ
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) August 31, 2017

Now, this is where some serious explaining needs to happen, as at 2.30pm Chelsea agreed a fee for Zappacosta in light of missing out on the Ox. The whole football world knew this as the fact he had Costa in his name brought great attention. So, the Kenedy deal to NUFC is back on right? Apparently no.

Despite there being a good eight hours or so for Newcastle to get in contact with Chelsea and sort out arrangements for Kenedy making his way to the North East in anticipation of the Zappacosta signing, which in turn we could confirm Kenedy...Newcastle Utd announced at 7 pm that they had shut up shop with no more business for the day.

Are you having a laugh?

Sky sources: @ChelseaFC agree deal with @TorinoFC_1906 to sign right-back Davide Zappacosta for a fee of around £23m #DeadlineDay #SSN pic.twitter.com/WGNErRsyEc
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) August 31, 2017

Rafa Benitez has woke up this morning to a first team that is minus a left back. A left back that he had lined up a fortnight ago. Chelsea have their new wing back in place to make the deal happen, so why don't we have it sorted?

Where is Kenedy? Why was he not on Tyneside when the news broke at 2pm on Deadline Day that Chelsea were signing the wing-back they needed? Why was the Kenedy loan deal not completed, literally, a minute after the Zappacosta deal?

This isn't due to time restraints as Zappacosta was in place many, many hours before the window was due to shut. If the Zappacosta deal somehow fell through, then Kenedy would too. That's fine.

But to not have Kenedy at the training ground last night with his medical done and dusted and the deal at that point just being a case of waiting for the nod from Chelsea after they confirm Zappacosta, is totally unforgivable for its senseless incompetence.

Confirmation of Kenedy loan deal. #nufc https://t.co/tLRYO9oyaf
— NUFC 360 (@NUFC360) August 9, 2017

Newcastle Utd is ran by con men who should be nowhere near the positions they hold. A 15-year-old boy addicted to Football Manager could conduct transfer activity better than them. Or maybe it's down to they just don't WANT to bring any players in. That means spending money. Which we all know Premier League clubs don't have right....?

So in which case...what are you doing here? Get out of my club. What possible enjoyment do Ashley and his administration get out of it? Name me one thing? Shambles. This Kenedy deal may seem not like a big deal, but it could be the straw that broke the camels back.

If Rafa walks, everybody else should too. Fans first, then Ashley will follow. It's the only way to get rid of him. He isn't interested in owning a club with an empty stadium. He will sell and we can finally move on.

Follow me on Twitter @ToonBano

Is it actually Rafa to blame for Newcastle's poor start?!

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 17:28:00 GMT

My thoughts on Sunday's game are similar ones to those I have had over the past year watching Rafa Benitez’s team. We lack depth, we lack width and we lack movement off the ball whilst in possession. Pretty much the absolute basics of attacking play. Rafa may (rightfully) moan about missing out on specific transfer targets earlier in the window but this does not explain his needlessly negative strategy, line-ups and substitutions.

Before I go off on a possible rant I would like to make one thing perfectly clear, we are not a bad team. Don’t buy into the mainstream football media’s avalanche of misery they insist on piling onto our club whenever things don’t seem 100% right from the outside looking in. We were not outplayed by Huddersfield, much like we weren’t outplayed by Spurs last week when 11v11, and apart from their goal, the newly-promoted side hardly made a dent in terms of hurting our back line.

Out of both sides, it was us that had the biggest chance of the game when Ayoze Perez blasted over when completely unmarked from about 8 yards out. Substitutes Joselu & Murphy had opportunities to have a clear shot on goal but failed to make the most of them. Out of both goalkeepers, it was Huddersfield’s Jossl that had to pull off a fingertip save to keep out Ritchie’s effort in the first half. If that chance, or any of these chances, go in then it’s a different game and likely different result.

Now that the positives are out of the way, yes, they were positives honest, there is a big elephant in everyone’s room on Tyneside that nobody wants or is prepared to talk about. Some refuse to even acknowledge its very existence under any circumstances mainly due to bigger worries and concerns. However, at some stage, this has to be discussed and looked at. At some point, we need to talk about Rafa.

Amongst all the lack of transfers stuff & the Mike Ashley stuff and whatever other stuff fans want to talk or moan about, there has been one massively concerning issue that has been staring us all in the face over the past year. Rafa Benitez’s overly cautious and needlessly negative approach to our games. More specifically his tactics and use of the personnel he has at his disposal. Do we lack some quality? Yes. Do we have any quality? Yes. Is that quality being used in its capacity? No.

How we managed to win the Championship was quite remarkable to be perfectly honest. You can count on one hand the amount of games where we actually looked impressive and destroyed teams that were below our level. No one can say our Championship season wasn’t one hell of a long struggle. Some say, ‘well that’s the Championship’, maybe.

The more accurate thing to say however, is that we caused our own frustrations by not going about our business on the pitch anywhere near as positively and ambitiously as we should have. Wingers dropping deep and always coming short. Full backs chained to the halfway line and unable to get forward. Both centre midfielders dropping deep right in front of our centre-backs. It’s needless and it’s wrong.

Against Huddersfield these demons in Rafa’s philosophy raised their ugly head once again. 99% will put this down to ‘lack of quality’ or ‘they need more players’. I am telling you now, even with new and/or better players that won’t dispel the demons. The football club needs to change its philosophy when it comes to being cheap in the transfer market. But Rafa also needs to change his philosophy with the players he has. Neither are good enough at the moment.

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Transfer requests are a scam - they're tactics used by clubs. Here's why:

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 16:27:00 GMT

We live in an age where players look to demand transfers and force their way out of their current football club to go to another, as player power rules all and contracts aren't worth the paper they are written on. They do this by issuing a transfer request to the shock and dismay of their club. Right?

Wrong. On most occasions transfer requests don't come from the player, they are instigated either directly or indirectly by the player's club for a couple of reasons. The main one being when a player signs a contract with a club they (somehow) have a 'loyalty bonus' within that which is paid out to them if they were to leave the club before the contract expires. Mental, I know.

BREAKING: @Phil_Coutinho hands @LFC an official transfer request - Sky sources. #SSN pic.twitter.com/Ju1vtSwKLJ
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) August 11, 2017

Now for a club to get out of paying such 'loyalty bonus' the player himself needs to show a distinct lack of 'loyalty' by doing something like issuing a transfer request to enforce a transfer away from the club. Once this is in place the club don't have to pay him squat in any 'loyalty bonus' and save themselves millions of pounds.

The other reason a club will want their superstar, or not, player to hand in an official transfer request is accountability. We all here fans & pundits criticise their clubs when they sell a big player as they wanted them to stay.

Remember Liverpool making a huge mistake selling Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid? Fans and experts alike will still tell you today that it was. The fact is, the only mistake Liverpool made was to not get Xabi Alonso to make his desire to join Madrid public and officially request a transfer. If they had, then this myth that Alonso had any remote chance of staying at Anfield wouldn't exist.

Liverpool should have never sold Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid. Their downfall as a club started from that moment
— Sicelo (@SiceloDumakude) December 21, 2014

We sit here as I type with Philippe Coutinho and Virgil Van Dyke wanting to move to bigger football clubs but both of their respective clubs have issued unwavering statements categorically stating 'he ain't leaving, no matter what'. Since both statements were released to the media, sure enough, the player's agent have released their own 'statement' of sorts with official transfer requests.

Now, if and when Coutinho and Van Dijk make their moves before 1st September, not only will Liverpool and Southampton have made an eye-watering amount of transfer money, they will have saved a few million by not having to pay the player his 'loyalty bonus and also NOBODY can criticise the club for not trying to keep the player. It seems to be a win-win for everyone involved, although that isn't necessarily true.

"He is part of the club, he has a contract."

Southampton stand firm on Virgil van Dijk: https://t.co/nWlRWc2Y5R pic.twitter.com/P1j0Zunrft
— Sky Sports PL 👑 (@SkySportsPL) August 11, 2017

The party which will have a cloud hanging over them will be the player. Liverpool fans are already burning their Coutinho shirts as we speak and Southampton fans will never name their child Virgil if they were for some reason thinking about it. Plus, they also miss out on a few million of a loyalty bonus but the dent in reputation will hurt more than in their hefty pockets.

Have a look at the criticism Chelsea have received by selling Nemanja Matic to Man Utd and the constant questions Antonio Conte has to answer for his clubs 'strange' behaviour. The fact is, Matic wanted to work with Jose Mourinho and Chelsea had already replaced Matic with a younger player in Bakayoko weeks previous.

Now if Matic had handed in an official transfer request, would Chelsea be receiving any criticism? Doubtful. Would Conte be needing to defend his clubs actions in selling Matic to a rival? No. With all this in mind, it makes you actually wonder why the club didn't go down the tactical transfer route to save them the trouble. Perhaps they did but the player refused.

Gary Neville has questioned Chelsea's decision to allow midfielder Nemanja Matic to join title rivals Manchester United this summer. The Premier League champions sanctioned the Serbia international's departure to Old Trafford in July for a fee of £40m. However, the Sky Sports pundit has labelled the sale "strange", especially given the role Matic played in helping the Blues win the Premier League last season.

Football is a dirty business at times. We all know that player power rules football. But the factor of an official transfer request before any deals go through actually puts the club in a very controlling position.

They can sell a player, potentially destroy his reputation (at least with its own fans) and keep their own reputation intact by avoiding any potential criticism for lack of ambition or being a sell-out.
The player issuing a transfer request gives them 'no choice' at the end of the day. No responsibility.

In some instances, like the Andy Carroll £35million transfer from Newcastle to Liverpool in 2011, the club rang Carroll up as he was already on his way to sign for Liverpool (in Mike Ashley's private helicopter!) requesting that he handed in a transfer request otherwise the deal was off!

Carroll didn't have much choice and did as he was asked which saved Newcastle a couple of million quid by avoiding paying his loyalty bonus but at the same time destroyed the local lad's reputation with some Geordies that will never be fixed.

So the next time you see a player hand in a transfer request ask yourself why? Is it him throwing his toys out the pram and demanding a move or is the club forcing it upon him?

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VIDEO INTERVIEW: Rafa Benitez confirms he is "not happy" at Newcastle

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 14:14:00 GMT

It's Premier League launch day and one of the several guests in attendance is our very own 'special one' Rafa Benitez. As the standard procedure, he has taken part in several interviews for the likes of Sky, BT Sport, BBC & TalkSport with the main talking point being the seeming lack of spending and investment in the squad over the summer.

Rafa seems more than happy to talk about it and hasn't held back in what he thinks. On Sky Sports this morning he blatantly made his stance be known to the world by categorically confirming he is "not happy" with Newcastle's transfer business thus far and hopes to bring players in over the coming weeks. Watch the interview by clicking on the below:

Rafa is a very political manager who uses threats and concerns through the media in order to strengthen his own hand with certain issues he has with his club, usually transfer business, and has done this throughout his career.

How his latest comments will go down with the club executive Lee Charnley and owner Mike Ashley no one knows for sure. Will it inspire Charnley to get his finger out? Or put his back up? We will find out in due course but one thing is for sure, Rafa is not happy with his current squad and wants the whole world to know that 'fact'.

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Keiran Gibbs set on joining Newcastle after FA Cup Final omission

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Wed, 31 May 2017 11:21:00 GMT

Arsenal have signed left-back Sead Kolasinac on a free transfer for next season and with Nacho Monreal first-choice, Kieran Gibbs' days are numbered at the Emirates.

The Englishman has been plagued by injuries his whole career and was reported as injured, then ill, before the FA Cup final but was angered after not being told about his omission from the squad by Arsene Wenger.

So Gibbs is set to leave Arsenal in the summer after a massive 10 years since making his debut for the North London club, with Newcastle his most likely destination. A fee of around £6 million should be enough to bring him to Tyneside and would be a much-welcomed addition to take over the left-back duties from Paul Dummett.

The semi-retired Welsh international Geordie wizard just isn't up to scratch for the Premier League. He was decent in the important games during our Championship campaign, with keeping Brighton's 'Championship Player of the Year' Anthony Knockaert quiet being the highlight, but he still showed on countless occasions his lack of positional sense, total reluctance to ever get forward and still has a massive mistake waiting to happen in his locker.

Gibbs is an experienced 27-year-old with a point to prove, given he has never quite made the most of his potential. If he can stay injury free, then he will be as solid a left-back as we could ever hope to bring in for a reasonable fee.

Watch this space.

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New leaked Newcastle kit looks nice - sponsorship details yet to be released

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Mon, 15 May 2017 13:28:00 GMT

Many of us have caught a glimpse of the supposedly new Newcastle kit that has been 'leaked' on social media, which shows Dwight Gayle giving it the big one as he rocks the 'classic' black and white design we were all expecting, complete with a brand new sponsor.

This new sponsor seems to be Chinese betting firm Fun88, which would also confirm the rumours of such an establishment being the next business to flaunt itself on the black and white stripe, which is replacing the awful Wonga once and for all. Thank the Lord.

No details have been released yet on whether this is, in fact, our next sponsor or how much they are spending to promote themselves via ourselves but let's hope it's in the levels you would expect a top Premier League club to receive, and not some cheap job concluded by tax-avoider Lee Charnley.

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Newcastle signing up winger for £6 million - but is he good enough?

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Mon, 15 May 2017 12:51:00 GMT

It looks like Newcastle are taking up the option to sign Christian Atsu on a permanent basis from
Chelsea for around £6 million. The infamous 'Sky sources' are all over the story claiming the club and Atsu are in negotiations today as the deadline from his loan clause to make his move permanent is closing in. Atsu has been decent overall in the Championship but is he good enough for the Premier League?

Well if you look at his record for Ghana this season he has become arguably their most influential attacker and his impressive performances helped Ghana to the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations.

Atsu has been pulling the strings for 🇬🇭 . Here are his 2016/2017 stats
9 matches
total shots 28
shots on target 11
goals 3#joyafcon pic.twitter.com/4L9btf9i0q
— #JoySports 99.7FM (@JoySportsGH) January 17, 2017

In the Championship for the Magpies he has put in some decent performances and some memorable moments on our way back to the Premier League. None more so than the free kick that finished off Cardiff in the penultimate game of the season - what a beauty!

His fee of £6 million is worth the punt for someone who obviously has talent but has never had a club yet to call home, as he has been continuously shipped out on loan all across Europe. We might just be able to get the best out of him next season.

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Newcastle Utd: Bring back Hatem Ben Arfa to the Premier League!

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Wed, 10 May 2017 11:25:00 GMT

I love Hatem Ben Arfa. He is a genius. An enigma. The ultimate maverick. We need the ex-Newcastle man back in The Premier League as witnessing him sat on the bench at PSG every week is hurtful. A talent like HBA needs to be on the pitch to entertain the world. Ideally to entertain the Geordies once again. Newcastle please bring him back!

OGC Nice were amazingly chasing the French League title this season as they fought the mega rich PSG and AS Monaco head on. This somewhat surprising challenge is based off the back of their previous campaign in 2015/16 where, from absolutely nowhere, they were chasing the Champions League places despite only expected to be a mid table team at best. This was down to bringing in a player from the football scrapheap who didn’t have a club, who was unfit but did have amazing talent. That player was Newcastle and briefly Hull City outcast Hatem Ben Arfa.

Nice needed a player like Ben Arfa and Ben Arfa needed a team like Nice. A team with no expectations that would give him the platform to perform week in week out and potentially be their headline act if he got himself match fit. The enigmatic Frenchman did not disappoint as he tore through Ligue 1 almost from day one right through the whole season as the small French club were agonisingly close to qualifying for the Champions League. All of which was under the guidance of current Southampton boss Claude Puel.

Ben Arfa has been linked to joining the Saints when Puel left Nice to go to the South coast club, Ben Arfa was also leaving Nice on a free transfer. However, with likes of Barcelona looking into his signature the chances of him landing at St Mary’s were extremely thin. It was PSG who finally gave Ben Arfa a 2-year contract in hope to he could re-create his blistering form for the French champions. Unfortunately for HBA he has not been given a genuine chance by new boss Unai Emery to show his talent and is consistently left on the bench and given 10-minute cameos near the end of games or left out the matchday squad completely.

This is a sorry sight for Ben Arfa as his blatant talent is a crime to be wasted sat on the bench as he was arguably the best player in the whole of France last season, definitely the most exciting. If Claude Puel could rescue the skillful winger from his PSG slumber next season, or any other Premier League club, it would be a glorious site to see the lad in full flow again.

Ben Arfa had an amazing season in 2015/16 as he scored 18 goals in 34 games and had some of the best dribbling stats in Europe, he averaged 4 successful dribbles per game! Which is incredible.

Hatem Ben Arfa is one of the most exciting players in Europe. He must play football to entertain the world. We want him back in the Premier League. We want him back at Newcastle.

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Newcastle Have Just Made The Easiest £100 Million In Their History

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 17:21:00 GMT

Marseille have just announced the official permanent signing of Florian Thauvin for £10 million which tops up our 2016 transfer money received to a cool £100 million bag your £20 Free Bet AND Free £5 Bet every week with ToonBano.com Exclusive Partner William Hill HERE!

Sissoko, Wijnaldum, Townsend, Janmaat, Cisse, Cabella and now Thauvin have all signed for other clubs since pre season to take the edge off relegation and missing out on Premier League money. Throw on top Steven Taylor's £40k and Coloccini's astronomical £75k a week has also been stripped off the wage bill, it's not been bad business at all.

We have obviously invested a lot of that money back into squad with Ritchie and Gayle having decent size fees but investing it wisely has been the real genius behind our transfer work.

Promotion back to the Premier League looks well on course with a squad full of depth with quality in every position. Gayle out injured? Mitro will come in with a brace. Diame dropped? Perez will come in with a brace. Ritchie out? Atsu will come in to score a winner. Anita or Yedlin. Clark or Mbemba. Hayden or Colback. The list goes on.

In fact, our squad is so deep we have hardly seen the likes of Lazaar, Hanley or Murphy. All full internationals when fit. Amazing for a Championship club. Selling off the players that didn't care about out football club or were just expensive dead weight is the easiest £100 million we have ever made. Did you see £30 million Sissoko's performance for Spurs in the Champions league on Wednesday? Embarrassing.

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Newcastle First Choice Winger To Sign For Another Club In January?

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 17:49:00 GMT

Yoan Gouffran has been on fire this season. Our record with him in the side so far reads zero losses. Zero. This form has brought the attention of clubs around his native France, specifically Lille, as unfortunately for us his contract is set to expire at the end of the season. So with this, he can sign for any foreign club on a pre-contract in January and leave for free in the summer bag your £20 Free Bet AND Free £5 Bet every week with ToonBano.com Exclusive Partner William Hill HERE!

So Newcastle may even take the opportunity to sell him in January and get some money out of him. This is highly unlikely however as promotion is the be all and end all this year, so a million or two for him wouldn't do us any favours. Especially seeing how indispensable he is all of a sudden...who would have thought it?!

When he lost his squad number to Matt Ritchie before the season started, the writing looked on the wall for him to be on his way out. The determination he has shown to not just play his part in the squad but make the left wing position his own has been great to see and totally unexpected. Fair play to him.

He has put many ex-players who jumped ship almost immediately to shame...

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Unbelievable Story Of How Alex Ferguson Acting As Keith Gillespie's Agent Ripped Off Newcastle

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 10:50:00 GMT

Read an interesting story of the day when Keith Gillespie signed for Newcastle back in 1995. The Northern Irishman didn't have an agent at the time so his mentor and manager Sir Alex Ferguson acted on his behalf to negotiate his contract to sign for us. Don't miss out on your £20 Free Bet AND Free £5 Bet every week with ToonBano.com Exclusive Partner William Hill HERE!

Gillespie was on around £250 a week at Man Utd and when Newcastle agreed to sell them Andy Cole for £7million, Kevin Keegan insisted on having the flying winger as part of the deal. So when Keegan along with some Newcastle directors and Gillespie were set to meet to sort out his contract, Fergie went along too acting on behalf of his Class of '92 graduate.

The Scottish cheat was on top form once negotiations began as he blagged that Gillespie was on £600 a week. Not only this he managed to get our genius directors to stump up £1,200 a week in order to seal the deal. Unbelievable. You would think we were absolutely desperate to sell Cole to be fooled into such nonsense so easily.

So we lost Andy Cole and got ripped off on Gillespie. Whether this transfer was actually a good thing in the end is up for much debate on Tyneside. After all, without the sale of Cole we would not have brought in Ferdinand. The 95-96 season would never have happened and we wouldn't have had such great memories of Big Les dominating the Premier League to within a whisker of us being Champions. Plus everything that happened off the back of this like Asprilla's hat-trick with Gillespie being a major part of that game or Shearer choosing us over Man Utd for the next 10 years.

Then there's the other argument of, well we didn't win anything and Man Utd with Andy Cole in their side did end up as Champions in '96, he also went on score plenty of goals against us and who knows maybe Gillespie would have kept Beckham out of the team and the ex-England captain wouldn't be what he is today. Now there's a thought.

Pros and cons on both sides but fact is facts and what happened, happened. Good or bad.

What wasn't a fact was how much Fergie told us Gillespie was on and happily ripped us off. Fergie telling porky pies and getting away with it?...now there's a fact. Rafa would agree.

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Mitro's On Fire! This Is Rafa's Team To Burn Up Brentford Tomorrow!

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 16:38:00 GMT

We have had enough of Diame playing as the No.10 over past couple of months. He can't finish or create so what's the point?

Mitro has been chomping at the bit to get out there and play, so since he bagged a brace for Serbia the other day, Rafa must surely let him loose against Brentford.

The team below is capable of taking all 3 points and edging us closer to the top of the league!
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Christian Atsu scored the winner versus Rotherham so would be unlucky not to start, however Ritchie is first choice and Gouffran hasn't been on the losing side yet all season. That's some record.

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WATCH: Rafa Completely Burns Mitrovic In Training! But Will Start Him Tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (ToonBano) — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 15:41:00 GMT

Rafa got his skills out in training as he attempts to teach Mitro a thing a two on how to take somebody on. He pretty much burns him alive to the point Mitro's on fire...well, hopefully for Saturday! Don't miss out on your Free £20 Bet AND Free £5 Bet every week with ToonBano.com Exclusive Partner William Hill HERE!

Mitro scored a brace for the Serbs in International week so is red hot at the minute and raring to go, despite being mugged off by Rafa. Our Spanish boss will surely now release him into the wild against Brentford on Saturday as we finally play with two strikers on the pitch from the start.

We have been subjected to Diame playing in the hole for most of this season and it hasn't been a success, despite the team winning most games in the end. We currently sit 3rd in the league which isn't a great return after 11 games giving the poor standards of the Championship in relation to our squad.

Sticking Mitro up front with Gayle is surely the way forward from now on, especially at home....even if he gets burned now and again!

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