Manchester City v Newcastle – Premier League match preview

City v The real United
City v The real United
There are still many questions to be answered regarding this Newcastle United team, and in truth there will still be questions regardless of the result at the Etihad Stadium on Monday.

A game away at title-chasing Manchester City is perhaps not the best way to start the season, although on the other side of the coin it does at least get it out of the way early doors.

As you might be able to tell from that last bit I’m not exactly hopeful of picking up a result in Manchester but that doesn’t mean I’d be happy to see us go through the motions like we always seem to do against City. This group of players, lack of investment aside, were not great last season and now they have to set about showing that they justify the hype surrounding them.

From players to manager to those above, questions need answering. Are the players we have good enough? Is the manager good enough? Was 5th place the fluke or was 16th due to exceptional circumstances? Will we ever sign anyone ever again on a permanent basis? So many questions, but at least now they can start to be answered.

Manchester City:

Matija Nastasic will miss the game after picking up an ankle injury during pre-season whilst Carlos Tevez and Kolo Toure have now departed the Etihad and (obviously!) won’t face us. However City have spent in the region of £90 million this close season on bringing in Alvaro Negredo, Stevan Jovetic, Jesus Navas and Fernandinho so they aren’t shy of a few replacements.

Newcastle:

Loan signing Loic Remy is absent with a calf injury while Davide Santon also misses out. Jonas Gutierrez is doubtful with hamstring strain. Mehdi Abeid, Shane Ferguson, Adam Campbell and James Tavernier have all been loaned out so aren’t available for consideration.

Previously…

City done the double over us last season winning 3-1 at St James’ Park and 4-0 at the Etihad which isn’t exactly anything to get excited about.

When we’re away from home against City we historically tend to suffer. There have been 78 games played at Manchester City’s various homes over the years with the Citizens coming out on top on 41 occasions compared to just 21 victories for United.

Overall though we do still hold an advantage when you consider games played home and away. Newcastle have notched up 66 victories compared to 56 for City with 36 draws making up the numbers. Remarkably goals scored between the two sides is almost identical with United finding the back of the net 233 times compared to City’s 223 goals scored against us.

Match stats and facts:

United last beat City almost eight years ago in September 2005 with Michael Owen scoring the goal on that occasion. We’ve faced each other 13 times since.

City have recorded seven straight victories against us. The last time we managed to avoid defeat against City was when Joe Kinnear was in charge of football managing matters.

United’s first away Premier League fixture of the season has resulted in nine defeats, five draws and five victories from 19 games.

Final thought…

After the way last season went, and seeing how the summer has gone, my final thought is how high can I count such is my lack of optimism regarding this game. I expect us to get nothing so if we get something it will be a bonus for me. That doesn’t mean that a lack of effort is allowed. If we lose to the better team on the day then that’s fine so long as I cans see we’ve given it a go and haven’t turned up thinking we’re going to lose before a ball is kicked. As a fan I might think that, but I’m also not paid tens of thousands of pounds a week to give 100% and be professional.

Still, I might be pleasantly surprised.

Howay the lads!

Date: Monday, 19th August, 2013

Time: 8:00pm

Venue: The Etihad Stadium

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

243 thoughts on “Manchester City v Newcastle – Premier League match preview

  1. STEM
    August 19, 2013 at 13:19

    I don’t know anyone who expected another top 6 finish last season, especially after our **** poor transfer window last summer.

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  2. Prem – I understand and appreciate his value which is why I feel that if he left it would be a natural progression for him.

    I do think however his head has been turned somewhat and if a £30m bid came it would have to be contemplated.

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  3. Pardew said that financial fair play has done nothing for NUFC. The thing is even if another billionaire buys the club we have to make a profit. The big teams like City and Chelsea have so much spending power, it’s not a fair sport anymore.

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  4. Liam. Not saying we should not sell him, but I would not actively look to sell him. Interesting to see if he play’s tonight or suffers a minor knock in training.

    What value would you take for him

    My opinion is that we are close to our limit in terms of squad wages, hence the problem with the Gomis deal. Goslings fell through. The lump side of it interms of interclub fees is irrelevant.

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  5. Would it bother NUFC if some billionaire spent 400 million to advertise the stadium ??? if the money was spent on players and wages

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  6. He’s worth £25Mill imo.
    He was the best defensive midfielder 11/12
    His scoring record improved last year to 1 in 4.
    Last year he had injury problems, and allegedly was suffering from depression.
    He is one of our players that you know if sold to a big club would shine.
    If they offer that amount we should take it and run. No faffing about for an extra few million. We need to take it, and spend it on replacements immediately.
    I would probably leave centre mid to Anita/Tiote/Sissoko/Gosling/Bigi/(Jonas). I’d use the money on a quality winger and a decent young striker.

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  7. the champions league is lots of money, compared to u.e.f.a. most clubs have had a 10 year head start on us. champions league football seems to be a 1 in 20 year chance for us.

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  8. @Stem
    He’s arguably the most complete midfielder we’ve ever had.
    If we can keep him we should. If it’s inevitable, get rid now.

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  9. Tweets

    George Caulkin ‏@CaulkinTheTimes 2m
    Arsenal have made a bid of £10m for Yohan Cabaye. Dismissed as “derisory” by #Nufc and will be rejected if it hasn’t already.

    Wankers ,they can f off ,cheapskates ,his market value is £15m

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  10. Prem – Couldnt agree with you more. Cabayes got to be one of the higher paid players for sure.

    Arsenal would be a big draw for him and if they were to offer £20m + you would have to think it could be accepted.

    Ashley is no mug though and will wait for PSG to come in with their millions to force a deal.

    I would much rather PSG got him I would understand that more and cabaye wouldnt go unless arsenal are guaranteed champs league and that isnt exactly nailed on.

    We could also try and pick up Sahko and Menez as part of any deal.

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  11. solano, I think cabaye is just speculation. I would like him to stay but it’s Ashley that would sale him. No doubt about it. If we get a striker and a winger in and Ashley walks away with half the cash.

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  12. Are arsenal in for publicity stunts this window?

    £10m? Unsettling a player for that kind of bid. If I was Cabaye I would tell them to get stuffed.

    Devalued or what; at least blanc said he loves him….

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  13. Solano – I do wonder if we underestimate the depression aspect of it. He may be homesick etc but I remember him saying pards helped him a lot… if that is the case that should not be discounted either

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  14. Liam ,it’s a **** take ,and I would think it will unsettle him a it too .All on a match day too 👿

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  15. @Liam
    Yeah I would like to think that it’s not something that would be lied about.
    Fair play for battling on and still trying to put in a shift
    I hope he doesn’t leave as he has world class potential that is waiting to be unlocked.

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  16. bradman

    August 19, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    Somes Wenger up this. blind to where the problems lie unless Cabaye can double as a keeper centre half or defensive midfielder and then knock in 25 a season up front. No thanks

    says one Arsenal fan

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  17. Thought he was supposed to be Asley’s favourite player. If so he won’t let him go cheap

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  18. Simon

    August 19, 2013 at 2:00 pm

    No. He’s not good enough. Spend double. And then spend another £70m on top and we might make. Top 4. We should then go into the market and secure Klopp as manager for next year for whatever that costs. He will need another £70m then.

    says another

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  19. GDeb ,I would think this might put JFK’s special friendship with Arsene under severe pressure 😆 ,Maybe that’s why Arsene thinks he can get a cheap deal. 🙄 😳

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  20. if they got £15 million for him & reinvested the money (on top of all the other millions that should be being spent in this window) then i’d let him go.

    but the fatman can’t be trusted – so he needs to stay.

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  21. Another Gooner comment ,more realistic

    eddie

    August 19, 2013 at 2:26 pm

    What is going on ?????????? 12m for Cabaye is a joke the guy is worth between 20-25m. I’ve been a gooner all my life and love our club, but what the f==k is going on ????? I’ve never before agreed with the wenger boo-boys but I now have to say he’s no longer the man for us. I hate writing this but enough is enough, power or whatever has clearly gone to his head and rendered him incapable of leading us forward. Yes the board share the blame, they run our beloved Arsenal like a bunch of muppets or worse they are running it exactly how they want it run. Seeing Lady B-S saying she wished she hadn’t sold to the yank ***** is very very telling. How can anyone still support this, in business this approach is akin to a corporate buy-out where the new owners come in and asset strip their new acquisition. I couldn’t believe it reading that in the last 20 years Arsenal have spend a little over 20m on signings compared to Chelsea’s 615m +
    So when us gooners say Spend some F==king money, we’re right DO IT NOW !
    Why won’t Wenger just pay he price for a player and offer the right wages to attract the best, its disgusting !
    Wenger says he wants quality – so f–king pay the right money then
    look at who we could have had:

    Suarez
    Higuain
    Fellaine
    Benteke
    Rooney
    Falcao ?
    Gustavo
    Bender
    Williams
    Michu (not good enough in my opinion)
    Wanyama
    Luis ?
    Eto
    Willian
    etc etc etc

    Any of these players would make our first team
    what more bollocks do we have to put up with, if we go out of the CL on Wednesday, thats it, they ALL should resign.
    Put the fat Uzbek in, how can he be any worse than what we already have ??????????????

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  22. Derisory bid solely to unsettle him and get him kicking a fuss up at his current club, If we hadn’t used that tactic so many times id be outraged…

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  23. Ryder is saying we’re gunna ask for 30m for Cabaye, that should deter the southern wankers 😡 . Arsenal have signed f-ck all and lost to villa and yet we’re the team that’s crumbling 🙄 . Pundits have Pardew as fav to be 1st sacking, but my money is on Wenger (would actually make Alan the longest serving PL manager 😕 ).

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  24. Wouldn’t be surprised if they let him go for about £17m. Then they can promote Gosling who’s looked canny for the reserves.

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  25. If starting the season away to Man City isn’t hard enough….

    This lot of p*sstaking b*stards have come in for our best player hours away from our first game. It’s the timing of it that’s got me.

    However, no one can really moan from our club (Pardew) as that’s exactly the same way we bid for players!

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  26. Andymag – why are NUFC fans jumping on the “Arsenal are ****” bandwagon?

    Shall I remind you that we have bought no one yet on the back of a season we were almost relegated?

    Bit naïve of NUFC fans to slate Arsenal.

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  27. @Georgio
    I wouldn’t necessarily mind selling him. Feeling similar to R Cropper though, would we spend?
    New players in positions needed > Cabaye > No Cabaye and £25 mill.

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  28. BigPapa
    Mate, all I was saying was that the media have been slating us all summer and yet we’ve made more progress in the transfer market than Arsenal and they were well beaten on Saturday by a side that was almost relegated (closer even than us 😯 ). That’s not justify our rubbish window though.

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  29. I absolutely despise Pardew.

    WIsh he would **** OFF the man’s a Goon!!

    In the past couple of weeks, his Shitometer must be going through the roof!

    We have heard “wanting to challenge for Europe” “Can’t compete with the Top4” “Hoping to bridge the gap at City” “team’s as fit as ever” “Happy with Squad” “”HOPING for a new striker”.

    6 months after selling BA over a few quid, “Hoping”… really?

    And finally on Kinnear “It’s going OK, he’s dealing with transfers, and, so far, everythings gone OK”

    -He must be the only person in THE WORLD who believes Kinnears doing OK
    -How can any manager that has only signed one player, use a word as weak as ‘hoping’.
    -Saying that he is happy with a squad that is quite frankly one of the poorest in the league and, in the same breath admitting we need to keep up with Saints, Swans, Hammers.

    No balls. Say it as it is you clueless buffoon.

    Jonas, Tiote and Saylor to start tonight in the same predictable, defensive-minded way we nearly got relegated last year Cheers Alan!

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  30. Andymag

    we haven’t made more progress than arsenal 😯

    theyve signed a first team player to a multi year contract (yves sanogo)

    weve signed a player on loan

    they can have cabaye for 20 million (not that it will be put back into club)

    i feel sorry for him, pards doesn’t know how to play him and our club is a joke at moment. maybe he will excel at le ****

    plus give anita and gosling a chance to show what they can do

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  31. bigpapa

    why be angry? 🙄

    until MA leaves this is all we have – no point havin heart attack over it 😛

    this is what ive realised

    its very very sad but no point being angry anymore 🙁

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  32. @BigPapa
    Ok.
    You are Pardew. What would you say:
    1) Where do you expect to finish?
    2) How is your working relationship with Joe Kinnear?
    3) How important is a new striker? If you don’t get one can the current strikers do a sufficient job?
    4) Was Europe a detriment to last season?
    5) Only 3 of your first team players had more than 25 starts last year. Is keeping the bulk of the team injury-free as important as new signings?

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  33. Andymag – cool, it just seems like everyones forgetting how appallingly pathetic we have become as a Club and yet fans are mocking Arsenal. I would love to have there manager, stadium, money, players etc..

    Look at some of the deals we ‘like’ to do, somehow found out about Cabaye’s clause, Ben Arfa striking, Maiga striking, bidding 2 mill for Bent, lying about deals.

    I’m only angry about the timing because it was only ever a matter of time before a Club “tries it on” as we like to..

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  34. I thought the anti-Pard schtick had been put to bed for now. The doom mongers were right, if he leaves – Joe Kinnear time. At least Pardew’s chat is understandable. Kinnear’s is just utter bollocks.
    Pardew has still slightly over-performed in his role here.
    10/11 – kept us up even though post-Carroll, most the fans expected relegation.
    11/12 – most fans think we weakened the squad – vastly over performed
    12/13 – most fans think we weakened the squad – vastly under performed
    13/14 – deal breaker.

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  35. cheers ST; bit of fun this, just going to write the ‘basic’ repsonses he could of gave instead of his contradictory BS.

    Here goes….

    1) (The Europe thing was only an issue in the context of things, this Club should be set up to challenge Europe every season. He should be saying something like) “We need a couple of faces to genuinely challenge for Europe, at the moment we’re aiming about 9-10th”.

    2) On Kinnear, it seems he’s already ***-licking personally, “Joe’s here to work on the transfers, so far we haven’t got the bodies we needed, Joe’s already said they were close so you’ll have to ask Joe that”.

    3) Again I’m more bothered about a decent winger to help Ben Arfa out and take the pressure off him, “We have a striker in mind (Gomis) we’re determined to get”. However Remy Cisse Gouffran and Shola is not bad if we get a winger in. Still poor at CB, and No.10.

    4) The Europe should of been squashed last year as to be successful you have to play more games. But we obviously don’t know that.

    5) (I personally didn’t know that) but instead of saying **** like “some of our players have more motivation this year”…. why can’t he just say some of them weren’t good enough, or he failed to get the best out of them.

    I guess, to me it seems Pardew is happy for the pat on the back for 5th, but the last man to blame when we’re almost relegated.

    May have rumbled on about somethings but the man is so full of **** and I hate people who lie to peoples faces and he’s lieing to us. This is a man who know his next job is a massive step down from here.

    It’s like taking a load of **** of a bird because she’s fit and your a minger!

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  36. 10-12M is the kind of bid for Cabaye that WE would make. Who do they think they are?!?

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  37. Andy – we are staying about a mile away from Carrick between Gatehouse of Fleet and Kirkcudbright (which is where we’ve been today) nee pubs with footy on though :sad:.
    Really beautiful corner of the world though and the boy and pup are having a great time.

    Kim – I love that post from the gooner. It’s nice to know that another group of fans feel our pain. I always used to like Arsenal but the way they celebrated last game of the season like they won the bloody league – it would be rough justice if they didnt get through the CL and didn’t recruit (like us)

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  38. Sharpy
    Very nice, not familiar with that area myself but there are some really nice places to holiday in the country.
    DIFSB
    Who’s their first team player cus its hardly revolutionised their team? Remy will have a big impact on our squad and will improve our attack and if he’s cleared of his convictions (probably will) then we will sign him in Jan. That’s not to say we still don’t need to do business.

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  39. (Big papa’s reply to Pardew’s answers… 😉 )

    1) Challenge for Europe? Europe is 5th, if Pardew honestly thinks that this squad plus a couple can make 5th place then he is dafter than I thought, we only just survived relegation last year!

    2) Yeah that’s right, pass the buck. Pardew reminds me of someone on a sinking ship, eyes closed, fingers in ears. Pretending it’s all not happening.

    3) So he’s happy with 1 proven striker? What happens if Remy gets found guilty and Cisse gets injured? “determined to get him”, yeah Pardwho, so determined it’s been 2 months and we’ve signed only one player on loan.
    Why would he say we are poor at CB?! That’s really going to keep the morale of people like Willo and Saylor up.

    4) ?

    5) He can blame the players all he likes, he has to start taking the blame himself.

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  40. Pardew is damned whatever he says.
    I actually think managing the media is one of his strong points.
    The last couple of years have given the media so much ammo, yet we haven’t had as sustained abuse as usual.

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  41. So something in the neighbourhood of 10M for Cabaye? That’s not a very expensive neighbourhood. Surely we won’t sell him for that. Arsenal seem to be losing the plot quickly. Wenger can’t put together a decent defense. He hasn’t had one for years now. No sympathy from me. They make huge amounts of money but won’t spend it (sound familiar?).

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  42. The article about financial fair play rules is very interesting but one thing it doesn’t go into is what are the consequences of being above the limit of 52M in wages per year? Is that really correct? And if there are no real consequences then it’s pointless. And surely Man City are already far above that limit? They weren’t mentioned in that article either. The rules will only matter if they have teeth. Barring a club from Europe for breaking them for example. So far I see no desire for that to happen from the regulatory bodies.

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  43. Andy – some of my favourite holidays as a kid were up in Scotland so want the boy to have similar memories. We’re just along from Stranraer on the south west coast.

    Prem – good read that like, I bet Pards sometimes wishes he could go back to non league and get away from all the pressures of the PL.
    I totally agree with him that we done some great business in Jan and the squad looks alot better this Sept than last Sept. But we are probably 3-4 players off having a really solid squad and that’s the frustration for me like. If we can bring 5 in in Jan, how/why are we failing so miserably to get those 3 in in the summer – when the likes of Norwich, Swansea, Saints and WHU all manage.

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  44. Solano 😆

    Now now, just because I get along with Dave these days doesn’t mean I share any of his doom and gloom neggartivity 😀

    I’m bored of the whole Pardew debate now, even if we won tonight I wouldn’t mind him getting sacked if it gave everyone else something to talk/moan about.

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  45. G2 the limit isn’t £52m. That’s a threshold. Clubs above that such as ourselves and City have to limit the annual growth in wages by a fixed amount £4m per year. So our spending this season can only grow by £4m over last season. In other words ours goes up from say £60m to £64m whilst city goes up from £200m to £204m. By bringing in the players in January we inflated our wages by a chunk so that we can then add £4m on top of that. eg Remy and Gomis. Selling squad players frees up their wages also. When the Gosling deal collapsed that put the stop on other potential deals. I think that this means that the £60m to spend argument is rubbish because we can’t afford to pay the wages of £60m worth of new players. Selling Cabaye obviously releases his wages which might then enable a couple of other players to come in. The wont pay big fees argument is a myth. we put in top bids for PEA etc.

    Smaller clubs can spend their £60m with gusto and bring their wage bill up to £52m without penalty. However they still have to demonstrate sustainable income, and god help them if they go down.

    The effect of this is that weak are catching up with the likes of Us and the big clubs are being capped. but they are so far out of sight that it makes no real difference. It does however explain some of the oddness about this window.

    As to whether it has teeth or not may be irrelevant as it should be self regulating. Testing the boundaries will probably go unpunished and would make little difference. A major busting of the rules would throw that club into a massive danger of going bankrupt. or at least doing a Leeds.

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  46. No idea Ice according to twitter Cabaye is in Arsenal having a medical already so i woudlnt worry until official news comes out.

    PS

    Is it just me or does anyone think our 4th kit looks amazing wonga sticker and all? Best looking kit we have had in years

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  47. Prem @212, Your post is very interesting mate ,my only question is ,the likes of spurs surely don’t generate more income than us as thy don’t get in the CL on a regular basis ,also Swansea ,Norwich same applies 😕 yet they are spending cash on players .Even if teams are rich in owner enough to do this they still have to pay the wages ,so I don’t get it .West Ham are a classic example of this ,they are supposed to be skint yet sign expensive players and pay good wages (see Carroll). I’m more confused than ever.

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  48. Santi ,are you on about the Bobby Robson members kit ? if so then yes it’s very cool I agree.

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  49. Kim aye Half black half white one didn’t know it was anything to do with Robson just thought it was a members only kit.

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  50. Short answer is Spurs generate about £165m pa we generate about £100. they are the smallest of the big 6 with Liverpool next at about £250m

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  51. I can understand ,Citeh ,Chelsea ,Manure, Pool and Arsenal generating that ,but I would of thought the rest would be on a par or lower than us like.

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  52. With every season i think Spurs are growing. They are the best ran club in the country with a perfect balance between selling and buying.

    Apparently they have one of the largest waiting lists to get season tickets and have a very good average attendance (percentage of course)

    I know some of the spurs fans have been accusing Levy of being a tight **** but Mike Ashley should get on the phone to him and get some tips.

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