However we have at least gone about arranging fixtures early this year giving us a structure to pre-season and allowing fans around the world to be able to plan early if they wish to see Newcastle, especially fans in Germany or further afield in New Zealand.
For fans on Tyneside there is just one home pre-season friendly to consider with the most recently announced visit of Real Sociedad taking place on Sunday 10th August. If you fancy an away day before the season then you can always take a trip to Oldham (Tuesday 15th July), Sheffield Wednesday (Wednesday 30th July) or Huddersfield (Tuesday 5th August) but for any of the others you’re going to need a passport at the very least.
That’s because we play two games in New Zealand against Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix (Tuesday 22nd July and Sunday 26th July respectively) before taking part in a four team tournament in Gelsenkirchen where we’ll play two teams from West ham, Shalke and Malaga on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd August. The full fixture list is as follows.
| Date | Opposition | Kick-off (local time) | Venue |
| Tuesday 15th July | Oldham | 7:30pm | Boundary Park |
| Tuesday 22nd July | Sydney FC | 7:30pm | Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin |
| Sunday 26th July | Wellington Phoenix | 4:30pm | Westpac Stadium, Wellington |
| Wednesday 30th July | Sheffield Wednesday | 7:45pm | Hillsborough |
| Sat 2nd/Sun 3rd August | Schalke/Malaga/West Ham | TBC | VELTINS-Arena, Gelsenkirchen |
| Tuesday 5th August | Huddersfield | 7:45pm | John Smith’s Stadium |
| Sunday 10th August | Real Sociedad | 1:30pm | St James’ Park |
Please note that all kick-off times are local time so whatever times are decided for our two games in Germany just take an hour off and you’ll have the UK kick-off time which is easy enough but for the two games in New Zealand please bear in mind that they are 11 hours ahead of us so kick-off times here in the UK will be 8:30am and 5:30am respectively.
However there is a long way to go until pre-season and there are still many issues to sort out. In terms of United we have a huge strengthening task on our hands which will keep people occupied but on the grander scale there is the World Cup which is now just 19 days away. You can have a World Cup free bet if you fancy it and feel like getting in the mood by clicking on the link.
Keep this safe. Thanks for reading!
Sharpy – Yes I would. I think he’s a good player and just needs a team that trust him and give him a run of games.
In another note I see Spurs have got Pochettino from Southampton. Amazing the difference between a club just existing and a club like Spurs who’s actual aim is to be successful.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – yeah me too mate. I read today him saying that he didnt like playing on the left but was happy in front 3 playing the left channel. That would be ideal for us I reckon – especially if we did go with a 3 man midfield.
Stu – do you reckon poncho is leaving coz Saints have said they will be selling the likes of Lallana and Shaw?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy , yeah no worries, knew it was in fun mate.
So Saints lose their manager then, their fans won’t be happy given how well he’s done to date.
kIMTOON(Quote)
It’s going to be tough competing with the likes of Manchest C/UTD, Chelsea/Liverpool when we have less money. I’m being realistic when our chances of champions league football is a once in 100 chance. Money’s not always the best chance but our owner won’t even pay the going rate!
Terry(Quote)
Pochettino is probably leaving as he’s been told the owner has very little interest in the club, the better players will be sold and the club are really just existing until a new buyer comes along.
Sounds familiar 😯
Stuart79(Quote)
That could mean a mass exodus of players at Southampton gives us a chance of finishing above them next season .
STU & SHARPY i would love us to sign Welbeck add Townsend and we would be starting too look half decent upfront add Cabella or Grenier and someone like Finnbogasson and we would have real attacking intent and options . Doubt we would have a chance getting one of them though but i still havent stopped dreaming . 😆
AXEL(Quote)
Ashley is so cheap that realistically we should be in the championship .
Terry(Quote)
What about getting wor Chopra back now that he is out of favour everywhere else? A starting attack of an overweight Chopra and Cisse with a broken kneecap? Beautiful. 😆
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Will Spurs really improve with Pochettinno? I doubt it. Possibly their problems are higher up the chain of command?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Have we signed anyone yet? 😛
Newkie(Quote)
Axel – yeah that’s what I was thinking mate. If we were playing 4-3-3 I’d love to see Colback/Tiote/Sissoko with Welback/Gomis/Townsend up front.
If we were playing 4-2-3-1 we could swap Colback and put Grenier or Cabella in between Welbeck and Townsend. I could live with Finnbogason as well like.
Sharpy17(Quote)
G2 well he has done a cracking job with Southampton and if he is allowed to bring a few of their players with him i reckon he could kick them on . Not that i want that too happen ,their handling of Sherwood who did a good job was terrible and some of their fans think that as well . I hope they struggle because of it .
AXEL(Quote)
Yep, I go along with that Axel mate @237. Spurs just seem to spend a lot of money and spin their wheels. I don’t see them finishing higher than 5th or 6th next season but they have such a different attitude to challenging for top4 than we do. Why does that have to be the case?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Aaron Hunt has decided to stay in Germany and follow his old director of football from Werder Bremen to Wolfsburg. Pity really, he would have been a canny signing, and on a freebee too.
Munich Mag(Quote)
Munich – it would be interesting to know if we were ever in for him and if so, how hard I’d we try to get him in. Maybe he never fancied the PL, but I agree that he could have been a decent freebie
Sharpy17(Quote)
Cheap and Cheerful next season for us then ? No more expensive signing’s or flair players just out of contract players or someone at a knocked done price that’s going to set the league on fire.
Stem(Quote)
I think personally Ashley should be doing a lot more ? I don’t understand how weakening the team any further is going to help. Pardew was terrible at home with our team last season and Perez is the answer to our attacking problems ? Seriously it’s a lot different the premiership and many others have failed. Sidwell and Colback doesn’t excite either but it’s better than nothing.
Stem(Quote)
so apparently according too his agent we have offered Santon a new contract and he is happy at newcastle . First Colo staying now this ,is their a possibility that Ashley has woke up and smelled the coffee and is going too invest ? nah ,he probably was just feeling good after a big win at the casino but you never know miracles do sometimes happen.
AXEL(Quote)
If any of you like a bet see if your bookies will give you a price on byron moore who plays for crewe alexander moving to bradford in this transfer window ,byron is my sons best mate 😉
batty(Quote)
Batty – tell him to hang fire mate, he may get a call from Charnely yet 😉
Sharpy17(Quote)
Axel – it is a possibility that Ashley has decided to spend big. Not all the time just every now and then. However it would take inspired signings to get us up much higher. Even 7th looks beyond us at the minute. A touch of entertainment would do me.
Grenier
Richards
Djuricic
Bony or Michu
£45m or so. Seems bearable to me 😎
georgio(Quote)
I’ve said before that Southampton could be in trouble. It has worked perfectly for them because several of their top players actually broke into the team in the lower leagues and have grown with the club, while they stayed because Saints continued to progress through the leagues.
Now they’re in a sticky situation where they want to leave to CL teams and obviously Saints will be unable to replace them with the same quality. So they may well have a bigger squad next season but almost certainly their first 11 will be weakened. Then of course their manager might go and who will they get to replace him? Not likely to be a top class manager with their best players leaving. So making it harder to attract really good players.
We’ve all seen it before with a recently promoted club rising really high with some fantastic players and then plummeting…and it certainly can’t help with other staff jumping ship too.
Which is why I’ve been saying all along that we need stability at our club firstly and foremost. Boring though it is at the moment, it will set us in good stead for the future.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Be interesting to see how well Poch does at Spurs if he does go. You have to think he’s better than their most recent bunch, but a lot of their squad strike me as quite work shy as opposed to the Saints players he inherited. Southampton might be “In trouble” in terms of outgoings but no question they will recoup most of their 70 mil outlay in the last two years on only a couple of players.
Newkie(Quote)
As far as signings go…and assuming no players demand to leave:
– I think we’re ok at GK with Krul and Elliott with youth GKs too
– Ok at LB with Santon, Dummett and Hairdryer
– Need some cover at RB, will have to see if Tav is up to it
– I’d like to see the CBs refreshed with either Saylor or MYM moved on to make room
– Desperately need a playmaker in midfield to replace Cabaye
– Also really need more creativity to either replace HBA or take some of the focus from him if he plays
– And clearly we need to sign 2 strikers. In the mold of LDJ and Remy would be the right combo I think. Cisse, Goofy and maybe the youth can be the other options.
Early days in the transfer market though lads…not many clubs have announced signings yet and have any signings been made that we feel we should have been in for?
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
I see we are linked with a 17m offer for Lakaku! Be nice if it’s true!
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Aussie-if only! The regime would regain so much credibility if they could land a player of his calibre. Sadly we’ll probably offer about 10 mil before deciding he’s not worth it 🙂
Newkie(Quote)
TDS – we’ve had the stablity mate. In our case it’s stagnation though. I understand what you’re saying but in three years to rocket from 12th to 10th and then 5 wins in 21 games is a reasonable case for change. If it’s not to be the manager then what? We have too many ordinary workhorse footballers and they need changing for quality.
georgio(Quote)
Aussie – Lukaku? Did Troy tip you off about that one?
georgio(Quote)
Newkie, its true! I read it in the Daily Bullshitter! 😆 😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
TDS-Well, we should have been in for Remy, but I suppose given we didn’t pay 7 mil for him last Jan we were never going to pay double that this Jan! The only one of the high profile freebies I’d go for would be lescott to replace Saylor. Willo would be cover and Mapou could could rotate with Colo.
Newkie(Quote)
Georgio, if the proper papers can make up ****, why can’t I
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Aussie-that doesn’t narrow it down much 😆
Newkie(Quote)
GEORGIO
If you expect constant progression then you’re onto a hopeless dream there mate. Every other club in the PL would love to be in the position to challenge for those top 4 spots but there are 5 huge clubs competing for them before the rest of us even have a hope…
12th to 5th to 16th to 10th is hardly stable. It hardly tells young players and sponsors that we are a top PL club and here to stay does it? That’s what we need so we can sign a young player on a long contract and he is confident that we’re not going to get relegated and with a series of good signings we can push the CL teams in a few years.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
NEWKIE
Of course we were in for Remy! But he wants to play in the CL and who can blame him? I don’t believe it’s anything to do with the asking price in terms of transfer fee, he wants the CL, that’s all. And I don’t believe it had anything to do with the transfer price when he went to QPR either, didn’t they just offer silly wages?
Would be stupid to bend over and disrupt the squad wage structure just to accommodate one arrogant player. And look what happened to QPR…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
TDS-Were we though? I mean there were only murmurs of us trying for him when even back at the start of the season he was showing himself to be a class above Cisse but we didn’t really seem to be making arrangements for January. Obviously you can’t trust redknapp but he was saying we weren’t in for him – when really you’d think he’d be saying there was a lot of competition to up the price wouldn’t you?
By the end of the season it was too late for us, I just don’t see why we didn’t try earlier on to sort something out.
Newkie(Quote)
NEWKIE
No, I don’t trust Redknapp as far as I could throw him. He’s just a dodgy wheeler dealer.
Remy and his agent must have made it absolutely clear that they wanted to go to a CL club. QPR and Newcastle were just stepping stones for him to prove himself in a top league and earn that move. And Remy showed his greediness when he moved to QPR over us.
I don’t know why you’re looking at conspiracy theories here though…if you put yourself in Remy’s shoes, why would you want to discuss a move to a mid-table team when you’re free to wait and see if a move to a CL club comes up? It’s not relevant whether QPR would have accepted an offer, if I was Remy then I’d tell my agent to make it quite clear that I wanted to wait until the end of the season and see what happened.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
TDS-Possibly mate possibly, but as you say if he is greedy then surely we could have appealed to that greed? I just don’t think we were willing to offer much more than the 75k he was already on. That’s why he went to QPR in the first place. Fair enough in a way, but on the other hand if you want top talent, especially up front, then that is basically the going rate. If it were a choice between colo on 80k and Remy on 75 then I would easily take Remy, because of how desperate we are up top.
Newkie(Quote)
Southampton have £30m outstanding transfer fees to pay from last summer, A £40m installment on their new training ground which will likely eat up the money they receive for Pochetino, Lallana, Shaw and Lovren.
Their squad wasnt great last season but they got really lucky with injuries or they would have been reliant on knackers like Guly, Yoshida, Hoiveld, Fox and Kelvin Davis
CC(Quote)
NEWKIE
£75k at QPR you mean? Well, no…I don’t think we were prepared to offer more than that. After all, that would surely shatter our wage structure if we were to offer £100kpw+ and there aren’t many clubs in the PL who are willing to offer than kind of money.
Beyond Colo who is the next highest earner at our club? I’d be surprised if it was beyond £50kpw to be honest…
I reckon Remy’s agents will be telling him he’ll get £100kpw+ to be honest and how many PL clubs will offer that? Not Everton and I don’t think Spurs either so possibly just the top 5…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
CC
They effectively spent this year’s TV money last summer to ensure they stayed up and didn’t then lose their top players for pittance. It worked well for them but like you say, things aren’t as rosy there as some NUFC fans like to think.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Just noticed something…it’s funny how we’re writing off our youngsters when they hit 20 or 21 and they haven’t broken into our first team.
Lallana said that 4 years ago (when he was 22), he was playing in League One and watched the World Cup with his mates. Now he’s playing in the World Cup and he’s subject to a huge bid from CL Liverpool. So surely it’s too early for fans to write off players like Tav or Campbell. Hopefully the coaches will make the right decisions of who to release and who to keep…and hopefully we don’t release players who turn out like Shearer or Carrick…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
TDS-Of course, we could have saved ourselves that trouble if we’d just offered Ba 75k a week and got that clause out of his contract early enough, that was only a 25k increase on what he was on. Instead we’ll be looking to pay two large-ish transfer fees and the same kind of money, or more, to replace someone with his/Remy’s quality.
Newkie(Quote)
NEWKIE
From what I heard we did offer Ba that kind of money to take the clause away but he refused. I’m not sure why you think players like Ba and Remy would want to commit their long-term future to a team that has only small prospects of getting into the CL in the next few years. We’re a stepping stone club on a similar level to Everton and Spurs…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
TDS-Loic Remy signed a 4 1/2 year deal with QPR with apparently no buyout clause. That’s a pretty long term commitment. Demba Ba signed for 3 years with us which perhaps isn’t so long, but after his poor second half of the season – when everyone in the world new about his low release clause in the summer – not one team went for him. We could have signed him up cheap on the back of those performances and even Ba might have been grateful for the guaranteed salary. But we dithered and once he hit form again, people were interested and gave him a little more dosh (90k) on what would have been fair (75k)
I’m not sure either of them are overly fussed about champions league over wages to be honest. They will always say “great team, champions league, history, support” etc when the reality is, those are the teams that can “afford” them.
Newkie(Quote)
Marseille are usually champ league regulars while QPR are championship regulars at best, yet Remy moved there. Solely because of the money. It didn’t really “advertise” him all that better – we did that for him – and we wanted him from when he was back in france anyway, not after playing for QPR!
Newkie(Quote)