Top 10 moments of the Magpies’ 2016/17 Championship season

What a year it’s been. There’s been ups and downs but Rafa and his men have pulled through, not only gaining automatic promotion back to the Premier League but winning the title in the process.

Here we look at the defining and memorable moments of Newcastle United’s 2016/17 campaign, telling the story of our Championship winning season:

Bristol City away – the first of many away wins

After losing 2 of our opening 3 games in the league, August’s trip to Ashton Gate was a big test of our promotion credentials. It wasn’t pretty but Dwight Gayle’s goal handed us a precious 0-1 win, proving to be the first of many gritty away wins.

Newcastle 2-0 Brighton – the start of our surge

A battle of the two title contenders and one we won with flying colours thanks to goals from Jamaal Lascelles and Jonjo Shelvey. It marked our third successive win in the league and ended Brighton’s unbeaten start to the campaign.

With Newcastle winning the league by just a point, the importance of this win isn’t lost on me – even if it was so early in the season.

QPR 0-6 Newcastle – statement of intent

Newcastle’s September hammering of QPR sent a message to the Championship. An outstanding display, seeing us win our 5th straight game in the league and consolidate our spot in the automatic promotion places.

A sparkling performance by midfield maestro Jonjo Shelvey, who’s second half strike will go down as one of the goals of the season.

The comeback of champions that killed off the Canaries

With 2 minutes to play we were 3-2 down to 2nd place Norwich and as it stood, they were set to move 7 points clear of us.

Goals in the 95th and 96th minute from Gouffran and Gayle sealed an incredible comeback, sending St. James’ Park into mass hysteria. Norwich were genuine promotion rivals at the time and this dealt them a blow they never recovered from.

Leeds 0-2 Newcastle – putting the contenders in their place

September’s trip to Elland Road saw the eagerly anticipated clash of two sleeping giants. It was a sell out and Gary Monks resurgent Leeds were fired up, hoping to get one over the league leaders.

It was a professional display that saw us move 5 points clear at the top and put promotion pushing Leeds in their place.

 

Battling win at Brentford – a crucial win in a bad month for the Magpies

After a dismal home defeat to Blackburn at the start of January the win at Brentford was huge. Dwight Gayle limped off in the first half, but Daryl Murphy’s late goal secured a vital 3 points in a time of need.

Not only had we lost our place at the top of the Championship, January was a frustrating month off the pitch as Benitez grew tired at the lack of transfer activity. Looking back, this was massive.

Newcastle 2-0 Aston Villa – revenge against newfound rivals

They mocked our relegation and equalised late on when we met at Villa Park earlier in the season, so this win was enjoyed immensely – also seeing us return to the top of the table and 7 points clear of 3rd.

To top things off, Henry Lansbury sealed the win with an own goal to make it 2-0. A priceless moment given his antics contributed to a contentious defeat at Nottingham Forest earlier in the season.

Brighton & Huddersfield away – our toughest test passed with flying colours

Two incredible away results in a period tipped to make or break our season. We came from behind to beat table topping Brighton at the Amex, followed by another monumental effort just 4 days later, defeating high flying Huddersfield 3-1.

It had all the makings of the week from hell, yet we emerged with two huge wins that took us 5 points clear of Brighton in 2nd and 11 clear of Huddersfield in 3rd.

Timely back to back home wins against Wigan and Burton

After our heroics at Huddersfield, we hit a wall and were 3 without a win, seeing our grip on the title and top 2 loosen.

We hand’t won back to back home games in 13 attempts since 2013 and faced up against relegation threatened Wigan and Burton. They looked like two very winnable fixtures, but given the stakes, the edgy atmosphere and our form at the time, 6 points was anything but a formality.

We weren’t at our best but ground out two vital victories that week to steady the ship after a period of struggle. Matt Ritchie was the hero once again, sealing wins in both games with second half strikes.

Given we picked up just one point in our next two against Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday, the importance of these two victories can’t be underestimated.

Promotion against Preston and frantic final day

Sealing promotion in a 4-1 win over Preston was a special night at St. James’. The title looked a long shot at this stage, but there was a feeling of mission complete and a sigh of relief amongst supporters, as Newcastle appeared to be doing their best to throw promotion away after a dismal defeat at Ipswich last time out.

After a string of Brighton defeats, the final day of the season saw us in with a surprise chance of winning the title. We did our jobs in a convincing 3-0 win over Barnsley, but had to better Brighton’s result to be crowned Champions.

Just as Dwight Gayle scored Newcatle’s third, news filtered in that Aston Villa had equalised at the death, creating scenes of joy and jubilation at St. James’ – we were the champions!

An incredible final day and the icing on the cake of a fantastic season.

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

75 thoughts on “Top 10 moments of the Magpies’ 2016/17 Championship season

  1. cheers Olly, very nice round up of a tough season. Pundits can say what they want but the best team won in the end. Most goals, least conceded, most wins and most points end of. Why no one is talking about the fact that Brighton blew it when 7 points clear is beyond me, still I guess it’s more fun to have a go at us. 🙄

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  2. kimtoon:
    cheers Olly, very nice round up of a tough season. Pundits can say what they want but the best team won in the end. Most goals, least conceded, most wins and most points end of. Why no one is talking about the fact that Brighton blew it when 7 points clear is beyond me, still I guess it’s more fun to have a go at us.

    Why oh why do media/clubs love to have a go at us I can never understand why,yes jabba is a sort of bloke everyone scratches their head at some of the things he does or not do but the fans have done nothing but support the club through thick and thin,mostly thin,good job we are thick skinned and don’t give a stuff.
    Liked the thread Olly we have had ups and downs but ended with a up

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  3. Storey going round jabba is at the Benton trading having talks with Rafa,even Eric’s mate Ryder is quoting it on his Twitter site

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  4. funrafa:
    Any news about the meeting? It is what I care the most at the moment.

    Nothing yet but one things for sure if it’s bad news it will break dam quick

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  5. Icedog: Nothing yet but one things for sure if it’s bad news it will break dam quick

    LOL, so no news is good news, I guess.

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  6. Rafa is a sensible and rationale bloke. He won’t be asking for a transfer budget he knows the club can’t afford.
    We went through our time of having to balance the books – and perhaps as **** as it was, it was maybe needed. Look at Bburn, Villa & now Sunderland – there’s nothing to say we would have went that way, but I think it was entirely possible personally.

    Commercially, we are a smaller club than the likes of Lpool, Chelsea & Madrid. But we can still give him a decent kitty – the big thing I think will be the money from the player sales. That will be the sticky wicket I think, with the thought of Ashley’s remit being ‘buy young & cheap, sell big, turn a profit’.
    Rafa will get that he may need to sell a player or two to generate the money to strength the squad – similar to Spurs & Everton – but he will not settle for Newcastle being a stepping stone or feeder club – similar to Saints.

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  7. It depends on Jabba’s ambition I suppose. Rafa has already said that they must share the same ambition. That is to win a trophy and try and get to the level of top 6 then top 4. He’s not stupid enough to expect billions but if he gets a competitive budget he will back himself to get us as competitive as possible. Why can’t we do a Spurs? They’ve not broke the bank but they’ve got a fantastic coach who bought players and then improved them. Everton haven’t exactly thrown cash about but they’re up in 7th. It can be done if you have a great coach with contacts and experience. But he will need a decent budget regardless.

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  8. Stu – Spurs sold afew players like Modric, Keane, Berbatov and of course Bale – but that money was recycled and good players added.
    Everton sold players like Rooney, Fellani and Stones to fund their development.
    I don’t think Rafa would mind that too much as he’s been in football long enough to know that’s how it works.
    But if he thought these players were being sold to pay of Ashley’s loans or line his pockets – see ya!!.

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  9. They show every Juventus game here in the US and I have watched quite a few. They keep a lot of clean sheets but, and this will sound like heresy, Buffon has slowed down and could be the weak link in the CL final. His positioning is still perfect but his reactions and athleticism are no longer there. It is like watching the final years of David Seaman.

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  10. Moving on to Stan Collymore saying we need to get the experienced (geriatric) PL players in. I have two words for him. Sol. And… Campbell.

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  11. Here’s a prediction. We will be in the bottom 3 in Lawrenson’s prediction league. Some people keep track of the league table according to his weekly predictions and I think Liverpool are currently 7 points clear at the top.

    What we need is to get a few of these ex-Liverpool and Arsenal players off our screens. They can’t help themselves, they are biased. The same is now happening with Man Us “class of ’92”. It is time we had some fairer punditry.

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  12. Agree Sharpy. If we get big offers for players (and I mean big offers) they should be sold if it means all the money goes to squad improvement that is building to something. Previously it was just our plan to buy cheap and sell – regardless. We need to build something and only way we can do that is with cash and clever dealings.

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  13. Eric Sykes:
    Moving on to Stan Collymore saying we need to get the experienced (geriatric) PL players in. I have two words for him. Sol. And… Campbell.

    Eric – Colly has taken a bit of stick for his suggestion, but to be fair the 3 players he offered were Defoe, Cesc and Terry.
    Well Defoe has already suggested on here. Cesc – I would take in a heartbeat!!. Terry probably has another season in him, and Bmth were chasing him. I wouldn’t want him at the toon though, can’t stand the bloke.

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  14. Sharpy: Cesc is 30 and on about double our highest wage earner. Defoe I would take because he is on a free. Terry would want 6 figures a week as well because he could certainly get that in China with his name recognition. Collymore is suggesting players and not considering the wage. The pundits do it all of the time. They forget that most clubs have wage structures.

    I would take Cesc as well but we cannot afford him. The transfer fee being talked about is 30 million for a 30 year old. With Ashley in charge, Collymore is living in a dreamworld.

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  15. Just read some stats on promoted and relegated teams to the PL. This surprised me a bit, but two thirds of the promoted teams survive their first season. That should be good news for us because we will certainly be the best financed of the promoted teams unless the Fatman laid down the law yesterday.

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  16. ime With SHARPY on Terry cannot stand the greedy big headd git,charging fans a £1000 each to look round the club until he was caught hes a to-rag,dont like the way things were covered up on the trouble he was in a few times at night clubs trying to keep his nose clean while in the England set up

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  17. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy: Cesc is 30 and on about double our highest wage earner. Defoe I would take because he is on a free. Terry would want 6 figures a week as well because he could certainly get that in China with his name recognition. Collymore is suggesting players and not considering the wage. The pundits do it all of the time. They forget that most clubs have wage structures.

    I would take Cesc as well but we cannot afford him. The transfer fee being talked about is 30 million for a 30 year old. With Ashley in charge, Collymore is living in a dreamworld.

    Eric – I know this is me talking what I would rather and not what I think we will do – But I would rather spend 30m on a 30yr old Cesc, than £20m on a 26yr old James McCarthy.
    I think we would get more for him in a 3yr contract than out of McCarthy on a 5yr contract – but you are right about the wages and that would keep players of his quality out of contention for us.

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  18. Interesting thoughts Eric and Sharpy.
    The question is – why would Fabregas want to come to us? Obviously we’d all love it but personally I think he’ll want more Champions League.
    I keep reading talks with Ashley have taken place but zilch on outcomes. Bit strange.

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  19. Georgio – I agree. I see Cesc at a CL
    club abroad or one of our top 6.

    Apparently Ashley whisked Rafa off on a chopper ride last night. That either means talks went well & were finished quickly for a sight seeing tour from the skies. Alternatively, they went that badly that Mike has dumped Rafa into the North Sea ?.

    I really don’t imagine we will here too much about the outcome of the meeting – or should I say, there will be plenty of rumours, but little fact.

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  20. Sharpy17:
    Georgio – I agree.I see Cesc at a CL
    club abroad or one of our top 6.

    Apparently Ashley whisked Rafa off on a chopper ride last night.That either means talks went well & were finished quickly for a sight seeing tour from the skies.Alternatively, they went that badly that Mike has dumped Rafa into the North Sea .

    I really don’t imagine we will here too much about the outcome of the meeting – or should I say, there will be plenty of rumours, but little fact.

    Can’t get that scene from Scarface outta my head now, the one where they hang that guy from the helicopter so Tony Montana can see it.

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  21. The ex-England international Theo Walcott is on 150k a week. He is one of Arsenal’s highest paid players.

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  22. Was thinking a bit more about the oligopoly that Man U, Arsenal and Liverpool have over punditry. Redknapp and Collymore are ex-Liverpool even though they didn’t spend that much time there. FFS Robbie Savage is an ex-Man U youth player. I think that just about leaves Shearer and Lineker.

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  23. Of course there are the hordes of Scottish co-commentators which I don’t really get (did they all want Andy Gray clones at one time?). These will die off in a few years and not be replaced as there is no longer football being played in Scotland.

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  24. Sharpy: it is best not to ever repeat what certain pundits say. Even hypothetically or in jest. Number one on that list is Paul Merson’s Giant Balloon Head. Never repeat what he says or you might be thought to be agreeing with him, if he ever puts together a coherent thought that is.

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  25. His head seems to start at his collar with no sign of a neck and then goes up into this rounded, what looks like an inflated balloon ham. I always imagine that they put a Guy Fawkes effigy like suit on the chair and then place the balloon ham on top and let kids draw eyes, an upside down question mark nose, mouth and a chin on it.

    Maybe I should get out more, but it has been bloody **** weather in Chicago.

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  26. Stuart79:
    What about Theo Walcott?

    Stu – I suggested Theo last week mate. I think playing regularly through the middle, he’d be a much better player than he looks at Arsenal. He could be a bit of a Townsend type signing.

    I agree with the others though that wages would mean it’s a non starter.
    I think he needs to leave Arsenal if he wants any kind of career to look back on though.

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  27. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy: it is best not to ever repeat what certain pundits say. Even hypothetically or in jest. Number one on that list is Paul Merson’s Giant Balloon Head. Never repeat what he says or you might be thought to be agreeing with him, if he ever puts together a coherent thought that is.

    Eric – you’re right mate. To be honest Sky frightened me at times with some of the pundits they have discussing all things football. Pardew was on Monday night football last week & McClaren has been in the studio a few times of late. Talk about scrapping the barrel!!.
    Not one of them can give an honest answer either. Did that player dive to get the penalty? ‘Well it was a soft one, but the forward has a right to go down if the defender goes near him in the box’ …. ?! ???
    Get the true Geordie on there I say!! – Aye he dive the dirty cheating ******* ?

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  28. Sharpy: I think the number of followers may have gone to the True Geordie’s head. Haven’t seen his youtube lately but the last one I saw he said he was signing autographs for a kid. I will have another look, I did like his rants, and hope he hasn’t softened too much with his new found celebrity.

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  29. Sharpy: Pards takes the biscuit mate. He fails everywhere he goes and they still ask his opinion. He is always asked about NUFC and in his dreamworld there was never a groundswell of opinion against him, no Pardewout.com and the local rag didn’t splash on their front page Pard45. They should get some psychiatrist to do a thesis on him. He has some new form of denial narcissism hitherto unknown to the psychology. And they like interpreting dreams so Pards’ “reality” will fit in well.

    I think Schteve is probably even worse.

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  30. Pardew’s a horrible person and a much worse manager.

    I see we’re now moving into the 500 players we’d like or are linked with phase which will probably last til September. Harmless fun I quite like.

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  31. The Rafa/Ashley meeting was a bit of an anti-climax. Rafa is still there and they have agreed to have more talks. Chron said Charnley met his goals which were – keep Rafa, get promotion, find new sponsor. So, probably the only “news” we will see will be who the new sponsor is and a mock-up of the new shirt. It will be like the international week times 10 on here 🙂

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  32. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy: Pards takes the biscuit mate. He fails everywhere he goes and they still ask his opinion. He is always asked about NUFC and in his dreamworld there was never a groundswell of opinion against him, no Pardewout.com and the local rag didn’t splash on their front page Pard45. They should get some psychiatrist to do a thesis on him. He has some new form of denial narcissism hitherto unknown to the psychology. And they like interpreting dreams so Pards’ “reality” will fit in well.

    I think Schteve is probably even worse.

    Eric – it was the West Ham v Spurs game Pards was on and Mark Noble was getting interviewed at the end of the game. Pardew as Noble a question and Noble referred to him as ‘boss’ (similar to Wright referring to Hoddle as gaffer).
    Noble went right down in my view, but you should have see Pards smug little face – I turn the channel ?

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  33. I see Kevin Stewart is leaving Lpool this summer. He’s a decent young player from what I’ve seen of him so far. Not saying he would be in the first team, but him and Hayden would be a good young pairing to develop in that midfield under Rafa I reckon.

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  34. georgio: you will only get to about 100 players we are linked with on here. You will have to go to Ed’s to get the other 400+.

    Rafa has plenty of time since we finish early in comparison to the top leagues. He could even get the jump on a few transfers and the players we bring back will have a longer rest.

    Do we have anything scheduled for pre-season? I understand that we didn’t know what league we are in but this happens every year. We never know who or where we are playing until the last minute. We will probably end up in some crappy round-robin tournament in Holland and play Hoffeheim at home as the last game after a warm up with St. Johnstone. I suppose it is not so bad with all of these cheap flights and discount hotel websites, but other teams seem to manage it.

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  35. And… Everybody says that the Championship is the hardest league and much better quality now but is there anybody we would want from any of the teams that are not promoted? There is Knockheart but he is now in the PL and the Fulham lad and they might be promoted. I have really not seen anybody casting envious glances anywhere else. I haven’t seen many games so I am not in the best position to tell – OLLY, how about you.

    What it also says is that we did build a team for the Championship and I think there will be a wholesale clearout. Even though we were top, there is a massive step-up in quality needed. Our lads proved they can do it in that league though so there will be a market for them from the likes of Sunderland and Villa. They are going to be desperate so we can get at least what we paid.

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  36. aye all sorts of players linked,got the rags scratching around for storeys,Hoots says he mostly going with the players that got them in the PL with maybe two or three new players,sorry son that wont keep you up,toon beat you twice with a team that needs improving for PL but good luck to you

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  37. Ice – NO!! ? we can’t have that mate!!. How can the rags make stories up that Rafa not being happy, or that Hammers or Gunners are going to take him from us if he’s just signed a new long term contract ?
    I mean they still will, but they will all be bollocks ?

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  38. Olly from the News Section: Is Mick Quinn really a “legend”? Shearer, McDonald, Beardsley, Milburn and others are, but Mick Quinn, really? You should have led with “Fat Scouse Horse Mistreating Lump” says…

    If Mick Quinn is a NUFC legend then the bar is not set very high.

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  39. Just absolute nothingness from the NUFC “legendary” bullfrog. He is suggesting 3 loans and someone that says he will retire (Carrick). Loans are the easiest suggestions because there is absolutely no commitment from either club unless it is loan to buy like Atsu. I could probably name 20 players that we MIGHT loan that would make us better. Each of the top 6 have a couple (Citeh and Chelsea probably have 8 each), plus there are quite a few abroad.

    Yes the 2 players the legend mentions would make us better but so would plenty more. Just meaningless drivel.

    And, he is giving Allardyce a run for his money when it comes to turning into an amphibian as they age.

    AND, I think there is a limit to loans between PL clubs. Two, I think. You better make them count “legend” and not just throw names into a hat.

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  40. BTW Olly: I am not having a go at you. I know the Chronicle always refer to the bloviating bullfrog as a “legend”.

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  41. Oh my god!!! … is this really NUFC & Mike Ashley?! …. ?

    In a statement released on Wednesday evening, Ashley said: “I’ve confirmed to Rafa and Lee that they can have every last penny that the club generates through promotion, player sales and other means in order to build for next season.”

    Benítez added: “I’m pleased with how the meeting went and the positive approach we are all taking together to build on what we have started this season. There will be challenges ahead of course, the summer will not be easy, but the hard work has been going on for some time and we can now continue positively with the development of the squad ahead of the start of the new season.”

    I think that’s pretty conclusive from Mike Ashley like, and it was seem that after so much conflict – maybe, just maybe we are finally United ??

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  42. So the news is out,jabba says Rafa can have every penny the club the earned by getting up to PL and player sales and other means Rafa is happy,now let’s see the rags find every fault or wrong word being said the run the club down like they love to do,me Ime very happy as I know Rafa is nee mug if he’s happy I am

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  43. Sharpy: it looks like they will have to find a way to bring some of the Premier League TV money forward to pay for transfers. There must be some way to get a loan against future revenue? Most of it is guaranteed money as long as we stay in the PL. Relatively little of the PL TV money is incentivized which is why all the owners are so desperate to stay on that PL gravy train.

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  44. I did read something about a year ago that said the PL were bringing some TV payments forward so clubs would have it available in the summer transfer window. Not sure of the details, but I am sure they said it.

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  45. Hey guys, it seems we will still be hanging up together next season. I am so glad!

    So how much money that would be – the $ from promotion? I think selling players won’t be much. So the main source will be money earned from promotion. Is it available in the summer for Rafa to spend? Honestly, I don’t trust Ashley. I don’t want Rafa be tricked by him.

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  46. Eric Sykes:
    I did read something about a year ago that said the PL were bringing some TV payments forward so clubs would have it available in the summer transfer window. Not sure of the details, but I am sure they said it.

    Well I heard that too,also no matter what the rags say how much Rafa is getting the TV money get from them is 100mil,and it’s all his plus sales

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  47. funrafa:
    Hey guys, it seems we will still be hanging up together next season. I am so glad!

    So how much money that would be – the $ from promotion? I think selling players won’t be much. So the main source will be money earned from promotion. Is it available in the summer for Rafa to spend? Honestly, I don’t trust Ashley.I don’t want Rafa be tricked by him.

    Rafa is no fool mate don’t worry about that

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  48. “A place in the Premier League is worth a guaranteed £100m in television income alone next season – a figure that represents an increase of around £60m on the sum Newcastle could have expected to receive in the Championship.

    There are also likely to be departures this summer, and while the Magpies will not be able to generate the kind of sums that were raised last year when the likes of Moussa Sissoko and Georginio Wijnaldum departed, they could still add another £20-30m to the kitty through player sales. ”

    http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle/15277805.UPDATED__Rafael_Benitez_to_STAY_as_Newcastle_United_boss___with___80m_transfer_kitty/

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  49. I actually think Charnley knows what he is doing when he sticks to his knitting. Him and Carr made that failed power grab but Charnley had the club making a big profit before they spent it all backing that Carr choice McClaren.

    We know there was no cash when we were relegated and the question really is how much of the PL and sponsorship money can we bring forward to spend this window?

    Rafa also has a choice. We can let go the fringe players and probably bring in 20-25 million. If he wants more he has to decide if he is giving up on Mitro and MBemba.

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  50. I would not get too hung up numbers. The important thing is Rafa is happy to stay, so whatever he spends is good enough for me.

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  51. In essence Ashley has just given Rafa the club, with Charnley as his wing-man, accountant and negotiator. Who is going to have the power in that relationship, Rafa on 6 million a year or Charnley on 200k a year with a 100k bonus?

    It is all about trying to bring the financing forward. I know I am repeating myself but that is the crux of it.

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  52. You guys are right. I should not worry too much. Plus, Ashley also made a public statement. If he wants to trick Rafa, he probably won’t make it public.

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  53. Eric I quite liked Micky Quinn. Maybe not a legend except for eating all the pies but he was devastating in the box and could turn on a sixpence. We let him go too early and he went on to score a hatful of goals. Was it for Derby? He seems to still have a soft spot for NUFC as surprisingly do a lot of ex-players. The problem is getting them up here first.

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  54. Groucho: I don’t really have much against Quinn apart from the horse thing. I object to calling him a legend.

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  55. I would find it equally strange if the Chronicle went with NUFC Legend Imre Varadi, or NUFC Legend Tommy Cassidy or NUFC Legend Darren Peacock. They all did good jobs for NUFC but they are hardly LEGENDS. Same with Quinn.

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  56. When you bandy words around like “legend” when they are clearly not applicable, you diminish their meaning where they are applicable such as for Shearer. Putting Quinn in the same boat as Shearer is just sloppy journalism.

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  57. Anyway, it is Rafa’s club now. He has wanted this since his Liverpool days when he was always badgering Hicks and Gillett for more money.

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  58. Great news about Rafa.

    I see figures like £70-£100m banded about but I’m not sure what that gets you these days. We will still need to be clever when buying and selling. If these figures are right then it will give us a bigger budget than all clubs out of the top 7. But either way we need to have a good window and I trust Rafa to give us one.

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  59. Defender Taylor has left Leeds and is due to join the Toon is the storey coming out of Leeds area

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  60. Absolutely delighted to see Benitez staying with the club!

    Figures don’t mean much to me now – it’s all about Rafa and Ashley sharing the same ambition and working together to help the club progress in the short and long term.

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  61. Agreed Olly. A finish of 11th to 14th next season would be a great first campaign back. Looking forward to an interesting summer.

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  62. Icedog:
    Defender Taylor has left Leeds and is due to join the Toon is the storey coming out of Leeds area

    Ice – I thought he was off to WBA. He could be a good free transfer though.
    If we can beat the rest to land that Sandro from Malaga, that would be another potentially astute signing too.

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  63. I think we should sign Tom Hardy as our new multi talented midfielder, Idris Elba as our ball playing but solid CB and Cillian Murphy as our specialist winger. Often steals the show despite only being a supporting member half the time.

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  64. Appears linking us with Fernando and Mangala From City. I thought Mangala was a ****? Anyway there’s going to be a link everyday now until Aug 31st. 👿

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