Newcastle 0-1 Augsburg: New signing stands out, but the same old problems exist at NUFC

It was an improved performance after Wednesday’s worrying 4-0 hammering in Portugal, but our clear lack of quality in the final third let us down once again.

The attendance seemed low and the atmosphere was pretty flat, however that’s to be expected given our lack of transfer activity, combined with the fact today’s starting XI was almost identical to the team that got us promoted from the second tier two years ago.

The only starter who wasn’t part of our Championship squad was Joselu – and that really does say it all.

We were without doubt the the better team in terms of our general play and chances created, but we just had no one there to put the ball into the back of the net – serving as yet another warning to the board that Benitez NEEDS to be backed with a few new attackers in the few days that remain.

On the plus side, Ki was very impressive. He looked calm but confident on the ball, always playing it forward and picking out some lovely passes both in behind and out wide.

That’s now just TWO goals from open plays in FIVE pre-season games (Longstaff’s goal vs St Patrick and Joselu’s goal vs Hull being the only ones) and no goal in our last three this summer.

Yes it’s just pre-season, but we look set to start next weekend’s season opener against Spurs with Joselu STILL leading the line up top – something which says everything you need to know about the unacceptable summer we’ve all had to endure once again.

On the plus side, a deal for Rondon looks all but agreed, with Gayle going in the opposite direction, but it’s yet another loan deal and a case of too little too late as far as Rafa’s concerned.

See full player ratings here to see what I made of all 17 players who featured at St James’ Park this afternoon.

(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.

112 thoughts on “Newcastle 0-1 Augsburg: New signing stands out, but the same old problems exist at NUFC

  1. It is like watching a bad 70/80s BBC sitcom. Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances, Are You being Served. Same script repeated over and over again.

    Is that you on the telephone Sheridan, Norah Batty, Mr. Humphries are you free. Has anyone seen my *****?

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  2. Comments from Rafa after the game;

    At the moment I can’t say a lot (about transfers). Maybe in a couple of days I can say more.”

    “I was talking with Lee Charnley before the game and I’ll maybe see him after the game.”

    I’m not saying we’re not working, but we had things lined up.”

    “I am confident we can do it (new transfers).” ” If you’re asking me if it’s ideal I would say no because the way I like to work is to do things early but if we can’t do that we have to work.”

    “I hope we can do it.”

    “Normally when we have had time and support, we deliver. So we have won trophies everywhere.”

    “And it was the idea to do something similar here and I am not happy we have to just survive every year.”

    “But at the moment we have to see if we can improve the squad.”

    Sorry Olly but I see no plus points about anything to do with our club at present mate, and only see it getting worse while Ashley is here – coz those comments from Rafa are words of a man with one foot out the door, not looking for a pen to sign a new contract like.

    I can’t get excited or pleased about loaning Rondon when it means loosing Gayle the other way. I really don’t see him scoring many more than Gayle to be honest. A different type of forward, but ultimately it’s the goal return that counts – and I don’t see an improvement in that deal.

    I see so called journalists like Andy Dunn and Richard Keys coming out this week suggesting Rafa is complaining about nothing – yet only 8-9 weeks ago Ashley was saying that he could spend every penny generated. He’s not complaining he’s not getting as much as others – the fact is he’s spent around £17m so far – we got £10m for Merino alone. We’ve brought 5 players in and only paid a fee for 3 of them.
    These same so called journalists will rave about the kind of money that Liverpool have spent to mount a title challenge – but slag Rafa off for pointing out that Ashley is showing zero ambition – and im sorry but the players he’s allowed Rafa to bring in hasn’t even maintained ambition.

    It’s a disgrace, and fans should be entitled to know where the money has gone. We should know exactly why Ashley’s promises of only weeks ago have been so far from coming true.

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  3. I’ve honestly tried to be fair to Ashley and look for any kind of angle where this approach makes sense or has a positive outcome for him – I really do find one.
    Even if his gamble pays off and we survive on the peanuts he’s allowed to be spent (which he will see as a win), he will loose Rafa – he will loose a world class manager. He will loose a man who wants to develop and improve his football club into an ambitious professional outfit to be proud of. Not a man who wants to spend money the club doesn’t have on individual players. But spend money on building a team, building an academy – laying down foundations for an ambitious, hopefully successful club.
    But we will have stayed in the PL and Rafa can be replaced (in Ashley’s eyes) though with who I don’t know – someone happy to accept no money to spend and just be happy to manager a club like NUFC (return to the days of Carver and McClaren). Also off the back of that scenario is the real possibility of loosing our best players.

    So has Ashley moved the money to one of his other struggling businesses – Debenhams or SD?! – possibly. We know Debenhams is struggling and may need that cash injection. But if that’s at a cost of NUFC getting relegated – surely he looses more money through our relegation – we know he doesn’t spend in January and Kenedy and Rondon (likely) will already be our loanees this season.
    I’ve tried to be fair, but I just don’t see it – and the most logical explanation I keep coming back to is this has been some mad attempt at trying to bully Rafa into signing a new contract. However that scenario then means that Ashley either hasn’t got that right hand man to say ‘what the hell are you thinking’ – or he has, but is too pig headed to listen.
    I do think the fans deserve to know.

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  4. Sharpy: I agree with what you have said but have to add that Ashley is acting like a jilted lover who wants to get back at his ex by burning down the house. It makes absolutely no sense. He wants Rafa to stay, otherwise why offer him a 5 year contract. And a 3 year contract, and a 1 year contract?

    On the football side it is RafaNUFC. He has all of the contacts and they let Carr go.

    And even if Rafa doesn’t sign up then let him get the players in because then the next Manager will not be starting with a Sunderland type squad. Rafa is not perfect but he can spot a good player.

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  5. It would be nice to know what has been going on. I guess we’ll never find out.

    One of the things that is missing from the mentality of those like Ashley and Charnley – and it has been this way with every owner/chairman at Newcastle as far back as I have been conscious of such things (well ok, maybe John Hall) – is that they don’t understand that fans are stakeholders. Football is a community thing. In Newcastle’s case, the club is an essential part of the city. Owners pay lip service to this idea, but they don’t understand the depth of it. Factoring in ordinary people as stakeholders should be part of the business model (mind you, nobody with any power understands this general concept, least of all politicians, who are supposedly representing the people – but that’s another story)

    Treat the fans with the respect usually reserved for shareholders and you’ll reap uncounted rewards. Rafa knows this – and even understands it. Bobby Robson understood it. The football people know it, unfortunately it is bean counters who rule the roost, and they can’t see past their own careers and egos.

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  6. BreisV: I have been trying to think of a metaphor for what is going on. It is from before I was born but I saw the re-runs. Twilight Zone meets Keystone Cops. You probably saw the original runs.

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  7. Brisvegas:
    It would be nice to know what has been going on. I guess we’ll never find out.

    One of the things that is missing from the mentality of those like Ashley and Charnley – and it has been this way with every owner/chairman at Newcastle as far back as I have been conscious of such things (well ok, maybe John Hall) – is that they don’t understand that fans are stakeholders. Football is a community thing. In Newcastle’s case, the club is an essential part of the city. Owners pay lip service to this idea, but they don’t understand the depth of it. Factoring in ordinary people as stakeholders should be part of the business model (mind you, nobody with any power understands this general concept, least of all politicians, who are supposedly representing the people – but that’s another story)

    Treat the fans with the respect usually reserved for shareholders and you’ll reap uncounted rewards. Rafa knows this – and even understands it. Bobby Robson understood it.The football people know it, unfortunately it is bean counters who rule the roost, and they can’t see past their own careers and egos.

    Spot on, in a nut shell Bris, that’s exactly how it is. KK got it too as do certain players that have played for us.

    Olly thanks for the update on the site problem, look forward to it getting fixed tomorrow.

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  8. lifted from Eds site, even foreign press know the score now.

    I’ll translate

    http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/intligen/startseite/728879/artikel_elstern-im-koma_ein-lehrstueck-aus-der-premier-league.html

    Magpies in a coma: a lesson from the Premier League
    A Premier League club that relies on player sales? At Newcastle United, behind the scenes, “everything” is wrong – says coach Rafa Benitez a week before the start of the season. About a club that drives its fans crazy.

    In Newcastle, it’s as if the billion dollar TV contract of the Premier League never existed. The most expensive transfer of the club’s history is 13 years ago, the second-highest 22nd The players were called Michael Owen and Alan Shearer. And yet, Newcastle United wacker is in the richest league in the world.

    So far so it has come: A club is exemplary for years, the excesses of modern football, and the consequences sound really romantic.

    Newcastle United is a little bit like HSV: a long time ago champion and European Cup winner, until today an enormous, emotional fanbase, but for years only a ridiculed sleeping giant. Where the last no longer slept, but lay in a coma, as a fan of the “Magpies” recently expressed in the “Guardian”. Previously, he and all the others dreamed of the champions or at least the Europa League, today they only want to wake up one day and see their club in other hands, other than Mike Ashleys.

    Ashley, with his sporting goods trading company “Sports Direct” has become a billionaire, has been owned by United since June 2007, you could also say that he has since United in the shortage. But everything had started so well: The then 42-year-old met with fans in the pub, sat in the jersey in the stands and even drank there once with other “Magpies” a beer, which is prohibited in England. United claimed at the time that the drink, non-alcoholic, of course, had been handed to him. Many fans liked this West Midlands madman, somehow he was one of them, even if his account balance said otherwise. And did not he love the NUFC almost as much as she did?

    Eleven years later, and about a week before the start of the new Premier League season, coach Rafa Benitez announces things like “everything” is just going wrong off the field. He had “no idea” if he could still sign players. “The fans should be worried, I’m very worried.” Just had Newcastle, in the previous year as promoted tenth, lost a test match against Sporting Braga with 0: 4. No newcomer played with.

    In times when Huddersfield Town spends 20 million euros on Terence Kongolo, a center-back from Monaco, in which pure presence in the Premier League suffices to collect almost 150 million euros, like Newcastle 2017/18, Newcastle has one Transferplus of just under 20 million euros. To get Benitez Yoshinori Muto from Mainz , he first had to sell players; the others of the few new ones like the ex-Hoffenheim Fabian Schär cost almost or nothing at all. How can that be with an English first division club, one of the top-selling clubs in the world?

    Back in 2008, when Ashley drank beer in public. Because beloved coach Kevin Keegan had to learn one day after the end of the summer transfer window that his superiors had secretly offered to sell some of his players with Ashley at the top, he resigned angrily. The fans protested, demanding Ashleys Aus for the first time. And he tried for the first time to sell the club, a good year after the acquisition in which he had allegedly only realized that Newcastle was in debt. Officially, he regretted his entry, described it as a “disaster for all”, his money was lost. But just like in 2009 and 2017, there was no prospect who wanted to meet his demands, now at least 450 million euros.

    Ashley has taken what they love, and the rules have no objection

    And as long as that’s the case, he stays flat. To save his millions halfway, he has been investing for years only as much as is needed to keep Newcastle in the lucrative Premier League. Place 6 or 16 – he does not care. Newcastle dropped in 2016 after a chaotic season, mainly because Ashley had agreed reinforcements only when it was already too late. The funds would have been available as with every member of this league.

    And so it happens that a single man, a club that even played in the second division in the year in front of more than 50,000 spectators, paralyzed for a decade, the giant did not wake, but knocked out and drives the fans into madness. You see, what would be possible with this club, with this coach, but the only one who could put their visions into action, waves away. He has taken from them what they love, and the rules of the game in England have no objections. What if an investor forgets their own interests while hunting for their own interests, even consciously neglecting them? Newcastle fans know it now.

    Benitez could go anytime, many fans would join in the meantime

    “People need to understand that we’re not going to get the player who tops our wishlist, not even second or third,” Benitez Ashley’s policy is now openly critical of. He can afford it: he has led Newcastle back to the Premier League, where he has impressively kept his sovereignty against all adversities; he could easily resign at any time and would probably have a new job within days, his working paper ends in 2019. He wants to sign the new five-year contract that Ashley has offered him only if this investment in the offspring and the training ground suits, and he knows all Fans on his side.

    It looks like Newcastle is heading for the biggest test of the Ashley era. On the lawn at the beginning of the season threatens adversity (the dress rehearsal: a 0: 1 against Augsburg) , but besides all the more – a current premium dispute fits the comatose state.

    “If Benitez leaves,” say many followers in despair, “let’s go!” You will know for yourself after more than ten years: Ashley could live with it.

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  9. Eric , have to disagree with your quote ‘ Rafa is not perfect but he can spot a good player ‘.
    Not only did he sign Joselu but he played him week after week when everybody knew from his first game that he was useless.

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  10. Brisvegas:
    It would be nice to know what has been going on. I guess we’ll never find out.

    One of the things that is missing from the mentality of those like Ashley and Charnley – and it has been this way with every owner/chairman at Newcastle as far back as I have been conscious of such things (well ok, maybe John Hall) – is that they don’t understand that fans are stakeholders. Football is a community thing. In Newcastle’s case, the club is an essential part of the city. Owners pay lip service to this idea, but they don’t understand the depth of it. Factoring in ordinary people as stakeholders should be part of the business model (mind you, nobody with any power understands this general concept, least of all politicians, who are supposedly representing the people – but that’s another story)

    Treat the fans with the respect usually reserved for shareholders and you’ll reap uncounted rewards. Rafa knows this – and even understands it. Bobby Robson understood it.The football people know it, unfortunately it is bean counters who rule the roost, and they can’t see past their own careers and egos.

    Bris – you are absolutely right mate. It’s kind of similar to being a publican and looking after your regulars – they are never going to make you a fortune, but without them you’re screwed.
    Its impossible to please all fans all of the time, and Rafa will always sign players that split opinion. But all fans are united in wanting to see their club improve. If Ashley had said there was no money for recruitment because he was investing £100m in new training and academy facilities, I think most would accept that – not necessarily like it, but certainly accept it.
    But for Ashley to expect fans to renew season tickets, and buy new replica strips when he’s running the club the way he is – well the only thing that is more crazy is that people are actually doing it.

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  11. Love the Chronicle headline: The Magpies should finish the window with players coming through the door.

    Let’s hope they have a chimney as well so Santa Claus can deliver some presents.

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  12. Sidekick – in Rafa’s mind it’s all about team shape and style. Joselu is **** but he fills the role that Rafa wants filled. One that Mitro couldn’t and one he hopes Rondon will.

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  13. Brisvegas:
    Love the Chronicle headline: The Magpies should finish the window with players coming through the door.

    Let’s hope they have a chimney as well so Santa Claus can deliver some presents.

    Bris – it’s true mate, and they will be bought with the money the tooth fairy left!!

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  14. Kim – that’s a very low risk fee, but I’m not sure how good he actually is?!. He never broke into the Arsenal team – fair enough they had some top players. But then he didn’t really do much in his loan last season, so it’s a tough one – but I’m pretty sure he’d offer more than Joselu at a similar fee.
    I get the impression the lad wants away from the PL though.

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  15. Mark Douglas‏Verified account @MsiDouglas · 4h4 hours ago

     More

    Newcastle’s summer transfer woes ‘linked to Mike Ashley’s ongoing desire to sell the club’.

    Knew they would trot out this old chestnut the lying *****. Bishops on overtime leaking this one out as an excuse. If he really wanted to sell he’d of done it already, lies lies lies and all in an pathetic attempt to keep the fans quiet.
    Well we aren’t buying it anymore and we know full well by now that the aim is just to survive.
    Where’s the bloody money Mike, you despicable lying leech.

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  16. Sharpy17:
    Kim – that’s a very low risk fee, but I’m not sure how good he actually is?!.He never broke into the Arsenal team – fair enough they had some top players.But then he didn’t really do much in his loan last season, so it’s a tough one – but I’m pretty sure he’d offer more than Joselu at a similar fee.
    I get the impression the lad wants away from the PL though.

    possibly mate, but I know Rafa wanted him last jan by all accounts . Still think him and joe bryan would be a canny bit of business. But then what do I know eh.

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  17. I watched Sunday Supplement on Sky this morning (basically journalists sat round a table discussing the goings on at different clubs for those of you who don’t know it). It’s a programme Andy Dunn has been on many a time, and I was interested to see if he was on – he wasn’t – but they did discuss NUFC.
    I say discuss, they skirted over all things NUFC and without any of them really committing to an opinion one way or the other, it was pretty split. One going back to the Owen fee and Ashley being stingy – another saying our debt being front loaded and having to balance the books because of that – and one going as far to say that we are in no hurry to pay Ashley his £140m personal loan back.

    What are these journalists missing here?!. Yes, that may well be the reason behind it – and had Ashley came out and said this 8-9 weeks ago then we would have had to accept that – none of us would have agreed or liked it – but we would have had to accept it.
    But that’s not what he said – quite the opposite in fact, and that’s the problem for Rafa and all toon fans alike. It’s the lies and lack of communication from the club that’s the problem. I don’t understand how or why these journalists are missing this.

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  18. kimtoon: possibly mate, but I know Rafa wanted him last jan by all accounts . Still think him and joe bryan would be a canny bit of business. But then what do I know eh.

    Kim – I think Joe Bryan would be outstanding business at £6m. Dummett is struggling and needs competition at LB. But from an Ashley point of view, that lad needs one good season in the PL and that £6m becomes £30m at least – and I do think he’s good enough for the PL.
    Regarding Perez, yeah, thinking about it he would be a good buy. He’s not class, but could he return more than Gayles 6 and Joselu 4 goals from last season – I think so.

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  19. Sharpy, I would of Perez at that price all day long mate, don’t know what his wages are though.
    Lot of Arsenal fans rated him say he never got a fair chance like.

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  20. Absolutely .. and yet they do. And while they do so why would Ashley change ? Since when did attending nufc games become compulsory?

    Sharpy17: But for Ashley to expect fans to renew season tickets, and buy new replica strips when he’s running the club the way he is – well the only thing that is more crazy is that people are actually doing it.

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  21. dont forget boys and girls if Rondon signs on loan thats it for loans PL clubs are only allowed 2loans

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  22. Anyone watching the Charity shield? City pick8ng up where they left off last season.. ?

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  23. Some right dodgy goalkeeping on display too…

    I see the details problem is still not solved..?

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  24. GlosMag:
    Absolutely .. and yet they do. And while they do so why would Ashley change ? Since when did attending nufc games become compulsory?

    Glos – the biggest issue for me is not the lack of investment – it’s the lies and lack of real quality.
    The end of season review would have been one of the easiest ones in a long time – fantastic achievement, but obvious lack of quality up front.

    If Ashley wanted to reduce debt, or use the money else where – firstly don’t come out and say every penny would be available. But secondly, make sure you at least address the biggest problem so you can improve on last season.
    Rafa would have known he didn’t want Mitro, Mbemba, Sels and knew that Merino would be leaving. The perfect scenario for Ashley as all barely played for us last season. I have no issue with Ki coming in free to replace Merino, I also have no issue with Schar costing less than Mbemba (they are squad players). The money we got for Sels bought Dubravka – so we are around £12m up (£10m from Merino and around £2m profit from Mbemba out and Schar in). We then sell Mitro for round £22m – that should give £34m. That should have been £34m to address the goal scoring problems from last season.
    The Kenedy loan was around £4m so £30m on a forward.

    That then at least strikes a balance of addressing debt, or whatever Ashley needs/wants to PL money for. If we were investing £30m on our goal scoring issues, most would accept that (not like it, but accept it). But what is totally unacceptable is loaning out your top scorer from last season for WBAs joint top scorer – one more goal than Gayle in a team relegated – that is not addressing your goal scoring issues.

    It’s the lies that anger me most. But while 50,000 plus turn up to the games week in week out, I don’t see why Ashley would change a thing.

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  25. Dubai Toon:
    Some right dodgy goalkeeping on display too…

    I see the details problem is still not solved..?

    Dubai – this isn’t even the strongest City team mate – reserve keeper, not Silva or De Bruyne.
    I like that Bernardo Silva and young Foden looks decent too – as does Hudson Odio for Chelsea (from an England point of view).
    Chelsea look toothless and Barkley is gash – but they too are lacking Hazard, Kante and their keeper – plus the manager is weeks into his job and swapped formation – so will take time.

    Only Liverpool can challenge City this season I reckon.

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  26. Ice
    We had three players on loan last season , Dubravka , Kenedy and Slimani.
    I don’t know how the loan system works except we can only loan 2 from the premier league but not from the same team.
    Rondon , if he comes here , will be a loan from a Championship team so that could possibly mean we can still sign a player on loan from the Premiership , if indeed we can have 3 players on loan.

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  27. you can have up to 4 loans 2 from PL ONLY though and not from same team as I understand it.

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  28. Right so it’s 4 over the season then, here’s the rules

    Under the rules in the Premier League Handbook 2017/18 (Download PDF, size: 46.1MB), there are restrictions on how many players Premier League clubs can loan from other Premier League/English clubs.

    They are:
    – Premier League clubs may not register more than two players on loan at any one time.
    – The maximum number of loans registrable in the same season is four, and, under no circumstances, shall more than one be from the same club at any one time.
    – Premier League clubs cannot loan to another Premier League club a player they have acquired in the same transfer window.
    – A Premier League club may loan not more than one of its goalkeepers to another Premier League club

    With the exception of Welsh clubs competing in the competitions listed under Rule V.6.2, loans from a club in membership of another National Association do not count towards the above quotas.

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  29. Rafa didn’t take a holiday and instead lined up 5/6 deals to the point where Charnley just needed to rubber stamp. These where worked on and ready to go nearly 2 months ago…1 week till Spurs and none of those players have come in #Nufc
    @CaulkinTheTimes talking on @talkSPORTLive

    Yep, still doing what they did to KK, **** taking lying tossers.

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  30. sidekick:
    Ice
    We had three players on loan last season , Dubravka , Kenedy and Slimani.
    I don’t know how the loan system works except we can only loan 2 from the premier league but not from the same team.
    Rondon , if he comes here , will be a loan from a Championship team so that could possibly mean we can still sign a player on loan from the Premiership , if indeed we can have 3 players on loan.

    one was from abroad mate thats why,my last comment today ime not going to keep filling in ffs

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  31. Sorry is somebody expecting NUFC to be a football club and run as a football club? I though they were simply part of Sports Direct Marketing Division and run along those lines.

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  32. Sharpy17: Dubai – this isn’t even the strongest City team mate – reserve keeper, not Silva or De Bruyne.
    I like that Bernardo Silva and young Foden looks decent too – as does Hudson Odio for Chelsea (from an England point of view).
    Chelsea look toothless and Barkley is gash – but they too are lacking Hazard, Kante and their keeper – plus the manager is weeks into his job and swapped formation – so will take time.

    Only Liverpool can challenge City this season I reckon.

    This city side are just amazing… I agree Sharpie, only Liverpool can come close to challenging them… agree on their young players too… ☹️☹️

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  33. kimtoon:
    Rafa didn’t take a holiday and instead lined up 5/6 deals to the point where Charnley just needed to rubber stamp. These where worked on and ready to go nearly 2 months ago…1 week till Spurs and none of those players have come in #Nufc
    @CaulkinTheTimes talking on @talkSPORTLive

    Yep, still doing what they did to KK, **** taking lying tossers.

    Kimtoon: did he say who the players were and are any still available?

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  34. DT: I was shocked when Chelsea paid 35 million for Barkley. The lad has some skill but he’s one of these flatters to deceive players where he does a few good things in a match but also loses the ball and miscontrols it. Has a good game about 1 in 10. I always thought that people were so enamoured by the good things that they were blind to the bad things. Like a late career Rooney.

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  35. Mark Douglas has finally opened up in The Chronic. Says we won’t pay the going rate on fees and wages which is what you would expect from Ashley where everything has to have a bargain element to it. The deals we have done reflect this.

    There is just so much confusing information out there which isn’t helped by Chris Waugh being an idiot on finances and Ryder being Ryder. He should be very thankful for twitter because 240 characters or less is his attentions span.

    https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/signings-come-more-questions-answers-14992568

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  36. I don’t understand how Ashley does not get this new reality. Prices have changed and the other 19 PL clubs understand this. We are not in a Turkish bazaar haggling over the price of a Fez. We know what the going rate is because of what has been paid for other players, and if we don’t pay it someone else will.

    My worry is why there has been so little competition for the players we actually did get. Rondon took months but nobody else seemed seriously interested.

    And I keep seeing it repeated that Ashley only pays in cash and this is the reason we have not spent. Unless he has gone back to his old ways this is simply not true. The last accounts showed us OWING 25 million to other clubs for players. That would not be the case if we ONLY paid in cash.

    So, Ashley has gotten flexible in terms of structuring payments, it just seems that they won’t pay the going rate. I am not surprised as we have seen for a decade that NUFC decide on a price and won’t budge, or know what is expected and lowball it.

    I don’t know why I am frustrated anymore, expecting a particularly fat leopard to change his spots.

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  37. icedog:
    Rondon now in Gateshead Hilton

    Ice – worst kept secret of the summer really. Not much competition for him that I’ve seen reported, however it would seem he’s the player Rafa wants – even if it means loosing Gayle to get him.

    I’d be a big fat liar if I were to say he’d have been my first choice, but that won’t stop me getting behind the lad if he does come in (which appears to be just a matter of time).

    I think we already know what to expect from Rondon – I’d love to see him hit double figures but I think that would be an exceptional season for him. It’s Muto who interests me at the mo – how he gets on and how he’s used – will he be along Rondon or as a no.10.

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  38. sharpy17: Ice – worst kept secret of the summer really.Not much competition for him that I’ve seen reported, however it would seem he’s the player Rafa wants – even if it means loosing Gayle to get him.

    I’d be a big fat liar if I were to say he’d have been my first choice, but that won’t stop me getting behind the lad if he does come in (which appears to be just a matter of time).

    I think we already know what to expect from Rondon – I’d love to see him hit double figures but I think that would be an exceptional season for him.It’s Muto who interests me at the mo – how he gets on and how he’s used – will he be along Rondon or as a no.10.

    I would’ve been much more comfortable if we had swapped Joselu… ??. But if Rafa is happy and then uses Rondon, I’ll support him..

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  39. Eric Sykes:
    DT: I was shocked when Chelsea paid 35 million for Barkley. The lad has some skill but he’s one of these flatters to deceive players where he does a few good things in a match but also loses the ball and miscontrols it. Has a good game about 1 in 10. I always thought that people were so enamoured by the good things that they were blind to the bad things. Like a late career Rooney.

    Yeah Eric, Barkley was totally ****… I would not pay £10 million for him, never mind £35 million .. ?

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  40. I know I might be contradicting myself but I would be OK with Ings and a left back. That would probably be good business all in all.

    I don’t know who Rafa’s other targets were so I don’t know what I am missing. I wasn’t that thrilled by Jorgensen in January and it seems Rafa has moved on.

    I haven’t read Ed’s Blog or The Chronicle comments today so haven’t seen anybody slitting their wrists. You can see Rafa is frustrated but imagine how it would have been if he had only got Vernon Anita? Or Leon Best and James Perch?

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  41. Are our expectations too high? We had some great buys under Keegan and Robson. But for every Shearer there has been an Amdy Faye and for every Craig Bellamy a Gabriel Obertan.

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  42. Eric, no he didn’t say who the players were mate.

    kimtoon:
    Rafa didn’t take a holiday and instead lined up 5/6 deals to the point where Charnley just needed to rubber stamp. These where worked on and ready to go nearly 2 months ago…1 week till Spurs and none of those players have come in #Nufc
    @CaulkinTheTimes talking on @talkSPORTLive

    Yep, still doing what they did to KK, **** taking lying tossers.

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  43. Danny Ings has bags of talent but I would be very concerned about his fitness, he’s had cruciate issues .

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  44. This is all getting very confusing now 🙂 Is Rondon a loan or a swap? If we loan Rondon then does that rule out Ings, or is a loan with the option to buy not really a loan. Are we even in for Ings? Is Rondon any good? It seems from Olly’s latest article there is about a 50/50 split at WBA.

    It is like that old American sitcom SOAP where they would say – will Jodie pork Vanessa, will Hank go to jail, where did Susie leave her panties? At the end of each episode.

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  45. Charlie Adam of Stoke was on the radio the other day and he was saying that Newcastle paid good wages higher than equivalent clubs. I might suggest that he knows more about footballers wages than chronic journalists

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  46. PremAndUp:
    Charlie Adam of Stoke was on the radio the other day and he was saying that Newcastle paid good wages higher than equivalent clubs. I might suggest that he knows more about footballers wages than chronic journalists

    I don’t who to believe either mate. Charlie Adam seems to be letting his mouth run lately. Everywhere. Criticising Shakiri. I think his career is done and he wants to be the new Robbie Savage.

    And I have always held Chronicle journalists in such high regard 🙂

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  47. Eric, Rondon is a loan and we are loaning them Gayle plus £2m so a loan and a swap . He’s not ours to keep.

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  48. that’s presuming Gayle has agreed terms like, which was apparently the sticking point last I read.

    We still need another forward, we are no better off than before numbers wise.

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  49. Kimtoon: Seriously, I am confused because we supposedly bid 15-17 million on Jorgensen in January and then will not pay the same for Rondon now and keep Gayle as backup.

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  50. Would it be fair to say that WHU are a similar sized club as us? – I think they are and use them as the comparison – but here’s a site you can compare with whichever club you think are of a similar size –

    Our wages –

    https://www.spotrac.com/epl/newcastle-united-f.c/

    WHU wages –

    https://www.spotrac.com/epl/west-ham-united-f.c/

    As you can see from that – they have 8 players on 70k pw or more – we have ONE. The likes of Everton, Leicester and Palace all pay higher wages than us.
    We are comparable with clubs like Watford, Burnley, Huddersfield and Brighton – that is our level.

    But before people think I’m being unfair or unrealistic using WHU as my comparison, I’ll add the following article from Jan 2018 which is the top 50 richest clubs in World football – we are 12th in England and 36th in the World – WHU are 35th.

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  51. Sharpy: those wages seem consistent with what I have read over the past year or 2. Some comments:

    * Chicharito at 140k a week meant we were never seriously in for him, ever!

    * Shelvey on 70k is what has been quoted and the fact that Gayle was the next highest earner means it makes perfect sense that our tightwads wanted him out in order to accommodate Rondon.

    * Colback on 35k seems about right. The Chronic quoted that but have also said 40k and, unbelievably, 70k. They repeated 70k a week about 200 times and some idiots started to believe it.

    Given the disparity in wages you have to conclude that West Ham are probably running at break even at best and probably a loss after this years buys. Look like this year we will make a significant profit.

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  52. Eric – it was actually Mitrovic who was the highest paid player on £75k and Gayle was on £65k.
    That was the issue with Gayle at the start of last season – he didn’t play in a few of the first games if you remember. It was coz he was huffed he didn’t get a pay rise when he scored the goals to get promoted and was the first choice striker but Mitro was getting paid more.

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  53. Sharpy17:
    Eric – it was actually Mitrovic who was the highest paid player on £75k and Gayle was on £65k.
    That was the issue with Gayle at the start of last season – he didn’t play in a few of the first games if you remember.It was coz he was huffed he didn’t get a pay rise when he scored the goals to get promoted and was the first choice striker but Mitro was getting paid more.

    Didn’t see that Sharpy. Some strange stuff in The Chronic today. NUFC “missed out” on Max Mayer because they were not willing to pay his 140k a week wages. 140k a week FFS!

    Then Ryder is saying there are more negotiations to be done for the PSG fullback because NUFC want to pay in instlaments. Haven’t they been telling us for 2 years that the problem is that Ashley pays cash (cold hard cash, as Uncle Ed puts it) so we find it difficult to pay high headline prices. Now we are having problems because of instalments 🙂

    The same thing happened last year with Lejeune where things were delayed because we wanted to pay in instalments. But the papers make up there own stories and invent obstacles that don’t exist. They knew the policy of cash up front had changed (it is in the last accounts) and still repeated it. This is why I get so frustrated with journalists.

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  54. Eric – what worries me about those wages is that Lascelles is nowhere near highest paid in the club. The likes of Everton could double his wages without blinking.
    At the moment he’s happy and settled with us but when Rafa goes, he won’t have a problem finding another club and agreeing personal terms.

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  55. I can’t find anything on that Spotrac site that tells us where their information comes from. Are we to suppose that they get a copy of the contract when it is signed?

    And does this include bonuses, I wonder?

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  56. Rondon for Mitro and Muto for Gayle. Schar for Mbemba. Ki for Merino. Kenedy for Kenedy. Dubravka for Dubravka.

    How many points did we get from the teams around us last season? Most of our points. Will them teams be as bad as last season?

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  57. Mitro, Mbemba and Merino did not play the second half of the season when we got 15pts from 10 games. Rondon, Schar & Ki are therefore upgrades for the squad. Whether Muto is an upgrade on Gayle remains to be seen. Hopefully we will see less of Joselu.

    Those above us Burnley, Everton & Leicester had shown little significant improvement

    Those below us only WHU & Brighton have made significant upgrades.

    Of the promoted teams, Cardiff have spent little.

    I don’t see that we have suddenly dropped 8 places.

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  58. Hi folks,

    Has the problem been fixed?

    Also – I for one am quite happy with this Rondon-Gayle swap. Nature of the deal is typical NUFC, but after seeing how poor Joselu was on Saturday (not that I was surprised) it reminded me how badly we need an upgrade.

    Rondon is that. He’ll be much more effective on and off the ball than Gayle/Joselu and I back him to get 10-12 goals too.

    Not groundbreaking stuff but think he has more to give in the PL after playing under some pretty awful WBA managers. Rafa’s got a lot fo work with in Rondon – even if he’s erratic at times.

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  59. PremAndUp:
    Mitro, Mbemba and Merino did not play the second half of the season when we got 15pts from 10 games. Rondon,Schar & Ki are therefore upgrades for the squad. Whether Muto is an upgrade on Gayle remains to be seen. Hopefully we will see less of Joselu.

    Those above us Burnley, Everton & Leicester had shown little significant improvement

    Those below us only WHU & Brighton have made significant upgrades.

    Of the promoted teams, Cardiff have spent little.

    I don’t see that we have suddenly dropped 8 places.

    I don’t suppose you’d want to expand on this a little and have this turned into an article for the page?

    Think you make quite a few very valid points!

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  60. Well we’ve all seen him play Olly and we all know his track record. He’s a big powerful unit who works his socks off all game and as such is a huge improvement on Joselu or Gayle. However, we desperately need strikers who score and he’s well known to fluff a lot of chances. Maybe Rafa can improve that. What we really need is Shelvey, Ritchie and Kenedy to come up with 6-10 goals each instead of the measly totals they managed last season. 39 goals scored last season is way below what Shearer and Bellamy use to manage.

    I see the problem’s not fixed yet!!!

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  61. Keith Downie
    @SkySports_Keith
    Newcastle United’s players have withdrawn cooperation with the media as part of a dispute with the club over bonuses for the upcoming season. The players refused to give their time for “walk up” shots for TV companies at the training ground today

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  62. kimtoon:
    Keith Downie
    @SkySports_Keith
    Newcastle United’s players have withdrawn cooperation with the media as part of a dispute with the club over bonuses for the upcoming season. The players refused to give their time for “walk up” shots for TV companies at the training ground today

    Kim – the club can’t set bonuses until they agree with Rafa what the targets are this season – they are probably looking at mid table again whilst Rafa is likely saying survival would be an achievement.
    I reckon they will be miles apart at the moment and the players are getting caught in the middle.

    That said, they are all still getting paid good wages and I’m of the opinion they should commit to the media work – otherwise they risk the journos turning on them and taking the heat off Ashley.

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