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#272407 Newcastle Thread
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PSV's official website has said Wijnaldum has been allowed to come to Tyneside for a medical. Good sign. Hopefully an actual deal can be followed up.
#272270 What Was The Last Film You Saw?
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Seen Mad Max: Fury Road and Ted 2 in the last few days.

The former was a very impressive film that has a great dynamic. Charlize Theron's character was really badass. As for Ted 2, I was expecting it to be awful after I didn't like the trailers, but it surprised me and I laughed quite a fair amount. Not as much as during the first one, but enough to make it worth it.
#272268 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
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He was on absolutely outrageous wages in the UAE as well.

His new club is a £100k a week pay rise, right? Mind-boggling sums for a player that struggled to make Sunderland's bench when he first moved here.
#272086 Newcastle Thread
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(Belated) confirmation that Sammy Ameobi signed a new deal and has been sent on loan to Cardiff City. Dunno if that's good for him or not tbh.

Meanwhile, NUFC fans aren't happy with the news PSG have confirmed a deal with Palace for Yohan Cabaye. Bet he scores against us when we play them.
#272048 Newcastle Thread
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Apparently Joel Matip could be on his way. Probably a good signing, definitely an improvement on Williamson.

A blind arthritic donkey would be an improvement on Coloccini and Williamson. Although Mike Ashley would probably consider that cheaper and buy one.
#272035 Newcastle Thread
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Apparently Sammy Ameobi's sister confirmed he's joining Cardiff City (not sure if loan or permanent).

Meanwhile, Steve McClaren turned up to last night's fans forum and one thing I've seen mentioned said that he wants a final say on players leaving. So either he's decided Ameobi isn't good enough, or the board's undermined him already.
#271859 Newcastle Thread
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Shame with Sissoko. His attitude in the second half of last season was poor and at times poisonous. Although I bet he would actually give a shit for them... well until PSG dangle a better offer to sit on their bench while better players get an easy title.

I thought Wijnaldum was a target for Sunderland, so bit of a turn up for the books he's likelier to be going to Tyneside instead. Plus presumably he'd be a signing fans might like the look of more than that 19 year old at Northampton we're also allegedly close to buying. But in any case, I struggle to believe NUFC are ever close to signing anyone until a player is actually posing for photos with the home strip.
#271751 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
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Report that van Persie had agreed terms on a move to Fenerbache. Would be an interesting move.
#271660 Newcastle Thread
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This is my favourite thread on this forum tbh

Its more watchable and gripping than the shit football we play at least.
#271558 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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Sky and BT's TV picks:
Saturday, August 8
12.45pm Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur (BT Sport)
5.30pm Chelsea v Swansea City (Sky Sports)
Sunday, August 9
1.30pm Arsenal v West Ham United (Sky)
4pm Stoke City v Liverpool (Sky)
Monday, August 10
8pm West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City (Sky)
Friday, August 14
7.45pm Aston Villa v Manchester United (Sky)
Saturday, August 15
12.45pm Southampton v Everton (BT)
Sunday, August 16
1.30pm Crystal Palace v Arsenal (Sky)
4pm Manchester City v Chelsea (Sky)
Monday, August 17
8pm Liverpool v Bournemouth (Sky)
Saturday, August 22
12.45pm Manchester United v Newcastle United (BT)
Sunday, August 23
1.30pm West Bromwich Albion v Chelsea (Sky)
4pm Everton v Manchester City (Sky)
Monday, August 24
8pm Arsenal v Liverpool (Sky)
Saturday, August 29
12.45pm Newcastle United v Arsenal (BT)
5.30pm Tottenham Hotspur v Everton (Sky)
Sunday, August 30
1.30pm Southampton v Norwich City (Sky)
4pm Swansea City v Manchester United (Sky)
Saturday, September 12
12.45pm Everton v Chelsea (BT)
5.30pm Manchester United v Liverpool (Sky)
Sunday, September 13
1.30pm Sunderland v Tottenham Hotspur (Sky)
4pm Leicester City v Aston Villa (Sky)
Monday, September 14
8pm West Ham United v Newcastle United (Sky)
Saturday, September 19
12.45pm Chelsea v Arsenal (BT)
5.30pm Manchester City v West Ham United (Sky)
Sunday, September 20
1.30pm Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace (Sky)
4pm Southampton v Manchester United (Sky)
Saturday, September 26
12.45pm Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City (BT)
5.30pm Newcastle United v Chelsea (Sky)
Sunday, September 27
4pm Watford v Crystal Palace (Sky)
Monday, September 28
8pm West Bromwich Albion v Everton (Sky)

With Newcastle v Southampton at 1pm on Sunday 9th due to the Saints' Europa League tie, it means there'll only be 6 games on the first MOTD of the season. Weird.

Also first Friday night game in a while is Villa-MUFC. I think the last was when we played Arsenal on a Friday in September 2003... 48 hours after a UEFA Cup game.
#271551 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace has confirmed a Chinese consortium has been granted 4-6 weeks exclusivity to try and buy the club. Would explain why they have Chinese bookies as their new shirt sponsor at least.
#271549 Newcastle Thread
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If we accept that football is entertainment, then surely you want more for your money than apathy, agitation and about 20304085 SportsDirect ads.

Speaking of money spent by fans, the club has said that the SUFC friendly is £10 for ST holders and £15 for non-ST members. And £35+15 for those of us not club members, seeing as that policy is still in force after being given a one-off lift for the Gateshead game. What a fucking jip.

As for the coaching staff, it is a bit weird it took an e-mail the day after pre-season training began to get confirmation. Most clubs would have already confirmed it and settled the bewilderment. Not that it helps McClaren said he was riding solo for the first two and a half weeks.

Meanwhile, I saw the rumour we turned down the chance to loan Mario Balotelli. Much as we're all annoyed about the lack of transfer activity, we probably dodged a bullet there.
#271372 Newcastle Thread
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Its a bit weird that there's no confirmation and also no pics of the new guys at the start of pre-season training today. I'm not annoyed, but its a very curious and slightly confusing scenario. But then this daft bastard club makes no fucking sense, so at least its normal. Least we know he's on board.

Speaking of pre-season training beginning, our training wear looks shit. I swear Puma's kit designers get worse every year.

It also seems odd that we only had our first known transfer meeting today. While I am aware that this time last year, we'd only bought 2 players, most clubs get the transfer work running a lot earlier, and it's not entirely a great omen. I'm not suggesting we need to be like Liverpool and buy 7 players before the Americans get their fireworks out, but it'd be nice if we were making more of an effort, or at least being seen as making more of one.
#271280 2015/2016 Kit Thread
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Pretty good apart from the collar and shoulders. Bet our home shirt will be crap again. Our away shirt looks like Borussia Dortmund (if Dortmund wore fluorescent yellow shirts with yellow shorts and yellow socks).

Your home kit last year had a reasonable look to it, and I liked the fading stripes. But your new away kit does look shite. Incidentally, why do HTAFC have separate sponsors on their home/away numbers?

For those who ain't seen:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CIvJyuJUsAAxtfQ.jpg

Few new ones:
http://www.expressandstar.com/wpmvc/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/albion5.jpg
http://i4.coventrytelegraph.net/incoming/article9556203.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/CCFC_AD_2-1.jpg
http://www.footballkitnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Dortmund-Home-Kit-2015-16.jpg
#271274 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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Apparently, the fact his son was in that orgy was what made their owners decide to jettison him, even after he signed Okazaki and Fuchs.

Might've been easier just to sack him at the same time as his son tbh. Can imagine it being a ballache to get things ready in the next 40-odd days.
#271272 Newcastle Thread
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Its a rumour today. But there's also a rumour that Wolves and Cardiff have had face-to-face talks of signing him permanently.
#271271 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
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Stoke have agreed a £12million fee for Xherdan Shaqiri. Good bit of business if they pull it off.
#271259 Newcastle Thread
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I thought the consensus of that Fulham game in the 5th place season was that there was no atmosphere.

In any case it is pretty ridiculous the new coaching staff have effectively confirmed themselves. Additionally, is Sammy Ameobi still our player? There's no word on whether or not he signed his new contract.
#271193 Newcastle Thread
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Pardew has apparently got the lead in getting Cabaye to join Palace.

Great. Can't wait for the two to grab six points off us and get lolz from everyone else.
#271177 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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Leicester have sacked Nigel Pearson. And for real this time.

Shame. His seemingly constant meltdowns in press conferences were quite entertaining.
#271032 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
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If Arsenal win the league after a close-run challenge with Chelsea, Mourinho is not gonna be happy.

Bet it happens too.
#271031 Newcastle Thread
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How much is a ST at Newcastle, if you don't mind me asking?

Cheapest is £365 but most are £578 (behind the goals) or £710 (along the sides).
#270982 Newcastle Thread
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Given Williamson has been dire for most of the last 3 seasons, there's plenty of evidence to suggest we need better. But its fairly clear that better is not on the radar right now, not least given we apparently baulked at getting Ron Vlaar on a free transfer.

I get the feeling that there's a sell-to-buy policy in place. It would be fucking dumb given the squad we have, but it wouldn't be surprising.

Meanwhile, there's apparently close to 7000 season tickets currently unsold. Interesting if they all remain unsold by the opening day.
#270593 Newcastle Thread
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I can't help but wonder if last summer (eight players in) was an anomaly, and even then half of them turned out to be duds.
#270584 Newcastle Thread
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In an ideal world, a top-bottom revamp would be already in motion. Certain players' form has been in the toilet for several seasons, and there were moments last season when they looked like they couldn't be arsed.

But clearly such talk is aspirational at best. The fact the press gambit has got to, "Reports indicate Newcastle are reportedly preparing a bid", is fucking mind-boggling.
#270572 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
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Sky saying Villa have had a bid rejected for Asmir Begovic.

Would Begovic really want to move from Stoke to Villa?
#270562 Newcastle Thread
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Has Ameobi signed the contract extension?

Anyway, I was pretty sure the bulk of attempts to play Cabella saw him used in a wide role that he did not really look suited in, with his few reasonable performances (Chelsea, Hull, Stoke) coming through CAM. It never helps he had a coaching staff that didn't really look like they knew how to use him. It is a "put up or shut up" season for him, though. Particularly if Siem de Jong continues to spend more time being glued back together.

I don't buy the hypothesis given injuries meant Obertan and Aarons barely played, and Ameobi is a wildly inconsistent player (I swear when we beat Liverpool, he only had a 50% pass success rate). Most of our shocking performance have featured certain recurring individuals - Williamson, Gouffran, Anita, Coloccini - that its not hard to think its time to get rid. I would keep Ameobi, but maybe as back-up rather than first choice.

This is quite an interesting summer for the defensive question given that Colocccini, Williamson and Steven Taylor are all out of contract in 12 months time. It might be time to get rid of all 3, or gradually replace all 3, and more than just bringing in Lascelles and changing Dummett to a CB role. A left back might also be advised, given we've let two/three that can play there go this year already.
#270473 Newcastle Thread
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I think we've already established a certain fair amount are preferably removed. Although today's rumour of Cabella out has been denied by his dad, who says he's sticking around.
#270462 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
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Twitter seems to think Bournemouth have agreed an £8.5million deal for Tyrone Mings, who Ipswich signed for ten grand. Mad.
#270459 A Little Bit Of History Changing
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Been playing along and already began the 2013-14 season, so round-up time.

First, the BPL:
http://s10.postimg.org/q554xare1/English_Premier_Division_37.png
upload gambar
One point off top spot in the end, even after we lead the table for a bit on the final day. If only we hadn't conceded a 90th minute equaliser to Bolton, for example. But still, 2nd place four years after the divergence from history... will take that.

My goal was top four all along to make sure we kept ourselves on the Champions League gravy train. After a 1-0 defeat by Spurs seven games before the end of the season, I thought "We're gonna need a miracle". Then we won all of our last five games. Not bad given they consisted of Chelsea, Liverpool, Sunderland, Man City and Aston Villa.

The win over City was perhaps the crucial one. Win for City would've won them the title there and then, and left us behind Villa on the final day ahead of the big showdown for a top four spot. But after Rasmus Elm scored twice in our 2-1 triumph, we started the finale 2nd. Then at various points on the final day I was checking and found that, improbably, we were actually leading the table. What a shame Robinho got a 70th minute winner at Wolves to give City a comeback win, and with it, back-to-back titles, but what else can ya do.

Champions League
http://s2.postimg.org/pznozttvt/Newcastle_v_Barcelona.png
free upload pictures
Well, we gave a better go of it than I was anticipating, and would have had a goal or two were it not for some great saves by Valdes. But a front three of Messi, Ibrahimovic and Ribery was essentially unstoppable, and given Iniesta put us behind inside 100 seconds, it was gonna be long. Still, the fact we even made the Champions League Final was mad enough.

For stats fans, we got out of a tough group with Juventus, Porto and Twente, as previously noted. After that, we beat Panathanikos in the 1st knockout round 3-1 on aggregate (1-1 in Greece, 2-0 on Tyneside). That put us through to face Fiorentina, who I thought would triumph. So a 5-2 win on aggregate (3-1 at home, 2-1 in Italy) was better than expected. The second leg was kinda helped by La Viola having a player sent off inside nine minutes.

So, this put us (rather unbelievably) into the semi-finals, but I thought, "Surely Bayern Munich is a step too far". And it seemed that way when Esteban Granero gave them the win in the first leg. But a 4-3 aggregate win (2-1 defeat in Germany, 3-1 win at ours) sent us into the top showcase of European football, with Lewis Holtby nabbing a hat trick to send us to Madrid to face Barcelona. Shame we couldn't add to the list of miracles with another, but still very good to even make the final in the first place.

And lastly, the FA Cup...
http://s2.postimg.org/6w3kayvt5/Newcastle_v_Chelsea.png
free image host
We did it! We won a fucking trophy!

Not a bad way to get it either. All seemed lost when Jose Enrique limped off at the end of a game where we second bet, but a 50 yard pass from Danny Simpson to a possibly offside Ryan Donaldson lead to the winner in the very last minute of the game. And sure enough, we have triumphed in the FA Cup.

Quite in-keeping with our progress to the damn finale. 1-0 v Portsmouth in Round Three, 1-0 v Plymouth in Round Four, 2-1 v Watford in Round Five, 1-0 v Bolton in the Quarter Finals, 1-0 over Aston Villa in the semis, and lastly, a single goal win in the final.

So, 2nd in the BPL and Champions League, and FA Cup winners. Not bad for a team predicted to finish 6th in the pre-season prediction cavalcade.

In terms of the ins and outs, January was a quiet month, with my budget being spent on the monthly payments that helped to pay for Holtby and Ben Arfa. We did have one out, with Billy Jones joining Aston Villa for £4.5m. More busy were pre-contracts. Mid-way through, I noticed Andre-Pierre Gignac and Stephane M'Bia - two players highly recommended by my scouts - were expiring, so nabbed them on freebies, while David Edgar decided he had enough of being third fiddle to Bassong and Vertonghen, and agreed a Bosman transfer to Bayern Leverkusen. Ironically, with one or the other missing most of the rest of the campaign, he became my (highly rated) first choice, so what can you do.

Not sure what to get next in the summer. Will try for a few talented youths after neglecting that for a while, and a new right-back, but aside from that, who knows.

In any case, onto the next adventure. With any luck there's my first ever FM Premier League title in it.