THRU BLACK & WHITE EYES – Ready?

16 Dec 24

There were times in the last thirty minutes facing Leicester with United 4 – 0 up that the game took on the atmosphere of a training drill. Foxes fans had lost all hope for the game high up in the Leazes and had taken to doing the ole thing whenever their side managed to string a couple of passes together. Gallows humour from the East Mids fans and fair play to them.

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It was an altogether a stress free afternoon on Barrack Road and a much needed three points to make the PL table look a bit healthier. We don’t tend to think of the wider picture with the results of other teams and their league placings but this is a season where it looks like anyone can beat anyone on their day. Maybe that’s something to consider when we chew over a disappointing result here and there – admittedly it is easier to take that view after an emphatic win at home than a pasting on our travels and we should not lose sight that our away form over the last twelve months has generally been poor.

That hasn’t changed after the rout over Leicester and should be at the forefront of our minds as we make the long trip to Suffolk on Saturday to face Ipswich Town.

Maybe the key takeaways from the win over Leicester are we have an excellent player in Sandro Tonali (which doesn’t mean there isn’t the odd rick here and there) and the Italian showed his quality in the contest v Leicester as he had over Liverpool. It is inconceivable he’s not one of the first names on the team-sheet now.

Whereas I thought Tonali’s performance was at times metronomic, not far behind him was Lewis Hall whose performance at left-back has some boasting the 20-year-old is the best in his position in the country. That is a bold claim but whilst some of us might be wary of a burden of such a title on his young shoulders, we can say he is in the conversation for the best left-back in the PL and Tino Livramento at right-back is of similar quality.

I think we also know that Antony Gordon is possibly the best player at the club (let’s have a heated debate) and he should not be moved from his left-sided berth. That is where AG delivers his best football and I’m hopeful he and Hall can develop a partnership at United that could quite conceivably be replicated for England.

Those opening paragraphs are maybe verging on hyperbole after (almost) a first half of the season which has been inconsistent to say the least. United still have it all to do to convince us this season isn’t going to fizzle out into disappointment.

Brentford at SJP in the League Cup Quarter Final this Wednesday is the biggest game of the season to date. A lot rests on our progress to the semi finals and going into the Christmas / New Year period in a positive state of mind. We cannot allow ourselves to drop back in standard and effort as we did after the Liverpool (h) game. We should know Brentford are no mugs and as they showed a week ago if we do not have the requisite game-plan and appetite we will come unstuck.

A team effort is required, not only on the park but also in the stands. We start every game with the customary and excellent displays courtesy of Wor Flags but when the banners have been rolled up, our vocal chords have to be loosened and we all need to give everything to our just and righteous cause. You know this as well as me.

Maybe however, Wor Flags, can roll out the GET INTO THEM banner – we need that on the park and in the stands.

Note –bring your scarf to support the pre-match display as per the Wor Flags request.

Typically, we are making one of the longest journeys of the season in the week before Christmas on Saturday – a big thanks to the PL fixture computer for that from the sell-out away end. Hopefully we will travel to Suffolk in good heart after Wednesday but this is a game we should win. We have better players than Ipswich and these are the games that will define our season and get us to where we need to be. There really are no excuses.

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It’s been a strange week in the media reporting United. Once again one of our players has been linked with a move away specifically (Sandro Tonali) and then talk of unhappiness in the camp as the pace of the project at Newcastle United is stymied by the cartel’s use of PSR. Antony Gordon however delivered a direct riposte to that direct to camera to underline his happiness at the club. The Tonali story was confirmed as a tall tale by his agent quickly after it was published.

I’m of the view a good 90% of what is written about football is drivel. Largely exaggerated, frequently bent out of shape and all designed to generate those critical clicks that keep the whole show on the road. That’s without taking into account the cut and paste pieces, the completely misleading headlines and well, the straightforward lies masquerading as coverage.

That all applies equally to Newcastle United.

We’re now heading into a period where the amount of media garbage will spike as we approach the January window. Isak is wanted by Arsenal, Guimarães is going to Man City, Gordon is going to Liverpool, Eddie Howe is going to get sacked, we’re going to build a new 70,000 stadium, we’re going to build a massive home end at SJP, we won’t spend due to PSR, we will spend if we sell someone, Longstaff is leaving and so on and so forth.

I will confess to being completely bamboozled by United’s position with regards to PSR. We made big bids for players in the summer but are now told that would necessitated sales in January. I do recall having read pieces confirming we were at the start of a new PSR three-year period after the sales of Minteh and Anderson in June. My head hurts. We’ll have to wait and see.

For all of that, Howe has said we are likely to be quiet in January and without players leaving it is unlikely any will be arriving due to PSR constraints. If no first team player is signed however, it will mean we have gone three windows making no significant move in the transfer market. It is difficult to look at all of this and not come to the conclusion the PL has been rigged by leading clubs as assets of corporate America.

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What did happen last week however was fairly typical Newcastle United. I read a journalist pointing to the improvements with injuries this season, potentially due to the work of Performance Director, James Bunce and with the metaphorical ink still dry on those positive words we hear Callum Wilson is out for another month because of a hamstring injury and there’s something similar with goalkeeper, Nick Pope.

Whilst Pope’s absence is a worry, particularly away from home, the latest set-back to Callum Wilson is straightforward depressing and must be soul destroying for the lad in question. I don’t think there are many better strikers I’ve seen than Wilson in my time following United and his finishing ranks with the best. He’s an outstanding striker and his loss to the team is significant. What the future holds for Wilson I don’t know but at 32 and in the last year of his contract it may be that we’re edging towards the end of his time here. He’ll be fondly remembered when that day comes.

More positively, the photos of Sven Botman on the training ground working towards his return is a real fillip as we get close to the half way point of the season. Sven is one of the best central defenders in the PL and he’ll improve us enormously when he does return. I think we can expect to see him nursed back in over January.

We await news on Jamaal Lascelles return but the club captain being available is another positive when it happens.

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Well done to the Newcastle United Supporters Trust who have been taking the #STOPEXPLOITINGLOYALTY campaign led by the Football Supporters Association to our games and working with their counterparts from rival clubs.

On Saturday gone NUST (and others) displayed their flag in The Corner of the Gallowgate and this has generated additional publicity for the campaign.

I’m still surprised there are fans who don’t understand what the campaign is attempting to achieve (which as we know is to protest against the removal of concessionary prices for children, disabled supporters and OAPs).

A similar campaign some years ago (of which NUST played a significant role) – Twenty’s Plenty led by the FSA) was successful in having PL clubs agree to cap tickets for away fans at £30. Some of you will recall paying eye-watering amounts at Chelsea, Man U etc.

Without that campaign price capping for away supporters would not have happened. Let’s hope this campaign and the activities of NUST in representing supporters at PL and club level (via the Fans Advisory Board) will see clubs reverse the removal of concessionary prices which have existed in football for as long as I can remember.

We can only do that by acting together and for that reason I’d recommend you join the Newcastle United Supporters Trust – our club’s only democratic, correctly constituted and accountable, representative fan-led organisation. – click here

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A little bit of politics … we note Kier Starmer, the UK Prime Minister made a trip to Saudi Arabia this week. Accompanying him was NE mayor Kim McGuinness. Starmer made the claim the UK’s links with Saudi Arabia would have big benefits for “the north of England”. Now whether that remark refers to the news release that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia is in the process of buying 50% of Newcastle Airport (with investment to follow perhaps) remains to be seen. However, if the media can’t link this to Newcastle United’s “new stadium” / “extended SJP” stream of speculation, then I will, for one be very disappointed.

You know this is going to happen and remember you read it here first :-)

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As you might have seen, we have transferred everything on the written side of TRUE FAITH to sub-stack. The reasons are multiple – it was costing us too much to keep the website going given it generated no income to even wash its own face, we don’t want to go down the road of being beholden to advertising because that drives a certain style of writing which is not what we want to do.

The idea of being in thrall to advertising, pop-ups, cut and paste articles masquerading as our news, claiming to be ITK or over-reacting to what some loud-mouth on Talksport has just said to create online traffic isn’t really for us. We’d rather have fewer clicks of satisfied readers than more of those disappointed in themselves for being suckered by a misleading headline etc. Yes, we’re unbearably worthy here.

There has been a good reaction to the new set up with lots signing up to join our e-mailing list which means you’ll get our articles direct to your in box as soon as they’re published.

Hopefully you’ll agree the set up is much the same as the website we’ve been using for years.

Many thanks for supporting TF all this time and we hope you find us worthwhile in the future.

Keep On, Keepin’ On …

Michael Martin, @TFMick1892.bsky.social

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