Wallace

I guess it depends on the Champions League develops in the next few years. There is lots of talk about a European Super League which some experts really believe will be a reality sooner rather than later and whilst it might not seem likely Rangers would be part of that, they are more likely candidates than we are. I heard on the radio the other day when it was suggested Ashley might want to take over that there is some regulation in Scotland where he cannot own more than 10% of Rangers if he owns a Premier League club so he would definitely have to sell us if he plans to buy Rangers.

The SDN website article on this is like an advertising feature pointing out the merits of the interested clubs and that he will have lots of options when he leaves (and he will because his situation at Newcastle is complicated!). It looks like Ashley is inviting £20m offers again and trying to create a bidding war between interested parties now that he has put together a string of good performances.

Would be amazed if he's even read them never mind written them. I think that page is just the club trying to prove his worth and he is probably oblivious to the content.

Gary Neville ‏@GNev2 3h Love Klopp quote this morning- On Arsenal ' They are like an orchestra / playing a violin- Me I like Heavy Metal more - I want it loud'

I think the media are just going for it whilst they can. It is certainly being mentioned a lot on the radio today. I had thought that this was just one of those stories that you wanted to be true but wasn't but Steve Howey said it was true on the radio last week and I guess he would have heard directly from one of the ex NUFC lot at Birmingham.

Pardew on Radio Newcastle said that it was a brilliant tactical decision by Tiote to substitute himself for Anita!! And that he is fine.

I am no expert on these things but it seems as if everything that can be outsourced has been and I guess along with the 10 year season ticket deals, Ashley knows that he is guaranteed a certain income each year. That means that there is no scope for generating extra revenue because they probably receive a set fee but then from his point of view it keeps the operating costs down. It means that the only real revenue coming into the club is the TV money and gate receipts and the occasional sale of a player. If he does end up selling the club, the new owners could be inheriting all kinds of problems depending on the contracts agreed. I find it unacceptable that the club laments its poor commercial revenue when it is of their own choice and use it as a excuse for not competing.

Is that Rangers merchandise geniunely for sale on the NUFC website or is it just a cock-up by the people running the website? Does Ashley really think that Rangers fans would look at the NUFC website as the place to buy their merchandise from rather than their own website?

http://www.thejournal.co.uk/sport/sport-opinion/mark-douglas-united-always-bigger-6263062 Mark Douglas: United will always be bigger than you, Mike Ashley 1 Nov 2013 11:36 Chief Sports writer Mark Douglas gives his take on Mike Ashley and his recent actions at Newcastle United Apparently, Mike Ashley is entirely unconcerned about the latest monsoon of negative publicity his bone-headed actions have heaped on Newcastle United. Banning myself and the rest of the NCJ Media stable a week ago for reporting on a march in a way that he didn’t like felt to us like an excessive, arrogant and grotesque attempt to censor the free press. But we were always likely to see it that way: less so others who are not directly affected by the clumsy, ham-fisted attempt to bend the black-and-white narrative. Therefore it has been humbling and uplifting to see so many, a few of whom have no great love for the local press or even Newcastle United, it must be acknowledged, offer their support. That show of unity is, in my opinion, something of a mandate for us to start exploring just how deep the discontent lies with Ashley’s Newcastle. Not that the club’s absent owner, who was not at the derby and skipped the midweek game against Manchester City in the “non-priority” League Cup, has taken the blind bit of notice according to those taking the temperature among the small band of individuals who sit on the board. In fact, it appears as if he and his compliant cronies are in the mood for some cheeky one-upmanship given their obsequious decision to allow Premier League paymasters Sky Sports access to the St James’ Park dressing rooms and manager’s suite before the game. How predictable – and how utterly tiresome that Ashley would yet again completely miss the point that has been sketched out for him this week. Once again, he appears to view this latest dispute as another attempt to flex his metaphorical muscles. While his position towards a free press – he’s banned ten journalists now – becomes more entrenched and his relationship with Sky becomes ever cosier he continues to miss the bigger picture: Newcastle United is not a bargaining tool, a weapon to be used against your enemies or a vehicle to further his business. It is a living, breathing entity that merely has his name above the door for a limited period. That someone acting on his behalf had the gall to actually try and stop an independent observer even asking a question sums it up: we control Newcastle, you don’t get a say in the matter. Ashley really doesn’t get that for all the eye-watering wealth and success he has accrued, the club is bigger than him. He can double the number of Sports Direct outlets, create another shoddy news website and carry a Newcastle United story on it every day if he wishes. It won’t change a thing: United will always be about much more than him or his businesses. It goes without saying that it is bigger than any journalist, newspaper group or TV company too. The Journal’s editor Brian Aitken pointed out in a measured editorial that Ashley might do well to read that we don’t want to be the news and I share that feeling all the way. It gets boring writing about a ban and no matter how long the suspension of “privileges” goes on, it will only be mentioned when it is any way relevant from now on. For Ashley, though, I wonder whether he realises what resides in the hearts and minds of the people he is desperately (and laudably, it must be said) trying to persuade back into St James’ Park. If he did, he might stop trying to apply the same business model that made Sports Direct a success and come up with something that actually makes a strength of the feeling that has been expressed this week. In short, he’d realise that Newcastle is the most important business in his portfolio. Derek Llambias once told a group of assembled journalists that Ashley got that he was just the custodian of the club. But every time he makes an autocratic and illogical decision that suits him rather than the club or region (renaming the stadium, striking a deal with Wonga, appointing Joe Kinnear) he is showing that statement to be completely false. Nothing I have heard about him suggests that for all the years he has been here and all the pints he’s supped with supporters, he gets Newcastle United in the slightest. He might view that as an incendiary statement but it’s actually intended as a piece of advice for him. Because as soon as he realises it, he can make huge gains (both financial and emotional). Some people in football view Newcastle as a sort of damned United: unmanageable and a Premier League basket case. Even the current manager seems to err towards that feeling, judging by his recent appearance on Goals on Sunday. Returning to a theme he has spoken of many times in the last 12 months Pardew told Sky’s presenters: “If we lose, we’re going to go down, so it’s those extremes you have to manage. “The expectation is such that it’s very difficult at times, I find it difficult to manage Newcastle, and I think most managers who have been at Newcastle find it difficult.” When he said that, I was tearing my hair out. The simple fact is that there is a way to channel the passion, the enthusiasm and the devotion of the city for its football club into real, tangible, money-in-the-bank success. But Ashley, with his media bans, his clueless director of football, his online Newcastle merchandise operation that sells Rangers coats, his free ads for Sports Direct and his logos plastered across the stadium and his whopping great loan, hasn’t even tried to do it. His continued presence at St James’ Park is hurting United.

Jonathan Wilson's view. http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/sport-comment/newcastle-uniteds-mike-ashley-has-pressed-the-wrong-buttons Newcastle United’s Mike Ashley has pressed the wrong buttons Jonathan Wilson October 28, 2013 Updated: October 28, 2013 16:14:00 The relationship between England’s regional reporters and the clubs they cover is never simple. There must always be compromise. The club provides regular access and a drip of stories and, in return, the newspapers keep things relatively civil. For local papers that remain, even in the days of blogs, the prime conduit between a club and its fans, that relationship is even more delicate. A national paper can fill its sports pages with other clubs; the Newcastle Journal has to talk about Newcastle United. The paper needs the club, but the club also needs the paper as a way of explaining itself through a channel that is not so obviously subjective as the club website. Which is what makes the recent behaviour of Mike Ashley, the Newcastle United owner, so baffling. Last season it banned the Telegraph, a national paper, from matches and news conferences for a story that spoke of a rift between the French players and the others in the dressing-room. Most shrugged, thought the club had overreacted and moved on. But it turns out that was just the beginning. On Sunday, after Newcastle’s defeat to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, the reporter from the Journal, the main local morning paper, tried to ask Alan Pardew, the Newcastle manager, a question in the post-match news conference. The press officer intervened to prevent him doing so. The man from the Chronicle, the main evening paper, then tried and was also rebuffed. It subsequently turned out the Sunday Sun, the main local Sunday paper (which has nothing to do with the Sun on Sunday, a national), had also been banned from Newcastle home matches and press activities. All three had decided not to reveal the ban so as not to disrupt preparations for the derby, which says much for their sense of decorum. Their crime? They had reported on a march organised by the Time 4 Change group that was attended by hundreds of fans protesting against, inter alia, the appointment of Joe Kinnear as director of football, the lack of a major signing in the summer and having Wonga, a payday loans company whose ethical approach has been questioned, as a club sponsor. This happened. It is not an unnamed player sounding off or an extrapolation from a couple of rumours. Many thousands saw it. Reporters reported on it and for doing so they are now being prevented from doing their jobs. But this is not just Ashley acting like a petty dictator and infringing on the basic freedom of the press: it is also a spectacularly stupid move. The pressure on Pardew is certain to increase after he became the first Newcastle manager in almost half a century to lose successive league derbies, and it is safe to assume the local papers will do little to calm angry fans. Negative titbits those journalists may previously have suppressed will be given free rein: the papers have nothing to lose in terms of their relationship with the club and a crisis will sell copies. Ashley’s posturing means it is now in their interests to destabilise the club.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/newcastle-united/10409369/Were-sports-reporters-Mr-Ashley-not-media-partners-and-were-worth-more-than-you-think.html The followig is from an article from Luke Edwards about this: "Ashley, though, is one of the Premier League chairmen who want to make newspapers pay to cover games. Thankfully, his calls have been rejected by the Premier League who realise they need newspaper coverage. It provides the widest exposure and gives the game its largest audience figures."

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/sport-opinion/neil-cameron-alan-pardew-needs-6248315? Neil Cameron: Pardew needs to play his best team against Manchester City 28 Oct 2013 11:58 It was an afternoon that left us with many questions and if you work for this newspaper they weren't getting answered But one thing came out of the defeat. One thing we do know to be absolutely true. And that’s Alan Pardew must play his strongest team against Manchester City on Wednesday in their Capital Cup match. Not a strong team or an experienced team. His very best team. It’s not a chance to blood some kids. Gabriel Obertan cannot be allowed anywhere near the pitch. That is the very least Newcastle United supporters deserve after yesterday when they watched with bewildered agony as a “gutless” Sunderland side, with just one point from eight games before this Wear-Tyne derby, beat them at the Stadium of Light. The home side edged it and that’s the truth. The visiting fans looked utterly sick by the end of it all. You couldn’t blame them. If Pardew resorts to type when it comes to the League Cup and rests his bigger names for the visit of City, whose third team is worth roughly £100m, then they will be put out of the only competition that have a realistic chance of winning. On the back of a derby defeat, that will be too much to take for some. Those who don’t like Pardew really don’t like him, no matter what the man does. Those who can’t make up their minds will have a far stronger negative opinion now. Those who still back him are running out of patience. This isn’t an opinion, by the way. It’s fact. He could do with some friends right now. So, Alan, take some friendly advice. Go with your strongest XI on Wednesday night. Who cares if they are tired or have a knock. This last-16 cup tie has all of a sudden become massively important. A win would do you a power of good. If Newcastle can get themselves into the giddy heights of a quarter-final place, some time will be bought, if not a lot. If Pardew goes into the game and doesn’t go for it, and with Chelsea and Tottenham next up in the Premier League, he puts himself under more pressure. Make no mistake, these are testing times for Newcastle’s manager. Joe Harvey was the last man who occupied that high office to lose successive derbies. You have to go back to Bill McGarry to find the last Newcastle manager to lose two derbies full stop, in 1979 and 1980. Pardew thought his team deserved to win yesterday. He was something of a lone voice there. They might, and it’s a slim might, have done enough to earn a draw. But that’s straw-clutching. Newcastle started appallingly, went a goal down, and then without doing all that much, got themselves level and then allowed Sunderland back into it. Oh sure, there were moments such as Shola Ameobi’s shot that for all the world looked like it was going in, and quick reactions from Keiren Westwood stopped a late equaliser. But these are typical derby moments. They were fairly irrelevant. It’s not as if the Sunderland keeper had a worldy or there were penalty shouts or goals wrong chopped off. There were a few half-chances. That was it. Newcastle are a better team than Sunderland. It might seem a bit daft to say that after yesterday, but I genuinely believe this. Hard work only beats talent when the talent doesn’t work hard. That’s happened in this derby twice in the space of six months. Too many players in black and white fell short yesterday. Way short. Newcastle turned in a strangely disjointed performance at the Stadium of Light. All those derby clichés of winning battles, running hard, facing up to the opposition, well they happen to be true. Sunderland seemed to get that message. Those in black and white waited until after half-time before really showing up. Moussa Sissoko was an empty jersey and was subbed at half-time. Yohan Cabaye did little right and Hatem Ben Arfa was appalling for 45 minutes, woke up, set up the equaliser, then disappeared. Loic Remy chased lost causes and Papiss Cisse, when he came on, looked a two yards off the pace. Cheick Tiote can look himself in the mirror. He put in a shift, passed the ball and tried to get his team-mates going. They weren’t listening. Here’s the thing. At 1-1, you felt United would go on and win it. Sunderland were tired and hadn’t really threatened in the second-half. Where was a goal going to come for them? To be fair, Fabio Borini answered that with a superb strike. Overall, Sunderland were more hungry and that tends to win these games. United never really got a proper foothold even if for periods they were on top. Ben Arfa had one of those games that has you tearing clumps out of your hair. And yet it was his cross-cum-shot that allowed Mathieu Debuchy to creep past Adam Johnson at the back postand score an equaliser that Newcastle fans probably didn’t see coming. That should have been the signal for Newcastle to go for broke. Oddly, and it was a strange game all in, Sunderland got back into things when they had been really off the pace. The next goal was always going to be the winner. Sunderland scored it. The victors weren’t even that brilliant themselves. Wednesday is another game and a chance to put some things right. And Newcastle now have some making-up to do with their supporters.

The Journal's match report. http://www.thejournal.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/sunderland-2-newcastle-united-1-6247334? By Mark Douglas Sunderland 2 Newcastle United 1: Mark Douglas' match analysis 28 Oct 2013 09:15 The storm of St Jude is due to descend on the North East today, but it will be the winds of change that are exercising the minds of Wear-Tyne football fans this morning. A fixture that has the power to bend seasons went the way of Gus Poyet and Sunderland, who can draw on the transformative power of this result to re-energise a campaign that was in danger of curdling into a corrosive conclusion. For Alan Pardew and Newcastle, a fierce reckoning awaits. They may no longer welcome questions from the local press thanks to a ban imposed last week, but the inquest will be long and hard for a manager who has now presided over the first back-to-back derby defeats since 1967. This is an unhappy club that needs results to prevent rebellion, and Wear-Tyne woe plants them right on to the back foot. The Newcastle boss contended that his team were “robbed” but that was not an accurate summary of the contest. His squad might have been shorn of three first-choice centre-backs but he still arrived on Wearside armed with enough attacking options to give the visitors the justified status of favourites. But they failed to show and Pardew had failed to arrange them into a system that replicated the fine display of last week’s energetic draw with Liverpool: that is a damning indictment of both the squad and the manager. Quite what Mike Ashley’s next move is we just don’t know. The squad that has been assembled on his watch continues to be perilously inconsistent under this manager, but such is his unpredictability and petulance, presuming a rational response would be giving him too much credit. The results of a summer transfer strategy which was always insufficient were there in the back four, where poor Paul Dummett was asked to make his Premier League debut at the centre of defence. By contrast, Poyet’s strategy played off to perfection and the consequences could be momentous. Sunderland were fired up from the off, sensing an opportunity to impose themselves on the game and taking it within five minutes when Adam Johnson’s chipped cross was nodded home by Steven Fletcher. It was the perfect start for Poyet, who had taken definitive action following their South Wales slump. Carlos Cuellar and Jack Colback were recalled to give Sunderland a robust air of experience, while Andrea Dossena and Jozy Altidore were picked to give them the incessant industry that had been missing in last week’s second half. They proved inspired calls from the Uruguayan. Sunderland pressed relentlessly from the off, unsettling Newcastle’s marquee men and allowing Lee Cattermole the run of the midfield. Colback was what he always is: neat, tidy and a picture of industry and invention. Quite why anyone would ever consider dropping one of the most consistent Black Cats is beyond this correspondent. Sunderland’s tempo decreased steadily but Newcastle could not gain a foothold on the game. Hatem Ben Arfa was wasteful and woeful moving forward, while Yohan Cabaye was off the pace. He whacked Colback and picked up a yellow card just before the break. The real question was how Sunderland would respond in adversity, and when Mathieu Debuchy stabbed home from close range the fear was they would collapse. Instead Poyet brought Ki on and Fabio Borini scored a wonderful goal to hand Sunderland the derby honours. For Pardew, this was a desperate, desperate afternoon. Having summoned a fine response to the shambolic first half at Everton, he has now seen all of the momentum gathered over the last fortnight dissolve over another woeful hour and a half of derby-day competition. Pardew claimed afterwards that his team were “robbed”, but if there was any banditry going on at the Stadium of Light it was hard to discern. It was correct that Newcastle enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the second half, but Poyet was the smarter manager, sending on Ki to replace Lee Cattermole to slow Sunderland’s furious pace and alter the momentum of the game. The Newcastle manager and his players had no answer to that, just as Pardew did not offer a response to questions from The Journal and the Chronicle in the post-match press conference. The club has decided to ban ncjMedia newspapers “indefinitely” after taking issue with the Chronicle’s coverage of the Time4Change march before the Liverpool game, and a club official jumped in before the manager could respond to this correspondent’s question about the manner of Newcastle’s display. If only it were so easy to control the narrative. The questions will come loud and clear for United in the next seven days, whether Pardew and the club like it or not.

Local papers now reporting Taylor struggling to be fit for the game.

my mate works for Dummetts dad and he told me last night that all the training so far this week as been with Willo and Dummett playing together at centre half and no sign yet of Saylor Guess it's not in our interest to publicise the fact that Saylor might not be fit for the game.

There is no pace in their defence is there, so Remy, Ben Arfa and Gouffran should take full advantage of that.

Maybe his injury is one of those where time is the healer rather than actual treatment so I guess the club must be happy for him to take the opportunity to go back home and spend time with his wife and kids.

What were Liverpool fans protesting about when they unfurled that banner before the match saying "£nough is £nough".

We so need France to win their play-off to keep our French players motivated for the whole season.

Pardew is on Goals on Sunday this weekend.

Article about how clubs are spending the £200k. to City Manchester City: Manuel Pellegrini’s staff and first-team squad have chipped in to the offer. Half-price tickets will be on offer to season-ticket holders at selected away games. Games will be chosen if a considerable travelling distance is involved or it falls in a series of games taking place during a short period of time. Work is underway at the Etihad to improve the experience for visiting supporters. Club captain Vincent Kompany said: 'I hope this initiative proves how much we value our incredible support on the road'. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2451738/Away-Fans-Fund-What-Premier-League-clubs-spending-200k-on.html#ixzz2hKOq0F2B

With it being World Cup year, he needs to be playing every week so that could count in our favour come January. He needs only to look at Ba when Chelsea bought him as a panic buy last January. And Deschamps has already shown he won't select players who are not playing regularly for their clubs.

I'm not convinced he's a PDC style c*** either though. That seems to be what we are basing our criticisms on. But the Brighton forums seem to view him quite positively, and in the two games against us, his teams seemed far more motivated than ours did under Pardew. Devils advocate but aren't the minnows always likely to be 'more up for it'? As I said earlier, Brighton could string passes together which was enough to impress me but Sunderland could appoint literally anyone (say Paolo Di Canio for example) and some will instantly be doom and gloom claiming he is a good manager/have a feeling he will be a success based on very little. I can't speak for anyone else, but I created a thread about Poyet after last season's cup defeat based purely on the qualities I saw in his side. Most of the objections in that thread were based on him being a c*** due to scoring goals against us and being associated with Dennis Wise. If you dug a little deeper fans might have discovered he was generally considered to be the brains behind Leeds success while he was there with Wise. I think you'll find he's far higher rated inside the game than either Pardew or Kinnear these days. Leeds who got relegated under Wise, is this? Wasn't that after Poyet left? Think it might have been. I seem to recall that Leeds fans credited their success under Wise to Poyet and it all went a bit wrong when Poyet left.

There's no reason for the club to take reduced allocations anymore as the rules on away tickets changed this summer. It's now sale or return without the away club having to pay for unsold tickets. Didn't know that, do you know why did they not take up a full allocation at Cardiff then? I had heard that about the rules changing for away tickets so there is no excuse for us to take a lower allocation. I also heard that we took a lower allocation for Cardiff but I am not sure if we did. There was a gap between the home and away supporters from the top of the stand down to the pitch but you could argue it was for segregation purposes as it didn't seem particularly wide.

Full article http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/exclusive-newcastle-united-lead-the-way-as-fans-pressure-forces-ticket-price-cuts-8867482.html Exclusive: Newcastle United lead the way as fans' pressure forces ticket price cuts The supporter-driven fight has led to Manchester United following Liverpool and Arsenal's lead in knocking money off every away ticket bought by one of their own fans this season IAN HERBERT Author Biography TUESDAY 08 OCTOBER 2013 The campaign to bring Premier League away tickets down to £20 is on the brink of a major breakthrough, with Newcastle United preparing to announce a reciprocal deal by which they will charge any club's away fans that price, if their own are given the same deal, The Independent can reveal. The supporter-driven fight to force down exorbitant prices faced by Premier League away fans led Manchester United to announce that they have followed Liverpool and Arsenal's lead in knocking money off every away ticket bought by one of their own fans this season. United will reduce every away ticket price by £4, Arsenal will reduce theirs by £2.50, while Liverpool will bring down their own away ticket prices by between £2 and £4, depending on the opposition. Newcastle's plan is imaginative – but dependent on others being willing to reciprocate. The clubs' moves follow the Premier League announcement that it has established a fund of £12m over the next three seasons to ensure that each of the top division's 20 clubs set aside £200,000 each per season to make games more affordable for away fans. The fund is a direct result of the Football Supporters' Federation's "Twenty's Plenty" petition. The organisation lobbied the Premier League and then met its chief executive, Richard Scudamore, four months ago to demand action on prices. The high costs led to a 9.6 per cent reduction in top-flight away attendances last year. Newcastle's willingness to charge a flat £20 fee will prove that the FSF was right when it insisted that £20 is a commercially viable figure for big clubs to charge. The £12m has come from the clubs' TV revenues and all were given until the end of last month to demonstrate how they were going to use it. The FSF is yet to hear from Everton, Manchester City, Southampton, West Bromwich Albion and West Ham United. But the others have plans in progress and most clubs – Aston Villa, Cardiff City, Chelsea, Fulham, Hull City, Norwich City, Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur – are investing in subsidised travel to games for supporters. Other innovations include Cardiff and Sunderland's investment in guides to their local area, to give visitors more options when they are at the ground than just finding the local pubs and clubs. United's decision to reduce prices – a strategy which benefits all and not just coach-travelling away supporters – earned them praise from the Manchester United Supporters Trust – a fervent critic of the club at times during the era of Glazer ownership but an organisation which was consulted by the Premier League champions. The FSF chief executive, Kevin Miles, said that the federation welcomed all clubs' moves to reduce the cost of travel and acknowledged that the price-reduction strategy was a particularly good one. "The one cost that every fan has to pay, regardless of how they travel and where from, is the price through the gate," he said. Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, has acted after fans’ protests (Getty) Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, has acted after fans’ protests (Getty) "Subsidised travel is fine for those who choose to travel by coach – and we welcome it – though that is not much use to the people who live nearer the away ground than the home stadium." There can also be the law of unintended consequences, he added. "Independent bus firms can find themselves out of business when clubs run their own free services. It is the question of ticket prices that we are keenest to see explored. We are watching with interest to see what clubs come up with." The moves – which the clubs have no option to refuse – are seen as only the start of the campaign for a better deal for away fans. "The fact that we are making progress is likely only to encourage those campaigning, rather than distract them," Miles said. As yet, Newcastle have only formally undertaken to provide free away travel for disabled fans this season, though the £20 reciprocal deal is still to follow. Crystal Palace and Swansea City have reached a similar – though less substantial – reciprocal arrangement, which means that any adult ticket can be purchased at half price with a full-price junior ticket. United's ticket reduction plan was finalised by chief operating officer Michael Bolingbroke after discussions with chief executive Ed Woodward and commercial director Richard Arnold. United said that any part of their £200,000 which was not used this season would go forward to augment next season's investment in away support subsidy. Premier League payback: How the clubs help away fans Arsenal fans will receive a £2.50 discount on every away Premier League match ticket for the rest of the season. The club will also provide away supporters with a £10 refreshments voucher at an away fixture this Christmas and invest in the away end at the Emirates. Aston Villa will offer travelling supporters free coach travel for 10 games this season, which started with their match at Hull City last Saturday. Cardiff City plan to subsidise 30 coaches for their game at Norwich away so fans only have to pay £5. The club are also looking into other deals. Supporters travelling to Cardiff should also check out the club's Away Fans' Guide. Chelsea have confirmed subsidised travel for at least 10 away games this season, including long trips to Everton, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Sunderland. Crystal Palace and Swansea City have a reciprocal deal which means "any adult ticket can be purchased at half-price with every full-price junior ticket". Swansea also provided a free hot meal for every travelling fan at St Mary's on Sunday. Fulham will provide four free coaches at every Premier League away game. The club will also hand out free away tickets to junior season-ticket holders and members. Hull City have opted to offer free travel to away games and have nearly 30 coaches going to Everton on 19 October. The club will also offer free travel to Spurs (league and Capital One Cup), Southampton, Arsenal, and Swansea City, all before Christmas. Hull are looking at further offers for next year. Liverpool have reduced ticket prices for away games by £2 to £4, dependent on the opposition. The decision was taken after consultation with the club's supporters' committee. Manchester United consulted the fans' forum and will knock £4 off the price of every away ticket bought by a United fan, starting with the Fulham game on 2 November. Newcastle United fund disabled away fan travel for the remainder of this season but other plans are still to be confirmed. Norwich City will offer "double discount" for trips to both Manchester clubs. The club also laid on 25 free coaches for the trip to Hull City and have offered half-price tickets for the game at Stoke. Stoke City provide free coach travel to away fans for all Premier League fixtures. This has already resulted in Stoke taking a club record number of fans to Anfield for a Premier League fixture. Sunderland subsidise away tickets at certain fixtures by £10 and have improved the concourse, signage and bar areas for travelling fans. They will also produce 40,000 guidebooks for visiting fans with things to see and do while in the area. Tottenham Hotspur offer subsidised travel to all 14 top-flight games outside the London area. They will also assist official regional clubs' travel arrangements and refurbish areas used to accommodate visiting fans at White Hart Lane.