Wallsendmag

He was at worst average today, and yet we are still gifted with continuous discussion of how poor a player he is. Different day, same story on this forum. They spend their time mocking him for his white skin (I am sure if his pigmentation was of a different ethnicity, they would say nowt about that) and his speech impediment, but they reserve their ire mostly for his biggest disability of all, his nationality. If his name was Jaques Le Col Baque, with Ugandan origin they would be far more tolerable. For evidence of this, see their rampant and sinister defence of Vernon Anita, by far one of the most pointless players the premier league has ever seen, but due to nefarious reasons outlined earlier, they will remorselessly defend him until the cows come home. This is very true mind.

Typical. That'll be him out for the season then.

Just try it. Worst case scenario you get a red light at the turnstile and have to watch it in a pub in town instead. Or you could get in for free.

Should have built a team around him instead of selling it but that would gave pushed us into the European places and the club have already stated that's not where they want to be.

Absolutely brilliant player who could see first hand the lack of ambition at NUFC (we sold him and replaced him with Colback on a free) and fair play to him for coming out and speaking up about it. Good luck to him at Palace, he's a top player and they've done well to get him. Good players come here to put themselves in the shop window. The club have proven over the past 8 years that they have no interest in winning trophies or competing in the upper regions of the league, simply finishing outside the bottom 3 is considered as "job done" for the season yet some mugs still criticise the likes of Cabaye for leaving.

It’s great to be writing to you again with the season now upon us. I’m absolutely delighted the Premier League is back. When you’re involved in the best league in the world, you feel the edge and anticipation that comes with a big game like ours tomorrow, but as well as that, I’m also very excited and very proud to be going into the season as head coach of Newcastle United. We have already learned a lot during pre-season and that will continue over 90 minutes tomorrow against strong opposition. When you’re new to a club, you are working with your team for the first time in a league environment and it’s a very different type of pressure and intensity to pre-season. Whatever happens, we won’t be too carried away or too despondent in the dressing room. As I’ve mentioned before, a new philosophy and a new style take time to evolve but I hope you will see the character and commitment you expect from the off. Each match over the first ten-game period will give us a real indication of where we are as a club and what we can accomplish this season and from there, we will continue to assess and develop. The players are key to it all and I’m happy with what I see in the dressing room, both in terms of technical ability and attitude. We have a talented squad of players here and in Gini Wijnaldum, Aleksandar Mitrović and Chancel Mbemba, we have three top class additions to the first team which we plan to build on across a number of transfer windows. We have been patient so far and that will continue to have its rewards. As well as new players, I was delighted that Fabricio Coloccini renewed his commitment to the club by signing a contract extension this week. I wanted Colo to stay here as captain and importantly, so did he. He has the respect of the coaching staff and his teammates in the dressing room, both as a player and as a leader. Captains can lead teams in different ways. Some are vocal, they can be in players’ faces. Colo leads through his stature and the respect he has right across the club. When he does choose to speak, he has impact. He is usually very perceptive and he speaks with the benefit of tremendous experience. To retain that is great news. It will be very positive for our younger players and will also help our new players. They will all be in for a test tomorrow. Southampton were the surprise team in the Premier League last season and they will give us a tough first game but I’ll be happy to be in the home dugout rather than the away one. I know that with your backing, St. James’ Park can be a wonderful place to be while also being a very, very difficult place to come for visiting clubs and their players. I’ve been in that away dugout and have seen it for myself. We must turn St. James’ Park back into a fortress this season and I hope we can play our part in that by giving you something to sing about and something to rally behind, starting tomorrow. I look forward to seeing and hearing you all alongside us. Yours sincerely, Steve McClaren Head Coach

He's just sent me another email.

Pardew never had any say in the way NUFC was run or how we constantly punched well below our weight in the transfer market. He basically picked the team, well for the league games anyway. Cabaye might actually rate Pardew as a manager. What he is saying is that NUFC should be doing far better than what we are which is 100% correct.

Doesn't come across as bitter at all. Says what a great club NUFC is but that it should be doing a lot better but is being held back by Ashley's mentality. What bit of that don't you agree with?

The thing is Cabaye is just the latest in a long line of ex players (plus Keegan) to come out and say this and these are the people on the inside at the club so it's not just speculation. No doubt the idiots who can see no wrong in anything at the club will be along to slate him on twitter/Facebook.

Also they're away in Europe on Thursday and have sold out their allocation for that. Most of them would have chosen a trip to Holland ahead of the trip up here for the novelty factor.

47,000 max on Sunday. There'll be 2k empty seats in the away end for a start and there's still loads of empty seats in the Gallowgate, Leazes and Milburn. Only the East Stand has only a few empty seats. We only just scraped 50k for our opening home game last season and that was against the Champions who brought 3,000 fans with them and we had around 8,000 more season ticket holders then as well.

People can boycott in whichever way they see fit though. I didn't renew my season ticket, haven't bought any club merchandise for years and very much doubt I'll go to any home games this season but I took my little lad with me today and he enjoyed himself. Went on some of the rides they had set up behind the Gallowgate and then went in to watch the training. Didn't visit the club shop and it cost nowt to get in so Mike Ashley didn't get a penny off me. However I won't be bothering with the Southampton match on Sunday.

Perez has earned his place in the side, it will be a poor decision if he isn't in the team that plays Southampton. Agree. However I always think he seems like the easy target when the manager is looking for a player to leave out.

Don't think we signed him, loaned him out for a season then brought him back to be 6th choice. Coloccini and Mbemba you would expect will be the first choice pairing but after those 2 it's anyone from Lascelles, Taylor and Williamson. With Coloccini being another year older and picking up a few injuries these days it's perfectly reasonable to suggest Lascelles could feature in 10 or more first team games this season.

Front 4 will, the rest won't. Lascelles and Gouffran will both play more than 10 games for us next season. McClaren clearly loves Gouffran and Taylor will be injured most of the season so Lascelles will be vying with Williamson to play alongside Coloccini.

Never read too much into friendlies but by my reckoning 6 of those players will get into double figures in PL appearances for us next season (plus Abeid who I didn't include). Still desperately need 3 more in who can walk straight into the starting XI but I think Ashley will be thinking this group are good enough for 14-17th place.

Tbf he struggled in the Championship last season.

They do it to pander to the knuckledraggers on wearside. After all they need them to buy their paper/listen to their radio programme but we're a bit more sophisticated up here and our local papers/radio don't need to stoop to those levels. Walk around Newcastle and then jump on a metro to Sunderland for any further proof of what I'm saying. They're about half an hour away but it's like going back 30 years. A bizarre, non entity of a place and that's what fuels their bitterness and bile.

This new keeper must be shite.

I use readytogo every day to keep up to date with all the latest NUFC news. Seriously.

They should have anticipated the demand and made more than 10 of them mind.

Don't think that's the case at all. Remember an interview with him a few years ago and he actually said he couldn't believe a player like him was at a club the size of Newcastle. He'll know he's not good enough, and he isn't, but as long as they keep putting his name down on the teamsheet he's hardly going to refuse to play (like others have in the past). It's entirely the fault of the club that he's still here, not his and anyone booing him needs to give their head a shake. Hopefully he's moved on to a Championship club for a nominal fee but I've got a feeling he'll still be here this time next year.

Our crowds are on the decline. Presently we have 52,000 seats to fill and approximately 25,000 season ticket holders. I'd be amazed if we get more than 2 or 3 50k crowds next season. Couldn't even get 50,000 in against Man Utd last season due to their ridiculous ticketing policy. Probably only the mackems and Villa will have a lower occupancy % than us in 15/16.

James McClean has his Maserati vandalised. To be fair it's from January but it's just gone to court now and he's been in the news a bit recently. Culprit has to pay him back at a fiver a week; http://www.u.tv/News/2015/07/24/Derry-man-fined-over-McClean-car-attack-41718