Football 2026-27

[charlierc]

As is tradition, new Premier League fixture list means new thread for non-World Cup football.

 

So, here we go once again.

 

PL opening day...

 

Friday, 21 August

Arsenal v Coventry (20:00)

 

Saturday, 22 August

Hull City v Manchester United (12:30)

Everton v Crystal Palace (15:00)

Ipswich v Sunderland (15:00)

Nottingham Forest v Leeds (15:00)

Brentford v Tottenham (17:30)

 

Sunday, 23 August

Brighton v Aston Villa (14:00)

Manchester City v Bournemouth (14:00)

Newcastle v Liverpool (16:30)

 

Monday, 24 August

Fulham v Chelsea (20:00)

 

I can't say I'm loving an opening three games for the Toon of Liverpool, Spurs and Bournemouth but them's the breaks I guess.

[Ben7amin_]

Quite surprisingly it looks like Tonali has agreed terms with Spurs and we are just working out the fee.  thought a couple of other clubs might have come in for him -  

 

 

 

 

[lost]

Got to wondering whats the point if your a Newcastle fan now. Taken over to become the richest club in the world, win trophy and qualify for the champions league a few times in recent years and then a traditional big 6 club who have just put in their worst performance in the history of the prem staying up on the last day can still take your best players.

 

Its starting to look like Chelsea and Man City were the last ones to break through before the ladder was pulled up.

 

 

[balti-pie]

13 minutes ago, EvanLittle said:

To be honest, Tonali to Spurs makes zero sense for anyone other than Newcastle's finance director. Why on earth would he swap a project that was in the Champions League not long ago and actually has a proper long term plan, for a Spurs side that is completely a shambles and barely stayed up last season? If Spurs actually stump up the cash for him, it just goes to show their financial muscle is still on a different planet compared to Newcastle, all thanks to that stadium and the concerts, regardless of how tragic they look on the pitch. But for the player himself, it is a massive step backwards in terms of ambition.

 

that said, for all that Newcastle are building and having a plan and moving forwards etc etc, and Spurs are an absolute

shambles and dreadful and going nowhere, there was only eight points between them last season

[thetime]

1 hour ago, EvanLittle said:

To be honest, Tonali to Spurs makes zero sense for anyone other than Newcastle's finance director. Why on earth would he swap a project that was in the Champions League not long ago and actually has a proper long term plan, for a Spurs side that is completely a shambles and barely stayed up last season? If Spurs actually stump up the cash for him, it just goes to show their financial muscle is still on a different planet compared to Newcastle, all thanks to that stadium and the concerts, regardless of how tragic they look on the pitch. But for the player himself, it is a massive step backwards in terms of ambition.

 

Tonali doesn't seem the type of guy who cares much about ambition, more about the cash. 

 

Spurs shouldn't expect to much loyalty from him. I am no great fan of Newcastle, but they stuck by Tonali with his long ban. 

 

That being said I am sure Cash, London and a traditional big club is a big pull over Newcastle. 

[Ben7amin_]

The guys about to get a significant bump on his pay packet and I think thats the obvious one.  

 

 

 

Call me mad (and il accept that) but so far id say this is the best prep for a season Spurs have done in ages signing proven premier league players and well early -    There are gonna be some mid table dutch and french clubs devastated when we dont come in to throw cash at a playet that they will get back on loan in Jan when they dont in anyway solve the footballing problem we are trying to solve.

 

That being Said we still baldy need winger, Stiker and maybe GK   and the money is not endless -  But expect a few big sales to come in aswel. 

 

Maybe now Levy is gone we wont be ringing up clubs to see if they will swap their star player for Radu Dragusin.   

 

 

[Ben7amin_]

Elsewhere - Looks like it will be the otherside of the canal 

 

https://www.manutd.com/en/news/united-secures-land-for-new-old-trafford-stadium

[kaosmark2]

8 hours ago, EvanLittle said:

To be honest, Tonali to Spurs makes zero sense for anyone other than Newcastle's finance director. Why on earth would he swap a project that was in the Champions League not long ago and actually has a proper long term plan, for a Spurs side that is completely a shambles and barely stayed up last season? If Spurs actually stump up the cash for him, it just goes to show their financial muscle is still on a different planet compared to Newcastle, all thanks to that stadium and the concerts, regardless of how tragic they look on the pitch. But for the player himself, it is a massive step backwards in terms of ambition.

 

7 hours ago, thetime said:

 

Tonali doesn't seem the type of guy who cares much about ambition, more about the cash. 

 

Spurs shouldn't expect to much loyalty from him. I am no great fan of Newcastle, but they stuck by Tonali with his long ban. 

 

That being said I am sure Cash, London and a traditional big club is a big pull over Newcastle. 

Supposedly his partner is unhappy in Newcastle. Word in Jan was he asked his agent to find a move back to Italy after a difficulty pregnancy, his agent didn't find it but fished everywhere else, and his girl was "London's fine".

 

Spurs surprised me as I figured he'd have asked and held out for another team, but it's kinda whatever now, as long as we get a good fee and don't wait until late August to sign replacements.

[charlierc]

40 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

 

Supposedly his partner is unhappy in Newcastle. Word in Jan was he asked his agent to find a move back to Italy after a difficulty pregnancy, his agent didn't find it but fished everywhere else, and his girl was "London's fine".

 

Spurs surprised me as I figured he'd have asked and held out for another team, but it's kinda whatever now, as long as we get a good fee and don't wait until late August to sign replacements.

I do remember the weird thing on deadline day where there was an attempt to phish him to Arsenal playing out in the media despite Arsenal, Newcastle and seemingly Tonali himself all saying it wasn't happening.

 

At the end of the day, every player has a price and if Spurs pay an appropriate fee, fine. I'm aware this might sound a bit weirdly blase after I was someone who was pissed off by the Isak farce last year and felt Newcastle should've held firm, but it could be that its a reactionary comment based on the fact Tonali has seemingly wanted out for a while and that I honestly didn't think he was great for much of last season. He had a chance to step up to be the midfield dynamo when Bruno Guimaraes was injured and just didn't. Now I can accept personal issues can be a massive distraction so I'm not downplaying that but it feels like this is just a time to part ways tbh.

 

I do agree though that if a sale is to be actioned, we need a quick replacement. Though I would argue I actually think if we're sticking to 4-3-3, we need a proper deep lying midfielder who can mop up after everyone else given neither Bruno nor Tonali were really best suited for that.

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, lost said:

Got to wondering whats the point if your a Newcastle fan now. Taken over to become the richest club in the world, win trophy and qualify for the champions league a few times in recent years and then a traditional big 6 club who have just put in their worst performance in the history of the prem staying up on the last day can still take your best players.

 

Its starting to look like Chelsea and Man City were the last ones to break through before the ladder was pulled up.

 

 

Well many of us have got a long time invested in their fortunes, much of it spent wishing we weren't sh*t. Clearly the old clothes still fit. And yes I agree it's weird as a spectacle that someone would rather join a Spurs team who've been in a funk - even if I grant you their ability to pay higher wages and new stadium and training ground are great pull factors - rather than us.

 

It certainly retrospectively puts a bad light on our owners in the 2000s/2010s, given the Shepherds/Halls seemed more bothered about their dividends and Ashley was content for a long time to just tread water, meaning we went from having similar income to Spurs to being left in their dust.

 

As an aside, I actually am not convinced from what Spurs needed in a midfielder that Tonali is the solution. I felt they needed a more creative presence given Maddison and Kulusevski's injury nightmare and the fact they have a lot of other midfielders who are primarily box-to-box runners as much as anything else.

[Ben7amin_]

11 hours ago, charlierc said:

 

As an aside, I actually am not convinced from what Spurs needed in a midfielder that Tonali is the solution. I felt they needed a more creative presence given Maddison and Kulusevski's injury nightmare and the fact they have a lot of other midfielders who are primarily box-to-box runners as much as anything else.

 

Hopfully Maddison is over the injury now - but Simmons will be out for most of next season, I sadly suspect Kulu might be done. Saviniho is also on his way to spurs,  Its my hope that a another creative midfielder is also on the transfer list (though they are hard to find)  

 

As you say about box to box - its a fair comment, but im sure the belief is that he is better than what we had.    Bissouma & Paulinha have already gone. Sarr is not exactly a world beater as much as a marathon runner.  Though Gallagher & Bentacour are decent.  

 

Sadly the incoming signings may come at the expense of Vuskovik CM (18) and Bergvall CM (20)  who now both want to leave as their first team route is blocked - 2 players i fear may go on to be absolute top tier - although it will bring in a combined 100mill 

 

Rumours now Romero wants to stay that might now be problematic considering we have a lot of center backs now .

 

Expectin a big chunk of player sales is about to happen at spurs aswell

Edited June 23 by Ben7amin_

[balti-pie]

Romero can get f**ked 😄 the money we get for him will have paid for Senesi, JPVH and Robertson, and thats a fine turn of events as far as im concerned.

Any other signings arent happening til i see them with a replica shirt pulled across their chest, i cannot be arsed with rumours of players in, no point in getting excited (plus there's then a 50% chance of them being shite, and a 75% chance of them being horribly injured in their first six months!) 

[Ben7amin_]

Yeah - he has made his bed -     Basically we dont sign Van Hecke -  without Knowing Romero is on his way out, Given that has cost us 50mill - I think we are to sell him regardless -   I do wonder of the calibre of clubs interested in him is lower than perhaps he thought it would be -   apparently he can be a bit reckless on the pitch............

 

How did a club last season so short of players suddenly find themselves with 10 CB!!!! 

 

Romero, VDV, JPVH, Vuskovic, Danso, Draguin, Davies, Phillips, Takai, Senesi.    Thats without counting Archie Gray........

Edited June 23 by Ben7amin_

[charlierc]

22 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Any other signings arent happening til i see them with a replica shirt pulled across their chest, i cannot be arsed with rumours of players in, no point in getting excited (plus there's then a 50% chance of them being shite, and a 75% chance of them being horribly injured in their first six months!) 

Always been my attitude with Toon signings tbf. Been burned too many times before.

4 minutes ago, Ben7amin_ said:

How did a club last season so short of players suddenly find themselves with 10 CB!!!! 

 

Romero, VDV, JPVH, Vuskovic, Danso, Draguin, Davies, Phillips, Takai, Senesi.    Thats without counting Archie Gray........

Well if nothing else at least you should avoid an availability crisis in that area of the pitch with that many of them.

[kaosmark2]

6 hours ago, Ben7amin_ said:

Yeah - he has made his bed -     Basically we dont sign Van Hecke -  without Knowing Romero is on his way out, Given that has cost us 50mill - I think we are to sell him regardless -   I do wonder of the calibre of clubs interested in him is lower than perhaps he thought it would be -   apparently he can be a bit reckless on the pitch............

 

How did a club last season so short of players suddenly find themselves with 10 CB!!!! 

 

Romero, VDV, JPVH, Vuskovic, Danso, Draguin, Davies, Phillips, Takai, Senesi.    Thats without counting Archie Gray........

Having this many before any sales makes me wonder if there's a plan for a back 3. Even if you sell 3 that's still too many without Europe.

 

Dragusin really is crap though.

[lost]

Harry Wilson to Leeds is a great signing for them. I did think clubs further up the table would be in for him.

[andyrhodes24]

10 minutes ago, lost said:

Harry Wilson to Leeds is a great signing for them. I did think clubs further up the table would be in for him.

I’m chuffed with that, a proper 10 is what we missed last season. We’re apparently after Julian Brandt as well according to The Athletic

[kaosmark2]

I thought he was nailed on for Villa, fits their profile perfectly. I'm sure Leeds have given a good signing on fee and deal, but he's the sort of signing that helps stop second season syndrome. Lively goalscorer and creative player with experience.

[pink_triangle]

Do any of the Newcastle fans name any thoughts about this Steve Nickson guy who sounds like he is coming to Wrexham?

[kaosmark2]

3 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Do any of the Newcastle fans name any thoughts about this Steve Nickson guy who sounds like he is coming to Wrexham?

Huh, when it was announced he was leaving it had sounded like West Ham not Wrexham.

 

He did very good work under Ashley, making our big money signings in those dour days happen, and he was credited with some of our big early signings post-takeover, notably Bruno, Botman, ratface. There's definitely a significant amount of good work to credit him with.

 

However, given my understanding that he's going to be taking up a more senior, director of football/head of transfers type role, I think questions have to be asked of why he didn't step up and do a better job last summer. It's widely acknowledged that Newcastle's summer last year was pretty bad (albeit I have more faith in Elanga to come good than most Mags), but Andy Howe stepped up from a more junior position to take the lead on transfers with no sporting director/DoF, not Nickson. Depending which section of the fanbase you ask, you'll have "he was driven out of his job because a nepo baby junior to him got more seniority", or you'll have "despite his longevity, he didn't step up in the absence of a DoF, leaving Howes Jr and Sr to do most of it themselves". I'm somewhere in the middle, but I think there's a reason why its been other recruitment staff poached by big 6 clubs not him.

 

I hope he does well tbh, always seemed fairly nice and likeable, seems to have a decent eye for talent-identification, and he's brought us some excellent players/rats that have contributed to good moments. I do think that the debacle of last summer suggests he might not be suited to a role significantly beyond that though.

[charlierc]

On 22/06/2026 at 09:56, lost said:

Got to wondering whats the point if your a Newcastle fan now. Taken over to become the richest club in the world, win trophy and qualify for the champions league a few times in recent years and then a traditional big 6 club who have just put in their worst performance in the history of the prem staying up on the last day can still take your best players.

 

Its starting to look like Chelsea and Man City were the last ones to break through before the ladder was pulled up.

 

 

We're having a strange start to this window where seemingly half our team is being linked with the exit. Talk overnight of a bid from Arsenal for Bruno Guimaraes, although a sub-£60m bid feels ambitious with a market where Anderson is going to Man City for £115-135mil (I've heard different sources quote different fees). Throw in the persistent Tonali to Spurs stuff and Hall being linked with Man Utd (although that one has faded out) feels like there's this weird atmosphere around it all right now.

 

Perhaps one of their weirder moments was the Telegraph's North East correspondent picking a Twitter fight with Fabrizio Romano. One that I believe Football365 described as a lose-lose fight for all concerned.

[pink_triangle]

On 25/06/2026 at 16:25, kaosmark2 said:

Huh, when it was announced he was leaving it had sounded like West Ham not Wrexham.

 

He did very good work under Ashley, making our big money signings in those dour days happen, and he was credited with some of our big early signings post-takeover, notably Bruno, Botman, ratface. There's definitely a significant amount of good work to credit him with.

 

However, given my understanding that he's going to be taking up a more senior, director of football/head of transfers type role, I think questions have to be asked of why he didn't step up and do a better job last summer. It's widely acknowledged that Newcastle's summer last year was pretty bad (albeit I have more faith in Elanga to come good than most Mags), but Andy Howe stepped up from a more junior position to take the lead on transfers with no sporting director/DoF, not Nickson. Depending which section of the fanbase you ask, you'll have "he was driven out of his job because a nepo baby junior to him got more seniority", or you'll have "despite his longevity, he didn't step up in the absence of a DoF, leaving Howes Jr and Sr to do most of it themselves". I'm somewhere in the middle, but I think there's a reason why its been other recruitment staff poached by big 6 clubs not him.

 

I hope he does well tbh, always seemed fairly nice and likeable, seems to have a decent eye for talent-identification, and he's brought us some excellent players/rats that have contributed to good moments. I do think that the debacle of last summer suggests he might not be suited to a role significantly beyond that though.

It seems West Ham was the planned destination, but there fan accounts seem to say he isn’t going there now and some ITK accounts who have generally been right with transfers say he is coming to us. I guess it’s possible he could be using us to negotiate a better wage elsewhere.

 

Our manager is one of the few old school types left in the championship, so would be interesting to see how he would take a DOF appointment.

[Ben7amin_]

The Days of Daniel Levy are well and truely over!!!!   -   There is going to be some mid-table dutch and french league clubs devastated when Spurs dont buy there 3rd best Center Mid on deadline day for too much money now!!!  

 

 

[kaosmark2]

£92.5m rising to £100m with CL qualification feels like big money for a player with 1 good season behind him. He wasn't great this year albeit I was putting that more on a difficult birth for his baby than not trying like some Newc fans.

 

Trying not to be bitter about it, it's clear his partner never settled in Newcastle, and I don't think he really downed tools. It's a good fee and while his agent has clearly been shopping him about for a while, I don't think he's been sh*tty to the club.

 

It's just the fact it's to f**king consecutive 17th finish Spurs....

[balti-pie]

Got to be honest, i dont care about the transfer fees - it doesnt affect me at all. The pints dont get cheaper if we make a profit, and the bibimbap and crispy chicken wont get pricier as we've dropped £200m on two midfielders. Its nice not to be quibbling and finessing every single pound note out of a deal, and instead seeing weaknesses and solving them. Very Un-Tottenham. (so naturally he'll suffer a double compound fracture in the second game of the season, and we wont ever see him again)