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For the latest national and International football news check out team twaddle, for Newcastle United news, read on ...........

Newcastle United are set to hit the big time financially, As the take over by U.S. media giants NTL is back on. NTL themselves have not officially announced anything, indeed they were quoted as saying,"We are happy to remain with our stake in Newcastle. The club are aware of our position and know we have no plans for buying the club outright" Don't you believe it though for once the restrictions are lifted they will swoop. The government report by the OFT is due to be announced on the 28th July. It is said to clarify rules on the takeover by football clubs and their is little doubt that NTL will be allowed to increase their stake from 6% to a total takeover of the club for an estimated £165 million. NTL will pounce immediately, and a takeover could be just days away. The takeover would give Ruud Gullit substantial funds to bring in whatever players he feels he needs to make the team one of the best in the world. The money has it seems already started to flow, with Alan shearer being given "A lot of money" to sign for the next 5 years. Now it seems Ruud will also be given a similar wadd to keep him at Newcastle for many years to come. It's been reported that he will be given over a million a year to stay as boss for the next 5 years. On top of that he is reputed as being offered a £500k Bonus if he can get Newcastle into the champions league. Ruud Gullit played for Newcastle United reserves yesterday. he came on as a second half substitute when they were 2 - 0 down and inspired them with some fine passing to gain a credible draw 2 - 2 . The last few games were not games that Ruud Gullit would gave wanted to arrange. However they were part of long standing arrangements that Newcastle wee committed to playing, Therefore he didn't risk his first choice team. All match reports are on Including the Reading game which saw Ruud play for the last 45 minutes, We have more pictures of Ruud in action coming to the page tomorrow. Many thanks to MIN for the report. O Tuesday Newcastle are expected to field a strong team against Celtic. Shay Given should be fully fit and there is a chance that Shearer will partner one of the youngsters upfront in a match that will be televised on Channel 5 in the UK. For those that don't see it a report will be posted by Macbeth . Next weekend Newcastle will play Stoke city in the penultimate pre season friendly . A report will be provided by Jacko . If you would like to contribute a report from forthcoming matches, please get in touch. I am thinking about starting up a separate MATCH REPORT message board, on which anyone can post their own match reports rather than send them to me and wait for me to put them on the web site. It will be located on the resurrected.

Friday 23rd July

Last night Newcastle were once again beaten . Perez was guilty of losing the Livingston game, last night he didn't do much better in 3 - 1 defeat against Dundee United was apparently Dabizas was the main culprit. As Gullit looks likely to be playing his 3 new defenders as 3 centre backs, He is still deciding on the reserve defenders. A final chance was given to Dabizas last night and he blew it. I would have thought that Hughes will now be regarded as the NO1 substitute Central defender, with Charvet and Beharall also in Ruud's plans. Midfield is still a mystery, Gullit seems to prefer 2 wingbacks, and 3 central midfielders. I think he will go for 1 defensive central midfielders and two attacking midfielders, with 2 forwards ahead of that. Obviously Shearer and Ferguson will be first choice with Kets as a likely sub, but if we should get another injury to either of them, who would play? Both Coppinger and Robinson have done OK, indeed Robinson looks likely to get another couple of chances against Reading tomorrow alongside Kets, and if he does well in that game he looks likely to get the nod alongside Shearer against Celtic on Tuesday. Midfield though is where most of the question marks still lie. Wingbacks most likely to play will be Domi and Griffin. Serrant has been tried again and still isn't up to it. So I would pencil in Barton as the No.1 Sub as he can play in any of the 3 defensive midfielder roles. In the centre Speed, despite playing poorly in pre season will no doubt be given the nod , leaving Dyer, Solano, Glass, McClen, Maric, Lee and Kerr to fight for the two remaining places. None of the above appear to be in the defensive mould so that is why I think there will be two attacking midfielders. I would plump for the first two in the list. Indeed Jamie McClen has played better than Maric, In my starting 11 from what we have seen so far I would go for (subs in brackets) (Given or Harper) Goma (Hughes) Dumas, Marcelino Griffin,.......... Speed (Barton) ............ Domi Dyer ......+ (Solano Or Glass) Ferguson ...............................Shearer (Kets) Also in the squad, McClen, Charvet, Lee and Robinson. As for Maric, he needs to improve.... rapidly.

Thursday 23rd July

Not much to report over the last couple of days. Ruud was said to be happy with the game against Livingston, in that the coaching staff had learnt many things from the poor showing. Tonight United play Dundee United . It is expected that Shay Given should be fit enough to play, although Shearer and Ferguson are still not 100%. Ferguson is still recovering from treatment in Amsterdam, the main problem with Ferguson is said to be a back problem, how that can affect your Groin is a mystery to me, but they are the experts. I only hope that if I ever hurt my back they don't start cutting bits out of my groin. Dunc originally started playing professional football at Tannerdice and would loved to return for a game, but it now looks likely that he will not start any of the pre season friendlies. A report from the game along with some pictures should be on this site first think tomorrow morning.

Tuesday 20th July

Newcastle's Sixteen million pounds worth of new talent went on display last night All the signs are that other than a young striker and young goalkeeper still being sought,. the Squad now is nearing completion. The quartet of new boys cost just over £16 million. Half of which will be recouped tomorrow when Hamoan will be unveiled as a liverpool player. Also leaving today is Phillipe Albert. The 32 year old Keegan era favorite, most famous for "that goal" against man United said his farewells at the weekend before moving back to his first club Belgium first division Charleroi in a £600k deal. He was a great servant of Newcastle United and left us all with some fond memories especially those that frequent the Strawberry where Phillipe was a frequent after match visitor. Things must move on , and with the 3 new signings of Dumas, Goma and Marcelino. Newcastle look likely to be playing a 3 man defence next season. All Three are set to start tonight against Livingston along with young hot shot Kieron Dyer , who was "overwhelmed" by the sheer size of the new extended St James' park. (pictures soon I promise). he can't wait for the season to start , he lives, breathes, talks football. Like me he is a football addict, I wonder if he reads this web Site? If so he must realise that I have been plugging him for months the least I deserve is an exclusive interview. Kieron is expected to play tonight along with a fairly strong Newcastle team. Perez will still be in goal as Given and Harper are still injured. More worrying though is the absence of Shearer and Ferguson, although both are expected to be paired in the Reading match on Saturday. I am still worried though and would LUV it , Just LUV it if the Hamman money was spent on Robbie Keane.

Monday 19th July

Alan Shearer has signed a longer contract to finally put to rest rumours that he will be leaving. He has signed a deal that will see him stay at Newcastle until 2004. By that time he will be almost 34 and ready to go into management. The details are a bit hush hush, but it is believed that he will receive 10 million over the next 5 years . After that there is believed to be a clause that will keep him at Newcastle United as a coach . All parties, WANT SHEARER TO BE THE NEXT MANAGER. All parties being Shearer, the board, the fans and even Ruud Gullit, who would like to see promotions to management from within the club. It is no secret that Shearer has ambitions to become the next manager. He said, "It's no secret that I would eventually like to go into management. " He also spoke about desperately wanting to win things with Newcastle . He emphasised that he loves the club , the area, and especially the fans for which he is determined to win some silverware for. As the picture shows he seems to be a lot happier than he was last year. And finally if you use materiel from the official NUFC site then you are ORDERED to say that it came from them. these following quotes are from the official NUFC web site >>"Shearer was made captain of the side when Ruud Gullit arrived shortly after joining from Blackburn Rovers for a then world record fee of £15M.<< Eh? Have Kevin & Kenny been wiped from the annals of NUFC history??? >>In 1992 he moved for what was at the time another record, Blackburn Rovers paying £3.6>> £3.60, eh. Bargain in anybody's book. Thanks to Bobby for spotting those little errors. Perhaps we should make this a regular feature. 'Spot the errors on the official site?'

Sunday 18th July

Stevo has sent in his latest reports from Friday and Saturday to conclude the Dutch trilogy, They can be found on .  AND Macbeth will be supplying reports for the forthcoming Scottish friendlies A new feature started today called "Newcastle United's stars of the new millennium" This months star is 15 year old Newcastle and England U16 player Michael Chopra. Hopefully by now Hamman will have been sold to Liverpool for £8 million. Spanish Star Ivan de la Pena is hopping that Ruud will step in to take up the loan offer from Lazio. He is on £50k A WEEK, but Lazio have said they would pay a third of his wages. If Ruud doesn't move in for him this week then he will start negotiations with Marseilles. The other likely candidate to fill the centre Youri Djorkaeff has been linked to Man United. Do we need him, do we need another central midfielder? I am not so sure that we do. Dyer will prefer to play in the centre of midfield, we also have Solano, Glass, Lee, Barton, Maric Ketsbaia, indeed half a team of midfielders. I think the last remaining problem for Newcastle at the moment is cover for Shearer and Ferguson. Shearer had an ice pack placed on his ankle after the second game in Deurne and their are still niggling doubts on wether or not Ferguson will be fully fit for the start of the season. In my humble opinion we need to start the season with a third striker. I know I keep going on about him but Robbie Keane would be the ideal candidate. he is Nineteen,, the best striker in the first division, he is British , wants to play for Newcastle and is available for the kind of money Ruud has at his disposal . Howay Ruud, some of us are still a little worried, you seem to have sorted out the defence and midfield but what happens if Shearer or Dunc get injured? play Anderson?

Sunday 18th July

Stevo, the roving dutch reporter has gone AWOL, the NUFC unofficial but most used BBs has also gone off this weekend. So it looks like it's left to me to tell you all about last nights footy match compiled from a 2 minute phone call this is what happened . Newcastle once again won against lesser dutch opposition. Ruud had again rotated the squad. Shearer was missing after coming off with a slight knock in the previous game. Ferguson was seeing a specialist in Amsterdam. this left Ketsbaia upfront with Adde. Perez was again in goal, Both Harper and Given are still not fully fit, so Newcastle again put new goalkeeper coach, Simon Smith on standby. Again three centre halves took to the field, the full line up being  Perez   Charvet ..... Goma ....... Dumas Grifin ......... Kerr( Barton 46) ......Domi McClen Dyer(Serrant 46)  Andersson  Ketsbaia. Anderson incredibly found the net in the 20th minute to open the scoring. Unfortunately Griffin was sent off after just 29 minutes for what looked like a normal tackle. Dyer and Anderson were pulled back to cover leaving just Ketsbaia on his own for large spells of the game. Helmondspoort equalised just before half time. the Second half saw Barton again in the centre of midfield looking very positive. McClen appeared to have been on the sunbeds again, Both of these controlled the midfield, and it looked like it would end 1-1. Cult hero Temuri Ketsbaia though was determined to get on the score sheet for the mini tour and did so in injury time. Final score 2 - 1 . My thanks to Jesper for the info. A full report may possibly be here soon if we can locate Stevo. Newcastle fly home to play two games in Scotland next week can this winning spell continue?

Saturday 16th July

Newcastle comfortably beat FC Deurne 4 -0 , A full report will follow later, for now some brief stats.  The line up was Perez (again in the shop window)  Marcelino(Cornwell? ) Dumas(Dabizas) Goma(Beharall) Charvet(Hughes).. ..........Serrant(Barton)  Dyer(Kerr ) . ............................. Speed (McClen)  Maric Shearer(Coppinger) Ketsbaia   Dutch Amateurs SV Deurne were little competition for a Newcastle team that was much stronger than the team that beat Den Bocsh on Thursday. Marcelino played in a 3 man defence with Dyer also making a debut further forward Alain Shearer scored in the first half,. Warren Barton scored in the second after he replaced "In the shop window Carl Serrant. Coppinger and McClen also came off the bench and getting another goal each. One Question, who is Cornwell? I don't even has his name down as a youth team player, Do they mean Caldwell? bloody typical professional Journalists for you. No doubt Stevo will fill us in on all the info later on.   Stevo's full report from last nights match and tonights game will be on   Next up is Dutch second division team Helmondspoort.

Friday 16th July

Dyer flew out to Holland after completing a medical, he is now a Newcastle player. The first pre season friendly ended Newcastle 2 Den Bosch 1 a match report has been sent in by Stevo in Holland. Great news for Newcastle is that Hamoan will hopefully agree terms with Liverpool and after a medical on Monday will become a Liverpool player. Newcastle have accepted an Eight Million pound bid for the wantaway German misfit. He is currently believed to be discussing terms with Liverpool who are on a tour in Switzerland. There is strong speculation that Louis Enrique will be Hamoan's replacement IN A £6 MILLION DEAL and that De La Pena will bolster the midfield by agreeing to a years loan deal next week. Rob Lee is to hold talks with Leicester regarding a move to the midlands club. Also in the Midlands Wolves have rejected Aston Villa's £5,2 million bid for Robbie Keane. They still want £6 million, could he also be one of Ruud's next targets? I hope so as Ferguson has still not fully recovered. he is expected to make an appearance next week at either Livingstone or Dundee. Tonight Newcastle take on Dutch amateur team SV Deurne. The team is likely to be another mixture of reserves with a couple of old boys and possibly Dyer making his first appearance in a Newcastle shirt. Once again Stevo will be sending in a report for:- And Finally, it has been drawn to my attention that Screacher is in possession of a photograph that he CLAIMS is me lying in a kitchen sink asleep whilst under the influence of alcohol. If it should ever be published my solicitors will be taking appropriate action. You have been warned.

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