Mathew Philpotts

Ok, the European Championships are on. A General Election looms. The Cricket World cup, even, and plus you’re trying to find ways to be able to afford that adidas NUFC warm up top which will cost you more than a small bungalow. But come on, get ready for the real stuff, the fixtures are out,...

Icons in football transcend their deeds on the pitch. They come to represent something much more, a moment in history. They define an era. Geoff Hurst scored on the biggest stage in the world in the biggest game in his nation’s history. Johann Cruyff embodied not only his own individual genius, but also a whole...

You’d be forgiven for thinking Yankuba Minteh had already made a huge name for himself at St James’ Park, such has been the response to reports suggesting he could be on his way to Everton, or possibly further afield, this summer. Yet, the truth is he hasn’t even kicked a ball once in a Newcastle...

Come on then, just how utterly underwhelmed were you when you heard we were sniffing around Dominic Calvert-Lewin (which is an unpleasant image, but perhaps one that’s curiously apt in this case)? Not exactly the dynamic, progressive, pulse-quickening signing we were hoping for, and many will be breathing a sigh of relief that it seems...

Shitshow. Omnishambles. Farce. Maybe it’s just normal service being resumed on planet NUFC. But whatever particular description you choose, the events of the last week have been a pretty dismal spectacle. Up to now, we’ve looked on with a mixture of smugness and Schadenfreude as the basket case clubs – Everton and Forest – have...

As the dust settles and the street cleaners on Northumberland Street finally tidy away the sea of floral tributes and impromptu shrines to Saint Amanda – Goodbye Tyneside’s Rose, though I never knew you at all – the really important questions surround the impact of her departure: for the club, for us as fans, and...

You’ve got to admire Chelsea. Before the veins in your neck start to bulge at such a suggestion, I don’t mean in any footballing sense. No, I mean you have to doff your cap to their “creative” Accounting team. They’ve turned finding increasingly dubious ways of complying with the Premier League’s Profit & Sustainability Rules (PSR) into an art form. It’s almost like they’re taunting the Premier League “come on then, have a pop at us if you dare”. The 2024 version of the Chelsea Headhunters.

It’s just got dark as we walk past Calton Hill, taking the walk back from Easter Road to Waverley station. It’s July 2019, it’s muggy, and we have just witnessed Joelinton’s debut for Newcastle at Hibernian. Stories were flying around that we had paid £20m over par for the Brazilian, and as it was prime...

As a general rule, it’s really best not to listen to anything politicians have to say about football. You could count on the fingers of one hand – probably one belonging to a piranha-keeping tree surgeon (with frostbite) – the number who actually know what they’re talking about as fans. Unfortunately, though, their pronouncements tend...

After a summer of lying on the beach/ touring Germany/ polishing their quills, the preview lads and lass are back! It’s Sela Cup weekend, the stuff of dreams, and Grace Laidler has your TF Preview. *** One week to go until the start of the Premier League, which can only mean one thing. It is...