Here we are then, the first* epic-length Pod on the Tyne of the Youtube era.
Newcastle United beat West Bromwich Albion in the Carabao Cup 2nd Round on Wednesday night in a game that was, ULTIMATELY SPEAKING, fairly comfortable. Yes, there were uncomfortable moments, but to paint the whole game with that brush would be nitpicking of the most annoying order.
Before the game, new signing Nico Gonzalez was paraded before the crowd at St James's Park. 'Mini-Rodri' as he was once called, albeit that may be a bit overblown, possesses real passing quality, of the sort not seen in Newcastle for quite some time.
All this happened in the week after David Hopkinson and his executive team announced the purchase of land at Woolsington Hall where they plan to develop a new 'world class' training facility.

Phew...

*Yes, it's probably the third

Check out George's 'Our League" article here.

Here we go, then. Newcastle United 2.0 will be a reality when Liverpool come calling this weekend and the rubber will hit the road... better that than the 5**t hitting the fan.
Proverbs aside, Amar Dedic has signed and with Nico Gonzalez the latest "PL experience" candidate, the transfer business probably isn't done.
How optimistic are we, then? George has been writing about this across the Premier League for The Athletic, and there are some unusual findings.

Read about the hope-o-meter here.

Bayer Leverkusen, Internazionale, and FC Strasbourg provided the opposition for the men and women of Newcastle United as St James's Park hosted three games on the VisitMalta Weekender.
We'll hear from women's team manager Tanya Oxtoby on our midweek pod but George and Chris witnessed all the action, if you can call it that, as the club recorded two pre-season defeats and a draw (followed by a catastrophic penalty shootout).

https://www.gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk/whats-on/pod-on-the-tyne-live

Newcastle's new manager, Matthias Jaissle, has now arrived in town and had a tour of his new home. He has also met the local press pack, shaking each of them by the hand at his first home press conference.
No sooner had he arrived, though, and he had to leave again, taking his team up to Edinburgh's Murrayfield stadium for a pre-season friendly against Everton. Defeat there only served to reinforce ideas that were already in the air about squad depth.
We expect that the squad itself will now be reinforced with a little over two weeks remaining in the summer transfer window. Fullbacks are the obvious priority, but there is also a list of midfielders who could bring some experience to what is currently a young midfield.

Tickets to our live show in October will be available on general sale from https://www.gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk/whats-on from mid-morning on Friday 14th August.