Premier League:
Burnley (h)

Newcastle welcome the Clarets to SJP for an old-fashioned, non-televised 3pm Premier League kick-off on Saturday.

FAO anyone using the Metro, there's no service in either direction all day Saturday (and Sunday) between Benton and Wallsend. Replacement bus service 900 will operate between Four Lane Ends and Wallsend via all stations.

Football Bobbles will have a stall outside the Trent House from Noon, with new stocks of several hats including the brand-new Woltemade bobble. Card payments accepted.

Team: Nick Pope, Sven Botman, Kieran Trippier and William Osula remain out while Sandro Tonali is doubtful after his withdrawal during the Spurs game.

Yoane Wissa could be included in a matchday squad for the first time since signing from Brentford in September. The striker has featured twice in behind closed doors games during the last week.

Coral rate this game as follows:

NUFC win 2/7
The draw 19/4
BFC win 17/2

New customers receive a £20 bet when staking £5 on sports (T's & C's apply). Find those markets online here 

BFC: Zeki Amdouni, Jordan Beyer and Connor Roberts are unavailable but Axel Tuanzebe could return.

The Clarets suffered their fifth straight PL loss of the season on Wednesday, beaten 0-1 at home by Crystal Palace.

Away from Turf Moor, Scott Parker's side have lost six of their seven PL games - their only points on the road to date coming from a 3-2 victory at Wolves.

Burnley have scored at least once in six of those seven PL away games, managing 10 goals in the process, although conceding 21. That compares to Newcastle scoring seven and conceding nine in the same amount of away games.

There's a first return to Gallowgate for Martin Dubravka, who is an ever-present in the PL so far this season.

Referee: Stuart Attwell - quick return to NUFC action for the Warwickshire whistler, after taking charge of the 1-3 defeat at Brentford last month and dismissing Dan Burn.

VAR: Paul Howard

UK TV: none

Overseas TV:
224 Hub Premier 4 (Singapore)
624 Now Premier League 4
AIS PLAY (Thailand)
Arena Sport 4 Serbia
Arena Sport 10 Croatia
Astro Premier League 4/Go (Malaysia)
beIN Connect MENA
beIN Connect Turkey
beIN SPORTS CONNECT
beIN Sports HD 4
Canal+/Extra 6 (Poland)
Canal+ Live 6 (France)
Coupang Play (South Korea)
Cytavision Sports 8/on the Go (Cyprus)
DAZN Canada/Portugal/Spain
Disney+ Premium Arg/Bra/Chi/Sur
DStv Now
FAST TV (Armenia)
FuboTV Canada
Go3 Extra Sports Baltics
JioHotstar (India)
Kantipur Max (Nepal)
M Plus Live/Now Player (Hong Kong)
Max Mexico
MAXtv To Go (Croatia)
Migu (China)
MONOMAX (Thailand)
myCANAL (France)
Nexgen
Nova Sports 5 (Greece)
Peacock (USA)
QQ Sports Live (China)
SS OTT 2 (South Africa)
Sky GO/Sport Mix (Germany)
Sky Sport 1 (New Zealand)
Sky Sport 256/Go Italia/NOW TV (Italy)
sooka (Malaysia)
Stan Sport (Australia)
StarHub TV+ (Singapore)
SYN Sport 6 (Iceland)
TOD (Morocco/Turkey)
TSN7 Malta/GO TV Anywhere (Malta)
U-NEXT (Japan)
ViaPlay Den/Fin/Ned/Nor/Swe HD
Vidio (Indonesia)
VOYO Pro TV Romania

UK Radio: None listed

Roads: Barrack Road will be closed to traffic post-match between Stanhope Street and St. James' Boulevard, beginning at the final whistle or earlier and continuing up to 45 minutes after full time or when crowds disperse.

Buses: Due to the closure of Barrack Road, the Go North East X50 football service to the Metro Centre will depart from St. James’ Boulevard, outside the Citygate building.

Stagecoach buses stopping on Barrack Road will be diverted and passengers will be required to use alternative bus stops while the post-match closure is in place.

Metro: No Metro services will run between Benton and Wallsend in both directions from 9pm on Fri 05.12.2025 until the start of service on Mon 08.12.2025.

Replacement bus service 900 will operate, serving all stations between Four Lane Ends and Wallsend.

Last chance to buy:
Veitch book offer

We have limited stocks of Keith Colvin Smith's biography of Magpies legend Colin Veitch, a 200 page hardback book published at £35. These are now on sale for just £10 + delivery*. To reserve copies, email [email protected]

PS: It's last orders also for two softback books by club historian Paul Joannou; the 2022 "Ultimate Who's Who" supplement and "Newcastle West End - the complete record" from 2023. Each book costs £10 + delivery.

* due to book size & weight, UK delivery only possible

2025/26:
FA Cup draw details

This season's FA Cup Third Round draw will take place on Monday from 6.45pm on TNT Sports, ahead of the Second Round tie between Brackley Town and Burton Albion.

Ties will be played on and around the weekend of Saturday January 10th, coming between Newcastle's PL home game against Leeds on Wednesday January 7th and PL visit to Wolves on Sunday January 18th.

NUFC in FAC3 - last 10 seasons:

2024/25 Bromley (h) won 3-1
2023/24 mackems (a) won 3-0
2022/23 Sheffield Wednesday (a) lost 1-2
2021/22 Cambridge United (h) lost 0-1
2020/21 Arsenal (a) lost 0-2aet
2019/20 Rochdale (h) won 4-1 (replay)
2019/20 Rochdale (a) drew 1-1
2018/19 Blackburn Rovers (a) won 4-2 (replay)
2018/19 Blackburn Rovers (h) drew 1-1
2017/18 Luton Town (h) won 3-1
2016/17 Birmingham City (h) won 3-1 (replay)
2016/17 Birmingham City (a) drew 1-1
2015/16 Watford (a) lost 0-1

PS: There's FA Cup Second Round action in the region this Sunday, when National League Gateshead host League Two leaders Walsall at the International Stadium.

That's a 3.30pm kick-off and all-ticket, with no walk-up admission on the day. Tickets available online here

Following a fan event where club figures including David Hopkinson spoke, the CEO briefed journalists to confirm that a new stadium quite literally isn't on the horizon and that improvements to St. James' Park are now proposed:

"One of the things we are reviewing right now is that we’re going to be here, in something like the current format, for years.

"I think that there are some things we’ve maybe not done because we’ve been waiting for the bigger decision. I think we’re going to think about the next phase of our lives, and recognise that there are things we need to do now with regard to the stadium issue.

"Recognising that we are going to be at St. James’ Park in pretty much its current format for years to come is important: we’re thinking through what improvements should we make in that intervening period.

"I want to be really clear on this. We have not taken a decision on what we're going to do.

We're modelling a multitude of different scenarios, but even if we were to make a decision tomorrow, which we're not going to do, it still takes years of permits, planning, finance, construction etc.

"That's the case whatever we choose - re-imagining St. James' Park or building a new stadium. Either takes years and years.

"I lived through the total transformation of the Bernabeu. I was around through years of work. I love what they've built - I think we've learned a lot from studying what they've built - but these projects are years long.

"Even if we could wave a wand right now, and wake up tomorrow morning with a decision over a brand new stadium, those revenues would still not show up for five years.

"But if you look at something like global partnerships and global sponsorships, which I've talked about a lot, then we can do that today. We can literally wake up tomorrow morning and get cracking on closing some of those obvious and less obvious opportunities.

"So much of this is self-help, and so much of our ability to increase our revenues, and therefore our competitiveness, is within our purview right now. They're right in front of us, right now.

"I don't know to what extent that that will sustain us beyond 2030, without a major inflection - stadium renovation or rebuild, other major changes. But what I'm focusing on is what we do need to change between now and 2030? Our plan is to set us up to succeed in these next four or five years, and then it's also about what steps are we taking to make sure we succeed beyond 2030?

"But recognising that we are going to be at St. James' Park in pretty much its current format for years to come is important. We're thinking through what improvements should we make in that intervening period? We could make tweaks and changes to improve the here and now."

Turning to the Darsley Park training ground:

"When you look at the facility you have today, it's probably a seven out of 10. It gets the job done. I don't think we have a lot of world-class talent that say: 'I want to stay here because of the training ground' or 'I want to go to Newcastle because of the training ground'.

"Even with the renovation we're doing, which will make it better, we probably only get to an eight. We don't get to a 10. We can't get to a 10 on the current footprint, which is the reason why we're considering - not considering, planning - a very big investment to go and build a 10.

"If you look at the arms race that training grounds have become - in the Premier League, in football, in North American sports - the players are spending an inordinate amount of time there and the expectations have changed and evolved from simply where we train to: 'Yeah, that's where I drop the kids off because they're being babysat while I'm training' or 'This is where the car is being looked after' and 'This is where I get my haircut'.

"This is what's happened in North American sports, and now there are changing expectations here too of what players are going to want in order to choose to come here or stay. Those are the investments we're going to have to make to get to a world-class level."

Speaking about his ambition for the club:

"By 2030, I see this club being in the debate about being the top club in the world. That’s where I see us by 2030 — and that kind of progress doesn’t take as long as you might think.

"What it takes is clarity of conviction. First off, we need to be totally aligned about the fact that that’s what we want to do. We have to have the courage to ignore those that doubt us, and even those that laugh at us, because there will be some.

"I've done it with a total underperformer, and that's definitely not what Newcastle is. Newcastle is already good. I've worked at a club that was really bad, lost all the time.

"In 2014, we lost just about as bad as you can. In 2019, we were having a parade. So, it's eminently doable, but it takes that clarity, conviction and commitment.

"We want more cups. That is how you define success. Eddie (Howe) is special. My job is to help Eddie succeed in his job.

"Can Newcastle win the Premier League? Yeah, of course. Why not? Our job is to set ourselves up to be perennial contenders.

"This is a tough league, and the correlation between points earned and revenue is undeniable, so, again, so much of this is self-help and doing everything we can to try to increase our ability to compete by driving revenues.

"I love the reference to 2030 because if it's not time-bound, then it's fantasy. It's where do we need to get to by the end of 2025? Where by 2026? 2027? Where are we ahead, where are we behind? What's our mitigation plan? How are we adjusting things?

"What I will not tell you is that we have written the plan for every granular element that's going to happen between now and 2030. But what we have got is a highly specific direction of travel and key milestones that need to be hit.

"We're not going to win by accident. We're going to win because we've been thoughtful and strategic about the organisation we've constructed, whose sole purpose is to win.

"We have some gaps. Very shortly, we'll be in the marketplace looking for a chief strategy officer. We'll be looking for a chief marketing officer. With Pete's (Silverstone, ex CCO) departure, we're going to take the opportunity to think about whether we should have someone focusing exclusively on revenue. I want to make sure that we're recruiting world-class talent.

"I had two conversations yesterday with folks that are saying, 'Look, I see where this is going, I want to be part of it, it's a rocket ship, I see that, and I want to get on that rocket ship'.

"We're going to be very thoughtful and disciplined about some areas where we're not world-class today. I'll just use one example. Our digital ecosystem today is not world-class. We're not going to achieve our ultimate ambition without world-class digital and data capabilities.

"We are not well structured today to be in the same conversation as some of these top clubs, Madrid, Barça, We have to close that gap. Madrid have the number one revenue and a lot of that is digital. It drives revenue. When I was there, they offered eight different languages. Regional content is very important to them. We have to look at our global following growth.

“We have to grow our revenues, If we get this right, most of our fans will never come to St. James’ Park (because it's a global brand*)."

* the context of that comment is a reference to the Real Madrid model, where vast numbers of people claim an allegiance to the Spanish club, despite having no means of travelling there - or a valid passport to do so....

2025/26:
Bayer Leverkusen (a)

Magpies @ Bundesliga sides:

2001/02 1860 Munich won 3-2 (IT)
2002/03 Bayer Leverkusen won 3-1 (CL)
2006/07 Eintracht Frankfurt drew 0-0 (UE)
2023/24 Dortmund lost 0-2 (CL)