ST home Cup schemes x3 sign up by 27.06 @ 5pm
Celtic (a) SOLD OUT
Atletico Madrid (h) SOLD OUT
Aston Villa (a) details awaited

RGR:
Road runner 

2025/26:
Villa (a) 

Newcastle will begin their 2025/26 season against Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday August 16th, with kick-off confirmed as 12.30pm for live UK TV (TNT Sports).

The first Tyne-wear derby league fixtures since 2015/16 take United to the dark place on or around December 13th, with the return at SJP on or around March 21st - a game that would be rescheduled should Eddie Howe's side make it to Wembley to defend the Carabao Cup.  

The festive season will be played away from Tyneside, with successive trips to Manchester United and Burnley - note that the only "blackout" day announced by the PL is December 24th, meaning that fixtures are liable to be rescheduled to both December 26th and January 1st. 

There's a Wednesday night London game against Spurs in February, but a further trio of midweek home fixtures.

Two Saturday home games are set to be pushed back to Sundays as a result of European scheduling: the visit of Nottingham Forest to SJP in October moving to Sunday 5th assuming that the visitors have progressed through their Conference playoff and are in action on Thursday 2nd.

Similarly, the home game against Aston Villa in January should move to Sunday 25th as the Villans will be in Europa League action the previous Thursday.

There's no clash with PL games on any FA Cup round weekend until the semi-finals, with the Quarter Finals on or around Saturday April 4th, which is the Easter weekend. 

That follows an international break, meaning that there's a guaranteed 19 day period with no PL games as it stands.

The final home game against West Ham is scheduled on Sunday May 17th along with the rest of the PL games that weekend. Saturday May 16th is clear for the FA Cup Final. 

The closing game of the season then takes the Magpies to Fulham on Sunday May 24th, Craven Cottage also the venue for our 38th and final PL game in 2019 and 2021.

United's visit to Everton is scheduled for the final weekend of November, with the Hill Dickinson Stadium the 61st venue to have staged a PL fixture involving the Magpies.

This will be the first time since 2020/21 that Newcastle have begun and ended a season away from home.

August
Sat 16 Aston Villa (A)
Sat 23 Liverpool (H)
Sat 30 Leeds United (A)

September
Sat 13 Wolves (H)
Tue 16/Wed 17/Thu 18 CL 1
Sat 20 Bournemouth (A)
Carabao Cup 3
Sat 27 Arsenal (H)
Tue 30/Wed 01 CL2

October
Sat 04 Nottingham Forest (H)
Sat 18 Brighton (A)
Tue 21/Wed 22 CL3
Sat 25 Fulham (H)

November
Sat 01 West Ham (A)
Tue 04/Wed 05 CL 4
Sat 08 Brentford (A)
Sat 22 Manchester City (H)
Tue 25/Wed 26 CL5
Sat 29 Everton (A)

December
Wed 03 Spurs (H)
Sat 06 Burnley (H)
Tue 09/Wed 10 CL6
Sat 13 mackems (A)
Sat 20 Chelsea (H)
Sat 27 Manchester United (A)
Tue 30 Burnley (A)

January
Sat 03 Crystal Palace (H)
Wed 07 Leeds United (H)
Sat 10 FAC 3
Sat 17 Wolves (A)
Tue 20/Wed 21 CL7
Sat 24 Aston Villa (H)
Wed 28 CL8
Sat 31 Liverpool (A)

February
Sat 07 Brentford (H)
Wed 11 Spurs (A)
Sat 21 Manchester City (A)
Sat 28 Everton (H)

March
Wed 04 Manchester United (H)
Sat 14 Chelsea (A)
Sat 21 mackems (H)

April
Sat 11 Crystal Palace (A)
Sat 18 Bournemouth (H)
Sat 25 Arsenal (A)

May
Sat 02 Brighton (H)
Sat 09 Nottingham Forest (A)
Sun 17 West Ham (H)
Sun 24 Fulham (A)

fixture list

The return of Burnley, Leeds United and the mackems at the expense of Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City means that Newcastle's seasonal away mileage will reduce by a whopping 1,300* miles from 9,462 to 8,162. 

* subject to slight alteration, depending on which daft route the Toon bus convoy takes to wearside....

Internationals:
U19 Euro update 

Antonio Cordero (Spain U19s):
Thu 19.06.2025 Montenegro (n) won 5-0 ECF
Spain's perfect start to defending their European Championship title continued with a third win in as many Group A ties.

Cordero was rested and appeared from the bench with 83 minutes played in Ploiesti and the scoring having ended.

Next up is a semi-final meeting on Monday against the runner-up in Group B. 

Internationals:
U21 Euro update 

Tino Livramento (England U21s):
Sat 21.06.2025 Spain (n) Trnava ECF

Wed 18.06.2025 Germany (n) lost 1-2 ECF
The Newcastle man remained benched in Nitra.

Despite losing, defending champions England progressed to the quarter finals as a consequence of Slovenia's 0-2 loss at the hands of the Czech Republic.

Sun 15.06.2025 Slovenia (n) drew 0-0 ECF
Another 90 minute shift for Tino at left back in Nitra.

Thu 12.06.2025 Czechia (n) won 3-1 ECF
The United full back played the full game and supplied a brace of assists en route to winning man of the match.

William Osula (Denmark U21s):
Sunday 22.06.2025 France (n) Presov ECF 

Wed 18.06.2025 Finland (n) drew 2-2 ECF
The Newcastle man appeared from the bench in Kosice with 55 minutes played and provided another assist. 

Sun 15.06.2025 Netherlands (n) won 2-1 ECF
Promoted to the starting line-up, William scored a goal either side of the interval in Presov to turn a 0-1 deficit into a 2-1 success. Osula played for 71 minutes.

Thu 12.06.2025 Ukraine (n) won 3-2 ECF
Osula came off the bench at 1-1 to set up one goal before scoring the winner in Presov. 

2025/26:
Live TV details 

From PL, Wednesday:

This season marks the beginning of a new four-year UK broadcast rights cycle, with Sky Sports and TNT Sports. 

For the first time, all matches taking place outside of the Saturday 3pm "closed period" – a minimum of 267 games – will be broadcast live in the UK.

The increase in matches broadcast in the UK comes predominately from Sky Sports showing the fixtures displaced to the Sunday 2pm slot due to clubs’ participation in European competitions the previous week. 

Sky Sports will show a minimum of 215 matches and TNT Sports will cover 52 matches.

PL live TV release dates:

Aug by Wed 9th Jul
Sep by Wed 9th Jul
Oct by Wed 20th Aug
Nov by Wed 17th Sep
Dec by Wed 15th Oct
Jan by Wed 15th Oct
Feb by Wed 17th Dec
Mar by Wed 21st Jan
Apr by Wed 4th Mar
MW35 by Wed 25th Mar
MW36 by Wed 1st Apr
MW37 by Wed 8th Apr
MW38 after Sun 17th May

U21s:
Mariners again 

In a repeat of their 2024/25 pre-season meeting, Newcastle U21s will travel to South Shields for a friendly fixture on Sunday August 3rd. Kick-off is at 3pm.

Before that public fixture, the second string host Hull City U21s behind closed doors on Saturday July 26th (1pm).

Competition:
Fanzine giveaway

Available online now is the latest issue of Seen.By. a softback photography fanzine that covers regional topics captured by a loose collective of photographers.

Issue 2 documents the events of March 2025, when Newcastle's eternal quest to win silverware ended in memorable style against Liverpool at Wembley.

Photos of that day from Wembley, Covent Garden and Tyneside are joined in the 84 pages by other memorable shots from the open top bus parade and celebrations.

Limited to 250 copies, the fanzine costs £10 plus £3.70 postage (overseas postage rates available on request) and can be purchased online here

We have copies of the books to give away and to be in with a chance of winning, send your answer to the following question via email to [email protected] by 9pm on Monday June 23rd. Subject line of Photos. 

Eddie Howe became the first English-born Manager to guide a side to League Cup glory since 2004, when Middlesbrough had won that trophy. Who was the Boro boss that day? 

2025/26:
Teen trio commit 

Newcastle have agreed contract extensions with three 18 year-old players on the verge of the senior squad.

Full back Leo Shahar, winger Trevan Sanusi and forward Sean Neave have all put pen to paper on new deals of unspecified duration.

First professional contracts have been awarded to forward Joe Brayson and defensive duo Logan Watts and Luke Craggs, who are all 18 or reach that age imminently.

Elsewhere in the Academy, Sam Alabi, Michael Mills and Sam Pinnington have accepted scholarships and Thomas Bryant's scholarship is extended into a third year.

2025/26:
Cup Schemes x 3 - 
sign up by June 27th 

NUFC have confirmed the pricing and time frame for season ticket holders to join Cup Schemes for each of the three cup competitions the Magpies will enter in 2025/26.

As was the case in previous seasons, enrolment for the Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup Schemes must be done separately and ST holders can opt for 0,1,2 or 3.

For anyone who doesn't sign up, there's no guarantee of any seat for a home tie in that competition and their sales window will open alongside that of club members.

Enrolment must be complete by Friday week, June 27th at 5pm. That is a hard deadline with no exceptions.

Pricing for the two domestic cup competitions is unchanged from 2024/25 at £35 & £30 for home FA Cup ties and £25 & £20 for Carabao Cup games at Gallowgate.

FA Cup and Carabao Cup payments will be taken within seven days of a home game being confirmed.

Champions League tickets cost £70 & £60, increasing from our last entrance in 2023/24 when they were £60 & £55. 

Regardless of when United's Champions League home games are staged, payments will be taken for those tickets on the 1st day of July, August, September and October.

NUFC Cup Scheme announcement is here

NUFC Cup Scheme enrolment guide is here

NUFC Cup Scheme FAQs are here

NUFC Cup Scheme Ts & Cs are here

Update:
Coach departure 

National League side Gateshead confirm that former Magpie Alun Armstrong has become their new manager.

The 50 year-old came through the ranks at Gallowgate but left without making a senior competitive debut, appearing for the likes of Stockport County, Boro and Ipswich Town during his playing career.

Previously taking charge of Blyth Spartans and Darlington, Alan has been out of management since leaving the latter back in September 2023. More recently he became head of Elite and Performance Football at Gateshead College. 

Giveaway:
Theatre compo winner 

We had seats up for grabs and asked weight class Glenn McCrory was boxing in when he became World Champion during 1989. Most folks knew that it was Cruiserweight and the winning entry came from Steve McKenna.

2025/26:
Korea confirmation

Update:
Bill of rights

PS: A detailed biography of McCracken has been written by NUFC club historian Paul Joannou and is due for publication in September 2025.

Update:
FAB minutes

Minutes from the most recent FAB (Fan Advisory Board) meeting at SJP are now available online here

Amongst the usual range of topics covered was the following update regarding 2025/26 kit releases:

"Third kit to launch in early July and Away shirt launch planned to be on pre-season tour in Asia during July or August."

Update:
Bill McKinney RIP 

The death of former Magpie Bill McKinney has been announced, at the age of 88.

Wallsend-born Bill served his apprenticeship as a plater at Swan Hunter Shipyard, playing junior football for both Wallsend Rising Sun and Wallsend St. Lukes.

Completing his national service in the army, Bill was selected for their national XI and joined United during May 1956, playing for their "A" team initially.

Losing out to fellow new arrival Dick Keith in his first season at Gallowgate, Bill had to wait until December 1957 for a first team chance, stepping up from the reserves to play in a 3-3 draw away to Spurs.

Finally becoming a first team regular at right back in the 1960/61 relegation campaign, Bill played in both full back positions and at centre half as unsuccessful promotion challenges were mounted over the next three seasons.

Replaced by David Craig late in the 1963/64 season, Bill featured just twice more ahead of a £2,750 switch to Bournemouth in August 1965 - leaving Gallowgate with eight goals in 95 league and cup games. 

Reunited with Dick Keith at Dean Court 1966 saw him join Third Division side Mansfield Town and he played on at Field Mill for another two seasons. 

A move to Southern Premier League side Wellington Town (who later renamed themselves Telford United) followed, McKinney settling in the Shropshire town of Dawley and remained there after his retirement. 

Old boys:
Comings & goings