Celtic (a) ST holder sale now: 2 points only
Espanyol (h) Public sale now
Atletico Madrid (h) SOLD OUT
Aston Villa (a) details awaited

Latest:
Targets not acquired 

Did you hear the one about the Englishman, the Swede and the Brazilian? 

There isn't a punchline - yet - only news from The Times on Thursday night that Newcastle's initial transfer bids for James Trafford, Anthony Elanga and Joao Pedro had all come up short.

Offers of £25m for Burnley's goalkeeper, £45m for Nottingham Forest's winger and £50m for Brighton's forward were all rebuffed by their current clubs this week - amid uncertainty over whether increased bids will now be forthcoming.

The Times predict that improved offers for Trafford and Pedro are pending but is less certain whether Newcastle's focus will now switch from Elanga to other claimed targets.

Interest from Gallowgate in those three players is nothing new; Trafford and Elanga unsuccessfully targeted a year ago and Pedro tracked whilst at Watford back in 2022. 

2025/26:
Third kit "leaked" 

Photos of Newcastle's 2025/26 third shirt have now appeared on Adidas retail websites, although they cannot be ordered yet. Release date is listed as early July.

2025/26:
Celtic (a) more tickets 

Following a low take-up from home fans, Newcastle have now received an undisclosed additional number* of tickets for next month's pre-season visit to Celtic.

These are now on sale to season ticket holders, with the loyalty point threshold now at 2 points. Should any remain, that will drop to 1 point at 2pm on Monday. 

NB: It looks as if anyone with a greater number of points who didn't buy a ticket previously when they could have done isn't able to now purchase one.

* Celtic's own publicity has mentioned that 7,900 Toon fans would be attending - the original allocation was meant to be 7,200; whether that means that an extra 700 places have now gone on sale is tbc.

Compo:
Hat giveaway

The latest addition to the range of Toon-themed bucket hats by Football Bobbles is this Lee model, inspired by United's distinctive 1997/98 change kit and with a nod to next season's third shirt.

These are available to purchase here now and there's a special offer for NUFC.com readers of a half-price Kelly bucket hat with orders of the Lee bucket only.

To take advantage of that, add a Lee bucket hat to the online shopping basket and use promo code NUFC.com - that will prompt a Kelly hat to add at checkout. 

We have a Lee bucket hat up for grabs in a free-to-enter competition and to stand a chance of winning it, require you to answer the following question:

A Wembley goalscorer for his previous club, this England U21 international midfielder made a scoring debut for Newcastle in the 1997/98 season but failed to establish himself and moved to Sheffield United on loan. Name him.

Email that to [email protected] with subject Hats

Closing date is 11am on Wednesday July 2nd. No age limit, open to anyone on the planet. Delivery only to UK addresses. One entry each please per person.

Old boy:
Fred the Red 

Former Newcastle goalkeeper Freddie Woodman will become a Liverpool player next month, following the expiration of his current deal at Preston North End.

The 28 year-old son of ex-Magpie coach Andy has been at Deepdale for the last three seasons, following his exit from Gallowgate for an undisclosed fee in 2022.

Woodman is anticipated to act as third-choice custodian for the Anfield club, also filling a place in Arne Slot's squad as a home-trained player. 

Internationals:
Another final for Tino 

Saturday sees England U21s attempt to defend their European U21 Championship title, facing Germany in Bratislava. It's an 8pm kick-off, live on Channel 4.

Newcastle full back Tino Livramento has the chance to emulate club colleague Anthony Gordon, who was part of England's winning 2023 squad. 

2025/26:
Familiar foes for U21s 

Newcastle U21s will again play in the EFL Trophy this season - taking their place in the 64 club competition for a ninth successive season.

Thursday's Group Stage draw placed the Magpies second string in Northern Section Group F, alongside Harrogate Town, Huddersfield Town and Mansfield Town.

Newcastle will play each of those sides away from home, having travelled to Harrogate in 2021 and Mansfield in both 2021 and 2024. They've not previously faced Huddersfield in this competition. 

Sky Sports will televise all the ties, with round dates tbc.

Games are played over 90 minutes, with a penalty shootout staged if the scores are tied then and the winners of that receiving a bonus point.

The Magpies were successful last season in a shootout against Bradford City, but haven't claimed maximum points in this competition since back in 2018.

NUFC confirm that the U21s will enter the Premier League International Cup for the first time since 2019/20 - pitting them against European sides. Games are all in the UK.

And the Magpies second string will also take part in the National League Cup once again, having participated in last season's maiden staging of the competition.

Draw dates for those two competitions are still tbc.   

Internationals:
No glory for Toon teen   

Reigning U19 champions Spain failed to defend their U19 European Championship title on Thursday, beaten 0-1 by the Netherlands in the final staged in Bucharest.

Recent Newcastle acquisition Antonio Cordero retained his place in Spain's starting line-up and came close to breaking the deadlock when firing against a post from distance six minutes into the second half.

What proved to be the only goal of the tie came shortly after, with the last touch coming off the Spanish goalkeeper. Cordero was then replaced after 77 minutes.

2025/26:
Espanyol (h) now on sale  

Tickets for Newcastle's pre-season friendly fixture at St. James' Park against Espanyol are now on public sale, priced at £25 and £20 for adults. 

The Magpies face the Spaniards in a 7.30pm kick-off on Friday August 8th - the night before the sold-out visit of fellow La Liga side Atletico Madrid to Gallowgate. 

This will be the fourth successive season that Eddie Howe's side have concluded their pre-season preparations with back to back home kickabouts, splitting the squad across both games and giving pitch time to U21 squad players.

United's pre-season schedule consists of these six public matches, preceded by a behind closed doors friendly:

Sat 19.07.2025 Celtic (Scotland) (a)
Sun 27.07.2025 Arsenal (n) in Singapore
Wed 30.07.2025 Team K League (South Korea) (a)
Sun 03.08.2025 Spurs (n) in South Korea
Fri 08.08.2025 Espanyol (h) (Spain) (h)
Sat 09.08.2025 Atletico Madrid (Spain) (h)

RGR:
Stormy weather 

The man known as Run Geordie Run continues his charity trek across the USA from New York to California, encountering electrical storms passing through Kansas.

Donations have now passed £22,000, thanks in part to a very generous contribution from the Newcastle United Supporters Club (NUSC). Every penny raised supports the work of St. Benedicts Hospice. 

If you can help, please do so online here  

Find the RGR blog here

2025/26:
Fixtures announced 

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.

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....

Giveaway:
Fanzine comp answer

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 had copies to give away and asked who the last English -born Manager before Eddie Howe to win the League Cup was, doing so in 2004 with Middlesbrough.

It was of course Steve McClaren and the winning entries came from Graeme Herberson and Simon Ritter. 

Old boys:
Comings & goings