Keiran Gibbs set on joining Newcastle after FA Cup Final omission

Arsenal have signed left-back Sead Kolasinac on a free transfer for next season and with Nacho Monreal first-choice, Kieran Gibbs' days are numbered at the Emirates.

The Englishman has been plagued by injuries his whole career and was reported as injured, then ill, before the FA Cup final but was angered after not being told about his omission from the squad by Arsene Wenger.

So Gibbs is set to leave Arsenal in the summer after a massive 10 years since making his debut for the North London club, with Newcastle his most likely destination. A fee of around £6 million should be enough to bring him to Tyneside and would be a much-welcomed addition to take over the left-back duties from Paul Dummett.

The semi-retired Welsh international Geordie wizard just isn't up to scratch for the Premier League. He was decent in the important games during our Championship campaign, with keeping Brighton's 'Championship Player of the Year' Anthony Knockaert quiet being the highlight, but he still showed on countless occasions his lack of positional sense, total reluctance to ever get forward and still has a massive mistake waiting to happen in his locker.

Gibbs is an experienced 27-year-old with a point to prove, given he has never quite made the most of his potential. If he can stay injury free, then he will be as solid a left-back as we could ever hope to bring in for a reasonable fee.

Watch this space.

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New leaked Newcastle kit looks nice - sponsorship details yet to be released

Many of us have caught a glimpse of the supposedly new Newcastle kit that has been 'leaked' on social media, which shows Dwight Gayle giving it the big one as he rocks the 'classic' black and white design we were all expecting, complete with a brand new sponsor.

This new sponsor seems to be Chinese betting firm Fun88, which would also confirm the rumours of such an establishment being the next business to flaunt itself on the black and white stripe, which is replacing the awful Wonga once and for all. Thank the Lord.

No details have been released yet on whether this is, in fact, our next sponsor or how much they are spending to promote themselves via ourselves but let's hope it's in the levels you would expect a top Premier League club to receive, and not some cheap job concluded by tax-avoider Lee Charnley.

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Newcastle signing up winger for £6 million - but is he good enough?

It looks like Newcastle are taking up the option to sign Christian Atsu on a permanent basis from
Chelsea for around £6 million. The infamous 'Sky sources' are all over the story claiming the club and Atsu are in negotiations today as the deadline from his loan clause to make his move permanent is closing in. Atsu has been decent overall in the Championship but is he good enough for the Premier League?

Well if you look at his record for Ghana this season he has become arguably their most influential attacker and his impressive performances helped Ghana to the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations.

Atsu has been pulling the strings for 🇬🇭 . Here are his 2016/2017 stats
9 matches
total shots 28
shots on target 11
goals 3#joyafcon pic.twitter.com/4L9btf9i0q

— #JoySports 99.7FM (@JoySportsGH) January 17, 2017

In the Championship for the Magpies he has put in some decent performances and some memorable moments on our way back to the Premier League. None more so than the free kick that finished off Cardiff in the penultimate game of the season - what a beauty!



His fee of £6 million is worth the punt for someone who obviously has talent but has never had a club yet to call home, as he has been continuously shipped out on loan all across Europe. We might just be able to get the best out of him next season.

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Newcastle Utd: Bring back Hatem Ben Arfa to the Premier League!

I love Hatem Ben Arfa. He is a genius. An enigma. The ultimate maverick. We need the ex-Newcastle man back in The Premier League as witnessing him sat on the bench at PSG every week is hurtful. A talent like HBA needs to be on the pitch to entertain the world. Ideally to entertain the Geordies once again. Newcastle please bring him back!

OGC Nice were amazingly chasing the French League title this season as they fought the mega rich PSG and AS Monaco head on. This somewhat surprising challenge is based off the back of their previous campaign in 2015/16 where, from absolutely nowhere, they were chasing the Champions League places despite only expected to be a mid table team at best. This was down to bringing in a player from the football scrapheap who didn’t have a club, who was unfit but did have amazing talent. That player was Newcastle and briefly Hull City outcast Hatem Ben Arfa.

Nice needed a player like Ben Arfa and Ben Arfa needed a team like Nice. A team with no expectations that would give him the platform to perform week in week out and potentially be their headline act if he got himself match fit. The enigmatic Frenchman did not disappoint as he tore through Ligue 1 almost from day one right through the whole season as the small French club were agonisingly close to qualifying for the Champions League. All of which was under the guidance of current Southampton boss Claude Puel.

Ben Arfa has been linked to joining the Saints when Puel left Nice to go to the South coast club, Ben Arfa was also leaving Nice on a free transfer. However, with likes of Barcelona looking into his signature the chances of him landing at St Mary’s were extremely thin. It was PSG who finally gave Ben Arfa a 2-year contract in hope to he could re-create his blistering form for the French champions. Unfortunately for HBA he has not been given a genuine chance by new boss Unai Emery to show his talent and is consistently left on the bench and given 10-minute cameos near the end of games or left out the matchday squad completely.

This is a sorry sight for Ben Arfa as his blatant talent is a crime to be wasted sat on the bench as he was arguably the best player in the whole of France last season, definitely the most exciting. If Claude Puel could rescue the skillful winger from his PSG slumber next season, or any other Premier League club, it would be a glorious site to see the lad in full flow again.

Ben Arfa had an amazing season in 2015/16 as he scored 18 goals in 34 games and had some of the best dribbling stats in Europe, he averaged 4 successful dribbles per game! Which is incredible. 


Hatem Ben Arfa is one of the most exciting players in Europe. He must play football to entertain the world. We want him back in the Premier League. We want him back at Newcastle.

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Newcastle Have Just Made The Easiest £100 Million In Their History

Marseille have just announced the official permanent signing of Florian Thauvin for £10 million which tops up our 2016 transfer money received to a cool £100 million bag your £20 Free Bet AND Free £5 Bet every week with ToonBano.com Exclusive Partner William Hill HERE!

Sissoko, Wijnaldum, Townsend, Janmaat, Cisse, Cabella and now Thauvin have all signed for other clubs since pre season to take the edge off relegation and missing out on Premier League money. Throw on top Steven Taylor's £40k and Coloccini's astronomical £75k a week has also been stripped off the wage bill, it's not been bad business at all.

We have obviously invested a lot of that money back into squad with Ritchie and Gayle having decent size fees but investing it wisely has been the real genius behind our transfer work.

Promotion back to the Premier League looks well on course with a squad full of depth with quality in every position. Gayle out injured? Mitro will come in with a brace. Diame dropped? Perez will come in with a brace. Ritchie out? Atsu will come in to score a winner. Anita or Yedlin. Clark or Mbemba. Hayden or Colback. The list goes on.

In fact, our squad is so deep we have hardly seen the likes of Lazaar, Hanley or Murphy. All full internationals when fit. Amazing for a Championship club. Selling off the players that didn't care about out football club or were just expensive dead weight is the easiest £100 million we have ever made. Did you see £30 million Sissoko's performance for Spurs in the Champions league on Wednesday? Embarrassing.

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Newcastle First Choice Winger To Sign For Another Club In January?

Yoan Gouffran has been on fire this season. Our record with him in the side so far reads zero losses. Zero. This form has brought the attention of clubs around his native France, specifically Lille, as unfortunately for us his contract is set to expire at the end of the season. So with this, he can sign for any foreign club on a pre-contract in January and leave for free in the summer bag your £20 Free Bet AND Free £5 Bet every week with ToonBano.com Exclusive Partner William Hill HERE!

So Newcastle may even take the opportunity to sell him in January and get some money out of him. This is highly unlikely however as promotion is the be all and end all this year, so a million or two for him wouldn't do us any favours. Especially seeing how indispensable he is all of a sudden...who would have thought it?!

When he lost his squad number to Matt Ritchie before the season started, the writing looked on the wall for him to be on his way out. The determination he has shown to not just play his part in the squad but make the left wing position his own has been great to see and totally unexpected. Fair play to him.

He has put many ex-players who jumped ship almost immediately to shame...

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Unbelievable Story Of How Alex Ferguson Acting As Keith Gillespie's Agent Ripped Off Newcastle

Read an interesting story of the day when Keith Gillespie signed for Newcastle back in 1995. The Northern Irishman didn't have an agent at the time so his mentor and manager Sir Alex Ferguson acted on his behalf to negotiate his contract to sign for us. Don't miss out on your £20 Free Bet AND Free £5 Bet every week with ToonBano.com Exclusive Partner William Hill HERE!

Gillespie was on around £250 a week at Man Utd and when Newcastle agreed to sell them Andy Cole for £7million, Kevin Keegan insisted on having the flying winger as part of the deal. So when Keegan along with some Newcastle directors and Gillespie were set to meet to sort out his contract, Fergie went along too acting on behalf of his Class of '92 graduate.

The Scottish cheat was on top form once negotiations began as he blagged that Gillespie was on £600 a week. Not only this he managed to get our genius directors to stump up £1,200 a week in order to seal the deal. Unbelievable. You would think we were absolutely desperate to sell Cole to be fooled into such nonsense so easily.

So we lost Andy Cole and got ripped off on Gillespie. Whether this transfer was actually a good thing in the end is up for much debate on Tyneside. After all, without the sale of Cole we would not have brought in Ferdinand. The 95-96 season would never have happened and we wouldn't have had such great memories of Big Les dominating the Premier League to within a whisker of us being Champions. Plus everything that happened off the back of this like Asprilla's hat-trick with Gillespie being a major part of that game or Shearer choosing us over Man Utd for the next 10 years.

Then there's the other argument of, well we didn't win anything and Man Utd with Andy Cole in their side did end up as Champions in '96, he also went on score plenty of goals against us and who knows maybe Gillespie would have kept Beckham out of the team and the ex-England captain wouldn't be what he is today. Now there's a thought.

Pros and cons on both sides but fact is facts and what happened, happened. Good or bad.

What wasn't a fact was how much Fergie told us Gillespie was on and happily ripped us off. Fergie telling porky pies and getting away with it?...now there's a fact. Rafa would agree.

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Mitro's On Fire! This Is Rafa's Team To Burn Up Brentford Tomorrow!

We have had enough of Diame playing as the No.10 over past couple of months. He can't finish or create so what's the point?

Mitro has been chomping at the bit to get out there and play, so since he bagged a brace for Serbia the other day, Rafa must surely let him loose against Brentford.

The team below is capable of taking all 3 points and edging us closer to the top of the league!
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Christian Atsu scored the winner versus Rotherham so would be unlucky not to start, however Ritchie is first choice and Gouffran hasn't been on the losing side yet all season. That's some record.

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WATCH: Rafa Completely Burns Mitrovic In Training! But Will Start Him Tomorrow

Rafa got his skills out in training as he attempts to teach Mitro a thing a two on how to take somebody on. He pretty much burns him alive to the point Mitro's on fire...well, hopefully for Saturday! Don't miss out on your Free £20 Bet AND Free £5 Bet every week with ToonBano.com Exclusive Partner William Hill HERE!



Mitro scored a brace for the Serbs in International week so is red hot at the minute and raring to go, despite being mugged off by Rafa. Our Spanish boss will surely now release him into the wild against Brentford on Saturday as we finally play with two strikers on the pitch from the start.

We have been subjected to Diame playing in the hole for most of this season and it hasn't been a success, despite the team winning most games in the end. We currently sit 3rd in the league which isn't a great return after 11 games giving the poor standards of the Championship in relation to our squad.

Sticking Mitro up front with Gayle is surely the way forward from now on, especially at home....even if he gets burned now and again!

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More Killer Clowns! Steve McClaren Is Back!

Derby County are insane. They have finally parted company after weeks of delay with the strange Nigel Pearson, they then interview candidates to take over the task of promotion to the Premier League and have decided on their man. That man is....Steve McClaren. Erm...what?

Don't miss out on your Free £5 Bet every week with ToonBano.com Exclusive Partner William Hill HERE! Not only did he completely fail in his 6 months at NUFC by relegating the football club after huge funds were spent on the team, he failed to bring promotion to Derby County the season before. He was sacked after finishing outside the play-offs, despite topping the table at one stage with promotion looking guaranteed. They imploded beyond repair and he rightfully got the boot.

He then somehow managed to swindle himself a Premier League job with us off the back of this disaster, in which the team he was in charge of didn't even have time to implode as they were useless pretty much from day one. Why in the hell Derby have decided to go back to this man is beyond any reasoning whatsoever.

Why the hell would you go back to the man who proved he wasn't up to the task of promotion, when a club like Derby would have a long list of potential suitors? It would be like us hiring back McClown after Rafa, if he for some reason departed St James'. Mental.

There is a craze around at the minute of clowns wandering around the streets and scaring people...the streets around Pride Park is the scariest one yet.

Do the Derby County directors have no memory to speak of or have chosen to bury their heads in the sand? Talk about Ostriches eh Nigel...?

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Rafa To Drop Diame And Set Up 4-4-2 Tonight Versus Norwich

We need a win this evening against Norwich. A loss would see us stuck way back in 9th and already chasing at this stage of the season. For me Rafa has to ditch the disappointing Diame and go with 2 strikers.

Who that is I'm not too fussed. Any combination of Gayle/Mitro/Perez/Murphy will do, as whichever he chooses will be a lot better then Diame 'in the hole'. He's a waste of space in there.

We lack goals from open play this season. A staggering a mouth have come via set pieces which was unheard of in the Pardew years. Even our goal at Villa was an own goal.

We routed QPR for 6 however within that we had a blatant deflection, a wonder strike and then set piece rebounds. We have start creating chances, like at Villa, but converting them.

I'd pick Murphy up top this evening with either Gayle or Perez. The Irishman deserves a chance and could end up being our first choice striker if he plays well and gets a goal or two. The others are just not consistent enough.

This is my team for Norwich if everyone is fit, there's doubts over Yedlin.

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Official: Allardyce Sacked As England Manager! To Be Replaced By Eddie Howe?

Update on the below!!: BIG SAM HAS BEEN SACKED!

The silence from The FA is deafening right now. No backing of Big Sham. No defence. Not even a 'calm the air' statement. Nothing.

Such silence usually means one thing. He's a goner!

How can he not be? He has brought himself into disrepute with The FA beyond repair. Advising total

strangers on how to get around FA rules to make a quick buck? How stupid do you have to be?

His knowledge, passion and ease of which to advise about the subject makes the assumption he has took part in such schemes himself is obvious. Practice what you preach.

The FA were moronic in hiring Big Sham in the first place for footballing reasons, never mind off the pitch issues. How does Allardyce football fit into the new England DNA? Quick answer, it doesn't.

Someone who does however is Eddie Howe. If ever there was a poster boy for the FA it's the Bournemouth boss. I live down here and have experienced his rise first hand. It has been meteoric. All of which done in a style any organisation would be proud of.

He is the definition of squeaky clean and if you were to have a look over the England DNA, it reads as if it was created by a strand of Eddie Howe's own chromosomes. Football wise and character wise.

Sam's a dead man walking. If you're prepared to get stung before you've even took your first training session, what else is/was he capable of when he actually got his feet under the table?! Staggering.

His lack of any respect for previous manager Roy Hodgson is also embarrassing for the FA. I've been coaching for a bit and all we are told about is the FA 'Respect' campaign. How does Big Sham fit into this?!

You would have no such trouble with Howe. You would have a football team to be proud of with Howe. You would have the perfect poster boy for the future of English football and coaches.

If you offered Eddie the job...he couldn't turn it down.

Brought to you by TheGingerPirlo.com

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If Rafa Does Listen To Fans: Drop Sels, Dummett & Diame Immediately!

There's word around town that Rafa does like input from fans and listens to fanzine and a like with what they would do with the team. He has even invited such folk into the training ground and had long discussions talking to them about the team. Well if he is looking for input, then here's some that needs to be actioned ASAP. You need to drop Matt Sels, Paul Dummett & Mo Diame immediately.

Sels was at fault (again) for the Villa equaliser Saturday night as he flapped at a corner and did nothing to stop the ball squeezing in at his near post, to help us throw away 2 points. How we managed to not kill this game off well before the game drifted into the last 15 mins where Villa suddenly woke up, is a mystery and total disgrace.

Dummett has been embarrassing at times this season. I still can't get over someone taking him using theie back at Fulham, first game of the season. Their BACK for crying out loud. His positional sense is all over the place.

Some say he played well at Villa. No, he played well by his own standards. Compare his performance to DeAndre Yedlin and they're in a different league. The young America  is clearly Premier League, our local hero is clearly not.

As for Diame. We look to have got rid of Sissoko and brought in his half brother. What the hell is this man doing in the team week in, week out, home or away? He literally couldn't his a barn door from 6 yards.

Dwight Gayle wasted a one on one that he should have buried, but at least the keeper made a save. Diame was 6 yards out and blazed the easiest chance he will have all season closet to the corner flag.

He's also lazy. I mentioned Sissoko as Diame is looking more like Moussa every time he plays. Is that what Mo is short for? Of all the players mentioned above, he's the one that needs dropping the most.

We have Mitro and Perez on the sidelines where as Murphy can't even get in the squad. The Irishman was very impressive in the EFL cup game last week and deserves a run in the team. He's the one striker we have that knows this division.

Sels has deleted his Twitter account due to ridiculous abuse, I feel for him but that doesn't change the
fact he offers no confidence whatsoever. Can't afford sentiment when promotion is at stake.

Dummett has surely shown Rafa he just ain't good enough. Especially when we have Lazaar waiting for his chance to shine. Even Ciaran Clark is a better option then Dummett. Sick if the sight of his hesitant first touch, just not quite there crossing, off target shooting & non existent positioning. Just get out.

Diame is done. Over.  Get a striker up top with Gayle and let's go for teams more. We have the quality to beat every team, so let's not lose anymore points by being negative or defensive minded. It's unnecessary.

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