Highlights of the first of Newcastle United’s first pre season friendly games, this one against German third string side Chemnitzer, at their place, Der Stadion an der Gellertstraße, Chemnitz.
A mostly second string Magpies eleven (with a few big names coming on before the end) succumbed to a solitary goal from Chemnitzer’s Anton Fink in the tenth minute. Sammy Ameobi thought he had levelled later in the game but he was judged to be offside.
New kids on the block, Romain Amalfitano and Gael Bigirimana both took part, with Amalfitano starting and Bigirimana coming on as a sub for for Mehdi Abeid in the 70th minute. The highly talented Haris Vuckic also managed to play 70 minutes of the game without breaking something!
New NUFC home and goalkeeper shirts finally released into the wild!At last! A definitive picture of Newcastle United’s new home kit on display at the friendly against German lower league side, Chemnitzer, earlier today.
The Magpies lost 1-0 incidentally with Chemnitzer’s Anton Fink striking what was to be the deciding goal for the home side after only ten minutes.
As you can see, both the outfield players’ shirts and the goalkeeper’s shirt are no different from the shirts we revealed in this story way back in January of this year, as well as this one back in June, the only difference being the new sponsor’s design on the front.
As to whether Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct will be undercutting the club’s official outlet once again when the kit is released at the beginning of next month remains to be seen. (more…)
Newcastle United’s series of pre season fixtures starts this evening in Chemnitz, as the Magpies kick off their European tour, playing six games (if you count one against the Dutch Den Haag which is yet to be officially confirmed). Two of the games will be played in Germany, one in Hungary and two in Portugal, though not necessarily against local sides.
The teams will be Chemitzer at their place in Saxony, AS Monaco in Bavaria, Fenerbahçe in Hungary, Olympiacos and SC Braga at Braga’s unusual Estádio Municipal de Braga, which has a huge rockface at one side of the stadium instead of the usual terracing. Finally the as yet unconfirmed one against ADO Den Haag will be played at Den Haag’s Kyocera Stadium in the the Hague. Although not officially confirmed by NUFC, the game has been definitely been confirmed by Den Haag.
Finally (for the moment), back in the UK, there will be another “Battle of the Birds” as the Magpies take on the Bluebirds of Cardiff City at their place, and the reserves / bairns will also take on Gatesheed at the Intenational Stadium. (more…)
Chemnitzer Fans.Dear reader, I realise that I’m probably setting myself up for a fall with this piece.
Actually, I sincerely hope that I am, just as the BBCs “Panorama” programme did when they screened a documentary about racism in Polish and Ukrainian football on the eve of the recent European Championships. However, I feel that even if things do go well in the first of Newcastle United’s first pre season friendlies tomorrow evening against Saxon third division side, Chemnitzer FC, it was an extremely foolish decision to arrange it against a team with such an awful reputatiion for overt racism with it’s fans, and even it’s security staff (see below) with several black and / or Muslim players in the current Newcastle United side. One thing’s for sure, there certainly won’t be the same kind of policing that there was at the above mentioned European Championships when the game takes place.
Saxon lower league sides are one of the largest hotbeds of neo-nazi activity in the whole of football, and Chemnitzer FC are one of the worst. As you will see below, sometimes the behaviour of a very vocal and violent group of their fans can go far beyond the usual monkey chanting and so on. But first, here’s an extract from a 2010 report by the European Forum for Migration Studies (EFMS). On German lower league football in general, especially amateur sides such as Chemnitzer, they write: (more…)
Pardew: The silly season intrigue continues!Newcastle United’s Silver Supremo, Alan Pardew, played down transfer fever at the club, saying that he doesn’t expect too many players to be coming in during this transfer window.
Speaking at his first press conference for the forthcoming pre-season programme, instead, Pardew preferred to put the emphasis on younger players such as Mehdi Abeid and Haris Vuckic breaking through for more first team action in the absence of departees such as Peter Lovenkrands, Danny Guthrie, Leon Best and several others. The Grey Gaffer said:
“I don’t envisage too many coming in.
“We have a lot of young players here who haven’t played much football.
“People like Mehdi Abeid and Haris Vuckic.
However, he was heartened that the club were still looking at players who could take the club forward, adding: (more…)
