“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Its sometimes said that compared to London who have EastEnders, Manchester who have Coronation Street and Liverpool who have Hollyoaks, that the North-East lacks a soap opera yet fans of Newcastle United, a club which constantly attracts the local, national and global attention of the football world and beyond, know better.

The summer of 2018 hasn't disappointed with the endless goings on at St. James' Park even reaching Parliament via a petition by MP for Newcastle Chi Onwurah about club owner Mike Ashley, whose response to the Houses of Parliament appeared in the press tonight that he is being portrayed as the 'pantomime villain' in the ongoing drama...

Interest in events at NUFC has seamlessly replaced a little tournament in Russia that England did unexpectedly well in although if Gareth Southgate had included some Newcastle players in his squad, it may have turned out even better for The Three Lions. 

Exhibit Aye  - Shelvey's goal vs Leicester that delighted The Toon Army...

Shelvey sends Maguire to Russia 2 months early with a dummy before slotting past Schmeichel.

Newcastle's second half of the season rise from the low of 18th on December 16th after a 0-1 defeat at Arsenal to a more than respectable 10th-placed finish after big home wins against Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal, after which Arsene Wenger announced his resignation after 20 years with the Gunners, could be compared to Leicester's end of season run in 2014/5 before their inexplicable Premier League title win in 2015/6.

Two of the main reasons for Newcastle's 2018 rise - as well as Paul Dummett's return to fitness and Mo Diame's re-emergence in the midfield engine room alongside Shelvey - were the dual January signings of Slovakian keeper Martin Dubravka and Kenedy, both of whom Rafa Benitez was quick to snap up in the transfer market early this summer.

The 29 year-old Slovakian stopper brought a supreme stature and presence to the goalkeeping position that Matz Sels, Rafa's first GK signing for NUFC, lacked as well as excellent footwork and superb shot-stopping while Robert Kenedy's Brazilian brilliance brought a real spark to a side in need of it as well as pace, dribbling, assists, a set-piece expertise and goals, even winning that rarity of a penalty for Newcastle on his debut.

Dubravka's loan was made into a permanent deal at the end of May with Newcastle exercising their option to do so a no brainer and the arrival of Ki Sung-Jeung soon followed after South Korea, whom he was Captaining at the World Cup, were eliminated from the competition and The Magpies acted fast to secure his signature.

Ki Could Be A Key Signing

The former Swansea man is a real capture for Newcastle and he showed his quality on his St. James' Park debut on Saturday in a friendly against Augsburg, replacing Mo Diame, who suffered a knock, in the 27th minute and then proceeded to do his best JonJo Shelvey impression doing Cruyff turns and spraying Hollywood passes around.

Ki, who has also played for Sunderland, had his best season as a Premier League player alongside Shelvey at Swansea in 2014/5 when he scored 8 goals in 33 games although on Saturday when Shelvey came on, their attacking tendencies left Newcastle exposed to the counter-attack from which they conceded the only goal of the game.

He replaces the outoing Mikel Merino, who after a nice debut against Spurs and some decent games while the sun shone (a highlight being a late headed winner against Crystal Palace) ultimately when the going got tough, he didn't get going and lacked the competitive appetite for the relentless Premier League fight & seemed injury prone.

Hopefully, Florian Lejeune isn't similarly afflicted for, after being injured by Harry Kane on his Premier League debut last campaign and missing 3 months with ligament damage  really came into his own and formed a superb end-of-season partnership with Jamaal Lascelles, has suffered another cruciate ligament injury in training and will miss months.

Newcastle acted quickly signing Fabian Schar, the Switzerland centre-back most famous for the "mugging" of Aleksandar Mitrovic in the Serbia - Switzerland game in the Russia World Cup, although he was signed to replace Chancel Mbemba who went to Porto.

As the transfer deadline has got nearer, Newcastle's business has intensified which has seen the arrival of two strikers in the past week, Yoshinori Muto and Salomon Rondon.

Muto is a 26 year-old Japanese international striker who arrives from Mainz in Germany via the World Cup, not to be confused with the Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism (MUTO) of the Godzilla movie of 2014 (although a giant-killing ability will come in handy considering Newcastle face Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City in their first 5 games) 

He cost £9.5M which is the exact same figure a relatively unknown Papiss Cisse cost Newcastle in the January window of 2012 and proceeded to score 12 goals in his first 12 games to fire Newcastle to 5th place and the Europa League in a memorable season for Newcastle under Alan Pardew and Muto will be hoping he, too, hits the ground running.

Finally, Rondon's arrival from West Bromwich Albion as Newcastle's new no. 9 with the outgoing incumbent of the famous shirt Dwight Gayle going the other way, should do a lot to dispel some of the premature doom and gloom that is engulfing Tyneside and causing social media and media spats between Newcastle fans and club owner Mike Ashley 

Its very important that Rondon, a Venezuelan international of 19 goals in 66 caps, is a success on Tyneside as its the third striker that Rafa Benitez has attempted to replace terrace favourite Aleksandar Mitrovic with after the failure of Joselu and Islam Slimani.

Predictably, Mitrovic scored just two minutes into his Fulham debut against Celta Vigo since his permanent move for £22M was sealed last week so the pressure is on his striking replacements and Newcastle generally after scoring just 44 goals last season - one of, if not, their lowest season totals in the Premier League era.

Happily for Newcastle fans, Rondon should be the first of a three more signings that Newcastle's Managing Director Lee Charnley has authorised with rumours linking The Magpies with PSG left-back N'Soki and an additional arrival which should leave the squad at Rafa Benitez's disposal with an excellent chance of bettering last season's 10th-placed finish and rivalling the last 2nd season after promotion, Alan Pardew's 2011/2 campaign although the manager's stated priority is to win a Cup to end Newcastle's trophy drought.

Don't Stop Believin'...