Newcastle United have succeeded in persuading the Premier League that they cannot field 13 outfield players at St Mary's on Sunday and therefore the fixture is now postponed.

As mentioned in a previous article today, Newcastle United despite having a squad of 25 outfield players and 5 goalkeepers are unable to put out a squad of 13 plus 2 keepers for the trip to Southampton.

This stinks of a club who are actively trying to get games postponed now whilst they have a weak squad that has got them into the bottom three and now be able to play vital games later in the season when they will have had the chance to spend a lot of money to strengthen their squad.

Perhaps the Premier League should set a rule where games postponed due to Covid 19 are rescheduled that teams are only able to play those players who were on the books at the time the game was originally due to be played.

Newcastle where always likely to spend big in the transfer window, but poor results since they were taken over have meant that had they been defeated at both Everton & Southampton they would be in a very tough position even with a revamped squad and winning enough points would be a tough ask.

Now they have suddenly gone from a club whom many felt sorry for due to their ownership issues, to one that most of the Premier league are starting to despise as they are already trying to prove that money talks and they are now above the rules that the rest of us have to follow.

Photo: Action Images

IanRC added 13:17 - Dec 31 Another decision by the deeply corrupt PL, have they no academy players. Where was the PL when we had to field academy players v MUFC and a biased referee.
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ElijahK added 13:18 - Dec 31 Takes the p*ss! I’ve just had a read of what the Everton fans made of their game getting postponed the other day, and it seems like there’re all thinking the same as us, as if the PL actually gave a toss, then they’d make sure that Newcastle can’t field any new signings against us/Everton, but we all know that’s never gonna happen! Worst part is that it’s not Covid that’s called the game off, but their injuries, which we had a ridiculous amount of when we played Man U away last season, yet we still had to play that game. Also with all these games getting called off, when are they gonna get played, as it’s not that fair if us Vs Newcastle is played midweek, when whoever we’ve got at the weekend didn’t have any midweek games. Still at least KWP and Salisu will be suspended for the Swansea game, which they’d probably not have even played in anyway. Still the FA/PL is a f*cking joke

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Peterx added 13:27 - Dec 31 We for sure wanted to play them now and they probably encouraged their players to go out partying to get the cron but lets get our injuries sorted and get that extra motivation to beat them when we do play them.
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davenbennett added 13:27 - Dec 31 Obvious fiddle. We knew it was going to be allowed by the PL, so no surprise.
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TimSaint added 13:29 - Dec 31 Spineless FA Cvnts !! Go and investigate - sure they have a few injuries - don't everyone ? They may have a suspension or 2 - so do we !! They may have a few Covid cases - we have had S Arm, Tella, Lyanco and Jack, as well you know !! I bet they play their FA Cup game 6 days later !! This is becoming a joke and these manipulating, cheating b@stards need to be stood up to by the FA and docked points where applicable. Saints should say we'll play you on Weds 5th or 12th January.

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IanRC added 13:41 - Dec 31 TimSaint unfortunately the FA are just as bad
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SaintPaulVW added 14:16 - Dec 31 Completely agree with the venting above. On the face of it, it appears V unfair. However at least we should have Salisu +KWP back when we play them. Big money signings don't always make things better.
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highfield49 added 14:17 - Dec 31 Not one Saints supporter surprised by this decision I imagine. Hopefully Newcastle will let us all know when they have a fully fit, injury and covid free squad available before the season ends.
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Centurion added 14:29 - Dec 31 Newcastle are cheating but they know they can get away with it. Always used to like the Magpies. Not now, hope they go down.
4

underweststand added 14:42 - Dec 31 So why is this NOT a surprise ? With clubs able to buy players from Tomorrow, (or should that be Monday morning?) ...Eddie Howe has bought himself time to strengthen his squad before the next Prem. match because the next NU game will be Newcastle's FA Cup home tie v. Cambridge. What a challenge that will be (!). It should be "a walk in the park" for their U23 side. I noted that Ralph was prepared to put out a side - no matter what, but the great pity is that the enormous ground swell of fan support at SMS and the superb team effort put in v. Spurs will become a just a note in the history books as our next 2 games are away. FA Cup tie @ Swansea and the away fixture @ Wolves, before the next home game v. Man. City (!).. Welcome back to St. Mary's. The only upside is that both recently postponed matches are at home, which hopefully will revive the type of fan(tastic) support we saw on Tuesday.

4

SanMarco added 18:30 - Dec 31 Not sure I blame Newcastle as much as the idiots in charge. Doing this on a case-by-case basis and relying on the word of clubs without any investigating guaranteed this would go on. If Saints could have got the Manure game off they would have done - not sure it is cheating, just using the 'rules' in your own self-interest. The PL should have said from the start that each team HAD TO play ALL its matches (as mentioned -all teams have plenty of players) or had a three week winter break. Doing it the way they did was stupid and what's happened was bound to happen. Having said that we got 4 very good points over the holiday so let's not be too upset!! Happy New Year to all.

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claus5 added 18:40 - Dec 31 Why are everyone moanining now, nobody accusesed Brentford of cheating?
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ElijahK added 19:08 - Dec 31 Well it’s pretty obvious claus5, as Brentford actually had Covid cases and the team they have before the January transfer market isn’t going to be remarkably different to that of the one they had beforehand, whilst Newcastles will almost certainly be 10X better, as well as very few of their players actually having Covid (it’s just somehow injuries seemed to contribute to the game getting called off which shouldn’t happen) but their main stars have injuries, whilst Brentford had many Covid cases and no real star players out injured. That’s why, one teams done it because they had to, the others done it to cheat in plain site!

5

Block8 added 19:49 - Dec 31 Football as a sport has become a game where every advantage is sought whether by fair means or foul. I'm not at all surprised by clubs trying to use any rule that may benefit them and I'm pretty sure if we were in a similar position we would do the same. Before you all go apoplectic remember this wasn't on offer last year, so we couldn't!
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NewburySaint added 20:16 - Dec 31 No, surely not - this news has really surprised me! I look forward to us beating them later on in the season when they will apparently have a better squad, & more importantly wiping any smile off the face of 1 of the most moaning of managers (not just recently, but since he started his management career) in recent times. Is this a case of the PL showing no backbone again when dealing with a so called bigger, richer club?

3

dirk_doone added 20:38 - Dec 31 We could have played them on January 11th so they would have gained no advantage but instead we've opted to play Brentford then.
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aceofthebase added 00:25 - Jan 1 The FA should investigate Newcastle's injuries and Covid. If not legal; deduct 10 points. Warn them of this possibility and they will be begging us to play. happy New Year everyone.
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NYC_Saint added 04:26 - Jan 1 Let’s hope no one decent wants to join them and a lot of mediocre more shelvies join their ranks on 300k per week salaries that cripple them in the championship. Per the article, only players eligible for the game tomorrow should be eligible for the rematch…
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Kingsland34 added 09:11 - Jan 1 Thieving Magpies
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