Newcastle

Newcastle United's policy of purchasing young French players and selling them for a massive profit came to end following last year’s relegation. That embarrassing demise, Newcastle’s second relegation in only eight years, proved that the club’s model of operating was disastrously shortsighted.

For every revelation that chief scout Graham Carr discovered on the cheap in Ligue 1 (Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye, Moussa Sissoko and Mathieu Debuchy), there were the counterpoints of Sylvain Marveaux, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Emmanuel Riviera and Remy Cabella.  

In a game with massive implications at both ends of the table in the English Championship (Newcastle United aiming for promotion and the title, Burton Albion trying to avoid relegation), match referee Keith Stroud simply and utterly messed up. He and his assistants, for whatever reason, didn’t know the rules and for a long period of time chaos reigned at St. James’ Park.

With the scores level at 0-0 in the 30th-minute, Stroud pointed to the spot after Dwight Gayle was tripped in the area.

Newcastle United travelled to Brighton & Hove Albion’s Amex Stadium for a match between first and second in the English Championship. With the top two sides in the division earning automatic promotion to the Premier League, matches really don’t get any bigger than this.

Albion took the lead through Glenn Murray after Murray, Newcastle’s Ciaran Clark and goalkeeper Karl Darlow all clashed together in a clusterf**k of cliche Championship football, the referee pointing to spot.

After spending £6.5 million on Belgian Matz Sels in the offseason but watching him commit a series of high-profile errors to start the campaign, Newcastle United turned to 26-year-old goalkeeper Karl Darlow to steady the ship.

Darlow has since been great in net for the league league leaders, but he undoubtedly suffered the worst moment of his career in Newcastle’s 2-2 draw with Norwich City on Tuesday. 

DeAndre Yedlin put in another brilliant performance for Newcastle United over the weekend, showing his defensive qualities in a 1-0 victory over Derby with a blocked shot, six tackles and 10 clearances, including one off the goal line. 

Yedlin with a goal-saving clearance off the line - Darlow in no mans land #NUFC #DCFC

DeAndre Yedlin put in his best performance of the season on Saturday as Newcastle United thrashed Rotherham to go top of the EFL Championship. Yedlin registered two assists in the 4-0 victory, and he’s fast becoming a consistent game changer on the right-hand side of defense for the Magpies.

21-year-old winger Yasin Ben El-Mhanni made his Newcastle United debut in the FA Cup on Wednesday, but what made the story truly remarkable was that El-Mhanni was already a household name amongst those who frequently watch football freestyle videos on YouTube.