Pod On The Tyne: The Athletic FC's Newcastle United show

Recorded at the magnificent Strawberry pub in the shadow of St James's Park, Pod on the Tyne (with some allowances for flu season) assembled an audience of friends, colleagues and (the Waugh) family for our traditional Christmas special. Looking back over a magnificent seven days, a rollercoaster of twelve months, and with a glimpse ahead to 2025, there's plenty of festive cheer in supply. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newcastle's problem in recent times has been getting the job done against so-called lesser teams. This Saturday, they proved they absolutely can do it against so-called Leicester teams. From Gordon to Burn via Murphy, Hall, and Sandro Tonali there were quite a few eye-catching performances but it's impossible to know what it all means because the opposition were so feeble on the day. Brentford will provide a stiffer test in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on Wednesday night, but one thing we will have now is a good win in our sails. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Premier League is a bit crazy this year. Bar one or two teams at the top, and one or two at the bottom, it's a massive bunfight with everyone beating each other week to week. With that in mind, we should all react reasonably when we go to the team with the best home record and get turned over. Except this wasn't exactly that; this one needs some context. Oh, by the way. Has anyone seen Chris? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newcastle and Liverpool served up another Premier League classic, drawing three all at St James's Park on Wednesday night. Eddie Howe's side looked close to their aggressive best, pressing and harrying the league leaders, creating chances, and scoring some lovely goals. But, there's always Salah, and that nagging sense that we can only get ourselves to 100% for the big games. Where was this intensity against West Ham? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jacob Whitehead was at Selhurst Park on Saturday, because of course he was. Sadly for him, Newcastle were distinctly gummy. Masochists can read Jacob's full match report here... In fact, the whole affair was so disheartening we've postponed this week's episode until after the midweek fixture against, **checks notes**... oh dear! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is this feeling, we all wondered... squad strength, three wins on the bounce, and a seemingly hapless West Ham trekking North on a chilly Monday night. Ah yes, confidence! Unfortunately, confidence and Newcastle United have never been great bedfellows, and so it was again. Bruno lost another coin toss, Howe's side spurned the few good chances they managed to create, shipped two bad goals, and then slid into second half chaos. The Lasses didn't fare any better, losing 6-1 to Liverpool in the league cup. Could that be a sharpener in a competitive season? It'll take a while to find out, the fixture list is looking very bare over the next few weeks. More info on Run Geordie Run and his 2025 t-shirts can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are still five days left in what feels like an even-longer-than-usual international break. Chris is so sick of it, he's literally sick. A few of Newcastle's players may not take quite such a dim view, though. Oli Kay drops by to consider whether Newcastle is now the place to be for England hopefuls with Anthony Gordon getting his first goal at Wembley while Hall and Livramento made their senior bows. The Lasses(TM) didn't have it all their own way at St James's Park. In fact, Southampton had much the better of the first half and it took a 99th minute equaliser from Deanna Cooper to rescue a point in front of a loud, proud, but slightly smaller than hoped crowd. Contribute to Wor Flags on their website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The best all-round away performance from Eddie Howe's side in a long, long time", says Chris Waugh. Newcastle's dominant second-half performance at the City Ground has us looking optimistically at the top four in a concertina'd Premier League table. Joelinton was at the core of everything on Sunday, so we have to talk about him and his magnificent goal, but the defence was good again and substitutes Tonali and Barnes produced real impact as well. Shame the international break arrives now... or is it? And, The Lasses TM will be hoping to bounce straight back from their first real disappointment of the season at Bristol City when they welcome Southampton to St James's Park this coming Sunday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grab a lazy breakfast on the way to work, stick an extra mile or two on your dog-walk, extend the timer on 'do not disturb', it's a marathon podcast to recap an epic week. Eddie Howe's Mags are BACK. Barnstorming home wins over Chelsea and Arsenal, and the manner of our play, means the gaffer can really celebrate his third anniversary in charge. Two red-hot alumni are up next for the lads, but Hayles and Lumsden are really on fire for The Lasses TM who got a magnificent win at Championship pace-setters Birmingham J City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a (very loosely) Halloween themed show this week, with most of the team blowing raspberries in foggy London town. Newcastle's defence were scared stiff by Cole Palmer in a Saturday horror show at Stamford Bridge. Can Howe exorcise the ghost in the machine, or will the Pensioners be back to haunt us again at St James's Park on Wednesday? Meanwhile, Chris Waugh finds himself in a deserted hotel with a giant striker making the most of what time he has left playing football. ...And we revisit mutually exclusive memories of Arsenal contests past with special guest, host of The Athletic's "Handbrake Off" Arsenal podcast, comedian Ian Stone. (Ian's tour dates, including tickets for his Newcastle date on November 16th can be found on his website.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was the sort of weekend that needs an extra day to get over. Eddie Howe's men dominated the first half hour (or hour, depending on who you ask) against Brighton. They played some of their best football of the season so far, and created a hatful of chances. Unfortunately, they didn't score any of them and lost. On Sunday, Becky Langley's Lasses squared up to well fancied Charlton Athletic in the Women's Championship, played electric football on the break, and Shania Hayles continued her hot form streak by scoring our first ever hat-trick at this level. Unfortunately, we lost the skipper to a second yellow and conceded twice in injury time to drop two points. The Lasses have a week off now for internationals, while the men head to Chelsea this coming weekend. Can we find our scoring boots and get one over on our rivals for the European places at a ground where joy has been few and far between? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's only one buzzword doing the rounds this week, after Beth Lumsden scored both goals to fire Newcastle's women to victory at the Stadium of Light, banishing the agony of last week's defeat against Durham. Meanwhile, the threat of an offer to Eddie Howe from England is gone for a while, at least, with the appointment of Thomas Tuchel to the Three Lions. Might that bode well for the international prospects of some Newcastle players? Howe's squad will reunite this week to prepare for Brighton, for whom Newcastle "old boy" Yankuba Minteh seems to be enjoying his new surroundings. He has that in common with another ex-Mag, now at Toronto FC. Matty Longstaff has been speaking to Chris. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Highlights of our recent live show at the Gosforth Civic Theatre featuring star guests, some proper football chat, and plenty of silliness as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jacob Whitehead returns as the black sheep of the podcast, now a sworn enemy deep into 'Everton week'. Two draws, several missed penalties, and a bit of "pageantry" has been and gone, and we're all none the wiser. Who will be wearing opposition colours at the live show later this week?! Eddie Howe's men dominated possession, inevitably, at Goodison Park and had some chances (albeit not as many as they perhaps should), but Jordan Pickford's penalty save and some profligacy put paid to our chances of a win on the road. Langley's lasses got a well-earned point in the league cup in midweek (there was a penalty shoot-out which didn't matter) and then in the Championship Durham were the visitors for our first of two local derbies. A hard-fought, high octane contest ended in heartbreak as Durham nicked it at the death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taylor is OK, George is relieved, and Chris is very tired indeed. Wimbledon at home in the Carabao Cup proved to be the most arduous and mind-numbing ninety minutes of football we've sat through in quite some time. It WAS stress-free, though, which is saying something after several nail-biters over the opening weeks of the season. Following the worrying scenes at Fulham Eddie Howe wanted to see more from his big players, not least Anthony Gordon. Thanks to a boost from Wor Flags, and a shift from the lads, we got the best performance in a decent while. The lasses have started their season very well indeed, but they've got two big tests coming up in the shape of Durham and, first, a league cup tie against Everton. The boys will also face Everton this weekend and the newest member of our team delivers a particularly mild brand of trash talk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A little earlier than planned after some seriously inclement weather in Wimbledon, Taylor Payne runs the rule over the last seven days in NUFC-land. It's been coming, but that doesn't offer much consolation after a pretty miserable Saturday afternoon at Craven Cottage. Eddie Howe's misfiring Mags finally lost a game despite the best efforts of Harvey Barnes, whose scoring stats have earned a remarkable comparison. Where has our intensity gone, what is the strongest XI, and why are none of our big guns firing? Chris Waugh and Jacob Whitehead attempt to get to the bottom of a frustrating conundrum before Manchester City come calling. No such problems for Becky Langley's Lasses. They got their first ever second-tier win, remain unbeaten, and face an already-struggling Portsmouth next. With Shania Hayles hitting the ground running, spirits are high. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eddie Howe's Newcastle earned themselves another three Premier League points on Sunday with a performance at Molineux that would have had Erwin Schrodinger ordering several more boxes. Was it good, or bad, or both, or all three? Yes. Whatever it was, we are now experiencing the club's best Premier League start since 1995 (we weren't bad back then), and Howe used the bench to great effect once again. What can we expect at Fulham? No idea, but we're strangely confident. Nowhere near as confident, though, as Amy Andrews. She topped the scoring charts for Durham last season but very much has her sights set on bigger things, and that has to be good news for Newcastle's challenge in the Women's Championship this time round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The lads are leggy; no, not Eddie's men, but our weary podcasters who are fighting DOMs and post-race bugs after the Great North Run. But, we'll endeavour to bring you a balanced view of the last few days in Newcastle United, featuring the aftermath of a media briefing with new Sporting Director Paul Mitchell. It's fair to say it could have gone better. The Lasses had clear channels of communication as they put on a solid showing in their first league game of the new season. How will they fare in the second tier? Pretty well, if this draw at fancied London City Lionesses is a true picture. The club's next Premier League fixture comes at Wolverhampton, with Chris in attendance, and spirits should be high after a successful set of international fixtures for most of our participants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What a week that was! The full podcast team assemble to discuss a crazy seven days during which Newcastle United's transfer plans came to nought amid rumours of a late (panicky?) tilt at Nottingham Forest winger Anthony Elanga. That came after the lengthy pursuit of Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi was finally abandoned on deadline day. The club did sign a player from Palace, though, with Becky Langley bringing in Isabella Sibley from the WSL outfit before their first game of the new Women's Championship season. Every Newcastle fan knows, when you're having a rough time of it, there's only one solution. Spurs at St James's Park. This wasn't quite the rout of the last two years, but Harvey Barnes continued his hot streak and Alexander Isak got off the mark for an uplifting 2-1 win to take Howe's men into the international break. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taylor Payne is joined by Chris Waugh and professional Chris Waugh stand-in Jacob Whitehead for another weekly recap in the mad, mad, mad, world of Newcastle United. We wanted a routine result at Bournemouth, but that's hoping against hope and we got another stressful, frustrating afternoon. However, Eddie Howe was able to fix several problems with his bench and a draw is not the end of the world. There's also the encouragement of a return for Sandro Tonali, might he start the cup tie at Forest? And, of course, there's a transfer deadline on Friday with at least one major signing expected, if not guaranteed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices