The close season is over. We are starting the season after everyone else and the mistakes of last season have not been heeded. We have not strengthened – in fact we have been weakened since the end of the season. All of the talk last May from Pardew about a root and branch review of what went wrong was all hot air. Early last season we knew we didn’t have sufficient resources to tackle a new season and going into this season nothing has changed. A farce has mutated into a tragedy.

The focus has been upon the recruitment of strikers but there are also gaps elsewhere in the squad – a winger and a central defender. Nothing seems to be imminent and the club’s name is being attached to nonsensical transfer deals that have absolutely no chance of being true (Samuel E’to and Willian) and the club is sleep-walking into 2013/14 which many supporters fear will be a repeat of last season, though without trips to foreign shores to keep our spirits up. No wonder the bookies have made Pardew the first favourite for the sack.

The limitations of the squad are so well-known that they do not warrant repeating but in the last fortnight there have been further slaps in the face that warrant comment.

I’ll confess to becoming irritated by Alan Pardew’s comments to a press-pack he appears to be on something of a charm offensive and determined to make friends with – you’d almost think he was guiding the shit that is about to hit the fan in the direction of the lamentable, the repulsive and incompetent, Joe Fucking Kinnear.

All of this crap about expectations being lowered and all the rest of it. Sorry, but the manager can take all of that and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine. Twelve months ago he was talking shite about qualifying for the Champions League but now he reckons Southampton is a financially stronger club than Newcastle United and Swansea City and Norwich City have been able to organise their finances better than us. Sorry, back the fuck up there … you are the manager of Newcastle United. Not Crystal fucking Palace.

Frankly, Alan Pardew has found the level he wants to work at and it’s Boro. This is not what we want to hear from a manager of Newcastle United Football Club. It is quite simply, completely unacceptable to have the status and scope of our club, one of the top twenty wealthiest clubs in Europe spoken of in these terms. Pardew may be playing politics with an owner who seems to be as prepared to back him in the transfer market as you and I are to don Red & White scarves and get on the Cheesy Chips.

Then turning to the utter goon Ashley has appointed as Director of Football at our club, a man many of us wouldn’t let run a bath let alone a major sporting institution. In this last week, Kinnear has allowed our club to be out-flanked in the transfer market by Fulham in taking Darren Bent to Craven Cottage. This was a player wanted by Alan Pardew, who wanted to come to United but who has joined Fulham on-loan from Aston Villa. Someone at Newcastle United is taking the piss out of us.

Over this summer we have witnessed Andy Carroll, a player the manager spoke of being interested in last season, join West Ham without even the pretence of interest. Next up Wilfred Bony, another long on the Graham Carr radar left Vitesse Arnhem  for Swansea City whilst Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, another watched by our celebrated scout without any bid going in before he moved to Dortmund where he has started his career impressively in the Bundesliga. Throughout much of this time Bent’s name has been bandied about but it never seemed likely given his wages but Kinnear has fucked around and lost him anyway. We are now in the same place with Gomis as we were with Debuchy last season but he can be added to a list involving Gameiro and Maiga plus some others I’ve forgotten about.

Indeed, as things stand, the only transfer I can see United being involved in is any one or more of Cabaye, Debuchy, Krul or Santon hitting the exits. If and when that happens we might actually understand what Kinnear’s real purpose is at United.

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Here is a selection of rumours I’ve heard this last week but I’m not giving them any back up:

• Ashley is getting ready to sell Newcastle United, so he can then buy Glasgow Rangers
• Some Yanks will buy United
• Ally McCoist will take over as manager from Alan Pardew
• Gus Poyet will take over as manager when Pardew is sacked five games into the season and after the transfer window has closed
• Or it could be Steve McLaren (heard this a few times actually)
• Or Joe Kinnear
• Ashley was in Newcastle on Saturday discussing transfers with Kinnear, Carr and Pardew. No news if this was in or out.

And in other rumour related stuff, here are some more:

• Joe Kinnear thinks Wikipedia is a brilliant data-base of players for him to use. He hadn’t heard of it before we “signed” Remy.
• Joe Kinnear doesn’t know how to use the internet or how to send an e-mail
• Joe Kinnear told a punter at Central Station he was keen to get shot of Shola Ameobi
• Joe Kinnear spoke to a parent of a lad at the Academy and imagining he was on the coaching staff spike about various transfer targets and let on he didn’t rate Aubameyang.

We aren’t saying any of this is true in the slightest but this is the kind of stuff swirling around the Mag ether at the moment. None of it is positive but this is where our heads are at right now.

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Anyway, what is true is we have a new issue of true faith out now to coincide with the start of the season.  You can get a copy of true faith by clicking here and it will be delivered to your door quick-snap-pronto.  Alternatively, you can join our elite band of subscribers by clicking here or you can subscribe to the Digital version of true faith by clicking here and getting every issue and a good back catalogue of the last couple of seasons straight onto your i-pad, tablet, PC or Desk-top.

The small profit we make from true faith contributes to everything else we’re able to offer you free and gratis via this website.

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On the subject of the website and associated doings, I just wanted to let on what we’ll have lined up for you this season.

Most importantly, we have decided to really up our coverage of games and in the run up to every Premier League game at least we’ll have a new and improved match preview, a History File on each fixture, an interview with a fanzine-head from the opposing club, a full match report from one of our correspondents at every game United plays and we’ll also have a new TIFOSI section, in which five rank and file, match-going Mags will give their view on the latest game.

Not only but also, we’ll also have the long-running Thru Black & White Eyes weekly editorial (nudge: what you are reading now) as well as young Mr Harrison’s weekly Video-Blog and what we hope to be a fortnightly Podcast with yon Taylor & Besty with what we’re hoping will be invited guests and all the rest of it.

Every single bit of our content will have the facility for you to agree, disagree and add your own two pennorth. Access all areas.

We’ll also have the Twitter and Facebook stuff available for you again as well.

Regular readers will know we are keen to bring in contributions from the Black & White diaspora and add something of an international flavour to our doings here. Thus we’ll have John continuing his Blog From Brazil, Tony picking up the reins of the Real Spain, Graham roaring back from his life and times in Greece, Neil keeping us up to date from Germany, Andy detailing what goes down for a Geordie in Malawi whilst Chris prepares to do likewise from Senegal. I’m about to put someone else’s arm up their back on this score as well and hopefully I’ll have news for you soon too. These international Blogs are intended for our fellow-Mags to give us a flavour of what is going on all around the world and where our comrades are getting their football fix, what their lives are like and what Newcastle United looks like from distant shores.

(Cough) And because we are well-rounded individuals we have extended our coverage to Cricket this summer with Tom and Alex laying stuff down from Durham CCC and England Cricket respectively. We think we’ve got something sorted for The Falcons and The Eagles as well as the England football team too.

Whilst we always listen to what you tell us about the true faith output we’d like to think we don’t just ride the latest populist wave and keep to the principles we have for true faith. We’ll continue with our Political Blogs just as we will with our music stuff. We realise this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but if you don’t like it, don’t let it spoil your life and just blank it. We are what we are.

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So then, Man City and West Ham this week to get the season up and running. I don’t think I’ll be controversial but anything we can get in Manchester on Monday night will be a bonus. We are a million miles behind Man City and only getting further away from them as they continue to invest in the best players on the planet and we do fuck all and go backwards. What will not be acceptable will be another spirit-crushing hiding of the type that became a little too regular last season. We were appalling defensively last season and we’ll look to see how things have been improved on Monday night. A Saturday 3pm KO sees those Happy Hammers make their way up norf and whilst they have added Carroll to their ranks, the tale is he won’t make it to Gallowgate this weekend. Kevin Nolan will though and I expect him to be a handful as he always is. Allardyce has a good record at SJP (well, part from when he managed us like) but frankly anything less than 3pts from Pardew’s men and B&W balloons going up may be sighted in the vicinity of Barrack Road at 5pm.

Well, here we go again, the least anticipated season I can recall in many, many years with a large swathe of us wondering what the whole point of our club is any more. There may be apathy at the moment but a few defeats on the spin and the atmosphere will turn toxic. No-one wants that but there’s only one way to prevent it – be ambitious for the club, sign some players and win football matches. Simple as that.

Keep On, Keepin’ On …

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