Counter-intuitively, following a weekend without a Newcastle United match (our hard-earned day off reward for punting the FA Cup for yet another year), we managed to record a super-sized edition of the podcast. Instead of throwing one big 95 minute chunk (or so) at you all at once, we're going to try this two-part thing. Feedback would be fine... we are striving to keep these around the hour mark, but sometimes topics can get drawn out and it'd be nice to know if this is a listener-friendly way of making a long episode more manageable.
In The First 45 we cover the customary chit-chat, answer your questions from the mailbag, discuss Alan Pardew's suspension and how John Carver may be able to step into the breach. We also talk through Loic Remy's statement that he would "one day like to play for a Top 5 side in Europe" (SPOILER ALERT: OF FREAKING COURSE HE WANTS TO PLAY FOR A TOP 5 SIDE IN EUROPE) and give Olivier Kemen's Hand of God imitation its due attention. The First 45 wraps up with a look at our Academy and a discussion of whether or not there was a "lost generation".