The first in a close season series of missives we hope you find worth your time. Welcome to #1 of the TF Weekender newsletter thingy for the close season of 2026. Tell us if you like it or what we could cover in forthcoming weeks … what kind of stuff interests you that you think is in our gift to dive into. Anyway, more musings from me this week as if you haven’t already had enough … The past is another country The last meaningful club game in Europe is the Champions League Final tonight when clubs from the respective capitals of England and France meet in the Puskas Stadium, Budapest. The KO is at 5pm when Arsenal, newly crowned PL Champions will face French Champions and current Champions of Europe PSG. I’m not sure I’ll watch to be honest. That’s not because I don’t think it will be a good match, its just the whole timetable of football is doing my head in and I have a body-clock for our sport that was set around the early to mid 70s which I’ll never shake off. In my head, the most likely televised fixture today would be between England and Scotland at Wembley or Hampden Park. An England in white shirts, navy shorts and white socks would face a Scotland in dark navy jerseys, white shorts and dark navy socks. The national crests are instantly recognisable and the same for Wales and Northern Ireland playing their home games at Ninian and Windsor Parks in Cardiff and Belfast respectively. It was an early political lesson for me to understand why the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were separate teams and why Dublin never hosted Home Internationals. Whichever the venue for England and Scotland there would be hordes of Scottish fans waving saltires and flags with the Lion Rampant in Tam O’Shanters, kilts on, bagpipes loud and shrill from a night of revelry at Trafalgar Square (if the match was in London obviously). If the game was at Hampden there would hardly be any England fans and pre-match Rangers fans would sing God Save The Queen (King) lustily standing on the red cinder terracing at the Rangers End at Hampden while their Old Firm Rivals, Celtic would boo it at the opposite end of the ground. That was the football folk tale I’d learned growing up. Fans from Scotland would have come from every city, town and village north of the border to London, hopeful of sticking it up the sassenachs. Men predominantly employed in collieries, shipyards, steelworks and docks would have had saving clubs over the previous twelve months to pay for their trips south with the intention of drinking themselves senseless in between telling proud Edward’s enemy to have some thoughtful reflection on the way back south. The match would KO at 3pm prompt and like the FA Cup Final the previous week, curtains would be drawn to reduce the glare on the TV screen and there would be a few cans on the go to accompany the sausage rolls, sandwiches and crisps Mams had put on in the kitchen for half time. Mams would spend most of the afternoon chatting to neighbours in the garden which would be the domain of the Margarets, Lizzies, Kaths, Marys, Maureens, Anns et al for the afternoon. See also disinterested bairns and random dogs off the estate. Bored looking pubescent girls practising as majorettes for the local jazz band would take up an inordinate amount of space in the road swinging a baton around with a spray painted domestos bottle attached to the end of a broom decorated with various coloured tape courtesy her Dads’ workplaces. Yes, I do have someone specifically in mind. In my mind’s eye mostly the best players in England and Scotland would be on a sun-kissed pitch while games involving Wales and Northern Ireland would involve John Toshack, Dai Davies, Terry Yorath, Pat Jennings and George Best. For England and Scotland … Ray Clemence, Bobby Moore, Trevor Francis, Kevin Keegan, Danny McGrain, Gordon McQueen, Billy Bremner, Joe Jordan and Lou Macari. I’m not sure if all of those players ever played in the same games but its all in my mind’s eye. Most of Leeds United seemed to turn out for Scotland at some point. The FA Cup Final would be the last domestic club game of the season. The crown jewel of English football. Again, KO at 3pm and the complete focus of the preceding week. It would not be squeezed between league games with the feel of an inconvenience about it. The TV schedule would have begun at the teams’ hotels and continue on the players’ coaches to Wembley’s Twin Towers. Rosettes, zany hats and home-made banners of the type featuring cheese such as Jesus Saves But (enter as appropriate) Gets The Rebound tickled 12 year olds like me. The Scottish Cup Final score (as that game would have kicked off at exactly the same time) would be updated at half time and once the filming at Wembley had been completed there would be a switch to Hampden to see proceedings and hear about the game - usually from a sandy-haired commentator with a polished Caledonian twang in a tweed tie and matching jacket in the spring sunshine. His name was usually Archie McPherson. Attendance for the FAC Final would be uniformly recorded as 100,000. A few more at Hampden if memory serves. European finals would always be played mid-week and if they involved English or Scottish clubs would enjoy the support of the rest of the country. With my old man I watched the European Cup Finals from 1975 - Leeds being robbed in Paris as Bayern Munich won through to the tragedy of Heysel in ‘85 involved English clubs - predominantly Liverpool admittedly but also Forest and Villa. There were pauses in ‘76 when Bayern beat St Etienne and ‘83 when Hamburg defeated Juventus. We didn’t watch those. None of our business. This European Cup era also saw clubs from outside the mega-cities and leagues get their fair share of finals and trophies and enter our football consciousness - Steau Bucharest (Romania), Red Star Belgrade (Yugoslavia), Marseille (France), Porto (Portugal), Celtic (Scotland), Ajax and Feyenoord (Netherlands), Malmo (Sweden) and others all leaving a mark on a cup competition set up for domestic Champions with loads of jeopardy for the rich clubs. Beautifully random fixtures decorated the knock out phases - Glentoran v Juventus in Belfast anyone? Like the Cup Winners Cup wins for Everton and Aberdeen (though not Man Utd), the UEFA Cup wins for Ipswich and Spurs were lustily celebrated by most other football fans, delighted “our clubs” were blazing a trail on the continent. We shared in the prestige generated by those trophy wins. When the final whistle blew on the last game of the season … that was that and only the Australian Pools filled the gap. Although I inherited my old man’s view of cricket as an exercise in boredom (don’t write in) I could be persuaded into a neighbourhood game while I was batting or bowling or wicket keeper at a push. Ask me to stand in a field on the off chance I might get to catch a stray ball … forget it, I’m off for my bike to seek out distractions. Up until the 90s I don’t recall much interest in friendly or pre-season matches. My mind might be playing tricks but I don’t recall Joe Harvey taking his charges far beyond stretches of the legs at the likes of Montrose, Queen of the South and the like where they’d be watched by a desultory crowd of a few hundred half interested locals. World Cup years were different. Most interest would centre around England … though not in ‘74 and ‘78 when Scotland were the UK’s sole representative but managed to embarrass themselves in imaginative and always amusing ways. Those tournaments were a window into football exotica … the Brazilians, the Dutch, the Italians, the Argentinians, the West Germans (who we most wanted to lose as the country was still bitter with World War memories and every family had uncles and granddads sround who had fought in the world wars and some mourned those lost) and I’ll wager those of a certain vintage reading this can remember the TV theme tunes from the tournaments (top prizes to those who can post the links from Mexico ‘70 to Italia ‘90 in the comments boxes below). Admittedly the end of season timeline has been reduced to a phantom in this new era of football 24/7 coverage. Not all of it is bad. The Play-Offs have become a massive competition of themselves and an opportunity for smaller clubs to play at Wembley. I’m not suggesting any of that innovation was introduced in a spirit of egalitarianism. And so tonight? I certainly do not want Arsenal to become Champions League winners. I say that holding no affection for PSG either - though they do play far better football than Arteta’s side as if the aesthetic had anything to do with football tribalism. I’m also setting my face against my old man who had a fondness for Arsenal - one I shared in the days of Liam Brady, Frank Stapleton, Ray Kennedy, Frank McClintock and up to Tony Adams … one of my all time favourite players who I’d loved to have had at Newcastle United. I can’t abide the new breed of Arsenal fan who completely lack the charm of the old school Irish Arsenal (and local North London) fans you could have a chat about the game with in the pubs of Kilburn, Islington, Finsbury Park if you happened to be in those Gunners heartlands back in the day. And of course there’s the gracelessness of Arteta whose touchline antics and sour-faced post-match rantings win him no friends outside N5. Mainly though, its because its about money. Winning the Champions League will push Arsenal’s income further from our own and rig the game even more in the favour of a cartel club. Such is the sourness that comes with being a PL fan. It explains why Villa and Palace winning the Europa League and Conference doings barely registered an interest. I tuned in for neither game, preferring to watch something on telly that I’ve already forgotten about. The innocent days of jumping around on the living room carpet when Liverpool won the European Cup in 1977 beating Borrussia Moenchengladbach (there was a time when other German clubs beyond Bayern Munich were prominent) with my old man cheering the Reds on as if we were card carrying Kopites have long gone. If Arsenal lose tonight, I’ll have a grim smile of satisfaction and think of the knobheads of Arsenal Fan TV traipsing empty handed all the way back from Hungary with faces like smacked arses. Just as others would do if it was ever us. This is football in 2026. Great eh? Keep On, Keepin’ On … Michael Martin, @TFMick1892.bsky.social THRU BLACK & WHITE EYES True Faith - Independent NUFC FanzineTHRU BLACK & WHITE EYES - Signs of Life? - Part One - 27/May/26Losing convincingly at Fulham was exactly what Newcastle United didn’t need to do on Sunday gone. Neither was finishing twelfth in the Premier League. I can’t ignore it but Sunderland, newly promoted and finishing in a Europa League qualifying position in seventh, has pissed us all off. I haven’t been as sickened by them since losing the 1990 Play-Off F…Read more3 days ago · 52 likes · 32 comments · Michael MartinTrue Faith - Independent NUFC FanzineTHRU BLACK & WHITE EYES - Signs of Life - Pt 2 - 28/May/26. In my own head I like to think I base judgements on most things in life and especially, Newcastle United on provable, observable, demonstrable, objective facts. I don’t think there is anything wrong with my scepticism…Read more2 days ago · 32 likes · 17 comments · Michael MartinTRUE FAITH YOU TUBE Chooooon Football Regulator You’d heard about it vaguely though the mainstream football media have barely mentioned it despite it being pivotal to the interests of traditional football supporters. Its almost like they couldn’t give a fuck. Anyway this piece below offers a piece of enlightenment. slbsn’s SubstackThe Independent Football Regulator is here. Here’s what you need to know.English football has a new regulator with real powers and a proactive mandate. It is ready to use them…Read more17 days ago · 1 like · Stefan BorsonCity in dust? From the same writer regards Pep leaving Man City and closure on the 115 charges that seem to have hung around forever …slbsn’s SubstackThe 115 decision: DOA before it's even arrived?It is imminent. Again. We have been here before, which is why a caveat is necessary. But let us assume the judgment finally arrives in June 2026. It will be more than six hundred days since the hearing kicked off. It will have been approximately nineteen months between the close of the twelve-week hearing in late 2024 and the delivery of the Independent…Read more8 days ago · 17 likes · 6 comments · Stefan BorsonThe Sicilian Copa 90 can irritate slightly with their breathlessness at telling you about stuff you any half awake football fan already knows all about but they can knock out a decent documentary. This one for your watching pleasure if like yours truly you have any interest in Italian life and football. This from the Sicilan capital of Palermo is something of a tour-de-force about the fan culture around the city’s football club. I enjoyed it, you might too. FIFA and Politics You probably already understand that FIFA has all of the qualities of a Bond-villain but this piece from Celtic blogger, Andy Muirhead on this here Substack malarkey is well worth a read as we get closer to World Cup 2026 which promises to be as corpulent and disgusting as the two ghouls in the photo above. Andy Muirhead | Scottish Football Blogger & Celtic FC BlogInfantino’s FIFA Has Chosen Sides: It’s Not Peace, It’s PowerGianni Infantino’s FIFA is not a neutral arbiter caught helpless between warring states; it is an active political actor that repeatedly chooses power, profit and proximity to authoritarians over the…Read more2 months ago · 7 likes · 3 comments · Andy MuirheadJoin Newcastle United Supporters TrustJoin Newcastle United’s only members based, democratic, supporters representative association and become active in the issues that matter to Mags and fans across the country. Click on the image for more information.Donate to Wor FlagsThey do us proud every season and in every game but they can only do it with our support. Keep the flags flying and donate to Wor Flags - click hereDonate to the Newcastle United Fans FoodbankDonate to the Newcastle United Fans Foodbank and support local people in need - click hereArt work by Peter Willis.Michael Martin - @tfMick1892.bsky.social