Hello and welcome to the game football podcast from the Times.

This is part four of our Club by Club Premier League preview shows taking you around the country

talking to Times reporters about the teams on their patch.

On today's show we'll be talking about Newcastle United and the three promoted clubs,

Sunderland, Leeds United and Burnley.

I'm Gregor Robertson and joining me today is the Times Northern Football correspondent Martin Hardy

and later in the show we'll also be speaking to the Times data journalist George Willoughby

who's written a fascinating piece about the growing challenge of Premier League survival faced by the teams promoted from the championship.

But first, Martin, great to have you on the show.

And judging by how much your patch is ballooned over the summer, it's going to be a busy old season for you.

That's even before we get to Newcastle.

Usually, in our profession, there is the relief of the summer.

There is the relief of the season and when the transfer window shuts at the start of September to end this, well,

it might not end this sobopra that has revolved around the Cassian Ayad and Alexander Izzak,

and which has not finished yet and may have a fair way to run. I'm sure you're going to ask me a lot about that. I was kind of reminding myself of Pierre Van Hoydunk's attempts to leave Nottingham Forest, well, that was 20 odd years ago, the strike, the fight with near a fight with a teammate in the dressing room, the fact that he played for Nottingham Forest when the deal wouldn't go through, and when he scored a goal on the forest teammates which you may remember this

went to celebrate with Scott Gemmell, the creator of the goal and not the player himself. So yes, you try to escape and you're casting at it, it's like this omnipresent ghost, this ghoulish figure that will never ever leave you alone. It doesn't matter what sunbed you're on, what beer you're trying to drink. The club will never ever go away. And sometimes it's an absolute, well, sorry, I'm going to say that. It's a bit of a chore. And you just ask for one or two days, peace from it and unfortunately that never ever comes. Yeah, we should, we should let listeners in on the fact that this is your first

day back after holiday and you've been slapped in the face with Alexander Isak. I don't like to do the inverted, I don't like to do the inverted commerce thing, but if you could put holiday in advert comments, because even when I'm lying on at some bed, the two people out of the sidery are saying, do you know anything that's going on with Isaac? And I'm like, the only thing I know now is I'm going in the pool.

However, you are still getting texts and everybody's bombarding you with it. So it has been, not joking yet, it has been a cloud over the entire summer. If you're away, you were keeping an eye on the situation. I think the Friday before I went away in theory on holiday, we did the story that a senior source

told the times that Alexander is not for sale.

And Newcastle were looking at to Benjamin SESCO.

And if SESCO was unlocked, then that may change opinions upstairs.

It's doing a half weeks later and how many millions of words that have been written.

...