The News Agents

As Eddie Howe dramatically quits Newcastle 3 weeks before the start of a new Premier League season, Mark Chapman & guests unpack the financial meltdown which led to Newcastle losing their most successful coach for 70 years.
The Athletic’s Chris Waugh explains the timing of Eddie Howe’s decision and asks if club captain Bruno Guimares’ seemingly imminent departure to Arsenal was the final straw?
But how did Newcastle, a club with some of the richest owners in world football, find themselves in a situation where they have to sell their best players?
Football finance expert Stefan Borson joins Mark in the studio to explain how the financial shackles which UEFA & the Premier League imposed on Newcastle led us to this point.
Elsewhere we lift the lid on the new financial rules - a Squad Cost Ratio system (SCR) - which will govern Premier League clubs this season and discover a set of unpublished laws which widen the wealth gap between the big 6 clubs and the rest of the league.

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Executive Producer: Adonis Pratsides
Producers: David Finch & George Sexton-Kerr
Video Producer: Samuel Trudgill
Social Media Editor: Jasmine Wissart
Tom Hughes is Editor for The News Agents podcast network
Vicky Etchells is the Commissioning Editor for Global
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Dr Anthony Fauci became a world-renowned figure during Covid - one of America's top virologists with a lifetime of public service to his name. And yet, in a Senate committee yesterday, he was condemned in the strongest terms by several Republicans, and had to plead the fifth amendment 100 times.
He accused the senior GOP Senator Rand Paul (who chairs the committee) of having an "obsession" with him. Ted Cruz has said that his silence should lead to a contempt of Congress charge and potential jail time. How on earth has he became such an enemy of the American Right? And what does it say about the long legacy of Covid on our politics?
Later, Baroness Casey speaks to Lewis about the social care review and what it's like working for Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham.
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Andy Burnham has set out plans to fix England’s struggling social care system - promising a new National Care Service, cross-party talks and a review designed to tackle a system he says is no longer working. But how quickly can reform happen, and who will pay for it?
In this episode, we unpack the announcement, and ask whether the new PM can finally deliver meaningful change.
Later, we're joined by Sky News' economics and data editor and of host of the 'Stuff Matters' podcast - Ed Conway - to analyse the economic challenges ahead for Burnham.
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Reform UK has referred Green party leader Zack Polanski to the police for "inciting murder" after a post he shared on social media.
The image, shared and then deleted on Instagram, showed a man wearing a tee shirt with the words “we’re only making plans for Nigel” next to a picture of a guillotine.
Farage has said: "“If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski”. The police are now "conducting inquiries".
The Greens say that Polanski “condemns the image on the tee shirt” and that he had only ever accepted being tagged in a post that contained 20 images “without realising there was more to it than he had seen”.
Has Polanski crossed a line? Is he too online? And why are Reform quick to defend people like Lucy Connolly but now calling for the arrest of a rival party leader?
Later, Andy Burnham unveils plans for vocational education to be offered from the age of fourteen, with bespoke training tapping into the local jobs market. It's a far cry from the Blair-era push to get as many young people into university as possible. Does it make sense given the shifting jobs market? Or does he risk denigrating universities and one of the few success stories of modern Britain?
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

It's hard to think of a political alliance as tightly bonded as Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram. Both northern MPs who vacated Westminster to lead their respective City regions, they have even co-authored a book - 'Head North' - which lays out their roadmap to fix Britain. Many of the words, ideas and policies Burnham has unveiled in his first week in office are all laid out in that book. It's a manifesto for fundamentally rewiring Britain, for bringing a new set of values into politics, and for bringing development and opportunity to neglected northern towns and cities.
They are self-described "bezzie mates", even "brothers". So who better to speak to than Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, to get under the new Prime Minister's skin, and work out what happens now.
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/