Matt

Blyth safe Marske up to the NPLP Consett promoted to the NPL1E

I would normally take a look but I'm knee-deep buying a house and sorting tax returns in two countries at once. Will have a deeks next week.

Really good to see proper NE participation from the region at all levels now. The old Northern League chairman long argued for a Tweed-Humber division (under his control of course), we more or less now have that as the NPL 1E.

Not going up with a full-time team at that level (and a well funded one too) can only be seen as failure. I wonder if Fenton will pop up in another NE dugout before too long?

Good to hear North Shields are stepping up. With the NE sides in that division safe, that shifts the boundary line a little further north.

If the reports of a £15m option are true, it's a no-brainer. Sure, there might be technically better players on the market but he's slotted in so well it makes sense to do the deal and instead focus up front where we're going to need to integrate several new players.

Michael Owen and Nigel de Jong getting a pitchside soaking from the sprinklers at HT on the PL international broadcast. Pair of twats.

Two games running, that extra 4 points would have them just about safe.

His role at Brighton was focused on developing a supply chain of talent for the first team coach, not dropping in ready-baked players. It will also take time for him to build the youth and scouting networks and the people he wanted will also have notice periods to serve before they can join NUFC. We might not be fully aligned on those fronts until next summer.

The alternatives are to appoint someone else to arguably the most important role at the club, or to signal to the world the club will continue to pay whatever is asked of them, just as we go into a window. This is all a knock-on effect of the PL dragging out the process and we'll have to live with consequences one way or another. It's looking likely that this summer will be one of further stabilisation, we're not going to be shooting for the moon just yet.

Congrats to Panama on qualifying for absolutely nothing. They sure seemed stoked at the news.

Not just investment, but vision. Too much talk of 1978 cup runs, that stuff if ancient history. While the ground has improved, the matchday experience is pretty much the same since I first went in 1995. Other clubs at that level (and below) are able to make more money from fans because they provide better food, beverage and hospitality options across the board.

Don't find many people griping over Croft Park, it's a decent ground for that level, taking into account it's an original ground and not an out-of-town replica. Armstrong wan't sacked, he agreed to join Darlo and then signed a load of players whose contract option letters had mysteriously not been handed out to players. His actions caused huge damage to the club.

I remember Gronkjaer scoring a winner vs Liverpool to get them into the CL, without that they might never have found a buyer in time.

What's this based on? The loan used to expand the stadium still had years to run.

I'm still amazed the PL accepted the argument around separation. It's quite clearly nonsense. Most likely it was a fudge as part of making amends with BeIN Sports, given how quickly PL opposition evaporated.

What a ball.

He'll still be getting paid by BHA in the meanwhile.

Digne nailed on to pull a hamstring in the next match.

Thanks mate, I wasn't aware of that possibility. Keep up the eye-opening content.

I seem to remember him playing LB at SJP a few years back and being all over the shop. View of the BHA gives me a bit more confidence but I always thought he looked off the PL pace.

Yeah but you can do that just by effectively keeping the same contract he's already on. Free to do as he wishes at the end of the season. And I'm pretty sure PL loans can't be recalled any more.

I can't get my head around loaning a player with 6 months left on his contract rather than just effectively buying the remainder of his contract. We've already played Man Utd twice, so it's not as though he can face them. This just uses up one of our potential PL loan slots which might come in handy on deadline day.

Christ, nothing like a bit of nostalgia. Quite a few folk were originally on the Soccer 24-7 NUFC sub-forum which became invaded by absolute bellends and became unbearable which I think led to Toon-Chat? Also indirectly led to me meeting the now missus.

Aye, their version came first before it was rightly bastardised - a mackem mate of mine had it on cassette. I think it was the year they went up as the release code for the tape was 'SHAYISGOD1' from when Given was on loan there.