The College Dropout

We could do better in every department. GK, defence, midfield and attack.

I don't believe in luxury players for a club like ours.

Broadly I agree with this.

Fabianski TRIPPIER Zouma Ogbonna Cresswell Rice BRUNO Soucek Bowen Antonio ASM Antonio Fornals, Lanzini and Benrahma unfortunate to miss out. I don’t think there’s massive differences. They’ve got a very good midfield that can play, defend and be cute. Some creative players. Some genuine class at the back with Zouma too. Moyes has them together and working v. hard. The players that have come in because of injury have really stepped up too (Dawson, Johnson etc.)

Jonjo is a better passer to boot.

Tbf he's not a cast-off. He's a regular. BUt I don't rate him like that. Don't want it. Massive wages. Injury prone. Been to the top. New league. Luxury player.

Yes, yes they are. 6-9 of theirs walk into our first team. West Ham are a smart £150m away from really being a top 4 side. I agree that we spend £150m+ (including Jan) and should be targeting that. IMO The next 2 years we spend closer to £300m (FFP permitting). But it's hard. Villa lost their best player but also spent £150m and are 14th.

Running football clubs isn't easy. If the top 6 get it right, it's hard to break it up. Spurs have 2 undoubted world class players and a genuinely world class manager. Arsenal are a big draw, usually get European football. Manchester United getting it terribly wrong is finishing 8th. You are underestimating the likes of Arsenal. You have to be a very good team to finish above Arsenal 2-3 seasons in a row. Fully fit combined first XI, 8 or 9 of theirs gets in ahead of ours. We are 4-5 away from competing with them and they're likely to get a proper striker in the summer too. They'll be after the same calibre of player we are, as a bigger club, with European football and memorable CL heritage.

Would also prefer Phillips

Tbf £100m per year isn’t enough to break into the top 6 imo.

Declan Rice not signing a new deal at Wham. Reckon he stays next season, maybe a CL run, then leaves next summer for a more reasonable fee (say £70m!!)

Never been impressed with Hojbjerg. Not a baller. Runs about a lot though (which I like). Keeps it simple on the ball. Might work well if he's doing Bruno and another baller's grunt work

I think this makes climbing the table more time critical - not less. That sponsorship loophole is now based on "fair market rate". The better we perform on the pitch, the better sponsorship deals can be justified. They'll want European football within 2 seasons imo. That's a jump that can justify considerably bigger sponsorships.

It's not impossible at all. I keep saying it, City went 10, 5, 3. They'll expect us to be within 2 maybe 3 positions of that. I don't think they'll be livid if we finished 5/6. As i've said before that still means we've jumped "the rest" and broken up the top 6. But we'll want to push on. Content with 8th, not happy. 8th means a Wolves, Leicester, Villa, West Ham finished above us. West Ham went from 11, 13, 10, 16th to 6th. Wolves went from Championship to 7th back to back. I have no doubt the owners will back the manager. It will be up to recruitment to succeed. I'll add Southampton's old bloke to Poch as an example of levelling up at the right time. FWIW I hope they give Howe the season if they genuinely believe in him.

Then we’re saying the same thing. 7th/8th suggests with clever investment we should be knocking on the CL door the following season. 5-6 is finishing above at least 1 of Man U, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea then West Ham, Leicester etc. If we perform like Brighton next season. Never involved in relegation. Big questions will be asked of the management and recruitment hierarchy by the bosses imo. Some are advocating that as good progress.

I don’t see 3.5 years down the Saudi’s being happy with anything less than Newcastle on the biggest stage. I think Emery was identified as someone who could get us there within 2-3 seasons. The expectations of Howe will be the same.

“There is no reason why Newcastle in the next five years should not be a Man City or a Man United or a Liverpoolor a Chelsea,” Ghodoussi says. That’s not milling about in midtable for another 2 years. That’s not how business works. If Howe, the transfer committee or whoever don’t look poised for a CL battle the following season. Heads will roll imo. Wrongly, I think the Villa hierarchy thought the same of Smith. Rodgers and Hughes too. That’s what ambitious leadership will do.

I think we aim to be in the top 4 fight in 23/24. Not necessarily get 4th but be in the mix certainly. Next season we’ll look to finish 7/8th, there’s no reason Wolves, Leicester and co. to finish above us. We’ll look to sign as many Bruno G and Trippier level players that make sense. You assume 4-6 players. By 23/24, we’ll have had 3 windows of trying to sign CL worthy, top 4-6 worthy players. We should be knocking on the door of CL football. Man City finished 10th, 5th, 3rd. We should look at 7/8, CL mix, getting CL. Otherwise we’ve failed. I also don’t think we can wait 4/5 years to challenge for CL. Earlier success means greater commercial opportunities. We are going to bring in better players on bigger wages every window. If In4 years we aren’t in the CL FFP will be a big issue like Everton. We’ll have a dozen players on 100k+ within 3 years. We signed 2 while in a relegation fight… in January. also Ashley’s under investment is giving us a time bound opportunity to invest before having to get creative. But that won’t last forever.

I say that because I think next season we want solid progress so that in 23/24 we go for the top 4/5. We’ll sign players that we think can go for that while transitioning out Ashley era players and seeing who can make that jump. I don’t think they’ll be happy being 12/13 come in January. I look at Hughes to Mancini at City. Rodgers to Klopp at Liverpool. Even Nuno to Conte at Spurs. All arguably harsh sackings but the leadership has identified and won over a manager proven to go where the club wanted to go and was the right decision. I genuinely think in 23/24 the owners will want CL places and will want us to have a team and management setup for us to achieve it. Ashworth seems the patient type. Don’t know about Staveley and PIF though.

Aye. We need to be on the end of the top 6 at least. The best of the rest with West Ham, Leicester, Wolves. Would people be upset if we binned off Howe for Poch early in the season if we don't make the start we hope for?

It's so bloody hard making that jump from midtable to even 6-8. Villa are suffering. They've gone the Everton route and it's not working.

Suarez is a possibility. Was linked with Villa. Contract expires in the summer. He's on astronomical wages at Atleti though. Don't think anyone will give him close to that deal. If we were 12 months ahead in our development and pushing for CL, I would want him as an option upfront for 12 months. This season, us wanting to finish top 7-ish it's better to focus on a player that might be able to go to the next level.

Tbh I agree with this. If we decided we want Rashford - that's a £50m fee and a 200k minimum contract for 4 years. If he doesn't sign a new deal with them, there are only 8-9nclubs in Europe that could afford that. I just don't think we want that profile of player. But it would be a statement signing for sure. We've given a RB and a CM from Brazil 100k+. If we get a marquee attacker they'll get the going rate.

We've been a bottom half team. Why would we maintain our wage structure? Bruno G is already the highest paid player. We'll sign someone on more. I don't think we'll beak 200k mind but we might get close

Don’t like Toney’s touch.