The College Dropout

Think Roy's getting off very lightly in the media. Horribly defensive team.

Why the hell are you trying to buy things in Sports Direct? Bloody hell man.

Jenas has said Ashley runs the club as a business and Ashley will only make funds available that the club generates. Ashley uses the club to advertise another business for free. He doesn’t advertise NUFC at that other business for free. He’s not trying to maximise revenues, he’s not running it as a proper business. We don’t want Ashley to spend his own money. We want a properly run club that doesn’t save money for a relegation - and that’s what it seems like we’re doing. Jenas is clueless. He’s said Ashley should back Rafa but has intimated that Ashley’s hands might be tied. He talks about football for a living. He played for us. He should be well educated on this subject and he’s not. We are the only PL club whose non-tv revenue has stagnated over the last decade. Why doesn’t he know that?

Really liked Bellamy as a player and I sided with him over Souness at the time. But he's a proper bastard of a pundit when it comes to Newcastle, Jenas too. These lads played in Europe damn near every season they were here. We spent £10m to get Robert in the season he joined. £13m for Woodgate and a couple others in that region. Had a commercial model where we consistently outspent the likes of Everton and West Ham. 15 years later we are still spending the same amount while those clubs are dropping £40m on players. Can't even keep up with Brighton, Bournemouth and Huddersfield. And the stupid cunt will defend it? The little scrote.

He’s a different type of passer altogether. Dier is basic and a little slow but he gets his man and tries to play it for and when the opportunity arises. Delli on the other hand plays much faster passes. And he looks for the incisive pass but it’s inconsistent therefore he loses the ball more than he should. You can’t lose the ball that much at CM at international level.

Delli’s not a particularly good passed of the ball.

I pretty much disagree with all of that. Even the bits about Kane and Sane. Fast players like Sterling with that rapid, short stride are often very good at running with the ball because their running style means they can stay close to it. For me, technique comes into play when they have to kick it. And Sterling often seems to keep running with the ball when he ought to release it. That lofted pass that Barkley produced for the third goal is what I mean by technique. I'm not talking running at pace. His first 3-4 touches, he rarely losses the ball at that point. He can be in a tight space, markers around, his first touch is way more consistent than Sane's at this point. In general, he's very good in tight spaces either dribbling or short passes. Again, he doesn't lose the ball that much for a wide player because a) his touch is good b) generally releases the ball at the right time c) he's good at short range passing. I think that's the reason why Sterling is more guaranteed of a start at City than Sane atm. Better at the quick, intricate, build-up play, better movement off the ball. If Sterling wasn't technically sound or consistently made poor decisions he wouldn't be a key player for Guardiola. It's something Ayoze is often really bad at (at 10). He'll lose the ball time and time again because his touch or strength or a combination has let him down. Barkley has better passing ability aye. But for a central midfielder, i'm not sure of his technique when under pressure. Can he short his feet out quick enough? That's one thing that stood out for Madrid when Alonso was replaced by Kroos (and Kroos had to play the deepest CM role). Kroos can deal with a high press much better and still play his game. Allows the team to play quicker and maintain attacks in tight spaces. That's something Sterling is great at (relatively speaking). Technique in terms of striking the ball, no he's not the best at all. Long range passing isn't something he attempts a lot either but he's not that kind of player. He's someone that gets in behind opposition with pace and can play tight, creative football against a crowded defence and find space to score a goal too. I think Lingard is good at finding space and finishing too. But his all-round game is far inferior at this point.

France hasn't been that good and well worth the win.

Technique is such a grey area. Sterling tends to have an excellent first touch (noticeably better than Sane for example) and has the best close control in the current England squad. He's not the best striker of the ball but that's improving. He's scored a couple outside the box this season and last nights finish was excellent. He was the only one able to trap the ball and keep it in the second half. His appreciation of the game is much better than people realise and with his pace, it's his standout attribute. He has a great knack of finding space and his off the ball running is tremendous for City. He scores 10 of those second goal tap-ins for City due to that movement and off the ball running. His issue for England has been that he hasn't been getting into those goalscoring positions as much and poor finishing. But he's literally streaks ahead of anyone else that could play in his position. In terms of keeping possession, close control under pressure, short passing only Kane is as good. To add to this, he's much more adaptable currently than Sane for example. Sane relies heavily on his striking technique and physical gifts - he just so happens to be unstoppable when he gets it right. Sterling has more variety to his game.

You look at that Brazilian team, even with a few missing. That's very strong. Think Casemiro was a massive miss against Belgium.

One thing I despise about the media is when they say he runs the club like a business. No, He runs SD like a business. There's not free promotion of Newcastle United at SD. He runs Newcastle United as a marketing tool for his wealth generating business - Sports Direct. He doesn't go out looking for the biggest best deals for the club. Arsenal is run like a business. Manchester United is run like a business. This is just meant to generate enough revenue to survive to do its primary job of marketing. While keeping costs low.

Sterling is a far superior player to Lingard.

Spain were really impressive in that second half imo. Should've been a red and a penalty as well. Really disappointed that England couldn't keep the ball at all in the second half too. Fabulous first half mind.

Spain have been class this second half. England resolute. A bit of a shame we haven’t been able to keep the ball more in the second half.

LOL we'll get relegated and hire someone far worse than Brendan.

Honestly think Brendan could do better than us. West Ham Watford Bournemouth Crystal Palace Wolves Leicester All viable options for him should the jobs become available. We'll look in the bracket below. A Championship manager from a smaller club ala what Villa did. Or a dinosaur.

Think he could go on to become a very good footballer personally. But he really needs regular game time. A year at #9 for Everton would actually be great for him. Martial is similar. A year at #9 and he could become a top, top player.

Would love SJP to be away fans only.

Deeney's turned it around too. Andre Gray too. Your Barton's, Ranger's, Ravel's are from very tough upbringings but they have to take blame on themselves as they've been given opportunity after opportunity and they still mess it up. There's loads of footballers from the same neighbourhoods that aren't any bother at all. Granted that's only part of the problem but still. It's important to say a lot of footballers have grown up in tough environments, friends with gangsters and murderers growing up that are absolutely no bother. Lads like Nile and Barton I believe have some mental/psychological issues or traumas stemming from their upbringing which they will struggle to fully escape from for life. Btw did Nile explain why his nose is broken and why he has a black eye? Stopped watching after a while.

Without Wolves in the division, Villa would've been promoted imo. Would've been Cardiff, Fulham and Villa. Bit unlucky with the timing.

Seems hard to buy out of the bullshit roadman narratives these daft lads build in their heads. Easy to say if you don't grow up in that area. 90% of people from the area, given his opportunities, would turn out decent lads. Raheem Sterling for one grew up not too far away.

Heard he used to hang out in the streets while he was a signed footballer earning 6 figure sum. He's an idiot.

Simple really, if we are taken over, we want to be in the premier league. Do we? With the right owners, it's an extra year or two to get out the Championship. The division we are in isn't that important. Key thing is getting Ashley out. It might require the club losing significant money through staying in the Championship for a number of years. Villa have had two takeovers, spent money or signed quality under both and look miles off going up in their third season. Stoke have the same owners but have invested hugely on a promotion push and look nowhere near. Sunderland aren’t a promotion certainty and if they go up will have to spend a shitload to compete at the right end of the Championship. As fun as the last 3 second tier seasons have been for us, I really don’t want another man. Our Premier League existence is meaningless from our perspective. Wouldn't you rather support a championship club with genuine ambition rather than a Premier League club that's only motivation is survival and Sports Direct brand exposure? Agreed. Honestly, while he's here I don't care that much about what division we are in. Losing money is perhaps something that might make him sell. He's not going to lose money, he'll just cut his costs and adjust accordingly. It will still be a good vehicle for him to showcase Sports Direct for free, even in the championship. He'll always ask more than it's worth, doesn't matter what division we are in, we saw that last season. As soon as we were safe the price went up £50m. Maybe if we got relegated and stayed down he might leave, but then again he might not. As I said earlier, anyone who can only afford us once we are relegated isn't going to be much better anyway. That final point doesn't make sense. Most smart business people won't spent 350m on something that is worth 270m when there are viable options at 250m anyway. We are a big club but we're not worth paying over the odds for when there's other big clubs around. Wolves were acquired for what.. £50m? £150m to get into the PL. £150m for stadium expansions, it's a no-brainer. I don't buy that an owner that can only afford us as a much cheaper acquisition won't be much better. Much better is just trying to maximise the clubs potential. Daniel Levy shows you can grow a football club through shrewd development. His company doesn't invest in Spurs, it's self sufficient. Our players are on PL wages or close to it. To get us back up he'll offer new players strong wages. The club couldn't cope with missing promotion 2 years in a row imo. He'll be forced to sell players. People will eventually stop turning up. Once everyone at the club has given up, he'll need to move on or he'll take us down the divisions.

Gambling on coming straight back up at the first attempt will fail him soon enough. The price he wants is too high. He won't actually want to sell while we are in the PL. I think we need to hit rock-bottom for him to sell up. Low attendance. Championship / League 1. 10 years. 1 top 8 finish. 1 European run. 0 cup semi finals. 2 relegations. Fuck this man. We have the best manager we could hope for and Ashley wants to play Russian Roulette with relegation? Any progress we make, he'll stall investment.

Simple really, if we are taken over, we want to be in the premier league. Do we? With the right owners, it's an extra year or two to get out the Championship. The division we are in isn't that important. Key thing is getting Ashley out. It might require the club losing significant money through staying in the Championship for a number of years. Villa have had two takeovers, spent money or signed quality under both and look miles off going up in their third season. Stoke have the same owners but have invested hugely on a promotion push and look nowhere near. Sunderland aren’t a promotion certainty and if they go up will have to spend a shitload to compete at the right end of the Championship. As fun as the last 3 second tier seasons have been for us, I really don’t want another man. Our Premier League existence is meaningless from our perspective. Wouldn't you rather support a championship club with genuine ambition rather than a Premier League club that's only motivation is survival and Sports Direct brand exposure? Agreed. Honestly, while he's here I don't care that much about what division we are in. Losing money is perhaps something that might make him sell.