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Don't really disagree with that. Especially as it can often be counter productive. Eddie has got the handing if the "how many years without a trophy?!" stuff spot on, and avoided it becoming a monkey on our back so far.

Re: flash in the pan, I'm talking from an outsider's perspective. Yes, it was only two years between Keegan and Robson, and yet we'd absolutely clattered down in that time, the board wasn't feeling wealthy post-floatation, and history was already starting to be rewritten about our 'natural place' etc. If Robson hadn't come, we could well have ended up with a different anti-Gullit who 'knew the area' like Brian Little. And we certainly wouldn't have remained one of the richest clubs in the world for long. They both had not massively long reigns, but combined (along with the hiccup) it made for 12 years of being a real domestic and European force that couldn't be denied despite the lack of trophies. I'm arguing each legacy has been strengthened by the other. Maybe I'm biased, but I strongly disagree about Everton and Leeds. Not about the size or potential of the clubs, but how evocative they are to outsiders. Everton especially suffers in the same way we'd be held back if we were Benwell FC. Ashley has hurt us massively, but it would be that much worse if the last time we did anything of note pre-him was 1996 rather than 2005, during which time there was such commercial growth in the game. Again, as I say, no dispute about Keegan's importance. It's just that it's so obvious to me it hardly needs me to add to the chorus. Without him, Robson probably wouldn't have come in 99 and wouldn't have been able to do what he did even if he had. But I find the rewriting of Robson as being a good hand for 3 years who happened to be local weird - particularly considering the abjectness of the board he was working for at the time.

No disputes about Keegan, but Robson consolidated the club in footballing memory as the sleeping giant. Half the foreign supporters in this forum started following us during his reign or while his team hadn't yet been dismantled. I think it's easy to forget how dark things were after Dalglish and Gullit. Robson re-stirred the pot and made NUFC mean something to a full generation of people Eddie Howe's age rather than being a 3 year flash in the pan that happened while John Major was Prime Minister and amounted to as much as O'Leary and Ridsdale's Leeds. Without him, the best case scenario could have been having all the attraction and global respect of Everton. Which isn't very much even though they were multiple title winners not all that long before Keegan came here. And mirroring Sunderland's path was just as possible. Amanda and Mehrdad didn't fancy those investments, strangely.

He has silica dust in his lungs. How can it possibly help?

The thing most notable about that clip? The lack of faux dismay and moralising on the commentary.

Don't want to get ahead of things, but sounds like superb news.

You'll be telling us you still say things are 'ok' by using hand gestures next.

Keep up, awake is a term used by the far right anti-woke now.

Very fair comments from him.

I'm suffering the effects of whiplash from reading the new consensus on signing Gordon...

Yesterday showed how important he is to us in so many areas of our game. Unfortunately. Think him and Gordon will have fun together, though, so we've got that to look forward to.

I thought he was missing a beat for a while too.

Was aching for Targett today. Thought he put us under defensive pressure a few times and made teammates look bad.

If he's been getting his girlfriend to drive him around, and apparently getting lifts off members of the public, it seems a bit off that he'd suddenly start risking driving on public highways again. Hopefully you're right.

He's not the Messiah, he's a very clever boy.

Looks like he took the wrong turning off the M25 on the way to Chelsea

The decision on which to prefer is in the balance for me. Targett was better as a one on one defender, he was largely imperious last season. He requires less defensive support from teammates and offers more going forwards. But, I think you can argue Burn offers more to our in possession defensive structure (i.e. back 3), and therefore indirectly adds to Trippier's attacking presence. And as that analysis was describing the other day, him being there relieves aerial pressure from Schär. One of those relatively nice questions to have...

Feel like it was more of a last season song. Definitely not a next season song.

Yeah, not quite sitting right with me either... Could do with a Captain Tom slotted in there somewhere.

Aye but Gordon was a one year old when seven nation army came out. I'm standing my ground

I'm a fan - it'll be a struggle to get the home support into it though

“When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother, what will I be” It was fucking surreal, couldn't believe what I was hearing

Hope that gets ditched pronto. Dull and generic as it comes. If we're determined to go with less than half a dozen lyrics per song, at least make it Gordon is a Geordie to the moron tune.

In a strange sort of way, I can almost see us being more likely to win at Bournemouth without Bruno. I think it'll cause both us and them to change our respective games. I've been seeing that game as a Palace-style banana skin.

Got no real doubts about his match sharpness. Just hope he keeps his head!