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Yes... The risk will be if nerves and frustration creep in if we can't break them down in attack.

Bearing in mind he grew up supporting them, was there never any serious talk about Howe going there?

Well, I'm responding to people in general just because of how fast this thread moves, but you're saying three signings should be made if the club is ambitious. I disagree with that and think the narrative building up that not signing lots equals lacking ambition is poisonous. In fairness, I'm ignoring loans as an option, but that would be a good move for one signing at least, I agree. I picked three heavily discussed, relatively run of the mill players to demonstrate how easy making imperfect signings is. My point is if Jack Harrison is £30m+, and Toney is £50m+ in today's market (according to the press), bringing in improvements is going to be tough and/or expensive and FFP-draining. From the little I know, Sesko for £30m+ looks to be a great move, but again, that's easier said than done Time will tell, but today it doesn't look like there are many desirable players in the positions we need under £30m each. It makes Bruno look absolutely bonkers value. The wing looks to be the easiest position to improve given our squad, I can buy a Cornet or Sarr helping us out there, but again, we have people mithering on about such signings just treading water for us.

Yes, pretty much. Unlike Ashley, they actually are putting their own money into the club as things stand. We can reassess once the club has been fully scraped off the floor. Easier said than done, spaffing £125m minimum on Ivan Toney, Jack Harrison and Pacqueta to keep up appearances. In my view there's only a guaranteed hit rate of 1 in 3 on those signings. Well, the free market involves being free to walk away and let others drown in their own over heated speculation too. We're an actor in the market and help set the price by saying 'nope, that's not worth it to us'. Are we falling behind Everton when they buy Dele Alli for £40m or are we falling ahead of them? Are we falling behind or ahead of Forest when they pay Bruno's wages + 50% for Jesse Lingard? It's all judgement and choices.

You're both missing the point, we need to be thinking sonar - https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:0.2/centery:54.4/zoom:7

I've never really known NUFC to do that in my lifetime We're a momentum heavy club. When things are going ok, they end up going way better than ok... Thing is, to be serious, it's a pretty fine line between worrying about relegation and pushing for Europe (pushing, not qualifying). If we remove the threat of the former, we pretty much automatically introduce the joy/stress of the latter.

You're pushing it now.

Agreed. As you say about the cups, people shouldn't forget them either. I'd take 11th and a cup with the resulting Europe all day long in our circumstances.

I wouldn't say the Evertons and Aston Villas are clubs we want to model ourselves on. The management are just trying to be discerning - get the next 24 months of recruitment wrong and we could fuck the following 48 months. Half a decade of lost progress. Keep our powder dry and we've still got options. I've wondered about saying this previously, but haven't wanted to panic the panickers, or sound gloomier than I actually am, but we should prepare for the possibility that some of our first star signings won't stay with us all the way through our ascent. An Andy Cole moment. I'm hearing people getting paranoid about losing Botman, Bruno or Trippier if we're not in Europe next season and that we need to spend spend spend to avoid that. Well, I don't really believe that's the case, but even if it was, so be it. Better that than rushing and fucking ourselves. As it is, I think Trippier is with us for the long haul, and I think we should do EVERYTHING in our power to keep Bruno, but all big clubs have lost players they'd rather have kept at some point. It's part of footballing life. But for the first time in a decade, we're reliably signing players who will keep or sizably increase their value, and not need to be jettisoned in a priced-in relegation firesale at some point. Furthermore, we can be confident any proceeds genuinely would be reinvested back into the club to continue it's upwards trajectory.

I have no doubt there would be takers for him next summer, also. All the signs I've seen are that he wants to play ball with the club and it's eventual direction, so I'm not upset by this.

It's not that surprising as he was in for a kicking after a separate video had come out a few weeks earlier in which he was saying fuck Brentford to impress some mid woman. That's the context, that's what changes how his actions are seen. I agree I don't think he meant much bad in this video, but you can't ignore the context either.

It's nice that he actually played football originally. Suggests he actually likes the sport, which I'm not convinced is the case for a lot of people in and around it nowadays...

Either him and Burn have been lucky so far or they're seen as likable by the referees and given the rub of the green when decisions are made. Some players aren't... Interesting point by Stan above. I wonder if an unintended consequence of more subs is a more crunching physical game.

Feels like we're righting a 12 year old wrong getting the guy who signed Modric from under our noses after Keegan had apparently presented us the deal on a plate.

P.S. are people aware Atlanta is twinned with Newcastle?

He seems to have been around some really impressive moments in football e.g. the creation of a new (in England) football governance model at WBA with an unproven Ashworth, Tottenham finally getting their act together in the early 2010s, and building a high attendance football club from scratch in Atlanta (which is near enough what he's gonna be doing here given the way the club withered under Ashley).

I don't know what his value is, but it's interesting to consider age. He should only get better for the next 4 years or so, and we know he's committed to learning and developing the mental side of his game.

Naughty boy - https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/commentator-struck-medical-register-461556. So that's how he washed up in Austria...

Commentator a) sounds like he's off a video game b) sounds like he's a high functioning translator bot.

Generally, I agree with this but I'm more thinking about... Everything I've seen of him over the past half year. He always looks like he's in another place in the after match dressing room shots, for example. Him piggy backing on Willock is the first time I can remember seeing him having a carefree smile. I genuinely hope the therapy out there continues to work, it looks like they're having fun

Genuine question, because I didn't follow things closely until the takeover - has he ever looked happy or something other than hunted and paranoid? Or is it something that Bruce/the takeover/his faltering trajectory did for him? It's been one of my long term concerns about him, to be honest.

With this in mind, if this summer doesn't turn out to be everything we'd hoped and dreamed of and we stick where we're at, it's on us to be brave and calm and supportive supporters in the coming season. Better the club gets a few decent characters with guaranteed long term value for the club and bides its time for a season rather than bottling it, rushing and poisoning the well with mercenary wankers and headcases.

Unreal.

NWOAT Bit of a boring answer but truthfully I don't think it really can be explained yet. You're getting into the realms of neuroscience and the like of you really want to get into it. It's interesting if you turn the question around - why are some games not special? Why are they flat, unmemorable, surrendered relatively easily? Same amount of points available at the end of the day, same risk of physical harm, so you'd think the same amount of pride would be at stake. But we know it isn't, somehow. Bit random, and it might just be me, but Crystal Palace in the FA Cup 3rd round in 1998 comes to mind. Given got sent off early and Warren Barton had the game of his life at left back cum left wing. Turned around a deficit to win 2-1 and celebrations where I was in the underfilled Gallowgate were wild. I think part of it comes from people - players and supporters alike - somehow gaining the sense of personal responsibility for the result. Stepping up from being opponents to combatants and spectators to supporters. The mind comes alive, and is far more resourceful and receptive to experience.

Small thing, but I thought it was notable that on the Austria videos, Elliot Anderson got off the coach at the hotel alongside Howe and Ritchie. I wouldn't be stunned if Ritchie stayed on at the club informally as an apprentice coach rather than as an active player. Assuming his wages reasonably reflect that.