HawK

No Eddie Howe then I'd wager.

Come on now @ManDoon, which is it?

I so very nearly reported this post.

I didn't eve know he'd made one previously about that. The drivel about Brexit was enough to turn me off. Keep politics out of football imo, it brought divisions into this forum too.

I called him out on this before, on this thread somewhere I think, years ago. He was simply a popularist, typically Guardian-esque, political aspirant who tried to mix as much non-football themes into his drawings as possible to get cheap laughs from the avocado-on-toast and iced-tea sipping captive audience. It started with just football, and it was fine, but then it became politicised, and now it's just completely out of touch. But I've always ascribed to freedom of speech and expression - I don't like them so I don't look at them. I've not opened up a comic of his on over a year, and unless someone wants to correct me, I don't think my opening paragraph above will be wrong now as it was correct over a year ago. Edit: NewPageWanker

The sooner we want to attract a better calibre of player, the sooner we'll need to hire a reputable manager that players will want to play for. No disrespect to Potter, he's doing very well, but no players abroad are going to have heard of him. The manager that we get may not be the manager we want, but the manager we need right now, someone with a bit of prestige. I hate the twat, but Gerrard is someone who could get players through the door. The proper manager would be one after someone like Gerrard, imo.

Maybe they'll dig out our 'dossier' on Hitzfeld

No offence to the man, but I can't imagine that's a name we want to try to attact a high calibre of player that we supposedly have funds for now.

Le Sib! Unforgettable! Oh man! The joke with Kuqi, is that most people genuinely had no idea who he was, and it was a complete comedy signing at the time. The whole Barbra Streisand song meme for him too, was literally a 'who the fuck is this guy ' thing, hence me wondering if you were resurrecting an old joke with your post

At the risk of missing the joke, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shefki_Kuqi Also I fondly remember the 'Barbra Streisand' song website that let people put their own words in, and it fit him so well

I'm most looking forward to Longstaff's performance.

It'll be 2-3 seasons before we're signing any top players, presuming we actually stabilise and progress. Right now we'd be aiming at stand-outs from low-level PL clubs, or outcasts from the the top clubs. That means James Ward-Prowse, Tomáš Souček, Batshuayi etc. Patience.

'It's time' also implies that she's taken too long to make this decision... hope she doesn't see it as it's patronising and embarassing at the same time

Cringe, couldn't even get the space in the right place

It's the Championship promotions, but he's had so many games it's basically the law of averages at this point.

It's like picking between Scrooge and Xerxes

I feel like I have to come into this thread or whomever our manager generally is, every 6 weeks to remind the few that seem to be 'surprised' or 'shocked' that Ashley would risk not sacking Bruce. I'll have to dig up my earlier statements, but it goes like this : Ashley will never, ever sack a manager for on-field reasons if the club is 17th or higher. The manager would also have to be 18th or lower for a prolonged period for this to happen. Our performances or 'style' mean nothing to him. So, right now we are 17th, he's going absolutely nowhere. If you want him gone, then it's the sackpardew.com route where he's pushed out by the fans. Unfortunately, after Pardew, I think most of the fans that care about the club have given up, and I don't blame them.

I'll have whatever you're smoking

Don't be daft, the net will be closer to -£25m as usual

£10 on Frasers Group, any takers?

Sure, I take the point that Benitez won't illicit the same sort of response from players as Guardiola did/does. Maybe it's a reputation thing, but I won't argue against bigger egos not listening - look at all the shit from Owen, Gerrard, how his Real tenure unravelled. It's a crying shame that some of the bigger players won't be told what to do, but not all of them are like this. He needs players who are willing to work hard and listen, and when Pros get to the absolute top of the game, there are really not many people they will listen to. See Zidane, Guardiola - legends of the game at the biggest clubs in the world (Zidane more so than Guardiola ), able to work with some of the biggest names in the game and get them to perform. Half the battle is getting the team to sing from the same hymn-sheet, and if they are all listening and pulling in one direction, it's arguably more important than whatever tactics/instructions are issued, as long as they are all followed. I don't think anyone would consider Zidane a tactical mastermind, but there's no doubt who's the manager of the team when they take to the pitch. I think it's less that you can't tell big players what to do, it's more that it needs to come from someone they respect absolutely. And even the biggest managers don't illicit respect automatically, see Staam under Ferguson or Anelka under pretty much anyone. Curiously, these falling-outs don't seem to happen so much if the manager at the top was a top player - Guardiola, Zidane, Mancini, rather than the more 'professional' managers, e.g. Benitez, Mourinho, AVB and so on. There seems to be a limit to how high a level these professional managers can go whilst demanding absolute tactical discipline from the players they manage. I think managers like Ancelotti just seem to let players go out and play, a more Keegan-esque approach, and instill confidence in players in themselves, rather than the system, to get results. This only works though if your team is that damn good they don't need a system to win, and your players have the flair and guile and intelligence to do it themselves. But if you get the two together, top players within a rigid system - Barcelona & tiki-taka, it's almost unstoppable. /observation

I'm not sure I agree, it's more the attitude of the players. There's an anecdote around when Guardiola was Barca manager, he would pull Henry into his office and ask him what he could do better next time. Same sort of stuff really?