Gallowgate End

Shelvey&Longstaff still on the pitch so not in the 99th minute like Shadow Puppets will now probably try and make out Just after half time before everyone was back in their seats, perhaps? ?

Shelvey&Longstaff still on the pitch so not in the 99th minute like Shadow Puppets will now probably try and make out

Excellent post. I can't add anything more.

I’m still more surprised that he ever contacted us to sign up to this shitfest. It’s not like Ashley has done to Rafa something he didn’t do to other managers before. I love Rafa as much as the next fan, but in an odd way his presence possibly set the club back by taking the pressure right off Ashley. Fans might have given up on their season tickets by now, after three more years of the likes of Carver, McClaren and Bruce. I don’t blame Rafa obviously, but he can’t claim he didn’t know how Ashley operates before he joined and if he thought he might persuade him to change his ways he was sadly mistaken. I’m sure the likes of Keegan and Shearer would have been happy to explain that to him beforehand if he didn’t. Sadly I will always look back at the Rafa era with some regret for that reason, as brilliant a manager and a man as he is. I’m certain Ashley will have loved playing with his and the fans’ emotions. Tbf I fell for it as well. I was convinced that agreeing to hire Rafa was Ashley finally conceding his methods weren't working. But he really couldn't give a toss about the football, I think he'd rather watch the club burn than admit he is wrong. We saw it with Keegan when we were riding high, and we have seen it again with Rafa. When it all goes tits up as it must do, then he'll hold a press conference again saying he has made mistakes but will learn from them, and blah blah blah. Rinse and repeat. The signs weren't bad to begin with - talk of "what Rafa wants, Rafa gets" behind the scenes. That lasted one transfer window, where we made a substantial profit in net spend terms But players were signed that fit the needs of the squad in the manager's view. Whether that changed because Ashley wasn't happy with a few of the signings, or it was always the plan to play nice to give the best chance of promotion then pull the rug from under Rafa and revert to type, only Ashley knows. I think Ashley agreed to go along with it for a while, but was never really comfortable with Rafa's insistence you need quality and experience. One or two iffy signings and he was probably "I was right all along". When Bruce takes us down or gets sacked, he'll probably be full of regret again, but only because relegation will cost him more than any profits he makes from these 24yr old signings. Rafa signed Koulibaly & Jorginho both at 22 at Napoli he believes in a balance of young and old not one or the other. We saw with the impact of Rondon the importance of balance when recruiting.

There’s massive sections in every corner without people in them?

Shadow Puppets right now

Yeah but I found yet another post of his getting upset at suggestions it wasn’t full Seems obsessed with wanting the boycott to fail. I’m not obsessed wanting it to fail at all. How many times do I have to say that I have been involved in these boycotts and the promotion of them in the past. I’m just trying to dispel some of the bullshit that gets plastered on here. 42k is a bullshit figure made up to make the organisers look good. But anyone who was at the game knows fine well that it’s made up. Why lie? Pretending it was better than it was doesn’t make it so. Yeah the 47k number which includes season ticket holders who weren’t even there is the more likely number

Yeah but I found yet another post of his getting upset at suggestions it wasn’t full Seems obsessed with wanting the boycott to fail.

Sounds an awful lot like “let’s tell everyone there was only 42,000 people there”. That’s a blatant lie looking at the photos. Maybe 46k, at a push. So obsessed with trying to make out there was as many people there as possible

*Shadow Puppets dislikes

You seem absolutely obsessed with trying to make out there was as many people there as possible

Loved his punditry yesterday Not often do you get to listen to someone with the football brain of Mourinho & Rafa Benitez.

No different to Rafa against Big 6 sides Newcastle 5 v 1 Spurs/Poch Newcastle 3 v 0 Chelsea/Conte Newcastle 2 v 1 Man City/Guardiola Newcastle 2 v 1 Arsenal/Wenger Newcastle 1 v 0 Man Utd/Mourinho Even in his last home game against a Big 6 side(Liverpool) we had the most shots on target of any side that played them last season. If you think today was similar to that then wow. List all of the narrow defeats against the big teams as well, before I bother taking your post remotely seriously. You can’t just rewrite history to back up your point man. You know fine well there were many games against big teams under Rafa that we barely had a kick in. I obviously was talking about those games, ffs. Stop being so fucking defensive. Imagine thinking this wasn’t enough wins from a newly promoted side against the Big 6 who didn’t give the manager any financial backing Still the only team in the Premier League to beat Man City in 2019. You just saw what they did to West Ham. Ungrateful pal.

Say what you like about Michael Martin but he didn't lick the club's arse like those who've replaced him. Absolutely gasping to get in bed with the club to line their pockets and boost their own profiles. Had to unfollow on social media, sick of seeing the same shit videos telling us how great they and the club are.

No different to Rafa against Big 6 sides Newcastle 5 v 1 Spurs/Poch Newcastle 3 v 0 Chelsea/Conte Newcastle 2 v 1 Man City/Guardiola Newcastle 2 v 1 Arsenal/Wenger Newcastle 1 v 0 Man Utd/Mourinho Even in his last home game against a Big 6 side(Liverpool) we had the most shots on target of any side that played them last season. If you think today was similar to that then wow.

The Rafa Benitez wins against the Big 6 are going to be a thing of the past aren’t they Newcastle 2 v 1 Man City/Guardiola Newcastle 2 v 1 Arsenal/Wenger Newcastle 1 v 0 Man Utd/Mourinho Newcastle 3 v 0 Chelsea/Conte Newcastle 5 v 1 Spurs/Poch

Went Spurs late winner on 84 minutes 2 mins later bang. Cheers Harry