TRon

I didn't get that remark either, Botman has been brilliant when he's played this season. Maybe he means injury issues?

Right, so he's talking about unverified remarks published in a newspaper. He managed to make a whole video based on that.

While I can understand there is a lot of frustration with the slow and careful approach, given we are owned by PIF, I wouldn't want to be giving any ammunition to the cartel to come after us. It could be worse, at least it still looks like we do have ambition to reach the top looking at the calibre of people we are appointing, whether thats's administrative level or coaching/players.

What does that even mean? You could just as easily say he MIGHT be tearing up his Liverpool contract and demanding a move back to Newcastle.

Looked like it had been called off when I posted that.

I'm not even sure about that. Not watched a lot of Anderson at Forest, but he didn't particularly shine in his games against us. Has his game really changed that much since he left? I mean Longstaff looked a lot better playing for Leeds on Saturday but I doubt it's because he's improved a ton in a month. Just our style of play is very demanding and needs players who suit it. I think Anderson was very promising fwiw, might have needed to play more centrally rather than being shunted out to the left like he was here.

Easy to forget that our model for reaching the top is trading well, given the PSR restrictions we don't really have much choice. We planned on selling Bruno for £100m a year ago if someone met the release clause, and when that didn't transpire we had to scramble around to sell Elliott and Minteh instead. In the end we had to sell Isak a year early, but that is our model as it stands so it could have been worse. Hopefully Woltemade will be the next £100m forward on our books. Although hopefully we are regular CL by then so we don't have to sell him.

Not what people want to hear, but it does reflect the real world. We are just frustrated because we know we have the money to compete, but we haven't reached that status or spending power of the truly elite clubs yet. If a player gets a chance to double his salary and win silverware every season, most will take it.

Fair enough not really had time to read through the full thread, didn't realise the conversation had switched to Schar. Carry on then.

I read somewhere that he was good mates with Isak, and along with Gordon, he's the only Newcastle player to wish him well. Regardless, I really rate Botman and despite being a bit unlucky with injuries I hope he extends his contract. Immaculate defender when he's fit.

It's a fair point, almost as if a world class striker shouldn't belong to a club like Newcastle.

Apart from all the qualities you listed there, he can also strike the ball really well, as we should know from the screamer he scored against us not that long ago. Which is important, because that was also one of Isak's qualities, so hopefully we won't miss that aspect. I know we were linked with Muniz earlier in the window but maybe I just saw the wrong highlights but didn't see that quality in him.

Too many people are undervaluing him. Look at the quality of his goals, they aren't flukes. If we paid a premium it's because we need guaranteed goals, and he's as close as we were going to get to that. These posts bitching about the money will all look really silly in a year's time.

It would be nice if we could add some superstars to our squad as well, but we couldn't pay them Galactigo wages even if we could afford their fees. We aren't there yet unfortunately, we might even lose a couple more next summer if we keep to the PSR limits.

Wouldn't surprise me if someone at Liverpool hasn't nudged him to put that out. They would know how the sentiment works in northern clubs, plus he's their player now, they don't want the world to have the impression that he's a mercenary cunt.

Well Bayern Munich were about to sign Jackson for £70m so that might be debatable but we'll put that down to desperation. He's clearly not a shit player, he looks very talented, but until he's been tested in the PL there is always some doubt. Bundesliga isn't exactly the most demanding when it comes to defences. But I agree, all signs do point to him being the real deal.

Wissa because he's battle hardened for the PL. Woltemade will come on in the 60th minute, might see them both on the pitch together if we need a goal.

Tbf, Woltemade is a bit of an unknown quantity, he did not have much of a profile a year ago, he went to Stuttgart on a free. He exploded on the scene last year, and shone in the U21's tournament. Howe might prefer PL proven players, but like with Ekitike and Isak, when he sees some outstanding attributes in a player, he will back his judgement. You just have to look at Woltemade's insane close control at speed to see what he could become.

It's PSG, they aren't going to buy unknowns. Point is they moved away from signing every Galactigo under the sun, and started buying to a plan, presumably with some input from the manager who wanted to develop a work ethic to go along with the stardust.

Couldn't agree more, and this coming from someone who wanted him kept here at all costs. I can't be arsed wasting more good energy on him. We've got two new strikers who I quite fancy so let's get behind them.

He knows fine well he's acted the cunt. It was all calculated to cause maximum damage in order to get his move. It's not a great look for him, now he's trying to roll it back so he's not painted as a villain. It was NUFC that gave lifted him to superstar status, maybe someone has gently pointed it out.

Jesus Christ, roll on Wolves at St James ffs.

Like I've said before, PIF could literally buy out Liverpool and use them as our feeder club if the rules allowed it. Not that I would want it, but to hear them talking about their status and ours is a bit precious.

They can hire 500 people to work the coffee machine in Saudi, fair do's if that works for them. But in the world of professional football at this level, they need to get someone at the top who can run the club accordingly. Hopefully this time we get the right CEO in place.

I am not surprised we were shoddy in the transfer market considering we had a makeshift recruitment team made up of a scouts and the manager's nephew. No DOF for a year has really damaged our progress this year. All things considered, the stand-ins did a decent job to actually get the numbers in across several holes in the squad, and at least we got two very decent strikers in to replace Isak, even though it probably cost us about £30m more than it should have.