TRon

But is anyone making the claim Chelsea were nothing? They were a big club like we were, but definitely not one of the elite like Liverpool, Man U and Arsenal who were dominating football in the last few decades. It was Abramovich's bilions which transformed them into the best team in England and rocketed them into a worldwide glory team. Actually would be interesting to see if they drop back down to their former status once the money runs out. I don't know how their SCR costs stack up, but their ground is on the smaller side which tells it's own story, and without an owner throwing in and endless supply of foreign funds, do they have enough history to maintain a global fanbase?

It's only the elite clubs our top players are leaving for as well. I doubt we'll lose any to Aston Villa or Espanyol for example.

Being able to pay the top wages really does make a massive difference.

It pisses on the whole concept of sport when you think about it.

We were a top 3 team when they were a top 8 team before that.

Chelsea were fine to accept mediocrity before they got bankrolled by Russian billions.

They'll go for Iraola I reckon.

Think Howe would rather find another club than be told to lose Tindall.

The one saving grace really.

It really depends on which Newcastle turns up. If we can get our best players in the line up and they are fit and motivated, they are definitely there to be got at. They won't fancy it much either. But I'm not sure how many of our squad already have one foot out the door so we might not turn up. Or more likely we'll run about for about an hour then a few of them will think "ah sod this, too much like hard work".

We had similarly bad performances whenever Isak was out last season. Take a striker like that out of the equation and suddenly Murphy looks like dogshit as well.

I don't think it's that much of a leap since they've been here all season and we are seeing Anthony Gordon and Osula starting ahead of both.

One of the considerations will surely have to be, if Howe stays, then we have two useless strikers on our books. It's not inconceivable that a different manager with a different method of playing could get a tune out of either Woltemade or Wissa.

I'm not sure there's anyone at the club who is capable of making a decision tbh, it feels like we would continue with Howe just because we don't really have any idea what else to do.

Pretty sure that will be the plan given he's tried to play it all season even without the strikers suited to it. Personally I think he's took that pressing game as far as he can and teams have sussed out how to counter it so I don't think we'll have a great season if he's still here. We might not have one without him either so there's always the other side of the coin.

If they were sending a message it would be more effective if they didn't play shit themselves.

Well we've played shit more or less all season in the PL. It's not just now the season's winding down. Same mistakes being made as well, the only point of difference has been the excuses.

Not bothering to track runners from midfield is a bit of a give away.

I've said for some time that a big club is the wrong stage for a player who suffers from confidence issues. Noticeably failed at Man U as well. How does a player with low confidence get past it when his every move comes under the microscope of a fanatical fanbase like Newcastle? I just can't see it.

Agree. That's why Wilson's role is very important and he needs to have a strong idea of what type of players we will be needing to build a successful team over the next few years.

It shouldn't be that much of a surprise tbh. Wilson has a strong relationship with Howe, and I don't think Hopkinson knows enough about football to override him. It really just comes down to hoping Wilson has a strong idea of which direction we should be heading.

Clubs don't want our dogshit, otherwise we'd have no problems trading our way up.

If Wilson is doing his job, we should be buying players to take us to the next level regardless of who the manager is.

We won't be selling him because Howe has lost belief in him. We'll be selling him because Gordon has lost belief, and he knows he can get a CL club for his next move. That said, we might as well get the best price we can while we can. After a disastrous campaign, a rebuild looks inevitable, and we aren't successful enough to hold onto our best players just yet. The PL rules are designed to make us trade our best players. We just have to be better at replacing them.