TRon

Fans are always going o judge on what's going on now, achievements from previous seasons don't count for much if the current one is going tits up. The board will need to take a more holistic view. They should have some idea whether there are mitigating circumstances for a poor season and if Howe can implement their vision ongoing. FWIW I don't think we will be making big signings this summer unless we sell big players. We'll be recruiting future stars, and that might not sit well with Howe anyway.

At Man U, Liverpool or Arsenal, they could just keep buying the best players and hiring the best managers. Of course they will get success if they do that. It worked at Man City and Chelsea.

I don't have any argument with any of that. I just think i't wrong to give credit for the good signings to Howe then pass the blame to the lack of DOF for the bad ones we made last summer. Tbh I think the only real difference a DOF would have made is that we might have refused to pay over the odds like we did for a few players. I think the players who turned us down would have anyway.

No one will convince me that we ended up buying players Howe didn't want in the one summer he didn't have anybody above him to block him. Maybe we had people above him who weren't very good at getting deals done, but the players must have been green lighted by Howe. We tried to buy Elanga the summer before that, same goes for Thiaw. No issues with us making the odd mistake in the transfer window, but to put to pretend he had no say in it is just wrong IMO.

Very much agree with this. Tonali has been poor this season, I don't know if that's because his heart's not in it any more, but he looked our best midfielder last season. Bruno can do more on the ball, but Tonali at his marauding best swallows up space, closes down opponents, and is in constant motion offering an out ball. He must be a dream teammate, a player who is at the heart of everything. I don't know what's happened to him this season, but he looked fantastic for the previous two.

My recent memories of his teams were over emphasis on defence, and him being a prick generally. I didn't particularly like the way his teams played post-Chelsea, but he never struck me as someone who didn't know what he wanted his players to do.

Think he's getting worse personally. I always thought he had good feet and was underrated, but he's a bit slower and clumsier these days.

I've always thought bringing Mourinho here would be a disaster following a popular manager like Howe. But just thinking on it today, and he does know how to organise teams, and he would not stand for any players not putting in 100%. He's not really a title winning manager any more, but he has always been good at setting teams up to punch above their weight.

It depends if PIFs reason for buying Newcastle was as an investment. I always thought a big part of it was about building the Saudi brand. My worry would be that they sell us and buy a club like Man U to fast track that project. NUFC was sold to them very successfully by Staveley, but if they really want a winning team there are probably easier ways to do it.

Tbh, the only reason I want Howe to remain in charge at this point is a) To give him the benefit of the doubt b) To give the next guy a fighting chance If we sack him, whoever replaces him will have a big section of fans still pining for Eddie. I can understand why one bad season shouldn't be held against him considering what he's done. But I do worry that he's taken us as far as he can, and we might just compound the errors if he gets another crack.

Thought the same. Our football improved immediately just because he could evade tackles and carry the ball forward.

He almost did tbf, it was a decent save in the end.

He's the one top team coach who Howe seemed to beat pretty regularly, at least that's how it seems to me.

Take yesterday for example. Howe took a risk and played Osula up front, and it paid off. He had a decent game and scored. But the football was still just as bad as it's been all season. We just look helter skelter at the moment, we never really look in control in games unless we are playing a really poor side. Like Maresca said last season, it's like playing ping pong and hoping we come out on top.

Both Iraola and Glasner have done remarkably well this season considering they lost their best players mind.

We might still go that way, but I think Howe will be having less say on recruitment. That doesn't mean no say...just less.

I think we would hold off making any decision until we see what's left to choose from anyway.

Sounds familiar.

Agree with that. Once you have made a decision better to stick with it.

They are all good players, Pedro, Mbuemo and Ekitike especially. But it's not the forwards I have doubts about, it's our football in general. I think there's an element of kick and rush about it, we don't cultivate possession, and I think that's down to the way we set up.

Don't expect an answer to that any time soon. Because everyone knows we'd end up with bloodsucking owners who would put us in hock then feed off the dividends.

Even those players were to fit his brand of football, which has been great in one off seasons, but unsustainable for regular CL campaigns.

I suppose the only question is whether if he was given unlimited funds, could he produce regular CL football? Maybe. But we don't play football like the top sides do, and I'm not sure that's Howe's way of playing anyway.

Probably terrified at the prospect of another season of buying runners to try to fix the high intensity identity.

Yep. They don't seem that clued up about football, but as I said earlier today, you could say that about most ownerships. Howe is being judged on the football we are producing, I'm sure PIF will be judged on ownership if they stop putting the money in.