stozo

People will hate this but I'm pretty comfortable with the idea of Bruce staying short-term until Jan or the end of season (provided we steer clear of danger). This is a hugely important appointment and one we need to get right - rather than just going for who is available right now. Personally, I think we'll end up with a coach who is focused on player/club development over the long term rather than a Conte-type appointment. I just don't think the model of the consortium involves spending the type of money that would make us Champions League contenders next season - sounds like this is a 5-10 year project. A name that I don't think has been mentioned so far that I think would be an interesting option is Roger Schmidt (PSV manager, formerly of Leverkusen and RB Salzburg).

Krul (Netherlands) Hughes (Northern Ireland Coloccini (Argentina) Albert (Belgium) Enrique (Spain) Solano (Peru) Speed (Wales) Cabaye (France) Asprilla (Colombia) Ba (Senegal) Shearer (England) Slightly odd formation but desperately wanted to include Cabaye and then subsequently realised that all our decent left wingers have been French (Ginola, Robert, ASM).

I agree with you that he is contributing to the rot. I disagree that wanting us to lose a game against the second worst team in the league with 11 to play is sensible. If this was October maybe I'd be with you, but as a say if we lose today it may well be relegation no matter what (we love Rafa, and saving us in his first season was beyond him).

Deep down they don’t, they are full of s*** like If I knew losing this game would 100% get Bruce sacked, I'd take a loss right now tbh. This I genuinely don't think you mean that. If we lose today, in all likelihood we go down in my view. Maybe Bruce does get sacked, but from a position of losing today I'm not sure there are any guarantees we stay up with a new manager. We've been lucky that both times we've gone down, we've come back up. As I say today could get Bruce sacked, but it could also be the catalyst for a multi-year decline. If we stay up absolutely nothing will change and we’ll be stuck in this nightmare for the foreseeable. Wohoo. We've been down twice and nothing changed. Nothing will change until Ashley leaves. Ashley leaving requires someone to pay a very substantial sum of money. That is far more likely in the Premier League than the Championship.

Deep down they don’t, they are full of s*** like If I knew losing this game would 100% get Bruce sacked, I'd take a loss right now tbh. This I genuinely don't think you mean that. If we lose today, in all likelihood we go down in my view. Maybe Bruce does get sacked, but from a position of losing today I'm not sure there are any guarantees we stay up with a new manager. We've been lucky that both times we've gone down, we've come back up. As I say today could get Bruce sacked, but it could also be the catalyst for a multi-year decline. That's already been the case since Ashley took over tbf I completely agree. But that's no sense in wanting the rot to go further and for us to end up as a mid-table Championship team.

Deep down they don’t, they are full of s*** like If I knew losing this game would 100% get Bruce sacked, I'd take a loss right now tbh. This I genuinely don't think you mean that. If we lose today, in all likelihood we go down in my view. Maybe Bruce does get sacked, but from a position of losing today I'm not sure there are any guarantees we stay up with a new manager. We've been lucky that both times we've gone down, we've come back up. As I say today could get Bruce sacked, but it could also be the catalyst for a multi-year decline.

Agree. I also think this is lots of talk filling a vacuum - either this gets done this Spring or it's not going to get done. Nothing whatsoever unexpected about the Saudis taking steps to prepare for the eventuality that it doesn't.

It's a triple blow - Almiron out, ASM out, Krafth back.

He's a pretty awful player like, I can only assume we are looking at him because he can actually run and close down a player. Can't do much else mind. That alone puts him at least on par with Hayden and better than the rest. Ha. I'd take a punt on him on loan, if only so I don't have to watch any more of Sean Longstaff giving the ball away 20-30 yards away from goal for the rest of the season. I doubt he is the long term solution though.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9165977/Newcastles-Emil-Krafth-STALLS-2-7m-Istanbul-Basaksehir-starting-against-Arsenal.html Madness if don't encourage him to go. He's no better than Manquillo and Yedlin. Grab the fee and get his wages off the books. Can't see us getting many more opportunities to get a decent fee for him - and in the worst case scenario you could see this becoming another player who we're loaning out and having to pay a portion of wages for.

Not just you who has said it, but don't understand the idea of dropping Ritchie from the squad? Our out and out wingers are ASM, Fraser, Ritchie and Atsu (and Murphy, although I don't think he's shown anything to suggest he can make it here). Ritchie is miles better than Atsu ever has been. I'd be game for selling Ritchie and investing in a younger, better winger (fat chance of that though) but dropping him from the squad would potentially mean Atsu is your starting winger for chunks of the season if ASM pulled his hamstring again - and a winger short if ASM and Fraser got injured at the same time (we've had worse luck).

Surely Murphy and Barlaser go out on loan. Saivet and Muto either loan or drop from squad if they can't be shifted. Then you only need to cut 1 more. Easy choice is probably Gayle if he is out for 4 months, on the basis you can bring him back to the squad when fit again in January. We're also carrying 3 RBs which made sense when we didn't have a proper backup LB last season (especially given Manquillo is versatile) but seems unnecessary now we have both Lewis and Dummett. Given the links to another striker and a CB, I assume we'll drop Gayle to take us to 25, offload a RB to take us to 24, offload one of CBs Bruce doesn't fancy (Schar or Lejeune) to take us to 23 and then go back up to 25 with the new striker and CB.

Unless exclusivity has been and gone. That's an issue. It isn't really. The exclusivity relates to negotiations. When the deal was agreed a contract will have been signed agreeing the sale. So essentially once PL approve (we hope) all PiF et al. would need to do is pay the money and they can complete. All the exclusivity ending means is that Ashley has the right to negotiate with others, it doesn't remove PiF's right (given to them by the deal contract) to complete. That's why I'm hugely sceptical of any claims the Owners & Directors Test has been passed and 'it's not the obstacle'. Firstly, just can't see a legal way Ashley would be able to block and secondly, I think the idea that everyone involved in the deal (including the PL, Ashley, Stevely, PiF and associated clingers on) could keep their mouths shut that the PL has approved it is very unlikely. We'd almost certainly have heard something from a 'mainstream' media outlet - many of whom seem to have sources who are varying levels of close to the deal.

Fascinated to see how 'Project Restart' evolves. Given the current testing is c25,000 people per day, it seems ambitious to say the least that a comprehensive system will be in place by early June that will allow the Premier League to restart.

French government is banning all football until August, effectively ending the Ligue 1 season.

I'd love Rafa back but can't see it given his release clause at Dalian is reportedly £20m+. Mauricio Pochettino is the next dream - but unless we're about to spend crazy money, not sure he'd come here. Allegri would obviously be another great option. Left field name I'd throw in would be Chris Wilder - done an exceptional job wherever he has been, though obviously nowhere near the experience of some of the names touted.

Reckon lots of people will disagree with this (judging by the previous posts) but I actually think today was a fairly creditable performance. I'm not trying to say we were fantastic but we deserved something from the game. I think if that had been the first game of the season we'd all be annoyed at the result but hopeful for the coming weeks - but it's not and instead we are bottom of the league without a win in 9 so it feels awful. Starting with our defensive performance, I think we were pretty solid. The goal we conceded was from a corner that shouldn't have been given and went in via a big deflection. Apart from that (if I remember correctly) Brighton's only other big chances all came on the breakaway or through sloppy passing as we were chasing the game in the last quarter. On the attacking side Perez, Ritchie and Shelvey (x2) all forced Ryan into good saves. Kenedy shot just over the bar and Muto was unlucky to head over with the ball coming at him fast on the rebound. On another day with a bit more luck in front of goal then one of those chances could have easily gone in. Could we have done more in attack? Definitely and there is big room for improvement, but we weren't hideous. The real problem in attack was the limitations of our wider squad. Brighton played very narrow and let us have space out wide, safe in the knowledge that the targets our wingers and full backs were trying to pick out in the box were primarily Muto and Perez (with support from Ritchie, Kenedy, Shelvey depending on who was putting the ball in) and that our only option to change it was Joselu. And with the quality of the deliveries also falling short in the large part our bench had no particularly appealing options - none of Atsu, Murphy or Manquillo are likely to provide better quality into the box. The worry remains chronic under investment in the squad which is sabotaging the efforts of a world class manager and players who worked hard today. It's going to be another long season at the bottom end of the table but if we put in performances like we did today week in week out then I think we'll be alright in the long run. If the deflection on Shelvey's free kick sends it in and the Kayal deflection flies into Dubravka's hands, we'd be patting ourselves on the back tonight for another solid, Rafa-like home win.

Ryder reporting that Rondon's release clause has now expired. What a farce.

Not going anywhere by the look of this: Merino out to build on first season as a Magpie Newcastle United midfielder Mikel Merino has set his sights on becoming a key part of the Magpies side as he looks to build on his first season at the club. The 21-year-old arrived at St. James’ Park from Borussia Dortmund in July 2017, initially penning a loan deal before making the move permanent in October. Spanish under-21 international Merino made an immediate impact at United, but found his opportunities limited towards the end of the campaign due to the form of Jonjo Shelvey and Mohamed Diamé. And he said he would be aiming to kick-off 2017/18 at “a high level” as he bids to make himself a fixture in the Newcastle line-up. “I’ll try to improve myself, I’ll try to play more minutes, to be an important piece in the team and an important player,” he told nufc.co.uk. “I want to increase my offensive skills, try to make more goals, try to be more confident with ball and try to make my teammates play better. “In the summer I will work on my less strong things, like using more of the right foot and things like that, and in the pre-season I’ll try to improve myself even more and start the season at a high level.” In all, Merino made 25 appearances in 2017/18, scoring once – the winner against Crystal Palace in October – and he also featured for his country in their European Under-21 Championship qualifying campaign. And he feels that while his first season in black and white has been something of a learning curve, the future could be bright for Rafa Benítez’s side. “It has been a big season for me. It was my first season as a professional player in the highest division and, for me, I’ve learned a lot,” he said. “I’m happy because I’ve been in a really good group with really good players, learning in arguably the best league in the world, and I think I’ve got a lot more things to improve. But it’s been a very good first year for me. “When you play against the best players in the world, at this level, where every single thing and every single mistake counts, you learn a lot. The pace, the tempo and the intensity is amazing, and with those minutes you play you learn a lot. I think it’s going to be a really good season next season, and in the future.” Source: https://www.nufc.co.uk/news/latest-news/merino-out-to-build-on-first-season-as-a-magpie

Interested in going to West Ham according to the Standard: https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/rafa-benitez-interested-in-becoming-the-next-west-ham-manager-and-is-hammers-no1-target-a3841741.html

Marca also claiming we are looking at activating Pires' release clause - http://www.marca.com/futbol/leganes/2017/05/21/5921e41c268e3e4c538b460a.html Newcastle, coached by Rafa Benítez and recently promoted to the Premiere League, is considering the possibility of paying the termination clause of Gabriel Pires. The Brazilian was already the object of desire of the magpies in the month of January and only the fact that the English set was in the Championship stopped the operation. Gabriel has been one of the key players this season in the permanence of Leganés. He has played 30 matches and scored 5 goals. Among others, somewhat from the center of the field before the Betis. He also scored against Barcelona and Real Madrid. And gave Alex Szymanowski the assistance that led to the goal of the stay in San Mamés. The operation, if closed, is estimated to be between 6 and 7 million euros.

Completely agree with this tbh sick of getting championship standard player's Aye, because Premier League players are lining up to be our third/fourth choice centre back or our second/third choice striker. We're a Championship club at the moment. Come December when Mbemba's pulled his hamstring and Lascelles is suspended we'll be pretty thankful to be able to fall back on Hanley and Clark as our backup centre backs to be honest. I'm all for being ambitious but let's not get ridiculous. The problem is that we should have spent the 10m we spent on Hanley and Clark on a first team centre back and made Lascellas third choice So in the above scenario I outlined (two of our centre backs being out at some point in the season - not an entirely unlikely prospect) who is playing alongside our other remaining fit centre back? And how many centre backs worth £10m are sitting around this summer waiting for an offer from us? We love the club so it sometimes blinds us but I doubt there are many first class centre backs who want to drop down a division.

Completely agree with this tbh sick of getting championship standard player's Aye, because Premier League players are lining up to be our third/fourth choice centre back or our second/third choice striker. We're a Championship club at the moment. Come December when Mbemba's pulled his hamstring and Lascelles is suspended we'll be pretty thankful to be able to fall back on Hanley and Clark as our backup centre backs to be honest. I'm all for being ambitious but let's not get ridiculous.

Just signed Stuart Findlay and Yasin Ben El-Mhanni - http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20160708/magpies-sign-young-duo_2281670_5705417.

"Newcastle are also likely to make fit-again Rolando Aarons available for loan if they land Townsend." Madness. Can we not have more than one player for each position (apart from multiple number 10s)? To be fair if he's not going to get regular playing time we might as well get him out on loan. He's an exciting prospect and I'd rather see him have the opportunity to develop than be used in 10-20 minute spells.