Unbelievable

Bwahaha De Gea

Sooo close

God I didn't remember how much I loath Portugal (as in their national team) until this game. Pepe is their perfect talisman

That's a goal surely? Edit: no, but deserved to be

WOW!!!

My oh my

Mike Ashley wet dream if the Spain FA come in for Rafa like. Get a few million for a manager that’s demanding significant investment and replace with a yes man who’s to happy to be in a job to make any demands whatsoever.

Cheers. Fingers crossed.

Press conference about Lopetegui situation at 10:30 (11:30 CET). Who would be the alternatives if he's sacked on the spot VI? Hope Rafa isn't on their shortlist

I wouldn't be so sure especially if he could manage them at the World Cup already this summer. Depends on how fed up he is with Ashley I suppose.

I could definitely see him being interested in managing Spain for the World Cup if the opportunity came up like. Edit: Based on rumours in the Spanish press (Marca, Football Espana) that Lopetegui may actually leave his Spain post to join Madrid before the World Cup starts. I.e. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/world-cup-2018-spain-replace-julen-loptegui-manager-real-madrid-betrayal-sacked-latest-a8396371.html

Cue the macktracking Bloke ended up signing for a league one side, so he must be shite. Oh wait...

That thread is something else. The irony of their own arrogance vis a vis other teams at that level will no doubt be lost on them. They talk about wanting to be remembered (ha) by fans of other clubs for their humility whilst at the same time expecting them to hammer every team and be promoted by Easter. It's baffling that they've not learned their lesson from last season. Have they really been this caught up in the PR guff of their new owners?

Aye, very true. The amount of investment required to actually challenge has increased beyond belief in the past decade and we are stuck in time unfortunately, losing ever more ground which will require insane investment levels to catch up on. I think this is Sunderland's new owners' plan probably. Try to get the club promoted with a squad of cheap, young and promising players and then sell it on for a profit (partly or entirely) to someone with the funds to make it worth their while and take it forward.

Absolutely

Michael Martin didn't start this mate. See https://www.newcastle-online.org/forum/index.php?topic=97046.2800

Very worrying if these are after him. As much as he seems to love it here with Rafa, surely if the top six come in for him he'll eventually want away to triple his wages and compete for honours, and probably rightly so.

Good post. Inclined to agree that we have a very definite hard ceiling for the club with Ashley at the helm, but I wouldn't trade places because: a) there is nothing of substance to suggest they've now got a materially better owner b) by being where we are, we're a more marketable asset for any future prospective owners who we would be happy with Fair points, but my statement is based on the premise of a new owner, not specifically the one the mackems got. Having said that, any new owner carries a risk and it's far too early to proclaim theirs as a chancer who will leave the club worse off than he found it. They've also been incredibly lucky that Short was so desperate to get rid he wrote off most of their outstanding debt (on top of previously converting over 100m of it to equity) meaning they have a chance to rebuild from a favourable financial position. As for us being a more marketable (and valuable) asset for prospective buyers in the Premier League rather than outside of it, this is of course very true, but I don't believe a lack of interest of prospective buyers is or has ever been the problem. We've been for sale three times under Ashley, and each time there was at least one party very publicly interested, yet it never came to pass. It's my contention that the value we represent for Ashley in terms of free exposure for SD together with us being an appreciating asset over time means Ashley is not interested in selling (despite the club being officially for sale) unless he receives an offer well over the odds, i.e. one he is highly unlikely to ever get. In that sense, our best chance to ever be sold is if our value to him decreases, which unfortunately will probably take us thumbling down the leagues mackem style.

What I want has absolutely no bearing on what will happen, so it's immaterial to the club's fortunes. I reacted to that tweet saying "(...) there'll be a few Newcastle fans looking at Sunderland's summer activities so far (owner gone, football man in, bad signings being released) thinking they'd take that situation to get rid of Ashley" and yes, I think I would take that situation if theoretically presented with the choice between a) Ashley being here for at least another decade continuing to do as he has done in the past decade or b) be in league one and shot of him, with an ambitious new owner in place and a clean slate in terms of finances, management structure and squad. I think there is every chance that within a few years you'd be much better of in scenario b) than in scenario a) and if it took some short term hardship to finally move forward then so be it. I love Rafa here as much as the next man, but deep down I suppose we all know it will end in tears and his NUFC project will never come to fruition because Ashley will never sanction the spending required to take us to the next level in terms of infrastructure and quality of players.

The last two years have been pretty good in footballing terms (although let's not forget one was in the Championship), mainly thanks to Rafa and very much in spite of Ashley, but one would have to be pretty shortsighted to not see the bigger picture when it comes to NUFC. In the decade Ashley has been our owner we've regressed from being regularly qualifying for European football to being a yoyo club. It doesn't bear thinking about where we would be if Rafa hadn't seen us as an interesting project. I'm not glorifying where Sunderland are at this point in time, but they have a clean slate which they wouldn't have had if they were still clinging on in the bottom half of the Premier League and it probably took a double relegation for Short (who was out of his depth but had the right intentions as opposed to Ashley) to cut his losses. It's going to take something similar for Ashley to do the same I fear, and whilst he's here we will just continue to gradually drop down the football pyramid. Rafa will eventually leave unless he gets what he wants (highly unlikely under Ashley) and we will be back to square one. If given the choice I would swallow the bitter pill now and built afresh under new ownership who have the right intentions and the ability to let this club fulfil its potential, rather than continue to be driftwood for the benefit of one very rich individual. Let's wait and see how their new owners do before we laugh them off as chancers. As it stands they have an opportunity to steady the ship and by this time next year be a newly promoted Championship club with the finances in place to make a push for the Premier League again. They could fail spectacularly, and I would laugh my bollocks off if they do, but it's much to early to say either way. And besides that, as you implied we could just as easily get taken over by somebody with the right intentions and financial means to make it happen. As for our best chance of a change of ownership being in the Premier League I don't see why at all. We're just too valuable as a Sports Direct advertisement hoarding for Ashley to consider to pay at a price somebody else may see as reasonable. It's just not going to happen unless we end up in a similar situation to Short, who was prepared to cut his losses in the end to avoid further damage. I don't believe that for a second. There is a reason why we only ever invest significantly in the January window (and even then, not always) when we're in trouble or after we've dropped to the Championship; he's desperate to hang onto the exposure and TV money that comes to being in the PL. If we're bleeding money in the lower leagues without exposure for SD he'll want shot pretty sharpish.

I’ve said before it would (and I would) take a relegation followed by a few years down there it it got rid of Ashley and I stand by it. However, they may have gone from the frying pan and into the fire with this particular new ownership, so not sure I’d trade places right now.

Strange how Everton fans (on one of their forums) are so lukewarm about the prospect of him joining, even at the rumoured 30m. His stock must be loser than I thought. All good, we’ll more than gladly keep him.

Good deal for them. On a free wasn’t he?

Nope - hasn't gone on holiday again to concentrate on bringing in new players............. Seriously? Can you imagine giving up your well earned holiday to stay at work and have the numpties above you frustrate any potential deal you’ve set up through their incompetence/unwillingness to pay the going rate? And not once, but twice?