Unbelievable

Phew

Well done Yedlin

oooh Slim

Fantastic from Ayoze that

Dutch commentator took it as Everton fans singing "please go Sam Allardyce"

Good block Shelvey!

We look dangerous on the counter.

How is that not a booking ref?

Good work Slimani

Phew

Howay the lads!

Rafa 50/50 to stay but will stay for certain if a takeover happens apparently. He holds the key in all this: just tell Mike to sell up, invest what he needs before a certain date or he’ll be off. The club is only arguably worth this much now on the back of Rafa’s hard work. Time for him to play hard ball.

Well there’s a surprise

Replies to this are stunning: https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/why-would-anyone-buy-us-now.1427827/ It’s like they’ve literally no idea how they got into this mess. They just need some small investment to get back into the Prem where apparently they would be laughing financially. Have they somehow missed Short personally footing their bill to the tune of 20m a year to fund their decade of top league mediocrity until he finally had enough and decided they should live within their means, catapulting them straight down the football pyramid?

Not heard that one, bit I heard that many of them never realised that they were down. Some of them got home before realising. Obviously the Burton vs Bolton fixture gives the league a misleading look. I imagine plenty of their fans still haven’t cottoned on if they haven’t checked the (social) media. I believe you on here were (one of) the first to realise it, way before many on RTG and the mainstream media did. What a way to go down, just everything about it - had Spielberg directed it he would have been derided for it, and rightly so.

They hit the bar when the score was one each too: https://streamable.com/5x9nj

Doh

Bwahahahaha

Bent equaliser

Yeah well, therein lies the problem with Ashley doesn’t it? Let’s face facts here: Ashley is only interested in staying in this league and he will see us finishing comfortable midtable as a vindication for not spending much last summer or indeed this one, rather than a sign to speculate to accumulate and invest to move forward. I’m surprised any of this still needs spelling out after all these years. It’s takeover or bust for the future of the club with Rafa, plain and simple.

Ashley would probably be wanting to press the sell button at a 20m offer. I don't think we are in a position to turn down certain offeres mind, I don’t think anyone but the elite clubs can and even then player power will dictate. It’s a tough one. Say someone offers us 40m for Lascelles and Ashley says Rafa can have that to spend, would Rafa take that? I think ideally he’d want to keep Lascelles, but I’m also confident he would be confident finding someone somewhere who could become another Lascelles for us and him. Selling your best players only ever leads to one thing... it’s catching up with Southampton for example. Wages is my main concern under Ashley, I honestly think he believes players are mere employees like his SD staff who get paid enough and any more is too much. He doesn’t value a footballer as an asset other than a saleable one. Our wage structure will see to it that players will eventually want to leave, especially the better ones, more than what we do or don’t do on the pitch or links to other clubs. Maybe that’s a good thing the likes of Lascelles and Shelvey are not in the England squad or likely to be as that is as much a tapping up meeting than a get together for an international match when it comes to agents and players from other clubs. Why would he take a proven liar’s word on something as vital as that for the club’s future?

Lee Cattermole on how he gets his shorts so high

Congratulations!

I was there in the home end with a number of Sunderland fan colleagues from work. A lovely match day experience it was

Rafa really has done a remarkable job of steadying the ship and getting the best possible results from what little he's been given. The club has been entirely reinvigorated and we're all pulling in the same direction again and much of the discontentment towards Ashley and the club has dissipated. Still, I firmly believe Rafa, like most of us, is desperate to see Ashley sell up and get a new owner in who will be willing and able to put forward the type of investment required to really push the club forward, both in terms of the playing staff as in its foundations (academy, training ground, stadium upkeep, etc.) We have a unique opportunity to grow into a genuine contender once more, but under Ashley it will never happen and in fact disaster is never far away. Another transfer window of broken promises will surely see Rafa walk and all his good work come undone. This Newcastle United "project" that Rafa took on will always be hamstrung by Ashley's looming presence. For that reason I hope Rafa's next move is a power play against Ashley. He's clearly been directly involved with the Amanda Staveley takeover bid, and he's in a perfect position now to demand to either be backed with the funds required to push on, or the club to be sold to someone who can and will, or to walk and find himself a new project while his stock his high and he's revered by the fans. Rafa has Ashley over a barrel and he needs to make it clear that he will not be pushed around again. I would be devastated to see Rafa walk out on us on behalf of Ashley acting the cunt (not investing whilst upping the asking price), but the time is now right to make a play and set the club up for the future and I wouldn't begrudge him leaving if he thinks he's achieved all he can under the current ownership and there is no chance of a change. After the last two seasons Rafa holds all the aces and Ashley must know he could be back to square one if he loses him. Howay Rafa, time for the next stage of this project: tell Ashley to either stump up, sell up or risk losing you