AlanSkÃrare

My take is still that Edwards hasn't had any news or information on his own during this entire story. He's been reduced to playing catch-up while Caulkin and Craig Hope have both been on top of developments. This – injecting some vague form of doubt without really wanting to commit to the information – is his way of trying to get out of the entire episode with some sort of relevance. He's introduced this information, but it doesn't hold up well enough to write it in the paper, he's just put it on Twitter, which puts him in another light out there. It's probably, or most certainly, nothing to worry about. Had he been sitting on information that would indicate the deal being in serious doubt, he'd have written something on it.

Pochettino had Spurs in 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd and 4th and reached a Champions League final. If that's not enough results for you I don't know what is considering the resources at hand for the teams he was competing with. People seem to forget the players he more or less constructed and the team that was consequently built. Alderweireld, Son, Kane, Alli, Kane, Eriksen, Walker, Rose – they all improved drastically because of him, he didn't succeed because he was "lucky" to have them. It was the other way around. Look at Spurs now. It was the same at Southampton. Between 2013 and 2017 he coached 15 players who made their England debut, that had different reasons, but he was the main, allowing for players to develop in his system and parallell coaching where they were enabled. To me that is, besides the results, the best mark a manager can have. Rafa had the same effect on many of our considerably less talented players. Longstaff, Hayden, Perez and Lascelles all improved massively under Rafa and that was because how he created an environment, the training and the playing model, where they were able to perform. Once Rafa was gone, that was lost. Look at them this season and they look lost in comparison. With Pochettino, you'd get the same, albeit with a few different attributes.

Pochettino is as proven as anyone. Trophies isn't the best measure of success, especially as he hasn't coached a club that objectively should have won any. His improvement of Southampton and Spurs has been remarkable on individual and collective level. His preferred style is progressive and the high-intensity football that Spurs played would be good for a side that wants to establish itself at the top end. He's a wet dream and we'd be incredibly lucky to get him.

Justin Barnes

That fucking game

Difficult to choose from the many moments of this whole era but this is just what comes to mind. Selling Andy Carroll and replacing him with Shefki Kuqi Selling Yohan Cabaye without replacing him and folding half of 2013/14 Hiring Alan Pardew when he was recently sacked in League One Not sacking Alan Pardew John Carver offering to fight fans Alan Pardew getting rid of Hatem Ben Arfa Alan Pardew starting Papiss Cissé at right wing Alan Pardew playing James Perch at central midfield Alan Pardew replacing Yohan Cabaye with Jack Colback Alan Pardew losing 0-3 to Sunderland Alan Pardew thanking god we weren't going to play in Europe Alan Pardew dedicating wins to Mike Ashley Alan Pardew's Newcastle losing 0-6 to Liverpool at SJP Renaming of the ground Free advertisement for Sports Direct, crippling our commercial growth for 10 years Sports Direct running the club shop The club paying Sports Direct for various services Jonas Gutierrez cancer treatment Hiring Steve McClaren when he was recently sacked from a Championship team Hiring Joe Kinnear when he hadn't worked in football for seven years Hiring Steve Bruce Hiring Dennis Wise Hiring Tony Jimenez Hiring Jeff Vetere Hiring Joe Kinnear as a Sporting Director Alan Pardew wanting to sign Darren Bent as a "modern number 10" Joe Kinnear fucking up the signing of Darren Bent Not investing in Rafa Benitez's team Richard Keys telling Rafa to sign players with his own money Losing Rafa Benitez The five or six faked takeovers to deflect criticism Proven in court to have lied to the public and fans of NUFC The treatment of Kevin Keegan The treatment of Alan Shearer The treatment of Chris Hughton

https://twitter.com/fun88eng/status/1255436560486535171?s=20

Most journalists, and they aren't too many tbh, who fight his corner do so because they know him. Weird thing is they don't seem to get any insight or information on the back of it. Actually watching us play football should be the only basis for forming an opinion on how well he has done, but apparently not. He's a nice bloke and English so he's done a good job Well yes, that's obviously how it should be, but you'll get this wherever you go because part of the profession is to manage relationships. Some are better at it than others. Jason Burt at The Telegraph for example was open about his relationship with Alan Pardew and promoted him to be England manager when he was at Palace while "admitting that he was biased" because he had "known him a long time". I'm more tired of the large proportion of the fanbase who can't comprehend what market we're in and how Ashley's self-imposed restrictions have denied them and us the opportunity to acquire good managers and players for more than a decade. One of the best things with a change in ownership will be the end of discussions among NUFC where incompetence is fiercely defended, because hopefully there won't be as much of it around the club.

Most journalists, and they aren't too many tbh, who fight his corner do so because they know him. Weird thing is they don't seem to get any insight or information on the back of it.

Just occurred to me the things you've grown accustomed to. Charnley has effectively been in charge of the operations at the club for what, six years? Seven? And I've never heard him speak. I have no idea what he sounds like.

Bit confused by the idea that you'd have to "do this" and "think that" and sort of categorize yourself as a Newcastle fan because of this. It's not impossible to be excited by Ashley's departure, enthusiastic about Newcastle United once again being interested in moving forward and acquiring some sporting ambition for the first time in 13 years – and still feel disgusted by the fact that the option presented to you is to see the club become a sports-washing tool for a murderous regime. These feelings aren't exclusive. You can subscribe to them all at once. I am. As has been posted repeatedly in this thread, the idea that fans bear some sort of responsibility in a system like this is beyond absurd. We didn't choose Mike Ashley and we won't choose the Saudi Arabian state, it's not a preference, a political allegiance, it's the dark and sad consequences of international football in 2020. The choice is not about Newcastle United for me, it's about international football. The Premier League, the Champions League – even the fucking World Cup. This is what you get these days, these things and this moral hazard comes with the package, it's part of the equation and the people responsible for letting the football system slide to this point aren't fans who want to see their clubs do well. I'm thrilled and deeply emotional by the prospect of Ashley leaving. He's a trauma, he's caused a great deal of suffering and frustration for me personally and the football club that I feel very, very attached to. Just because we can't choose who replaces him, I won't deny myself the feeling of excitement in this moment. I'm unconditionally in love with the idea of Newcastle United rather than what it presents me with in a given moment, most of us are. Most of that idea has become abstract and feels dead because of Ashley and because of the way international football has developed over the last 20 years – but some of it remains, and under new ownership there's at least a theoretical chance I'll get to experience some joy again. That's worth feeling happy about as well. At the same time, this is bizarre. You want to paint a portrait of the absolute madhouse that is European football in this day and age? Take a look at this club and observe how fans are finding themselves debating what to feel about going from a maniac who spent more than a decade exploiting their affection and loyalty for his own good – to someone who ordered a dismemberment just recently. The problem that will probably arise here is that fans will start to actually discuss Saudi policies. That battle is lost. Don't go into it, because you don't need to. They're awful, but you can keep supporting Newcastle United anyway.

I'll worry about a murderous dictator giving NUFC later and if that even is the case. If Ashley's going I'll allow myself to cry. Seems unimaginable. He's a fucking stain on life.

No, they're all there.

These documents appearing is the most exciting takeover development since Ashley bought the club. Fingers crossed.

This. It's making sure he creates problems in the group by publicly saying they're too shit for him. Moron.

Still operating in an offensive vacuum, so struggling to blame him (or Almiron or ASM). They all need a system and a coach and a method to work on, now they're just sent onto the pitch by this confused man who then talks about "quality in the final third" and "creative spark" in midfield whenever they fail to register an actual opportunity. That isn't how football works. Everyone with half a brain knows that by now.

All too familiar: Ashley wanting to appear as a willing seller, the prospective buyer calling his bluff by taking the entire thing public.

Edwards never has any news of his own so his only way to appear relevant or even justify his employment is to do this every time there is a link. His sources are probably weak, remember he said Moyes was getting the job and not Rafa, but it's not exactly a bold claim to say there isn't anything in this and he's managed to pull it off before. It might well not be true, but not because his sources are saying so.

He was properly coached and played within a system that allowed him and most other players to perform and improve last season. With that comes confidence, you trust your surroundings and yourself. Rafa gives you that. Bruce doesn't.

Haven't ever seen a run like this. Mathematically it shouldn't be possible to be this lucky.

Maybe I'm not on here enough anymore, but this needs to be an aspect reaching outside of this forum, not just to Twitter etc but broader platforms should point finger at them. I'm not sure who exactly though, maybe Football365 or other independent sites. Maybe even other papers. It really is part of the problem.

Been on to this before here, but it's beyond me that there isn't even more criticism directed towards the local media coverage of NUFC. It's failing everyone and everything. Maybe it's an outside perspective as I'm familiar with other sorts of football journalism in Sweden, more critically orientated and performed in a more open, available media climate, but jesus fucking christ. They're not doing journalism. The Chronicle is a content bureau, masquerading as a newspaper. They haven't had one single news story of their own in years now, yet Lee Ryder's job description seems to be detailed towards hunting news. They're not capable of producing one percentage of anything resembling investigative journalism, yet they've had one of the most corrupt and shameful football clubs in Europe in front of their nose for more than twelve years now. Their opinion pieces are apologetic at best, there's no criticism of the actual problem at hand. This mentality serves one purpose, and that is to preserve access and keep good relationships with the people they're covering. But what are they getting back? Nothing. No exclusives, no stories, nothing. Nobody is saying anything interesting to them, nothing is worth reading. So why not switch to actual journalism? Go for them. Get banned, but be honest and do your job. I mean, they all know what's going on. They know they're not reporting on a real football club, they know it's going nowhere, they know progressing into the 4th round of the FA cup by beating Rochdale isn't a sign of anything, they know all the season tickets were given away because people are walking away from the club, and that it's a sign of desperation. It should be portrayed as such, not as a "nice gesture". Fucking hell. They know Joelinton and most of our other senior players aren't performing because Bruce is grossly incompetent, yet they pretend it's about him and confidence, they pretend the "mood" has been lifted because we managed to overturn a League One club. They're just pretending, and that's not journalism.

Predictably pathetic. Gifting this Manchester United goals when all you have to do is wait for them to fail creating anything on their own. When the wheels come of on this it'll be spectacular. Bruce is lucky he's fluked enough points to stay up already. That'll give him until at least this stage of next season until he's at risk.

Had a look in WyScout, one of the most well-renowned and used statistical tools among clubs. Our "expected points" is 16.9, we're 19th in that table with only Aston Villa behind us on 16.4. It's the impression put into numbers: We've picked up results without playing well, had Dubravka save us again and again, and it speaks volumes. Bruce has very little to do with us doing well, and we aren't doing very well at all, we're just picking up results that we generally don't deserve.