Minhosa

Agree with this. Unfortunately, he's done nothing to warrant that blind belief tbqh.

Ah no doubt but I'm talking about overall unity of the club, it's direction, ownership etc. I don't want to employ a guy that can be divisive. Which I find quite challenging because I do think he'd have been a better appointment than Howe. I think he's superior to Howe. He's now available. BUT, is he the right character? I'm not so sure. He's hardly an 'easy' employee tbh. For anyone. He's hard work. And I say all of that as a person who fucking loved having him at NUFC and when he left, so did my custom. I went to Fulham away for his last game and never returned under Ashley. Gut feel is that he'd do a better job than Howe but we should probably be looking for the next Rafa and not this one but, as I've said, I'm very very conflicted.

You don't think the club is united right now? Fans are more behind the club than any period I can recall in over 20 years. There's always going to be questions around systems, performances, managers etc etc BUT if you're not behind this new ownership then you deserve Ashley tbh.

The word when he was appointed was that the board was split 50/50 on him and Emery. If the Saudi's wanted Emery and PCP wanted Howe, I'd suggest that might be a position that is very hard to recover from. If it's the other way around then Saudi will be quick to dispatch him imho unless there's a significant turn of events.... Whichever way you chop it, even the least demanding NUFC fan/employer would have anticipated a FAR better points return than he's managed to date and in an environment where EVERYTHING has been set up for him. Crowd completely on side, pretty much universal acceptance of his appointment, a new ownership with a complete clean slate, he's got 2 signings in fairly quickly and he's also had ZERO negative press. He literally couldn't ask for better circumstances surrounding his overall employment. He's the man who turned up, laptop in hand and wowed the owners about how he could get so much more from the current playing squad also, as we are led to believe. Bar Joelinton, that hasn't happened. No two ways about it, he's currently failing and needs wins quickly. Preferably back to back to reverse this trend of disappointment.

I was a HUGE Rafa fan when he was here, firmly believe he should have stayed, wanted him back when the takeover happened and would've taken him when we appointed Howe etc etc. HOWEVER, I have great reservations around the famed Rafa Politics that just seem to follow him everywhere. Shipping out Graham Carr, working the fans against Ashley here and then similar at Everton with Digne, Brands etc. He seems to demand the wind blow in his direction on every issue and the unity we now have absolutely doesn't need that drama. He never seems happy unless he's railing against his bosses tbh. I'm conflicted because I think he'd have been a great appointment on day 1 of the takeover as he'd be great to build the infrastructure the club so badly needs and I also think he'd 100% have kept us up from Howe's starting position, on top of that, I think he's far superior to Howe. All in all, I'd not want Howe to stay if/when he takes us down but I do feel we should be looking for the next Rafa and perhaps not this one. A difficult call all around because I loved him at NUFC.

Yep, was me. I was aware that he was leading a bid to front a group of investors to buy the club off Ashley. My issue at the time, not that I want him now either particularly, was the he was surrounding himself with absolute shitehawks. He was canvassing opinion on the bid from the likes of Rio Ferdinand etc. He also had the ex Boro manager lined up for the managers job. Karanka.

Just address it directly with the people you're referring to rather than tar everyone who dare to criticise Howe's start with the same brush. That'll save everyone on the board looking over 80 pages of the Rafa thread to see who you're whinging about.

You say this every week, why don't you just name the people you're digging out so they have the right to reply?

A fundamental problem is his lack of athleticism imho. He needs to go. No coincidence that Rafa wanted to bin him and that we played our best football under Rafa with Longstaff/Hayden in the middle.

I'm 100% convinced Rafa would've kept us up from the same starting position btw.

There's no way I'd be letting Howe off scott free tbh. He'd be 50% responsible in my eyes. I honestly think it was very doable when he got the job. As to why he's not had the desired impact, he'll have to look in the mirror but his record with us, imho, is bordering on completely unnacceptable.

Not a chance I want him in that dugout if he takes us down tbh.

If we go down, he needs to go btw. If he can't keep this team up from the position he inherited us in + £100m window spend, he wants fucking shooting.

If you've got a team that never goes a game without conceding, surely at 1-0 you need to fucking go for it? We created absolutely fuck all second half. Fuck all. Even ASM's goal was out of nothing. He needs to sign a centre midfielder this week. A proper one that has some athleticism and presence. Preferably two.

Still waiting for the new manager bounce...

Nice. Resi or commercial properties?

Is that a done deal?

If you could only have 3 more signings this window, bearing in mind what you feel we need to give us the best shot of survival, which 3 (in order) do you pick? Must be players we've been linked with lately. For me, 1) Carlos 2) Botman 3) Kamara I've gone for Carlos slightly ahead of Botman based purely on the fact he's in his prime and should be 'ready' from the off whereas Botman might need a bit more of an adjustment period... Kamara because we absolutely need legs in midfield.

Nah, not Saudi I wouldn't have thought?

What do you do out there @McCormick?

I worked in Saudi for a while back in 2003/4 and remember after I landed in Bahrain and was driven across the causeway, the Saudi Immigration guys searched my luggage and hand luggage. I'd bought a few magazines for the flight (GQ that sort of thing) and the fuckers ripped out every page showing females . So, like a fucking Chanel advert with Kylie Minogue or some fucker, spraying perfume; Ripped Ooooot. The magazine I got back had about four pages hastily held together by what I can only imagine was some Saudi Customs Agents spunk.

Is Veretout even that good?

Yep - can see that.

Fuck! No. His legs can no longer cash the cheques his ego thinks they can.

Tin hat on but, based on my very limited Dennis Wise scouting, he doesn't appear a natural finisher tbh.