Minhosa

Luke in desperate plea on behalf of his mate there. So fucking transparent. SB: 'Here Luke, can you put something out about there being no point in the fans complaining because I'm not gonna get paid off anytime soon and I hate them signing nasty songs'. LE: 'You bet old chum'.

They can’t expect much tbf. He’s only cost them £3.62 so far.

He'll jump off the sinking ship so his name isn't next to the relegation word on the record but he'll be the one responsible.

Targett to be booked at 5/1.

Giving the rest of us hope of an international call up at some point.

Good work guys. Well in.

Also, when I was subscribing, I NEVER heard him single Bruce out for criticism on their podcast. Not once. Can anyone really provide a logical explanation for that given Bruce's performance over the last three years? Really? NO criticism. Mental.

His rhetoric has only recently changed as he's been criticised quite widely for protecting his pal.

That's what GC has claimed to prevent becoming the next Edwards but, 100%, they are very old acquaintances. That much is very clear from the early articles and from the fact he told him not to take the job.

Totally agree and Martin Hardy is fairly down the line too. The rest are pricks.

Pleased it's not just me. I've unsubscribed from the Athletic because of it. Well, that and the fucking imbecile who hosts their podcast. Shittest craic ever. Fucking sausage jokes and general annoying patter. I wish Caulkin had stayed at the Times and hid behind the veil of being a good journo. The more I hear from him, the less admiration I have. This Bruce carry on has been beyond on the pail. Total conflict of interest. At least Edwards acknowledges he's a bent cunt when it comes to Bruce.

Got to be £11.5m surely?

Course he did

This fucking thread is aids.

His wage is irrelevant tbh. Also, if you read The Athletic article from this morning, you'll see he's probably vastly underpaid compared to where his salary would be elsewhere tbh. Not that it matters for the purposes of this. He'd played very very well under Rafa. I have no doubt with some good injury management, rehab and proper coaching he'll get there again. Hope he goes on to be a great big success elsewhere and everytime he has success he blows his cheeks out and mimics that fucking useless fat heffer in our dugout.

Enough? Enough to put up with a useless cunt of a manager who's essentially taken his career backwards? Enough? Enough to watch his brothers career ruined by the same bloke/club? Enough? Enough to accept shite like Jeff fucking Hendrick signed and played over him? Enough? Enough to have told Bruce the truth about how shite he is, only for Bruce to ostracise him AND his brother? Enough? Fuck that. The bloke and his whole family have probably had just about enough already tbf.

I think that may be more to do with reducing the wage bill than freeing up space for loans tbh. All of them listed will be on good money (perhaps Clark apart). They've probably ended up paying more wages to Willock than they'd planned. This balances that and if/when you replace a Longstaff or Schar with some kid on loan from Chelsea/Arsenal/Man Utd then their wages would be miles less.

Cheers @joeyt - was just about to launch the mortgage and sell one of the Mrs’ kidneys. As it is, I’ll hold off

Where’s that @joeyt?

Ah, I missed the word 'fans' in your original post. The broad reaction from their fans, from what I've seen at least, is that they're not overly disappointed tbh. A guy I work with, a match going Arsenal fan, said when Willock joined on loan that he'd be a good signing for us and that he rated him but, when I spoke to him this morning, he was delighted with the fee and said they'd gotten more than he thought they would. FWIW, he's pleased it's permanent as he doesn't think he can keep the form up.

They want to keep Smith-Rowe so he's staying. They clearly don't want to keep Willock otherwise, they'd have given him some assurances around game time and he'd be staying.

Aye me too. He was far better when he was just read and not heard tbh. Stay in the background, do your job and try not to be some sort of heralded voice of the fans. He's just Steve Bruce's mate to me nowadays. One step above that cunt Edwards (Hello @IMTTS) only because of the fact he doesn't intentionally wind the fans up. His loyalty to Bruce has massively impacted his ability to write about NUFC's continuing malaise. Maybe Ashley thought this one right the way through.....................appoint a cunt who they (the written press) all really like. He's the morden day SBR without the warmth, likeability, credibility, trophy cabinet or integrity. And, yet still, the media talk of him in glowing terms.

Wish they'd spent the summer tidying up Taylor Payne's P45.

Par for the course. They always do it. Even when we were looking a sure fire shout to get relegated last year, as close as they got to a criticism was their reporting of 'fan discontent'. What, you bellends who are paid to write about football and offend the ears with your fucking dreadful craic every week, don't feel the need to question the manager? Wow. Same with his mates at the Telegraph, NCJ etc. The prick is bulletproof but the Athletic lot are probably the funniest due to their very obvious avoidance of anything anti-Bruce.

Haven't read it but I assume that Bruce gets away with zero challenge to his credibility from the Athletic Writers? They're scared shitless of criticising him. It's hilarious the lengths the three of them go to to avoid any Bruce digs on their podcast.