Minhosa

What a fucking dickhead.

Contract expires June 2028. You’d imagine his peak value is this summer tbf. He's probably also most ‘gettable’ for that reason.

Alex Scott of Bournemouth would be right up there on my list for the Joelinton replacement. Alex Scott of Football Focus for the Elanga replacement.

I’m not sure where or why it ever got billed as that when it was just a normal end of season review with the owners which happens every year.

Aye. Paid for that.

For those saying he’s got the potential to come good, what is it you’ve seen so far to give you that hope? Genuine question.

At least Wissa has the injury excuse. This guy has been even worse imho.

Because that's who the final stage interview was with....

Just to reinforce this. Friend of a friend applied for and got shortlisted for the NUFC Chief People Officer job. She was interviewed by club officials at first stage and then went through to the second stage which was with Hopkinson himself. She’s got huge pedigree and has done the same role for much bigger organisations. Over dinner, he told her that she was his number 1 pick for the role and, at the final stage, which was an interview with PIF, he’d be recommending her for the role. She didn’t get it. PIF went with the bloke from Virgin Media. He may be very credible, don’t know, but it goes to highlight how much more ‘hands on’ PIF are than many think and also how junior Hopkinson is in real terms.

Interesting. Thanks

What is the theory? Appreciate there appears a trend but what's the logic in linking it to the retractable pitch? Genuine question btw.

Totally agree. The other big loss imho was Miley. Felt a bit like we'd lost two players when he was missing; our best right back this season and also a very dependable midfielder.

Ryder gone rogue

We're basically a one person team if we're honest. Season completely fell apart when he was crocked.

Aye - he's been my favourite for a long time now. Would be GUTTED if he left.

Since Hopkinson said this "I expect to have a great run to the end of the season and we'll talk about the future when it's time", we have lost every game. If we continue to lose matches, does this statement render Hopkinson ineffective if he's not seen to act upon it? FWIW, I still think Eddie walks this summer. Having reflected on it loads over the last couple of months, I think the right thing to do is to give him this summer for a few reasons; 1) He's the most deserving manager we've ever had in terms of a show of faith. He's a history maker and should be treated as such. 2) From an ownership perspective, I think they'd be viewed as a calm, pragmatic and patient employer whenever the time comes to replace Howe (or any other future manager). We don't want reactive owners nor owners influenced by social media reactions. 3) There is a lot of mitigation for the cluserfuck of last summer, which Howe must also take accountability for btw. The challenge with all of this is whether the crowd are still with him come next season and aren't going to be hyper sensitive to a couple of poor results. The derby (h) was the game where he lost a huge amount of good faith inside the stadium imho. I don't recall many (any?) pulling it back from this point.

Not even competition winner level this fucking gimp. There should be some serious trade description checks going on here. No way he can be classed as a footballer.

Aye. Forgot about him tbf. Massive drop off there.

Over the last couple of years we've lost both Ritchie and Wilson from the leadership group. When you add Trippier and Tonali to the departure lounge along with Schar and Krafth who are both experienced pro's/internationals, we have to have an eye on the characters we sign this summer. Not one of those signed last summer has any leadership qualities. When you then allow for Burn playing a whole lot less next year and probably Joelinton too, we're looking seriously devoid of testicles at this stage...

We bought theirs ...

Can't argue with that. I'd still rather ship out 4 of the dogshit around him than Gordon himself though tbh. He's a very long way off our biggest problem imho.

He's the only one out of our front seven players I'd really like to keep tbh; Left Side Options: 1. Gordon 2. Barnes Right Side Options: 3. Murphy 4. Elanga Central Options: 5. Woltemade 6. Osula 7. Wissa I'd prioritise moving out every other player in that list over him if I could be sure he was committed to the cause. If not, which is as it appears, then I guess we'll have no choice but he's literally the only effective one in that list imho. For Howe's preferred system, Barnes cannot effectively press, isn't great at offering Hall cover and cannot beat a man to save his life. Yes, he chips in with goals, but in my mind he's bascially a centre forward profile sat out wide. You can't sustainably rely on that over an entire season as he's proven the last couple of months. Gordon offers TONNES more off the ball than Barnes, in particular being able to lead a press. In fact, he offers tonnes more than all of our other wingers put together imho and, again in Howe's system, he's our most effective central option right now too. Selling him guarantee's we'll be stuck with a few of the others above which essentially guarantees we'll be watching shite out wide next again at some point or another. Probably all season again.

Elanga - ‘Might be shite ’?!? Let me help you. Elanga - worse than shite.

Yep. Derby defeat at home was the most damaging of Howe’s tenure. No two ways about it.

If we’re using that knacker as a barometer, Gordon is worth £820m + add ons.