afar

Great result, good to see Gayle proving people like me idiots for writing him off. Gotta push on now, this result should be the norm for home games.

What's that got to do with Benitez? Its Ryders worthless opinion I assume? Did I mention Rafa once in that sentence ? You view Ryders opinion as mighty? Did I say that as well ? What is wrong with you ?

What's that got to do with Benitez? Its Ryders worthless opinion I assume? Did I mention Rafa once in that sentence ? Calm your hormones !

Paul McShane is their Captian, they may follow our example and appoint their worst player in that role but if not, really we shouldn't on paper have a thing to worry about if he's the standard of the opposition, but we could have said the same thing about the last two games.

Ryder telling us all on the ronny gill site that a point isn't the worst thing in the world. How the mighty have fallen, looking to scrape a point at home to reading in the championship, ffs.

Last season's performances from the two would not back up your claim. He had a chance to stake his claim for the LB spot early on but was awful, then got his familiar injury. IMO he's not been right since that idiot Mcmanaman did him.

Yep, for confidence it's huge too. Absolutely nightmare going into Saturday's game if we've lost the first three. Have to win. I can't help but agree, this was supposed to be our gentle introduction to the division, with a lot of easy games, next month the difficulty was to be ramped up. Coming out of August 9 or more points behind is going to make it incredibly tough for us. We may look back on this time as the best thing that could happen because perhaps it focuses the powers at the club on the need for greater recruitment. Hopefully that's the case.

Not the first time I've seen this line, of people saying they always thought he was good. I'm not sure where that comes from, a few sub goals for Palace ? Before he went there tbh, I had zero idea who he was. Was stunned we paid 10 million for him based on the limited amount I had seen and the fact that he couldn't get in a Crystal Palace team. First couple of games and he looks exactly like I feared he was, like you say he's an impact sub, he's a player you put on later in the game when the players are tired and the game is stretched, utilize his pace. I don't think it's any coincidence that's when he's looked good.

I wasn't around back then (not as a NUFC fan anyways), but I have trouble imagining all of them being worse than having a frigging billionaire owner who claimed he bought the club to have it challenge the top four yet managed to get it relegated instead, not once but twice, inside ten years leaching it for all its worth in the process. With regards to Ashley, keeping Rafa on board was a masterstroke in terms of taking the sting out of relegation and deflecting criticism for years of mismanagement which caused it, but if this promotion chase doesn't work out and Rafa leaves for pastures new it will be very interesting to see what his next move will be, and how the fans will react. like brain damaged goldfish would be my guess His thought process maybe this: Promote a coach who had a woeful record when "standing in" previously, with no budget, no final say on transfers and limited control:-> Cruise to the title with over 100 points. Employ a Manager with an excellent CV, give him complete control :-> Fail miserably to get out of a division of miserable quality. Should go back to my original thought process when employing a "head coach", I was right all along and I shouldn't ever listen to those so called expert fans who pressured me to paying through the nose for a proven track record guy. For the long term benefit of the club, Rafa simply has to succeed and turn this around.

I'm expecting a 0-1, maybe we can eek out a draw, gonna get worse before it'll get better imo.

I wasn't around back then (not as a NUFC fan anyways), but I have trouble imagining all of them being worse than having a frigging billionaire owner who claimed he bought the club to have it challenge the top four yet managed to get it relegated instead, not once but twice, inside ten years leaching it for all its worth in the process. With regards to Ashley, keeping Rafa on board was a masterstroke in terms of taking the sting out of relegation and deflecting criticism for years of mismanagement which caused it, but if this promotion chase doesn't work out and Rafa leaves for pastures new it will be very interesting to see what his next move will be, and how the fans will react. In that era the ownership didn't have any resources at all, they weren't imaginative with generating income, just happy to live off the fat cat that was nufc, the one moment of any real desire to be anything more than what we had become was the Keegan signing. But once promotion was secured it was back to the old ways, selling our best players to build stands, employing bad and underqualfied managers, just eeking by, there was a reason why during that period we saw our crowds plummet, there was really little point going to the games. Seriously Ashley's lack of ambition in the past is nothing compared to that bunch.

You can't get Fubo in Canada

It'a hardly difficult, we are crap all over the pitch. Not rocket science.

Hope not because he may be back here by then, he's not burnt his bridges with Ashley and we'll no doubt have an opening around then. Best thing for us is that he stays put.

I was pissed off at paying $20 a month for their service, when you get to see one game a month or so. But TBH, I really don't care to see these games right now, may be a blessing in disguise their cronic coverage. Probably gonna cancel my sub next month, I think best thing to do is get nufctv for the radio stream and watch highlights when they come on.

I'm dropping to a 4, if we get beat off two of the teams that struggled in the division last year, then really where is the hope ? Too much wrong with this team and tbh, we've not bought as well as I hoped we would. Disappointing from Rafa, but typical Newcastle, as a club we just can't catch a break. Hire a CL winning coach and can't get out of the championship ! I think it's a two year rebuild, but no doubt we'll be rebuilding again next summer as Rafa won't stick around, hope I'm wrong but I feel we may be heading back to where we were in the 80's as a club, Ashley though will sell up if we don't go back up immediately this time, that could be a good or bad thing, depending on if we end up with another McKeag, Seymour Jnr, Westwood, Forbes type owner, despite Ashley's many faults he was a hell of a lot better than that era ownership.

I fed up with how this team ruins my mood, don't know how folks manage to divorce themselves and their lives from the results, I wish I could do it, I wish I could say "I'm done with the club" and just give a cursory look at their results if I happen to notice them. For once we go into a new season full of hope and a genuine feeling that we've turned the corner in terms of our thinking as a football club. A manager of real pedigree, a squad which on paper should be light years ahead of anyone else in the division. But after two games it's pretty clear nothing has changed, that despite his obvious abilities Rafa has got something spectacularly wrong here. The last 3 promotions (the only three in my lifetime) have all started in a very positive manner, yes it's early and knee jerk reactions are silly at this point, but I just don't like the signs here, we've certainly (fans, management and team) underestimated the task at hand. I think we could be in for a longer stay than we all thought, than the club financially is set up for, Rafa may not last that long.

Nice

I hate them already

9pm repeated at 10:30am Sunday So that's 2pm my time and 3:30 am !! Don't think I'll be able to catch either.

What time is the channel 5 highlight show on ? and do they repeat it ? Or Sky have a similar show, I'm gonna be out in Banff all day tomorrow won't get home probably in time for the channel 5 show.

Do Bein not even tape delay the games, ffs their schedule is emptier than the average Mackems head, you would think showing tape delay games of the bigger clubs in the championship would help to fill their 10 channels up. Their TV guide is terribad, doesn't even work on my computer had to download the iphone app, cycled through a few days and couldn't find it.

I'm sure Rafa will be thinking about the two games in a week schedule which starts now, so expect to see a few changes tomorrow, with rotation in mind.

That's a great point

He is extremely badly advised, really awful PR, seriously he should sack his agent, representative or whatever and get someone in who has a clue. He's making himself public enemy #1 at the club who still pay his wages and hold all the cards in terms of his career direction. He'll be 29 or so when his contract ends with us by then his game which is built on youthful athleticism will most probably be on the decline. I hope we stick to our guns here, it's 30 million or you stay, if he becomes a problem in the dressing room, I'm confident Rafa is strong enough to deal with that. If he is still here on transfer deadline day, I'm sure some team will panic and offer the asking price or close to it, certainly no need for us to panic just yet, even if he is still here in January, that won't be a disaster.