afar

If they employ this buffoon it's clear the FA have learnt absolutely fucking nothing. Although it would be funny to see the Mackems have to search around, I wonder if their lack of activity thus far in the transfer market has been down to some kind of apathy from Fat face, who is arrogant enough to think "why bother I have the England job lined up".

Pleased for him, despite the crap he gets on here, he's not been the main reason for us being so shit over the time he's been with us. Whatever happens (unless he makes a spectacular mistake gives the game to portugal) we can't lose. He would rip the championship apart if Rafa can keep him motivated, if not he'll be away for a big fee in January. IF we cash in now we'll get a bigger fee probably. FFS we paid more for Rivierre, Gouffran, Obertan, Saivet and Shelvey to name a few, is he lazy at times ? Absolutely. Does he fulfill his potential all the time ? Not even close. Has he been a good signing for the club ? I firmly believe he has. Does he deserve the sheer hate he recieves here ? No, it's way over the top, but I guess this is the internet.

I wonder what the terms of meeting the clause are? Since we always pay up front for all our transfers, surely the clause would use the same terms. For example what would stop a team like Spuds coming in with a 13 million bid but they pay that over 20 years ! Since the news broke, I've had a little time to digest, after initially not blaming the guy for wanting to go, I'm starting to agree with the thought process of why the fuck can't he show a little loyalty, 15 games really, to leave for a club like palace really ! Think he should have at least given us 6 months, if we didn't look like we were coming back up then no one would begrudge him moving on. This is probably just the start of the exodus, Colo will follow, then Thauvin, Sissoko, Janmaat and Gini probably not far behind. I'm glad we are looking to plug the holes though before they form.

What about Aarons ? Edit: And we have Sammy returning too.

I'm not a fan of Gayle, but sure Rafa knows a lot more about spotting talent than I do.

They need to be a winner first and foremost. The ones in contention are not. The England job is also a different animal, the media and the focus on it, make it a bigger more challenging job than it should be. Really Wales haven't been that outstanding, they will be the only team England have beaten in this tournament, beat two very poor teams in the group stages and a limited NI side. To be honest they've met what should have been their expectations based on the opposition. Coleman is still no world beater. Bilic is obviously naturally a great manager, happened with KK with us that you put a person into a role and they succeed. Germany have probably the strongest squad of any nation, and they have over a long period of time, Low is just the man in charge as was Klinsman in the past, it seems like a job you could put pretty much anyone in charge and they succeed, there just seems to be more of a structure there that promotes success.

GK was not the position I saw us looking to strengthen first but obviously things are moving in that direction with the current incumbents. The great thing about having Rafa for the last 10 games last season, he's been able to assess what he has and determine if they are good enough, he obviously felt that Darlow and Elliot were not going to be keepers he would be happy to trust for the entire season and they must have an offer for Krul already. Great to see some proactivity thought form the club bringing in a replacement before losing a player.

The other thing that annoys the shit out of me is those players that come out and say stuff about how they are behind Hodgson, how great a job he's doing and how they should stick with him. This is why you don't listen to the players, this is what happened at Newcastle when Gordon Lee left and we put an unqualified coach in charge, we were promptly relegated the following season. Hodgson should have been sacked after that World Cup. This Euro was winnable, I don't see one totally dominant team in it, we had enough talented to go a lot further than the R16.

Seriously don't get the "leading contenders" for the job. Gareth Southgate ffs, what has he achieved, really the Angland job used to be the biggest job you could get. Brian Clough, perhaps the best manager the country ever produced, was not able to snag it. We've since given it to the likes of Hoddle, McClaren and Hodgson, now Southgate and even Hoddle again are the possibility, not to mention going further down the list with Pardew, Fat Sam, Eddie Howe (really what has he done ?) and Gary fucking Neville !! It's ludicrous and the FA will continue making the same mistakes if they keep appointing manager's of this ilk, obviously there is no Englishman anywhere near the level we need. They have to go foreign again, get that world class manager that they need because despite what everyone on here says this squad is acrtually pretty talented, certainly more talented, on paper, than all the teams they played in Euro 2016, they should have gotten better results. For me Simeone or Wenger would be the choice, that's the kind of caliber of manager they should be looking at. Pelligirini could do a job but probably the best fit would be Rafa hopefully that doesn't happen. No doubt it'll another terrible choice though, mind you I thought Cappello at the time of his appointment was a fantastic move, so what the fuck do I know.

I can see this happening unfortunately. I think we have to remember that we Newcastle United fans that had to put up with Pardew for years may have a different view on him than the football world. FFS the bloke in the running for the England job, he's been able to con a lot of people into thinking he's a decent manager for a long time. If they've triggered the clause and met Townsend's demands (salary and guaranteed play time) then I would be shocked if he stayed, as I would be with virtually any other team from the PL that came in for him. Playing in the top division trumps everything even Rafa. I don't know if people recall we were top of the league in the championship and chasing Victor Moses, looked like we had him in the bag in January only for the might of PL side Wigan Athletic to start showing an interest and we suddenly had no chance. We have to get used to this and not think that Rafa is capable of miracles.

We've got an awful record at craven cottage, at least we get this trip out of the way early. Think it'll be a tough game, bit early to predict but wouldn't be surprised in the slightest at a 1-1 start, the fixtures after this are pretty kind, chance to get off to a good start that how we won the title down here the last two times, getting off to a flyer is very important I think for us.

I think the priority has always been to try to hold on to what we have, if we lose a player, he'll use the money to buy a replacement. Right now bar Steven Taylor's release, the squad is slightly strengthened by Armstrong, Ameobi, Vuckic, Thauvin (at the minute) and the returning injured players like Krul, to the one that finished up last season. That squad should in theory be more than capable under Rafa of coming straight back. I think we will see though some movement both in and out next week, don't think though there will be whole sale changes unless more players leave than they are expecting.

I don't see them being in any serious trouble this season either, not with fat Sam in charge for the full campaign. The way they finished last was quite remarkable form really. He made some good signings too, the CB that guy from Bordeaux and Kirchoff, along with Defoe's goals saved them. If he adds to that a couple of similar quality players, they'll be much more comfortable their recent seasons. Can honestly not see past the 3 promoted teams going straight back down again, Palace, Watford and Bournemouth for me are the 3 teams that may disrupt that. There are three loathsome teams that have managers in place that will always just do enough West Brom, Sunderland and Stoke, love to see those clubs drop but highly unlikely. Think it's going to be tough for Boro, Burnley and Hull, you could make a case for any of the 3 having the best chance of staying up but all look woefully short right now, early days though of course they could make some good signings and after Leicester's remarkable rise, hard to rule anything out nowadays. Sunderland though will be fine, boring uneventful, but fine and that will be huge success for their fans. Hated this appointment when they made it for this reason, it's going to be a few years before fat face wears on them and no one is likely to poach him off them.

How come this buyout figure changes so frequently, I still say no way even our brainless ownership would agree to a clause that is less than the sum we paid for him. 13 million fee (with all of it going to NUFC) that Luke Edwards quoted seems about right me. 8 Million and this 10.5 million just don't make any sense.

Roy Hodgson

Awful from Engalnd really awful, but Slovakia my god that kind of tactic will kill the game, pathetic, hate theis format of the 3rd best team perhaps qualifying means teams adopt this kind of tactic.

Roy Hodgson is going to waste this generation of players, he really is, we'll make it to the r16 and he'll keep his job. It's bad for the long term.

How did Kane score that many goals this year ?

Average of 1 goal per game is just not good enough really.

Gonna be 2nd spot, and probably Portugal in the r16, who win knock us out no doubt on pens as they always do. Terrible really from England this group is absolute wank.

I predict it will be Villa they target for this, I've heard them describe themselves as the biggest ever club to be relegated from the PL, we've been down here before recently, it's new for them. Of course we could be playing Villa first game then it's an absolute lock for live coverage.

Didn't roma sell Pjanic to fund a replacement for the injured Rudiger. We shouldn't sell cheaply. We won't. Despite the fact he's gone missing for a lot of the season, there's clearly a very good player in there. I think he'd have looked twice the player next season under Rafa. Agree but prepare for pelters him and Sissoko are this forums pet hates I think Sissoko would look a different player under Rafa, he actually did for the last 6 or so games of the season. Wijnaldum however was still just as s*** as ever right to the last, despite basically everyone else upping their game under Rafa he was still as infuriating as ever. Sissoko was still poor in the final 6 games IMO; he just put more effort in. I'm sorry but his performance in the Spuds game was one of the best I've seen from him, showed what he was capable of, wasn't "poor" as you call it for sure.

That's still decent money for a player who would have been gone in the summer on a free, Gini have 4 or 5 years left on his deal !!

We'll settle for 20 million, probably 30 million is are start point for negotiations and we'll drop down, if someone meets us at 20 million we'll sell I'm sure, if not, see ya. Despite the stick he gets, he has a lot of quality and would be a huge asset in that division next season. Financially we are not yet in a position to be bullied, that would change if we do not bounce straight back up of course. I just remember the Austin and QPR situation last year, everyone thought they could get him on the cheap. He only had a year left on his deal and QPR were just relegated, they held out though for a 15 million fee or something. They still got a reasonable fee for him 6 months later with even less time on his contract. The parachute payments give clubs the capacity to hold onto their star players despite relegation, if you can bounce straight back up you can still play hard ball with clubs looking to feast off your carcass.

I believe despite the relegation, they are indeed selling like crazy. It's ridiculous really but shows what kind of a fan base we have, we'll still be one of the best supported clubs even in the lower league.