Chris_R

I don't see us selling Bruno. We keep him, we can get CL football this year. Without him we might not. How much is that with? Not just in cash, but to the project and future recruitment. Plus we'll sort FFP easy enough by just doing more sponsorship deals. It'll just take a little time. We might sell Bruno in 3-4 years for stupid money once we've got a great club, if he wanted out, but not now and not for another year or two at least because he's worth far more to us.

I loved him when he was here and was gutted when he left, and even blamed him - and Milner and N'Zogbia - for our relegation because they'd left when we needed them. However as Ashley's reign of terror progressed I gradually understood why he wanted out, and that blame diminished. He saw what we couldn't, and he did what was best for his career because our trajectory was inevitable. We didn't get relegated because of Given, or Milner or N'Zogbia. We got relegated because of Mike Ashley. And after yesterday Given's pretty-much fully won me back, it was awesome to see how much he was enjoying our rise.

I don't think it is a mystery, we just don't play to his goalscoring strengths. Looking at his Burnley career, he thrived off high balls and crosses into the box that he could attack, or else he'd get secondary scraps from a strike partner knocking a high ball down to him in the box. We don't play like that, but he's good enough to contribute in our system and work as a focal point to bring others in to play. Reminds me a lot of Emile Heskey in that regard.

I mean she's 82 and her knees are worse than Paul McGrath's, but tbh Eddie's that good that after a fortnight of his tutelage I'd still not be surprised to see her skin 2 men and blast one into the top corner.

We were 3-0 up with just a couple of minutes to go. He could've brought my mum on for all the difference it would've made.

Right up there with Keegan and Robson for me, just needs to do it for another season or two to cement that. Absolutely love him.

The days of constantly playing the floated set penis seem so distant now.

Almiron FFS, just hit it with your right FFS

If Maddison has any sense at all, he's penning a contract with us at half time.

To be fair to Dele Alli, this isn't like Nile Ranger where he's extremely likely to run out of money and end up totally fucked and full of regret. Alli has made enough to last anyone the rest of their life in luxury, so if he's wanting to just dial it all in now and fuck about, then he'll still be fine. Obviously it's a shame from a "what could've been" perspective, but it's virtually impossible for him to end up bankrupt and if his heart's not in it then that's his choice. Anyone who gives him a contract after this one is an idiot though.

But they still get added on to the attendance, of course.

Seems like every few days his return gets delayed by a few days. He's perpetually 2 weeks from returning. Very frustrating as the club clearly know how long he's actually out for, but are not saying. I absolutely understand why that is, but it is frustrating as a fan.

Yes he was generally great for us and should be remembered as such. A bargain signing at a time we desperately needed a solid GK and he kept us up with his performances. I'll always think well of him for what he did here, and wish him well for the future. Going to Man U didn't ever seem sensible to me though, but that's his decision.

Yeah the spine of our team is now top-notch, and it's been a while since I've felt that.

Why have they renamed their SAFC match thread?

Aye, of course not.

Haha I'd love to see them pretend we don't exist, they'd have literally nothing left in their lives.

If he had that, he'd never have signed for us.

I don't think that in the middle of a World Cup campaign, the manager of the Australian national team gives 2 shits about our work permit issues. And quite rightly.

That thing's got its own gravitational field.

I mean I don't want us to risk him or anything, but I'm baffled about how he can be "on track" when his return has been delayed.

That's true.

Nothing's impossible but I'd be beyond astonished if PIF walked away for Man U. 1) They'd need to spend literally billions to buy Man U, then further hundreds of millions to sort out the mess there. Of course they have that money, but for that kind of investment they could get us up to that level just like has been done with Man City. Imagine what £3bn would do to us? 2) They'd not want to look like they abandoned a project. The loss of face would be terrible. That matters. 3) Everything they've done so far has gone really well and we're already ahead of schedule. The NUFC project is not failing, it's a great success so far. 4) They've already started advertising Newcastle in-country. No way would it be easy to go back on that and go "Nah, it's Man U now!" without looking ridiculous to their own people. 5) They've been (cautiously) welcomed by (the vast majority of) us and with the caveats you'd expect we're generally very pleased they're on board. They'd have to start that process again at another club with no guarantees they'd be similarly well-received. 6) It took a lot to get through the Owner and Directors test - $1bn and a year of fighting behind the scenes. Whilst you'd think that they'd now pass again, they probably don't want to roll the dice again just in case the PL change their mind. 7) They'd need to sell us first, and that would take a long time, have to be done at least fairly publicly and would make them look like assholes the entire time they were hawking us about 8) We're currently 2 places and 4 points ahead of Man U. Obviously they're a bigger club by far (See point 1), but in terms of on-pitch chances of success I don't think buying them is some amazing shortcut to trophies. So I suggest everyone just enjoys the mackems having a meltdown at the prospect of it, whilst showing themselves for exactly who they are: People who don't care about anything other than stopping us being successful.

They basically print a load of tickets, leave them lying round in schools, pubs etc, and then declare them as handed out. On march day, they're all counted. Even if people don't turn up. Even if the tickets are still sat on a shelf in a pile, or have been binned. All because they're so desperate to keep the attendance numbers up. It's pretty pathetic and incredibly small time.

44? Fucking hell, he's younger than me. That's crazy. Thought he was old enough to be my dad.