Wandy

Have to say I really will miss the "Mackem Messageboard Gold" thread. The one on here dedicated to our loony neighbours can be quite juicy but never quite reaches the savagery of that one on TT. RiP.

Shame that toontastic has gone. It wasnt very active but I liked the different flavour it had to the other NUFC boards. Skunkers was fantastic in its heyday but was slowly dying as it had lost some of it's edge before the rug got pulled. Some of the members are still here https://sk0nkers.boards.net/ but its not even remotely as good as skunkers. Walter the Mackem is still there but dont think toontoon migrated over to the place.

Back down to an 8 after being on a 9. Today needs to be season-defining and we need at least 3 top class players before the next match.

Well done Eddie, you really, really needed to win that and you did...... Hopefully a watershed moment and he can kick on from that. We need 5 players in the door by the next match.

If he doesnt start getting results and pronto he's a goner. End of Feb at the latest.

Dear me. Bearing teeth just meant being a bit more critical. Not actually asking for him to be sacked.

Who said anything about wanting him out? He has got to do better, results-wise, that's all. Playing nice football but getting beat every week is not acceptable. Fulham did that last season and look what happened there.

Just remember that only two weeks ago we had one of the worst results in our history, so the idea that the current manager is blameless is bullshit. He has also had the luxury of the most supportive home crowd for at least 15 years and we have little to show for it. Even Rafa didn't have that luxury and Bruce achieved results against the exact opposite backdrop. The honeymoon is over and it's time that the support showed it's teeth a little more as we are sleepwalking into the Championship.

Benitez wouldn't be the long-term answer to getting this club back into the top 8 but I think he'd keep this squad up. It wouldn't be sentiment that would have me harking for him to return, but more like pure pragmatism. We absolutely need to stay up this season. I really don't understand the relaxed attitude towards relegation from some quarters. It will be a disaster and nobody can say with certainty what the consequences of it will be.

I don't think he has 18 games to be honest. With Benitez now lurking in the background I think he has about 5 games to show that he WILL get us out of this. Not saying that would be the correct thing to do but I just think it will happen. The murmurs in the fanbase have started and if we are still bottom three at the end of Feb then I think there will be a helluva a noise from that same fanbase.

No I said he got a tune out of the team. Willock arrived fresh and full of enthusiasm but by the first few games of this season the Bruce coaching effect quickly kicked in. Already stated that Willock is no world beater but the current manager should be getting at least some kind of a tune out of him.

My main point in all this is that it's about time proper pressure and expectation was place on Howe's shoulders. He has understandably been given a free ride so far due to that state of the club and playing squad two months ago. But its now time to see if he can deliver at a big, high profile club when the pressure is on.

Because he got "Bruced". Agree that he's average, but he's also better than what we are seeing now.

He'd never been given the chance by anyone beforehand. And yeah, we know that Bruce had ran out of ideas to get anything out of this team. But I think Howe should have gotten at least something out of Willock by now.

Who says its never to be repeated? Why can it not be that Howe is not getting the best out Willock at the moment?

Nah. The season is completely saveable right now with 18 games to go. We are not adrift and our direct rivals are garbage. No excuses.

True, but that excuse cannot be used now, 2 months into his tenure.

Its a squad that finished 13th last season under a cretin of a manager. If he could get a tune out of them then Howe should be able to too.

If we go down then he deserves the sack. Quite frankly this team should not be finishing below Norwich, Burnley & Watford, even in it's current state.

We simply must win this game. Got absolutely zero confidence that we will though.

Fair do's. You've convinced me. Howe it is then...till the end of the season anyway.

Yep, there is definitely some revisionism going on. People wanted Bruce out because "anyone could get better results with these players". Now that the new guy isnt getting better results its all because the players arent good enough and "Pep/Klopp couldn't do better" with them. It's bullshit. Howe got the job based on him saying in the interview that the team wasnt performing to the best of their ability and he could rectify that. So far that hasnt happened. And I doubt he just meant that he could just get them playing better but with similar results.

I reckon that Howe has the next 5 matches to show he is going to get us out of this mess or he's a goner.

There's not a chance that PIF hired Howe in the belief that we might be relegated this season and therefore he'd be the man for the next 3 years regardless. If we go down then he has failed and should be sacked. I'm near certain that PIF will take this view too, otherwise losing will be being rewarded. That's not how a successful, winning organisation operates.

If Howe doesn't now start picking up wins in the next 6 weeks then Benitez will be here before the end of February. Bookmark this. Some people might think that relegation this season will be a mere inconvenient setback but, believe me, the Saudis wont see it that way. If we are not showing any sign of surviving within the next month then Howe will be gone and Benitez will be back. As crazy as it sounds, I think Howe is fighting for his job already. A look around the various NUFC forums over the last 24 hours has shown an incredible amount of vitriol directed at him and the shadow of Benitez has just made his job that bit harder.