NEEJ

It's also how you end up in a position where £10m is spent on someone like Murphy and rather than it being viewed as a pittance for a young, British player, it's viewed as a waste of a lot of money and we're in a position where some of our fans are thinking like Ashley, completely divorced from the reality of modern day football spending. If he ever played Murphy I would feel differently. This was someone he wanted. Who was our most expensive signing that summer. This isn’t about agreeing with Mike Ashley. Don’t be so fucking stupid. This is about taking the rose tinted glasses off for a moment and actually seeing that Rafa has done a decent job but not amazing, certainly not in the transfer market with what he’s had to spend. The state of the team this year is on him. The same bunch played far better last year. The irony. "...with what he's had to spend." Which/how many of the players mentioned make up this £63m figure you've tallied up? The powers that be very rarely spend more than £10m on a player, which effectively buys you bugger all these days. Essentially, we're relying on Rafa and his recruitment team to unearth absolute gems each and every time we enter the transfer market. It's not a sustainable model (hence no other club conducts business like this, barring Cardiff) and we don't spend nearly enough money to guarantee successful signings. "The same bunch played far better last year." Howay man, the rest of the league has improved their squad, investing heavily whilst we (at best) stood still. With that in mind it's not realistic to expect the same outcome simply because the same core set of players remain.

Bet you spunked all over your cornflakes reading that.

Nail on the head. It's all so frustratingly depressing. We're in a perpetual state of footballing misery.

Cunt.

Alreet, Nostradamus.

Thanks again to LFEE and M4 for the pints. I'll return the favour next year!

Hopefully this was me.

Football isn't a complicated game and losing 3 goals in 20 minutes is poor at any level of the sport. Cheers for reinforcing my point.

People seem to be forgetting that we are very much out of form and lacking in confidence ourselves. The way some are simplifying the game of football is astonishing, like. I hope you're all stamping your marks on your local grassroots coaching scene at the very least. The world of football is missing such fresh insights.

We go far too negative. I agree we seem to change to defensive mode everytime and just don't know why keep playing the way you have been You say this like it's a piece of piss.

Good game people. Pulled my thigh about 20 minutes in so it was a frustrating time after that. HTT's keeper pal was in fantastic form, the bastard.

Can't believe I read all of that. What a load of horseshit. Echo the sentiments of those above; people need to stop attending these. At best they're just filled with meaningless waffle from the club, at worst they're getting a kick out of winding people up with their distorted versions of issues.

"In the hands of our legal team?" You're on camera doing it, you whopper.

Loves an assist.

A boycott would almost certainly fall flat on its face, like. You're overestimating the desire of the majority of SJP to actually do something, massively.

Just not easily fooled or took for a mug Apart from when you're playing Fantasy PL?

The footage clearly comes from a fan's phone. If you're actually giving him the benefit of the doubt and not attempting a whoosh then give your head a bloody wobble. Don't be a rectangle.

Just got back, he pulled in at least 10 Northumbria Police officers to help him make his escape, the fucking coward. Should be charged. He deliberately put himself in a position that would require police attendance for him to leave safely. "What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Italian meal?" THIS IS DEMOCRACY MANIFEST!!!

Sadly some absolute weapons are saying that, got into a conversation with someone on twitter trying to suggest he's not been hard done by when it comes to investment and also that he didn't do well last season. Another suggesting he should be replaced with Howe. As if Howe would leave a well run club that fully supports him to our shitshow

Are people actually trying to say Rafa should get the boot? If so, fuck right off, man. Utter fucking mongs. Deserve all they get the fucking cretins. What an embarrassment.

You'll be fine, man.

Kind of a predecessor to the UEFA cup. A quick wiki search shows that UEFA don't recognise as a major honour it but FIFA do.

Saying people should stop making excuses for Muto not hitting the ground running because Tino was an instant hit. Howay man.

I had to drive from Walker via Central Station with about 15 minutes to kick-off, it certainly wasn't funny at the time.

He didn't play in the last one, so please do.