Mattoon

If transfer value was based solely upon footballing pedigree then Gordon is not worth more than £50m, but there are so many other factors used to decide a players value.

Absolutely, its called the "Value Pillar" and is based on a 10 year coefficient score to ensure establish, top-ranked European clubs receive a higher base revenue share or as I like to call it, cheating

We all know his faults, but the bottom line is he is an England international, still well in his 20's, he has 22 goal contributions in 45 games, Champions League pedigree, likely to feature in the World Cup and 4 years left on his contract. That kind of player, faults or no faults, has great output, is still young, has PL & English tax added on and a decent sized contract to buy out. Like it or not, his value is at least around £80m, can you find something similar for cheaper elsewhere? I direct you to the Transfer Rumours and Eddie Howe threads.

It's even worse than that, uts both player and both clubs, everyone would have been better off if he just stayed.

Please be true, please be true, please be true

That video is vile, once again another "fan" wilfully ignorant of mitigating factors just to make his "point", nuance is a dirty word right now as it disarms the argument. Again, I'm not absolving Howe of blame for what has transpired this season, but yet again we've got peg-master Brian ranting with thr benefit of hindsight. Wissa, for all the stick he offers to beat Eddie with, no one could have seen happening, he was a prolific striker that should have slotted perfectly into our system, no one could have predicted a player who never gets injured, getting crocked and coming back fat and out of form, thats an unfair criticism to level. As for some of the other panic purchases, should Eddie have just not bothered to buy anyone when he didn't get his top targets? Should he have thrown the Barca game early so we were fresh for the Mackems? Should he have not bothered in any of the cups so we could have a good run in the league again? I digress, there needs to be an inquest into this season, for sure and Howe needs to look at what has happened and why it has happened and learn from it, absolutely. But these arguments, perpetuated by the Howe out brigade are becoming tiresome.

Recency bias, we didn't win any of those, we don't have any matches left in any of them so people are focusing solely on the league table and it has come 2nd to the cup runs we were on. I don't think we can judge the season fully until it is finished as I think a 3 week break and a full weeks rest between games will see us a different animal in the run in and depending on results elsewhere could see us finish in a respectable position yet. However, as you have said, when you step back and look at the season as a whole it has been a pretty successful one, albeit tumultuous and arduous.

He is priceless, not just as a player but as a character and a leader, we have to do whatever it takes to make sure he stays, for fear of repeating what has already been said, you take him out the club, you remove the beating heart of the club and I don't think we recover from that in any meaningful way.

Pages and pages of wilful ignorance to point score and circle jerk over hand drawn pictures of Howe in a noose. Sigh. Bring back wor Pards, thats what I say, halcyon days!

Do you work in the psych ward?

Its almost like the cup game never happend

I think this bit is just him being hard on himself, he doesn't shy away from responsibility. As to the rest of what you've said, I think those saying he should be sacked and those saying he shouldn't both agree on the main point, there are mitigating factors and Howe isn't absolved of any blame for them, it's just the conclusion of the outcome where the views are disproportionate. Football is a results based business and in that regard he has failed to deliver this season in the league, it all depends if you feel that is forgivable given the mitigating factors and if he deserves another chance without those factors baring down on him to go again next season and deliver those results that are required of him. For me, he's shown in the past that he is more than capable of delivering those results so I believe he has earned the right to put it right as it were.

Most of which are explained by the mitigating factors that you admit exist but refuse to accept anyway? These aren't issues that have been ongoing throughout his tenure, these are problems caused from what was an horrific summer, so those wanting to keep him aren't "just going off the past" they're accepting not everything we've seen this season is down to Howe and he deserves another crack at the whip given a more stable post/pre-season to prove he isn't the problem. It's not that I don't see what you're saying, it's that I don't apportion the blame solely at Howe's door and that's the nuance to it.

There’s a noticeable lack of nuance in the arguments calling for Eddie to go. Too many people seem to be deliberately oversimplifying things just to win a debate. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but I’ve yet to come across a genuinely balanced or convincing case for sacking him.

Plenty of Man Utd supporters I know would have him in an instant.

And for those saying what would be different and Eddie got the players he wanted last summer? No he didn't, he missed out on most of the players he wanted and ended up panic buying for the positions that needed filling, granted, one or two were probably his first choice, but with an experienced DOF in place whats not to say we couldn't entice at least one of his top targets? It's all conjecture either way but it's unfair to suggest this is the exact team he wanted.

And most, if not all, would snap our hands off for Eddie

I understand everyone's frustrations, especially after losing to those lot and at home, it cuts deeper than anything that went before it. But I don't think now is the time to turn on Howe, emotions are high in the aftermath of what is an horrific loss. Having said that, to those who are saying nothing is going to change, I thoroughly believe we come out of this international break a different animal, the limitations of tactical changes have have more to do with the turn around time of games than Howe himself, we've had, what, 4 or 5 actual days on the training pitch since the turn of the year? That is about to change dramatically and Howe does his best work with limited players outside of games, it's a limitation but also a strength.

Had a shaky start to rhe season and looked lacklustre at times and questionable effort but since he's been asked to play that CF position I can't say a bad word about him, he's leaving everything on the pitch, chasing everything down, putting himself about and carrying the team for goals, the very least of our problems and if we had 11 players with his commitment over the last few months we'd be in the CL places. What he said after the game yesterday stood out to me as him admitting the team weren't good enough, understanding the crowd get uneasy because what happens is inevitable, it's a known problem that hasn't been fixed and it's the players fault for not sorting it out. Nothing wrong in what was said at all, taking accountability and showing leadership. I've given him pelters in the past and rightly so, but he deserves praise for his attitude and application recently.

He had all the makings of a great squad, it cannot be underestimated how important last summer was and he was thrown under the bus by Mitchell. Its not his job to negotiate with other clubs, agents and player contracts, a proper DOF gets us the players we need instead of panic buying whatever scraps the sly 6 dropped off their golden plates. Thats not to say, again, that Howe is innocent in all of this, but the summer really wrecked us. I miss Staveley 😢

Howe should not be going anywhere, he's had a rough season but let's not forget the precursor to this: 1. No CEO, no DOF 2. Isak fiasco 3. First, second, third and fourth choice players going elsewhere 4. Wissa injury 5. Wissa form after injury 6. Players not having time to bed in until midseason 7. A gazillion games a week It has been ugly, it has been cruel, it has been partly Howe's fault, but getting rid of him now doesn't solve the state of the squad. There has to be wholesale changes in the summer, too many aging, underperforming and simply not good enough players in this squad.

I think I'll pack my forum bags and take a short holiday, this place is going to be horrific for a while.

What a joke we are

Gerrrrriiiinnnnn have it!!

Happy Birthday mate! I hope the lads present you with the best present ever today HTL!!