Mattoon

Probably. Somebody like Guardiola can afford to make little mistakes, but Rafa has absolutely no room for error anyway. This is exactly what I said in the match thread. Rafa is not infallible, he will absolutely make mistakes, he's human. The major problem is that he's working with such fine margins that the smallest mistake is make or break with this squad, one wrong sub, wrong starting player, slightly wrong tactic or minutes late on a sub will put us in a no win situation. However if he was fully backed like any other manager in this league then those slight mistakes would still see him win because he's superior to most other managers. He's trying to sculpt the next Venus de Milo with a sledge hammer and a toothpick.

Now, fucking now ???? Not yet, January is the real test iyam #wait

Rafa will get it wrong from time to time, it's inevitable, he's not infallible. However there is only one person to blame, if there was investment in the team then he wouldn't be working within such fine margins. Better teams can afford to make small mistakes and still win, one wrong sub, tactic, starting player or a sub made a few minutes too late for us will likely cost us the game. It's ok to be annoyed at the incorrect decisions being made but make no mistake if it wasn't for Ashley those mistakes wouldn't be costly. Be annoyed at the players/tactics but direct all your blame and ire at Ashley.

NUFC is no cash cow, mind. Milk it slightly too much and most of the udders fall off. The club has made a chunky surplus over the last 12-24 months, but everyone knows that to ensure the PL cash keeps coming that money needs to be used on improving the squad and the facilities. The cash cow is the revenue streams that he siphons off, advertising and merchandise to name but 2, all go direct to his true love.

https://talksport.com/football/393641/premier-league-owners-ranked/ Talksport rating Ashley the worst owner in the PL. Media narrative is definitely shifting.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/728424/Newcastle-news-Malcolm-Macdonald-Rafa-Benitez-Mike-Ashley-Premier-League Supermac going in hard this morning.

Good lad, that's quality

Definitely Rafa's fault though...

50:50 - Jenas and Humphries talking sense, Rio and Dunne waffling absolute shite. Worth mentioning Rio has done work for SD in the past and is probably on the payroll, add him to the bad list Yeah that's what I was referring to, saw it earlier on Twitter but couldn't remember who posted it so you saved me a job why would you ask someone's opinion who is clearly biased by who puts the notes in their pocket?

50:50 - Jenas and Humphries talking sense, Rio and Dunne waffling absolute shite. Worth mentioning Rio has done work for SD in the past and is probably on the payroll, add him to the bad list

Fucking mental, isn't it? Weren't some 'pundits' claiming that Rafa's approach to these games only 'ends one way', too? Only team not in the top 6, in the top 6 there. Clearly Rafa doesn't know what he's doing and we should go toe to toe with the likes of Chelsea, better to lose 6-0 and feel like we gave it a shot than 1-0 win/loss or 0-0 and "give them too much respect". Idiots.

Rafa Bingo full house there [emoji23]

Rafa's record last season against the top 6, he's too negative though ammirite!?!

thats amazing

I'd be massively surprised if this did come from Rafa's side, it stinks of passing the buck, Ashley trying to paint Rafa as the antagonist in his little charade. Feels more like a power play to divide opinion than an olive branch.

Tbf what he says to the press isn't important it's what he says in the changing room that matters.

It's on BT, they usually don't. Didn't last season and had a go at Ashley for it, not Rafa. Rightly so. Ki and Diame as a stating cm pair for NUFC in 2018 in the premiership is utterly tragic Who would you play there? As much as his incessant moaning about Rafa annoys me too, I have to back tube up on this and suggest he was referring to Ashley only allowing us to have that midfield and not upgrading our options rather than Rafa's choice of pairing(He has no choice!)

I completely get your frustration mate, don't get me wrong, I feel like I'm in some kind of malaise, waiting for the inevitable, like it's some kind of incurable cancer and I just want it done already. I can't bring myself to enjoy this season and I should be taking in every last second we have this glorious man as our manager, we very well might not get a chance like this in the next decade or more. However I will not ever place this feeling on Rafa, none of this is his fault, he just loves the club, the supporters and the city, the same as the rest of us. Without a doubt there is one man only to blame for any of this and he is the one that should feel every fibre of your anger/frustration, attack him and his shoddy little jumble sale empire in any way you can because him leaving is the only way any of us will feel any pride in this club again. Don't wait for May, May needs to be the deadline to remove this cancer, not the start of some belated campaign.

A) he doesn't want to give Ashley the satisfaction or his money B) he doesn't want to let the supporters down C) he's probably holding on in the faint hope that Ashley will sell up before he goes himself I think that pretty much covers it.

Me too mate, I'm finding it impossible to enjoy Rafa's last season with us because of this leech so I'm quite happy helping with the relentless tirade of abuse heading his way and against anyone who stands on his side, I won't stop, I just hope the majority are in the same boat too. I'm in this for the long haul, I've got plenty of free time and I'm both incredibly stubborn and incredibly patient. Well that's 3 of us, have at it Ashley! [emoji23]

Me too mate, I'm finding it impossible to enjoy Rafa's last season with us because of this leech so I'm quite happy helping with the relentless tirade of abuse heading his way and against anyone who stands on his side, I won't stop, I just hope the majority are in the same boat too.

100% we're not for sale, everything is outsourced to his tat empire and NUFC makes pennies on the pound, then there's the free advertising, he's living it large on our dime. Even if someone wanted to buy the club it wouldn't be all in for that £400m, I'd imagine he wants to sell the club with all his subsidiaries still taking the brunt of the commercial revenue, who in their right mind would buy into that?? Bang on, not a soul unfortunately for us. We need someone to come in and strong arm him but the money in the PL seems to be stagnating based on this year's figures vs the last deal. The other hope is that the money in the league bottoms out and Ashley's investment becomes less and less valuable, or when Rafa leaves we crash. As much as I don't want to see us fail sometimes you have to burn the old one down to build something new. I'd rather see SJP burn to ashes than have Ashley hollow it out for any longer. Other than the usual failures being wheeled out to spout their lies though the tide is definitely turning against Ashley, like it did against Pardew towards the end, I hope we can collectively keep this pressure on as he's clearly starting to squirm, people say he doesn't care but if he didn't there wouldn't be so much pro-Ashley media forced in front of us.

100% we're not for sale, everything is outsourced to his tat empire and NUFC makes pennies on the pound, then there's the free advertising, he's living it large on our dime. Even if someone wanted to buy the club it wouldn't be all in for that £400m, I'd imagine he wants to sell the club with all his subsidiaries still taking the brunt of the commercial revenue, who in their right mind would buy into that??

This is how I read it, we pay them for the merchandise, they sell it and keep the lions share of the profits, risk free for SD and just another of the 1000 ways Ashley pockets the club's cash.

I can't bring myself in to this season, I haven't watched a game yet, no longer subscribe to Sky, I've stepped away from anything MA has his grubby mitts on but now I feel like I'm just waiting for the inevitable. It feels like, what's the point of Rafa being here when this time next year he definitely won't, waiting for the inevitable makes it impossible to enjoy the now. Rafa has tried his hand, he's tried to weed Ashley out by bringing Staveley in, but ultimately the fat guy wants to go nowhere, he's raking it in from us. No other manager worth his salt will touch the job now after seeing what they've done to him so it's back to the scrap heap to find a has been to pay pittance to and take the flack for Ashley's misgivings and move the spotlight away for another X amount of years. If Ashley doesn't go this season then NUFC will have lost it's last shred of dignity in Rafa. It seems like half the support couldn't care less though.