timeEd32

This aspect of Freedman also worried me tbh. He's gone back to Palace 3 or 4 times in his career in various roles. It was usually after the other place didn't work out to be fair, but I'm glad he did the u-turn before actually joining us.

Yeah, I don't like that. All things being equal I love the fact Giles is from the area / a supporter. If it worked out he'd be here for ages.

Sky should copy what ESPN has done with the NFL and NBA and pay one or two genuine news breakers (e.g. Ornstein) a lot of money. It's odd to me that they seemingly don't care.

I was going to say a points total of at or around 70 feels like a more reasonable goal. Wherever that falls so be it.

This is what my ‘ridiculous’ comment is based on. If we assume City and Arsenal take two spots then there are only two left for the rest of the established six. Newcastle could have a very, very good season and still not qualify for the Champions League. The expectation is based on some level of overachieving combined with continued underachieving by at least three clubs. That’s why it feels like a stretch to me, but I can also see why people feel like it’s the most appropriate goal.

Bruno may leave for various reasons, but I’m pretty sure our players have a good perspective on where we are, where we’re trying to go, and how extraordinarily challenging this season was.

Since we’re not in Europe playing the likes of Villa and Liverpool while they are preoccupied with the CL would be preferable. But I also kind of want our first game to be Liverpool with a new manager at SJP.

I think people are going to expect Champions League, which I both understand and also think is a ridiculous expectation. Annoyingly we’re really going to want the English clubs to do well in Europe.

We’ll be happy about this result in a decade when we’re attempting the first double double.

Yeah, I put the translated from Spanish quote in his thread I think. Basically said it was one of his non-negotiables. I agree it seems odd that it would matter that much and who knows on source/translation, but footballers have made decisions based on far stranger things.

If reports are to be believed it's also dependent (from the player's side) on City winning tomorrow.

This is far more interesting than talking about DCL.

I agree from a squad standpoint, but it seems questionable financially unless we have more headroom than believed.

Selling Pope and bringing in a young, promising keeper as backup (or an old, cheap one) would make more sense from a resource standpoint compared to having Pope and Giorgi.

This happens all of the time.

From Hope's latest article: We understand some of the references for Spors - the global sporting director of the 777 Group - have suggested he may not be the best fit for Newcastle, and it is far from a given they will now revert to the 41-year-old.

Pope is more like 2.01m, not that it matters if this guy is coming in.

A better way to think about it is these three players will be adding (best guess) ~£24m in annual costs (amortisation + wages). We'll need to (more than) offset that by reducing wages/amortisation elsewhere / increasing revenue.

I'm not sure that there's anything breaking here, though I missed this last week... (badly translated from Spanish)

I'm excited about this and also feel bad / conflicted as it relates to Pope. Big fan of his and I'm also admittedly a little confused about what we're planning to do here.

In mid-November he got into that argument with the fan at Bournemouth and then I think it was the following international break he left the England squad for a "personal matter." Within a couple weeks of that his form went into a tailspin with moments at both Everton and Chelsea seeming more mental than physical. No idea what went on, but lots of signs pointing to some distraction in his life.

This saga has brought it back for me and for that I am grateful.

I like Adebayo a lot. Awoniyi another that I'm surprised isn't talked about more. Both had injury problems this season, so slightly small samples below but... Only players with more G / 90 than Adebayo: Haaland, Isak, Jota, Palmer, Olise, Wood, Richarlison, Trossard, Salah Only players with more G+A / 90 this season than Awoniyi: Palmer, Olise, Haaland, De Bruyne, Jota, Salah, Isak, Richarlison, Wilson, Watkins, Foden, Nunez, Bailey, Son, Mateta

I think most are only opposed to Bowen based on what we assume the price would be, plus the fact he'll turn 28 this season. He'd be perfect if money were no object.

Somewhere between 5'10" and 6'3". His height seems to be one of the great mysteries of the modern world.