timeEd32

They should have done an internal interview released via video (and, if necessary, edited).

Just root against them every week in every competition. It won't matter if they are actually run by the smartest group of businessmen the world has ever seen. If they do not perform, if they are not in the Champions League, and if they are not considered one of the world's elite then this will all come crumbling down.

Surely there's a club somewhere between Sheffield and Santorini where we can cover a chunk of his wages and get him out of here.

You're ignoring reports that Eddie was very supportive of moving in this direction: Howe has pushed the club to modernise and become more scientific in their recruitment processes, which is part of the reason a sporting director with Mitchell’s profile was sought. One of the criticisms levelled at Howe by some supporters — and rejected by the head coach — is that he prefers Premier League additions. Howe would contest that Newcastle’s recruitment team hold far greater data and analysis of domestic and European targets than of those from further afield and that he would acquire more players from elsewhere if similar levels of information were available to him. I really think the main driver of Howe's Germany interview was Bunce. He may have been unhappy about how Staveley left or the manner in which Mitchell was appointed, but there's no reason to think he's anti-DoF. He knew this was happening even if it didn't play out exactly as he would have wanted. But he has said many times, including again today, that training sessions are the highlight of coaching for him. Having a performance director - someone who would have input on how training is run - brought in without his say would have been a major red flag to Eddie. The fact this appears to be going well is huge. That's not to say he hasn't had or continues to have some issues with Mitchell, but it definitely seems likely that it's being blown out of proportion.

This is one of our all-time worst transfers. Seriously bothers me more than selling Minteh.

Hugely promising. I think his relationship with Bunce going south could have more quickly led to him leaving than whatever is happening with Mitchell. And anything that helps on the injury front would obviously be welcome.

Our whole season will come down to our away form. It's a huge month ahead.

Not sure what's funnier in that video - Murphy's absolute bewilderment at his own finish or Longstaff's attempt to kick a ball.

Release clause or not, if someone comes to the table with more than £100m we're going to be talking and he's probably going to leave. That combined with the very small number of clubs who can actually afford that is why I really don't care if he has one (this is all assuming the release clause would be at least that much; I can't imagine we'd agree to anything lower).

The way I read is that he was inferring what's been happening previous has not been at elite standards.

This makes sense:

Zhegrova will be 26 next summer. Quite certain that's an age we will be avoiding moving forward unless there is an absolute bargain to be had.

There's nothing wrong with release clauses if they are sufficiently high. You can basically count on one hand the number of clubs with the ability to pay a nine digit transfer fee.

Gives me MLS vibes. Like a bigger Red Bull Arena.

A few random things I noticed now that the European fixtures are set: City's fixtures before / after we play them over a 13 day span are Inter (h), Arsenal (h), Watford (h), Newcastle (a), Slovan Bratislava (a). The Arsenal game is 24h after our match that weekend, plus the midweek game, and Bratislava is just three days after we play them. Chelsea's fixtures over a 13 day span are Liverpool (a), Panathinaikos (a), Newcastle (h), and Man United (a). R4 of the League Cup would be after the Chelsea game, so we definitely will not be playing midweek while they are in Greece. We play Arsenal immediately following Chelsea. Arsenal's fixtures in a 13 day span include Liverpool (h), Newcastle (a), Inter (a), Chelsea (a). Both of us could have League Cup games mid-week before we play. Liverpool's fixtures following the October international break are: Chelsea (h), Leipzig (a), Arsenal (a), Brighton (h), Leverkusen (h), Villa (h), {international break}, Southampton (a), Real Madrid (h), Man City (h), Newcastle (a), Everton (a). Unfortunately we play all of Villa, Man United, and Spurs during the Christmas period, but these four have all lined up quite nicely and three of the four are home games for us.

We have to find ways to rotate given the number of games he's played. Annoyingly for us he has to go back to South America two more times in the next two months. It's unfortunate we already had to play him for 75 minutes in our first attempt to rest him. But I agree, I'd be surprised if it happens this weekend.

If anything it'd make some sense to play Tonali and Longstaff (rest Bruno) given the various travel schedules. Doubt that happens though. I think Tonali will start.

I'll be quite disappointed if we don't have some kind of update on either the stadium or training ground. I'm trying to be patient as this is clearly a complicated problem and the two are likely related (at least in some scenarios), but we need to either have our matchday + commercial revenue in the same stratosphere as the top 6 or we need a world class academy producing first team talent and sales revenue to achieve any long term ambitions. Also I'm dying for renderings.

That is a player I had completely forgotten about. Pretty sure I really wanted us to sign him when he was at Wigan.

$82.50 or $660 for eight home games, plus depending on location an additional $80 to $850 for the annual seat license. That's actually quite reasonable -- ticket prices in the US have become absurd.

Who the hell is tracking that? I can now move on with my day.

This will be the most frustrating part to me if it doesn't work for whatever reason. A Brighton type model, but with a larger budget (which means attracting a higher level and keeping who we want) and a consistent manager with the ability to get the most out of just about any player would take us a very, very long way.

Most bookings for non-football actions (I just made up this term). Dissent, shirts off, time wasting, etc.

Most yellow cards without getting a red?

That list is making me think it's something like fouls drawn per game, but Joelinton is throwing me off. And I think Bruno would be higher.