Pilko

Popey won't want to see that one again like.

Happy news. Good for him, decent understudy to Trippier.

I went with a paltry £25.

Gayle to top score in the Championship, 16/1.

Good fitness record too. Last 4 seasons on the trot he's made 35+ league appearances for Leeds.

I think Harrison would be an excellent signing tbh. Works hard, direct, canny goal return and chance creation record, PL experience. Quite a lot of folk on twitter etc calling it "underwhelming" or "uninspiring" etc but I don't agree, I think he'd be class.

Yep. Giving him a 3 year deal at the age of 31 was pure laziness, "that'll do" and saved us having to make another signing.

One of those who's been kept on too long but overall he's served the club well and judging by what Howe has said lately he's an excellent pro and has tried to help the group despite being reduced to "giving Wood a breather for 5 mins" at best last season. Really hope it works out for him, if he can stay fit and play 30+ matches he should be bagging 15 goals in that league no bother.

Hope we keep hold. Looks like a real option.

Would love to see Anderson come on and grab this by the throat, bar the odd Bruno or Jow bit of skill it's been tepid as shit this. Probably understandable due to the heat.

Wood is fucking dreadful

Wood with a great conversion for the All Blacks there.

Perfect blend really. Three footballers and some pua Geordie passion from a lad who just git loves defending and headering.

change from his NUFC era line of referring to "the kid": On Matty Longstaff after his winner vs Man U: "He's been a breath of fresh air. He just wants to play football. I thought 'who's this ginger kid' when we were in China. He's been good in training," On Dan Barlaser after the Blackburn cup game: “It was a big night for him. It would have been nice if we’d had more possession. The kid did OK. I’m sure he’ll have enjoyed the experience even though it would have been hard going at times.” On Tom Allan after his debut in the cup replay vs Rochdale: "I’m delighted for the kid from Cramlington. In the end we had four Geordies on the pitch with him, the Longstaffs and Andy Carroll so it’s great." On Kell Watts when asked if he might play in the season closer vs Liverpool: “There’s a possibility, but the kid hasn’t played for something like five months. It’s a big ask if you haven’t played at all." The bloke's fucking insufferable when it comes to details - not just tactics, how many years he's been stealing a living, the names of fellow managers but the names of his own up-and-coming young players.

You can tell these lads start their season in anger next week whilst we've had a kick about versus Gateshead, like. Hopefully a useful exercise in sharpening up and fitness if nowt else.

And they were worth a grand total of 0 points.

An absolute non-entity of a player, just nothing about him at all. Much like the team he's just joined on loan, actually. Good work Shola - it's a match!

Probably worth a final look at him ahead of Hendrick with him being younger, on lower wages and having had a more productive loan spell (admittedly at a lower level), whereas we know Hendrick is no good at PL level and he couldn't even get into a flagging QPR side and make a difference.

WBA's players must have a headache with Brucey clapping the lap times & Agnew constantly clapping on the sidelines like a monkey with a miniature cymbal. Who was it on here who called Agnew "perma-clap"?

See your point but consider an entire season of 40+ games. Without Botman you're only a Schar injury or suspension away from one of those clownshoes lads at the back, and let's face it, he loves an injury or a suspension. We more or less didn't win a game until Lascelles and Clark were banished (and yes, I'm aware the new signings and bedding in period of Howe were major factors too) I'd much rather Fraser or Miggy made 20-30 starts than either of those two make 10 starts at the back, put it that way.

I don't agree, Lascelles & Clark were such utter liabilities last season that they needed pushing as far down the pecking order as possible, they were costing us basically a goal a game minimum due to a rick or just general poor positioning etc. Fraser and Almiron (and S Longstaff) might have been very patchy with their form but they weren't impacting us negatively anywhere near as those two at the back were.

"Sunlun's going down and the Mags are going up" in 2017 most probably.

Aye. We played plenty competitive games against sides from lower divisions and he made a complete meal of nearly all of them. Rochdale (League 1) - 1-1 draw away, took replay and near enough first XI to win 4-1 Oxford (League 1) - 0-0 draw at home, pissed away 2-0 lead in replay to force extra time & bailed out by late ASM wondergoal WBA (Championship) - 3-0 lead but hanging on in the dying seconds to avoid an equaliser Blackburn (Championship) - Created one chance in 90 mins which we scored, heavily outplayed by their second string (he even admitted as much afterwards) and reliant on Mark bloody Gillespie to keep us in the game Morecambe (League 2) - won 7-0, they had a red card after half an hour - the only one he didn't make a pig's ear of Newport County (League 2) - trailed for 80 mins, late equaliser and had to rely on pens to get past them Also in three pre-seasons he managed to oversee defeats to Preston (Ch), Stoke (Ch), Middlesbrough (Ch - 5-1) and York City (Conf. North), all with more-or-less first choice teams.

Weird that Matty Longstaff got a game despite supposedly being in the "bomb squad" with Clark, Gayle and Hendrick. No sign of Fede or Manquillo either.

Seemed like loads of them kicking around mid-late noughties; Dempsey, Lewis Holtby, McBride, Bocanegra, Beasley, Friedel, Howard, Guzan, DeMerit, Onyewu, Donovan, Bobby Convey. Hardly any in the PL now by comparison.