Novocastrian

Bloke is a plank.

If we'd finished 17th last season I'd be more than happy with a mid-table finish this season. What I'm saying is that due to Howe and his team's management and the clever recruitment in January we have already achieved that mid-table position - indeed for a short while near the end of the season we were 9th. We've effectively jumped a season ahead of where, even the owners, probably thought we'd be. The owner's themselves have signalled their ambition in the press, they want the club to challenge at the very top of the table and in Europe. We are now ideally placed to take the next step and challenge for the top 8 and the fringe European places. To do that we need more quality, especially in the forward positions where we have been short of goals. It's up to the owners now to bring in the right players, they probably will but I'll be disappointed if they don't try to build that top 8 challenging team now. The Osimhen's et al are probably out of reach for now but there's plenty of value on the continent that would improve us.

I’m not, I was at St James’ with 16,000 when things were genuinely bad so I know disappointment. We have a real chance to kick on now, instead of being grateful we won’t be in another relegation battle we should be looking further up the table and looking at the players we need to challenge 6th to 8th. I would be slightly disappointed with another mid-table finish because I think we can do better. This is largely academic at the moment because we don’t know what business the club will do between now and the window closing. That’s when we’ll know the extent of the club’s shorter term ambitions i.e. are they are going for the ‘slow build’ which may be at odds with what they’ve sold the likes of Bruno and Botman.

Ah ok, was panicking for a minute or two.

Why are we surprised that clubs don’t want to sell their best players? If a team came in with a £35m bid for ASM we’d quite rightly be saying he’s not for sale or putting a £60m price tag on him. If PIF don’t bring in the quality we need in forward positions very soon we are looking at another mid table, ‘consolidation’ season. Frustrating because we have a real opportunity to drive on and challenge for Europe.

We need to be bold in the transfer market, I'm not suggesting we bring in Isak, Diaby and Paqueta in one window but Paqueta, in particular, would be transformational. A bona fide marquee signing in my opinion. The 'slow builders' in the fanbase have been worn down by the Ashley era. I was around in the 80s when things were really shite and then saw what could happen with the right people in the dugout, in the boardroom and on the pitch. This club is on the verge of really going places, a spark will set it off. We absolutely don't need a mid-table consolidation season, there's a soft underbelly to the PL which we tore through in the second half of last season. I believe we beat everyone from 9th down to 20th (apart from Watford who scored against us in the last minute). Paqueta with a younger back up striker and a Sarr type signing would signal we mean business and would allow a challenge on the top 8 or even Europe.

Looks like there’s about 500-600 left outside family areas.

From what I can see there’s about 1600-1800 seats left for sale not including family areas.

We were 9 points off 6th last season after giving the other 19 clubs a 14 match head start. Sustainable would be the same squad as last year trying to replicate the previous season like Ashley’s model. We are improving throughout the club, both on and off the pitch. We have become very difficult to beat, especially at home which will be the bedrock of our season. There’s nothing to be afraid of apart from City/Liverpool. Top 6 isn’t a pipe dream, it’s there if we are bold in the transfer market and continue our progress in the coaching department.

Absolutely, it will be difficult, other teams will also have improved. It’s achievable though, anyone who was around in the 90s knows what this club is like when it gathers momentum - we have a real chance.

Not in the slightest? Even though for half a season our record puts us firmly in the top 6, maybe even top 4. We’ll have a full Howe pre-season and several new, higher quality players. it’s more than realistic, the teams we are competing against, Hammers, Foxes etc, we more than matched in the second half of last season.

We won’t really understand the extent of PIF’s ambition for us until the window closes. I know we are desperately trying to not be the type of fans we are often mischaracterised as in the MSM, i.e. demanding Mbappe and Haaland but there has to be a middle way between fantasy galactico football and the ‘slow build’ we are being fed in the press, quite possibly encouraged by the ownership to dampen expectations. First things first, we don’t need a mid-table transition season. Howe and the players have already achieved that by finishing 11th against all of the odds. We should now be aiming for at least 8th but realistically we have the resources and the acumen to challenge the top 6. The ‘slow build’ idea is hopefully just a distraction but, I believe, the likes of Botman and Bruno were enticed by the idea we’d be challenging for the CL places in the next 3 or 4 windows not after 4 or 5 seasons. I said at the end of the season we need another 3/4 ‘Bruno’s’ (should we call them Purples? ?)to challenge for Europe. Is Botman a Bruno? Possibly. You never know how players will settle in the PL but Paqueta and Diaby are the type of quality we need. We should also pursue a striker with a similar profile. We’ll have a better idea about where all this is heading in a couple of weeks I suppose.

Really? The city boundaries are a bit arbitrary, the Parklands site is further from St James’ Park than the current Benton site. North Tyneside is effectively Greater Newcastle.

Shola from Fenham?

Was going to create it today.

I suppose I need an additional membership now. My son is only 7 but might want to go with a mate occasionally. How do you link memberships?

I live just the other side of Bath and visit Bristol quite often. Always amazed by how huge and rambling the city is, in that respect it reminds me a bit of Glasgow. Traffic situation is horrendous.

I've been watching the club since the early-mid 1980s and never really been one for individual players. Even as a kid I didn't really have any football 'heroes', the stand-out player on the pitch when I first went to St James' was David McCreery. I admired Beardsley, Gazza, Shearer and have always had a soft spot for the more enigmatic players such as Mirandinha, Ginola, Asprilla, Ben Arfa etc. I think Bruno may just be my favourite all time NUFC player, the way he casually dropped into a relegation battle and just grabbed the whole thing by the scruff of the neck. The mental fortitude, leadership and determination he displays every game. He's priceless to us now and hopefully he'll be our leader for the next 5 or 6 years.

Meh, he’s promising but there’s other options. Not bothered about this at all. His game would probably suit Serie A better than the hurly burly of the PL.

He’s a nuisance for defenders but I don’t even think he’s winning the physical battles. If he does get a head on it it’s rarely directed to an NUFC player joining the attack. As a ‘hold up forward’ he’s been mostly ineffective. A few years ago he was decent at getting on the shoulder of the last defender, looked a bit more mobile and direct. He’s Frank Pingelesque now.

Everton still right in this, would love to see them go down. Leeds are the consolation prize.

By my calculation we’ve beaten every team from 8th to 20th (apart from Watford who scored in 90th minute) in the last 3 months or so. We absolutely should be looking to challenge in the top 7 next season.

All of our issues today; failure to create chances and allowing Liverpool to carve their own chances, were largely self generated. I didn’t see a world class performance from Liverpool. Just a very good team rotating 4 or 5 first teamers keeping possession and controlling the game.

About time…

Not denying how difficult it is to play against a team like Liverpool but every time we’ve had the ball we’ve made bad decisions and given it away. We’ve not even posed them a problem yet which is disappointing.