ponsaelius

It was such a great day all round and I thought brilliantly organised by all parties, with a lovely family atmosphere. So glad that it didn't chuck it down too. On a personal level we made a full day of it taking the rents and my sis to Zucchini's for lunch, then had a wander up to Meli cafe at top of Northumberland Street for a coffee to watch the crowds build from the window. So many businesses in the city must have done well from the footfall. Once we got to about 4 we had an amble down past the Civic and got a roadside spot on the central motorway. Had no phone signal at all but that almost made it better not knowing where the bus was at - got genuinely quite giddy with excitement when it approached around the corner . Wasn't sure whether we'd bother with the Town Moor but given you could just follow the bus it felt daft not to - we ended up staying right to the end of the light show. Even the faff getting back home couldn't really spoil things - just a great buzz all day long. While I'm gutted we got knocked out of the FA Cup it was great that we were able to have yesterday - don't think we'd have been able to do it otherwise.

This City side is mad narrow like, there's no width at all at either wing or full back. It does feel like their system fails without the complete possession control that Rodri gives.

Whats up with Marmoush not playing, has he done anything at all except that hat trick against us?

Even so, he's missed the ball and gone studs up on his ankle in the box. It's a clear foul, dive or not.

Looked a blatant pen to me. Unfortunate, but blatant.

Steve was my barber round here until he closed up suddenly last year and I never knew why. Half watched this clip when it first was shared and never realised it was him! Gutted to hear about his illness now but glad he got to see us lift the trophy.

Sure Odemwingie is born in old USSR and raised in Russia, so poss him?

Do we think David is likely given we have Isak. I just don't see him coming here to be a rotation/backup. I've always felt he would be a likely Inter signing given the way they target frees and play two up front.

Is it bad that the idea of Nigerian money at Gateshead worries me

Surely not, he played 27 games for Udinese last season

The club website article about the parade does literally say it will turn left at the bottom of Gallowgate onto Percy Street

I'm really interested to see how busy it's going to be and where people end up. There's gonna be people congregating on top of the multistoreys along Percy Street unless they block access.

I think he'll go for about what Livramento cost plus add ons tbh.

Pretty sure the announced road closures are to prevent through traffic into the city centre, not the bus route itself. The route will be as above. Would be cool if it was to go past monument like.

Fair - I had the route the wrong way round tbf when I posted in here the other day but they had been trying to sort it from the outset.

Because it hadn't been signed off by the relevant authorities, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that it was always the plan. They went public with the Town Moor event because they needed to gauge numbers and capacity.

'Sense has taken place' - they were always going to do a parade man

Completely two footed IMO.

From what I've read it seems likely Everton will bite the bullet in selling Branthwaite to fund a bit of a squad rebuild. Wouldn't be at all surprised if we considered him.

It wasn't just us - lots of big clubs looked at Huijsen last summer. The lad ended up going to Bournemouth for a large part because he was guaranteed to play every single game at 19 and because the club were happy to include a very achievable release clause for him to make a big move 1-2 years down the line. That is their transfer model - as it is with Brighton. As much as we can't afford to make every player a sure thing first starter, we equally can't afford to 'spread our bets' on a load of cheaper development project players on the promise of them moving on from us. It's a fine balance to strike and I think people have been overly critical of our transfer policy at times given our hit rate.

Spot on - he's overcame that doubt for me too. Plus we smacked a full strength Arsenal 4-0 over two legs as well - and showed huge tactically flexibility to achieve that. This cup win should give him pretty much unlimited credit in the bank going into the next couple of years to get the next step right.

Obviously it goes without saying but as a club we were extremely unlucky to end up with Mike Ashley just right at the point where European football, and the Premier League, was about to go into overdrive in terms of global TV exposure and commercial growth. Ashley might actually have been an acceptable football club owner in the 90s (particularly at a smaller club) - but in an era where speculating to accumulate (and thinking beyond the bottom line season to season) suddenly became the thing you had to do he was the worst possible owner you could possibly have.

I'd be annoyed if we don't price him out of a move basically. He has three years left - we can absolutely afford to keep him another year without seeing any drop in value. If no new deal is signed then you have to consider it next year probably, but not now.