Wallsendmag

It's a squad that's been assembled at a cost of around £800m. If there's a lot wrong with it then the problems lie deeper.

This family of dog shaggers continue to be a thorn in our side. See absolutely loads of challenges like that every week in the Premier League and the % of them given as penalties is absolutely miniscule.

No excuse for not performing today. We're well rested up and they played on Thursday night.

Probably the most bizarre game I've attended all season. Finished Gretna 2-7 Berwick Rangers! Gretna went 1-0 up after the Berwick keeper played it out to the centre half who then fell over allowing the Gretna striker to take the ball for the easiest of goals. Berwick then scored twice in 5 minutes to go 2-1 up before Gretna equalised to go in 2-2 at HT. Gretna seemed to then catch the recent NUFC disease (they even play in black and white) of not coming out for the 2nd half and Berwick did a "Barcelona" on them and scored 5 in the 2nd half to run out 7-2 winners. Canny day out. Train to Carlisle, then a further 10 minute train journey from there to Gretna. Strange little place mind. As soon as you step off the train you are greeted with the smell of horse manure in the air which never really disappears. Found a pub called the Gretna Inn which was a bit rough round the edges but had a pool table and darts, with the added bonus of the Berwick president calling in and buying us a drink which was very nice of him. Gretna must have the cheapest admission prices in the league. Was £8 each for us to get in and the bairn was free. Certainly value for money to see 9 goals Standard for the league is around £10/£11 and Linlithgow who are the most expensive charge £14 with concessions paying £11! Due to League restructuring "El Borderco" as Gretna had dubbed it won't exist anymore unless they draw each other in the Cup as next season instead of Lowland and Highland they are splitting the leagues into East and West as apparently this will mean less travelling although I'm not sure if that will turn out to be the case for Berwick.

I'll be rooting for Blyth Town in that one. Enjoyed our visit there on Monday. Nice, friendly club. Been to Bishops once, albeit about 10 years ago and they were an odd bunch to say the least. 2 of their fans arrived by horse.

Don't hold out too much hope for St Mirren mate. Could actually see Celtic being top of the league by close of play tomorrow because Motherwell will fancy ther chances of beating Hearts who are showing signs of struggling under the pressure. Hope I'm wrong, I'd love to see Hearts win the league.

Stan have had a great season overall but bang out of form at the moment which has ended any chances of making the Play offs. We're off to Gretna v Berwick Rangers tomorrow.

Hopefully win on Sunday then don't pick up another point for the rest of the season.

Well it definitely won't be the CL.

It's far lower than the FA or League Cup I'd say. When we won the League Cup last season we had to beat Nottm Forest, Wimbledon, Chelsea, Brentford, Arsenal over 2 legs and the Liverpool in the Final. To compare Chelseas run to Conference League glory they had to overcome the likes of Shamrock Rovers, Astana and Noah. Even their Semi Final opponents were pretty moderate in Djurgardens. Not really arsed either way if we qualify for it or not. It's a competition that we'd be the favourites to win but it has no real prestige. Would be a good place to blood some youngsters and give them plenty of game time to see what they are made of, especially in the group phase, if Howe was that way inclined and winning it does guarantee a Europa League spot which is definitely worth being involved in.

Don't see us making up 4 points on Everton and Brentford in the remaining 7 games so for that reason I can't see us finishing any higher than 9th. I think we finish anywhere between 10th-13th.

Tbf if they wanted to get the team into the WSL they could do it quite easily with pretty modest investment surely. As I've said my interest/knowledge of the women's team is minimal to say the least, and yours will be far greater so my view is probably over simplistic but the impression I get just from reading on here is that there isn't the same interest or enthusiasm in the womens team as there was when Staveley was here.

We'll never know but he has pretty much full control of transfers so you'd think pretty much all of them, as there isn't really much in the way of a team above him. He was a long time admirer of Elanga that's for sure. Last summer was an unprecedented failure in the transfer market. We know that. He signed 4 duds, jury out on another and Thiaw has been pretty good overall. Up until then though our success rate for signings was also unprecedented, but in the the right way.

It shows he has no/little interest in the womens team but I do think he's very invested in their club generally. At least he bothered to turn up for the derby the other week, when none of our ownership could be arsed. I don't follow NUFC women, other than occasionally clicking on the topic on here to see how they're doing but one of the complaints I read is that since Amanda Staveley left there doesn't seem to be a great deal of interest in the womens team from our hierarchy either. Whether that means that our owners have no interest in the club as a whole is up for debate but my opinion would be that whilst Premier League football is big business these days, womens football is still very much small fry in the revenues it can generate and that many club owners, whether that's NUFC or SAFC probably don't think it's worth the time or effort for the likely returns they'd get. That may sound harsh but it's probably reality. When PIF bought us or that kid (his name escapes me) bought the mackems I doubt the womens teams even entered the thought process.

Blyth Derby for us yesterday. Got the train over to Newsham as we were warned parking would be difficult. Quite a funny moment during the 1st half when it came over the PA system that a parking warden had turned up and was putting tickets on all the cars on the grass verge which seen about 30 people go legging it out the gates Match was a typical Derby. Plenty of effort and commitment (well not like us v the mackems) but not much in the way of quality. However Blyth Town took the lead in the 2nd half with arguably the best goal I've seen at Non League level, a volley from outside the area which flew onto the top corner. They added a 2nd and ran out comfortable 2-0 winners which takes them out the relegation zone. Was a more important game for Town than Spartans and I think that showed. Attendance was 2,002 which I'd assume is a record. Surprised they allow that many in. North Shields for example are only allowed 1,500 and I couldn't see how Blyths ground is allowed more other than it's more modern. We bought tickets in advance which was recommended (£10 for me £4 for the bairn). Easy to do and straight into my Google wallet. No queues at the turnstiles either (we got there early). Once inside though you could see they weren’t geared up for crowds like that. My mate was stood in the queue for 45 minutes for 3 pints which meant he missed the last 15 mins of the 1st half and the 1st 15 mins of the 2nd half. Maybe they should have had a couple of extra pop up bars as well to ease the queuing. Anyway they'll have made an absolute fortune yesterday as well as doing the double over their Blyth rivals and pulling out of the relegation zone so a good day for them. A nice way to finish off 3 games in 4 days over the Easter weekend for me as well.

Mike Dean used to absolutely love the limelight

Went a few years ago when Workington played Benfield in the FA Cup. Agree it's a great old ground with very passionate fans. Will be a sad day when it's gone. Anyway Blyth Town v Blyth Spartans for me today to complete 3 games in 4 days.

Should be a belter. Bit pressure on Hearts now being knocked off the top where they've been pretty much all season.

A cracker in Eindhoven yesterday. After watching a ( pretty entertaining) 0-0 at Carlisle on Friday we got a 7 goal thriller. Utrecht went 2-0 up inside 15 mins, PSV turned it around to go 3-2 up before Utrecht equalised late on only for PSV to win it 4-3 in the 94th minute. That's the 2nd 4-3 match I've seen there in my last 3 trips.

What's the average time for a Premier League manager to remain in the same job? 18 months? 2 years?

Just got into Carlisle. We're in the away end. No rain atm but grey skies so can see us getting wet later.

Carlisle v Gateshead tomorrow. PSV Eindhoven v FC Utrecht on Saturday. Blyth Town v Blyth Spartans on Monday. Busy Easter weekend!

He's a centre forward playing as a central midfielder. I'd be surprised if he was happy tbf!

Obviously we'll follow different people but my timeline doesn't represent pure negativity at all. I'd say around 70/30 in favour of Howe if I was having to put a rough figure on it. If that's enough for him to consider leaving then fair enough I suppose but I don't think that would be the case.

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