Darth Crooks

Well he's a buffer in the sense that some fans want to back him and the team before considering anything else. People need to accept theres that risk involved tbh.

I agree he’s become a shield or buffer but it’s not through complicity. He hasn’t let us down like.

It’s preaching to the choir in here like, football is short termist in nature unfortunately - people think season by season. Personally I think any potential boycott has no power if we’re already safe but people were more pliable for the spurs one for that reason. You have to get across that Ashley negates EVERYTHING somehow

Fair enough. What is it if you’ll indulge me. Genuinely interested. It was for a full boycott of a game, and offer those who won't stay away altogether to go in 15 mins late. Hardly groundbreaking stuff i know but there you go Yeah. The 15 min thing is my personal preference as it’ll test the waters. Was listening to the chronicle podcast earlier and I get the impression people that PL status is somehow at risk by doing full boycott. I’d argue that’s moot as this point and hedging your bets but it’s out there.

Fair enough. What is it if you’ll indulge me. Genuinely interested.

I think bizarrely that for all the rhetoric and consensus agreement following the TF forum last week about keeping voices loud and front and centre there’s been next to no fanfare about Saturdays protest and the media presence or correspondan has been poor. I say this with the utmost respect for how hard it is but if they are truly not letting things blow over then it needs to adapt.

It's a forum and i'm offering my opinion, as is everyone else, you don't need to tell us all to get more involved everytime we offer an opinion or idea mate. With respect, it’s a point worth raising if you are going to make the same point more than once (which I agree with and I have no problem with btw) the next logical step is to suggest you get involved.

The super gay-weight title fight

Because reasons.

I don’t understand what he’s supposed to do other than just do better. He doesn’t have the players to play we way people talk about and we don’t have any match winners. Make earlier subs? Motivate players towards what exactly? Fight for the badge and pride in the club? Refuse to sign anyone because he can’t get 1st choices. I don’t get why you’d put such focus on the minutiae when the macro is clearly what’s inhibiting everyone involved.

Unfortunately it’s a must-play game this.

Day outs and now almost meaningless platitudes like ‘what is a club in any case’ are easier to do. At least with Rosa Parks it was fundamentally affecting quality of life. I get the impression many are happy to pay an Ashley tax to get together. I don’t like knocking people and their social lives but to me it’s not worth some fat rich cunt laughing directly at me whilst picking my pocket.

It's also how you end up in a position where £10m is spent on someone like Murphy and rather than it being viewed as a pittance for a young, British player, it's viewed as a waste of a lot of money and we're in a position where some of our fans are thinking like Ashley, completely divorced from the reality of modern day football spending. If he ever played Murphy I would feel differently. This was someone he wanted. Who was our most expensive signing that summer. This isn’t about agreeing with Mike Ashley. Don’t be so fucking stupid. This is about taking the rose tinted glasses off for a moment and actually seeing that Rafa has done a decent job but not amazing, certainly not in the transfer market with what he’s had to spend. The state of the team this year is on him. The same bunch played far better last year. This beggars belief

I count 63.3m on total cack. Which buys you 2/3 competent PL players these days.

Toxic politics is walkways the difference between us and the likes of palace

Having looked at the Twitter comments, I'm even more certain of it now. It's exactly what you'd expect to see - "it'll make no difference", "Ashley doesn't give a shit", "no one's dictating to me whether I support my club", "we were safe when we had the Spurs boycott", "the lads need our support" - All either bollocks based on nothing with a mountain of contrary evidence (Ashley not giving a shit) or giving themselves far too much credit over what they consider to be support. All properly disheartening, but not unexpected in the slightest. Funny how they have these pretend principles over watching matches in silence, but not over handing over money to Ashley so he can systematically destroy the thing they think they're supporting. Maybe you need to change the angle. People love the flags etc and celebrating heritage seems to go down well. People are fed up of sheer ‘negativity’ and perhaps showing protest as something that can be ‘just as fun’ as the match () is needed. Need some quirkiness/sone wit about it to get media traction and the necessary factor.

It needs to shift to a different gear/method. Needs to become more sophisticated.

The other guy looks like he has to look in the back of a spoon to look normal.

I've always said this and nobody has ever agreed with me, today is a good day. I agree.

Rafa fanboys ffs. He’s our manager. Criticise Rafa - fine but what does it come back to tactics? The defence is fine largely and were reliant on duds to score. Motivation? The entire club is toxic and he’s undermined. Recruitment? We all know about that and it’s hardly Rafas wishes. Ultimately, it’s a futile exercise. There’s only so many angles worth coming at it from.

predictive trolling

It is working and has. Be interesting to see how much relies on personnel though. Helped that part of the core of Hughton a squad was PL quality, albeit lower end.

Mate, the team is shite and there’s no one who can put a ball in the net. This is all due to under-investment, not Champions league winning manager Rafa Benitez. He fought tooth and Neil for months to get players in and has to settle for relegation rejects, one that’s been okay and last minute loans. It’s the crux of the issue, the rest is deciding what colour bandage to use when your leg is actually hanging off.