Hughesy

He's actually made me miss Pardew. Didn't think that could happen.

Absolutely loved Solano - made the players around him (especially Dyer and Bellamy) look so much better with his vision and intelligence.

People always talk about our defence letting us down in the Keegan era, but actually a top class keeper would have made a massive difference. Had we had a Schmeichel/Seaman/Martyn level keeper we would have won the league.

There are seem to be a hell of a lot of incredibly self-important Newcastle fans on twitter. Utterly bizarre. I'm constantly amazed that these twitter "personalities" think anyone gives a shit about their views, podcasts or youtube videos.

Bruce is bad, he makes me miss Pardew. Voted for Carver though. What a fucking list though... shameful.

Just can't see how a super league would work. Genuinely think it would die on its arse pretty quickly. People might be excited for a season or two, but a large proportion of non Big Six fans wouldn't watch (I certainly wouldn't - I barely watch the Champions League now) and I think Big Six fans would find it relatively dull after a while.

Totally agree - it's just a sad indictment of his terrible coaching.

Decent discussion on it here.

Spot on.

I certainly think it's debatable one - I'm not sure I get the uproar about this particular decision to be honest. Did Dier handball it deliberately? Probably not, but the extension of his arm happens after his jump and isn't being used to propel himself into a jump as far as I can see (or for balance). Was his hand in an unnatural position? I would argue it was. Do Spurs get an advantage from it hitting Dier's hand? Yes - it stops the trajectory of the ball towards the goal. If the penalty wasn't given, I wouldn't be annoyed about it, but I can certainly see why it was given. The idea that this, of all decisions, is the one that's got everyone riled up slightly baffles me.

That sounds really sensible - quite like the idea of different levels of punishment to allow some context to the decision.

Well there was always an element of doubt of whether it was deliberate or not in the previous rules before VAR but the current rules make it 1000x worse. Agreed. I just can see why this one was given, personally. But I seem to be the only person who does. And for the record, I was quite keen for us to lose today. Under the rules it is a pen, but I think the rule is a sham and clearly not thought through at all. What do you think the handball rule should be?

Well there was always an element of doubt of whether it was deliberate or not in the previous rules before VAR but the current rules make it 1000x worse. Agreed. I just can see why this one was given, personally. But I seem to be the only person who does. And for the record, I was quite keen for us to lose today.

I actually don’t think the handball law is a particularly easy rule to get right personally.

Wilson is definitely a step up on what we have, but I'm not blown away but his goalscoring record to be honest. And I can't imagine he's going to improve that much, given he's 28 and has had 2 major injuries.

A real shame we couldn't convince Merino to stay. So much better than the likes of Shelvey - we could have really built a team around him.

Still remember the day I heard the news about him. Absolutely devastating - can't say a death of well known figure has ever particularly hit me, but when the news broke, it was just awful. He seemed like such a great guy and a brilliant player.

The nda ended when they pulled out surely. Why would anyone involved in this deal agree to an NDA with such an end date? It probably lasts for 2 years I imagine.

Genuinely didn't think this would happen. Fuck it.

Does this Henry Mauriss chap have any money? Not a lot on the internet about him.

I'd definitely take Nagelsmann over Pochettino personally. But quite frankly, I'd be delighted with any of them.

On a purely superficial level, Bruce has done ok. I don't hate the bloke, but it's clear to anyone with a working brain cell and a pair of fully functioning eyes that we have regressed, based on any statistical measure and from simply watching us play. He should be thanked for his service and sacked. He's achieved his boyhood dream, he didn't disgrace himself and he can either go and enjoy his pay off or go and manage a Championship team again.

I actually think Delaney is a good journalist and he raises some very important points about the takeover, but he seems to get his approach all wrong. The hectoring tone is actually creating more of a siege mentality among fans than there needs to be and is only encouraging fans to become more tribal about it.

I appreciate it will only take seconds for accusations of whataboutery, but if the PL blocked the takeover, surely they'd need to: (i) revisit the Man City takeover and/or (ii) actually include clear guidelines on what which entities are or are not acceptable as potential owners?

Just a quick question on the concept of sportswashing that I'm finding hard to square away - lots of journalists seem to be writing as if it's a given that sportswashing has positive effects for the relevant regime. Is that really true? Does having, let's say, 10,000 NUFC fans on twitter stating that the Saudis are actually stand up guys really make much difference? Does owning a PL football club really add a veneer of respectability to a regime? It seems to me that there's been far more written in the papers about how awful Abu Dhabi and Qatar are in the last 5 years than I ever recall before, which would imply it actually has the opposite effect?