54

Awarded Freedom of Newcastle: https://www.newcastleunited.com/en/news/eddie-howe-granted-freedom-of-newcastle

Hey @Froggy, want to become Newcastle United Sporting Director

Not that we didn't know already but:

I completely forgot he existed, add him to the miss pile

Howes way of doing things: Absolute Hits: Trippier, Bruno, Burn, Botman, Isak, Gordon, Barnes, Hall, Livramento, Pope, Tonali Provided Value in some way: Wood, Targett, Minteh, Kelly. Too Early to Tell: Osula. Miss: Vlach, Ashby, Karius Yeah fuck that strategy, too many hits for my liking

Huh? How is it a waste?

It saved us from relegation having been winless after 14 games, won us our first domestic trophy in 70 years, and got us Champions League football for 2 out of 3 seasons, and in exchange we sold a player who was very likely a PSR flip purchase anyway, and a young talent, who may or may not have been able to take the step up a level (Even if I really liked Anderson as a player). I think it did more than a fine job personally

Its also worth noting that there wasn't a "A Replacement will be appointed in due course" sentence at the end of the statement the club released. Which makes it seem like things may already be in the pipeline.

Wasn't there a report a few weeks back that we where looking at appointing a Technical Director? It does make me wonder if this was in the pipeline for a little while, and they've just waited until the end of the season to confirm it, as to not cause some mid-season rumbles.

Well, its never dull is it. He came in with a lot of hype and prestige against his name, but ultimately seemed like he caused rifts internally and like he was needlessly antagonistic at times. I can't really say this is a surprise, after his set of interviews during the International break last September, it felt like the writing was on the wall a little bit. He felt very at odds with the culture of the club, and seems to be critical of it, so if that is the case, him leaving is for the better. Part of me wonders (And this is pure conjecture on my part) if he was half hoping we wouldn't have the season we just had and he could replace Howe with his own man, and change the club around however he imagined it, but with Howe delivering the best season is everyone's lifetime, the roles flipped and now Howe is the one who is emboldened. Which i'm here for massively tbh. So thanks for selling Kelly I guess.

Mary Earps retires from International Football with immediate effect.

Soon:

I hope you plan on doing a season average like last year

Oh that's @Rich job these days, he does a way better job than I ever could, he includes rumours and everything. Its elite.

I know its designed for Rugby, but Twickenham would be great for semi-finals, from what i've seen it can generate a great atmosphere probably better than Wembley, and would give that "Special" day feel that you get when you get to Wembley, but it still preserves it for the biggest occasions. As would the Principality or Murrayfield, but I think it needs to be an English stadium for an English competition.

Really good article from Daniel Storey, which is well worth the 10 minutes it takes to read: https://inews.co.uk/sport/things-i-learned-doing-the-92-3713551

Apparently Jobe Bellingham could be on his way to Frankfurt.

There isn't actually a whole lot in that article from Ornstein. All its saying is that we're not willing to extend his current contract, which I think most people would see as a positive, but we're going to talk to him and his representatives, to see if we can find a deal that'll suit us. The article doesn't even say that we've offered him a deal, just that we're in negotiations, which is something I would expect basically any club to do when a players contract is expiring, very rarely do clubs just cease talking to players when the season ends if their contract is up. I'm not sure there is really a whole lot to get worked up about that this point to be honest.

The table after Bretford Away: The Table in the 23 games since:

Good shout that actually, think I'd have Linekar just ahead of him, but it's close.

That Gary Linekar montage Easily the best presenter in my lifetime, and not just in football but in anything really, so sad he's been forced out.

Done that already

It feels like this window is going to have the most churn in a very long time. In terms of depth, we already need the following: Centre Back, Left Back, Centre Mid & Right Wing Then you count the fact we're likely to lose: Longstaff, Wilson, Dubs, Vlach, Ruddy, Lascelles. Then add in, Gordon, Willock and Trippier as potentially exits. With the exits, I feel as a minimum this summer we really need: 1x Goalkeeper, 1x Centre Back, 1x Left Back, 1x Centre Mid, 1x Right Wing 1x Striker Potentially add a right back another centre back and a left winger if the potential exits leave. Until I sat down a wrote this, I didn't quite realise just how much work we needed to do, it's a mammoth summer

If we're going purely based on aesthetics it has to be Isak Vs Liverpool at SJP imo. But in terms of what it meant, Burns goal will live on for eternity.