Chicken Dancer

Would be pretty suicidal to go into the season with the 3 we have imo. Hopefully that’s bollocks.

Game of opinions isn’t it. Who is?

Whilst we need to be more ruthless with some, this is definitely a good thing. I still think he’s our best centre half. Hopefully the injury hasn’t fucked him too much.

Ok mate

Apologies if I’m reading your post wrong but you honestly think the club expected to lose 17 games last season? Not being a prick btw just genuinely curious if you believe that. I find it very hard to believe they expected us to be that bad.

When the club are putting out and saying the stuff they are, the situations are so different (Isak + Gordon). It’s very clear to me that this is an amicable parting of ways and was probably agreed he could leave last summer or during the season. Good luck to him, I’d like to think he gets a decent reception if he ever returns for a CL game or something.

I do like him but always thought it’s a bit of a red flag that his (comfortably) best performances have always been at LB. Not that it’s a bad thing as such just when we have Hall he’s never going to get consistent game time there. I’d be open to selling if it was ridiculous, but still think he’s a good RB when he’s on it (and fit).

No chance they’d sell him to us. They’d rather release him into the Wear than sell to us at any cost. Really wouldn’t be with the shit they’d get.

Diogo Costa would be one hell of a coup.

Personally no grudges with him. Think we will miss him and people will realise pretty fast too, unless we absolutely hit on his replacement. However I think he holds a higher opinion of himself than he warrants in reality, though the fact he may well be England’s starting LW and has Bayern + Barcelona sniffing probably means the truth is somewhere in the middle. Please don’t spaff the money on someone like Jaidon Anthony for everyone’s sake

Christ I wasn’t having a pop at Howe man Just pointing out the feeling of the fanbases are pretty similar right now.

It’s mad that we’re almost at the same crossroads as them. Both managers have credit in the bank after impressive 24/25 seasons but both managers now split the opinion of their respective fanbases 12 months later after a disappointing 25/26. Both clubs spent a lot of money last summer on players that haven’t worked so far either. I wouldn’t put money on either being here this time in a year.

£60m would be a disgrace like but thankfully Jacobs is a nerdy little gobshite. He’s worth a lot more than Elanga + £5m. £70m at the very least but I’d hope for £75m +.

Play him in the middle of the 3 and give him plenty of starts/minutes. Hes the most talented youngster we’ve had in a generation, let’s get him some England caps and start the next wave of NUFC by building around him. Not much better than a local lad in the side and actually being good.

To be fair they’re lucky that the 3 that came up don’t stand much of a chance if we’re being honest. They’ll not be in any real danger of going down I reckon. Almost certainly see a drop off but they’d all take 17th if they get to the knockouts and beat us again. The last 12 months have been absolute dreamland for them, make no bones about it.

Our wingers are a low bar tbf He’s a funny one though, as I said he’s got a knack of scoring goals (important ones too) but he doesn’t really ever beat a man in the way you’d want a winger to. I’d edge towards keeping him like, unless it was stupid money.

He’s a very, very valuable squad player. It’s an asset to have someone who has a habit of scoring goals. However I do see him a bit like Nolan in the sense that if he doesn’t score he’s not really doing much else. If we could get £40m + we’d be daft not to sell, but I could argue the other way too. It would be a tough decision.

By far my biggest fear in all of this. He absolutely doesn’t deserve that but a slow start and it’s 100% happening. The away end yesterday apparently turned a little, matter of time before it does at home. We’re quite lucky the season ended when it did for that reason.

The whole ‘we used to be even more shit so this is ok’ doesn’t really wash anymore mind. But I do agree with others - a fresh start and clean slate for everyone next season, but we absolutely must get off to a fast (ish) start with some good performances to boot. The football served up at times this season has been fucking dire, though granted not exclusive to us.

They’ll inevitably have a drop off given their xG and expected points on top of navigating a pretty brutal schedule, but they’ll not be in real danger of relegation imo. Staying up year one was the ticket and they’ve done it handsomely. It’s our turn to take shit sadly. I could live with it being once a decade.

Are we really in a position to making project signings for £60m + and then in the same breath complaining about PSR? I’m on record on here as defending Woltemade and think he’s a silky player, but somebody at the club should have probably mentioned he looks nowt like a Howe player, never mind a Howe striker. I think he was a desperate signing but also an opportunistic one. What you say about Wissa is true, he was meant to be the goals but we also should have never paid £55m in a million years. A suicidal move in a world of PSR.

Course it has, it was always going to. But teams sell players and they need to either evolve their system or sign a player as close as possible (in terms of style) to make it work. Bournemouth are a perfect example, sold a few last summer and their best player in January and haven’t missed a beat. We signed a striker for £60/70m who couldn’t be further from Isak if we tried.

Sums up nicely how I feel too tbh. There’s nobody else who I’d want to represent us as manager and he’s by far the best manager of my lifetime. I’m absolutely desperate for him to turn it round and be here for a decade +. I don’t think he will though, and it pains me to say that. I actually don’t think he will see out 26/27.

It’s been said by numerous people in numerous threads for the entirety of the season. I totally understand when it’s being said in the infancy of the season but I kept seeing people say it in March, April and beyond and it’s just daft. Entire thing from June 2025 onwards has been a shitshow, both on and off the pitch.

We sold Isak in August though.