Paullow

Bournemouth's last 6 games after this is: Man Utd (A) Tottenham (H) Leicester (H) Man City (A) Southampton (H) Everton (A) I can't see them getting much joy from the first four, so they really could all ready be down by the Southampton match if we beat them, so they really need to win on Wednesday to have any real hope.

To be honest, I actually hope we lose this one. We're on 39 points - Norwich would have to win 6 of their final 7 games to pass us, and maybe even draw the other. Villa need at least 4 wins from their last 6 games, Watford would need at least 11 point from their last 6, and West Ham have to play both Villa and Watford, so points are clearly getting dropped there between the 3 of them, leaving even less margin for error in their other matches, so we're basically like 99.9999% safe (even if we lost every other match 0-10). Like many others, I'd far rather BOTH West Ham and Villa went down, and the way Bournemouth are playing that isn't looking too likely, so they'd really need to win this one if there's any hope of that, and I'll be in the same midset for the Watford match as well. I'd be happy if he rested a lot of players, take some out of the squad completely to save the long trip, and then get them all back in for the 'home' match against West Ham on Sunday. Looking at our remaining matches, I would like to beat West Ham, but not really too fussed about any of the others, and I can certainly see the appeal of finishing on 42 points around 15th, for obvious reasons, should the takeover actually happen. Bit of a shit situation to be in, but that's where I personally stand.

Now we're effectively safe, I'm now in the mindset of not really being too bothered how we get on going forward. It's obviously nice winning matches, but I wouldn't be gutted if we faired poorly and ended up 16th or so (assuming the takeover goes through), however, I really hope we beat Villa and West Ham - I'd love both to go down, but I think it'll just be one of them as Norwich look gone, and Bournemouth look clueless. I'd quite happily lose to Bournemouth next week to put the pressure on both of these.

To be fair, they have been planting the seeds for a year or two now, long before the George Floyd incident. The likes of Reo-Coker, Ameobi etc. can certainly thank the colour of the skin, but yes, it does seem now that there must be 1 on a 2 or 3 person panel. They must absolutely love Aluko.

They wouldn't have gone up. They would have had a chance of going up via the Play Offs. It's all if's and but's and maybe's, but in Boo Boys above scenario, they would have gone up automatically. They ended on 59 points from their 36 games, which is a PPG of 1.638. Had they not conceded that 90+6 goal against Gillingham, they'd have an extra 2 points on the board, and Bristol Rovers were in awful form, they lost 3-1 to Southend on 7th March and actually lost 3-0 to Sunderland on Feb 22nd, and their record since boxing day was P14 W1 D4 L9, so 7 points from 14 games going into their match. Had Sunderland won then they would have had 64 points from their 36 games, not 59, which is 1.777 points per game, and Rotherham went up on 1.771. Of course, other clubs would be saying if we did this, and that...but it does just show the fine margins, and they (Sunderland) were on a right roll in February, winning 4 games in a row with 4 clean sheets, but then only earned 2 points from their 'final' 4 matches.

Looking at this guy's timeline and I can't decide if it'd be better if he was taking the p*ss or not. dedication either way. I know who he is. Lived in the same street in Birtley as my mate when I was a kid. He's got a fair few screws loose. He and his family were known as the "smelly Ellys" by neighbours. Fun fact for you there. Is his brother Craig, because there's someone else posting pretty much the same all the time?

The same issue was brought up in late January when the news first broke: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tv-piracy-row-could-hit-newcastle-united-takeover-bid-7lh9mqh9r

Speaking of Warren Barton, there's a half hour interview with him about the takeover that's jut been recorded. I've not listened to it yet, but here it is: Big fan of Warren. Doesn't get the same recognition as some players of that era, but a long serving player who always put a shift in, and always has good words to say. Sometimes when you're watching a stream and we win you can tell he's buzzing. Also crazy to think he cost £4m in 1995 (as a right back), whereas a bulk of our first team now cost around the same price like Hayden, Yedlin, and most of the CBs.

There's a huge difference though, we were bottom 6 for much of the season, relegation zone at Christmas, won a few games in the second half to sneak into 10th, including Chelsea 3-0 on the final day, who were well and truly on the beach and not playing for Conte, and without that we'd have been about 14th. There's still a top or 'big' 6, and after that you have a group of Everton, Leicester, Wolves (not doing too well currently) and West Ham, who generally have better players and a bigger budget than the rest, and if any of those didn't finish top 10, it would be a poor season - I'd love to be in that group. No fears of relegation, in a much better position to target the cups, will likely finish with a positive goal difference and should be beating the promoted sides comfortably at home, and most teams in the league will think it's a tough place to go, rather than be disappointed if they don't win, which applies to us currently. I'd obviously love the Keegan and Robson days to return with constant top 6 finishes and European football, but being more realistic, establishing ourselves as a top 10 team is very appealing. This all said, it's more than likely absolute b0ll0cks, and we'll be stuck with '17th is a success' for the foreseeable, with a 3rd relegation in 11 years reasonably likely.

I think there is a difference. Yes, players will often move on if a top club comes and turns heads, or a club simply can't turn down the offer, like Coutinho at Liverpool, and more recently Maguire at Leicester, but I genuinely don't believe Leicester bought Harry a couple of years ago, simply to sell at a profit a year or two later, whereas it really is the case for us. If Joelinton and ASM are still with us in 2 years, certainly no more than 3, then they won't have been as successful as both they or the club had hoped. I think it's quite feasable to think that Maguire could have stayed at Leicester longer than he did.

I'll be going down the other sports route and just keeping an eye on the results. The main problem is I'll generally watch all sorts of football, so it'll be weird to cut all that out, but if I don't then I'll likely follow NUFC a bit more closely than I intended. But what a mess, the literal only good thing about the running of the club has been replaced with an absolute bang average journeyman, and just rubber stamps that 17th will always be a success under this regime. It really is grim.

Well it's absolutely a step up for him. Mid-top half team, no fear of relegation, chance of a cup run and Europe, playing with much better players. Decent manager. Sad how far away we are to the likes of Everton, Leicester and Wolves.

Is there a link to this? https://talksport.com/radio/listen-again/1551110400/1551115800/ 3 mins in

We also played Blackburn at home in the third round in 1995, equalised to draw 1-1, won the replay at Ewood and went on to finish 6th

After Huddersfield and Cardiff, who are those who are less than say a 7 realistically expecting us to finish above?

I'd like Shrewsbury and Coventry to go up. Shrewsbury may have finished 3rd and were well clear of the rest, but they are actually the least favourites to come through the PO's. In terms of budget and stature they are really a bottom 6 side, so may well revert back to there next season if they don't go up. Wasn't long since they were in the 4th tier and Hurst has done a great job there. Scunthorpe going up wouldn't be bad either as I think Charlton will be right up there with Barnsley and Sunderland next season and those 2 would be the most likely to prevent them having a top 2 finish.

They really should have stayed up given the resources and teams of Bolton, Burton and Barnsley and 43 points would have been enough. They'll probably win the league next season and very likely win promotion, but even if they do, they are at least a year away from just getting back to where they are now.

You'd like to think we won't be worrying about the likes of them next season. We'll know far more by mid August, but for now, I'd say 17th is still very much the aim for next season and like this season, anything above that is a bonus. Man for man, I'd consider WBA and Stoke to have at least similar squads in terms of quality and without Rafa, with this current squad we'd be a lot further down the table IMO. There's only so long the likes of Dummett, Diame, Perez etc can play at the top of their game as in reality, they are pretty average. There needs to be a lot of investment in this team and if not, I doubt Rafa would hang around and would even go to the likes of Leicester and even West Ham where he would be working with better players and certainly in Leicester's case, a lot bigger budget. With that in mind, it's good to see the likes of Cardiff, Huddersfield, Brighton, Swansea etc remain in the division as worst come to the worst, we'd have a better chance of staying up and even if we do have a happy enough summer, it should be act as a bit of insurance if things don't go expected even with a content Rafa.

I genuinely think Barnsley would be more of a threat than Bolton next season with their takeover. Burton staying up would have obviously been better, but this is IMO the 2nd best option.

So Burton definitely down now. But 1 Forest goal would save BARNSLEY now.

Why? I'd prefer sides with smaller budgets in the top flight in case the worst happens (Rafa) and we're back to simply aiming for 17th. Wolves (definitely), Fulham and Villa would likely have bigger (or similar at worst) budgets next season, so I'd rather have a league with the likes of Brighton, Huddersfield, Swansea, Cardiff, Derby (via the playoffs) than some of those being replaced by Southampton, Fulham and Villa.

Probably better news for us if Cardiff come up.

Fantastic. A few mins later would have been better mind.

1-2 now anyway.

Sunderland want that to be a draw. Means nothing if they don't win. True, but the raining and pour thing was a redundant statement and if Sunderland to nick, that will be the best results possible for them.