Scotty66

Thing is though if we're in the league we could get legal teams involved to see if we would have a case etc. If we're not at the table there's literally nothing we can do except sit back and watch. I guess only Man City would "be on our side"

If we do go down you can bet the PL and all the clubs will be passing new rules left, right and centre to stop our owners plowing money into the club. As we won't be at the table any more I think they'll really tighten things up. It won't be impossible of course but you can bet they'll do everything they can to slow our spending power for when we come back into the league.

Bet he's going crazy locked in a hotel room. Walls covered in tactical analysis and player stats while rocking back and forth on the end of his bed repeatedly saying "Hendrick is not an option"

I'm actually feeling positive we'll be ok. Do we look like a team certain for relegation, no imo, we've been very very unlucky even with the cabbage as manager. We'll be a lot more organised now and play with more attacking intent and desire. Will we strengthen in January, of course we will, this will be massive as if we bring in the right players who settle in quickly, games that we would lose with this squad we can draw and games that we would draw we can win. Also looking at the table we're roughly 6 points behind Southampton, Brentford, Villa, Watford and Leeds. Can we make up 6 points on any or all those teams over the remainder of this season, I think so. We really need more goalscorers though, especially from centre midfield.

"Gerrard chooses Villa over Newcastle" I don't believe that I'm afraid. Gerrard would have taken just about any job in the PL if it was offered to him including us. There's no way he was offered it before Howe.

Toon bound?

Noticed this too. You just wouldn't even think about it in your first training session with the new manager. Piss poor attitude.

Really want this man at the club. Shamefully have never heard of him before today but now fully believe he is the best man for the job. Emenalo and Eddie dream team.

You don't get to 1000 games as a manger without getting sacked a few times. Steve's phone must be red hot and covered in grease from his fingers.

Still can't get over how good Paul Lambert was for Norwich but so bad for Villa.

I'm sure I've corrected people on the correct spelling on here before too. Rumbled.

Their keeper is out for some time apparently. He was a key player as he acted like a sweeper keeper and was an important part of how they play. They've lost the last 2 games without him. I like their manager though, seems to have them well organised. Win this and it would set us up nicely for the next few massive games.

Norwich sacked Houghton last time didn't they? How many managers have they had that gets them promotion but relegation from the PL straight away. Delia doesn't spend any money on strengthening the squad, selling Buendia at the start of the season when he is a key player is a bonkers decision. Norwich could easily become a regular PL team as they have near enough dominated the Championship since early 2000s. Its really not the manager that's the issue.

Was all agreed after they lost to Chelsea apparently. Just sods law that he got a win before being binned. Can definitely see Bruce going for it given his previous connection.

As long as we keep about 6 points touching distance between us and those above come January we'll be ok I think. Horrible set of fixtures in December though. Going to need big signings done quickly in January. Also need them to all settle in fast. With the money we have were definitely not out of it as long as we have a transfer window to work in.

I would love to know why it takes so long, I mean backroom staff are hardly on mega money, length of contract can be the same as the manager surely? What else could cause hold ups? Compensation to Sheff Utd? We would just pay it straight away seeing as it means we get our manager.

What?! I can't think of any football reporter more ITK than him to be honest Even more so considering its so widespread.

How is he so ITK about so many things. He pretty spot on with football rumours but they range from all over Europe. He must have some serious reliable contacts.

I like Howe, wasn't keen at first but I have a feeling he'll do well here if he gets the job. He has an excellent personality and come across as tactically very smart but in no way arrogant. He's certainly done enough in his career to earn this kind of opportunity and he doesn't seem a lazy manager in any way. In fact I think he has rafa levels of maticulus planning. Definitely a modern manager and not the Bruce, Allardyce type so would be very happy if he's the man. From what I remember Bournemouth were a tricky team to beat for many teams, they attacked well and often too with a bang average squad.

Absolutely God awful squad, desperately need players that can play quick tempo passing, relax when on the ball and move off the ball. Without that it's just hit long direct balls. Really don't think there's many mangers that can come in and get this squad winning 3 or 4 games on the bounce, needs massive improvement. If we can keep ourselves involved within touching distance of the teams just outside the bottom 3 we'll be able to pull ourselves out of it as long as we bring in some quality in Jan. Need lots of it though.

Willock dropped is a bold move

Who had the first interview with Staveley? Pete graves? Was he one of the first to mention the takeover would be done in the next few days after the Bein news broke? If so he's worth taking note of what is said. If not, just don't listen to Edwards. His only source was his boy Bruce, hence why he got the sympathy interview.

Same here, I'm a sucker for ITK bets. Could have had 15% return on Bruce after ando7's post but I bottled it, would needed to have been a big bet to make it worthwhile

Howe taking Bournemouth from League 2 to the PL is incredible but Lambert took Norwich from League 1 to the PL and look how he ended up at Villa. I think Howe is an OK manager, seems to be up to date with his management style compared to the likes of Bruce, dodgy Sam etc but we really should be going for someone better. Doesn't matter if they're in a job or not there's a boatload of experienced proven managers across Europe who we should be throwing money at to come here. This is a crucial point and we need to make sure this appointment is done correctly. (also why it's taking some time) I just don't think Howe adds up, needs to prove himself at another 1 or 2 clubs imo.

I think we could soon well see one of the Saudi teams buying one of our youngsters for about 500 million This is bullshit though, everyone is so fucking jealous.