geordiesteve710

Tbh I think the point Southampton have made re: transparency is a very valid one. Unfortunately the PL really seem to have a problem with the T word and Newcastle fans know it more than anyone. Tbh I'm not sure why Southampton as a club are so keen for their players to be allowed to be in direct contact with a squad who has covid in its bubble. Seems they're risking being in the same situation themselves in a week or two if the players contract it from us. I get that fans don't see it like that and just want the game on against weakened opposition and if the boot was on the other foot we would be wanting the game on. The transfer system in itself is unfair. Remember Bellamy scoring against us two weeks running for two different clubs in 2008/09. We went down by 1 point in the end. At least you lot don't have to worry about that!!

1st week 2 or 3 permanent signings 30-50m Reckon the first deal is the most important. Get that done in good time and make it a good player (eg Trippier.) Once the first one is in that will show we mean business and that Newcastle is a club you can have a good career at. The rest will follow.

The Spurs songs make a lot of sense to me. Lots of fans of shit lower league teams adopt a top flight team to take an interest in as well as their own club. See also: "Mags in the away end marra."

He's extremely limited with the ball, and never been blessed with pace. But what he will do is look after a 10mx10m area of the pitch and lose very few duels, either in the air or getting skinned, within that area. Gives a bit of solidity to the defence and with 2 clean sheets all season (and both against Burnley at that) that's not something for us to be turning our noses up at. I'd have him ahead of Ritchie in a 4. Goes without saying that if he's still here next season then it's all gone terribly terribly wrong.

I absolutely bet there is a hierarchy, and you're right the likes of Dean and Marriner (see also previously Graham Poll) have proper egos on them. Again, they've created their own problem here though. The VAR isn't supposed to be overruling the referee, they're supposed to be suggesting the ref take a look at the footage. But they're in a situation where they've overturned every single review, so now there's an expectation that as soon as a ref goes to the monitor they will be changing their decision.

I know you're playing devils advocate, so please don't think it's aimed at your comment per se. But the "he had already started sliding and couldn't stop himself" argument makes it worse. How many times do we see a player sent off and the specific rationale is given as "he was out of control of himself therefore it's a dangerous tackle." If you can't stop yourself from sliding then that must count as not being in control of yourself surely? They just need to put their hands up, admit they got it wrong and stop trying to bullshit everyone. Would probably get more respect as well if they did.

I'm not trying to be a dick by the way, I genuinely just don't get it.

This is the bit that I'm still not fully understanding. In the hypothetical scenario above, can the PL stop the funds being paid into the club's bank account if it doesn't agree with the sponsorship deal? Pretty sure that isn't legal. Surely they only have jurisdiction in respect of what the club spends its money on, and by definition that is an argument that can only be had months down the line once the financial statements have been drawn up?

See what I don't understand about this is how the PL has jurisdiction to dictate who can or can't sponsor NUFC, as opposed to whether that money is used to give NUFC an unfair advantage. Eg Aramco agree a massive sponsorship deal and the club decide to piss it away on solid gold sprouts at the xmas party (or something else as frivolous/ludicrous) then what business is that of the PL?

If nothing else, gives us scope to spend spend spend now and argue about it later.

Was thinking about this yesterday and reckon I can think of one practical use for VAR that would improve the game. As soon as a player receives a caution or retrospective ban for simulation then their name is added to a list. Any penalty which is awarded or card given for a foul on a player in this list is subject to an immediate mandatory full VAR review. So the likes of Maddison would know in advance that they're going to be scrutinised and it therefore takes away the incentive to cheat. The existence of the list is a deterrent against diving to begin with. You stay on the list for as long as you're a PL player. So on our team, Miggy would be properly fucked. Although I reckon Wilson would have enough sense to modify his behaviour appropriately. Probably a million things wrong with this that I haven't considered tbh.

Hopefully they melt away into the background. In the short term I reckon some will go more and more whacky/unhinged as they get more and more desperate for attention and relevance. Could see Wraith going full on Icke/"lizard people" actually now I think about it.

Said exactly this at the time. Don't get why he wasn't standing over Maddison shouting, calling him a cheat and at least making him shit his pants a bit. Also, the more you carry on, accuse him of diving, tell the ref he has cheated, basically make a scene about it, the more likely it is that VAR will at least take an interest. But no, just a shrug of the shoulders and a "cheers ref."

I was always sceptical, but thought I'd give it a fair go and see what it was like. Even worse than I thought, we're three (?) years in, it's had a chance and it's still shite. Needs binning off (but won't because someone somewhere is making money off it.)

This is a massive game. Real opportunity to close the gap on teams above us. But lose and it all looks a bit daunting with the fixtures coming up. I can't get too carried away when I think about Vardy and Madison up against our flimsy defense. Reckon btts is the banker bet here like.

Iro the fans, it's something that's going to become more and more prevalent. Over the next 20 years we will have a greater proportion of at-risk people attending matches than we have ever seen in this country. The population is generally aging anyway and those who are retired have more disposable income than previous generations to spend on things like going to the match. Football tends to produce moments of high excitement/drama/tension and that heightens the risk further. I've been thinking about this since the Spurs game when my initial instinct was that I found it hard to stomach that a) the game initially continued for several minutes whilst an individual was being given chest compressions only metres away and b) the game kicked off again. But having reflected, finishing the game really was the right thing to do. I also think the PL would do well to look at implementing and rehearsing a pre-defined protocol for when there is an incident in the crowd because I don't think it's going away. The above is, of course, before we even take into account the potential effects of long covid or vaccines (delete as applicable dependent on if you wear a bronx or tin hat to the match.) Tl;dr- should be a defib kit under every seat in the East Stand imo.

How the hell is he still playing professionally? I know alcohol can prematurely age someone's looks but he looked ready l for retirement when he was at the mackems and that must have been a good 7 year ago.

As someone who lives in Leeds I can confirm that a good 90% their fans have turned into insufferable bellends since they got promoted and "belong" or not I will laugh until my cock falls off if they get relegated. Even better if we stay up at their expense. Preferably on goals scored.

Can't really knock the atmosphere since the takeover went through really. Been even better the last three games though. Yesterday probably not quite as good as Tuesday when the crowd really stepped up after the early red card but it felt like a special moment at the end of the game yesterday with the players hugging and majority of the crowd staying behind to chant and cheer them off. Even for a grumpy old git like me.

From what I saw he seemed annoyed at the award of the penalty and was walking away from the goal along the goalline. Probably a bit of kidology, trying to delay as long as possible to jangle the takers nerves. Our fans weren't having it and were ushering him back to goal to get on with it. So he started mimicing back, pointing towards the goal like he was inviting individual fans to take his place and face the penalty. All done with a smile on his face and in good humour I thought. Certainly didn't seem like he was "remonstrating" with anyone like .com put it.

Bloody hell, uncle Pards would be proud of that one.

Just checking here- you don't think the son/phd are anything other than a figment of a very active imagination do you?

There is definitely a reason why the most vocal criticisms have centred on Khasogghi, which was purely perpetrated by KSA and not on Yemen where the West and the UK are absolutely compicit in what's going on.

To clarify, I do have my doubts that "sportswashing" is an effective way to repair/reset a country's brand or image. For example it's never going to magically make everyone forget the abuses and get on their side. But my comment was more aimed at those who doubt the very existence of sportswashing as a concept. You've now got Newcastle fans (often but not always the same people) saying that they just want to watch football but then getting defensive and justifying the ownership every time it is attacked. We are only five weeks in and already Saudi flags are a consistent feature in our away ends. The extreme version is you've now got Keith, a fan who has considerable influence within our fanbase doing a video in arab garb with Saudi flags pinned all over his basement explaining that they're not all that bad and there's much we can learn from each others cultures. And in honesty there are many (not all, obviously) who are happy to hang on his every word and get behind this narrative. Fwiw I also agree with you that journalists are somewhat counter-productive, but as long as they get their clicks that's the main thing for them. This is where sportswashing is clever- it plays on the tribal instincts of football fans. The natural instinct in any close community is to see an attack on one of us as an attack on us all, especially when some of the attacks are aimed at the fanbase itself and worded provocatively often by (if we're honest) hypocritical dickheads. It plays on strong human instincts that are heightened by the passionate, tribal nature of football and I don't agree that it's insulting anyone's intelligence to say that it is a strategy that a) is used and b) potentially could have some success. Put the above together and all of a sudden you've got a section of voices in the UK fighting the Saudis corner and defending what they previously would have seen as the indefensible. Not everyone, but a section, and all of a sudden it's a legitimate debate.

If anyone still has any doubts that sportswashing exists as a concept, I'd point you in the direction of that doylem and a creepy video he did a couple of weeks ago. Horrific stuff.