Odear

We’re still paying for the consequences of that season. I’m now worried about the Rafa situation. Miles Starforth wrote an article saying Rafa was losing his patience with the club yesterday. That’s coming directly from the source so would tend to believe it now. The club really are going to fuck over possibly the best manager we’ve had here (in a coaching and tactical sense) AGAIN. And ensure he walks away next season because they know he’s too honourable to walk out on a contract. It’s going to be a horror show between now and close of window.

:lol: the phone was unplugged for three whole days, nobody noticed ??? those lads didn’t half take the piss out of themselves.. Keith Chegwin with the “my sister buried me today” line is a personal fave. Still his best work (Gervais/Extras)

Set up for a draw and a dirty game. They’ll go second on yellow cards. They wipe the slate going into the knockout stages?!

This time last year Rafa let it be known through the press that he wasn’t happy.. this hasn’t happened so the best conclusion is that he’s happy with the game plan.

Barely any clubs are doing business yet. Nothing to be worried about this time.

It’s all far too quiet and for that reason I’m not as concerned as last season. Most important was to get Dubravka signed up on the reported tiny fee we negotiated. Done already. Also Rafa made it very public very early on that he wasn’t being backed, last summer was horrible. None of that now. There hasn’t been one credible transfer rumour either from any of the news sites. The club are playing it close to the chest. By this stage last year I’m pretty sure Lejeune and Murphy had been written about plenty and it was already out here that we were going to get that Chelsea lad on loan but then didn’t thank fuck.

Shaqiri is all that’s wrong with football. Didn’t give a fuck about his club for the first 70% of the season. Started getting himself in shape just in time for the World Cup. I know some people have said they’d have him here in a heartbeat but I think he’d do the same thing all over again. Mitro despite Serbia losing, was impressive throughout and clubs all over Europe will have taken note. Nailed on penalty. But he someone never gets decisions his way. Again I’d love if he stayed but I think he’ll go for a fair price above 20m when he does leave.

Don’t see why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist. Rafa isn’t. He’s not walking so he has a plan. Calm the fuck down and see what our squad looks like when they’ve headed over to Ireland for pre season. Just enjoy the World Cup and forget about Mike Ashkey and his bullshit for a few weeks.

Maybe he needed to leave us to get his mojo back. He could be a different player when he returns

They were playing Bolivia in fairness. Bit his goal scoring record has been very good recently. I think Rafa has made his mind up BUT.. he could eventually realise that there’s a player in there who could be class for us in a Rafa team.

Yes. It’s very important we keep him. He’s future England captain I’ve no doubt about that. What would a prime Rio Ferdinand or John Terry be worth now??

Clarke’s level is the championship. And he was great for us while we were there but the PL is a different kettle of fish. It’s a slower type of football but gets lightning fast in or around the box. He just wasn’t equipped for it. Lascelles on the other hand is still rough around the edges but his positional decision making makes up for a lot of what he lacks in other areas. As a captain he’s possibly the best we’ve had in he modern game. Certainly equal to Shearer. I’d be gutted if he left but this lad deserves more than what we can offer. If he stays then it’ll be because Rafa has big plans for the team.

I thought we only had an 11mil net spend though? If he gets 50mil and sales that means he would have 30 mil more as a rough figure compared to last summer. I think. If you take all the outgoing transfers and assume that all that cash immediately transferred to the club accounts, than yes this would be more accurate but we got larger fees for players based on staggered payments. Spurs still owe us at least 10m for Sissoko.. not sure what the Wijnaldum deal was set up like. My own take on it is that when the club did spend last summer, they ran out of cash quickly. We had limited funds. I’m not sure Rafa was mislead on budget but he was definitely obstructed in his transfer targets. This summer should be a different kettle.. it’s not so simple as saying, oh the club earned 125m for tv money so that’s what Rafa will have to spend. The club still has to operate, pay wages, not just the players. Commercial revenue is still largely stifled by having Sports Direct plastered all over the place. So to me that’s the biggest deception. I also have a feeling that the Fun88 deal was set up to include a large up front payment that would have gone towards transfers as well last summer, so that has to be factored in this year too.

We spent just shy of 40m last summer. No way Rafa would accept 50 as a budget and see that as some sort of serious improvement.

What? You seem to be confused. Let me know if you want me to break it down for you in more simple terms. x

I don’t trust any of these articles coming out. Just regurgitating shit from last year and coming up with conclusions. The price has always been 400m since he put the club for sale. So how could the price have gone up? Again misleading journalism.. Staveley doesn’t have that sort of money so how anyone can think she was going to be our saviour and invest heavily in the team.. pure rubbish. Doubtful she’ll be back in this time. Good riddance. There’s definitely a stand off between Rafa and the club, probably down to Charnley yet again being slow and incompetent. Ashley needs to get involved quick to rescue this situation because Rafa going to West Ham is a real possibility.

Did you read any of the posts above ? Do you know anything of the West Ham Situation? FFS man. West Ham are in no more of a state than we were when he came here first. He likes projects. He could easily turn them into a top 6 side with the right backing.

Why would any of you be surprised that he’d go to West Ham? He already agreed a move in principal there before Real Madrid eventually went for him. If Ashley doesn’t play ball, and also put something in writing. I believe Rafa is leaving the discussions to his agent and legal team. Any assurances will have to be air tight.. if that doesn’t happen.. well he wants to stay in England and he’d never manage Everton, so..

There’s talk of the Sporting players being able to have their contracts torn up over the attack. Could be some massive free agents over the next few weeks. Dost and Carvalho would want insane wages if this were to happen.

It’s not just the footballing ability you get with Lascelles though, he would turn that squad upside down. Future England captain, of that i have no doubt. The current establishment will be looking over their shoulders when he comes into the fold. Any 24 year old player that’s willing to slap Mo Diame around for the good of his team is one scary individual.

It’s nothing to do with playing for Newcastle. Or his form this season. Or his disciplinary record.. The reason he won’t go is that he’s not well liked by a lot of the established squad. Especially the players of a different ethnic background to him. He might claim otherwise but he’s said racist things to players over the years. I don’t believe he’s actually racist at all but he’s been thick enough to throw derogatory insults at people and that’s not the kind of shit that people forget easily. Southgate is pandering to the larger portion of the squad but it’s probably the correct thing to do.

Nailed it ?

Easily one of our best performers this season. He got some stick while Lascelles was out but people forget he had two fairly bad injuries so he was essentially thrown into the team when not match fit and into a league that was new to him and in full swing. It was always going to take some games to adjust. He recovery of form bodes well for the future. We do need some solid backup for him and Lascelles though. Clark looked poor every game he played this season.

For an outlay of extra cash into the squad he could eventually receive far more in selling the club if we're established in the top half of the table, especially top 4. Next season we have to kick on, but to where? How much extra do we need to spend to improve on 10th? We need to spend to even stay in 10th, but how far can Rafa push this team on the limited budget we have? Ashley will be asking is it worth spending an 80 million to climb 2 or 3 places. Which I suppose is a valid question. If Rafa was given proper money, say 100m+, is it even remotely possible that he could crack the top 4? being in the CL sort of pays for itself once you’re in it, it’s a massive gamble though. Spending big to get 6th or 7th wouldn’t make good business sense to Mike Ashley.

If we’d never heard of the guy and was shown a compilation of his skills and general play from this season you’d swear he was one of the highest rated DM’s in world football. What’s the secret to the change in form? He was always capable of carrying the ball and had a decent shot but he looks about 10 years younger and has a consistency in his play now. His intelligence of when and how to tackle is superb. He’s just stronger than most of the players he’s up against so once he gets his leg in, he’s away with it.