HaydnNUFC

CBA to share the tweets but remember those lads wearing those Joelinton Hawaiian shirts at West Ham? Well Steve Wraith decided to auction off a ASM one but passed the shirt off as his idea. One of the lads called him out on it, now Wraith's little cult have all piled in and got his Twitter account suspended. Cannot wait for that bald Tory wanker to be put out to pasture.

siuuuu

Saaaaake.

I'm really confident of a win here, and it terrifies me.

Aye, hated that quote. Been thinking about this ownership overall last few days tbh with the whole Ukraine and Abramovich stuff. I resent the amount of deflecting or defence rushing that some of our fanbase do. It proves sportswashing, but I don't actually think it's done with malicious intent tbh. This sounds daft but I'll elaborate; I think our supporters have hated the Ashley years and perspective for over a decade now so much that they'll defend whatever the alternative was because Ashley was out. The celebrations outside SJP to me were because Ashley was out despite a minute amount holding the Saudi flag and wearing tea towels on their heads rather than celebrating being state owned by Saudi. It's like some kind of bizarre quasi fear has gripped some of our fans that Ashley could return or an Ashley lite could come along due to the spotlights on issues in KSA may render a tiny possibility that they could be forced out, especially given the absolute joke that the takeover process was. I've just accepted it tbh, and move on. I utterly reject the notion that supporters should walk away from their club because of their owners, it's absolute virtue signalling nonsense put forward by people who will likely never have owners remotely similar in their clubs. But when someone says 'Jesus, MBS did this' or 'bloody hell, X happens in Saudi' I'd rather shoulders are shrugged and people just go 'yeah' rather than being like wHaT aBoUt UbEr AnD tWiTtEr YoU hYpOcRiTe or go on defences like it.

2 years ago. Wow.

Regarding the Southgate patter, I think I've mentioned before that he's one of those whose more or less a perfect fit for his current job. Managers just fit certain clubs or jobs, Southgate and England, Klopp and Liverpool, Allegri and Juventus, et cetera. I think atm, Howe is seeming the perfect fit for us right now; his philosophy, work ethic, the way he speaks about the club and fans and seems a man of integrity. Southgate I feel wouldn't work back in club management, the England lads seem to really like him and in 2 tournaments under him we've reach the semi final and a final which is lightyears from Hodgson, Capello and all of his predecessors back to SBR.

That horse bolted in 2008. Perhaps even 2003.

Enormous boost for us. He's by far their best CB and it's looking by the game like we bought their 2nd best.

Aye but in the other way for me. My disdain for the Tories, modern capitalism and flag shagging made me think about that stuff in football. I utterly resent the elitism that's in football, the focus on the top 6 and the best players as the be all and end all. Elitism or classism is inherently prominent in the UK that people don't realise it. I think the UK is one of the most elitist/classist Western countries going and that attitude or similar to is clear also in football.

But being in a relegation battle with that squad is a sackable offence for an Everton manager. Previous managers have failed with that team, but not to the extent Benitez did. Being on 1 point a game isn't a positive.

Benitez has done serious damage to that squad, mind. Ostracised and got rid of Rodriguez at the first opportunity, fell out with and sold Digne as well as signed Rondon who is clearly past it. Injuries haven't helped them by any means, but Benitez is not blameless whatsoever for their struggles this season. Club should've never appointed him in the first place.

JLA is class, best football YouTuber there is and puts so many pundits to shame.

TG has been sound since he started the podcasts. Wasn't a huge fan before but am now, seems like a genuine, lovely bloke.

There's multiple kinds of PFM though. Ultimately they're all past it British managers who get defended to the hilt by their mates on Sky, BT, TalkShite or journalists that they're mates with. Personally wouldn't count Dyche as a PFM personally, even though Burnley are as Brexit (in football terms) as you can get.

Cheers. I think there's still time for it to be seen. Gerrard's achievements at Rangers, although winning things in Scotland with one of the Glasgow two on the face of it isn't an achievement that'll get you out of your seat, I still admire it given the context behind it. Especially when he had no previous managerial experience and seeing the previous likes of Warburton, Caixinha and Murty all fail. Especially the latter 2. Lampard's only positive for me so far is 2019-20 at Chelsea. Transfer ban, brought some brilliant youngsters through, finished 4th, got to CL knockout stage and got to an FA Cup final. The rest of it however isn't inspiring. Gerrard and Lampard as players worked under some of the greatest managers at their respective peaks though. Houllier, Benitez, Mourinho, Ancelotti. You'd hope that they've taken leaves out of their books. But Gerrard does seem like a disciplinarian with how he conducts himself in the press while Lampard looks a bit soft, no real authority about them. Time is on their sides but a few signs there that they'll be the newer, glamorous age of PFMs.

It stems back further but I think a huge watershed moment for English football was Guardiola being appointed by Man City in 2016. The season before he was there, Leicester won the league and all of the traditional 'top 6' bar Spurs were really shit. (I know Spurs capitulated after Leicester clinched it but 15/16 was good by their standards then) and the top 6 clubs never cantered to wins as much as they do now. Liverpool didn't win the league with 97 points ffs. There comes a minutiae of good with this though, as England have performed exceptionally well in the last 2 tournaments as opposed to what happened before and English clubs do quite well in the Champions League. How this comes back to Bruce though, I think Guardiola coming here really shown up how poor this league really was. The managers primarily. And its pushed Bruce's ilk, the has been, PFM, media friendly 'Brexit' manager so far down the pecking line that they don't get jobs in the PL anymore. If not for Ashley no PL club would've touched Bruce. Stints and relegations at WBA have finished off the chances of Allardyce and Pardew of managing in the division again. Mark Hughes since getting the bullet at Stoke and Southampton has only just gotten a job the other week, at League Two Bradford City. Pulis can't get a job for love nor money. Dyche is the only one left that you probably could count in this but I think that's an insult to him; despite that we're competing with Burnley to stay up and the football they play is horrid, he's done a superb job there with limited resources. Has been there for ~10 years and I actually like hearing him speak about football in general as well as the games. (Not including Hodgson here as Watford will probably go down and won't be there beyond this season imo) The managers that are getting appointed now are the German/Austrian gegenpressing, intense football type; the Iberian tiki taka and tactical obssessives and the young(ish) progressive British coaches who are the antithesis of the manager of the 80s, 90s and pre-Guardiola era of the Premier League. Listen to how Potter, Howe, Rodgers and maybe Smith speak to the cameras compared to how Pardew, Allardyce, Holloway and Warnock spoke. These attitudes are reflected in their philosophies and work ethics. It remains to be seen whether Lampard and Gerrard will be the new era type of PFM or type of manager that is always talked up or defended in the media for jobs by their mates. Bottom line is, football in this country has moved on miles in the space of less than a decade. And moved lightyears past Bruce, and his kind. He simply shouldn't be getting touched with a barge pole by any club worth their salt at a decent level.

That's still an international break week, so doubt it. It'll be sometime midweek in April or in between Arsenal (h) and Burnley (a).

Burnley without a game in hand on us now and we still have to play them. Win on Saturday and we'll be okay, think we'll need a minimum of 7 points in that case. I think we'll get close to double that.

Wipes out their game in hand on us too. Still have them to play.

Reckon you'd like to see him get chinned?

This squad needs an overhaul. Loss of Fofana hasn't helped either, mind.