HaydnNUFC

The guy that hosts the podcast, actually met him a couple weeks ago, he does a bit of music on the side and was playing at this do I was at and he was alreet craic tbf. That podcast is fucking terrible mind, listened to it once back in like April or May 2020. The patter on it is absolutely lifting. Agree Caulkin was much better at The Times. Waugh tends to do more articles than Caulkin on The Athletic now anyway, but Caulkin just seems a lot less active than he was prior to The Athletic. Just longing for the day Bruce is gone. I never wanted him when the takeover talk was sounding a lot more realistic than it does now but I'd take consecutive defeats up to the next international break if it meant we approached Howe. Think he'd take it as well.

Well, yeah. The only thing Steve Bruce cares about is Steve Bruce. What club or job can he get; its why he left Sheffield Wednesday to come here despite everything that club did for him such as allowing him time until January after he took the job to mourn his dad before taking charge. Then he left to come here, a club in the PL, a club our size which shouldn't have gone anywhere near him. He probably thought his last job at a decent sized club was at Aston Villa which he fucked. Then a club of a relative equal stature offer him the gig here. He probably thought he won the lottery.

He's made millions from football, he'd probably get another Championship club or some punditry job after he leaves us. The money is just a little extra nicety for him. He just knows he'll never manage a club as big as Newcastle United again.

Don't think it's the money as to why he's staying. Think its just because he knows this is last chance at a canny sized PL club. Only way he manages in the PL again is if he gets jettisoned here, cons his way to another Championship club and gets them promoted. Just want those who continue to go make games as uncomfortable as possible for him. Probably wouldn't force the cunts upstairs' hands but as long as he stays this club is in serious danger of being relegated. Remove him and replace him with someone even semi-competent and the vast majority of the danger is removed too.

The squad is good enough to have a season without worrying about relegation, in spite of the lack of additions and meaningful depth. The manager and coaching staff make sure that they will be though, with braindead, self harming tactics and formations, nullifying players by playing them in the wrong positions and asking them to perform roles they cannot do, the shit the manager spouts in public and supporter feeling about him. Cut the fat cunt out the equation and we'd be fine. If there's any point to be, that is.

He's pretty much unsackable isn't he. Our own Steve Kean. Under Ashley, he's sacked Allardyce, Hughton and McClaren. Allardyce was before it all truly went to shit, it got a bit toxic at times and he wasn't even Ashley's choice. Hughton was for no fucking reason. McClaren was when it was too late, but his last game, at SJP, was rancid in terms of performance and atmosphere. Would an atmosphere and performance a la McClaren v Bournemouth make them sack this fat fucking fraud? Even then they didn't do it until the following Friday after they knew for certain that Benitez was going to take the job. And it was in March. What a shite club.

He's been licking the hoops of the hierarchy for paying for a transfer in the same way every single fucking club pays for a transfer. He can fuck off.

Kamara would be a brilliant signing, which why it won't happen.

As was Benitez. Without wanting to sound like the delewdid jawdee but what bigger, better club in the PL would look at him? Arsenal supporters would turn their noses up at him, can't think of any other club who despise their manager.

The way the club handles young players is fucking tragic. Loan them out to Scotland, League 2, League 1, probably the Championship every now and then ad infinitum until they reach about 24 and sell them for an absolute pittance before a few of them end up being decent players. Give them chances here in cup matches; Burnley was a perfect opportunity to play Anderson, have a blend of younger players with senior ones if we get a shit side in the FA Cup. I'd be far more intrigued and supportive of the side on the pitch if it had the likes of Anderson, Kell Watts, Adam Wilson, Rosaire Longelo or Stan Flaherty in it than Krafth, Hendrick, et al. These lads never get a chance at a decent level so we'll never find out if they're good enough at said decent level. Ah whey. Fuck it all.

Could register 3 GKs instead of 4 tbf.

A 23 year old lad at Leicester City can't be on that much. Fuck me.

Bruce has been after since his first summer at the club hasn't he? So bizarre when there's better options out there. We should've been all over Kamara/Cajuste and we should be all over Maitland-Niles too.

Urgh.

Be unreal if he walks. Get Howe in.

Fair enough, but also as you say given our injury record under Bruce compared to what it was under Benitez then a new, better manager would also be able to improve that side of things. At this point I'd tear your hand off for Howe.

A lot of 2019-20 was unsustainable. Shelvey and our defenders were scoring almost all of our goals, Dubravka tended to have blinders but pre-COVID we were fairly solid defensively and that to fall back on. Especially at SJP. After lockdown and the restart of football we've been mostly a mess at the back. Since football restarted in June 2020, we've kept 3 clean sheets at home. Over 23 home games. That's absolutely rancid. Last season our goalscoring improved; we scored 38 goals in 2019-20, 46 last season which is our highest total since 2011-12. But defensively we're a mess, yet Bruce continues to play defensive/more conservative football in spite of conceding goals. We've played 3 centre halves with wing backs in our first 3 games this season and conceded 8 goals. A decent manager would be able to improve this, I'm convinced. If we can score 46 goals last season yet still be as shit as we were for large parts of it, then surely someone who does 'do tactics' and can set the team up correctly with the right players in the right positions we'd improve at the back, look fitter and be a few points and places better off. But that won't change until Bruce and his staff get the bullet and fuck knows when that's going to happen.

You could say, "if you take out their best players they wouldn't be as good" about any team in world football though. The cover is shit, but when he has those players at his disposal we should be doing far better. Can't think of many players at Southampton I would take. Ward-Prowse, Armstrong perhaps? Even still he doesn't get ahead of Wilson. Redmond? He played well when he came on on Saturday but is he not a sideways step from the like of Fraser who we have yet to see much of? Wolves, granted, you'd have Jimenez, Neves, Traore maybe, Coady, possibly a few others. Brighton? Bissouma and that's it for me. The more we stand still in the transfer market the more those sides will get better than us however. Wilson started 23 games last season, but he played against Brighton at home. Away to Sheffield United, Brentford, Leeds, plenty of shockers where he was having the ball hoofed up to his neck due to backward and outrageous tactics and formations. We're probably lucky to get 25+ starts out of ASM, granted. But 12th isn't an overachievement for this lot, its probably par for the course but it papered over the gaping cracks such as 2 wins in 22 or whatever it was. And that was down to Bruce.

ASM's numbers in terms of the stats are poor. Think he's only got around, 4 goals and 3 assists in each of his seasons here so far? But he's integral to this side. Rondon and Perez were always on the same wavelength, and Perez afaik was never injured. No idea if Perez needed someone like Rondon to play with either, given how Leicester fans think of him.

100%. I'd take us being winless until Spurs if it meant Bruce was jettisoned and Howe brought in. This squad is capable getting ~48 points a season imo, under the right manager.

Unfortunately won't be able to come to this one this year, apologies lads. Shame as I really like the craic. Hopefully I'll be able to come to red v blue in April or May, whenever that's staged.

Is that Bruce v Benitez or us this season v 2020-21 and 2019-20?

Wilson had 12 goals and 5 assists in 23 starts last season. Rondon had 11 goals and 7 assists in 30 starts in 18-19. Enormous if but if Wilson had stayed fit or started the same amount of games as Rondon his output is greater imo. Anyway, for me 18-19 is probably very similar to now tbh, definitely not a better first team and squad. It's more or less the same, swap Rondon for Wilson and Perez for ASM. Ki for Willock and Diame for, well, nee one. Its more or less the same side. But that side had Benitez, he made those players far more than the sum of their parts. Bruce is the antithesis of that.