SteV

Interesting to see if all the African teams allow their players to play in that set of fixtures, as they’re entitled to call their players up two weeks before the start of a major tournament. Seems in previous years, they’ve not enforced that and allowed PL to play pretty much until a week before the start of the AFCON, so presumably will do so again. Would be more of a blow to the mackems than us like, given we’d only lose Wissa, whereas they’d lose about half their team.

For those that haven’t seen, this was Hopkinson’s response to the Trust pushing for more clarity around membership numbers: “I’ve really valued the conversations I’ve had with Lisa Mole from the Newcastle United Supporters Trust. As CEO, it’s been incredibly important for me to understand the deep connection between this club and its supporters, and Lisa has been instrumental in helping me appreciate the vital role the Trust plays in representing our fan community. These discussions have given me genuine insight into what Newcastle United means to so many people, and they’ve been built on a foundation of mutual trust and openness. I’m committed to ensuring that supporter voices remain at the heart of everything we do as we move forward together, and I believe that trust between the club and our fans is essential to our success.” Obviously, nothing whatsoever in that in terms of providing actual answers, but the Trust did seem to think he was genuine in his response and are hopeful of some more meaningful answers being provided going forward. Perhaps he’s just a better bullshitter than Eales? We’ll see.

I don’t think any player would realistically risk missing out on their one and only World Cup, regardless of how much any club had paid for them. Also, it might not be worst thing for him to try and get and bit of increased match fitness with them (obviously you’d be hoping he isn’t as unlucky as last time). I’ll repeat though, all of the above is completely compromised if he isn’t fully fit by then.

So the result, for the majority in here, who are particularly committed to getting tickets, is that it’s actually ’easier’ for them to get tickets, even if they have to endure the almost constant ballot rejection.

And they’ve increased the amount in the general sale.

We can’t just tell him no. We have to realise this could be his one and only chance to play in a World Cup. Imagine we convinced him not to go, then they lost the play off cos another striker missed chances. Obviously, if he’s still not fully fit, that’s different.

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Is this @Froggy? https://x.com/hltco/status/1977656649025454403?s=46&t=OQLMckSuatbpqWF13Al4mQ

Quite probably right, but he was definitely one of the best things about being a lower mid-table team for that time period.

To a point, yes, and I’ve no doubt he would have been able to get similar, probably better, out of HBA. But I don’t think Eddie’s in the market for ‘occasional brilliance’ (i.e ASM in that home game v Everton). That’s for mid-table teams. He needs high-level consistency. Players like ASM and HBA, their brain just doesn’t work like that on a football field. They can go out with every intention of putting in the required workrate, and delivering the instruction that’s been asked of them, but they just can’t keep that switch flicked for the whole game. You drift for two seconds and someone’s ran off you or you’ve missed your part of the press, and you’ve fucked it for everyone.

Apart from with ASM.

Fully agree on the second part. Not so much the first part. Some players just haven’t got it in them to be non-stop intensity for 90 mins, which is pretty much what the modern game demands at elite level. I’d be more than happy to give Eddie a go at getting him to it, but just like ASM, I very much doubt it he could manage it, even if he genuinely wanted to. It’s a shame in many ways that nowadays you’re rewarded more for physical attributes, rather than skill-based ones, but here we are.

Scouse not Swedish la

Limiting yourself to one market, whichever one it may be, is asking for trouble.

“Do you think they were better on our second or third title-winning season?”

I have to say as a ST holder that doesn’t have to go through this ridiculous rigmarole to attend matches, I really do admire the dedication you guys put in to getting tickets. If I were in your position, I’d definitely be making a significant effort to get tickets, but whether I could manage the time or resilience that you guys do, I’m not sure. I realise saying this is of no material benefit to you whatsoever, but I thought I’d say anyway.

That ship’s long since sailed now. He’s a regular starter for Madrid.

Can’t even remember Wilder being there

For future reference, the work around this is to call the box office and they can enter you in the ballot. Shitshow, regardless.

You have more faith in the ability to influence the match going fan than me…

You all know the Coloccini chant’s just getting re-hashed, right?

State that you think Amad is massively overrated, and job’s a good un.

Would be your first option I suspect. Hardly ideal, but given they’ve both played at international level in that position, not disastrous.

Often forgotten that Shearer pre-ankle injury was absolutely phenomenal.