Serb

Haha, I have to admit that I pretty much disliked Targett for being a nasty little rat-faced bastard, but now I absolutely adore the nasty little rat-faced bastard.

Remember when we valued Sean Longstaff £50 million? That is exactly how £35m for Gordon sounds to me.

Kieran bloody Richardson.

Didn't know where to post this but here goes. Does anyone know a pub in London where a Newcastle fan can watch a game in a friendly atmosphere? I'm coming over on May 8th and would love to see Man City game with some London Mags, and I already bought a ticket for the Arsenal at home game the week after that. Buzzing.

Indeed he does!

Any ideas on why SSN still has the "deal done" news on their website, without even mentioning it was denied by Lyon?

Such utter embarrassment.

Just scored a 90th minute winner for Serbia against Portugal for qualifying for the World Cup. Insane energy.

I'm completely with you on this one, maybe it was my poor choice of words. What I meant is that he never delivered the expectation of developing into a top class striker which he seemed to have all the potential to become when he was 20. He was nevertheless our undoubtedly finest striker for years but was mostly unfairly benched or didn't fit into the system Rafa was (sometimes stubbornly) playing. As for Vlahovic, he is a slightly different player but I believe the main difference between the two is that Vlahovic seems to be a lot stronger mentally. But if Mitro had reached his potential, it would be a no-brainer for me who would be my choice. To me, Mitro's personality is special in a way that he seems to remind us all of a time when footballers were plain human beings, and not machines with zero percent fat and zero percent of charisma.

I think a lot of people wanted (and still want) Mitrovic to succeed simply because of his character. There's nothing better than having a great striker who is passionate, different and even a little nuts in an oldschool kind of way. The thing is, he never delivered in the Premier League and that is a fact. He found his level and that's all there is to it.

If it wasn't for Mitrovic, Serbia couldn't even be in a position to qualify. It happens. If I had to choose a country to qualify over Serbia, I'd choose Scotland in a heartbeat. I still remember the qualifier in 2013, I think, when Tartan Army came to Serbia to support their team. Just before the match, a ton of snow fell and officials were thinking of postponing the match. Those lovely Scottish bastards entered the pitch during the day in their kilts, grabbed shovels and cleaned up every bit of snow, so the game wasn't called off. Serbia won 2-0, the Scots sang their lungs off, drank a month's production of beer, donated some money into charity and fucked off.

Good result, now let's wait for the virus toll.

It feels like transfer windows are something that happens only to other clubs.

Downgrade on what? We don't have a left back in the club, unless you count Ritchie and Dummett who are not left backs. The amount of money that has been circulating around a permanent deal is ridiculous though. What’s Dummett then if not a left back? Left-footed centre back utilised on the left side because Mike Ashley didn't want to spend money. He is solid in the back, but offers nothing of the required for a position of a modern left back.

Downgrade on what? We don't have a left back in the club, unless you count Ritchie and Dummett who are not left backs. The amount of money that has been circulating around a permanent deal is ridiculous though.

Andy Carroll may probably be the last NUFC player that I adored. Plenty of reasons for that - he is oldschool type of battering ram striker that is so rare nowadays, he fits in Newcastle's "local hero" obsession, he is fucked in the head just enough to be an interesting figure, and he was superb for us for season and a half. The thing is, I think AC could have been one of not just Newcastle, but England's greats - IF he played 30 years ago. Back then, apart from few players - strikers were groomed to be physically dominant in order to wrestle with the defenders, pick up long balls and play a simple game. And Andy's abilities are superb for that kind of play, I'd dare to say he could have been a world beater back then. But football has changed. There are way more then one strategy to penetrate the defense without a battering ram striker, hell - latest fashion is that you don't even need typical strikers in order to do so. There are few leftover antiquities in the footballing world now when it comes to big, strong, dominant strikers - Lukaku may be the perfect example, but they just don't work anymore. In order to facilitate that type of player you have to adjust your whole tactical plan to make it work, and managers are reluctant to do so, naturally. That's what I believe happened to him when he left Newcastle. Liverpool had a modern all-round striker in Suarez, and Andy just couldn't cut it tactically. He was young, boisterous, full of confidence... and with bags of pressure on his shoulders. Then came the injuries, and he rest is history - well, not the version Andy Carroll hoped for. Now that he's back, being 30 and plagued with injuries, we cannot hope for even a glimpse of what he had to offer almost decade ago. We are most certainly not going to build our team around him, and the best we could hope for is an impact sub that can change the way of play and support the wings after long balls. And that is a damn shame if you ask me. We had a hero, and now we have a washed up former player whose decline is there to reminds us every day all of what happened to our club in the past ten years or slightly more. Newcastle is Andy Carroll - bags of potential and "could haves", but is rotting on the bench of the footballing world.

Looks like our new owner is Ashley bin Lying.

Manure set to complete signing of Daniel James from Swansea. Their transition in becoming fulhamish seems nearly complete.

Kevin Mbabu voted best player in the Swiss league. Manquillo and Yedlin still around.

Beautiful man.

The thing is - we have a top 7 goalkeeper, mid-table defense, bottom half midfield and Championship attacking line. What do y'all expect?

Respectable football commentator from Serbia reported the talk in the dressing room after the game: Mitro: "Why was I attempting to be an artist, I just had to bang it in, no brainer. I'm just not an artist, never have been one." Teammate: "Yeah, true, you ain't."

This.

I thought he was decent at the WC. Nothing spectacular, but OK. He isn't the wiggly striker that runs into chances, but rather a powerhouse that carries around two or more defenders, opening up the space for wingers and shadow strikers. He did exactly that, while also scoring a goal in the tournament. Shame that other Serbian players were shit, not to mention the godawful tactics. I do think that his career in NUFC is over, it has been over for quite some time, it's just some people who get their hopes because we have literally no alternatives in the squad right now. P.S. It is strange how Mitro managed to become a fan favorite wherever he has played. In Partizan Belgrad he is a cult hero, Anderlecht fans still can't get over the fact he left, he became a star at Fulham, and is loved by the Serbian national team fans and the media. I guess he is just "one of us", the lad that simply adores football as we all see it.

...and you realize Zigic has scored more than he did.