MarkyMark

I agree when he's discussing South America. His columns on the BBC are about the only thing reading on that website. But he pretty much states he doesn't know much about him - and proceeds to make some sweeping statements. A simple 'haven't seen him play enough to make a judgement' would suffice.

But what is he actually saying here? He saw him a couple of times and didn't think he was all that good? It has to be comparative - he'd be signing for us. Is he significantly better than what we have? If so, the entire point is moot. You'd think from Vickery's comments he was signing for a good side.

Expert analysis there from Tim Vickery. Hope the club listens - looks like we’d be better off with Lascelles and Clark. Thank god for expert pundits, eh? We’d have blown a fortune. Fucking idiot.

NB I’ve been disappointed so far because I did think Howe was a decent appointment all things considered. I think he should be doing better. I also think he deserves more time - but I also think we’ve spent too long under Ashley, where people have got used to useless managers being given far, far too much time - longer than any other club would have ever allowed. It’s all part of the healing process post-Ashley; learning how to become a normal club again. Expecting that reasonable expectations are met

The regression part is true - and no doubt down to pisspoor management and coaching from ‘the Steves’. Bruce sits in with Souness and Allardyce as the men I’ve liked the least in job - lazy, feckless, passive-aggressive, whingy; a wanker with that unlovely pairing of a victim complex and misplaced arrogance. I loathe the cunt, and try not to give him space inside my head. So for me, the bar is pretty low. It is true, and was always true, that pretty much anyone would do a better job - and Howe is for me. I suppose the argument is; how much better? And how much better could / should it be?

We didn't get the result vs Norwich because Howe and inexplicably still in a job Jones thought Clark was a better bet than Fernandez - a view shared by no-one else who'd seen a Newcastle United match in the previous half-decade.

Where did Newcastle finish that season? Where did that Villa side finish? Not a defence of Ashley's neglect and mismanagement - just this may not be as apt a comparison as the tweeter thinks. That Villa side couldn't get out of the division, never mind finish mid-table in the PL.

3-1 Leeds. Hope I'm wrong, some dislikes die hard ...

Can't imagine they would have; there's no reason to insert it as a contract clause (by implication, they've agreed to be employed during that period by signing the contract). This why relegation release clauses / minimum fee release clauses exist; they offer a means for the player to end the contract or leave for a fixed fee in the event of relegation.

Didn't we draw with Leeds, Watford and Southamption under Bruce? The only game where you could reasonably say he's drawn games which Bruce would have lost is against Man Utd - and even then, at some point you'd expect even Bruce's team to get an unexpected point. The form has been the same all year - draw games against the poor teams after being in a winning position, lose comfortably to every bugger else. Zero change under Howe results-wise. It absolutely is the case that there seemed to be a consensus - held by the local sports press as well as the support - that literally anyone would be doing better than Bruce with this squad. Now, apparently it was always impossible. But personally, I think we've a superior squad to at least Norwich - whose manager is outperforming Howe in the same timeframe. And as pointed out by others, I'd be willing to bet that Howe's winning powerpoint showed how he'd get results from the current squad - I bet it wasn't 'So this graph shows that this lot are shite and nailed-on to go down; give me 100m+ or you're knackered. Next slide please Amanada ...' This isn't a call for his sacking - but I'm lost by some of the defences of Howe's performance so far. He doesn't seem to have identified many failings which could be corrected - an example from our past which springs to mind was Robson telling Shearer when he joined 'I've looked at your recent games, and you're making it too easy for the defenders. You're dropping too deep - get facing the goal and get into their faces'. Simple stuff, easily digested - and produced immediate results (Shearer had been poor for a while). Ok, perhaps Robson / Shearer is an unfair comparison to the current lot, given their abilities and reputations - but surely similar is applicable in terms of simple instructions for immediate improvements. Other than Joelinton, no other player has improved in any real way under Howe as far as I can tell. The fitness levels and general style of play have improved - but we still collectively shit our pants defending leads in the last half an hour, dropping deeper and deeper, with complete inaction from the bench until the inevitable happens. I think there's more could be wrung from the current lot before they're rightly shown the door; I think more points may have been achieved under another manager. Howe is who we have, and I hope the support inside the ground continues; but questioning him in places like this seems reasonable to me. Not much point of a forum if we're all agreeing on everything. And I do completely understand those looking to defend Howe; the defences of him are coming from a positive place. I'm frustrated more than angry - and anger was my standing state under Bruce.

I’m surprised anyone actually reads Liddle. He just comes across as a nasty piece of work. Don’t give that wanker a second’s thought mate.

All of the current squad has PL experience. I do wonder why no-one who gives it the ‘PL experience’ line ever remembers that.

Problem is, Everton’s form with Rafa was even worse that Howe’s with NUFC in the time since joining. Everton have a stronger side than us, I reckon. The number of points achieved in previous seasons isn’t always a guide to what happens the following year. At Newcastle alone, I’ve seen a side finish 13th (and be a lot closer to the drop than that suggests) after finishing 2nd the year before, having been top six for four years. I’ve also seen one finish 14th after 5th, also after three years in the top five. The side was creaking for some time. The blame for it falling to pieces hardly lies with Howe - what Howe can be criticised for (to me) is not finding a way to make a poor side win - something Dean Smith has at Norwich. This side was 100% certain to go down under Bruce.

Wor Flags were as superb as ever - but as someone who was at Monaco all those years ago, seeing the ‘BMX 4 sale’ flag made me smile a nostalgic grin. That flag is one of the things that sticks in my mind - that and seeing Michael Schumacher on his yacht when walking along the front.

You don’t need to put someone on a short term contract if you’re asking them for advice for a few days - you pay them a lump sum or by the hour. Something clearly happened.

It didn’t come like a thief in the night to the PIF - they were clearly working in the background to finalise it. They didn’t just settle the piracy on a whim. It came as a shock to the others in the consortium - which is hardly a vote of confidence in them by PIF. Their deal-maker couldn’t get the deal, so they sorted it themselves. Either way, Staveley had an interview a month before saying how they’d been planning for the summer just gone in case it happened. The excuse doesn’t stack up.

Perfectly reasonable to question a record of one win in ten, particularly when several were winnable home games. The performances haven’t improved either - that could easily have been a Steve Bruce NUFC out there today. Impatience would be booing and banners in the ground at this point. Questioning the manager, his decisions or ultimately his suitability on an Internet forum is hardly a lack of patience. We didn’t put up with Ashley - most wanted him gone around a year after he took over the club - it was that there was nothing we could do to remove him. Passivity rather resilience.

I’m caught in the middle ground of being sympathetic because it’s Rafa, and also shaking my head thinking ‘he’d have to be fucking daft to think this would go well. And he’s done a shite job there regardless of other factors’ We’re not looking for a manager, so any thoughts of his return are moot at this point. And I’m not especially convinced it would work in any case.

Funnily enough, I think Rafa would be a superb DoF. He wouldn’t take the job mind - and Howe would probably be unhappy that a replacement is sat staring at him from the stands. It would be like Pardew and Kinnear, only with competent people involved.

Yeah, that looks the case to me too. They’ve massively undervalued having a top manager in place. They had Emery lined up but certain parties just love talking to the press. Huge error and they wasted a lot of time. Howe was favourite to replace Bruce under Ashley, which should give anyone a sense of where he sits in the managerial pecking order. It was never an inspired choice - though of course it is far too early to call for him to go, and there’s time yet to get in the signings that make the difference. But his management hasn’t made that much of a dent from what I’m looking at. Hope springs eternal - I still think he’s a better manager (and bloke) than Bruce, so he is still an improvement on what was in the dugout before. I can’t help feeling that more was required

We can’t challenge it in the courts if we’re not in it. Because it wouldn’t concern us. I still think relegation is disastrous, though less so than under Ashley / Bruce. And while the vast majority of the blame can comfortably be placed at the door of the previous lot, I don’t think that the current owners or manager would be getting off scot free.

We’re in a position to challenge it as members. We’re not if we’re not in it. Quite apart from the hammering it would do to our FFP, given the likely losses in the second division, as well as further dents to prestige. I don’t think PIF bought the club thinking relegation was likely irrespective of position at the time. They bought us less than two months into the season - it’s hardly as if we were sunk. Our position hasn’t improved since.

Yeah, their transfer market record was iffy. I always find it interesting that people talk as if Bournemouth’s promotion to the PL was miraculous - somehow forgetting that they spent a LOT of money getting out of that division (breaking FFP rules in the process). They spun led a lot in the PL too - much of it wasted.

I think they’ll ruthlessly defend their investment - I’m not suggesting that Staveley will be off the board. But running the club will likely be done in the event of relegation. She said the same in her interview to the Athletic a while back. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve got two weeks to sort this out. I think relegation is far, far more disastrous than some people on here are thinking. ‘We’ll just bounce straight back’ is the attitude; meanwhile, the PL will enjoy rewriting that rule book.

Smith winning three games since joining Norwich is the most damning fact of all. We’ve burned through winnable home games over the last couple of months. I know the players are crap - we’re where we are for a reason - but this isn’t a side that’s losing 5-0 every week. We’re chucking away winning positions every week - it’s fine margins stuff - and that’s where your manager earns a crust. I’ve seen the square root of sod all change in that department so far.