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37 minutes ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

That's a different situation, the O&D test issue would have prevented them from buying any PL club (although we all know it wouldn't had they being buying one of the right ones from the start).

 

That's not an issue now.

 

Probably one of the main things that attracted them to us was our current advantageous FFP position. If we are relegated that is whiped out and it adds at least 2 years to the project, realistically more like 3-5.

 

It's very naive to think that they wouldn't consider looking elsewhere.

 

 

 

It was widely reported that they would still be willing buyers even if we'd gone down last season, so I think there's far far more to this purchase than an advantageous FFP position, hence why selling up just seems incredibly unlikely. 

I cant beleive it's 2021, and we're still trying to adequately replace Jose Enrique and Daryl Janmaat/Debuchy.

1 hour ago, r0cafella said:

The issue isn’t injecting money in to the company, the issue is what counts towards FFP spend. 
 

the reason the likes of Man city have to do these stupid sponsorships is because the ownership can’t just inject money and have of count towards FFP. 

But Ashley's loan didn't count towards FFP did it? 

What's to stop PIF injecting cash into the club via an interest free loan like Ashley did? 

Not sure if I should be concerned but I'm not at all tbh. 

We clearly have money to spend irrespective of sponsorship deals, so building success from any initial outlay should increase the value of any forthcoming sponsorship deals in the future. 

We already have some of the highest viewing figures in the UK and we're now marketable in one of the richest countries in the world and in all probability will soon have mass global appeal once we start spending some dollar over the next few years. 

Should we be on the projectory that we hope to be in 2 or 3 years time, then market value will be in line with the teams we're hoping to eventually compete with no? 

What am I missing?

I missed the part where we read about signing players in order of importance, but for what it's worth our right hand side offers nothing offensively so having someone on the right who can put in a great cross from any position could make a huge difference to our team. 

1 minute ago, LV said:

I don’t think we know yet just how rich (or not) we actually are.

 

All we are hearing from Amanda and Mehrdad is that its ‘slow and steady’ and we’re hearing things like £50m per transfer window on transfers.

 

We should have a bit more evidence to go on after January but I don’t think we’ll know for sure who or what we are until the summer transfer window. 

Yeh, totally agree, we could only have a budget of £50m, but I guess I was addressing the notion that we shouldn't be spending x amount of a player of y age, because relatively speaking, it's immaterial to us. 

It was just an example of how wealthy our owners actually are, I of course have absolutely no idea how willing they are to spend but thats a different argument.

Not that I subscribe to this 'we're pua rich lyke' nonsense, but we probably are gonna have to get used to putting the owners wealth into perspective. So for every £1m Abrahamovich can spend, we can spend £32m...

So in my eyes (and I could be talking pure shit here like), it's the equivalent of Chelsea buying him for something like £800k.

A few million here or there is totally immaterial for us, all that matters is he's good enough to improve us, which he is.

I'm surprised we've not been linked with many natural RW. 

CM is priority, as is a striker to cover or provide completion for Wilson but a Right winger must surely be an absolute priority when you consider Murphy is our only natural RW. 

I've never seen a player do so well in a position and yet never manage to consistently get played in it.

Especially infuriating when you consider Joelinton appears to be in the same quandary...

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20 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

Well I think Willock has been given enough of a chance now in midfield. He's giving him a run of games in there and I'm sure has tried to coach him up to do the job, but he just isn't going to get it. Sometimes a good smacking like today makes that a lot clearer I think.

 

 

Oh I agree there's things to change, what I'm saying is there's been plenty of evidence in the last 5 games of what's working and what isn't.

I don't think I saw anything in today's game which taught me anything new that I didn't already know from what I'd seen of the prior 4, so I don't understand what Howe could have spotted today that wasn't already apparent. 

1 minute ago, KaKa said:

One of the rough things about having a new manager come in is having to give him a bit of time to come to a realisation on certain players that we all know a lot about. 

 

Think today will have been a big eye opener for Howe. Really hope we see some changes to the midfield combo in particular. Not sure Lascelles will be dropped though, that one will be a problem till the summer maybe. An improvement in midfield should help the defence though and so lets see.

 

What can he have learnt from today that he shouldn't have learnt already? 

*Kneejerk reaction*

I've made the point previously that Howe does not have the time to learn from mistakes and yet 5 games into his tenureship we still appear to be making the same ones.

There's been a couple of clear positives from his time with us that I'd have expected him to have identified and built on as a bare minimum, such as Joelinton being better suited on the flank and Fernández being our best defender and yet he's failed to do so, which to me deserves criticism. 

Play patterns, formations, defensive solidarity and team selection are all up for debate at this point in time, but when the few points that are obvious to the majority isn't obvious to the man in charge then that's something to be concerned about imo. 

I think there's still a part of me that would still have Rafa back because irrespective of what happens at Everton, I feel like I know what I'd get if Rafa took over and would be excited for that, whereas Howe's still an unknown quantity for us. 

But having said that, I'm genuinely pleased with Howe but I just think I need those 1 or 2 convincing performances that tell me that what he's doing off the pitch is working and he's therefore the right man for the job, so until then I'll keep a healthy scepticism.

ANOUNCE BEOUTQ!

Doesn't get much credit for his hold up play, this lad.

Didn't necessarily show it much yesterday but I've noticed his ability to retain possession with his back to the goal is second to none considering he's not traditionally built to do that. 

Also think he's better suited and more affective as a winger rather than through the centre. He's obviosuly had success through the centre but I'd just love to see him in more 1 on 1 situations and just let him do his thing. His off the ball movement needs to improving (like pthers tbf) as well, could be so much more dangerous if he was willing to make runs through the lines. 

7 minutes ago, HUGZ said:

Lascelles will be straight back in the team, daft to think otherwise.

Shouldn't be though should he?

What would people's thoughts be in Howe threw Ritchie and Lascelles straight back into the mix? 

Keep having to remind myself how the team took time to adapt to Rafa's methods, so trying not to be too critical, but last night's back four should be a massive lesson for him as well as Joelinton bring more suited to the flank.

Will be disappointed if that still isn't apparent next game.

9.5. 

It's not the next game that bothers me, it's the 4 after that which leads into an absolutely critical transfer window. That run just looks impossibly difficult and therefore makes us really unappealing irrespective of cash. 

12 points from 19 (if we're lucky) leaves us needing top half form for the remaining 19 games of the season.

I just don't see how we can realistically hope to change our form from one that's destined for relegation to the form of a team pushing for Europe. 

Really really good tonight. Should never play upfront again, the flanks are where he's best. 

First impression is bit disappointed he's going for Joelinton up top again and would have liked to have seen Almiron start. 

Other than that, happy enough. 

I honestly wonder sometimes if I watched the same team that others when it comes to Rafa. 

Genuinly surprised at how those 3 years are portrayed by some as though we've ever been any better in any other year under Ashley. 

The most exciting thing Rafa brought to the team was his defensive organisation, I've never seen a better drilled defence in my lifetime as a Newcastle fan and that was refreshing as fuck to see. 

I just think if you appreciate football, then you appreciate that side of the game just as much as the goals, dribbles and assists and Rafa was a master with that element of the game. 

By the time he'd left I seem to remember talk of top half/Europe being a possibility with the way we ended his last season. 

I dunno how anyone saw Rafa's period with us as anything but positive.

Rafa's team have always been strong finishers. Seem to remember us being slow starters too, no way is he done at this level, just takes time for his methods to kick in, plus I'm not surprised his teams struggling without DCL, same was true with us when Rondon was out/not match fit.

19 minutes ago, Geordie Ahmed said:

I think it's because the next 2 are clubs near to us plus 6 points from those 2 should mean even if we get nowt from December, then come January we shouldn't be too far adrift 

12 points from 19 games would put us on what 17th place are on right now...

Edit: having said that, I think Leeds fixture list is equally minging tbf