Thumbheed

2 hours ago, Heron said:

Fair and something I can ask

That's fair play, Heron.

I would say though that the more pertinent question for the trust is why aren't these opportunities being identified and exploited in the first place? 

Don't like assuming the worst of them because I can't honestly say I know what's going on behind the scenes, but the consistent failure to amplify their message when opportunity arises is amateurish and self defeating. 

I'd like to see NUST release something about the upcoming CAT case.  Especially as they've been contributing to the fan led review on football governance. 

Feels like a perfect opportunity to put some subtle pressure out there about how the CAT case jurisdiction challenge from the PL embodies the lack of transparency that all football fans are craving to see the end of, especially moreso now that UEFA have dropped their case against the remaining ESL clubs. 

1 hour ago, Colos Short and Curlies said:

Remind me again who looks after defending and who looks after attacking in our coaching set up? 

Oh aye, 100% Jones responsible for that, but I was just replying to the comment saying we hadn't improved, when I think we have. 

Nah, I think our attacking play has come on leaps and bounds. We're creating more, getting men forward, seem to have an actual plan, defensively though, we're shite. 

We have improved to be fair, we're just still crap though.

Irrespective of the implications of the change, the bottom line seems to be that PIF do appear to still be on board...

Would getting relegated be advantageous to Ashley if the CAT case were to run? 

1 hour ago, Yorkie said:

 

Can remember him whinging about having six CBs in the squad shortly after he arrived as well (or when Lejeune first went on loan, was it?) We've got five at the moment including Dummett, whose best position is that inside-left of a three. But the key to it all is Phil Jones? Eh? 

 

I don't think he's really got a clue what he wants tbh. He spent his first year and a half prattling on about being burdened with a squad that's got a defense-first mentality and wanting to change to 'his way'; but I'm sure we've spent the majority of games set-up in more-or-less the same way as what he inherited, only with a different (less functional) front three. That's despite ample opportunities and transfer budgets to mould the team into whatever image he desires. 

 

Clueless, man. Nowt going for him at all. 

Aye, he's gone from complaining about having an embaressment of riches in a defence which was "too drilled" and blamed Rafa for that(which meant he had to park his signature free flowing football), to now saying it's the personnel of the defence that isn't good enough and that's why we're poor defensively as it couldn't possibly be his shit defensive coaching which he's now responsible for that could be why we're shite.

Classic Steve Bruce deflection tactics.

They formed the company the same day they completed the purchase?

8 hours ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

I get what you're saying but someone could easily use that argument as to why Shelvey looks largely piss poor in this team rather than he's just shit. I've not seen any glimpses from him to suggest he's a good footballer at this level since the start of 2019-20 and that was some time ago. Maybe Man United (h) when his brother scored the winner? But even then it was his brother who was getting the deserved praise and Matty's the poor bastard who never gets played!  

 

I've watched the highlights of Leeds away last season to jog my memory and he's responsible for three of their goals. Three. 

 

I suppose I need more convincing and I'm not sure that it's gonna be here. A £10m+ move would probably be best for all parties, especially if it means Matty finally gets his chance in the team again. I doubt it though.

I predict we'll see a lot more praise for Shelvey this year and that will be despite his glaring limitations as a player. 

I dont think that will be because he's suddenly shown himself to be a good player but because the tactics will bring out his best asset. 

My belief is once you show yourself to be a good player, then you always have that in you and there's only 2 or 3 things which stop you from getting that to those same heights; tactics, mentality and injuries. At 24 I don't think his injury will be the things that's holding him back as much as tactics and confidence.

I bet there's a lot of people who advocate selling him who will also be saying that someone like Rafa can get the best out of him, which is a bit of a paradox, no? 

I honestly hope he gets some game time in the position Shelvey played on Sunday.

1 hour ago, HaydnNUFC said:

He's been terrible for a while now, mind. That performance away at Leeds last season was AIDS inducing, two of his set plays were so bad they led to breaks which Leeds scored twice from.  

 

A better manager like Benitez would get more from him, or any player of ours for that matter tbh. But I've seen nowt since March 2019(!) since he picked up his injury to suggest those 8 games were anything but a purple patch. Yes, the common difference between those 8 games and the 2 seasons since was the manager, but surely we would've seen a positive glimpse since then? We may have done but nothing whatsoever springs to mind.

 

After his form over the last 2 seasons I'd cash in tbh for £10m+ if it means we get a suitable replacement. (  )

He has been poor but I do wonder which midfielder whose main asset is his passing ability would thrive in a team with little movement, direction and positional awareness?

A pass is only as good as the movement and the positioning of the players that are receiving the pass and it's fair to say we've had none of that the past 2 seasons. 

I also don't think it's a coincidence that our most affective midfielders have players who are good ball carriers or players who break up play as neither skills are dependent on the movement of other players so for me it's far too premature to write him off now. 

The regression of players has been my go to argument anytime anyone's come back with the "but Bruce has managed the same points as Rafa" shite. 

I'm yet to hear a reasonable explanation for why the value of the majority of our players has plummeted since Bruce took over and another reason why I don't buy into this 'we have championship standard players' narrative. It's plainly wrong when we had the likes of Lascelles and Shelvey being talked up for an England place by the media of all people. 

Edit: There's only 3 players in this team that I'd be gutted about leaving and Longstaff would be one of those 3; would absolutely love a homegrown top class CM.

39 minutes ago, HTT II said:

Nah, he’s shite, same as his brother, both bang average Championship players at best!

Naaah, defo not. If rumours are true and Rafa wants him he wants him for a reason. Longstaff is suffering from the fact the team lacked any intensity like it had under Rafa. He's was absolutely brillaint when he was working his billocks off and playing forward as much as he could. 

Thought he suffered the most from Bruce's clearly complacent coaching. Matty on the other hand is tidy bit I don't see anything in him that makes him special, but Sean's got something. I'm sure of it.

46 minutes ago, Mattoon said:

 

There's a distinct lack of endeavour from top to bottom, it takes a special kind of autonomy to thrive in a sea of mediocrity. It's no surprise that so many players get stunted when a manager like Bruce takes over and an owner like Ashley owns the club.

Aye exactly. Always surprises me when pundits and fans slate managers for poor results but the players get the brunt of the stick for poor performances as if both of mutually exclusive. 

Sickens me to see players like Almiron, Longstaff, Lascelles and Schar stagnate when we absolutely know there's quality in all of them with the right set up and coaching. 

1 hour ago, Optimistic Nut said:

Still not got a clue if those 6-7 games or so were just a rich spell and he wasn’t actually any good after all, he’s been Bruce’d or both.

I still think there's there's top quality player in there and have a feeling he might break through again this year. 

Could be wrong but I haven't seen anyone rabidly defend any ITK account, so don't know why there's this narrative that the 'optimists' of this thread are taking everything posted as gospel. 

Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong. 

I use this thread to escape the reality of supporting this club and lokis posts in the 'what are you eating thread as a totem to get back to reality. Why do we have to have 10 pages of strawman arguments from the same select few posters every 2-3 days? 

25 minutes ago, Joey Linton said:

It's more a thread for people who are consistently misinformed and more often than not subsequently proven wrong. Deep down they know that's the case too i think, but they would prefer that no one ever points it out. Which is fine obviously. 

Well this is nonsense. 

It's hard not to be pessimistic with the latest news, but I truly don't think anything the club does is indicative of anything takeover wise. 

The club will continue to operate as it always has done which is literally how any other business would operate under the same circumstances. You just don't amend you're strategy based on a situation which is totally out of your control. 

With the arbritation case still active, we have clear indication that the takeover is still alive (literally 0 reason to have this case without PIF) and any notion of Ashley spending money to keep up a fake over ruse is beyond delusional. You are a fucking idiot for thinking that. 

The optimist in me still thinks there's still good reasons for PIF to still want this takeover and until AS says they're all out, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't wait until something solid comes out the arb case. 

33 minutes ago, gdm said:

 

the man has got himself a massive following telling lies to Newcastle fans and getting decent fans hopes up.

Also being involved in abusive pile ons along with Wraith & Kennedy to twitter users that were telling the truth and giving their honest opinions 

also made ridiculous comments about people not from newcastle are not real fans. As I’m not from Newcastle I’ll take that one personally 

 

also he just comes across as a nasty wee guy 

 

So I think I’ll ridicule him at every opportunity thanks 

 

 

 

I DON'T FUCKING WANT GUITAR LESSONS

Caulkin gets such an unfair pasting for his takeover talk last year. 

People seem to forget it's on record that even the government were under the impression a decision was imminent, so not sure why Caulkin's held to a different standard to them.

Seems obvious to me the information coming from the PL has been consistently deceptive. Not Caulkin's fault, that. 

Will never understand why'd you bother engaging in a topic you 'know' to be false. 

30 minutes ago, STM said:

It's not binary though is it?

 

I want a takeover to happen. +

 

I don't believe from anything I have seen that a takeover will happen.

 

Does not = I don't want takeover to happen.

There's nothing in my comment which speaks to whether  I beleive you want the takeover to go through or not. 

All it says, is that on a personal level, I just can't fathom why anyone wouldn't cling onto the 1% chance (based on the fact we have 2 active legal cases), as the alternative is just so futile and renders supporting the club pointless. 

48 minutes ago, HTT II said:

It’s over man FFS, keeping it in the public eye, what for? Clicks, shares and retweets, that’s what it’s all about right now amongst the mongs who are invested in carrying on this shit show of a lie-fest… 

 

 

 

If there's just 1% chance of this takeover happening then that's enough to keep me engaged, because accepting the alternative is not an option for me, dunno why it would be for anyone else. 

Last page is probably the highlight of this thread