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His spell at Roma suggests his attacking play came at the expense of defensive solidarity, and our defense is literally our weakest area which to me doesn't bode well in a league where there's high quality players distributed throughout the league and where any team can beat anyone. There's been plenty of well coached sides (albeit smaller sides) who played with attacking intent but haven't had the quality nor the defensive stability that's required to survive in the league and I see us in a similar position where we don't really have a dearth of outstanding attacking quality that makes us stand out from our rivals, couple that with the fact we're still a long way from the Jan window and we could find ourselves in a difficult spot if we don't get this right. Our Dec fixtures are horrific - do I fancy going into those games playing nice stuff but leaving ourselves defensively vulnerable? Nah.

I guess we'll see.

We've still got 10.games to play against the traditional top 6 (except Leicester) and then there's alot of handy and settled teams outside of that, so not sure we're gonna blow teams away with like of ASM, Almiron, Willock and Wilson like we think we might.

How many times have we had over 50% possession in the last 4 years? I think we're in for a rude awakening if we think someone's gonna come in and turn that round with a squad that's geared towards playing on the counter.

The Guardian has it down as the clubs voting to "temporarily ban commercial arrangements that involve pre-existing business relationships". As for the point about senior managers having directorship over a number of companies, well I assume the ban would include them too, but not preexisting commercial arrangements, conveniently enough. Suppose the bottom line is though that this won't stand up to any sort of scrutiny anyway.

Al-Rumayyan is the chairman though.

Fuck it. Hope we get sponsored by beoutQ now.

Aye, but Souness was a shit manager.

Gonna take the new manager 2 months to get these fat fucks fit for a game ffs

This must surely be the final nail in the coffin?!! Surely.

Not sacking Bruce feels like a decision that makes perfect sense in the business world but not in the football one. I think this is pure naivety from the owners unfortunately.

I reckon Mourihno would still be class at a club with no egos to clash with (like ours), but his non existent record of developing youth or developing a club is a big no for me.

It's a visual representation of the affect of sportswashing. I don't know what more there is to say on the matter.

This Sunday has got PR nightmare written all over it. Tea towels, Saudi flags, Steve Bruce getting booed and not to mention the result. Could be a fucking disaster.

Some big words spoken by a man who's got it wrong 70% of the time in the PL.

Yeh, I dont think we've the players to be able to play a free flowing attacking game so someone like Emery who plays counter like Rafa could be perfect. Think making us defensively solid is our first priority.

Aye Emery would be a very decent option for the players we've got now.

I've read more and more on Jorge Jesus and I'm honestly sold and wish someone would link him with us so I can get excited. Great football, great tactician, would work under a sport director model and has a brillaint CV to boot. Come on Mand, have a look will ya.

Jorge Jesus has always intruiged me. What's he upto nowadays? Surely he'd fancy a bash in the PL? EDIT: Interestingly had a spell at Al-Hilal in KSA...

Normally I'd subscribe to this kind of post, but fuck me I am absolutely desperate for Bruce to get the push beforehand and not get to enjoy even 1 second of the atmosphere on Sunday, especially moreso it being his 1000th game. Secondly, I just want to watch the game with that buzz that only St James has, won't be getting that with him in the dugout.

I mean if we're hoping to be a CL club then he needs to prove he can do that for a start. He should have had that tied up twice now, it's not like he's doing it on a budget and I'm not sure the quality or player being signed is any worse than most thr other teams around them. The other thing is that I quite like Leicester as a club, and if you turn your back on a club like that then are you really someone who I'd want at my club?

Would take Lampard if it was an end of season jobby, can't imagine many managers willing to do that.

If Rodgers is interested then it'd be a good enough reason not to hire him. Good manager but he's already managing a brilliant club and should probably prove his credentials in the PL before sniffing around other jobs. Also, if we're happy to look at managers of other clubs then Rafa should be miles ahead in any consideration for the post.

Was happy to contribute to this thread as the premise is sensible, but having read some of the replies, I'm inclined to agree with another poster and say maybe move it to chat because I really want to enjoy the positivity around the club for the first time in 14 years.

I'm uncomfortable purely because it's clear as day that sportwashing is a reality and my observations are that as a fanbase we've succumbed to it (me included) in a huge way and I really really hoped we wouldn't. I was always willing to accept my own hypocrisies with this, because let's be honest, this opportunity is literally a once in a lifetime thing, but I've done so with the caveat that I would try not to defend the indefensible and would be happy to acknowledge and accept condemnation of it. But what's struck me the most, is the sheer number of people (albeit tweets and occasional media peices) from people trying to deflect away from blatant atrocities that are being committed by the Kingdom, but even more significant; the almost universal condemnation and mockery of public figures with absolutely legitimate and genuinly horrifying grievances, such as the finance of Jamal Khasoggi. It makes me cringe everytine I hear or read someone mocking them. Final point of note, is that once you actually take a step back and think this whole thing through, PIF/KSA are legitimately the bad guys in this whole saga, I don't know how anyone can question otherwise. However, having said all that, football is my escape from the realities of the world, I just don't have the energy, capacity or mental strength to be able to take a moral stance in every single issue that's out there and so ultimately, I feel comfortable continuing to support Newcastle and be genuinly exicted for both the club's future as well as the city and region as a whole.