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I kind of disagree. Like it was said earlier, we had deals lined up for Townsend and Loftus Cheek. There is a world of difference between Gayle/Ritchie and Townsend/Loftus Cheek. They were the type of players I felt we should have gone for. Given the choice now, who would you have taken? If players of the calibre of Townsend and Loftus Cheek were willing to come to is in the January window, wouldnt it have been likely that a similar calibre of player would have come in the preceding summer? Ashley pulled the plug on those deals and when we did go back for Townsend Fat head was being a c*** and wouldn't do a deal at the same price. Rafa was getting in his 5th-10th choices due to budgets and slow movement from the club. We'll be hitting the top end of the list this time round. It will be totally different. Again, it's not about the actual deals per se and why we didnt sign them, it's the fact that that calibre of player was willing to come to us and yet in the summer preceding that we signed players of a lower calibre. If you know you can sign higher calibre players, theres no real excuse not to. Those players would have not only lifted us out the championship but would have also been excellent in the premiership too. Ritchie and Gayle were excellent championship players but average prem players. Hodgson and Howe clearly thought the same as well... Agreed, but you're aiming that at the wrong man in this situation. Perhaps I am, yeh. My reading of it at the time was Rafa did have free reign at the time and so was fully accountable for what we signed in that particular window. I felt that way because he seemed pretty content (no murmrings of unrest in the media) and the transfer policy was basically scrapped for him.

Who's happy that we have Ritchie for another 3 years? That's got Bruce written all over it, Diame literally left on a free, he could have been signed for a nominal fee by anyone who really wanted him, and Hayden has literally been begging to leave and still can't orchestrate a move. That's not Rafa's fault though is it? Rafa bought Diame and Ritchie to get us out of the Championship and solidify our place in the Prem, which they did. Rafa would have moved Ritchie on last summer or this summer Loads of clubs would have bought Hayden but we didn't sell him and his personal problems seem to have eased Well that's kind of my point, he bought for the Championship when he had the option to buy players who would have got us up AND been assets if/when we got up. You can read the Ritchie and Gayle threads to see how they're viewed by the fan base. Largely seen as liabilities now. I have not heard of a single bid for Hayden, I could be wrong like.

I kind of disagree. Like it was said earlier, we had deals lined up for Townsend and Loftus Cheek. There is a world of difference between Gayle/Ritchie and Townsend/Loftus Cheek. They were the type of players I felt we should have gone for. Given the choice now, who would you have taken? If players of the calibre of Townsend and Loftus Cheek were willing to come to is in the January window, wouldnt it have been likely that a similar calibre of player would have come in the preceding summer? Ashley pulled the plug on those deals and when we did go back for Townsend Fat head was being a c*** and wouldn't do a deal at the same price. Rafa was getting in his 5th-10th choices due to budgets and slow movement from the club. We'll be hitting the top end of the list this time round. It will be totally different. Again, it's not about the actual deals per se and why we didnt sign them, it's the fact that that calibre of player was willing to come to us and yet in the summer preceding that we signed players of a lower calibre. If you know you can sign higher calibre players, theres no real excuse not to. Those players would have not only lifted us out the championship but would have also been excellent in the premiership too. Ritchie and Gayle were excellent championship players but average prem players. Hodgson and Howe clearly thought the same as well...

Who's happy that we have Ritchie for another 3 years? That's got Bruce written all over it, Diame literally left on a free, he could have been signed for a nominal fee by anyone who really wanted him, and Hayden has literally been begging to leave and still can't orchestrate a move.

Sels is doing alright in France isn't he? Also we got our money back (5.5) with loan (1.8) and transfer (3.5) fee. Don't think we needed a GK at the time mind. Lazaar was only 2.3m, i reckon we'd have seen half that back with loan fees as well. Muto & Murphy though, at the time where we really needed players to challenge were a huge waste of resources and hindered us. I'd add Joselu to the s*** list. Atsu was close to being mentioned but tbh in his loan spell here he was good and i would have signed him in case he stepped up. To be fair to Rafa, I think his hands were tied by that point so I dont actually blame him at all for some of the s*** we bought when we got up. If anything it was a testament to his ability as a coach/manager to achieve what he did with some of that dross.

I kind of disagree. Like it was said earlier, we had deals lined up for Townsend and Loftus Cheek. There is a world of difference between Gayle/Ritchie and Townsend/Loftus Cheek. They were the type of players I felt we should have gone for. Given the choice now, who would you have taken? If players of the calibre of Townsend and Loftus Cheek were willing to come to is in the January window, wouldnt it have been likely that a similar calibre of player would have come in the preceding summer?

You don’t think Rafa bought well in the Championship?! WTF?! Maybe it's a relic of the Ashley philosophy, but even at the time I thought players like Gayle and Ritchie were championship standard players and it all felt a bit short term. Ritchie Yedlin Gayle Hanley Murphy Sels Diame Hayden All very very good buys for a Championship team looking to get up, but I always felt we were a Prem club in the Championship and so maybe we could have bought with one eye on our return to the Prem in mind. Ritchie dropping down a division when he was already established at a good prem club showed that we did still have that pull. In my opinion we could have bought more players who would have been good enough for both the Prem and the Championsip, but instead, we went almost exclusively for players who were only good enough for the Championship. Ritchie, Yedlin, Diame and Hayden all played a big part in retaining our PL status in the first season. And yet we're struggling to shift them all because no other team in the Prem wants them. At some point you have to take a step back and ask yourself why? Like I say, Rafa is my only choice as manager of the club and I would be genuinely gutted if it was literally anyone else, but the point I was responding to was about him getting free reign to sign who he'd like and the only time I remember him having that at Newcastle was summer 2016 and I didnt think he signed that well. I'm well aware that when he had free reign at Napoli, he signed some unreal players so it's a side note rather than a major sleight on his transfer ability.

You don’t think Rafa bought well in the Championship?! WTF?! Maybe it's a relic of the Ashley philosophy, but even at the time I thought players like Gayle and Ritchie were championship standard players and it all felt a bit short term. Ritchie Yedlin Gayle Hanley Murphy Sels Diame Hayden All very very good buys for a Championship team looking to get up, but I always felt we were a Prem club in the Championship and so maybe we could have bought with one eye on our return to the Prem in mind. Ritchie dropping down a division when he was already established at a good prem club showed that we did still have that pull. In my opinion we could have bought more players who would have been good enough for both the Prem and the Championsip, but instead, we went almost exclusively for players who were only good enough for the Championship. Pretty sure he had deals lined up and pretty much done for Townsend and loftus cheek on loan in the January only for Ashley to pull the plug. That was kind of the turning point in him being unhappy I don't doubt thay for a second, but it felt like he had free reign in the summer and bought what he bought. All I'm saying is that at the time, I didnt think they were great buys. I cant remember the quality of players in the championship back then, but even now you can see so many players who are clearly good enough to establish themselves as very good prem players, I always felt we should have been hoovering up all that talent. Instead we went for good Championship players who would have ended up as average prem players. Obviously players like Hayden and Diame ended up having spells of being very very good in the Prem, bit can't really say the same for others.

You don’t think Rafa bought well in the Championship?! WTF?! Maybe it's a relic of the Ashley philosophy, but even at the time I thought players like Gayle and Ritchie were championship standard players and it all felt a bit short term. Ritchie Yedlin Gayle Hanley Murphy Sels Diame Hayden All very very good buys for a Championship team looking to get up, but I always felt we were a Prem club in the Championship and so maybe we could have bought with one eye on our return to the Prem in mind. Ritchie dropping down a division when he was already established at a good prem club showed that we did still have that pull. In my opinion we could have bought more players who would have been good enough for both the Prem and the Championsip, but instead, we went almost exclusively for players who were only good enough for the Championship.

Tbf, I judged him on his time at Liverpool where his caution against weaker teams probably cost them the title. Always tagged him as more of a cup winner than a title type. That said, I have said in the other thread that given he is highly intelligent and a student of the game, he's probably moved on quite a lot since those days. He doesn't seem the type not to learn and adapt to the modern game and more effective styles of the day. Would love to see what he would produce now if he had a quality squad available to him. This is the thing that excites me most. Although it's a double edged sword in the sense that I actually don't actually think he bought well for the Championship season and he does have that precedent of buying hard to shift dross.

Am I the only one who would want to build any success gradually? I just think theres something really empty with the way Man City and Chelsea's achieved success. Chelsea barely even care about success now they've had it all. I'd hate for that to happen to our club after waiting so long, I'd be more than happy to wait a little longer, just as long as I could see us getting there.

I actually really enjoyed seeing how well organised we were. It was quite cathartic knowing your manager knew what he was doing and wasnt relying on mavericks or 'big performances' week in week out. I still dont understand why people ignore what he achieved in the second half of the season when he had Almiron at his disposal.

Rafa's earnt the opportunity. No other manager on that list would have even looked at us at the time Rafa took over. Kind of feel we owe it to him, plus I cant see any other manager connecting with the club in the same way he did. Love the man. Finally deserves a job he's fully backed in.

Liverpool FC.

Been reading alot of ''boring football" jibes about Rafa which seems strange when we were so good second half of last season. Also nice to have a side that's so well drilled, literally never seen that in all my time as a newcastle united fan.

Nah, he'll think he'll be hard done by and he'll get to take home the smallest severance pay. No chance he gets another job in the PL. Crystal Palace would have been a shout had he not fucked them already. Bye bye Brucie

Love that this fat chancers days are numbered. Bet he's sat at home sweating pork pies. Hopefully that's his career done.

Worst Football Club owner of the decade. Hmm, I mean Owen Oyston raped a lass. But those jeans :lol:

We do - on a takeover agreement or death warrant.

That's the last we'll see of Pardew. His career is now dead. Those 10 fans have achieved more than the 50k who turn up every week to "support the team not the regime" ever will.

I think the problem is the exploitation of the rule. Barca had every opportunity to sign someone in the allotted timeframe and fucked that up. Not only that but they still have Griezmann and Messi up front with a wonderkid on the bench. Furthermore, they loaned out 2 youth strikers, both with an obligation to buy clause in a period after they learnt they lost Dembele. This is a total shambles. Joke league.

He's not even in the same ballpark! Robert regularly scored screamers from 35 yards plus. Silva is more technically gifted without a doubt but Robert s***s on him in the left peg stakes Being "more technically gifted" with his left foot is exactly why he's up there.

Well on his way to being right up there.

Can't believe no ones said David Silva yet. Easily up there with Robert for me.

Exactly. Are we measuring the release of the ball in the same fractions that we're measuring the actual offside? I hate VAR