Wolfcastle

Easily one of the best. I give him half a pass because London was his ITV region (like Roger Thames for us) so he's serving two masters with nationwide broadcasts but the general view that he was very bias to the London clubs is hard to fully ignore.

The origins of that was Lou Macari's comments after we thrashed Stoke (awesome performance btw) towards the same referee Gerald Ashby. I've got the raw feed of the broadcast/recording and his rant is a proper act, he was laughing and joking before the cameras rolled. You've reminded me that the commentary for that and the Chelsea cup game were horrifically biased against us, like plucky Arsenal and Chelsea were giving the mighty Newcastle a contest.

May as well just have a standing area in the seats - a 'no moaning if the bloke in front of you stands up' rule - and leave it as it is now. Cant see how anything else isn't just a fad and a waste of time if its a 1-1 ratio to the seat

Yeah, I've said before but I vividly recall listening to the Legends phone in at work that night and the vibe was cautious, which matched my own, having never heard of him and recall a caller (from Ashington) painting a picture of how it would go if this Ashley fella was a chancer. And so it did. The very first window was one in one out and Allardyce playing Harper up front in a friendly to prove a point. The one thing he did that caused me some optimism was appoint Keegan. The rest is history.

As Bruce the Great surveyed his domain he wept for there was no more earth to scorch

It'll benefit the player better to play, which he's more likely to do at Hearts. But benefit us better in the short term to use him place of Murphy/Wood. He'll be raw, discipline could be a problem but I cant see him not doing a lot better with what was presented to those two yesterday.

And quarter of a century later it was finally completed and named Maine Road.

Those succesful squads were far bigger and far better than ours. Nobody has ever won or competed to win the league and cup with what we have. We've competed for both at the same time when we've been in that position (KK, SBR) currently we're not.

Oh lord, cue the puns

"Get billionaire Ted to break out the money and get anyone he can"

Few month back Guardiola referred to us as title contenders and said "can you imagine this team, without European football?!" i.e with less games than our rivals, the ability to maintain our standards.

I'd have hauled Lascelles off for Burn being ruthless because he's so suspect and in a critical condition. Not much can be done with the other dreck. Maybe Lewis with him but that risks a purple. So was I at Luton, car to Wolves, were pissers, but that wasn't my experience. Anyone questioning those managers or players at those times is a proven dick. Probably enjoyed the performance in the San Siro a few month later the fannies.

I'm a fan and I'd have made a raft of changes today and probably wouldn't have risked Isak. Was actually surprised Botman and Joelinton played.

Its disappointing. The last two times we were doing well, this was not the reaction at Luton with an infinitely better team under KK that was also 3rd or under Sir Bobby in his various losses to lower league teams (Wolves, West Brom, Norwich). Old school maybe but cant see how that's the wrong way to handle it. Arsenal, Blackburn, Leeds and ourselves were beaten by lower league sides (Arsenal at home by 3rd Division Bolton) that week at Luton. They won the cup Winners Cup four month later. We finished 3rd and Blackburn 2nd.

Lewis will probably never play again but were one injury/suspension/rotation away from seeing a lot of Murphy, Wood and Lascelles to the massive detriment of the overall. At the very least can we take our chances with a couple loans in their places. Its hard to imagine any wouldn't be an improvement. If we can get Kenedy levels (good season and bad) under the previous regime there's got to be something there for us.

Was frustrating to watch - both the game and how glaringly poor some of the players are. But already over it. We had to play a weakened team. This match was meaningless compared to Leicester. And we all know how poor the fringe players are (well Lewis actually reminded us, the others are well known) Cambridge but with TWO far bigger fish to fry. Also thanks to the powers that be for demeaning the cup, really helps at times like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ76ckSPSGE Its like the least important game we've played since Tranmere in August and you've played 100s of games in Sheffield Wednesday's league.

Some poor trolling going on there NUFC and Away Toon. No positive Newcastle comments ever in our best season since 03/04. You've got to slip a 50/50 comment in there man to break it up.

Lower league team away Televised game even weaker than expected starting XI dubious goal against out wondering why we bothered fulfilling the fixture and wasting everyone's time classic cup tie

Perfect and very rare opportunity to use his only talent his pace. Of course elects for a meandering wade instead.

Lascelles looked sluggish and a mistake waiting to happen all game, was shit on the goal, just not as blatantly culpable as expected

That's that probably. Got the traditional guilt edged chance/scramble that goes against the big team in the situations

Even more nervous about injuries now. There's a general guile that wouldn't have been there before, but that's the coaching. Some individuals remind me of McClen and Kerr playing in Sir Bobby's team. McClen was like someone had won a competition to play a game or two with their team. Kerr could get by but that's it.

Used to be my favourite time of the year right now. Christmas morning all over the place. Couldn't keep up with all the games.

That puts them up there with the greats like West Auckland.