Dr Jinx

Darwin Nunez would be my preferred choice up front of realistic targets, he can finish from anywhere. Plus will get the spectacular goals as well. Him and that Hugo kid could come in for just shy of 100m and link up with Wilson (if he’s fit) That front 3 would be like a Liverpool style threat if you just get the ball up to them, pace all round.

Honestly doesn’t bother me at all. It’ll sell a ton over there and with the right sponsor could end up being iconic, perhaps for the wrong reasons but again, I don’t care.. I’ve made peace with all that.

The curious case of Steve Bruce

I always assumed either the away or 3rd kit would bring some green in. Doesn’t bother me at all. If Fun88 were going to be on the shirt they’d be up already on those leaks, but am beginning to think rather than have a sponsor at a lower fee (because we can’t justify a massive deal just yet….) that we’ll have a “Barca season” for those old enough to remember when FC Barcelona never had a shirt sponsor. Nothing would quite say we’re rolling in it than leaving the shirt blank for a season, finishing in top 6 and then announcing something massive the following summer?!?

Yeah, a very good listen.. he doesn't give much away but you can definitely read between the lines, i liked that he didn't rule out Paqueta without having to actually say it.

I’m aware of that, but nothing on the club website yet is what I meant. They will obviously do some sort of press about it that hasn’t happened yet

Now that we’ve officially reached that milestone, am hoping the club can start announcing the deals they have lined up and their plans, they haven’t said anything about the upgrades to the existing training ground yet? That would be a good starting point.

Just watched a 10 minute highlight video of Osimhen, nearly 6 minutes of which were him doing pointless flicks over other players heads and being fouled, laying on chances that weren’t taken and some really poor finishing. Then of course he scored some goals at the end, mostly headed. He looks a real awkward handful but not in the same league as Darwin Nunez for finishing. Now both in the same side could work……

I hope you’re right, I don’t doubt Howe meant every word of what he said but when something like that is happening above you, you’re hardly going to come out and say anything negative. If they already know each other that’s a good start. I can’t see how anyone wouldn’t be impressed with Eddie Howe either so hopefully Ashworth is as invested in him. At the end of the day, it’s his overall responsibility to get Newcastle from A to Z, Howe just has to get the players working to the best of their abilities and cohesively so hopefully taking some of that overall responsibility off him will lead to improvements.

So for City, the season they got taken over they finished 9th, the next season 10th, then 5th, 3rd and then won it the following year.

Have they? Chelsea were already a top 6 side and yes they did go on a spending spree but they already had Terry and Lampard, iirc their first signings included Duff, Geremi, Crespo, Mutu and Makelele, with only the last named really being a success there, well maybe there’s a case to be made for Duff once Mourinho took over but the base of their squad was solid enough at that point in time. City were not top 6 but still healthier than what our club is currently. Aside from Robinho which also didn’t work out, they didn’t go wild to begin with. I get the desire to have an essentially all new squad but that’s not going to happen straight away. They’re still figuring it all out, including the manager.. is he the right fit etc. Dan Ashworth will be the driving force behind all of that.. it will be his vision. If Howe can’t deliver that, the club will be quite ruthless I’d imagine. And we must also note that Eddie Howe will be feeling that slight bit of uncertainty as well, imagine working in a job and knowing that soon someone will come in to oversee everything you do. You might get on with them, you might not, but the dynamic changes. It’s not the same job you walked into. Let’s just hope they’ve already had several good conversations and the first steps have been taken.

Now I’m having flashbacks of the denim jacket. Fuck me man, he’s actually David Brent

He’s actually serious isn’t he? I was looking for a punchline, or some sort of poking fun at one’s self ala James Blunt, but no.. he thinks he’s some sort of brand.

There’s a case to be made that if Eddie Howe had been in from start of season with squad he has now, we’d have been comfortably in the top 10, maybe 8th. So what’s the aim for next season? We’re not ready for top 4, but it’s not unrealistic to think we can aim for Europa places with just a few additions. Wholesale changes have never worked at any club, too much and we could end up taking a huge step back. The biggest challenge he has this summer is to change our style of play to possession based and controlling the ball. The club have been quiet in terms of structure, sponsorship and anything else commercial related. I think all those announcements will reassure everyone about what the plan is?

I might be an old man by the time he actually kicks the bucket but if given the chance I would piss on his grave. Hate seeing his name bumped on threads here.

One team on the way down, another on the way up. If a player isn’t smart enough to assess that situation and see potential (like Bruno has) then we shouldn’t want them here anyway. And I didn’t say Son would leave because of lack of CL, I said Spurs may be forced to sell their better players. They are in a terrible financial situation. As far as money goes, we can go for anyone now. It’s about that player buying into the vision. City and the dippers are up there but they can’t sign every great player.

I don’t even know what Son is worth, he’s still criminally underrated despite being consistently unreal. But if Spurs miss out on CL they might not be able to keep some of their better players. Kane isn’t half the player without him. Raphinia in a team playing well is almost unplayable, far better end product than ASM. Bissouma would add the balance to our midfield that we desperately need, he’d give Bruno the platform to do his best work and Paquetta just to keep him happy (he’s obviously class as well) I think Carlos could go for as little as 30m Feels like madness even suggesting this but we are the richest club in the world right now. Dare to dream.

Let’s be realistic, we’re spending money this summer. 250-300m would get us this. Can you imagine..

Aye, for as good as Bruno is, he needs help in there and will look a much better player when we’re playing a possession style game. Joelinton as much as I love him, is not that player to do that, I think his future will be further forward or a utility player in either when needed. Shelvey can obviously pass the ball around well but he’s about as mobile as a hippo on land. We need an athletic destroyer who’s got pace to burn to add some balance to the midfield, Longstaff is not the answer and I also have reservations about how best to use Willock, who can obviously play but at the expense of who? He doesn’t seem to naturally fit the system our manager uses.

The red lines are the easy decisions on who has to/ probably will go. I still think there will be harder ones to make, like ASM for example but maybe that will be for the following season.

Can’t be too harsh on Burn, if he wasn’t here we’d be down perhaps. I think him and Schär deserve a place in the squad but the observations about him playing the bigger teams is true. He loses his cool too easily and then looks to be a liability. Schär also has that element to him, he’s a better footballer than all of the other cb’s but he also gets found out at a certain level. The question is, what’s our aim? Certainly not just survival again. Top 10? Yeah sure but what does that actually do for you? It would have to be top 6, or at least whatever the Europa place will be at? We currently don’t have anyone consistent enough to take us that high right now.

No it’s not. Their 5 goals were well deserved. Now we could have had 2 or maybe 3 if we’d taken chances but we were chasing shadows all afternoon. It is what it is. They are the best team in the league.

Fuck me

That chant needs dropping as well.

Trippier got rinsed there