OpenC

Alnwick now sitting comfortably midtable in Northern League Division 2. Great to see

Pffft, I think we would be doing ok ourselves if we were playing Portsmouth and Middlesberra every weyk

The real problem I have with people saying we haven't wasted anything on players who aren't good enough to get us where we want to be is that we've now stagnated long enough not to be a particularly attractive proposition to that sort of player any more. You don't get them just by saying We Are Newcastle, You Have Been Chosen and being careful with financial regulations. Sometimes you have to just buy players who are enough to make you a solid and competitive unit, players like we know Howe is good at polishing to a sparkle. Would far rather have seen a couple of players around the Harvey Barnes level arrive this summer than spend the whole thing pursuing a relatively unknown quantity whose star was only on the rise because of an international break.

4/10 would not relive. Disappointed that we no longer look able to scout outside the PL, disappointed that we keep pushing the Only Guys That Will Improve Us line when it's plain to pretty much everyone that we have glaring gaps in the squad which are likely to cost us points or cup progression before January. Honestly, taken in conjunction with the Ashworth saga (I reckon it's a fair point @Froggy) it all begins to feel a bit ominous to me.

Honestly, typical Newcastle. Immediately after being owned by the poorest millionaire in England, we get the poorest richest-owners-in-world-football (not really, just wanted to say it )

Worth buying if only so he never tortures Dan Burn ever again

Yeah I've got mixed feelings about it like. One of the reasons the women's game was good to go to was because the atmosphere was so much better and friendlier. Can do without derby dramas and aggro in all honesty.

Nice to see the return of The Pink, I hope it works out for them https://thefootballpink.co.uk/

Something like this is such a blocker of potential other business though, I would have thought Sky would have preferred to report on who that £75m might be going on and the ramifications of those moves

Honestly it's been laughable we're like a kid jumping for something being held just out of reach by a teasing adult

In a matter of seconds. Was a hell of a start

What happens next is that he has a fucking stinker of a performance tonight and limps off, then it's confirmed we're buying him for £90m tomorrow

Can we start to call this an embarrassing pursuit yet, or are we still applauding our brave team for pursuing their number one target?

I don't, I was responding to Ian's question about why I felt distant from the club

No, you didn't misunderstand the ownership thing; the difficulty getting to the game; the flat atmospheres and moaning fans in the concourses when you do; the megastar dramas. It's not all down to Newcastle though; the league we play in and the VAR and randomly applied financial nonsense that's slowly killing it aren't of Newcastle's doing but they take the edge off it further. Modern top level football is just a more difficult thing for me to really enjoy. It's good to see them doing better than they have for two decades, of course, but honestly I feel next to nowt for them these days, no real attachment at all. It's mostly my discovery of non-league that's really done it, in all probability - just feels like a more honest and more sporting competition.

Ah right, was just received wisdom from Alnwick that Wallington always win I only started going last year. Loved their setup though, and there was a great community feel there.

Aye, Alnwick ended up going up by default rather than on merit. Apparently Wallington win it every single year but that's literally just a field in Scots Gap so they're never getting promoted

I enjoyed going to Percy Main with Alnwick last season. Proper club with proper oldschool infrastructure. Only problem with it is that you can only watch from that small area, but there's literally not a metre to spare in there.

I suppose it comes down to aspirations and expectation. To a degree I can understand it; whenever I heard Klopp or Pep trotting out the No Easy Games line I always felt like they were really just saying it out of a sense of humility more than anything else, because it was the right thing to say. They would never go to Bournemouth, however tough a game, and be truly satisfied with a battling point on the road. When I hear anybody from Newcastle say it, it still feels like a way to excuse a crappy performance We're a long way from city and libpewl and I've never felt so distant from this club as I do now, so I agree that it's a tough league with few obvious weak links - I see 'no easy games' as a realistic appraisal, but I suppose for a fair few expectations have been raised these last two sessions.

Can't get today unfortunately, but I might get to a Tuesday or Wednesday evening game in Grantown or Keith or similar I stay in Kingussie who are apparently the finest shintiers/shintists/shintographers in the world so I'd been hoping they were playing at home this week but it's near enough impossible just to find the fixtures and as I say it's rained for the last week so the pitches are off. This appears to be Kingussie's football pitch

Missing Alnwick back in the vase this afternoon by virtue of being 200 miles too far north. Was hoping to take in some Shinty as a substitute but all the pitches are unplayable.

My favourite bit was towards the end where he said he was going to have to go and would be back when he was in a "sayin stayit of mind"

Almost at the level of Roeder running the rule over Dirk Kuyt but hasn't quite reached that stage for me just yet

I'm not one for criticism of spelling and always feel like as long as the meaning is clear it doesn't really matter that much, but 'bamkruptt' is tremendous

It's the bloke applauding just behind him that always does for me