OpenC

Have any of these new lads ever played with each other before?

I love that old stand at Ryton although it doesn't look very safe like

I heard some players (not Ryton players but I guess they all know each other) warming on the sidelines talking about it when I was taking photos, no idea if it's true or not. I guess it's up to them how they spend in any case

They get their man and we get weakened, or they don't but they've weakened us anyway because everybody hates the bloke who pretty much put us where we were last season. They got Ekitike anyway. I'm not for one second saying that I approve of the way they've gone about this, but they come out of it ok whatever happens like

I don't know, Liverpool have handled it pretty well whatever the outcome

I heard Ryton were offering massive goalscoring bonuses this year. Murky non-league financial shenanigans

Prudhoe Ryton? I had been considering it, I do like Prudhoe's ground (other than the toilet where you're not sure if it's locked then have to walk 10 yards to the actual toilet). Don't think I'll get out of work on time though.

Yeah, there are plenty. Hebburn is nice. Heaton Stan hipster but good. Benfield and Blue Star are good. I really enjoyed Dunston UTS as well. I liked Percy Main too, although that's lower level again and you can't get all the way around the pitch there. I have a dream that one day there might be enough non-league interest on here to justify a little subforum so we can read about it without also seeing rage-inducing threads about transfer dramas or intercontinental football politics

Wait until the mighty Alnwick Town show up next April, you will see some silky skills and hear some fine songs ("we're just a small town in Scotland" and "Harry Potter he's one of our own" are current standouts)

Or the lads who are obviously just going to slot in at established teams with storied recent history. Sesko is more in the unknown quantity worth-a-punt camp and that's the only one that's really bothered me, but picking 15th place Manchester United with a recent history of destroying promising young players over us probably says more about him than it does about us.

Aye, I had written that in but it was getting a bit wordy. I trusted 'unknown quantities' to cover a lot of bases there

I'm starting to come around on all this. I don't know how much of the growing disquiet is a result of actually missing out on the high profile targets, and how much is a result of repeat embarrassments by being little bro'd on the national stage in a What Will The Mackems Think sort of way. I'm pleased we've gone for big targets and of course I'm gutted that they've fucked us off but our success so far has been mostly based on quality coaching of largely unknown quantities and has maybe been as much down to a fairly successful looking No Wankers policy as anything else (now looking in tatters if Isak stays, unless Howe's arm around the shoulder game is as strong as we hope). We've jumped the gun and overachieved in a lot of ways already. We're not attractive enough or in a financial position to attract the mercenaries so far (not necessarily a bad thing) but it seems to have been working out for us the last three or four years all the same. If that's not good enough for Isak's ambition then it is what it is I suppose, but our own ambition as a fanbase is starting to look similarly lofty based on not that much. Like a few people have been posting for the last couple of weeks, I hope we're still working on unearthing the next Brunos and Tonalis in the background rather than relying only on not being fucked off by established elite players, and I'm sure we will be.

In Howe's position I personally would be waiting for Isak to say "I'm sorry, I've been a bit of a heel and have gone about this all wrong but I'm prepared to get my head down and graft". I don't think anybody expects or demands a public apology, any further than just him getting his shit together and playing for us if it comes to it

We're rattled enough and the relationship between Isak and the fans is looking beyond repair, they can move on now. Their work here is done

Early season top of the league for Alnwick, after a disappointing opening day at Jarrow it's three wins in three with Euan Potts scoring consecutive hat tricks against Durham and Grangetown and just missing out on doing a Haaland with two tonight against Tow Law who were Division 1 last season. Apparently he's top scorer nationally at this level. They're playing really well

We're never going to close it going after mercenaries who don't want to play here. We've already closed it plenty

Shefki Kuqi spotted in Grainger Market I'm told

Aye, masterful reading of the psychology behind the situation from Ornstein. I hadn't realised there might still be a bit of fallout to negotiate, thank god the press are there to keep us all right

I like the Futureheads way more than I like wor Sam but that was a bit flat like

We're all just having to pick our way around it everywhere man. It's because we're world class now, that sort of discussion is going to pervade things

I don't understand how Liverpool aren't our rivals when we're playing in all the same competitions and they're desperate to sign one of our players like We won the league cup, we've got some world class talent, we qualified for the CL two years out of three, we appear to be at the very least There Or Thereabouts. Honestly lads if we've got to be owned by a hideous world power the least we can do is try to ditch the false modesty and inferiority complexes and try to play along

Well, it is and it isn't. I just don't see top clubs harried into selling their top players in the prime of their life and at the top of their game to their direct rivals in the bread and butter leagues they all play in, and I see that as part of the reason they're top clubs rather than sellers and feeders

Football journalism in 2025 is like weather forecasts, people just keep looking until they find one that says what they want it to say

I'm not sure how much I buy the location thing. I know what you're saying and I know you didn't want to use your general examples as specifics but I just don't see players refusing to sign for Newcastle because we don't have a high rise cityscape, a celebrity chef restaurant or the ability to sustain a hard rock cafe. Manchester is better than it was but has for decades been, and remains today, unequivocally and demonstrably a worse place to live in almost every regard than London for people who are earning hundreds of thousands a month - but has attracted the best players in the world for those same decades, because the clubs are high profile and they pay well. See also Liverpool.

Can't believe people don't see this like