Whitley mag

If Howe stays we get the likes of Connor Gallagher and Liam Delap next season, it’s a recipe for mediocrity and a relegation battle. He needs to walk away with his head held high, or the club need to make a horrible decision and sack him. The former is the preferable option and the club needs a huge shot in the arm with an ambitious appointment, it might be a younger manager from Europe, but it needs to be someone who can get us playing football that is watchable again. The club treat us as customers now and the place will be half empty with much more shite served up like that today.

He’s fucking shite offers nowt.

2nd most expensive midfielder in our history let that sink in. Fucking criminal the money that’s been wasted. I see absolutely nothing top drawer in this lad, if he come through the youth ranks you’re happy, but how did we think a Villa reserve would improve us.

Fucking awful how many times did the attack break down today with this bloke. Cant beat his man and weak as piss, wouldn’t stand out in the Championship.

Why should he have stayed he had no power and would have just been doing the admin work to sign Elanga and Ramsey, they very type of business he advocated against.

Becoming untenable that was disgraceful today. All his signings bar Murphy and Miley today, how the fuck Murphy’s still playing for us beggars belief. Go into next season with him in charge and we’ll be fighting relegation, the writings on the wall.

Staying in the pub shite.

Howay The Lads Eddie in until 4.50 !!

Armstrong Galley coaches and the supporters club shop at the Haymarket are lasting memories of the 80’s as a kid growing up following the lads.

Play him on the right today I can’t suffer Murphy or Elanga anymore.

Going to this today and actually looking forward to it. Be interesting to see if Gordon starts or is he on way out. If Wissa is finally fit he should start with Woltemade. Interesting day ahead and still plenty to play for, including the managers future in my opinion.

Should start up front today and rest of the season.

Aye, absolutely mental day, think a lad had his eye put out with a coin if I remember correctly. Battles all over the place outside, had to have your wits about you that day.

Our best winger despite his faults and would leave us with Elanga, Murphy and Barnes. Ideally we would be adding to Gordon and letting one of the other 3 leave this summer. Those 3 wingers reek of a team fighting relegation, dangerous times ahead if summer trading doesn’t go well. Unfortunately, the players look stale and it’s another reason should these last 6 games go badly, a new manager is a must in the summer for me. The whole club feels stale and needs a major shot in the arm through a change in direction.

Finished Michael Bridges career at Leeds and hopefully does the same for this arrogant cunt.

Seven Sisters Road was mayhem, great day would have them back in a heartbeat compared to the theatre going experience now.

I’d be tempted to play Wissa on the right and see if he can do something out there. I suspect he’ll not have the defensive discipline for Eddie, but another defeat here with 200 million worth of talent on the bench is practically signing your own redundancy at this stage.

We’re usually slow starters to the season, so in a scenario where we finish this season poorly as looks nailed on, what happens if we start next season shite and Howe’s been backed in the summer? We’ll be in a position where we’ve given him the benefit of doubt and then plunged into crisis by October. Appointing a new manager is a risky business but should Howe finish the season poorly, I thinks it’s equally risky sticking with him. My take remains if he finishes this season poorly as per yesterdays performance, I want a new manager and fresh start this summer.

This is the crux for me, if Wilson provides Howe with young technical players from Europe, what happens to them and does Howe want them going off what he said on Friday? I absolutely get the loyalty angle from people in here who think he should get next season, but does everything align with him remaining in terms of recruitment? I’m not sure, so many questions now and binning off one of Europe’s top striker prospects because he’s not quick and doesn’t press, sends out a worrying one dimensional outlook. Even Pep transformed his style to accommodate Haaland, I just see no evolution under Howe and think he’ll simply double down on the 4-3-3 next season with less fixtures. He’s a great ambassador and dignified bloke, but it all looks and sounds very stale under him right now.

Definitely should have been a DoF in place during the summer, but there’s reasons why there wasn’t. Did Howe have to do more in terms of getting his hands dirty in the summer, very probably but his quotes from Friday are very clear in terms of who decides who we sign. Nobody forced him to spend the money on Woltemade and Wissa it was his choice. “I think from my perspective, we’ve recruited players here since I’ve been here in the same way. So, although we’ve had different sporting directors, the processes haven’t changed. “So, when we recruit a player, what’s fundamentally important is that me and the coaching team like that player and can see a way that we can get the very best out of him in our team. Signing a player that doesn’t fit that criteria, I think, is unhealthy. “And the club have been really good in helping me sort of mould the squad as I want to. So I think I always say judge me by every signing that we’ve made since I’ve been here, not just by one or two that people want to sort of beat me with a stick with. “Across the board, I think we’ve recruited really well. Of course, there will be question marks on certain players. I understand that comes with the territory. But I’m really proud of our recruitment. “There’s a lot of work that’s gone into it. But all the players that we’ve signed, whether it’s abroad or domestic based, have been chased and endorsed by myself.”

Take the strikers out of the equation then and say we give them the benefit of doubt. Did you consider long term targets Ramsey and Elanga the right players, considering where we were lacking? That’s a 100 million on those 2 by the way and both Eddie Howe picks?

Fabregas would be my top choice, would come with an element of risk but would bring excitement and ability to attract players. Would increase our profile considerably which is important for club growing financially and internationally. After that i’d go for the Stuttgart manager and then Iraola.

What manager gets 250 million to spend at his own free will in the modern game? It just doesn’t happen and the trust placed in Howe during the summer was badly misplaced. PIF ultimately have to be held accountable for allowing it to happen, however a lot of people thought Howe had earned the right by winning our first trophy to have full control. It’s been his undoing and to have that amount of money sat on the bench today was damning. The team is stale and the sale of an Isak when it happened, was meant to trigger a full opportunity to rebuild. Howe will have his place in the clubs history enshrined, but he’s absolutely set the club back and potentially damaged us to the point it’ll be difficult to recover for the next couple of seasons financially.

I think his comments below are where the problem may arise, the club have said player trading is going to be part of the future business model, I interpret the below as Howe saying if we sold Tonali etc then ambitions need to be realigned. The club won’t be re aligning any ambitions, if he sells Tonali for 100 million and we bring in 3 players worth 50 million, that is done with a view of moving the club forward. Last summer is a prime example, we sell Isak and brought in more players, unfortunately it didn’t work, but it will have to work in the future and he needs to accept selling a purple doesn’t mean the club lower ambitions, it’s to move the club forward. On the prospect of more of their best players may being sold Howe said: "If that's the reality and I'm not saying it is - David will know more than me on that - then that is the reality. I have no issue working with the conditions that the club set and finances dictate." He added: "I've never had an issue with that all through my career so as long as that's made clear to everybody on the outside and the expectations are aligned within that because I don't think you can have expectations that warp reality, everything has to be aligned for the players to enter the pitch and play in their best place where they're relaxed and not under undue pressure."

Oh dear rinse and repeat we never learn. If Neco Williams is Tino’s replacement and you can be assured they’ll take our eye balls out, it doesn’t bode well for the summer ahead.