Abacus

I think Howe and Ashworth did work together OK. Not surprised if there were clashes and friction, but when Ashworth left Howe's main response seemed to be annoyance that he hadn't seen through a long term project. And then it was reported that he had recommended Howe for the Man U job, leading to his comedy sacking. It was Mitchell who seemed to just annoy everyone, not just Howe, before then leaving at the worst time. So I reckon he can work with the right DOF, even if it doesn't always go smoothly and there are disagreements - which is probably healthy.

It's the press who are already billing him as our Isak replacement which is ridiculous. I think instead most fans are seeing him and Wissa together as being our Isak replacement. It will probably take him multiple games and I won't be grumbling if it's not a quick start. There's pressure for the team to do well and try to get back to the CL, so he will need to play his part particularly during AFCON, but I don't think too much needs to rest just on his shoulders. Actually, I suspect we're not saying too much different here in reality.

I have this debate many times with my non NUFC mates as being one of the best I've ever seen, beautiful but flawed. I don't compare him to Messi or anything but they just don't see what a special talent he was or understand why a lot of Newcastle fans keep banging on about him. So maybe you had to see it live. But Ben Arfa was something else, just the thrill of watching it, even from his first touch.

Yeah, I know that really. I was just amusing myself with the idea.

He'd be stealing people's water bottles.

Not a rumour, just a thought. Liverpool are hanging on to get Guehi for free in the summer. Not sure how dead set he is on going there, but at one point he was apparently dead set on coming here. Not a priority position for us now but maybe a cheeky January bid so Palace don't lose him for nothing and which annoys Liverpool might be a laugh.

He did play the pass that led to Germany's first goal. A lot of the chatter has been that currently despite his size he's more of a no 10 than a traditional no 9. In which case, plus who knows how he will develop, I'm very excited to see what he can do alongside no 9 Wissa, and the different options that can bring.

He had mainly mediocre reviews in what I've read, 5 or 6 out of 10 territory along with most of the rest of the squad. That was always going to happen unless England had thumped Andorra 10-0. Plus, on Burn specifically, I think those reviews are misunderstanding what he offers and presumably what both Howe and Tuchel see in him. Want a progressive passing defender? That's not really his game. Don't complain that he passes short to Skelly, pick a better full back instead. Want a blood and guts no nonsense defender with proper leadership qualities? There's your man. As transfers for us go, he ranks alongside Schar as being some of the best business we've done in my opinion.

You must have done some wild platforming action in your day for that to happen. But seriously, I support Newcastle football club because Newcastle is my city. I remember having these debates about what that really meant if your owners weren't from there or your manager or most of your players. It took SBR to put it down succinctly.

Or supporting a 1990's platforming game instead that was probably made in Japan. I personally only play local games, made by local people.

I don't think there's much negativity at all here, certainly not from me. I'm excited that the back office has a key appointment that's been needed albeit that I know nothing much about him. I'm hoping he gets a kick on with key things like most importantly infrastructure and maybe a DOF (though my faith in that model is slightly broken) and that Eales can now concentrate on his health - I wish him well on a personal level.

It's the hope that kills you.

"We've got Hoppo in the middle, He's gonna sign commercial deals, New stadium at the back, the training ground's on track, Newcastle's gonna win the boardroom league"

Good news. Just disappointed nobody has come up with a terrace chant yet.

I do think that even if he gets off to a slow start here, that at least he'll benefit the team shape anyway by playing like a proper forward. Not to mention he could be a good example for Osula in forward play. I agree he needs minutes, but he also needs to be around a senior striker if he's to make it as a CF As for Woltemade, I have no idea what to expect from this guy So exciting so find out.

I think it would be great to have a CEO to publicly state / restate our ambitions and keep things moving off field, such as infrastructure, but also being a bridge to PIF and the Ruebens, handling PL politics etc. They should also be coordinating all aspects of the club and having people held accountable to them. That's a bit like the role Ashworth described for himself. I'm a bit scarred by our last two DOFs, so what I'd expect is a bit less clear for that. I think maybe it works best to have one with ties/connections to the club as a starting point.

I don't care about the social media posts from him or Botman. What I care more about is that on his day, he can be unplayable, but it's also matched by periods where he is inconsistent or reckless. You could argue that getting stupidly sent off, messing up the game plan and then being unavailable for key games could cost as many points as Isak probably did. I still don't want it to happen but if we're getting to the point where we need to trade players to upgrade the team, he'd currently be one of those I'd be a bit less bothered about if he went. Either way he needs to have a good season now to make up for those sending offs.

We are owned by the the Saudis and so should support rule breaking at our club. Errr no. You're not making any sense. Even the rule bending you yourself have suggested repeatedly has always been shot down as being impractical regardless. Like selling the women's team which isn't valued anywhere near the same, or selling a hotel we don't own to start with. Or recently, get lots of sponsorships just £1 under £1m. Not that this would turn the dial much, but regardless. On that one, you're a CEO with a purchase order limit of £1m that they need to personally sign off on. You suddenly see lots of these coming in at just £1 under the limit. It's one of the first things you look for as a sign of procurement fraud and it would take two minutes for new rules to be passed specifically against this and probably directed at us. None of your positions make any sense and they are frankly a bit tedious to have repeated constantly. In short, you don't know what you are talking about and please don't claim to speak on anyone's behalf about what they would actually think in scenarios you have invented yourself.

Couldn't care less about the price btw. I reckon he'll have a ball playing here, Howe will squeeze every last inch and him playing against the likes of PSG and Barcelona will be spine tingling.

Agreed that the resale point is valid but in my mind not relevant. You have to do both at the same time. Or are we a team that only sees selling for a profit and one revenue stream and doesn't care about our league position? A feeder club, essentially until the mythical day that we bridge the gap? But even if you do think that way, if we want him here then surely it's with the point of view of making us more attractive long term, by finishing a few places higher, winning more games, making a dent in the CL, all of which can earn extra revenue and that more than pays it off. You could make a case that we'd be 1-7 points better off by now with him in. Maybe not, you can't deal in counterfactuals, but still it's clear in every game what we've been lacking. How much difference would say 4 of those points make at the end of the season as to where we finish?

I'm wondering now how he has been behind the scenes these last three seasons. I've no doubt of his talent, but in treating it purely like a job he doesn't seem to have the same off field togetherness as the rest of the squad and I wonder if that's always been the case not just last season. Anyway, doesn't matter, I'm a lot happier to have two strikers, one with potential and a big chance to show he can make it in the PL and the other with a big new CL adventure to look forward to.

I'm leaving the Isak debacle out of this. On its own I'd say it's a solid 8. We've got quite a few players in to cover or replace key positions which we've needed strengthening or replacing for quite a while. There are some I don't know much about, like Thiaw and Woltemade. And there are some that are very good but don't quite set the pulses racing for me yet, like Ramsey or Elanga. But Howe and his team have been after most of these for a while and they'll see things they can work with. It will probably take them a while to train up and bed in, but I'm confident they will work out really well and it's a much stronger squad overall.

We need a paperwork update I swear down if we've ran out of crayons

Suddenly transfer deadline day got interesting. I said Hey-ey-ey Hey-ey-ey What's going on?