Abacus

I always think, whenever you ask any football fan anywhere what they need, it will always be a commanding defender, a central midfielder, and a reliable striker. I.e., basically the spine of a whole team. Out of all those, I think another striker would be just enough to keep us up and that's got to be the ambition this season, while we get things sorted and rebuild in the summer.

Downie was also saying that he thought the decision was made, and he'd be surprised if Bruce was in the dugout on Sunday.

Fair enough, but stick him on gardening leave while De Marco goes through his contract. I have also voted 'yes', that I am happy with his performance. Because the whole charade has been exactly that, a performance.

Yes, get him gone. If he's not going to be here for Spurs, where is the sense in keeping him in charge for even another day? That self pitying fraud will just get in the way of preparations for Spurs. And the savings in butter alone would be worth a new striker.

I am so delighted that we can all hate the mackems again, in a comedy way, instead of each other! Football is back!

Except that if you can't manage genuine talent, then you're not really a good manager at all.

I'm all for Ragnarok as well. But I also think we need a transitional manager who is used to working with a limited squad rather than expecting everyone to be a galactico, because there are different skills needed to manage players from where we are to where we'd like to be.

I can understand that if you're a Derby fan, and your other options might be oblivion, or some leveraged chancer, that you might think Ashley is a great option. That seems to be the view on one of the Derby forums I had a peek on. It might even be right, in the terrible position they are in, who am I to say? But what you can't see from the outside, though, is his soul crushing behaviour and how he takes your club away and ruins your love of football. Firstly, he is not a 'great businessman' when it comes to football - he diminished his own asset here. Probably could have sold it for so much more if he'd made competent decisions. But the real trouble is that what their fans don't see is that they still care about their club and are desperate for hope. And hope is what he smothers, to the extent that by the end so many people here would have preferred Newcastle to even go out of business just to get rid of him. Or else they stopped watching their own sport. You just had to listen to the earthquake on Thursday night to see what it meant for him to be gone. I'm sure they could ask Rangers fans about this too.

I'm going to roll up my sleeves and try not to make a big massive mess. But in my experience it's very difficult not to in this league. Very difficult. That's for sure.

Whilst I'm not bothered about the ethical stuff, since I'm both not responsible for it nor about to justify it to anyone either, it's actually the sporting angle that does bother me. For a long time, it's been obvious that you can't win anything without an unfair financial advantage. Leicester was the obvious, brilliant exception. But what's the point of trying to do things properly like them, when in a few years, it's quite possible we'll have skewed things even further? Obviously, we didn't cause those problems in the first place and I'd rather be on the winning side given those problems already exist. But it really wouldn't bother me if the whole pyramid collapsed, as long as it collapsed for everyone.

If he gets thrown in the Tyne, expect quayside flooding.

It's an odd one. Whenever I'm asked about this, I tend to say I'm a bit conflicted. But I'm not conflicted at all and I've realised I've just been lying to make myself look good. I did not go to bed on Thursday night fretting about Saudi Arabia one bit is the honest truth. Likewise, I'm not going to get drawn into justifying them either, or lobbying to change how a foreign country runs itself.

The daft thing is, we're looking for which managers are currently out of work. We're all that conditioned to looking downwards.

I keep crying! I was at the ground last night, and it was like an earthquake, singing and dancing with strangers. On the way, there were a couple of shell shocked looking students (presumably non local) coming the other way, saying "what the hell has happened?" to each other. Spurs at home is going to be sensational. This whole city is about to take right off again!

I'm 75% this is going through now. 😉 But, it's so weird thinking positively isn't it? I'm really just not used to it. Reet. Avoid relegation this year. Have a decent crack towards being in the top half of the table next year?

Well I went crackers with some mates, singing and dancing by the Strawberry! Man, what a night this has been - none of us can still believe it

Goodbye England's rose May you ever grow in our hearts You're the disgrace that placed itself Where lives were torn apart You called out to our club And you whispered to those in pain Now you belong in shirebrook Where giant mugs spell out your name And it seems to me you lived your life Like a candle in the wind Except just wearing cheap acrylics With no brains within And your footsteps will no-more fall here Along England's greenest hills But your massive jeans will wear out long before Your leg ends ever will

These things often do go wrong. I remember being happy when Ashley got rid of Freddy Shepherd, and look how that turned out. But she's really fought for this, put together a consortium with real firepower and stuck at it, dealing with both Ashley and an entrenched PL. So, I think she's a bit of a legend so far. If her only one contribution to Newcastle is getting rid of Ashley which many of us despaired could ever happen, then for me she's already going down in club history. If she now helps introduce some professionalism into a club that has lacked it in so many areas, then she'll be exactly what we've all been crying out for. Just hearing her speak about ambition was the breath of fresh air I needed and so I really hope it works out for her personally.

I'm suddenly much less worried if we end up being relegated this season due to the damage Bruce has already done. Obviously, I don't want us to go down, but now the takeover is done that's the main thing - you'd expect us to come straight back up in any event now. So, I think I can just enjoy matches again now. Spurs game will be rocking. Perhaps he could be ceremonially fired in the centre circle before the game, and then do a lap of shame.

I really hope someone is ready with that T-Rex yelling Cans.

In part, my view is that this is the way the game has already gone. So I'd rather take part and compete, than be compliant cannon fodder for the rest. Of course I'd prefer if there was a level playing field to start with, but there already isn't, and we didn't cause that. There are already inherent advantages for the likes of Man U, which means I won't be crying for them. They're paying Ronaldo's wages ffs. I don't know why Spurs are even in the conversation in the self selected big 6. My main feeling is sheer relief to be rid of Ashley, and if they want to grow the club sustainably and sensibly, actually reinvesting in the club and it's infrastructure at long last, I'd be more than happy with that approach. But if they want to blow a fortune and give us a wild ride for a few years, I'm not going to say I'd have any problem with that at all either. Other fans have had that, so why not us? As I say, we didn't cause that problem. So either level it up for everyone, or if you're happy to accept an uneven playing field before now, then fans of the big 6 need to put their big boy pants on and accept that if you play with crocodiles, you might get bit. Personally, I'd rather build like a Leicester, but not have our best players poached every season by a self entitled 'elite', but that's just me. Today I'm just delighted

Think it might be cheaper to pay him off.

I wonder what horrors the new owners will find when they take over. What's in this locked drawer? Hang on, Joe Kinnear is still under contract!?

Poor little Charnley. "Can I have my old job in the post room back please? Oh no Amanda, I got my tie caught in the machine again."

What has De Marco baked recently? I hope it's a massive shit sandwich.