WilliamPS

How dare you EAST STAND, EAST STAND, EAST STAND (I reckon you’ve got to be at least over 40 to recognise that)

So much bad blood between the clubs I can’t see it happening. Spurs and Man Utd are the two clubs I don’t think there’ll be any business with, as exec relationships are too bad

Great to see him start, big boost for him. Deserved it, and deserved it 2 months ago…

Man City have a massive PSR issue. That’s why they’ve ended up in all these legal fights. Yes they can spend the most in the PL, but it’s Real they want to be able to compete with financially and PSR prevents that.

HBA would last <5 minutes in a Howe squad. That’s not even debatable. Honestly they would hate each other

The club said 9 months at the start, they are still saying 9 months now, given that’s informed by the surgeon and medical staff 9 months and back to playing in December seems reasonable. He may have a set back, or pick up a niggle, but it’s 5 and a half months in so they’ll know it’s progressing according to plan.

Are people happy with the transfer window, including selling Anderson and Minteh and buying the Greek in a panic? NO! Do people want anything to change? NO!

Hard disagree. The increase in the likes of Gordon, Tino etc came through coaching and development at Newcastle. It’s value created at Newcastle. At the time they were signed they didn’t have that value. You don’t pay someone else for work you have to do yourself. Hall and Tino in particular may well turn out well, but the risk is all on Newcastle, for example Tino could have had another injury. Hall is going through intense coaching and isn’t yet a starter, but the fees paid were fees for complete players. The risk and downside of it not coming off is all on Newcastle, there’s no refunds if a signing doesn’t make it. Guehi may become a 70m player, but until he actually is one it’s not a sensible price to pay, otherwise you take all of the risk of him not stepping up.

Two bits: 1) Howe will be happy when he’s given top players to work with. That’s on Mitchell to deliver 2) Not every like in the interview is a dig/attack on someone, be that Ashworth, Staveley, Howe, Palace, most of it is just answers to questions. You can read far too much into these things

Im not sure how to read this, whether he means (or the paper has misprinted) “was it all aligned with the head coach” As that would make sense to me, for example the interest in Miggy, the talk about Trippier, based on Howes comments Howe didn’t want either going and they were put up for sale, plus the Gordon business. If the lesson here is Howe has to be happy with the sales plan I’m all for it.

Lascelles did a great job stepping up last season until his injury and has shown a great attitude. If he’s happy to stay as a squad player there’s no good reason to move on. The idea he’s terrible is based on performances pre takeover and is a tired outdated view. Id expect a CB to come in on big money and then Burn, Schar and Lascelles to all get offered extensions. I wouldn’t be surprised if Schar turned down staying as a backup though, if he’s no longer first choice he might prefer to move on. If so it means going for two new CBs, something ideally avoided. We shall see.

I’d imagine a lot of international fans of the PL actively avoided Newcastle games in the prior years, so some sort of increase in interest makes sense, and may have had a lag as viewers probably didn’t tune in right from the start of the 22/23 season For example internationally Newcastle Spurs probably had many more viewers than Chelsea Palace, two years ago maybe it’s the other way round

As the rules are being aligned with UEFA rules this won’t happen. What will be bittersweet is Liverpool, Spurs and Man Utd will find they are in the same boat in the CL as Newcastle int the PL, as Real Madrid (& Barca if they sort their act) have such a massive advantage

This wouldn’t work, as sponsors can give whatever money they want, they are not restricted. Just the Clubs can’t use it in their PSR calculations. The sponsorship rule definitely has its weak points and City seem to think it can be challenged though

Tbh I’m not surprised Ashley said that, he hired a lapdog and wasn’t going to take it yapping at him.

Spurs should have won the PL the year Leicester did, they bottled it. But I think that was the year they were definite contenders

Overly pessimistic IMO, and I also think we should be seeing regular European football. Missed out this season only by the finest of margins and unusual circumstances. Without European games a finish of 5th place or so is totally achievable even with the financial constraints. The team has the 7th biggest budget, and 7th usually gets Europe. The gap to the teams above has already been massively reduced - which also means the gap to the teams below has also increased

This summer city had the Alvarez cash but presumably couldn’t find a player that matched the profile they wanted, but generally Man City’s PSR issues come from their enormous salaries. Talk Haaland gets 375k (19m per year) on basic but bonuses can bump that to 800k (40m per year). In his salary alone it’s a PSR cost way more than Isak and Bruno combined. Then also have KDB allegedly on 400k pw, and I’d imagine Ederson, Walker, Stones, Rhodri, Foden, Grealish, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva etc etc are all on north of 150k pw. It all adds up and means their ability to pay multiple big transfer fees is quite limited.

Lol You can’t say we aren’t fucked on the basis Murphy can play there. Trying to get CL football with Murphy as the RB would be a disaster.

Had to go a long way to find a team that hadn’t seen him play

Always seeing a goal, winning most home games and every game being competitive has made going to games such a great experience, and for me is one reason match going fans are not as neurotic as internet fans. It was so depressing treking up so SJP to get battered by someone like Brighton, sneak wins against shit teams and get pulverised by the top teams

Seedorf, Kazim Richards and Lewis, one of these is not like the others!

I’m staggered but thrilled for him. Hope he has a lovely time over there. Also delighted there’ll be no risk of him in a black and white shirt again.

Except for absolutely everything? The club has a chairman trying to pump as much cash as allowable in, and two execs whose job is to build a title contending club? I.e the total fucking opposite to the Ashley years?

Next two games are wolves and Fulham away. Tricky but very winnable, as both are average sides but at home, take 4 or 6 points from those and SJP will be a cauldron for the Man City game. This is how great seasons start…