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Sorry, but by what metric are we even remotely close to that? We've made the play-off round of the Champions League but it's tanked our league form. Our record against the other "top teams" is dire. The gap in terms of commercial income is vast. Our facilities are average Premier League level at best. One poor transfer window and suddenly we've fucked ourselves but which "top club" is just letting the manager get on with it without the structure in place to support him? We can blame Howe for the transfer window (and I've done that myself to an extent) but he never should have been in that position. It may end up costing him his job but the way we go through executives doesn't suggest it's entirely just Howe throwing his toys out of the pram.

It's not even that we could have got better players for less, it's that we seemed to have signed players to play a style of football we no longer seem to play.

It's all the bluster that bothers me. We had both Staveley and YAR talking about being number one, challenging for titles in 5-10 years. We've just recently heard our new CEO say the goal is to be in the conversation as the #1 club in the world within 5 years was it? And what's happened since he said that? No major new sponsorship, nothing official on the training ground, nothing at all about the stadium, no additions to the playing squad. Honestly, if on the day of the takeover you'd said we'd be targeting for European qualification more often than not & competing for domestic cups I'd have been delighted. More often than not, it's been a brilliant few years to be a Newcastle fan. But for all the stated ambitions, the level of action has been severely lacking and suggests that either they were/are bullshitting or have absolutely no idea how to achieve their publicly stated goals.

Not a fan really. I think the main white stripe should be wider. I also assume the back is an abomination as usual. The blue is the wrong shade too, should be darker imo. Having said that, ultimately it depends how we play in it. Have a good season and it'll be a cult classic. I'm also not against them mixing it up a bit every few seasons either, obviously the kits are going to divide opinion when they do that.

Interestingly, my usual AI detector thinks the overall image is genuine, but the badge only isn't

✅️ Tactical flexibility ✅️ Squad rotation ✅️ Responded quickly when it looked like we were going to be taken apart early on ✅️ Gordon & Barnes coming on while we were on the up, rather than waiting until they regained some momentum Obviously a really good result but also a brilliant managerial performance.

Wouldn't it have to be Monaco because PSG are 11th as it stands?

I think if the FA Cup winners finished in the top 5 and we get the extra CL place then you'd have; Top 5 - Champions League 6th & 7th - Europa League 8th - Conference League

It's so frustrating. Obviously their first goal was a great strike but there were two or three one-touch passes that led to him receiving the ball in a little pocket of space. Can't recall us doing anything like that once.

This is the decision the ownership will have to make. Wherever we end up finishing, there'll need to be a decent amount of turnover. At least one first team player will probably leave, hopefully for good money which we will look to reinvest. Howe has to do enough between now and the end of the season to show that he's the guy to lead that rebuilt squad. Finish top 8 and I think he'll stay, any lower and I think they might look at going in another direction.

Would 100% take 7th and I think that's around par, especially if we progress in the CL. Would almost certainly be Conference League, or Europa League I think if one of the top 5 win the FA Cup?

What this shows is; 1. How much we have overachieved in the past few seasons 2. That we are basically on par this season, as it stands The first is a huge positive for Howe but the longer the second remains true, the weaker the "nobody could do as good a job as Howe with this squad" argument gets. Still very tight though and anything from 7th/8th upwards is par and not sack-worthy

They release their team sheet in positional not numerical order though. So in a way, they've already won.

Test of character for the players and the fanbase really. The debate before the season would have been "would you rather stay up or beat the mags" and it looks like they're going to have achieved both with a little over half the season gone. It'll be interesting to see what they do in this window, will they look to add to the squad from a position of strength?

Exactly, but PSR is what ties income to how much we can spend.

But that's where PSR does come into it. How much money have Chelsea, Man Utd wasted over the past few years? Only to dip back into the market and drop another £50m+ We don't have that luxury because the rules have tied our hands.

Home games against Villa under Howe; P4 W4 GD+12

Spot on tonight. Seeing us go ahead early and not just sit back, what a relief. Did a great job of playing through them as they chased the game, second half especially.

Always got to factor in the prevailing wind Bobby. So much disgruntled huffing and puffing from the East Stand regulars obviously adding to the effect.

...then they'll call you a snowflake

Pope Miley Thiaw Botman Hall Tonali Ramsey Elanga Bruno Barnes Wissa Give it the old 4-2-3-1 with Bruno at #10. Tonali and Ramsey should have the legs to cover.

100% The reason I was so stressed on the final day last season was because I wanted us to finish 5th and qualify for the Champions League. Why not enjoy it while we've got it?

It's two separate things. They do 1000 simulations and on average we got 12.9 points across those 1000. The percentages are how many times we qualified for the top 8 (13.3%) or got a playoff (86.7%) so out of 1000 sims we made at least a playoff place 1000 times

Correct Edit - this was before tonight so our exact odds will be different but still be 100% play off qualification