Keegans Export

After the Benfica game there seemed to be a hiccup with the music and went off for a bit while the players were going on their lap, just as a song started to spread from the corner into the Gallowgate it kicked in again at full volume 🙄

I don't know, I thought they were pretty poor. Some occasional nice patterns of play but it seemed like most of their chances came from us giving up possession too easily. They'll be alright but bereft of confidence once the second half went on.

If you like you can save us going back and forth here and admit that today was the first time in ages and your point about it being "rammed down your throat every time you watch a match" was absolute bollocks.

The whole take a knee before KO thing. I asked because you said it was "every time we watch a match" and I don't go very regularly so I don't know whether it was a one-off today or a regular thing.

Possibly but that's because it directly affects the result of the game and therefore my enjoyment of it. If saying "We don't want racism in football" every now and again (I've asked twice now when the last time we did it was so I won't try a third time) has the same affect on your enjoyment of the game then fair enough 👍🏻

Personally I've never booed something just for being repetitive and/or irritating. There's clearly more to it than that.

I'll ask again - when was the last time we did it? What is being "rammed down our throats" exactly?

Feels like sometimes what makes him such a great impact sub (ie the chaos/unpredictability) is exactly why he isn't really trusted to play regularly. He's clearly got something about him but I think Howe prefers someone who will largely follow instructions (eg Gordon) and presumably he doesn't fully trust him yet. Hopefully gets an opportunity midweek.

Fed up? When was the last time we did it?

If I was playing at SJP I really wouldn't want the ref getting the crowds back up - sure that made a difference today.

PIGEON

Funnily enough I was talking to someone close to Ashley recently, asked him about Wednesday as a friend of mine is a fan and he was adamant there is no interest there. Basically wants a football-club-sized Sports Direct advert and outside of the PL that just isn't worth it. Guess we'll find out soon enough!

I had a quick skim of this thread earlier and he's either potentially available for West Ham, got another two or three weeks out, or he now has done his ACL and we'll be lucky to see him this season.

We had to get past the best teams in England to win a domestic trophy so...

I haven't watched the highlights back but has there been comment on the three penalty calls? The Barnes one looked like an optimistic appeal but there were challenges on Bruno & Gordon that I've seen given...?

Excellent job as always @Heron et al Quite an emotional one for my dad - Wyn Davies had been his hero as a kid & through a quite long and convoluted route had been in contact a little while back (what a great bloke he was by the way, my dad will now vehemently disagree that you should never meet your heroes) so the 1942-2025 on his banner was a really nice touch. That sort of little detail is what you get from the absolute best of our fanbase.

Clearly found out at this level, although there's no shame in that. Can't imagine many managers, coaches, players etc could go from 4th to 2nd tier in 3 years (is that right?) and not reach their limit somewhere along the way.

November International break is between Brentford (9th) and Man City (22nd) presumably?

Definitely looks like we're going to have to keep spending money to replace the ageing members of our first team squad

And even if they didn't you'd assume the upper limit would be either the 85% or the "cap", whichever is the lowest. The article says the limit this season would have been £550m - we'd need income of nearly £650m for that to put us at 85% so I don't see how this helps us either way.

True, but look at the list of cities that have hosted Champions League finals - some of the largest, most popular tourist cities in the world. They're set up for vast numbers of visitors pretty much all year round. The city can probably handle a CL final but if it's between Newcastle and London, Madrid, Berlin, Paris? UEFA have no need to risk it on the basis of a "probably"

Anyone used this jersey4fans site? Thinking of getting kits for the kids for Christmas

I don't think the stadium itself would be the issue, more Newcastle as a city itself. Look at the list of non-COVID affected final venues - Munich, London, Istanbul, Paris, Madrid...

There's more to hosting Champions League finals than stadium size isn't there? Like hotel availability etc