TheBrownBottle

Too right mate - I’m scratching my head at reading effectively ‘they were ok to sack it off’. It’s went from ‘new players need time to learn the club’s ways’ to ‘injuries’ to ‘transitioning’ to ‘fixture congestion’ to ‘we’re doing well in the cups’ to ‘fuck it, they were in flip-flops anyway, what more could be expected?’ Happy to draw a line under last season and get behind Howe and the team going forwards, but the excuse making has gone from understandable to ridiculous.

I’m glad to learn that Eddie and the lads were ok to effectively sack off almost a quarter of the season as it was pointless anyway That is no doubt why Eddie and the lads personally refunded everyone who paid for a ticket plus their travel to away games, as it’s the least they could do. That must’ve happened if they were flip-flops on

I always preferred England in red tbh

It’s bastard winter over here

I’m getting a headache looking at it

Plenty did tbf - it was one of the excuses made all season. We’d be fine once the fixture congestion eased. We actually got worse.

Mind, I’m sure that any sponsor will be foaming if they bid £20m and then read what an anonymous internet gadgie said about what it’s really worth on his website, where he forensically analyses market data or some such shite

It doesn’t matter for non-related transactions - it’s worth what the market dictates

Let’s hope they sell a gajillion of them and chuck some of those sweet sponsorship dollars our way

Never heard of them, and don't care that I haven't - if they've got the readies, that'll do for us

Yep - I don't need a likeable no.9. I never found Shearer to be particularly warm; Supermac was a man who appeared to care only for himself; watching an Andy Cole interview was like watching paint dry. Would happily see another like them.

He was nicknamed the ice man for a reason - he’s a cold man. Proper sociopath vibes.

How’s he still in a job after all of that?

I’d argue several of those are grand old clubs with mediocre sides who’d have a good chance of being relegated in the PL. Spurs finished 4th in the CL table

We played some absolute shite in Europe, mind. I don’t think we were drowning in games vs good quality opposition.

Makes sense - I don’t think there’s a ‘right or wrong’ answer to this, just curious.

Oof. I don’t think any of that is true, they’re some fucking bizarre takes. I still think that the end of the road should’ve been reached at the end of the season, but it hasn’t, so the hope has to be we recruit well and Howe and his team get back to playing well. It feels like a line in the sand moment to me - there’s zero point in starting the season not being behind the manager.

Do you mean equal income, or equal spending limits?

The issue is more that the league moved away from being ultra competitive due to money coming in from outside the local area - football has always been in part driven by money. The league was skewed when clubs could find their incomes topped up from outside. It’s now at such a ridiculous scale that historically big clubs like a Newcastle now need a PIF to invest in them to get them competitive again.

You mean this one? It was always shit, but the new one tops it

There were seven different clubs who were champions in seven consecutive season from 58/59. There were eight different clubs who were champions between 66/67 and 77/78. The notion that it’s never been more competitive at the top is absolutely laughable. The difference between then and now? The greed of Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal - and a revolving door of acolytes.

It literally isn’t.

I haven’t seen anyone on here argue for that at all - folks will have their own opinion of what the rules should look like (I’ve always advocated for expenditure being capped to the highest club’s turnover from the previous season). I don’t doubt that stupid Twitter nobheads want it uncapped - probably because they’re thick enough to think that PIF would chuck unlimited money at us (they wouldn’t). I don’t think sovereign states should be able to own football clubs. They should be community assets. Unfortunately the reason why clubs often have to get outside investment is because of the legions of sad cunts from outside of Manchester who support the club which carries that city’s name (not the blue one). Millions of the soppy twats have for decades tilted the finances in favour of Man Utd and Liverpool - gormless glory seekers from Truro to Dublin to Oslo pulled the league away from what it should be. So I’ll take fuck all in terms of lectures from any ‘fans’ of the big three who play in red.

Wissa was replacing the experience of Wilson - we were bidding much lower numbers on him early in the window.

I’d be surprised if we’re shopping in the £60m player market this summer at all - too many positions to strengthen or replace.