TheBrownBottle

He was making the sex eyes at us again before the Benfica match. I wouldn’t be tempted, and I hope the owners wouldn’t be either

He was right about the transfer policy, but he’s still a cunt for me

*laughs in not going to happen*

That four hasn’t ever played together so it’s hard to state that with certainty

Just on the ‘we wouldn’t criticise him if he wanted to play for England and got injured playing for them’, was the Michael Owen time here a bad dream?

100% - and the WCs and Euros are basically tolerated by me because they (usually) don’t impact the regular season for their final tournament. Their qualifiers do, and that fucks me off.

Agreed - the midfield hasn’t been close to good enough. Joelinton just isn’t a particularly good midfielder - but even more importantly I think our other two are not difficult to play against at the moment.

Wissa will be selected as long as he makes himself available, as he should be. Being annoyed with players getting injured in internationals isn’t a racist thing - I don’t give a flying fuck about international football. Newcastle winning a corner gets me more excited than England winning a game. The AFCON’s timing and regularity is a complete pisstake mind.

Shearer retired from international duty at 29 to focus on staying fit for Newcastle. And I never met anyone on Tyneside who was upset with that decision

We’re short two full backs and a centre forward. The squad hasn’t been decimated by injuries and tough fixture pile-ups. He still isn’t rotating.

I completely agree with those pointing out that having our fullbacks out fundamentally changes the way the side operates. I question how that shields Howe from culpability - presumably he knows this too, and surely he noticed that Hall was already out when the season started, and that starting the season with one FB who can operate as you need might leave you short - and it might be worth considering when you’re out spending almost a quarter of a billion quid in the transfer market? This is his squad I’m looking at - the Ashley / Bruce era is a fair way into the past. Howe needs to find solutions from the squad he built. I think he will, but failure is on him, just as success is.

The performances are far more of a concern than the results. We’ve had these spells with Howe before, and I’d back him 100% to fix them - but we’ve never looked this half-arsed under Howe at any point. The XI seems to now pick itself, irrespective of long or short term form. We look lethargic and clueless.

Mock obituaries and eulogies are English sport’s oldest jokes. There’s loads of mock obituaries from Victorian era football in the histories of that era. The Ashes come from one of these mock obituaries to the England cricket team.

Hang on, when did Paul Merson become likeable? Did he suddenly stop being a thick as shit, little Englander cockney wanker who fucking hates us?

Everyone was definitely gutted, but it wasn’t met with an understanding shrug

He did, or at least he picked one up and bit into it. But it wasn’t done by the crowd in kindly jest - there was a lot of anger directed his way that day.

Yes, chanting ‘Judas’ and hoying Mars bars at him was a protest against the board sublimated against him

Maybe like the one at Everton when we clapped him on then did comedy booing every time he touched the ball? I think if a player goes on to better things they don’t get a good reception, but if they’ve taken a step backwards they usually do. David Kelly got clapped on for the Mackems, Andy Cole never got the same treatment (before his FA Cup final singing)

We gave Gazza grief the first time he came back to SJP with Spurs

I mean, they would win games in the current format at the moment

They definitely wouldn’t be top half PL teams lads - the PL is comfortably stronger than other European leagues at this point. Money talks.

He wouldn’t have been the ‘GOAT’ if Messi didn’t exist - no-one who saw Maradona play would put Cristiano Ronaldo above him. I wouldn’t put him above Zidane either for that matter. He’s been a fantastic footballer though, likely one of the top ten of all time.

Yep - playing elevator muzak before kick off drowning out the noise of the support was never, ever a good idea. Alan Robson and Barry in the Box started playing it and now it’s seen as a grand tradition.

It was - Barry in the Box started playing it at full belt before KO, pleasing no-one but himself. They pulled it for a bit in late ‘90s when The Mag regularly pointed out that it wasn’t popular, before shrugging their shoulders after a bit and playing it again. My preference would either be nothing played, or a proper version of the Blaydon Races. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing that says ‘Newcastle’ more to me than the lyricless theme tune from a movie about an American Wall Street bloke who likes living in a Scottish fishing village. But it’s a sacrifice I’d be willing to make.