TheBrownBottle

Love that they’re all just standing there like complete plums I look forward to Chelsea fans being told to be careful what they wish for

I was one of those who was a bit worried when Dalglish came in, even with his trophy record as a manager - I thought he’d allowed that great Liverpool side to age out (Souness usually gets all the blame, but Dalglish should’ve replaced some of them years earlier) and his Blackburn side were not enjoyable to watch despite being the most expensive side in the country by a fair margin, and then he actually seemed to improve us in 96/97 (it was only having our three forwards out injured which cost us a late title push IMHO). Robson being appointed in Jan 1997 wins us the title that season, I’m sure of it.

Fair dos

Definitely - I don’t think Trippier comes here without Howe’s presence. And for clarity, I think that today, there will be far more players who have heard of Howe, and would want to play him. I just don’t agree that Bruno, Isak or Botman sign in 2022 because Howe was gaffer.

They’re based on last season’s books - the last one published. When this years’ are published we’ll be above them. Villa’s two expensive loanees left, and we signed six players after losing Isak from the wage bill (and Lloyd Kelly too of course). Our new signings for the season will have added at least £20m to the wage bill (allowing for Isak dropping off).

The funny thing is part of the attraction of English football is the crowds and the noise - soon enough the grounds (especially around London) will be full to the brim with tourists overpaying to absorb the atmosphere, and finding there’s none as every other punter is the same as them. Ah well, there’s always the chance to watch the game through your iPhone while sitting there, or taking countless selfies with your back to the match. Some traditions will never die.

Can’t believe anyone would say this about Tyneside’s foremost man of letters

Yep. About a dozen clubs ‘overachieved’ vs wage bill last season due to the shitshows at Spurs and Man Utd.

Yes, because the articles are based on accounts from a season or more ago. Last summers’ spend took our salary bill above Villa’s, as well as meaning Howe has spent around ten times that of Emery on transfers. Palace shouldn’t even be in the conversation, really - but they coped reasonably well against us when they had to rest their key players after playing TWO days earlier in Europe, with us having a three week rest. I just wish I had a job where I had zero accountability like the manager of NUFC seems to have these days. To blame for nothing, at credit for everything.

We’re above Villa, Spurs are above us in 6th Villa managed par with us last season with CL (and went further in that competition than us). Last I checked they’re still in Europe. Palace are still in Europe and above us. There are no excuses for the dire performances in the league this season given the resources available. And if we need to be out of Europe for Howe to cope, he shouldn’t be here.

Our wage bill isn’t 8th, it’s 7th.

I’d argue you could count them on one finger (Targett - the permanent version).

The Albert Stubbins Appreciation Society will be sending a strongly-worded rebuttal to your inbox

Yeah, completely. If there are any group of supporters who are likely to feel the weight of past failures it is our lot

I’m not far from wondering what lobsters would consider winning

Winning trophies? Winning matches? How many matches? I’m not sure it is self explanatory. I don’t demand a team that wins trophies - I demand a club that wants to win trophies. But I absolutely do demand a team that wins. No-one would accept a team that doesn’t win.

I don’t think thinking Howe’s time is up is being a cunt to him, though. Just my perspective. That doesn’t of course mean that I think abuse is ok.

100%

It isn’t - because we absolutely do demand a team that wins; the issue is how often it wins. Losing every week with unquestionable effort won’t please a single support in the country, and we’re not an outlier on that. It can be read any way a person wishes to - that’s where the demanding / delusional stuff comes in. Expectation of what results look like is completely linked to investment in the squad, not history. I think it’s a reasonable ‘demand’ that a team whose bench cost more than half the squads the PL isn’t sat in a league position which is lower than Steve Bruce managed. I would ‘demand’ that they look better and win more regularly than one managed by the shittest manager in our history managed with a squad assembled on a relative shoestring.

I also think that the constant pointing to the examples of KK and Robson is quite the ‘gotcha’ he thinks tbh. KK said in his autobiography that he was burned out and offered to go at the end of 95/96. He offered again after Blackburn on Boxing Day 1996 (I was there with my dad - it was fucking dire). Then he offered to go at the end of the season - which was agreed, until a rug-pull due to the proposed floatation. After almost five years on the NUFC rollercoaster, and a top man and top manager - a club legend - was absolutely spent, needing a break from football. Sounds familiar. Robson was also a success - two CL-qualifying spot finishes, some great matches and players. But after almost five years, the performances had started to turn and eventually to nose-dive - after a summer chasing unrealistic targets which didn’t materialise, some really poor signings, and a dressing room which had stopped listening, time was up for him too. Sounds familiar, again. The lesson from KK and Robson isn’t that club legends should be in the seat forever (and Howe is up there with them), it’s that you have to make sure you get the next appointment right.

Sure, I’m not angry about it - it’s just a bit rum being held to a standard like you’re the one who said it

I don’t remember signing up to it as a statement - I’ve never thought it was a good idea for anyone to make statements on behalf of the fanbase, and people are then held to it like it’s a fucking contract. One of the many things Wor Flags has got right is avoiding statements of this type.

I think they’d definitely have asked (though I also think some players wouldn’t give a shite). But I also doubt he was sat there going ‘the bloke from Bournemouth? I’m in!’

Ho’way man, I’d be surprised if Bruno had heard of Eddie Howe in January 2022

*club that tries