TheBrownBottle

Honestly I agree with everything you’ve said - and I’m part of the same hypocrisy. I just stop dead at defences of the owners. They’re rank human beings, and they haven’t bought the club for altruistic reasons. We get to be beneficiaries; but I can’t abide folks thinking they need to defend the indefensible

They have, but Christ we don’t need to pretend that MBS hasn’t been convicted of anything therefore he’s guilty

Burden of proof wouldn’t sit with the PL, but with PIF. You’d struggle to argue that as de facto ruler of KSA and the head of PIF he has no say at all in the direction of the club. It is his club, effectively. That doesn’t matter - KSA doesn’t have the rule of law for a start, and he’s unlikely to be convicted of anything ever there. The PL FPPT would also be failed if you’d done something which could lead to criminal conviction under another jurisdiction - ie state sponsored piracy of PL football (the PL were never bothered about war crimes in Yemen, human rights abuses in KSA, nor in the murder of journalists) In all honesty seeing NUFC supporters offering any type of supportive statements to one of the most vicious regimes on the planet because they think they’ll buy us some canny footballers is one of the most depressing things about it all. It was Staveley saying that, tbf. And she doesn’t exactly have a perfect record of telling the full truth in court cases.

Arsenal were already doing what they were doing pre-Arteta - finishing in the top few spots and winning cups. Ferguson had a remarkable track record at Aberdeen to hang some confidence on - including winning a European final vs Real Madrid. On the flip, Chelsea are the most successful English club this century, and have had eighteen permanent managers in that twenty-three year period. I’m not saying that Howe should go at all, but I don’t at all think that just keeping someone in a job means that at some point it’ll all work out. I still hope this all works out and he’s a success, but the confidence is being really battered around the edges on that front. I still think he’s got every chance of turning it round, though.

PSR is definitely a factor, though on the flip of that we’re three years into Howe’s reign, and we’ve spent well over half a billion quid on transfers, and Jacob Murphy and Miguel Almiron are still our right wing options. That’s not the fault of PSR. Yes, the Ashley-era dross is difficult to get shot of - but I can’t take seriously the idea that 1) we couldn’t offload those two and 2) there literally isn’t anyone who we could have bought for a small share of the spend to date better than those options. Three years is usually enough time to suggest that this is a manager’s squad.

Jury's out / hasn't kicked on as expected / jury's out, not at the level yet / effective but not as good as the first choice in his position would be my take - in that order

Sort of - but the Tonali / Livramento / Hall / Barnes summer does raise the question of whether or not we'd actually bring in the right players.

We've got no data on how vulnerable Howe is at the moment - he's the only managerial appointment the current ownership has made. Oddly enough I thought we looked poor at the start of the season and were grinding out results, now we're playing better and dropping points. I wasn't expecting us to pick up points today, which is probably a bit troubling. We're 8th after eight games, which I think is ok - and I do think that serious questions should only get asked after another ten games or so; half a season will be enough to tell if we've stalled in a bad way. The squad seems stagnant though - I'm one of those who wouldn't have been at all troubled by seeing a 'purple' or two leave in the summer, provided the FFP headroom was actually used. I'm not at all convinced that simply clinging onto your best players at the time and not adding to them is a policy likely to result in real success. All players are ultimately sellable. My biggest concerns with Howe at the moment would be whether or not he actually has a plan B (beyond 'intensity is our identity', which made us so vulnerable to the injury problems of last season) and whether or not he's cutthroat enough to become an elite manager.

We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one

Everything you’ve said I agree with 100% - including VE (the QS blight on modern cities) ‘Here’s your three pricing options’ I hear myself saying like the dodgy architect in Aug Wiedersehen, Pet Actually I don’t anymore because I’m now a civils QS - so those calls no longer matter. But the old BB - definitely

The Garden of Friendship was just outside my first flat over here in Darling Harbour Ex-Mrs BB got a job out west, so out west we went. I don’t miss living there. Honestly. Seriously.

Apologies, it is a thing of beauty

For clarity I live in Sydney these days, and the shimmering towers are stunning at night - either in Darling Harbour or the Rocks. It’s an awesome sight But it is context that counts - Newcastle will never have those shimmering towers. But it has one of the outstanding city centres in the UK (and fuck yes I’m biased - but it’s also true!). Again, NUFC should be a city centre club. But that involves an element of sacrifice to the city’s aesthetics. Other opinions exist

New Eldon Square is a long standing act of cultural vandalism for which T Dan Smith was never adequately punished. See also the destruction of the various streets and arcades the corrupt fucker destroyed. Rant owa

Excellent I’m cursed with the knowledge of how much sandstone builds cost £/m2, so I understand why they’re not built - usually because my profession will stick its tongue in its cheek and go ‘it’ll cost you’. When what I really want to say is ‘go for it you mad bastard’

Haha aye fair enough. I think architecture can be awe-inspiring and impressive - but beauty is something else altogether. Maybe I’ve been a QS too long - I’ve heard too many architects talking about their ‘vision’ and been irritated by listening to that shite

Stephen Fry once summed aesthetics up quite well for me - he said that beautiful buildings look like they’ve been pulled up from the earth instead of plonked on top of it Newcastle’s Georgian city centre looks like it’s been hewn from the earth. SJP looks like it has been plonked on top of it

Yep, totally agree. And that Northumbrian light yellow sandstone that makes up huge swathes of Newcastle city centre is just beautiful. Those views don’t need a concrete and glass behemoth looming in the background. I’m definitely not advocating a move out of the city centre (it is where the club should be), but to me its presence there is a necessary sacrifice on the city’s aesthetics rather than the ‘cathedral on the hill’ patter

I agree, and I tend to with most of the things you write on here mate - just can’t agree re the Ashley vs ESL thing

In all honestly you could stick the San Siro at Gallowgate (still my favourite ground I’ve been to with NUFC) and I’d still think it was a blight on the landscape of the city. Just personal taste

Have to disagree. Ashley was a bad owner, a super league rips up a century and a half of history and wrests clubs from their communities

The Sun isn’t the only red top with a glorious history in that dept …

I didn’t die in Flanders Fields to see a Jorman manage England

Champion - good appointment this one

He’s talking about the vaunted investment into the region, not the football club. And he’s right.