TheBrownBottle

I don’t think the ‘over performance’ has occurred since 22/23 (there’s no-one in 24/25 I wouldn’t have thought we should have been finishing below, I know the ‘salaries’ crack but almost everyone finished above Spurs and Man Utd) but I also don’t think underperformance occurred until this season. Unfortunately I don’t think we’re in a position to countenance long-term underperformance - Howe’s position would be under question at literally any other club at this point under the circumstances. Most managers just run out of steam and new ideas are needed. In an ideal world, you could get rid of all the players and allow the manager to start afresh - but we aren’t in that world. Besides, this is Howe’s squad that’s been assembled - he’s more responsible for it than anyone, and if it isn’t good enough then I’m not convinced he’s earned the right to try to correct it. I’m also not sure about half the fanbase being unconvinced at the time nor would they be by another manager. The support tends to do exactly that - managers get a chance to show what they can do. I’m not referring to social media here - I’m talking about paying punters who go to the matches.

I would ask - if the takeover had happened five years earlier and we were searching for a new manager in 2021, how many would have been screaming for Howe, whose last job ended in relegation from the PL? The point being of course that for most of his time here Howe did an excellent job, so why would it be so impossible that a manager currently finishing midtable with a smaller club couldn’t exceed Howe’s achievements?

Fair enough - I’ll add only one thing; the noises coming from the club recently are pretty positive IMO - it sounds like lessons have been learned, and a strategy more in keeping with reality will guide how the summer goes.

Just a general point on PSR - yes, it’s a bag of shite, and it was adjusted in 2021 to target us. But it can’t be used as an excuse for poor squad management / signings - it’s been in place from before the first transfer window which opened post-takeover. Unless of course PIF, PC, RB, both the directors of football and Howe are ignorant and were completely unaware of what the rules meant for transfer budgets etc. It being ‘poor in context’ - what other context is there? The rules were in place since day dot. In a parallel universe where those rules aren’t there, then sure - but that’s dealing in counterfactuals.

Gordon wasn’t born when Shearer won his last cap tbf

I can vaguely remember that game - didn’t West Ham score a really late winner? I can remember the crowd being really angry. I was a kid and there with my dad in the family enclosure

I can still remember him being brought on to man mark a certain Lee, R of Charlton Athletic when he was taking us to pieces - I’m not sure if he even played many times for us again after that. Sweeney was fucking dreadful that day. 1990/91 is still the worst season I can remember by a long chalk - even though we were shitter the year after, at least it had KK and an epic finish. I wasn’t around in the late ‘70s / early ‘80s, so didn’t see that absolute nadir - the past thirty-odd years have never come close to that shite (including the Ashley era).

Fucking hell, sometimes traumatic childhood memories should stay buried

Yep, worst FB I’ve seen in B&W

They were the rules we had too - the only slight adjustment is that you could head the ball after it had bounced and it would count, unlike a half-volley I actually saw a YouTube clip a while back of Shearer and Lineker laughing at Micah Richards who said that it wasn’t a volley if the ball bounced - hate to disagree with two of England’s greatest ever strikers, but they wouldn’t survive a game of heads and volleys at Newburn rec if that’s what they think

You’re the victim of friendly fire on this one

Let’s put these to the sword this weekend. London’s weirdest supporters AFAIC - and I’ll echo the sentiments re that part of London. Selhurst is a fucking ballache to get to and there’s fuck all there but bland suburbia as far as the eye can see.

Didn’t realise that there was another answer than ‘Waddle’. The man is that traumatised he can’t even say ‘penalty’ correctly.

Handles corners well

Willock should have been - but I was more surprised by Murphy’s non-call-up. I don’t think he’s international quality mind, but his output was enough for a spot in the squad.

The Bald Eagle is NUFC, surely I can still remember being confused by his resignation - and the conversation my dad and uncle had after it was announced (it was in the middle of a load of politics on the NUFC board)

I reckon @leffe186 would have had no bother recollecting the 82 final

I haven’t either mate - post-2000 mine really drops off. Same with the European Cup tbh - I can list every European Cup Final from 56 to about 2006 without any effort - but if you ask me who was in the final last season I’d have to work hard to remember

Ah, forgot about Swansea - I pulled up the Championship table on the BBC website and my eyes must have jumped over them. It’s funny how semis and finals stick in the mind, but I’ve absolutely no clue re QFs. I’m guessing it’s because there’s fewer teams + the neutral venue element. Feels like a lifetime since NUFC were last there tbh.

I reckon you’ve got the right teams - but QPR were finalists in 1982 (the year I was born)

2. The other club that hasn’t done it since the Second World War started? Bristol City (20) 3. The other club that hasn’t done it since the Korean War started? Charlton (48) 4. The two other clubs that haven’t done it since we won the World Cup? Preston NE is the only one I can think of (64) (I think PNE is the only one for the last one, given that the list adds up to 25 clubs )

I’d be beyond shocked if Bruno leaves in the summer - I can’t picture him pushing for a move, and I also can’t see any club making an offer we couldn’t refuse due to his age. Maybe if he has a great WC that might change, and I don’t doubt his agent is probably an arsehole (they all are - it’s their job to be that) - but I just don’t see it happening at all. Equally I’d be shocked if Tonali is here in September.

It is indeed - whether they’ll be done on it is another matter.