TheBrownBottle

The statement alone is bizarre. I'm not saying that we might not finish 8th or lower - of course we could - but it is the best we can hope for? Bloody hell, I must have imagined the last two seasons

Bit of a hike from the Bigg Market mind - seems more geared up to the older Haymarket crowd. I wouldn’t go near it eight months of the year - it’ll be wet and cold.

Either West Ham played 40 home games, or Martin Ziegler is shit at maths

Unfortunately it wouldn’t - paying the transfer fee upfront doesn’t mean it won’t be amortised against the length of the contract. If you buy a player for £10m cash and they have a five year contract it’ll go into the books as £2m per year.

Other than that shaky spell, I didn’t.

You’ve got to love how England played Trippier at LB at the Euros in every game except the final, but he’d be sixth choice LB for us

Yep, you could legitimately catch the ball from a fair kick and get a free kick, but you couldn’t then run with it (similar to rugby league).

My last game at SJP before emigrating. I broke my self-imposed Ashley exile to go one last time (hadn’t stepped foot in the ground in years at that point). Can still see his goal in my mind’s eye - it was a rocket

Yep, I think so. January would be the last chance to get anything for him (and I would think it would be a nominal fee).

We have to be trying to keep Schar - I would hope it’s Lascelles that we’re looking to move on, possibly in January when he’s fit again or in May/June.

I can get excited by signing defenders. I was when we signed Woodgate. I wasn’t particularly excited by Tonali or Bruno tbh (though Isak was exciting in terms of potential). Signing players from the PL means you know what you’re getting. I think real, top class defenders slot in very quickly - and you immediately see the step up in quality. I always find it surprising that people undervalue the importance of quality in goal or in the back line. Top defenders add to my enjoyment of matches massively - they give a confidence where nervousness used to be.

I haven’t been this excited about a transfer in years. I think he’d be a hell of a signing. This guy could be in the NUFC and England team for the best part of a decade.

They can’t be football fans if they’re aware only of what they’ve literally seen.

Agreed - I gave them sixth simply on current status

Without consideration for their managers or owners (which can change my view) Clubs I don't mind Brentford Wolves Clubs I don’t care about one way or another Liverpool Man City Arsenal Fulham West Ham Leicester Southampton Bournemouth Ipswich Brighton Palace Clubs I don't like Everton Villa Forest Spurs Clubs that can fuck off Man Utd Chelsea edit: in terms of clubs that can fuck off, the other three are not in the PL (Mackems, smoggies, Leeds). I always had the impression that the Mackems, smoggies, Leeds, Man Utd and Chelsea were historically the clubs with which we’d kind of formed a collective Geordie consensus about - but it is interesting to me that time changes these things

They didn’t suffer Pardew - they wanted him and told anyone who would listen that we were delusional for wanting him out

They’re the absolute embodiment of PL flotsam to me - nowt about them, have spent more years in the third tier than the top one, but seem to think that because we’re not Man Utd or Liverpool then they’re the same size as us. Lots of ‘side wards moves’ or ‘why would he sign for Newcastle’ patter. Daft twats

Yep, agreed - I never bought into the 'just a big daft NUFC fan' schtick at any point. He seemed to truly enjoy scoring against us - the one that sticks in the craw is the one in '95 which effectively cost us a European spot. Cole is a complete cunt, mind. Any residual sentiments for that man died watching the '96 Cup Final.

Sir Les celebrated against us too, mind

I'm going 3-4-1-2 so that I can maximize the attacking talent (with apologies to Trippier) - and I'm going for the modern rules re nine subs on the bench: Pope Woodgate Botman Albert Solano Lee Bruno Robert Beardsley Shearer Isak Bench: Given Trippier Schar Elliott Gascoigne Batty Ginola HBA Wilson

NB Crystal Palace's support's apparent one-way hatred of us makes this one all the funnier. The disrespect is coming thick and fast from London's sixth biggest club (and that's at a push).

I’d be ok with that, though I agree that RW is a problem. Having the strongest back line possible is a good thing, though

Exciting stuff, this. Been a long time since we were signing England internationals with their best years ahead of them (yes, I’m jumping the gun)

All awful - though I really didn’t like Stimson as a FB. Thought he was absolute shite

I was at Birmingham City for a friendly when he did play. ‘Stand up if you’ve got a Pinas’, etc We put Les Ferdinand off with laughing. Don’t think Pinas played again