TheBrownBottle

Now I know how my old teachers felt when they’d leave the room for five minutes and return to chaos

You say it like it’s a bad thing

Add in the Cole money from January which wasn’t spent until the summer

I’ve just cringed so hard I’ve pulled my back

Yeah, was thinking exactly the same. He just comes across as a complete arse, and I wonder if he’d be a problem in the dressing room at a club where he’s not the king of the dungheap

Likewise. Love the bloke but that doesn’t mean sentiment should get in the way.

He was never my guy. Two cunts don’t make a right.

Jonathan Wilson is an excellent football writer and journalist. Until he writes about us, and the bitter Mackem side comes storming out: https://amp.theguardian.com/football/blog/2024/jan/20/is-the-game-really-up-for-jose-mourinho-or-could-he-morph-into-the-geordie-one

It helps the other clubs by stopping runaway escalation. It limits the ‘non-big six’ in what they can spend to stay up - keeping the odds as closer to three-in-fourteen as a chance of relegation. And by the ‘big’ clubs being curtailed, transfer fees remain with a degree of consistency - they can only increase in relation to turnovers. Makes perfect sense if you’re either one of the sky six, or you’re a club which is simply happy to enjoy PL income with no more ambition than that. Look at the clubs in the PL - Fulham, Palace, Bournemouth, Luton, Brighton, Brentford. Those clubs between them have a solitary League Cup win between them in their collective histories. They’re all clubs who have spent the vast majority of their history in the second or third tier. Every year in the PL is an achievement, and their ambitions go no higher. Add to that Forest, Sheff Utd, Burnley, Wolves - all of whom do have a history, but have little to no chance of getting back to their peak. Why would they give a shit about whether or not a Newcastle or a Villa or an Everton can restore their status at the top end of the table? Even West Ham - with their new ground etc - will be perfectly happy with the status quo, protecting as it does their current status. West Ham has finished in the top four once in their entire history - they’re not about to start aiming for it now. FFP is good for all but a handful of clubs.

It’s my assumption that they won’t give anyone anything like five years - they’ll demand results.

The medical team, yes. Physio - no https://trainingground.guru/articles/head-physio-leaves-newcastle-united-after-15-months

Might have been the point of it tbf

We definitely are

100%. Best traditional no.9 other than Shearer we’ve had for me (I know others will disagree). Love the man when fit. If he didn’t have the fitness issues, he’s a £40m player even at his age

Yeah, it’s suddenly getting interesting. Players out likely means players in. I’m all onboard for this tbh - could be an exciting window when nowt would have been anticipated

We’re unlikely to get that given his injury record and age I’d rather see the lad stay, but if he’s off I’d bet the fee will be in the £10-15m range

The poor coefficients meant that our CL take wasn’t as much as many would have thought. Villa will likely make as much as us if they win the Conference League - and they get a trophy out of it too.

Stadium costs are FFP neutral (though interest on borrowings aren’t - though I’m assuming that the owners would cough up the sums themselves)

Agree with everything other than Europe, which is still very important irrespective of which competition - for coefficients, commercials, match day income, attracting players etc

The Newcastle players had an issue when a former manager tried to get them dancing to get them moving better. Though that manager was Charlie Mitten and it was the 1950s, so times do move on. Not on Wearside though, clearly

Yep, if he’s off then he’ll still be a top bloke and player in my eyes. He was this generation’s Brian Kilcline for me (though obviously a much better player)

He also used to be very good on Champ Man in his younger days

He said it in one of his YouTube videos a while back. I’d have to go through his online video ouevre, and I’m not willing to do that - so you’ll have to take my word for it.

My favourite is still him shit-stirring re Ryan Fraser before a cup final. A player who could never sell a single copy of a newspaper, but Hope was happy to cause maximum possible disruption before a cup final for a MAIL EXCLUSIVE which no cunt could possibly care about. The man can fuck off, the moon-landing denying weirdo

I’m sure Trippier is telling everyone he meets what his innermost thoughts are, in fairness. And he can’t accept a bid from Bayern.