TheBrownBottle

We played some absolute shite in Europe, mind. I don’t think we were drowning in games vs good quality opposition.

Makes sense - I don’t think there’s a ‘right or wrong’ answer to this, just curious.

Oof. I don’t think any of that is true, they’re some fucking bizarre takes. I still think that the end of the road should’ve been reached at the end of the season, but it hasn’t, so the hope has to be we recruit well and Howe and his team get back to playing well. It feels like a line in the sand moment to me - there’s zero point in starting the season not being behind the manager.

Do you mean equal income, or equal spending limits?

The issue is more that the league moved away from being ultra competitive due to money coming in from outside the local area - football has always been in part driven by money. The league was skewed when clubs could find their incomes topped up from outside. It’s now at such a ridiculous scale that historically big clubs like a Newcastle now need a PIF to invest in them to get them competitive again.

You mean this one? It was always shit, but the new one tops it

There were seven different clubs who were champions in seven consecutive season from 58/59. There were eight different clubs who were champions between 66/67 and 77/78. The notion that it’s never been more competitive at the top is absolutely laughable. The difference between then and now? The greed of Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal - and a revolving door of acolytes.

It literally isn’t.

I haven’t seen anyone on here argue for that at all - folks will have their own opinion of what the rules should look like (I’ve always advocated for expenditure being capped to the highest club’s turnover from the previous season). I don’t doubt that stupid Twitter nobheads want it uncapped - probably because they’re thick enough to think that PIF would chuck unlimited money at us (they wouldn’t). I don’t think sovereign states should be able to own football clubs. They should be community assets. Unfortunately the reason why clubs often have to get outside investment is because of the legions of sad cunts from outside of Manchester who support the club which carries that city’s name (not the blue one). Millions of the soppy twats have for decades tilted the finances in favour of Man Utd and Liverpool - gormless glory seekers from Truro to Dublin to Oslo pulled the league away from what it should be. So I’ll take fuck all in terms of lectures from any ‘fans’ of the big three who play in red.

Wissa was replacing the experience of Wilson - we were bidding much lower numbers on him early in the window.

I’d be surprised if we’re shopping in the £60m player market this summer at all - too many positions to strengthen or replace.

Bobby Charlton must’ve been off his tits if he genuinely said that. Whitehurst may be up there with our worst ever no.9s - a thoroughly mediocre player and a thug to boot. I’m not sure our crowd loved him in the way he claims.

Yeah, this is true. It applies to football generally, but if applied to the English top division I’ve seen a few of these cycles at my advancing age. The solution to a footballing style is found and adapted quickly. High pressing was the counter to ‘tiki-taka’ possession football - forcing opponents into mistakes. Direct football is the counter to a high press. And so on and so forth. It’s happened throughout history. We’re not close to the nadir in terms of style that I’ve seen - the early ‘90s were spectacularly grim. Hoofball (and hoof the opposition), offside traps and the back passes.

Wissa was Wilson’s replacement was always my understanding

Decimal point missed on that one I think

Spotted Ekitike’s agent’s car in Sydney this morning on the way to a meeting - can’t wait to see him upfront with Stamatelopoulos

This times 1000

Rob Lee on the right looks like himself mind

Shite news, love the man

I remember him - weren’t they kicked out after Grey scored?

You'd think the club would be offering an extension regardless of where he's playing in September - seems daft to let it run down.

Would it be reduced if he was sold abroad? Made the Gordon sale go down like Calpol for me - that was one of those moves where I think all parties could basically walk away happy and we can wish the player all the best.

Agreed on all counts - and the new rules are weird; they even run March to March from what I can understand. The only small advantage from the new rules for us is that transfer losses can be amortised over those three years too - which should reduce the impact of getting shot of someone like Wissa for a fraction of what we paid.

He was a solid top division midfielder pre- and post-PL breakaway, which absolutely meant he could play. He was decent enough. He was decent enough crack tbf - anyone who was at SJP when he went in nets for Wimbledon could attest to that (and he wasn't that bad in goal really, even though we scored six that day). The thuggishness was absolutely in his game - though most of that side during that period were the same. He also wasn't as innately unlikeable as Dennis Wise, so there's that too. I very much doubt he'd be a top flight player today, mind.

Even the weird songs were absolutely shite, seemed to be a bunch of twats who'd never been to a match in their life 'Nayim from the halfway line' they weren't