TheBrownBottle

When you think about it, if you're sitting pretty near the top of the PL you can with some validity claim to be one of the best sides in the world. Yet I've seen more claims by mackems that they are in that single thread than I've seen on here full stop. Mag philistine. You don't know proper quality when you see it

'We play to win. Don't play for 0-0 draws every week.' Let's face it, we know who that's aimed at. It is a shame that their goals scored per game average is 1.46, and ours is 1.65. And we're playing in a division above. We've scored three or more goals six times in twenty league games so far; they've done it four times, despite playing a division below and having played EIGHT more games. Facts are mackem kryptonite

I know where you’re coming from, but that’s assuming that following a victory the season continues as it had. Every match would be changed as a result

Aye, it would be a catharsis for those of us who were a bit scarred by it For what it’s worth, as much as I love KK, I think Howe is a steelier character- and his team reflects that

It might also be of note that the three you mention - Batty, Beardsley, Asprilla - were three of the four regulars who’d actually won things before, and could deal with the pressure. (Ginola won the title and cup with PSG - but he wasn’t the same after Arsenal’s thugs kicked up out of the LC QF). Barton did once say that they ‘never really believed’ that they could win it. This is also why I’m not sure with the counterfactuals re ‘if we beat X, we win it’. I think there’s a good chance we don’t win it even if we beat Man Utd /Blackburn / Liverpool etc.

The table shows all you need to know - Newcastle took 24 points from their remaining 15 games. If that form was replicated across the entire season, it would have been good enough to finish NINTH that season (60 points)

Batty was our best player after he signed - he was man of the match on his debut vs Man Utd and the standard didn’t drop from there. From memory he finished in the top three in The Mag’s end of season poll for best player - not bad for a bloke who only played ten games. He was a far better footballer than Clark, and hadn’t become the crab-like player we all feared we’d signed at that point. There’s an argument that we reverted to the mean in the second half of that season - we were 6th in the form table for the last 19 games, which is the same as our final place the year before. It wasn’t just that Man Utd went on a winning run; NUFC’s form wasn’t even close to title-winning. It is the case that if the 0-1 loss to Man Utd at home is reversed, then we swap places. But it doesn’t necessarily follow that the remaining games pan out as they did. Far too many of our attacking players (Ginola, Ferdinand, Beardsley, Lee) were mediocre post-January.

Good luck with the campaign - the simple and sad truth is that football atmospheres died with all-seater stadiums, and - no less importantly - the huge price hikes and no ‘on the turnstile’ tickets that followed (somehow clubs missed Lord Justice Taylor’s comments that going all-seater shouldn’t see huge price hikes). This isn’t a recent thing - the atmosphere at SJP has been pap most of the time for nearly 30 years. The change in the demographics of those attending has hit football’s atmosphere hard. No longer do you get huge groups of pissed-up young lads gannin crackers. The whole ground now is what the West and East stand seats used to be - the average age of a match-goer is now mid-40s. Loads of them would have given up going years ago once upon a time. Standing therefore isn’t the magic bullet, to me - but it would be a good start.

Gordon won't be picking up anything like Rice's salary and signing-on fee. I also don't think Gordon goes for much more than 30m - Everton has missed the silly money boat for him.

Yep - even though Tames was an Arsenal fan he often grated when talking about other NE clubs. Though he also grated when talking about us - his after-the-fact commentary on NUFC matches was so obvious in its lack of spontaneity - despite having the time to prep, think and plan - he was a bane of end of season VHS tapes

I’m in those ranks, too. I’m ready with the steel helmet, but I always thought Given had too many weaknesses to be a top keeper. Pope seems to have few weaknesses and the back line look so confident knowing he’s behind them

It’s not a Derby, but the twattish nature of their support, along with running a gauntlet outside their ground, always adds that edge to the away games, definitely. Home games are non-entities though

A local copper pulled mine back and let it slap me in the face before asking me to remove - away in 2001-02. Smoggie wanker

I’ve got two smoggie mates - one older, one younger. Older one claims Leeds is their big game - a Yorkshire ‘derby’ (Leeds would argue that, I reckon). Younger alternates between us and the Mackems. My suggestion that Hartlepool is their Derby as no other fucker gives a solitary shite about them usually falls on deaf ears. I’m only trying to help.

The Second Prize Derby is an exciting one. For them.

He’s still thinking about the bad news

Fnarr fnarr

It’s the last time I went to Soton away that game. Coach didn’t get back to Newcastle until about 6am - went straight to work with a change of clothes and did a rudimentary set of ablutions in the work bogs, still no doubt lifting of stale lager and tabs. Happy days

Southampton leaving the Dell has been a godsend for us. We couldn’t buy a win at their old ground

Yep, I’d be astonished if at least one signing isn’t made - backfilling Wood’s empty slot for starters

Doesn’t mean that they’re going to spend it. The constant FFP references suggest to me that they intend to grow the club’s finances via sponsorships, not through throwing PIF’s own money in constantly. It’s not a Man City / PSG model - which suits me fine.

If everyone is expecting Diaby or Maddison to walk through the SJP gates before the end of Jan, I think they’re going to be disappointed. Someone like Gordon looks much more likely to me - the club are insisting on keeping costs down, and I don’t imagine there is the panic like there was last Jan. The club looks ahead of schedule - why overpay now on a gamble? I can’t see Maddison or Diaby going for less than 70m in Jan.

Agreed with everything except the use of the word ‘Wembo’

Every position we finish above 8th is a colossal achievement for me with this squad. There’s half a season to play and people are panicking re top four status - I’d recommend not worrying at all about that unless we’re top four with a handful of games to go. The squad is shallow and some of these lads have been coached to play well beyond their normal capabilities. As far as I’m concerned, we’re one point from safety with 18 games to play. Next target is 50, which pretty much guarantees a top half finish.

Surprised Isak is the one being singled out for poor finishing like