TheBrownBottle

Mrs BB spent a summer working at the Diamond in Pont about a decade and a half ago - in terms of the NUFC players, she reckoned Shearer was nice enough if a little aloof. Once made the barmaids a cup of tea behind the bar, which won browny points. According to her, Given was surprisingly lecherous and Owen was a massive, massive c*** to all and sundry. She’s always amused to hear that the support hates Owen too

I think Henderson would be a good signing - though this is on the basis that we retain Dubravka. Having two decent PL quality goalkeepers seems like a minimum requirement to me - we shouldn't let too many years of Ashley make us forget that

The magpie in front of a castle isn't a redesign, though

I bought him for NUFC on the new Champ Man. He was fantastic for me. This does not necessarily make for a recommendation for NUFC to sign him in real life, I can’t imagine that Tommy Svindal Larson or Andri Sigthorsson would’ve worked wonders for NUFC sides of the past like they did for me.

I’m ok with the badge being redesigned, and I have a soft spot for round badges - but that’s shite

Huddersfield. Don’t want the scabs to win.

I was referring to other English teams - and they’ve appeared in far more than any other English side

Absolutely. I’ve always been in the ‘think conservatively but hope for the best’ camp. But if Paqueta signs then the club are going balls-out this summer.

Playing in far more European finals than any other club is part of it And I’m definitely not saying that scallies with dodgy tickets aren’t getting in. I just don’t think that’s a good enough reason to have densely packed, poorly organised queues being pepper sprayed

If Paqueta signs then the budget must be about £200m, given that priorities surely lie elsewhere. Obviously he’s a huge improvement on what we have - but there’s huge improvements that could be made pretty much everywhere. LB, RW, CF - and CB - still look like areas in need of more attention to me. No complaints if we strengthen all of them, mind. After a decade and a half, you forget what it’s like to have the club actually targeting strengthening positions rather than back-of-fag-packet calculations on resale proftivs

No, I don’t doubt some dodgy bastards got in with fake tickets. But we should also not be quick to simply pin this on the support - UEFA don’t half like pinning the blame anywhere but on themselves. The police, media and football authorities don’t exactly have an exemplary record in this space - and UEFA were blaming the support even before kick off

I saw that c*** Balague going on about ticketless fans causing the problem - and surely he can’t be unaware that there’s a dodgy historical precedence there? Though I wonder if continental minds think more ‘Heysel’ than ‘Hillsborough’ when it comes to this. Looked like pisspoor organisation and overly aggressive police & security were the root problem to me - and anyone who’s been to enough European away games will know what ‘overzealous’ looks like

I just read that in a scouse accent Only joking Pata. I do take your point re cups, but where Real would finish in the PL is unprovable - they walked La Liga

I’m aware of how cup competitions work. Liverpool didn’t manage a win against Man City, Spurs or Chelsea in the league this season, mind. You can list on one hand the number of ‘shock’ winners the European Cup has produced - generally, it is won by one of the best sides in Europe. Likewise, the World Cup doesn’t exactly throw up shock winners. The thing about ‘anyone can do win a cup’ is one of those great footballing myths - they can of course, but the ‘anyone’ is very rare. In fairness, I’m now realising that you’re a Liverpool fan, given that I’ve never seen anyone except them refer to Liverpool as ‘Pool’. Which explains the defensiveness.

Yes, I usually find that internet arguments are a much better way to find out which football team is better

Yes, that’s true - but truly great players have their best games on the biggest stages. If you want to flip this, then you could look at Liverpool being utterly powderpuff when it really counts. Who gives a shite how many shots on target they had? Knowing how to absorb pressure and leave teams taking potshots is a fundamental part of why the Anfield trophy cabinet is so full

World class player has world class game in major final. Move along, nothing to see here. I didn’t say they were routine, in the same way that a great centre forward scoring shitloads of well-taken goals isn’t routine. But you can’t just say ‘keeper had a worldie’ when the keeper IS a worldie. Real know they can more comfortably absorb pressure with a top goalie - I doubt that Ancelotti thought ‘I hope we don’t sit back and put Courtois under pressure’.

A world class goalkeeper making world class saves. It doesn’t half help to beat other teams when you’ve got world class players - it’s not exactly Montgomery in ‘73; a mediocre keeper having the game of his life. There’s nothing to suggest that ‘on another day’ they all go in. They were beaten by a better side.

That’s a bold claim tbf

They’re a deeply unlikeable club, but Real did beat England’s top three (and PSG) on the way to winning it It is almost as if the pundits who constantly tell us that Liverpool and Man City are the two best sides on the planet are wrong Nah, must be something else

Jamie Reuben is our own Kyle Louis-Dreyfus - many seem to view his family’s wealth as his. The difference between us and the Mackems is that he’s not actually the money behind the club - the club is PIF-owned in reality, with two small minority shareholders.

If Villa really are paying Kamara $175k per week they’re more likely on the road to doing a Leeds / Everton than knocking on the door of top six / seven. That’s a fucking insane contract

I don’t doubt that some other clubs will be demanding silly money - Lille and Sevilla were after daft sums for Botman and Carlos. Carlos has went for what still looks a hefty price tag - but there was talk that they wanted double that off us in January. Misery guts Edwards was wrong about the budget in Jan, and will no doubt be wrong again - though all the noises suggest he’s not wrong about us not chucking silly about. And Paqueta doesn’t feel like a priority - GK, LB, RW and CF are well ahead in terms of needs (and likely a CB too)

Isn't it the jawdees who are deluded? They're an odd bunch. They played Sheff Wed in the 3rd Division playoffs - and I've never thought of them being any bigger than Sheff Wed ...

It is shite, but the KK era would have happened - NUFC‘s relative success in the ‘90s was built around the club’s income, not investment (the Halls and Shepherds put very little in). Unlike Blackburn, which was mostly down to Jack Walker’s money