TheBrownBottle

Yeah, you’re right. That is really iffy to me.

Win this trophy and we’ll qualify for Europe 👍

Love the idea that SJP is a cauldron of noise compared to the soulless new stadia built elsewhere. It’s also as if the current SJP wasn’t chucked up with precisely that in mind, only to be rendered out of date within a couple of decades.

Has there ever been a serious link for Isak to Arsenal beyond the wishful thinking of Paul Merson? Edit: it does seem like it’s just because of the similarities to Henry.

Yeah, this is always the case though. No PL or Division Two side play in the first round - all start in the second round, except European-qualified clubs who start in the third round. Been that way for yonks.

Which we’ll take advantage of next season with European football European qualifying teams have skipped a round for quite some time now.

Real Madrid won three European Cups from 1998-2002, but Spain did nothing in international tournaments. In reality, Spain has produced one truly great team international-wise during their history; otherwise, they’ve tended to be well short. Germany won the WC in 1990 and Euros in 1996, losing the Euros final in 1992. During that period German sides won only one Cup Winners’ Cup and one UEFA Cup. During that same period, Italian teams won three European Cups two Cup Winners’ Cups, five UEFA Cups and the national team won sweet FA. France’s only European Cup win (1993) came between two WCs (1990 and 1994) for which they failed to qualify. England is Europe’s second most successful country in terms of club football in Europe, yet hasn’t won a trophy in nearly sixty years internationally. That’s because it has nothing to do whatsoever with ‘bottle’ and everything to do with talent. England has not produced talent consistently until very, very recently. There is often no correlation between performances by club sides and international football. When it does happen, it is often when a big team also has a lot of the players - so Bayern’s side which won three successive European Cups from 74-76 (sprinkled with talent from Moechengladbach’s great ‘70s side which won the UEFA Cup in ‘75) won the WC in ‘74 and lost the Euro final in ‘76. The great Barca team of the late ‘00s-early’10s was the basis of Spain’s dominance. Otherwise - pretty much zip. England has more European Cup / CL winning players than Germany - that hasn’t translated to international trophies. Scotland (with 35) has almost as many winning players of the CL / European Cup as France (with 37). Which we can see correlate with France and Scotland having such similar success at international level

Wasn’t usually my experience tbf. Case in point - European and League Cup early rounds.

The campaign starts here!

I don’t think Kelly is shite, I just think he’s here as a squad player.

I can remember that vividly - that was when Beardsley got his 200th league goal (or something like that) and grabbed his son who was a ball boy in the Gallowgate. Juninho was a superb little footballer, but everyone pissed themselves laughing at him squaring up to Albert.

There is zero connection between European success and national team success. Spanish, Italian and English sides have pretty much always dominated European football, but Germany is Europe’s most successful European national team. When I was a kid, Italian teams were absolutely dominant, but Italy’s national team won nowt from 1982 (when I was born) to 2006 (when I was 24). England’s club sides have been successful other than the post-Heysel period - but England haven’t won anything. Spain’s national team was a joke for a long time, yet their clubs always won continental trophies. English teams winning or losing in Europe has absolutely no impact on the national team whatsoever, because it doesn’t impact the conveyor belt of talent.

There isn’t a lack of talent at the moment, and England are pretty dominant these days at youth levels, and have come close to winning trophies with the full team. I’d argue conservative management, not a lack of talent, cost them a Euros win at a minimum.

Newcastle winning a corner is more exciting than the England team winning a game at a major tournament. My dad still insists on calling England ‘London FC’. I do still want England to win matches at major tournaments, but they’re more a passing distraction in lieu of ‘proper’ football. I’m a Geordie first and foremost; I don’t really view myself too much through the prism of ‘Englishness’. England have the feel of a side where I have a passing interest - I feel a degree of neutrality about their qualities (and I have a dislike of non-NUFC players anyway). So I genuinely think that England has a generational crop of talent at the moment and should be winning things, and can say this without this being a foaming-at-the-mouth Ing-ger-lund uber- fan. I also thought that the ‘Golden Generation’ nonsense of the ‘00s was precisely that - nonsense. That England haven’t won anything in my lifetime wasn’t the result of wasted talent - until the last few years. If England haven’t won anything by 2030, then this has been a complete waste for which The FA should be held to account for their selection of manager(s).

Aaron Hughes was underrated on Tyneside the entire time he played for us. He was the best defender in that Robson side other than Woodgate. We missed him when he went. Kelly is a back-up. They’re not comparable.

Like Robson, he gets one for not winning things for England but getting close and therefore that’s almost the same. For me the only high status person in English football who springs to mind who should be knighted is Marcus Rashford, but he’s not currently playing very well, so obviously he can’t be considered. He actually did something which wasn’t him just doing his job and arguably not doing it as well as someone else could have, unlike Southgate.

Yep. If you write a history of English football you’d not be able to write it if you didn’t mention us or the Mackems or the Sheff clubs. But it’s unlikely your Glossary would troubled with references to Palace, Fulham or Brighton.

Bracewell, Howey, Waddle, Venison etc … even Milburn - we never had a problem with signing boyhood Sunderland supporters in the past. Granted, none of those had went on like right knackers on social media, so there is that

I wonder if the post-Taylor world where clubs try to fill their grounds with season ticket holders might draw to a close. While providing guaranteed base income, for clubs who could sell all their tickets anyway, the likelihood is these days that this is actually an income inhibitor. Better to have as many ‘day trippers’ in the stadium as possible rather than the same punters every week who are unlikely to drop a chuck of change in the club shop etc.

I’m someone who normally tries to judge a referee’s calls by how upset I’d be if they went against us - and I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have been upset with that goal being scored against us. Joelinton’s arms are down, they don’t move towards the ball, and the ball is hit at pace from close range. Spurs and their support are coming out of this looking like a right bunch of whining fannies

Haha yep. Though I would say I’m a miserablist when it comes to football finances - I try to take a positive view on players and performances. Signing Osula was a head-scratcher to me - but how many bad signings have we made so far under Howe? For me, only Targett (the permanent move; his loan was a success) has been a bad signing so far. Osula is young and the club clearly see something in him. For me, two goals in fifty appearances (many as sub tbf) isn’t a great record for a striker at any age. But I’m an internet gobshite, not a football scout

I think it was @Yorkie who in the past has pointed out that he thinks Postecoglu is just a PFM type, a blowhard who is full of shite. He’s spot on.

If the manager doesn’t think he’s ready, then he isn’t ready tbf. It looked like an odd purchase at the time, given his awful stats playing for Sheff Utd, but the lad definitely needs time.

Tbf they’re 4th and we’re 5th, so if my mackematics are correct, they’re better than us.