TheBrownBottle

Good stuff that. We’ve played well, they are utter shite. Momentum shifted slightly when Zirkzee went off. Amorim just looks like an absolute knackered playing 3-4-3 without the personnel

Agreed re the ECB, and I know the likes of Harmison and Onions came through, and I’ve no interest in seeing them disappear without a NE replacement. But I’m from Newcastle, not County Durham. I’ve never been comfortable with supporting them. Just my take, I don’t expect anyone else to share my view

Yep. I’m puzzled as to why anyone would anticipate that they’d have any interest in a sport which has limited appeal and has never been awash with cash. When John Hall bought them and pumped NUFC’s money into them, they won a league title and still couldn’t draw decent crowds. I can remember them winning the cup while we were losing at home (to an awful Man City side from memory) and the Barry in the Box announced that they’d won the cup (no doubt anticipating a cheer) and it was roundly booed by the SJP crowd (clearly fucked off that we were losing and something irrelevant was being announced). And I write this as someone who does actually quite like watching Union

Never too late

I wouldn’t be upset to see Northumberland be a major county and Durham become a minor one.

It will be this isn’t even the Man Utd of the last two seasons, never mind the Man Utd of old. They’re in real trouble.

Their midfield looks fucked with key players missing, they’ve made an ‘interesting’ managerial appointment, and they’ve been effectively taken over by a complete bollock-brain who’s arrogance is only matched by his ignorance. I’m going for a 4-1 win to us. Was tempted to crank our number up, but won’t. We’ll fucking well beat these. HTL.

How about investing in Northumberland CCC, which is based in Jesmond, and get them out of being a minor county and sack Durham off? Works for me.

Kingston Park historically was part of Gosforth, not Newcastle

Cricket can be ruled out due to the ground requirements (we’d end up with a misshapen ‘second stadium’, like the soulless Gateshead Stadium), plus the fact that Newcastle definitely isn’t in Durham. I wouldn’t want to see Gosforth RFC renting it off us - and they play in Kingston Park because they’re a Gosforth club historically, not a Newcastle one; playing games in Newcastle city centre doesn’t seem right - plus we already tried the sporting club shite and it was a financial drain, and rugby union doesn’t exactly have a great history of helping the people’s game out of a bind. Remember when Wembley was rebuilt and we played cup finals at Twickenham during that period? Me neither.

Loyalty doesn’t come into it. Ultimately they’re employees, and it is a short career. Football clubs can hardly whine about the ‘loyalty’ of players - some clubs push literally hundreds of youngsters off their books each year; if the player isn’t good enough, or too old, they won’t get a new contract. Players are ‘loyal’ as long they’re starting each week and achieving as much as they can achieve based on their skills. Pretty much every Geordie who ever played in B&W left the club at some point, sometimes actively pushing for a transfer. Beardsley, Gascoigne, Shearer, Carroll - they all either went or wanted to go at some point, though they’d often justify it with claims re ambition etc. I’m not arguing that this is wrong, just that football is a cutthroat industry and it’s not reasonable to expect the players to act any different. Gordon has zero links to us - if a club which is bigger, will pay more and increase his chances of winning trophies rocks up with a bid, he’ll no doubt actively consider it.

Wasn’t it Iheanacho for Leicester? Can’t remember who they were playing

He’s a Geordie. He just fails the accent test - but no-one’s perfect

Love the ice man, but Haaland is an unbelievable centre forward. Not convinced at all with the ‘if he wasn’t at Man City’ crack. He’s the Usain Bolt of centre forwards - he looks far too big to be able to move like he does. I wouldn’t swap an in-form Haaland for any centre forward in world football. But I’m convinced that Isak is in any discussion for the world’s top five centre forwards.

Agreed. It isn’t so much a one-off purple patch so much as a rich vein of form. He’s a solid PL player playing with now in-form top rank players and he’s looking all the better for it. His form and the team’s form are linked insomuch as he’s been a part of that but he’s not the driving force behind it. The lad needs some slack cut. He’s one of us, and I bastard love it when one of us gets to live our childhood fantasies and smash one in when wearing the B&W.

Effectively Cumbria and N Yorks gets added to that catchment area as well as the borders - unless Berwick, Carlisle, the Smoggies or Mackems suddenly become successful. I don’t think our catchment area is limited to Nland and Durham.

I’d build as big as the site allows. You simply close off upper tiers for early cup games against lower league opposition. A successful (as in winning things) NUFC sells out 80k for me - provided pricing is reasonable. With a massive ground, you can milk the corporate but also hold say 15k tickets in the upper tiers for low income supporters. 60-65k keeps it as it is - it locks out huge swathes of low income supporters. It’s meant to be the people’s game.

Re loan or staying - I’m happy to let Howe make the call, it will likely be right. I was one of those scratching my head re Hall last season, and Howe made me look a right twat on that one (I’m happy he did!). In terms of developing players he’s the best I’ve seen at SJP. I’m confident he’ll know what’s best for the lad.

He’s better than Longstaff and Anderson were at that age, but he isn’t better than either of them at present. He wouldn’t start ahead of them.

Smith was an excellent young forward at Leeds, where he won most of his caps - he was well worth all of them. He didn’t win any being a shit midfielder for us.

I’d rather have 5,000 empty seats vs Fulham than 15,000 locked out vs Man Utd

He’s raw as buggery. The lad might well develop into a top player but he wasn’t close to it last season - not meant to be a criticism, as he was 16/17 in all fairness. Hope he does develop, but the last thing he needs is ludicrous expectations from the support - most of these kids do not end up going on to be the second coming.

Henry played CF with Bergkamp behind him from the moment he joined Arsenal - he was Anelka’s replacement. Juventus previously pushed him onto the wing because they had Del Piero, Inzaghi and Fonseca available to play central.

Is there such a thing as ‘assist of the season’?

I’m going to go contrary to: i) NUFC away form last 12 months or so; ii) NUFC history in these types of matches and iii) NUFC Xmas form generally. I’m going for a breezy 4-1 to us. Isak brace.