TheBrownBottle

Yep. Dalglish, Bruce and Souness were shit for finishing 13th and 14th tbf. We finished 12th, so that must be an achievement. Dalglish at the time was one of three managers who’d won the title with two different clubs, and had qualified for the CL the year before. His track record knocked Howe’s into a cocked hat. On that basis, the appointment wasn’t the mistake - sacking him was.

The lesson in terms of what happened with Bobby Robson is ‘don’t wait until early the following season to get rid of a manager’ The lesson in terms of what happened with Kevin Keegan is ‘when a manager is burned out and repeatedly offers their resignation, maybe listen to it the first time’ The irony of your argument is that their successors caused the club to drop like a stone into upper midtable - Dalglish finished 13th, Souness 14th. We didn’t even need to change manager to drop off and ‘set ourselves back a decade’ - we saved money by the current manager and his recruitment friends doing that of their own accord.

Honestly thought this was bumped for unhappy reasons …

I didn’t realise he has a tattoo of himself on his arm

That’s not true That is true

Agreed, and it isn't the first time in recent matches that Bruno has done that. The optics weren't great re Willock's actions, and I guess to many folks they've simply ran out of patience with him. I've got sympathy for him both generally and on this particular incident - though my original point stands.

In KK’s autobiography he recollects an incident where Arthur Cox gave Mike Hooper some pointed advice. Hooper had done one of his patented ‘stand rooted and watch the ball fly in’ actions and the crowd had got on his back - Hooper was grumbling about it, and Cox pointed out to him that what the SJP crowd requires is for him to make the effort to dive. More pertinently, he should do this even if he knows he can’t get to the ball, because they’ll forgive a player not being able to stop it, but won’t forgive the perception that they haven’t attempted to do so. The implication was also that not all football crowds react in the same way to this sort of thing. Personally, I like Willock, and I think injuries rather than a shit attitude have likely finished him at NUFC. But I also think that sometimes you make the effort even if it isn’t going to make a difference - because to the punters who pay (part of) your wages, it absolutely does.

The cheeky scamps were making The Office (UK) references

If Pep was imitating me on Champ (Football) Man, then this is precisely the move he’d make

It was - it was a canny match, but Marcelino and Barton in the same defence was just too much for us to handle

What? N-O don’t know about football

They were, but he was absolutely at fault - we should’ve got a result that day

Young Spanish guy, first club in the country, could hardly speak a word of English …

Yeah, he was shit. I can remember being in the away end at Leeds early that season, when the realisation was really kicking in that he didn’t look up to snuff. The home match vs West Ham later that year - after the usual injuries - was when he started becoming a joke. He was poor to shite when he played - we didn’t lose every game or anything as crazy as that, but nearly £6m for a centre half in 1999 was a lot of money.

I had a similar experience in summer ‘99, first ever lads holiday with my mates. We’d made a big money signing from a local club, and a couple of us ended up in a bar with a few of their supporters who were excitedly telling us how good said player was. We left suitably impressed, and looking forward to how class he was going to be. The location of the lads’ holiday? Majorca. The bar was in Palma. The player’s name? Marcelino.

You’re right, that would’ve transformed the season to ‘par’ - but we didn’t do that, we put in Ashley-era insipid, cowardly performances in both matches and as a result a club which was in the third tier when Howe took over is now looking forward to UEFA Cup football next season, and we’ve just finished bottom half.

I’d really like to see actions and not words this summer - and I’m not talking about player transfers. If Howe is staying then we all want him to succeed - but I doubt that the ‘more of the same’ is likely to work. He desperately needs new ideas and new faces around him - a sizeable clearout of those around him would be beneficial. I doubt it will happen, but truly top managers / head coaches don’t stick with the same assistant and coaches forever.

George ‘over promoted fanzine writer’ Caulkin not reading the room and kicking BDB under a big bus there

There’s no guarantee of that tbf

Still 2/10 Honestly, finishing bottom half and those two shocking derby ‘performances’ (which were basically the same as our performances against any half decent side) would automatically score a 2/10 irrespective of cup runs - only winning a cup would change that. 97/98 was also a 2/10 season despite beating Barca in the CL and reaching the cup final.

2/10. We didn’t go down, so not a 1/10

No-one would be criticising (ok, some would) if he’d spent that and was just finishing behind Man City and Arsenal Look at who have (deservedly) finished above us. It is absolutely inexcusable, and every excuse offered throughout the season has disappeared like snow in the summer. No manager in football gets a ride this easy

Even without the excellent job he did for us, it maybe is hard to remember what him coming meant - after years of being told we were deluded and should be grateful for whichever sap Ashley shuffled into the job, along came a genuinely elite manager who reminded us of who we are and could be; he got the club and the city, and didn't spend his time in the press whining about our expectations - he told us we should have those expectations. Unlike Souness, Pardew etc. The game very likely has now moved on, but for what the man gave us he's a legend for me.

He’s my favourite current player, though there are days when Bruno hops past him. BDB’s story is our story.

Just the human rights abuses and atrocities in Yemen for our lot