TheBrownBottle

Given was there on loan, and was a clearly a cracking goalie at that age. If you think Bracewell, Venison, Howey aren’t ‘must knows’ in terms of NUFC (recent) history, I don’t know what to say . It wouldn’t have bothered me one iota if Shearer went to Sunderland. I saw Lee Clark do it - and unlike Shearer (who seemed to throughly enjoy his goal which cost us European qualification in ‘95, and also scoring at the Gallowgate vs us for Blackburn) Clark had stayed at NUFC as a kid. I never saw Shearer as a big, daft Geordie - he signed for us because we were a big club willing to pay big money (and tbf Jack Walker also wouldn’t sell to Man Utd for the same money), then knacked his knee a year into his contract and was no longer in that elite bracket of centre-forwards who could sign for anyone. The biggest stand at SJP is named after a boyhood Sunderland fan - make sure you call it the ‘west stand’

They should hear our opinion of Sels …

Fucking hell, are there now suggestions he’s better than Tonali? No-one with functioning eyes could think that.

I’m assuming he’s still a tax exile in Gibraltar, where he used to run the club’s AGMs.

Fair enough - but fuck me, the ‘he played for Sunderland he can’t play for us’ patter is bizarre I’ll replace Steve Howey with Shay Given, who would never have been allowed to sign on that rule

Mackem who played for Sunderland schools

Yes, I’m glad I never saw Paul Bracewell, Barry Venison or Steve Howey in B&W

Yep, as much as I’ve tried to expunge it from the memory banks, I can still remember it. Amazing how quickly a good side / squad can be dismantled through negativity and incompetence.

Because he’s neither a poor footballer nor a world class one (and I never thought his form was ‘world class’ at any point). World class footballers don’t have extended periods like this. He’s a really good holding midfielder who has peaks and dips in form. ‘World class’ for me means he’s arguably the best in his position - he’s that level just below it. edit: by way of explanation, if you’re writing out a list of the world’s top 25 midfielders, Tonali is definitely in there with a shout. If you’re writing out a list of the world’s best 5 midfielders, no-one is having him on that list.

100%. One of the most depressing aspects of football in the past decade is ‘neat and tidy’ midfielders suddenly commanding exorbitant fees.

Soldado was shite, certainly

It’s a subpar Bernard Manning joke. Yes, it’s racist.

Spurs in the five seasons before Bale’s sale: 8th, 4th, 5th, 4th, 5th Spurs in the five seasons after Bale’s sale: 6th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd (They reached the European Cup Final the year after, as well as finishing 3rd again) I reckon Spurs clearly spent their windfalls pretty wisely. West Ham shouldn’t even be part of the conversation

Agreed - the concern would be the forthcoming fixtures. If we’re still in the same position at the beginning of March, then any questioning of Howe’s position should really be quietening down.

Agreed - and making the team better than the sum of its parts is what really good managers do, which is what Howe is. But we currently look less than the sum of our parts - which is why he’s (correctly) received criticism this season (though some of the criticism has been OTT).

Howe’s done a cracking job to date, but it isn’t with a mediocre squad or group of players. He’s been backed to the hilt and has 90% of the time justified that backing. I’m not keen on a narrative that he’s worked miracles with a mediocre squad, though.

I’m oblivious to neither - I think Tonali is a very good midfielder whose qualities were overstated, and the same applies to Bruno. Bruno was always a better footballer.

Saying the squad quality is poor isn’t a great defence of Howe tbf, given that he’s coming up to half a decade at the club and has now spent in the region of three quarters of a billion quid buying players he wanted. edit: I don’t think that squad quality is poor

The Australian club that I shuffle along to see a few times a season. Up there with when Bowyer and Barton (Joey) signed for NUFC in terms of ‘players your team signs who you already strongly think are complete cunts’

Yep, it was OTT. He was always the second-best midfielder at the club - the idea that he was possibly the best midfielder in the division was ridiculous. And I know Paul Scholes was one of those who said that.

Hopefully no-one will see what I wrote as an attack on the lad - he’s clearly an extremely gifted forward who could be a world-beater, and I’d much rather we do everything possible to integrate him and build the forward line around him. But he’s not immune from criticism.

The lad isn’t being supported properly by the system or his teammates, but he still has a responsibility to actually get into goalscoring positions. No issue re the lad not being the finished article, but we’ve paid a hefty fee and I’m guessing he’s not on YTS wages. Chelsea match apart, he hasn’t looked like a threat for months now.

He’s been performing poorly and getting progressively worse of late tbf. The system and teammates are only part of the issue - the lad needs to pull his socks up a bit (metaphorically speaking)

He shouldn’t be in either conversation - he was never particularly great technically, he’s a water carrier. Play him in the holding role and keep him there. And yes, if a crazy offer comes in then potentially cash-in - but that’s no different from any other player in the squad in the age of PSR.

He’s naming geniuses …