Mills and Boon

When's Joey Barton due out of clink?

I mean I'm not for one moment suggesting that Wissa and shan tache are world class. But neither are any of the ones we missed out on. I think only Ekitike has even got the potential in him. I think it's a moot point anyway. I don't think we're in the market for world class talent, more the sort that can come in and improve. I don't think Jose coming in suddenly bumps up our reputation to be snapping up targets from under Real Madrid's nose etc

Who are the world class players we've missed out on then? Joao Pedro, Mbueno, Sesko and that?

If Howe can't attract elite players then why did Tripps, Bruno, Isak and Tonali sign for him? Are they stupid?

Nope. A decade or two too late for that

It's raining this morning. HOWE OUT!

That's more of a reaction to the simple minded folk who blame Howe for absolutely everything that goes wrong and don't want to hear anything about other mitigating circumstances which contribute

So he doesn't rarely play, nor does he usually play in midfield. Glad we got that sorted

He's played 46 games in all competitions for Newcastle this season

That's bobbins. He's played up top far more than in midfield. He was dropped into midfield to cover injuries and to get him involved in the game, something which wasn't happening when he was playing up front. He's also played 10 more games this season than he did last season for Stuttgart

I was going to kip but someone mentioned Steve Bruce so now I've had to turn the light on to chase away the night terrors

We're 4 or 5 points off where you'd expect us to be comparing wage spend on the squad. Having lost a key player and had more games than anyone. Hardly massively underperforming like. I think the fact that we've tended to overachieve under Howe has made it look worse than it really is to some

I've read them. At no point has he said nobody can question the manager

Where? Quote one

Is anyone saying you can't question the manager? Is it state the obvious day or something?

Bringing Villa into it also underlines the point that they had income generating assets where we didn't

Nobody is saying we should be happy with 14th place. WTF?

What's our wage bill in comparison to the rest of the league? That's a better yardstick to use to compare squads

Why are you pointing that out though? Why is that significant?

It's not sentiment which means he deserves a chance to put it right, it's his proven track record of overachieving here. I don't think the likes of Iraola are likely to replicate that

If being the most successful manager we've had since forever isn't enough to convince you, what would?

Poch for me. I don't get the Glasner/Iraola shouts. Surely we should be aiming for a level above Howe?

That's the biggest issue I see. I used to be confident in us seeing out a result but that's gone now. It's all well and good putting the blame on Howe, but the way he's set us up had us with a 1 nowt lead going into the 80th minute. It's up to the players to dig in and see it out, Howe isn't kicking the ball (or pulling the shirts) for them

I've always appreciated the work of Bob Holness from Blockbusters

The "Time For Him to Go" numbers are dwindling. I think it's the first time I've seen that number drop. Must have been some understandable fewmin marra knee jerks after the mackem loss