Sidg

A promoted side with new PL riches might look at him as a potential source of valuable goals and pay more than the mooted 15m. That's what I'm clinging onto.

Fair, sorry. Still desperate for all of this to work.

I have no inside info. Shearer feels like he's sitting on something. I just get that impression from him. About to make a tit of myself on my fourth ever post here BUT the Geordie Shore dunce who leaked the Arsenal line-up that nobody would have ever guessed - and who has been pictured with Trips, and is almost certainly stupid enough to say it out loud - tweeted that Howe is gone in the summer*. Craig Hope has dropped allusions that Howe might walk, which MIGHT be his way of saying "I was right". *Again, I'm sorry, but it would be Quintessentially Newcastle if that's how it was made public.

Too many people who know people within the club are making noise about Howe's future. If it really is up in the air, this might be the most significant fixture since the cup final. If we roll over and lose late, again, it HAS to be done. I’m still not 100% Howe Out, but that would surely be it. My prediction is that we roll over and lose late again. My stance on Howe is basically “It’s not necessarily fair, but it’s still over”. Desperate for the win on Saturday. Just can’t see it.

I'd go: Either keeper, both shite, barely matters at this point Burn Thiaw Botman Tripper Tonali Bruno Joelinton Hall Woltemade Gordon if fit / Osula if not 3 5 1 1. Not a tactico by any means, but any system that does not involve Murphy or Elanga has to be considered better by default at this point. I'd be tempted to try Osula there ahead of them but as much as he can actually cut in on his left, he's as brainless as Elanga. Wouldn't trust him to develop a relationship with the RB or in doing anything defensively. Wolte might get the chance to use his creativity without getting bossed in midfield/bearing the pressure of scoring a goal after so long out of the front line. We don't have a stable starting XI. Might as well give Nick a free role and pretend we don't have any right wingers.

First post here, hello all. I like Big Nick. I can’t tell if he’s a great player in an unsuitable system, or a player born a decade too late for what is a new game in many ways. What I do know is that he was doing what his critics say he can’t do against Man City (H) and Chelsea (H): taking and missing chances in good areas. He was tired after playing too much in a new league, which coincided with Wissa’s comeback. That’s when the season unravelled. I’m still undecided if I’m Howe Out or Howe In, leaning towards the former sadly, but I was really hoping that Eddie would remember those two games during the three week break between Sunderland and Palace. He didn’t. He tried to roll back the years, using Osula as the focal point of a 22/23-style approach, and it felt a bit tragic. I get that Osula scored, but the set-up signalled that Eddie was all out of ideas.