Eddie Howe

[Matt1892]

3 hours ago, Ginola14 said:

I wonder if Villa fans are saying similar about Emery 

 

did nowt in the domestic cups probably won't get a better chance at a trophy than they had in this season's ECL

I doubt it as they have just qualified for the Champions League, the same way nobody was saying it about Howe last summer.

[The Prophet]

 

[Gawalls]

4 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

This is why I lose my shit living down in Leicester when people say to me things like “shouldn’t you be doing better with the money you’ve spent” to which I always say something like “now work out how much in comparison we’ve spent over the last 15 or so years - we’re merely playing catch up right now”

[Matt1892]

Nothing wrong with going in to the season having an ambition of 4th or thinking it is achievable, we did it the year before last and only finished 8 points off last years despite the worst injury record in the league and a tough CL group.

[Gawalls]

1 minute ago, Matt1892 said:

Nothing wrong with going in to the season having an ambition of 4th or thinking it is achievable, we did it the year before last and only finished 8 points off last years despite the worst injury record in the league and a tough CL group.

The tweet says ambition is fine but to expect it isn’t 

[Matt1892]

Just now, Gawalls said:

The tweet says ambition is fine but to expect it isn’t 

If you can demonstrate that something is achievable for 2 seasons in a row, there isn’t anything wrong with expecting to be challenging for it in the third season.

 

Obvious caveats in that with injuries etc.

[Checko]

15 minutes ago, Gawalls said:

This is why I lose my shit living down in Leicester when people say to me things like “shouldn’t you be doing better with the money you’ve spent” to which I always say something like “now work out how much in comparison we’ve spent over the last 15 or so years - we’re merely playing catch up right now”

Yeah, also people like to focus only on net transfer spend, but wages are another big factor and we're only in 9th on that list apparently, spending about 76% as much as Villa and Spurs, around half what Arsenal does and about 44% of the Manchester clubs:

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13363469/20-Premier-League-clubs-ranked-wage-bills-agree-explore-introducing-salary-cap-2025-26-season.html

 

Or for people who don't want to use a daily fail link below has the same table:

 

https://www.sportbible.com/football/premier-league/premier-league-salary-cap-man-utd-city-wage-813480-20240429

[maze]

By which you could argue the restrains (FFP, caps, fair punishment for breaking said rule etc. ) should apply more to the so-called top-six rather than the rest tbh. 
 

I’m afraid in the long run going on like now will hurt the rep. of football rather than strengthen it. 
 

Football is more about business than sport these days, but the rules are preventning anyone from competing with the elite. 
 

And I think that the tweet, and the reponse to that, highlights this very real and serious problem. 

[Gawalls]

Just now, Matt1892 said:

If you can demonstrate that something is achievable for 2 seasons in a row, there isn’t anything wrong with expecting to be challenging for it in the third season.

 

Obvious caveats in that with injuries etc.

We haven’t achieved it this year though, if as you say that’s because of injury then all we’ve proved is our squad isn’t there yet which is exactly the tweets point.

[Gawalls]

4 minutes ago, Checko said:

Yeah, also people like to focus only on net transfer spend, but wages are another big factor and we're only in 9th on that list apparently, spending about 76% as much as Villa and Spurs, around half what Arsenal does and about 44% of the Manchester clubs:

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13363469/20-Premier-League-clubs-ranked-wage-bills-agree-explore-introducing-salary-cap-2025-26-season.html

 

Or for people who don't want to use a daily fail link below has the same table:

 

https://www.sportbible.com/football/premier-league/premier-league-salary-cap-man-utd-city-wage-813480-20240429

Plus other competitions are rigged in favour of big teams - didn’t Man U get a lot more CL money this year than us because of ‘history’ 

[Ste]

The injuries are key. I’m not sure how many could have been prevented or how much are down to sheer bad luck, certainly some of them were down to the latter. I think he gets a grip of that and strengthens well in the summer window and top 4-5  is well within the capabilities of Howe. 
 

Beyond that, who knows. I have immense faith in him right now to deliver a trophy within the next 2 or 3 seasons.

[Gawalls]

2 minutes ago, Ste said:

The injuries are key. I’m not sure how many could have been prevented or how much are down to sheer bad luck, certainly some of them were down to the latter. I think he gets a grip of that and strengthens well in the summer window and top 4-5  is well within the capabilities of Howe. 
 

Beyond that, who knows. I have immense faith in him right now to deliver a trophy within the next 2 or 3 seasons.

I honestly don’t just because I’ve supported us my entire life and it’s drilled into us but I’m 50 now and enjoying our football again for the first time in a long time, I look forward to Saturdays and football days and right now that’s enough for me personally.

[Matt1892]

Just now, Gawalls said:

We haven’t achieved it this year though, if as you say that’s because of injury then all we’ve proved is our squad isn’t there yet which is exactly the tweets point.

We were 8 points away despite having a tough champions league group and the worst injury list in the league.
 

Worth remembering that despite the above we still had 4th best home record in the league.

 

Injuries don’t show our squad isn’t there yet, it showed that if you have an unusually high level of injuries then your performances on the pitch will suffer.

[Gawalls]

2 minutes ago, Matt1892 said:

We were 8 points away despite having a tough champions league group and the worst injury list in the league.
 

Worth remembering that despite the above we still had 4th best home record in the league.

 

Injuries don’t show our squad isn’t there yet, it showed that if you have an unusually high level of injuries then your performances on the pitch will suffer.

We all have different opinions but for me personally - you’re not going to get me to ‘expect’ a top four finish any time soon. Of course I think we can do it but I’m not going to expect it.

[Groundhog63]

Just now, Gawalls said:

I honestly don’t just because I’ve supported us my entire life and it’s drilled into us but I’m 50 now and enjoying our football again for the first time in a long time, I look forward to Saturdays and football days and right now that’s enough for me personally.

Same here but add 10 years ?

 

Absolutely nothing to whine about so far. I was definitely gutted yesterday but since the take over it's been like flicking a switch. I think, and it's only human nature, some people haven't got the patience. 

I think I'm also recovering from the FCB years after hoying the season tickets in and, though I still watched games, had an ever decreasing passion for the club. 

I'm enjoying it again. To some extent even people being annoyed, frustrated and/or disappointed is a sign of our improvement. 

 

Onwards upwards

[Matt1892]

4 minutes ago, Gawalls said:

We all have different opinions but for me personally - you’re not going to get me to ‘expect’ a top four finish any time soon. Of course I think we can do it but I’m not going to expect it.

There is a difference between expecting a top four finish and expecting to challenge for a top four finish though.

[Gawalls]

Just now, Matt1892 said:

There is a difference between expecting a top four finish and expecting to challenge for a top four finish though.

I’ll be honest mate - I don’t even know what we’re disagreeing with anymore 

[Matt1892]

Just now, Gawalls said:

I’ll be honest mate - I don’t even know what we’re disagreeing with anymore 

Fair enough.?

[HaydnNUFC]

53 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

 

"The root cause for this delusion around expectations is a lack of knowledge of football outside of NUFC"

 

Astounding arrogance.

[The Prophet]

4 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

"The root cause for this delusion around expectations is a lack of knowledge of football outside of NUFC"

 

Astounding arrogance.

 

Aye, I agreed with the sentiment but some of it is pompous as fuck.

[Ronaldo]

9 hours ago, Gawalls said:

The only excuse for not bringing in a keeper in January would be we were skint - oh that’s right we were. Sorry but I’ve read too many times in the last two days things like “no excuse”, “under pressure now” just because we didn’t get into Europe when it went down to the last game of the season ffs.

 

You could see he learned a lot more as the season went on with his tactical changes and he very very nearly delivered us into top 6 with what can only be labelled as a crazy lack of player availability throughout the season.

 

I do believe there’s a good chance that Howe will hit a glass ceiling with us and will have achieved everything he can but so soon after what he’s done is crazy talk in my opinion - those people that say they want him gone just be careful what you wish for.

Nobody wants him gone, but we’re run by very ambitious people who will naturally be very disappointed with this season given how much has been spent in the past 16 months. Of course there’s pressure on next season.

 

I don’t believe for one second we couldn’t have found a way to get a better keeper than Martin Dubravka in January either. Sometimes you need short term solutions for long term goals.

[Dr.Spaceman]

There's fuck all wrong with wanting the best for the club. Shouldnt have to explain yourself for being disappointed with 7th and no Europe next season. It's not entitlement, it's just massive disappointment after seeing us beat PSG one season to not even qualifying for the 3rd tier competition the next.

[Gawalls]

Just now, Ronaldo said:

Nobody wants him gone, but we’re run by very ambitious people who will naturally be very disappointed with this season given how much has been spent in the past 16 months. Of course there’s pressure on next season.

 

I don’t believe for one second we couldn’t have found a way to get a better keeper than Martin Dubravka in January either. Sometimes you need short term solutions for long term goals.

You can or choose not to believe what you want as can I but truth is none of us know the finances (I shouldn’t have wrote we’re amount as I don’t know) or what they’re thinking.

[The College Dropout]

I’ll keep screaming it. Net spend is a poor figure to judge how a club should perform.  
 

wages is #1. 
squad cost is #2. 
 

we finished 4th while being 7th and 8th on this list. 
 

We finished 7th this season while being no higher then 7th on both of those criteria.  

[The College Dropout]

We’ll be the only club in that top 8 not in Europe. And that will give us an advantage in league form should we keep our Crown Jewels. 
 

If everyone is as good as we think they are. We should challenge for top 4 imo.