Eddie Howe

[Milburn]

1 hour ago, Alreetworked said:

He's also overperformed on our position relative to expenditure every previous season which seems to be ignored too. Horrible rat fanbase we have where everyone seems to think things will just be better every season.

The question is whether what he did in earlier seasons should outweigh what we've watched over the last 12 months. And it's also worth remembering that the owners themselves have helped create huge expectations through their stated ambitions for 2030, so it's hardly surprising that supporters judge progress against those targets.

 

And I don't think expecting better than 12th after spending over £800m makes someone a "rat fan". I'd argue that's a pretty normal expectation for a club that supposedly wants to compete towards the top end of the table.

 

The irony is that people keep talking as if critics expect constant improvement every season. Most of us would have happily accepted 6th, 7th or 8th. It's finishing 12th while looking increasingly stale and directionless over the last 12 months that has people worried.

[Mills and Boon]

We finished 4 points off 8th. I don't think most of the critics would have happily accepted that judging from the way they're going on

[Wallsendmag]

45 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

 

Why would you feel excited? All we've done so far is sell one of our best players for at best, a par fee. 

 

Once we actually start making some signings which show some promise, I think that's the time to get excited. 

 

Because regardless of who comes in, without Europe and after a big splurge last season, our pull (and budget) may not be great and I also don't envisage much of a difference in style of play either. Our recruitment methods and the aforementioned style of play needs a shift, I'm not confident that is going to happen with the present personnel in place.

 

Probably just a hangover from last season tbf. After the Barcelona debacle, although I said on here that I didn't really expect a strong end to the season, I did hope for one and to finish with a continuation of the malaise that was setting in was really disappointing.

[Wallsendmag]

22 minutes ago, Mills and Boon said:

We finished 4 points off 8th. I don't think most of the critics would have happily accepted that judging from the way they're going on

 

We also finished 5 points off 16th. We lost 23 games, spent obscene money on rubbish, let Sunderland walk over us twice, and lost more points from winning positions than any other team.

 

Finishing 4 points behind 8th in 12th position isn't anything to crow about but you carry on polishing that turd of yours.

[Joe1984]

5 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

We also finished 5 points off 16th. We lost 23 games, spent obscene money on rubbish, let Sunderland walk over us twice, and lost more points from winning positions than any other team.

 

Finishing 4 points behind 8th in 12th position isn't anything to crow about but you carry on polishing that turd of yours.

All good and well.

 

But we lost 17 games in the league, not 23.

[Mills and Boon]

12 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

We also finished 5 points off 16th. We lost 23 games, spent obscene money on rubbish, let Sunderland walk over us twice, and lost more points from winning positions than any other team.

 

Finishing 4 points behind 8th in 12th position isn't anything to crow about but you carry on polishing that turd of yours.

 

Cheers for proving my point 

[Wallsendmag]

15 minutes ago, Joe1984 said:

All good and well.

 

But we lost 17 games in the league, not 23.

 

You can't use the "too many games excuse" for a shit season and then fail to include all the defeats in those extra cup games though 

[Wallsendmag]

9 minutes ago, Mills and Boon said:

 

Cheers for proving my point 

 

You were making a point?

[Mills and Boon]

1 hour ago, Mills and Boon said:

We finished 4 points off 8th. I don't think most of the critics would have happily accepted that judging from the way they're going on

 

[TRon]

1 hour ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Because regardless of who comes in, without Europe and after a big splurge last season, our pull (and budget) may not be great and I also don't envisage much of a difference in style of play either. Our recruitment methods and the aforementioned style of play needs a shift, I'm not confident that is going to happen with the present personnel in place.

 

Probably just a hangover from last season tbf. After the Barcelona debacle, although I said on here that I didn't really expect a strong end to the season, I did hope for one and to finish with a continuation of the malaise that was setting in was really disappointing.

 

 

That's sort of what I'm saying as well. I'm on the fence a bit because even if Wilson buys more technical players I'm not sure Howe will want them if they don't fit his system. Take Woltemade as an example. 

 

I hope it goes well but until we start buying players and seeing how they set up, very difficult to know what's coming next season. 

[Wolfcastle]

4 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

We played some absolute shite in Europe, mind.   I don’t think we were drowning in games vs good quality opposition.  

There's the format too.

Even under Dalglish we'd have likely gotten enough points to make the playoffs of the current format from 2 extra games, needing only 2points - especially given that would have meant games against at least one lesser like now instead of the three established clubs we'd already played.  Even with stiffer CL competition and being dismal ourselves.

 

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 14:32 by Wolfcastle

[TRC]

Howe in or Howe out, he’s clearly staying now so let’s just put this season behind us and focus on next year.

[GideonShandy]

3 minutes ago, TRC said:

Howe in or Howe out, he’s clearly staying now so let’s just put this season behind us and focus on next year.

You're no fun.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

4 hours ago, Zero said:

They are way over the top, that’s for sure. But I also think if we lose the first few games next season, these “over the top” bullshit will suddenly become the majority voice. Thats how critical this summer is. We are a sinking ship and this is the last chance to fix it.

I struggle to understand how we’re a sinking ship. Aren’t we just a normal sailing ship that has hit a bit of bad weather? 

[Mills and Boon]

7 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I struggle to understand how we’re a sinking ship. Aren’t we just a normal sailing ship that has hit a bit of bad weather? 

 

Too many landlubbers yet to acquire their sea legs

[Zero]

10 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I struggle to understand how we’re a sinking ship. Aren’t we just a normal sailing ship that has hit a bit of bad weather? 

 

We are just a bad season away from relegation battle and I am pretty sure those purple patch players (including BG) would have no interest to just stay and fight in the bottom half of the table.

 

The new PSR rules are going to hit us hard as well. Last year we already used tricks to record an accounting profit, which we probably can’t do it again.

 

I would say we might need to build a new ship afterwards, if we are going to shit again next season 
 

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Well that cheered me up. 

[timeEd32]

4 hours ago, Milburn said:

You don't need to believe Howe has ruined the project, driven all the players away or scared off sponsors to conclude that a 12th-place finish after spending over £800m is nowhere near good enough.

 

While we're twisting numbers around he's actually got a net spend of about £400m over 4.5 seasons. So for about £100m per year we've got two top 5 finishes and Champions League qualifications, CL knockouts, an FA Cup QF, three LC semifinals, two LC finals, and a long awaited trophy. Seems alright.

[Ben]

17 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I struggle to understand how we’re a sinking ship. Aren’t we just a normal sailing ship that has hit a bit of bad weather? 

 

That's me fired up for the new season, we used to have Keegans The Entertainers, Klopps Heavy metal football, Peps Tika Taka ...............now we have Normal Sailing Ship football

[Mattoon]

4 minutes ago, Zero said:

 

We are just a bad season away from relegation battle and I am pretty sure those purple patch players (including BG) would have no interest to just stay and fight in the bottom half of the table.

 

The new PSR rules are going to hit us hard as well. Last year we already used tricks to record an accounting profit, which we probably can’t do it again.

 

I would say we might need to build a new ship afterwards, if we are going to shit again next season 
 

 

 

We are just a good season away from a top 4 finish and CL the following season, with some new additions and purple patch players (including BG) firing on all cylinders we could take the game to any team.

 

The new PSR rules allow a luxury tax if we want to stretch them a little more and don't need to use any tricks to wiggle our way out.

 

I would say we could just stick a big ass motor on this ship and steam off into the distance.

 

See, double easy this speculation crap

[TRon]

6 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Well that cheered me up. 

 

 

 

[Zero]

6 minutes ago, Mattoon said:

 

We are just a good season away from a top 4 finish and CL the following season, with some new additions and purple patch players (including BG) firing on all cylinders we could take the game to any team.

 

The new PSR rules allow a luxury tax if we want to stretch them a little more and don't need to use any tricks to wiggle our way out.

 

I would say we could just stick a big ass motor on this ship and steam off into the distance.

 

See, double easy this speculation crap

I hope you are right

[Mattoon]

Just now, Zero said:

I hope you are right

 

I hope you are not, but no one knows anything for sure, it could go either way, but I'm more inclined to think last season was the outlier and not the mean.

[timeEd32]

I do think we can probably get most to agree that this summer and season is a crossroads moment. There's a very wide range of outcomes for all aspects of the club and the next 6-12 months are "put up or shut up" time for basically everyone involved.

[NUFC91]

6 hours ago, Mills and Boon said:

We finished 4 points off 8th. I don't think most of the critics would have happily accepted that judging from the way they're going on

 

I think fans would of been happy but reality is Europe was easy to qualify for this year, Brighton finished with 53 points newly promoted Sunderland also qualified, we have to get Europa league this year.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 18:24 by NUFC91