Dan Ashworth (on gardening leave)

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

9 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

Scoring goals doesn’t meaning you have guile though.  

Incessantly shit posting doesn’t actually mean you have any insight either tbf

[madras]

[SUPERTOON]

It’s much too early for some of these conversations in here and the transfer thread. Yesterday was a hangover from the Liverpool game imo.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by SUPERTOON

[huss9]

3 minutes ago, Ghandis Flip-Flop said:

Incessantly shit posting doesn’t actually mean you have any insight either tbf

as my kids would say, "that's cold, bro".

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

9 minutes ago, huss9 said:

as my kids would say, "that's cold, bro".

To be fair he's on my ignore list, but people keep quoting his "hot takes". 
 

I’ve also just done my last pre GNR long run whilst affected by sciatica, so I might be more angry than normal

[The College Dropout]

Don't read my posts.

 

 

I won't be reading yours.

 

[The College Dropout]

22 hours ago, Whitley mag said:

They had to lower the age of the squad that is undeniable, the question is have they got value for money going for young British players like Hall, Barnes, Gordon and Livramento.

 

Time will tell but they’ve spent nigh on 150 million on those 4 players. 
 

Apart from Tonali I feel there’s been a marked shift in the last 2 transfer windows, which compares similarly to the route Howe went with Bournemouth.

 

I was a little uncomfortable when Andy Howe became part of the transfer committee, never sure that’s a good idea.

 

Individually apart from Barnes I’m happy with all the signings ability wise, not sure we’ve got the strategy right this summer though.

 

 

 

I think we've taken a golden brick-approach. As in we only sign players that we think are solid gold bricks and we use all our money to do that (I think we've done that - possibly bar Barnes).

 

And if we don't have enough FFP room for another gold brick, we just won't get anyone. And we'll invest in possible gold bricks even if they can't be used from the off (the fullbacks) because of the opportunity to get the gold brick at a low cost.

 

I agree that we've doubled-down on Howe-ball but I'm not sure what alternative there is? Why sign Maddison if he doesn't fit Howe's plan? There are similarish players like Szob out there that do fit Howe's approach. In time we'll be able to get them so we'll wait it out.

[ExiledGeordie]

10 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

I think we've taken a golden brick-approach. As in we only sign players that we think are solid gold bricks and we use all our money to do that (I think we've done that - possibly bar Barnes).

 

And if we don't have enough FFP room for another gold brick, we just won't get anyone. And we'll invest in possible gold bricks even if they can't be used from the off (the fullbacks) because of the opportunity to get the gold brick at a low cost.

 

I agree that we've doubled-down on Howe-ball but I'm not sure what alternative there is? Why sign Maddison if he doesn't fit Howe's plan? There are similarish players like Szob out there that do fit Howe's approach. In time we'll be able to get them so we'll wait it out.

👍 I think Szob was always going to go to Pool re wages etc especially after we’d committed to Tonali. They still have a massive pull. Maddison fits Spurs system perfectly so I can see why we opted to Barnes instead but as I mentioned in the Barnes thread it’s an odd signing if you aren’t going to mix things up and play him with Gordon. Diaby is one you look at and think he’s have been ideal for that RW but they opted for Tonali in line with what you’ve said above. They must’ve had their reasons to skip Diaby but we’re crying out for someone like that on the RW. 
 

Also agree on the point about waiting for the right players. They’ll absolutely get a RW, right CB and probs even. 6 type player in time but you can’t do everything at once re FFP and the right player being available.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by ExiledGeordie

[Newcastle Fan]

Barnes, Liveramento and Hall all looked like odd signings, they would've made sense last year but this year we needed more high level proven players to be able to compete at the very high level we find ourselves at.

[The Prophet]

Dan Ashworth is concerned with building a successful squad who compete and participate in the Champions League year after year. He won't be pissing his pants at a very minor bump in the road 

[Superior Acuña]

We should rotate him with someone else. 

[toon25]

Ashworth absolutely knows what he's doing. No question about it.

[KingArthur]

17 minutes ago, Newcastle Fan said:

Barnes, Liveramento and Hall all looked like odd signings, they would've made sense last year but this year we needed more high level proven players to be able to compete at the very high level we find ourselves at.

We are building for the future, and 2/3 of those signings are great just for that.

We cannot compete with the big boys yet, so we are not going to get players in their prime for big money. 

[The Prophet]

1 minute ago, toon25 said:

Ashworth absolutely knows what he's doing. No question about it.

 

One of the best in the business. Thankfully he always has the bigger picture in mind, unlike some of our fans.

[r0cafella]

8 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

Dan Ashworth is concerned with building a successful squad who compete and participate in the Champions League year after year. He won't be pissing his pants at a very minor bump in the road 

The approach we’ve taken can be questioned as it may set us back in the short term. 
 

That being said, your reply above is absolutely on the money, we are building for the long term and scooping up talent for the long term, players who will improve with the quality coaching and appreciate in value. I’ve got no doubt in my mind they know we have gaps but again it’s a slow process and we hang strung by FFP. 

[The Prophet]

8 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

The approach we’ve taken can be questioned as it may set us back in the short term. 
 

That being said, your reply above is absolutely on the money, we are building for the long term and scooping up talent for the long term, players who will improve with the quality coaching and appreciate in value. I’ve got no doubt in my mind they know we have gaps but again it’s a slow process and we hang strung by FFP. 

 

The owners have always said this would be a slow build. We're only in the Champions League thanks to Howe and his coaching team, it won't be the expectation year on year for the time being.

 

Granted the Brighton performance was poor and it'd be pretty alarming if there was a continuation of that into the next few games, it's just a touch early to be questioning the Sporting Director's entire philosophy at this point. I can guarantee it'll be the same folk who were flapping and getting stuck into the transfer window after we took a while to get going last season.

 

Curiously if we beat Brentford, we'll be in exactly the same position we were this time last year, 6 points from 5 having played Brighton, Liverpool and City.

[r0cafella]

4 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

The owners have always said this would be a slow build. We're only in the Champions League thanks to Howe and his coaching team, it won't be the expectation year on year for the time being.

 

Granted the Brighton performance was poor and it'd be pretty alarming if there was a continuation of that into the next few games, it's just a touch early to be questioning the Sporting Director's entire philosophy at this point. I can guarantee it'll be the same folk who were flapping and getting stuck into the transfer window after we took a while to get going last season.

 

Curiously if we beat Brentford, we'll be in exactly the same position we were this time last year, 6 points from 5 having played Brighton, Liverpool and City.

My post wasn’t critical, more to demonstrate the trade off we’ve made in our squad building. I’m behind what we are doing personally, but of course it has its trade offs in the short term, these were highlighted this weekend where we were poor. 

[The Prophet]

1 minute ago, r0cafella said:

My post wasn’t critical, more to demonstrate the trade off we’ve made in our squad building. I’m behind what we are doing personally, but of course it has its trade offs in the short term, these were highlighted this weekend where we were poor. 

 

My post wasn't meant to be critical of yours either

 

I think with performances like Saturday and Villa Park last season, it's best to draw a line under them and react in the following game. The whole team weren't at it.

 

We followed up the Aston Villa thumping by dismantling Spurs. Let's hope for a similar reaction here.

[nufcjmc]

When things aren't going your way you look to causes and we were spoilt last year by the lack of losses. 

 

I think is it was known he wanted to bring the age of the squad down and he has buying 28/29/30 year old may have broadened the pool of talent we could sign but would have meant a bigger rebuild more often which in current climate is big spends.

 

Wanting to capitalise on immediate albeit unexpected success is a natural thing.

 

You cannot say the club is not spending big within ffp limitations so its not owner ambition that's holding us back too many quality holes in the side and also while we don't like it not all signings will make it here. 

 

It's hard to do everything all at once trying for the here and now is just as important as planning for the future. Thanks to ffp its not possible to pull off both fully. 

 

The compromise may be we tail off this year hope the bigger players are happy to ride the journey out and we go again next year. Being a sustained European side might have to be the step rather than champions league annually. But again thanks to ffp the lack of annual champions league money will be missed. So frustrating thinking about these owners before they put the ffp shackles on an what might have been. 

[80]

2 hours ago, The Prophet said:

 

One of the best in the business. Thankfully he always has the bigger picture in mind, unlike some of our fans.

.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by 80

[El Prontonise]

2 minutes ago, 80 said:

It's got to be sarcasm 

 

Eh.

[80]

1 hour ago, El Prontonise said:

 

Eh.

Somehow misread the post he was quoting!

 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by 80

[TRon]

2 hours ago, Newcastle Fan said:

Barnes, Liveramento and Hall all looked like odd signings, they would've made sense last year but this year we needed more high level proven players to be able to compete at the very high level we find ourselves at.

 

It's a bit early to be writing them off don't you think? Barnes has only been used from the bench, and he's scored one already, and the other two could be fantastic for all we know. Howe's a bit cautious with younger players, but I like what I've seen of both Livramento and Hall at their former clubs. I doubt anyone's going to be disappointed when they finally get unleashed.

[Newcastle Fan]

4 hours ago, TRon said:

 

It's a bit early to be writing them off don't you think? Barnes has only been used from the bench, and he's scored one already, and the other two could be fantastic for all we know. Howe's a bit cautious with younger players, but I like what I've seen of both Livramento and Hall at their former clubs. I doubt anyone's going to be disappointed when they finally get unleashed.

 

Its not a case of writing them off, we all hope that they will turn out to be  class,  but them being young and not really having much top level experience will add even more pressure on them, it's difficult to see a situation where they will not be expected to deliver immediately considering the games and tournaments we are in this year, which is why i was hoping we sign players with a bit more high level experience, unless we are willing to write this whole season off and use it as a learning experience.

[Menace]

Why is this topic even being bumped