Negative ‘fans’

[Adam P]

This season we have also adapted our game plans significantly as part of a far more complex season plan, requiring more careful control of energy outputs from the players. We dont play the same way as we used to as often and we play a new way too. Its not gone that well. 

[Irish Paul]

This season isn't the problem for me. We've had much worse. It's the sense that we've absolutely blown it with our summer spending and set ourselves back years. 

 

 

[Wolfcastle]

55 minutes ago, Adam P said:

Happiness = Current Situation - Expectations.

 

High expectations is why Man city had empty seats. It also explains why some of our fans arent happy. I think the best way to look at it is to realise that the incredible job done by Eddie in getting a trophy and 2 CL qualifications has rightly raised expectations but that the foundations of that success were over performance in terms of our financial muscle. 

My expectations this season was 7th to 8th (fully expected to drop back) and maintain performance levels of previous seasons.  I think that's pretty modest and we've fell below even that at this point.

 

[Minhosa]

28 minutes ago, Irish Paul said:

This season isn't the problem for me. We've had much worse. It's the sense that we've absolutely blown it with our summer spending and set ourselves back years. 

 

 

Agreed. That’s what is pissing me off. Far more than a transitional season, it’s the sheer waste of the Isak profit last summer. An utterly criminal use of funds. 
 

Should have been our opportunity to kick on, strengthen across the board (even if we were a little weaker up top with his loss). 
 

We’ve actually created even more problems for ourselves with our recruitment. 
 

Appreciate they perhaps weren’t expecting the Isak strike but, fuck me, Wissa and Elanga, were the best you could come up with to use £110m?

 

The failing isn’t in signing dogshit, it’s in not having a plan B or expecting the eventuality that we’d need replacements for players attractive to the top few clubs. 
 

We HAVE to have learnt from that this year when the inevitable happens with other players because we simply cannot afford another reactionary window. 

[wong989]

26 minutes ago, Irish Paul said:

This season isn't the problem for me. We've had much worse. It's the sense that we've absolutely blown it with our summer spending and set ourselves back years. 

 

 

I think for a lot of realistic supporters this is the key issue. When we were taken over I didn't expect us to be in the CL within at least 3 years, and that would have been amazing. We've done it twice in 4 seasons? And won a cup. Eddie has done amazingly well, it will never be fully appreciated outside Newcastle what he's achieved given what he had. The frustration is the board and all the parts which are meant to give fuel to the team on the pitch have regressed significantly since Staveley left. PSR was holding us back always, so why, with all the money in the world have we not built a structure designed to mitigate that as much as possible. Has our scouting department improved to be amongst the best in the world? Our recruitment, our facilities. All the people involved in running a successful club, we need to try to get best in class. The negativity comes from fans seeing no way forward, because it seems the board  have not come up with any solutions to the PSR problem when they've had years to do so. 

[KennyUtd]

We all have a moan don't we? I was moaning about the moaners last week. Football innit.

[joeyt]

Our fans got very spoilt very quickly

[bobbydazzla]

A thread about some people being far too negative in threads turns into a thread where some people are being far too negative.

 

 

 

Edited February 5 by bobbydazzla

[The College Dropout]

39 minutes ago, Wolfcastle said:

My expectations this season was 7th to 8th (fully expected to drop back) and maintain performance levels of previous seasons.  I think that's pretty modest and we've fell below even that at this point.

 

I think we'll finish 7th or 8th. Our last 7-8 games we'll be out of the cups most likely and they are favourable. Worst we'll do is 9th save for more major injuries or going deep into the cups.

 

You can't fall 2-3 places down the league, play 12 extra games and expect to maintain performance level mind. By definition we would have dropped performance level in the PL.

[LaurentRobert]

I've never understood how " happy clapper" is deemed a slur. Nothing wrong about a positive outlook especially when it comes to supporting a sports team. 

 

These HoweOut folk sound a lot like Brexit folk ten years ago. A lot of pointing at the negatives without offering any real solutions (see where that got this country now). 

 

Who do these HoweOuters want in as a replacement? The manager market is dire right now. 

 

 

Edited February 5 by LaurentRobert

[Holloway]

The match thread is frequently a tough read like, you're logged in and the game is in front of you on the tv. Many a time you think 'what is that daft miserable cunt on about?' 

[Bimpy474]

I can understand the Howe out talk, and also think it's complete and utter shite at the same time.

 

Yes, we're not playing well, anyone can see that. However, how does anyone say Howe out ?  When we've just been knocked out of the semi-final of the League Cup, made to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Still in the FA Cup. 

 

League form is a worry, but as I think it was TCD who pointed out, you expect a dip with the squad and the games we have to play.

 

The best manager we've had in my life time (better then KK as he won a trophy), and we get rid because of a down season ? 

 

A down season ? A down season other clubs would think was amazing. I would say imo some of us have become a tad entitled. 

 

Even ardent Howe backers like me are not blind to the drop off, but that drop off has still achieved the above. It's why I think it's a dip, caused by losing Isak, the amount of games and new players not hitting the ground running.

 

I still believe in Eddie, wholeheartedly.

[HawK]

31 minutes ago, joeyt said:

Our fans got very spoilt very quickly

 

Well, it doesn't help when the new owners come in and say 'we're going to be number 1' and then don't really do much if anything to make it look like that's going to happen.

 

The expectations were set by the owners, not by us.

[bobbydazzla]

Anyone who sits at the far end of the spectrum, either positive or negative, is almost certainly incapable of thinking rationally. And they should check themselves before they wreck themselves. 

 

Somewhere near the middle is best.
 

Some might be slightly more negative, some might be slightly more positive but they can all view the situation with balance. 

 

 

Edited February 5 by bobbydazzla

[Yorkie]

I think the only major issue with the recruitment is with the strikers tbh. I've got faith that Elanga and Ramsey will make a net positive contribution and it's not their signings which have made us regress. One replaced Miggy and the other replaced Longstaff; two players who weren't contributing anything to us whatsoever by the time they left. Their combined fee is really high for the diminishing returns we've had so far, but they're not the reason why we've regressed as a team.

 

The reason why we've regressed as a team (putting to one side schedule and injuries) is because we lost one of the best strikers in the world and replaced him with one who can't play the role and another who's been injured and crap. The drop-off is ludicrously stark.

 

If we can repair that situation - either by cutting our losses and trying again with someone else, or by somehow getting a tune out of them - then I don't think believe there'll be a case to make for last summer "setting us back years." In any case, the Isak money contributes to revenue which fuels future windows; we've not blown the profit.

[Conjo]

1 hour ago, Irish Paul said:

This season isn't the problem for me. We've had much worse. It's the sense that we've absolutely blown it with our summer spending and set ourselves back years. 

 

 

 

I think it feels a bit worse than it actually is right now. There's still the possibility that some of our new players turn it around, and there is also the possibility to recoup a fair amount of the spend by selling them on (albeit at a loss you'd expect) so we're not bogged down with nothing to spend in line with PSR for a mini re-build. As long as it happens fairly quickly, I imagine there will be plenty of clubs in the lower half and newly promoted that will be willing to take the risk on Elanga, Wissa and Ramsey. It's a set back, but it doesn't have to be one we cannot overcome.

[The College Dropout]

33 minutes ago, Holloway said:

The match thread is frequently a tough read like, you're logged in and the game is in front of you on the tv. Many a time you think 'what is that daft miserable cunt on about?' 

Match thread - during the game - is the place for kneejerk excitement one way or the other imo. And the next day on every player/manager thread too tbf. It's all heat of the moment stuff.

 

[KennyUtd]

56 minutes ago, LaurentRobert said:

I've never understood how " happy clapper" is deemed a slur. Nothing wrong about a positive outlook especially when it comes to supporting a sports team. 

 

These HoweOut folk sound a lot like Brexit folk ten years ago. A lot of pointing at the negatives without offering any real solutions (see where that got this country now). 

 

Who do these HoweOuters want in as a replacement? The manager market is dire right now. 

 

 

 

"Give it Shearer until end of season kidda. Couldn't dee any worse man"

Or something along those lines. 😆

[TRon]

1 hour ago, Minhosa said:

Agreed. That’s what is pissing me off. Far more than a transitional season, it’s the sheer waste of the Isak profit last summer. An utterly criminal use of funds. 
 

Should have been our opportunity to kick on, strengthen across the board (even if we were a little weaker up top with his loss). 
 

We’ve actually created even more problems for ourselves with our recruitment. 
 

Appreciate they perhaps weren’t expecting the Isak strike but, fuck me, Wissa and Elanga, were the best you could come up with to use £110m?

 

The failing isn’t in signing dogshit, it’s in not having a plan B or expecting the eventuality that we’d need replacements for players attractive to the top few clubs. 
 

We HAVE to have learnt from that this year when the inevitable happens with other players because we simply cannot afford another reactionary window. 

 

On the part about not expecting the Isak strike, it worries me that it came as such a bombshell. I thought Howe would have had a bit more of a clue that one of his players wasn't happy. It's easy enough to blame it on Mitchell, but he was gone long before Isak downed tools. 

 

We are likely going to see this repeated with Tonali and Tino. I hope we aren't going to respond with "Bugger me, I didn't see that coming..."

 

 

[Minhosa]

4 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

On the part about not expecting the Isak strike, it worries me that it came as such a bombshell. I thought Howe would have had a bit more of a clue that one of his players wasn't happy. It's easy enough to blame it on Mitchell, but he was gone long before Isak downed tools. 

 

We are likely going to see this repeated with Tonali and Tino. I hope we aren't going to respond with "Bugger me, I didn't see that coming..."

 

 

Aye, agreed and I was being as generous as I could tbh.

 

This is where Ross Wilson has to be earning his coin right now tbh. He should be working on the Tonali replacement now, the Tino replacement now and, ideally, should be developing an approach whereby we're bringing them in and through the year before the big sales happen.

 

This is what fucks me off about last summer, the wasted money will almost certainly mean one or two less bodies through the door this summer - they could be the Lewis Hall replacement, the future Bruno replacement because none of the superstars are staying forever.

 

As it is, we'll miss out on those replacements due to lack of funds whilst we've got £110m tied up in dumb and fucking dumber.

[joeyt]

47 minutes ago, HawK said:

 

Well, it doesn't help when the new owners come in and say 'we're going to be number 1' and then don't really do much if anything to make it look like that's going to happen.

 

The expectations were set by the owners, not by us.

 

That's also forgetting that the Premier League have done everything possible to stop us from being number 1 since the owners came in

[TRon]

1 minute ago, Minhosa said:

Aye, agreed and I was being as generous as I could tbh.

 

This is where Ross Wilson has to be earning his coin right now tbh. He should be working on the Tonali replacement now, the Tino replacement now and, ideally, should be developing an approach whereby we're bringing them in and through the year before the big sales happen.

 

This is what fucks me off about last summer, the wasted money will almost certainly mean one or two less bodies through the door this summer - they could be the Lewis Hall replacement, the future Bruno replacement because none of the superstars are staying forever.

 

As it is, we'll miss out on those replacements due to lack of funds whilst we've got £110m tied up in dumb and fucking dumber.

 

 

Exactly. In my head both those players are already on their way out. The thinking now should be getting the replacements in FIRST, then maximising the fee we get for them. If they end up staying then great, I'm thinking we will be looking at younger players for replacements in any case so we can use them as squad players. 

[Minhosa]

Just now, TRon said:

 

 

Exactly. In my head both those players are already on their way out. The thinking now should be getting the replacements in FIRST, then maximising the fee we get for them. If they end up staying then great, I'm thinking we will be looking at younger players for replacements in any case so we can use them as squad players. 

I can understand why Howe might have been reluctant to buy younger players with high ceilings (due to lack of time on the grass this year) but I fucking wish it was an approach the club had insisted on because where we have invested money, the liklihood of any of them actually increasing in value is miniscule.

 

The Mitchell appointment has really harmed us tbh. There's just been no strategic thinking around recruitment beyond 'survive/get through each window' since the takeover.

 

We need a recruitment plan urgently and last summer has majorly fucked us.

 

If ever there was a time to call in a favour from our friends in KSA, it's now.

[Holloway]

48 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Match thread - during the game - is the place for kneejerk excitement one way or the other imo. And the next day on every player/manager thread too tbf. It's all heat of the moment stuff.

 

this is true of course, but when something positive happens some of the biggest kneejerkers are nowhere to be seen

[Scoreboard82]

There are lads I work with who are generally canny lads but can be hard to spend time with when things aren't going well at the club. Last night for example was an 8 hour long inquest and assessment of last night's game and the current situation. Over and over again. "Everyone is shit. Howe out. This player's shit, and him". Everyone just written off. No talk of player X not having lived up to expectations yet but may come good, just get them out. I get the frustration but I sometimes get the feeling that one or two revel in NUFC failure and would probably be gutted if we turned both Liverpool and Man City over 5-0. Having said that, the league season has been disappointing and we can only hope lessons will be learned going forward.