I feel for him, as he's a thoroughly decent man. He's no top level manager, which is no fault of his own, but like Southgate, he's a good egg and doesn't deserve this. It'll be a weight off his shoulders (and in his pocket) when it finally happens.
Not sure it's entirely accurate to say he's had nothing to work with, he's spent about £100m hasn't he?
Whoever manages the next Newcastle match will have his work cut out. Second half even Ant and Dec we’re back to front.
Even if they go down they’ll just come straight back, with the money they are suggesting they are going to spend it’s just a matter of time before they are competing for European places and maybe CL as well
I guess it’s a bit like us to some degree. If we were to go down now under Gao lots of fans would be concerned over our future due to the owner not spending and the debt we are in. Newcastle fans probably thought similar (in terms of getting back to the PL under Ashley). Now if they go down it’s nowhere near as big a deal as they will just spend and come straight back.
It's a bit tricky, because the finance rules in the Championship are more stringent than those in the PL. That's not a problem if they succeed in coming straight back up, but if they were to fall short they could end up in a world of pain.
If Bruce pushed for the £40m on Joelinton, I have no sympathy for him. But I suspect it may not have been him, because I recall he joined only about a week after Bruce himself did. He kind of had no option but to spend the £30m that Arsenal wanted for Willock, given how great he finished last season. But there was always a risk that he was just going through a purple patch, only to then regress back to his average self. £20m for Wilson would be very good value if he could ever stay fit. ASM for, I think, £15m has proven great business. For me, the problem hasn't been a lack of spending since they got promoted (they clearly spent money), but that it was spent on a small number of players. Hence they still are heavily comprised of their Championship team. And for that reason, I give Bruce (and Rafa before him) credit for having them still in the league.
I think we all share similar views on Garth Crooks and his Team of the Week. Unsurprisingly no Saints players made this week's XI (pretty sure he turns off MOTD once the last of the big 6 have been shown). What is more baffling is the selection in the 'pick your own'. I wondered how many Saints players would make the list here.... was surprised to find Salisu not on the list but Vestegaard for Leicester was an option. He came on as an 88th minute sub in their game.... just how good a 2 minutes did he have?!
Lampard will be a disaster for Newcastle and I think will represent an unseetling ability to understand the fans if such an appointment were made. From recollection, Dennis Wise was part of the management team at Newcastle and Dave Bassett was there as well. Newcastle fans hate managers coming from London so I would have thought that, in the absence of any obvious candidate from the NE, the appointment will be a foreign coach. Benitez looked a fabulous appointment for Newcastle and the next appointment, assuming Bruce is sacked, will need to be along smilar lines. I still think Norwich, Watford and Leeds will go down and would have Newcastle finishing just above the relegation zone. They need to ensure that they are not in the bottom three come the end of December and as far as they can be up the table. You do wonder what kind of proposition Newcastle would be for both a new manager and potential players. Getting relegated and having a new manager building a promotion chasing squad for next season does not seem unrealistic in my opinion.
I think Newcastle should be okay quite comfortably now, they've got enough in that squad and will spend in January too. For me, Norwich are already gone, Watford I'm 90% on too. Then one of Leeds/Burnley/Wolves/us for the final spot.
Libby I cannot see Saints or Wolves being involved in a relegation scrap. Burnley always seem to turn around their fortunes so would be a little surprised if they came a cropper too. Once Armstrong and Adams find their scoring boots, I think Saints will surprise a few pundits - Garth Crooks excepted.
Us doing well wouldn’t surprise Garth Crooks? I’d imagine he would be the most surprised. Notably to learn we play in the division …
https://footylabs.com/premierleague-fantasy/schedule-difficulty.html Suggests we have had the second hardest start (hardest before this weekend). And Brighton the easiest Not foolproof as based on current table position rather than last years (even that wouldn’t be). And as noted Brighton could well be in an artificially high position placing greater “difficulty” for those who played them - such as the only team currently below us I don’t suppose any of us needed to be told our start has been very very hard
