Now come on Roy, we ended those seasons mid-table as a result of often the last 2-3 games - they weren’t confident mid table seasons… we have those now
I sort of get playing longstaff away, or at home to the better sides, but at home to west ham, where it's up to us to dictate the game, tonali has to play.
That's where we finished there's no getting away from it. This season? I'm not seeing a side that is any better and what we should all be seeing is a side going backwards. Whether that continues remains to be seen, but there's nothing to suggest it won't.
Today the mental gymnastic will be Burn wasn't in the side. There will never be many of us just admitting that our side just isn't very good, but that's the reality I'm afraid. It'll always be this player or that player not starting, they'll always keep pointing at 4th two tears ago , the weather or literally any other excuse other than just an acceptance that the squad isn't great and the manager is perhaps not making the best of it....or maybe he is. It might improve in 5 to 10 tears, but we could be decades away due to restrictions.... it might never happen.
So here's a thing then. if PSR is restricting us and we arent likely to get above 7th place then why dont PIF just go wild and splurge £400M on players for example. Accepting that they will get a points deduction etc. It would impact us for a year in terms of league positions but still an option. Im still not accepting what Silverstone etc are doing in terms of bringing in revenue from new sponsors etc. It's so quiet on that front, on all fronts really. Such a shame.
I believe the PL has made it clear there's no set penalty for breaches, so in other words simply completely ignoring could see them relegate the club or give a points deduction that would likely take care of it if required. I've reached the point where I've accepted the takeover just cannot be what it would perhaps once have been because the rules make the owners wealth almost irrelevant. It's simply easier to accept we're going to have a few good years here and there and have an outside chance of silverware when we have the good seasons. I think finishing 4th was a poisoned chalice in regards to fan expectation... if it never happened more of us would have the same view that we're actually way off the pace at the moment, not one of the best 7 sides in country and certainly not one of the biggest clubs off the pitch. The new stadium would probably be what 2030? Maybe they'll kick a bit by then, but for anyone who's pinning their hopes on top 6 regularly before then they're setting themselves up for disappointment I think. We are what we are.
Absolutely and I'm all ears for arguments against the points raised. Everyone is entitled to theirs for sure. I'm not going to be unpleasant if people say the opposite we all want success and all have our own ideas and opinions. Only time will provide the answers.
I think we’re just being poorly managed from the top. PSR exists. We have (or had) £100m+ assets. Yet the reality is as a squad, as a management and coaching structure, we are miles behind. We have some talent but it’s wasted when you’re bringing in utter crap like Murphy, Longstaff, Kelly, Almiron, etc. Burn, Pope and Barnes aren't even very good. There needs to be much better structure on transfers and outgoings than we’ve got, and a ruthlessness in doing business. We should get where we are at the moment in terms of desperately needing quality additions and say to the likes of Man City if they fancy paying £100m for Bruno then off you go. Everybody does it, why are we saying “NOO! We just keep Bruno, and in the meantime not have the funds to keep Minteh, Anderson or replace Almiron, Schar, etc”. It’s ****ing idiotic. There’s this weird, insular culture at Newcastle that will always hold us back. Chants like He’s one of our own, EH black and white army, etc. It’s such wildly misplaced loyalty that I feel it inspires a comfort level not afforded another clubs. Players and managers come and go but the fans, like our current manager, put loyalty and effort above results and ability. We remain in a rut. We can’t hope to keep plodding because everyone is consistently going to outspend us. I mean, the powers that be couldn’t have ****ed up the UCL qualification any more than they did. Where has all that money gone? Where were the new deals? Where was this influx of next level of players? Chaos has mentioned these clubs having better players - but the weird thing is I had no idea who Dibling was for example. There are countless players who would have elevated this club and the squad for very little cash and certainly we could’ve got four for the price of one Guehi. There’s lads at Bournemouth, West Ham, Brighton, Forest who didn’t cost much so what the **** have we been doing? I assume that’s what Mitchell is here to sort out, so hopefully he will, then if we can just move on from the insipid crap Howe is churning out every other week we might be able to get somewhere.
Would you give this manager any money in January? Really I wouldn't he's not even using the players the club buys. I'd be saying you're not even using over 125 million pounds worth of the players we've bought, so you can have more when we've seen them all play together. If he turns it around give him more otherwise the next manager should be given the money. Almiron gets **** but he's a better player than Murphy btw.... Howes player preferences are becoming more and more ridiculous.
I think there's been a touch of over reaction from last night. League is funny this year. Everybody seems to be able to beat everybody. Except Liverpool who seem to be the only team capable of showing a consistent run of form. It's almost like 2016 when Leicester won it. I can see why Roly is making the sponsorship comments but at the same time I think this is due to the fact nobody knows how much these partnership deals are worth. The reality is other than Carling who were there under the Ashley era, We've now got Sela, Adidas, Noon, Sportsbet.io, JD, BET MGM, Saudia, Fun 88 (as partner now rather than sponsor)Fenwick, In-Post, Red Bull, VT Markets and Quidd. There's been others too that have now lapsed like Monster and Sportsbreaks.com There's a few area's that the club could do with being more transparent on, sponsorship deals and membership numbers and transfer fee's being the main one's off the top of my head. And 10 years ago nobody would have given a flying toss what these were worth. Also worth baring in mind none of us know how much it has cost to dump Castore and Fun88 off earlier than planned.
I disagree on it being an over-reaction, because we're seeing it very consistently. Team turns up sitting deep, countering, and we turn into Newcastle Ladies. Happened last year, repeatedly, happening this year. It screams that Howe is not learning, not progressing, and more people are realising it and getting frustrated with it. We were 2-0 down and he had a panic, so instead of going all out and bringing on Almiron he had a complete brainfart and brought on Trippier. He actually wanted to bring Almiron on at the same time but - as a PL manager - FORGOT that he'd used all his subs!!!! I dunno, mate, I just think Howe is looking worse by the week. We're trending backwards, he's gone for Kelly who's beyond useless and somehow cannot fit an Italian international into his team ahead of ****ing Longstaff!! If we had £70m in the Summer, and you look at Todibo on loan, Marma for £30m and maybe Semenyo for £30m, where could we be? But he sticks by Pope, didn't trust Mitchell and put faith in Murphy, Almiron, Longstaff, Wilson and Trippier. He's just too....insular. Then the senior leadership is weird - you've listed so many deals; have we not been able to cash them because of the PSR rules? If not, why aren't the club screaming about it as illegal? Why are Man City doing our legal challenge when our owners are worth 10x what Mansour is? I just don't think we're being run efficiently - and I wonder how much of a hindrance PIF are? I know the Middle East can be challenging, Saudi is miles behind UAE in terms of being more western in their approach. Is it stopping us being agile and flexible? When we qual'd for the UCL, there was a known quantiy of forward finances on the way. I cannot fathom how we ****ed it up so badly that not only did we not buy particularly well, constantly going for better subs, but that we then ended up in a £70m deficit in spite of millions in additional revenue.
Not in a million years. I'd be looking to replace Howe before January. Harsh, but honestly I think we're just treading water at this point and a man who chose Gordon, Barnes and Kelly doesn't get any more money for me. IIRC didn't we go for Barnes because Maddison played where Anderson did? That was what I read - then proceeded to never play Anderson in the 10, then sold him Anyone who has Bruno G and Tonali and ISN'T trying to create the leagues best midfield partnership is a ****ing moron. Joelinton is ok at times in LCM, but for me is now at a point where he can and should be used up front again to hold it up and be a battering ram. He'd terrify people. I'd consider playing Isak off him and Tonali/Bruno double pivot. I think Willock could adapt to a 10, I think Bruno could also adapt to a 10. But, for me, unless Howe can change something up and ****ing fast, he'd be gone by Xmas. There's decent options out there still out of work - Kovac, Terzic, Hjulmand.
