I think it depends which group of supporters you ask. Group 1 - Rafa Cock Suckers Have created some fake mystique about Rafa's time here. The transfers were not his unless they were good ones. The bad ones were at best 4th on his list, or actually bought without his say so. His football was great and he was a tactical genius - all good was down to him, anything bad was because of the circumstances he had to work under. Totally honest upstanding bloke, who never used the media. Was forced out by Ashley making it impossible to stay. Bruce is the devil incarnate and/or an Ashley stooge. He doesn't have any tactical knowledge, doesn't actually bother with tactics, and can't even manage a warm up. Any injuries are clearly down to him too. Refuse to accept Bruce has put us in a better position than last season already at this stage. Group 2 - Rafa Haters A much smaller group. They just despised the football played under Rafa but were crushed under the weight of support for him. All transfers which were bad under Rafa were his fault, they were all his choices. Went purely for the money and never gave a **** about the club. Led the fans a merry dance in the press and preyed on their unwavering support with his political posturing with the board. Now he has finally gone, Bruce will play attacking football. Everything will be better. Want to say that because we have 3 points after 3 games he's better than Rafa because it took him 10 games. We are gonna have a great season. Group 3 - Balanced supporters Don't really give a **** about Rafa's reputation. Can recognise he did a good job here without feeling the need to gargle his sticky spunk. They accept he played defensive counter attack football because that is what he has done his entire career. This wasn't a great watch but it got the job done. Him having a difficult time working with the board, combined with a once in a lifetime offer of stupid money meant he chose to leave. Fair enough, no need to make up bullshit around it. Rafa probably used the press and love from the support to his advantage and utilised the press accordingly. Bruce gets their support and while they have reservations about his ability, want to see him given a chance. Certainly not jumping off the deep end because of 3 results. Equally not getting over excited about us being ahead of last season in terms of performance/points. 3 games is nothing and time will tell. Can see that all transfers at all clubs are not really down to the manager, he just has final say and scouting teams do the work at football clubs.
This “balanced” group, who is he? Is he a demon? Or is he “the Chosen One”? Where can we find such a person? How far do we have to travel? How many mountains are to be climbed? How many deserts are to be traversed? Is there a star in the Sky to follow? Please tell? Please.
Supporting Newcastle is a bit like trying to be a British citizen. You want hope, ambition, someone to believe in but unfortunately the people in charge are power crazed psychopaths, untouchable by the public, and we watch in astonished, distanced silence as we lurch from one disaster to the next. The fact we can do so very little about it frustrates to the point where you either just go along for the ride, or give up entirely and let apathy set in, hoping ignorance really is bliss. Bruce, like Boris, was selected by people we cannot reason with, for reasons we cannot begin to fathom. Newcastle, like Britain, is hoping the public and the workers will do enough to keep it afloat. However, if it all goes tits up, the people in charge won't really be affected. They'll still be wealthy, and powerful. To them, the fate of the masses simply doesn't matter. So all in all there's no point wanting Bruce out any more than there was a point in wanting Pardew out. We can't influence the decision, and even if it happens we'd invariably end up with someone worse. Watch, placidly, and enjoy what you can. Or just switch it all off. There's no alternative option.
I'm claiming this - being a psychotic spirit inhabiting an undead corpse from a parallel dimension, tends to give you a bit more of a balanced outlook on life.... or otherwise "The Crime isss Life. The Sentence isss Death."
Hows that ? The issue has nothing to do with rafa or bruce! Thats why ashley did it... its a fall guy and gets tge fans arguing over which manager is worse rather than ashleys failings .
Who is he? There are lots of them, just not as many as Rafa's Blinkered Disciples. This is a classic case of Rafashittyitis. You've spent so long with Rafa pushing your **** up, its coming out your mouth. The doctors recommend complete rest, and comparing his record with Pardew. It usually helps people see the light. Failing that the process must be reversed. This involves Rafa face ****ing you to force the **** back down. It is an uncomfortable process for most normal people, but Group 1 seem to love the process.
For someone who only wants to move forward you spend such a lot of your posts looking back and trying to have cheap digs at Rafa and those who recognise he made mistakes (as all managers do) but acknowledge that he genuinely had a rougher ride than your lovechild Pardew.
To be fair, I don't dislike Rafa, I just think he is grossly overrated and well past his sell by date and will never get a top football job again. Like his playing system, his relationships with players and club owners has been absolutely predictable. He has pretty much never left/been sacked from a club under good terms. There is a good reason he employs marketing services. What absolutely galls me is the way in which he did not announce he was leaving when it is absolutely clear he knew he was going for some time. He left the club and the players in a very difficult position. Oh, and, I absolutely hated his tactics. We will see how his 'not good enough for the Premier League' players perform this year. Some very positive signs for me so far.
If the threads take that route, then that is the subject which gets discussed. You will be able to see very clearly I did not steer this thread or any others that way. I will pass comment of course. There are no cheap digs at Rafa either, I think I quite clearly stated that two of the three groups acknowledge he did a good job. That's just made up, indeed I have presented three very different takes on Rafa. Its obviously a bit round peg square hole because you can't lump people into one of 3 categories without generalising a little. There would be about 1500 groups otherwise. Its like picking a political party, most people would find it very difficult to align all of their principles with one party. You keep pushing that he had it tougher than Pardew, but you only do that because Pardew outperformed him with lesser budgets. You are still to present anything that suggests he had a harder time than Pardew. Not only did Pardew spend less money both nett and gross, and get better results, he did so without the support of the fans from day 1 until the day he left. Good luck with the face ****ing
I do accept one thing... There are lies, damned lies, statistics and Pouchy statistics. Penultimate sentence just another example of many before.
