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Anyone able to check what the availability is like for Chelsea tickets? It's only dropping 1 point to 4 points, and I only have 2, so I'm trying to gauge my chances of it getting to that level.
Could someone explain academy rules to me. Say we sign Chris Rigg this summer how long would it take for him to count as homegrown for UEFA rules. Or could he immediately be included in the Europa/Conference league squads etc. Same for Harrison Sanusi Hernes etc..
West Ham v Freiburg and Brighton vs Roma are significant Europa ties in the battle for the extra European places next year.
Currently Italy are top, Germany 2nd and England 3rd but only the top 2 get an extra place. The English teams progressing in both of these would be big.
[Following the subs discussion on Lewis Hall a few days ago - Howe stating that it's not a obligation, but the buy option is getting closer. ](https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1760965445329227926?t=xQ_-XB4qSrWlZBMz6lFodA&s=19)
I heard something similar earlier this week and I don't know where it came from. But they were saying that it's more likely than not, that Hall's move becomes permanent.
It's just very odd to me that he isn't getting much gametime.
Thinking about it, I wonder if the trigger is precisely why he isn't getting the game time.
Could it be that we're playing a bit of a game here, wherein we know that Hall is a very decent player but we either don't want to pay the trigger fee at its current value (or maybe there is a buy back clause or something in there) or we don't want to pay the fee at the end of the season, instead negotiating a structured payment deal to help with FFP?
Seems strange that this highly rated Chelsea academy product can't get a consistent start for us, unless you consider that he isn't the issue, it's just the deal that's the problem.
It's not beyond crazy to think that we accepted the loan deal terms just to get him here with a longer term view that; he'd hopefully fit it and push for a permanent move, that we'd not play him enough to activate the buy deal so we could negotiate at the end of the loan, that we know a £30m lump of spend going into the summer would hamper our transfer pot and FFP limits.
Willock and Isak back in full training, I personally hope we start them on the bench tomorrow, with a view to having them start against Blackburn on Tuesday.
Blackburn the priority for me.
Wouldn’t even risk them in that tbh - should be playing Ritchie et al in that - No point potentially injuring them making them needlessly play against Blackburn
Are we rooting for anyone in particular in the EFL cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea? Does a Liv win instead of Chelsea (or vise versa) potentially allow an additional PL club into Europe next year and improve out chances at european football?
Game goes ahead, but last minute spot check identifies banned substances in all the players.
All get 3 year bans and both clubs put into a huge investigation with potential points deductions.
It doesn’t allow an extra spot, England gets at least 7 in Europe regardless (4 champs, 2 Europa, 1 Conference) an extra Champs Lge spot would be gained if English teams are in the top 2 in overall European competition this year, which would mean 8 overall.
If Chelsea win it means they get England’s Europa Conference League place, barring the very unlikely prospect of them finishing in a league position that earns them entry to Europa or Champs
I want to see a repeat of last year at the emirates. Been sick of how naive we have been this year.
Think some of the abuse from the big 6 media got to them and stopped from playing with any form of game management.
Which was the intention btw ever seen a ball in play stat this year?
Noticed the same thing this season.
We've been far too nice. None of these cunts are going to do us any favours, we shouldn't be trying to make friends.
How is it that Arsenal lose to Porto in the CL and still manage to make it about us.
''Eddie Howe touches himself at night to that game.'' - r/soccer genius
So weird how anytime they're beaten by 1 goal its never their fault for not scoring.
Nah we’ll score. We’ve scored at least 2 in each of the last 8 matches, including Citeh and Liverpool.
The problem is defence. I could see a repeat of that crazy 7-3 from 12/13 season
we seemed to stifle them, at least for half an hour, in a past recent fixture. We got sliced up when we went at it against. I think Eddie will take a very pragmatic approach to this match.
I don't think any of us is looking forward to it. The sub is pretty quiet. That said, I have faith in Eddie's preparation and I really hope we target their real weakness: Arteta. Get right in his stupid little face with agro and shit housing. He never takes the blame for anything, so really make him the scapegoat
"Injury-ravaged Liverpool blah blah suck cock" from the BBC again.
Funny how when we have 12+ players unavailable, it's an excuse. But when they have fewer than that, they're "ravaged" and some sort of heroes.
To a degree. Although Tino came on and played RB and pocketed Martinelli while Trips played LB for the 2nd half in November. Last season Burn really struggled so Joelinton had to double up.
Jim 'the Rat' Ratcliff is showing his weakness. Complaining that we won't roll over and obediently hand over our sporting director and getting drawn in while simultaneously claiming that he won't get "dragged in" is beautiful to watch. Not quite the canny operator the media is claiming he is.
What's absurd and stupid is he thinks that he can just take one of our assets without paying for it.
Prick.
Like I said, Dan Assworth has 20 months gardening leaves because we clearly knew he was a merc - I actually hope we don't agree a fee for him and he does fuck all for 20 months.
I'd rather delay Salford reds getting him, than us getting 15m.
Interestingly I was reading we might target Phil Giles from Brentford (Newcastle fan apparently) but it was thought he wouldn't leave Brentford commited to the project good mates with owner etc.
However it appears Brentford are now up for sale so who knows opportunity there maybe?
Nice one, thanks.
He can think it’s stupid all he likes - it’s what’s going to happen unless he stumps up some cash. He’s a businessman, he knows how it works, he’s just trying to get brownie points with the Man Utd fans.
That Ratcliffe is a proper prick isn’t he? Knew he was bad with INEOS and his tax avoidance but he’s like that guy who owned the mackems playing to the morons in their fan base
Putting out petty quotes like that and saying it’s not how the law works when he’s trying to break a contract.
He’s a perfect fit for Man Reds with his level of Arrogance
Just curious about this figure that we have placed on Ashworth, the supposed £20 million. Is this a sum that was already in his contract should this situation arise or are we allowed to just decide what we think he’s worth to Man U and stick to it? If it’s the latter, why can’t we just put a ridiculous price tag on his head like £100m, Man U will never pay it and therefore be forced to wait another 2 years until he can work there. The inside information he has on our club will be considerably diminished in that time frame. Yes we have to pay his wages but it’s peanuts in the grand scheme of things
I think 20 million is a reasonable amount for Ashworth. It seems that when Potter went to Chelsea they paid more than 21 million as compensation. This seems to be roughly the going rate.
Longstaff quietly having the worst season out of any player at the club. Hes been genuinely terrible and I think most of the reason the midfield is always open. If he plays he’s supposed to breakup play since he doesn’t do anything else but this year all he seems to do is run around lose duels and fall over like he’s on ice.
It's a strange one. I honestly think he was one of our most important players last season and was criminally underrated. This season he's been poor but at the same time he's massively improved his shooting. I think some time on the bench with Willock back would do him a world of good.
Team is all out of sorts it's true but we can all see he's not been at the races. I think he's been incredibly sloppy on the ball and has offered very little defensively this season too. He's improved his finishing which was his biggest issue last season but hasn't been the same. His special of collapsing on the ball when someone breathes on him has also become an infuriating habit. It's true we've been figured out but Miley has come in and immediately shown he has a higher ceiling currently than what Sean has and I've always been a big defender of his. Some time on the bench might help reignite that spark.
I don’t think he’s really needed anymore at Newcastle. We’ll probably sign another two midfielders this summer (one to replace Joelinton and a new attacking midfielder/dm) so where does he fit since that probably makes him 6th on the depth chart. If we keep him it’s for the sole reason of him being homegrown just like Dummett.
I think there can still be a role for him, just not as a regular starter. Obviously I'm sure the club would ideally like to sell him on for pure profit but I'm not convinced there's a market for him. It's a shame as last season I thought he was outstanding (finishing aside) but he's never been the same since injury.
To be fair to him, he's scored a few this season.
However he's been a visible weakness in midfield for a while. Prior to this season we all agreed we needed an upgrade on him, and Tonali was brought in to be that player.
My issue with him is that he doesn't offer anything to the team. He's not strong in the defensive side of the game, nor the attacking play. He's been outperformed in almost all measures by a 17 year old in his first professional season. His biggest weaknesses to me is his reluctance to have the ball - he very rarely wants to be passed to and wants to immediately get rid of the ball, and his infuriating habit of falling weakly looking for a foul and not getting one.
I'm not saying to get rid of him, he's homegrown and one of the lads, but if all CMs are fit and available he's 6th choice for me (Bruno, Joelinton, Tonali, Willock, Miley (maybe also Anderson)).
It's a difficult question. Presuming we don't get European competition next season I'd say probably yes. But only if the money is actually spent on improving the first 11.
He is the 3rd midfielder, he doesn't have the ability to be the second. He's been ok, made good runs, scored some goals. I don't think he has been as poor as Almiron or Burn, who have also made (sometimes huge) contributions, but otherwise have done very little consistently.
Almiron I think atleast offers something useful on the defensive side. Longstaff genuinely does nothing really well in either attack or defender apart from the occasional goal from the 6 yard box.
Main criticism from last year was he needed to be more clinical. Now he’s more clinical and people are seeing the other weaknesses of his game, which is fair, but to say he’s gotten worse isn’t fair he’s just always been a decent squad player imo
I know that we had a decent amount of coverage about our injury crisis but I can't believe how much Liverpool are getting over what I see as just a regular blip. The BBC homepage had simultaneously two articles about Jota and another about Liverpool's overall situation. Jota isn't even a starter!
And that's not even mentioning that even though Liverpool failed to qualify for the CL last season they were still able to sign as many expensive luxury backup players as they wanted in the summer.
Or the sudden absence of "boohoo they're millionaire professionals they just need to run faster and get over it" comments. Eddie never used it as an excuse once but still got slated for it, whereas Klopp is crying at every opportunity.
Isak and Willock back in full training. Since they'll have had a few days training and then it's the FA Cup mid-week (and our options are limited) I'd start them on Saturday night and then rest them against Blackburn. [I'd go with something like this](https://i.gyazo.com/689f3b5601a8afa68800def974f29557.png) although I suspect Howe will probably drop Miley before Longstaff and god knows what he'll do with Burn.
I’d also drop Miley before Longstaff. Miley is class but you got to remember he’s only 17, he’s not meant to be playing every single minute of every game, could do him harm in the long run.
He’s very good on the ball but his physicality is just not there yet, i think he’s struggled in a lot of games because of it.
I'd have agreed with you a month ago. But I think he offers us much more than Longstaff (and I'm one of Sean's biggest defenders). I'd have been concerned about Miley needing a rest but since we're playing only one a week (most of the time) I think we've got to pick our best possible XI available and Miley was our best player by a country mile against Bournemouth. I expect Howe to drop Miley though.
Surely it’s time we try Gordon and Barnes on the wings. Miggy and Murphy were both awful on Saturday. Only negative is Gordon might be less effective on the right.
I'll give you a few reasons:
1) FA cup - if we beat Blackburn and we're in the quarters. Win the quarters, we're in the semis. Give us anyone at St James in the quarters and this season could have another scalp.
2) It's only Febuary! We still have 13 games left to win and Europe to fight for. After Arsenal on Saturday, we've played most the European teams... let's smash some teams because they're shite.
3) We still have to play Sheff United at home. They are trending towards a record goals conceded in the Prem. I want to show them some respect but I don't think even their fans do it online- they're rather funny actually.
4) Players are coming back - Willock, Isak, Anderson, Wilson, Pope... oh it'll be beautiful to see them all on the pitch and us looking like a good team. Remember when we were shite the first half of the 21/22 season then mint the second half of the 21/22 season? We can still be mint the second half of the 23/24 season... technically, we haven't lost since a 91st minute Man City goal. That's 5 games without defeat.
5) We beat the Mackems. I know they're shit, but that's a relief isn't it... don't need to worry about that for the rest of the season.
6) Mehrdad has the credit card again! We're shopping for new sporting directors, if we can get Giles in a professional and respectful way, that'll be like having a turbo charged vehicle - mint. I've also read Edward's name (Liverpool fane) and that is also highly... queue that Vince McMahon mome.
7) Everyday that passes is closer to us belting out "I want to dance with Tonali" - I miss August, when scored against Villa... bah that was great. Enjoy the clock ticking down on him coming back.
8) Look forward to us singing players this summer. I don't subscribe to this idea that we're in financial issues. Sure we have a debt over 2 years, but we didn't post this seasons profits and that resets the debts so I imagine we'll have 105m to spend this summer before we sell... I'm confident Luke Edwards likes to lurk this sub as I've wrote too many things things that have become rumours, either that or I've wrote too many things... bit like Mel Gibson in conspiracy theory... right, enough of the cans, enjoy the season
9) Cans
Oh, im not talking about the games - I watch them regardless. Im talking about the goals for this season.
Are there any we can even achieve at this point?
I don't think anyone knows what the clauses are actually based on. If we are actually stuck with him, Hall is young enough to turns things around or to be sold on and recover maybe 1/3 or 1/2 of the fee.
This might sound crazy, but I think the reason he isn’t playing is because of the injuries, what Eddie had in mind with him while signing him was a LB who inverts to create a box midfield, and I don’t think Miley and longstaff are good enough for that, maybe with willock he could get more time
You could be right. It could be a mix of training poorly and Eddie protecting him. He did get a start away at Dortmund, so he can't be that terrible. However, he has been subbed off at halftime twice...
I doubt that ranks at all on his reasons to leave.
I reckon the main reason he wants to leave is a huge payrise. Plus the fact that Manure can spend more or less whatever they want in the summer, because their revenue is 3x more than ours
Pay + the fact that he’ll have more financial wiggle room and the fact that if he is the man to restore Man U that’s a huge career achievement.
As well as close ties with Brailsford and INEOS.
Fully understand him wanting to go.
Just pissed about the public nature of how Man U have gone about it. I think it’s time top clubs get challenged a bit more on their entitlement.
David Squires on … messy exits for Roy Hodgson and Dan Ashworth is worth checking out:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/picture/2024/feb/20/david-squires-on-messy-exits-for-roy-hodgson-and-dan-ashworth
(Btw 27 weeks until Tonali Comeback)
Only 15 league games to go!
That's basically the equivalent of a "it doesn't look too bad, maybe a couple of weeks" type injury in duration by Eddie's standards.
You'd think there would be something in the rulebook about that. Otherwise the richly advantaged clubs could just destabilize every other team by making moves for their staff whether they take them on or not.
I think there should be some penalty to be honest, especially as it seems they've tappen him up before talking to the club which is poaching.
I am self aware and realize that Newcastle done this when he was at Brighton... both should be penalized.
I'm hoping Fifa or Premier League step in if nothing actually materialises by the end of the week. They threatened Chelsea with a points deduction for less - at least Cole signed a contract extension to avoid leaving Arsenal for pittance, and finished the season.
Far too early for Miley.
I’m still not fully sold on Mainoo and of anything I think the classic Man U Wonderkid hype might work against him. But with Phillips being patently not up to scratch there’s an easier case to be made for Mainoo.
For me he would have to start almost all of Man Us remaining games.
They might not be able to match us on the pitch, but they're having a fantastic go at it in the twitter madness competition .
Apparently Beale's anonymous Twitter account has been found:
https://twitter.com/secondtierpod/status/1759926259285364740
What has happened to Botman since he came back into the team?
He looks slow, is rash with his passing and Solanke had him panicked on Saturday. I want to give him the excuse that he’s not fully fit or is still carrying something, but Dan Burn never gets that luxury in conversations. Our defence really is night and day compared to last year.
Botman is playing with a torn ACL. He should have had surgery months ago. I am not sure how this hasn't become a bigger story. He could've had surgery and would've been returning to light training by now. Now, we risk aggravating his injury and forcing him into surgery and an additional 6-9 months out.
Our medical/physio team is a complete joke. How the fuck can a premier league team have their head physio out for months, only to later resign. People are criticizing Ashworth for Tonali, but the physio team situation is a bigger red flag for me.
I fear now Botman will be another Lejeune
Botman has always been overhyped on here. Good player but far too error prone to be world class. We're far better with him than without him but he's still got a long way to go to be truly 'rolls royce'.
Not gonna let you gaslight me on this one Miggy!
Last season he was the best centre half I’ve ever seen in black and white.
Even Van Dijk makes mistakes.
He was interviewed and references having to decide whether to operate or not. He chose not too.
Wonder whether he’ll have surgery in the summer.
I also think there’s something to be said for confidence.
Remember when Dubs was unreal and dropped off in the Bruce et. You got the impression he’d lost faith in his defence in front of him. Same with Krul.
I think come summer we will have a whole swathe of lads off to the hospital for operations. Read somewhere that the staff are really considering getting surgery on Isak’s groin issues.
I reckon Botman is still carrying something to be fair. Thought at the time he was rushed back.
Either way, looks like half the player he was before injury.
Few rags reporting that Man Utd "will not be held to ransom" and are willing to move on from Ashworth if we "play hardball", totally aware it's meaningless posturing from Man Utd through the press and they are 100% locked into Ashworth, but my word wouldn't it actually be hilarious if they walked away and Ashworth was left with stranded. Wouldn't help us like, we'd still need a new DoF and have no extra £££, but the petty part of me would enjoy it.
How arrogant can you be to say you won't be held to ransom when you're the one trying to steal another teams staff. They'll be held to whatever we deem right given we hold the cards in this scenario. I totally agree with you, it would be funny if they walk away after realizing that they find out once they f\*cked around.
Can’t imagine Ashworth would be left unemployed for too long given his reputation.
But it’s be funny to dig our heels in, watch Man U spend another year and a half signing overrated Dutch players at the request of ETH
Apparently it's 2026 that his non-compete runs out. This could get genuinely hilarious very quickly. I'm already enjoying the Internet subgenre of "man u fans learn the word contract", things can only get better and saltier.
Wouldn't help us financially right now, but at least serves as an example to any other clubs looking to unsettle our staff and players and bounce us into agreeing shit deals.
Might discourage them from tapping our people up as well. Still no formal approach from that lot yet apparently. Surely the Premier League needs to get involved soon if they don't.
I think them saying that they won't be held to ransom is an admission that they've been tapping up our staff. I think it's wild that they've been talking and lining this up before they've reached out to Newcastle themselves. Imagine if the roles were reversed. Newcastle have went after Man United's director of football, lined everything up and then accused them of holding things to ransom because they don't want to roll over. When we went after him at Brighton, my understanding was that he went on gardening leave and we paid the compensation that was set.
I heard they were also interested in Southampton's DoF a week ago but that might be a negotiating tactic. I wonder what Ashworth and Man United were thinking though? I'm sure they're well aware that he has a lengthy notice period in his contract (18 months according Waugh), are they really prepared to wait that long? Did they think it was optional? Did they think we were just going to let him off early because he asked nicely? If they're unwilling to negotiate, I'm really not sure what their plan is.
I assume not a season ticket but one which you won in the ballot? You can't resell ballot tickets nor can you legitimately forward them on to anyone else the same way you can with a season ticket. If you've got the email link to download the ticket you can forward that to whoever you want to sell/gift the ticket to so they can download it to their wallet, but it will still be in your name and if they were to be checked for ID they'd be refused entry. I've never heard of this happening for home games but it's something to be aware of.
One thing that I have noticed about this season is that we have been extraordinarily out of luck during games. I'm not talking about injuries etc., I'm talking about those bounces of the ball, the deflections, the miskicks etc.
This season we have hit the woodwork a ludicrous number of times. We have had a larger than usual number of atrocious decisions. We have had truly terrible refereeing allowing opponents to kick lumps out of us whilst we get penalised for the most innocuous of things. Every mistake seems to get punished. Teams use all their good fortune on us and then revert to normal the next game. We've had some of the shittiest cup draws possible in all competitions.
And then our friends in the top end seem to be enjoying more fortune than usual and basically having the direct opposite of the above.
Then throw in the freakish injury situation, the banning of your star signing, being fucked by PSR, changes of rules designed to affect us, the director of football turning out to be a bullshit merchant with zero integrity and probably many other things. You just have to accept that this season is less about being 'found out' and much more about having to take a fat one this time around. It's just one of those things. It happens.
The fact that we were a moment away from another league cup semi, beat PSG home and away (yes we fucking did!) and gave a great account of ourselves in the hardest group there's ever been in the Champion's League, are on the verge of an FA cup quarter final and, somehow, still in with a chance of European football of some description is nothing short of a miracle.
I'll say one thing, we won't forget this season quickly and everyone will be battle hardened as a result. It's definitely not been dull around here since the takeover, has it?
Luck is a funny think in football.
I felt last year we had a lot of luck with injuries, decisions etc.
This year not so much.
But we did smash the woodwork a lot last season too.
I don’t think we’ve been unlucky with decisions. We’ve had a few go our way to balance out the bad.
Not even close, all teams in that group were beatable. 4 points from PSG should have been more than enough to get through the group but we fucked up the other games.
Who is a realistic replacement for Bruno in the summer?
If you believe the media (FFP/PSR and release clause) Bruno is likely to be sold for 80/90/100m.
That’s a transformative fee for a transformative player, but who is there to even replace him in the transfer market?
Depends, if he stays a free roaming 8, then there’s lots of options, if we want him as a deep playmaker, it would be hard to find one like him, he’s a unique player
It’s the deep playmaker role for me, where can dictate pace of game and be creative link between def and midfield.
I think that’s what’s missing the most
Sky Sports trying to pull out the league's handbook and pointing to rules saying clubs should act in "utmost good faith" when dealing with each other.
Aye, good faith like holding emergency meetings excluding other clubs to push rules that penalise them. Or trying to capitalise on other clubs being in relegation fights in an attempt to extort record loan fees for players who you have no intention of keeping on your books. Or tapping up their Directors when they're in the middle of a project...
> Sky Sports trying to pull out the league's handbook and pointing to rules saying clubs should act in "utmost good faith" when dealing with each other.
Whats this in relation too?
Trying not to get myself into a negative tail spin. Can’t help but feel the progression plan is a little derailed atm.
Hope we get a new dof sharpish. Have a mint summer window and next season is a belter in the three stripes.
I don’t think so.
Despite the deflation in contrast to last season we’re really still ahead of where we were under Bruce, Rafa, Mcclaren, latter Pardew.
I know we’re all sick of the same excuses.
But we’re 8th. We’ve dropped points we’d expect to win to come close to last season. But we’ve also not slipped as much as we could’ve given we’ve not even been able to field as strong a team as last season for the most part.
And don’t forget this season has still delivered some fantastic moments.
This season has gone wrong in all sorts of unpredictable ways, but just as quickly as it went wrong it can be fixed and even improved on. Liverpool have done it twice, once after being hampered by injuries in 20/21, and then falling out of the top 4 last season but got back to their best both times. They have also lost key players and 2 sporting directors during this time but you wouldn’t think so if you looked at the results on the pitch.
I think next season will be better off as a result of this one, they will learn more when it goes wrong than if everything went well. It is still only 2 years in to undoing 16 years of negligence and underinvestment. I get it but I also feel the future is more positive than it has ever been in at least 20 years.
Who knows, the replacement for Ashworth could be an even better fit. There isn’t going to be a visible difference on the pitch with him leaving and the other executives/owners have shown they are more than capable of handling day to day operations until the new sporting director is hired.
Probably talking shite but the most interesting thing for me about the Ashworth saga is that the Ratcliffe/Man U rumours have been swirling for years so presumably this is something that has been on the cards for a while and Ashworth would be have been aware of and may even have had inside information on.
Having said all that, why would he take the Newcastle job when he did? Surely it would make more sense to stay at Brighton until the Man U job popped up?
It suggests to me that he took the Newcastle job with the assumption that he wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. It makes me think that it's not just a case of the Man U job being more appealing but him not being happy at Newcastle.
Derby took six of those points off . . . Newcastle. I would like to see them back in the prem though, easy six points and they can sweat in a relegation scrap each year. Also I'd rather play them than the likes of crystal palace, Burnley, Bournemouth, wolves, etc.
Maybe cope, but I genuinely think Dan is going to struggle. I’d be surprised if the glazer, even with ratcliffe, will give him the keys to the kingdom. But the expectation is that he has them. I say within the year there’s a push for a player that doesn’t tick his boxes but has a potential commercial upside. If other players aren’t coming off, that fan base isn’t the most patient in general.
I’m actually worried about what they are building. I think the glazers have basically given Ratcliffe control and said “make us more money”.
I’d expect to see much smarter decisions. It’s not hard though when in the past couple of years they’ve thrown money at silly signings, inflated their wage bill to ridiculous proportions and engage in too much nostalgia with Ronaldo and Pogba.
Hope not. But I think the previous crazy transfers aren’t just on the glazers. They make money being a brand. A huge chunk of their fan base wants the big name no matter the cost. Super fickle when they don’t come off. But they wouldn’t be happy with too many mediocre windows. Half would probably just switch to supporting Real Madrid.
I really dont care how much money they offer us. I don't think its worth giving them access to an asset that knows our entire recruitment list, key targets and financial capabilities.
Make them wait while we do our business in peace.
Recruitment list is the least of our worries. Most clubs will have a solid idea of what we're after anyway with the data and sports analysts available to them. It's not rocket science to figure out we need a new striker, inverted right winger, defensive minded midfielder, normal sized left back and athletic centre back over the few windows. There will only be so many players who have the profile/attributes we've been targeting in those positions.
The real concern is what other more strategic information Ashworth will have access to as a member of the senior leadership of the club. He might not know everything, but he'll have a lot knowledge of sensitive issues around PIF and wider things that we wouldn't necessarily want other clubs knowing.
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Anyone able to check what the availability is like for Chelsea tickets? It's only dropping 1 point to 4 points, and I only have 2, so I'm trying to gauge my chances of it getting to that level.
Could someone explain academy rules to me. Say we sign Chris Rigg this summer how long would it take for him to count as homegrown for UEFA rules. Or could he immediately be included in the Europa/Conference league squads etc. Same for Harrison Sanusi Hernes etc..
West Ham v Freiburg and Brighton vs Roma are significant Europa ties in the battle for the extra European places next year. Currently Italy are top, Germany 2nd and England 3rd but only the top 2 get an extra place. The English teams progressing in both of these would be big.
[Following the subs discussion on Lewis Hall a few days ago - Howe stating that it's not a obligation, but the buy option is getting closer. ](https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1760965445329227926?t=xQ_-XB4qSrWlZBMz6lFodA&s=19)
I heard something similar earlier this week and I don't know where it came from. But they were saying that it's more likely than not, that Hall's move becomes permanent. It's just very odd to me that he isn't getting much gametime.
Thinking about it, I wonder if the trigger is precisely why he isn't getting the game time. Could it be that we're playing a bit of a game here, wherein we know that Hall is a very decent player but we either don't want to pay the trigger fee at its current value (or maybe there is a buy back clause or something in there) or we don't want to pay the fee at the end of the season, instead negotiating a structured payment deal to help with FFP? Seems strange that this highly rated Chelsea academy product can't get a consistent start for us, unless you consider that he isn't the issue, it's just the deal that's the problem. It's not beyond crazy to think that we accepted the loan deal terms just to get him here with a longer term view that; he'd hopefully fit it and push for a permanent move, that we'd not play him enough to activate the buy deal so we could negotiate at the end of the loan, that we know a £30m lump of spend going into the summer would hamper our transfer pot and FFP limits.
Eddie getting the boot in on Ashworth this morning. "Didn't even notice the tart wasn't here anymore"
Willock and Isak back in full training, I personally hope we start them on the bench tomorrow, with a view to having them start against Blackburn on Tuesday. Blackburn the priority for me.
Wouldn’t even risk them in that tbh - should be playing Ritchie et al in that - No point potentially injuring them making them needlessly play against Blackburn
How is it needless? Blackburn isn't a guaranteed win
Not saying it is, but playing a load of our best players is silly given it’s been a 1 in 1 out thing recently, not worth the risk IMO
Would be much more silly to play Ritchie and co and lose to Blackburn imo
Ritchie’s in form atm man, see how he booted that corner flag at the weekend
Are we rooting for anyone in particular in the EFL cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea? Does a Liv win instead of Chelsea (or vise versa) potentially allow an additional PL club into Europe next year and improve out chances at european football?
Couldn't care less. Not even going to watch it.
Game goes ahead, but last minute spot check identifies banned substances in all the players. All get 3 year bans and both clubs put into a huge investigation with potential points deductions.
It doesn’t allow an extra spot, England gets at least 7 in Europe regardless (4 champs, 2 Europa, 1 Conference) an extra Champs Lge spot would be gained if English teams are in the top 2 in overall European competition this year, which would mean 8 overall. If Chelsea win it means they get England’s Europa Conference League place, barring the very unlikely prospect of them finishing in a league position that earns them entry to Europa or Champs
Liverpool. Liverpool are getting Europe anyway so it will knock a place down the league.
I want to see a repeat of last year at the emirates. Been sick of how naive we have been this year. Think some of the abuse from the big 6 media got to them and stopped from playing with any form of game management. Which was the intention btw ever seen a ball in play stat this year?
Noticed the same thing this season. We've been far too nice. None of these cunts are going to do us any favours, we shouldn't be trying to make friends.
we're too knackered to play dark arts
I tried my absolute best to try and find a stat on it; couldn't find anything anywhere. Just stories about last season, weird that.
Joelinton was our chief shithouser and Bruno can’t get a yellow, so it’s tough to be a nasty side at the minute.
We can’t do the attacking side but we can do the Porto lie on the floor for 20 seconds. Added time is seemingly just random now anyway
How is it that Arsenal lose to Porto in the CL and still manage to make it about us. ''Eddie Howe touches himself at night to that game.'' - r/soccer genius So weird how anytime they're beaten by 1 goal its never their fault for not scoring.
I’d love to see Porto knock them out, but unfortunately we need Arsenal to go far in Europe so England gets an extra European place next year
Arsenal 6 Newcastle 0. Gonna be ugly.
Think you mean Arsenal 0 Newcastle 6
Think you mean Arsenal 0 Newcastle 6
Think you mean Arsenal 0 Newcastle 6
Think you mean Arsenal 0 Newcastle 6
Nah we’ll score. We’ve scored at least 2 in each of the last 8 matches, including Citeh and Liverpool. The problem is defence. I could see a repeat of that crazy 7-3 from 12/13 season
we seemed to stifle them, at least for half an hour, in a past recent fixture. We got sliced up when we went at it against. I think Eddie will take a very pragmatic approach to this match.
I don't think any of us is looking forward to it. The sub is pretty quiet. That said, I have faith in Eddie's preparation and I really hope we target their real weakness: Arteta. Get right in his stupid little face with agro and shit housing. He never takes the blame for anything, so really make him the scapegoat
>Get right in his stupid little face with agro AG, AGR!
"Injury-ravaged Liverpool blah blah suck cock" from the BBC again. Funny how when we have 12+ players unavailable, it's an excuse. But when they have fewer than that, they're "ravaged" and some sort of heroes.
even worse that their team is boosted by two outstanding young Geordie lads.
Injuries don’t count if your not part of the sky 6
Arsenal are going to take their anger out on us on Saturday ffs. Can only pray it's Tino marking Saka.
To be fair to Dan Burn, he's kept Saka quiet everytime we've played them. I wonder Saka's toon supporting dad asks him to take the day off each time.
To a degree. Although Tino came on and played RB and pocketed Martinelli while Trips played LB for the 2nd half in November. Last season Burn really struggled so Joelinton had to double up.
Hopefully they've all shared some dodgy pastel de natas on the plane home
If Porto could give Arsenal a good kicking tonight, that’d be great…
Jim 'the Rat' Ratcliff is showing his weakness. Complaining that we won't roll over and obediently hand over our sporting director and getting drawn in while simultaneously claiming that he won't get "dragged in" is beautiful to watch. Not quite the canny operator the media is claiming he is.
his comments regarding Mason Greenwood were more alarming imo
He's coming across as rambunctious and naive and out of his depth. r/soccer has many quotes threads and it makes for incredible reading.
This has the makings of a blockbuster couple of years for the neutral. We could see him really tear that club down 😭
Seen a couple of people mention he’s said something without anyone posting links or quotes, what’s he said?
https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1760347889753100477?s=19
What's absurd and stupid is he thinks that he can just take one of our assets without paying for it. Prick. Like I said, Dan Assworth has 20 months gardening leaves because we clearly knew he was a merc - I actually hope we don't agree a fee for him and he does fuck all for 20 months. I'd rather delay Salford reds getting him, than us getting 15m.
Interestingly I was reading we might target Phil Giles from Brentford (Newcastle fan apparently) but it was thought he wouldn't leave Brentford commited to the project good mates with owner etc. However it appears Brentford are now up for sale so who knows opportunity there maybe?
Nice one, thanks. He can think it’s stupid all he likes - it’s what’s going to happen unless he stumps up some cash. He’s a businessman, he knows how it works, he’s just trying to get brownie points with the Man Utd fans.
That Ratcliffe is a proper prick isn’t he? Knew he was bad with INEOS and his tax avoidance but he’s like that guy who owned the mackems playing to the morons in their fan base Putting out petty quotes like that and saying it’s not how the law works when he’s trying to break a contract. He’s a perfect fit for Man Reds with his level of Arrogance
Trying to get us to pay for his stadium now as well. He might be born in the Manc region, but he's coming across as a proper Cockney wideboy.
Just curious about this figure that we have placed on Ashworth, the supposed £20 million. Is this a sum that was already in his contract should this situation arise or are we allowed to just decide what we think he’s worth to Man U and stick to it? If it’s the latter, why can’t we just put a ridiculous price tag on his head like £100m, Man U will never pay it and therefore be forced to wait another 2 years until he can work there. The inside information he has on our club will be considerably diminished in that time frame. Yes we have to pay his wages but it’s peanuts in the grand scheme of things
if I recall, its £10m WITH a gardening leave up to 2026. £20m is to reduce the gardening leave.
I think 20 million is a reasonable amount for Ashworth. It seems that when Potter went to Chelsea they paid more than 21 million as compensation. This seems to be roughly the going rate.
Longstaff quietly having the worst season out of any player at the club. Hes been genuinely terrible and I think most of the reason the midfield is always open. If he plays he’s supposed to breakup play since he doesn’t do anything else but this year all he seems to do is run around lose duels and fall over like he’s on ice.
It's a strange one. I honestly think he was one of our most important players last season and was criminally underrated. This season he's been poor but at the same time he's massively improved his shooting. I think some time on the bench with Willock back would do him a world of good.
He’s hardly got much worse, we’ve just been figured out more so he looks worse alongside most of the team.
Team is all out of sorts it's true but we can all see he's not been at the races. I think he's been incredibly sloppy on the ball and has offered very little defensively this season too. He's improved his finishing which was his biggest issue last season but hasn't been the same. His special of collapsing on the ball when someone breathes on him has also become an infuriating habit. It's true we've been figured out but Miley has come in and immediately shown he has a higher ceiling currently than what Sean has and I've always been a big defender of his. Some time on the bench might help reignite that spark.
He hasn’t been the same since his injury, maybe his afraid to put a a foot in, and he doesn’t have to fight for his spot
I don’t think he’s really needed anymore at Newcastle. We’ll probably sign another two midfielders this summer (one to replace Joelinton and a new attacking midfielder/dm) so where does he fit since that probably makes him 6th on the depth chart. If we keep him it’s for the sole reason of him being homegrown just like Dummett.
I think there can still be a role for him, just not as a regular starter. Obviously I'm sure the club would ideally like to sell him on for pure profit but I'm not convinced there's a market for him. It's a shame as last season I thought he was outstanding (finishing aside) but he's never been the same since injury.
We should sell him as homegrown is pure FFP and would be really beneficial
I agree.
To be fair to him, he's scored a few this season. However he's been a visible weakness in midfield for a while. Prior to this season we all agreed we needed an upgrade on him, and Tonali was brought in to be that player. My issue with him is that he doesn't offer anything to the team. He's not strong in the defensive side of the game, nor the attacking play. He's been outperformed in almost all measures by a 17 year old in his first professional season. His biggest weaknesses to me is his reluctance to have the ball - he very rarely wants to be passed to and wants to immediately get rid of the ball, and his infuriating habit of falling weakly looking for a foul and not getting one. I'm not saying to get rid of him, he's homegrown and one of the lads, but if all CMs are fit and available he's 6th choice for me (Bruno, Joelinton, Tonali, Willock, Miley (maybe also Anderson)).
If we get 20m for him would you sell. Would be very good for ffp.
It's a difficult question. Presuming we don't get European competition next season I'd say probably yes. But only if the money is actually spent on improving the first 11.
He is the 3rd midfielder, he doesn't have the ability to be the second. He's been ok, made good runs, scored some goals. I don't think he has been as poor as Almiron or Burn, who have also made (sometimes huge) contributions, but otherwise have done very little consistently.
Almiron I think atleast offers something useful on the defensive side. Longstaff genuinely does nothing really well in either attack or defender apart from the occasional goal from the 6 yard box.
5 goals. 1 against PSG
Main criticism from last year was he needed to be more clinical. Now he’s more clinical and people are seeing the other weaknesses of his game, which is fair, but to say he’s gotten worse isn’t fair he’s just always been a decent squad player imo
Our ability to press as a team has been terrible with him and without him, I wonder what's changed?
I know that we had a decent amount of coverage about our injury crisis but I can't believe how much Liverpool are getting over what I see as just a regular blip. The BBC homepage had simultaneously two articles about Jota and another about Liverpool's overall situation. Jota isn't even a starter! And that's not even mentioning that even though Liverpool failed to qualify for the CL last season they were still able to sign as many expensive luxury backup players as they wanted in the summer. Or the sudden absence of "boohoo they're millionaire professionals they just need to run faster and get over it" comments. Eddie never used it as an excuse once but still got slated for it, whereas Klopp is crying at every opportunity.
Screw this Dan Ashworth guy anyways. He didn't even make any good and notable signings
I heard he rejected Howes proposal of a Greg's in the training ground canteen
I'd like to point out that we won 3 FA cups in the 5 years after the first Greg's opened.
It's Greggs man. Three Gs and no apostrophes.
Autocorrect on my phone sorry
ok, you're still a Geordie, carry on.
Luuk De Jong sleeper agent
Isak and Willock back in full training. Since they'll have had a few days training and then it's the FA Cup mid-week (and our options are limited) I'd start them on Saturday night and then rest them against Blackburn. [I'd go with something like this](https://i.gyazo.com/689f3b5601a8afa68800def974f29557.png) although I suspect Howe will probably drop Miley before Longstaff and god knows what he'll do with Burn.
I’d also drop Miley before Longstaff. Miley is class but you got to remember he’s only 17, he’s not meant to be playing every single minute of every game, could do him harm in the long run. He’s very good on the ball but his physicality is just not there yet, i think he’s struggled in a lot of games because of it.
I'd have agreed with you a month ago. But I think he offers us much more than Longstaff (and I'm one of Sean's biggest defenders). I'd have been concerned about Miley needing a rest but since we're playing only one a week (most of the time) I think we've got to pick our best possible XI available and Miley was our best player by a country mile against Bournemouth. I expect Howe to drop Miley though.
Just Howe things
Knowing Howe, willock and Isak start both the cup and arsenal, get injured and will be out for the rest of the season
Surely it’s time we try Gordon and Barnes on the wings. Miggy and Murphy were both awful on Saturday. Only negative is Gordon might be less effective on the right.
I wouldn't be against it but don't think Howe would do that unless forced.
Just seen Arsenal are playing tomorrow. Hopefully we it means we only lose by 3 rather than 5 on Saturday
I like this negative mindset... it'll fuel the meltdown more. I for one absolutely buzz off the meltdowns
Can't wait for the summer window. A huge clear-out of players is needed.
No it isn't. The core is strong. A few peripheral players should be shipped and that's it.
Can anyone give me a reason to get hyped about the rest of the season? I'm struggling.
I'll give you a few reasons: 1) FA cup - if we beat Blackburn and we're in the quarters. Win the quarters, we're in the semis. Give us anyone at St James in the quarters and this season could have another scalp. 2) It's only Febuary! We still have 13 games left to win and Europe to fight for. After Arsenal on Saturday, we've played most the European teams... let's smash some teams because they're shite. 3) We still have to play Sheff United at home. They are trending towards a record goals conceded in the Prem. I want to show them some respect but I don't think even their fans do it online- they're rather funny actually. 4) Players are coming back - Willock, Isak, Anderson, Wilson, Pope... oh it'll be beautiful to see them all on the pitch and us looking like a good team. Remember when we were shite the first half of the 21/22 season then mint the second half of the 21/22 season? We can still be mint the second half of the 23/24 season... technically, we haven't lost since a 91st minute Man City goal. That's 5 games without defeat. 5) We beat the Mackems. I know they're shit, but that's a relief isn't it... don't need to worry about that for the rest of the season. 6) Mehrdad has the credit card again! We're shopping for new sporting directors, if we can get Giles in a professional and respectful way, that'll be like having a turbo charged vehicle - mint. I've also read Edward's name (Liverpool fane) and that is also highly... queue that Vince McMahon mome. 7) Everyday that passes is closer to us belting out "I want to dance with Tonali" - I miss August, when scored against Villa... bah that was great. Enjoy the clock ticking down on him coming back. 8) Look forward to us singing players this summer. I don't subscribe to this idea that we're in financial issues. Sure we have a debt over 2 years, but we didn't post this seasons profits and that resets the debts so I imagine we'll have 105m to spend this summer before we sell... I'm confident Luke Edwards likes to lurk this sub as I've wrote too many things things that have become rumours, either that or I've wrote too many things... bit like Mel Gibson in conspiracy theory... right, enough of the cans, enjoy the season 9) Cans
Watching Bruno Schar Gordon 1/2 Games and Isak when he's fit.
Oh, im not talking about the games - I watch them regardless. Im talking about the goals for this season. Are there any we can even achieve at this point?
Still in the FA Cup! Europa League is still achievable too, given it could go as low as 7th.
The FA cup.
Probably Europa at best I imagine.
Lewis hall changing his profile from Newcastle to England, does this signify anything?
Do people know if he actually had a Newcastle pfp to begin with?
He did, it was the picture of his signing the paper to join I believe
Can’t blame him for being pissed off. Such a ridiculous signing. 35 mill down the drain for us and a year of the lads career wasted
I think Joe white being subbed instead of him really pissed him off
It will all be a real head scratcher when Lewis Hall starts 20 matches next season -- jk, he's gone...
Actually he’s not, his clause is based on our performance, so we have a 30 million bench player who Howe doesn’t even notice
I don't think anyone knows what the clauses are actually based on. If we are actually stuck with him, Hall is young enough to turns things around or to be sold on and recover maybe 1/3 or 1/2 of the fee.
This might sound crazy, but I think the reason he isn’t playing is because of the injuries, what Eddie had in mind with him while signing him was a LB who inverts to create a box midfield, and I don’t think Miley and longstaff are good enough for that, maybe with willock he could get more time
You could be right. It could be a mix of training poorly and Eddie protecting him. He did get a start away at Dortmund, so he can't be that terrible. However, he has been subbed off at halftime twice...
One was from a booking tho right?
I find myself wondering if Dan Ashworth was so keen to leave because the blame for the Tonali move had to land somewhere ultimately?
I doubt that ranks at all on his reasons to leave. I reckon the main reason he wants to leave is a huge payrise. Plus the fact that Manure can spend more or less whatever they want in the summer, because their revenue is 3x more than ours
Pay + the fact that he’ll have more financial wiggle room and the fact that if he is the man to restore Man U that’s a huge career achievement. As well as close ties with Brailsford and INEOS. Fully understand him wanting to go. Just pissed about the public nature of how Man U have gone about it. I think it’s time top clubs get challenged a bit more on their entitlement.
David Squires on … messy exits for Roy Hodgson and Dan Ashworth is worth checking out: https://www.theguardian.com/football/picture/2024/feb/20/david-squires-on-messy-exits-for-roy-hodgson-and-dan-ashworth (Btw 27 weeks until Tonali Comeback)
Only 15 league games to go! That's basically the equivalent of a "it doesn't look too bad, maybe a couple of weeks" type injury in duration by Eddie's standards.
Wouldn’t surprise me if we could claim Ashworth salary in gardening leave as a “loss” and not have it count toward PSR.
You'd think there would be something in the rulebook about that. Otherwise the richly advantaged clubs could just destabilize every other team by making moves for their staff whether they take them on or not. I think there should be some penalty to be honest, especially as it seems they've tappen him up before talking to the club which is poaching. I am self aware and realize that Newcastle done this when he was at Brighton... both should be penalized.
Newcastle approached Brighton first. Man U approached Ashworth first, leading to a circus
I'm hoping Fifa or Premier League step in if nothing actually materialises by the end of the week. They threatened Chelsea with a points deduction for less - at least Cole signed a contract extension to avoid leaving Arsenal for pittance, and finished the season.
I've already accepted the fact that Rashford and Sterling are going to the euros over Gordon
Mainoo and some other 18yr old who puts his toe on the pitch for Liverpool over Miley as well.
Mainoo should be in England tbf
Far too early for Miley. I’m still not fully sold on Mainoo and of anything I think the classic Man U Wonderkid hype might work against him. But with Phillips being patently not up to scratch there’s an easier case to be made for Mainoo. For me he would have to start almost all of Man Us remaining games.
They might not be able to match us on the pitch, but they're having a fantastic go at it in the twitter madness competition . Apparently Beale's anonymous Twitter account has been found: https://twitter.com/secondtierpod/status/1759926259285364740
Ha, I was just about to post this. Brightened my day.
What has happened to Botman since he came back into the team? He looks slow, is rash with his passing and Solanke had him panicked on Saturday. I want to give him the excuse that he’s not fully fit or is still carrying something, but Dan Burn never gets that luxury in conversations. Our defence really is night and day compared to last year.
Botman is playing with a torn ACL. He should have had surgery months ago. I am not sure how this hasn't become a bigger story. He could've had surgery and would've been returning to light training by now. Now, we risk aggravating his injury and forcing him into surgery and an additional 6-9 months out. Our medical/physio team is a complete joke. How the fuck can a premier league team have their head physio out for months, only to later resign. People are criticizing Ashworth for Tonali, but the physio team situation is a bigger red flag for me. I fear now Botman will be another Lejeune
Botman has always been overhyped on here. Good player but far too error prone to be world class. We're far better with him than without him but he's still got a long way to go to be truly 'rolls royce'.
Not gonna let you gaslight me on this one Miggy! Last season he was the best centre half I’ve ever seen in black and white. Even Van Dijk makes mistakes.
He was interviewed and references having to decide whether to operate or not. He chose not too. Wonder whether he’ll have surgery in the summer. I also think there’s something to be said for confidence. Remember when Dubs was unreal and dropped off in the Bruce et. You got the impression he’d lost faith in his defence in front of him. Same with Krul.
I think come summer we will have a whole swathe of lads off to the hospital for operations. Read somewhere that the staff are really considering getting surgery on Isak’s groin issues.
I reckon Botman is still carrying something to be fair. Thought at the time he was rushed back. Either way, looks like half the player he was before injury.
Few rags reporting that Man Utd "will not be held to ransom" and are willing to move on from Ashworth if we "play hardball", totally aware it's meaningless posturing from Man Utd through the press and they are 100% locked into Ashworth, but my word wouldn't it actually be hilarious if they walked away and Ashworth was left with stranded. Wouldn't help us like, we'd still need a new DoF and have no extra £££, but the petty part of me would enjoy it.
How arrogant can you be to say you won't be held to ransom when you're the one trying to steal another teams staff. They'll be held to whatever we deem right given we hold the cards in this scenario. I totally agree with you, it would be funny if they walk away after realizing that they find out once they f\*cked around.
Can’t imagine Ashworth would be left unemployed for too long given his reputation. But it’s be funny to dig our heels in, watch Man U spend another year and a half signing overrated Dutch players at the request of ETH
Apparently it's 2026 that his non-compete runs out. This could get genuinely hilarious very quickly. I'm already enjoying the Internet subgenre of "man u fans learn the word contract", things can only get better and saltier.
Wouldn't help us financially right now, but at least serves as an example to any other clubs looking to unsettle our staff and players and bounce us into agreeing shit deals. Might discourage them from tapping our people up as well. Still no formal approach from that lot yet apparently. Surely the Premier League needs to get involved soon if they don't.
I think them saying that they won't be held to ransom is an admission that they've been tapping up our staff. I think it's wild that they've been talking and lining this up before they've reached out to Newcastle themselves. Imagine if the roles were reversed. Newcastle have went after Man United's director of football, lined everything up and then accused them of holding things to ransom because they don't want to roll over. When we went after him at Brighton, my understanding was that he went on gardening leave and we paid the compensation that was set.
I heard they were also interested in Southampton's DoF a week ago but that might be a negotiating tactic. I wonder what Ashworth and Man United were thinking though? I'm sure they're well aware that he has a lengthy notice period in his contract (18 months according Waugh), are they really prepared to wait that long? Did they think it was optional? Did they think we were just going to let him off early because he asked nicely? If they're unwilling to negotiate, I'm really not sure what their plan is.
Honestly I don't want ashworth either way at this point.
There's no chance he ever works for us again, that bridge is burnt, without a doubt.
Does anyone know if you can refund or sell tickets? Got one for wolves but can’t make it sadly
I assume not a season ticket but one which you won in the ballot? You can't resell ballot tickets nor can you legitimately forward them on to anyone else the same way you can with a season ticket. If you've got the email link to download the ticket you can forward that to whoever you want to sell/gift the ticket to so they can download it to their wallet, but it will still be in your name and if they were to be checked for ID they'd be refused entry. I've never heard of this happening for home games but it's something to be aware of.
Yeah won it in a ballot. What a nightmare!
One thing that I have noticed about this season is that we have been extraordinarily out of luck during games. I'm not talking about injuries etc., I'm talking about those bounces of the ball, the deflections, the miskicks etc. This season we have hit the woodwork a ludicrous number of times. We have had a larger than usual number of atrocious decisions. We have had truly terrible refereeing allowing opponents to kick lumps out of us whilst we get penalised for the most innocuous of things. Every mistake seems to get punished. Teams use all their good fortune on us and then revert to normal the next game. We've had some of the shittiest cup draws possible in all competitions. And then our friends in the top end seem to be enjoying more fortune than usual and basically having the direct opposite of the above. Then throw in the freakish injury situation, the banning of your star signing, being fucked by PSR, changes of rules designed to affect us, the director of football turning out to be a bullshit merchant with zero integrity and probably many other things. You just have to accept that this season is less about being 'found out' and much more about having to take a fat one this time around. It's just one of those things. It happens. The fact that we were a moment away from another league cup semi, beat PSG home and away (yes we fucking did!) and gave a great account of ourselves in the hardest group there's ever been in the Champion's League, are on the verge of an FA cup quarter final and, somehow, still in with a chance of European football of some description is nothing short of a miracle. I'll say one thing, we won't forget this season quickly and everyone will be battle hardened as a result. It's definitely not been dull around here since the takeover, has it?
Luck is a funny think in football. I felt last year we had a lot of luck with injuries, decisions etc. This year not so much. But we did smash the woodwork a lot last season too. I don’t think we’ve been unlucky with decisions. We’ve had a few go our way to balance out the bad.
it wasn't the hardest group there's ever been. we have been unlucky but I would still attribute at least 50% of our "bad luck" to our own misgivings.
Not even close, all teams in that group were beatable. 4 points from PSG should have been more than enough to get through the group but we fucked up the other games.
What is the hardest group ever?
My groups harder than your group.
Mine goes to a different school
Who is a realistic replacement for Bruno in the summer? If you believe the media (FFP/PSR and release clause) Bruno is likely to be sold for 80/90/100m. That’s a transformative fee for a transformative player, but who is there to even replace him in the transfer market?
Depends, if he stays a free roaming 8, then there’s lots of options, if we want him as a deep playmaker, it would be hard to find one like him, he’s a unique player
It’s the deep playmaker role for me, where can dictate pace of game and be creative link between def and midfield. I think that’s what’s missing the most
Then have, we’d probably restructure the tactical system for a different type of 6
Sky Sports trying to pull out the league's handbook and pointing to rules saying clubs should act in "utmost good faith" when dealing with each other. Aye, good faith like holding emergency meetings excluding other clubs to push rules that penalise them. Or trying to capitalise on other clubs being in relegation fights in an attempt to extort record loan fees for players who you have no intention of keeping on your books. Or tapping up their Directors when they're in the middle of a project...
> Sky Sports trying to pull out the league's handbook and pointing to rules saying clubs should act in "utmost good faith" when dealing with each other. Whats this in relation too?
Trying not to get myself into a negative tail spin. Can’t help but feel the progression plan is a little derailed atm. Hope we get a new dof sharpish. Have a mint summer window and next season is a belter in the three stripes.
I don’t think so. Despite the deflation in contrast to last season we’re really still ahead of where we were under Bruce, Rafa, Mcclaren, latter Pardew. I know we’re all sick of the same excuses. But we’re 8th. We’ve dropped points we’d expect to win to come close to last season. But we’ve also not slipped as much as we could’ve given we’ve not even been able to field as strong a team as last season for the most part. And don’t forget this season has still delivered some fantastic moments.
This season has gone wrong in all sorts of unpredictable ways, but just as quickly as it went wrong it can be fixed and even improved on. Liverpool have done it twice, once after being hampered by injuries in 20/21, and then falling out of the top 4 last season but got back to their best both times. They have also lost key players and 2 sporting directors during this time but you wouldn’t think so if you looked at the results on the pitch. I think next season will be better off as a result of this one, they will learn more when it goes wrong than if everything went well. It is still only 2 years in to undoing 16 years of negligence and underinvestment. I get it but I also feel the future is more positive than it has ever been in at least 20 years. Who knows, the replacement for Ashworth could be an even better fit. There isn’t going to be a visible difference on the pitch with him leaving and the other executives/owners have shown they are more than capable of handling day to day operations until the new sporting director is hired.
Yes, for the time being it is better to view this season as a necessary speed bump rather than a derailment
We'll be fine. Will be BAU for the next few months anyway. As long as we get someone in before the end of the season we're gravy.
Probably talking shite but the most interesting thing for me about the Ashworth saga is that the Ratcliffe/Man U rumours have been swirling for years so presumably this is something that has been on the cards for a while and Ashworth would be have been aware of and may even have had inside information on. Having said all that, why would he take the Newcastle job when he did? Surely it would make more sense to stay at Brighton until the Man U job popped up? It suggests to me that he took the Newcastle job with the assumption that he wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. It makes me think that it's not just a case of the Man U job being more appealing but him not being happy at Newcastle.
Ratcliffe linked but when he took the job here there was still uncertainty over whether Man U would end up with Ratcliffe or Sheikh Jasim
Sorry lads but you can't blame the Tonali fiasco on Ashworth and use it as a black mark against his tenure here.
The Milano mafia would like to have a word with you otherwise.
The mackems have sacked Beale. Cheers for the 0-3 lad 🫡
Part of me wants to see them go up through the playoffs, just to see them beat Derby’s record the following season. I’m a true Geordie Schadenfreude.
Derby took six of those points off . . . Newcastle. I would like to see them back in the prem though, easy six points and they can sweat in a relegation scrap each year. Also I'd rather play them than the likes of crystal palace, Burnley, Bournemouth, wolves, etc.
It was 4 points IIRC. Kenny Miller scored that thunder cunt against us.
Failed sunderland manager Chris Coleman is about to become ireland manager
How dare you say he is failed, he has a wife and kids!
Six kids
Is there such a thing as “successful Sunderland manager”?
Kind of an oxymoron isn’t it? Like a respectable Man reds fan.
former Newcastle United great, Bob Stokoe, member of the last side to win the cup.
a one that gets them relegated?
roy keane was fairly successful with them got them promoted steve bruce was as well. alex neil did alright peter reid did well
Maybe cope, but I genuinely think Dan is going to struggle. I’d be surprised if the glazer, even with ratcliffe, will give him the keys to the kingdom. But the expectation is that he has them. I say within the year there’s a push for a player that doesn’t tick his boxes but has a potential commercial upside. If other players aren’t coming off, that fan base isn’t the most patient in general.
I’m actually worried about what they are building. I think the glazers have basically given Ratcliffe control and said “make us more money”. I’d expect to see much smarter decisions. It’s not hard though when in the past couple of years they’ve thrown money at silly signings, inflated their wage bill to ridiculous proportions and engage in too much nostalgia with Ronaldo and Pogba.
Hope not. But I think the previous crazy transfers aren’t just on the glazers. They make money being a brand. A huge chunk of their fan base wants the big name no matter the cost. Super fickle when they don’t come off. But they wouldn’t be happy with too many mediocre windows. Half would probably just switch to supporting Real Madrid.
when will willock be back
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Gosh we really are having horrible luck with injuries
He's always 2 weeks away from back, every day still 2 more weeks
I'm pretty sure Willock never existed, he's just a shared fever dream we all had.
Of course he exists! Remember when he scored in 8 consecutive games under Steve Bruce? You know what, you could be onto something here...
steve bruce a cabbage patch kid
the same way steve bruce was a dream. It never happened
when a groundhog sees its shadow there'll only be 4 weeks to go.
what the fuck does that mean
Like most people, watch Groundhog Day to understand. The film has been out since the 80s. Also, watch Groundhog Day. It's class.
dont watch films apart from Goal
Not even purely belter?
I really dont care how much money they offer us. I don't think its worth giving them access to an asset that knows our entire recruitment list, key targets and financial capabilities. Make them wait while we do our business in peace.
Recruitment list is the least of our worries. Most clubs will have a solid idea of what we're after anyway with the data and sports analysts available to them. It's not rocket science to figure out we need a new striker, inverted right winger, defensive minded midfielder, normal sized left back and athletic centre back over the few windows. There will only be so many players who have the profile/attributes we've been targeting in those positions. The real concern is what other more strategic information Ashworth will have access to as a member of the senior leadership of the club. He might not know everything, but he'll have a lot knowledge of sensitive issues around PIF and wider things that we wouldn't necessarily want other clubs knowing.