Fulham 0-4 Newcastle: NUFC end the season in style with rampant win for Rafa

That’s it folks, our 2018/19 season is over, with us rounding things off today with a thumping win at Craven Cottage – a result that sees us finish in 13th.

Goals from Shelvey (and it was a stunner!), Perez, Schar and Rondon sealed a 4-0 win – and if that’s to be Benitez’s final game as manager of Newcastle United, it was some send off!

It was a scoreline we’ve not been used to seeing this season, with us two up in 10 minutes and scoring 4 on the road for the first time this season, but it was a display that summed up our form in 2019.

We battled superbly, defending admirably and took our chances emphatically, outclassing and frustrating a Fulham side that spent over £100m last summer.

It may be the last time we see a few play in a Newcastle United shirt. Hayden finally looks set to seal his move away for family reasons, Rondon is due back at West Brom tomorrow and a permanent deal is up in the air, Perez rumours have been rife since his rise to form, Diame is out of contract as things stand and it feels like Shelvey will be cashed in on should Rafa stay. All five have been good servants in one way or another, and all of them played brilliantly today, but the biggest signing this summer would be Rafa Benitez.

I’m sure I speak for every Newcastle United fan in saying I hope and pray this isn’t his last game as manager.

Here’s how the final Premier League table looks after today’s results, with Man City lifting the title with a 4-1 win at Brighton and our 0-4 win seeing us finish up in 13th:

So, another season down and another incredible effort from the players and brilliant job done by Rafa Benitez.

All the momentum gathered last season was sucked out of the club over the summer, with us leaving signings too late and starting the season slowly as a result, but both Benitez and the players recovered remarkably after such a poor start to the campaign.

Our first win of the season came in November, with us enduring our worst start to a league season since 1898, but survived comfortably once again. That’s now something we should be celebrating, however, and that’s why Benitez won’t sign until he gets assurances that the club will show ambition beyond simply ‘staying up’.

The club has reached a crossroads. Either Benitez leaves – and all hope leaves with him – or we either go on with Rafa, sign Rondon and start making steps towards becoming a solid top 10 side and beyond.

Let’s hope the right decision are made over the coming weeks and we can enjoy a 2019/20 season where relegation battles are no more and Rafa’s future isn’t the topic of conversation every week.

For now though, hats off to Rafa and this group of lads for grinding it out once again.

Another rollercoaster season filled with unbearable early-season lows, mid-season nerves, but ultimately the resurgence of a organised, charismatic and gutsy side who gave us some big away day wins and electric moments at St James’ Park.

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

169 thoughts on “Fulham 0-4 Newcastle: NUFC end the season in style with rampant win for Rafa

  1. I will talk about our game later but I have seen some highlights and have to mention referees again. Fat fck Jon Moss gives a penalty for Cardiff when he was 40 yards away. It probably wasn’t a penalty but there was no way to see either way from where he was. 2 stone over weight partly explains it but terrible decision making as well. Maybe he wanted to make up for all of the obvious penalties that he had not given at Old Trafford that actually mattered. Tw@t.

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  2. The Premier League have to retire Jon Moss. Do they even have fitness tests for Refs? I have watched him quite a lot because I wanted to see if his fatness makes him a worse Ref. He is always 10 yards farther behind than he should be.

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  3. Apparently Shelvey has said that the trip to Vegas Ashley promised the players if we stayed up – he cancelled it as part of his visit to the dressing room to congratulate the players after today’s game.

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  4. If we wanted to keep this team together it would not be difficult.

    Hayden is the wild card, but whenever he speaks now he seems to leave the door slightly open. I feel he is much happier being an integral part of the team and liked by the fans. Double his wages.

    Ayoze is fishing for higher wages as well. He probably isn’t on a big contract we could double his wages easily and he would stay.

    I think this is what Rafa was on about talking about wages offered at NUFC. Not just for new players but for certain existing players.

    Then, we actually do OK (Liverpool) with 3 of our best players out with long term injuries – Almiron, Lejeune and Longstaff.

    There is something to build on here if Rafa stays. He might choose to sell a few players like Shelvey to fund upgrades but that would be the point, they would be upgrades. 3 or 4 quality players added to this group and at least it wouldn’t be a relegation slog again.

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  5. I also think it is clear who the relegation scrap is going to be between next year because none of the promoted teams will have the money the likes of Wolves and Fulham had this year. It will be them, Brighton and a surprise like Burnley or Bournemouth.

    We do not need to be in that mix if the Fat Man can just see a bit of sense for once.

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  6. I’m not complaining about a 4-0 win away on the last day of the season and what Rafa and the lads have done this season has been unreal.

    But I was a little disappointed not to see some of the young players not at least being on the bench ahead of the likes of Kenedy.

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  7. Brighton have sacked Chris Hughton ?.
    Loyalty in football at its best – thanks for keeping us up, now clear your desk, you’re out!.

    Big mistake in my opinion.

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  8. 24 goals between Rondon and Perez is an excellent return for a front 2.
    To put it into perspective – Wolves front 2 scored 22 between them and look at how well Wolves done this season – and how much those 2 cost in comparison.

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  9. I’m just catching up with MOTD coz I was at work last night. Huddersfield gave all of their travelling fans a free shirt yesterday who travelled down to Southampton.
    That’s a great gesture by the club after a $hit season for their fans ??

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  10. PremAndUp:
    soz Sharpie missed your comment

    Nee bother man. I was shocked when it popped up on my phone this morning though mate. I think it’s another kick in the teeth for one of the nicest blokes in football. But niceness aside, I think to have achieved premier league survival with Brighton again is a huge achievement.
    I can’t imagine too many Brighton fans calling for his head – and actually, I dare bet most will be disappointed by the news.

    But Brighton’s managerial situation bothers me far less than ours.
    That Ashley and Charnley were both there yesterday, and Rafa still has to wait until next week is an absolute joke!!. It just proves that NUFC is down on Ashley’s list of priorities.
    The fact that Rafa is even still considering sticking round to continue working with these incompetent halfwits should speak volumes about OUR fans and OUR club.

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  11. Gutted for Hoots, that’s shocking treatment. Maybe they think they can get Rafa ?

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  12. Sharpy17
    May 12, 2019 at 22:52
    Apparently Shelvey has said that the trip to Vegas Ashley promised the players if we stayed up – he cancelled it as part of his visit to the dressing room to congratulate the players after today’s game.

    If that’s true, it just shows what a total **** he is.

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  13. Agreed Kim

    Re Houghton, It was a season of 2 halves. Had they been the other way round he would have either be gone by Christmas or a hero. Won 3 from the last 23, none in the last 9.

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  14. KIMTOON:
    Sharpy17
    May 12, 2019 at 22:52
    Apparently Shelvey has said that the trip to Vegas Ashley promised the players if we stayed up – he cancelled it as part of his visit to the dressing room to congratulate the players after today’s game.

    If that’s true, it just shows what a total **** he is.

    Kim –

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9061680/newcastle-mike-ashley-las-vegas-party/amp/

    He instead paid the players their bonuses ‘promptly’ – I think that means on time anywhere else.
    But if the players were due their bonus and he promised them a trip to Vegas as well – they should have got both!!.
    Listen, I’m the first to say that the players are overpaid – and should they get a bonus for avoiding relegation?? – isn’t that what their wages should cover?!?!!.
    But if he’s made the agreement with the players, then he should honour it … honour … yeah right!!! ?

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  15. I have been saying for weeks that Brighton were almost certs for relegation next year with or without Hughton. Do they have a Director of Football? If they do, Hughton is carrying the can for him. If they don’t, I think Hughton should get some of the blame because they have a **** squad. I haven’t checked their spending but I bet it was more than ours?

    Mark Hughes is available. Pards? Big Fat Sam?

    Seriously, I think they looked up the coast and saw the improvement with Hasslehuttl, with him bringing in some of the reserves and thought – that could be us.

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  16. I changed my mind a bit yesterday about Brighton being certs for relegation, mainly because I had thought about the quality of the teams to be promoted. There’s a good chance all 3 will go back down.

    I am not sure what will happen with Brghton now and I don’t particularly care.

    Doubt Hughton will be out of work for long. One of the teams relegated to the Championship or one that misses out from the playoffs will be interested. There’s an opening at West Brom. Maybe Boro?

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  17. It’s really annoyed me that Sky are going on about racism and opportunity for black managers after Hoots sacking. I don’t believe there has been any racist motives behind his sacking. As Eric said, they were fighting relegation right up to the last few weeks.

    To use racism in this scenario I think dilutes true racism that exists in football.

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  18. Chris Hughton deserved at least the 1st 10 games of next season to see if he could put things right. I am not sure if they have a Director of Football but they have a very thin squad. They haven’t spent a lot in PL terms but their record signing for 17 million has been a complete flop. When you consider Everton have signed 10 players over 20 million you have to put this into context.

    Brighton had never played in the Premier League before Hughton got them promoted in his second season after missing out in the playoffs in his 1st. They have now secured PL status for a 3rd season.

    With minimum TV revenue being 100 million and that assured for another year that means Hughton has got them 300 million in revenue. The Championship is about 10 million a year. Even if they are relegated the parachute payments are about 90 million. So that is a minimum of 360 million extra compared to The Championship.

    In purely financial terms The Chairman of Brighton should be bowing down at the alter of Chris Hughton.

    If Chris was responsible for signings then bring in a Director of Football. I believe however that he probably wasn’t given the budget as who would go into the season with a 36 year old as the main striker? He happened to be top scorer though.

    From what I saw, Hughton got as much from this squad as he could. The question is whether it was his squad and whether he was given the backing to do better. Either way he deserved more time.

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  19. My view on Chris is the opposite to my view on the vastly underqualified OGS/GBC Gone-By-Christmas. He should be sacked with immediate effect and Man U should throw wads of cash at Max Allegri. They won’t though which will extend their comedy show and make me happy.

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  20. Eric Sykes:
    Chris Hughton deserved at least the 1st 10 games of next season to see if he could put things right. I am not sure if they have a Director of Football but they have a very thin squad. They haven’t spent a lot in PL terms but their record signing for 17 million has been a complete flop. When you consider Everton have signed 10 players over 20 million you have to put this into context.

    Brighton had never played in the Premier League before Hughton got them promoted in his second season after missing out in the playoffs in his 1st. They have now secured PL status for a 3rd season.

    With minimum TV revenue being 100 million and that assured for another year that means Hughton has got them 300 million in revenue. The Championship is about 10 million a year. Even if they are relegated the parachute payments are about 90 million. So that is a minimum of 360 million extra compared to The Championship.

    In purely financial terms The Chairman of Brighton should be bowing down at the alter of Chris Hughton.

    If Chris was responsible for signings then bring in a Director of Football. I believe however that he probably wasn’t given the budget as who would go into the season with a 36 year old as the main striker? He happened to be top scorer though.

    From what I saw, Hughton got as much from this squad as he could. The question is whether it was his squad and whether he was given the backing to do better. Either way he deserved more time.

    Eric – couldn’t agree more mate, especially when you look at the fact it’s the Swansea manager who’s odds on favourite to replace him – what the hell has he achieved???.

    John Barnes bangs on about racial bias though – Hoots won 3 games in 23 and survived by the skin of his teeth. Here’s an idea – instead of shouting racism, why doesn’t Barnes get his coaching badges and apply for a few jobs?!.

    Racism exists without doubt. But if there are far more white coaches or managers than there are black coaches, what do you expect?!.

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  21. I looked at transfermarkt and Brighton had a net spend of 65 million this year and 58 million last year. For a club their size that is a lot of money. I don’t know who was responsible for the picks though and that is an important element in how much blame Hughton should shoulder.

    If they don’t trust him with transfers, get a Director of Football.

    Brighton suffer from the same problem as all the bottom half teams – they do not have a reliable goalscorer. 36 year old Glenn Murray was top with 11and next was defender Lewis Dunk with 5. It is a miracle they stayed up but you could argue that money has been wasted.

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  22. For comparison I looked at the NUFC net spend on Transfermarkt. We spent 15 million this year and 22 million last year. It’s a bloody miracle we are where we are. Brighton spent 100 million more than us FFS. Doesn’t mean Hughton should have been sacked because a lot of foreign players take a year to adapt and whatever the recent record they are still in the PL.

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  23. It also begs the question that if Charnley says we have spent everything we earned then how come Brighton can afford to spend 100 million more when we were promoted at the same time?

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  24. Great result last night. I missed it live as I was out but recorded the match so saw it a bit later. Now we must secure Rafa. Not sure if the fat man will, but I have a feeling Rafa will be with us next season.

    Gutted for Hoots, saw it this morning… but that’s football these days… react first then think …

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  25. That Telegraph article above shows where the real blame lies at Brighton. They hired an FA suit who put in his own recruitment team and now scapegoats the Manager to protect his own ****.

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  26. Sharpy, i’m with you , i don’t think it’s a race thing with hoots at all. Having said that, there really should be more black and ethnic minority managers and refs too for that matter. Quite why there aren’t is down to a few different reasons, not least because not many ex black players seem to go into coaching it would seem. I know Sol has and Ince has , Darren moore has but that’s about all i can think of really and only Hoots in PL and now he’s gone.

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  27. Eric Sykes
    May 13, 2019 at 15:26
    It also begs the question that if Charnley says we have spent everything we earned then how come Brighton can afford to spend 100 million more when we were promoted at the same time?

    Been banging that drum for ages mate, makes zero sense to me, even more so when you look at the quality and spend on their training facilities.

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  28. I read Olly’s player ratings and Ryder does them every week and just about every paper does them. But how do you give a number rating to goalies? If they keep a clean sheet, should they automatically get a 10 because they could not have done any better?

    Maybe start at 7. A clean sheet and a number of excellent saves gets you an 8. Or 1 goal let in, a number of astounding saves and a win gets you an 8. A clean sheet and your best game of the season gets you a 9. A clean sheet, your best game of the season and an assist (or goal as you go up for the final corner) gets you a 10?

    All I am saying is I don’t know how you/we/they arrive at ratings for ‘keepers.

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  29. Rafa had a really **** first half of the season. Hughton had a relatively good start. If we reversed their fortunes would we be looking at Rafa getting sacked.

    2nd half revival for Rafa was part due to experience and skill and a bit of luck, along with a much more forgiving fixture list. We were dire and almost unwatchable in the first half of the season which is what some Brighton fans are accusing Hughton of and saying maybe it is time for a change. But he had a pretty difficult fixture list and the pressure was building with each bad result in the second half.

    We got better when Rafa changed the formation to suit our strengths and when we got Legeune back. Then Almiron added a spark and freed up Ayoze. But you would also have to say that he got lucky when Longstaff and Hayden turned out to be ideal partners. Add it all together and we started to play good football and the results fed more confidence.

    But, the opposite can happen as we saw in the first half of our season. It can paralyse a team which is what happened to Brighton.

    That’s why I think Hughton deserved the 1st 10 games. But their hierarchy thought he was wasting the players they were buying him. We will see how that goes when they appoint the Swansea manager who finished 10th in The Championship and had only managed in Sweden before (the next OGS?)

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  30. KIMTOON:
    Sharpy, i’m with you , i don’t think it’s a race thing with hoots at all. Having said that, there really should be more black and ethnic minoritymanagers and refs too for that matter. Quite why there aren’t is down to a few different reasons, not least because not many ex black players seem to go into coaching it would seem. I know Sol has and Ince has , Darren moore has but that’s about all i can think of really and only Hoots in PL and now he’s gone.

    Kim – I’m all for equal opportunities, and that is something that is in place – the opportunity to take coaching badges is open to anyone.

    What I’m not in favour of is equally in outcome. I think an individual should be rewarded on their abilities and achievements, not the colour of their skin, gender, sexual preference or Ethnicity.

    It should absolutely be looked into why there aren’t more black managers. There are lots of black players, and have been for many years now – there have been some black players go into management but why not more? – that is how you make the changes, and that would be a big move against the fight against racism imo.

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  31. I am not saying Hughton was perfect and I thought they would be relegated next year. Not because of Hughton though. Because of the quality of their squad. And I now find out it was a former FA suit with no experience in club football who was making the recruitment decisions. Buying players for a more expansive type of football that he WANTED to play and not the style their manager ACTUALLY played and that their standing in British football probably dictates. Maybe they will appoint the second coming of Brian Clough or maybe they will go the way of Swansea who had these high ideals of being Barcelona before they went through a bunch of Managers and it all went t!ts up leaving them in a financial mess. Small clubs punching above their weight and getting high and mighty ideas usually ends in tears.

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  32. Some Championship team is going to get very lucky and get Chris Hughton as their manager.

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  33. Sharpy: I have no idea why there are not more black managers and coaches. There doesn’t seem to be the same barrier in TV punditry. I think familiarity with black players being interviewed in their playing days has something to do with that. I will throw this one out to you though. Apart from ex-players who get opinion columns all of the newspaper writers are white. Any reporting and analysis is done by white college educated males.

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  34. There is one ethnic elite that has thankfully been smashed – the Scottish co-commentator. After Andy Gray, it was almost 100% Scots and thank God that is no longer the case. It may be mostly still white ex-players but at least you can understand what they are saying.

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  35. I watched a US travel show yesterday and they visited Glasgow. They had sub-titles for everybody they interviewed.

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  36. A last word on Hughton. It is the downfall of a lot of clubs when they have some relative success and then decide to get ahead of themselves and try to play more “expansive” football. I mentioned Swansea, but even this year there has been Fulham signing only forwards. And then Huddersfield under Wagner trying to play Klopp-lite. It happens all of the time and why Big Fat Sam and Mr. Roy are so rich because they usually need a fire-fighter to stay up.

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  37. Hang on a minute…

    Are they fckin delusional? They are Brighton. Never been in the Premier League before without Chris Hugton. Are in the Premier League BECAUSE of Chris Hughton. THEY ARE DELUSIONAL.

    Don’t they see that they have to compete with NUFC, Wolves, Leicester, Everton etc even to get 15th place.

    THEY ARE DELUSIONAL.

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  38. If you look at the PL Table, Brighton are exactly where they should be:

    Hudders
    Fulham
    Cardiff

    below them. The rest above.

    They should maybe compete against Bournemouth, Watford and Burnley.

    But NUFC, Everton and now Leicester should be miles ahead of them.

    Premiership struggles is what they should be and that is what they are so they are idiots for firing Hughton.

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  39. Spoke to Ben, one of the carers who look after Lew at day center today. He’s a Man u fan and went up to OT on sunday for the game. Said they were total s**t and that Progba literally just walked around the pitch and did nothing .

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  40. KIMTOON:
    Spoke to Ben, one of the carers who look after Lew at day center today. He’s a Man u fan and went up to OT on sunday for the game. Said they were total s**t and that Progba literally just walked around the pitch anddid nothing .

    hes one of the main bad apples there,brought about Jose downfall there imo,ive watched him a few times if he gets a real hard tackle or his first couple of passes go badly he goes missing in the game i wouldnt have him for ten bob he will stuff the club up if things dont go his way

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  41. Houghton’s sacking was a shame but they finished only 2 points above Cardiff and won about 3 games from over 20. That in today’s game is a sacking. Actually it’s probably good for the fans that the owner wants more. Imagine if we had an ambitious owner like that.

    Anybody who thinks it’s racism need to
    Stop with the drugs. Nobody says he got the job because he was black but they say he got sacked cos he’s black. Nonsense. Owners would appoint the ISIS leader if they thought he’d achieve what they want.

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  42. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy: I have no idea why there are not more black managers and coaches. There doesn’t seem to be the same barrier in TV punditry. I think familiarity with black players being interviewed in their playing days has something to do with that. I will throw this one out to you though. Apart from ex-players who get opinion columns all of the newspaper writers are white. Any reporting and analysis is done by white college educated males.

    Has anybody ever done the maths regards % of black players from 20 years ago and the % of managers now? If football was racist then black players wouldn’t be coming through in the numbers they are. It really makes no sense.

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  43. Stuart: I don’t know how it works in football/soccer but in the NFL they have a rule that when a head coaching job comes up the owners have to interview a black coach. It doesn’t seem to have made much difference. The NFL is 70% black players. I looked up the number and that is not represented in the coaching numbers. You might say it is institutionalized racism. Or maybe it isn’t because blacks as a percentage of the US population are 13%.

    I really don’t want to get into discussions about racism in football because I am not qualified or interested in the subject enough to talk about it. I just know that this is what they do over here and it doesn’t make much difference. The owners interview the black coach and then hire who they wanted anyway.

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  44. Now Pogba I am qualified to comment on 🙂 I watched him at Juve and he played the same way. The difference was Juve were dominant in their league and had an impenetrable defense. He could try his flicks, twirls, Hollywood passes and 30 yard shots and it didn’t matter if they came off or not because Juve won anyway. Made for a great YouTube video but if you watched the whole game he would drift in and out.

    Sanchez is as big a problem because they are all basing their wages on his now. I think he is a problem for the league if Man U do not get rid. Obviously Woodward paid him his massive salary because he didn’t have to pay a big transfer fee but the players’ Agents don’t see it that way and use it to get stupid money for their own players.

    I think Sanchez is another Rooney where a once very good player has too much mileage in his legs. They were saying it at Arsenal in the last year there but using his contract situation as the reason. I doubt he will ever get back to where he was 3 years ago.

    Of course, what this means is that Man U are screwed for at least a couple of years and GBC (Gone By Christmas) aint gonna fix it. Happy Days.

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  45. Pogba is great for PSG or Juve. I am not so sure about Real Madrid. Their fans will give him stick if he has a couple of bad games so he better be careful what he wishes for because the abuse he took in Manchester after their last game will feel like a stroll in the park compared to the Bernabeu – which by coincidence is how he played that day.

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  46. They showed a documentary over here after the last game of the season about the ’99 treble team. I didn’t watch it but I am really happy the showed it because a team living on past glories are destined not to repeat them in the present – are you listening Ole?

    Plus, they were **** and lucky against Bayern.

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  47. And now that the pundits and newspaper hacks are having a collective w@nk about Pep, you have to remember what they said when he first got here. That he would struggle in the Premier League and had an aging team. It took him a year to turn that around so it shows what they know. I think they will win the Champions League next year.

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  48. It’s hard to talk about NUFC until Rafa’s situation is resolved. Pointless even thinking about player ins and outs because it all depends on Rafa. I doubt the Fat Man will ever be able to show his face at SJP again if Rafa leaves, but again even that is pretty pointless speculating about.

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  49. Eric Sykes:
    It’s hard to talk about NUFC until Rafa’s situation is resolved. Pointless even thinking about player ins and outs because it all depends on Rafa. I doubt the Fat Man will ever be able to show his face at SJP againif Rafa leaves, but again even that is pretty pointless speculating about.

    Eric – it’s exactly how I feel mate. I started a post earlier about possible players in, then deleted it coz thought, what’s the point til we know what’s happening with Rafa.

    It’s so frustrating coz other clubs will already have their wish list sorted for the summer.
    If Rafa stays then I’m sure he and his team will be ready. But if not, a new manager will want to look at the squad first.

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  50. icedog
    May 14, 2019 at 11:36
    KIMTOON:
    Spoke to Ben, one of the carers who look after Lew at day center today. He’s a Man u fan and went up to OT on sunday for the game. Said they were total s**t and that Progba literally just walked around the pitch anddid nothing .

    hes one of the main bad apples there,brought about Jose downfall there imo,ive watched him a few times if he gets a real hard tackle or his first couple of passes go badly he goes missing in the game i wouldn’t have him for ten bob he will stuff the club up if things dont go his way

    Totally mate, they HAVE to sell him before he totally drags them down. As you say he was a major factor in Jose losing the dressing room, far too much influence . He’s not even all that either.

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  51. No point in any speculation on players in or out until this Rafa situation gets sorted. We are a zombie club in limbo at the moment, but then what’s new. 🙄

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  52. Sharpy: that’s why I have been doing a bit of Man U bashing lately 🙂 Usually I would be wary of doing this because they have so much money they could turn it around. Not this time. Ole and Woodward will see them struggle for the next year. Woodward is scared to appoint anybody that would question his authority as Director of Football and the Glazers don’t care as long as the money keeps rolling in. They own The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and don’t care if they are sh!te as long as they get their dividends. Woodward in, Pogba in, Rio Ferdinand in, GBC in.

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  53. And Jesse Lingard has his own clothing line. When he hangs up his boots how many will even remember he played football? And he dresses like he bought his clothes at Target (is there a Target equivalent in the UK? Downmarket retailer selling everything from lawn chairs to tinned food and clothes). Alright, he looks like he bought most of his clothes at Sports Direct.

    He’s not a bad player. But that’s the point. He would have been one of Fergie’s bit part players and now he is an Instagram star with his own fashion brand. At least when Hoddle, Waddle and Keegan were making top 20 tunes they were bone fide star players.

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  54. I must be old because I don’t understand all of this social media and reality TV even though it has been going on for 20 years. I think Jordan Pickford should get his own TV show. He has no talent and a big ****. Worked for the Daily Mail’s Kim Kardashian.

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  55. And for the record, Jack Wilshire played just over 300 minutes of football for West Ham this season. Some (not on here) were saying we should sign him this time last year.

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  56. Eric Sykes:
    And for the record, Jack Wilshire played just over 300 minutes of football for West Ham this season. Some (not on here) were saying we should sign him this time last year.

    i thought he was very poor when he was fit,England player my ***

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  57. Sticking with my Man U theme. They should make Roy Keane Director of Football. He has all of the credentials – he played for Man U. It would be classic comedy with him giving the death stare to Pogba and sitting next to Fergie who sacked him. Please make it happen Ed. Although, I reckon Royston might assault the former investment banker with a packet of the official Man U noodles if he looked at him the wrong way.

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  58. Eric Sykes:
    I read Olly’s player ratings and Ryder does them every week and just about every paper does them. But how do you give a number rating to goalies? If they keep a clean sheet, should they automatically get a 10 because they could not have done any better?

    Maybe start at 7. A clean sheet and a number of excellent saves gets you an 8. Or 1 goal let in, a number of astounding saves and a win gets you an 8. A clean sheet and your best game of the season gets you a 9. A clean sheet, your best game of the season and an assist (or goal as you go up for the final corner) gets you a 10?

    All I am saying is I don’t know how you/we/they arrive at ratings for ‘keepers.

    I must say it’s a tough one!

    I went for a 7 for him on Saturday as our defence protected him so well that he actually had few saves to make!

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  59. Olly, mate. I know you are only passing on the news but really? Miles Starforth!He makes Ryder look like Charles Dickens or Joseph Heller.

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  60. http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/985109093?-11058:809

    Hell of a tweet by big Al.

    Interesting positioning for Spurs and Lpool versus the other top 6 clubs.
    Also, when you look at where Brighton are and how much they have spent – you can understand why Hoots got sacked really.

    If Ashley and Rafa can strike a balance of budget against age restrictions, I think Rafa could comfortably operate with £50m and whatever he generates through player sales. That would put us on par with the likes of Watford and Burnley – I think it’s perfectly reasonable to think could and should be matching their spending power.

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  61. Sharpy17:
    http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/985109093?-11058:809

    Hell of a tweet by big Al.

    Interesting positioning for Spurs and Lpool versus the other top 6 clubs.
    Also, when you look at where Brighton are and how much they have spent – you can understand why Hoots got sacked really.

    If Ashley and Rafa can strike a balance of budget against age restrictions, I think Rafa could comfortably operate with £50m and whatever he generates through player sales.That would put us on par with the likes of Watford and Burnley – I think it’s perfectly reasonable to think could and should be matching their spending power.

    Hughton didn’t pick the players!

    I have seen other assessments saying that they bought a bunch of no-name also rans on the hunch of some ex-FA suit. I had never heard of them so I cannot really say who is to blame.

    What I can say is Hughton took over NUFC when we were a mess, had sold our best players and Ashley had ignored Shearer for 6 weeks. We got promoted as Champions with a then record number of points.

    Hughton then took over Brighton when they were in 17th place in The Championship. Got them to the playoffs the next year and were only pipped by Rafa’s NUFC for Champions of Championship on the last day the following year.

    2 years of survival in the PL for Brighton bloody brilliant in my opinion.

    I REPEAT. THEY ARE NOT HIS PLAYERS. They were chosen by an ex-FA suit.

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  62. I am not saying that Chris Hughton is the best thing since sliced bread. I am saying that these egotistical chairmen and their hangers on will blame anybody but themselves. Look at Swansea.

    Look at NUFC FFS. Tony Jiminez, Derek Llambias, Dennis Wise!!!! They would blame their Nans (Southern for Grannies) before ever accepting any responsibility for their choices.

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  63. Sharpy mate, I am not totally defending Hughton. I don’t know enough about the players that were brought in to know if they were good enough or not.

    I do know that Brighton in the Premier League is a minor miracle and that the man who made it possible deserved more time.

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  64. My biggest fear for NUFC and Rafa, despite what everybody speculates and says, is that Ashley is still hanging out with Dennis Wise. There were those photos a month ago with Wise and the Vardy’s. It shows that not much has changed. Which makes me nervous about Rafa’s contract.

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  65. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy mate, I am not totally defending Hughton. I don’t know enough about the players that were brought in to know if they were good enough or not.

    I do know that Brighton in the Premier League is a minor miracle and that the man who made it possible deserved more time.

    Eric – I agree with you. I said in my post yesterday when the news broke that I think they have had a huge mistake – and the fact Graham Potter is heavily backed to replace him just doesn’t make sense.

    I’m a huge fan of Hoots mate. I met him going through Heathrow airport a few years back and he was the nicest bloke you could meet. I know that is said a lot about him, but it’s so true.
    I suppose I meant from the owners point of view, and the fact if they’ve spent £100m and performed as badly as they have, it’s always the manager that pays – whether they are his signings or not.

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  66. As far as Graham Potter goes I can’t really think of many that have come from nowhere leagues like Sweden and made a go of it in English football. Roy Hodgson? Gone By Christmas (OGS) had a good 3 months at MUFC.

    Lower league managers who pay their dues are sometimes successful. Brian Clough at Hartlepool. But Clough was a one off.

    Fergie at Aberdeen, but he won the Scottish League and a European Trophy before Man U. he had to overcome the Old Firm so he was a genius even in Scottish football.

    It is hard to think of anybody that comes from Swedish nothingness and is successful in a bigger league.

    Happy to be corrected by someone with more knowledge of the Nordic Leagues.

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  67. Bad joke alert!!!

    Brighton are going to need fckn Harry Potter if they are going to stay up next year with an ex-FA suit making the decisions.

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  68. I think what stood out most was, is Man City winning the league or even achieving the domestic treble that big an achievement considering how much they have spent?!.
    Of course it’s an achievement, but they were pushed right to the last day by Liverpool, who missed out by ONE point, and are in the CL final, having spent considerably less (net).

    Also, there was loads of talk about Poch going to Man Utd. But he’s at Spurs who finished 4th and are also in a CL final. Despite spending around a 10th what Man Utd have, he has a young settled, quality side that want to play for him – unlike Man Utd.

    For us, Rafa can look at that table and argue we should be able to spend what Watford and Burnley are. If he gets £50m, plus player sales – and I think Hayden, Perez and Shelvey all want to leave – if we could get £20m each for Hayden and Shelvey and £25m for Perez – there’s £65m on top of the £50m, Rafa could do some damage with £115m (which would still only be a net spend of £50m).

    Rafa would still have the option of older players, free transfers and loans if he wanted – a standard transfer policy really.

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  69. Sharpy:

    I think Hayden and Perez will stay and Shelvey will leave. IF RAFA STAYS.

    Absolutely no good reasoning behind what I am saying, just a gut feeling.

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  70. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy:

    I think Hayden and Perez will stay and Shelvey will leave. IF RAFA STAYS.

    Absolutely no good reasoning behind what I am saying, just a gut feeling.

    Eric – it’s probably the toss of a coin for Rafa still – or certainly the outcome of this allusive meeting.

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