A brilliant win on what could be Rafa Benitez’s penultimate home game as Newcastle manager, with hat-trick hero Ayoze Perez putting in another stunning performance at St James’ Park.
I had two thoughts before the game. Will we A) play with the shackles off after the big win at Leicester and put in a big effort in what could be Benitez’s penultimate home game at St James’ Park or B) have one eye on the beach and become complacent after the last week’s victory all but ended our fears of going down. Fortunately, it was the former that came true!
We were absolutely excellent in the first half, controlling the game, winning every first and second ball and making the most of our dominance with two well deserved goals – something we couldn’t do in the devastating 0-1 defeat against Palace in our last home game.
The win not only secures survival (although any relegation fears were all but over after our win at Leicester), but takes us up to 12th, with us leapfrogging Bournemouth and being just two points behind West Ham.
Perez was phenomenal. Not only did he show brilliant attacking instincts to score his first Premier League hat-trick, his all round play was outstanding, showing some incredible footwork, retaining possession impressively in tight areas and linking the play expertly.
Here’s all three of his goals today:
Honourable mentions must also go out to Dummett; who bailed us out at the back several times and Hayden; who was monstrous in the middle once again, while Ritchie and Almiron’s work rate was infectious once again, helping us get on the front foot immediately and setting the tone for what was another big win at St James’ Park.
Here’s how the bottom half of the table looks after today’s result:
Elsewhere today, Bournemouth lost at home against Fulham, Watford swept Huddersfield aside and West Ham were held to a 2-2 draw against Leicester – with us just two points behind the Hammers as a result.
Just THREE games left for us now, with an intriguing home clash against title-chasing Liverpool sandwiched between two winnable away trips to Brighton and Fulham:
- Brighton (A)
- Liverpool (H)
- Fulham (A)
Wor Flags also played their part today, with this fantastic display in the Gallowgate reading “Things aren’t always black and white – United as One against prejudice.”
A brilliant effort today and another well deserved win at St James’ Park – our sixth home win in our last seven in the league!
Great first half dodgy second but the fighting spirit was there to see.
Ayoze, Dummett, Schar, Dubs , Rondon,Miggy and Hayden the stand out players for me.
Manquillo better than Yedlin imo .
From where we started this season to 41 points and 12th today is bloody brilliant, against all the odds Rafa and the players are pulling off another miracle . If the fatman lets Rafa go for want of a bit more ambition then i think i may well be done.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Ritchie is playing as well as any left-back in the league (maybe not Robinson). It seems a problem position for most teams. We would be mad to let him go because of age and that we can cash in. I would give him a 1-year extension because he is not even 30 yet. He has now said this is his best position. I said a couple of threads ago I think he is right but wondered why it took so long to find out. He is certainly much better playing on his natural foot than as a reverse winger on the right. He is no Arjen Robben.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I would also play Diame in the next 2 games to trigger the extension. We got him from Hull so I am sure his wages are not that high. Where would we get better cover for the price? They are talking 50 million for Declan Rice and he has hardly played a season and if you look at the stats Big Mo’s are comparable.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And there is always talk of the most underrated player in the country. The answer is obviously Dummett. He is often a sub for Wales which is insane. When Giggs gets his pen out to write down the teamsheet it should always start:
Bale
Ramsey
Dummett
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Is Wilf Zaha really worth our whole transfer budget? Palace are sayin 80 million. I don’t see him signing for any of the top 6 as his tricks won’t work as well on the stronger defenses of their rivals and in Europe. Where does he go? PSG to beat up on the French lower leaguers and so Neymar can be sold?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think a win for Liverpool at Cardiff is baked into the cake. The bookies seem to think so. The pivotal game of the season is Man U/City on Wednesday. A draw does nothing for either. Man U’s slim chances of top 4 are gone if they lose and City hand the initiative to Liverpool if they lose. But Mourinho beat City from 2-0 down at half time, so anything is possible. Fck we beat City and it had been like 20 years and Aguero normally scores a hattrick against us.
LET THE HYPE START NOW!!!!
Odds:
Relegation:
Cardiff 1/7
Brighton 4/1
Title:
City 4/7
Liverpool 6/4
Top 4;
Spurs 1/3
**** 4/9
Chelsea 13/8
Man U 5/2
I think Man U odds are very generous but it is not just based on what the bookies think but the money that is bet. They have the most fans and they are betting with their hearts rather than their heads. That’s why I never bet on NUFC.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Chronic are saying Rafa on PSG shortlist. I doubt this would go anywhere. Much more likely to be Allegri or Ten Hag.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Great result and good performance all in all. Bit nervy at times but Perez was excellent as he has been since January.
Regarding Rafa I just don’t see him signing a new contract. Why would he? He wants to compete and the club have completely different views. My biggest worry is who comes after… Pardew?
Stuart79(Quote)
I watched the game again and Perez started his run from our half for the second goal. I actually thought it was Almiron on first viewing because I didn’t realise Ayoze was that quick. I am usually used to seeing him in tight spaces with 2 men on him.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It must be Rafa’s influence on Perez. He’s still doing his trademark turning into defenders and trying to dribble. In the past 90% of them ended with him on his *** appealing for a free kick. Now they all come off. Weird but wonderful.
Atsu is the same. He’s much more effective than he ever used to be. A year ago I’d have been happy to get rid of them both. Must be Rafa.
georgio(Quote)
The papers always do these lists so 5 things I sorta know/learnt:
1. I watched the Almiron injury again and he goes down holding exactly the place where the Southampton player kneed him. Obviously the physios know more but it could be a deep muscle bruise. Hope so because I would like him to get a goal before the summer break.
2. Atsu was actually playing quite well before Almiron was brought in. He had said he was recovering from an injury early in the season, and he was. He had an operation.
3. We have to start Diame. I don’t care if we take him off at half time we have to trigger that extension. Not only is he good cover but we could probably get a couple of million for him if we decided to sell rather than let him go on a free.
4. Rondon is a handful. I keep forgetting that he played under Pulis and then Pardew so there is no surprise his goal record wasn’t that great.
5. We had the worst start in 128 years and had 3 points after 10 games. It has been quite the turnaround and we have something to build on if Rafa stays.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Playing Pogba as a number 10!!! De Gea should have stopped that Sigurdsson goal. I said when they bought Pogba that he had all the skills but only turned up 1 game in 3. Sorry for bringing up Man U again, I am just enjoying it so much.
They (OGS) even realizes they are years away from a PL winning team. And he will not be there to see it – I think I will change his name to GBC (Gone By Christmas).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
This is bad for the Red Bindippers though because they need Man U to get something from City.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Crowd were fantastic yesterday. Thought it should have been a red card for the foul on Almiron. Ignoring whether or not there was a goal scoring opportunity given the speed Almiron was moving the way he was stopped constituted dangerous play. Almiron could have been seriously injured.
Groucho(Quote)
Man U haven’t lost 5 consecutive away games since 1981.
Is Fred really a Brazilian? He cost 50 million, our entire transfer budget.
Ashley Young on. If Anthony Young is the answer you are asking the wrong questions.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
3-0. C’mon somebody else must be enjoying this.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, I kinda half watched Manure, tv was on while we ate lunch . Quite the scoreline eh, think they may be regretting giving the job to OGS now.
kimtoon(Quote)
Gini for Pool 0.1
KIMTOON(Quote)
Bit gutted about Man Utd as I had 6-0!
Stuart79(Quote)
Mo Salah is the biggest cheat I have ever seen in football.
Stuart79(Quote)
Milner with the pen
0.2 to pool courtesy of two ex toon players.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Olly, I somehow don’t think it can possibly be Rafa’s penultimate game since we still have 3 to play… ????
Mo Salah falling down again. Deserves an Oscar for that one. ??
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Oops you said home game. Missed that.. ??
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Gary Neville went on a massive rant after the Man U game with some very thinly veiled digs against Pogba. It seems most people are coming around to my view on Pogba now. He has a lot of talent but he is all flicks and dinks and Hollywood passes. I watched him today stroll around the park and realized for the first time he has no pace either. I was going to say he is the rich man’s Shelvey but that would be unfair on Jonjo because he does get stuck in, he is just not very good at tackling. Pogba doesn’t even try.
He might work as a luxury in a club that dominate like Juve did but he is too inconsistent to be the main man. Pity, I was so wanting Man U to be on top again 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It looks like the Mackems have a good chance of promotion as well. That has been quite the juggling act because they had some players who were too good for League 1 but their wages could have dragged them down. Next year will be tougher because they will still have no money but in a much tougher league. I think each team gets about 15 million from the FA and Sundrland’s gate receipts won’t make much difference because they give away half the tickets. I think they have 1 parachute payment left but from what I read that belongs to Ellis Short.
Glad they haven’t gone into administration, but they are not out of the woods yet. A couple of bad results could put them in the playoffs which is always a crapshoot.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
This might be heresy again from me but I do not think it is a bad idea to introduce some youth and prospects to our squad. Not for sell on value, but because the only player to come through from the youth system is Longstaff and Rafa usually buys players in their prime.
We have plenty of strong character players who could nurture younger talent.
The ones in their prime are Dubravka, Lascelles, LeJeune, Schar, Fernandez (for a CB), Dummett, Hayden, Shelvey, Perez, Almiron, Gayle and possibly Atsu.
I don’t mind if Rafa wants to upgrade, but these are good character premier league quality players. Maybe not top 6, but we are not top 6!
Then there are veterans who could also help like Diame and Ritchie.
What we actually need is youth. We have experience in spades!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sorry to bring politics into it, but as a man in his 50s what I see is mainly old white men fcking countries up. More so than ever before, so I do not agree with Stuart that the young should not be protesting against the policies of people who say they know better but take no notice. We can disagree with their methods but I doubt any of us doubt their ideals. We were all young once.
“You grow up and you calm down, working for the clampdown. You start wearing blue and brown…So you got someone to boss around, make you feel big now?”
So, get some youth into the NUFC side!!!! Wasn’t Alexander the Great 26 when he conquered the known world? Jesus died at 30? The Rolling Stones haven’t written a decent song since 1972 (Exile of Mainstreet).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric
Sunderland are trying to sell the naming rights of their stadium.
That could make them a lot of money.
sidekick(Quote)
Rafa and youth team prospects are not a good mix Eric. I would not recommend any good young player to go to NUFC.
We bought Jacob Murphy for £10m+ and we had our own player , Callum Roberts , who would possibly have done better , in the under 21 squad and who cost us nowt.
We have an 18 year old centre forward , Yannick Toure, who is really impressing the fans with some of them even likening him to Drogba. If Rafa had the choice of playing Joselu or Toure you could bet your house he’d pick Joselu.
I doubt Rashford would have made his debut in the first team yet if Rafa was the Man Utd boss.
sidekick(Quote)
Sidekick: I don’t really mean teenagers when I say youth, more accepting that we should spend the majority of any transfer budget on players under 26. And not for the sell-on value, but because we already have the experienced players so we can afford to buy for the present AND the future.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, everyone has a right to protest. I don’t think they have a right to disrupt people’s lives though. That’s different and not acceptable. But I also would like to see them protest in China where most of the emissions are created. They won’t of course because they’re mostly cowards.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sidekick: I don’t blame the Mackems for trying to sell the naming rights as Stadium of Light has no historical or even local meaning to them. I am so out of touch with Mackemland that I couldn’t come up with a funny name for it. Any suggestions:
Cheesy Chips Stadium
Chavland
I never understood why they were called the Black Cats either. Is that recent?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
You going to buy them plane tickets to China to protest there? They can only protest where their voices can be heard and just because China is worse doesn’t mean they should not have their say on UK or US policy. If you don’t speak up you end up with Trump or Farage. If you do speak up it seems like you end up with them anyway but at least you stated your point.
I am surprised the protests haven’t been more violent.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Who are Football Insider? They are saying that Perez’s current form means NUFC would ask 35 million for him. Really? So, you play 5 decent games and suddenly 20 million is added to your value. I don’t believe it but this is the way things are reported now.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I might have spoke too soon on the Mackems. I expected them to beat Peterboro but now they are 4th and would be more likely to be in the playoffs. How funny would that be if they failed to get promotion?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – the thing is mate, if they want change, they need support – numbers behind them to make Parliament listen. In the past protesters had to make as big a disturbance as possible to get the media attention – not nowadays thanks to social media.
You say they are youngsters protesting, but I saw doctors, scientists and even a Hollywood actress made the effort to fly in and protest. These are educated people who must know that smashing windows of the Shell HQ building, graffiti and causing problems for the general public by disrupting public transport isn’t the way to get people to support you. There was over 500 arrests made – what a strain on a police force that is desperately trying to cope with things like knife crime and threats of terrorist attacks.
I’m fully behind the fight against global warming, I just dont think their methods were the most effective mate. I mentioned it the other day, but I think being part of the EU would put us in a better position to challenge the likes of China, India and US on failings. But as Kim pointed out, it looks likely we will miss our targets as well. But everything is suffering in the UK while the focus remains on leaving the EU. What scares me is that I look at all of these politicians arguing and failing badly – leaving parties and setting up new ones – and there’s not one of them I would trust, or have any faith in being able to make this Country a strong and stable one for my son to prosper in.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy mate. I really haven’t looked at much of the press coverage I was just goading Stuart because he was saying they should be protesting against/in China which is not really a valid argument to make whether there was violence or not.
I mostly like to stay out of politics. It has always been ludicrous but now with Trump, May and Farage it is like a joke being played on the people. Trump, especially is very transparent about giving all of the USs natural riches to his Pals and defunding anything to do with protecting the environment.
I don’t know if there is anything that can be done about it because they have all of the money and all of the power now and they have rigged the system to have it continue this way.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Player of the season nominations are in. It should probably be Raheem Sterling.
But who should be NUFC player of the year? Has there been a standout player? Perez has done well recently but remember he was booed off earlier in the season. Longstaff and Almiron haven’t played enough. What about Dummett, but he was out for quite a while?
Rondon? Really, a loan player? Is he eligible?
Ritchie, by default because he has been great at wing back and did OK before that.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – Dubravka is worth a mention too mate. Yes he’s made one or two mistakes but overall he has to have been one of our most consistent players this season.
I think the winner may depend on who wins the league. City win and it will be Sterling, Lpool win and it will likely be Virgil van ****.
I think manager of the season will likely be the one who wins the league as well. But for me, if Cardiff manage to stay up it should be Warnock – unless Lpool won the league & CL – then it would be Klopp.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: a very good argument could be made for Perez to be player of the season after he has hit the goal trail since Miggy’s arrival. When he was being roundly criticized earlier in the season I made the point that Rafa played him almost as a combined midfielder/attacker on the halfway line and certainly as our first line of defense. I saw some stats today that back this up. Of all the attacking players in the league, Perez is top in tackles made and interceptions:
Tackles made:
1. Perez 59
2. Richarlison 47
Interceptions:
1. Perez 42
2. Junior Hoilett 30
Combined:
1. Perez 101
2. Hoilett 65
Mind, the goals seem to have gone to his head and 35 million is a stupid valuation if you ask me. However, Sissoko went from 15 million to 30 million on the back of 2 good games for France.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I had an overnighter in Warkworth last night and missed the football yesterday as a result. I saw the scores though and Man Utd’s in particular. I’ve been catching up with that this afternoon and the Man Utd players have been getting a real slaughtering for a lack of effort – and yet again Paul Pogba is one of the main players to come in for the bulk of the criticism.
Will Man Utd have the bottle to sell him though?. OGS has this mentality that certain things are expected of a Man Utd player (like they are any different to a player from any other club). But that is likely to put him and Pogba at loggerheads, coz Pogba will not be the player that works the hardest or runs the furthest – but will likely be paid the most.
They need to get rid of him, and quite a few others imo, but I’ll be amazed if they do.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Since it is Easter, I have to mention Sissoko. His is the greatest resurrection since you know who. The Spurs fans absolutely hated him. They wanted him loaned out. Now they love him and he is one of the first names on their team sheet. We get a lot of Spurs games in the US and he has been brilliant for the last year since Poch switched him from the wing to the middle.
Part of it is they have accepted that he rushes the final pass so they don’t ask him to do that any more. They even leave him as the last man in defense on corners.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Pogba is a luxury player. You can’t build a team around a player that turns up 1 game in 3. He plays exactly the same way he did at Juve but they had an airtight defense and were so far ahead of the rest that his flicks, dinks and pirouettes could be tolerated and even celebrated because Juve could afford to have them fail. Man U in the PL cannot afford to let him showboat and that is a lot of what he is. He is a great passer but no better a passer than Shelvey.
I would sell him. He will be useful to a dominant side like PSG or Juve revisited.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpy: If you get the chance you should watch Everton/Man U. I don’t think I have ever seen Man U play that bad.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We used to get Bein sports here and they showed every Juve game so I saw Pogba a lot as their games usually didn’t clash with PL games. I knew exactly what he was before he moved to Man U. I thought he might mature and be more of a team player but that hasn’t happened.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – I have always rated Perez, I like the lad a lot – but I was probably one of his biggest critics and slaughtered him as much as anyone else did. In the last 2 games he’s been brilliant. I didn’t get to see the whole of the Saints game but watched all of the Leicester game and he was outstanding – and I don’t think it’s just a rich vein of form – I think he’s as good as those 2 games – he just lacks consistency. I can live with a player struggling for form, but what I criticised him for was his attitude. Too many times earlier this season he would get knocked off the ball all too often – and instead of getting up and working back to win the ball back, he’d be on his ar$e, twisting at the ref that him didn’t get the decision. I think that was the reason a lot of people were on his back – certainly a lot of people I’ve spoke to about it.
He puts his fingers in his ears now, but it seems he must have listened at some stage, coz he’s packed the twisting in and is playing his socks off now.
It was one of the reasons Longstaff got all his plaudits – he works his socks off.
If Perez got player of the season, there’d be no argument from me, coz I think his 2nd half of the season has been that good … but if someone wanted to pay £35m for him I’d take it, proving Rafa got the money to spend it how he wished.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric – like him or hate him, Fergie didn’t often get it wrong when it came to his players. He was happy for Pogba to leave when he was still at Man Utd. He probably didn’t have more talented midfielders at the time, but none caused the kind of problems Pogba have.
The money they spent to bring him back, and he’s probably set the club back!!. When you consider – who Pep swap him for any of his first choice midfielders?. But more over, would Klopp swap him for any of his?! – would he swap him for Gini, Fabiano or Henderson – I wouldn’t, and I bet the City or Pool fans wouldn’t either.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I’ve just watched Brentford beat Leeds 2-0 – and if it’s Norwich, Sheffield United and Leeds that come up I wouldn’t be overly concerned.
But a player I keep banging on about scored again, and played well despite having few chances against Leeds – Neal Maupay. He’s playing for a 15th placed championship side, and he is quality. Brentford are safe now and if we had any sense, we’d be negotiating a deal for him as a young play that fits both Ashley’s bill and Rafas (Ashley’s being a young player with a sell on value. Rafas in that he’s a real grafter, covers a lot of ground and can score goals). However, that would mean us being organised – and the reality is we are a club that can’t even negotiate the MANAGERS contract to secure him next season, nevermind players before the season is over ??
Sharpy17(Quote)
He’s a bl00dy distraction Sharpy. He was interviewed before the game yesterday and he came across as a nice lad. But he’s a showboater. You just know he practices those stupid celebrations in front of the mirror every night. Man U bought him partly because of his social media presence and they thought that was the way to enhance their brand. Not if you spend 300 million and finish 6th. They have made a massive mistake appointing OGS as well. All of the papers who championed him a month ago have turned and are now saying they (maybe) jumped the gun. They are all such fanboys of Man U that they can never make definitive statements about them until it is clear that a manager or player has failed. Then they act like they said it, and knew it, all along. I will say what I said yesterday OGS = GBC (Gone By Christmas).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – I have family who live in Cheadle Hulme, just outside of Manchester and they are rare breed in that they are Mancs who support United and go to the games and everything ?. We always stay with them if we fly from Manchester airport and I speak to my uncle about footy quite a bit. Pogba is absolute marmite with the fans and as you’d expect, the split is largely generational – they younger, social media, fortnite fans love him & the older fans (including my uncle) can’t stand him – passionately dislike him. For every thing he does well, he will quickly tell me 3 things he done wrong ?, and if I need the toilet during one of our telephone conversations, I just mention his penalty kick run ups – and can go to the loo, make a cuppa and come back and he’s still ranting ?. He would be pleased to see the back of him, without doubt.
Sharpy17(Quote)
It’s sad to think that it’s a real possibility that those in charge of our club are probably waiting to see which clubs come up – and likely be relegation contenders, before making a decision on what to do regarding our future.
If 3 come up that look like they will go straight back down, will they spend the money on us & Rafa, or just hope the next bloke can do better than at least those 3.
I think that’s more likely to be their thought process, than Rafas ‘let’s compete for the 7-12 spots’.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Only 2 will go back down maximum. Brighton will be relegated next year. They have a really **** squad and Wolves should have beat them about 3-0 on the weekend.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpy: I have nothing against social media, I am on here every day and this is sort of social media. I don’t get the obsession with people taking pictures of their food when they go to a restaurant. And I don’t get selfies unless there is something of interest in the background and you want the memory of you being there. Nobody looks good in a selfie, it has something to do with how camera lenses work. You can ask Dubai Toon.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Our player of the season
Dubravka
KIMTOON(Quote)
With you on that mate
Icedog(Quote)
The Chronic polled their writers around this time LAST year and the consensus was Lascelles. Jamaal has been pretty solid this year as well. Centre backs and goalies mistakes are always magnified and he hasn’t made that many and has saved us a few times.
I am leaning towards Ritchie or Dummett. Those goal line clearances give them an extra point. Remember the Dummett flying almost overhead kick and that Ritchie header?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
In The Chronic poll they had 7 (seven) writers give their opinions – Jamieson, Douglas, Ryder, Waugh, McCormick, Johns, Musgrove. Can you believe they have 7 writers and come out with the dross they do.
They hit a new low a couple of weeks ago when they had some idiot gamer predict our squad for next season based on FIFA 2019 or something. He had us selling our best players for next to nothing and buying no-names from Genk and places like that.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Years back when I was ranting about Pardew a certain Troy Stavers suggested Lee Clark as manager. Where is he now? Clark, I mean not Troy who has disappeared when it was discovered that everything he ever said on this blog was wrong and you could be a success by doing the opposite of what Troy said.
Anyway, Lee Clark was sacked that got me thinking about a “where are they now” on NUFC Managers under Mikey.
Allardyce – bloviating on a pundits couch.
Kinnear – who knows?
Keegan – retired?
Shearer – MOTD but probably soured of football Management for life. Brought it on himself by hiring Ian Dowie.
Hughton – you want him to do well but he might not survive the summer at Brighton.
Pards – counting his money on the pundit circuit.
Ugly John – God knows, he even failed in Cyprus where they only have a bout 2 teams.
MCClaren – sacked for the umpteenth time. They are doing 20 year documentaries of Man U treble over here and unbelievably he was the coach. History is written by the winners because it is never mentioned that Batern battered them for 88 minutes in the CL final and should have been 5 nil up.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What a sorry state of affairs. I wish someone would just e-mail Ashley this list and say, Mike, you might want to keep hold of this Rafa Benitez fella and give him what he wants.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Has anybody ever read Shearer’s column in The Sun? It is a bit of a joke. He writes about 200 words of nothing every couple of weeks and it is almost like he says to himself fck-it if they want to send me a grand a month for putting my face on their website, I’ll take it.
It is at odds with his twitter and other stuff where he comes across as funny and biting. Obviously holds himself back a bit on MOTD as well. You saw the true Shearer in the interview he did with The True Geordie.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
For as long as I can remember The Chronic have been quoting Jonjo Shelvey as NUFCs highest earner on 70k a week. Then, last week, suddenly Chris “the intern” Waugh has given him a pay rise to 90k a week. It couldn’t have anything to do with The Chronic new narrative of NUFC wanting a few big earners off the books could it? They did the same with Colback. One week it would be 35k and then when we were looking to sell of loan it would suddenly be 55k a week as a reason why he was hard to shift.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpy I thought you thought Leeds would come up to the PL, play better and more attacking football than us and do well?
Stuart79(Quote)
Get in Perez! First Hat-trick for us since 2011 Demba Ba. Proving the doubters wrong once again. Safety secured, now can we secure Rafa, and can he secure some funds? 🙄
Newkie(Quote)
Stu – I said I don’t think there is much between the bottom 5 teams in the PL and top 5 in the championship.
I think Leeds could come up and do better than us – if our owner doesn’t get his finger out. Leeds have some decent players and a top manager – they also have an owner who will spend money and back that manager.
If we keep Rafa and back him, then no, they won’t do better than us – but who is convinced Rafa will be here at the start of next season – and if he’s not, do you think we will get a better manager than Bielsa?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Might be Villa through the playoffs. They have won 10 in a row. Then there is WBA. That would be good, those 2 facing each other at Wembley. Not sure who would win as Gayle and Rodriguez could swing it. We probably want WBA to stay in the Championship if we still want Rondon.
Whoever comes up it is very likely that 2 will go straight back down along with Brighton.
We can probably get 15 million for Gayle from Fulham. They will want to come straight back up. Their owner owns the Jacksonville Jaguars and is the one that wanted to buy Wembley. They have money and Gayle has proven he will get you 20 goals.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Actually, there should be one almighty contest for Gayle between the relegated clubs and the 3 that don’t make it from the playoffs.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpy, I would take Bielsa…but he’s not the steady eddy that Mike wants is he? I guess he doesn’t care too much about their personality so long as they keep us up, but I think he’d want someone more pliable, and not someone who could just decide to up and leave.
Newkie(Quote)
Swiss Ramble have done a thorough analysis of our accounts. Stripping out player sales and special charges they say the underlying profitability of NUFC is 61 million. I have been banging on all year that it was easy to do a calculation of what NUFC had to spend and it was between 50-70 million. Swiss Ramble reckon there is this amount for this year as well which jives with what Charnley had to say about having 50 million for transfers plus 11 million left over from last year.
There is money there and Charnley has said Mikey will not be trousering it. Add a couple of sales (probably Gayle, maybe Shelvey and possibly Hayden) and there’s another 50 million. That should satisfy Rafa this year and he shouldn’t get stuck on the age issue.
He is not going to get more power than he has at NUFC. Most teams have a Director of Football but Rafa calls all the shots – if they release the money for his top picks. He could probably do with a contract negotiator but I get the feeling Rafa likes to pick his own players. If only they would give them to him.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Schar’s my shout for player of the year!
georgio(Quote)
Newkie – good to see you back on mate.
I wouldn’t swap Rafa for Bielsa for a second mate. But I do think Bielsa is a top manager and if we don’t keep Rafa this summer, we won’t bring in another top manager worth their salt imo. Anyone who’s ready to step into Rafas shoes will do so knowing they are dancing to Ashley’s tune. There is a lot of talk of a number of players who could or want to leave this summer, and it honestly worries me how NUFC could look by the start of next season if Ashley & Charnley don’t get their finger out and get this Rafa contract sorted. The fact that Rafa hasn’t already said ‘this is taking too long, sod it, don’t bother’ is beyond me, and proof that his love of the club & fans is more than just lip service imo. No fan would hold it against him if he washed his hands of the whole situation – he’s proven himself to us – he’s more than done his bit. This should be the easiest bit of business Ashley has ever done – yet they are still managing to complicate it. If the end result is they **** it up, then I will be done with the club until Ashley’s gone.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric – I don’t think the amount of money is the issue for Rafa – it’s how he’s allowed to spend it. If he’s stopped from buying experienced players he’s not going to be happy with that – whether he’s handed £50m or £100m. I think the age of player is the biggest sticking point in Rafa staying or going this summer.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – cheers fella! There’s a lot less to comment on these days it seems, without going round the same topics I pretty much restrict myself to watching the matches and avoiding any other things NUFC 😐 Agreed, I’d never swap, he’d be a step above anyone else I’d expect to get through the door though. Can’t help but think we’d get another boring Brit…Pardew or even god help us, Mark Hughes 😆
Ashley must know if he will have the worst uproar of his ownership if we let Benitez walk, like you said, none of the fans will blame Rafa – it will be all on Ash, and that’s before we start selling players/failing to buy adequate replacements…he needs to get this sorted now – and waiting until Benitez has us safe (as we are now) has actually weakened his bargaining chip, not strengthened it. He’s in a huff since he didn’t get Debenhams though, not sure how much we’re in his cross hairs anymore…
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie – maybe I’ve give them too much credit, coz I thought it would be someone like Puel – who wouldn’t be as bad as a boring Brit. But would still be a shambles considering we already have Rafa and all that was needed was simple compromise. To have a World Class manager already there, who accepts he’s not going to get £100m to spend – should be the easiest contract to negotiate EVER!!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – True, Puel could happen, us and Saints have a lot of similarities except Ashley has far more patience, so long as we scrape by you’re sorted. But I can’t shake the feeling Ashley wants people with roots in the UK who are unlikely to cast sights too far abroad. In the UK now almost everyone knows that all the European spots and cups are already wrapped up by the moneybag clubs, no sense having any real ambition to win something.
It should be easy, but when have we/Ashley ever done it the easy way 😆 far better to have a disappointing roller coaster ride back down to the Championship once more eh?
Newkie(Quote)
It seems Ashley is as weird in his other business ventures as he is with NUFC. He’s just a really strange guy and definitely one that nobody trusts.
georgio(Quote)