A promising start to Steve Bruce’s reign at Newcastle United, as Yoshinori Muto’s goal helped us come out on top in our 3rd/4th place play-off game against West Ham today.
Bruce wasn’t in the dugout for this one, with him yet to gain a working visa in China, however he’s believed to have picked the team – and they started very brightly and controlled the game throughout.
You could immediately tell the team were much more focused and ‘up for it’ in this one. You’d expect that, with many being keen to impress new ‘head coach’ Steve Bruce – who watched from the stands with Agnew and Clemence – but it was good to see after what was a dreadful display in the 4-0 defeat to Wolves just a few days ago.
Sorensen missed a golden opportunity early on after a world class pass from Jonjo Shelvey set Isaac Hayden away down the right. It was a bad miss from the Dane and one to forget for him, but he didn’t look out of place, with him looking a handful and a willing runner who comes alive in the box.
All that was missing from our first-half dominance was a goal, but that arrived 33 minutes in, with Yoshinori Muto prodding home well after Jamie Sterry whipped in an inch perfect cross from the right.
It was a tidy finish and a goal that he thoroughly deserved after a bright first-half display from the Japanese forward.
He was very impressive and looked a totally different player to the one we saw struggle against Wolves on Wednesday.
His movement was excellent and his touch looked much sharper, with him linking up nicely and stretching the West Ham defence. He played in more of a ‘Perez role’ and had a striker partner in Sorensen, giving him something to work with and leaving him far less isolated.
Shelvey also looked much sharper in that deep-lying central midfield role, playing several cutting passes and pulling the strings all game, while Sterry also played his part, seeing a lot of the ball down the right and whipping in several dangerous crosses.
Hayden seemed to play a little higher up the pitch than we’ve been used to seeing him, with him making some decent runs forward and putting in a good shift.
Colback actually broke things up well at times and did the simple stuff pretty well, but he’s very limited, both offensively and defensively, and tends to give away too many needless free-kicks.
Ritchie was more like his usual self after reverting back to a left wing-back role and Schar gave us that extra bit of quality and composure from the back.
Lascelles and Clark were solid, although the latter was VERY lucky to escape a red card after a wild and reckless challenge that could have quite easily broken Yarmalenko’s leg!
Federico Fernández, Manquillo, Murphy and Ki replaced Clark, Sterry, Sørensen and Hayden in the second half – which proved to be fairly uneventful from a NUFC perspective, but there were still plenty positives to take.
Murphy showed a real burst of pace on more than one occasion, ghosting past Ogbonna with ease on several occasions – although his cut-backs just evaded those in black and white shirts on both occasions. That said, he looked bright and was at the heart of all our attacks in the second half.
Sean Longstaff came on for the final 30 minutes, with him gaining his first minutes of pre-season and first return to football since he suffered that season-ending knee injury against West Ham in March. He got about the pitch well and had a goal disallowed after some great counter-attacking play from Murphy, Muto and Shelvey, although he was offside as he prodded home from six yards.
With just under 15 minutes left, Matty Longstaff, Lazaar and Aarons came on for Shelvey, Muto and Colback – a substitution that saw the two Longstaff brothers playing alongside each other in the senior side for the vert first time.
We had another goal narrowly disallowed late on, with Lazzar slipping in Matty Longstaff with a lovely first time pass on the volley, however a cut-back lashed home by Aarons was all in vein after the Moroccan was adjudged to have been offside.
Aarons then went on a brilliant run on the counter attack moments later, using his pace to skip past a few West Ham defenders – although his final effort was poor, with him scuffing a weak shot wide.
West Ham put on a bit of pressure late on, but we defended well and fully deserved the victory.
New signings are badly needed, but there were several positives to take from this one, with it being a welcome win in a summer that’s been filled with bad news and bad decisions up until this point.
Muto is not a lone forward. He was played that way against Wolves and looked isolated.
Today he looked so much better – even with the inexperienced Sørensen alongside him.
He was a bit of a forgotten man last season – maybe settling in to a new club and Country. But I think he could well take up the Perez role.
State the bleedin obvious, but we desperately need a CF or 2 (not forgetting Gayle).
LB would be my next priority position.
Sharpy17(Quote)
kimtoon
July 20, 2019 at 14:47
joelinton now linked with Wolves , that’s more like the Toon we know and love. ? is anyone really arsed any more
kimtoon(Quote)
Much as I would like shot of Ashley I still want to watch my team play in the PL. I also enjoy watching some of the top teams too. Relegation won’t get rid of Ashley otherwise he would have been long gone. Going down as far as Sunderland would probably mean I would be gone before Ashley. If we have a reasonably successful team I think we would be more attractive to potential buyers. Unfortunately Ashley will go when it suits him not us. Whatever happens I will try to ignore Ashley and what he does or doesn’t do and endeavour to enjoy the football. The new season always brings a frisson of excitement.
Groucho(Quote)
Are they managing to **** this Joelinton deal up? Apparently they were suppose to be confirming today but they’re still negotiating… they have three weeks to get 4/5 players in. I’d say that’s virtually impossible for NUFC due to the pathetic pace they do almost everything.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – I’m confident enough that Joelinton will happen, and we will get another 4/5 players in before the window shuts – though I don’t think many will get ‘bedding in’ time through pre season like.
It’s this takeover I wonder about – nowt at all about that now is there?!
Sharpy17(Quote)
By the way mate, I saw the following comment of yours on a recent article and I thought it would actually make for a good article of its own as you make a new and very good point….
“The garden is obviously not rosey at the moment, and it’s so frustrating that we were on the cusp of something really good – only to have it torn away by Ashley.
How much of that is connected to the takeover (yeah, remember that?! – that’s gone very quiet hasn’t it?!). I suspect it was a clash of pigheadedness between Ashley and Rafa personally.
I’m confident Ashley will spend. He did with McClaren, and I think he will again – certainly on forwards.
What I’m sick of hearing though is this lack of quality!! – this is from FANS!! some fans ?.
Our lack of quality finished 10th and 13th – it’s time to stop giving all the credit to Rafa!!. We have premier league quality players in our squad.
Why wouldn’t Bruce take the job?!. All he has to do is keep us in the PL – that’s the level of ambition from the current owner. Sad for us, but hardly bad working conditions for a new manager.
So I put myself in Bruceys shoes for a minute – the remit – to keep NUFC up with £90m to spend.
Norwich and Sheff Utd – if I’m a betting man, they take 2 of the 3 relegation positions.
Brighton – have a new (bang average) manager. Have lost key players and not yet strengthened.
Villa – didn’t look too convincing in the Championship last season. Yes they are spending, but so did Fulham last season (no guarantees) and the players they are buying have little to no PL experience (nor does a lot of their existing players).
Palace – Hodgson is my bet for first PL manager sacked. Yet to really strengthen and looks very likely they loose their star man before the season starts.
I think Saints, WH and Burnley are teams that could go either way too.
So there are plenty of teams fighting to avoid that 3rd spot – we only have to do better than 1 of them.
I’m confident we WILL stay in the PL this season. But under Ashley, there is another relegation looming.
As fans, all we can do is hope Ashley is gone before that happens.
Because as much as I HATE Mike Ashley, I can never wish for our club to implode the way the mackems have, coz ‘that’s what he’d deserve’.”
If you’re happy for it to go out and you give me an author name you’d like to go by I will be happy to post this as a new article?
Let me know!
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
Olly – ? thanks mate, that’s the product of watching to early pairings of the Open yesterday.
It dawned on my the other day when Kim said Bruce is on a hiding to nothing. If he fails, well everyone expected it anyway – and it hardly dents his reputation.
So what does he have to do to succeed … and so my post goes.
If he doesn’t – well how could under these circumstances. I know he said no excuses, but I’m getting the feeling not everyone tells the true in football.
As for making an article out of it mate – if you think it’s worthy of one, go for it ??. Tweak it, add to it, do whatever you want.
I have no author name, but I have always said if I were to write anything it would be under the name JR Hartley.
Being dyslexic was to be thick when I was growing up. Being schooled in the 80s – instead of help, I got ‘lad you couldn’t even read the yellow pages’ ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
https://twitter.com/JoeRainford99/status/1152535417025175552?s=08
Has anyone seen this doing the rounds ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
I do have to say, Sharpy – I’m not quite as convinced as you that we have a load of PL quality players. Almiron, Shelvey, Ritchie, Hayden, and our centre backs plus Dummett. Given it’s a squad game and I can’t realy name a team full of PL quality that makes me a bit concerned…
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – well throw Dúbravka in your list, and you’ve got a starting 11.
I think Gayle is a PL player too mate. He’s not top quality, but he’s certainly not out of his depth.
But I agree, we definitely lack quality in depth as a squad.
Sharpy17(Quote)
If Gayle is a PL football player it makes you wonder why he doesn’t score any goals and keeps ending up in the Championship.
Stuart79(Quote)
Not sure I could put JR Hartley 😆
JR Sharp? 😆
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
So are we actually gonna make ANY signings this window or what. Looks like a load of hot air to drum up ST interest to me.
Add to that the daily mail saying BZG still interested but now talking to a US hedge fund group about investment to buy us and the PR machines in full flow.
So sick of this BS, oh and Bruce uttered the immortal line in his pressers of ” we are hoping to get a couple over the line” 🙄
Jesus, i feel like i just sat in a delorean and gone back to 2010 and sat in a Pardoop presser.
This club is a proper sh itter .
kimtoon(Quote)
He’s a fictional fly fishing author mate. If not JR Hartley, JR Sharpy will do ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
I have to disagree with Stu because I believe that we are going into this season with a good squad for the Premiership.
I never thought Rafa was a good fit for NUFC and criticised him on this blog a number of times during his tenure. I am hoping Steve Bruce is a better fit.
As for the squad , we have lost 3 players from last season , all forwards:
Rondon – not our player .
Perez – never impressed me as a striker and only came good with the arrival of Almiron.
Joselu – just useless.
The return of Gayle excites me because I think he will get a load of goals playing with Almiron.
With a supposed budget of £90m the signing of 2 forwards is a necessity. Should we get Joelinton and/or Mateta then we will be going into next season with a really strong squad with good competition for all places in the first team.
sidekick(Quote)
Stu – just be to clarify, when I say PL player, I’m judging them where I believe they are realistically competing – 11th-20th places.
Considering they got us a 10th and 13th place finish.
Gayle was our regular CF when we finished 10th, and did ok – should have scored more from the chances he had though really.
I’d certainly want a more clinical forward, but I would still grade Gayle as a PL forward – a squad player though hopefully.
I would probably say we have 17 players who I would grade as PL standard (based on 11-20 places).
But not enough of them are goal scorers, or have that bit extra to create goals or change games – that’s the key thing – and it’s those players that cost the most money.
So whilst we may only be 5-6 players off having a very good squad – that probably equates to £200m in today’s market.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sidekick – i was critical of Rafa too mate. But I wouldn’t say he was a bad fit for NUFC – he was a bad fit for Mike Ashley, and I suspect Bruce will be a much better fit for him.
I agree with you mate. I don’t think the 3 we’ve lost so far this season are irreplaceable.
Joelinton could pick up where Rondon left off.
Having watched Muto yesterday, I think he could well replace Perez.
As for Joselu, I think I saw a traffic cone outside SJP – hoy a Toon top on it and job done ??.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Rafa didn’t want to loan out Gayle. he was forced to. I have said this before but I thought Dwight was really unlucky when he played for us in the PL and was carrying a hamstring injury for much of the time. His only other PL manager was Pardew.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I read Olly’s piece on Richard Keys. I could write a book on old ‘airy ‘ands but I will keep it to a medium length essay. Why does he always look like he has no teeth in his pictures?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Keys seems to hate Rafa and Shearer and loves to make excuses for Ashley. I have no idea why, but he picks his story and fits the facts around them. Not all of his facts are wrong but he absolutely has an agenda and twists the truth and logic to fit it.
He also has the worst football show ever to be on TV.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I don’t know if any of you have seen the Keys and Gray show, but it used to be on in the US. Only an hour a week and I would watch it occasionally just to check on how bad it was. I didn’t mind Gray when he was a co-commentator but has now become a bloated caricature of his former self. His suit is about 2 sizes too small and he keeps tugging at the jacket as he tries to cover up his ever expanding waist line.
And their guests…
Nobody will go on there except out of work ex-managers and non-league Chairman. No wonder Keys has some sort of inferiority complex for Rafa and Shearer. He is a has-been. I think he was either bullied or a bully in school because he is reliving that on TV now.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And then there is John Cross who they interview every week and call “Britains best football writer”. He writes for the Mirror FFS and is an Arsenal fan who does about 9 minutes on Arsenal in his 10 minute section. He also might be the stupidest guest in the history of guests because every week does his report using skype and the computer webcam. It points straight up his nose. You would think after about 200 shows he might realise this is not the most flattering angle!!!
This is the quality of guest Keys and Gray have on. And Pardew.
Rant over.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Not quite over 🙂
I think Icedog and Dubai Toon have seen the Keys and Gray Show on Bein Sports. They will back me up on it being probably the worst show in the history of sports TV with the worst and most irrelevant guests. Keys has zero credibility now.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Re. the headline mate, I wasn’t really sure what to do with but thought what I put made sense given it doesn’t fit in with what so many believe ahead of the new season.
Totally agree with what you say mind.
I can change headline if you’re not happy.
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
Don’t you be posting on your article bonnylad!!. If you’ve got anything to ask me, you ask on MY article ?.
No, I’m absolutely fine with it mate and the wife finds it deeply amusing that even on a blog I’m unpopular ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
?
To be fair mate, if there’s anything I’ve learnt over the past few years it’s people generally comment when they’ve got something negative to say….not when they’re wanting to praise the article or tell you how much they agree with you!
Sad really. I get tones of abuse 😐
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
Keyboard warriors the most of them mate.
I know I knocked one of the articles yesterday, but I think most on this site keep it respectful really – the regulars at least anyway ?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
For some reason I don’t feel as down about our prospects as most. Maybe it is the distance? I certainly don’t agree with a boycott. That will lead to a much higher chance of relegation.
Years ago I had an impacted tooth and a novice NHS dentist worked on it. It took over an hour of drilling and yanking and even scraping at my jaw bone to get this thing out. I would rather go through that again than go on Ed’s at the moment where the atmosphere is just so depressing.
Give Bruce a chance. (All we are saying, is give Bruce a chance).
Nowhere near my first choice but don’t doom him with negativity.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Another day and no signings.
Why can’t we sign as quickly as we sell.
kimtoon(Quote)
Well known cheapskates Kim. Drag negotiations on forever, often til it’s too late (Ashley’s preferred choice). Bid too low, get the chronicle to say ‘we’re in for’ and jobs done.
georgio(Quote)
Anyone who thinks this regime can do what is needed in 18 days are either pissed or high as a kite on illegal substances.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – I’m still confident that we can get the 4-5 players in that we need to bolster the squad we have.
We are fine shifting fringe players, but I’d worry that if we sell key players – I’m not as sure they leave themselves enough time to get the 4-5 players in and the replacements for those sold.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I look at our rivals for this season – Sheff Utd, Norwich, Villa, Brighton, Burnley, Palace, Saints and even WH (I know they have signed Haller, but they lost Arnautivic).
Other than the Haller signing, I don’t see any of those teams have really strengthened either yet.
There’s a lot of teams still have a lot of work to do in the remainder of this window.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy , I have to agree with you.
Most of the Premiership clubs have not spent much in this window.
We have not bought anyone yet but Crystal Palace and Watford have also been holding on to their cash.
Indeed , Crystal Palace have sold their full back, Wan-Bissaka , to Man Utd for £45m and I think that really weakens their squad.
sidekick(Quote)
Rafa, Rondon, Perez Sidekick. Ring any bells?
georgio(Quote)
Sharpy – Not only have we not strengthened we have got worse! We can’t compare to other clubs who have only bought one or two players or indeed not at all. We have bought nobody and sold all our goals and assists…
I’d like to see the form book that gives you optimism that we can sign a player every 4 days from now until the end of the window…
Stuart79(Quote)
Your bloody spot on mate,I go on Bein if I can’t the game somewhere else
Icedog(Quote)
Stu – all we can do is wait and see mate, but I think we will have a strong attack this season than we did last season.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Georgio
Yes . I have already posted that the supposed £90m transfer kitty needs to be spent on two new strikers.
I know there are a lot of our fans concerned with next season and see relegation as a certainty – I am not one of them.
I have lots of optimism 😆
Our defence conceded 48 goals last season , only 6 teams conceded fewer and they were all in the top 8. Arsenal and Man Utd conceded more than us. Probably why Man Utd have splashed out so much for a full back.
Our defence is fairly solid for the coming season.
On the other hand our goals for total of 42 was only better than than the 3 relegated teams and Brighton.
Rondon , Perez and Joselu contributed a total of 25 of those goals. I would certainly expect a better return from Gayle and a couple of new strikers.
I expect us to finish next season in the top ten.
sidekick(Quote)
It didn’t take long for The Chronicle to get back on the NUFC PR train. They have a totally gushing editorial about Steve Nickson today that may as well have been written by his mother in consultation with the cast of Madmen. It is nice to know more about him and he does seem qualified, but this is a total puff piece showing that The Chronicle are up to their old ways of being Ashley’s mouthpiece.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It is a bit manic depressive supporting NUFC. You never know what Ashley is going to do. But we have only really lost Perez so far and I am not that bothered about that. He had a purple patch at the end of last season but overall he scored about once in 5 games and that included The Championship. Hopefully, Fatty will not cash in on Gayle because of his age.
For this to tip me over the edge on the negative side we would need to sell Longstaff and Hayden. I think that will be a catastrophe but I don’t think it will happen.
I also think that Bruce is not as bad as people make out. I will say it again. The stats are being used selectively on his record. He has a 1.12 points per game record with **** clubs in the PL. Some may say he managed Birmingham and Wigan because that is his level. However, to keep them up was more of a miracle than Rafa performed with us, who by the way had a record of 1.17 points per game in the past 2 seasons.
And 1.12 points per game is 43 points per season.
I know I am repeating myself but that is because there is a campaign to beat Bruce with the stats stick.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Then there is the Sunderland stick that is being used to whack Bruce. Who really cares? You can all look up quotes and say he said this or that during his time there. That he said they had great fans and were a top 10 club or whatever! But every Manager does that, at every club, whether it be Nuneaton Town or Liverpool. They all want the fans on board and say what is necessary.
I see some people acting like children and saying he’s a dirty stinkin’ Mackem. People in their 50’s to 70’s on Eds and the Chronicle comments pages acting like pampered brats. Like their memories have gone and we never had Carver as a Manager.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric
Steve Bruce is a very good coach.
sidekick(Quote)
sidekick: I can think of some I would have chosen ahead of Bruce but they all had questions about them, mostly about inexperience like Gerrard and Arteta. And they didn’t want to come anyway.
I don’t know if Bruce is the worst coach in the world but his record shows he is about top 6 Championship and bottom 6 PL. That is where we are in this money-go-round of a football hierarchy. Bruce is the Manager we deserve, and who knows he might do OK because we have some decent players.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
At least we won’t have to suffer the train wrecks that were Pardew, McClaren and especially Carver press conferences.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Olly: can I give an alternative message to all NUFC fans and a counter to David Lynn. You don’t have to put this up as an article. You have been so balanced on here since you took over but now I see you are tilting towards negativity. Especially with articles such as David Lynn’s and support of a boycott.
A boycott will be a self fulfilling prophecy, creating the worst kind of vibe. It always ends in catastrophe when the fans begin mass protests. Luckily there have not been mass protests yet. From what I have seen there were less than 100 outside SJP when Rafa left, about half a dozen outside Ashley’s house and less than 20 at Sports Direct on Northumberland Street.
David Lynn seems to be wanting a disaster of Sunderland proportions. He, and quite a few NUFC fans seem to be wallowing in self pity now. If you get your way we will go on a negative spiral to force out Ashley. But is that really what you want? To have the value of the club be 35 million like Sunderland are now? The value of Joelinton or 3/4 of Haller at West Ham? Be careful what you wish for.
TBC…
Eric Sykes(Quote)
To paraphrase what David Lynn said about last season. He has given up his ticket but said he could have imagined being at SJP last year. “on the half way line, full of hope, expectation, excitement, passion, etc, etc.”
Did David watch any of the games in the first half of the season when he was coming up with that hyperbole? They made Pardew look like he was Kevin Keegan. Turgid rubbish of the Pardew and Carver school, sitting back for the first half and hoping not to get slaughtered.
Second half of the season was much better and offered hope. There still is hope if we keep the players that turned our season around. Two of them were lucked into – Hayden and Longstaff. Almiron is the other and I am not sure he was really Rafa’s discovery as Nickson seemed to be at the forefront of that deal.
I am not trashing Rafa but he took the Chinese lucre and we all need to get over him. And his record at NUFC was not that great despite all of his talk of miracles. He has won a lot of trophies, but not for us. And should probably have kept us in the PL post McClaren anyway.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
At the risk of being shouted down I will quote David Lynn again:
“if I was still living in Newcastle I would have stopped attending games 2 or 3 years ago. It is a small gesture on my part”.
So you would have abandoned the lads for the whole of Rafa’s tenure then?
But last season you would have been on the halfway line, in your words “full of hope, expectation, excitement, passion, defiance”.
Make up your mind man. Your article is full of contradictions.
But then again this is NUFC. As I said above, Manic Depressive United. You just managed to put it all in one article.
NO BOYCOTT. We do not want to become Balckburn, Sunderland, Coventry or Bolton. Or even Leeds because they have been in the doldrums for 15 years as well.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And NUST and The Magpie Group could not organize a p!ss up in a brewery so I would be very careful of putting any eggs in their baskets.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If Ashley had any football brains he would be trying to persuade Madrid to let Bale go on loan and trying to get him here for a season. Doesn’t look like any of the top teams are after him but I doubt it’s even crossed Jabba’s mind.
Stuart79(Quote)
OLLY one of your threads on news now will not load??
Icedog(Quote)
Well, I wrote all of this pre Archie Brand’s article but he seems to agree with some of what I say.
How many of you have had a break up with a girlfriend? You move on. You deal with it. Rafa has gone and took the swag in China. And his record was not that good at NUFC anyway. Complain about the lack of funds but the bottom line is that he was very mediocre at NUFC and sometimes the football was unwatchable. Whatever he did at other clubs he was not that great for us. Pardew and Ugly John – esque. Not quite 🙂
We should never have gotten relegated with the players we had and that has always been the elephant in the room that nobody mentions with Rafa.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If anybody believes that Rafa’s idea when he looked at NUFC and saw the players we had was not that we were badly managed and he could keep us up then your are delusional. His thoughts were he had enough time and he could press on the next year. He failed. But nobody ever calls him on it.
Now he is sitting on his giant pile of cash and nobody calls him out for that either.
It is all well and good to have the big fat ogre under the bridge to blame everything on, but we were simply not that good under Rafa. Yes, he won The Champions League but that was 2006 and not for us.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
As Archie Brand said, didn’t we have the worst start in like 100 years or something? Worse even than Scheve. And if you looked at Ugly John’s record it would match Rafa’s up until Christmas last year.
But we all made excuses. Goal difference is worth an extra point! While we watched some of the most dire football we have ever seen.
To be sure, Rafa did turn it around but we certainly didn’t have the worst personnel in the league during the first half of the season.
IF RAFA GETS ALL OF THE CREDIT FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEASON, SHOULDN”T HE HAVE TAKEN THE BLAME FOR THE UTTER SHYTE AND TERRIBLE RESULTS IN THE FIRST HALF?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I know I have been ranting today, but I am just so sick of this boycott b)llocks. It leads you down the path of Bolton and Blackburn. It never works. The Fatman is gambling again (probably) but it could be worse. Ellis Short abandoned the Mackems to a couple of Chancers because they were the only ones that would give him the PL remaining parachute payments.
As I said before, the value of their club is now what we are considering spending on a striker.
Get some perspective boycotters. It could be a lot worse and Bruce is not the worst Manager I could think of.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And Rafa wasn’t that great for us.
1.17 points per game.
Got us relegated with a team he should have kept up.
Again with the excuses, that if he had been given 2 more games we would have stayed up. That team should have stayed up and Rafa had time to ensure they did. EXCUSES.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I’ve hard it all now, Eric. Rafa is responsible for us going down… 😯
Anyway, the club are dragging out the purchase of Joelinton. This is exactlty the point Rafa was making. They are glacial in pace. How can anybody tell me they’re confidemt they’ll bring in 4/5 players (plus those who leave to be replaced) inm about 2 and half weeks. They’ve had this Joelinton deal agreed for months and yet still can’t get it over the line!
Stuart79(Quote)
So Sheff weds report NUFC to PL over Bruce situation.
Good for them.
Ash is a bully too used to getting his own way .
kimtoon(Quote)
Stuart79
July 23, 2019 at 09:52
I’ve hard it all now, Eric. Rafa is responsible for us going down… ?
Anyway, the club are dragging out the purchase of Joelinton. This is exactlty the point Rafa was making. They are glacial in pace. How can anybody tell me they’re confidemt they’ll bring in 4/5 players (plus those who leave to be replaced) inm about 2 and half weeks. They’ve had this Joelinton deal agreed for months and yet still can’t get it over the line!
Exactly Stu, does anyone really think we’d have stayed up the last two seasons under any other coach.
It’s not even just about the football either. What Rafa did was to unite fans and developed a rapport between the club and local community that was seriously lacking before.
Where are we now? right back to 2010 with a lackey in charge with others pulling the strings on who we sell and buy again, oh, and zero communication from the club on ANYTHING and the fans at each others throats again. 🙄
Have we signed anyone yet ?
kimtoon(Quote)
Has Joelinton even been to England yet?
I’m a bit like Eric in that I don’t care about boycotts takeovers or Ashley even, I just want to watch my team. The players, the style, formation etc. Of course I do have opinions about the other stuff but watching the games is the big deal for me.
georgio(Quote)
It’s like the last 3 years never happened isn’t it, some sort of surreal dream where we never got humped every other week and we had an elite coach at the helm where we even managed to stop all the top 6 bar Pool turning us over by a cricket score.
What did Rafa ever do for us eh.
As i see it, Ashley is a man child, i honestly think he was jealous of the esteem that Rafa was held in by the majority. He knows he will never get that adulation and it’s suits him fine well to have us venting at the manager as it takes the heat off him and his flunkeys.
I also think that his and the clubs silence during yet another summer of turmoil is quite deliberate in that in the close season he and by association SD continue to be talked about every day on tv, SSN and on social media. Priceless advertising during a period of time when his signs at SJP aren’t being seen every other week.
NOTHING that scumbag does isn’t cold and calculated, why have so many so called bids failed ? it cannot always be the buyers, or maybe the bids are just stuff and nonsense in the first place.
The fans have and continued to be played every window for 12 years and they never tire of falling for it. If the fans do not make a stand as one now then they are complicit in what he does.
kimtoon(Quote)
so Jabba has put ticket prices up on match to match games at the gate,bloody creaming more from the fans,why do fans still turn up????
icedog(Quote)
Ice – I think he will realise that there are less people willing to pay it…
Stuart79(Quote)
Ice, Reckon it’s the try to force people to take up a season ticket rather than pay more on a game by game basis.
Loathsome man, bully boy, total sh ithousery as to be expected.
kimtoon(Quote)
I hope very much your right mate.
Icedog(Quote)
Bojo as PM
Trump in the white house
Worlds gone mad .
kimtoon(Quote)
https://twitter.com/KRISKROS5/status/1153630065177038850/photo/2
kimtoon(Quote)
Stuart: I didn’t quite say Rafa got us relegated, I said he didn’t keep us up which was his remit. Splitting hairs? Maybe, but he must have thought he could keep us up otherwise I doubt he would have taken the job. I was playing devil’s advocate a bit, mainly because I am getting a bit sick of the undying Rafa love and the selective amnesia that a lot of fans have about just how bad some of our football was under him.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So basically we’ve swopped Perez for Joelinton at no cost really. Should still be a significant fund to spend unless that’s it and the rest are loans or freebies. Nothing will surprise.
georgio(Quote)
Just read a long piece by Tim Vickery (English journo based in Brazil. A very good one too he’s BBC’s SA expert) on Joelinton. Vickery rates him very highly and is full of praise.
georgio(Quote)
I reckon it will be Joelinton and 1 other marquee signing. A winger, because we are very short there. Atsu’s OK and Ritchie is too slow for the PL.
Then a cheapo backup and a couple of loans. Unless we lose a midfielder or are stupid enough to sell Gayle because of his age. These transfer prices are insane. 50 million for players you have barely heard of and 30 million for Perez who is a 1 goal every 5 games striker.
There is no way that Ashley will spend all of the supposed 90 million in 1 window. He will gamble that we will be OK and keep some money for January.
I doubt this will be enough to cheer up the boycotters even though we are about to smash our transfer record.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
georgio
The Hoffenheim goalkeeper coach spent a few weeks at SJP last year and he tipped us off on how good Joelinton is.
sidekick(Quote)
Luke Edwards saying Hayden is staying now.
I doubt Longstafff will leave either as Man U have Fred, Matic and MCtomanay in his position. If we ask for 50 million as reported I think they would switch to Declan Rice who has more games and a higher profile.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Olly: I always said the logistics of a move for Hayden didn’t make any sense. He wanted to be closer to his family but the clubs that were interested were still a 3 hour drive away from South Wales so it was never going to be a daily commute.
Hopefully, it’s also due to the fact his kid is getting over her medical issues.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, the boycott is not just about a lack of signings though. It’s letting a fake sale drag all through a window yet again with no communication about it or anything. It’s not hanging onto an elite coach for want of a little ambition and progress. It’s bringing in Bruce after Rafa. It’s taking too long to sign anyone or not signing anyone sometimes. It’s putting up ST prices and having the most expensive shirt in the league and now hiking up the price of a ticket for a game. It’s also about not maintaining the stadium, updating the academy /training facilities . But mostly it’s about his total disinterest in the club or fans other than to serve as a giant billboard for SD.
kimtoon(Quote)