A message to the misinformed pundits – I hope Savage & Sutton read this & respond…

The Steve Bruce media propaganda machine has been working overtime recently. The ex-players, pundits and so called experts who range from the misinformed to the irrelevant and clearly don’t watch us play, have all been coming out of the woodwork to defend their mate “Brucey”, while simultaneously insulting our fan base without any facts to back up their argument. It really is becoming a parody of itself.  

After Mark Lawrenson mistook our displeasure  at watching Bruce spend more money than any manager in our history, yet consistently continue to take the team backwards as some kind of arrogant entitlement to annual Champions League football, we now have Robbie Savage penning a piece in The Mirror in which he claims Bruce deserves credit for the “solid if unspectacular job” he’s doing at our beloved club. 

Well, he’s half right, but we’ll get into the numbers behind that “solid” nonsense later. I’m not going to bother to pick apart his article, you can do that yourself. I’ll stick to something Bruce’s media pals don’t deal in, which is facts, but here’s a link to the article: (You can read it here.)

What’s more, is that Savage has posted this article on his Twitter page and has written above the link “Come on then Newcastle fans, please read, I’ve tried to understand the situation this week?”.

In fairness his does state that with the attacking talent we have, we should be more entertaining, yet he someone manages to do that while passive-aggressively making us feel that we’re lucky to have Bruce because we’ve been relegated twice in 11 years. So that being said, I’ll respond to your kind request of “come on then Newcastle fans” Robbie. I’m more than happy to. 

In case you aren’t familiar with Savage’s media work, he presents BBC Five Live’s 606, where him and fellow agitator Chris Sutton ask fans to call in, and then if they don’t agree with them, they all too often arrogantly, ignorantly and incorrectly belittle them for their opinion. When they are both presented with facts and have no way out they both resort to a “we know more than you” motif. It isn’t just Newcastle fans by the way.

I’ve always been curious about Savage’s eagerness to leap to Bruce’s defence. I wonder if it’s born out of guilt that back in January 2005, he forced a move to Blackburn from Bruce’s Birmingham City, while the Blues were neck deep in a relegation battle.

(Spoiler alert, they lost said battle and went down). 

Maybe after letting Bruce down 15 years ago, he now feels the need to protect him from all of the big bad Newcastle fans and our whimsical pie in the sky dreams of ambition and tactical nous being present in our football club’s manager.

So let’s look at the numbers of Steve Bruce’s Newcastle, and really try to understand why it is that we don’t rate Bruce, his own dreadful record over 20 odd years of management not withstanding. 

Last season, his first season, despite the media using such adjectives as “outstanding”, “wonderful”, and “excellent” to name a few when describing Bruce’s performance, we finished on less points than the season before that. We also conceded more goals and chances, scored less goals and made less chances, had less possession, and our goalkeeper made over 30% more saves than the previous season. The most in the league in fact. Steve Bruce made us a worse team in his first season in every possible aspect. While there are many caveats to this, and some aren’t all down to Bruce, like the loss of Rondon and Perez, this is a cold hard fact. 

Looking at this seasons numbers in terms of footballing metrics shows some even more alarming and unsurprisingly consistent declines under the guidance of Bruce. The following information came from The Athletic’s chief analyst Tom Worville, who appeared on last weeks episode of the brilliant Pod On The Tyne podcast, and it makes for interestingly grim listening and reading. 

Firstly in attack this season, we have had 43 shots on goal this season. The lowest in the PL so far this season. 

We’re averaging 7.7 attempts at goal per game, which is down from 10.5 last season. Some rare positive news is our expected goals is actually up from 20th last season to 15th this term, which can be simply attributed to Callum Wilson getting on the end of chances instead of Joelinton. 

Our speed in transition from defence to attack is way down, we have gone from one of the quickest to the slowest. Almiron’s absence and ASM playing out of position, both Bruce decisions, play big parts in this according to Worville and The Athletic’s excellent pair Taylor Payne and Chris Waugh. 

(Side note Robbie, your mate Sutton ridiculed a Newcastle fan last week who said Saint Maximin didn’t suit a number 10 role and is more effective out wide. This is a common viewpoint held amongst almost all knowledgeable NUFC fans, yet Sutton told him to “get real” and that he didn’t know better than Bruce. Well if you could pass the message on to Chris that 3 other objective and knowledgeable journalists who know better than him respectively and factually agree with us, I’d be grateful).

Moving on, our possession in the final 3rd is down to 29% per game, which is not only the worst in the PL this season, it’s the worst managed by a PL team at this stage of the season for 5 years.

Our possession in the final 3rd also accounts for just 5% for our total possession of the ball so far this season, which is absolutely woeful. It also shows how poor we are at pressing the opposition high up the pitch. In fact we are the worst in the league at turning over possession in the oppositions half and turning it into chances. 

As for the defence, it’s worth remembering that we had the best back-line outside the top 6 in both 2017/18 and 2018/19. Bruce managed to get that down to 13th last year with essentially the same personnel, certainly at centre back, all while Martin Dubravka was the busiest goalkeeper in the league. However it’s this season’s metrics which tell a thoroughly depressing tale of just how much we are actually regressing. 

We have conceded more attempts at goal than any other PL team this season, and Karl Darlow and Fede Fernandez have made more saves and blocks respectively than any other goalkeeper or defender. Now while this has been reported several times and is hardly surprising, this following fact is simply astonishing. 

I think a common theme amongst our fan base is the annoyance that whatever nonsense Bruce spouts in his pressers, or whatever formation or system we are apparently playing, the only game plan we can see is one of allowing the opposition as much of the ball as they want, and hope they don’t score. This lacklustre and passive approach is summed up by the fact that on average, we allow the opposition 21 passes of the ball in our own half before winning back possession. 

21. 

To put that into context, think about how often you see Newcastle United footballers make 21 consecutive passes of the football to each other in the opposition’s half.If we make 5 I’m up off my chair, but 21?! In the Premier League? I’d be popping the Dom Pérignon man. You surely will not be surprised to learn that this statistic also places us at the bottom of the pile, by some distance. 

So there we have Steve Bruce’s Newcastle United in irrefutable numbers. It’s also irrefutable that he is a proven failure as a manager, with the worst win percentage of any PL manager that has overseen 100 games or more. It’s also a mathematical certainty that teams with these kinds of numbers eventually come unstuck. We’ve won 8 of the last 31 PL games, which is fortunately spread over 2 seasons. If that record was in 1 season, we would almost certainly get relegated. 

Bruce has no plan A, let alone a plan B. There is no ethos, no blueprint and no conviction in his selections. Not one player has improved under Bruce’s tenure, not one, while several have gone backwards. 

If we have a bad game, he simply throws the players under the bus, blames the keyboard warriors for making his job harder, and then rips it all up and starts again, which shows a lack of confidence in his own ability if anything.

Steve Bruce’s Newcastle United side is a dreadful football team that contains good football players, and is floating on an unexplainable tide of luck, and unconventional and unsustainable football that ultimately is only going to end one way. Maybe not this year, but eventually. There are tactically more astute managers in League One who would get more out of this squad of players, and believe me we know, we’ve watched first hand in the last calendar year as Rochdale, Oxford United and more recently Newport County ran rings round us at times, and had our backs to the wall, forcing us to two replays and a penalty shootout respectively. 

So now, we await next week for Friday’s press conference where Bruce will blame everyone but himself for the pathetic defeat at Southampton, then likely employ his 6th formation of the season against Chelsea due to the players apparently not being good enough to play how he wants. It’s nonsense that any fan of any club Bruce has ever managed will testify to. 

So “come on” Robbie Savage, did you really try to understand? 

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128 thoughts on “A message to the misinformed pundits – I hope Savage & Sutton read this & respond…

  1. Good article. But that is not how you spell Dom Perignon. I know the “e” has a fancy French thing above it but my keyboard doesn’t have that option.

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  2. Of our shots on target, 4 have been penalties. OR 3 🙂 I cant fcn remember anymore because our games are so boring i never watch even the highlights again.

    I am so frightened about this Chelsea game.

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  3. I stopped reading when you said “watching Bruce spend more money than any manager in our history,”

    Bruce may have been saddled with the 40 million pound Joelinton but let’s not even try to suggest that because monetarily it was more than the 15 million quid we paid for Shearer, Bruce “spent more”.
    In real terms Shearer’s record breaking purchase should be compared with the 200 million PSG paid for Neymar, and Bruce spending “more money than any other manager in our history” falls nicely into context when you consider the money he has spent wouldn’t buy any of the top 12 SINGLE players in the EPL.

    Well, as they say, never let facts get in the way of a good argument.

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  4. BykerBill:
    I stopped reading when you said “watching Bruce spend more money than any manager in our history,”

    Bruce may have been saddled with the 40 million pound Joelinton but let’s not even try to suggest that because monetarily it was more than the15 million quid we paid for Shearer, Bruce “spent more”.
    In real terms Shearer’s record breaking purchase should be compared with the 200 million PSG paid for Neymar, and Bruce spending “more money than any other manager in our history” falls nicely into context when you consider the money he has spent wouldn’t buy any of the top 12 SINGLE players in the EPL.

    Well, as they say, never let facts get in the way of a good argument.

    That’s what you took from this article? Dear me…

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  5. We made two dreadful and very costly signings last season.
    Joelinton was £40m thrown away.
    Steve Bruce will be more costly – he will likely lose us our place in the Premiership.

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  6. I noticed on the last thread that both Stuart and Eric are finding it difficult to understand Brisvegas’ rants on his taxes going to rich people.
    Seems obvious to me that the Australian Government have sent him a whopping tax bill.
    I do hope that I am right. 😀

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  7. Sidekick:
    I noticed on the last thread that both Stuart and Eric are finding it difficult to understand Brisvegas’ rants on his taxes going to rich people.
    Seems obvious to me that the Australian Government have sent him a whopping tax bill.
    I do hope that I am right.

    I would hardly call them rants. And my taxes don’t go to rich people – of which I am one, by normal community standards.

    The reply, btw, is on the last thread. I didn’t think it was respectful to the writer to start comments on this story with an economics lesson.

    As for the article … I don’t need statistics to show me how awful Newcastle are; I just have to watch a game. They are well below par in just about every single aspect of football. It beats me how we have managed to get as many points as we have. If we are doing something right, then I’m afraid it is beyond me what it is. I don’t see it.

    I’ve no time at all for pundits. I don’t care what they say. It probably helps that I don’t live in the UK. All I know is that Newcastle are among the worst teams I’ve watched in the PL this season. There may be 3 worse, but I wouldn’t be so sure.

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  8. So Boris is self isolating coz yet again he’s breached his own lockdown rules.
    Is this bloke for f@cking real or what???.

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  9. Chealsea 2/7 to win. NUFC 8/1. I still wouldnt put any money on us, even though we are at home. Fraser and Wilson are almost certainly out. Who is going to score?

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  10. I agree with BrisV that the evidence of our own eyes tells us mostly what we need to know. But the stats give us further evidence if any is needed. Gives us a bit more to vent against, especially with the BS the pundits sprew about Bruce which is just farcical and should be called out.

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  11. Is it the hope that kills you? You see flashes of a decent side like against West Ham or Everton and then the very next game the walls come crashing down. Bruce will choose an unchanged team and they will play like they have never seen each other before. He is probably right not to mess with the team or the system and he would be slaughtered on here and other social media if he did. It must be down to the players as well. There is the default mentality of dropping back to the 9-0-1 and encamping on the 18 yard line and at 30 yards, and inviting the opposition onto us. That needs to be coached out of the players and half of them were not even here when Rafa taught the bunker mentality.

    Do we blame Bruce too much? Probably. But that is because we know his limitations by now and know his history. He might take a mid-table squad down. It really doesnt help hearing facile pundits tell us that we are delusional and I think that is what Jamie Elliot is saying.

    Our Christmas is going to be ****. It goes Man City, Liverpool, Leicester. I wonder what the odds are on the combined score? I will generously say we will score 1 and the opposition will get 13. Call me Eric Scrooge if you like, but that is my gut. The coronavirus will still be raging and there will be zillions of stories of people not being able to meet up with family. Does anybody have a number for The Samaritans? I will stick it on my fridge awaiting the inevitable.

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  12. I dont care about the Chelsea game. I have already written that off. Am I going to be stupid enough to get up at 6.30am and watch? Probably. But if we go 2 nil down I will probably go back to bed 🙂

    What happens after that is what is important. We have some very winnable games and need to get points on the board before our Christmas sh!tshow.

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  13. Simon Jordan slagging the toon fans off I understand – his view point is one of an owner & it’s all about the points whatever the cost – premiership status before anything else. It’s a business before entertainment.

    I’m not spitting poison or annoyed at Sutton or Savage – you can tell from Savs comments that he’s not fully committed to his views anyway. It must be difficult writing an article in the international break – there’s nowt to talk about & we are always an easy target.

    But I would love to ask them one question – would they enjoy playing in this NUFC team? – not would they want to play for Newcastle- would they enjoy playing in this team?.
    Or maybe – as pundits do you enjoy watching the NUFC team?.

    I suspect not & I’m not sure there would be little need to take the conversation any further really.

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  14. Good article Jamie and i couldn’t agree more. We have regressed so much under Bruce it’s unreal, our once tight defense is all over the shot, we have played players out of position too often and played players who are not fully fit risking further injury .
    Bruce does a massive disservice to some decent players when he plays them injured or out of position.
    We do have good players they just aren’t being utilized to their best.
    Ask any fans at Bruce’s previous clubs, he does and says the same s hite everywhere he’s been, you could chuck up one of his previous pressers or post game interviews and see no difference but for players names mentioned.
    He/we’ve been lucky so far but it won’t last, he will eventually take us down it we don’t get shot of him.

    As for the delusional fans tag, do me a favor, don’t all fans want their club to get into Europe ?
    We don’t expect it or think we should be winning the CL, it’s a ridiculous statement to make and one made to elicit a reaction i suspect, their listening figures must be down.

    Don’t know what Byker Bill is on about either, pointless bringing up Shearer when Jamies post is clearly talking about signings under the current owners choice of managers.

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  15. Fck.

    This is going to get really depressing. The US CV19 rate has tripled in 3 weeks and the Orange Man Baby is denying everything.

    Talked to me mam today and she said I should come back in from the ledge before I fall off.

    I am close to calling off my trip to FL, Key West, Ocean Drive in Miami because there are 180,000 cases a day here and more than 1,000 deaths. Should I even fly in Jan.

    I think it will get a lot worse.

    Only the NUFC Christmas peiod could depress me more – Man City, Liverpool, Leicester!!! We are really f@cked. Merry Christmas 🙂

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  16. kimtoon:
    Good article Jamie and i couldn’t agree more. We have regressed so much under Bruce it’s unreal, our once tight defense is all over the shot, we have played players out of position too often and played players who are not fully fit risking further injury .
    Bruce does a massive disservice to some decent players when he plays them injured or out of position.
    We do have good players they just aren’t being utilized to their best.
    Ask any fans at Bruce’s previous clubs, he does and says the same s hite everywhere he’s been, you could chuck up one of his previous pressers or post game interviews and see no difference but for players names mentioned.
    He/we’ve been lucky so far but it won’t last, he will eventually take us down it we don’t get shot of him.

    As for the delusional fans tag, do me a favor, don’t all fans want their club to get into Europe ?
    We don’t expect it or think we should be winning the CL, it’s a ridiculous statement to make and one made to elicit a reaction i suspect, their listening figures must be down.

    Don’t know what Byker Bill is on about either, pointless bringing up Shearer when Jamies post is clearly talking about signings under the current owners choice of managers.

    Kim – it’s Sutton, Savage & Lawenson – they are irrelevant pundits wheeled out when everyone else is busy.

    I don’t know why we even care?!.

    Like I say, Savage didn’t even fully committed to his defence of Bruce or criticism of us fans. It was a half ar$ed article to fill a page in the international break.

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  17. Eric Sykes:
    Fck.

    This is going to get really depressing. The US CV19 rate has tripled in 3 weeks and the Orange Man Baby is denying everything.

    Talked to me mam today and she said I should come back in from the ledge before I fall off.

    I am close to calling off my trip to FL, Key West, Ocean Drive in Miami because there are 180,000 cases a day here and more than 1,000 deaths. Should I even fly in Jan.

    I think it will get a lot worse.

    Only the NUFC Christmas peiod could depress me more – Man City, Liverpool, Leicester!!! We are really f@cked. Merry Christmas

    Eric – just read an article on Sky news of a 4yr old boy in Texas who has lost both parents to COVID in a matter of weeks – his dad was 33 & mam only 28.

    How Trump can bury his head in the sand & deny it still is beyond me.

    On a more positive note, they is a vaccine out there that’s more effective again & easier to distribute.

    Maybe postpone your trip by a few months if you can mate, hopefully by March/April it would be that bit safer.

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  18. Sharpy17:
    So Boris is self isolating coz yet again he’s breached his own lockdown rules.
    Is this bloke for f@cking real or what???.

    How’s he breached his own lockdown rules? He had a meeting with a colleague. That’s not banned and not illegal.

    Good example of people desperately trying to find something to have a go at the government about. If he didn’t work people would have a go at him for that ffs

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  19. Stuart79: How’s he breached his own lockdown rules? He had a meeting with a colleague. That’s not banned and not illegal.

    Good example of people desperately trying to find something to have a go at the government about. If he didn’t work people would have a go at him for that ffs

    Stu – he received a track and trace notification – if he had stayed socially distanced in the meeting he wouldn’t have received the notification. The fact he’s isolating means he must have breach his own rules.
    Did the meeting need to be in person? could they not have video called the meeting?. I don’t know. But if he’s been told to isolate then he’s been within a close proximity to someone who has tested positive.

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  20. Sharpy17: Stu – he received a track and trace notification – if he had stayed socially distanced in the meeting he wouldn’t have received the notification.The fact he’s isolating means he must have breach his own rules.
    Did the meeting need to be in person? could they not have video called the meeting?.I don’t know.But if he’s been told to isolate then he’s been within a close proximity to someone who has tested positive.

    Do you know what’s defined as being in close proximity by the NHS? Here it is:

    “Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period* starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.“

    So essentially he’s done nothing wrong and followed the guidelines to a tee.

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  21. Stuart79: Do you know what’s defined as being in close proximity by the NHS? Here it is:

    “Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period* starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.“

    So essentially he’s done nothing wrong and followed the guidelines to a tee.

    What’s he got a notification for then?, and why is he and 8 other MPs isolating following that meeting?.

    If he & eight other MPs followed the rules there would be no need to isolate would there?!.

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  22. Sharpy , i saw that story about the 4 year old lad, it’s heart breaking . His grandmother is his carer now, hope to god she stays safe now.

    Eric, it’s likely to get worse over there because of all the election rally’s and on going protest over result. None of them Trump supporters were wearing mask from what i saw.
    If he had any decency about him, Trump would admit defeat and urge his supporters to go home and start wearing a d amn mask, he won’t though because he’s a fool .

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  23. Kimtoon: Trump looks like an old boot now. He thinks he is good looking but his face is weathered and orange. It shows you how really delusional he is. He also thinks he is a comedian and he is about as funny as a heart attack. I watched some of his rallies and his supporters laugh at the most inane comments.

    Now, Boris…

    He looks like he aged 20 years in a year!!!

    Not sure if it is CV19 but I think his Drs should keep an eye on him.

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  24. Sharpy17: What’s he got a notification for then?, and why is he and 8 other MPs isolating following that meeting?.

    If he & eight other MPs followed the rules there would be no need to isolate would there?!.

    Because he was within 2m of someone for more than 15 minutes. That’s how track and trace works. That’s why you don’t get a notification if you were talking to someone at 2m for 2 minutes and they tested positive. That wouldn’t be classed as close contact.

    To be honest, Sharpy – I really can’t take anything you say about the government serious anymore. Even when they don’t do wrong you argue they do. What’s the point…

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  25. Stuart79: Because he was within 2m of someone for more than 15 minutes. That’s how track and trace works. That’s why you don’t get a notification if you were talking to someone at 2m for 2 minutes and they tested positive. That wouldn’t be classed as close contact.

    To be honest, Sharpy – I really can’t take anything you say about the government serious anymore. Even when they don’t do wrong you argue they do. What’s the point…

    Stu – what on earth are you talking about???. You have just proven me right by saying he MUST have breached the social distancing to get the notification – yet I’m in the wrong.

    You look very foolish with your unquestionable defence of a bloke who was hospitalised with the very virus he stands in front of the nation telling the to lockdown again – hands, face, space or whatever other slogan he comes up with.
    But can’t remain more than 2m away from someone he met with for only 35 mins.

    Mind you, it does all seem timely that he has to stay behind close doors a day or 2 after Cains & Cummings leave his office.

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  26. There’s an article on SSN that headlines -£1bn spent since Fergie left. It’s an amount of money I just can’t get my head round – but they’ve broken it down player by player signed by each manager since Fergie – and they really have signed a lot of p!SS poor players like.
    The Glaziers get a right slagging off, but they have released the funds – 1 billion pounds worth. Their plight has to be down to whoever has thought those players were good enough.

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  27. Wow that’s brutal lol, I’d love to see you face to face with him on live television you’d proper embarrass him ?

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  28. I see Almirons agent is working his ticket. Saying if it wasn’t for Covid he’d have left by now. To be honest who could blame him? Why would any attacking player want to play this kind of negative and defensive football? They spend 80% of their time defending and 20% attacking by themselves and losing the ball.

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  29. Stuart79:
    I see Almirons agent is working his ticket. Saying if it wasn’t for Covid he’d have left by now. To be honest who could blame him? Why would any attacking player want to play this kind of negative and defensive football? They spend 80% of their time defending and 20% attacking by themselves and losing the ball.

    Stu – I’m amazed there wasn’t bids in for him in the summer mate. He’s a far better player than Rafa & Bruce has allowed him to be at NUFC.
    I think he’d be a stand out player in Spain & it wouldn’t surprise me if his agent is speaking with clubs out there.

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  30. There seems to be a lot of players testing positive in these international breaks.
    I can’t understand why they are allowing friendlies to still go ahead & why they are allowing Iceland to fly in for the Nations League game that means absolutely nothing now neither team can qualify – what’s the point??.

    Even if you put Covid aside – there no fans for the revenue side of it & players are getting injured in every match.
    I get the games that matter need to go ahead – but if England win or loose tonight they stay 3rd – if Iceland win or loose tonight they stay 4th, so what’s the point?!.

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  31. Sharpy, mate, I hate to correct people about spelling because then I will make the same mistake at some point.

    But…

    “Lose” means to get something lost or suffer a loss. Like your phone. Hang on? Where’s my phone?

    “Loose” means to untie.

    I really hate to correct anybody on the internet, but I just did it 🙂

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  32. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy, mate, I hate to correct people about spelling because then I will make the same mistake at some point.

    But…

    “Lose” means to get something lost or suffer a loss. Like your phone. Hang on? Where’s my phone?

    “Loose” means to untie.

    I really hate to correct anybody on the internet, but I just did it

    Ana, but they’re still pointless ??‍♂️

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  33. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy, mate, I hate to correct people about spelling because then I will make the same mistake at some point.

    But…

    “Lose” means to get something lost or suffer a loss. Like your phone. Hang on? Where’s my phone?

    “Loose” means to untie.

    I really hate to correct anybody on the internet, but I just did it

    god the spelling police are back on the blog ffs

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  34. Sharpy i got where you were coming from bud,nobody worse than me when i comes to spelling,tends to put some people off coming on blog when the spelling police are about

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  35. icedog:
    Sharpy i got where you were coming from bud,nobody worse than me when i comes to spelling,tends to put some people off coming on blog when the spelling police are about

    Ice – I’m dyslexic, if I got offended every time someone corrected my spelling I’d be in Lanchester Road mate ?

    I’m not offended my Eric for a second by the way, and certainly don’t think he was being a d!ck or anything like that ??

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  36. Sharpy. I enjoy what you write. No offense meant as I was saying above. I find it funny whenever I write on here from my phone that the autocorrect makes some really weird corrections.

    Icedog, I wasnt trying to insult Sharpy. As I said, I am not the spelling or punctuation police. It was a minor observation.

    I wish I hadn’t said it now 🙂

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  37. Olly: are we seriously looking at Phil Jones? He is always injured. We already have Andy Carroll, Dwight Gayle and Florian Lejeune FFS.

    Remember when players leave Man U they always turn out to be a lot worse at other teams (unless they fell out with Fergie like Stam, van Nistlerooy and Beckham). Darren Gibson, Obertan 🙂

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  38. #NotTryingtoStartaFight

    Not even with Stewie Thatcher who I think is a nice guy. We met to watch a match in Chicago. He has different opinions to me on politics. But you cant always agree. We all need someone with a counterpoint to show us that we are always, absolutely correct in the things we say. Always. Otherwise, what is the point of Questiontime?

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  39. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy. I enjoy what you write. No offense meant as I was saying above. I find it funny whenever I write on here from my phone that the autocorrect makes some really weird corrections.

    Icedog, I wasnt trying to insult Sharpy. As I said, I am not the spelling or punctuation police. It was a minor observation.

    I wish I hadn’t said it now

    😉 😉 😉

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  40. Well the R rate in Bristol is now higher than the national average. Can’t say i’m surprised really, i have been told of massive queues out side of the likes of primark before lockdown and we’ve had an increase since students returned. In South Bristol where i am it’s particularly bad and lots of local schools have had high cases.

    It really needs to s od off now this covid.

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  41. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy. I enjoy what you write. No offense meant as I was saying above. I find it funny whenever I write on here from my phone that the autocorrect makes some really weird corrections.

    Icedog, I wasnt trying to insult Sharpy. As I said, I am not the spelling or punctuation police. It was a minor observation.

    I wish I hadn’t said it now

    Eric – not the tiniest bit of offensive taken mate ?

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  42. kimtoon:
    Well the R rate in Bristol is now higher than the national average. Can’t say i’m surprised really, i have been told of massive queues out side of the likes of primark before lockdown and we’ve had an increase since students returned. In South Bristol where i am it’s particularly bad and lots of local schools have had high cases.

    It really needs to s od off now this covid.

    Unbelievable, Kim. I’m sure Bristol was one of the lowest rates in the country pre lockdown…

    Looks like the rate is dropping nationally so I guess by 2nd Dec we will all be in Tier 3. A national lockdown – just not called a national lockdown…

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  43. Kimtoon: I just cancelled a trip to Florida that I wasnt even taking for 2 months. As it stands I would have to take a Covid test or quarantine for 14 days upon my return. I only booked this 3 weeks ago but infection rates have tripled since then and Chicago changed the travel rules. NYC just shut down its schools – 1 million kids.

    This will only get worse at least through Xmas. Thanksgiving is next week which means the news about Covid and family gatherings will be dialed up to 11.

    At least Boris is talking. The Orange Man-Baby has disappeared and there is no national guidance. What a total mess!

    On Olly’s latest piece about Boris saying he would like fans to return to football. That doesnt seem like it will be on the cards anytime soon. A couple of hundred at non-league games is pretty inconsequential.

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  44. Trump has not been seen in public since the election. He tweets to fire people. That is like breaking up with your gitlfriend by text FFS. I truly believe he is the worst President in history and is a threat to the world for the next 60 odd days that he has left in office.

    His next scheduled event is to “pardon” a turkey at The White House. This must be the most stupid tradition ever. They bring a turkey to meet the President and he pardons it so that it wont be on a thanksgiving table. How inane is that!!! But the fact it will be Trump making an appearance when he is just festering in his basement after his election defeat makes it even more bizarre.

    I wonder where the turkey goes. To a farm somewhere and hangs out with the horses and the cattle? A rest home for pardoned turkeys?

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  45. Back to football…

    Is Rafa ever going to get any flak from NUFC fans. He sanctioned the sale of Adam Armstrong and I think Ivan Toney as well. What was the rush? Couldnt we have done loan deals?

    I see there is a sell on clause but that really is not the point. We could have let them develop for not a lot of money. Armstrong’s transfer fee was 1.7 million which is chickenfeed in today’s market.

    Icedog has said he is not doing well in China. Maybe the bloom is off the rose. He was sacked by Real Madrid and Napoli but could do no wrong according to most NUFC fans. Did they watch any of our football in the PL? I know he won the CL but sometimes people lose their mojo as Austin Powers would say.

    I have said on numerous occasions that we had the best squad ever to be relegated from the PL and that Rafa had plenty of time to keep us up. He was in charge during the capitulation to Sunderland for example. Out-thought by Big Fat Sam. We had a team with Sissoko, Mitro and Wignaldum FFS and added Andros Townsend and Shelvey before Rafa arrived.

    I dont get the undying love for Rafa. His record at NUFC in the PL was roughly the same as Bruce. I know, I know, what about the respective budgets? But Rafa was supposed to be a genius so he should have been able to work with it. Bruce is a journeyman manager at best so we expected this from him, and he is rightly getting stick. But Rafa can do know wrong according to MOST Newcastle fans. If you ask me that is more delusional than what the pundits say about us EXPECTING CL football.

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  46. We sold Gini for 25 mil, Sissoko for 30 mil and Mitro for 25 mil. And Perez for 30 mil FFS. In addition Palace triggered Andros’ buyout for I think 14 mil. And still Rafa is a God, a genius!

    Ashley has done a lot of stupid things, but that team should not have been relegated.

    #RafahadPlentyofGametoAvoidRelegation

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  47. Eric, I think you’re being a tad harsh on Rafa in the relegation season. I don’t know how many games he had but I think we were unbeaten in our last 5 games so I’d personally look at Charnley for delaying the appointment. Although Rafa had the same problem – we didn’t score enough goals. I look back at the Villa game that season and we drew 0-0 against them when they were already relegated.

    Also worth pointing out that only Gini and Sissoko went to clubs who could be classed as an improvement on Newcastle. The others have either been in the fizzy or certainly not pulled up any trees anywhere else.

    But generally that squad shouldn’t have been relegated but I’m not sure that Rafa really had the time required.

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  48. Eric Sykes:
    Kimtoon: I just cancelled a trip to Florida that I wasnt even taking for 2 months. As it stands I would have to take a Covid test or quarantine for 14 days upon my return. I only booked this 3 weeks ago but infection rates have tripled since then and Chicago changed the travel rules. NYC just shut down its schools – 1 million kids.

    This will only get worse at least through Xmas. Thanksgiving is next week which means the news about Covid and family gatherings will be dialed up to 11.

    At least Boris is talking. The Orange Man-Baby has disappeared and there is no national guidance. What a total mess!

    On Olly’s latest piece about Boris saying he would like fans to return to football. That doesnt seem like it will be on the cards anytime soon. A couple of hundred at non-league games is pretty inconsequential.

    Eric – I don’t know what it’s like over there but the media are a joke here. They’re now criticising the government because they haven’t told us what Christmas will look like and how many people will be able to be sat round a table. Still two weeks to go in this lockdown and they’re expecting the government to have a crystal ball and magically know how the lockdown will go and see what Covid will look like in 5 weeks time. Are they for real? This is a prime example of why the mean stream media are dying. They seem to exist just to criticise the government – for what they do, what they don’t do and for now not knowing what will happen in the future ffs!

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  49. Stu – I’ll hold the government to account, and I know we disagree on a lot of things when it comes to that.
    But this push for a Christmas from the media is just pathetic & I wish just one of the politicians or experts would push back.

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  50. Stuart: Chicago is basically on full lockdown beginning tomorrow. There is a media feeding frenzy on this but that is partly due to the fact that Trump is saying nothing and that the biggest travel event of the year is next week – thanksgiving. It is bigger than Xmas. From what I have see on TV, hospitals are at capacity in Illinois and there are lines hundereds of cars long to get tested. I dont think this is “fake news” I think it is genuine reporting and the peope being interviewed are Drs and Nurses who have no reason to lie. I also think people are scared and want to know if they have this virus before meeting family, especially if they have to travel to other states. The epicenter of all of this is now the midwest, which Chicago is part of.

    I cancelled my trip to Florida because there are no penalties and I can rebook it for a slightly later date after I see what happens. The infection rates have tripled in the last 3 weeks and that is not media bias and not because of more testing.

    I wasnt that worried really, except I would have to quarantine for 14 days when I got back so I want to see how this plays out after thanksgiving.

    I wouldnt believe all of this “fake news” narrative. The ultimate lies over here are promulgated by Trump and Murdoch’s Fox News. That is the reall “fake news”. Trump has been able to convince people that his lies are real. As you know, I think he is a mad man but that is by watching what he says from the horses mouth and not the opinions of media anchors.

    Imagine if Boris just sat in his house sulking for 2 weeks after an election. There would be hell on saying he was abdicating all responsibility. That is what Trump is doing, apart from firing his perceived enemies like The Secretary of Defense by tweet. He fired probably the 3rd most powerful person in the US by tweet FFS. Way to go Donald, that took some balls!!!!! Coward.

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  51. We get Daily BBC news over here and I can also follow on the internet to read papers. I sounds about as confusing in the UK as the US. I mean, there are travel restrictions to every state and at the same time United Airlines have put on 1,400 more flights for thanksgiving. It is hard to know what to believe.

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  52. When Farage came over here to speak at a Trump rally, The Donald announced that Nige was “King of Europe”. A lot of the idiots at his rallies probably believed he was. There are some serious inbreds over here!

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  53. I know someone who lives in France and he says the the French government are getting in the necks too. Maybe we have to high expectations of our politicians. I personally would like people to take personal responsibility for more things instead of waiting on the government on everything. If you don’t feel safe don’t go out. Don’t wait for the government to tell you.

    So someone I know died yesterday after contracting Covid. Was in hospital with a pace maker, COPD and failing kidneys at the same time as being 82. Caught Covid in hospital and died within 4 days. They fitted the profile perfectly and Covid literally speeded up their death. Very sad but ultimately shows how we can and should target this virus.

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  54. Speaking of the media – the pundits were ridiculous again last night waxing lyrical about England’s 4-0 win over Iceland in an absolute nothing game in a group where we finish 3rd behind Belgium & Denmark.

    According to the pundits – Jack Grealish is the new Gazza & Foden the new Scholes. Now I’m not disputing both players are talented. Foden in particular has the potential to be the best England player since Gazza & Grealish has been excellent.
    But this was a nothing game against very average opponents.

    All so busy blowing smoke up Gareth Southgates ar$e. Applauding a 4-0 performance.

    They should be holding Southgate to account for his 3rd place finish.

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  55. Sharpy17:
    Speaking of the media – the pundits were ridiculous again last night waxing lyrical about England’s 4-0 win over Iceland in an absolute nothing game in a group where we finish 3rd behind Belgium & Denmark.

    According to the pundits – Jack Grealish is the new Gazza & Foden the new Scholes.Now I’m not disputing both players are talented.Foden in particular has the potential to be the best England player since Gazza & Grealish has been excellent.
    But this was a nothing game against very average opponents.

    All so busy blowing smoke up Gareth Southgates ar$e.Applauding a 4-0 performance.

    They should be holding Southgate to account for his 3rd place finish.

    bloody spot on mate on Southgate,never rated him as a manager anyway,what has he done to prove hes a England manager NOWT

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  56. Stuart79:
    I know someone who lives in France and he says the the French government are getting in the necks too. Maybe we have to high expectations of our politicians. I personally would like people to take personal responsibility for more things instead of waiting on the government on everything. If you don’t feel safe don’t go out. Don’t wait for the government to tell you.

    So someone I know died yesterday after contracting Covid. Was in hospital with a pace maker, COPD and failing kidneys at the same time as being 82. Caught Covid in hospital and died within 4 days. They fitted the profile perfectly and Covid literally speeded up their death. Very sad but ultimately shows how we can and should target this virus.

    Stu – are you Boris Johnson in disguise or something??.
    You want people to take personal responsibility, but don’t feel the need to hold government to account – even the French government are getting a pass from you now ?.

    I think it’s fair to say that the vast majority are doing what is asked of them. There is definitely pockets of fuckw!ts who are not – but the vast majority of people are doing the right thing.
    Where they have lost a lot of people is them not following their own advice & frustrated people will say ‘s0d this, if they aren’t why should we’.
    But that doesn’t fit your argument so that’ll be my fault.

    Boris must have attended the same school of management as Mike Ashley I reckon coz we’ve had failure after U-turn from this lot and not one person has paid the price. But call his missus princess nutty nuts & there’s the door ?.

    It blows my mind that you still don’t see that government failings and the handling of all of this is what’s really at fault.
    But it will come out in the end – and you’ll still make excuses for them.

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  57. icedog: bloody spot on mate on Southgate,never rated him as a manager anyway,what has he done to prove hes a England manager NOWT

    He’s a yes man mate & will sit in front of the media and say all the right things.

    But he’s got some really good players there in that squad now – and young. He could and should have enough there to win something in the next 8yrs with them – but with Southgate in charge I just see another golden generation going to waste.

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  58. Does anybody have a clue what team we will play without a striker? I reckon Bruce might go 5-2-3 and make the team even more defensive than usual by bringing in Dummett, Clark and Hayden. So,

    Darlow

    Murphy Fernandez Lascelles Clark Dummett

    Hayden Matty Longstaff

    Miggy St Max Joelinton

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  59. I know you lot in England get news from here but it about to get very bad indeed. The estimate of people travelling for Thanksgiving (next Thurs) is 50 million. That’s roughly the population of England. I saw the trouble Dominic Cummings got into for driving to Durham. Imagine 50 million people driving and flying at a time when cases are about double what they were in April?

    From my experience it will be people who moved away who return to see their parents for this holiday. There are so many people move to Chicago from the other (****) cities around here and go back “home” and meet elderly relatives.

    This is setting up to be a **** show.

    I WILL REPEAT. 50 MILLION PEOPLE ARE EXPECTED TO BE ON PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES BY NEXT THURSDAY. I think I will watch that movie again as it is about getting home for thanksgiving 🙂

    I just cant see this ending well and you will get it on your news when there is another spike in infections – about 2 weeks after next Thursday.

    Hope I am not boring anybody. I think this will be a good guideline for what happens at Xmas in the UK as Thanksgiving is about a month before. If it works out and there are few infections then maybe the UK and US can get back to some sort of normalcy for Xmas. I highly doubt it though. You should see the lines for COVID tests in Chicago and this is with ICUs already full.

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  60. i dont think any party would have got it right to keep everyone happy its a swine of problem,i never vote these days imo they all crooks and in it for themselves,but one thing i will say is i feel a bit sorry for Boris he came to power with some very good ideas dont know if all of it would happen but imo he would have given it go,then this **** kicked in.lets see how he goes when this **** eases,i for one i will give him a chance,what else can we do,dont rubbish the guy without giving him a chance,thats my last word on politics

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  61. Sharpy17: Stu – are you Boris Johnson in disguise or something??.
    You want people to take personal responsibility, but don’t feel the need to hold government to account – even the French government are getting a pass from you now .

    I think it’s fair to say that the vast majority are doing what is asked of them.There is definitely pockets of ****w!ts who are not – but the vast majority of people are doing the right thing.
    Where they have lost a lot of people is them not following their own advice & frustrated people will say ‘s0d this, if they aren’t why should we’.
    But that doesn’t fit your argument so that’ll be my fault.

    Boris must have attended the same school of management as Mike Ashley I reckon coz we’ve had failure after U-turn from this lot and not one person has paid the price.But call his missus princess nutty nuts & there’s the door .

    It blows my mind that you still don’t see that government failings and the handling of all of this is what’s really at fault.
    But it will come out in the end – and you’ll still make excuses for them.

    Actually, Sharpy I don’t know whether it’s the governments handling “that’s at fault”. What would you call a successful pandemic?

    I haven’t said the government are faultless and certainly don’t think they’re infallible – have you not been reading my posts. I’ve been the biggest critic of the government’s lockdown policy on this blog. I’m simply making the point that very few governments are getting no stick from their citizens.

    It’s interesting that France have had the most confirmed cases in Europe – 2m!! Yet they have less people dying than us. Why is that? Is that the governments fault that less people have got it here but more have died? Or is it perhaps the fabled NHS? Maybe our society? Or the aging population? What about our massively over populated and high density cities?

    Surely it can’t all be the governments fault.

    I’d also pull you up on your view that “most people are doing as they’re told”. That’s nonsense. Absolute rubbish. If that was the case more than 10% of the population would have downloaded the app, you wouldn’t see people sat together in pubs, restaurants and cars and you wouldn’t have people strolling around supermarkets without washing their hands or socially distancing. I see every week at Tesco, Kingston Park.

    Have the government got things wrong? Absolutely – the lockdown being one of them. The delay in test and trace another, the ridiculous calculations for Covid deaths (within 28 days) is another but getting criticised for following their own rules (BJ), the NHS sending old people with Covid back to care homes and not having a crystal ball about Christmas isn’t their fault.

    I’d like to see the NHS come under the spotlight a little here instead of it being beautified every week. Also private care homes who charge £100,000’s per year but the first sign of their “customers” needing help they plead poverty and demand the government help them.

    Bit of balance would be good.

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  62. icedog:
    i dont think any party would have got it right to keep everyone happy its a swine of problem,i never vote these days imo they all crooks and in it for themselves,but one thing i will say is i feel a bit sorry for Boris he came to power with some very good ideas dont know if all of it would happenbut imo he would have given it go,then this **** kicked in.lets see how he goes when this **** eases,i for one i will give him a chance,what else can we do,dontrubbish the guy without giving him a chance,thats my last word on politics

    Well said, Ice. I don’t think many wouldn’t be happy unless we had zero deaths and zero cases. Expectations seem rather high…

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  63. STU everybody has a view mostly (wrong) because can anybody tell me what country has got it right NONE so people saying this or that have not taken a world view of this dam thing

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  64. These bleeding SAGE scientists need a volley too! Apparently they used Wikipedia for some of their modelling! Jesus Christ! I could log on and change things on that site ffs!

    Governments fault for believing them?

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  65. Stuart79: Actually, Sharpy I don’t know whether it’s the governments handling “that’s at fault”. What would you call a successful pandemic?

    I haven’t said the government are faultless and certainly don’t think they’re infallible – have you not been reading my posts. I’ve been the biggest critic of the government’s lockdown policy on this blog. I’m simply making the point that very few governments are getting no stick from their citizens.

    It’s interesting that France have had the most confirmed cases in Europe – 2m!! Yet they have less people dying than us. Why is that? Is that the governments fault that less people have got it here but more have died? Or is it perhaps the fabled NHS? Maybe our society? Or the aging population? What about our massively over populated and high density cities?

    Surely it can’t all be the governments fault.

    I’d also pull you up on your view that “most people are doing as they’re told”. That’s nonsense. Absolute rubbish. If that was the case more than 10% of the population would have downloaded the app, you wouldn’t see people sat together in pubs, restaurants and cars and you wouldn’t have people strolling around supermarkets without washing their hands or socially distancing. I see every week at Tesco, Kingston Park.

    Have the government got things wrong? Absolutely – the lockdown being one of them. The delay in test and trace another, the ridiculous calculations for Covid deaths (within 28 days) is another but getting criticised for following their own rules (BJ), the NHS sending old people with Covid back to care homes and not having a crystal ball about Christmas isn’t their fault.

    I’d like to see the NHS come under the spotlight a little here instead of it being beautified every week. Also private care homes who charge £100,000’s per year but the first sign of their “customers” needing help they plead poverty and demand the government help them.

    Bit of balance would be good.

    Stu – it’s ONLY the lockdown decision I’ve seen you criticise of the government decisions.

    You want to look at the NHS – ok, let’s talk about the lack of PPE they had or what about the fact they were vastly under staff and the government had to get people out of retirement and fast track students just to have the staff to cope – because for years before it the NHS was stripped to the bare bones.

    I genuinely accept that this is a complete enigma of a virus & must be so difficult to manage. I accept there will be mistakes made and don’t expect perfection. I also know there will be deaths and certainly don’t look at Boris Johnson as having blood on his hands – I honestly don’t.

    But I do think things could have been done better. I think that contracts have gone to the wrong people for the wrong reasons & ultimately (like Ashley is at NUFC) Boris is in charge of it all, so I do hold him responsible.

    I’m not Labour or Lib Dem or anything like that and don’t think any of them would have done so much better.

    It may please you to hear that I take back a bit, my thought that the vast majority are doing the right thing.
    I stopped off at Sainsburys today on my way to drop some things off for the wife’s elderly Aunty & couldn’t believe the number of people wheeling trolleys round full of Christmas **** – non essential shopping & certainly not the point of the lockdown.

    I get Christmas is round the corner and so many other shops are closed, but do people so desperately need a bit tinsel or plastic rudolf??.

    It’s senseless mate. The spread seems to have gone up since the lockdown, when the NE seemed to be getting a grip of it on the tier system. All the talk just now is lockdown, then 5 days break over Christmas, straight back into lockdown.

    I don’t know if you have kids mate, but I worry what the next 5-10 years look like for my son – and that worries me more than anything else right now.

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  66. icedog:
    STUeverybody has a view mostly (wrong) because can anybody tell me what country has got it right NONE so people saying this or that have not taken a world view of this dam thing

    Ice – like I say, I’m not Labour p!ssed and saying they would have done better. I’m also not expecting 100% perfection.
    But I will call them out for mistakes that I think could have been avoided, or decisions they made to line the pockets of friends and family members.
    If they want us to make such life adjustments like lockdowns & furlough – then I expect honesty & I expect them to lead by example & I don’t think we’ve had either.

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  67. Ice – I would also say that it’s because I take the view that the whole world is going through it that I can say our government have handled it so badly – we have the worst figures of all of them ??‍♂️.

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  68. icedog:
    STUeverybody has a view mostly (wrong) because can anybody tell me what country has got it right NONE so people saying this or that have not taken a world view of this dam thing

    Australia.

    We’ve had less than 30K cases all year, and 90% of them were in Victoria.

    Brisbane – the city – has had 0 deaths related to Covid.

    Our national borders have been closed since March or April and state borders have been mostly closed during that time.

    That seems pretty successful.

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  69. Stuart79: private care homes who charge £100,000’s per year but the first sign of their “customers” needing help they plead poverty and demand the government help them.

    That’s exactly what ‘the market’ is best at: privatising the profits and socialising the losses.

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  70. Brisvegas: Australia.

    We’ve had less than 30K cases all year, and 90% of them were in Victoria.

    Brisbane – the city – has had 0 deaths related to Covid.

    Our national borders have been closed since March or April and state borders have been mostly closed during that time.

    That seems pretty successful.

    Bris – exactly the type of avoidable mistake I’m in about mate.

    Instead of locking down our borders and airports, we lockdown the National while flying in workers to harvest our crops.
    I believe we are on around 2 million flights into the UK during COVID – that’s not flying UK residents back from being stranded in another Country.

    Only one of the avoidable mistakes mind you – there’s a good few more.

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  71. 2 corrections for the last post –

    ‘On about rather than in about’

    And

    ‘Lock down the nation rather than National’ ???

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  72. Brisvegas: Australia.

    We’ve had less than 30K cases all year, and 90% of them were in Victoria.

    Brisbane – the city – has had 0 deaths related to Covid.

    Our national borders have been closed since March or April and state borders have been mostly closed during that time.

    That seems pretty successful.

    I agree it looks pretty successful. Although all countries are different. A country with 20m people in a country the size of Australia is a natural geographical advantage.

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  73. We have a very outside chance of getting something against Chelsea because we are the early game and all of their players have been on international duty. If I was Lampard I would be complaining too. I think we are the longest trip they have to take. Still, the odds for a Chelsea win are 2/7 and a NUFC win are 8/1.

    We could easily be 15th after the weekend. Leeds and Man U are a point behind us and have home games against Arsenal and West Brom, respectively. Leeds and Arsenal is very hard to call because you never know which team is going to turn up.

    So, it will probably be 15th after a quarter of the season. Will Bruce’s pundit pals still be saying he is doing a great job? It is only because the bottom 4 have been so appalling that we are not close to a relegation battle. But wait, Bruce still has time and who knows how long Wilson and Fraser will be out.

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