Newcastle 3-2 West Ham: Mags move NINE clear of safety in crazy game at St James’ Park

And breathe!! A five-goal thriller at St James’ Park and frankly ridiculous game of football.

After going in 2-0 up at the break against a 10-men West Ham side, we looked set to throw away two precious points and leave with a frustrating 2-2 draw…until Joe Willock’s late header secured a massive 3-2 win!

Saint-Maximin forced Diop into an early own goal and Joelinton made it two thanks to an awful Fabianski error, however a Diop header at the other end was followed by a late Lingard penalty – only for our Arsenal loanee to turn up with yet another crucial strike of his own in the 83rd minute.

The result sends us NINE clear of third bottom Fulham and sends us up to 15th, handing our survival hopes another monumental boost.

It was a nail-biting end and very nearly a disastrous result after some truly awful game management in the second half, but we showed our character in the end and hung on for a precious three points.

There was just ONE change made by Steve Bruce from last Sunday’s 2-1 win over Burnley, seeing Allan Saint-Maximin come in for Dwight Gayle – a decision that saw Callum Wilson start from the bench once again.

West Ham were without FOUR first-team players in Michail Antonio, Declan Rice, Aaron Cresswell and Arthur Masuaku, however they were boosted by the return of Angelo Ogbonna – the Italian centre-back who’s been one of their standout performers this season.

The game kicked off at a sunny St James’ Park and it was a pretty cagey opening 10 minutes. Aside from a deflected Longstaff shot after some good work from Almiron and a burst into the box by Saint-Maximin, there was little to report.

Joelinton had started with a few nice layoffs and pounced on a loose ball to get Dawson booked 12 minutes in, beating his man before being cynically fouled. The resultant free kick came to nothing but was followed a few minutes later by a swift counter-attack that ended in a well hit strike from Murphy forcing Fabianski into his first save of the match.

A needless trip from Shelvey then got him in the referees book, and the stand-in skipper was then beaten in the air by the resultant free-kick – only for Dawson’s powerful header to fly straight at Dubravka.

20 minutes in and it’s fair to say we had shaded it. West Ham had 63% of the ball but looked laboured on it, while we were showing real intent on the break, getting shots away and seeing ASM get plenty of joy in that pocket between midfield and defence.

One criticism was the cheap free kicks we were handing to a big West Ham side who score a lot of goals from set pieces. We’d defended well on the whole in the opening 30 minutes, but began to sit deeper and deeper as the half wore on – handing confidence to a Hammers side who hadn’t really been at the races so far.

Five minutes later, the biggest moment of the first half arrived to hand us a HUGE double boost.

Joelinton reacted first to an awful touch on half-way from Dawson and was clattered by the big centre-back; who’d already been booked. Saint-Maximin latched onto the loose ball, burst past Noble and saw his shot across goal deflect in off Diop. 1-0 Newcastle AND a deserved second yellow for Dawson to put the Hammers down to 10 men!

If one up and a man up wasn’t enough, we then benefited from yet another West Ham error just a few minutes later – only this time it was Joelinton who benefited.

Ritchie floated a corner into the box and Fabianski somehow dropped the ball, gifting Joelinton a tap in! Two goals in three for the Brazilian – capping off an impressive first half from the big man – and 2-0 to the Toon!

We almost made it three before the break, with an inspired Joelinton shifting it wide and firing a shot across goal that was well saved, however we settled for two and went into the break with our trails well and truly up.

West Ham looked rattled and ragged, being well below their best and full of costly errors, but that can’t take away from the way we pounced on mistakes and hit them on the break. We’d also defended well up until this point, keeping danger man Jesse Lingard quiet and often winning first and second balls from free kicks.

The players came out for the second half and it really did feel like we were 45 minutes away from safety. I’m sure I joined every Newcastle fan in still being a tad anxious – we rarely do things the easy way – but this was a MASSIVE chance to make it back to back wins and move NINE points clear of third bottom Fulham.

West Ham continued to have more of the ball and looked eager to land an immediate response, showing the urgency they often lacked in the first 45. That said, we were the side managing to get shots away as we continued to find space on the counter.

Sitting deep and surrendering possession was a little frustrating – giving the away side belief they might be able to mount an unlikely comeback. It didn’t look like 11 vs 10 and they were still just a goal away from getting right back into this.

I’d have been tempted to take Shelvey off at this point. Not only is he about as mobile as my 87-year-old gran, he was on a booking and therefore one silly tackle away from making it 10 vs 10.

With 64 minutes on the clock, Bruce brought Wilson on – a man who has eight goals in nine career appearances against the Hammers. Worryingly, however, he replaced the outstanding Saint-Maximin who looked in a bit of pain as he limped slowly off the pitch.

At this point we were continuing to invite West Ham onto us, giving them 60% of the ball, several corners and a few half chances that fortunately didn’t find the net, with a Coufal header hit straight at Dubravka to keep it at 2-0.

We looked edgy and had gone into our shells. Our major weapon on the counter was off in Saint-Maximin and we were struggling to keep the ball. 20 minutes remaining, 2-0 up and against 10 men, yet it did feel like we were asking for trouble.

A few minutes later and we got what we were asking for. Bowen floated a ball into the box and Diop beat the offside trap to head home past Dubravka. 2-1 and a really poor goal to give away, leaving us with a needlessly nervy final 15.

Danger then turned into disaster as a careless Clark handball was checked by VAR. It looked dodgy and Kevin Friend pointed to the spot after checking the monitor. Lingard stepped up and smashed the ball in off the post. 2-2 and a complete and utter collapse from Newcastle, yet one we were asking for following such a negative and passive approach to the second half.

As if by magic, we suddenly responded like a side playing against 10 men and started to attack again, with Willock replacing Sean Longstaff.

First we had Murphy denied by an incredible goal-line clearance after Joelinton, Wilson and Almiron combined on the counter. An unbearable close shave, but we went one better just seconds later.

Ritchie swung in and inviting cross from the left and Willock arrived in the box as he so often does. He climbed highest, and powered his header in off the crossbar to make it 3-2! It shouldn’t have come to this, but it was a brilliant response and yet another decisive late goal from the Arsenal loanee.

Moments later, West Ham’s man of the moment Jesse Lingard looked in some pain and was holding his hamstring, forcing the Hammers to bring on Lanzini in his place.

To Bruce’s bemusement, the fourth official then signalled there’d be EIGHT minutes of added on time, giving West Ham time to find yet another equaliser in this frankly ridiculous game of football.

We ran down the clock expertly for the first half of stoppage time but conceded a corner that thankfully came to nothing. Two minutes remaining and you got the feeling we were 120 seconds from safety.

Andy Carroll then came on for a late cameo against his former club and we saw the game out, confirming back to back wins and a surprise double of Champions League chasing West Ham!

A crazy 98 minutes of football that involved just about every emotion, but ultimately a monumental win that moves us within touching distance of Premier League survival.

Next up, a tough-looking trip to face Liverpool at Anfield next Saturday lunchtime.

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About Olly Hawkins

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

277 thoughts on “Newcastle 3-2 West Ham: Mags move NINE clear of safety in crazy game at St James’ Park

  1. What Dean Smith said was that he was born in 1972 and Villa were in the old 3rd division. By the time he was 10 they had won the old 1st division and then the Champiions League. Would that be possible with this money grabbing cartel?

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  2. Matt Law from the Telegraph has written in the Telegraph that Daniel Levy was the main person who lobbied the PL to turn down the Saudi’s takeover. Can see why now…

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  3. Chelsea fans turning up at tonight’s game in force to protest.

    Has anything ever United different clubs supporters like this? More impressive is the most vociferous of these fans are the ones who’s clubs are involved.

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  4. I’m still waiting for someone to explain to me how Spurs can be considered a top 6 club, they have no European history so to speak and no league titles. H ell Notts Forest have more pedigree than Spurs.

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  5. kimtoon:
    I’m still waiting for someone to explain to me how Spurs can be considered a top 6 club, they have no European history so to speak and no league titles. H ell Notts Forest have more pedigree than Spurs.

    And Villa!

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  6. Must say I’m surprised Newcastle haven’t made a statement along with a lot of the other clubs.

    Wolves have said on Twitter that football in the UK will survive with or without those who want to ruin it. Too true. Let’s get it back to what it should be – a sport.

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  7. Kim – Domestically Blackburn Rovers, Derby, Villa, Leicester and Forest have won more prestigious trophies than Spurs over the last 30 years.

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  8. Shiny new stadium though, although I think they abadoned the cheese room. But beer still fills up from the bottom when they allow people back in.

    Their Spurs wall of fans was modelled on Dortmund who turned down this farce.

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  9. Stu: they used to have a pretend day called “St Totteringham’s Day”. It was making fun of the fact that **** always won the FA Cup and there was a day when they would overtake Spurs in the league. Quite funny that they are now 7th and 9th but still part of the “BIG 6”.

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  10. Chelsea first club to fold.

    Are we finally seeing supporters wrestle back control of football? I hope so.

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  11. Just watched the Chelsea fans being told the club were withdrawing. Could have been Petr Chech and they celebrated like they’d won a cup. Brilliant – just brilliant. Really does show that supporters value fair competition over closed shops motivated purely by greed. They’d have been one of the biggest beneficiaries too.

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  12. Chelsea are now preparing to withdraw from Super Leage. Man City next. Pep pretty much said he would lobby against it.

    Liverpool have a history of backing down when they see the fans dont like what they are doing.

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  13. What I like about this blog is that everybody was on the same page and saw through this and saw it would fail. But at the same time you can never defend Uefa and Fifa or even the PL high ups.

    When this fails, there are heroes and they are Dean Smith and Pep Giordiola. Klopp to a lesser extent but you could see he was mad in his interviews yesterday.

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  14. This was in the sh!tter when Pep and Klopp were against it. No matter what the money men had to say they need managers. Imagine Ed Woodward managing Man U, they would be down ther sith Sunderland.

    It will resurface soon because of the corruption in the rest of the game.

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  15. Said it would be Chelsea and City that would cause the implosion but it was obvious anyway.

    Why would teams who are propped up by private money with no debt want to help their rivals?

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  16. It could be argued that Abramovitch and Sheik Mansour have saved English football after being accused of ruining it. They didn’t ruin it – they made it more competitive. What ruined it is when it was decided FFP would be introduced so others could t do the same.

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  17. People on here never waivered. Never said there was any part of this was good except that the authorities should be penned back. A victory for football.

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  18. We are seeing a bursting bubble before our very eyes. This was their last throw of the dice. It’s failed.

    Here’s a thought – why don’t these clubs stop spending ridiculous amounts of money on players and wages… Too radical?

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  19. I dont get this. How can I see this quicksand caving for the dirty dozen from 4 thousand miles away and these so called journalists report it like it is fact and and innevitable?

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  20. Wouldn’t surprise me if this is the beginning of the end of the ownership at Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool. They’ll know they can’t manipulate the system to maximise their profits.

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  21. You are wrong Stuart abot the end of ownership.

    The prices ar too high to find buyers.

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  22. It is quite funny that 3 people and 4 clubs managed to turn the football world and even countries against them.

    These people are Agnelli, Woodward and Perez.

    The clubs are Manu, Juve, Madrid and Barca, whatever they pretend now.

    48 hours is all it took to make them pariahs.

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  23. Oh, c’mon. PR saying Woodward was going to leave at the end of the season anyway and his resignation has nothing to do with ESL debacle 🙂

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  24. I’d still be hitting them clubs with punishment. Subtlety of course. Take away some of their perks of qualifying for the CL and remove these CEO’s of the clubs from PL boards.

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  25. There have to be some Spurs jokes when this falls apart comnpletely. I Havent seen any yet but will post a few when I see them.

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  26. Eric Sykes:
    You are wrong Stuart abot the end of ownership.

    The prices ar too high to find buyers.

    The other side of the coin is – will the valuations get better or worse? These guys will want out now they know they can’t do what they wanted. They’d all still make fantastic profits btw.

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  27. Stuart79:
    Just watched the Chelsea fans being told the club were withdrawing. Could have been Petr Chech and they celebrated like they’d won a cup. Brilliant – just brilliant. Really does show that supporters value fair competition over closed shops motivated purely by greed. They’d have been one of the biggest beneficiaries too.

    Stu – yeah, I have a new found respect for the Chelsea fans after tonight. They did it the right way – no naughtiness, no arrests, nothing to distract from the message.

    I went on to watch the game, and this super league team was matched by Brighton – there’s a real chance that 4 of the so called top 6 don’t make top 4 – and 2 might not make top 6.

    When all 6 have tucked tail and come back – when, not if – they should all be told that if they pull **** again there will be strong punishment.

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  28. Completely unraveling. Almost comical if it wasn’t so disgusting.

    How easy will it be for these clubs to extricate themselves? Will JP Morgan be eligible for some kind of penalties?

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  29. All English clubs have confirmed they’re leaving the ESL. It’s pure spin and it’s embarrassing. They need punishing.

    Greame Souness has made a great point. How on earth can the other 14 PL clubs trust these leeches ever again? They’ve shown their cards – they lost but this should never be forgotten.

    On a more personal note doesn’t this make the rejection of our takeover more of a joke? The word competition kept getting used. Even by the PL. They are the ones who got used by these same teams to reject it.

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  30. The Uefa President called Woodward a snake in his starement before all this fell apart. Woodward as late as last Thursday on a phone call with him had said he backed the Uefa plan and there was nothing else going on. This **** that he was set to step down at the end of the year anyway is yet another lie. Hopefully he will be gone from football for good.

    Hopefully this will not embolden Uefa, Fifa or the PL as they are a bunch of useless, corrupt cnts as well.

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  31. And nobody really knows what the new Uefa plan is anyway. It is called a Swiss plan and is stupidly complicated but amidst all of this uproar I think it passed.

    Remember FIFA are the ones who let Qatar bribe their way to a World Cup and changed the whole football calandar to fit in with it AFTER THE FACT.

    There are no winners or good guys here.

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  32. There were rumours of pressure from Spurs and Liverpool to stop our takeover. We have to assume these were true now after project big picture and now the ESL. There must be some sort of paper trail, e-mail trail, text trail, phone call trail in all of this that would implicate Masters and Hoffman. Not sure how much it would help us but it probably would as everybody now sees the corruption in football.

    I would hate to see Boris and the admistrators of football coming out as the good guys because they have all been doing double dealing as well. Just because a bunch of mafia like crooks did an end run around them doesn’t make them any less of crooks.

    My hope is Masters and Hoffman will not want another scandal and will let the NUFC takeover proceed. The Saudis cannot be any worse than the nest of vipers in the “big 6” and their snakepit allies in Europe.

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  33. A minority of rich people try to manipulate the system so that they get richer and all the rest can go to hell. Hmm, where have I seen that before?

    It’s good to see that people saw through it when it applies to football. We just need for you to see how it is a metaphor for how politics is run these days.

    I have no problem with a Euro Super League as long as teams get there on merit and there is promotion and relegation, and it is just another tier in the pyramid.

    The ESL as attempted is just pure unadulterated elitist born-to-rule corrupt greed. Just like unfettered capitalism.

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  34. Brisvegas:
    A minority of rich people try to manipulate the system so that they get richer and all the rest can go to hell. Hmm, where have I seen that before?

    EVERYWHERE 🙂

    My only fear is that this will give impetus to the NUST 1% scheme that is doomed to fail. They may take heart from this defeat for the Elites but theirs is an equally stupid plan as the ESL was, just in a different way.

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  35. I think the roof came crashing down after Pep spoke. You had probably the most respected man in football just trash the plan systematically but in a non agressive way. I think he would have quit Citeh if they had gone ahead with this. I think Klopp would have done the same at Liverpool.

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  36. I watched Klopp’s full interview before the Leeds game and you could see he was incredibly agitated but couldnt say what he wanted to say. He was like a cat on a hot tin roof, a bomb ready to explode.

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  37. Eric Sykes: My only fear is that this will give impetus to the NUST 1% scheme that is doomed to fail. They may take heart from this defeat for the Elites but theirs is an equally stupid plan as the ESL was

    Equally stupid? On the same scale? Just as self-serving?

    And you fear it will be successful? You don’t want it to happen?

    Look, you’re entitled to have a point of view, no matter how ridiculous it is, which it often is, but to put the ESL and the NUST in the same category and then go banging on about how stupid Newcastle fans are every day, in the same hairy chested ego-driven way, is bordering on the psychotic. It’s ok if you are too much of a skinflint to support your club or are a pathological negative nellie, just admit it and move on. Admitting you have a problem, they say, is half the battle.

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  38. OK then BrisV 🙂 You are are a crazy man, just crazy.

    I met this Aus in Chicago and he was a bit like you. Went off his litium and it was not good. Got deported.

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  39. And I am absolutely not negative about NUFC. I am probably too optinistic most weeks about the score.

    What I am negative about is useless agendas and proposals from NUST that will never work.

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  40. You really are a w@nker arnet you BrisV… I have never said anything out of order on here about Bruce or the ESL but you have to have a go at me.

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  41. I have never met a happy Aussie. I could explain, but I will let BrisV expain how he is not happy.

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  42. This sentence in the statement from the ESL is beyond belief “ Despite the announced departure of the English clubs, forced to take such decisions due to the pressure on them.”

    That pressure came from fans. The most important people in the entire game. It’s almost like they hold us with contempt and are a hinderance.

    They’ll come back. We need to change football in this country for good. It needs to be something among the lines of solid concrete contracts that state UK football clubs can’t play in non UEFA/FIFA sanctioned competitions without consent of their fans and PL.

    Something needs to be done because these greedy twats will keep coming. Spurs statement said as much.

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  43. I have zero problem with people getting rich – it’s part of life and is a main driver. To improve your life and that if your family is natural. But to do it in a way that means nobody else can do it also is unfair. It’s immoral.

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  44. Stuart79: To improve your life and that if your family is natural. But to do it in a way that means nobody else can do it also is unfair. It’s immoral.

    I’m glad to see you have finally woken up to what’s going on.

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  45. Brisvegas: I’m glad to see you have finally woken up to what’s going on.

    It’s not “going on” though is it. It’s been stopped. It’s also not happening in life either. Anybody has a chance to improve their lives and get rich. Many of the worlds richest people started with nothing. Weren’t handed anything on a plate and the next billionaires will be the same.

    You have a victim mentality. You are blurring the lines and this ESL proposition was nothing like the reality of the world.

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  46. The Dirty Dozen have shot themselves in the foot. They are the only ones who could possibly reform the corrupt Uefa, Fifa and PL and now they have handed them all a PR win. The CL changes were pushed through whilst all of this nonsense was going on. Both the CL and Europa League are deeply flawed and the FA Cup is getting to be meaningless.

    There is a need for change in football but these clubs have set it back at least a couple of years with their own power grab and greed.

    Now what do Masters and Hoffman do with NUFC? We know they colluded with at the very least Spurs and Liverpool to block the takeover. Does this latest fiasco embolden them to act even more as Monarchs as they see the unwinding of the ESL as a victory? Or do they look at the so called big 6 and think their power needs to be diluted and adding the Saudis into the mix might help?

    These PL rules are all open to interpretation so they could pass a takeover of NUFC if they wanted and stick 2 fingers up to the “big 6” who went behind their backs.

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  47. I also think there was a groundswell amongst a lot of supporters of – just let them go, we will be better off without them. Certianly Stuart thought that. The problem was that they wanted their cake and to eat it too. They wanted to stay in the PL and play their CARTEL games midweek.

    If we could get rid of them, I think I would be for that. How many NUFC/Man City games have any of us enjoyed in the past 10 years? It is depressing, backs to the wall stuff. I admire the talent that Man City have but I hardly watch any of their games because most are just boring. May as well just watch the highlights.

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  48. BUT… the 2 things that really killed the Super League were:

    1. Pep Guardiola’s press conference where he went against everything his owners were doing and had the courage to do so. They knew he would walk if they pressed on with this wrongheaded plan.

    2. The UK Govt saying they would change laws to combat this.

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  49. Not as big of a factor, but I think FSG knew Klopp would also walk if they didnt back down and then they would have a revolt at Liverpool.

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  50. Could be an interesting angle that how the players of the other clubs react when playing these so-called top six? So far Leeds and Brighton stopped them winning and Southampton are winning. Have they unintentionally made every team in the league put more effort in against them?

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  51. At least Spurs have beer that fills from the bottom of the glass and they did plan and cancel a cheese room. 1-0 down to Saints.

    You ever been to Tottenham Stuart. I played cricket near their ground once and it is all terraced houses and was a bit run down. Went to see a band nearby as well and it was well rough as they would say. Now you probably pay a million quid for one of those crappy houses so they think it is posh.

    The new stadium is like a space ship landed on a grubby part of London.

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  52. So,

    No Manager
    No Cheese Room
    No Stadium Sponsor
    No Champions League
    No Top 6
    No European Champions League
    Probably No League Cup either

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  53. Eric, I was lucky enough to be at the game last season when Joelinton scored the winner. The surrounding area is not pleasant but the new stadium is great. However they happened to do it at the wrong time. I’m not sure how they will cope to be honest in the next few years. What a shame…

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  54. I am still laughing at Man U saying Woodward was leaving at the end of the year anyway and it has nothing to do with the Super League. How can they continue to bare faced lie!!!

    He was one of the main divers behind the ESL so the only way he was leaving Man U was to head that up, especially with his past connections to JP Morgan.

    They take us for fools and even when they are called out for their lies they continue their spin.

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  55. Lucky Spurs.

    I still think they will finish 7th.

    Liverpool 4th

    Leceister 5th

    West Ham 6th

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  56. Foden is doing well now. I said 3 years ago he was the future of English football.

    We really have a chance at the Euros with him Kane and Grealish. You can add Mason Mount and Stirling and we probably have the best attack in world football. Yes, better than Belgium.

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  57. I am still not totally sold on Rice, although I think he is a good player. It might be the typical West Ham over-hype from the Southern press. Still not sure.

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  58. Eric, I agree with you. Is there a country anywhere in the world with a better group of attacking players? Kane, Rashford, Greenwood, Sterling, Sancho, Bellingham, Grealish, Foden and Mount. Probably missed some too. Outstanding.

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  59. The big 6 have made such a huge mistake with all of this. There is a far better way of making more money than the super league – which would be better for fans & keeps other PL side in the money too. Take Liverpool for example:

    Anfield can hold around 53k fans & if they are playing on a Saturday 3pm, it’s really only those fans that can watch the game. But Liverpool have around 93 million global followers – thats a lot of people not watching the game.

    But there is no reason other than that Sky have the monopoly on televising those games – there are cameras at every game, and often you have a better selection of live games outside of England.

    Imagine if they charged a fan as little as 99p to watch a match?!

    Even if only 10% of followers bought in – just shy of £10m a game!!.

    Man Utd have 145m followers globally – again, even if only 10% bought in – £14.5m … and when Liverpool play Man Utd – well you’d expect more than 10% for a game like that, but even if not, combined £24.5m for one game .. not bad going.

    Every club could sign up to it. Every fan gets to watch EVERY game their team plays for as little as 99p.

    Sky take their cut, the club get their cut & fans get greater access to their teams.

    Sky has to catch up. The cheeky F’ers tried to put on PPV games during a pandemic – trying to charge on top of their already inflated subscription fees when fans had no other way of watching football.

    The 6 tried to leave for more money, so the PL & Sky need to think about how they generate that so everyone benefits imo.

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  60. Stuart79:
    Eric, I agree with you. Is there a country anywhere in the world with a better group of attacking players? Kane, Rashford, Greenwood, Sterling, Sancho, Bellingham, Grealish, Foden and Mount. Probably missed some too. Outstanding.

    I also agree. Bellingham looks one hell of a player, but is only 17.

    I’m a huge fan of Foden, I think he’s the most technically gifted English footballer since Gazza. The lad is brilliant. But Mount is just the complete midfielder for me, and such a consistently good player. It’s mad to think he hasn’t had 2 full seasons in the PL yet, and he’s probably the first name on Chelsea’s team sheet.

    My concern though is our CBs & keeper.

    I don’t trust Pickford, and I’m not totally sold on Pope or Henderson.

    CB wise – Maguire is a carthorse, Stone switches off too often, Mings and Coady aren’t good enough imo.

    I like Rice a lot, I think he’s a good player & leader on the pitch, and I like Phillips from Leeds.

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  61. Sharpy: I have also said for 3 years now that the TRex mackem will lose us a big game at a big tournament. He does not have the temperament and screams at his defenders. I think John Terry would have lamped him.

    I dont care if Pope or Henderson are not top 10 in the world keepers, they are not Pickford and that’s all that matters.

    I would still pick Darlow ahead of Pickford, I think his demeanor is not good for the team.

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  62. I forgot about Greenwood. Not ready yet, but he will be a superstar. Pity he plays for those d!cks.

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  63. What can the PL so to punish the so-called Dirty Half-Dozen? Not a lot. They can kick their double agents off the committees. Bruce Buck and others who pretty much lied to the PL and fed information back to their clubs. I would say ban all of these clubs reps for a year from the committees. Masters has asked them to resign.

    Then you set up more checks and balances to make this more difiicult in the future. This may involve the Govt for the PL but it does nothing to Uefa where you know the full dirty dozen will continue with their dirty tricks.

    Then there is the owners and directors test. You know that will be reformed but it will not affect the current owners. We better get this arbitraion moving because you know it will affect NUFC and make it harder for the takeover to happen.

    I just cannot see fines and points deductions as the clubs and their fanboys in the media will say it is punishing the fans not the owners. I know Gary Neville wanted it but I bet he changes his mind or says nothing. Of course Rio will be against it. He found a partial spine for 5 minutes but will return to his usual Mike Ashley loving self soon enough.

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  64. Sharpy – I agree to a degree on the broadcasting idea you have but it would need to be distributed to a degree. Obviously the club who’s sold the game would get majority but the opposition need some too. Otherwise we’re back to square one with Liverpool and Man Utd just getting bigger and bigger. General broadcasting rights need to be kept too but why don’t the Premier League set up their own broadcasting company?

    But having said all that, one way of increasing profits would be to just stop paying players ludicrous wages and stop paying outrageous transfer fees. The clubs can’t afford it. It’s no good coming up with new ways of raising revenue if it just goes back to the players. It will never end. Football needs a reality check and it needs to come back down to earth.

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  65. I dont understand how Real Madrid and Barca can be in so much debt. They get the lions share of Spanish TV money and Real won like 4 of 5 Champions Leagues until recently and Barca have Messi. You have to be monumentally stupid to lose money with all that going for you. It cant just be players’ wages. I doubt that Messi even needs to be paid, he can make much more on advertising and social media.

    I read somewhere that James Rodrigues has more than 100 million twitter followers. Like it or not but you can monetise that and make a fortune. Messi must have even more.

    I think what I am saying is that this power/money grab is because a lot of the owners have been stupid. Same with Inter and AC owners but they have also had some **** teams.

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