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. Can’t see those 6 clubs getting punished at all really, removing some of their executives from committees is a nothing punishment as they will just put another guy of the same ilk on them as replacements.
    They should be barred from European competition for a year at least.

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  2. Stuart79:
    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.

    Stu – if a team has a bigger fan base and their fans are paying in, I have no issue with them getting more money.
    If Liverpool were playing away at Burnley for example – Burnley would still get the revenue of the match day as they do now. But if Liverpool had 10m fans paying to watch the game & Burnley only had 1m – Liverpool should get the bigger portion. Burnley will still make more than they ordinarily would doing it that way.

    The whole problem is the big clubs are saying ‘we are the draw here’, people tune in to watch our players & we have to pay the bigger fees & pay the higher wages, yet they don’t feel like they are getting a fair slice.

    It would also put more power to the fans – certainly more than protesting or trust funds.
    How many NUFC fans pay their quid for Ashley or Bruce?.

    It incentivises the clubs to grow their fan base and look after their fans – they are the ones that will generate a far large sum of the club’s revenues.

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  3. That’s fair enough, Sharpy but would Liverpool get 10 million viewers if they were playing themselves…

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  4. Lee Ryder has outdone himself. He says in The Chronic how the failed coup will enhance NUFC takeover and then goes on to explain who was involved like we all didnt know. He makes no mention of HOW it will change things at NUFC. Another 5 minutes I have wasted hoping Wor Lee would actually do some juornalism and not just settle for click bait. He does this all the time when a headline hints at something and he doesnt cover it.

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  5. This is not last years LIverpool, though they have picked up a bit lately. Allison is not as good as advertised, especially by the fans. They are definatley missing Gomes and Van Dijk at centre back. Then there is the midfield. Gini has supposedly signed a pre-deal with Inter and Milner is starting. The 3 forwards are not firing, even to the extent that Klopp replaced Salah with Jota.

    Dont get me wrong, this is still a good team and a good dose of Bruce’s NUFC usually fixes what ails you. But 4th or 5th is probably a fair relflection of where this team are at the moment. They havent been playing well since the return after Covid last year.

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  6. I know it was much earlier in the season, but if everything is rosy you dont get beat 7-2 by Villa. Or lose 6 at home on the spin, or lose to Fulham. Hopefully the ESL has been a further distraction. It certainly was in Klopp’s interviews at Leeds. I have never seen him so flustered. He was talking a million miles an hour and trying not to go against the owners whilst saying he knew nothing about it until the rest of us did. If it had gone ahead I think he would have walked and that cannot be good for Liverpool morale. FC Bayern are looking for a Manager.

    Howay The Lads.

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  7. Watched a former President of Real Madrid on Sky who said they are skint and are spending 500 million Euros to revamp their ground. God does it need it. I was there 3 years ago and was shocked at the state of it. It is a relic of that awful ’60s concrete architecture, like a council estate in cramlington. It also reminded me of the South Bank in London 30 years ago which had basically been turned into a skateboard park and I even felt unsafe there and I am quite a big lad.

    They did have a lot of cops though. They confiscated my girlfiends mints. She speaks fluent Spanish and she said they had no explanation.

    There will be no punishments for this breakaway, except a short ban from committees. I would have them play qualifying games so there is a chance that some get knocked out before the competition even starts. It would give the rest of us a chance to name and shame. And play them in empty stadiums so they dont make any money off it. They have done that when fans have rioted or been racist.

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  8. Eric, the PL are so tone deaf I don’t believe this coup will make any difference whatsoever to them. They’ll still do the top clubs bidding.

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  9. icedog:
    ERIC whats your take on this,PL say they will win the case against the toon

    https://sportslens.com/the-premier-league-appears-confident-of-winning-newcastle-united-litigation-amid-300m-takeover-withdrawal/349245/

    It seems to say to me that they don’t believe the result of the arbitration will see a financial liability to be paid by the PL. It doesn’t really mean anything in regards to their confidence I doubt as NIFC aren’t wanting to litigate the PL for financial remuneration – they want prove the PL didn’t do their job correctly and therefore get the takeover approved.

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  10. icedog:
    ERIC whats your take on this,PL say they will win the case against the toon

    https://sportslens.com/the-premier-league-appears-confident-of-winning-newcastle-united-litigation-amid-300m-takeover-withdrawal/349245/

    Ice: what are they supposed to be “winning”? They never made a decsion so there is no decsion to defend. They wanted it to go to arbitration so a (kangaroo) court could decide on their own rule and they could hide behind that. But supposedly iy wasnt the Pif in the red corner and the PL in the blue corner. They were supposed to decide based on the facts.

    Who are Sportslens anyway. I wouldnt be taking their word for anything.

    I disagree with people like Ryder though who thinks the ESL fiasco will make it easeir for NUFC. It has focused the fans’ minds on money in football and having another state run club (after Man City and PSG, lets be serious about who owns them, will probably see fan opposition.

    We better get this done quick because I am sure they will change the rules as soon as this storm blows over a bit.

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  11. The only good news from the ESL as regards us is that the “Big 6” have lost all credibility in their opposition to our takeover. I would say Masters and Hoffman have as well as they allowed double agents into PL meetings. That should not sit well with the other 14. Do I think they will resign, Fck no. And I still think they will oppose the NUFC takeover even though they are supposedly no longer in the pockets of the “big 6”. Let’s see how long that lasts!!! They are all snakes and crooks.

    And even though I said the PL had not made a decsion, that was really a technicality and they were being dictated to by the big 6. I dont think that part of this will change. They had made up their minds in reality and that was to do all they could to block the NUFC takeover. You can bet that there was a lot of double dealing in the background.

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  12. Stuart79:
    That’s fair enough, Sharpy but would Liverpool get 10 million viewers if they were playing themselves…

    I don’t get what you mean by that mate?

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  13. Well I finally exchanged contracts on tuesday so now the job of packing starts, move on the 12th of may.

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  14. Stuart79: It seems to say to me that they don’t believe the result of the arbitration will see a financial liability to be paid by the PL. It doesn’t really mean anything in regards to their confidence I doubt as NIFC aren’t wanting to litigate the PL for financial remuneration – they want prove the PL didn’t do their job correctly and therefore get the takeover approved.

    great answer Stu

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  15. Eric Sykes:
    The only good news from the ESL as regards us is that the “Big 6” have lost all credibility in their opposition to our takeover. I would say Masters and Hoffman have as well as they allowed double agents into PL meetings. That should not sit well with the other 14. Do I think they will resign, Fck no. And I still think they will oppose the NUFC takeover even though they are supposedly no longer in the pockets of the “big 6”. Let’s see how long that lasts!!! They are all snakes and crooks.

    And even though I said the PL had not made a decsion, that was really a technicality and they were being dictated to by the big 6. I dont think that part of this will change. They had made up their minds in reality and that was to do all they could to block the NUFC takeover. You can bet that there was a lot of double dealing in the background.

    so in your mind its still up in the air then ❓

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  16. kimtoon:
    Well I finally exchanged contracts on tuesday so now the job of packing starts, move on the 12th of may.

    that great mate hope you got it your way,will someone see too Lewis while you move

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  17. Ice: even though Masters and Hoffman have been outed as shills for the Big 6 they will still not open up and will try their best to cover up their collusion with Liverpool and Spurs especially. They will keep as much as they can in house to cover their own arses and keep their salaries. Masters makes 1.3 million a year.

    The “punishments” will be removals from committees. Uefa has a bit more power but I am not sure they will weild it.

    I just see the PL using this as an excuse to block NUFC howver backwards and perverse that might seem.

    It is all really complicated so I could be completely wrong on this. Most people disagree with me from seeing blogs and listening to a couple of podcasts.

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  18. Leicester 2 WBrom 0. Looks like they are certainly down now if they ever had any hope.

    Will BFS resign so he can keep his record of never being relegated 🙂

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  19. Anybody remember spangles? I think they inspired West Brom’s kit.

    Or I vaguely remember some chewey sweets that were like opal fruits but rhubarb and custard flavour. That’s what the designers might have been going for.

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  20. Sharpy17: I don’t get what you mean by that mate?

    I mean if they didn’t have any opposition would people still pay to see them? In other words – they’re only a football team in a football match. They can’t play nobody

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  21. One last thing Ice. Ryder is saying that the NUFC deal is enhanced by the Super League debacle. I am usually very confident if I am taking the opposite side to Wor Lee.

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  22. icedog: that great mate hope you got it your way,will someone see too Lewis while you move

    Yes mate, i have booked him into respite for 3 nights so the move is less stressful . My buyer and my vendor have both been total idiots and i told them straight this is when we complete as that’s when my lads in respite and it’s not up for negotiation lol.
    My buyer has knocked me down loads, he’s getting a bargain but he knew i was desperate to move and the vendor at the bungalow was slow to get anything sorted out and i lost it with both of them at various points. Anyway i set the move date and after a bit of moaning they agreed.
    They both owe me that much, useless p rats.

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  23. I think the PL clubs will be better off for this failing. Who the hell wants to be part of a group that helps your direct competitors and is led by them, specifically Perez and Agnelli. Even the structure of the board was skewed to the continent with the PL having half the members but only one representative on a 5 man board – Joel Glazer.

    But it does highlight how incompetetent and greedy Uefa are. They have suddenly found more money which begs the question of what were they doing before. There must be widespread corruption and mismanagement for this to occur.

    Then there’s the streaming overseas. This was said to be the biggest deal in the split. I dont really get why unless Uefa intended to control it fully and do an unequal split. The bigger teams should get more of the money, that’s how it works in all other parts of life. But they wanted an unregulated monopoly and that is not how it works in the rest of life. Apart from giant tech at the moment and ironically Amazon was against this move.

    If the clubs expand their reach to new markets through streaming they will automatically make more money through sponsorship and merchandise. I cant see Poznan having an official tractor or noodle partner which is what Man U have.

    This was a grotesque power grab that ironiclally would have propped up the Spanish and Italians who have spectacularly mismanaged their teams. There was all this talk of franchises but that system is pretty much already in place in Spain and Italy with the top teams having built in advantages of TV revenue and basically doing what they please – which fortunately includes screwing up big time. The Spanish State practically ran Real Madrid for 40 years and bailed them out about 20 years ago if I remember correctly. I think they bought their training ground for a vastly inflated fee and rented it back to them for next to nothing.

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  24. There seems to be a new push for PL reforms, which was surprisingly in the Tory 2019 election manifesto. I am guessing there will be a minor boost to revenue sharing for lower leagues. They received 7% of the money in PL history. I am guessing it will go to like 10%.

    Then there is an independent regulator. Who knows what powers, or lack of, that would have. Still it has to be better than letting the foxes (rats) be in charge of the henhouse with Masters and Hoffman.

    They should also put in some sort of poison pill that mandates fines and expulsions if this **** happens again.

    Finally, there is talk of fan representation on the board. This might help but you can bet the clubs would fight to limit their say and marginalize them.

    Maybe NUST should call off their wrongheaded 1% funding plan as they should get some representation soon anyway without conning their members into thinking this will do any good. It is like a gnat on an elephants **** and they know it.

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  25. BUT… because of the outrage and publicity of the Dirty Dozen I think it may even boost NUST in the short term. Wont make any difference to the outcome which will be a charity donation but it might bump the numbers up slightly.

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  26. Looked at the numbers and there hasnt been much of a boost. At 61k now and increasing by a little over a thousand a day.

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  27. What this ESL fiasco has laid bare is that most of the top clubs are skint and in deep debt. Even Arsenal lost 90 million last year and this year can only be worse for most of them because of the pandemic.

    If by some miracle our takeover gets approval there will be bargains out there because there will be much less comptetition for signatures. You wont see Coutinho for 140 million euros next transfer window. If we could afford his wages we could probably get him for free.

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  28. Eric Sykes:
    One last thing Ice. Ryder is saying that the NUFC deal is enhanced by the Super League debacle. I am usually very confident if I am taking the opposite side to Wor Lee.

    i would not let Ryder write a comic book he would stuff that up as kids would not buy his ****

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  29. Eric Sykes:
    Kimtoon: did you ever figure out the sewer?

    Yes mate I did, the vendor took soooooooooo long to give permission for me to talk to Wessex Water (5 weeks ) ridiculous carry on. Once he wrote to them I had answers within 24 hours!
    Basically there is 73 metres of foul and surface water drainage on the property with a fair few grade 2 cracks but luckily pretty much all of it belongs to Wessex as it’s shared drainage, so when it or if it breaks it’s down to them to repair. I have to repair a bit that goes to my actual property which is grade 5 urgent, which I will do once i’m in. Luckily none of it goes under the bungalow just under the lawns. Could be an issue when i turn front garden into drive mind but i will cross that bridge when i come to it.

    My buyer is a buy to let investor and has been an utter **** to deal with. He has got me down to £336,000 from £350,000, next door has just got £360,000 with one less bedroom and no coveted bay windows like I have. He’ll get about £1,500 a month rental on mine.
    When the memorandum of sale came through it said I was selling to a Lady she had a spanish first and surname. But I have not dealt with her once but her husband who has a totally different name , he’s not spanish though his name seems Indian ? He’s some high up in imperial tobacco, they live in a very posh house on the outskirts of Bristol. Feel pretty ripped off tbh but just have to move cause Lews mobility is getting worse all the time and didn’t want to go back to market and start again.

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  30. Those spanish clubs have overspent for many years going back to the sixties of Gento, Puskas and Di Stefano. This is a desperate attempt that should in no way drag English football with it. Nobody realises how big football is in England. Half the population are fans. You can strike up a conversation any time with anybody based on football.
    You have to solve your problems in Spain. Nowt to do with us!

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  31. georgio:
    Those spanish clubs have overspent for many years going back to the sixties of Gento, Puskas and Di Stefano. This is a desperate attempt that should in no way drag English football with it. Nobody realises how big football is in England. Half the population are fans. You can strike up a conversation any time with anybody based on football.
    You have to solve your problems in Spain. Nowt to do with us!

    Agree mate, but Manure and to a lesser extent pool and Spurs have also got big debt, Chelsea and City have rich owners with deep pockets so have less reason to worry.

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  32. I think it is a difficult team to predict against Liverpool. I am still not sure if Bruce will start Wilson and St Max and might be content to try to get to half time level with Joelinton and Gayle. I am pretty sure Willock will come in for Longstaff as he cannot play in the next game against Arsenal.

    I will go with one of Wilson and St Max starting but not both. Of course that meants Donkey will keep his place. And we know Shelvey will play as well but hopefully Willock can be his legs in the same way Shearer said Bellamy extended his career.

    Bruce seems to think Joelinton has a lot of energy but I just dont see it. That will be the excuse to play him. To double up on Robertson. On the other side Miggy will be tasked with helping out with Alexander Arnold. If you can keep those 2 quiet you have solved a lot of the Liverpool problem.

    However, how much longer can their forwards continue to misfire? Hopefully one more game.

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  33. So, no punishment from Uefa as was expected. I also think the PL wont do much. It will amount to a slap on the wrist and will change the Owners and Directors test so we better get a move on. The other thing will be a poison pill in the PL Charter that will kick the teams out if they try this again.

    As for the commission. We know that will take ages, probably a year. I reckon there will be a small shift in revenue sharing to the lower league and they will put a fan Rep on the board. This fan Ren will have no power and will be little more than a figure head to show the commission did something.

    I think Masters and Hoffman will keep their jobs because they appreared to be on the side of the 14. They had however previously betrayed the 14 with Project Big Picture so I think this was opportunism as they saw the ESL unravelling.

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  34. Do you know that Chelsea and Man City were given 3 days to make up their minds on this debacle? They got the legal docs a week last Tuesday and were told they needed to be in or out by the Friday. It shows you how cloak and dagger this was.

    I still think Pep’s speech was the tipping point and forced Man City’s hand to withdraw.

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  35. You see, what this commission does is delay any punishment or reforms. If you want to do anything meaningful you do it now when it is still fresh in fans’ and the 14 other Chairman’s minds. In a years time this will be largely forgotten about.

    What you will get in the meantime is a change in the owners and directors test which they were going to do anyway. This will not affect the Dirty Half Dozen as they have already been approved. It WILL affect NUFC.

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  36. One thing I did find odd/funny was one of the reasons Perez said we needed the ESL is that we need new fans from the 16-24 age group and they do not have the attention span to watch a full 90 minutes. I think it was about delivery on other platforms, in other formats and not full games. Not sure, but he probably blamed video games for young people having the attention span of a gnat.

    Also, not sure if this is true or is it the musings of a 74 year-old old fart?He probably got a heads up from the Madrid data folks so he might have his reasons. It is a sad state of affairs though if this really is true. I dont know many young people so cant really comment that much.

    I know I can still sit through a game in a bar and only check my phone for other scores at half time. But if I watch from home, as we all have been forced to do for a year, I will have my laptop and make comments on here. Obviously, I have also been caught up in this short attention span culture to an extent.

    Got my first vaccine yesterday and have a bit of a sore arm but that’s it for side effects.

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  37. Eric Sykes:
    One thing I did find odd/funny was one of the reasons Perez said we needed the ESL is that we need new fans from the 16-24 age group and they do not have the attention span to watch a full 90 minutes. I think it was about delivery on other platforms, in other formats and not full games. Not sure, but he probably blamed video games for young people having the attention span of a gnat.

    Also, not sure if this is true or is it the musings of a 74 year-old old fart?He probably got a heads up from the Madrid data folks so he might have his reasons. It is a sad state of affairs though if this really is true. I dont know many young people so cant really comment that much.

    I know I can still sit through a game in a bar and only check my phone for other scores at half time. But if I watch from home, as we all have been forced to do for a year, I will have my laptop and make comments on here. Obviously, I have also been caught up in this short attention span culture to an extent.

    Got my first vaccine yesterday and have a bit of a sore arm but that’s it for side effects.

    which one did you get Eric ❓

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  38. Is Arteta’s job under threat? It could be, and we play them next. I would be worried if I was them as he had no experience. If Pep rubbed off on all of his coaches by some type of osmosis then they would be filling the top coaching jobs around the world and they arent.

    I reckon they might sack him if they lose to Everton. Spurs looked for the cover of ESL to sack Mourinho and the breakaway is still very much in the news. They have no defense and their best attackers are injured but where are they 9th?

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  39. Also Ice. I dont know what to make of Luke Edwards. He interned at The Chronic and then was a reporter and has a Geordie wife. He seems to like to pass along bad news about NUFC though. Maybe that’s just his personality.

    I think he has more contacts than most though, especially Bruce so I never rule out what he says.

    I will listen to The Three Amigos on Wraith;s channel today. They heve gone on about takeovers for at least 2 years and youtube have now given them a platform. They have been consistently wrong so I think I will believe Edwards. It is 2 former NUST high ups and Wraith himself who I dont mind as a moderator.

    My view is that this ESL nonsense has probably killed any takeover as it will be under even more scrutiny now.

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  40. It is a bloody hard call on what the ESL means for the takeover. On the one hand it will have demished the Big 6s power temporarily. On the other hand, Masters and Hoffman’s positions have probably been stregthened even though they were conniving rats in Project Big Picture and we all know they listened to Spurs and Liverpool to kill the deal. Whatever they say (lie).

    I just think that if this comes up again all of the negatives of this power grab will also come up again and the PL will be emboldened to stop the takeover on moral grounds and also try to say they dont want money corrupting the PL, like that was not how it originated?

    I am still interested to see what Wraith, Hasty and The Geordie Dentist say. Probably just so I can reinforce my own views in taking the opposite side 🙂

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  41. Eric Sykes:
    Ice: Pfizer. It was in a pub No beer being served unfortunately.

    ive had the two now of the same no probs with any of them,i dont drink so no miss for me,mind i used to love a jackie dee and coke

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  42. ERIC J P MORGAN the bank that was footing the new lge have said they are very sorry and pulled out cannot see them ever coming back to front it again

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  43. Even with Liverpool’s bad form I just cannot see us getting anything out of tomorrow. Best keep our powder dry for Arsenal. That means being careful with St Max and Wilson. I dont care if they start or come off the bench, they should only play 60 mins. 2 nil to Liverpool.

    Now Arsenal are a different kettle of fish.I watched a bit of AFTV for the comedy value. I really dont care about the Gunners but their fans get themselves so worked up. They hate Kroenke. Maybe as much as we hate Ashley.

    This Arsenal team is the worst in 30 years, especially without Aubamayang and Lacazette. We can beat this Arsenal team, even with Bruce picking Shelvey and Donkey.

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  44. Is anybody actually watching Soccer Saturday? With all the games live who would want to watch Paul Merson’s Giant Balloon Heed just talking about them. In fact, I never understood why anybody would watch him ever.

    I am also wondering if the Red Bindippers will have a protest anyway tomorrow even though the ESL is dead for now. They like a good riot. They like to throw bricks at buses, so I think they might take this opportunity to express their anger at erm… Man U and the other 4 teams and act like Liverpool werent involved.

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