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Well, the new season gets off to a good start. Bye bye Eddie. At least you won’t have to answer any more questions about Saudi blood money.
I can't say that it came as much of a surprise. He's basically having his whole squad sold from under him
At the opposite end of the transfer spectrum, whats going on at Chelsea? Signing 36 year old Jordan Henderson and 35 year old Danny Welbeck? Where do they fit in to the biggest squad on the planet
At the opposite end of the transfer spectrum, whats going on at Chelsea? Signing 36 year old Jordan Henderson and 35 year old Danny Welbeck?
It does seem the oddest reaction to their problem (of having such a young squad). Surely they won't get any game time, so are they going to be off-pitch mentors or something?
I had a ticket for the first away at Stamford Bridge but when I heard Danny was off there I just thought screw this I don't want to see him and Pedro running rings around us, so didn't bother. Gutted but can understand the player wanting one last big contract. I think he will get a lot of games, if he can continue his form and fitness of the last couple of seasons anyway, he's better right now than Delap and seems they want to ship Jackson off again. He with Pedro as the 10 were bloody good for us.
Howe away the lads.
What at the odds of Jaissle being sacked by Christmas?
I suppose if Chelsea buy all the players in the world, old and young, then they may finish in the top 3.
Maybe they could just buy Newcastle?
I'm just going to paste in what I wrote in mid March and then reflect on that
I've been thinking about Eddie for a while, I'm firmly in the stay camp and agree he's worked wonders in a season where we've played more games (and some fantastic games) and had injuries galore, and some of the keyboard warrior abuse has been disgraceful.
But, he won't be manager for ever and there does come a time where a decision has to be made and a future planned. I do wonder who will follow, and also who can follow what he has done both in the success brought but also the way he does it. And also Jason, who I think plays the perfect role and draws fire so Eddie can stay level.
Following Newcastle for nearly 50 years, we don't know what we really had till it's gone. Afterwards Eddie will be seen in the same light as Sir Bobby, so I hope when the time comes it's on his terms and not because we've gone downhill...which could be a reasonable accusation this year, looking like no trophy (yeah, as if, we've got another 50 odd years to wait now 😉 ) and no Euro football unless the rest of the season suddenly catches fire.
That sounds pessimistic, I am firmly in the camp of another season, with a proper preseason not derailed by an Isak saga, chance to work on the training pitch with his systems and fitting people into them (is BNW another Joelinton?), holding onto the key players and strengthening elsewhere, and let's see what can be done then.
But there will be a time after Eddie and we can't escape that for ever.
So hmmm..... selling two of our best and another still unsettled, replacing with young, raw potential, seeming a lack of control over that policy, I get the feeling these were not the moves he expected in this close season and he's decided he's had enough. Equally we didn't catch fire, missed Europe by a mile, and for all the great games the season can't be categorised as anything but a failure. Getting beat 4-1 by Bristol City in a friendly last night looks like the final straw, was it a jump or be pushed moment...the replacement seems to have been hiding under the Milburn stand waiting for this moment.
And who is his replacement? It's not that you can't get good coaches from other countries but my immediate feeling is of underwhelm.
Of course, if he batters Liverpool on opening day he'll be carried head high down Newgate Street and through the Bigg Market. If....
Jnr FD has just restarted pre season training after a full year out with injury. Big year for him to see if he can fully return from injury, and hopefully some of the prem teams that were watching him pre injury pick him up 🤞
Good that he's back. Who's he play for at the moment FD? So we can follow his progress
Gutted we sold our talisman Wellbeck ! 🙁
I would love to be able to say but football is a very odd world even saying something can get your dropped
We know roughly where he sits ie he’s played at national team level, played against all the big prem clubs, and has a current prem team watching him, along with 2 teams recently demoted from the prem.
Hes just starting scholars so a very exciting time for him as he’s mixing some of his training sessions with pro players
Gutted we sold our talisman Wellbeck !
I'm not surprised. He had a great season, last season
Moving on from Pep
City have gone about that in the best way: "who enough like Pep that most people won't notice it's not actually him?".
A lot of musical chairs this season; apart from Arsenal the top 6 could really come down to which team/ manager settles first and gets off to a solid start.
The one that really I can't get my head around is Glasner. Why would you go from Palace, where the fans and team love you, to Forest, where they don't and the owner has a tendency to bin managers off on a whim?!
Moving on from Pep
City have gone about that in the best way: "who enough like Pep that most people won't notice it's not actually him?".
A lot of musical chairs this season; apart from Arsenal the top 6 could really come down to which team/ manager settles first and gets off to a solid start.
The one that really I can't get my head around is Glasner. Why would you go from Palace, where the fans and team love you, to Forest, where they don't and the owner has a tendency to bin managers off on a whim?!
I hazard a guess at "money".
Well, I predict that yet again Ipswich's spell in the Prem will be a one season wonder. Though I never expected them to bounce straight back up so what do I know?
Best of luck to FDJnr - a cousins son has come through the ranks at a "still think they are big, sometimes Premier league" club. He's just moving up to under 16s, iirc. He and his family are painfully aware that he is one injury or bad season away from losing it all
Wonder if Newcastle are too big to go down?!
Interesting season ahead I think. Chance for Arsenal to dominate for a few seasons, given City are Pep less and it seems May sell Rodri?
Getting beat 4-1 by Bristol City in a friendly last night looks like the final straw,
I've seen several reports this afternoon saying Eddie Howe told the club around a month ago that he was leaving but had agreed to stay until they had a new manager/ head coach lined up, don't suppose we'll ever find out if thats true but I can't say I'm that surprised after basically having what looked like the start of a decent team and having to sell most of it to comply with psr.
And who is his replacement? It's not that you can't get good coaches from other countries but my immediate feeling is of underwhelm
I must admit I hadn't heard of him at all until this morning, but had anyone heard of Arsene Wenger before he joined Arsenal or Andoni Iraola before he went to Bournemouth? The lad has done the league and cup double with Redbull Salzburg and twice won the Asian Champions League at the age of 38, plays a igh energy high pressing style and is highly regarded around Europe by all accounts. This time last year most pundits/ journalists had Sunderland as dead certs for relegation and look how that turned out
I've just read a quote from Sandro Tonali saying De Zerbi called him the day after Tottenham avoided relegation last season and met with him in Italy shortly afterwards to sound him out about moving to Spurs. It's well known that agents are doing this behind the scenes but surely another clubs manager doing it counts as 'tapping up' another teams player under Premier league rules?
Some of us are moving on from the premier league..
League One and the SE Airtricity First Division is where it's at.
Just heard Franco Baresi has died, he was as tough as teak. In 1994 he got injury at the world cup, had an operation and played in the final.
That AC Milan defence with Baresi Maldini Costacurta and Panucci scared most opposition and could play as well
Just heard the news. Infantino still needs to go
Well all I can say is that Emery will need to be at his genius best for Villa to remain a Champions league team next season. The financial fair play rules seem to just increase disparity having them in place with no checks on the spending by the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham and the rest doesn't help my interest in the upcoming season.
I’m no fan of Chelsea’s methods but they do make much more than Villa in revenue, enabling the spending. See the fine they got yesterday. They stack up and sell loads of players for decent fees who’ve hardly played for them. Tottenham’s income has gone up massively with the new stadium and all the non football stuff they do, culminating in this seasons splurge, following a relatively quiet few transfer windows.
Villa will be fine, I’m sure.
I think some sort of salary cap rules that are the same for all would make the premier League much more exciting but big business comes before football unfortunately. The top teams have pulled up a drawer bridge with the introduction of the financial fair play rules.
Will be an interesting season with all the managerial changes. Don't think we will retain the title, not that my pessimism will surprise anyone!
Will be an interesting season with all the managerial changes. Don't think we will retain the title, not that my pessimism will surprise anyone!
As a fan who will not be affected by the top of the table, I like the fact that different teams have won it in the last 3 years.
I think some sort of salary cap rules that are the same for all would make the premier League much more exciting
Squad salary cap is the way to go, any player can be paid as much as the club decides but overall squad salary capped at a certain level, it won't happen tho
I think Arsenal are best placed to win it this year.
New managers for all of the other top teams, I would be hugely surprised if anyone beats them.
The bookies agree with you. Out of interest, I've just had a look at the odds
Arsenal 2.5/1
Citeh 3.75/1
Liverpool 6.5/1
Man Yoo 8/1
Chelsea 9/1
Spuds 21/1
8/1 eh? That must actually be tempting for a change.
There’s value there in Spurs each way, or top four. No European football and some decent, on paper, signings. They need to copy United’s tactics from last season and go out the domestic cups at the first hurdle.
I think it’s a really hard season to call. I reckon there is a chance that citeh will completely implode post Pep so I don’t think their odds are particularly generous.
Yes, I agree about City, and hopefully Chelsea too. Both their coaches seem very much possession at all costs types, when the league has gone more direct and physical.
Gooner here. We should make a good go of retaining our title but there are challenges. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start slowly given various players’ exertions over the Summer and we have quite a few current/recent injuries throughout the squad which will need managing. Arteta can do better on squad rotation - Rice played an outrageous number of games last season and while that reflected our successful campaign there were also a few games such as the Carabao Cup where he could have had a night off. It still feels as though we need a signing up front for a proper cutting edge although Vinicius Jr looks as though he might be one of those “looks exciting on paper” targets which actually destabilises the squad. And we need to improve our record against our main rivals as we leaked too many points against them.
