IF we go down

[TheBigSausage]

and it looks the flip of a coin atm.. will Fatash bankrole a promotion push? Will Benitez walk or be pushed ? Will Gayle ,Ritchie , Shelvey etc stay to get us back up? Will any takeover be dead in the water( assuming it isnt already) or are we heading towards being another Leeds , Sheff utd Nottm Forest ? one relegation too many.

[pboromag]

i wouldnt be bothered in the slightest

to be honest i would love to be playing leeds forest villa sheffield teams birmingham millwall sunderland (lol) than in the prem
even ipswich and norwich are good days out so is fulham even liked going to bristol in the past

proper atmosphere proper footballing fans

why try and keep up with the jonses when you can be like the norm

the prem has 4-5 more years before it splits into a european league and whats left

and i seriously feel that those that are in the whats left pile will have burdened themselves with so much debt they will go under

i really cant be arsed with new owners
especially stavely
she really hasnt got the money and didnt come up with any to help her man rafa in the window

a bit like theat geordie spiv who thought he could buy the club for 20 mill

clown

[ghostrider]

Here's my guess based on very little to zero evidence.
Basically here's my speculation.

If we get relegated I think Rafa goes to West Ham.
I believe Ashley will bring in a manager to bring us straight back up or attempt to.
The new manager will be someone who can get his team to play entertaining football.


I believe there's a reason why Ashley wouldn't sanction january permanent signings. Maybe Benitez and Ashley both know Benitez is going at the end of the season, possibly in the event we do go down.

Loads more speculative stories out there. I'm sure many can get their heads together and come up with some, then let's see what happens when the fat lady sings.

[Zippity]

and it looks the flip of a coin atm.. will Fatash bankrole a promotion push? .

I worry that he might do an Ellis Short and give up.



Will Benitez walk or be pushed ? Will any takeover be dead in the water( assuming it isnt already) .

These two are linked. If we go down, I don't think the takeover will happen because the fat one won't accept their inevitably much lower offer and 100% Rafa will walk. He can go in the final 12 months of his contract without having to pay the £5 million compo.



Will Gayle ,Ritchie , Shelvey etc stay to get us back up? .

Wouldn't be bothered either way, tbh. The first two are Chimpo players imo so could still do a job whilst Shelvey won't hang around anyway, I reckon.



are we heading towards being another Leeds , Sheff utd Nottm Forest ? one relegation too many.

Quite possibly...or even the mackems?


This reply was brought to you by Footymad's pessimism correspondent. ;)

[TheBigSausage]

I worry that he might do an Ellis Short and give up.




These two are linked. If we go down, I don't think the takeover will happen because the fat one won't accept their inevitably much lower offer and 100% Rafa will walk. He can go in the final 12 months of his contract without having to pay the £5 million compo.




Wouldn't be bothered either way, tbh. The first two are Chimpo players imo so could still do a job whilst Shelvey won't hang around anyway, I reckon.




Quite possibly...or even the mackems?


This reply was brought to you by Footymad's pessimism correspondent. ;)

As opposed to staying up , Rafa walks , still no takeover and a £20m transfer kitty again...and thats the bright side !

[Zippity]

I think if we stay up, a compromise will be reached and the takeover will happen, Rafa will stay and world domination will happen shortly thereafter.



...or something like that.

[waalsendmick]

I think our only two options are relegation (and we won't come straight back a 3rd time) or rinse and repeat.

the 2nd option scares me more than the 1st to be honest, which is why I've (as I've already said on here) already cancelled for next season.

[TheBigSausage]

I think if we stay up, a compromise will be reached and the takeover will happen, Rafa will stay and world domination will happen shortly thereafter.



...or something like that.

I dont know why Ashley doesnt have a talent spotting day at Shirebrook HQ. Bound to be some decent footie talent among the vast ranks of Poles , Romanians , Latvians all working for minimum wage... mind you thats probably where Joselu came from cos he aint good enough for Stoke reserves

[Jammy89]

I worry that he might do an Ellis Short and give up.




These two are linked. If we go down, I don't think the takeover will happen because the fat one won't accept their inevitably much lower offer and 100% Rafa will walk. He can go in the final 12 months of his contract without having to pay the £5 million compo.




Wouldn't be bothered either way, tbh. The first two are Chimpo players imo so could still do a job whilst Shelvey won't hang around anyway, I reckon.




Quite possibly...or even the mackems?


This reply was brought to you by Footymad's pessimism correspondent. ;)

I think that is a fair sum up.

We go down - Rafa walks - we don't sell because Ashley still wants to much - we have limited saleable assets this time around and we stay down for a while.

We stay up - Rafa may or may not stay - I think we do get sold - not sure after that. Hopefully can't be worse than feeling as i do with Ashley in charge.

[Curian]

I worry that he might do an Ellis Short and give up.




These two are linked. If we go down, I don't think the takeover will happen because the fat one won't accept their inevitably much lower offer and 100% Rafa will walk. He can go in the final 12 months of his contract without having to pay the £5 million compo.




Wouldn't be bothered either way, tbh. The first two are Chimpo players imo so could still do a job whilst Shelvey won't hang around anyway, I reckon.




Quite possibly...or even the mackems?


This reply was brought to you by Footymad's pessimism correspondent. ;)

This ^^ I am in no doubt that we are heading for the exit. I think it is too little too late. Wasted a year has MA - a couple fo strikers was all that was really needed!!

[jacapus]

This ^^ I am in no doubt that we are heading for the exit. I think it is too little too late. Wasted a year has MA - a couple fo strikers was all that was really needed!!
I agree - the teams at the bottom seem much more capable of picking up points than us.................. REGRETTABLY.

[tinostongue]

It looks to me like every team around us is better than us, most have the capability of winning some matches, we don't seem to have that.I think we will be relegated, wont be sold, wont come straight back up, crowds will dwindle, and its exactly what the fat controller deserves, unfortunately WE the fans don't.That is worst case scenario imo. Best case scenario, is we stay up, Rafa stays, we get sold, next season we challenge nearer the top than bottom.In truth its all just speculation but its gonna be a bumpy end to the season that's for sure.

[pboromag]

other teams changed their managers

we will go down with some still believing rafa is the messiah

first manager to take us down twice

[Stanleymag]

other teams changed their managers

we will go down with some still believing rafa is the messiah

first manager to take us down twice

If we do go down, might happen, might not, it will because of Mike Ashley. If we stay up it will because of Rafa Benitez.

If MA had given RB sufficient funds in the summer to buy a quality striker and number 10, instead of him raking round in the 'whoopsie' display for bargains like Joselu, we would be in a better position than we are at present.

But, to be fair, even if he'd been given the money, say 50m for two players, we'd still only be about mid table, and looking over our shoulders.

That is how this league is.

Takeover or no takeover, Rafa or no Rafa, money or no money, this time next year we'll still be looking for 40 points.

[pboromag]

if we stay up with your thinking it will be because of ash

he brought and kept rafa here

[HughieG]

if we stay up with your thinking it will be because of ash

he brought and kept rafa here

https://media2.giphy.com/media/116a8zosxwA0SI/giphy.gif

[Cannylad]

https://media2.giphy.com/media/116a8zosxwA0SI/giphy.gif

The lights are on but nobody's home. :s

[HughieG]

The lights are on but nobody's home. :s

Yep. The engine's running but one seems to be behind the steering wheel.

[TheBigSausage]

mind you i just done one of those league predictor things and we came out 15th ... and without being too optimistic either .. but about 1 or 2 points between 19th and 15th. 40 points was nowhere near needed . Was on www.worldfootball.net.

[ghostrider]

It looks to me like every team around us is better than us.
That's absolutely not true and it's been proved time and time again that we are more than able to fight it out with most of the teams in that premier league.
Second half tactics are what scupper us.



most have the capability of winning some matches, we don't seem to have that.
We have the capabilities of winning our fair share but for some reason we decide that hanging onto a draw or trying to ensure we keep the score down when we are losing by the odd goal, when the realistic attitude should be the opposite.



I think we will be relegated, wont be sold, wont come straight back up, crowds will dwindle, and its exactly what the fat controller deserves, unfortunately WE the fans don't.
He doesn't deserve it and neither do we.
We could argue that point about another 10 teams in this league if we want to analyse it all.
It's easy to cite all kinds of what's and if's and but's and should've, right down to demands or else scenarios, but the reality is more varied in this game in terms of how each hierarchy operates their business.
We refuse to spend in January on permanent signings and it's death's door.
Loans come in who are way better than what our money outlay would have been for permanent signings and it's not enough, apparently, yet other clubs spending sickening amounts on players who are hyped up appears to be some kind of yardstick we have to go for if we want to compete.

However, many fans will argue that we don't want fortunes...just hand Rafa a transfer kitty to go out and buy.....................who?
Because the Rafa wants will not be cheap in transfer fees nor wages and the postcode we operate under is ripe for the taking by mercenaries to take advantage of if it's allowed to be an open avenue, which Ashley will not allow and I'm happy for it to stay that way.
Only a blank cheque long term, money never an issue for years and years to come, owner could provide the fans with what they really want.
The attitude's changed now with fans.
The new breed of fan coupled with the brainwashing of the older school fans has seen to it that demand for big money has taken over the senses.
It's easy to argue that this is just how it is...and it actually is a truth...but the issue is, those who follow the pied pipers will do so whilst being led in to oblivion. I'd rather we dropped a league with the "live to fight another battle" attitude than to collapse into oblivion like Sunderland are doing, all for the sake of trying to lure over paid and past their best before date players to the club to appear to look like they will fight a battle at the right end of the premier table.




That is worst case scenario imo. Best case scenario, is we stay up, Rafa stays, we get sold, next season we challenge nearer the top than bottom.
Nearer the top?
Take a look at nearer the top. They are all in a nearer the top relegation nearer the bottom mix.
Or if you mean in the elites positions...I think you can see who has the tickets to that ball.


In truth its all just speculation but its gonna be a bumpy end to the season that's for sure.
I believe Rafa can stop this being a bumpy end by simply setting up his teams to play 90 plus minutes balanced football and not using the second half as a damage limitation exercise.

The squad is good enough to be comfortable enough, if you get what I mean.

[sherwoodmag]

It depends on injuries with other teams players as well as our own.

For instance at Palace Zaha their best player is due to see a knee specialist and I think Sako is out for the season.

[Stanleymag]

if we stay up with your thinking it will be because of ash

he brought and kept rafa here

So us being relegated for a third time in 11 years under Mike Ashleys ownership, with your thinking is It's Rafa Benitez' s fault?

You need a lie down you like.

[pboromag]

this time yes

i dont think the players we have at the moment are as bad as they are being asked to play

lets face it he couldt keep us up with better players
so ia have no hope other than other teams are as poor as i first thought

however when people say to me who could come in better than rafa i look at the lad at swansea and see hwt he has done to what everyone said was a poor team and i now dont think they will go down

i honestly feel we need a new manager to make sure we stay up
i dont think rafa has the lads playing for him
i just hope the new keeper can score goals has 8 legs and that the lad from leicester is goodenough to get into our team and stay fit and score goals

as our only other striker rafa snt out on loann

just what you need going into a relegation fight

and rafa made that decision

[pboromag]

If we do go down, might happen, might not, it will because of Mike Ashley. If we stay up it will because of Rafa Benitez.

If MA had given RB sufficient funds in the summer to buy a quality striker and number 10, instead of him raking round in the 'whoopsie' display for bargains like Joselu, we would be in a better position than we are at present.

But, to be fair, even if he'd been given the money, say 50m for two players, we'd still only be about mid table, and looking over our shoulders.

That is how this league is.

Takeover or no takeover, Rafa or no Rafa, money or no money, this time next year we'll still be looking for 40 points.

at no point was rafa forced to sign joselwho

neither did we really need murphy
so he had 17 mill then that he could have used on a striker

but chose to bring a winger in he hardly uses and a forward whi is crap

his decisions

[Andy1981_2]

he had 17 mill then that he could have used on a striker

With everything we know now about all this season's transfers (at the club and in the league on the whole), who would you have gone in for back in August?

[ex_pat_magpie]

other teams changed their managers

we will go down with some still believing rafa is the messiah

first manager to take us down twice

First owner to take us down THREE TIMES.

That can't be a coincidence. :O

[pboromag]

or th first manager to take us down twice

our most expensive manager ever
aworld class manager

a world class manager who took on the job but has failed

a world class manager who thinks its great to spunk money on josewho and let a forward go out on loan leavinng us with one striker on a relegation run in

a striker more prone to injury than scoring goals whio i believe has only ever scored 1 goal in the prem befoe he joined us this year

even josewlwo is more prolific

had a few more last year against the likes of sunderlans burnley west brom and boro etc

so i really cant se why people are getting over excited by him

and he scored those goals in a team made for a striker

if he was a defender he may see more of the ball under rafa

[Stanleymag]

this time yes

i dont think the players we have at the moment are as bad as they are being asked to play

lets face it he couldt keep us up with better players
so ia have no hope other than other teams are as poor as i first thought

however when people say to me who could come in better than rafa i look at the lad at swansea and see hwt he has done to what everyone said was a poor team and i now dont think they will go down

i honestly feel we need a new manager to make sure we stay up
i dont think rafa has the lads playing for him
i just hope the new keeper can score goals has 8 legs and that the lad from leicester is goodenough to get into our team and stay fit and score goals

as our only other striker rafa snt out on loann

just what you need going into a relegation fight

and rafa made that decision


Er no. We got a Leicester City striker who is surplus to their requirements, a winger from Chelsea who is surplus to theirs and a goalkeeper.

All on loan. No money spent.

The striker is on loan to replace Our striker who was third choice at Stoke because Ashley wouldn't spend money on a decent one who would or could score goals.

Kennedy is here to challenge another Chelsa third choice who was here on loan originally, but bought for peanuts as he too was.....you got it.... surplus to requirements.

Now I'm not sure if you've grasped it yet, but our owner isn't spending enough in transfer windows to keep us up in the Premier League.

Sorry to break that to you.

[Nufcian]

Rafa gave the board multiple targets in the positions he wanted strengthened... i’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that Joselu wasn’t even on the list.

Merino was pretty much the only credible summer signing, and it’s pretty obvious who picked him and why he came here.

The board under Ashley have been atrocious, being miserly over 1 or 2 million when a position in the table is worth more than 3 million these days, and that attempt to spend as little as possible and demand as much as possible when the shoe is on the other foot comes from the Fat Controller and none other.

He’s a great business man to be fair, but a complete buffoon when it comes to owning a football club.

[ex_pat_magpie]

Er no. We got a Leicester City striker who is surplus to their requirements, a winger from Chelsea who is surplus to theirs and a goalkeeper.

All on loan. No money spent.

The striker is on loan to replace Our striker who was third choice at Stoke because Ashley wouldn't spend money on a decent one who would or could score goals.

Kennedy is here to challenge another Chelsa third choice who was here on loan originally, but bought for peanuts as he too was.....you got it.... surplus to requirements.

Now I'm not sure if you've grasped it yet, but our owner isn't spending enough in transfer windows to keep us up in the Premier League.

Sorry to break that to you.

PinocchioPboro knows as well as anyone Stan but can't admit it.

[andyj73]

Er no. We got a Leicester City striker who is surplus to their requirements, a winger from Chelsea who is surplus to theirs and a goalkeeper.

All on loan. No money spent.

The striker is on loan to replace Our striker who was third choice at Stoke because Ashley wouldn't spend money on a decent one who would or could score goals.

Kennedy is here to challenge another Chelsa third choice who was here on loan originally, but bought for peanuts as he too was.....you got it.... surplus to requirements.

Now I'm not sure if you've grasped it yet, but our owner isn't spending enough in transfer windows to keep us up in the Premier League.

Sorry to break that to you.

.. Loans will do you in the end. Each bunch are usually not as good as the last lot and, hay presto, you have no asserts and would need to pay a fortune to really strengthen .. We've been there and done that ..

[Andy1981_2]

.. Loans will do you in the end. Each bunch are usually not as good as the last lot and, hay presto, you have no asserts and would need to pay a fortune to really strengthen .. We've been there and done that ..

We're at that point now. Relegation for us this season would be disastrous. Only someone who doesn't understand football would look at our squad and think we can do what we did last time and bounce straight back. The quality isn't there, so neither is the value. Our most saleable asset is Lascelles, and selling him would rip the heart out of the team.

Thing is, I don't know what Short's aim is at Sunderland now - he could minimise his lossed by at least investing a small amount. If you do go down, and I still doubt you will, the club will be worth half what it is now. Surely £10m on players - which is about 10 times what you've actually spent this season - would be worth preserving the value of the club while he's actively trying to sell it??

[Jammy89]

Aye. We're ****ed if we go down.

Proper ****ed.

[Stanleymag]

We'll not be.

We've all been here before this **** Ashley, we're all here despite him, and we'll be there long after he's ****ed off, which ever league we're playing in.

[HughieG]

lets face it he couldt keep us up with better players


That defies all logic, honey.

[pboromag]

First owner to take us down THREE TIMES.

That can't be a coincidence. :O

please sek advice on how the ignore button works

i yjought you were not directly repluing or indeed even reading my posts
and that infact you were just replying to others thread

looks like you have read copied and pasted mine

so please explain to me how this ignore button works again

[pboromag]

That defies all logic, honey.

people are saying our players are no good yet say he should have bought better if ash gave him the money

im saying he already has better players than those that are performing at the minute

5-6 who were pivitol in our success last season and teh season before in cases are going backwards look lostt and have no cue

why because they are being played wrong
we have seen it at manyy clubs
swansea and palace for a couple

is shelvey ritchie atsu the lad in the middle the right back rithchie as bad as they are looking at the moment
thats 50 percent of your team not performing as we know they can and should be

even mistertrick is miles better than he ended up

he has better players than he is making at this very moment

[pboromag]

PinocchioPboro knows as well as anyone Stan but can't admit it.
i see the little digs havent gone predator

[Kal]

predator

You were banned for that last time.

[ghostrider]

You were banned for that last time.

Stop instigating and twisting stuff.

[liikape]

And here we go again. Insults flying when nobody understand that one person is right all the time...Another thread gone to waste.

[Andy1981_2]

With everything we know now about all this season's transfers (at the club and in the league on the whole), [which striker] would you have gone in for back in August?

I'll open this up to the whole board then, since I still think it was a question worth asking.

[ghostrider]

Er no. We got a Leicester City striker who is surplus to their requirements, a winger from Chelsea who is surplus to theirs and a goalkeeper.

All on loan. No money spent.
All on loan and so it should be.
Can you imagine the cost of those two players if bought on a permanent deal in a January scramble?
Imagine if we got relegated with those two on the books with their wages and transfer fees.
It would make no sense other than to loan.

All loan players are surplus to any clubs requirements at any particular time, otherwise they wouldn't be loaned out.



The striker is on loan to replace Our striker who was third choice at Stoke because Ashley wouldn't spend money on a decent one who would or could score goals.
No.
He was third choice at Stoke and Rafa wouldn't spend the money on a striker and instead chose to buy anything but a striker until the last minute.
By the way he sets up on the pitch it's easy to see why a decent striker wasn't a priority to him.
It's took till now for him to panic loan Slimani...so let's hope he doesn't quickly batter him into early submission.



Kennedy is here to challenge another Chelsa third choice who was here on loan originally, but bought for peanuts as he too was.....you got it.... surplus to requirements.
The same Atsu who the fans begged the club to sign. That one?
A 6 million bargain at the time but somehow not worth a carrot to the same fans who thought he was fantastic and will only get better.
Replaced with a player that's surplus to requirements as it stands but who is not up to premier league 90 minute standard and needs game time to enable Chelsea to use him when his loan is over with...meaning they will value him as their future.
Let's just hope he continues to do what he started off doing for us and doesn't burn out too early.



Now I'm not sure if you've grasped it yet, but our owner isn't spending enough in transfer windows to keep us up in the Premier League.

Sorry to break that to you.I believe he has spent enough.
What he hasn't done is spend as much as some clubs that fans think we should be spending better than for some reason.
Those same clubs are in the same and similar positions that we are in, so if we are in this position by not spending enough then by logic all the other clubs around us have owners that are guilty of exactly the same....right?

Or does this only work against Ashley because Newcastle united football club deserve more than the best of the rest of the teams outside of the slite teams?

We have more than enough to keep us up if used correctly.

[ghostrider]

I'll open this up to the whole board then, since I still think it was a question worth asking.

None.
I genuinely think we had them but they were simply not used or not used correctly. I genuinely believe that.

It's down to speculation as to why it all happened but Mitrovic would have got up to speed if nurtured right.
Gayle is a confidence player and you would expect a manager with the reputation of Rafa to solve those issues.
As for Joselu...he's a 5 million buy and worth every penny.......the problem is, not to us....but to Rafa.
Why?
Because he does the stuff what Rafa asks. He spends most of his time getting his strength zapped doing everything other than what his main aim is.
The issue is, he's not very quick so having a striker that's not very quick playing as mostly a central defensive midfielder, etc then you're hardly going to get what little he has got in his tank, to full effect when it comes to goal scoring.

What am I saying?
Very simple.
If you're going to play Joselu as a striker than you have to play him as a full match striker.
EH?.....WHAT, GHOST?

Play him up front and let him work his own area. Basically play him as a goal scrounger kind of thing if you want something more from him.

Same with Gayle. Don't play Gayle if your attitude is to launch missiles towards him.

As for Mitrovic. It's fairly simple.
Rafa will want a Joselu game from him and Mitrovic will likely not be playing ball. Can I blame him? No I can't, because his game is a striker and that's how he should be used.

There's grafting for the team and then there's being asked to go beyond what's rational. This is why we go to all hell in games.
If you don't make teams worry about your team, offensively then it's only natural that any team will take advantage of that by committing more bodies against your backline.

However, assuming we didn't have what was required then the type of striker we would need under Rafa would literally have to be a stamina fuelled speed machine that can also leap like a Salmon with the physique of a tank.

Weirdly we seem to have a diluted version of just that in Slimani.
So basically the striker type we need is a Slimani type.

[Kal]

Stop instigating and twisting stuff.

F*ck off !

Plain enough for ya?

[ghostrider]

F*ck off !

Plain enough for ya?

As plain as can be.

[ranat22]

i see the little digs havent gone predator

lets see the size of them balls you say you've had for years mods.......and lets hope the pant pissers who filled their nappys show their disgust!........we know what he's insinuating,he just has'nt got the bollox to say it :D