The Fish

Suck ma plums Captain Floppycock.

Last season included 2 long winless runs (7 and 9 games) and we finished on 45pts. This current squad of players is capable of midtable. We'll be getting a new manager soon and he will, at the very least, get this group of players performing at their level. We'll be strengthening in January so jokers like Shelvey will be pushed out of the lineup. All these things combined means we'll be fine.

Just read that review. The reviewer appears to have not got the joke, at all. Seems like he was expecting an actual crime story. Which is stupid, given the title.

What industry are you in?

That was two thousand years ago man.

Guess I'm special then.

Well, Fergus Craig, my mate from the podcast who's also an actual writer and actor and that, aye. I'd say on his list of achievements, being my mate and doing a podcast would be pretty low down. Mind, I get an acknowledgement in the book, so maybe being my mate is something he's proud of.

I wonder if, in addition to wanting the full pay out, the 1,000th game milestone is in his thinking. He's a Newcastle fan and in years to come he can say that he got to his 1k game as manager of his boyhood club in the Premier League. Probably not, but honestly I've not eaten today so I'm a bit airheaded.

Once upon a crime - Fergus Craig. It's a bit of a laugh.

There's a little more to it than that like. By associating themselves with a global brand like the Premier League they're going to enjoy any reflected glory. Mansour's done it with City. We're all aware of the human rights violations happening in KSA because they've been spoken about so much recently, but off the top of your head can you name those in the Emirates? Also, you'll have seen people on twitter with Saudi flags, Arabic text, you'll have seen a handful of daft lads dressed up with headscarves and the like. It's insidious and pervasive.

Also Zen the last few times we came close but survived. Because I'm Zen and don't get piss all over my sheets.

2 different things there. Bruce should be binned off asap. Bruce being in charge for the Spurs game doesn't affect our chances of survival imo

To be fair, whoever picked the team, it's going to lose on Saturday. No Wilson = No win.

Wykiki is pissing his pants. "Do we have enough time?", "Is that not too late?", "Don't PANIC!!" The rest of you lot should be more like me. Zen motherfuckers, zen.

You've gone from 2 weeks to 10 weeks.

What? No, not my point at all. It was that we've plenty of time and there's no need to be wetting the bed or owt. We've 31 games to get those points and we've managed to get to c45pts after a shocking start before under Steve Bruce and Benitez with worse squads than we'll likely have by the end of the January window this season. I 100% think we should bin off Bruce, but more and more reports seem to be suggesting he won't be binned before the Spurs game, which I think is a huge misstep.

November is 2 weeks away and if, say, we have the type of Sporting Director we've been linked with, I'd expect an uptick in performance even without a permanent manger in place. These aren't bean counters, these are coaches who've stepped back to take a broader view of the development of players and the club. Rangnick, for example, is perfectly capable of overseeing coaching while helping the club find the right man. I repeat, we had 2 runs of 7+ games without a win, under Steve Bruce, and we still ended up on 45pts which is more than enough to survive. We'll be fine.

Yes. We've played 7 games. We're 6pts off 12th. This squad, without any additions is good enough under a decent manager to get to 45pts from the remaining games (1.35PpG) which would get you around c13th. Last year we went on two runs similar to our current one. A 9 game winless streak that only returned 2pts and a 7 game winless streak that returned 4pts. We ended the season on 45pts in 12th Better manager + defensive, midfield and attacking options added in January, we could definitely get 10-12th.

Definitely caught on the hop. The way Ashley ran the club was threadbare, so if the new owners want a modern, fully rounded operation they're going to need to; Decide what structure they want Headhunt candidates for things like Sporting Director, Technical Director, Director of Football or whatever Approach them and interview the interested ones Then decide which managers fit that model. That'd take time if there were staff already in those roles, but the new owners are starting from scratch.

Is that an apology?

One of them went to the trouble of counting how many posts I made in that thread, claimed I was responsible for 5 pages, and that there'd be about 20 because of my posts. The thread is 2 months old and has 900 pages. This thread is 9 YEARS old and has fewer. But, honestly there are some on there who can listen to a reasoned point, the rest are just frothing mackems who must hate Newcastle and it's fans as part of supporting Sunderland. Anyway, I can do that, and this, and listen to a podcast while working, so why not? I'm not getting upset at all the pathetic insults or owt.

Aye, he didn't do amazing with Derby and did nowt with Chelsea either. I don't think Rangnick would look at the young English managers and choose Lampard over someone like Potter, or maybe even Wilder. They at least have shown invention and a deeper understanding of football beyond the "Jokey answer, no but seriously answer" approach in interviews.

Of course you do, if Joe Kinnear was rumoured, your miserable arse would twitch.