The Fish

You think Lewis can be coached into a decent fullback? I can't judge him off the back of working under Bruce. Who the fuck knows, maybe Joelinton is quality and it's just Bruce that's made him look pony.

I reckon that's harsh. I think that Benitez showed that Longstaff, Hayden and Almiron can do ok in the top flight. Add Willock to the mix plus another central midfielder in the January window and we'll be fine. Personally think the defence did well because Perez was doing some great work off-screen. I think a decent coach would have defence and midfield performing immeasurably better than what we've seen under Bruce. Fucking Hell, the only players who've performed even close to their level is Wilson and ASM.

Read somewhere that they were allowed to look at the pertinent financial information, but little else. It's hard to plan when you can't do worthwhile assessments.

Said it before but the Saudis clearly weren't bothering their arse to forewarn Staveley et al about the u-turn on piracy, so they were all caught on the hop. Yes, personally, I would have had Rangnick on speed dial with a "Look, if this happens, how quickly can you get out of Moscow?" But the signs were that no resolution would be coming before December at the earliest.

Oh, I'm not saying they're going to fix everything toot suite. Just that the decisions will accelerate, for better or worse.

Jones might even get the lads in for training, instead of having 7 of the last 11 off. Look, Bruce is a negative. He's a drag on morale, tactics, conditioning... fucking everything. I understand wanting to get the new manager in, but honestly, I think having no manager is better than retaining his services. He's had his 1,000th game, he's getting millions, he'll get a punditry gig until some Championship owner loses their mind and gives him the job, just bin him off.

That's why I think Al-Ramayan's attendance will accelerate things.

I dunno, QPR? they've had form for that kind of thing in the past

Cheers for reminding me. About the game. Don't need reminding to visit the masturbatorium.

In all the positions that need addressing I think attacking midfield is a ways down the list of priorities. I think we should sort central midfielder (someone to play a defensive role in there) first and foremost. Another Striker would take the pressure off Wilson a bit. I definitely think additions to the backline would help (Tarkowski). But in attacking midfield we have ASM, Almiron, Fraserr, Joelinton (I know, I know), Willock, plus S.Longstaff if needs be. That's before addressing the fact that as ewerk says, Barkley isn't up to much.

I think having Al-Ramayan actually in the country and face to face with the other owners should speed things up a lot. I think if they'd announced Jones would takeover as Interim Head Coach they could have fired Bruce the day after the takeover. But the more it drags on the more blunt Damacles sword looks above his head. We all know he's going to be fired at some point in the near future, so dithering on that front doesn't look like they're taking their time to get shit sorted, it looks like they don't know what to do. Jones can look after the squad while the DoF is appointed, then if the senior backroom staff are in place and suddenly the right man becomes available remove Jones as interim and install the new man. Hopefully in time for the January window to be fully exploited. The longer this drags on the worse the atmosphere in the stadia and on the training ground will become.

Shelvey should be peddled as soon as possible. Gayle too. And whoever is leaking the stories to Hope.

In my defense, I'm very distracted.

Think this defense would be alright with a decent coach. They were before.

The coward.

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.