The Fish

Agree wholly with this.

It vill be Das Reboot

Not any more Missed the final one of the season as well, because I was emptying my guts into the porcelain altar.

"He must be expecting a lot from the auction, for it to be worth drawing more attention to him. He already has a large target on his head and this will increase that target further"

Part of the reason I think I'm less critical of the other players. Pardew's influence was not small and a player like Gouffran, who was signed as a wide forward, was ruined by Pardew stifling him as an attacker and pushing into a defensive midfield role. I'm not saying Gouffran would have scored a hatful up front, but Pardew was as much to blame for their failings as they were. HBA is an arsehole, but a good manager can get good performances out of arseholes.

Catch 22 though, if Rafa commits to stay and a bunch of the better players will be mor einclined to stay meaning the club won't need to spend as much on recruitment. Rafa wants to see who'll stay and how much will be spent on recruitment before he agrees to sign on the dotted line.

Mates who follow lower league clubs are saying this is blatantly a way to create room for B teams in the league. One says "it would end the conference, arguably allow a more sensible regional semi-pro setup".

That's a dig.

Honestly, on that site 1 in every 4 or 5 is a reasoned and reasonable answer, but most just want to say FTM or remind us all that Newcastle have been relegated. Compare that to how custardslice was received here

But surely it's possible for a team with good players in it to be relegated because the wrong manager was in charge for too long and the weaknesses in the squad weren't addressed? Carr should be criticised for some of his failures, but I think a lot of the players he's bought have shown, at least in flashes, their genuine ability. e.g. Wijnaldum is clearly a talented capable footballer and one that I believe should have done well at Newcastle, unfortunately he was coached by a Carry-On character and was played in an unbalanced football side.

You think the success of twitter has affected the number of active forum users? Need to know what to put on my new CV, y'see.

Could go either way to be honest, they could be sensible investors who've bought into Villa on the cheap and who have a plan to return the club to the top flight, or the could Venky the place up.

Benitez is to blame for our relegation, but Sam did the best he could with what he inherited and has done an incredible job in keeping them up. I also enjoyed them arguing that sunderland were solely responsible for Newcastle's relegation.

There's sufficient people on RTG predicting a top 8 finish for it not to be dismissed as the odd crackpot. The confidence they have in Allardyce is remarkable.

You're discounting the impact a bad coach can have on good players, the impact an unbalanced side can have on good players and so on. Rafa's 10 game form with the bad players would have got us just shy of 50pts.

I don't think people are absolving him though. I think the defence that Andrew has put forward is reasonable and in response to the claim that Carr has been living off a few good signings, or whatever. It doesn't take into account his remit or the restrictions that have been enforced by Charnley et al. I agree with Andrew's take on the Riviere signing, we weren't signing the flop, we were gambling on Riviere continuing his form from the previous season for Monaco. I think that's backed up by the progression of the other players that he scouted; Aubameyang, Lacazette, Gignac etc. Some of those may have been well known, some less so, but Carr did call it right and it was the moneymen who didn't push the deals through.

Is it not more likely that they were down the list of who he suggested?

I also think some of the players that haven't been a success (Cabella, Mbiwa, etc.) aren't necessarily bad players, just not right for that team at that time.

Better to think along the lines of Rocky Dennis from Mask.

essembee, that was helpful, cheers. I'm scared.

Well, I do know fucking stupid people.

The argument I've heard is that he shouldn't ever have suggested the likes of Riviere. Part of me thinks he did so in a strop.