Alan Doh'liver

Watching Man U lose again, I'm thinking Ole's getting sacked in the morning. Hmmm....

I think we would probably accommodate him if that was the case, presumably we would trust him to put the right people in. It has to be something else.

I don't believe that for one minute. It would vindicate all those taking the piss out of the new owners. What if Everton win their next 3 games?

Well apparently he has turned down other jobs because he wanted to stay close to home. He's been out of work for a while now hasn't he?

Villa? Arsenal?

Or... Maybe the talk that he wants his own man in as DoF is closer to the truth than we thought? I mean that would be a mental demand, no one will give him that.

Wtf is it with demands about backroom staff? How can that be a deal breaker? I have a feeling he's been sounded out by another club closer to home, otherwise it just makes no sense.

Touche But yeah, no one in the real world gives a shit about far flung small town teams apart from small town team supporters. I mean that's the point surely?

Well I actually have family ties in Scotland so I do understand the passion in Scotland for the game, but it's basically like having two teams in Newcastle going up against Blyth and Carlisle.

Anything will be a bonus tbh, it's a free hit basically. Will be interesting to see how Jones approaches it. Will he continue trying to shut up shop and trying to sneak a win, or will he put out an attacking formation to try to impress the watching Howe? If it was me I'd park the bus tbh. We aren't going to match Brighton for football yet, might as well go with the hit and run tactic. Brighton aren't the most ruthless finishers, we could hit them on the break and sneak something as long as we don't concede.

I don't want to offend anyone here, but Scottish football isn't much of a proving ground for an ambitious young manager. Other than the CL and the old firm derby, there's not much to brag about on your CV. Newcastle in the Premier backed by the richest owners in the world does offer something more to stir the blood I would reckon.

I got the same vibe having watched some interviews. He made a point that while he would hope all his players respect him and what he does, it's not his job to be their friend. I always liked Howe previously just because of the football he played was good to watch, but after learning more about him, now I'm thinking we've got a potentially great manager in the making here. I really like how focused he is and knows what he's aiming for. I imagine that is what must have impressed the NUFC hierarchy as well.

Think there's far better chance he'll be able to motivate them than Emery would have. One of Emery's worst traits was apparently communications skills. It's reckoned that's one of the reasons why he hasn't really succeeded outside of Spain. I am fairly confident that Howe will get these players enthused after watching a few interviews. Whether they are good enough is another matter, but that would be the case whoever the manager is.

One plus point of Howe getting the job is as an English manager, he will be given a bit of space by the media. I would imagine he'll be quite popular among the journos, and this might work in our favour. I think he'll need that because this is not a situation which will be turned around overnight. The squad looks unfit, and now they are going to have to adopt a totally different football philosophy. It might well take a good few games before we see any difference, similar to when Keegan came back and tried to rouse us out of our Fat Sam stupour.

Loving that he's already apparently said in his interview assessment of the squad that our fitness levels can be improved. I assume that's the diplomatic version. I do remember Bournemouth were a very high energy side under his watch. Not sure how that will work with our bunch of wasters, but crack on with it Eddie.

Ritchie and Fraser were decent players for Howe, and it was a few years ago when we are talking about Ritchie. He might be over the hill, or it might just be Howe can utilise him better. Personally I think he's past it, but we can't really judge Howe on what he got out of those players years ago.

I don't think they'll make the mistake of rushing any news until the deal is signed and sealed this time. Might have to wait until after the match or even beyond if Howe wants everything just so.

Great stuff. I have been carefully smearing him myself in my last few posts. Apart from looking like Count Dracula, there are clearly questions about his character, questions which needed to be addressed.

Agreed. I criticised him in the past for not wanting to criticise his mates in the NUFC setup, but his heart is in the right place, unlike toxic cunts like Luke Baldwards. I genuinely believe that Emery indicated he was ready to take the job, then changed his mind after winning the CL tie. If they'd lost that he'd have come IMO. I think he's a good coach, but also somewhat a flake. That's not to say Staveley and co are blameless either, they should have kept quiet for another 24 hrs. But they fought a long hard battle to get here, I would also give them the benefit of the doubt. They need proper football people handling all this, and I would expect them to appoint them ASAP. If Howe wants the job, then he's a better man for us than Unai Wummery.

Well they were prepared to pay £6m compensation for a highly rated manager rather than go for someone out of work in the first place, such as Howe. That does suggest that they won't be afraid to spend on players when the time comes. Other than that, if you know anything about Saudis, I just can't see them buying a football club to be anything but the best.

I also came across reports that some players were ridiculing Emery in his latter days at Arsenal, I did wonder how he would hold up here under the spotlight. He apparently used to ask players opinions on what was going wrong. Seems like he might be a bit of a fanny in retrospect, might have dodged a bullet.

It's what I thought, I don't think we would have expressed confidence that he was on his way here unless he had given some indication that he was on board. Emery's a good manager, but you would have to question his character. He should just have politely turned us down after hearing our proposal if he had doubts. Seems like he accepted the job, then bottled it when he came under pressure at home.

Aye, 100% agree that no one could sell Newcastle better than Keegan, wouldn't be hard because he thinks it's the best club in the world (bar Liverpool - maybe).

Can you imagine a world where Keegan would ever think of himself as caretaker manager? He'd be plotting winning the CL within 3 years with Mbappe and Griezmann leading the line.