Football 2025-26

[charlierc]

3 hours ago, balti-pie said:

Oh Spurs are absolutely f**ked. Played well in the first half, really unlucky to be 1-0 down, and then the second half was eleven blokes strolling around wondering what to do with themselves. Forest aren’t particularly good at all but have beaten us 6-0 on aggregate and that’s absolutely disgusting, we’re awful - don’t just deserve relegation, we warrant being closed down and being struck from the record books. An exercise in torture, not a football club any more. And now three weeks of stewing on the misery ffs! Don’t think we’ll win another game, so all West Ham have to do is win one of their last seven and I think that’s that. Brilliant. 

I remember when we went down in 2008/09, it was a genuinely unpleasant experience. The boardroom decisions were indefensible, we had a succession of baffling manager choices, the players looked lost despite being very well paid and relegation just felt like we were being put out of our mystery by the end of it all. I think it was similar with Villa, Leicester or West Ham when they were having similar unexpected peril and falls into the Championship. 

[thetime]

34 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Villa won this weekend too so that strengthens their hand as well. Obviously 7 games left so could still go in various directions, but one of Liverpool or Chelsea feel like they're going to miss. Chelsea is the one I'd imagine though given they seem to be in a state of collapse. 

 

Tough to predict, chelsea just need to keep with Liverpool until start of May. Liverpool have a tough May. 

 

Then again, I wouldnt rule out the chasing pack to get 5th and 6th. 

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, thetime said:

 

Tough to predict, chelsea just need to keep with Liverpool until start of May. Liverpool have a tough May. 

 

Then again, I wouldnt rule out the chasing pack to get 5th and 6th. 

Well if Liverpool can win all 3, that very much strengthens their situation and if they lose all 3, they'll probably miss out on the Champions League altogether. Simple as that really. 

[charlierc]

16 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Imagine only getting a draw at home versus that lot.

Every team has a humiliation now and then. Newcastle were famously the only team to lose to Derby in 2007/08 and nearly lost the home meeting with them as well, while more recently we were the first team to lose to a hopeless Sheffield United in 2020/21 (at the 17th game of the season I think). 

[Skip997]

8 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Every team has a humiliation now and then. Newcastle were famously the only team to lose to Derby in 2007/08 and nearly lost the home meeting with them as well, while more recently we were the first team to lose to a hopeless Sheffield United in 2020/21 (at the 17th game of the season I think). 

Liverpool are being humiliated nearly every game this season 

Edited March 23 by Skip997

[kaosmark2]

13 hours ago, charlierc said:

I remember when we went down in 2008/09, it was a genuinely unpleasant experience. The boardroom decisions were indefensible, we had a succession of baffling manager choices, the players looked lost despite being very well paid and relegation just felt like we were being put out of our mystery by the end of it all. I think it was similar with Villa, Leicester or West Ham when they were having similar unexpected peril and falls into the Championship. 

I know Ashley/Kinnear get the most blame, but I geuninely think that relegation harks back to Souness dismantling Sir Bobby's young attacking team and driving every talented player out of the club (Bellamy, Jenas, Milner, Robert, Viana) and replacing them with talentless workhorses from Rangers and mega-buck signings from Spain that couldn't give a sh*t. I'd felt it was coming for 2-3 years by the season it actually happened, and the season in the Championship that followed under Hughton was the first time I'd felt any positivity in/about the club since Sir Bobby got sacked.

 

19 hours ago, charlierc said:

Clearly I was right not to get cocky because holy sh*t that was a disaster. Decent job in the first half without scoring a second, but absolutely abysmal management of the second half.

 

That's 22 points lost in the PL from winning positions now. Even just 8 points more and we'd be above Liverpool and Chelsea in 5th and in the conversation for a Champions League place. Hell, just 5 more and we'd be a point behind Chelsea.

 

There is clearly something very wrong in the way we manage games and the fact this is happening again and again is making me think Howe may not have the answers. 

 

I think if Howe fails to get the club Europa he has to go now. Yesterday's second half was completely embarassing and just a repeat of all the problems from the whole season. And if he gets Europa I still think the board should effectively re-interview him to ask to him to explain how he's going to fix the repeated issues of this season. I've been pretty forgiving of the tired legs with the injury crisis and playing the most games in Europe, but even with the players we've been able to field I think we're underperforming.

[kaosmark2]

13 hours ago, thetime said:

Then again, I wouldnt rule out the chasing pack to get 5th and 6th. 

Me neither. I just don't really know who's actually good enough to get there. Honestly think only 4 teams' form this year warrants a crack at CL next season.

[thetime]

40 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

Me neither. I just don't really know who's actually good enough to get there. Honestly think only 4 teams' form this year warrants a crack at CL next season.

 

Brentford must be kicking themselves, 3 consecutive draws against very winnable games. 

 

 

[thetime]

1 hour ago, kaosmark2 said:

I know Ashley/Kinnear get the most blame, but I geuninely think that relegation harks back to Souness dismantling Sir Bobby's young attacking team and driving every talented player out of the club (Bellamy, Jenas, Milner, Robert, Viana) and replacing them with talentless workhorses from Rangers and mega-buck signings from Spain that couldn't give a sh*t. I'd felt it was coming for 2-3 years by the season it actually happened, and the season in the Championship that followed under Hughton was the first time I'd felt any positivity in/about the club since Sir Bobby got sacked.

 

 

I think if Howe fails to get the club Europa he has to go now. Yesterday's second half was completely embarassing and just a repeat of all the problems from the whole season. And if he gets Europa I still think the board should effectively re-interview him to ask to him to explain how he's going to fix the repeated issues of this season. I've been pretty forgiving of the tired legs with the injury crisis and playing the most games in Europe, but even with the players we've been able to field I think we're underperforming.

 

Newcastle do seem like at a crossroads in there new ownership and project. Players wanting to leave, to the more traditional bigger clubs. Fans expecting more than what's delivered. 

 

Rules restricting them to spending big, no point being the richest person in the world and shop at primark. We had a discussion at the time, that Newcastle couldn't do a City/Chelsea because of the restrictions. 

 

[kaosmark2]

2 minutes ago, thetime said:

Newcastle do seem like at a crossroads in there new ownership and project. Players wanting to leave, to the more traditional bigger clubs. Fans expecting more than what's delivered. 

 

Rules restricting them to spending big, no point being the richest person in the world and shop at primark. We had a discussion at the time, that Newcastle couldn't do a City/Chelsea because of the restrictions. 

So I think we're a Europa League club. Sure we've had 2/3 years in the CL and won a trophy in the other, but 8th highest wage bill, revenue levels, PSR bullshit etc, our level is Europa. We should celebrate the good seasons and accept that they won't be every year.

 

The issue is that the problems this season speak to mentality as well as tiredness. I get there's a mental exhaustion factor to fatigue as well, so I've been a lot more sympathetic than most, but conceding the most points in the league from winning positions is embarrassing, and the derby does matter. Fatigue would also accumulate slower if we were just that little bit cleverer about slowing the game down and holding possession more often. There's talk about our physical style, but we have players with a good touch and passing consistency! We've done it in a couple of games this season, in both Prem and CL, but never used that as a turning point. Our habit of conceding just after half time speaks to an issue in half-time team talks/dressing room management as well. There's also the Woltemade issue, where I think he's genuinely an incredibly talented player that Howe can't build a team around and is shoehorning into being a middling midfielder. 

 

I never really expected us to do a City/Chelsea, because as you say, the restrictions are there to stop anyone else doing it. But I think our first 16 is somewhere between 4th-6th best in the league, our depth isn't much worse than Villa's and debatably better than Man U have.

 

The thing just before Isak got sold of the board going to speak to him and asking if there was anything that could be done to convince him to stay makes me think they'd get rid of Howe if it's him or the elite players. I've still got hope that Bruno has no interest in Man U, but I'm expecting to lose at least one of Woltemade, Tonali, Livramento, and if all 3 want to leave then I'd say it's easier to find a manager who can improve on this season than to have another huge rebuild, particularly as Wissa looks like a waste of money (how much is injury misfortune is debatable). Elanga and Ramsey have both kicked up a gear this last 2-3 months, and Ramsdale finally looks like an upgrade on last season's Pope (lets not talk about Pope's form this season), but we still have similar issues to last summer, the long-term goalkeeper, a striker, depth at full-back, a centre-back (assuming we can't get 2 more years out of both Burn/Schar). I think realistically we should expect to lose one "star" each summer, but if it's more than that then questions have to be asked, and recruitment has to be better than last year.

 

If the international break and lack of midweek games gives Howe's training a chance to kick in, we get players back fit, Woltemade starts playing up front and scoring again, and we manage to get a surge and into a Europa League spot, then that does speak to enough of the positives about what Howe does and a potential vision for next year to maybe justify keeping him. I genuinely appreciate all he's done for the club in terms of building us from certs for relegation into a team that's competitive for/in European competitions, and winning our first trophy in my lifetime. But also, if the managerial merry-go-round is as extreme as everyone's expecting this summer, I think it'd be foolish not to examine our options.

 

And in terms of who I'm expecting to be available and would want, Pochettino. I think there's a genuine chance we're a more appealing option than returning to a trainwreck Spurs. There is the desire to build and compete for top trophies and target longer success, and a clear patience unlike he got at PSG/Chelsea. I don't think the top tier of clubs will go for him, and I feel it's a realistic hope. Every possibility he'd turn us down for a better offer, but I think the type of manager he is and the place our club is in right now have some overlap.

[charlierc]

9 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

I know Ashley/Kinnear get the most blame, but I geuninely think that relegation harks back to Souness dismantling Sir Bobby's young attacking team and driving every talented player out of the club (Bellamy, Jenas, Milner, Robert, Viana) and replacing them with talentless workhorses from Rangers and mega-buck signings from Spain that couldn't give a sh*t. I'd felt it was coming for 2-3 years by the season it actually happened, and the season in the Championship that followed under Hughton was the first time I'd felt any positivity in/about the club since Sir Bobby got sacked.

2008/09 was a bleak shitshow and remains the worst experience I've had as a Newcastle fan in 25 or so years as an active supporters, but I agree - it didn't happen in a vacuum. It was the end point of about 5-6 years of sh*t decisions going back, not just arguably to sacking Robson and bringing in a dreadful replacement in Souness, but arguably not building in 2003, when we thought the free signing of Lee Bowyer is all we needed to build on 3rd place in 02/03, doing so in the summer Chelsea changed the transfer market and Man Utd signed Cristiano Ronaldo. It was one shitshow after another.

 

Tbf I think had Kinnear been well enough to stay the course, I think we'd have stayed up. Yes, he was a f**king lunatic (although learning he was diagnosed with dementia in 2015 makes it slightly harder to laugh at some at what happened in both that spell as manager and his 2013/14 spell as Director of Football), but I do think we were on course to stay up until his medical issue that forced him to stand aside.

[charlierc]

8 hours ago, thetime said:

 

Newcastle do seem like at a crossroads in there new ownership and project. Players wanting to leave, to the more traditional bigger clubs. Fans expecting more than what's delivered. 

 

Rules restricting them to spending big, no point being the richest person in the world and shop at primark. We had a discussion at the time, that Newcastle couldn't do a City/Chelsea because of the restrictions. 

 

This will be an interesting summer imo. I think really this campaign was ruined before it started by letting the Isak nonsense drag on and therefore leading to us panicking in our recruitment choices. I accept this is a strange take now given I was one of those who wanted to try to keep Isak in the way Liverpool did with Luis Suarez in 2013 or Man Utd did with Ronaldo in 2008, but clearly, he was just too far gone and the meeting where he said "Sell me" to our top brass that happened in August should really have happened in June so we'd have had time to get an actual replacement.

 

I think our new CEO saying he wants us to be regular title challengers by 2030 was being too ambitious for his own good. Really, I want us to be in contention for Champions League places and the cups as a building block. It's not quite as cool as winning the league, and tbf, we live in a timeline where Leicester somehow pulled it off, but we need a niche we can be happy with.

 

We absolutely overachieved in recent seasons - 4th, 7th and 5th with on average the league's 8th or 9th highest wage bill. But this season's mentality issues where we've let 22 points from winning positions slip away has been an unacceptable regression and I think the time has come to change course. So I think this is going to be a busy summer and can see a big fish going (I'm aware of the Bruno Guimaraes to Man Utd rumour, but it kinda depends on who of he or Tonali gets there first as I think we wouldn't be up for losing both if we can help it), plus I think we need a new keeper, centre-back, 2 right backs if Livramento goes as Trippier is over the hill, proper holding midfielder and striker. So, it won't be quiet but it's a lot of pressure to get it right.

 

Howe, I think this is an audition - win as many games as you can and show the methods can work with us going back to a game a week, otherwise, I think we will need to play the market. Hopefully not to a disastrous degree like Spurs or West Ham have recently contrived to do.

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

2008/09 was a bleak shitshow and remains the worst experience I've had as a Newcastle fan in 25 or so years as an active supporters, but I agree - it didn't happen in a vacuum. It was the end point of about 5-6 years of sh*t decisions going back, not just arguably to sacking Robson and bringing in a dreadful replacement in Souness, but arguably not building in 2003, when we thought the free signing of Lee Bowyer is all we needed to build on 3rd place in 02/03, doing so in the summer Chelsea changed the transfer market and Man Utd signed Cristiano Ronaldo. It was one shitshow after another.

 

Tbf I think had Kinnear been well enough to stay the course, I think we'd have stayed up. Yes, he was a f**king lunatic (although learning he was diagnosed with dementia in 2015 makes it slightly harder to laugh at some at what happened in both that spell as manager and his 2013/14 spell as Director of Football), but I do think we were on course to stay up until his medical issue that forced him to stand aside.

So back then I did believe that we could rebuild from going down, whereas I'd genuinely given up under cabbage face. I assumed we'd go down and stay there for years. It was a miserable feeling but it wasn't as completely devoid of hope. But both were awful.

 

I do agree Kinnear was more likely to keep us up than the shitshow that followed, but it was still an awful season.

[charlierc]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/mar/24/mohamed-salah-to-leave-liverpool-at-end-of-the-season

 

End of an era stuff there. Obviously I found him annoying whenever he scored against us but I can recognise he has earned his stripes as a club legend. 

 

By the way, Chelsea having him and De Bruyne but selling both for a combined total of under £30million in 2014/15 surely counts as an all time massive fumble. 

[charlierc]

On 23/03/2026 at 21:36, kaosmark2 said:

So back then I did believe that we could rebuild from going down, whereas I'd genuinely given up under cabbage face. I assumed we'd go down and stay there for years. It was a miserable feeling but it wasn't as completely devoid of hope. But both were awful.

 

I do agree Kinnear was more likely to keep us up than the shitshow that followed, but it was still an awful season.

Tbf I was pessimistic after both relegations in 2009 and 2016. Indeed the latter felt like high stakes - if we didn't win promotion with Benitez and a Premier League level transfer spend, it would've been a total mess. I think Aston Villa had similar given it took them 3 years to make their return. 

 

I think it's absolutely the case that for all this season has provided a few bumps in the road, Newcastle are still generally in a better place than the week before the takeover was completed. We were absolutely going down without the takeover and it probably wouldn't have been so easy to immediately bounce back given how crazy competitive the Championship is.

 

Indeed, I think it's why Spurs fans are right to worry about such a drop and the fact they would essentially be returning next season with an entirely new squad. Get it right and it can be overcome easily enough. Get it wrong and it becomes a spiral. 

[charlierc]

Watched the Wales game last night and oof. So near but so far. Same for the Republic of Ireland. 

[pink_triangle]

40 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Watched the Wales game last night and oof. So near but so far. Same for the Republic of Ireland. 

As a Wales fan I feel we threw that one away. Replaced 2 of our better players with players who struggle to get time in the championship with predictable results. This one is on Bellamy, he left better players on the bench when we needed to score.

[Neil]

Sponsorship, gone to far,

 " Spotify nou camp"

[charlierc]

On 27/03/2026 at 07:45, pink_triangle said:

As a Wales fan I feel we threw that one away. Replaced 2 of our better players with players who struggle to get time in the championship with predictable results. This one is on Bellamy, he left better players on the bench when we needed to score.

It's the nature of the beast I guess. Penalties was one thing - taking the lead in the shootout then blowing it is going to be annoying. But yeah, it felt like there was a flip of a switch to try to control the game and Bosnia just seized the initiative. This feels like a metaphor for football as a whole right now, where teams are trying to slow things down in pursuit of control and its backfired. That's the vibe Newcastle, Liverpool, Chelsea, hell at times Man City have given off - that actually controlling a game is not that easy.

 

I did note Wales are playing Northern Ireland on Tuesday night in a friendly... can't imagine they'd be queuing round the block in the same way they would've been for a play-off against Italy with a World Cup place on the line.

 

Do you see Bellamy sticking around for Euro 2028 qualy? I've heard rumours some club sides are contemplating poaching him for next season.

[charlierc]

Igor Tudor leaves Tottenham after just seven games in charge - BBC Sport

 

Get this change wrong again and they're screwed, right?

[Skip997]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

Igor Tudor leaves Tottenham after just seven games in charge - BBC Sport

 

Get this change wrong again and they're screwed, right?

I reckon they should get that PL winning bald guy currently hanging around Anfield 

[pink_triangle]

6 hours ago, charlierc said:

It's the nature of the beast I guess. Penalties was one thing - taking the lead in the shootout then blowing it is going to be annoying. But yeah, it felt like there was a flip of a switch to try to control the game and Bosnia just seized the initiative. This feels like a metaphor for football as a whole right now, where teams are trying to slow things down in pursuit of control and its backfired. That's the vibe Newcastle, Liverpool, Chelsea, hell at times Man City have given off - that actually controlling a game is not that easy.

 

I did note Wales are playing Northern Ireland on Tuesday night in a friendly... can't imagine they'd be queuing round the block in the same way they would've been for a play-off against Italy with a World Cup place on the line.

 

Do you see Bellamy sticking around for Euro 2028 qualy? I've heard rumours some club sides are contemplating poaching him for next season.

I am concerned that Bellamy is doing a Kompany and putting his own coaching future ahead of the overall team, that loss was completely on him. He has this strange obsession with Mark Harris never scored for Wales and (barring a one of season in the championship) consistently not scored at every level from championship to national league. Nathan Broadhead not prolific but in a completely different league.

[balti-pie]

17 hours ago, charlierc said:

Igor Tudor leaves Tottenham after just seven games in charge - BBC Sport

 

 they're screwed

Thought i'd edit that, just for clarity 😄 

 

this is the kind of season that makes me see that it really doesnt matter what i think or do, its all so far out of my control - as a person and Spurs as a fanbase as a whole! - we can be angry, i can be furious and shouting, i can smile wanly and accept my fate, what happens is what happens and we just have to deal with it.

If relegation happens, then so be it. I dont want a rape apologist as a manager (this is referencing De Zerbi's support for Mason Greenwood btw), even if it does mean we stay up - and half the fanbase think i'm a woke arsehole for suggesting that. Its all such a mess, i dont really have the energy for getting all excited about it one way or another. I'll just accept whatever happens and deal with it accordingly i suppose. 

[thetime]

2 hours ago, balti-pie said:

 

 

 I dont want a rape apologist as a manager (this is referencing De Zerbi's support for Mason Greenwood btw)

 

The most sought after manager in Europe (enrique) and the Arsenal manager is one of them. I am sure you would not mind Louis Enrique at the club. 

[thetime]

Only a few more days until international football is over guys, we are nearly there.