Honey Honey

It's so ridiculous that you have to wonder if it is more about trying to disrupt and delay Newcastle in the transfer market.

It's not really true that Blair gets hardly any criticism. He's spent years as a toxic pariah in the UK for the sole reason of Iraq and had the utter humiliation of the Chilcot Inquiry. You can make a pretty strong argument that he and Campbell have been able to worm their way back into political life via the platform they got from the People's vote lot. They were struggling to have any heavyweight representation so got Blair on the phone. It has taken the toxicity out of his presence and he will likely now see out his life able to chime in here and there on British politics, which looked impossible just a few years ago. Opponents of anything he says will always fall back to Iraq to put him down. In regards to criminal proceedings against Blair lawyers have looked at this for years. Under the ICC, the crime of aggression was added on 2010. So applying retrospectively is not going to happen. The laws that did exist would be very difficult and controversial to turn into a conviction, therefore a trial is questionable. Parliament would have to vote a new English law and vote to retrospectively punish. Never going to happen. Whilst it's easy to say some get special treatment and perhaps there is a degree of weight in that, it is not entirely about that.

There's a part of the Internet that have had their brains fall out through their arsehole and rattle around inside a tin can, making an incoherent and incessant noise that we can't seem to get rid of

No. I didn't realise you said goal "contributions", thought you meant he'd score 15 goals. I'm too old now to care for the latest opta definitions.

Cardiff tried to change the home kit. Which is far more extreme and less scope creep. The Saudi's have got their country colours from 4th kit that won't ever be used, to using the 4th kit like a 2nd kit, to releasing an even more Saudi 2nd kit At this rate me mam will be wearing a hijab next week.

You prove my point all over. The social jesting of boundaries toward them are incrementally being broken through. Calling the social bluffs which our entire society is built upon. Exposing our weakness and the fragility of the whole thing. State owned clubs an issue to you but you'll carry on anyway and just post about it on the Internet. You're priced in. They knew some people wouldn't like it but that they'd do fuck all about it but post online. They're rapidly making incremental steps. We are seeing it within Newcastle United with many things which were deemed too controversial when they took over. Now they're just doing them. The kit getting more Saudi. The team going to Saudi. This is all sketchy stuff that they're normalising through our disarray, those who don't like it versus those who don't care.

I didn't know Alex Scott was still playing. Would this be the first female to play in the men's Premier League?

Unless we have some kind of major fall off then he will have to be good against bus parkers to get that. Last season we faced a lot of naive teams who hadn't come to terms with the fact that Newcastle are better than them. A lack of respect and over confidence got a lot of teams spanked by us.

The rate at which the Saudi's are pushing boundaries and comfortably getting away with it is quite something. They've called our bluff and they keep finding new ways to do it.

Based on his history I think we can expect a contribution of about 7 league goals this season unless the fit is incredibly strong.

Doesn't Craig Bellamy now live in a council flat because his investments went wrong?

I think Fulham's price tag is fair. He just scored 14 goals in 23 Premier League games. They're not going to replace that regardless of what they get but they do need the kind of money that can be used to significantly raise the level of at least 2 positions. Problem is Mitrovic is turned now. So there is no happy ending.

Don't agree with a single word, from start to finish.

Don't think that is necessarily true. It is the easy assumption but Almiron couldn't get back in the team after injury and he scored 11 league goals. No one says he doesn't fit. ASM proved a few times throughout the season he can be part of it. A few results are down to him or the strength of our attack that game is. But fitness is the problem, you can't get momentum when you're constantly injured. It is a big problem for form and in a team like ours where many came into form you can't get your place back, as Almiron found.

Regardless of what you make money is an addiction and has the tendency to make us look at what's just out of our reach.

I've got to defend ASM from the Wikipedia context free post mortem happening here. He played for a Steve Bruce team for 2 and a half years. Him and Dubravka kept us up and kept Bruce in a job. Last season he absolutely rinsed Man City, made their backline look lower league, then he got injured and by the time he came back we were on a winning streak so he couldn't get in the team. He struggled with fitness. Then later in the season when he got back in the line up again he's tearing Man Utd and West Ham apart and then he gets injured again. He just couldn't get the momentum under Howe because of his fitness. Almiron just had a great "stats" season, better than anything Saint Maximin got near but that doesn't make him a better player. Remember this under Bruce... 2019/2020 Newcastle without ASM Played 14 Won 1 Drawn 5 Lost 8 Points 8 Goals For 9 Goals Against 26 Newcastle with ASM Played 18 Won 10 Drawn 4 Lost 4 Points 34 Goals For 24 Goals Against 17

If it is true that it is €25m then that's a bit of a twist where PIF give Saudi clubs our players on the cheap.

There is a lot of competition for just 2 places, especially with Tonali joining as that increases the liklihood that Joelinton or Willock will be competing for a wide spot regularly. You get a few starts and 10 minute cameos to earn a starting place. Or to win it back after an injury. Then you've got to hold it. That proved too difficult for Saint Maximin with his regular injuries. Barnes has a better chance.

Questions for me... I don't know much about him @Dan @Stan so don't take these questions as criticism or putting him down, just curiosity I think you can help me get to the bottom of. Is he Champions League quality or is he close enough to that quality in form and talent that Eddie Howe will get him to that level? How does someone score 13 goals from the wing in a season and not get in the England squad? What are those stats missing that means he isn't standing out? I think one of you said his defending is lazy? If I remember rightly. He'll not last 5 minutes here if he won't do the running. Is it team confidence and Rodgers related? Would a confident team under Howe get him pressing at the highest standard and tracking back? Assuming next season we follow the pattern of this, which isn't a given.

If it is £25m like quoted today cannot have any complaints. No risk.

He rarely gets a game. Wingers typically are inconsistent, the luxury we had last season is that we could always find someone who'd perform when another fell off. We don't have a fixed wingers as in this player starts no matter what. Barnes would essentially be coming in to the same mix where if you dont deliver you'll be quickly pulled until your next opportunity. My concern is ASM could single handedly win or turn a game. I don't think we can say that about anyone else in the squad. We are likely to face far more bus parkers next season. We need the keys for that and ASM could be a good option.

To be fair its Wimbledon rather than central London. The middle class don't wait 20 minutes for a bus to Waitrose.

No one is actually under 21 in that team though are they? It's like getting to the final of an under 7s cup with teenagers

I downloaded it but you can't join unless you have an Instagram account so I deleted it.

Steven Gerrard the new Al Ittifaq manager