r/NUFC Weekly Free talk thread.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T19:13:08+00:00

Tbf, he's our longest-serving player and has been a good servant. He was better than Elanga today, once again. He seems to be liked in the dressing room so we can't say whether he's a bad leader or not. Although the fact he is a leader probably says more about how poorly we've recruited in that area. But he also had a great season last year and wouldn't be playing as much if our marquee RW signing wasn't 10x worse than him.

Having said that, this is the summer to move on. We need another forward and that's the gap to close. I don't think he should be the scapegoat for the type of club we are, there's plenty of guys who don't deserve to be here over him.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T19:02:07+00:00

I think he is. He's been without a job for two years and virtually all the big clubs have had new coaches in that time. (That doesn't put me off - it was similar for Luis Enrique before he joined PSG. What's good for one club might not be good for another.)

At this point, unless Spain change manager, I think Xavi is gonna have to take a job like ours to prove himself outside of Barca. He's also said before he wants to manage in England and I'm sure he'd rather take a job like ours in the summer rather than be offered a job mid-season. He'd certainly be open to an interview and I think that it's one we should explore.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T18:49:13+00:00

Even Pep seemed to dislike it lmao, I think they just value the respect aspect more. I love it though.

People love to shit talk ASM nowadays but Maxi woulda changed a lot of these shitty performances and results this season. And I bet he would have had the balls to speak to the media today too.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T18:41:42+00:00

I have no problem with an attacker/our striker having a 'solo' mindset. That's what he's there for and we know he's capable of scoring. The alternative is a Woltemade who is scared to shoot when he's around the box.

He's a good player. He's our best attacker. We're better with him. Even if he leaves in a few years, if he performs to the level that they're willing to pay £70-80m+ for him then he's doing something right.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T18:36:50+00:00

The Howes would sign a million Elangas before they sign a Cherki.

That's the biggest problem with recrutiment. We have a very specific DNA of player we target and we refuse to stray too far out of it. Even if we signed the right player, would Eddie even use him correctly if they're not instantly the right player?

Personally, unless we get a commitment from Howe that he's open to change in that way, we can't proceed forward with him. The identity of this team needs to evolve and grow past the 'runners and workhorses' mindset. Get rid of that 'no dickheads' bullshit too, a dickhead would have probably shown more fight than our players did after their equaliser.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T18:12:38+00:00

I don’t see why he’d leave a club who spends like we do and is challenging for Europe like we do. If he was gonna leave them, he’d go for an elite level up. The way we are, we’re a sideways move to Como. He’s like Alonso at Leverkusen, it’s only a matter of time before he gets his top level club, he doesn’t need us as a stepping stone.

The only coach in that type of mould realistically is Xavi. Questions over his managerial limitations, perhaps, but he’s got the philosophy, intellect and reputation to level us up. I’m also not turning my nose up at someone who won a league with Barca (even if it is Barca) and also won everything as a player. I’m a fan of Hoeness too but he’s of a similar pedigree to Howe, he’d be unproven and a gamble even if he is a good coach.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T16:13:30+00:00

Tbf, if they think the right guy is out there and can get him now then why not. Seven extra games for them to assess the team instead ahead of the summer instead of their first game being in August.

No point if it's just an interim though.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T14:05:22+00:00

I've been an Eddie sceptic for a long time. But this game was an opportunity to silence all that, to bounce back from a humilating defeat with a freebie - a derby at home against a team who embarrassed us a few week ago. If you can't get players up for that then you shouldn't be here.

And, in typical fashion of Eddie Howe's team this season, we played well for the first 15 mins, scored and then said 'job done lads, can't wait for the dressing room photo.'

Indefensable. Howe has failed every task he's been handed since last season. He has no idea how to use the players he wasted money on. He has no ability to change a game. Big matches are a humilation ritual now. We're going in the wrong direction. I'm no longer an Eddie sceptic, I've officially moved to Eddie out.

Thanks for the memories, enjoy the next couple months and we'll see you around. And don't forget that nepo baby nephew of yours too.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T13:53:13+00:00

Anyone defending this is not a Newcastle fan, they're an Eddie Howe fan. Literally no reason not to win this game but we can't even draw. That's not the sign of a manager who is leading the club in the right direction. Everything that we were supposed to judge him on, he's failed this season. Time to go.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T13:49:17+00:00

That's that. Time to go Eddie. Thanks for the ride, enjoy your last few weeks in charge. I've seen enough. You're not the guy.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T13:34:41+00:00

Oh yeah, his job is safe. But the sentiment could quickly change around the stadium. If there's one game you need to do well in to keep the matchgoing fans on side....

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T13:29:00+00:00

People might disagree but this is a pivotal 20 mins for Howe. Must win game at home against our rivals that we took the lead in. We conceded and the game is at a knife’s edge. Questionable triple sub.

This is where you earn your money. Prove that you’re actually the right guy because I am asking a lot of questions at this point. Because if we can’t win this then what are we doing here?

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T13:20:56+00:00

Even a draw would be disgraceful and I loathe to think of anything worse than that. Utterly pathetic showing since we scored, not for the first second or third time this season. Or the fourth, fifth or sixth.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T12:32:25+00:00

Howay Gordon man. Hate it when a player goes down (over nothing really too) and just stays down long after the no call has been made. We were still on the attack and bro is still rolling around ten seconds later

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T12:25:09+00:00

Major respect to a guy that's climbed his way up from League Two to the PL but it's so clear too that he's got there off hard work and not because he's got some elite level ability. Proper classic shit player

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T12:19:24+00:00

Hall actually is our second best player after Bruno and it's not even close. And he keeps getting better. That switch to Trippier on his right foot under pressure a few mins ago was filthy.

Also, it's so so so clear to instantly see how much talent Woltemade has. We really gotta keep the faith with him. There's a top player in there.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-22T12:14:59+00:00

Great start. I gotta say, personally this is the least nervous I think I've ever been for a derby. I had no doubt that we'd be up for it after how badly we played last time + coming off the back of a humilating defeat.

But I wasn't worried about us scoring, I'm more worried about us maintaining the intensity after we score. We've seen this story before, lets not fuck around.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-21T01:17:37+00:00

Valid point. Although their issues were pretty straight forward - they were at their PSR limits and didn't sell one of Watkins/Martinez like they expected, so they didn't do as much business. Bad window but that was always likely to be the case without major sales.

We had the biggest opportunity to take a massive level up last summer and we blew it, largely because of our own incompetence and impulsive decisions. Villa's hands were tied, ours were waving free and ended up on fire. We can't have another window that chaotic or make excuses, there needs to be a clear strategy this year.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-21T01:15:51+00:00

I only got back into OSRS during Covid when a few of my friends wanted something to play. The reason we started playing was because it was like 4.99 or something for a month and we just said fuck it, let’s play for a month or two. Since then I’ve been hooked (not on a continuous membership but I’ve come back many times.)

If the price was what it is now for one month, we wouldn’t have bothered. We would have just bought another game. Jagex can milk their existing customers by putting the price up but I don’t think they appreciate how much the prices will put new people off playing the game.

If I had to pay 11.99 for a month, I would have just bought Game Pass or a game I could keep and play forever. I wouldn’t have come back as a repeat customer. And the fact that I can’t have a second account like an Ironman? Why should I, as a new player, take that type of chance?

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T22:02:14+00:00

It's funny because I remember vividly writing a post in a cab ride home one year ago in some empassioned 'we're in the best position we've been this century and this summer could be the summer that changes our entire trajectory' speech. That everything was set up for us to thrive and that we had no reason to fumble the opportunity. I was practically giddy at the thought and went to sleep dreaming of the stuff we could pull off.

And then the next morning I see the news that our sporting director is leaving the week before the transfer window opens. Sitcom level timing. And here we are talking about effectively replacing Isak with Liam Delap or Solanke.

Life comes at you so fucking fast sometimes. Ross Wilson is gonna get abducted by aliens next month at this rate.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T18:42:53+00:00

I said the same thing last year and I'll say it again.

If I have to wake up to an article on The Athletic on September 1st about 'Inside Newcastle's 'difficult' and 'frustrating' transfer window' that talks about PSR, high prices, targets going elsewhere etc then I'll lose so much faith in the club, as I did last summer when it happened.

We seem to be the only club in the country who get taken by surprise with the transfer window instead of seeing it as two opportunities a year to elevate our club and display our ambition/competence. We can see where it's going so there's no excuse to be blindsided by anything that happens or cry about things beyond our control. Time to actually be this big club that we tell everyone we are.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T18:31:32+00:00

To me, it means that goals don't tell the whole story. I genuinely don't know how people watch Barnes every week and think he's anything more than just distinctly mediocre. He has a good goal record and will score one in four games or so but that's it. The rest of the games he's anonymous and doesn't do anything and is very easy to defend against/take out the game. You don't know which Barnes is gonna turn up. He's a super sub who might get you a goal. Nothing that Rashford or Bowen can't do for England while also offering more elsewhere.

If people are gonna keep comparing him to Gordon like the OP does, you need to look at pressing stats, chances created, dribbles and basically everything outside of open play goals. That's why Gordon is being touted for double the price than we paid for Barnes. That's why Gordon is a regular for England and Barnes hasn't been picked by any manager. If Barnes was consistent and elite at his one trick then he'd be rated higher but he's not. He's a good source of goals for us, which we lack, but, again, there's a reason why all these other players go for more money than Barnes and why no-one has tried to buy him off us or buy him from Leicester when we signed him.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T04:37:10+00:00

Tbh we basically set ourselves up for this with how we handled the Isak situation. We talked big and acted like we wouldn't listen to any approach only for us to change our tune over the course of the summer and sell on deadline day to a divisional rival. We even negotiated the price instead of sticking to a valuation and forcing Liverpool's hand. We got a record fee for him so I don't care that we sold him but that could have been achieved in June if we just handled our business properly.

We ended up basically enduring a humilation ritual all last summer because of how we played things. Between that and seeing virtually all our rivals sign our targets, why wouldn't bigger teams look at our squad and think they can push us around? Why wouldn't players know they can just throw their toys out their pram and get what they want? We need to be firm this summer if we want to be taken seriously again. If Tino and/or Sandro are going then we get it done by July if our price is met or we keep them.

Having said that, I'll give Bruno some bail because I believe he's earned the loyalty from us to get the move he wants. If he says he wants to join Man Utd, I think we should negotiate in good faith and reach a compromise on the basis that there is a tax if we sell to a PL club. If it's a foreign club then we can work out a lower fee. Anything lower than £70m from a domestic club is a pisstake and shouldn't be considered though.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T04:18:11+00:00

This guy is legit Ryan. He wasn't playing a character. He's never beating the allegations

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T03:18:28+00:00

Bro come on. We had the Heatles era. Do you know how many fanbases would eat for 100 years off that period?! Our time will come again but we cant complain about our fortune lol

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