ponsaelius

I personally can't even countenance some of the things I'm reading and hearing (outside of here TBF) about it being time to make a change, particularly if we miss out on Europe. I'm glad to be confident that the club obviously aren't reactionary enough to make a strategic decision like that based on the difference of 2-3 points. Like even if/when we do decide to make a change in manager - it would be done with more visionary scope and based on longer term trends. At the moment I simply can't imagine that any other manager would come in and do demonstrably better than he has done. Is he perfect? Obviously not, and this season has shown that quite clearly in terms of tactical flexibility and squad management. However we need a manager who can coach and motivate players, squeeze value out of substandard players and can develop and improve young players to increase their value. That is how we bridge FFP until we can build a squad that can compete at the next level. He's ideal for this and has undoubtedly exceeded the remit since he came in. I do think the role of a manager is actually overplayed. They are just one part of an overall structure from ownership, corporate management and right down to playing staff. It's far more important to have everyone pulling in the same direction on the same page and with continuity. There will come a natural point where perhaps there needs to be a change in management to progress, just like replacing a squad player with an upgrade, but we're clearly not there yet. Maybe next summer if we have another sticky year we can revisit - not now.

He's got 8 goals in all comps. It's a good return, shows genuine improvement on previous seasons. It's a skill in itself to keep getting chances even if you miss them.

As somebody who regularly watches both, I much, much prefer watching football without VAR. I'd hppily have this go through tomorrow even if it meant worse decisions.

Not a good look that to say the least.

I've got a ticket in the Atalanta end for next Wednesday. I also have a Cat 3 neutral that I need to shift if anybody Dublin based wants it.

He actually wildly overhit the pass I thought.

They beat 3rd tier Saarbrucken in the semi who had themselves skittled Bayern, Gladbach and Frankfurt.

New stadium would be an easier design and build. Whether it was easier to get it through the planning process would depend entirely where it was. Arena site would sail through, mostly Leazes Park not, mostly Castle Leazes somewhere in the middle. Planning process can also get highly politicised. Whether we see any designs or not early on will depend on whether they keep it confidential or go public early on.

I think there's a sweet spot to capacity of any European club in terms of demand/atmosphere and somewhere between 60-70k is probably about it IMO. I don't think demand is insatiable/endless. There's only a handful in Europe bigger, and most of them are actual or de-facto national stadia.

I still think an expansion could be 'state of the art' if done in phases. Strawberry Place has already had huge mix used developments approved on it in the past as we all know. If you can get over the Metro issue then you could do a pretty significant cohesive development including a East Stand/Gallowgate rebuild across that whole area which included numerous money making elements for the club (hotel, conference facilities, expanded club shop, museum etc). You eventually then get round to rebuilding or re-developing the Milburn and Leazes to cohesively join it all together. The only issue would be how lopsided it could look in the interim - but it's hardly cohesive at the moment anyway. You're probably limited to an absolute maximum of 65k too even if you got really creative with the rebuilds - but I still think that would be enough.

Aye if he wasn't a footballer he'd be on Dragons Den asking for £100k for a 1% stake in his Peak Performance Mindset app, receiving 5 different offers.

Messi is the kind of obvious comparison - Bellingham might be scoring robotically at 1 in 2 but it's hardly like watching Messi running up and down the wing at Stamford Bridge getting lumps kicked out of him at 19. Like you say maybe an unfair comparison - but I do feel like off the cuff dribblers are completely gone now. Bellingham is like the prototype modern footballer in terms of what modern tactics and physical expectations elevates to the top. Even find how well media trained he is a bit annoying to be honest

Bellingham is a good player and he's obviously still very young but him being up there as the potential (likely?) Ballon D'or winner just makes me think football has fallen off a cliff in terms of individuals to be honest. Great mentality, immaculately coached, great output in terms of stats, and comes up clutch at key moments - but I can't say I've ever been particularly excited to sit down and watch him play.

That goal for Bayern at the end doesn't seem too dissimilar to that Shelvey goal down at Sheffield United where we played on and scored despite the flag going up. I don't really understand where VAR can and can't get involved on situations like that.