Dr Jinx

Oh am fairly sure Darren Eales will make some sort of statement on it in due course, am just trying to give a bit of reality to the process as there’s a whole bunch of us eager for some news. Nothing concrete will come quick.. if they do stay at SJP as what’s currently expected there’s a whole heap of work to get through before we ever see a render of the plans. My hope would be that they opt for the Arena site before anything else goes in there. It couldn’t be much more than a 15/20 min walk from SJP and much closer to Central Station. It would look amazing beside the river. Nothing stopping us from keeping the lease on the land at SJP and building a state of the art conference centre with hotels, a casino, event venue etc. Revenue which could go back into the club.

This hasn’t gotten anywhere near the architects yet. The report that they have had for at least a month at this stage only outlines options v RoI and external considerations (planning, metro etc). It won’t have even gotten to an estimate because that’s not what they do. Only what’s possible. Once they have (a decision) and then all requirememts gathered into a document, they’ll be in discussions with civil planners, surveyors and architects before they eventually go with one. Then it will need to be designed, then approved.. probably with changes, updated designs/drawings etc. We’re a way off anything being announced that side of things. Probably 1-2 years. It’s just always a very long process when working with an existing structure and planning considerations. A whole new site/stadium would be a much easier venture but they seem to be stuck on the idea of staying.

So ambitious they had to cull “The Line” project.

I don’t think you quite understand what I meant by that or you just assumed something and ran with it. I was never talking about hiring a new coach every two years. What I meant was having someone, just for example sake.. someone like Rafa Benitez who could sit in a technical role. Then at a point, I did say 2 years but I didn’t necessarily mean a 2 year rotation every time, what I meant was.. when the coach starts having burn out, that there’s someone who can step in and won’t upset the flow of things. Let the manager go off and recharge for a season.. do some learning like what Howe did when he was unemployed. It was never about removing Howe from the setup, it was always about giving him the best chance for a much longer term project.

Definitely not tough to please. Supported this team so long I’ve seen it all. We’re in good times and it’s brilliant supporting the club the last few years. You look forward to each weekend now with a real hope that we’ll keep pushing forward collectively. That doesn’t mean I can’t be critical of mistakes that happen, or poor performances. If Eddie Howe is as critical of himself he’ll have thought or said the same things that posters on here have said. We went to shit defensively earlier on season and that was a real concern, he looks to have stabilised things but when I say rebuild I mean Botman missing for a large portion. Potentially majority of season. Burn is not a long term solution. Lascelles same boat injury wise. Trippier was showing signs of slowing down this season. Let’s see how he is when he’s back but he may well be a candidate for moving on. We may need 2-4 players to come in to cover all those positions. So yeah, a rebuild of sorts.

He scored against the dippers in that game where Staveley came to watch us for the first time. That’s enough of a contribution.

I wanted us to be better than we were the previous season and I can’t say that we have been. But I understand the reasons for that. We’ve got some sort of defensive shape back thankfully but it almost feels like the summer will be a rebuilding job for all the long term injuries we have so I don’t know what the target should be. If we sign another couple of quality players maybe it should be top 4, but then what should be a consequence of failing to reach that? Is settling for a top 6 finish something the Saudis are gonna be happy with?

Delighted for him 󠀠

Top 6 with the injuries we’ve had would be very respectable. Just leaves you wondering where we could have been if it weren’t for that handful of absolutely sloppy games where we should have been better. What should the target be for next season?

If we had an extra game or two I think we could have easily caught Spurs but I think they’ll get 4 points from remaining games. Burnley a draw possibly. Not sure we’ll win all remaining games, Brentford away is a tough one. Confident for 6th. It’s ours to lose.

I think I explained it pretty well. They will expect a season of better managed injuries. We’ll have an improved squad and I the target will be top 4. Not getting that and I’m guessing the owners will have a decision to make as much as they probably don’t want to.

I doubt they’ll (the club) will invite any unnecessary attention. He’s done his time now, we’ll almost so let’s just bring him back as quietly as possible. Impossible to know what we’ve missed this season as he was still settling in. Hopefully his head is in a much better place. Can’t help but think he got wind of this before it blew up on that International break so he must have had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

It’s a possibility even though highly remote I’d say. They’ll review the season and probably come to the same conclusions most of us agree on. I don’t think there’s one supporter who doesn’t like him. We all want him to succeed. The board will be the same. He represents the club very well and has mostly managed well and disarmed the uncomfortable questions that were a mainstay at the beginning. His style of play (when we’re playing well) is something everyone can be on board with. This style provides risk though, we will probably always have a big injury list until we have a squad similar to the top clubs where we can rotate without diminishing our chances of winning matches. Consistency needs to improve but this is probably down to managing injuries and being more tactically diverse. We’ve shown some signs of that recently but still a lot of room to improve on. I believe he’ll get next season and will be judged on results with a stronger squad, how he gets on up against the top clubs. I think there’s a chance there. Liverpool and possibly Man Utd will be in a transitional phase, Spurs don’t seem to be able to maintain a good run, Chelsea will be in the top 4 next season. Arsenal will maintain their challenger status regardless of what happens this season, as will City. Villa will run into similar bother that we did this season, let’s see how they cope. So there’s a chance, a strong chance for top 4 next season. If we don’t make that I think the club will then make a change. Which is reasonable I think.

There’s a rotten culture at that club, it’s seeped into every facet of its end product. Ten Hag is probably a decent coach but he’s just not equipped to deal with such cancer. Nor was Van Gaal, Mourinho or OGS etc.. I don’t think the massive wages they pay help either. Those on long term massively overpaid contracts know they won’t get it elsewhere so just going through the motions. No hunger, no ambition, fuck you money essentially when faced with such a rotten infrastructure. Just look at Sancho, removed from the environment and not damaged enough yet that he couldn’t regain some of that spark as evidenced last week in the CL. If they are pinning their hopes on bringing in a weasel to sort out this mess they could be in more bother than I first thought.

I enjoy any win we have but we also need a little context on the last two games. We’ve beaten bottom and second from bottom. We’re not really gonna get an easier sequence of games and then if we follow that up like what happened at Crystal Palace, what have we learned? Or has there been that real improvement like it looks on the surface?