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Waugh is forgotten because of that cunt Caulkin

FTFL:DRC

This is from the replies to the article. This Rudd character makes a decent point about ending up where we were last summer but as usual with these types fails to offer an alternative policy. To me If Isak has another good season then he might well be off; if we get Pedro and he does well he'll be bedded in, Osula will have another year under his belt and we can then try to bring a younger striker in with the Isak money...we've got to be creative, we're not a huge name in the continent and don't pay the highest wages... https://bsky.app/profile/ruddymarveaux-lous.bsky.social/post/3lrpgefq3a22x

Chris Waugh, in many ways THE FORGOTTEN WAUGH 😆✊ There is a common trait connecting the majority of Newcastle United’s (known) transfer targets. Some supporters are perplexed — given the lack of a senior signing and Eddie Howe’s end-of-season warning that Newcastle needed to act “very quickly” — by what is perceived to be the head coach’s unbending desire to acquire Premier League-based players. The inference is that Howe has an apparent reluctance to bring in foreign imports this summer. Take @alanofthenorth on Bluesky: “Why is a club that successfully signed (Alexander) Isak, (Bruno) Guimaraes and (Sandro) Tonali now so dead-set on PL (Premier League) additions, only to then complain when these are too expensive and we don’t sign anybody.” The last point refers to Newcastle’s frustration at what they deem to be excessive early benchmarking of targets. They expect prices to come down, but the riposte of some frustrated supporters is that, if the fees are too high domestically, look to the Continent. It appears a fair response, given Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Joao Pedro (Brighton), James Trafford (Burnley), Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth), Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford) and Anthony Elanga (Nottingham Forest) play in England and Newcastle have yet to agree a fee — or make a bid — for any, partly due to present asking prices. But those with knowledge of Newcastle’s transfer blueprint contest the hypothesis that Howe has a preoccupation with Premier League players, even if the likelihood is that the bulk of summer recruits will come from domestic clubs. For Howe, they stress, it is about the right player at the right price. Four of Howe’s six most-expensive signings came from Europe for a combined £183million ($248m), including the top two: Isak (a club-record £60m) and Tonali (£55m). Alongside Guimaraes and Sven Botman, they have justified the significant investment. Newcastle's post-takeover signings PlayerSigned fromCost Alexander Isak Real Sociedad £60m Sandro Tonali AC Milan £55m Anthony Gordon Everton £40m Harvey Barnes Leicester City £38m Bruno Guimaraes Lyon £38m Sven Botman Lille £32m Tino Livramento Southampton £31m Lewis Hall Chelsea £28m Chris Wood Burnley £25m Odysseas Vlachodimos Nottingham Forest £21m Matt Targett Aston Villa £15m Dan Burn Brighton & Hove Albion £13m Kieran Trippier Atletico Madrid £12m Nick Pope Burnley £11m William Osula Sheffield United £10m Although only five of the 15 players signed for a fee have been acquired from abroad, which drops to four when already-Premier League-experienced Kieran Trippier is discounted, that quartet accounts for almost 45 per cent of Newcastle’s post-takeover expenditure (once goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos’ £20million paper value is excluded). When it comes to this summer, the word “known” is important in the opening line. Newcastle’s desired list extends beyond those in the public domain and the insistence is that Howe has been actively discussing overseas-based players as recently as the past few days, including centre-backs and attackers (while Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier is a potential alternative to Trafford). Their identities remain concealed, much to the delight of some insiders, given Newcastle swooped and successfully signed Tonali and Isak with little media preamble. In three of the first four post-takeover windows — which preceded the three successive trading periods in which Newcastle were unable to make first-XI signings due to the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) — at least one overseas acquisition was made: Guimaraes in January 2022; Isak and Botman in that summer; Tonali a year later. Regardless, the premise put forward by some Newcastle fans is not inaccurate. Most, if not even possibly all, of Newcastle’s summer additions may still arrive from English clubs. But, again, the thesis that Newcastle will do so because Howe has an unhealthy predilection for those who have played in England would be strongly disputed by the head coach. The claim irks him because it is, he believes, built on faulty assumptions. When faced with a recruitment call which directly pits a Premier League-experienced player against someone who has never played in England’s top flight, the former often wins out in Howe’s mind. The Premier League is unique, and those who have shown they can perform in the division carry less risk. Yet that is merely one factor in Howe’s decision-making. When Guimaraes, Botman, Isak and Tonali were proposed, Premier League-hardened alternatives were also floated — some of which would have been cheaper — but Howe pushed for those four. They were deemed to be the right players at the right price. For Isak, Newcastle spent more than they intended to, at Howe’s behest. With Tonali, a senior source, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect relationships, stressed in 2023 that the “stars had aligned”, with Milan’s need to sell and Newcastle’s opportunism combining to secure what now appears a knockdown price (even considering his 10-month betting suspension). In each case, Newcastle took a calculated gamble. Every transfer carries uncertainty, but there is an increased risk when players move country, especially when they have never played in the Premier League before. Some in recruitment circles also dispute the theory that signing European players is significantly cheaper than signing Premier League players in this market. In some circumstances, that is true. Manchester City spending £46.3million on Tijjani Reijnders and £34m on Rayan Cherki looks excellent business. But value is not as easily discoverable as it once was. Florian Wirtz is an outstanding talent, but £116million would represent a British-record fee should he move to Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen as expected, while Olympiacos have got £29.6m from Brighton for Charalampos Kostoulas, who is highly rated but is 18 and has only made 35 senior appearances. Such figures suggest European clubs are standing firmer against the richest league. Those deals may represent good value in time, but Newcastle’s PSR constraints mean they have to limit risk wherever possible. Take Hugo Ekitike, a player Newcastle tried to sign in January 2022. Eintracht Frankfurt are reportedly holding out for €100million (£85m) for him this summer. Newcastle still admire Ekitike, yet do not feel they can countenance such a fee for an admittedly high-quality player, but one who has yet to perform in England. Joao Pedro may be a less-sexy name — and may still prove expensive — but the suspicion is he would cost less than Ekitike, even if no asking price has been set by Brighton. Newcastle have found wages a stumbling block. They admire players at Champions League clubs across Europe, but their salaries would place them among (or above) Newcastle’s highest earners. It is about balance. Most clubs blend domestic signings with imports. Manchester City (Rayan Ait-Nouri) and Liverpool (reportedly pursuing Milos Kerkez) are shopping closer to home, too. Howe’s Newcastle have been slanted more towards domestic than overseas acquisitions. Or have Newcastle been more risk-averse than others? That is the feeling of some who have worked with Howe, and may have contributed to last year’s executive-level restructure and appointment of Paul Mitchell as sporting director — but their success rate is high. Intra-Premier League acquisitions have often, at the time, been viewed with a certain snootiness. Anthony Gordon (Everton), Tino Livramento (Southampton), Lewis Hall (Chelsea), Dan Burn (Brighton) and Nick Pope (Burnley) were received as underwhelming signings but have blossomed. The expectation is that such a trend will continue. With Newcastle having failed to strengthen the starting line-up for two years, more than ever do they require players who have the best-possible chance of making an immediate difference. Much of Newcastle’s incoming business probably will involve Premier League-experienced players, but that is not the same as Howe saying no to overseas imports. He wants quality and he wants to mitigate risk, so that requires a mixture of foreign and domestic acquisitions. Just as has been the case throughout his tenure.

Manchester is nice and some surrounding areas are decent (although some shocking places as well). Liverpool on the other hand. What a shit hole.

It's basically just an Enid Blyton book with an Irvine Welsh short story shoe-horned in the middle tbf.

Big Willy also counts as a home-grown player for us (I believe) as his combined time with Sheffield and us under the age of 21 qualifies him.

Boca looking very impressive here. And the support they’ve got there in Miami is bloody amazing

Amen. One thing this board has taught me over the years is this truism. "if we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back".

I am sincerely sorry you experienced this. Sounds like it must have been devastating to see as a child... not sure I could have handled it personally. You've got to wonder at the shit people go through sometimes.

Fucking hell Blastronaut. Sounds like the start of a novel explaining the origins of a serial killer.

When you earn £120k per week why would you give a fuck where you lived when you can go anywhere the fuck you want within a couple of hours.?

This audit they've just done has stipulated that we need a new inquiry to address a few different things that, with the exception of one around the definition of rape, were already in the previous inquiries. Even the one 10 years ago - and yes, including the ethnicity tracking stuff and whatever. If we need an inquiry into anything, it's why the Tories did fuck all about this for the entire time they were in power.

Manchester is a cool city tbf.

Tosin is on 120k a week at Chelsea. I think stuff like that is probably a factor too tbh.

My childhood was basically that film "Stand By Me". A mostly quiet and isolated wee ex-mining village where everyone knew everyone, we all kicked about together and went on daft escapades to the woods, local quarry, or played hide and seek grounds of the chipboard factory. Pissed off all the local farmers by moving all the hay-bails around and building what were probably incredibly unsafe structures from them. We would nick ropes and nets from the factory use them to make hammocks and zip-lines deep in the woods, or "absaile" down the cliffs at the quarry. Half the time there would be some random stray dog along for the adventure with us, we'd know the dogs name and roughly what house it lived at, but nobody knew fuck all about it's owners. Suburban childhood bliss until we stumbled on the body of a body of woman in one of those fields. Turned out she'd had a drunken arguement with her partner, he'd stabbed her 19 times and moved her body to the field in a wheelie bin. We were 10. Wish I could say I was joking. It was probably a year or so after that our neighbour introduced me to SLF and gave me a copy of some dodgy Guns N Roses bootleg. Absolute hero. That was childhood. The teenage years were a different thing entirely.

SSRI side effects tend to get better after a couple of weeks. If you can't tolerate Sertraline then you could another SSRI like try Fluoxetine, Citalopram, Vortioxetine or Escitalopram. There are other classes of anti-depressants which work well too. Mirtazapine (start at 30mg rather than 15mg) or Venlafaxine.

My legs are fucked. I played a game of football on holiday about 6 weeks ago and knacked my hip flexor. Played again at home about 3 weeks ago and pulled a hammy. That healed and I managed to well and truly fuck my achilles last week. My right ankle is twice the size of my left still. Both legs just fucking ache from top to bottom at the minute and I don't know why. Calves are tender as fuck. I think I might have to finally retire!

Must be the weird London pull although I'm never sure how players want to go to Manchester either as the place is an absolute shit hole. It's closer to London and might have better transport links from the airport but I much prefer Newcastle as a city (and I don't live in it).

This is obviously just anecdotal but my own experience backs this up. I wasn't on SSRI's for all that long in the grand scheme of things, but did go through three different types when I was really suffering from pretty severe depression. Fluoxetine (Prozac) really fucked me up, it basically sent me into a manic for about 2 or three months, barely sleeping and waking up feeling like someone had shot speed into my eyeballs. Ironically, my prior experience with actual amphetamines and uppers was almost the opposite. Really worried quite a lot of my family. GP suggested doubling the dose and I went along with it, no prizes for guessing how that panned out. I forget the name of the second one we tried, but it was ultimately sertraline that seemed to work as intended and pull me out of that headspace enough to get back to functioning mostly normally day to day. Sertraline also really helped Mrs B massively with post-natal depression. I know quite a lot of people who are prescribed it or have been prescribed it and almost all of them feel it's been beneficial. Except for one really close friend who was on a really high dose (200 or 300mg) and ended up with pretty severe agoraphobia. It really fucking sucked seeing someone who was always such a socialite suddenly having full-blown panic attacks over the mere thought of leaving his house. Modern medicine is great but I do think that finding the right one is less likely to happen if you cant properly advocate for yourself, or have someone close who can advocate for you, especially with shit that literally intended to affect your brain chemistry.

yeah...I thought he was younger than that....