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Do you think little Joe will get picked again?

And yet Shints will inexplicably still keep popping up every few years with a smeeagain joke before fucking off again

To show where the club have come from, I was a regular attendee in the 1980/81 season which is surely one of the worst in the Toon's history. Dumped out of the league Cup by 4th division Bury, 30 goals scored in 42 games (Bobby Shinton top scorer with 7 goals), average home attendance 16,001. In the FA Cup 5th round.we drew 1-1 with 3rd division Exeter at home. I travelled to the replay by train, the Toon lost 4-0. The fans heading home north had to change trains twice, I finally arrived at York Station somewhat bleary eyed around 8am the next morning. A couple of highlights from that season, the discovery of a promising young striker from a sausage factory and the beginning of the Arthur Cox reign. I often pinch myself how far we have come from those dark days.

This is exactly my view of it too. If we beat Chelsea then we're pretty much there, if we lose then we're pretty much done. I'm not even sure a draw helps tbh as I don't see Villa fucking up the home stretch. I honestly would be surprised if we don't manage this though - we are a good team. We are a better team than Chelsea ffs, albeit Joelinton is a miss.

Apparently Villa objected to playing in the ebening as they had events planned on the Sunday.

I think this is correct: - Newc 63, max 72 - ⁠Villa 60, max 69 - ⁠Forest 61, max 70 - ⁠Chelsea 63, max 72 - ⁠But both can’t get max, and if Chelsea and Forest draw, max is 68 and 70 So: - 9 or 7 points = guaranteed top 5 - ⁠6 points of any kind means we are ahead of Villa due to GD - ⁠7 points of any kind we are ahead of Forest unless a 10 goal swing - ⁠beat Chelsea and another win = guaranteed top 5 as Chelsea and Forest cannot both then get 69 - ⁠beat Arsenal and Everton and lose to Chelsea it gets tricksy if everyone wins out. Would rely on Forest final game draw OR Chelsea win (to stay ahead of Forest) OR Forest win but we get better GD than Chelsea in last three games (to stay ahead of Chelsea), which is tough if they beat us. - ⁠draw to Chelsea and win another, need Villa to draw one no matter what happens. A Chelsea win at Forest means we are good. A draw and we are good assuming Forest don’t turn over big GD. A Forest win means we need them to draw another OR we better Chelsea GD. - ⁠less than 4 points and we need a lot of help As I say, I think this is right. In summary, - that point at Brighton was massive - ⁠our run of high scoring wins against ManU, Leic, Ips and Palace has been invaluable - ⁠Forest playing Chelsea is a huge help - ⁠beat Chelsea and we are pretty much good - ⁠draw to Chelsea and we are relying on Villa dropping points - ⁠lose to Chelsea and we are in the shit.

The other kid.... "Ah fucking knew it!!"

Arsenal supposedly have 160m to spend. Supposedly. That's their entire budget though. Chelsea could probably sell themselves to themselves or something. That's all I've got. I don't think he's leaving this summer.

Can anyone tell me who they think could afford Isak please? Cos I can’t see many if any, in the whole of Europe.

Phil Craig is a blast from the past

Objectively you are right of course, but football was my life then. It just meant more being a part of it, and the rhythm of match going every Saturday It's partly age, partly distance cost and opportunity, but I'm an observer now, not a participant. It is a bit like choosing between your children though. Having said that I do have a favourite kid

I refuse to be in any way disappointed in a season in which we win a cup, beating Liverpool in the final to boot As Gloomy said if we sell Isak due to missing out we won't miss the CL cash and I trust Howe to mould his replacement. Isak is obviously hugely gifted but you can't overestimate how much Howe's coaching has improved him since he got here. There's no guarantee he would reproduce his top form elsewhere Europa would allow us to buy a ton of younger promising players for Howe to work his magic on, CL would let us add a couple of quality 1st teamers. Both great options as far as im concerned. Just glad I got to see this sort of thing in my lifetime

Aye my favourite seasons over all the years were 92/93 & 93/94. Few gave us any chance when we were promoted and we absolutely stormed that first season in the Prem - it was an absolute joy to watch. And I get the sentiments being shared about winning the cup - it's the only time this club has reduced me to tears and even watching it back it stokes the same emotion. We will never eclipse that feeling because the enormity of it was the length of time we'd been waiting for it. As Clery said it means more that we did it when we did, and with the players we did.

No one would admit to that, surely?

No chance. If it's anything like you it'll have a breakdown every 5 mins.

Hang on- do you actually know him irl?

On you get Bonny lad. No need to feel ashamed.

If we do miss out on top 5 I wouldn’t blame him if his head was turned by Liverpool or another a big CL club coming in for him. Were that to happen we would get more enough money in the bank from selling him to offset missing out on CL. It would leave an Isak-sized hole in our squad, which would be a blow, but we apparently have the man in Mitchell to find a suitable replacement and to rebuild the squad in other areas that need to be improved. No point wetting the bed either way. CL is still in our hands. We have a big summer ahead of us whatever happens

I think watching us win promotion with Keegan at the helm, and the following season back in the premier league were my two favourite seasons to watch us as a whole. We played superbly and it was such a joy to watch. This season we haven't always been great, the start was pretty poor and their was plenty of talk that Howe could be in trouble before we went on the run starting with the Chelsea cup game. But come on, we've won a fucking trophy. Regardless of where we finish now, this will be my favourite season possibly ever. If we win the league or champions league in the years to come, I don't think it will ever mean more to me than winning the league cup after waiting so long. When I lost my dad a few years ago, he died still thinking we getting relegated and missed the end to that season, the improvements since and the win at Wembley. The emotion of that is, I think, very similar to what a lot of our other supporters felt and I don't think it will ever be beaten. Champions league qualification clearly means a lot to the club to help in the goals moving forward but for me it's only the cherry on top of the icing on massive cake that this season has been.

Haven't you got a dismembered rabbit to deal with?

Craig setting eyes on Phil Craig's linuxdriven setup.

Conversely he's considered on of the best strikers in Europe and is coveted by several of the leading clubs. If we can't provide him with CL football and the likes of Barcelona go on the hunt for him, I'd expect his exit would be inevitable. I said back in March before the Cup Final that if you asked me what was more important, winning silverware or qualifying for the CL, I'd struggle to answer. Winning the cup was such an emotional experience, it was important in terms of the decades this club have been devoid of success. But most important for the future, is definitely CL qualification. The Partizan Belgrade penalty shoot-out failure in 2003 is seared into memory. We went on a hell of a run in the UEFA Cup that year, but ultimately we lost ground on those teams around us. We need to avoid that happening again.