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I think Howay pointed out that Henry Winter was all over Ashworth purely because it was Man Utd after him. I said then that would just indicate Ashworth’s ability to sell himself as it’s not like he’s going to showing journalists exactly what he knows. Then you have bias views of Rio Ferdinand who will know absolutely fuck all about Ashworth beyond his decent reputation and Man Utd wanting him suddenly hailing the bloke as the best in the world at what he does. You can also guarantee the same people making these claims re: Ashworth also think this amazing football genius should be allowed to join Man Utd tomorrow with ourselves just allowing that to happen. Without even realising the contradiction there. All of which plays to John from Devon, lifelong Man Utd fan. Who understands stuff like this about as much as how to get to Old Trafford. Honestly, man. The fucking arrogance of these cunts. Alright, Ashworth has had his head turned by a bigger club and wants to leave. But he’s under contract so it’s absolutely on our terms or he remains on gardening leave until 2025. By which time the impatient hierarchy could well have gone for an alternative anyway. Which would be hilarious

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That last point is a genuine live possibility, that Man United refuse to pay what we deem is an appropriate sum, the bloke sits on gardening leave, and they have to look elsewhere. I don't think it was avoidable that the bloke end up on gardening leave at least for a period of time, but he COULD have done something like said to Staveley etc, "look I'm interested, of course I am, but I understand that I have a contractual situation that needs to be resolved. What about if I take a back seat for a month while formal discussions take place, and if an agreement can't be reached then I'm more than happy to continue with the project here." He's put himself right out on a limb as it stands. I mean he's getting paid £28k a week apparently so it's not any great hardship he's facing. Maybe I just don't understand the level of freedom that sort of situation affords you. From memory, I'm sure the talk at the time was that Brighton were very amenable to our approach because we handled it in a completely professional way, going to them before initiating any contact with Ashworth etc. Contrast that to what's happened here. At the very least Ashworth could have said - "look I'm under contract to NUFC, I want this done properly. Speak to the club first."

Michael Beale has a previously anonymous twitter account from which he has been posting support for..... Michael Beale. Dates all the way back to his time at Rangers, but as recently as last week he was using it to defend Sunderland manager Michael Beale.

@Kevin Carr's Gloves remains on bail while the investigation is ongoing.

Sooooooo, you could say someone could wear some sort of first aid equipment to hide that they're a lazy cunt really and that's why they're not going to go full speed? I knew a lad who was an academy player at Leeds when Viduka and co was there. One pre-season training session the manager had them running and Viduka refused to and said he didn't want to do a Marc-Vivien Foe

RR right now:

Just checked. Since Bruce left in November 2011 (just over 12 years ago), if you include caretaker managers, they've had 24 managers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sunderland_A.F.C._managers

I love how he's gone from "did a canny job at Brighton" to "best DOF in world football" because Man Utd are after him

Davey rocking up to the local to have a pimms and discuss football with the lads.

Daughter sent me this today. I’ve never been so proud.

I know Newcastle have massively overhauled their approach to what goes on internally with regards to data. Player training loads, data from all training sessions, testing player strength in each leg and trying to address imbalances etc. I know the bloke who built it all for them and he's shown me the dashboards and the attention to detail is insane. He reckoned both Ashworth and Howe were obsessive at least about this side of data. I suppose if Ashworth was mainly looking to identify youth talent, then the stats won't be there to lean on, but aye who knows what went on at Brighton, or how much of what Waugh is saying is accurate, but he has never come across as a Billy bullshitter or someone who will jump to conclusions on things. Waugh definitely makes it clear that Howe had final say on signings.

What absolute fucking bollocks. Going to the pub would be much better

Honestly man how after 10 years kicking between Championship and League One do they genuinely think Potter is a realistic option.

Scousers ✅

So basically their job is more important to them than their principles. Which I have no problem with. As long as you’re prepared to admit that all the time. Whereas most of this lot make out that’s not the case. And it’s not like Delaney is falling over himself to point out he should’ve been a vocal critic of Putin before but couldn’t be in his articles. Although fair play of him to admit it on Twitter. But we know the actual problem with the PIF with these lot is really about how it impacts their own beloved football clubs.

He makes some decent points but he can’t write an article that doesn’t ooze with self satisfied smugness

Have you gone out of your way to get annoyed about it?

Did he look the wrong way at Trophyshy in The Garter?

Anti-abortion, pro-death penalty, only came out to his parents "shortly before his wedding", cites the Old Testament as his favourite book, and lobbies for gambling companies. He seems nice.

After a few early misgivings I’d like to take this opportunity to convey to this esteemed forum that I am now fully on board with “the way of the stat”, all bar xG which is and will always be just counting

As I was saying...

If that’s true and given his short tenure here and at Brighton then it sounds like he could be a bit of a fraud who talks a good game. Obviously in our somewhat bitter collective states of mind, that’s what we would like to be the case. But it would also be so very Man Utd to be taken in if that was the case.

Fuck that!

Why trouble yourself with going to the pub when you can just rant into a mirror at home?

who the fuck posts on football forums? You might as well go to the pub and listen to random blokes talking, I bet it wouldn’t be too much different.

Another of example of a bloke who gets paid money to talk about things he knows nothing about.

More heartbreak for Taylor Swift.

It appears mackems could be descended from native american (Canada) lacrosse players

I was too old. 🙁

Auld cunt tbh.

According to Waugh's latest, the LUDDITE Ashworth favoured a scouting/opinion-based approach to identifying player talent, rather than a more objective, data-driven one. The owners/management are keen to look to data to try to avoid any costly mistakes, especially given the FFP situation starting to bite. Which will be music to the ears of Toontastic, I'm sure. Especially the old guard who absolutely love the analytical side of things.

Cursed?

Very well written

Fyp.

They should weigh them in the centre circle before KO.

Quite a stunning statistic. Maybe the manager isn't the problem, maybe it's something closer to home.

I would like to take my niece to a game when I am up next. Some of the lasses look a bit fat like

WHEN Manchester United needed a new defender, they quite happily paid Leicester City £80m to sign Harry Maguire. A midfielder? Why not spend £82m to prise Antony from Ajax? A new centre-forward? Here’s £75m to sign Romelu Lukaku from Everton. And that was back in 2017. None of the above helped address the long-term malaise that has set in at Old Trafford over the last decade or so, so rather than blow the budget on yet another big-name player, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has sensibly decided that his first move as part-owner of Manchester United should be the acquisition of a world-class sporting director capable of overhauling the club’s entire transfer policy. If he’s deemed to be that important, though, it’s surely only logical that Ratcliffe will have to pay top dollar to get him. If an error-prone centre-half is priced at £80m, what is the value of someone who can ensure that similar sums are not wasted in the future? Twice that? Four times as much? That’s not the sporting world we live in, but it makes the point. All of which brings us to Dan Ashworth, and the current stand-off between Newcastle United and Manchester United over the former’s sporting director. Manchester United want Ashworth to be the driving force behind the INEOS-led restructuring of the club’s recruitment operation. Ashworth wants to be allowed to swap St James’ Park for Old Trafford. So far, so simple. But, understandably, Newcastle’s executive team do not really want to lose the figure they entrusted to lead their own rebuilding project. And if he is to go, they want to ensure they are properly compensated for the inconvenience of having to recruit a second new sporting director in the space of two years, not to mention the possible damage caused by the departure of someone with detailed knowledge of the club’s transfer policy to a leading rival. Newcastle are understood to be demanding compensation of more than £20m, but the initial indication is that Manchester United’s new owners regard that as much too high. Really? Is upwards of £20m too much to pay for someone who is being appointed in the hope of completely transforming the way an entire club operates? Pay £100m for a striker, and you might get a few goals over the course of the next couple of years. Appoint a world-class sporting director – and for all that his record at Newcastle is chequered, with major question marks hanging over the summer signings of Sandro Tonali and Lewis Hall, that is how Ashworth is regarded within Premier League circles – and you have the potential to supercharge your club’s fortunes for decades. Newcastle are right to dig their heels in over Ashworth, not least because a large compensation fee potentially has major repercussions when it comes to the club’s ongoing attempts to stay on the right side of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules. If Newcastle receive more than £20m for their sporting director – the vast majority of which will be entered as profit on the P&S balance sheet – it potentially negates the need to sell a big-name player in order to fund purchases this summer. Allow Ashworth to leave for £5m, and you might be waving goodbye to Bruno Guimaraes at the end of the season. Bank £25m instead, and you might be able to sign a new striker while still keeping the Brazilian midfielder on the books. And who are one of the clubs consistently championing the current FFP rules, largely because it enables them to retain their own privileged position as one of the Premier League’s biggest spenders? Manchester United, of course, desperate to keep upstarts like Newcastle in their box while they continue to outspend pretty much every team in the league even though they have not really challenged for the title since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson. Having made a set of rules that encourage clubs to hold out for the maximum possible fee for anyone that leaves them while under contract, it is disingenuous of Manchester United to start wailing and moaning just because they are having to live by them. One more figure to throw into the mix. £14.5m. That is the sum, comprised of a loan fee and a Premier League survival bonus, that Manchester United were demanding when Newcastle wanted to sign Jesse Lingard on loan for the final four months of the 2022-23 season. £14.5m for four months of football from a fringe winger who left Manchester United as a free agent five months after Newcastle were quoted that figure, and who is now plying his trade in the South Korean league with FC Seoul. That was an outrageous attempt to overinflate the value of an employee who was wanted by a Premier League rival. Newcastle’s demands for more than £20m for Ashworth are anything but.