Happy Face

Complete nonsense

I think Rafa was careful to say he was told that funds were available. Charnley's signed dozens of costly players over the last 2 summers, upping the offer on Ritchie bt £2m at Rafa's insistence. He's proved perfectly competent at signing players. It's pointedly a dig at Ashley so the fans know it's Ashley, like it was when Keegan said roughly the same and Wise was Ashley's fall guy.

Rafa Benitez talking to the Chronicle: “We are working very hard and trying to get as close as possible to some signings. “When I had the meeting with Mike Ashley (in May) I was confident that after that meeting we have the money available and the wages. “Everything is in place to move forward. “Hopefully, Mike Ashley can keep his word and we can do what we want to do.”

Rafa's ended the silence. He just offered Ashley out. Endgame.

Netflix is mint if you have little ones. On the telly, on their tablets, on your phone if your out. you can always shut them up with a bit of Peppa Pig or Transformer Bots. Other than that, I watch one "Always Sunny" every night with my headphones on in bed before sleep. That's my "me time" Worth whatever it costs for them 2 pleasures alone. But I also share my credentials with my family as well and with 2 of them housebound, they watch the shit out of stuff. The selection is infinitely better than it was 5 years ago and I wouldn't have tried it again if not for the 6 month I got free off Virgin. I keep renewing RealDebrid for Kodi and find I'm using it less and less. Might not bother doing it again.

Recently received tickets for Mercury Rev, Parquet Courts and Pumarosa.

You might have to authorise scrobbling in the app you play music on AS WELL AS in the last FM app itself (either for Spotify, Rdio or "other"). Right twist on, but I've got it working with with Rocketplayer pretty seamlessly (Settings > Sound > Installed Scrobbler > Simple Last FM). Also saves scrobbles for upload on wifi only.

All the rage scrobbling man. Just today I tweeted about what I've scrobbled this past week

Longest NUFC has ever gone without breaking it's own transfer record. I wrote about the history of the NUFC transfer record for the Mag 3 month ago... http://www.themag.co.uk/2017/03/heres-newcastle-united-record-transfer-fee-progressed-years-now/

No doubt Charnley's incompetent. I don't think Ashley gets involved with negotiations either. But he lays down conditions that Charnley has to abide by which tie his hands. He also signs the contracts when we sign high wage earners and has to be on board before we go ahead. Similar story to Carr who gets dogs abuse for Riviere and Saivet and De Jong and Thauvin and Cabella etc. He might deserve some criticism for even suggesting them as options, but when the club walks away from Lacazette, Aubameyang and Alli... there's only so many great players that no other club has cottoned onto yet.

Ashley's the only constant over the past 10 years. Wise, Llambias, Kinnear, Charnley... they all do his bidding.

We've spent ten years lamenting that this is what we do. No urgency whatsoever from the club. Define one or two targets for a position and if they fail to get them in August, wait until the next window. It doesn't even hold water as the free transfers and loans we've been after have failed to come off because the players have gone elsewhere. Those clubs/players aren't sitting enjoying the sun and leaving it until later. Rafa is clearly looking to turn around that culture at Newcastle and meeting resistance, not least from fans who (remarkably) can't imagine that Ashley might mot be as proactive as Benitez would like.

Twitter getting all indignant that 5 or 6 papers would all independently make up such flagrant lies on the same night. Had heard whispers earlier today. Think Douglas and Edwards have it right (and less sensational) than the nationals. He's concerned and letting people know it, but just wants the window back on track.

Rafa would have been the winner 6 weeks ago. As it is, we're three quarters of the way through the break and "The club is now reviewing its scouting operation"

It's a fish.

Glad it's not just me. Fake blues

The vast majority of chatter about Newcastle United transfers every summer can be categorised one of three ways Rumours - Newcastle are (not) chasing player X Complaints - Why haven’t Newcastle signed anyone? Placation - Stop being impatient, signings will come The rumours are part and parcel of football and have been since Andy McCombie mentioned he liked pan haggerty more than panaculty (one for the great granddads there). Most of us just dismiss the names that are thrown in the pot and no-one takes any of it seriously. At least not until someone respectable confirms there’s something more to it, or (more reasonably) until there’s a picture of the player holding up a shirt. Sky Sports and their partner Sky Bet have taken to an art form the generation of rumours that drive a gambling market to extract cash from the wallets of their viewers. It’s a racket so simple and transparent you’d almost admire the audacity of it, if the lack of regulation wasn’t so dismaying. This factor has skewed the rumour mill beyond all reason and only full time content creators will bother to keep up with it all and even then, most don’t bother. As for people complaining, maybe I read and talk to a different sort of person in my bubble but I rarely see much of it. I’m told there are lots of complainers and something must trigger the placators, for me though, most seem to have a sensible view of how the transfer window will play out, with more business logically happening as it draws on. The artifice clubs create, posturing with demands for a quick deal and insistence that the current offer is final fall away to desperation and conciliation, money starts to circulate between clubs and generates an increase in deals being done as the end of the window approaches. What I see more of is the placation, lots of people taking the role of sage and perceptive soothsayer. Rafa’s got this. What you worried about? It’s only June. While I find all three angles quite boring, I do most identify with the view that we should just wait and see. Conversely though, I find myself increasingly irritated by the placators that condescend to complainers, especially when they themselves initiated the high expectations. For example, in May, The Chronicle told readers that Newcastle wanted to get an early start on transfers: They told us this was the “inside track”. That Rafa Benitez wanted “the majority of his Newcastle United recruits signed up by the start of pre-season (July 3rd).” He was “in a rush to get things sorted as soon as possible” and this news was widely shared news across social media. With expectations for early business set high, the weeks passed by and Newcastle still hadn’t added any new faces two weeks before the start of pre-season. However when questions start being asked as to what happened to the early business promised, there was a gear change to recalibrate expectations. Rather than being a different sort of pre-season where faces arrive sooner than they have previously, as touted, we are told that this is a transfer window and pre-season just like any other under Mike Ashley. That “They’ve only signed players in June three times in the Ashley era”. I mean, come on, what did you expect? I don’t mind the club putting themselves in the best bargaining position early on by expressing a willingness to walk from deals that take too long or even papers reporting that stance as it’s given to them. But it winds me up more than a needlessly conceded free kick by Jack Colback to see complainers (where they exist) patronised if they naively bought into notions sold to them by the club and media. Where they exist, I don’t believe the majority of complainers are naïve. There’s a haughty disdain for anyone that rightly wonders what happened to the previous proclamations of pro-activity in pre-season. But they’re only pointing out that we all know the emperor is wearing no clothes. That the whole transfer window news cycle is one big charade to be ignored. …until you get that picture of a trophy signing holding up a shirt.

Mourinho too.

The fact that it is suicide attacks rather than conventional gives me hope that they'd prefer not to be doing it when all is said and done. If the states that fund terrorism and propaganda are diplomatically swayed away from doing so. If Middle eastern governments are allowed to self rule without western "democracy" being forced on them. If bombs with "Made in the USA" or "Made in the UK" stop getting dropped on weddings, funerals, hospitals and that. If Gaza settlement exapansion can be halted and even a two state solution agreed. That's the sort of stuff that will remove the incentive and reduce the brainwashing that goes on. Obviously you can't negotiate with lone wolves, but no-one should ignore that state actors are involved with perpetuating the motivating factors for lone wolves that could be mitigated.

I know, I stole most of it from you