Rayvin

May have been said already but I've just seen the news about the Reuban Foundation matching foodbank donations every home game. I mean I don't doubt that on some level, parts of this are just to get people on side but like.. that's still people getting fed. Honestly feels like the club is going to make a genuine effort to become the heart of the community again, and actually that's a bigger deal for me than winning the fucking league or whatever. Don't get me wrong, I'd take the league too, but I'd far rather that the Newcastle to win it was a Newcastle that was genuinely carrying the city with it, rather than some soulless corporate entity. Which is another reason why I think they've got to get the manager right. Anyway it's nice to hear the good news stories in amongst everything else.

Meanwhile the Labour Party is apparently spending £2m a year in legal battles with... the Labour Party. New sponsors understandably reluctant to fund them if money is going to be wasted on such nonsense. And on top of that, they're down 150,000 members. So in the 'splitting the left' stakes, I think we can say Labour is out in front.

Just to be clear on this, what is the intended process meant to be if this happens? Fans nearby call 999? Someone flags down a steward and they alert medical staff at the ground? I'm having a hard time imagining that it's meant to be so up in the air that players have to down tools to get a spotlight on it. That's not to say anyone associated with saving the man's life deserves criticism, I don't think they do; I think for me they'd only deserve it if they were being deliberately slow, which I'm having a hard time believing - but the process that governs how the information travels, and what their response procedure is, may well be worthy of criticism. Either way it's impressive that people are managing to fall out over a man's life being saved - especially since as far as I can tell, everyone commenting is coming at the issue from a place of compassion, either with the individual who was in trouble, the medical staff who saved him, and/or both. Classic TT tbh. Thanks for the share of that Ginola quote as well, Blastronaut. Should probably take some responsibility for my fellow man and take a basic CPR course myself tbh.

We are getting predictably hammered by everyone everywhere It seems to have passed many opposition fans by that most of us would have gladly taken this abject defeat beforehand if it meant the end of Bruce. Either way I'm starting to think our "Empire strikes back" moment (cos let's face it we're the bad guys here) might actually be something I take genuine pleasure in

Aye not sure about the "excellencies" and so on, I wouldn't give our own royal family the pleasure of those sorts of titles and the Saudis certainly don't deserve it

I mean this is what Bruce wants, his 1000th game. He wants everyone to be talking about him. So I'm just saying we respect his wishes. Also when did Alex accuse me of this exactly EDIT - you mean his son I see. Wondered if I'd missed something there.

I mean, our first game as the worlds footballing superpower is going to see us get roundly spanked and then laughed at by the rest of the footballing world. I think given the circumstances, the more tongue in cheek we are about this, the harder it's going to be for everyone else to find it gratifying. The last laugh will be ours I daresay, but for now we're going to have to get ready to suck it up and make sure Bruce is front and centre of it.

Aye but presumably the media weren't giving him pelters for it, and I also suspect making your dinner wasn't his life's work Would be amusing if either of those were true though.

I'd imagine so, yes

Aye its a bit of a pointless article but you'd expect the fella to stick up for his dad. Unbelievable as it may be to us, he probably idolises him - and it does speak well of Steve that this is the case. Has fuck all to do with his management abilities and changes absolutely nothing but I'm not gonna give the guy a hard time for it. If my old man was drawing fire from all sides in a very public way I'd be the same I'm sure.

It is, however, mackem-esque.

Was just checking through his twitter and what's particularly painful about this is all the big name Tories lined up to congratulate him on this - so you just know he's going to be totally humiliated now. I don't actually think that's particularly professional stuff from the UN, they should have been well aware of his record in the first place. At least they corrected the mistake but they should never even have gotten started with the little troll.

If Bruce loses this he'll increase the urgency with which PIF will want to replace him, thus making his £8m more likely. I am therefore predicting an unlikely draw because I doubt Bruce has the nous even to throw a game properly.

Certain forces within the political theatre have pushed and thrived upon divisive rhetoric in order to advance their agenda, and this is frankly what the outcome is. Same when it was Jo Cox. It'll keep happening until there is healing - but even as I'm typing this, I'm struggling to imagine how I can forgive for my part, what has been done. I mean I won't kill anyone but like, this is where we've come to and I'm really struggling to see the way back. Amess sounds like an entirely innocent victim in this, same as Cox was, but the political entities are literally creating the circumstances for this to happen. It's on them to fix it. Urgently, I might add.

Who stabs a 69 year old man to death ffs. Awful and terribly sad.

That is just pathetic. I mean I'm not trying to dislike the guy but if he actually did have any dignity he'd just shut the fuck up due to privately accepting that he is going to be removed sooner or later.

Is Bruce going to retire after this or something? Why are people going on as if he's not going to just walk into another trash team and get them relegated over the course of a year or two - the same pattern he's been running for the last decade? He'll get that 1000th fucking game whether here or elsewhere. Better off elsewhere tbh cos it's going to be a tragedy of an experience for him if he's here on Sunday when the goals start flying in.

Fair enough, but they've got a lot of success out of that over the years, they've been run well as a sporting institution. In the end we don't need to react to this stuff, I mean he's being pretty balanced on it, he's not needling the fans, and you'd expect him to point out that this makes his life harder. Yes it's hypocritical on some level but in the end it appears he's just going to get on with it, so that's actually positive from our POV. It's begrudging endorsement of this being just how it is. Works for me.

If that person turns out to be left leaning in some capacity then we're just fucking done. "Conservatives under threat of violence, bravely speaking out despite constant intimidation" "We need to have a conversation in this country about the danger of the left" "Left wing extremism on the rise, further measures put in place to control society for the safety of all" Seems like he's stable at least anyway. Hopefully he ends up ok and it turns out to have been some lone wolf attack.

Yeah but he'll claim that Liverpool got their money on merit through success, whereas we got ours from nowhere for nothing. Liverpool represents society as we would all like it to be, Newcastle represents society as it is Either way this doesn't feel that bad to me and for all the other clubs are bitching about this, we might still get relegated this season so their concerns are some way off!

I like Klopp, I am prepared to trust him on his concerns for human rights because it seems consistent with what he's said in the past. Although I do think that point about China is relevant tbh. Clearly though his main issue is that we become a threat - and we will, so fair enough. I do think some people can legitimately complain about that, whilst at the same time acknowledging that it's just the way it is - which is what he does. I mean idk, of course managers from teams who aren't owned by nation states will point out that this gives a big advantage elsewhere.

Right well if that's the barrel we're over then the new owners really have no leg to stand on, unless they're hoping that they'll save a few million by forcing Bruce to be humiliated on Sunday. Again, this should have been well known to them as they bought the club so while I appreciate they may as well make an attempt at saving some money, if it isn't working then they should already be at peace with what they need to do.

Yep, gardening leave. Who gives a fuck - spreads the costs out as well. He's contractually entitled to be paid whatever he's paid every week, so let's lock him in.

It has to just be arrogance at this point unless they know something we don't and think they can turn it on pre-GE. I don't want them to take risks like that though, I want them to do the safe, secure thing so we don't lose another 5 years.