Polarboy

I'd assume part of the reason we were supposedly on an even keel, is that Charnley and the tea lady were the only people keeping the place open. It takes money to repopulate what was essentially a ghost ship. Long term contract for the window cleaners etc 😉

I like what I'm hearing about Howe being very demanding and tough behind the scenes, and that his calm demeanour in front of the cameras isn't actually what he's really like. You always got the feeling that Bruce was desperate for everyone to like him, as opposed to respect him, which he perhaps knew was a losing battle.

If he had a PJ and Duncan poster on his wall as well, then all my fears about him will evaporate.

And of course he hates cowards who turn their backs on shots. I would imagine the only way to gain eseembee's respect, would be to be shot in a firing line with no blindfold or cigarette.

Big useless Joelinton. It's essemblee's, or whatever his name is, nickname for him. I'm not privy to what TOT means though, not that I could be any less interested 🙄

The line-up for tomorrow is going to be interesting. The assumption will be that if Krafth, Clark, Fraser etc are out of the team, that Howe will have had an influence/word in Jones' ear, even if he's only in the stands. Of course maybe even Jones would have made changes given how woeful we were against Chelsea.

I've heard this rational multiple times now. Why would they bother if new players are going to be brought in. For one a lot these players aren't that bright and have big egos. Some of them likely think they can be the Vincent Kompany of this takeover and stick around long term. And apart from the aforementioned if you do actually think you could be leaving a club soon, it would be best if you weren't playing shite and looking totally disinterested if you want a half decent move to another club. The players also shouldn't be under the illusion that the new owners will be like, fuck it, it's too expensive to get rid of them and replace them. As was the case under Ashley.

The twist is that Eddie goes by Edwina now. Howe will be the first female premier league manager. What better way to deflect some of the flack off the Saudi ownership.

What the fuck is agreed in principle like. Surely if you're alright with the terms of the contract the very next step is to sign it.

No harm to her, but she looks like one of the three witches from Macbeth, if they'd went on This Morning for a makeover.

So anxiety ridden Emery has been ruled out, on to agoraphobe Howe.

One thing I'll say about Howe is that one of my biggest concerns i.e. him wasting a load of money on average to shite players like Ibe and Solanke who he spunked 35m on, should be averted given that whoever this sporting director is will be taking a big role in recruitment. My other concern is that he doesn't appear to be great at setting up a defence. Given our current position a bit of solidity at the back wouldn't go a miss obviously.

In fairness there are at least several spellings of the term, but none of them are spelled the way fish spelt it. I'm also assuming that he's not Jamaican, so maybe some of the Labour lads in the politics section can get on to him for cultural appropriation 😉

It's bambaclat ya fanny.

What's the bet that Jones plays the exact same team as the last two games on Saturday, given he'll very likely be in charge. The men in white coats should be called if he does, given he'll have qualified for insanity. Maybe Howe will be in place before then, but I can't see him making major changes given how little time he'll have with the players, so he'll likely let Jones take the lead more or less and be on a watching brief.

You beat me to it.

And yet some terminally nostalgic numpty has written a piece for The Mag saying we should get the band back together with Keegan as manager. That would be bad enough but quite a lot of people were agreeing with him in the comments.

I've no idea what the exact state of their finances are, but surely they'd leave themselves enough wiggle room to make a managerial change should the worst occur. In any case as I was saying it's almost definitely wishful thinking from me, even if it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the Everton bosses will get very nervous should they get a hammering off Spurs.

At this point I think Staveley might be seriously considering waiting to see if Everton get a thumping off Spurs at the weekend, and then see if there's any movement from the Everton hierarchy in terms of getting shot of Rafa. I think it would be a very shortsighted move from Everton given the injuries they currently have to crucial players, but the pressure from losing, what 4, 5 on the bounce, may prove too much. And obviously the Everton fans didn't want him there in the first place, so their patience is going to be much thinner than usual in any case. Most likely wishful thinking on my part of course.

According to who, Jose Havengottaclucio of the No Marka sports pages?

I highly doubt Emery was feeding Sky Sports News info. So yes it does seem very amateurish from Staveley.

Downie reckons it's down to Howe and Martinez 😑 Martinez is probably the better choice out of the two given his greater experience. Players would probably be more likely to come as well given he's an internationally known name. Either way Jones is going to be happy given he's worked with both in the past.

I say this with little confidence, but surely they've done enough homework on the various candidates to quickly move to another option. You would hope they aren't literally starting from scratch, or what was all that shite about interviewing various candidates such as the Fonz.

Yeah I'd bite your hand off for Santo. His pragmatism and experience in the league is what we need at present. Mind you I'd imagine his ego is hurting at the minute, so he might think going from Spuds to us will hurt his profile even more, who knows.

If Graves is correct maybe we can get the Fonz back on the aul zoom call. Granted I really don't know enough about Fonseca to be advocating for him, but surely he's better than a bloke who seemingly gets anxiety from the thought of leaving Bournemouth.