Bournemouth (a)

[Mick]

Hi Eeeeen - good fun this! 

A few questions back at you......

Why would Eddie "lie"? - he has nothing to gain from that

Please show me where I have called Eddie a "saint"?

Can you get me one of those "slavery" jobs where I get millions a year for keeping fit and kicking a ball about? 

My point on "Happy Families" was about nurturing relationships through respect - calling my point "crap" was a bit personal mate, can I ask you not to do that?

How far can you spit (just out of interest!)

Mick

[Eeeeen]

He would "lie" to create the impression that any problems "behind the scenes" at the club are nothing to do with him but entirely the fault of those nasty men who have taken over from those pushovers who used to run things. You know, the ones who didn't want to upset him by divesting him of any of his players, so that the club found itself in the clarts in June this year.  That was none of Eddie's fault, of course, but he felt the need to let everybody know that he would have to leave the club if the nasty men didn't continue to let him have his own way. 

I never said that you called him a saint.  The world doesn't revolve around you and general observations are not always directed at you specifically.

Hey, being paid a lot of money is great, especially if you don't deserve it in the way that professional footballers don't.  Not being able to change jobs whenever you want is not so great (and yes, I know it's not really slavery).

Your point "...nurturing relationships through respect" is not crap; your phraseology, "Happy Family" is, so please don't be offended.  

I can't spit very far at all and I mean only a teeny weeny distance, which is about as far as I trust Eddie Howe.

Hope that's cleared things up for you.

[KMK]

These were the 'easy' games that the fixture list kindly threw up for us to get a good start and form the basis of a strong season, finishing with qualification for Europe - preferably CL - to cement our place in this league as a top team, attract investment and bring in more income so that we could spend more money within PSR and develop further with better players and more quality in-depth throughout the squad.  Instead we have Howe jealously guarding all the players we do have and not letting them leave, making very public veiled threats to the people who run the club and, I am convinced, contributing greatly to the circumstances that saw two bright young talents have to leave the club and the seed of doubt being nurtured in the mind of another, Anthony Gordon.  Eddie Howe has become a problem for NUFC, he is behaving in an underhandedly selfish manner, undermining the club in public, treating players unfairly in terms of his team selections and failing to prepare the players to be able to cope with any side that 'has a go' at us.  I wanted to see how he handled his third full season in charge, but I no longer do;  I want him gone.

Ok. Two questions:-

Supposing you get your wish and Howe does go, who would you replace him with? 

Working with the players that we have at the moment, ie no new signings, how would he do things differently to get immediate results? 

I find it strange that a manager who got us into Europe two seasons ago, and someone who is allegedly being considered as a potential manager of the England team, is suddenly not considered good enough for us and is solely to blame if we don’t get results.

[GhostfaceKillah]

I'm not an advocate for Howe leaving, but based on the last 10 months, I am struggling to remember many games I have enjoyed watching, vs the season before where I struggle to remember many games I didn't enjoy watching. The season before Europe, we pressed high, we won the ball back in the opposition 3rd, and we could out run most teams we played. Since then I couldn't tell you what our style is, and there have been enough games to show a glimpse of some sort of system, and yet most games we just look like any version of Newcastle in the last 15 years, just with better players.

I have watched a lot of games over the last two weekends, and we have been comfortably one of the worst sides to watch, despite having no where near the worst squad of players available, so what gives? I am not talking in terms of results, 4 points from two games at the start of a new campaign is a good return, but the performances have been rank, and sadly in keeping with a lot of what we saw last season.

There is clearly a disconnect behind the scenes, Howe isn't responsible for that, likewise he isn't responsible for a shit transfer window, but he is responsible for how the team is setup, and right now, if Howe isn't to blame and the players are, why are other managers with lesser squads and a lower quality of player, able to put out a team where you can identify the way they play, and think, yeah, a player here or a player there and this system will really take off. Right now, what sort of player do you bring in to the "system" we have that will transform the performances? I honestly don't know. The only thing I can think is that there will be a new player bounce that will lift morale, but that will be short lived.

We need to identify a way of playing that isn't just 11 players in 4-3-3 formation, occasionally dropping in 4-4-2 or 4-5-1, and that for me is very much on Howe to sort.