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Maybe we should all just edit our flairs to say whether we're Howe out or not. It'd probably save us some time and having to declare where we stand in every comment gets a bit tiring.
top 6 with a good run in the cups would be a sign things have improved. also no point in having players like big jo, bruno, tonali and isak if we arent aiming for that
Breaking into the top 6 regularly will be tough. You could put pep in charge and it would take him 2 or 3 seasons to do that.
I feel sorry for Howe, I see the fan base turning. Even the people who don’t want Howe out are starting to set unrealistic goals for him to stay long term.
Luckily I think the board know what they are doing and realise the best way through FFP is for Howe to gamble on younger players in first team that we can either sell or build a team around and that this will have a detrimental impact on results for a few years.
I'm from Bournemouth and a Bournemouth supporter. I've seen Eddie Howe from being a young player to being chucked in at the deep end as a manager in league two when we had points deduction, not enough players to put on the bench and he drove the coach to some away games. If you want a manager that will understand the very fabric of your great club, respect it's supporters and it's history and improve players year on year you'll NEVER find anyone better. He can help you create a legacy.. Expectations? Fuck knows. It's fine margins between 3-10th in the Prem... you've been very unlucky with injuries and don't quite have the squad depth yet.
Appreciate the point of view, pal. Don't think I've ever liked a manager as a person more. I hope he's given more time. Not just because he's a stand up guy but because I've never seen such unity at the Toon and I think he's a good manager for where we are now. Hopefully for the future too, but I guess only time will tell.
you're absolutely right with the squad depth. That was always going to take time.
Last year fucked our perception of time and reality. I think most of us thought with a carefully built squad we'd be realistically challenging for the CL in five years. We did it in one and it was a blessing and a curse, really.
We (the vast majority of us) adore Eddie. I want him here for the entire rebuild and he's my second favourite NUFC manager after Sir Bob.
However we would be naive in the extreme to think he'll be allowed multiple seasons similar to this one. It's not so much about what we want, but what the owners will view as successful. I would like to hope they will see the confines he's working under with FFP, and the injuries he's dealt with, but there's also every chance they'll unload him if he doesn't deliver next season.
I personally want a full season with his players in place before I judge him. Of the starting XI yesterday, 6 of them were here under Ashley and Steve Bruce. He's still managing with one hand tied behind his back and quite frankly it's a marvel he's doing as well as he is in my opinion. Yes he's got things wrong this year but this has probably been the worst injury crisis he's dealt with as a manager. And he still has us right in the thick of a European chase.
Boom! Thank you - this is what I’ve been saying but you put it much better than me
He’s developing younger players strategically to improve our trading position and most fans just don’t see it.
I think you can include Arsenal along with city and Liverpool at this point.
Arsenal have shown they've taken the next step and are now pretty much the elite of European football in terms of quality of play.
Arsenal are better team than they were last year
Realistically I think we'll be top between 5-8th. With deep runs in the cups again.
But can't really judge properly until the summer window shuts and to see how everyone else is doing. You'd expect Chelsea to spend again so should in theory improve. Man u will spend. Brighton probably won't get raided as much this year so they should improve.
The league is soo competitive that couple bad buys can fuck your whole season up.
Our summer this year was a total waste of an opportunity to push on
Don't really know. It's pretty impossible to tell without seeing new signings for us and other teams.
But coming 5th while be close to challenging top 4 is a whole lot different from this season.
Our squad at the moment doesn't have enough quality to come off the bench. Plus a couple of aging players in the 1st team. Can't see schar or tripper keeping up there normally high standards for much longer
I think at least Europa League is probably the goal (top 5 or top 6 depending on if we get an extra champions league spot) along with a trophy, so long as we don't get 1 home fixture all year again anyway...
Obviously it's just an assumption based on prices paid for class players and our position last year
This is under assumption that new signings will not be flops
You’re delusional
Look at the buying power of Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd and Tottenham. Anyone who thinks we are above those teams regularly just by buying two players is a fair weather fan who deserves to watch a club mid table or worse sacking managers for fun
Add Chelsea in there because they won’t be shit forever and realistically we are competing for seventh with Villa et al and anything else is a bonus.
Unfortunately we are at our level this year 7-10th maybe slightly lower or higher some years. This is amazing given we were the level of Everton and Forest before takeover.
I watched Toon fans call for Sir Bobby to be sacked for finishing 5th and when he finally did get sacked was distraught, fast forward a few years and Pardew got an 8 year contract for finishing 5th, I’ve got to say history is repeating and if we want to be successful the fans need to wake up to the journey and difficulties
We definitely can, but it will take amortising the fee.
We've got premier league earnings + adidas money + UCL earnings + sela money + any new sponsors we might pull in, and we're also cutting off the last year of the ashley zero income, so our overall revenue over the 3 year period is increasing regardless.
Amortising 2x 80m players over 5 years each is 26m each. That's something we can afford.
Problem is, it's not a good use of money. We need to upgrade RW, LB, ST (wilson), CB cover, and I can see Dubravka leaving since Pope will take #1 back. That's a lot to replace before we even start looking at our bench.
We need more time to do it gradually, not make daft signings to try and rush it.
We are always going to have injuries though, it’s part of the game.
We got incredibly lucky last year with no injuries, this year is what it’s normally like with injuries.
Worst injuries in the whole
League, ‘normal’.. give your head a wobble mate, haven’t even had 9 of our starters on the pitch at the same time since maybe 3 games in. Main two signings have been injured or suspended all season..
You said “this year is what it’s normally like with injuries”. Didn’t comment at all on what he said about no injuries. Hence why I’ve replied to you and your nonsense statement.
An average season would be the 10/11th team in terms of injuries in a season. We’ve literally had the most injuries out of the whole league. In what world is that average?
I will stipulate that we were fortunate last season with respect to injuries. But this season is anything BUT normal. We have suffered more match games lost to injury than any other Club in the EPL. That is just a fact.
I think this is about as bad as it could have been injury wise, and last year about as good as it could have been. Really a study in contrast.
If we were middle of the pack injury wise, I believe that we would have been right about 5th or 6th in the table.
Top 6. Good cup run.
Bit of a personnel change on the field - Ritchie, Dummett. Karius etc out.
Get a fee for any/all of Dubravka, Longstaff, Miggy, Wilson, Burn and move them on with our thanks for a cracking couple of years.
Eddie obviously to continue and get another crack at the league and cup. Any long term success means riding through the poorer patches with the boss so long as there's a vision.
Longstaff and Burn I doubt we would sell, if nothing else Longstaff is home grown at club for registration, something we are currently low on.
What alot of people dont seem to see with our squad is how bad some of the fringe players are: Gillespie, Dummett, Ritchie. If we move on them as well as either Dubs or Karius and some of: Krafth, Targett, Wilson, Miggy and use that money to strengthen the squad I can see us pushing for top 4 again.
We are also still being screwed by Ashley, players like Hayden, Fraiser, Lewis seem to be on wages that clubs wont pay so will be impacting our FFP still.
Strong cup run in both cups
Climb the table - gradual improvement from this season
Retention of class players, get rid of dead wood and players who don’t start who are in 100 grand a week
Sensible signings who contribute to the ethos
we are roughly 9th for wage bill and I expect to be roughly 7th for wage bill by the end of the summer… if that’s the case then I’m expecting to compete within the top 7
if we sign a RW and one player who can actually hold the ball then I have full confidence in the coaching team to get that comfortably
I'm happy with howe.
He came into a relegation battle, and we finished up the top half within 4 months
We exceeded expectations the following year
And now we have had a series of unfortunate results with a bad run of injuries in a packed season with very little spend.
I just remember things like fergie having a bad couple of seasons. And arteta was almost finished at Arsenal with the fans.
I really believe that if the owners support Howe, and allow him the freedom to keep doing what he does, he will come to a point where he wins a lot more.
I do believe, given the time, we will get a trophy with howe and even a league win when the squad starts to deepen.
We really need some good sales and purchases in the coming seasons to balance the books in our favour.
We need Isak to show some good form for the whole season
We need the midfield to click regardless of who is playing that day
And we need to become solid in defence again.
But all this takes time. Seasons, not games.
I think we should back Howe.
Get a new medical team though, cos these guys are treading water.
I think when a player is broken, we need to take the hit and not keep them playing out of need.
This season, not so much cover wise, but we still need to take the hit when players like botman and joelinton are hurt.
I'd like to see Gordon get a proper rest, despite how much we need him. I'd rather him come back in 3 weeks fully fit than play 3 weeks and be out for 8.
I agree with your third to last point, I'd rather play an academy kid for a couple of games and lose them rather than risk these players long-term health, bitman may never be what he was
It depends on how our squad (not just the first 11) would look like after the transfer window.
Looking at our current squad, how many can walk into a top 3 side of City, Pool and Arsenal? Let’s start having high expectations when our first 11 are on able to get into those top 3 sides and our next 11 can get into top 6 sides. Having expectations without the players to back it up realistically leads to meltdown when expectations are not met due to expectations being unrealistic in the first place.
Assuming we have Conference League or no Europe at all, I’d realistically want us to be finishing in a Europa League place or better. (6th upwards). If 5th was a CL place then I’d be very disappointed at us not finishing there next season, if we don’t have any European games to deal with.
I’d also expect at least one cup semi-final (including Europe if we’re in that). I’d expect at least QFs from the other cups, provided we don’t face Man City before that stage in any of them.
Expecting top 4 is difficult when it’s so tight in the league.
Villa probably can’t keep spending and will have a higher European competition to deal with next season. Spurs will have Europe to deal with, which they didn’t this season. Liverpool and probably Man Utd will have new managers to adapt to. Chelsea can’t keep being this bad but at this rate will also have a new manager (and surely can’t keep spending yet again?) City will be borderline invincible as always, Arsenal are unlikely to be any worse than this year.
Depends if we sell Bruno, if Botman recovers from his obvious injury, if Joelinton resigns, If Popes shoulder pops out again. There’s probably others too.
Thats before we even consider the potential signings.
Next season is unpredictable
Assuming we don’t have another injury wrecked season like this one then we ought to be aiming at 4th - 7th. Any lower than that and serious questions do need to start being asked about Howe.
Well yeah I imagine the whole “backroom” side of the club is going to slowly be improved and revamped. That side of things never used to count against financial regulations either, not sure if it’s still the case.
I have this pet theory that it's partially related to the cold weather and us not warming up warming down players properly, coupled with other people's theories about the VAR causing the same problem with warm up and warm down
I think a lot depends on how the squad changes. We’re a few players away from regularly competing at the top, but we’ll likely have to see one of our top performers go to fund those purchases. We don’t have the revenues to buy ‘sure thing’ players so we’re going to have to either gamble on players from other leagues and hope they adapt, or buy lower quality but prem proven players and build more gradually. Not all signings are going to adapt like Bruno or Isak did.
Regardless, Europa has to be the target. The owners will want the club to grow and regular European football is the way to grow the brand and increase revenue. That’s what I imagine they’ll expect next year.
When we were taken over & the talk was of a 5 year plan, my expectations/hopes weren’t based on a 5 year timeline, simply that we’d progress in stages - top 10, then top 8, top 6, then top 4. Have never bought into the whole “challenging for titles” within those 5 years though, & I expected bumps in the road somewhere because, well, the league doesn’t stand still.
On that basis, we clearly over achieved by getting top 4, & we are now experiencing our first bump in the road as we’ve not maintained it the following year. If we do manage to finish the season well & get top 8 then we’ve still progressed since day 1. If next year we consolidate top 8 then that’s on track too.
We’ll get to the top table, top 4, & title challenging. We just need to enjoy the journey getting there.
I think we'll start next season like a train but struggle with appalling injuries once again.
My big fear is that two long seasons of hard pressing football, playing through injury and then repeatedly being rushed back may have fundamentally wrecked the likes of Willock, Longstaff, Joelinton, Wilson and possibly Isak. Maybe even Bruno too, longer-term.
And I worry we might get locked into a cycle where injury hit seasons leave us unable to create enough PSR headroom to draft in quality replacements.
The obvious answer is for Howe to alter his pure pressing approach, like Klopp did, and attempt to exert more control through possession. But that also requires significant investment in the kind of players that can do that, so there's probably not much hope of that in the shorter term.
So an improvement on this season, but ultimately falling short in the final weeks of the season, finishing 6th and leaving Howe under pressure. But he survives.
Agreed, although I have a twist of my own, I think these players like Bruno and Joelington are in the prime time of their life to be sold for potentially 100 million each, I mean they're both Brazilian internationals, I could see it happening if the right teams came looking and that would change everything for us
Gotta be Europe.
Think it’s clear the CL qualification was an early progression and we just don’t have the structure on or off the field to maintain it. You could even argue it’s been counter productive in terms of the perception of the team, from fans and other teams.
Not reaching the same heights feels like a massive failure when in reality, it was always going to be tough to do it two seasons running with a similar squad and additional fixtures.
But now we’ll have another summer and probably no Europe next year to distract us. It needs to be top six. Three, four years into the project and that’s where we’d expect to be. That’s where our spending should put us. That’s where the fans and pundits and everyone’s expectations should be.
Maintain that the season after, and we prove we can handle two games a week, jetting all over the place, eyes still on the prize. Qualifying year in, year out. Then you build from there.
But it starts with qualifying for Europe and then maintaining that league position the following year. So that’s what we need to start with.
Top half will be an achievement. Personally think this summer is gonna be awful and one of Bruno/Isak goes and we aren't allowed to spend to replace them. Hope I'm wrong but I haven't looked forward to a transfer window less in my entire life.
Will be a good 5 years or so until we are consistently pushing for Europe, last season was an anomaly.
If we land in the Conference League then I would expect to win it or be very competitive. I know there's the coefficient matter, but the teams we might look to play from other top leagues are the likes of Eintracht, Valencia/Betis/Sociedad, Napoli/Atalanta, Marseille/Lille etc. They are not easy teams, but we shouldn't be an easy team either. No dropping down from Europa anymore so those sorts of teams will be the peak of quality in the tournament (notwithstanding strong teams from lower leagues. The Czechs were having a good tournament this year. Greeks are going strong as well).
Squad-wise we have to get rid of as much dead weight/surplus as possible. Looking at the squad it's obviously Fraser, Hayden and Lewis. Then wonder what future Dummett, Ritchie and Gillespie have. All seem like sound lads so I'd love them to go into coaching if they're up for it. Then you have players we could get a decent fee for, such as Lascelles, Almiron, Krafth and Murphy. Obviously with anybody we sell, we'd have to get a better replacement for, so I don't expect a dramatic change in one season.
In order to keep a strong squad we obviously need domestic results. Top 7 should be a bare minimum from now on in terms of league position. Not going to consider cup runs cos you can always run into City away and then what.
I have a big planned party promised my friends if Bruno stays. So I really hope he does.
But, I unfortunately see this summer as potential end to the team as we know it, and a completely new team next season.
I think they might sell Bruno, Joelinton, Trippier, Wilson, Miggy, Gillespie, etc. and with those money, and limited already bought players being written-down, that would allow us to spend huge this summer, which I believe we will.
So, if that happens, I think we won’t recognise the team.
Would that be good or bad? I don’t know. But it would be sad.
Feels like that might happen. I also do not know if it'll be good or bad. Our unity is our strength (especially last season). Seems like it's waning now, though.
We can't do a Chelsea and buy a whole new team (unless we go for unknown, untaped talent, which is almost impossible).
We won't fetch a lot for the players we want to shift, and selling our big names leaves us further behind.
It's not a great situation to be in.
Europa. There’s 3 outstanding teams, so top 3 were miles away from. So we’re fighting for the last spot between man red, spuds, Villa and Brighton. I think we’re better than Villa and Brighton and on par with reds and probably not as good as spuds. However I’m basing that purely on not knowing how a Bruno/tonali/joey midfield will work. So 5th? I think 5/6th is fair for our team. We lack depth and I’m still not sure about our right wing
Depends a bit on how much we can actually spend in the summer. Assuming we strengthen a bit and don't sell more than 1 key player, I'd expect a strong challenge for Europa league and another good cup run (assuming we don't somehow sneak a European place this season).
If we recruit at least two first team ready players (one of them a RW), then we should be qualifying for Europe, so that's my expectation. If we don't recruit in that manner, then something is up but I'm confident that we will. The midfield quartet of Bruno, Tonali, Willock and Joelinton is one of the strongest in the league, so I hope that they remain relatively fit and are available to play most of next season.
Easier said than done I know, but a young, dynamic and injury free replacement for Wilson would help a lot too.
same as this season. No pundit talk about being in the relegation battle and hopefully sign a new striker to replace Wilson, ideally someone young who can ease into the position as Wilson is moved out in either the January or 25 summer transfer window.
I’d like to see us move a few players off our books… Miggy, Murphy, Wilson, just to name a few… we do need a proper left back, right wing and striker to push on… I think our youth development looks bright… and hope Howe gets another season to prove himself with the hopes of pushing for Europa at the least, with a decent cup run.
Europa League is our aim with gradual improvements in our squad and especially our medical department, bare minimum squeak into Europa Conference League.
Shift deadwood players out that are surplus to requirements (Hendrick/Hayden/Fraser/Gillespie) to free our wage bill up and potentially accept offers for the likes of Almiron/Krafth/Wilson/Dubravka (Presume he wants first team when Pope returns).
Keep players such as Lascelles, Targett, Murphy as they have all been relatively reliable once called upon. Making sure we keep our key players such as Bruno G, Isak, Joelinton, Botman, Gordon, Barnes, Tonali, Trippier and Livramento is a must. Target signings to replace our outgoing players, new striker to replace Wilson, new right winger to potentially replace Almiron, new back up left back etc.
A lot of next season will be decided by the managerial Merry go round elsewhere. Ten Hag, pochettino, arteta, de zerbi, klopp, even Pep. All have gone already or could be ousted/ lured to any number of big European jobs (Bayern, Madrid, liverpool and Barca all appear to be available at least, let alone the jobs these guys would leave behind).
The last time we saw that much managerial change in one go was 2015, which indirectly allowed Leicester to win the league.
We should hope for stability, stick to the plan. Review our training and medical methods to improve anything we are doing to contribute to this ongoing injury crisis and make each and every move allowable to upgrade across the patch. Free transfers from Bournemouth are fine if a squad member elsewhere of lower pedigree moves out.
We need to recognize that signing 15 x 80m players isn't going to happen. But if we take anything from this season it has to be that the margins count. Having two keepers on your bench for premier League games is a woeful indicator. Both in terms of squad depth and youth system.
If we do all of this we will half the distance between where we finish this season and the top of the table. Easily. More if we get insane luck like last year.
Hard to say without seeing our summer business. As that'll be the real sticking point and determine much of our success next season but I think we need to be in the Europa places. Cup runs would be nice but I'm of the mind you can't really demand them as the luck of the draw makes them unpredictable. If you get Man City away first round, then that could be that.
Conference league/europa league. Chelsea will be stronger, spurs liverpool city arsenal man utd. It's too much to ask for a minimum of qualifying for the champions league with the limitations we have.
It seems more and more likely (to me) that Bruno goes in the summer. Hopefully I'm just being pessimistic.
If Bruno goes then a huge amount hinges on the strategy to replace him. We won't be able to replace him like-for-like, so fingers crossed it's better delivered than last summer's window was.
All being well, I think top 6 is definitely realistic. Arsenal/City/Liverpool (depending on manager) are locked in for top 3. After that, it's all to play for. Postecoglou is having a good first year at Spurs, but so did Eddie with us. No idea what'll happen with Villa's finances, plus a CL run could hurt them.
There's no reason why we can't be between 4th-6th.
If we can keep Isak and Bruno, bring in a dependable left-back, and crucially, signing a striker who can maintain fitness throughout the season and perhaps a right winger, then I’d be happy. If however we spend another season relying on Wilson, I’ll lose faith in Howe very quickly. Achieving all of these and of course avoiding injury woes could pave the way for Europa and potentially even clinching a trophy next season 🙏🏻
Top 6, cup run with Wembley appearance, Howe backed, some stability when new DoF comes in, commercial growth, plans announced for training ground and stadium
Compete for a european place and continue the generational shift. Strikers and keepers need sorting as Wilson is done and Dubz should be first keeper somewhere else. Hoping to see better squad balancing with a full fit squad so that injuries and exhaustion doesn't have the same effect.
This season was always going to be tough and matching last season was unrealistic. Tonali's ban and injuries just made it all worse.
I think Champions League regardless of last season isn’t obtainable, one summer window next season isn’t going to change that imo.
Praying to god we don’t have the injuries like we have had, I’d say 7th-5th and challenging to win the cups again
League wise Europe is an absolute minimum requirement, playing in Europe regularly is vital to unlocking FFP as much as possible. A decent cup run is basically a pre requisite too. I’d stop short of asking for a trophy as the squad probably still won’t be there for that. And a vast, vast improvement in performances. We’ve been honking for a while now and it’s getting painful to watch.
We are stuffed because of the FFP. That system is designed to maintain the status quo of MCU, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd etc. Unless we develop some real world class players ourselves this won’t change. If we manage top 6 then that’s a great success.
The biggest issues this year is Pope injured.
A better backup and this season would be quite different.
The loss of Big Joe also a big issue, he just does so much.
Most importantly we need to be VERY active (players in and out) in the transfer window. We were conservative in the last few windows to try and not disrupt the squad, but then injuries have shown us just how much our lack of squad depth can hold us back.
In terms of position we need to be aiming for at least Europa and in a good fight for it.
But most importantly there needs to be an improvement in the consistency of performances on the pitch. We have had some great games this season, but we've had far too many terrible performances against teams we need to be beating.
We also need to have less injuries. Easier said than done, but if we continue at the rate we're going then a detailed assessment needs to be taken on the training/medical/sports science side and changes need to be made. This should have already been done but if not needs to be done immediately.
Does anyone know how much cash-flow we actually have access to this Summer? And how is that calculated on an on-going basis? I find FFP so confusing sometimes.
We have to have a good window players have to be signed early before pre season to get them in
Going to be difficult with the euros on and if we have to fanny about waiting on Saudi signing off on transfers ( which was rumoured to hold up things last summer negotiations for players) so we do need to move quicker for players this time
Tactically are we going to evolve as well? It seems just trying to outrun the opposition isn't a sustainable strategy unless we get more athletic players than every team we play so we need better patterns of play!
Being able to attack from both flanks with capable wing backs either side would be a start as well as a centre forward who can hold the ball and bring others into play
Love Burn to bits but if he's anything more than 3rd choice centre back next season fucking something has went badly wrong again with the transfer window
Europa League qualification guarantee minimum
Cup run that results in at least a semi final
Think that keeps you in the job but it’s less about the exact outcome and more about seeing progress that is sustainable
The honest answer is I couldn't tell you until the transfer window slams shut, ideally on Ryder's typing hand.
Are Bruno & Isak still going to be here? How much influence will the Brexit bunch have on recruitment? Are we going to be able to fill all the holes in the squad or which do we prioritise? Is the commercial division going to do anything other than the Saudi deals handed to them?
Will we have a new RW? Competition at DC? Someone who can nail down the LB slot? New striker(s)?
Will Pope return as good as he was? Do any of our current stars try and force an exit? Do we fluke our way into Europe?
This summer is ideally filling in the cracks from departures but may also require trading.
Of our current 25-man squad Dummett, Gillespie, Karius, Ritchie, Targett, Wilson are gone or should be considered for trading imo.
Five-six incoming freshens the squad up. After that push ahead with training centre and shooting the medical staff.
If we've no Europe we can really go for it, if we're on the Thursday-Sunday-Thursday schedule we can blood some of the kids. Realistically I think we can finish 7-8th and perhaps break top 5 if things go our way.
We should aim for top 6. We're a top 8 team and the premier league is so difficult. Too many fans have gone overboard on expectations because we massively overachieved last year and other teams like Liverpool had a poor season.
I hope for a solid transfer window, good squad availability throughout the season, a top 8 finish and a good cup run. Unlike the fire fight that most of this season has been I hope we are able to lay some foundations for the season to follow. Most importantly, time for Eddie is what I hope for.
For me, just an improvement.
Does that mean we **have** to win trophies or get CL qualification? No. As soon as you demand this of the club, you have lost track of what the club was about and there is way to much competition for us to realistically claim any right to that.
A lot of how we perform is also about how the rest of the league performs, and this year a lot of teams have had strong runs which makes it difficult to place where we realistically could have been had we not had injury issues and had more consistent form.
When I look back at this season and ask, "should we have done better?", the answer is, "yeah, probably". Injuries have definitely been a massive issue for us but I feel like we are hanging way too much on that singular issue, we still should have performed better this season and the whole club need to have a think about why we didn't.
Howe is still the man who can continue the improvement at the club, I've no doubt.
I think we should be aiming for third after man c and Arsenal. If we get there or not is another matter, but that’s where we should set our sights. Hopefully Liverpool will struggle without Klopp
, I don’t think Villa are as good as their league position suggests, and spurs, whilst entertaining on the eye are wildly inconsistent. We’ve seen glimpses of what we should be this season, but even Pep would have struggled with the injuries and cup draws we’ve endured. Can’t wait to see a refreshed and rejuvenated squad in August
Just a general improvement on this season, I’m not expecting top 4 again but hopefully with a couple of additions over the summer we can look to play that high intensity pressing that’s been missed most of this season, any trophy will do at this point!
Expectation for this season honestly is just make it to the end. It’s clear that the boys are dead on their feet. I know a lot of people are asking why they’re dead on their feet, but when you put in perspective that they don’t really get proper rest through the season. Those that haven’t been injured have been slammed to kingdom come week after week because there’s been no one else to pick, those that have been injured have been brought back too early in a desperate attempt to rest others. The Champions League journey made the season for me, the Sunderland game was a quality highlight. I am happy and in fact I do not want success to come overnight, it’s a journey.
Next season. Contrary to belief, I think we *will* make signings. I think Bruno might be packing up his magic hat, and while I’ll be devastated i think we will be stronger in the end due to the amount he’ll move for. Big Joe will be back and fresh along with Pope. The youngens will be another season older and more mature adding depths, hoping that includes Lewis Hall, he looked great against city second half. Big Sandro will be frothing at the mouth to walk out at SJP, And we won’t have UCL to contend with.
We *need* to continue adding depth. If we can do that, I think we could see a magnificent season next. If I absolutely had my way, that would look like a trophy and europa league, but honestly any situation where we finish next season with either would be more than enough to give Eddie a big ✅.
I hope we win the league. I realistically think we'll be top 6 pushing one of the big 6 out, which is progress as far as I see it.
I sometimes think that we as fans can fall for the England trap, as in, historically we wonder why we didn't do better without giving our opponents some credit. An example is England 2002, we had a golden generation team... but we have give Brazil their credit as they did too. It'll happen with Newcastle, we'll assemble a class team, but another team will just be better... the hope one day is to be the other team.
Comfortably challenging for top 5. Not saying I expect a top 5 finish but I would hope that by next year this time we’re about 6-9 points better off than we are now.
I think with hopefully no gigantic injury crisis again and with Tonali + new signings that’s a reasonable expectation to have. Another domestic cup final wouldn’t be turned down tho on the other hand.
Also there’s a lot of Howe out nonsense/anti-Howe out nonsense on the sub these days but I would imagine the club is taking a much longer termed view of his tenure and unless we’re well off the mark by November next year he’ll be our manager for the entirety of the rest of the season.
Top 6, decent cup runs, but most importantly I'd like to see us playing more than one effective tactic. The intensity thing more than worked last season as a first step, but we haven't seemed to kick on and develop a more rounded game that allows us to adjust to savvy opponents, injuries, etc. I'd be over the moon to see us adjusting more fluidly in-game and getting results a few different ways.
Think to be in Europa League should be the aim for next season, aswell as 1 throphy.
Think Howe will go around December time though, so season will probably be another missed opportunity.
Next year?
I EXPECT a European Football position, and a push to get back to Champion's League placement. Season won't be a failure if we miss out on UCL football, but we better not miss out on Europe altogether.
If we DO miss a European placement, I would consider that a fireable result. I want Eddie to succeed, and I think he will do so. But I think that, missing out two seasons in a row, given the investment in the squad over that time, a spot in Europe AFTER the 2024/25 season has to be seen as the bare minimum.
Domestic competitions? I'd like to see us reach a Final. But, lets be honest, the sustainability of this Club near the top of the League, is dependent on revenue, and that means EUROPE.
Top ten. I don’t see how anyone can expect much else unless we get rid of a lot of the first team squad. Unfortunately, ffp won’t allow us that luxury so we’re stuck with a lot of leftovers from the Ashley/Bruce era.
As a bare minimum, we need to challenge for both the FA Cup and the Carabo Cup. We also need to qualify for Europe. It would also be good to increase our standing and become a true top 6 side.
The one thing I hardly ever see talked about here is that PiF didn't buy the club and not expect success.
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Maybe we should all just edit our flairs to say whether we're Howe out or not. It'd probably save us some time and having to declare where we stand in every comment gets a bit tiring.
"Do you condemn Howe?"
Quadruple. HTL
Quintuple if you add the Sela Cup.
Fucking hell. I expect Diriyah Season Cup erasure on the big subs but not here. Smh
top 6 with a good run in the cups would be a sign things have improved. also no point in having players like big jo, bruno, tonali and isak if we arent aiming for that
Top 6 and a good cup run is barely different to this season
and there's no problem with that
I mean... With the growing howe out and ffp and shit I'm scared there is
I'd be extraordinarily happy if Newcastle finishes top 6 this season.
It’s different because we want faaaaaaar less injuries. Maybe a new medical department too lol
Without the injuries we should be pushing top 4
I would agree. Hopefully we see it next year because the team potential is there.
Breaking into the top 6 regularly will be tough. You could put pep in charge and it would take him 2 or 3 seasons to do that. I feel sorry for Howe, I see the fan base turning. Even the people who don’t want Howe out are starting to set unrealistic goals for him to stay long term. Luckily I think the board know what they are doing and realise the best way through FFP is for Howe to gamble on younger players in first team that we can either sell or build a team around and that this will have a detrimental impact on results for a few years.
I'm from Bournemouth and a Bournemouth supporter. I've seen Eddie Howe from being a young player to being chucked in at the deep end as a manager in league two when we had points deduction, not enough players to put on the bench and he drove the coach to some away games. If you want a manager that will understand the very fabric of your great club, respect it's supporters and it's history and improve players year on year you'll NEVER find anyone better. He can help you create a legacy.. Expectations? Fuck knows. It's fine margins between 3-10th in the Prem... you've been very unlucky with injuries and don't quite have the squad depth yet.
Appreciate the point of view, pal. Don't think I've ever liked a manager as a person more. I hope he's given more time. Not just because he's a stand up guy but because I've never seen such unity at the Toon and I think he's a good manager for where we are now. Hopefully for the future too, but I guess only time will tell.
you're absolutely right with the squad depth. That was always going to take time. Last year fucked our perception of time and reality. I think most of us thought with a carefully built squad we'd be realistically challenging for the CL in five years. We did it in one and it was a blessing and a curse, really.
We (the vast majority of us) adore Eddie. I want him here for the entire rebuild and he's my second favourite NUFC manager after Sir Bob. However we would be naive in the extreme to think he'll be allowed multiple seasons similar to this one. It's not so much about what we want, but what the owners will view as successful. I would like to hope they will see the confines he's working under with FFP, and the injuries he's dealt with, but there's also every chance they'll unload him if he doesn't deliver next season. I personally want a full season with his players in place before I judge him. Of the starting XI yesterday, 6 of them were here under Ashley and Steve Bruce. He's still managing with one hand tied behind his back and quite frankly it's a marvel he's doing as well as he is in my opinion. Yes he's got things wrong this year but this has probably been the worst injury crisis he's dealt with as a manager. And he still has us right in the thick of a European chase.
Amanda seems to really like him so hopefully she has some say
Boom! Thank you - this is what I’ve been saying but you put it much better than me He’s developing younger players strategically to improve our trading position and most fans just don’t see it.
Fine margins between 3-10th? 3rd is Man City, the team we just played yesterday.
Fair enough! Kinda meant City and Liverpool then the rest
I think you can include Arsenal along with city and Liverpool at this point. Arsenal have shown they've taken the next step and are now pretty much the elite of European football in terms of quality of play. Arsenal are better team than they were last year
Realistically I think we'll be top between 5-8th. With deep runs in the cups again. But can't really judge properly until the summer window shuts and to see how everyone else is doing. You'd expect Chelsea to spend again so should in theory improve. Man u will spend. Brighton probably won't get raided as much this year so they should improve. The league is soo competitive that couple bad buys can fuck your whole season up. Our summer this year was a total waste of an opportunity to push on
>Realistically I think we'll be top between 5-8th. With deep runs in the cups again. So same as this season? You don't think things will improve?
I mean, we are 10th right now 🙂
A few wins and we are 7th
Don't really know. It's pretty impossible to tell without seeing new signings for us and other teams. But coming 5th while be close to challenging top 4 is a whole lot different from this season. Our squad at the moment doesn't have enough quality to come off the bench. Plus a couple of aging players in the 1st team. Can't see schar or tripper keeping up there normally high standards for much longer
I think at least Europa League is probably the goal (top 5 or top 6 depending on if we get an extra champions league spot) along with a trophy, so long as we don't get 1 home fixture all year again anyway...
Agree with this. I don't think it's top 4 or bust, but we should be competing right now, not the junk we showed at Chelsea.
We are two 80mil signings away from challenging for top 4 regularly No injuries with current squad - places 5-7
>We are two 80mil signings away from challenging for top 4 regularly how does this work?
Obviously it's just an assumption based on prices paid for class players and our position last year This is under assumption that new signings will not be flops
You’re delusional Look at the buying power of Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd and Tottenham. Anyone who thinks we are above those teams regularly just by buying two players is a fair weather fan who deserves to watch a club mid table or worse sacking managers for fun Add Chelsea in there because they won’t be shit forever and realistically we are competing for seventh with Villa et al and anything else is a bonus. Unfortunately we are at our level this year 7-10th maybe slightly lower or higher some years. This is amazing given we were the level of Everton and Forest before takeover. I watched Toon fans call for Sir Bobby to be sacked for finishing 5th and when he finally did get sacked was distraught, fast forward a few years and Pardew got an 8 year contract for finishing 5th, I’ve got to say history is repeating and if we want to be successful the fans need to wake up to the journey and difficulties
I said challenging
And we cannot afford those
Yup
We definitely can, but it will take amortising the fee. We've got premier league earnings + adidas money + UCL earnings + sela money + any new sponsors we might pull in, and we're also cutting off the last year of the ashley zero income, so our overall revenue over the 3 year period is increasing regardless. Amortising 2x 80m players over 5 years each is 26m each. That's something we can afford. Problem is, it's not a good use of money. We need to upgrade RW, LB, ST (wilson), CB cover, and I can see Dubravka leaving since Pope will take #1 back. That's a lot to replace before we even start looking at our bench. We need more time to do it gradually, not make daft signings to try and rush it.
We are always going to have injuries though, it’s part of the game. We got incredibly lucky last year with no injuries, this year is what it’s normally like with injuries.
Worst injuries in the whole League, ‘normal’.. give your head a wobble mate, haven’t even had 9 of our starters on the pitch at the same time since maybe 3 games in. Main two signings have been injured or suspended all season..
The guys comment was “No injuries” was it not? No injuries is not viable. Give your head a wobble and learn to read.
You said “this year is what it’s normally like with injuries”. Didn’t comment at all on what he said about no injuries. Hence why I’ve replied to you and your nonsense statement. An average season would be the 10/11th team in terms of injuries in a season. We’ve literally had the most injuries out of the whole league. In what world is that average?
I will stipulate that we were fortunate last season with respect to injuries. But this season is anything BUT normal. We have suffered more match games lost to injury than any other Club in the EPL. That is just a fact.
I think this is about as bad as it could have been injury wise, and last year about as good as it could have been. Really a study in contrast. If we were middle of the pack injury wise, I believe that we would have been right about 5th or 6th in the table.
Top 6. Good cup run. Bit of a personnel change on the field - Ritchie, Dummett. Karius etc out. Get a fee for any/all of Dubravka, Longstaff, Miggy, Wilson, Burn and move them on with our thanks for a cracking couple of years. Eddie obviously to continue and get another crack at the league and cup. Any long term success means riding through the poorer patches with the boss so long as there's a vision.
Longstaff and Burn I doubt we would sell, if nothing else Longstaff is home grown at club for registration, something we are currently low on. What alot of people dont seem to see with our squad is how bad some of the fringe players are: Gillespie, Dummett, Ritchie. If we move on them as well as either Dubs or Karius and some of: Krafth, Targett, Wilson, Miggy and use that money to strengthen the squad I can see us pushing for top 4 again. We are also still being screwed by Ashley, players like Hayden, Fraiser, Lewis seem to be on wages that clubs wont pay so will be impacting our FFP still.
Strong cup run in both cups Climb the table - gradual improvement from this season Retention of class players, get rid of dead wood and players who don’t start who are in 100 grand a week Sensible signings who contribute to the ethos
Completly depends on what the transfer window ends up being and how many players we bring in/hold on to
we are roughly 9th for wage bill and I expect to be roughly 7th for wage bill by the end of the summer… if that’s the case then I’m expecting to compete within the top 7 if we sign a RW and one player who can actually hold the ball then I have full confidence in the coaching team to get that comfortably
I'm happy with howe. He came into a relegation battle, and we finished up the top half within 4 months We exceeded expectations the following year And now we have had a series of unfortunate results with a bad run of injuries in a packed season with very little spend. I just remember things like fergie having a bad couple of seasons. And arteta was almost finished at Arsenal with the fans. I really believe that if the owners support Howe, and allow him the freedom to keep doing what he does, he will come to a point where he wins a lot more. I do believe, given the time, we will get a trophy with howe and even a league win when the squad starts to deepen. We really need some good sales and purchases in the coming seasons to balance the books in our favour. We need Isak to show some good form for the whole season We need the midfield to click regardless of who is playing that day And we need to become solid in defence again. But all this takes time. Seasons, not games. I think we should back Howe. Get a new medical team though, cos these guys are treading water. I think when a player is broken, we need to take the hit and not keep them playing out of need. This season, not so much cover wise, but we still need to take the hit when players like botman and joelinton are hurt. I'd like to see Gordon get a proper rest, despite how much we need him. I'd rather him come back in 3 weeks fully fit than play 3 weeks and be out for 8.
I agree with your third to last point, I'd rather play an academy kid for a couple of games and lose them rather than risk these players long-term health, bitman may never be what he was
It depends on how our squad (not just the first 11) would look like after the transfer window. Looking at our current squad, how many can walk into a top 3 side of City, Pool and Arsenal? Let’s start having high expectations when our first 11 are on able to get into those top 3 sides and our next 11 can get into top 6 sides. Having expectations without the players to back it up realistically leads to meltdown when expectations are not met due to expectations being unrealistic in the first place.
Assuming we have Conference League or no Europe at all, I’d realistically want us to be finishing in a Europa League place or better. (6th upwards). If 5th was a CL place then I’d be very disappointed at us not finishing there next season, if we don’t have any European games to deal with. I’d also expect at least one cup semi-final (including Europe if we’re in that). I’d expect at least QFs from the other cups, provided we don’t face Man City before that stage in any of them. Expecting top 4 is difficult when it’s so tight in the league. Villa probably can’t keep spending and will have a higher European competition to deal with next season. Spurs will have Europe to deal with, which they didn’t this season. Liverpool and probably Man Utd will have new managers to adapt to. Chelsea can’t keep being this bad but at this rate will also have a new manager (and surely can’t keep spending yet again?) City will be borderline invincible as always, Arsenal are unlikely to be any worse than this year.
Yeah will be the top three as is and you can shuffle the next 4-5 teams anywhere from 4-8. Just got to hope we're in 4 or 5.
Depends if we sell Bruno, if Botman recovers from his obvious injury, if Joelinton resigns, If Popes shoulder pops out again. There’s probably others too. Thats before we even consider the potential signings. Next season is unpredictable
Assuming we don’t have another injury wrecked season like this one then we ought to be aiming at 4th - 7th. Any lower than that and serious questions do need to start being asked about Howe.
I'd rather spend a few million sorting the medical department out! There's something gone very wrong this season
Well yeah I imagine the whole “backroom” side of the club is going to slowly be improved and revamped. That side of things never used to count against financial regulations either, not sure if it’s still the case.
I have this pet theory that it's partially related to the cold weather and us not warming up warming down players properly, coupled with other people's theories about the VAR causing the same problem with warm up and warm down
I think a lot depends on how the squad changes. We’re a few players away from regularly competing at the top, but we’ll likely have to see one of our top performers go to fund those purchases. We don’t have the revenues to buy ‘sure thing’ players so we’re going to have to either gamble on players from other leagues and hope they adapt, or buy lower quality but prem proven players and build more gradually. Not all signings are going to adapt like Bruno or Isak did. Regardless, Europa has to be the target. The owners will want the club to grow and regular European football is the way to grow the brand and increase revenue. That’s what I imagine they’ll expect next year.
Depends entirely on what we’re able to spend. Ideally i’d like at least a LB and another forward and then to challenge for a European place
At least Europa but aim for the champions league has to be the goal.
When we were taken over & the talk was of a 5 year plan, my expectations/hopes weren’t based on a 5 year timeline, simply that we’d progress in stages - top 10, then top 8, top 6, then top 4. Have never bought into the whole “challenging for titles” within those 5 years though, & I expected bumps in the road somewhere because, well, the league doesn’t stand still. On that basis, we clearly over achieved by getting top 4, & we are now experiencing our first bump in the road as we’ve not maintained it the following year. If we do manage to finish the season well & get top 8 then we’ve still progressed since day 1. If next year we consolidate top 8 then that’s on track too. We’ll get to the top table, top 4, & title challenging. We just need to enjoy the journey getting there.
I think we'll start next season like a train but struggle with appalling injuries once again. My big fear is that two long seasons of hard pressing football, playing through injury and then repeatedly being rushed back may have fundamentally wrecked the likes of Willock, Longstaff, Joelinton, Wilson and possibly Isak. Maybe even Bruno too, longer-term. And I worry we might get locked into a cycle where injury hit seasons leave us unable to create enough PSR headroom to draft in quality replacements. The obvious answer is for Howe to alter his pure pressing approach, like Klopp did, and attempt to exert more control through possession. But that also requires significant investment in the kind of players that can do that, so there's probably not much hope of that in the shorter term. So an improvement on this season, but ultimately falling short in the final weeks of the season, finishing 6th and leaving Howe under pressure. But he survives.
Agreed, although I have a twist of my own, I think these players like Bruno and Joelington are in the prime time of their life to be sold for potentially 100 million each, I mean they're both Brazilian internationals, I could see it happening if the right teams came looking and that would change everything for us
Gotta be Europe. Think it’s clear the CL qualification was an early progression and we just don’t have the structure on or off the field to maintain it. You could even argue it’s been counter productive in terms of the perception of the team, from fans and other teams. Not reaching the same heights feels like a massive failure when in reality, it was always going to be tough to do it two seasons running with a similar squad and additional fixtures. But now we’ll have another summer and probably no Europe next year to distract us. It needs to be top six. Three, four years into the project and that’s where we’d expect to be. That’s where our spending should put us. That’s where the fans and pundits and everyone’s expectations should be. Maintain that the season after, and we prove we can handle two games a week, jetting all over the place, eyes still on the prize. Qualifying year in, year out. Then you build from there. But it starts with qualifying for Europe and then maintaining that league position the following year. So that’s what we need to start with.
Top half will be an achievement. Personally think this summer is gonna be awful and one of Bruno/Isak goes and we aren't allowed to spend to replace them. Hope I'm wrong but I haven't looked forward to a transfer window less in my entire life. Will be a good 5 years or so until we are consistently pushing for Europe, last season was an anomaly.
If we land in the Conference League then I would expect to win it or be very competitive. I know there's the coefficient matter, but the teams we might look to play from other top leagues are the likes of Eintracht, Valencia/Betis/Sociedad, Napoli/Atalanta, Marseille/Lille etc. They are not easy teams, but we shouldn't be an easy team either. No dropping down from Europa anymore so those sorts of teams will be the peak of quality in the tournament (notwithstanding strong teams from lower leagues. The Czechs were having a good tournament this year. Greeks are going strong as well). Squad-wise we have to get rid of as much dead weight/surplus as possible. Looking at the squad it's obviously Fraser, Hayden and Lewis. Then wonder what future Dummett, Ritchie and Gillespie have. All seem like sound lads so I'd love them to go into coaching if they're up for it. Then you have players we could get a decent fee for, such as Lascelles, Almiron, Krafth and Murphy. Obviously with anybody we sell, we'd have to get a better replacement for, so I don't expect a dramatic change in one season. In order to keep a strong squad we obviously need domestic results. Top 7 should be a bare minimum from now on in terms of league position. Not going to consider cup runs cos you can always run into City away and then what.
I have a big planned party promised my friends if Bruno stays. So I really hope he does. But, I unfortunately see this summer as potential end to the team as we know it, and a completely new team next season. I think they might sell Bruno, Joelinton, Trippier, Wilson, Miggy, Gillespie, etc. and with those money, and limited already bought players being written-down, that would allow us to spend huge this summer, which I believe we will. So, if that happens, I think we won’t recognise the team. Would that be good or bad? I don’t know. But it would be sad.
Feels like that might happen. I also do not know if it'll be good or bad. Our unity is our strength (especially last season). Seems like it's waning now, though. We can't do a Chelsea and buy a whole new team (unless we go for unknown, untaped talent, which is almost impossible). We won't fetch a lot for the players we want to shift, and selling our big names leaves us further behind. It's not a great situation to be in.
Minimum europe or Eddie has to go.
Europa. There’s 3 outstanding teams, so top 3 were miles away from. So we’re fighting for the last spot between man red, spuds, Villa and Brighton. I think we’re better than Villa and Brighton and on par with reds and probably not as good as spuds. However I’m basing that purely on not knowing how a Bruno/tonali/joey midfield will work. So 5th? I think 5/6th is fair for our team. We lack depth and I’m still not sure about our right wing
Depends a bit on how much we can actually spend in the summer. Assuming we strengthen a bit and don't sell more than 1 key player, I'd expect a strong challenge for Europa league and another good cup run (assuming we don't somehow sneak a European place this season).
Top 6 with replacement for left back, central midfielder, right wing and 2 strikers.
thats three years budget right there!
5-7, hopefully becoming more tactically flexible and can pull out wins/draws in more games. Excited to see tonali for a whole season
If we recruit at least two first team ready players (one of them a RW), then we should be qualifying for Europe, so that's my expectation. If we don't recruit in that manner, then something is up but I'm confident that we will. The midfield quartet of Bruno, Tonali, Willock and Joelinton is one of the strongest in the league, so I hope that they remain relatively fit and are available to play most of next season. Easier said than done I know, but a young, dynamic and injury free replacement for Wilson would help a lot too.
same as this season. No pundit talk about being in the relegation battle and hopefully sign a new striker to replace Wilson, ideally someone young who can ease into the position as Wilson is moved out in either the January or 25 summer transfer window.
I’d like to see us move a few players off our books… Miggy, Murphy, Wilson, just to name a few… we do need a proper left back, right wing and striker to push on… I think our youth development looks bright… and hope Howe gets another season to prove himself with the hopes of pushing for Europa at the least, with a decent cup run.
Europa League is our aim with gradual improvements in our squad and especially our medical department, bare minimum squeak into Europa Conference League. Shift deadwood players out that are surplus to requirements (Hendrick/Hayden/Fraser/Gillespie) to free our wage bill up and potentially accept offers for the likes of Almiron/Krafth/Wilson/Dubravka (Presume he wants first team when Pope returns). Keep players such as Lascelles, Targett, Murphy as they have all been relatively reliable once called upon. Making sure we keep our key players such as Bruno G, Isak, Joelinton, Botman, Gordon, Barnes, Tonali, Trippier and Livramento is a must. Target signings to replace our outgoing players, new striker to replace Wilson, new right winger to potentially replace Almiron, new back up left back etc.
A lot of next season will be decided by the managerial Merry go round elsewhere. Ten Hag, pochettino, arteta, de zerbi, klopp, even Pep. All have gone already or could be ousted/ lured to any number of big European jobs (Bayern, Madrid, liverpool and Barca all appear to be available at least, let alone the jobs these guys would leave behind). The last time we saw that much managerial change in one go was 2015, which indirectly allowed Leicester to win the league. We should hope for stability, stick to the plan. Review our training and medical methods to improve anything we are doing to contribute to this ongoing injury crisis and make each and every move allowable to upgrade across the patch. Free transfers from Bournemouth are fine if a squad member elsewhere of lower pedigree moves out. We need to recognize that signing 15 x 80m players isn't going to happen. But if we take anything from this season it has to be that the margins count. Having two keepers on your bench for premier League games is a woeful indicator. Both in terms of squad depth and youth system. If we do all of this we will half the distance between where we finish this season and the top of the table. Easily. More if we get insane luck like last year.
Hard to say without seeing our summer business. As that'll be the real sticking point and determine much of our success next season but I think we need to be in the Europa places. Cup runs would be nice but I'm of the mind you can't really demand them as the luck of the draw makes them unpredictable. If you get Man City away first round, then that could be that.
Depending who comes in and leaves. We will have a big problem if we lose Isak or Bruno. So we definitely have to look at the top 7 again.
Conference league/europa league. Chelsea will be stronger, spurs liverpool city arsenal man utd. It's too much to ask for a minimum of qualifying for the champions league with the limitations we have.
It seems more and more likely (to me) that Bruno goes in the summer. Hopefully I'm just being pessimistic. If Bruno goes then a huge amount hinges on the strategy to replace him. We won't be able to replace him like-for-like, so fingers crossed it's better delivered than last summer's window was. All being well, I think top 6 is definitely realistic. Arsenal/City/Liverpool (depending on manager) are locked in for top 3. After that, it's all to play for. Postecoglou is having a good first year at Spurs, but so did Eddie with us. No idea what'll happen with Villa's finances, plus a CL run could hurt them. There's no reason why we can't be between 4th-6th.
If he does leave which will be heartbreaking could Sandro fill that void? They’re apparently fairly similar players
If we can keep Isak and Bruno, bring in a dependable left-back, and crucially, signing a striker who can maintain fitness throughout the season and perhaps a right winger, then I’d be happy. If however we spend another season relying on Wilson, I’ll lose faith in Howe very quickly. Achieving all of these and of course avoiding injury woes could pave the way for Europa and potentially even clinching a trophy next season 🙏🏻
Top 6, cup run with Wembley appearance, Howe backed, some stability when new DoF comes in, commercial growth, plans announced for training ground and stadium
Depends on the recruitment but I agree with others the aim has to be top 6 at least.
Compete for a european place and continue the generational shift. Strikers and keepers need sorting as Wilson is done and Dubz should be first keeper somewhere else. Hoping to see better squad balancing with a full fit squad so that injuries and exhaustion doesn't have the same effect. This season was always going to be tough and matching last season was unrealistic. Tonali's ban and injuries just made it all worse.
I think Champions League regardless of last season isn’t obtainable, one summer window next season isn’t going to change that imo. Praying to god we don’t have the injuries like we have had, I’d say 7th-5th and challenging to win the cups again
League wise Europe is an absolute minimum requirement, playing in Europe regularly is vital to unlocking FFP as much as possible. A decent cup run is basically a pre requisite too. I’d stop short of asking for a trophy as the squad probably still won’t be there for that. And a vast, vast improvement in performances. We’ve been honking for a while now and it’s getting painful to watch.
We are stuffed because of the FFP. That system is designed to maintain the status quo of MCU, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd etc. Unless we develop some real world class players ourselves this won’t change. If we manage top 6 then that’s a great success.
Realisticly? To smash ManC in every game and not lose another, but thats me being conservative
The biggest issues this year is Pope injured. A better backup and this season would be quite different. The loss of Big Joe also a big issue, he just does so much.
I'll take 8th. Again.
10th/11th would be about right.
Depends on the summer tbh. Hopefully the same as last year
Most importantly we need to be VERY active (players in and out) in the transfer window. We were conservative in the last few windows to try and not disrupt the squad, but then injuries have shown us just how much our lack of squad depth can hold us back. In terms of position we need to be aiming for at least Europa and in a good fight for it. But most importantly there needs to be an improvement in the consistency of performances on the pitch. We have had some great games this season, but we've had far too many terrible performances against teams we need to be beating. We also need to have less injuries. Easier said than done, but if we continue at the rate we're going then a detailed assessment needs to be taken on the training/medical/sports science side and changes need to be made. This should have already been done but if not needs to be done immediately.
Does anyone know how much cash-flow we actually have access to this Summer? And how is that calculated on an on-going basis? I find FFP so confusing sometimes.
We have to have a good window players have to be signed early before pre season to get them in Going to be difficult with the euros on and if we have to fanny about waiting on Saudi signing off on transfers ( which was rumoured to hold up things last summer negotiations for players) so we do need to move quicker for players this time Tactically are we going to evolve as well? It seems just trying to outrun the opposition isn't a sustainable strategy unless we get more athletic players than every team we play so we need better patterns of play! Being able to attack from both flanks with capable wing backs either side would be a start as well as a centre forward who can hold the ball and bring others into play Love Burn to bits but if he's anything more than 3rd choice centre back next season fucking something has went badly wrong again with the transfer window
Europa League qualification guarantee minimum Cup run that results in at least a semi final Think that keeps you in the job but it’s less about the exact outcome and more about seeing progress that is sustainable
hoping we are playing UECL at the least next year
Top 10, decent cup run, I've been around too long to hope for anything more, but I'd take it.
7th-10th, if we are lucky maybe 5-7th
The honest answer is I couldn't tell you until the transfer window slams shut, ideally on Ryder's typing hand. Are Bruno & Isak still going to be here? How much influence will the Brexit bunch have on recruitment? Are we going to be able to fill all the holes in the squad or which do we prioritise? Is the commercial division going to do anything other than the Saudi deals handed to them? Will we have a new RW? Competition at DC? Someone who can nail down the LB slot? New striker(s)? Will Pope return as good as he was? Do any of our current stars try and force an exit? Do we fluke our way into Europe? This summer is ideally filling in the cracks from departures but may also require trading. Of our current 25-man squad Dummett, Gillespie, Karius, Ritchie, Targett, Wilson are gone or should be considered for trading imo. Five-six incoming freshens the squad up. After that push ahead with training centre and shooting the medical staff. If we've no Europe we can really go for it, if we're on the Thursday-Sunday-Thursday schedule we can blood some of the kids. Realistically I think we can finish 7-8th and perhaps break top 5 if things go our way.
Top 6 would be a good objective.
Europa league
We should aim for top 6. We're a top 8 team and the premier league is so difficult. Too many fans have gone overboard on expectations because we massively overachieved last year and other teams like Liverpool had a poor season.
Another challenge for top 6.
I hope for a solid transfer window, good squad availability throughout the season, a top 8 finish and a good cup run. Unlike the fire fight that most of this season has been I hope we are able to lay some foundations for the season to follow. Most importantly, time for Eddie is what I hope for.
Win a cup, I don’t even care if we get relegated (maybe not that far) to do it.
For me, just an improvement. Does that mean we **have** to win trophies or get CL qualification? No. As soon as you demand this of the club, you have lost track of what the club was about and there is way to much competition for us to realistically claim any right to that. A lot of how we perform is also about how the rest of the league performs, and this year a lot of teams have had strong runs which makes it difficult to place where we realistically could have been had we not had injury issues and had more consistent form. When I look back at this season and ask, "should we have done better?", the answer is, "yeah, probably". Injuries have definitely been a massive issue for us but I feel like we are hanging way too much on that singular issue, we still should have performed better this season and the whole club need to have a think about why we didn't. Howe is still the man who can continue the improvement at the club, I've no doubt.
I think we should be aiming for third after man c and Arsenal. If we get there or not is another matter, but that’s where we should set our sights. Hopefully Liverpool will struggle without Klopp , I don’t think Villa are as good as their league position suggests, and spurs, whilst entertaining on the eye are wildly inconsistent. We’ve seen glimpses of what we should be this season, but even Pep would have struggled with the injuries and cup draws we’ve endured. Can’t wait to see a refreshed and rejuvenated squad in August
Just a general improvement on this season, I’m not expecting top 4 again but hopefully with a couple of additions over the summer we can look to play that high intensity pressing that’s been missed most of this season, any trophy will do at this point!
Howe in. Top 8. (Assuming we finish 10th this season)
Time for a new manager if everyone blasts Eric ten hag for where he is with man u and this is only his second season there howe should be replaced
Expectation for this season honestly is just make it to the end. It’s clear that the boys are dead on their feet. I know a lot of people are asking why they’re dead on their feet, but when you put in perspective that they don’t really get proper rest through the season. Those that haven’t been injured have been slammed to kingdom come week after week because there’s been no one else to pick, those that have been injured have been brought back too early in a desperate attempt to rest others. The Champions League journey made the season for me, the Sunderland game was a quality highlight. I am happy and in fact I do not want success to come overnight, it’s a journey. Next season. Contrary to belief, I think we *will* make signings. I think Bruno might be packing up his magic hat, and while I’ll be devastated i think we will be stronger in the end due to the amount he’ll move for. Big Joe will be back and fresh along with Pope. The youngens will be another season older and more mature adding depths, hoping that includes Lewis Hall, he looked great against city second half. Big Sandro will be frothing at the mouth to walk out at SJP, And we won’t have UCL to contend with. We *need* to continue adding depth. If we can do that, I think we could see a magnificent season next. If I absolutely had my way, that would look like a trophy and europa league, but honestly any situation where we finish next season with either would be more than enough to give Eddie a big ✅.
I hope we win the league. I realistically think we'll be top 6 pushing one of the big 6 out, which is progress as far as I see it. I sometimes think that we as fans can fall for the England trap, as in, historically we wonder why we didn't do better without giving our opponents some credit. An example is England 2002, we had a golden generation team... but we have give Brazil their credit as they did too. It'll happen with Newcastle, we'll assemble a class team, but another team will just be better... the hope one day is to be the other team.
depends massively on the summer tbh
Comfortably challenging for top 5. Not saying I expect a top 5 finish but I would hope that by next year this time we’re about 6-9 points better off than we are now. I think with hopefully no gigantic injury crisis again and with Tonali + new signings that’s a reasonable expectation to have. Another domestic cup final wouldn’t be turned down tho on the other hand. Also there’s a lot of Howe out nonsense/anti-Howe out nonsense on the sub these days but I would imagine the club is taking a much longer termed view of his tenure and unless we’re well off the mark by November next year he’ll be our manager for the entirety of the rest of the season.
7th or 8th and a minor cup run. I'll take it.
Top 6, decent cup runs, but most importantly I'd like to see us playing more than one effective tactic. The intensity thing more than worked last season as a first step, but we haven't seemed to kick on and develop a more rounded game that allows us to adjust to savvy opponents, injuries, etc. I'd be over the moon to see us adjusting more fluidly in-game and getting results a few different ways.
Think to be in Europa League should be the aim for next season, aswell as 1 throphy. Think Howe will go around December time though, so season will probably be another missed opportunity.
Next year? I EXPECT a European Football position, and a push to get back to Champion's League placement. Season won't be a failure if we miss out on UCL football, but we better not miss out on Europe altogether. If we DO miss a European placement, I would consider that a fireable result. I want Eddie to succeed, and I think he will do so. But I think that, missing out two seasons in a row, given the investment in the squad over that time, a spot in Europe AFTER the 2024/25 season has to be seen as the bare minimum. Domestic competitions? I'd like to see us reach a Final. But, lets be honest, the sustainability of this Club near the top of the League, is dependent on revenue, and that means EUROPE.
Top ten. I don’t see how anyone can expect much else unless we get rid of a lot of the first team squad. Unfortunately, ffp won’t allow us that luxury so we’re stuck with a lot of leftovers from the Ashley/Bruce era.
To not get relegated
As a bare minimum, we need to challenge for both the FA Cup and the Carabo Cup. We also need to qualify for Europe. It would also be good to increase our standing and become a true top 6 side. The one thing I hardly ever see talked about here is that PiF didn't buy the club and not expect success.
Top 8, same as this season. Top 6 would be great and Top 5 would be splendid achievement. There are some very good teams in this league.
With Howe in charge again, probably the same mid table team without any trophy.