Beefy is a legend

After about 5 games this season I was having a ding-dong with a guy on the Facebook fan page. I had asked for his assessment of our progress over the last 3 years and his reply was 'back where we started'. That presumably being a judgment based upon us being in the same league division as when Farke and Webber came in. IMHO it was a remarkably myopic view. The club is transformed. Had Maddison been injured, we would have survived but clearly 3 or 4 players would have had to go and much of the recruitment wouldn't have occurred, including Buendia, Pukki and Hernandez. But nevertheless that one transfer was crucial to us and we were an injury away from not being able to rebuild the squad. These days, we are a million miles from that. By a willingness to invest in, and play, the best youth, we've created half a dozen players worth tens of millions of pounds and have completely secured the financial safety of the club. We've basically dealt with Covid as if it wasn't a major issue. Three years ago it would have been a disaster. Now it's an inconvenience but one we can ride out. That's not even mentioning that the football on the pitch is, for me, the best we've played since the early 90's. We are a club where young players want to come as there is a genuine route to the first team. And where attacking players know they can express themselves. No longer will a Grant Holt want to leave the club because of the playing style. What has happened here is remarkable. We are dominating this league in a manner that I've never seen before. We've won this league and been promoted several times in the last 15 years, but never with this degree of panache and dominance. I know we are nowhere near finishing off the job, but it feels almost inevitable. 'Back where we started'. I think not.

Possibly, but then not everyone believes what they read in the paper. Bigger managers than Neil have had their reservations over the model... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2834976/Harry-Redknapp-Directors-football-joke.html In the end, Neil may have in fact felt that the introduction of this role would in fact have undermined him, because he wouldn't have the same control over signings and may have been expected to select his squad in a certain way that wasn't in line with his plans. That is why it is so important to have a Head Coach and Sporting Director with similar philosophy.

We don't really know that Alex Neil was against a Sporting Director model. It may just have been that he would have felt that the introduction of such a director whilst he was the incumbent manager would have looked as though he was being undermined. It's totally different to taking a job at a club where there is already a Sporting Director structure in place.

In terms of technique I don't think I've seen anything better than Howson's v Forest. The goal I think I enjoyed the most was Klose v Ipswich...

Basically there's no chance of elite sport being cancelled. At the very worst the season might be extended slightly to make room for completing postponed fixtures, but it's much more likely that the games will simply be squeezed in. Post - Christmas there are actually several slots where fixtures could be placed. If you look at NCFC's fixture list, you could add fixtures in as follows and still retain no more than two games per week. : - 5th Jan, 12th Jan, 26th Jan, 2nd Feb, 9th Feb, 9th Mar, 13th Apr, 27th Apr, 4th May. That's space for 9 postponed fixtures to be placed.

If you look at the history with this guy, with Owen Coyle and Gary Megson, it seems that he was given a fair bit of rope, going on holidays, not turning up for training etc. One thing we do know about the Farke regime is that the training is intense and days off are limited, as Marshall alludes to in the interview and which I think we also know from the likes of Jerome, Russ Martin, Howson. One suspects Marshall didn't have the same freedom as at previous clubs and, basically, wasn't able to 'get away' with the same behaviour as at previous clubs. Also the fact that he was stuck alone at Dunston Hall without close friends, a long way from home, would have been difficult for him. He wasn't keen to come in the first place but did so as a result of a very good contract. I suspect the same was the case with Steven Naismith although SN clearly was a much better professional.

and yet, all of the best sides in the world play passing football and defend zonally.

It tends to be glossed over but Roeder actually did very well in his first season. Came in with us rock bottom and kept us up comfortably. I imagine he rattled some cages and shook off the malaise, but that as time wore on, his inability to man manage cost him.

There's a fundamental point to this debate. The clubs do a tremendous amount of work and analysis on set piece defending. They have access to data on a vast level and look to tailor a defensive set up to provide the maximum protection to their goal. The vast majority of fans do not have that level of information or education on defensive set up and base most of their opinions on knee jerk reaction to goals conceded and 'gut feel'. You can decide for yourselves whose opinion you prefer.

Agreed - we spent money on players that would never fit the Hughton style of play. We bought ourselves two goal poachers, both talented players with good records, but who were going to get very limited chances inside the box given the tactical set up. We were never going to play to their strengths. In the Hughton style what we actually needed were a couple of target man, battering ram type strikers in the Andy Carroll mould, to help our two banks of four to get up the pitch. The huge outlay on RVW and Hooper, in that context, made no sense. At the time, I was very much in Hughton's corner. I argued to my mates that getting results was the be all and end all, especially in the PL. But Farke has, I think, proven me wrong. It is possible to both win and play attractive football. I suppose Farke still has to demonstrate that at PL level, but he has given me the belief to say that it can be done.

This is why we have made the academy our top priority. We can't buy top PL players, but we can make them. And we have done so. Let's not forget that we stayed in the PL for three seasons not that long ago under the present owners. And we did that without anywhere near the quality of players or playing style that we have now, IMHO. In fact, it was the year that we loosened the purse strings and invested heavily that it went wrong. It's difficult, but by no means impossible to establish ourselves at that level. If we trust our playing philosophy, continue to promote our best youth, and recruit wisely, it can be done.

Agreed although once we do go up, there is then the possibility of retaining those players for a season at least. Whatever we got in for Max, we would never be able to replace him with better. That lad is going right to the very top of the game. Whatever we do re. player sales, it would appear that we will have much more clout this time to bring players in, having now dealt with the 'sins of the past'.

If we are top of the league come the new year I'd be very surprised if we allow any of our top assets to leave in January. Any business much more likely to be done in the summer. If by that stage we are back in the PL it also makes our bargaining position so much stronger as we can offer top level football to our players. We would only really need to consider selling to the top 6 or 7 PL clubs and, if so, you could see £35m-£40m price tags on Emi and Max.

One thing is for certain. If we are to have any chance whatsoever of keeping Max, we must go up.

Actually thought Preston went toe to toe with us (I attended that game) and pretty much deserved their 2-2. Since then I would say that we've deserved to win every single home game except Coventry when we were absolutely bereft of fit players. We battered Derby and Millwall and think we've won all the others with more shots and possession.

It isn't just that though. We are a superbly coached club now, with an embedded style of play that is superior to almost all sides in this division. I don't think I can remember us dominating games like this consistently as we are at this level before. It's quite brilliant.

They’ve been on Sky quite a bit lately and have been absolutely dreadful. I doubt they will provide the same level of resistance as Wednesday did.

For me he's steadily improving game by game, beginning to learn to make the right runs and when to do so. Will continue to be a work in progress but the potential is there, that's for sure.

Buendia will make a huge difference. If, as I’ve read, Omotoye plays off the shoulder with his pace it might make sense for him to get at least some game time. Defensively we look fine so I’m hoping we might sneak a 1-0 but I think a 1-1 draw would be fine, especially with Bournemouth losing last night.

Will be giving Rotherham v Brentford a watch on Sky. Brentford definitely one of our rivals.

The last accounts provide some clarification - turnover of £17.95m against a wage bill of £19.25m. And a post-tax loss of £3.6m. Remarkable the disparity between the clubs now when NCFC reported turnover of £119m in the last accounts with a wage bill of approximately £90m.

I don't think what you've said there is quite right Bill although I do stand to be corrected. My understanding is that Evans does subsidise the club's wage bill each year, to the tune of approximately £5m per season. I do agree with you regarding complete mismanagement though!

Just friends sharing a common surname.

I thought Alice, who incidentally is Kevin Piper’s daughter and works for Sky Sports News, did a good job and showed a decent breadth of knowledge of NCFC’s recent history. Thought it was an excellent interview in general. Farke has such a decency and warmth to him, like the anti-Lambert!

They aren’t brothers.