Rayvin

I am really struggling, even with my guardian hat on, to see the racism in an affectionate impersonation of a particular culture - I'm struggling to see it even more given that Arab people on twitter appear to be encouraging it. Having said that - I do wonder if this is the club maybe taking the opportunity to get people to stop doing this because of the real reason it's objectionable - that it buys hugely into the sportswashing thing and has caused a lot of fuss - and I daresay the everyone at the club wants the takeover and the parties involved to be normalised as soon as possible. So the quicker we move away from things that spark outrage, the better. Moreover it would indeed be terrible PR at the moment to start a fight with Kick it Out. And in Kick it Out's defence, they presumably have a set of policies and rules that they have to impose consistently or they'd be deemed selective, partial and unfit for purpose.

Fair. I mean I'm still feeling fairly confident on this now anyway given the discussions that have gone on. Still can't believe they're bothering though, I'd be flabbergasted if Newcastle United actually became a global footballing superpower.

Yeah but I was under the impression that if we go all out this year we'd need to pull it back in next two years in order to avoid being fined. It sounds risky to do much other than simply match other middle of the road teams. I guess I don't know what net spent averages are these days though.

Guess so but if they take a longer term view of it (and I'm not really imagining that that sort of scheme would happen btw) they could probably get around whatever they had to while they fight the other clubs in litigation. the most urgent issue we have is getting money into the club to save ourselves. Just an aside though - if we did get relegated, could we then immediately ram through several 10 year sponsorship deals while we were in the championship, since the PL rules would no longer apply?

Aye, that does make sense tbh. Guess we're just going to have to be patient.

Even quicker than that we could have him go out to Saudi and deliver football training programs. Subsidised by the Saudi government and £10m per class/student. I mean Quiff is right tbh, we could get very stupid about this before they managed to shut down every angle.

Ok, consider me reassured then.

I mean she might have to if they stop us putting money in through sponsorship. We can't get money in easily without it.

Yeah I agree, she doesn't seem like someone who is going to be pushed around which is good news.

Does anyone think we have serious cause for concern about the cabal play on sponsorship? I'm having a hard time believing that Staveley wouldn't have expected it on some level and the fact she sent Charnley to go and deal with it is actually sort of reassuring in a way, keeps cards close to the chest etc (I doubt Charnley knows anything remotely useful beyond what he was told). I do find it quite depressing though, that this is how the league is reacting to the still fairly slim chance that we might actually someday manage to win something.

I reckon we should hire Diego as DoF tbh.

Those bastards, how dare they treat him in exactly the same way that any other member of staff anywhere else in the country would be treated. That said, if DK knows he's getting the boot later maybe he isn't the first to know

It's actually tempting to think he's right here given that Bruce being close to the sack has been public knowledge since day one, but then has anyone in the new ownership actually said anything of the sort? The press have said it plenty, we've said it, but not his employer as far as I can tell. So I think Neville is actually calling out the press here, not that he's noticed.

It's a fair point, although the takeovers I've been involved in have actually involved a bit more immersion prior to the buy than just metrics and money. Those are, admittedly, with smaller businesses than this though, so maybe that's why my perception on this is different. Either way I'm backing down on this now with that particular revelation noted, though with the caveat that I still don't necessarily think we should assume too much of them from the get go. Other than, y'know, spending.

Right well, I missed that detail. Completely understand everything that's gone on since then. If anything is the 'final parting gift' from Ashley, it's that. Fucking bellend.

Genuinely? That would explain absolutely everything we're seeing then but I still can't quite believe someone would spend £300m without that level of insight. Unless £300m is absolute peanuts which of course it is to PIF, but is it to Staveley's backers, even at just £30m? Football has just gone up another level in the ludicrous stakes for me though, if that's true.

I mean, PIF should have been doing due diligence and drawing up plans way, way, way before they bought the club. No one buys anything and then just walks in with a blank sheet of paper and starts from zero. But that does sort of look like what they're doing to a degree, and the only reason I can imagine such a savvy group of investors would be in that position is if things moved quicker than planned. They could have had the consultants in place well beforehand as well. You're right, there's parts of this that they couldn't have gotten going until things were moving, but they don't appear to have a clear view on who should manage the club, who should be DoF, etc. Maybe they're just being very tight lipped about it (although as you say, with football being leaky as fuck you'd think we'd have heard something). All the parts they couldn't get moving they should have been totally poised to jump on immediately. I reckon they didn't see the point in drawing up a manager shortlist until the deal was back on - and that's why we're now running around with names like Steven Gerrard and Eddie Howe. All I'm saying here really, is that I don't think it is reasonable for us to assume that they're an absolute masterclass in taking over and running a football club. I think they're going to have to learn - and if we keep talking as if they are indeed a masterclass, we're going to be in for some rude shocks when the first very obvious mistake goes down. It's arguably already happened.

I suppose maybe it was all press speculation at the time, but the links with Rafa and Pocchetino were out there first time around and it really felt like steps were being taken to be prepared coming into the purchase. This time we had nothing and the whole thing just materialised out of nowhere. Coupled with the fact that we've had knock backs from various people and that Steve Bruce actually took that game against Spurs, which is something that just should never have happened, I think it's fair to say that they're doing work now that genuinely could have been done before it went through. So what if the press got wind of it - unless the thinking is that they had to sneak it through past the other PL clubs and were prepared to sacrifice stability initially to do that. I could maybe see that argument standing up but the practical outcome is basically the same.

Aye but, speaking as a consultant myself, you don't just automatically come in within the space of a single week and immediately deliver all of the answers. It takes quite a bit of time to get under the bonnet and understand what's going on before you can start making recommendations. Although if they are doing this, they can maybe hire some of their consultants at least. The situation will improve I'm sure, but at the moment I think we have to acknowledge that they might well make some mistakes here because they are only human and that having insane amounts of money does not automatically mean that you are competent - especially at doing something you've never had to do before.

I just wish they had been ready for this takeover to happen when it did. They so clearly weren't.

I am less convinced of this. We have been taken over by a bunch of investors, people who supposedly have a good eye for a deal and something that can grow, but who aren't necessarily capable managers. The Saudi side in particular have the specific experience of meeting political objectives, not managing a football club. This will be why Charnley is still here. He's the voice of experience. And let us remember that for many years now, Charnley has been total shite. They need to get experienced managers in quickly and I do appreciate that's what they're trying to do - but until they manage it we should remain concerned because it does not appear that anyone who knows what they're doing is running any part of the club. Except possibly on the financial side ofc. They're not automatically amazing at everything. They're a group of money specialists who very suddenly ended up running a football club and who don't actually have much knowledge on how to do that. Which is why Bruce and Charnley are both still here. And why we have punch ups in the training ground.

Aye I mean the Premier League has played this terribly tbh. I remain convinced that the basic path for them through this has been that they initially colluded with the old big six to prevent the takeover, and then Ashley of all people managed to get enough on them that they felt they had no choice anymore but to relent. I mean I'm curious though, what is the stated reason they're giving for the takeover being such a bad thing? Have they outright said they just don't want to actually have to compete or are they still pretending it's a branding thing?

Butterflies and hurricanes. We'll never know I guess but it would be a shame if true.

It does genuinely feel as though the real issue here is that we were never meant to be anything other than a footnote in their glorious and storied histories. As if there are only a handful of successful clubs and the deal is that everyone else just goes along with it and knows their place. Were City opposed with this sort of thing? I don't remember it but maybe they were. There's going to be a real siege mentality around the club in short order though, which is only going to further entrench opinions either side.

I doubt we can stand up to 18 other clubs mind. Nice to see City took our side, albeit for their own reasons I'm sure. Either way, if this is the particular strategy they're going to try, can we just Man Utd it? Set up a noodle sponsor, a toilet roll sponsor, rubbish collection, paper mill, handtowels, etc. Presumably they're concerned that we'll get sponsorship right across PIF related companies, and tbh now that I think about it, that would indeed utterly fuck them. Even at 'fair market value' I'm willing to bet. If that's the worst we come out of it with, they're fucked. If Man Utd can have sponsors for everything under the sun, we can have everything in PIF's investment portfolio.