Rayvin

Damn. Downer indeed, but good to know nonetheless. Hope we do manage it while she's still here.

Lean towards Polarboy with this one (in general) but can see the Fish's side too in the sense that if a group of people who don't care about Saudi human rights abuses come to associate them with positive soft power, sporting success and they become 'cool', it could provide some cover for them for future heinous acts. People who would have been apathetic might now feel compelled to defend them. I'm sure we'll see some NUFC fans doing this. Just not sure it'll be to any tangibly useful level.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2021/oct/14/what-it-is-like-as-a-player-when-you-know-your-manager-is-doomed Article inspired by this very issue

I almost wrote this myself but decided I've made enough inflammatory statements on here recently. It's not a threat. It's poor taste, it's servile as fuck to use "His Excellency" FFS, but it's not a fucking threat. If anything it implies that the guy making the tweet doesn't think the Saudis do murder journalists. I don't give a shit if they call it a threat though in order to take action, cos the guy who posted it is a complete weapon. But as far as Edwards is concerned, he's making as much out of it as he possibly can.

I know it probably doesn't seem like it, but I read hardly anything now. Just skim headlines, close the app and put Netflix on. What else is there to do, we've been totally defeated.

Yep same. Was staring at my food bill the other day in disbelief. I swear it's now about £20 more per week than it used to be. Coupled with energy prices and fuel, it's just.. it's going to be fucking painful. I'm currently trying to work 8 days a week(!) to offset the difference. (I'm a bit of a psycho on this front though). I just don't understand how people have allowed them to get so attached to this lunacy that they're prepared to accept this.. all to avoid admitting they were fucking wrong. I have nothing but contempt for them now. And I say that with grim sadness, not anger.

I mean I've disengaged too, other than the odd day here and there. You can't just stay angry and Brexit going through actually did release me from a lot of care about this stuff. I was obsessed at that point but have really backed off from it. Writing is on the wall for the next election IMO, the sad thing is that Labour appear oblivious.

Well yeah that's what I've been saying too, several times. They've been caught out by the speed of it. Was accused of tackling it like a mackem for that sentiment but I'm glad we've worked it through

Aye, but shouldn't they have known that it didn't have these things? That's my issue with this, there's no possibility that they've gone in blind on a £300m takeover and been surprised by what's there. Which means that they either intended to wait as they're doing, i.e. part of the plan, or something has thrown them off.

So to be clear, the prevailing view is that the operational performance of a previously profit making business is impacting negatively on their ability to set out clarity concerning who should take over the running of the football side of the club, and that even if this runs on to the weekend and into the Spurs game, all this will mean is that Ashley knobbled them (in a way that couldn't be picked up and therefore prepared for during due diligence, but which prevents them from setting about with what we assume their plan would have been had everything been totally perfect). I mean it's possible I guess, and I want to stress that I am in no way calling into question their ability to run the club. I am merely saying that they may well have been caught on the hop by all of this given the speed at which it went through, and whereas during their first attempt to purchase the club they were talking to Pocchetino and Rafa before they'd even gotten the deal over the line, here they appear to be chasing around a bit. The media may well have entirely invented all of that to fill the silence that's otherwise coming from the club, but it remains somewhat odd that Bruce is still in post, and I can see it being a bit confusing indeed for the staff. However, maybe they've had private assurances about everything. Still though, it'll be interesting to see where we end up.

That would legitimately be hilarious tbh

Agreed but we can't have them not telling him anything either. If they have no immediate plan to put in place then they've got to make a call on this definitively so that everyone has clarity. I mean if the players and coaching staff lose focus and confidence then we're going to find this a lot harder, and quite quickly too. Bruce is one thing but they need to nip this in the bud really.

I reckon there might be something in that Edwards article. I know he hates the whole thing so is about as far from an impartial opinion as you can get, but the first few days of this haven't been inspiring. Whatever state Ashley left the operational setup of the club in, it has very little bearing on the situation around the football parts of the club - or at the very least I can't see any particular overlap that we wouldn't have been able to observe previously. I reckon they fully expected Rodgers to join up - and since he hasn't that's led to the uncertainty. They should have had someone tapped up before we got this far really, and I do appreciate that they did the first time around. All of which makes me think that they've been caught out a bit by the speed at which the deal went through, as much as everyone else was. Ultimately they need to keep cool heads here but the risk is that this might mean telling Bruce and the coaching team that they've got time. Maybe we even have to give them to the end of the season at this point, since I doubt anything else will be sufficient to settle things down. Money talking will have to be the solution to the relegation issue if so. Realistically though, that's not a good option - and they'd be far better off sacking Bruce so that some pressure is relieved, and taking their time over the next appointment while Jones looks after the team. Jones himself can be given assurances about a good pay off or an ongoing role under the new management, with the latter being the idea. Either way, they need to act decisively. And I'm not particularly convinced that the Saudis are the ones who should be responsible for that based on how this is going.

If Bruce walks away from £8m for the sake of reaching an arbitrary number, he's a fucking madman I could see it though.

Good. Although I am curious as to why not I suppose.

Ah sorry yes I assumed that accusation had been levelled. OK well maybe a bit of criticism is due but ultimately I guess it's for African players to comment on if they see it as an issue. I suppose we'll see as things move on, I daresay every little detail will now be scrutinised anyway.

It does however occur to me that I'm probably not qualified to comment on it..!

Sorry but to be clear - he's a racist for observing that African players have a tendency to send money home, something which he has presumable observed directly and is therefore qualified to comment on.. and for an assumption that one guy came from a village? I'd call the latter ignorance, and possibly casual racism at the very worst. It's definitely not white supremacy If you said that kind of stuff in Sunderland, no one would bat an eyelid.

I appreciate the thought and introspection that went into this post. We're all struggling with it too honestly, but have broadly come to the same conclusion.

Fully understand your frustrations, seems hugely illogical to me. I hope one way or another you're able to get to see him at some stage.

Aye, why not. I've noticed that even the ones you've said were more sensible in the past have lost it over this though. 'grumpy man' or whatever his name was, the accountant, has looked just as hysterical as the others when I've dipped in an out. I don't know who it is you're getting some conversation out of but they must be real diamonds in the rough at this point.

I mean if you're getting something out of it then fair enough but I'd be close to power drilling through my own temple at this point is all I'm saying.

@The Fish. Mate. They're not worth it. All that is happening over there is the projection of their own inferiority and insecurities onto us, and then pretending to laugh about it (someone actually used "wahahaha" ffs) because they're actually deeply upset about this. You can't talk them around from that although I actually do have respect for your persistence because it's been particularly dismal this morning. Your time is worth more than this and its actually painful to watch you argue with these absolute losers man. They've got nothing, let them have their petty, delusional bitching. They know, and we know, that every single comment they make about Saudi is coming from a place of extreme jealousy, which actually when you think about it, would invalidate everything they're saying about Newcastle fans. It just means they think this is a good thing too. That said, the one post that amused me on there this morning was the guy who claimed maybe the thread on here isn't so long because they don't do anything mental so there's nothing for us to talk about Can only assume that guy doesn't actually follow Sunderland.

Aye, my bad. Sometimes just need to have these more challenging discussions to make peace with things myself but no need to put anyone else through the ringer. I'll quieten down generally.

Absolutely, it's shameful and horrific. I just don't think they're trailblazers in the atrocity stakes. Although I suppose it's not like many other governments own football teams. For what it's worth, if I thought that me not supporting Newcastle could end any of that, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But it won't. Maybe the whole league turning off it would. But probably not. Maybe the Western world refusing to deal with them? Doubtful, they'd just go to the Russians. We probably actually stand more chance of reining them in by engaging with them. EDIT - Also fwiw, you'll never catch me (or anyone on here I'd imagine) parading around outside SJP in a Saudi Flag. And should I ever have the opporunity to meet any of them, I'd be happy telling them what I thought about them (in the relative safety of Britain, not in Saudi). So I'm not going to be cheerleading this pack of bastards who have bought the club. I just also feel that there's a lot of the pot calling the kettle black going on in this furore.