Rayvin

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.

I sometimes totally forget he's at the club - Does he get games or is he just very quiet when he does? I mean what's his deal, it's been a while since I bothered watching us.

Yeah I think relegation will just mean we get laughed at by the rest of the world and have to stiff upper lip our way through that, but in the long run it'll be irrelevant. That said, I echo what everyone else is saying. There's time yet and there are plenty of shit teams in the division this year.

May have been said already but I've just seen the news about the Reuban Foundation matching foodbank donations every home game. I mean I don't doubt that on some level, parts of this are just to get people on side but like.. that's still people getting fed. Honestly feels like the club is going to make a genuine effort to become the heart of the community again, and actually that's a bigger deal for me than winning the fucking league or whatever. Don't get me wrong, I'd take the league too, but I'd far rather that the Newcastle to win it was a Newcastle that was genuinely carrying the city with it, rather than some soulless corporate entity. Which is another reason why I think they've got to get the manager right. Anyway it's nice to hear the good news stories in amongst everything else.

Meanwhile the Labour Party is apparently spending £2m a year in legal battles with... the Labour Party. New sponsors understandably reluctant to fund them if money is going to be wasted on such nonsense. And on top of that, they're down 150,000 members. So in the 'splitting the left' stakes, I think we can say Labour is out in front.

Just to be clear on this, what is the intended process meant to be if this happens? Fans nearby call 999? Someone flags down a steward and they alert medical staff at the ground? I'm having a hard time imagining that it's meant to be so up in the air that players have to down tools to get a spotlight on it. That's not to say anyone associated with saving the man's life deserves criticism, I don't think they do; I think for me they'd only deserve it if they were being deliberately slow, which I'm having a hard time believing - but the process that governs how the information travels, and what their response procedure is, may well be worthy of criticism. Either way it's impressive that people are managing to fall out over a man's life being saved - especially since as far as I can tell, everyone commenting is coming at the issue from a place of compassion, either with the individual who was in trouble, the medical staff who saved him, and/or both. Classic TT tbh. Thanks for the share of that Ginola quote as well, Blastronaut. Should probably take some responsibility for my fellow man and take a basic CPR course myself tbh.

We are getting predictably hammered by everyone everywhere It seems to have passed many opposition fans by that most of us would have gladly taken this abject defeat beforehand if it meant the end of Bruce. Either way I'm starting to think our "Empire strikes back" moment (cos let's face it we're the bad guys here) might actually be something I take genuine pleasure in

Aye not sure about the "excellencies" and so on, I wouldn't give our own royal family the pleasure of those sorts of titles and the Saudis certainly don't deserve it

I mean this is what Bruce wants, his 1000th game. He wants everyone to be talking about him. So I'm just saying we respect his wishes. Also when did Alex accuse me of this exactly EDIT - you mean his son I see. Wondered if I'd missed something there.

I mean, our first game as the worlds footballing superpower is going to see us get roundly spanked and then laughed at by the rest of the footballing world. I think given the circumstances, the more tongue in cheek we are about this, the harder it's going to be for everyone else to find it gratifying. The last laugh will be ours I daresay, but for now we're going to have to get ready to suck it up and make sure Bruce is front and centre of it.

Aye but presumably the media weren't giving him pelters for it, and I also suspect making your dinner wasn't his life's work Would be amusing if either of those were true though.