David Kelly

I'm sure Owen could still knock a few in past a twelve year old.

Well I'm sure they do have money in the country but whether it's set aside for this deal is another matter. Personally I would think if you have their resources, you would move the money into place so it's ready the minute you need it. However I've never had (or ever will have) anything approaching this amount under my control so I can't really claim to know how they work.

I think Poch did a great job at Spurs and you can see some parallels in the job that they'd be looking for him to do here. Obviously Spurs were far better run and had a better team prior to him being there than we have, but he did the job of taking a team that wasn't competing and got them challenging for the league and in the champions league final. Tbh it's absolutely ludicrous for anyone to turn their nose up at him given what we currently have. And whilst I love to see Rafa back and succeed with bigger resources, I'm always wary of anyone going back to a club where they've been a success (regardless of how that success is measured) in the past. It always seems to not work out like you hope.

This will depend on where the money is coming from I would imagine. If it's not in the UK I don't think it's quite as simple as CHAPS even if you're just transferring a few hundred pound. Certainly that's my experience. It can take a few days within Europe and I would imagine longer if it's coming from the middle east. I suppose it might be easier if you're dealing with amounts of this value but I would be surprised. Of course they could already have money in the country and use that which would negate everything I've just said.

I think what we need to avoid, should this go ahead, is buying the likes of Kluivert and Owen. Both undeniably great players in the their day but both players who didn't really want to be here or have have the passion to keep playing if they weren't playing for the very top teams. But you cannot say don't sign players from this team or that team. It's all about the attitude of the individual player. We signed Venison from Liverpool back when KK took us up. He'd been at Liverpool when they were kings of the country but he still had the attitude of buying into the project here. I know there are several caveat's in the case of Venison (ie him being local, never a top player at Liverpool and the money in football being very different then) but the point is still valid. And he was an essential part of building a team that would play in Europe and eventually challenge for the title. Having players who are winners is an important ingredient if you ever want to win anything.

Souness probably speaking from experience. I mean we paid well over the odds for Owen (and a certain Boumsong) when he was here. Of course he fails to realise that players probably seen that we were going nowhere then with a dinosaur like him in charge so we weren't atractive.

I suppose the mackems will have a few seasons at least before they have to weigh up their morality over watching their team play us.

Aye most of this moral majority wouldn't have had a fucking clue about what goes on in Saudi Arabia had it not been metioned in relation to us (we know the mackems never bother looking into anything if it doesn't involve their number one priority, us). It will be interesting to see what action they now take.

To be honest, most of us never grew up with the club being ours anyway (Noelie might be the exception). When I first started going to the match (which was what made me fall in love with football, I wasn't interested before that) Mckeag was in charge (not sure if he actually owned the club) and there was definitely a sense of disconnection then. When Hall bought it you had Douglas and Sheppard taking the piss and there was a disconnection then also. Certainly it's been a lot worse under Ashley but we're fools if we think he took the club away from being ours. As others have already said, that was done when the game went pro and it's just got worse and worse over the years.

I don't think that articles right at all. Firstly while I agree that the actions of the Saudi's in their own county is far from something I approve of, I don't see how it's remotely the fault of anything they might own. People haven't died in Yeman so that we can win anything. They are totally separate things. I'm not burying my head in the sand about things they have done, it's deplorable. But they certainly haven't been done in the cause of Newcastle United. If being bought by the Saudi's leads to us winning things I won't feel any more hollow about it than I would have if it had come from the money of Ashley or John Hall. There's an element of wishing it could come from the fans owning the club and growing organically but that is never going to happen unless all of professional football is completely overhauled. And that certainly isn't going to happen any time soon. For me the best that could come out of this would be that we move forward and win something as a club and that it also highlights the wrongdoings of the owners and puts pressure on them to change.

I reckon it will all come down to money and I can't see how any of it can harm the Premier League revenues. If anything it will only offer up further oportunities. It really should be ratified no problem. Except this is Newcastle United and there is never no problem.

I don't see why Bein's opposition would have any more impact than the Premier League saying to our new owners 'can you have a look into this and try and stop it'. The reality is that if the takeover does go through, we will be of significant interest in SA so it would surely be in the interests of PIF to look to stop illegal streaming of matches? I've always been of the view that I'm just waiting for something to go wrong with this and can't let myself be too excitied about it, but I can't really see how this could derail it. Amnesty getting involved is more concerning but since they've never stopped the goverment selling arms to the Saudi's so again I can't see how they can impact this.

I've heard that the players have all been told that the deal is done and any of them who's contract is nearly up have been told that contract talks will be with the new owners.

I think he's saying he wishes it wasn't us because he'd rather it wasn't us who were owned by a country that has serious human rights issues, rather than it wasn't us getting money to allow us to compete. I think he's framing it as either he actually wants us to do well but doesn't want it to be at this cost, or that he knows it sounds like he's against us and will get shit for that. Of course whatever he's claimed ethical argument is, it's clearly bollocks as he goes on show what's he's really concerned about his pocket as the Saudi's are taking money from Bein Sports by showing their streams. And given that Qatar's human rights record's hardly spotless, it's a bit of a joke that they're sitting on a Bein show talking about how bad the Saudi's may or may not be.

I liked the second season more than the first. Yes the first season is hilarious all the way through with one fuck up after another. But the second season is real drama. It has the classic three act structure. The first act is the new hope where everything is going well. The second act sees things starting to go a bit wrong with Maja fucking off and the ridiculous chase for Will Grigg (which really does seem to be based on the song) and then it all blows up in the third act culminating in an episode of television every bit as good as anything that came out of The Wire or Breaking Bad. Great stuff. Oh and is Donald's bird transgender?

Our failings as an attacking unit were there for all to see again on Saturday. You have to remember that three of our shots on target were from that triple save from their keeper. Other than that it was pretty much all on Maximin's shoulders to try and come up with something. If Bruce stopped just playing five a side in training and actually tried coaching we might be able to improve things.

Aye I picked up on that too. Of course he is insinuating it though.

I thought it was the worst performance I've seen all season. I mean we were never troubled by them but Bruce actually tried to send them out on the front foot for once and not one of them had a clue how we are supposed to attack. What the fuck do we do in training these days? Certainly no time can be spent on trying to improve our attack.

Not taken them long to recognise him for the fraud that he is.

Not been to Cookhouse myself and it gets very highly recommended by people but my mate went a couple of weeks ago and was very disappointed. Said it was just average. Thali Tray in Ouseburn is good too. Not sure I'd be heading there in this weather though.

Yeah it's a weird one for sure. I'm keen to watch it again.

Was at River Beat next to the old Baja Beach Club the other day. They do Asian tapas and Dim Sum as well as a few curries. Second time I've been and loved it both times. Also went to St Vincent during restaurant week last month and it was excellent. It's another small plates restaurant owned by Terry Labourne. Definitely one I'll visit again.

I enjoyed the Stranger tbh. Yes some of the acting was awful (particularly the young cast and the neighbour) but I got carried along with the story.

It's consistently been one of the best things on telly since its first episode.

The Outsider has been good so far.