Topic: Newcastle - RIP Jamal Khashoggi; Free Salma al-Shehab

[Something Worse]

Just to pour a bit of water over the excitement - even if Newcastle do end up with a substantial transfer budget (it won't be 300m), how many players would want to go there?

[paulrazor]

Just to pour a bit of water over the excitement - even if Newcastle do end up with a substantial transfer budget (it won't be 300m), how many players would want to go there?

money talks

[Chakan]

Just to pour a bit of water over the excitement - even if Newcastle do end up with a substantial transfer budget (it won't be 300m), how many players would want to go there?

How many players wanted to go to Man City at the start?

[Something Worse]

How many players wanted to go to Man City at the start?

Robinho (assuming he knew which Manchester club he signed for) which was a big deal.

We're bigger than Newcastle by orders of magnitude and we don't always get every player we agree a fee for, why would those same players go to Newcastle?

[Chakan]

Robinho (assuming he knew which Manchester club he signed for) which was a big deal.

We're bigger than Newcastle by orders of magnitude and we don't always get every player we agree a fee for, why would those same players go to Newcastle?

Money mainly, I assume if they do become a play thing for some Sheik they'll pump a fuck ton of money into them the first season.

[Something Worse]

Money mainly, I assume if they do become a play thing for some Sheik they'll pump a fuck ton of money into them the first season.

You think they'll offer better wages than us or Arsenal?

[Chakan]

You think they'll offer better wages than us or Arsenal?

Absolutely, they’ll have to

[pyroparty]

Meh, cant even do a Man City anymore really with the wage rules etc. Still, I'm sure they'd be happy just to be well run and have a decent budget!

[So… Howard Philips]

Amanda Staveley, one of the City's leading dealmakers, has mounted a £300million bid to buy Newcastle United that would see her become the new face of the club.

Staveley's investment fund PCP Capital Partners, which is backed by £28billion from the Middle East and China, is understood to be in talks with owner Mike Ashley.

A deal may be done by Christmas and Staveley could pump as much as £300m into manager Rafa Benitez's transfer funds.

<snip>

So Rafa to Everton, the millionaire club, ain't happening then?

[Something Worse]

Meh, cant even do a Man City anymore really with the wage rules etc. Still, I'm sure they'd be happy just to be well run and have a decent budget!

Yeah I'd assume that's most likely. Maybe one big window.

So Rafa to Everton, the millionaire club, ain't happening then?

It's spelled with a B, pal.

[afc tukrish]

Yeah I'd assume that's most likely. Maybe one big window.

It's spelled with a B, pal.

Beverton? Brafa?

[Zlen]

I'd love to see strong and well run Newcastle work it's way up the Premier League table. Ashley is a bloody tumor that needs removing.

[Toon-Mick]

I'd love to see strong and well run Newcastle work it's way up the Premier League table. Ashley is a bloody tumor that needs removing.

So would I.  I would love to see Rafa backed enough financially so that he could bring in the players at the top of his shopping list rather than those further down it.  Get a good keeper, left back and goal scorer and we'd be a different team altogether.  If we are to be sold then I hope it brings in an owner who wants to build something rather than buy it.  I wouldn't want us to become the next Man City, I just want us to be the best that we possibly can be.  We could extend the ground and facilities and stand on our own two feet and have the club self-sufficient.  I don't want my club being followed by plastic fans who only turn up because they want trophies, we've never won anything for almost 50 years so we couldn't be called glory supporters and I'm glad.  We're a working class club like your own and I don't want to lose that.  We could probably add 10,000 to our crowd just by ditching Ashley, plenty of fans would want to come back who don't expect us to win anything even though they'd love us to do so, they wouldn't be coming back for that reason alone.

[Chris~]

Just to pour a bit of water over the excitement - even if Newcastle do end up with a substantial transfer budget (it won't be 300m), how many players would want to go there?

Probably just copy the manager and not live there and just travel for training/matches.

[Chris~]

We could extend the ground and facilities and stand on our own two feet and have the club self-sufficient.

Is there any space at all to extend? If they were looking to maximise stadium revenue It would be by trying to add more corporate facilities as well not just seats you'd imagine.

[So… Howard Philips]

Yeah I'd assume that's most likely. Maybe one big window.

It's spelled with a B, pal.

Sorry, millionaire is so sixties, just like our neighbours.

[Toon-Mick]

Is there any space at all to extend? If they were looking to maximise stadium revenue It would be by trying to add more corporate facilities as well not just seats you'd imagine.

We can extend the Gallowgate without any fuss, the east stand would be less easy as it has virtually nowhere to go behind it so could only go up which might mean pulling the current stand down to strengthen the foundations at a guess.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

It's not like they need 100 million net in one window with a good new owner. A solid, modern ballplaying goalie would lift the team up in a lot of ways, and keepers don't cost a fortune (unless you're City). An actual left footed footballer at left back would be a first in his time there. Left backs don't cost the world either (again, unless you're City!).

The big money's on the number 10 and striker, with outgoings like Mitrovic, Gayle,  Darlow capable of bringing in a decent wedge. They can give this team more composure from the back and teeth at the front for a total of 40 - 50 mil net imo  They can even do it all under Ashley in a window or two.... if he just stays out of the way. Such is the money in the league these days.

[El Lobo]

It's not like they need 100 million net in one window with a good new owner. A solid, modern ballplaying goalie would lift the team up in a lot of ways, and keepers don't cost a fortune (unless you're City). An actual left footed footballer at left back would be a first in his time there. Left backs don't cost the world either (again, unless you're City!).

The big money's on the number 10 and striker, with outgoings like Mitrovic, Gayle,  Darlow capable of bringing in a decent wedge. They can give this team more composure from the back and teeth at the front for a total of 40 - 50 mil net imo  They can even do it all under Ashley in a window or two.... if he just stays out of the way. Such is the money in the league these days.

They do when teams know you've got money to spend!

If it happens, I'm sure he'll end up scouring Spain for a load of relatively cheap buyout clauses.

[Toon-Mick]

They do when teams know you've got money to spend!

If it happens, I'm sure he'll end up scouring Spain for a load of relatively cheap buyout clauses.

All he has to do is find 3 equivalents to Mikel Merino and we're laughing.

[El Lobo]

All he has to do is find 3 equivalents to Mikel Merino and we're laughing.

 

Fair warning, you might end up with a few Kromkamps and Josemis on the way

[Toon-Mick]

Fair warning, you might end up with a few Kromkamps and Josemis on the way

I expect it, no manager will get it right all of the time.  The thing is, I trust Rafa in everything he does and he hasn't let me down before, at least not while he's been at the club.  I still love the bloke to bits and I can't wait to see where he could take us with the right backing.  Rafa is possibly the best thing to happen at my club and he's massively appreciated by almost everybody, I doubt any manager could get a 100% satisfaction rating from the fans but Rafa would get very close to that.  He just seems to get better and better.  Even now when we're up for sale it would be easy for him to talk about what might happen but no, the only thing he wants to talk about is the game tomorrow and the possibility of getting 3 points.

He's absolutely brilliant in every way, I'm sure he has a negative side but I'm yet to see one.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

The negative side will come once you finish 3rd / 2nd a few times, win the champions league, FA cup etc and you start clashing with fellow fans over them wanting Rafa to let the team 'off the leash' to win the title. Other than that, he's sound

[Toon-Mick]

The negative side will come once you finish 3rd / 2nd a few times, win the champions league, FA cup etc and you start clashing with fellow fans over them wanting Rafa to let the team 'off the leash' to win the title. Other than that, he's sound

 

That's negative?  Bring it on.

[newrosswaterford]

That's negative?  Bring it on.

Shoot them lad, early...

[Buggy Eyes Alfredo]

    Collin Murray:

NINE months after the day Mike Ashley finally sells Newcastle United, the National Guard and the British Red Cross will have to be deployed on Tyneside to handle the explosion of child births.
 
What a party that will be. The clouds will part, the sun will shine, rivers of brown ale will flow.
Grown men will weep, children of the Toon under the age of ten will smile for the very first time. I, for one, will be sad to see Mike Ashley leave Newcastle United… is a sentence muttered only by Sunderland fans.
 
This week, the ‘tracksuit billionaire’ not only reiterated the club is for sale but set out a clear path to the exit door. Potential suitors have been named, and the frontrunner appears to be PCP Capital Partners, a Middle East company spearheaded by Amanda Staveley, prompting one fan on Twitter to immediately pen the classic, ‘Oh Mandy, you came and you ***ked off Mike Ashley!’ I believe this needs developing by the Gallowgate End should she succeed.
 
There’s an inevitable gap between seller and buyer valuations, plus don’t forget the outstanding HMRC investigation into the tax affairs of the club, but fans are excited because Mike Ashley actively wants out, and by Christmas if he can.
 
Most recent reports claim PCP – and four other more mysterious parties – have signed a non-disclosure agreement, which means they can look at private things as long as they keep schtum. It’s a bit like the form I’d make you sign if I was to let you look behind the huge pile of old jumpers in my bedroom cupboard. For the Toon Army, desperate for new leadership, the signs are good.
 
But when a relationship edges closer to the rocks, one can’t help but look back, and it’s fair to say there was a brief honeymoon period. When I say brief, I mean Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries brief.
 
In the early days, saviour Ashley (below) even travelled on the odd supporters’ bus, fans happily accepting his offer of a pint or six on away days, but that hit the skids after his public break-up with club icon Kevin Keegan.
 
If you were being kind, you would say he under-achieved. If you were being brutal, you would say he cheapened the club with low-rent sponsors and distasteful stadium name changes, punctuated by all-too-regular farce at managerial and boardroom level.
 
Personally, I feel Newcastle United under Ashley have remained a sleeping giant, and when there have been signs of stirring, it always felt like it was Ashley and his closest allies who, inadvertently or not, slipped this great club a couple of Xanax.
 
Take this summer for example. Back in the Premier League, an influx of TV money, a world-class manager in charge, and their net spend in the transfer window was less than Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Huddersfield. This was not a one-off. When they finished fifth in the top flight in 2012, this was backed up by just one ‘major’ summer signing, namely Vurnon Anita.
 
In his ten years at the helm of Newcastle United, Ashley has baffled as much as he has angered.
 
With new proprietors comes risk but, while Mike remains, it is hard to see how Rafa can ‘make Newcastle great again’, so please don’t fall for the ‘better the devil you know’ baloney.
 
There have been worse owners in the modern football era but you only need to observe the outpouring on social media – from Newcastle fans and ex-players in particular – to see that the end can’t come quick enough.
 
Me? I’m off to invest in black-and-white baby grows.

https://www.metro.news/colin-murray-ashleys-departure-from-newcastle-means-nappy-days-are-here-again/789114/

[Paully]

Great article by Colin Murray and he’s always been good to is!

I love this man!

“It’s one of the top sides in England if you put everything together.

“The question is, is it reaching its level? Obviously, no. Can we do it? I think so.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/newcastle-boss-rafa-benitez-talks-11378752#ICID=ios_mirrorfootball_AppShare_Click_Other

[markedasred]

This is the first time in my life time I believe that someone can buy a top division club and see a profit on their purchase. That annual return from the tv companies is a great start on your initial investment lump, before the combined other sales and sponsorship. Staged payments make it seem like a gift. Eight years could see all your money back, and all the value sitting there in the club. What Newcastle massively has in its favour is being a one club city where football is the main sport. Leeds obviously being its evil twin. They also look to be returning to the top table next season.

[oojason]

Merino's 86th minute winner for Newcastle vs Crystal Palace (finished 1-0) - https://imgtc.b-cdn.net/uploads/E2BiSO5sbZx.mp4

highlights here - https://www.reddit.com/r/footballhighlights/comments/77u50g/newcastle_united_vs_crystal_palace_premier_league/

[El Lobo]

Utopia

[Cassiel]

Quite funny that the Dreaded Hodge was undone by a set piece goal in the last minute when that's all his teams ever bloody try and do.

[Fiasco]

Delighted for Rafa. Started really well and they haven't got a proper Rafa striker either. Could they hang on in there and perhaps sneak a Europa place?

[Gerry Attrick]

Delighted for Rafa. Started really well and they haven't got a proper Rafa striker either. Could they hang on in there and perhaps sneak a Europa place?

I don't think a Europa League place is possible, unless they manage it through the FA Cup. They should be comfortable in midtable though.

[Hij]

Delighted for Rafa. Started really well and they haven't got a proper Rafa striker either. Could they hang on in there and perhaps sneak a Europa place?

Might be a little early for that, and perhaps they can have a look at their targets in the league later. For now they should be pleased they are accumulating points and are nicely above the required number to stay up so are building a buffer.

[elsewhere]

For those who have been following closely, how is our good old friend Manquillo doing for them?

[Toon-Mick]

Delighted for Rafa. Started really well and they haven't got a proper Rafa striker either. Could they hang on in there and perhaps sneak a Europa place?

Unlikely unless the club is sold and we bring 3 quality players in.

[Toon-Mick]

For those who have been following closely, how is our good old friend Manquillo doing for them?

It's too early to say, at the minute I'd say he can defend but offers little going forward.  He's better than expected but seems to be one paced.

[Brian Blessed]

Moved above us, so can't be at all happy with the result, even if it is Rafa.

[elsewhere]

Moved above us, so can't be at all happy with the result, even if it is Rafa.

Nah, I am happy for him. We know they won't be around us at the end of the season so i don't mind him picking points and doing well. They struggle to score but really good at team defense, i think they will end around 8th-10th.

[zero zero]

Moved above us, so can't be at all happy with the result, even if it is Rafa.

Hodgson lost.

We have our chance tomorrow.