Matt

The council do not own the land, it is owned by the Freemen of the City and is covenanted for recreational use. They can't just stick a Cineworld on there. And the council would be terrified of NUFC moving away from the city centre as it would actually cost jobs as fewer people would be in town before a game. The club used this stick when getting the approval to expand to 52k.

If it's right that they'll be getting capital from a Spanish PE house, they'll be sorely disappointed when every penny is injected as more shareholder loans

They will probably be fine although there are a couple of longer trips theyy will all be scheduled for Saturdays. One or two will always befall the weather / cup clashes so for certain they will be a few midweek treks- but not much worse than those playing in the Vase. If NL teams want to throw games to stay down, fine- it means the teams who want to progress finally can. I was a bit unsure about enforced promotions but I think now it's the right thing to have done. Next season there is a much better chance for the sides down there with two of the better sides out of the way and at a higher level. The NE game is looking much stronger than it has done for a while, aside from the ongoing situation at Gateshead.

If he uses £5m of the club's cash to make £5m of improvements, then the value of the business should be largely unchanged.

Blyth is £12 for adults

Well done to Marske on their NL title and promotion to the Evo 1 East- absolutely insane backlog of fixtures but somehow they got the points they needed.

Fans going home. Unreal.

Wasn't he named in one of the French sports papers in a 'Worst XI' for Ligue 1 the season before we signed him?

Short has said he’d had higher offers- so clearly he’s not just given everything away for free.

Note use of the word 'still' (italicised twice to emphasise their incredulity) for an event that occured less than a week ago. Yeah, ok. For reference, beating Everton to send us down was 2016, 6-in-a-row was 2015, horse puncher 2013 and 'Boycoutt' 2008. All brought up on a daily basis by the brain-donors on Ready to groom. Christ, they still bring up a score from when Queen Victoria was still warm. Still. Cretins. My personal favourite is phone boxes. Especially considering it was over 20 years ago and it's not as though you never saw any others smashed up around the place in the 90s.

That’s not stopped anyone else

The EFL trophy is regionalised in nature, so we are likely to draw them in the groups unless the league or police decide it might be better to keep us apart.

I was referring to 1 up in the Step 3 leagues (from Evostik Premier into National North)

'Young, hungry players' = no money for players

Not sure about easy work- only the champions go up automatically so there is little room for error. That level is hard to judge until you know what's going on at other clubs, each year there are a few who get money behind them and a few who fall on hard times.

Ref in the Oxford-Scunthorpe game having an absolute shocker.

Vase and cup runs, even if not that common are a major financial boost both in terms of gates and prize money. Exiting the pyramid would also leave club without a place in the football foundation ground funding schemes. The desire to stay in an entirely NE league is far from universal in the NL so a number of clubs would defect to some other league, leaving a rump of clubs playing in a closed shop with no promotion or relegation or potential for a run in a national compeition. There is no threat from the NL to the FA- it's the other way around. It would be a disaster for the regional game. How many players will leave because they won't be able to make 5 or 6 games in a season? It's pretty standard at that level that you have a squad to cope with the reality that work commitments will mean you can't have every player available for every game. Newly promoted clubs are often boosted by being a 'new ground' for a lot of away supporters and attendances at the next level are certainly no worse than the NL1. Often in this debate, the small matter of being possibly being promoted further up is not taken into consideration. And the Evo Prem has a few sides who will bring a very decent away support for a weekend game. Especially if there is the prospect of a night on the ales in Newcastle (which always proved popular with hordes visiting Blyth). I think the FA will expect the promotion rules to iron this out in due course rather than make an exception for the NL which could cause other precedents when they next come to reshuffle the divisions.

They won't end up anywhere near the playoffs without a major pick-up in performances- the showing on Saturday was almost unrecognisable from earlier in the season- no heart whatsoever. Although I have to be honest, the club just isn't ready for that step up. The crowds aren't big enough and they would need a full-time setup for a national level to have any chance of survival. The FA's approach on promotion is the unfortunate result of years of stubborness by the former leadership of the Northern League. The division is seen as actively not participating in the pyramid (and I think over the last 20 years, that's a very fair observation) and as such is being forced to do so- or to leave the system altogether. When the FA offered the mass promotion (must be 10 years ago now) and it was openly attacked by the NL chair (who always took the opportunity to warn his clubs against going up) then this day became inevitable. With Step 4 going down to 20 sides, so a 38 fixture season, the league are looking to minimise the number of mixweek fixtures (and you will find the tinpot Evostick cup draws are always convenient geographically). There will be some of course, and all away sides will suffer a bit because they will not have their full squad to choose from. The reverse it true in that Morpeth will have some midweek home games against weakened opposition. This is just a fact of life at that level.

The concept of the passage of time seemingly as alien a concept as it was for Adam Johnson.

He could go on to be a world beater but he will be the guy who picked the ball out the net with his first touch in first-team football.

Not sure how you come to that conclusion. In fact, it will result in a greater loss of value than would otherwise occur because assets will be sold on a disorderly basis and decided by a third party rather than over a period of time and as decided by the board.

No he doesn't. He can just put it into voluntary liquidation. Short's holding of the club- both equity and debt are worth absolutely zero. Only once the business is worth more than the debt owed to Guggenheim will Short get a penny. Guggenheim may opt to appoint an administrator if Sunderland fail to meet the financial covenant tests in the loan agreement, at which point they may accelerate the debt (demand it all back) and on the basis Sunderland have no means to pay, then either side could appoint administrators. However this can be done without the need for a costly administration process if Short and Guggenheim mutually agree a debt-for-equity swap, which would hand control to Guggenheim and Short would be left with nothing (or virtually nothing).

Letting it slip live is forgivable, but leaving it up on the listen again is just sloppy.

He's not giving it away for free, he wants £69m for it. His shareholder loan will be subordinated to the amounts owed to Guggenheim, who are probably getting ready to cut him off. This is his last chance to maximise what he will get back.

Currently Dunston manager.