Matt

I walked up the Lea Valley path as far as the North Circular the other week. Reminds me of Middlesborough.

BZG was clearly bollocks from the start. That loon on WhatsApp. Those vague statements that led some fools to believe they had signed a sales and purchase agreement. The way the story broke as "NUFC have been sold!!" when they hadn't been. The love letter to Mike to end it all. It was comedy gold. You clearly enjoy letting everyone know how clever you are, so I'll just go back on that SPA comment- which was in a comment from me (although I can't find it). There was discussion about what a 'deal' could have meant (given the initial report was out of the blue claiming it was all done and only awaiting PL verification- and clearly the journo who vouched for his story was sold entirely duff info). I was trying to make some sense of the story and have brought it up on several occasions like I was claiming some kind of ITK knowledge. So are you calling me a fool?

I found it strange just how far he fell out of favour. He always struck me as a capable player who improved us last season when he came on a few times for the comparably static Shelvey. Should get picked up by a Champo team no bother.

Large sovereign funds are generally well-diversified- they aren't a single objective fund. They invest across all asset classes and sizes (although sometimes they have investment subsidiaries to specialise in niches or in smaller investments). The fact that investments are different, rather than comparable in size and nature means nothing in context of this deal. It's quite possible for the Saudi fund to designate an amount for sports related investments under a sub-investment strategy of $xbn. Maybe this whole deal is a non-starter, but that's a particularly shit line of logic as to why it wouldn't happen.

Last night's result doesn't really change things. Anything from a midweek away is a bonus, but a couple of tough home games coming up too.

How does MA lose that money? Surely it's the club that loses that money. 'The club' is a company 100% owned by MA. SD is a company c. 60% owned by MA. If he gives away potential future income for new owners, that is reflected in the price he can extract (all other things equal) and shares the benefit with his minority shareholders.

Worth bearing in mind that MA actually loses money personally by giving mates rates to SD for advertising. He will maximise his cash return on this sale by not requiring any contractual obligations beyond what already exists between NUFC and SD (and there would be no benefit to MA for these being long-term, short-term or rolling arrangements give him more overall control).

Worst case scenario he banks the fee, it all falls though, then "We're gonna need a bigger bone saw".

The loans aren't an issue- it would be absolutely standard for those to be repaid as part of the consideration for the club. Whenever you see price tags bandied about- that is inclusive of those loans.

It is a loan in accounting terms but barring a mega windfall he won't not expecting it back any time soon- under normal circumstances the club continues to lose money. He cops a load of stick on Facebook from the knuckle-draggers when the guy is just a local bloke done good who's put in half a million quid of his own cash to keep things running.

That was what was claimed by the guy in the Sun (or Mirror, can't remember) last time. Out of the blue, deal is good as done, all sounded legit.

Maybe I should have added the safety wink to be on the safe side....

It's clearly just a smokescreen from Bishop's old mates at the WSJ so the club can explain why we haven't signed anyone in the last seven days.

TBH it's just nice to not have SD plastered on something for a change.

Not quite- a point behind. With Bradford PA still adrift, the mission for the season is to get 2 more points than Curzon.

Which in turn harms any future genuine efforts of others in the future.

Looking forward to seeing the goal- sounds like a belter. Two big games coming up especially Curzon next weekend, it seems every time Blyth get within touching distance of safety, they drop down again.

Hebburn have signed Blyth's keeper Mark Foden. I'll be generous and say he's a bit erratic.

Leicester could have had eight so far.

Don Goodman (I think) giving a MoTM award to Bowen, stating 'I don't think he's been the best player on the pitch'. I thought that was the whole point.

1860 Munich vs Bayern's reserves in the 3. Liga on youtube. Stadium is absolutely rammed.

Sure, Juan could have put in money, but we thought it would be better to get some hedge fund money in and give them security over everything. Also having a specific charge over the real estate as well as over the shares in the intermediate company means that it can be enforced separately, leaving the 'club' with the current owners. The lenders are not obliged to enforce all the security at once. It's not simply belt and braces.

It could be any structure to be honest, the lender is a specialist credit fund. Could be quasi-equity- a very long or perpetual maturity, warrants or options on the shares. Impossible to tell. But you don't take security unless you have concerns about getting your money back.

It's not just those buildings/facilities. 'The Don' effectively said if they default on the repayments, then FPP get control of the club - the deal is basically secured against 'The Club'. Yep- the shares in 'Sunderland Limited' (immediate parent of the operating company) are included in the package. If they fail to repay, the chancers are out and they won't get a bean. However in terms of structure of the security documents, that looks pretty standard secured lending. The club must still be bleeding cash even though Ellis Short has got his £40m in parachute payments so any remaining amount will be going to the club.

"Newcastle? Screw that, they need a training ground. That's far too much effort. Much easier to just get a club which needs two promotions to get into the same league as them"