steve_69

Although the owner situation is still the same old shit, it's amazing to think how far we've come since Carver was our manager. The contrast between that gurning moron and Rafa is ridiculous.

Rafa and Keegan have completely different footballing philosophies so I couldn't see it working at all. Keegan in an ambassadorial role would be a nice touch though. I'd love to see him as Head of the academy but again, I think his and Rafa's footballing differences would cause problems.

If other interested parties need an installment plan I wouldn't want them and I hope they wouldn't be tempted anyway. IMO groups/businesses who could buy the club outright wouldn't have needed prompted. From Ashley's point of view though, £380m in instalments is better than £250m in one payment. If they choose to pay in instalments it doesn't necessarily mean they're skint, maybe they'd want a structured payment plan so they can continue to accrue interest on the millions in the bank. I'm no financial expert but i'm sure there are other benefits to paying in instalments as well.

Could be that Ashley has already received an offer for the club but he considers it derisory, so he's put out the statement to unearth other interested parties or encourage the existing offerer to up their bid.

Nailed it with that bit for me. I'm sure Staveley would have come out herself to deny it if there was no truth in it

What exactly are the knobheads who took the name Gallowgate Flags name going to do with it? It seems incredibly childish unless they're planning to start a People's Front of Judea-style rival faction

It could turn out to be one of the best value transfers ever (if he continues to play and develop like he has been).

Best news we've had since Rafa became manager. Obviously Ashley will be thinking about the potential profit but at least we now get to enjoy this fantastic player for a while longer.

Shelvey and Hayden in CM with Merino as #10 would be nice to see. His decision making is so good, his ball retention in tight spaces is great, his passing is spot on and he obviously has an eye for a goal. Got to be worth a try

What a fucking mess! Not content with condemning us to 2 relegations, undermining any manager who looks like giving us a modicum of success and ritually fucking up the footballing side of things, Ashley and his band of parasites have now potentially lumbered us with a massive fine, points deduction and rendered us unsellable for the foreseeable future. You couldn't make this shit up!

If its to the extent they claim, takeover is the least of the issues, we'll be kicked out of the football league. Could this whole thing be the reason Ashley all of a sudden wants a "quick sale" Possibly but the charges would still follow him and his team, whether they're here or not. The club might get a points deduction or something worse because of their actions but i'm pretty sure they'll face consequence personally. As others have pointed out though, the likelihood of someone wanting to take us over while this is hanging over us are not good. Just another thing to add to the long list of ways in which Ashley and his team of cunts have fucked us.

Bless you

You could probably give him £50m and we'd be pushing for European places. Get a real #10 and #9 and we are in business IMO. Obviously still depth issues in certain area but imagine having a league average attack. We'll have Isco and Aubemayang by next season, man. on the bench

You could probably give him £50m and we'd be pushing for European places.

Ok, fair enough. The figures were slightly off but you get the point - signing high profile players for big fees isn't money wasted, on the pitch or off it. PSG's deal for Neymar has made them almost certs for the domestic title, able to compete with the best teams in the Champions League and has increased their global appeal. They'll have lucrative sponsors banging down their door. Everything about the club has been elevated since Neymar joined. Yes it's a lot of money but from a marketing/business point of view it makes financial sense.

Theoretically 28 billion. But. Thinks of her as your financial adviser or pension guy if you have one. Her job is to make your money grow. Her investors won't give a flying f*** about NUFC and probably haven't even heard of us. The one certainty is that if she invests money from the fund she manages into a football club, she is duty bound to take more money out of it than she put in. Would you want your pension fund manager sanctioning 60 million of funds to buy Kyle Walker or 35 million to buy Jordan Pickford ? Unlikely. Apparently Man Utd recouped the £100m spent on Paul Pogba within one week through global merchandise sales. God knows what they've made since then. If we're bought by a wealthy group and they raise our profile globally, sanctioning transfers like the example you've given is exactly the way they're going to make money from the club.

Especially when it comes out that a deal was in the offing until Ashley moved the goalposts, insisting on free advertising, shirt sponsorship and stadium naming rights for the rest of eternity.

We're a total no-brainer for an investor right now - commercial revenue not even close to being maximised, world class manager in place and seemingly committed to us long-term if the conditions are right, united fan base, global recognition despite being shit for 10 years and one of the league's best stadiums. I can't think of another club in the league that has as much immediate potential as we do. If this Staveley MILF is looking at other options they will be lesser options. The only thing that might stand in their favour is that they will probably be less problematic to acquire.

It was proper amateur stuff on MOTD2 last night. Danny Murphy didn't have a clue what he was doing

Really?! I think he deserves a lot of praise for his performances this season. There were 2-3 saves against Stoke that were absolutely class. I've never been his biggest fan but IMO he's won us points already this season.

Looking at the impact Rafa's coaching has had on the likes of Lascelles, Clark, Mbemba, Hayden etc. it makes it even more baffling that Ashley won't back him. If the whole 'buy young, increase value, sell high' is still loosely in place then we have the perfect man at the helm to execute that plan (for the record i hope that's not the plan). Lascelles in particular is now being talked about by pundits, other clubs and other managers and his value has soared. Obviously some credit has to go to the player himself but his rise in stock is primarily down to our world class manager. Merino is probably in the £20m bracket already and he's played what, 4 games? If Ashley had any sense he'd see that Rafa is the key to the club not just being successful on the pitch but also highly profitable in the transfer market.

Yeah, I'm sure about this guy. Looks shit so far

Bear in mind this is almost certainly one of the players who joined us purely because of Rafa (it was hinted at by Rafa immediately after he signed). If Rafa walks i can't see Merino wanting to hang around and play under Tim Sherwood or some other dud

He just can't let us have even an ounce of joy can he?! Any manager we like, support and get behind he undermines and belittles - Keegan, Shearer, Hughton and now Benitez. Yet he gives Pardew, the most loathsome, odious fraud (who we collectively, openly hated) an 8 year contract, and backs McLaren to the hilt. There's a clear M.O here and I assume it stems from the protests, criticism and insults levelled at him over the past 10 years (fat cockney rapist springs to mind). It's not just that he doesn't give a s*** about the progression of NUFC, it's more than that. It's a calculated process of removing any enjoyment we can derive from supporting our beloved football team. There may have been more openly awful Premier League football club owners than Ashley but I can't think of any that have been so petty, conniving, deceitful and completely unworthy of the position they hold.

or alternatively, don't read the f***ing posts The only way that's going to happen is if I avoid the forum altogether, because the doom mongers infect every thread, and I'm not going to do that. It's like having a girlfriend you really love but you spend all your time worrying about them leaving you instead of enjoying being with them. After a while they leave you anyway because they're sick of reassuring you all the time.