TRon

It depends how much their contract packages would be as opposed to a package for a younger version who might have higher ceilings.

Which makes us turning down decent money in January from Bayern even more perplexing.

That's because without a winning team, where's the vanity potential? We are specifically barred from investing in a squad which would drive us into the Champions League, that leaves us with the investment angle. Are training grounds or new stadiums an investment which are likely to see much return in the forseeable future? Even sponsorships would be much bigger and give more returns if we are a CL club and rising.

Agreed. I've said earlier in this thread if the league want to stop the Saudis challenging the cartel, there's not really that much motivation for them to pump in more money than necessary in infrastructure unless it will pay off in reasonable time. They can run it as an investment perfectly fine. They win either way. It's Newcastle fans who are really being screwed over, and all is well in cartel world.

Tbf, when you put it that way, you can understand why Howe wants PL proven signings. He more than likely won't be here in 4 years time, he's not going to see the benefit of buying development players.

If it was purely an investement, I'm sure they could have picked options which would give a lot more return for less risk. It's a vanity project IMO, and the rest of the world knows it. Precisely why you had everyone in the world up in arms about sportswashing. Does anyone seriously think they bought Newcastle Utd to finish 8th in the league while clubs owned by bitter rivals take all the trophies and the glory?

Yeah. There's those rules which have been implemented specifically to stop us spending on the squad. But want to spend on a training ground? Knock yourselves out.

It is. The only way we can compete to match wages and transfer fees of the cartel clubs is for PIF to be allowed to invest that money with no constraints. Even a new stadium won't give us the income revenues the elite clubs generate worldwide. The only way we get that sort of pull is with a winning team. Being allowed to pump money into the squad is crucial for this project IMO. It unlocks everything else, and the PL know it, that's why they are trying to prevent it on behalf of the cartel.

I think the only way to answer this is if you consider the club an investment or a vanity project for the Saudis. If it's the former, the cost would make it prohibitive. If it's the latter, then the Saudis will want to know they can build a winning side without restrictions.

If they associate our success with themselves they'll want to win stuff. My view is if they are allowed to build a successful team on the pitch, then they'll be happy to invest on infrastructure and the rest of it. I don't think they'll do that to any significant extent if they think they will be blocked from building a winning side.

Not really.

Great post. Confirms what most of us are seeing with our own eyes...and while we are all appreciative that our points tally is still very respectable, you are right, it is not sustainable. We can't keep getting wins by hitting 25 yard worldies. Eddie Howe has acknowledged this, he's not been happy with aspects of our play, and I think we'll see some changes in how we set up sooner rather than later.

Same. I would much rather City just kept on winning until we are good enough to do it.

I get the point about not wanting to have to throw everything out whenever you change a manager, but I still don't think he would be telling Howe what tactics to deploy on a week to week basis. Otherwise there would be big problems.

Damn. The title's no longer a one horse race then.

I don't think that is part of his remit. His job should be to discuss with Howe the players Howe wants for his system. Then source and precure players who fit that criteria.

Have to agree. This was a much sought after DOF from what I was led to believe, but because there's this narrative that he's at odds with Howe, he's catching shit, because Eddie has earned legend status in his time here. It's understandable, but not sure it's good for us long term.

There's some truth in this. He seems to have to turn away from 3-4 challenges at time due to lack of an out ball. Not just in the goal he gave away, which was just careless, but happens too often in central areas as well. We need more players with his ability to shield the ball and carry it into space.

From all that you would have thought Howe would have loved having a DOF on board so he would have all the foreign based stats available to him. Maybe he does, all this is just being generated off a terrible transfer window which no one is taking responsibility for, and we are assuming they have fallen out, whereas it might just be a case of getting aligned. Personally I do think we need someone like Mitchell in who will take charge of recruitment. There's been one terrible window, but I would like to think that was to do with the timing, and we were pursuing targets already in place. In future windows I would expect Mitchell to be bringing a lot more to the table.

I mean we might still finish above you, but it's unfair to load Howe with that expectation. So I agree.

I think the big spending cartel clubs have big enough squads to cope with Europe. We didn't. So I think we should do better because we are out of Europe, I don't necessarily think the cartel clubs will do worse. I think Villa might struggle though, as they are similar to us, if they get a few injuries they will be stretched.

Longstaff would play as the advanced midfielder in a central role. He's not got the skill of Bruno, but I guess he might be played for his defensive recovery.

I usually take squad quality as the main factor as to how high you finish. For us that would be 7/8th as it stands. Any higher than that and you have to give credit to the manager. It might well be other highly rated clubs have a car crash season, but that's nothing to do with us, we can only judge our manager on our squad and our results. Expectations should be set accordingly.

Yep. I am getting tired of reading that this whole supposed rift kicked off with Mitchell's interview. Howe's interview perplexed a few in the hierarchy from some reports, but if it caused ructions, it wasn't expressed openly.