TRon

They had deals lined up for Miggy and Vlachy to go to Saudi, not much they can do if players don't want to go.

Yes I can understand why they don't want to change the rules, but the rules shouldn't be there in the first place. It's restriction of trade. We had no such rules when Ashley didn't want to spend any money, Chelsea, Man City et al were quite free to do so.

That's fine if they don't want to, but why should that mean other owners can't if they have the funds? I'm sure Sir Jim Ratshit is probably over the moon that PSR is making him cut costs and increase prices, but as long as that's Man U's problem that's fine. It's when the cartel start trying to poke their nose in other teams business that it starts to grate.

That's just due to their own mismanagement though. Nowt to stop them putting in their own money to cover the losses they incurred due to their own stupidity. Apart from PSR of course.

Said the same thing many times on here. I wonder if PIF had realised how many obstacles would be thrown in their way, would they still have pushed to buy the club so hard? I always thought for them to be truly invested they would want to win stuff, but this FFP/PSR stuff means it would need some pretty miraculous moves and a fair chunk of luck to get everything lined up.

The real test of Newcastle's value would be if there were interested buyers. Considering how long Ashley had us up for sale at around £300m I would suggest there wouldn't be a huge rush. PIF have inflated the value of the club a long way, but to push it higher now would probably need a lot of investment in infrastructure, and I just don't see anyone out there who would want to take that on, although I am not a money man so could be totally off the mark.

An alternative system would be, any clubs objecting to us spending money on a player, put it in writing, then they all contribute funds equal to that amount to the PL coffers so the money we would have put in isn't lost to the game, and that way it keeps getting circulated in a healthy manner. Obviously we would need to be compensated for the player we have lost so maybe they should double their contributions so we can get reimbursed as well for our losses.

Yeah it's not City screwing us over, it's the PL stopping us from buying the same player when he was happy to come. His agent literally said it was because of PSR we couldn't do the deal.

I've yet to see anyone suggest a different owner who would be trustworthy enough to be more aggressive. I suppose Boehly is the obvious comparison, but what are his plans exactly? I don't think he's a Chelsea fan who has bought in because he loves the club, pretty sure he's hoping to make a lot of money off the back of it. But Chelsea did benefit from having gazillions pumped into their coffers by the Russian, so not sure we can emulate them anyway.

It was a sad day when she left, she was, like Eddie, a great ambassador for the club. But there was nothing she could do about PSR, and she couldn't continue to spend big money without PSR kicking the club in the nuts so she was on borrowed time anyway. It is a pointlessly negative slant by Baldwards as from that point there was basically not much anyone could do differently as far as spending big was concerned.

I was replying to your description that he has a canny left foot. I don't think he does. Even if you want to go by the description of cultured/uncultured, if he had a good left foot, he'd be a much better crosser. His assist record is abysmal as far as I know. Even given he plays on the right, he could still swing in a cross like Gordon does by cutting back inside to make room.

How much would anyone invest when they know the path to becoming a big hitter is blocked? IMO if PIF can't do it, no one else will.

I do wonder if our owners have lost a little bit of interest now it's become clear our way to the top is going to be blocked using any means possible. But that's just not easy to verify one way or the other thanks to the dilligence the PL is applying to protecting the cartel. You make one step forward then you have to take two steps back, like selling your most promising young talent to balance books which don't need balancing.

Which is why I'm not particularly fussed if we are taking some time over those type of sponsorships. We need the game changers which will make the PSR cartel spit their cornflakes out.

Nicely done. I had to clarify using the word plummetting yesterday for the Pedant Police so these efforts should be appreciated.

Honestly, if we were going to sell Isak for big money, I'd rather it was to a club like PSG anyway. At least we wouldn't have to watch Sky having a wankfest over him playing for Arsenal or Liverpool.

He really hasn't. All his goals have basically been curlers into the far corner. Anything which requires any sort of self generated power is beyond him.

Yes, but as you yourself have said, they are typical of the sort of sponsorships which PSR won't bat an eyelid at. Because they'll make barely a dent in our ability to challenge the cartel.

Even without PSR there is always pressure to increase matchday income every time one of the cartel clubs raise their prices. The only way to avoid this is to stop competing.

Chelsea were a middling PL club before Abramovich, they had a stadium to reflect that. Maybe if they increased their capacity they could fill it, but I think local support must have dropped off a fair bit since they stopped winning stuff. Also, how much would a new stadium cost in London? Where would they put it given we are a one club city and we seem limited in our options for a city centre site? Not sure a new stadium would be on Boehly's list of priorities if profit is his motive.

Agree. Clubs like us will pay a premium for PL experience, although you would hope Mitchell will be spotting some less proven alternatives abroad for a quarer of the price.

I doubt we'd get them for a decent fee once they've gone to Brighton. The time to get them would be before they got their hands on them like happened with Minteh.

Not sure we are in a position to be more persuasive that those clubs, but at least we are in a position to compete with them so agree on that part. I guess we wouldn't have even tried for a Lewis Hall or Livramento a few years back, certainly not paying in the £30-40m bracket. So yes, you have a point.

Who was the one responsible for picking up Khusanov for £84,000? Maybe he's the one we should have headhunted instead of Mitchell.

I've already heard quotes of £8m being mentioned in some places, so won't be that surprised if the fee creeps down a bit more yet. Started off at £11m iirc.