Unbelievable

Oh my God, GLEX is coming my way. Should I start packing my suitcase?

It landed for a minute or two then went back up and started circling. Fuck knaas what's happening. Ashley’s been reading this thread and figured it would be a good laugh to dispatch his helicopter to Farnborough, have it land briefly and then circle the air above it to send yous in a frenzy

Zog

Oh Chopra

POOT is back Welcome back mate. Echo your hopes that good things are on the way

We were poor this first half indeed, but Sunderland haven’t been much better iyam

Ditto. We were battered first half iirc. Doesn’t look so bad first 15 or so minutes. I was in the away end with a couple of colleagues from Longbenton. Great day out, especially the second half and the bar afterwards for obvious reasons

I was there that day. Ah, the memories

Hang on, it happen..?

Mike always said the real takeover would not be leaked and just be announced one day. Just imagine how good that would have been compared to this utter mess.

To be fair, there’s probably a lot of truth in that. I doubt any usable new evidence will have come forward, but the PL are between a rock and a hard place with this decision now. Whatever they ultimately decide there will be legal challenges, public outrage or both either way. They will want their legal department and lawyers to give them the assurance that their decision will stand up in court if needed, or to be able to use the excuse that legally their hands were tied.

Well, isn't this entire takeover saga just Newcastle United all over

Fucking hell. That makes for some horrific reading. Our friends up the road are being taken for a ride and Stewart has most of them convinced he’s just a passionate fan like they are with his STID play-acting. I thought that Charlie actually came across more natural (if not less loathsome of course), not making excuses for trying to flip them over asap. That Santori bloke may actually be the worse of the lot. He’s not put anything in yet stands to make a huge profit on the back of absolutely nothing but the illusion of wealth and investment.

I wouldn't get ahead of yourself. If you were looking to buy a club you'd know whether you wanted a new training ground etc long before even bidding. Like Mike did. Mike is an idiot*. Anybody willing to part with half a billion would have a plan of what they would want to do with the asset they were bidding for. * all he saw was a massive global billboard for his shitty business

F#%$ing hell let’s just stick with Ashley then what a load of rubbish. Aye, that’s exactly what I meant. As many people on here know well I’ll never have a bad word said about Ashley and would rather we stick with him forever. All I’ve said is that that quote about not being able to start working on the vision of new facilities before they’ve got the keys to the current one makes no sense to me, and I stand by that. In fact, I’d be surprised if they haven’t already devised some multi year plan of what they want to do with the club, the stadium, the training ground, the staff, the squad etc.

Aye but if they havent seen the current training ground that makes a decision quite difficult. They are right to wait. I suspect they would have had advisers that have seen all of the club's facilities (opened every gate, every room, every cupboard). Nobody buys an organisation without inspecting the assets (to over simplify, you don't buy a house without inspecting it first and getting an engineering professional to give you a report). During the due-diligence phase of the negotiation they would have been given access to all NUFC facilities and would have a very good idea of what needs to be done - anyone who's been involved in a proper due-diligence process (not what Ashley did when he bought NUFC) can tell you how thorough they can be. Due-diligence processes can be some of the most invasive experiences of any organisation. Exactly this. No way would buyers get to the offer accepted stage of a deal without having had access to all the club’s facilities. Not saying they should start construction work on day one, but to come out and say planning work can’t start until they see what they’ve bought makes no sense to me.

Isn’t that the sort of thing that could be prepared. They’ve apparently put forward a 300 page business plan to the PL and they haven’t even thought about the basics of what the future training ground would be like?

See, this is what I assumed as well. They've been making losses of 20-30m over the years and whilst they've drastically cut cost and obviously don't have to pay their annual 7-8m rent over their debt anymore since Short wiped it out, their income has taken a huge plunge. Their TV revenue has gone to from something like 100m to about 2m now they will have no more parachute payments next season. The fact they will remain a League One club now for definite can only mean financial ruin with their massive cost base (for a League One club) and considering how little revenue they will have left (no TV revenue, no matchday revenue for the foreseeable). And yet... I stumbled upon an article earlier with Methven holding up Sunderland as a beacon of financial stability that other clubs should aspire to become, saying stuff like: Apart from the complete lack of self awareness in the fact that he doesn't even mention how Short parted with the best part of 300m to get rid of them and that's what they have to thank for not being up to their eyeballs in debt like many other clubs, that's quite the statement. Looking forward to their next set of accounts, should be fascinating. I can't see how you could maintain facilities of that size without considerable income, let alone having some of their old PL players still on the books for relatively massive wages, and not run a massive operating loss.

The words seem English

?

Would cost that in transfers alone with no guarantees, not happening for either The 100m in 5 years wouldn’t even cover their losses. They’re in much more trouble than people think.

Bit frosty in here tonight

I think everyones well aware of your opinion without you having to repeat it every 2 minutes. The ability to post after deleting your account is quite impressive also As I mentioned, that was in response to specific posts and I can post whatever I want. Of course you can, but you're only having the effect of making others dig trenches basically. There has to be a way we can have a more amicable debate here ffs. Sorry, but posters were saying they wanted the Saudis over another potential U.S option and that unless it was someone with Jeff Bezos' wealth they weren't interested. They chose which trench to dig and I thought an edit of SBR's quote, the original of which we're all happy to repeat as representative of being a football supporter, was an effective way to highlight that. Do you not think it's a bit of a low blow (and even disrespectful) to use (and edit) a quote of Sir Bobby's out of the original context? He isn't here to take a side like you are. No, not really, I think it's very pertinent. I think it's absolutely f***ing disgusting that you have bastardised a quote from an absolute legend for the sole purpose of scoring points online. Yes, editing quotes on a football forum to make a point about where some of our supporters priorities lie is where we need to draw the ethical line in this whole debate. It's the snowflakes who are disgusted by the Saudi's human rights record who are the sanctimonious ones, not those morally outraged at the sight of a quote being thrown back in their face. Are you playing the victim for the sake of it? I'm abhorred by the Saudis human rights record and have been for a long time, unfortunately our Government are mates with the f***ers and us as fans don't have any power over any of this. Go find those people who support their actions and argue with them instead of banging on and on here. I'm out anyway. And yes, bastardising a quote from Sir Bobby for the purpose you did is still disrespectful in my eyes. I don't think I'm a victim at all. I just find it really ridiculous that in this discussion the idea of questioning those openly saying they'd prefer the Saudis because of their money, even when an alternative is available, is somehow controversial. For someone who clearly holds SBR's quote close to their heart, I find it odd that you'd view someone wanting to see the sentiment of it upheld as the outrageous one. Completely hypothetically speaking I presume?

I can't speak for anybody else, but to me this (PCP) and the stage is at is a "now or never" moment given everything we know about Ashley and the numerous other interested parties and "bids" from the past that have come to absolutely nothing. If the PL turns down the PCP bid we could be looking at another decade of Mike Ashley, and that would really mean curtains as far as I am concerned. I barely watch our games anymore as it is. To start next season (whenever it starts) with Bruce in the dugout and Ashley in the stands would be hugely deflating after this latest takeover attempt. I understand why some people oppose the Saudi backed bid and see in them a reason to continue to not return or go to St James' anymore. I am uneasy with their human rights record myself, but this takeover is about much more than that to me. It's about finally getting our club back from the grim hold that Mike Ashley has kept on it for the past 13 miserable years. Ideally we would have squeaky clean new owners who have the club and the city's interest at heart, but I think to suggest such an owner is just waiting in the wings is fantasy dreamland considering what we know to be true about Mike Ashley. In reality it's Amanda Stavely's PCP, the Rueben Brothers and the PIF on the one side or Mike Ashley on the other. Of those two I'll take the first option any day of the week thank you very much. I'd be fairly confident they would be better custodians of the club than Ashley has ever been, and if not we'll cross that bridge when we get there. There is no certainty any other prospective owner would be better. I don't think any Newcastle fan demands that they buy the best players in the world and have us challenging for the Champions League anytime soon. Let's start by getting our club back and see it trying to be the best it can be when it's not being actively being destroyed by a parasite owner. That doesn't mean I condone everything the new owners do or can't oppose or condemn their actions if I feel like it. I use the services and buy the products of many companies that do stuff I don't agree with and I think many people do, knowingly or unknowingly. If the Saudi's don't end up buying us they'll get another club in England or elsewhere. I'd rather it was us and finally see the back of Mike Ashley. Absolutely fair my query was really like the “if it’s not them I don’t want anyone else” rather than them being the only shot to get rid of Ashley. Hold on mate. The “if it’s not the Saudis I’m done” argument you were struggling with is completely different to the “if it’s not them I don’t want anyone else” argument you're bringing up now. I can totally understand that people will be done if this falls through and we're back to 10 years of journalist claiming a takeover from whichever American or Chinese consortium is just around the corner. I think most people realise that it's PCP or bust (i.e. Ashley for the foreseeable) and of those options most Newcastle fans would prefer PCP.