Raconteur

Inflated sponsorship deals are specifically prohibited - but enforcement of that has to be a nightmare. Didn't City get into trouble with their airline sponsorship?

https://sport.optus.com.au/articles/os7297/danny-tiatto-interview Danny Tiatto tells the story of the time KK put him in a headlock and dragged him from an altercation with the Norwich bench - then threatens to kill Keegan before ducking the manager’s phone call. Tiatto comes across a right cunt, but that’s hardly news...

Was outraged by the omission of Ferreyra - then checked on Wikipedia to see he didn't play a single minute and therefore didn't qualify

Ironically, it's more likely to hold up the deal than human rights. Not that it's going to be held up, but capitalist concerns will always triumph over morals and ethics

The FA (or probably FIFA) should be looking to change the rules regarding registration to get around the contracts quagmire - perhaps a player can’t transfer his league registration until his old club’s season has finished. FIFA already likely to state a footballing contracts purpose is "until the end of the season", not June 30th, so players will have to see out their seasons should their respective leagues run over June 30th. The FA's issue however is that British employment law counteracts FIFAs interpretation, so players in England can challenge FIFAs ruling and likely leave on a free on June 30th anyhow. That's why I would have thought player registration rather than contracts should be the focus - it opens the regulatory bodies to restraint of trade action from players/clubs at new clubs they can't play for, but surely FIFA/FA can say who they will or won't register? And would a legal challenge survive a judge saying "But coronavirus"?

The FA (or probably FIFA) should be looking to change the rules regarding registration to get around the contracts quagmire - perhaps a player can’t transfer his league registration until his old club’s season has finished.

Galling, but completely unsurprising, that Ashley was so pissy about the success of Rafa's Murphy gambit. Simply cannot tolerate being proved wrong.

Plus there are concessions for new owners, plus the talk of relaxing FFP to help world football through the coronavirus, plus the possibility of prices deflating because clubs have cash-flow problems. Not saying it's going to happen, but the stage is certainly set for a spree.

The problem with the "slow and steady" option is that it's going to take years to get to the place PIF want to be. "£50m a year" is one single not-elite-level player. We're never going to break into the top 4 that way.

Was just thinking that Football Manager 2021 is going to be an entirely different game

Aye, IndyKaila ????? Wasn't it more widely reported than that, just that IndyKaila's tweet was timestamped in the middle of that two hour meeting?

If you ever watch Sunday Sports Supplement on Sky sports, you'll see a bunch of these journalists having a circle jerk over Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. These are the clubs they want to see fighting for the title, seeing Newcastle barging into the elite will not sit well with that type. But of course, some of our forum regulars will tell you these writers are all free of bias, even after seeing Martin Samuel's jowls wobbling furiously on said programme. Looking forward to the day when a NUFC pundit is in the chair every week - make room Gary and Jamie! Of course, the trade off is people like Souness and Jenas will get a louder voice on Toon affairs.

Aye I was thinking about that, why would they need to Pirate? We've only heard one side of the story, I'm sure there's more to it. Gah. It’s part of a trade/economic/diplomatic war between Qatar and Saudi The Qatari/BeIN protests are likely politically motivated as well as economically Isn't it the case that Qatar is refusing to beam the Premier League into Saudi Arabia - which is why the government is facilitating (or not stopping) piracy (i.e. to secure access to the PL for Saudi audiences)?

Knowing that every single player coming through the door is going to be an upgrade, a certain starter, is going to be great fun. Even players I know nothing about - if we're signing them, it will be because they're a first team player. I reckon the new owners and manager will be spending a fair bit on upgrading our youth talent too, same as Man City do, taking their pick from academies around the world. We need upgrades throughout all our teams. Sure, but for the first twelve months we're going to see more Coutinho (for instance) than Bellingham

Knowing that every single player coming through the door is going to be an upgrade, a certain starter, is going to be great fun. Even players I know nothing about - if we're signing them, it will be because they're a first team player.

Politics. They are a Qatar broadcaster. Qatar and Saudi are pretty much at war, at least diplomatically. This is all part of that. while this is true it is also true someone in Saudi is 100% just stealing and rebroadcasting Beins stuff which is also probably part of the whole political mess ongoing but whether there is anyone part of the royal family or government involved in beoutq but its a reasonable concern for Bein to raise as they are paying a lot of money for these tv rights and it is being blatantly stolen. Yes, and it's in the PL's interest to stop this as it devalues rights deals. Agreed, but to stop this deal, they will need definitive proof that the new owners are directly involved with the illegal broadcasting. If they don't and still knock it back they are then going to be facing a massive lawsuit. That's definitely true, and is being glossed over by many. From a pragmatic point of view, surely the PL has a better chance of having Saudi piracy cracked down on if they have the Saudi government inside the tent, instead of being outside and pissing beIN off?

Is it not the case that there are no such convictions abroad, and that a potential precedent was dismissed? It seems to me that if the PL act outside those very narrow guidelines, they are opening themselves up to enormous damages. Which is why I'm full of confidence that the takeover isn't going to be halted because of Bein/BeoutQ or Amnesty International.

I fully expected the thread title to be renamed something like "David Squires: Sometime funnyman"

Surely the only real Pardew ITK was GolfMag?

Would be made up with Willian - vastly underrated player who would add real quality for at least another two seasons. I agree that old frees is probably not the model to go with, but this is a special case - and the very best transfer policies are case-by-case...

Should probably lock the "New Member" functionality of the forum until a few months after the takeover is completed. Once the hype (positive & negative) cools down a little bit then open it back up. That would make it a large clique. Wasn't there a time when you had to post 20 times (or something) before you could open a thread? Or was that Toontastic?

This is a horrible post - but even if it were true, let me ask you this: If he genuinely wanted what's "best for the club", why did he agree to take the job knowing he lacked the capacity to do the job?

I can't imagine anyone watched Mike Ashley fuck around with Sports Direct Arena and thought "We should do that". Renaming a brand new stadium as an excuse to funnel sponsorship money in is different from messing around with the name St James Park. Hopefully, these are the sorts of things where Staveley and the Ruebens offer local wisdom.

I guess we'll find out if there are any issues if Rafa comes back and asks for a more disciplined ASM...

So what about legal documents signed by BOTH parties and submitted to companies house. You can’t bullshit that. I'm not clued up on all of that stuff, what is there in the documents that 100% makes it mean there's a deal for nufc going through? The consensus is that while the documentation does not provide 100% certainty the deal will go through, it suggests very strongly that a deal has been struck, a deposit paid and the regulatory body is now making its checks. Key part being a deal has been struck. My understanding is that the only remaining hurdles are the FA’s rubber stamp and the equally likely payment of the balance of the purchase price.