Wallace

No idea how much it will take to pay Bruce off but I just don't understand the willingness to stick with a poor manager and sacrificing the potential financial benefits from guaranteeing Premier League football. How much is each place worth these days - £1m+ - plus the additional TV money that we are not going to be getting this season because we are being broadcast less than in previous years and the certainty of any interested buyers walking away when we get relegated (as Ashley probably won't want to lower the sale price). I realise that Ashley won't make a decision until he has no choice (and it is too late) and that he is a gambler but if you are trying to sell the club (and especially to particular buyer who are only interested in a Premier League club), why take that risk? He will lose so much more than the cost of paying Bruce off.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/apr/27/partner-in-saudi-bid-to-buy-newcastle-united-is-major-tory-donor Newcastle being dragged into more of the Tories problems.

Must be really easy for opposition managers. Newcastle won last week so they know what the team will be so can spend all week on their gameplan. Thought he might have brought Matty Longstaff in - he normally brings him in from the cold against the big teams! Isn't it Arsenal next week? Willock will be missing that one.

Maybe the other 14 Premier League teams should resign from the Premier League and join the EFL leaving the 6 teams to just play each other every season!. To allow 6 teams to earn millions more in a closed league would make the Premier League meaningless anyway. Even if they just used B teams, because of their financial clout, they would probably still be able to afford much better players that most if not all other teams. It is telling that quite a few of these "elite" teams have struggled this year and may miss out on Europe never mind the Champions League. If they want a European League, then they should just leave the Premier League completely but I guess that some of those serial winners don't want to become serial losers.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/tactical-clash-broken-newcastle-dressing-20234607

I think some may have been signed as a need to just get bodies in e.g. Joselu as the preferred choices were refused. The thing that puzzles me with Lazaar and also with Saivet (and others) is that we signed them from leagues where they would have been on modest salaries but we seem to have given them a massive contract (there was no hype about them being anything special) which they would never receive at another club. When they don't succeed, it makes them difficult to sell and the player (understandably) reluctant to leave knowing they won't get that contract elsewhere. I don't understand why we give such long and expensive contracts to players who are relatively unproven. It would make more sense to start them on an improved but incentive-based contract and if they succeed then give them a decent contract as they will then have earnt it. I read that Lazaar was looking for his contract to be paid up but the club are holding out for a fee. They always do this and then the player ends up leaving on a free anyway and I am sure the associated costs with a contract probably means they end up paying more out than they would have done with a settlement. Also why give big contracts to Shelvey, Ritchie and co. They will certainly struggle to get rid of Shelvey with that sort of contract. Now they want a big fee for Ritchie - if they don't compromise, they will probably be stuck with him until the end of his contract. Not sure what constitutes a big fee but he must be worth a lot less now than when we bought him and we have had value out of him.

It is possible he was a manager before coaching badges were mandatory. I know at one time a few were exempted because they had already been managing for a few years.

I seem to recall reading that Dubravka is very vocal on the pitch and maybe that is a contributing factor in why the defence might have looked more organised when he is playing. I do think Dubravka is the better keeper even if Darlow has done very well in his absence.

The problem with all this is that they want it all ways. They will want to stay in the Premier League but will probably want it reduced to 16 teams in time because they play too many games (despite having twice as many players as everyone else) and then they will want to get rid of the FA Cup. Perhaps they might want to play their B teams in the Premier League if the EFL won't let them in. They will probably want to play their European games at the weekend as well and want the Premier League to be midweek which would make it difficult for other fans to attend their team's games. They might get richer but they will ruin football for the rest of us but I guess these days, it is the overseas fans that matter rather than the domestic fans.

Isn’t Saudi Arabia the biggest market in the MENA region? If the Saudis continue to block BeIN from broadcasting in their country then BeIN would probably want a rebate from the Premier League and if Saudi don’t bid for the next TV rights, then the package will be worth a lot less. It is in the PL’s interest to resolve the matter seeing as they are only interested in money.

It seems to me that the Premier League are succeeding in getting the Saudis to implement changes in regards to Piracy. It wouldn’t seem right for them to then turn round and fail them after all this time. If they did then the PL have just been stringing them along.

Would the WTO report have forced the Saudis to address the piracy issues or could they just have ignored it if they so wished? If the latter then the Premier League should be pleased that the Saudis wanted to buy us as it has given them leverage in getting the Saudis to address the issue.

Qatar have long been rumoured to be interested in buying Leeds but were waiting to see how this season planned out. If I remember correctly, I read a while back that the PSG lot know the Leeds owner and have been to at least one game there.

If it is the Paul Smith I am thinking of - he used to work for the Mirror and appear occasionally on Sunday Supplement. I have no idea how reliable he is as a journalist.

Scarcely watches us now. I think he is rattled. He usually only only does this sort of thing when there is a PR battle to be won. Trouble is the pro Ashley and anti Rafa soundbites will be what is picked up by the broader media and repeated ad nauseum so they become accepted as fact.

It was a bad thing to compare him to Carrick seeing as Man Utd are trying to recreate the past. Could this be another Pardew/Carroll situation. New manager with guarantees that a young player won't be sold only for him to go on the final data of the transfer window. Mad to think that he has played less for us than Blackpool and Kilmarnock.

Bruce is one of those managers that like to blame everyone else but themselves when they get beat. Likes to criticise the referee and the fans. Got no time for managers who don't accept culpability for their shortcomings.

I think one of the presenters on Sky said it - might have been Laura Woods.

l’ve not renewed my ticket either - 350+ loyalty points gone. Have been really torn up about it and hoping against hope that something might change but it is not going to.

Decent discussion about the current situation on this week’s BT Sport Football Writers Podcast.

I can see a return of the Pardew days where we get a thrashing off the bog teams. Rafa’s organisation, tactics and coaching instilled a confidence into the defence which I imagine will soon be eradicated under Bruce. For all those pundits that say once he strings a few results together, he will get the fans onside, I am not sure when that will happen. Can’t see us picking up many points early on. I think Ashley will like him though. Read somewhere that he wanted to meet Rafa in the pub to discuss the contract but Rafa refused and they ended up meeting in London. Can imagine that Bruce would be only too happy to agree .

If they want a coach to develop players so they can sell them for a profit, not sure why they would think Bruce is a good fit. I don’t think he has ever been seen as a coach.

The Chronicle have mentioned that they think the club are still very keen on Joelinton (Rafa wasn’t) but he will cost £40m+. Despite other clubs desperately seeking strikers, I have never heard any other club linked with him.

It would be interesting to know if Schar and Lejeune were scout choices or Rafa Benitez just wanted them via La Liga contacts. Both great buys that have more than doubled their value under Rafa Benitez. Pretty sure they were both down to Rafa. Both had release clauses which Rafa knew about because of his contacts. With regards to Lejeune, it has been reported whilst we spent weeks trying to haggle over his release clause, there were offers from other clubs willing to pay the fee, but he turned them all down because he specifically wanted to play for Rafa.

Even if we buy players, there is no guarantee they are going to make an immediate impact especially if they are foreign. They might need a season to adjust.