LoveItIfWeBeatU

Trouble is, if he finds a buyer who says they'll be any better than him? We thought we couldn't do any worse than Shepherd. Knowing Newcastle's luck we'll get a Ali Al Faraj (Portsmouth), Glazers (Man U) or Hicks (Liverpool) rather than a Randy Learner (Aston Villa).

That was sort of my main reason for this thread. We've got people singing "Get out of my club" but they don't offer a realistic alternative owner. Mike Ashley has screwed up a lot but in a strange way some of the stuff that has happened is probably good for our long term future.

Have a read of The Telegraph article I posted here today: - http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,67082.0.html It says "Uefa's proposals have been backed by the influential European Club Association, but there remain misgivings in the English top flight." If the only misgivings are from the Premiership I'd imagine it could still get pushed through. Richard Scudamore's protests get weaker when clubs like Portsmouth and West Ham are in 'his' league. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Club_Association

There is no quote from a named person at NUFC saying they thought he looked decent in training. That was an unnamed quote in the papers. Hughton basically said we were letting him train with us as a favour but we aren't signing him. Let's see how he does at Leicester.

I don't mind when commentators on TV just name the player who has the ball. I hate the way they think they have to talk non stop and fill the gaps with inane crap they've read in the papers and old clichés. Unfortunately they're all guilty of that. I wish there was an option on the TV coverage to have no commentator but still have the crowd noise. I have no desire to listen to them kiss the arse of ROOOOONEY, Stevie G and the like. I always find that NUFC are cast in the role of the 'baddie' by commentators, no matter who we are playing. It is a fact that if you went to a match and the guy next to you said the stuff commentators come out with for all the match you'd want to kill them.

I agree that lots of potential buyers isn't necessarily a good thing. We think Mike Ashley's bad but look at Ali Al Faraj who owns Portsmouth. A leveraged buy out surely has to be less likely in the current climate (although probably not impossible). When Man U and Liverpool were bought 'cheap' money and lenders were easy to find. Banks aren't as forthcoming any more. Football clubs aren't a good bet for getting your money back. As for a rich buyer, it's a possibility but the new rules UEFA are trying to bring in are aimed at stopping people buying success to a certain extent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mattslater/2010/01/taxing_times_for_footballs_fri.html

With the state of world and football finances as they are, who do you realistically imagine will buy Newcastle United off Mike Ashley? "Get out of our club" is all well and good but who or what is the realistic alternative? David Sullivan and David Gold who own a controlling 50% stake of West Ham have said buying the club didn't make sense from a business perspective. They bought it for sentimental reasons. They are looking for partner investors to buy the other 50%. West Ham have £110m debts. There are also the 'shadowy' people who own the likes of Portsmouth and Notts County. Portsmouth currently look doomed. How can someone with no money buy a club? A Man U / Liverpool type owner bankrolled on massive debt would be a disaster. As I understand it, Barry Moat was trying to buy Newcastle with US backing. He certainly didn't have a personal fortune anywhere near enough to buy the club. The US money would probably have been borrowed money which in turn will have been dumped as debt on the club. A Roman Abramovich (Chelsea) / Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Man City) type owner seems extremely unlikely. Personally I can't see any one buying the club off Ashley unless he sold it at a huge knock down price (which he won't do). The best we can probably hope for is a fan / local business buy in (rather than total buy out). Given some of the alternatives, maybe it's a case of 'better the devil you know' with Mike Ashley at the moment. Football Finances: - http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,67082.0.html

Is it making your head hurt? Nope, just wondered what had prompted it. "How much do you think he will spend on us this time round?" This time round as opposed to when?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/8472745.stm

Exactly. He'll still get to live in Newcastle but will play in the Premiership.

Bit confused by this thread. What prompted it? How do you know he's worth £800m now? Anyway, he used to be worth something like £1.2bn.

Can't believe people don't think we need another defender. We've only really got the relatively untested Kadar as cover for Enrique, Colo and Steven Taylor.

QPR supporter as a reaction to all the shit going on at his club. Love the broader observations about the game though. All those hates from a QPR fan and he doesn't list QPR owners Flavio Briatore, Lakshmi Mittal or Bernie Ecclestone. QPR are like a child who's Billionaire parents never gives them a penny.

It was me! It could be a case of last club standing the way football finances are going. Singing "Get out of our club" is all well and good but who is the realistic alternative? I'd rather Ashley was stuck with us having to protect his asset than have a load of borrowed money used to buy the club and be debt ridden. I can't see a Man City or Chelsea type takeover. The alternative to that seems to be shady people with no money (like Portsmouth have) or Hedge Funds. A local business / fan buy in (rather than total buy out) seems about the only option.

Would Forster be first choice at Tottenham or Arsenal? I highly doubt it. No point him leaving us to sit on the bench (if he's lucky) somewhere else. He's under contract with us to June 2014 according to http://www.nufc.com/2009-10html/squad.html If that's the case I don't see the harm in loaning him out again next season.

Games under Allardyce made everyone hate watching Newcastle. "We're shit and we're sick of it!" was the chant. Would we have been relegated? Who knows? Nobody knows if we would have been or not for sure. We never got to find out. At least under Keegan people got to enjoy watching football again.

A lot of stuff's been on sale on the web store for a while. On sale isn't quite the same as clearance. I'd imagine they'll be selling off everything with Adidas on it at rock bottom prices. I guess it will be in Puma's contract not to have rival (Adidas) stock on sale alongside theirs.

So when does the mass clearance of all Adidas branded stock start?

Same here. Man U not getting to the final would be a further push toward the edge of financial oblivion for them. Missing out on the final of the League Cup will hardly be the end of the world for them. No it won't but every little helps. They can only sustain their current repayments if they remain a successful, top 4 Premiership side that wins things. They only made a profit last year because they sold Ronaldo.

Same here. Man U not getting to the final would be a further push toward the edge of financial oblivion for them.

no crowd invasion is allowed Big fine for Villa then?

Is that crowd invasion allowed?

Why? Did you want us to get relegated 12 months earlier instead?