Wandy

That statement reads like a warning to me. Get this over the line or the whole shit show will end up in the public domain. Notice how government intervention and the recent handling of the ESL is prominently mentioned. Reads to me like Ashley saying he has the ear of the government.

Yep, he is showing his true colours now. I will admit, his tweets have left me feeling demoralised in the past but now I just ignore them, safe in the knowledge that he is nothing more than a WUM. He's the professional equivalent of Burnsie.

Edwards is such a wanker. He's actually upset that NUFC fans are staying level headed and not complaining about a lack of spending money on new players. Why? Because it's giving him nothing to write about, that's why.

He knows as much as that Burnsie character. Notice he has gone from "it's dead and not happening" to "it wont happen before transfer window closes". He's a completely discredited bullshitter.

And that is why he should be fondly remembered. Nowhere near legendary status though. I will remember him for standing up to Ashley's bullshit, recognising the club's huge potential and openly talking about it in public. I will also remember going into every game being fully confident that no team would ever give us a hiding, such was the defensive strength he'd instilled in the side. It's just a shame he never got to build on that.

I'm not conflicted at all. I hope he fails spectacularly. Nothing against him but I cannot stand Everton fans and it will be galling to see them succeed, bearing in mind how much contempt they have for us. Benitez is simply another part of NUFC history now and should be fondly remembered but absolutely not revered. An excellent manager for us but nowhere near being a legend. Legendary status is reserved for a very select few. Kevin Keegan, Joe Harvey, Jackie Milburn are NUFC legends. Rafa Benitez isn't.

Rafa went to China, probably in the full knowledge in the back of his mind that it wouldn't work out and he wouldn't be there for long, but would make a fortune in the process. There was also no obvious job available in the UK that would match his ambitions at that time so it was a no brainer. The Everton job is on another level altogether. A consistently big English club that has ambition, money to spend, a new super-stadium on the horizon and in his home city. As long as he gets off to a decent start his LFC connections will be quickly forgotten. Football fans are massively fickle and Benitez knows this.

There's also the very real chance that Benitez would still have taken the Everton job over the Saudi-owned NUFC job. Let's not forget that even if the takeover goes through it's not going to be another Man City situation so the Everton job would still be every bit as attractive to him. They are currently are a bigger club, have money to spend, have a better squad and are in his home city. There's every chance he would have still rejected us if both positions had been available at the same time. The idea that he "loved" NUFC is sentimental tosh, he simply recognised the potential of the club. But that potential is also there at Everton, unfortunately.

It is. 100%.

Someone has posted this screenshot on 606...seems to show "Contest Jurisdiction Result"...dated today. Could be photoshop bollox but.... Edit : Ignore...aye, it's bollox.

Exactly. It's not difficult to see why Benitez is sticking his fingers in his ears to all of the outrage.

The worst part about this for us NUFC fans is that, despite all of this abuse, Benitez will be great for EFC. And when he has them properly challenging for a top four place, and maybe wins them a trophy, all of this harassment will be conveniently forgotten about...."never happened" etc.

I can't deny that I'm feeling dangerously hopeful about this right now. Could be misplaced, but might as well indulge in positivity for what must surely be the final straight. If it collapses for good this time I really don't think it could sting as much as it did last July.

Again I agree. I never had a problem with Benitez's pragmatic approach and would be happy to see us be like that again. Not sure if the entire fanbase would though. Depends on what the new owners' approach to transfers and short-term targets are.

I agree. But if he does end up back here I don't think he will be held on a pedestal like he was the first time around.

The more I think about it the less I think it's a good idea for Benitez to come back tbh. It's never the same the second time around and if we have strong financial backing I think a lot of our support would get antsy about the conservative football. I think Rafa got a lot of leeway from the support because of Ashley's penny pinching, together with the fact that he was a big name who was prepared to come to the club, despite the owner.

The reason the brothers are involved is to develop the city’s infrastructure and real estate around the city. Get ready for a mega stadium taking its inspiration from NEOM, it will be the most sustainable and futuristic arena ever built, the guy I heard speak about it said it will make the Spurs stadium look 100 years old. Aye, he's a WUM alright. Munson is a total barmpot & not the full shilling, but is undoubtedly good entertainment value. It doesn't bear think about what would happen on this thread if he camped in here though.

Yes, he's confirmed this. But FFS it was still infuriating that he did that. Back to trusting nobody then.

Yeah, very true, he's not to be taken seriously. The Sheik guy seems fairly level headed though.

Whitley is definitely not Roy. Whitley is steadfastly resolute in his positivity whereas Roy tends to flip flop a lot. That's the polite way of putting it. Another way of putting it would be "bi-polar". Stay tuned to that forum because if this latest rumour turns out to be yet more bollocks you will see what I mean.

Yeah that rings a bell.

I cant remember which one it was that Mimms was getting his info from but it definitely wasnt 606. I know that as I remember making a mental note of it being a different forum to the main two that I read.

Aye, completely fair. I apologise in advance for building up hopes by linking to that board if it all turns out to be bullshit. Like I say though, I have been following that board for 12 months and the poster making the claim never comes across as a WUM.

No that was a completely different forum.

Aye he is batshit crazy, but very entertaining.