Wandy

That reads like he doesnt have a lot of confidence in it going through if it does go to arbitration.

I am on the fence with regards to what I want to happen in this one. If we lose I think Bruce will finally be bulleted but a win puts us closer to safety and should raise morale for the following winnable games.

You are a mad man there isn’t a chance Staveley & Ruebens will buy the club without PIF if they wanted to they’d have done so by now You’re absolutely wrong Staveley attempted to buy the club in the May prior and thought she could. This was an attempt to keep Benitez before he left, the Saudi’s only came on board in the November. She will own the club regardless. The price will be at a reduced level and I’ll gladly accept you’re apology in a couple of months when i’m right. She had backers then too wasn’t just her and ruebens. f*** all apology due Did she who were they ? That’s guesswork on you’re part I’m afraid. We’ll both know who’ll be right in a few months and that will be enough for me ? Mate, I like you as a poster, and I can tell by your posts that you are from the same era as me and have had the same NUFC experiences. Your positivity has been refreshing but you are starting to sound a bit in denial now. If this club is relegated in May there will be no takeover. It also sounds like you are changing your previous stance of "if there is no takeover this season then time to walk away from NUFC". The next carrot to be dangled when we are relegated will be "the PL have cleared the way for a Saudi takeover, now all that has to happen is promotion". And it sounds like you (and many others) will fall for it. For me, I dont care what bullshit comes out. If we are relegated in May and Ashley still owns NUFC I am done, and I hope they stay down until he is gone. Even if that takes 20 years.

Agree with this. Compensation for Ashley will be the end result of this farce. He will use the money to buy players to try to get us promoted from the Championship once again and then load that debt onto the club once more.

I have been hating all of the "hope we lose" posts of late but I now think it will be beneficial to lose the Wolves game. And obviously we will lose tomorrow. We can't afford to just drift along anymore under Bruce, picking up the odd point here and there. This needs to be brought to a head, not just to address relegation but also the takeover situation. If we lose to Wolves and Bruce still isnt peddled then we can forget about any takeover, accept relegation and then everyone can decide if they want to follow this football club anymore.

Castles got it quite accurate last summer, to be fair. He started off talking positively about the deal going through then as it dragged on he got ever more pessimistic. So who knows? The thing is, at the moment the Saudis are not in the picture for buying us as they were blocked last year. It's only if that block is lifted and the club remains in the PL would there be a chance of them being at the table again.

I thought people said in the other thread that Rafa had too much principles to come back and work for Ashley? The only way this happens is if the takeover has been sealed and is watertight.

Exile1968 giving it large over there again I see. Easily the most bitter cunt I've witnessed over there, the bloke needs help.

Going back to what I said earlier about great away days at grounds with cowshed roofs, this is one of my best memories of the 92/93 promotion season. A beautiful early Autumn day, drinking in the beer gardens of the local pubs and just totally taking over the town before walking up to the ground. I was in almost the exact same spot that this was filmed from, albeit a bit lower down the terrace. I didnt even see the ball hit the net when Sheedy scored, so packed was the terrace, and just celebrated because everyone else was. lol. Think we were about 8 games into that 11 game winning run at the start of the season.

My memory is definitely on the wane. How could I forget Venison & Bracewell. Doh. Have to say I loved Venison's passion, especially for an ex-Mackem.

In his eyes he has already done something.... getting the rescue manager (Jones)'s feet under the table if a sacking is required. Therefore, in his eyes, alleviating any required transitional phase of getting players used to the new manager's methods.

Just looking at the results again for that 91/92 season and I completely forgot that, prior to the crucial Portsmouth home win, we lost 5 games in a row. Just shows the miracle that KK performed in eventually reversing the negative momentum & rescuing us as we would have dropped without him, no doubt about it. Even more miraculous how we started the following season so blisteringly well with what was more or less the same team. Someone remind me who we bought that summer of 92 though to bolster the team? Obviously we bought Rob Lee early into the season (September?), but who came in the summer apart from John Beresford? Was Kevin Sheedy another?

The Leazes wing of the Milburn Stand was the place to be back then. Full of absolute nutcases but they narve made a hell of a racket! It was great in there back then. IIRC in KKs playing days the away fans would be in the end section of the Leazes, on the other side of the vehicle access bit? Sure i can remember a particularly lively atmosphere v Leeds one day. Think we won 2-1. I later got my 1st S/T in the Milburn centre paddock when Ossie was in charge, Around 1991. Not sure if there still was an East and centre paddock by then or it had been made into one big paddock? Back in 1991 the Milburn Paddocks were lettered from A to E. A and B were towards the Gallowgate End and D and E were the other side of the players tunnel towards the Leazes End. C Paddock straddled either side of the tunnel I think. Then the Leazes End was split into 3 Paddocks ( F, G and H, away fans were allocated H Paddock by 1991) and then the Gallowgate was 4 Paddocks (J which was "the corner", K which was "the Scoreboard", L and M, M was known as "the old man's corner"). It was a dump tbh but I just loved the place! The one and only thing that I really envied the Mackems for in the 80s was that they had a roof over their home end. If the Gallowgate had a roof in those days the noise coming from it would have been unreal. Thats one of the main reasons I loved going to all of the away games back then as the away end would usually have a cowshed-style roof and the noise we generated in all those games was off the scale.

I still remember being in the Gallowgate corner when David Kelly's shot hit the net in that Portsmouth game. Not sure if I have ever celebrated a NUFC goal as much as that. It came at a point in the game when I had all but accepted that we were heading for the 3rd divison.

Prior to Keegan arriving in the February, that 91/92 season was incredibly grim. A different kind of grim to that which we are currently experiencing, but exceptionally grim all the same.

If he was given enough financial incentive, then of course he would. He won't. Jones will take over. Agree with that. But the reason Benitez wouldn't end up here again under Ashley has more to do with Fat Mike rather than Rafa. It's Ashley who would not consider under any circumstances asking Rafa to come back.

He is motivated by money because everyone is motivated by money, no matter their status. And the package offered by the Chinese was a very significant part of why he took the job.

Benitez is more motivated by money than some on here would like to believe. He went to China for the coin, pure and simple, and good on him for doing so too. I don't think it is that outlandish to suggest he would work for Ashley again, in conjunction with the consortium.

If he was given enough financial incentive, then of course he would. Eh? Not a chance. Why wouldn't he? A three month contract worth a fortune with no ties. It's a no brainer.

If he was given enough financial incentive, then of course he would.

First thing that should happen if takeover happens is to make KK our ambassador the way Bobby Charlton is for MUFC.

Or he doesn't give a shit either way as he has already made crazy bank from it and his reputation won't be tarnished in the slightest since most of the football world do not want this takeover to go through anyway.

Quite simply, the buzz created by the club...or rather what KK did for the club....made Newcastle the best city in the country from 1992 to 1997. It was just a fantastic time to be in your early 20s...going to the matches, watching NUFC be the club that they should always be and then out on the town for class nights out on the lash (anothing thing about the city that has drastically gone downhill since those halcyon days). Kevin Keegan is THE reason why NUFC still gets big headlines. The buzz and media frenzy he created for the club still refuses to go away simply because of how potent it was back then.

Just finished reading that article on The Athletic. Superb read, but very depressing at the same time.

They'll play the morality card 100% They'll take the 1992er nonsense and turn it up to 11 "Much rather be a real fan and not a plastic durham mag supporting an evil regime marra" Yep. And if we were to win trophies not a shred of credit would be given. "They had loads to spend so it was always going to happen"...blah blah blah.