McCormick

Nah I think he's a lot better than what he's shown so far. A "modern" full-back is probably the most complex position on the field to get a grips of; a lot is expected positionally in attack and defence but he's been hung out to dry by our archaic /clueless coaching methods and drills.

I like him tbh, bit more bite and mobility in midfield is what we're sorely lacking. Like I've said before, he'd be our best midfielder in terms of his overall game.

Choudhury is probably better than everything we have in the middle right now tbh. Isn't saying much considering we have, collectively, the worst cm options in the premier league.

If anyone wants to lose their shit, have a listen to Jamie Redknapp on Bruce and our fans' expectations.

Really? I call BS on that one as senior PIF directors certainly wouldn’t be working yesterday or today’s as it’s the Saudis weekend Pretty sure Mccormick works over there...or something along those lines. It's amusing how any non-positive 'ITK' stuff is immediately written off as bullshit but a lawyer making bread is spun into a positive edit: just for clarity I agree most things point to them still being interested and things heading in a positive direction. Just think people are pretty sharp to dismiss anything that doesn't sound good. If he works over there, he should know above all else that meetings are not held on Friday’s or Saturday’s especially with such a prominent company like PIF, so saying that he had a meeting today is going to raise questions and doubts As a director myself, we tend to work 7 days a week (my weekends are Thursday and Friday, personally). Like I said, it's fair enough to assume they wouldn't be telling me anything confidential and would tow the party line. I didn't push them too hard for answers; just passing on what I was told, whether it's accurate or not, well, I wouldn't know.

Could be , don't claim to be ITK just passing on info as it might be interesting to some. Source is legitimately as high up the ladder as you can get at PIF but yeah

Not sure how involved they are with this and how much they would actually know but, like I said, this comes from very senior personnel at PIF.

Had a meeting today with very senior PIF directors and had a brief chat about this. Nothing positive unfortunately; according to them they've definitely pulled out and they (the people I was talking to) do not believe they will be back in- at least any time soon. They were understably very scathing about the premier league with regards to their handling of this. Anyway just passing this on.

Wtf are you on about

I can only imagine we've filled up our 25 man squad. Otherwise it's a stupid gamble to take, considering the "exciting" loan options possibly available to us. We're obviously short in a few areas but that's nothing new I guess...

Decent start has meant Micky longpockets doesn't feel the need to spend a penny more. Disappointing and predictable.

He really needed that win as I don't see us getting many points on the board from the next 5 fixtures.

As ever, no gameplan whatsoever to our play. No clear press or block at all. Pathetic so far.

These lot have 3 games in a week, so we have a decent-ish chance here.

Oh? Which one?

These lot have 4 games in a week, so we have a decent-ish chance here.

Wouldn't it be fair to say that this is not a frivolous purchase but a key part of MBS Vision2030 plan? Are they cutting back on this project too? This keeps getting mentioned but I don't see how it has anything to do with the potential acquisition of NUFC. The main concerns with regards to Vision 2030 are: to diversify the economy away from oil (if this is related to that, there are far better options ROI-wise than buying a football club, especially in the current climate), improve the health sector, improve education, promote tourism (again can't imagine this would be enriched through buying nufc), facilitate more recreation activities and improving infrastructure. Hard to argue that buying the club ties into any of those goals in my humble opinion. You would surely level the same argument at the original purchase which they clearly were interested in, though? Personally, I think Staveley and co. enticed PIF into the deal on the promise of large future appreciations in stock valuations. Man City -bought for around 200m and now worth around 3 billion in just over 10 years- along with a few others whose values would no doubt have appreciated massively in the same amount of time, would have represented an attractive proposition to PIF. This perhaps could have tied in with their 2030 vision of diversifying their investments. The issue is now (and this is corroborated by their statement) that in such uncertain times for the game, along with the pandemic that absolutely devastated an already hurting KSA economy, the money guys don’t see the same value in this deal. Being dragged through the mud with an intensive 17-week vetting process where some foreign sporting body is demanding that the de facto ruler of the country is to be cross-examined, only makes the acquisition even less appealing. Personally I think you (as well as I) have no idea why PIF want to buy NUFC.......it could be as simple as saying they want to piss on Qatar chips and not let PSG have a free rein. Or it could be because they love Gregg's steak bakes when partying on a Friday night. Completely agree. Just speculating based off the stuff I do know .

Possibly, can't tell you for sure but it wouldn't go down well with the locals considering the austerity measures they've just imposed.

Wouldn't it be fair to say that this is not a frivolous purchase but a key part of MBS Vision2030 plan? Are they cutting back on this project too? This keeps getting mentioned but I don't see how it has anything to do with the potential acquisition of NUFC. The main concerns with regards to Vision 2030 are: to diversify the economy away from oil (if this is related to that, there are far better options ROI-wise than buying a football club, especially in the current climate), improve the health sector, improve education, promote tourism (again can't imagine this would be enriched through buying nufc), facilitate more recreation activities and improving infrastructure. Hard to argue that buying the club ties into any of those goals in my humble opinion. You would surely level the same argument at the original purchase which they clearly were interested in, though? Personally, I think Staveley and co. enticed PIF into the deal on the promise of large future appreciations in stock valuations. Man City -bought for around 200m and now worth around 3 billion in just over 10 years- along with a few others whose values would no doubt have appreciated massively in the same amount of time, would have represented an attractive proposition to PIF. This perhaps could have tied in with their 2030 vision of diversifying their investments. The issue is now (and this is corroborated by their statement) that in such uncertain times for the game, along with the pandemic that absolutely devastated an already hurting KSA economy, the money guys don’t see the same value in this deal. Being dragged through the mud with an intensive 17-week vetting process where some foreign sporting body is demanding that the de facto ruler of the country is to be cross-examined, only makes the acquisition even less appealing.

Wouldn't it be fair to say that this is not a frivolous purchase but a key part of MBS Vision2030 plan? Are they cutting back on this project too? This keeps getting mentioned but I don't see how it has anything to do with the potential acquisition of NUFC. The main concerns with regards to Vision 2030 are: to diversify the economy away from oil (if this is related to that, there are far better options ROI-wise than buying a football club, especially in the current climate), improve the health sector, improve education, promote tourism (again can't imagine this would be enriched through buying nufc), facilitate more recreation activities and improving infrastructure. Hard to argue that buying the club ties into any of those goals in my humble opinion.

Lotttt of belt-tightening measures going on in KSA at the moment so I still don't think it's a given that they'll be back in one way or another. Still, it'd be nice to see the PL dragged through the shit for their handling of this whole affair.

I doubt PIF have any interest in being back in tbh. This is probably just a PR exercise and/or Ashley being petty (perhaps justifiably in this instance) and fishing for compensation for what's gone down.

I feel like Wilson gets mischaracterized as a target man of sorts when his play style is much closer to Gayle's than it is to, say, Carroll's. Not as flimsy as Gayle, and decent in the air, so yeah solid all-rounder.

Cool.