bealios

It’s only Chelsea and Sunderland who need to draw. We’d need Chelsea to also draw or lose to spurs tomorrow. Then Brentford to lose to Liverpool. oh, and a 5 goal swing against Brentford GD. Apart from that, nailed on.

Not sure why everyone is panicking, Sunderland will draw with Chelsea, Brentford will lose to Liverpool, and we’ll finish 8th.

I think the cups are fine. If you think back to a few years ago where Man U I think were allowed to withdraw from an earlier round as they wanted to play in some tournament over Christmas - that was potentially a death knell for the FA Cup in terms of it being devalued. Somewhat counter-intuitively, I think the emergence of the Big 6 cartel has had the unexpected impact of bringing more value to the cup competitions - now if you're in that cartel and have a trophy-less season, its a big deal which gets spoken about in the media - hence why you see more big teams taking them seriously. I would much rather preserve the value of the cups, than make them easier to win. I like the fact that to win our only cup in my lifetime we had to beat strong Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool sides. Also, if you took them out of the cups, it gives them an even greater advantage in the league. If I had a choice, I would make the cups more valuable: 1. FA Cup - guaranteed CL place. If the winner has already qualified for CL, it goes to the highest ranking team in the Cup who hasn't already qualified for CL via the league. If that means that two losing semi-finalist have equal claims, let them have a play-off on the day before the FA Cup final as a warm up for the main event at a neutral stadium - would make FA Cup final weekend a proper event. 2. League Cup - guaranteed Europa League place. Same process as above with a play off if there are multiple candidates. You could in theory have two play-offs with the above system. What a weekend of football that would be. 3. Move the FA Cup back to the final weekend of the season (you would need to do that for the play-off idea to work anyway as you would need to know final league positions). There would be a bit of admin involved with the scheduling of play-offs last minute, but it isn't impossible. Might also mean you dilute the cartel a bit, as CL/EL spaces might end up being spread a bit more widely. From NUFC point of view, we would have probably had a couple of extra EL campaigns but wouldn't have qualified for CL last year. But if you do really want to fix the cups and make them more interesting, I don;t think we can say "unless it harms NUFC". That's cartel behaviour...!

My hatred still rests with Liverpool (and cartel approach in general), less than Isak. He was tapped up. The media didn't help - they hype was incredible. In all honesty I never thought at one point here we was one of the best strikers in the world, I just thought he was very very good in a system which was set up for him. But way below the likes of a Salah, Haaland, Suarez, Shearer, Henry etc. who could literally drag a team to victory even if everyone else underperforming. But there is a value to LIverpool weaking a rival which is worth something, particularly since that rival has at least once preventing them reaching the Champions League in the last few years. It worked - we probably won't be competing for Top 4 this year, and the main reason for that is the change in system after Isak, getting new strikers up to speed, and of course having no striker for the first month. If we finish below CL, and Liverpool finish 4th, it's already paid for a chunk of that fee already. It's what other cartel clubs do - if you buy from the likes of us, Villa, Bournemouth, Forest (and going back Leicester) - in some ways it doesn't matter as much if they are not performing as well, what you have done is reduce the risk of one of the challenger group taking your Top 4 slot. Isak is nothing more than a 26 year old footballer, who had 1 big contract left in him, and he isn't a lifelong Newcastle fan. When I was 26, I worked for a business, who I really liked and loved my time there, but I wasn't a lifelong fan of. If someone had offered me nearly three times the money for essentially doing the same job, I would have snapped their hands off. I'd like to think I would have been slightly less of a cunt about it, but then again my career probably didn't only have 5 years left at the top level at the time, and I definitely didn't have an agent who had pretty much run my life for 10 years telling me that this is what I should do.

Really conflicted on him being seriously injured to be honest. I have found the best way to extend my football watching weekend is to watch Liverpool and actively support the other team, moreso if Isak is playing and he is pants. It's great. But it's probably based upon a hatred of Liverpool, Slot, his silly grinning face when asked about Isak, Romana, the whole football media circus around it. Isak turning out to be a self-interested cunt who is only in it for the money is less than that - because most of them are if we're honest. I still watch the Cup Final highlights at least one a week, and it makes life easier if Isak is not the complete pantomime villain and in my head was just weak, had his head turned by Liverpool and his agent, and moved to a club he was not as suited to on poor advice. Makes for an easier watch. Would much prefer Isak scoring 15 this year and Liverpool finishing below us, than Isak scoring 2 and being out for the season and Liverpool finishing above us. Ekitike being good is much more of a pain in the arse.

Literally only response to that game: Your teammates bossed the fuck out of Liverpool, you’re not going anywhere, so get your boots on, you’re on the bench for Leeds.

Still so pissed off about this. It's so amateur from his camp, and really annoyed that Sky not picking it up, Can anyone ask bloody Simon Jordan to call him out on the "silence" point - it's so fucking annoying - literally his agent has been driving the entire narrative. NUFC have said nothing other than Eddie being placed into awkward situations he should be involved in

That's really pissed me off. The entire narrative has been driven by leaked stories from Liverpool/Isak side - Newcastle have said very little. "The silence has allowed others to push their own version of events". Who are you referring to here? The entire press narrative driven by Isak. Which others have capitalised on the "silence" (fuck off by the way) from Isak camp to push a narrative? Which paid journalists are pushing a version of events here which counters your entirely contrived recent narrative? Nob head. Vent over. Anyway, that's clearly a PR statement - not something he has typed into his phone whilst sitting bored in his Italian mates house, and assuming it is - he needs to sack whichever PR agency he has engaged because it is essentially devoid of facts and common sense. It's amateur. I could have done a better job myself and he wouldn't have to pay some PR agency or agent 10/15%. Nob head (again). Also, fuck wit.

That's my point to be fair - at some point this (admittedly slight) blacklash might harm his career income. Being a ruthless snake being boo-ed around every premier league ground won't help brand Isak. He's an easy target for every single away team chant. I think there is at least a bugrudged acceptance that Harry Kane/ even Suarez were world class players - Isak's career will be defined by being the ultimate turncoat, the pantomime villain.. Funny in some ways if I wasn't actual fan.

The bit that most fans are missing is that "Isak" is a now a brand. It has nothing to do with whether he is a snake or not - we're talking about someone who is potentially one of the Top 3 strikers on the planet. We live in a world where a stupid haircut and a big chain makes you famous/loaded - if you're actually close to being the best on the planet at what you do, the dynamic changes. If you're the best in the world at what you do, then with a bit or marketing advice in this world you could quite easily be at Beckham levels of wealth. Multi-millions (probably hundreds of millions). Personally, I think someone has put that in his ear. The whole discussion around wages and waiving loyalty bonus etc. is meaningless - in 2025 if you are a "brand" you will earn way more than what your admittedly extortiante football wages will pay you. Bizarrely, I think that the above might be a reason that he may end up playing for us again - to go nuclear and be seen in the Sol Campbell/Ashley Cole permanent traitor camp doesn't do much for brand Isak. Brands diminish rapidly, and I hope our management team are conscious of that - we do literally hold the cards here, Isak taking a year off to sulk and do the bare minimum does him more harm than us. How many endorsements and non-NUFC stuff can he get involved with when he is minimum effort in from the bench. It would be a ballsy move from NUFC management if we did that, but I'd be fully behind it.

I agree it hurts for it to be Liverpool (believe me, I am still scarred by Beardsley leaving to Liverpool back in the 80's) - but given the choice of another year with Isak with a media circus around this next destination and general displeasure around our main striker if he stays, compared with Sesko, Wissa, and a bit of pride around taking Sesko (with some Man U interest we navigated) I would take the latter. Very much a personal thing, but I also don't think Isak is as good as the hype - world class when on form and playing Arsenal, but he is nowhere near Haaland, Messi(!), Henry in his day etc. - he is world class depending on your definition of that, but world class doesn't automatically mean £150m - there are a lot of world class players who don't go for £150m (i.e. most of them). I don't start watching a Newcastle game thinking if Isak is on form, we win. I do go into those games thinking if Tonali/Bruno/Big Joe click, we will win.

The price is probably (hopefully) academic. If we were previously going to let Isak go for £130m - £140m, and we have to over-pay on Sesko by £10m or so - then the Isak price is now £140m - £150m or so (including add ons). It really doesn't matter what the actual price is - its the difference between the Sesko price and the Isak price which is important. Anything extra to secure the additional Sesko price should be a pure pass-through to Isak buyer. IF scousers want Isak so much, they have to meet the premium we have to pay to any other club who know this shit is going on in the background. Personally I think Sesko and Wissa going into the new season is stronger than keeping Isak. Isak was going anyway next year, even without this summer's shenanigans we would have had to face that media stuff regardless. Getting rid now is the right answer. Don't get me wrong, I am gutted about the manner of all of this - I'd have loved Isak to be remembered as scoring the winner in our first trophy in ages, and cheered if he ever came back. But as it stands, and the manner in which it is has happened, he's a mercenary/snake, and it will leave a sour memory. All it took for him to avoid that is to make his intentions clear at the end of the season - I'd still be on board with at least not boo-ing his existence if he did that. As it stands he has taken away some of the pure joy I get every week with my re-watch of the cup final highlights (which I have eventually moved from doing daily to weekly). It will now be tempered by knowing what happens next. Fuck him.

I'm not sure Man U have the cash for this without offloading someone expensive. PSR headroom is different to actual cash, and I think the delay on Mbeumo was due to lack of cash flow. To have cash you need owners to plough money in - whereas I don't think Manure's owners do that - it all gets generated from operations/sales - and they don't have enough to cover that expenditure at the moment. Even staying within the PSR limit of £35m a year losses assumes someone is pumping £35m worth of cash in every year to cover those losses. If the owners are just using Manure as a cash cow as it seems they are, they're not putting in anything - they're just letting it fund itself from its (admittedly massive) revenues. However if those revenues are tied up paying the likes of Rashford, Antony, Caisimero etc. then they might not be able to physically pay RBL the cost of a Sesko. Conversely NUFC are restricted by PSR headroom - but in theory we have as much cash as we need. If anything, we should be able to provide an advantage on this particular item as paying everything up front if you have the cash makes no material difference for PSR purposes than paying in instalments. That does of course assume that PIF are still prioritising "the NUFC Project" - which I was all in on about 3 months ago but recent developments and the stadium delay have me in the NO panicking camp.

Harry Kane at Spurs being the most recent I can think of. Didn’t really harm his value.

This is actually good for us I think, because ultimately I think the PL rules will end up aligning with UEFA, and then if that just becomes a fine because they want more cash, then so be it. What we don't need is expulsion from Champions League being a risk. At some stage it will get so heated that some team take the piss (Chelsea selling stuff to themselves, Man U getting COVID allowances) will just increase legal risk for the premier league, so the safe thing to do is just align with UEFA. Obviously a lot of the rule changes came in to stop us stealing Champions League sweeties from the established big 6 - now that we have proven we can do that anyway without breaching the rules, I guess there might be less incentives on the Premier League to take legal risk to maintain the status quo, when that status quo has to a degree gone. The co-efficient system in the Champions League (and to a lesser degree the Club World Cup farce) allows the established teams to continue to get favourable income distribution, so the optimist in me thinks that the entire PSR Premier League rules will start to dilute. Just let UEFA/FIFA take the risk on that.

I think we probably do undervalue some of our own players. I have seen plenty of comments in the past saying Murphy is championship level, or would do well for a newly promoted side. But if he were actually available now - I think he's a £30m player. I know it sounds mad, but everything is so data driven these days that ultimately he is involved in so many goals for a Top 5 team. And someone above pointed out that Perez went for £30m and that wasn't exactly a massive blow. If we found out tomorrow that we had sold Murphy for £25m, I wonder how many people would think that was a good deal.

Yeah, I kind of knew that - was trying to take solace in losing out on signings! I think Ron Noades stuck out a statement saying Solako turned it down as it was too far north - but has subsequently all been denied!

I take comfort in the fact that John Salako was our first choice signing in the 1995 for a wide player, didn't get him, we ended up with our fall-back option - David Ginola.

I guess if it stay like this we’re pretty much guaranteed Europa League rather than Europa Conference? Barring two heavy defeats by Arsenal and Everton(

Just watched the match again after getting back from Wembley - he was the one whispering to Bruno on the way up the stair to get Jamal up, and he did it again just before the lift. Absolute class bloke.

Wish we’d get a second so I can actually enjoy this. PTSD after Liverpool last year.

Ha, didn’t realise this until later in draw. honestly didn’t think it would be this blatant. Good draw obviously, but fuck me - let’s try and destroy as much as possible magic of a cup in favour of making big clubs a bit bigger. Clearly driven by “top 6” threatening to withdraw if they don’t get what they want.

Man U, City, Arsenal and City out first at home. They’re not even hiding it. Don’t stay up late lads, go to bed - we’ve got this.

Meh. Defence looked flaky - but with 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice CB out, can’t be too harsh. Thought Tino and Kelly were poor, better with Hall and Tripps - although appreciate Hall was poor last week. Despite the goal, thought Gordon was average - alright, but he could do with a rest. Tonali for Longstaff will make a huge difference. Didn’t think Murphy was that bad to be honest - he’s rarely going to be the best player on the pitch; but equally far from the worst. Bruno/Isak still looked class in my eyes, and Joey Linton just had one to forget. Also encouraging that our bench options with Willock and Barnes looked good. Think we’re looking like a decent top 6 side after two games - that’s the difference between top 6 and top 4 - top 4 look good most of the time - top 6 can look pretty poor at times - see Chelsea last year:

If this all a bit of a PSR ruse to create a pure profit on Minteh, then I wonder if fans view of this transfer (Minteh out and DCL in) would change if it meant that it was the only way of keeping both Bruno and Isak? In pure footballing terms I don’t think it makes sense, but if we were expecting a £100m windfall from Isak or Bruno then I doubt we would do it/need to do it. Maybe that’s what Eales was getting at - unless the rules change we’re going to need to keep finding young promising players and letting some of them go at a profit to keep more established stars at the club. As such, if this transfer means that Bruno and Isak start the season as Newcastle players, I’m ok with this - and as much as I love him, I think next years 28 year old DCL might be a slight upgrade on next years 33 year old Callum Wilson.