gjohnson

Thinking back..the last time any club was properly done over for dodgy activities was probably Serie A relegating Juventus. 15 years later what did it actually achieve?...they're still more or less the main challengers in Italy. And when a team (Atlanta) does well enough to get to Europe, the Serie A powers bleat on that they shouldn't be allowed in on 'historical' grounds.

There might be a day or two of social media complaining, but no real uproar. Football might as well be WWE nowadays....totally orchestrated for the big players to stay on top. They know it, the PL know it, the fans know it, the 'Little 14' know it. Sickening. It would take a clean sweep of all organisations who make any money out of the game to fix this properly...I do honestly think that the illicit drugs trade is now less corrupt than these lot

No point having a backup that's never available as a backup... Might as well have a flat spare tyre for when you get a puncture

No it's the standard 'we tried' manoeuvre our lot loves so much....offer a third of the players valuation, and walk away saying we wont pay over the odds. PIty they're stuck in the early 2000s where 6m was still a lot of money. 6m now might get a half competent Championship defender

Tragedy is that this is probably not far from the truth... Not sure if El Mohammedy was released, but would not be remotely surprised if he was part of next seasons squad

Depends on context.... In terms of current and recent success then yes, and have been for quite some time. Arsenal are a distant second, the Tottenham further back (will only change when/if either start winning trophies)

:-) and this is what is meant by semantics Whatever they're called, Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, and Liverpool have the influence to control whatever happens to all the other clubs in the league. You say tomato and all that....it's all down to interpretation, and who stands to benefit. It could be argued that the PL would benefit massively from a takeover that pushes NUFC up by increasing the interest and actual viewers, while it could also be argued that their PLs most influential members just don't want to lose their share to another competitor and exerted pressure to achieve this

Exactly, he might have a bit more information, but he's a journalist not a lawyer

Probably talking fractions of fractions of a penny in ink usage and.....my laserjet doesn't complaint if i print a design or a circle. The circle design probably uses more ink if anything. Might take a few seconds longer to do the original, but when it's farmed out to whichever sweatshop is making the emblems cost becomes irrelevant. Changing badges is nothing to do with cost and all about image and marketing

Long and the short of it is that no-one outside of the proceedings knows what was actually submitted. Jacobs might well be arguing semantics, but he won't know the details of who and what has been submitted. The PL didn't make a decision either way, and while their own rules read that they should have the interpretation of them is what the arbitration is ultimately about. Given that they were happy to approve Burnleys takeover which has basically screwed them into a Sunderland situation, this all appears to be a delaying tactic to keep the 'Rich 6' happy (refuse to say top6 anymore since its clearly not the case).

When did printers start objecting that things were easy or difficult to print? City and Chelsea changed their as they were obscenely dated and didn't fit with the image of 'successful' clubs

Dave Whelan says hi

Still at a loss as to how our reported budget is so low. Usual Ashley antics? If it's really only 12-17m then we're pretty much going to be outspent by everyone including the promoted teams. Loss of revenue due to covid didn't just affect us, but would happily bet thats the excuse when we're scraping around for free transfers on deadline day

Got to wonder if Poch is really all that now....he's basically just lost in a one team league.

Since when does breaking the rules result in an actual punishment (cough ESL)

How can they not retain Max Power??

Ferguson had some really good coaches which did most of the leg work, but none of them turned out to be consistently great managers.

Going by Ashley/Charnley form, his contract will expire and he'll just not hear from them again....will spend the whole summer waiting by the phone till Sky announces that Alan Curbishley has accepted the Newcastle role

Even the Allardyce sacking could be dismissed, as it was when Ashley still had some enthusiasm and ambition for the club. It seems to get sacked by him it has to immediately and directly cost money, like Kinnear did. Sticking with bad managers is a gamble that he seems like...as it's paid off more often than not for him.

I seriously doubt McClaren would have been sacked if Rafa hadn't come to them. I can only recall two other sackings by Ashley....Allardyce so Keegan could come in, and Kinnear as DoF, when he only got 19m for Cabaye where Ashley was looking for 6-11 more.

It really is...59 points normally represents a challenge for the top 4

To be fair, the majority of them have shot this straight down. On the other hand it was suggested in the first place

Unfortunately that would be a managerial improvement....albeit a round about way of him getting Casa St James II

No chance....he might resign 6 games into next season without a point to his name then still blame fan pressure. Should see him finished in the top two divisions. Remember....we're a graveyard for managers

General question for all..... When did you realise that Dummett isn't a young player anymore? Didn't realise he's now 29 and on the way down....thought he was still early 20's and had room to improve!