Odear

If it wasn't for Rafa being here we'd already be fucked. Post transfer window can go one of two ways, Rafa can get the team going again with an "us against them" attitude that scrapes us through the remainder of the season, or the sense of hopelessness that the fans are feeling now will seep into the team and everything will take a nose dive. Worst time to be playing City.

His actions seem to be of someone who had a lot riding on this. Amanda Staveley isn't looking too good out of this either. We started the season quite well despite no real investment this summer. It was in or around the rumour of the takeover that our form dipped. If she gave a shit about the club (as a prospective new owner) , why would she have let this drag on for months over a measly 50 million. If PCP's portfolio is several billion, this would be pocket change to her and her investors. I have no sympathy for Mike Ashley but i think he's tried to sell the club to someone who he thought had the clout to take it off his hands..

Sometimes I wonder if Odin is a biopolar bot Sometimes?

Amanda Staveley never had the money to buy the club all to herself. She’s worth a 100m at best. We'll never know the truth of what was offered but if it was a straight 250m or more Mike Ashley would have snapped her hand off. Maybe her investors got cold feet. Fuck knows. It seems like there’s bad blood now. Highly unlikely a deal will happen between them. I think Ashley has been strung along here. He knows this won’t happen as he thought it might so he’s thrown the toys out of the pram. In the short term this is probably a good thing as he'll now work on protecting his asset.

Are we due some sort of payment from the PL, sure I read somewhere that we and other clubs got about £50 million in Jan It probably went directly to clearing Mike Ashley’s credit card. What’s worrying is that he was probably telling the truth when he said all his wealth was tied up. SD has less than 1 million in cash going towards the end of the year. I don’t for a second believe that he’s kept it and NUFC separate in their financial dealings over the last 10 years. They run our club shop ffs.. very easy to transfer money between both.

It’s a shame. Could the front end be rebuilt using bootstrap? Once the database is safe, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to import.

I gradually think worse of Colo as Lascelles progresses. What a shithouse captain and leader he was. No doubting his class when he was on form but it was never that consistent. Maybe one good season. Terrible captain. We should have made Cabaye captain, he might have stayed longer. Lascelles is a throwback to years ago with his approach. Seems to be genuinely honoured to be where he is.. not looking for a move elsewhere. Clubs will start to take note soon.

That can’t be unseen ? The curry house could have been a series of Mrs Doubtfire moments.

So they were going to spend around 300 million on a football club but now its all off because Cilla is making them pay for their gas and leccy? It’s been mentioned several times that PCP’s backer could be Saudi. It’s total chaos over there with their Royal family at the moment so it could definitely be an issue.

If the main backer of this takeover is from Saudi, perhaps the continuing news from there is a reason why things have stalled? This is in the news this morning.. “Saudi authorities have detained 11 princes after they gathered at a royal palace in Riyadh to protest against austerity measures that included suspending the payment of their utility bills, Saudi media reported on Saturday. The government information service, the Centre for International Communication, said it was checking the report. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has introduced reforms that include cutting subsidies, introducing VAT and cutting perks to royal family members to try to cope with a drop in crude prices that has caused a budget deficit estimated at 195 billion riyals for 2018.”

So these cunts on Twitter who make these claims, say for example the BBC bollocks. Is that fucker still online or have they closed the account in shame? This whole thing is obviously locked down quite well between PCP and MASH, so why would we know a fucking thing? This extends to the fucking keyboard warriors claiming to be journalists. None of them have an inside scoop on anything. It’s all guesswork. If some of the funds of this are depending on Staveley winning her case against Barclays, we could be waiting until 2019 for a complete takeover. As far as this thread goes, it should be renamed for Mike Ashley because his cuntishness is going to be a deciding factor this month and will determine our fate for the season and next.

Would happily watch that video. Lascelles out to stud.

This thread is bipolar.

Strange aint it https://mobile.twitter.com/TomBenbow/status/948989917450899456/photo/1 doesnt that mean its 1065 millions... thats how i read it as the column is in £m as it states above so they actually have £106,500,000 Aye, that’s what it means. Nee cash in hand though, all tied up in assets...wallpaper It sadly explains what happened this summer. Ashley barely has a pot to piss in which means neither does the club. (If everything Sports Direct own is tied up in assets) The longer we’re connected to him the more he’ll use the club to prop up his shitty tat empire. It also explains why he’s being so insistent on the price. I’d fucking love to know what went down at that curry house. Ashley looked pensive sitting in his jeep afterwards while Staveley had the look of someone who had everything where she wanted it to be. The logic in the lads article is sound. But it would also back up reports that Ashley won’t spend during this window.

Theo Walcott linked again.

Slimani would get goals in this team. Would be perfect for the likes of Ritchie putting balls into the box. Leicester would want most of what they paid for him though, can't see them letting him go on loan.

He's a solid player, definitely one to keep in the squad. The lad needs to be rested for a few games. He's looked totally shot for the last month. When he's bright he can be the difference in some games. If we get a decent offer maybe Rafa would listen to offers but even if we sold him for a profit, what would that bring in?

I can't remember if it was against Stoke or Brighton but he was in a similar position earlier and the ball failed to get past the first defender. It shows he's learning and can adapt. He clearly has pace and looks like he's put on a bit of muscle tone which was needed as he was being brushed off the ball too easily. If he continues on the upwards curve 12m could look cheap. He has the intelligence to make adjustments. If that was Obertan, it would be the same ball again and again.

2 points on his tweet. Firstly didn’t the previous Man City owner own them outright so why create a holding company then? Secondly yes there are no shares at the moment but if Staveley is an investor with someone else richer they will each own a percentage of the club therefore shares. Actually there are shares in Newcastle United - 133,000,000 of them Of course, how else if Mike Ashley would sell part of the club would something like that work? This whole thing is ridiculous at this point. Understandably people are desperate for him to fuck off, but that's not going to make the announcement come any quicker. All of this would have been agreed at that curry house.. at least a deal in principal over certain terms and conditions. Say for example, if we'd lost all of the games over Christmas.. that would certainly have an impact on the price. But we've done quite well and have come out looking a bit safer. So hypothetically this could have reverted to Plan A once more, say 300m or whatever the price is. So after we beat Stoke she knew what she had to do and what the price was going to be.. sets up holding company and waits for the saudi dolla to transfer over. In the meantime Rafa can go about his business in terms of convincing targets to join us but probably has to keep them on ice for a few days just in case there's any last minute hitches. My guess at this point would be that any announcement would come after the FA Cup game. No point in any big distractions for the players, some of whom could be looking for a new club when this is all done.

Because, as always, they know absolute f*** all. Finally..

I told you it would be sorted over these few days! It was done weeks ago but no way they’d announce something when they couldn’t put any deals in motion. I reckon she’ll run things for the first year or so, and would expect her to put in place a proper board of experienced top level professionals.

You think Clark or LeJeune are going to be ok partnering our captain for the remainder of the season?

It’s not about glass half empty, but some on here saying Shelvey and Diame and some of the other passengers were class today. They really weren’t. It was a well earned win but he quality of the opposition was the main factor today.

Important 3 points but let it not gloss over that most of the players on the pitch for us were or have consistently been shit all season. Darlow - makes he odd good save but punches when he should catch and is terrible coming to catch the ball. Yedlin - one of the few bright sparks. Pace with a bit of cop on is a dangerous thing in this league. Still gets caught offside too often. Lascelles - our most important current squad player. Someone to build a team around. Clarke - inconsistent, poor judgement sometimes. CB is a position we need to strengthen. Manquillo - his yellow card was a well timed one. Otherwise offered nothing all game and gave several corners away. Murphy - gaining more confidence, had a great second half with an assist. One of the ones who would really benefit from a solid midfield and forwards who have movement. Shelvey - fapped about, few passes up the flanks, no impact at all over probably the worst and slowest midfield in the whole league (apart from us) Diame - looked a bit more up for it recently but that can’t cover over how poor he’s been. Ritchie - looks knackered. Ineffective. Squad player for when we invest though. Atsu - should have scored but also looks tired and should really be playing out wide and not in the middle.. he’s one of the shortest players in the league.. expecting him to be winning headers is retarded. Perez - brighter today but again over a whole season has been poor. Again though, a player who will look better with better players around him. Gayle (apart from getting pushed over, anonymous) Dummett (half fit but still better than Manquillo)

Very important 3 points there.