Tribesman

Calvert Lewin looks like he will be this seasons bargain buy.

I think Sheffield United are going to struggle for goals this season.

But why bother? Just pick an area of the goal you want to score and get on with it. Its not like it will get nominated for any goal of the month awards, its just unnecessary especially if its a penalty to win the match.

It’s a needless risk most of the time. Managers must hate them. It also comes across as if the player is thinking about himself rather than the team.

Its a shame for England Vardy retired.

Barkley as well for me, but the fact he can fit wins it for him. I'm still not sure what position Loftus Cheek plays in.

It doesn't seem to be the smartest idea to have crowds for the Super Cup Final in Budapest when there is a big surge in cases in Hungary.

I noticed in La Liga and Ligue 1 that 5 substitutes are now allowed for this season. Personally I think the Premier League should have gone for it because its a very congested fixture list this season so players will be very fatigued, but at the same time can understand if fans of smaller clubs are opposed to it.

I'm probably in the minority, but does anyone else think at the moment think Jimenez is the best striker in the league?

I think Everton should have tried to sign Martinez. They are only a good goalkeeper and a solid center back away from being top 6 quality this season.

I think Spurs will struggle to finish in the top 4 this season, I would nearly go as far to say that for the next few years they could possibly struggle to finish in the top 8 in the league. If I were the other teams in the big 6 I would be more worried by the likes of Everton, Leicester, Wolves and maybe Villa if they continue to show ambition. With the exception of Villa the others teams I named have more money, better squads and better managers than Spurs at the moment. Their only good players are Kane, Alli and Son, but 2 out of 3 of those players are out of form and the rest of the squad are either past their best or nowhere near good enough for a club that wants to compete to qualify for the Champions League. When Dembele was sold and not replaced it was the start of the wheels coming off for Spurs because the midfield of Winks and Hojberg which they started with today is mid table quality at best. Even if they sacked Mourinho in the next couple of months, I don't think it is an attractive job for good managers. There is clearly very little money to spend and there would need to more than £100 million to be invested in the team to get them competing for the top 4 again. Spurs probably did Pochettino a favour sacking him last season because I think after losing the Champions League final he couldn't take that team any further. He wanted to tear up the team and start again, but Levy wouldn't let him, but now Spurs have Mourinho leading the rebuilding job and he is the last manager you want to do that job especially with little money to spend.

PSG losing to Lens, but have none of their front 3 available to be fair.

Dean Smith won't last much longer at Villa in my opinion. It actually wouldn't surprise me if they went for someone like Pochettino. They clearly have lots of ambition, are prepared to spend lots of money on transfers and they are a big, underachieving club. If not Pochettino they can bring in a manager that is a lot better than Smith. If they do then I can see them challenging for Europe in a couple of seasons.

From The Guardian.

About a week. Really? Thats all?

So if Ashley does appeal the Premier League's decision to reject takeover, what timescale are talking here in terms of when court proceedings start and end?

They didn't win in the 2010/11 season when they finished 7th that season.

You have to question the competitiveness of European football at this point it just seems to get worse every year. Juventus winning 9 Serie A titles in a row. Bayern Munich winning 8 Bundesliga titles in a row. PSG winning 7 of the last 8 Ligue 1 titles. La Liga back to only Real Madrid and Barcelona being the only serious competitors. Premier League may have more teams that can win it, but once all the top 6 get their act together its very difficult for other teams to experience European football. There are many other leagues in Europe where only 1 or 2 teams can realistically win their leagues. It just bothers me when you have leagues of up to 20 teams yet barely a handful of teams can win a league title. A European Super League is needed in my opinion because this is not healthy competition and is very boring as well.

I think that is the only positive after all this, but I reckon he will be as stubborn as ever regarding his asking price even if he is desperate for money. We shouldn't hold on to the prospect that this takeover will be revived and it wasn't right Ashley and Staveley raised the idea that it could its just not going to happen. Reading an article in The Chronicle today PIF are not wallowing in self pity that the deal is dead they have other clubs they are interested in and it will likely be easier for them to buy them. There won't be a new owner at Newcastle until next summer at the earliest or at least until we are certain to stay up next season. It must have taken months for the Saudi Arabia takeover to be agreed with Ashley so no matter how much interest there is in buying Newcastle there is just not enough time to get it done and to influence things in the transfer market.

Just like with Bruce the only reason Luke Edwards is giving credibility to Mauriss is because he is getting fed information and if Mauriss does buy the club he would have inside information on how the club operates. Thats all he cares about not if Mauriss is good for the club, but that it benefits him personally. For a guy who in the previous takeovers always preached skepticism and caution he has been very quick to not beat Mauriss with the same stick. If you heard the way Edwards talked about him you would forgive anyone for thinking he was Mauriss's pr consultant rather than a journalist. Edwards has always said takeovers should not be played out in public yet a month ago Mauriss was leaking to every journalist he had bid £350 million for the club yet there was no push back whatsoever about this being played out in public. Yesterday he posted an article about how Mauriss could own the club before the start of next season. Everyone asked Edwards for information on him because the article was apparently lacking in detail and Edwards couldn't give any answers. We still don't what Mauriss's intentions are, how much he is worth, how he is going to fund this takeover or why since being interested in buying the club since last November that he hasn't even looked through the clubs books yet. Newcastle's statement today suggested that Mauriss isn't waiting in the wings to buy the club before next season starts. The fact Ashley is hoping the PIF takeover could be resurrected does not tell me Ashley is talking to any other interested parties at the moment.

Come on now, its finished. Maybe in the original iteration, but it's not done. No way. Even if Staveley and the Reubens found another party to replace PIF they would have to go through the whole process again, won't be able to take over the club before the start of the season and have no influence over the transfer market. The only difference this time is Ashley is a lot more desperate and eager to sell. Realistically there probably won't be another credible buyer until next summer if Newcastle are still a Premier League club. The Premier League has really f***ed Newcastle here. It was stupid from Masters saying there was no timetable for the deal to be approved. There should have been a deadline set in May for the deal to be approved and this would have given time for someone else to step in to buy the Newcastle or like I said previously for Staveley and the Reubens to look for someone else to replace PIF in the deal.

Come on now, its finished.

The deal is dead as long as PIF are involved, but if Staveley and the Reubens find another party prepared to fill the void left by PIF with the same terms agreed with Ashley then perhaps something can be salvaged, but highly unlikely. It hasn't helped with Staveley attacking the Premier League if she still wishes to buy Newcastle.

Am I reading this wrong or is this Guardian writer being a bit unfair here. It just reads to me he acknowledges there are horrible people including Saudi Arabia already involved in English football and society, but is just picking and choosing when to draw the line in this case the Newcastle takeover. It seems to me the flood gates opened long ago to English football clubs and businesses being funded by dubious sources so its either all ok or not acceptable at all. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/jul/30/newcastle-united-narrow-escape-takeover-saudi-arabia

I know I'm kicking a team while they are down, but I don't think Liverpool are as good as their current points total suggests. They will win the league and deserve to do so, but it wouldn't surprise if they become complacent in the transfer market this summer like Man City did last summer and fall back a lot next season.