Tribesman

I'm honestly surprised nobody has tried setting up a club similar to FC United of Manchester or even someone like Shearer getting a rich backer to fund a club similar to Salford City. You would probably get a few thousand fans who are not bothered about Newcastle anymore to help support it.

Yeah, that all sounds about right. He understands, like Rafa, what the potential is. One trouble is that he used to be a bottom 10 Prem/Top 10 Championship manager, but with his aging and the influx of good coaches from abroad and young British coaches I'd say he's more of a bottom 15 Championship manager now. You might well be right about that mate, as i think we're going see in the next few months. The days of pfms like Allardyce and Bruce polluting the Premier League are nearly over although Ashley seems intent in bucking this trend. Most clubs except Newcastle want clubs want more modern and progressive ideas which can take the club forward instead of short term managers like Allardyce which are only good enough to survive relegation. Bruce might have been good enough to manage in the Premier League 10 years ago when the league was littered with pfms, but his lack of ability as a manager will be badly exposed by the likes of Guardiola, Silva and Gracia.

I'm done with Newcastle until Ashley sells whenever that may be. I had lost interest until Benitez became manager, but he gave the club a bit of a spark, however I'm not going back to the days of Pardew and McClaren with Bruce being made manager and wasting my weekends. The only reason to pay attention to the club at this stage is to laugh at how bad it is. I will probably be called a glory hunter for this, but I think I might follow someone like Liverpool or Leicester when the season starts just to see what its like to follow clubs with some excitement around them. I will likely dedicate more time to supporting my rugby and GAA teams as well.

Getting promoted was a complete waste of time.

I used to think Luke Edwards understood the situation at Newcastle, but he has been all over the place this summer. He says don't judge Bruce on his past record and only when he has taken charge, but why shouldn't he be judged now. Edwards is speaking positively of his past record at other clubs, but why is that ok instead of the understandable negativity over his appointment.

I'm not sure which would be more embarrassing hiring Bruce or being turned down by him.

I think staying in the Championship for a few years or lower is what is going to take for Ashley to sell. I know its been said a billion times, but being in the Premier League isn't making it any easier for Ashley to sell the club. Look what has happened to Leicester, Villa and Wolves after years in the Championship or getting relegated to League 1 their fans are much happier now. Remember after the accounts were released after promotion and the club basically said it would be f***ed finacially if Newcastle didn't get promoted or stayed a few years in the Championship. Well lets see how the club does under Ashley with no Premier League money to rely on. People will say he will just spend just enough to get out of the Championship or loan the club money to compensate for it, but its much tougher now to get out of the Championship. If he was ever going to sell, it’d be now. He’d get £399-359m. If we go down and stay down, he’ll get a fraction of that. I have thought that for the last 3 times he has tried to sell the club yet he is still here. The club being in the Premier League attracts more buyers, but just allows Ashley to ask for more unreasonable terms from a position of strength. He won't get anywhere near £350 million again especially if the club stays in the Championship, but he might sell from a position of weakness.

I think staying in the Championship for a few years or lower is what is going to take for Ashley to sell. I know its been said a billion times, but being in the Premier League isn't making it any easier for Ashley to sell the club. Look what has happened to Leicester, Villa and Wolves after years in the Championship or getting relegated to League 1 their fans are much happier now. Remember after the accounts were released after promotion and the club basically said it would be fucked finacially if Newcastle didn't get promoted or stayed a few years in the Championship. Well lets see how the club does under Ashley with no Premier League money to rely on. People will say he will just spend just enough to get out of the Championship or loan the club money to compensate for it, but its much tougher now to get out of the Championship.

Someone is going to have to explain me why Bruce is seen as a competent manager because I have it read it 3 or 4 times from different journalists since Bruce was linked with the job. He has been relegated when manager of two clubs. He favours the likes of George Boyd over Ben Arfa. He was labelled by Louise Taylor after being sacked by Sunderland for being backwards and being allergic to tactics. He has lost more matches than he has won in the Premier League. For a manager that is seen as a promotion specialist he failed to get Villa out of the Championship despite having one of the best and most expensive squad in the Championship. Nothing suggests he is competent or will be able to improve the type of players the club are looking to bring in with coaching. Even McClaren has a better CV than Bruce and he was a disaster at Newcastle. I don't think one club in the Premier League not even Burnley would have Bruce as their manager.

What a headline as well How unfortunate for someone as desperate as Ashley to sell the club that for the 3rd time in 2 years another buyer doesn't have the funds to buy the club.

It shows how shite this summer transfer window has been when Chelsea with a transfer ban have signed more players than Newcastle.

This takeover is edging dangerously close to pizza gate territory.

Bruce would be the perfect Benitez replacement. The club clearly want to return to the transfer policy of signing players under 26 years old. Bruce would fit in well then because when he was at Hull he put players like Ben Arfa on the bench in favour of players like George Boyd. If Bruce could do the same with putting Longstaff on the bench instead of Colback then maybe there is some hope for this club again.

I'm at the stage where I would take anybody but Ashley at this point. I don't think the Bin Zayed Group have done themselves any favours with their statement today. If it was to turn the tables on Ashley then its backfired because its just raised more questions about themselves. I would like Caulkin to tell us more about this other bidder. He doesn't have to tell us who they are, but just if they have they made progress and are still confident of getting a deal agreed in good time. He touched on it briefly in true faith podcast on 24th June Said theres 3 parties (at least) “I know one other group and I know who they are and I speak to them but I’m not allowed to talk about who they are as it would violate the terms of whatever agreements they’ve got” “They also claim to have made good progress but by good progress what does that mean. Well there’s been no exclusivity agreement with anyone group and don’t think that’ll happen now as Ashley wants to talk to as many people as possible to maybe drive the price up, it is around £350m, money is being moved around, accounts being checked, some of those data room things have happened or happening it’s now the end of June and the window is closing” “The group that I know about, there’s substantive people involved and the people they are advised by and doing their negotiations are substantive people, that’s fact but it’s not fact that they’ve taken over” That was nearly 3 weeks ago mind Surely if the Bin Zayed Group were as close as they claim to be in completing a takeover then the other interested parties would pull out now. What if they fail the PL test True, but how can continue talking to Ashley just out of hope the Bin Zayed Group fail the fit and proper test.

I'm at the stage where I would take anybody but Ashley at this point. I don't think the Bin Zayed Group have done themselves any favours with their statement today. If it was to turn the tables on Ashley then its backfired because its just raised more questions about themselves. I would like Caulkin to tell us more about this other bidder. He doesn't have to tell us who they are, but just if they have they made progress and are still confident of getting a deal agreed in good time. He touched on it briefly in true faith podcast on 24th June Said theres 3 parties (at least) “I know one other group and I know who they are and I speak to them but I’m not allowed to talk about who they are as it would violate the terms of whatever agreements they’ve got” “They also claim to have made good progress but by good progress what does that mean. Well there’s been no exclusivity agreement with anyone group and don’t think that’ll happen now as Ashley wants to talk to as many people as possible to maybe drive the price up, it is around £350m, money is being moved around, accounts being checked, some of those data room things have happened or happening it’s now the end of June and the window is closing” “The group that I know about, there’s substantive people involved and the people they are advised by and doing their negotiations are substantive people, that’s fact but it’s not fact that they’ve taken over” That was nearly 3 weeks ago mind Surely if the Bin Zayed Group were as close as they claim to be in completing a takeover then the other interested parties would pull out now.

I'm at the stage where I would take anybody but Ashley at this point. I don't think the Bin Zayed Group have done themselves any favours with their statement today. If it was to turn the tables on Ashley then its backfired because its just raised more questions about themselves. I would like Caulkin to tell us more about this other bidder. He doesn't have to tell us who they are, but just if they have they made progress and are still confident of getting a deal agreed in good time.

Liam Kelly has moved from Reading to Feyenoord.

I was hoping the Bin Zayed Groups statement would offer much needed clarity to the takeover situation yet it has only made it more confusing. Everyone now has their own interpretation of where the takeover deal is at now. Some think Ashley is the problem, some think the Premier League are at fault and others think the Bin Zayed Group are not as far along in the takeover process. If the Bin Zayed Group have done everything required to get the takeover done then why not be clear they have had a bid accepted and have completed Premier League processes. Because if they are this far along the deal then they should have no problem revealing these details. Why not reveal either that they have reached the exclusivity stage because the only way they would have got this far in the takeover is if Ashley has granted exclusivity. If Ashley has done everything required to get the takeover done then why not reveal Ashley has signed the sales purchase agreement which is apparently the stage in a takeover before would be owners do the fit and proper owners test. If the selling party has done all of this then why not reveal it. If its the Premier League holding up the takeover deal then why could the Bin Zayed Group not just say in their statement that "everything has been agreed and signed by both parties and we now await for Premier League approval to complete the takeover". It may well be the case that this is where we are at in the takeover, but then we have Peter Redding who they are communicating through liking tweets saying that it is really Ashley that is holding things up. In their first statements the Bin Zayed Group said they wanted to give fans a clear picture of what the timelines of the takeover process yet with this statement yet we know no more than 5 weeks ago since the last statements.

The tournament is getting a little more exciting now. South Africa deserved to beat Egypt. They looked neat and tidy in their build up play if they had a bit more quality and composure in the final third they could probably go further in the tournament.

I remember reading in the Chronicle before Benitez had his meeting with Ashley that Ashley felt offering Benitez the chance to manage in the Premier League was a good offer and would be good enough to convince him to sign a new contract. The club is so arrogant that they probably thought with no jobs in the Premier League available for Benitez that he would he stay the closer it got to his contract expiring. Either that or the club is incompetent for not giving Benitez a deadline until the end of May to make his decision so as to give them plenty of time to look for a replacement.

That article also explains why Benitez oddly turned up at the training ground weeks before pre season began yet Keith Downie said at the time it was just a normal day at the office.

https://twitter.com/TinosFurCoat/status/1147257020740976640

Considering how bad this summer has been I would expect the Bin Zayed Group statement to say the deal is off, but its just odd to hold off on announcing it if that is the case. Sorry if I have been repeating myself for the last 2 pages.

So then why don't the Bin Zayed Group just release their planned statement then if the takeover is dead in the water and put us all out of our misery.

So let me get this straight. Keith Downie has been sitting on this no proof of funds information for 5 weeks since the Bin Zayed Groups statements yet has only decided to come out with it now. This is probably one of the biggest stories surrounding Newcastle and I imagine fans have been asking Keith Downie like every other journalist for information regarding the takeover for the past 5 weeks yet he felt no need to reveal this weeks ago or even write an article about it. I just can't help, but be suspicious of what comes out from Sky Sports reporters regarding Newcastle. Should we assume then no Heads of Terms agreement hasn't been signed either because even for Ashley it would seem very odd to have signed such a document without proof of funds being shown first or am I mixing up the stages of the takeover process.