Tribesman

From a more pessemistic point of view this article says signing a Heads of Terms agreement is only really the starting point of the takeover process and the whole thing could take months to complete. https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/untangling-newcastle-united-buy-out-16455754

Spot on it looks a mess.

I'm not sure how reliable TNT Sports are, but they say there have been secret meetings at FIFA to strip Qatar of the World Cup rights.

Its definitely takeover or bust for me. Benitez staying with Ashley changes nothing for the direction of the club other than reapplying the plaster on the axe wound.

Just an idea of how long takeovers of Premier League clubs potentially take. I remember myself the takeovers of Southampton and Villa took a while as well. https://twitter.com/NUFC360/status/1140990562050424832

I know its easy to dismiss The Chronicle, but its no different to what Caulkin is saying. In fact I can't think of any North East journalist saying anything different regarding where we stand with the takeover. Its only Justin Allen in the UK media saying things are progressing well which is why I think he has a Premier League source. I'm starting to lean towards the takeover being done in mid July then next week if it does get done. That would be a disaster for the club still even with a takeover its poor preparation for a new season.

Atletico Madrid are getting Diego Llorente as a replacement for £40 million. Its a shame they are getting torn apart like this, but I think they needed to refresh the squad anyway. Its probably why Simeone decided to sign a new contract to give the club some stability. I wish they signed Dybala instead of Feliex I think that would have been a smart transfer.

https://twitter.com/MailSport/status/1140894257533919232

What does being in advanced negotiations mean? Also if it could take weeks to complete a deal then whats the point of doing a deal if there is little time to find another and sign players.

f*** me

PSG. Don't think de Gea is rated that highly in Spain. Has lost his place to Kepa now for them I could see him going to PSG. They are the only big team that probably need a good goalkeeper.

I think they are back by July 4th.

Pogba wants to leave Man United along with Lukaku. It wouldn't surprise me if De Gea hands in a transfer request soon as well, but I don't see anywhere else he could go.

I know there is a possibility the takeover could be further along than we realise, but hard to see it getting done by mid July never mind by the end of June if the Bin Zayed Group are still fighting with other interested parties to enter exclusivity. https://twitter.com/NUFC360/status/1140565870030270465

I think another reason why he might not be saying much through the media is because he might feel its pointless at this stage to say anything rather knowing something about the takeover. At first it was to get the club to change their bad habits, but last summer it was just a desperate attempt from Benitez to get some players signed even if they were way down his list. Benitez has had his meeting with Ashley to finally convince him to buy into his vision, but it clearly hasn't worked I don't know what it would achieve at this stage leaking news about how furious he is with only 2 weeks left in his contract.

https://twitter.com/NUFC360/status/1140006829101068289 There are more unpopular players, but I would go with Diame. Even when he played well there were calls for him to be dropped, but I think he proved many people wrong in the end.

They are signing Joan Jordan as well for £15 million.

The situation with Benitez will force them to say or do something. If its under Ashley that a new manager is appointed then it just tells me they don't expect a change in ownership this summer.

I'm only guessing here, but I suspect Justin Allen has his source at the Premier League. If it was coming from the club then Coverdale would have been writing that article. If the Bin Zayed Group only hope to get the takeover done by the end of the month then it suggests to me they realistically see it dragging into July, but if that's the case they surely have to pull the plug themselves because it leaves them with little to find a good manager and players. The next two weeks are critical though its getting to the point now where the club can't stay silent forever as much as they want to.

Group C looks competitive. Bit of a shame its on late over here as I would have probably watched it.

Any chance Jo Brand would like to throw battery acid at that cunt?

I cant agree with this, Chelsea have an amazing squad and have already signed Hazards replacement in Christian Pulisic, Zouma will replace the outgoing Cahill, If Lampard goes there and they dont finish top 4 with a good run in the Champions league and the cups its a massive failure They have lost arguably the best player in the Premier League. There have many matches where Hazard has had to dig Chelsea out of trouble and win matches by himself. Pulisic might do well, but huge pressure on him if they expect him to have the same impact as Hazard.

How come takeovers of other clubs never seem to take this long Because we don't pay attention to it.

Caulkin says the Bin Zayed Group haven't reached exclusivity yet.

I don't think any manager can survive long term anymore at Chelsea unless Abramovich sells the club or changes the board. They went to huge lengths to get Sarri as manager, had a battle with Napoli to agree compensation for most of last summer and got him players that he wanted like Jorginho to help settle the team, but once he hit some bad form around Christmas he was as good as gone. Chelsea have had some really good managers in the last few years, but it seems they can't last very long if the board don't support them when in difficult times or if the players and fans show discontent. I reckon if Chelsea got Guardiola instead of Man City and he had the same season when he first arrived in the Premier League he would have been sacked as well. Chelsea used to be able to survive these manager changes when they had Terry, Lampard and Drogba in the squad, but not anymore especially after selling Hazard. I don't know what they are thinking or expect Lampard to achieve if they appoint him as manager. He has done well in his first job in management at Derby, but finishing in the play offs with Derby is not exactly over achieving its about where you expect Derby to finish these days in the Championship. With a transfer ban and without Hazard its difficult to see them finishing in the top 6 it would be embarrassing for the rest of the league if the likes of Wolves and Leicester can't finish above them next season.