Armchair Pundit

Oof! I broke my leg in a tackle just like that, shin on shin, CRACK!

I think the longer it's gone on, the more it's felt like the end of the season is kind of the most sensible time to announce their decision. It means less disruption all round I suppose. Not that it wouldn't have saved everyone a load of hassle doing it before now, it's probably just cleaner to wait. That said, I'm basing that on nothing other than my own opinion today (previously I've been as keen to get it done as the next man!)

Think the players have gone on their hols, they've looked a bit like this for the last couple of games, no need to stretch themselves with nothing to play for.

Souness advocating player exaggeration to get penalties. Ritchie was certainly clumsy with his initial attempt at clearance, didn't catch the player at that point, but then fell over himself, don't see how that's a pen. Not that I'm in any way biased.

As with most contracts there's probably some sort of buyout or reduction clause, I don't see a sponsorship being any different. It could well be the same with the Puma shirt deal, though there would be less of a problem with keeping them for longer of course.

Many bits and pieces of the day to day running of the club needs to be kept ticking over, shirt sponsorship is one of them. We couldn't put it on hold while waiting on the takeover which, however unlikely, 'could' still be rejected. Player contracts, sponsorships, general upkeep of the club, all need to continue in case a takeover doesn't materialise, just standard procedure. Nothing to see here.

Better than Bruce? Well, he must be better than Rafa too then, going by the usual Sky Sports punditry. Joking aside though, Watford deserve to go down after this, if I didn't dislike Villa more I'd be all for it

Besides which, how many times in life do we see people doing stuff, making deals, making things happen that are completely contrary to what you 'think' would be the right thing? There is no obvious, un-rocket science-like things where humans are concerned, otherwise there would be no disagreements about anything, anywhere, ever. Absolutely zero point in discussing what someone 'thinks' might or might not be possible with these contracts, etc because it's all based on assumption from personal opinion rather than actual knowledge.

The only point proven is that Bruce inherited a well drilled team, had more money spent and neither manager won anything. There are a ridiculous amount of variables between Bruce's season and Rafa's season, from the teams around them to the resources available to them, to the disruptions of covid19. All I would say is that Bruce should probably receive some praise for retaining the team's motivation to get through what has been a difficult season for everyone but if people are seriously asking who's the better manager then you can only look at past achievements, in that Rafa wins hands down.

I love how everyone's an expert on the working of these contracts, it's beyond boring now.

Fucking hell I'm bored of this

Did we ever lose 5-0 under Rafa?

Why do you not go and support another club then, as the only thing I have seen you contribute on within the footballing part of the forum is the takeover and your anti-thoughts on it. Do you have to support the takeover to support the club now? That seems to be the consensus on here anyway. You don't have to. But if you feel that strong toward Saudi owned Newcastle, then the only logical thing for you if the takeover is approved is to stop supporting Newcastle. Sadly it kinda feels like a logical choice, it won't be the same. I just hope it won't go through, I know I'm in the minority and i understand people disagreeing with that. Being in favour of the takeover, and defending Saudi Arabia is two different things though. I can understand wanting the takeover, but people on here defending Saudi Arabia is just baffling in my honest opinion. They really are horrible. To be honest, based off the general tone and content of your posts, you have never seemed to recognise that distinction If that's the case I apologize. But people were smearing Khashoggi and his widow fiancee earlier in the thread, when you do and say that, it's way beyond just being in favour of the takeover. I realize that that's of course a minority on here, and I was unclear in my replies earlier, as to whom i was referring to. Playing devils advocate a tad here but as someone stated earlier in the thread, nobody knows for sure what Khashoggi was involved in or the full background of him and his now vocal fiancee. I don't think anyone's really daft enough to condone what happened to the guy but bearing in mind the involvement of both the Saudis and the Qataris I think it's relatively safe to assume neither party were/are whiter than white. From my point of view it comes down to which has an effect on me more in my day to day life and all I want is Mike Ashley out of my club and, if possible, a new owner with enough clout to potentially bring some success in my lifetime.

I love where she said that if NUFC fans think being owned by Mike Ashley is a bad dream, being owned by the Crown Prince will be like a nightmare - literally no basis for that statement what-so-ever other, there's no comparison between owning a sport's club and allegedly ordering the killing of her short-term partner. It's just more propaganda and stirring backed by the Qataris, hard to feel as sympathetic for her the more it gets pushed.

Agree with this, it's one thing the FA asking the Saudis to make more of an effort to tackle piracy over their football games, it's completely outside their remit to push for anything when there's obvious political implications between the countries involved.

It’s a Mike Ashley’s NUFC takeover, what did you expect? Yeah, his sales go on for ages, I've seen his shops!

Greizmann wants a move to the Prem, currently City and Man Utd mentioned, would it be too soon to tempt him to the Toon under the new owners?

Tuesday today, doesn't that mean we're due for another letter from someone with some 'damning' evidence or opinion?

I hate the pundits blowing smoke up Bruce's arse - he inherited a well drilled team from Rafa, continued with his tactics as much as he could and was able to add a couple of signings with money that Fat Boy refused to give up for the previous manager. Okay, I'll give him the credit that he's been able to sustain the motivation for a large part of the squad, how much he's been able to rely on teams around him being worse or the work done before him paying dividends I have to wonder. Of course... I'm just Rafa biased though.

<<<< What the hell is this, stealing my avatar? Looks better on his account. Bloody Qataris!

<<<< What the hell is this, stealing my avatar? I've been pirated!

Why's everyone getting in a flap? I've seen nowt this week that suddenly puts a negative turn on things, nothing new. Just the same old guff and rehashed rubbish from the usual suspect journos looking for clickbait. Nothing to worry about here, just the same nothing happening that's been not happening for weeks. At best I reckon any reports of anything are pure fabrication and sh*t stirring for the sake of it. The Prem will make a decision when they eventually pull their fingers out of their arse, until then I'm thinking it's best to ignore everything.

No chance the Prem will announce anything for the next few days anyway, they wouldn't want to steal any thunder from their Scouse darlings winning the league.

Me too... I was eating my lunch at the time and now wish I hadn't