et tu brute

Not to just stop avoiding hassle. That is just tin foil hat theory that. You want to believe that go for it.

He still wouldn’t do a case costing millions to avoid the hassle though .

bollocks man you don’t pay millions in legal fees for less hassle.

why go for an arbitration case then?

Think the first step we have to just wait is for the CAT website to show an update with either a confirmation date for the full CAT case to start, or the dreaded update that the Premier League objection has been agreed by the judge and the CAT case has been dismissed. fingers crossed it will be this week. Massive decision as the judge dismissing the Premier League objection, at least suggests that Ashley’s legal team do have sufficient evidence/documentation for the judge to decide that the full CAT case should be held. Whilst, agreement with the Premier League objection and the case being thrown out, unfortunately probably suggests the evidence presented is maybe a bit of a damp squib. Hopefully Ashley’s legal team have very strong evidence showing anti-competition and incriminating evidence against the Premier League/outside parties. Ashley’s legal team may win the arbitration or they may not. Just think it’s important that big pressure is maintained from all legal sides. The CAT case getting the full go ahead, will keep the pressure on. As I said above, we have got to the hope (pray) that the evidence of the anti competition and incriminating involvement by the Premier League/outside parties is dynamite. It maybe then open up the doors to possible deals being agreed behind closed doors. The Premier League seem to be happy for arbitration to proceed and their media friends have been banging their confidence drum all the way since arbitration was announced. However it’s been the total opposite with the CAT case, with the Premier League objection and their media buddies being very quiet. it’s going to be a critical couple of months that’s for sure. Probably imho the most important in the history of the club. The two scenarios for the future of the club depending on the decision given is unreal really.

Hardly breaking news either, that was reported by the.Sun over a month ago

Happens every week and I get that people have views both positive and negative, but it’s nearly always the same disagreements each time. When was the last time we even had any actual information coming out? A good few weeks ago. I honestly don’t think we will hear anything official for a few weeks either.

Massive year for them as they have to replace so many players. I know the new joint owner (as the fab 3 still have a decent amount of shares overall) has money, but they are heavily hampered by the SCMP rules as they currently stand. He has also came out and said that he will be running the club within it’s own means. They need to have a good standard of players replacing the departed players, as it’s not the easiest task getting basically a new team to gel. A poor transfer window could see them falling quite a bit, as there are a few teams (maybe even Derby) that look like they will be challenging. This season will probably be the hardest out of their 4 () so far to get promoted. Mind the new majority owner could be just playing things down with his run the club within its budget statement when he first came in, put a large investment of money into the club to allow them more scope with SCMP, and buy the best quality players for that league to get them up. Going to be interesting to see.

thing is though we obviously are looking through NUFC spectacles. If you look at it from Everton supporters perspective they will firstly (and are) not forgetting him calling them a small club (I would not be happy either if a prospective manager had called us the same), then they will look at his recent management history Real Madrid, NUFC and China and say his best days are over. We know the full story of his time here and the fact that through the owner having no interest in moving the club forward, nearly every signing he brought into the club was way down his actual target list. The Everton fans won’t consider that (no fucker does outside of Newcastle), they will just say a shit manager like Bruce is doing a similar job. I’m not having a go at Rafa before anyone chirps in, I’m just saying I can understand from an Everton fans point of view why they would not want him.

well I don’t think they would need a hit squad from other sources.

the same one who stood in his election with a Sunderland top on

Especially as seems likely Kane is away. The massive cost new stadium expansion and the collapse of the ES, has left them with major problems. I actually thought four year ago they looked the best bet to be the club most likely to challenge Man City. Think they may be struggling to make the top six anytime soon.

yeah that’s fair also.

Agreed, but we still get some of our support not learning this lesson, whenever a random self publicised ITK comes out with usually positive unverified information. This despite 16 months of numerous ‘exclusives’, which then come to absolute nothing. We’ve all done it due to desperation for this takeover (most anyway). I will admit that the claim on Sunday (or Saturday) pricked my interest and I did follow the thread for a few days (never took notice of that forum before). When I was thinking through things earlier, I started to question a few things (see my post above). He might be totally right and his source good, despite my now suspicion. The one good thing is that we will know this week either way. He may just be taking a punt based on his belief as it’s a 50/50 choice. If he’s wrong he could then just say I won’t listen to that source in future (used by many alleged ITKs many many times).

Yes I know

got no doubt it’s been said by many at frequent intervals.

I can get why Everton fans don’t want Rafs after he had a snipe at the size of their club, as I certainly would not be happy appointing a manager, whom had done the same to us. Yeah some might also not be keen on an ex manager of the main rivals, but in this case what I’ve seen it’s nearly all down to the snipe . However, what always cracks me up is the total continuous obsession by the mackems, due to one reason alone, and that he was popular with our support. He left two year ago, but the frequency of the threads about Rafa, bringing up in the exact same arguments each time, really cracks me up.

Be interesting to see what happens with them reintroducing concerts, as they were making losses all round previously and that’s why they stopped. I saw it said that due to our stadium (can’t remember the exact reason), that we can’t get a lot of the big acts due to the size and positioning of their sets. They were ok with Sheeran as his set size is smaller due to being a solo artist so I understand. Presume this is correct. I couldn’t see Ashley turning down any revenue otherwise, though I don’t also really know if the incoming revenue is sufficient to make it worthwhile either. Did we make money from the Sheeran concerts? We had loads in the 89s before the stadium expansion and Newcastle is ideal due to the location and transport links.

he would be on ignore if he was on this forum as he would just do my head in.

Everyone just needs to wait for official confirmation or verified news. The post in the forum maybe right and he might genuinely have a source. We have all probably fell for so called ITK with their sources at some point over the period of the takeover (especially when it looked a real possibility). The information was posted on Sunday and we are now into Wednesday, but still no official announcement. I can’t see there being a set announcement date/ time for the decision to be released (please correct me if that’s incorrect), so the question for me is if someone off a forum has been given correct actual information that a decision against the Premier League has been concluded, then why has this not been officially released. Also if someone from a NUFC forum has the information, then you would imagine one of the media outlets would probably have sources with the same information also. He also seems to have backed down a bit, now saying the information is correct to the best of his knowledge. Why also put false information out to try and catch a mole, especially when anyone can read that forum. Just seems a bit suspect to me, we shall see though.

As I said he wasn’t going to wait. If a job was available that fitted the profile then he would be willing to take the opportunity. I do think though if he had the choice to choose between Everton and us under new ownership, then he would probably choose here (even with his home being very close to Everton. Another thing do we know if the Consortium are still seeing Rafa as their preferred choice? I know last year it was reported he was, but one thing crossed my mind today, that the Consortium and Ashley have obviously been working closely together for a good while now. Has Ashley been telling stories/problems with Rafa (he’s certainly the type who would) and this has made the Consortium think again. Of course, it could just be that the Consortium can’t give the guarantee that the takeover will happen and/or when it will happen in the event it does get the green light. Looks like Rafa 100% wants the job and the hold up has only been due to the massive fan backlash.

Usually I would say you’re right, but I suspect that he may have deals lined up in Saudi for Sports Direct on the back of the takeover. He has also been a pretty regular visitor to the Middle East this past year. Just got a sneaky feeling this is in the offing, as he’s fought like crazy for this deal and has also refused to talk to any other potential buyers.

if Ashley’s reported bold statement a couple of weeks ago is because he knows that the evidence his legal team holds is absolute dynamite (I don’t have a scooby obviously before someone chirps in), then you can bet your bottom dollar he will go full in for the kill on all fronts. We will just have to wait and see as despite a rumour, we don’t even know if the CAT case will even be in play, come this week’s decision. Frustrating the wait is, best just to let the legals play out and see how it plays out.

The first legal decision will be out this week. If the rumours (I still will wait and see for definite first after the shit rumours we have had aplenty this year), that although a decision against the Premier League will not mean either case will be won by a long way, it will be a definite positive as it will show that a Judge has agreed that the evidence/documentation/arguments submitted by Ashley’s legal team is strong enough for the CAT case to proceed. On the other hand if the judge sides with the Premier League and throws the CAT case out, then this has to be a big blow, even though the arbitration case has still to be held. Ashley and his legal team have deliberately attempted a ‘pincer movement’ by putting increased pressure with initiating the CAT case, with the threat of highlighting alleged corruption involving a number of parties. This may or may not leave the Premier League in a totally precarious position, with the only get out being to make a deal. It’s viral in my opinion that this threat is still in okay come this week. We need the screw with the pressure to keep being screwed ever more tightly. We wait and see hopefully for an early announcement this week for the decision.

You will get a minimum of 5 million (more likely 8) for Gayle off a Championship club (where he has a proven record for being one of the top scorers in the division), far more than zero that’s for sure. He will be away this Summer.