TheBrownBottle

£150m feels like a world record, given the absolutely bizarre price tag PSG paid for Neymar, which no-one has come close to since. And ultimately if the player wanted a move, the club’s resolve is unlikely to last. I still don’t think he leaves this summer, in part because none of his likely destination clubs have the needs nor the funds at present. He goes to a European giant when he does go - next summer looks a far more likely moment for it to happen. Just enjoy him while we have him - and who knows, he might be here even longer than that

True re the cup wins, but Liverpool’s lowest post-war average crowd was 29k when in a long stretch in the second division (and that was under Shankly). Their averages in the five seasons before he joined - all in the second division - were all above 35k.

Totally agree re the general appeal of Paris, but not in terms of them being potentially one of the world’s biggest clubs - despite the size of the city (over 10m in the urban area), it doesn’t have another top flight club, and PSG never attracted large or fervent support. It just isn’t a football city. Of course, they’re winning constantly, so they can fill their ground - which is smaller than the Stadium of Shite.

It isn’t anticompetitive to have FPPT for membership - PIF refused to go through it. The PL’s objections were dropped literally one day after KSA paid the fine and allowed BeIN back into the country.

I’m just going to enjoy him while he’s here. I doubt he’ll be here in a couple of years’ time - but when he goes, it won’t be to fucking Arsenal, despite the delusional punditocracy who were desperate for him to head to Laaaaandaaan

Everyone knew they were blocking it - was exposure was there to be had? So what if they were? They asked for the ownership to go through the PL’s FPPT like any other potential owner. There isn’t a conspiracy when it was well known what was happening. Members of the PL are allowed to raise their concerns to the PL board.

I’m not convinced this is the case either - Paris isn’t a footballing city at all, and the potential was never there. The fact that it has one club of note - and that club never had close to the biggest crowds in France - says everything. The potential was never there - without the Qatari investment they’d still be bobbling around upper mid table in Ligue 1.

'At odds' - probably because if we were interested, we'd need Man Utd to sub us half his weekly salary to even consider it

No, the point is that buying the club isn’t an investment in the club. I don’t miss the Ashley years - no-one does. Those of us who around for the McKeag years don’t miss those either, but I didn’t assess Hall or Ashley in the context of McKeag. Newcastle United has pretty much always been owned by people who I’d rather didn’t. You think that the people who own us are wonderful - I don’t. But I’ve no major concerns at present re the direction of the club, though I do think that the continued inertia at board level has been papered over by Howe’s management of the team.

We need the sustenance of a new signing!

In that case, Mike Ashley invested more than a quarter of a billion in his first year and a half at Newcastle. What were we whinging about?

The club didn’t have the PL by the bollocks at all - the moment MBS is assessed under a FPPT he’d fail, and there is no way that Saudi Arabia allows that to happen. There was no way to force the sale through.

Agreed - a positive externality was that this allowed the club sale to go through. But it wasn’t done to get us bought - they could have done that at any time during the previous 18 months.

Name changes are fundamental - not sure how I feel about kit tbh; most are the result of random choices taken in a Victorian sports shop. I’d rather not, of course (though I have always thought that dark blue shorts - like we had for our first few decades - would look alright)

It cost PIF £30m to buy Staveley’s stake (the Reubens took the other half) You’d definitely hope that infrastructure is capital investment and not a loan - interest in loans is included in PSR calcs

The club purchase is separate - and you’re right, it was £305m (PIF’s share of that was £244m - they have since bought a further 5% from Staveley’s previous stake) Ashley’s loan was part of that number - which was about £140m at that point

They need to ‘consult’ the supporters. And ‘consult’ might be ‘heads up - we’re changing the home kit’ edit: the same rules protect the club crest - which is why the club are ‘consulting’ the supporters. They’re still doing it.

It’s no-ones debate, feel free to £338m invested so far - the club spends its own money too of course. It’s not chicken feed, but it’s not close to a billion either.

Missed this one - when did they spend the best part of a billion on us?

Yep, it’s horrific looking back. Great documentary though.

They bought PSG due to the WC bid - Nicholas Sarkozy is a fan of the club and wanted them to buy it, and Platini had a key vote on the 2022 WC bid, along with the Al-Thani ties with France. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jun/18/sarkozy-psg-bein-sports-questions-michel-platini-qatar-2022-world-cup

Their turnover is double ours - I think it is quite likely that they’ll have success again. London is shit - if you’re poor. Last I checked most Chelsea players are not in the lower strata of the socio-economic ladder. Most footballers - particularly those from overseas - are far more likely to choose to live in London than Newcastle. I would if I was them - and I’m from Newcastle.

You’d be joining the most successful English club this century, a club which finished above us despite having an ‘off’ season, will also pay a lot more than us and you get to live in London. I can see other appeals to joining them.

It’s a classic!

Yep - we lost six out of seven league games after playing Man Utd