TheBrownBottle

In all honesty, if we’re winning shitloads of trophies and are England’s best club side then I’ll start thinking about players being irreplaceable. We’re an upper mid table side at present - I’m confident that most of our players fit in the ‘replaceable’ camp.

I’m not up to date then I bet your club has other ‘partnerships’ though. It’s fucking awful.

No, I do mean the Bernabeu. There’s little room left with a finished stadium, but that’s the result of building pretty much the biggest stadium in world football on the site, using every inch of ground that you can. Sequencing the works on that site would hardly have been too challenging. SJP has buildings behind the East Stand that you can practically touch from its roof, it’s on a slope, and there is literally nowhere for heavy plant to easily operate. The Gallowgate is just a complete bastard of a place to try and develop - yes, the Bernabeu also has a nearby underground station, but it’s not literally where the stadium foundations would need to be driven.

This in bucketloads mate. I despise it, and hope we don’t ever get involved with the ‘MCO’ horseshit for precisely the reasons you’ve outlined. Same goes for ‘feeder’ clubs. Royal Antwerp just won the Belgian league, but they’re still viewed as a ‘feeder’ club for Man Utd. It’s fucking abysmal.

To do it, you’d need players who have the positional intelligence to operate in a ‘total football’ midfield. There was no indication when everyone was fit that we have that in the present squad (this is not a criticism of the technical abilities of our midfielders)

I love the bloke personally, but ultimately my emotional attachment is to NUFC. He’s in the ‘happy if he stays, shrug of shoulders if he goes (provided it’s for good money)’ category for me

He doesn’t play the same role as Vieira / Yaya Toure. He’s a big unit who plays wide left or left sided attacking midfielder. We might get our money back if he was sold

*looks at username* Yeah, not sure you’re unbiased here

I think what swung it was the $1bn paid by KSA, and the end of the BeIN block. That was on the 6th October 2021. On the 7th October 2021 the deal was announced as being back on; it was completed on the 8th October 2021. But I reckon it was that bloke who did the legal stuff on Twitter wot won it https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12040/12427926/newcastle-takeover-all-parties-hopeful-saudi-led-consortiums-deal-can-be-announced-on-thursday

Any contractor who bleated to me about access issues on that site would receive at least a raised eyebrow. It has nothing like the issues any SJP redevelopment would have. Quick aside - this is the same young hack who does the podcast with John Gibson. They talked about moving Newcastle’s home ground a while back. Gibson - a man who has been following NUFC since the ‘50s and has encyclopaedic knowledge of the club - viewed a move as ultimately a positive. The young’un got misty-eyed about the brutalist stadium currently on site, saying we couldn’t leave. Completely anecdotal, but I have found that generally the younger fans are more attached to SJP

Yeah, agreed. It is worth remembering that we bought him as a centre forward, and he’s on a PL centre forward’s wage - he isn’t badly remunerated at the moment.

Yep, again it doesn’t help us, but the idea that it damages the PL generally isn’t correct. Most English PL clubs have the vast majority of their income coming from TV money followed by match day income. Commercials for all except the biggest clubs is often comparatively small. Growing the commercials at Palace or Wolves is likely to be in the order of seven figures. The Sky Six have zero issues with their commercials. So UEFA’s FFP rules will have little to no impact in general on the PL. Thinking that it hurts the PL is wishful thinking - as it means that the PL will push back against it. Nope.

The UEFA FFP rules wouldn’t impact this at all. It’s based on turnover - the PL clubs earn a lot more than their other European counterparts. The rules would entrench English football’s position, not damage it.

Just as long as you’re the one giving him it and not the club I’m ok with that

Even a cursory look at where the Bernabeu is situated would have told the Ronnie Gill hack that the sites aren’t even remotely comparable. The space there isn’t limited at all - it’s surrounded on all sides by a fucking massive car park.

Surely ‘give him what he wants’ should be ‘give him what he deserves’. Depends what he’s after earning. It isn’t an infinite pot of cash

Tonali isn’t a DM - I don’t think the plan was ever for them to switch. Bruno’s position was always meant to be a DM - which was always odd to me, because I don’t think he’s particular good at it. He’s far better further forward.

Yep, that’s my thinking too. PIF isn’t the same as Abu Dhabi or Qatar’s govt funds. They’re city-states with tiny populations. KSA is a country - no matter how big the part, this isn’t the vanity project of the govt. I also don’t think that the ownership are necessarily unhappy about it. That tune may change if infrastructure starts coming into FFP equations

I’d happily bet that we won’t challenge it. That doesn’t mean that we can’t grow the club - but at present, I’m struggling to see how they achieve Staveley’s wilder claims.

Not saying we should be happy about it - just that FFP isn’t as unpopular as some are making out, and it isn’t about to start a Levellers moment in football

It protects other clubs from inflationary pressures re wages and transfer fees. FFP helps both the elite and those that aren’t. The clubs who want to join the elite - which could be counted on one hand with fingers to spare - are the only ones who are hamstrung. Not saying that’s fair like - but the vast, vast majority will be perfectly happy

I mean, that’s literally why they were singing it. I never heard similar being chanted at any other player. I’m aware that doesn’t exactly mean that chanting it was fine and dandy, it was hardly in good taste, but it definitely was because they looked similar:

Agreed - if by ambitious we mean challenging the big boys. Most clubs’ ambitions aren’t that lofty. How many clubs in Europe does it genuinely apply to? Two or three at most? There’s over a thousand pro clubs in Europe. Those who aren’t already part of the elite have no great claim in trying to join them. UEFA’s - and the PL‘s - rules are not being thrust upon unwilling victims. This is what they pretty much all want.

I was there in the 97/98 season and remember ‘town full of p***s’ from some of our lot. Fucking embarrassing

Honestly mate, I would try to put it to the back of your mind. There’s zero chance NUFC challenges this legally. The KSA govt challenging the FAs/UEFAs rules in court for the purposes of their own sportswashing isn’t likely to be a PR victory for them. Another club might well step up to the plate - I’m still not convinced it’s a ‘open and shut’ that the rules are overturned in court.