TheBrownBottle

Yeah, I don’t like it at all. I haven’t hid that at any point. Being owned by one of the vilest regimes on the planet isn’t a good news story.

It’s hardly pathetic to hold someone to account for statements they’ve made.

The PIF is headed by a man who paid $500m for a painting which may not have actually have been painted by Leonardo, which he keeps on a yacht and therefore susceptible to damage from sea air. I’m willing to suggest that idiocy is a pretty standard trait in terms of the Saudi govt.

Not seeing it at present, unless something truly significant occurs. You absolutely can spend that much in football without a plan, easily - look at Boehly’s Chelsea or Man Utd over the last decade.

COVID was prior to the takeover

Yeah, perfectly reasonable points. They’re all welcome improvements, and under other ownership my praise might have been more fulsome. But we have the owners we have - and they’re the ones who made the bold statements; they set the expectations.

‘Do we want to win the Premier League within five to ten years? Yes’. Takeover day. Now, of course there is an extended timescale to that - but I would’ve expected to see the bare minimum (new training ground + sponsorship, academy etc) done to date. Not a peep, which means that any benefits gets pushed further back. I would’ve expected maximising all commercial income strands possible. So far we’ve done the basics. I would’ve expected plans for either a new stadium or significant improvement to the existing - diddly squat (yes, before anyone says, I know that the club is undertaking a feasibility study. These don’t tend to take two and a half years). Superb management by Howe and some astute signings in year 1 made it look like this was all part of the plan.

Sadly, that won’t plug the income gap - it would be a temporary situation. We’re light years away from the income levels of the Sky six

Spurs’ revenue went up by over 20% last season, and they don’t have the low hanging fruit NUFC do. Even if our revenues continued to grow at the same pace as last season it would take nearly a decade just to catch Spurs. And we won’t see 40% growth year on year. The 2023/24 accounts will likely show an increase of around 20%. We’re halfway to Staveley’s five year mark, and it is a real struggle to see what they’re doing creatively to plug the gap.

Germany is the model for broken modern football. Bayern’s complete dominance is absolutely ludicrous, and FFP has enshrined their position.

Who's heads? The issue is the ownership

He's everyone's favourite Bruce-loving WUM. But he isn't wrong on this one. In fact, he's spot-on for me. Related party transactions aren't banned - hence why Sela is on our tops (Sela is PIF-owned). They've just been painfully slow in getting what should have been a shitload of deals done. It isn't a massive surprise to anyone familiar with the workings of the KSA state - it is ponderous and inefficient (the least of the concerns tbf).

That huge sums being poured into a single club destabilises football in a way which has negative consequences all the way down the pyramid; that Chelsea and Man City basically caused hyperinflation in football, and that this should not be allowed to happen again. No problem with that. Where I have a real problem is that the current rules and regs basically lock in the status quo. They’re not the only two possible outcomes. I understand that there are plenty who want unfettered rampant capitalism applied to football - that’s up to them. I’d rather see sensible controls applied which allow growth at sensible rates and allow stimulus, but not to replicate the ridiculous initial approaches of PSG, Chelsea or Man City.

Fair enough - I just hate VAR mate. I always love the democratic feel of football as a sport - that the laws are the same whether you’re playing amateur level on a Sunday or in the cup final. It’s no longer the case. I’m perfectly ok with FFP as a concept. I don’t like how it currently works

VAR is far worse for the game than FFP for me. I’m supportive of financial regulation in football - my issue is that the current version of the rules are simply baking in the existing hierarchy. VAR has created a two-tier game, and has destroyed football’s greatest pleasure - the immediacy of a goal

Conference League would be European qualification, and would be absolutely great.

It would be, tbf

And another:

I'm still trying to forget the Ashley era; it certainly shouldn't be used as a benchmark, and not sure why people use watching us during it as a badge of honour. Plenty of us have experienced much, much worse than our lowest ebb being a couple of second division titles (football wise, the Ashley era was hardly the worst anyone 40+ has experienced). I honestly don't remember during the poor run in the second half of 94-95 people saying 'hey, do remember how shit 90/91 was, how you were bored to tears at the back end of Smith's reign and how we just looked every part a mid-table second division club playing regularly in front of sub-20k crowds. Now you should stop saying KK should drop Rob Lee, or if not you can fuck off and watch Man Utd'.

This is all that's happened since the late '80s (and we've been more than party to it on a few occasions). It is what created the PL breakaway, the failure to reduce the top division to 18 clubs as planned, the change from the European Cup to the 'Champions League', from there to 2nd / 3rd / 4th places qualifying, to payments based upon club co-efficients, to 'FFP / FMV' etc. The game has been slowly rigged for years (and again, NUFC were a player in the original breakaway plans in '88; John Hall was one of the biggest gobshites for a 'European Super League' in the mid-90s, etc)

I can’t see what the criticism would be of Howe based on tonight. He played his strongest team, adapted tactics to suit both opposition and the hand he has to play, made aggressive subs, and I thought we did ok all things considered. The last four months haven’t exactly been great, but the manager can’t be criticised for the Man City game

Even the best centre forwards have off days - Isak had vs Man City; that’s all it was. Service wasn’t the issue

We could also be two defeats from 13th, which on current form is as plausible as two wins from 7th (not referring to the Man City game) Plenty to play for still and we should aim as high as possible, but I wouldn’t be confident of winning lots of games at the moment.

Yep, no shiny pots again this year but plenty to play for yet

Thought Howe called it pretty much right today - we were just outclassed against probably the world’s best side