TheBrownBottle

They’re the historical gates though but man Put up the mid 90s.

I think there’s an arrogance to it. ‘Do you think that the slush fund of a sovereign state will screw it’s own domestic league in order to win favour with another club they own 5,000 miles away?’ No. So stop blathering on about it.

Yep. Reporting someone else reporting on it is still reporting on it.

I tend to think that the European press outside the UK is even less aware of the FFP constraints. They know NUFC has rich owners and therefore will link all and sundry to the club

In the example I mentioned above, we replaced Micky Quinn - who went straight on to score shitloads that year in the PL for Coventry - with an Arsenal reject from Bristol City. Cole did ok. For what it’s worth, I think Barnes is a better PL footballer than ASM.

I totally understand supporters feeling bad about saying goodbye to favourite players mind (and ASM is still an NUFC player). Especially younger supporters for whom ASM is one of a few bright spots over the previous few years. For me, it’s what I experienced in seeing Keegan ruthlessly sell Micky Quinn and then David Kelly - my no. 9 heroes as a kid - and Gavin Peacock. I couldn’t believe we would get promoted and sell off our best forwards (NB Quinn went early in the promotion season, and of course Cole signed towards the end). Watching Cole and Beardsley the year after was a valuable learning exercise, mind, re the value of ruthlessness in football. Keegan - for all the nice guy charisma - had it. So in my reckoning has Howe.

100%. I think they do struggle to anticipate it. And what top footballers do is understand that and adapt to their teammates - even if they aren’t as good as they are. Bruno is the player in our current side who does exactly that - he makes players who are nowhere near his level look like they’re close to it. Beardsley was the master of doing this. ASM, unfortunately, doesn’t.

Because the ‘data’ is a load of bollocks in my view. ’Chances created’ is heavily qualitative. And I watched every game last season - ASM wasn’t putting them on cue only for our forwards to miss constantly. The constant, regular misses came mainly from Trippier dead balls.

Yeah, fair enough - and I forgot he only had a year left. But of the list mentioned, Lascelles is the only one I think would even command a fee

Yeah, I definitely have an affection for players - but loyalty would suggest not wanting them to leave, whereas it’s just part of the game for me. The club selling any player is unlikely to get me radged up - especially these days. I don’t get the impression that Howe is keen on the lad, he’ll bring in a good fee - so if he’s sold, then that’s ok by me. I don’t like seeing the club sell a player over the manager’s head, but other than that I’m happy for them to have free rein on this stuff. Especially when they’re as qualified and talented as Howe and Ashworth are.

Lascelles might get you £10-15m, but I’m not seeing fees at all for the others. You’d likely have to offload them for free and pay a % of their wages.

I have zero sense of loyalty towards footballers. I haven’t since I hit puberty. The idea that they have to be kept out of a sense of loyalty isn’t sensible for me. Murphy also shouldn’t be kept out of a sense of ‘loyalty’, but rather because the management team feel that they want him to stay more than the value his sale would bring. That doesn’t mean people should give the lad two fingers as he goes, but some perspective is required. As for ‘xA’ and all that stuff, it just doesn’t register for me. Not getting ‘assists’ isn’t just about other players missing the chance - if he’s putting the ball in the same place every time, and every time nothing comes of it, that’s not smart play.

No, because ASM didn’t do owt in any real terms. He’s a talented dribbler, but there his legacy ends. He definitely isn’t on their level talent-wise - the output isn’t there. Ginola and Robert were standout talents in the best NUFC sides most of us have seen. ASM - when fit - made watching Bruce’s sides not completely awful. Ginola and Robert were criticised heavily and regularly at the time. I’m not sure Robert would class as a club icon, either - he was a favourite of mine at the time, which led to most of my match-going mates taking the piss as most felt he was lazy and had a shit attitude. Personally, I just thought the lad had a wand of a left foot and even when he was out of form, his presence alone stretched teams.

Players like ASM are just as likely to be moved on with the FFP regs. Ginola, Robert and HBA all had the same despite all being better players than ASM. The bloke who sat behind me used to get apoplectic at Robert, usually for absolutely no good reason.

ASM thread turns into Mens Rights hellhole shocker

It wouldn’t - what I was criticising was the notion put out that a handful of footballers going to Saudi Arabia is likely to change the culture there. What is never suggested is the opposite - that perhaps footballers will move there and change to conform with that culture. And the latter, while unlikely, is still more likely than the former.

I love the ‘footballer will change KSA’ shite. Ever notice how no-one ever suggests that the footballer might go there and become a Wahhabist crank? I think that’s more likely (even if unlikely) than Jordan fucking Henderson changing KSA into a liberal democracy.

He’s a brave lad and deserves much credit for that interview. I wouldn’t want NUFC going out and signing him, though.

I suspect that they view them as vehicles with completely different goals. The Premier League is the world's 'glamour league' at present - buying and owning a successful PL club will be good for 'Brand KSA'. Improving the KSA league will be about 1) strengthening their league generally (it is their money) 2) raising the profile of KSA football worldwide generally and 3) as part of a KSA WC 2030 bid. Should NUFC achieve success and become a major player in Europe, I'd anticipate them competing in a lot of close season tournaments in KSA against the elite KSA clubs, with the KSA govt looking on like a Roman emperor at a gladiator show. A successful KSA-owned PL club and a KSA league are not mutually exclusive

That Saudi Arabia thread on SMB today ...

The fucker literally mentions FFP then questions why we aren’t spending money. There is obtuse, there is being a cunt, then there is Baldwards

Isn’t it precisely the level of backing Edwards said he’d get? Wish the cunt would just fuck off and cover a different region. He has the mentality of a red top hack

Nah, just that daft cunt with the Beefy copycat tattoo

And Lee Bowyer on a free for 2003/04. English football is also stronger now than it was then - finishing 4th takes far more quality. Honestly, it’s not a case of what the owners want to spend - the maths on FFP are public knowledge.

I still think the numbers are 100-120m + sales tbh. But at least 100m.