TheBrownBottle

I wonder what Dan Ashworth will do with the lad - it'll be interesting to see what a proper DoF will make of Shola

Yep, can't think of a more fitting sponsor for Ashley's cheap and nasty version of NUFC. Though I suppose an online gambling company is marginally less depressing than a loan shark - sorry, payday lender. Though there is a symbiotic relationship between the two - how many tapped up Wonga due to gambling addictions, I wonder.

Either way, we're both guilty of derailing the thread

Canny article - Cisse's form was never going to be sustainable, but the lad was Pardewed as well - a well-managed Cisse was probably somewhere between a thunderbastard every game and a one-in-four centre forward

Apologies, didn't mean to derail the thread. Not looking to piss people off either.

I never said anything about that. I said that a govt whose intent is to return to an earlier, more 'pure' version of Islamic practice is by simple definition backward. Words have meanings, whether you think they can be tossed off or not. They want to replicate the past - that is ... backward. Nothing to do with Islam or Muslims generally - specifically about the KSA govt.

No, they just fell in love with stotties and Brown Ale and thought 'we should buy their football club and make it successful' The KSA govt is backward even by simple definition, as its Wahhabist version of the Salafi movement is deliberately atavistic in nature. I know people try to make out like criticism of the KSA govt is really about sneering racist condescension, but it isn't

The Fun88 deal didn't have a stated end-point - just that it is 'multi-year' and 'long-term' when the new deal was signed in 2020. It would be a bit of a concern if they weren't sacked-off - we don't want to be working under the master negotiator's (Charnley) commercial agreements for long https://www.nufc.co.uk/news/latest-news/newcastle-united-and-fun88-agree-new-partnership/

I'd be like that woman who clung onto her terraced house when Ewood Park was being redeveloped - I wouldn't allow the bulldozers in. Leazes Terrace's own version of Swampy .

Likewise. An attempt to make a qualitative assessment look like a quantitative one. Phony statistical shite

Yeah, it’s bloody awful - all those types of grounds are. Derby is still my least favourite - literal middle of bastard nowhere, identikit to Boro’s; though with better air quality

That’s for a one bedroom flat in a medium sized provincial city in a region with the lowest average wages in the UK. That’s a lot of money all things considered.

Looks like Bristol Rovers’ kit washer accidentally washed it at 90C

I’m happy to stay at SJP, and happy to move to a super duper stadium. I’ll go with the flow on this one. What does frighten me is the number of budding T Dan Smiths in the support who’d be comfortable knocking down Grade I listed buildings to get an extra few thousand into the East Stand. The type who’d bemoan the loss of tradition in leaving SJP, but would have zero issue with smashing up a part of the city’s heritage.

Absolutely. The whole ‘football is a business’ line doesn’t work to me - even for profitable clubs, the yield is tiny compared to investment and definitely not worth the risk. Almost any other business would be a better investment.

I absolutely take your point - but it’s all relative. Aramco makes average profits of $300m per day - two days profits would completely transform any football club and they wouldn’t blink That’s not to suggest that they’ll throw those sums at us - but if a successful NUFC is part of a wider plan, they won’t blink. These organisations and companies are separate institutions in name only - it all goes into the same pot

Saudia & Aramco are almost entirely govt-owned. They won’t give a monkeys about fair value if the bigger picture is having a super successful club - but I also suspect they’d run foul of the PL

Aren’t Saudia owned by the state? I’m not sure if the ‘related parties’ / separation thing will rear its ugly head, but you can guarantee a number of clubs will cry foul if we’re sponsored by Saudia next season for a jillion quid a year Of course, I suspect they could wrap up the PL in litigation as a giant ‘FU’ but Staveley said they intended to play by the rules It strikes me that we might end up with non-Saudi sponsorship - from large organisations who have or want links to PIF …

Yeah, I was thinking about that. Can’t be fun, and the moment you can’t be arsed to slap on a pretend smile is the moment you’re pulled apart on social media. Michael Owen is a cunt regardless though.

Yeah, that's pretty much where I am. I don't think there's any clamour for a redesign - I've no issues with the current one. I do like round club badges, but that doesn't mean we should change ours. And I loathe those aggressive muscular magpie designs you see online or on shit t-shirts. There's nowt intimidating about a magpie - nor does there need to be. Hyper-aggressive animals on club crests makes me think of u-9s hockey teams more than professional football Edit: I would like to see the club do some merchandise with the old badges though. Retro tops etc.

Mrs BB spent a summer working at the Diamond in Pont about a decade and a half ago - in terms of the NUFC players, she reckoned Shearer was nice enough if a little aloof. Once made the barmaids a cup of tea behind the bar, which won browny points. According to her, Given was surprisingly lecherous and Owen was a massive, massive c*** to all and sundry. She’s always amused to hear that the support hates Owen too

I think Henderson would be a good signing - though this is on the basis that we retain Dubravka. Having two decent PL quality goalkeepers seems like a minimum requirement to me - we shouldn't let too many years of Ashley make us forget that

The magpie in front of a castle isn't a redesign, though

I bought him for NUFC on the new Champ Man. He was fantastic for me. This does not necessarily make for a recommendation for NUFC to sign him in real life, I can’t imagine that Tommy Svindal Larson or Andri Sigthorsson would’ve worked wonders for NUFC sides of the past like they did for me.

I’m ok with the badge being redesigned, and I have a soft spot for round badges - but that’s shite