TheBrownBottle

Ashley so completely cattle-trucked our commercial revenues that it wouldn’t even need the connections and resources of the PIF to significantly grow that area of income for us - the club has been held back for so long it is ridiculous. It’s something that pisses me off about the laziness of the press - Ashley’s ‘balancing of the books’, rather than his failure to grow revenues even at the same rate as other PL clubs (including modest ones). Not helped of course by merchandising sales going straight to SD … edit: agreed on Caulkin, too. But he does seem to have an ‘in’ with them (or at least Staveley). The ‘no red flags’ stuff was embarrassing, and a lot of his stuff in the Athletic just reads like fanzine stuff to me

I can’t even read Edwards’s stuff anymore - I think the bloke increasingly looks fragile. He’s losing it. Caulkin & Hope in particular I was referring to - though I think TRon could be right re the creating of a sort of ‘false narrative’ in terms of how much will be spent

Love the man His opinion on tiki taka- style football is spot-on. Boring as fuck. Catenaccio reborn, except in the opposition’s half instead of your own

They haven’t pumped billions in to date. In fact, if the consensus of the journalists who have an ‘in’ is correct, then the money coming in doesn’t really look too much different to the figures Villa’s owners have pumped in. I wonder how many minds will change if the summer brings in modest recruitment rather than the huge sums spent that many are expecting?

I’d bet my house on Hurst using the term ‘undeserving poor’ unironically Perhaps if the charities were charged for being on the tender list so that bad charities who’d just sell the money are discouraged that would be a good idea?

Charging people to be on the waiting list is unlikely to deter ticket touts. Ticket touts buy tickets to sell them for a profit - they’re expected to have some outlay upfront. I hope the club treat this shite with the contempt it deserves. The whole thing looks like a Sixth former’s half-arsed NVQ business coursework.

The biggest difference between us is the only time I ever compare NUFC to SAFC is when the daft c***s bang on about something which is patently untrue. I don't think NUFC's success (or not) has ever used SAFC as a yardstick, whereas for them, glory is finishing above the Mags. It is a factor in why they are where they are.

Do you know what those fuckers actually do? Like supporting mass executions? It’s genuinely not funny mate.

Fair enough, not my intent though - more bad analogy than deliberately disingenuous. The general point was I’ve seen plenty defend the club on the basis that PIF have investments all over - but PIF don’t normally have an agenda beyond making money. The KSA-style strip shows that this is different from their other investments.

I’d happily see Lewis given a chance - but if Howe doesn’t fancy him, that’s ok with me

Lodi would be an incredible signing - a remarkable transfer if it comes off . I also wonder if it might in some ways explain the extension to Dummett’s deal - Lodi signing would mean no Targett deal I’d assume, so we’d need to ensure we have back-up LBs. The squad will bulk out over time, but given the need to strengthen elsewhere, it’s hard to see them spending a hefty chunk of the budget getting in two LBs.

The Louis CK approach to PR

I think some of that is fair enough tbh - I do think this is all taking a different character to the Man City/PSG/Chelsea takeovers; it is far more virulent and aimed at NUFC supporters, which is why I don’t think the reaction to this should be heated from our POV - I’m not angry or triggered in any way by the strip; I do though think it is a stupid idea and invites further criticism where none was needed. It pushes some into a corner where they feel they need to defend the indefensible - ultimately, the club itself has dragged politics into this

No, the point is the ‘whatabouttery’ by sections of the NUFC support suggesting that this is the same as the PIF’s investments in Disney etc. The difference is that the PIF aren’t attempting to modify Disney to suit their own ends - and the shadada reference was not intended to be Islamophobic, but a reference to its being a part of the flag of KSA

Not sure it’s as simple as people ‘getting over themselves’ tbf. It isn’t a good look, and it is only going provoke a response. Besides, having spent a year and a bit ‘proving’ separation, the club are opening up to potential issues should the noise become so great that the PL / govt intervenes. Not a smart move at all. On another point I’ve seen elsewhere - one of the usual defences offered up in the past is that the PIF also invest in Disney / Uber / name of another brand. But they don’t expect the Disney logo to have the shahada written underneath it. This is all completely unnecessary and the response was always going to happen - and for those who absolutely love every part of this takeover, it should be remembered that this isn’t a ‘fixed’ settlement between the PL, PIF and NUFC - the KSA govt is meant to have nowt to do with us. Bedecking the team in the national strip of KSA is potentially opening them up to further questions. This is honestly one of the stupidest decisions I’ve seen by NUFC since … well, there were so many under Ashley it’s hard to keep track

Haha enjoy - just to add, I’m in full agreement with what you said re having a standard away kit strip, just as B&W stripes are the home kit. I still think of Arsenal’s away kits being yellow tops & blue shorts, Leeds being their previous home kit of blue & yellow, Man Utd & Liverpool being white tops and black shorts.

This is why I can’t get too wound up by the kit - it seems to be the NUFC press who are having the biggest meltdowns. Caulkin going from fawning interviews to getting jumpy about the kit, as if he wasn’t aware of the owners until it was stated so publically.

They were, that’s true. Still, much better than all those drab adidas efforts from the late ‘90s - late ‘00s. I have an irrational dislike for NUFC having white or black away kits. Brazil ‘70s, Silver ‘80s, Norwich ‘90s, and generally blue and reds are all good for me.

I always loved the ‘70s Brazil kit. About the only good thing Puma did was bringing that one back roughly a decade ago

It definitely isn’t in terms of the club’s coffers - as I mentioned the other day on this thread, the club normally gets roughly 8% of every strip sale (some bigger clubs negotiate a higher %). Man City - a far more successful than us - sold 1m shirts worldwide this year. KSA has a population of 34m - how big is that potential market? A few tens of thousands? Maybe a hundred thousand? A hundred thousand shirts at £60 a pop, with us getting 8% before tax = roughly half a million quid. It’s not even worth the vitriol from a financial perspective, never mind everything else. The owners also seem to have forgotten that sportswashing usually needs obvious success before it is effective …

I think green may have appeared more often in change kits than any other colour in my lifetime - though it may be second to blue. I can think of six kits just off the top of my head. It’s an utterly inane point the lad is making in that respect

Hurst is about as far away from the fanzine ethos as it’s possible to get. Daddy’s taxi firm bought him a fanzine so that he gets to brown nose the club when it suits

I’ve no doubt it’ll be used on the inevitable two/three trips to play KSA clubs in friendlies, whether it is the second or third kit. We all know who owns the club, this stuff is just the beginning. Our owners refused to sign up to the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They aren’t just a bit iffy, they’re one of the most vicious, abusive, and oppressive regimes on earth. The KSA-inspired away kit is the least of it, for me - if we ever become any good, you can expect our star players - in NUFC regalia, which will be more like a livery - to be featured in adverts extolling the virtues of a regime which still tortures and executes people for the ‘crime’ of wanting the right to vote or for being homosexual. I’m expecting more and more of this stuff - the surprise to me is that they’ve scored such an obvious PR OG for so little gain.

I don't ever get the impression that Edwards listens to anyone except the voice in his head Staveley said over a year ago what the spending plans were - 250m over five windows, which is 50m per window, above what the club can bring in for itself. He reports that they've set a budget of 50m + sales, and then scratches his head ... when he was one of the ones who mistakenly thought they would chuck hundreds of millions at the club each window They've told us what their plans are - it isn't exactly a secret

Yep. And after a decade and a half of Ashley, and we're all still here, it is almost as if we don't really have a choice. I didn't choose to be born in Newcastle, but I was. Therefore I didn't get to choose a club ...