TheBrownBottle

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.

Beefy is still the number 1 rotund Newcastle fan with an NUFC tat across his stretchmarks, then. Unless of course he shows up on a Facebook National Front forum.

That bloke is troubled - there is clearly something off.

Yeah, I completely agree on all points

Tbf Cookie wasn’t saying that we have to sell - more that it’s probable that we will sell at some point. Which I think is true to an extent - though I think if Isak continues in the same vein as last season we’d be asking for more than double what we paid

Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea have all regularly traded players. The idea that we’ll not is unlikely. It’s also likely that due to FFP constraints we would be more willing to offload players for serious profit in the next few years. The problem isn’t selling players - even your current best ones - it’s having an ownership which wouldn’t want to replace them ambitiously. If Bruno or Isak were sold it would be because everyone at the club think it is the best move for the club, not their bank balance. This isn’t Ashley’s NUFC. But sponsorships and commercials will take years to catch up with the current ‘big boys’.

Tbf we signed some good players under Ashley. Keeping them, training them, surrounding them with other good players was more of an issue

Probably best that some of our support gets that into their heads. People talking about competing with Man City are crackers

FFP is why players like ASM may be moved on sooner than we’d like. And we aren’t likely to be competing with Man City for a while yet.