TheBrownBottle

They could do something completely crazy, like having all of the champions of Europe play in a cup competition, and have straight knockouts - with no seeding in place. For everyone else, they could have another cup competition where the teams who didn’t win the league but finished high enough in the table qualify - and ensure that every country gets at least one team qualified. Then maybe a third competition, where all the cup winners play each other in straight knockouts similar to the one that the champions do. That all sounds completely mental, though. Would never work.

Always thought grey looked shite tbh - a giant concrete edifice with concrete coloured seats. The old East Stand seats looked better. I’m willing to bet that we had grey because that was the cheapest option back in 1993.

I honestly thought someone had faked the adidas seats thing!

Definitely - 70k seats plus shitloads of corporate would be ideal - for me, you'd want corporate boxes in a wraparound the stadium. Corporate does take up a load of space

Looks like I need to give up the day job of being a civils QS running a team of 30 civil engineering cost estimators including projects which top $1bn ... Nah, I'll reiterate this. A new NUFC stadium is unlikely to cost billions. It is unlikely to top 1bn. Spurs' ground cost 1bn+. This is because large scale civil engineering projects are particularly impacted by location - access to site, space restrictions, time restrictions, site conditions etc. Material procurement is a relatively steady cost and can be quantified quite easily. Spurs were building their ground with quite severe access issues, on a site with difficult ground conditions (it is a city location, and therefore it is unlikely that any excavated material could be re-used; besides, there would be nowhere to stockpile it). Everton's ground cost has been mentioned - Everton were building in the docklands, and had ground contamination issues. If NUFC were to build at Castle Leazes, the site has few access restrictions, and is on a relatively level plot of land with little site clearance requirements. The soil is unlikely to have contamination issues (contaminated soil is a nightmare cost-wise). It can be programmed easily as a result of the lack of space restrictions, meaning that the program can be crashed for maximum cost-efficiency. It is unlikely that any nightworks would be required due to the lack of disruption. Don't get me wrong, if they go for a 80k+ super stadium, then yes this would comfortably top 1bn. I'm not sure that's what we'd be getting.

A new stadium wouldn’t cost a billion, never mind multiple billions

The state and the provider are absolutely linked - it’s Saudi Arabia we’re talking about here. They were publicly broadcasting BeOutQ’s matches - in the same year that women were finally allowed to go to the cinema. You don’t get to do much in public without it being state sanctioned. Oppressive dictatorships are like that.

And if it was still occurring I’d happily criticise that the too tbf

Yep - don’t even see how this is controversial. The WTO ruled on it - it’s why they paid Qatar a billion quid. https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/economy/2020/6/16/saudi-state-behind-beoutq-piracy-tv-operation-wto-ruling

That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that it is clearly not the act of a normal, functioning state to commit piracy. KSA doesn’t have Rule of law - so yes, everyone should be concerned about their legal system, just as human beings.

They knew what they were doing tbf - put MBS in for the FPO test and then have a de facto head of state ruled as unfit as he’d have been convicted of a crime if he was anywhere else; they’ll have known full well that there’s zero chance that PIF would endure that, creating an impasse and waiting for them to get sick and pull out. Complete cunt’s trick, they should’ve been upfront

In no small part because KSA had mugged the PL by allowing state-sanctioned piracy of their broadcasts. Which is a completely normal thing for a govt to do.

Or Ligue 1 in 1992/93 when OM were done on match fixing / ref bribing charges

European qualification is in the gift of the FA, not UEFA

The League Cup isn’t administered by the PL - and cups wouldn’t be awarded to losing finalists

It’s pretty much worse than either of them for me. Difference is that - unlike Scotland or Italy - England’s professional leagues aren’t run by the FA; they’re not even run by the same body. So if the PL relegate Man City, they can’t rule that they need relegating to the fourth tier.

Titles in corresponding seasons stripped 80 point deduction reduced on appeal Massive fine 12 months transfer embargo If they’re done on most of the charges, they deserve to have the book thrown at them.

We agreed to pay them £65m. Then they moved it to £70m and we didn’t move on it. So Howe clearly thinks the lad was worth at least £65m.

I’m not convinced that Eddie Howe decides on a player’s worth based on what the press publish. I’m going to go with Howe knowing more about centre halves than the press and any of us on here - if Howe felt he was worth pushing the boat out for, that’ll do for me.

I’d rather have Botman and Guehi

Yep, Parish played a stupid game and won a stupid prize. The lad has had his head turned, and no-one will pay big money in Jan. And next summer plenty of clubs are likely to wait (assuming CP are in the PL). A short burst of form at the end of last season has given them delusions of grandeur.

Christ - Palace look shite here

Yep, that would be what I’d criticise Mitchell and the club for with this. The NE football press are a pack of cunts who desperately try to make a story out of anything. The club was daft to trust any of them.

You don’t need a feasibility study to outline your intentions tbh. This is just procrastination.

Some things are more important than who owns a football club. They’ll get fuck all thanks from me.