PIF and RB Sports & Media

[Armchair Pundit]

2 hours ago, NWMag said:

Because the Saudi league is a higher priority for them than we are, which I would expect tbh. 

The Saudi league is a wanky retirement league, they know that and it'll never change, no matter what they do.

[Exiled in Texas]

32 minutes ago, Armchair Pundit said:

The Saudi league is a wanky retirement league, they know that and it'll never change, no matter what they do.

Yes, just like the Chinese league a few years ago, overpaying for star names but still no TV audience. I really don’t understand their strategy or goals for the league. 

[Miggys First Goal]

And where is the Chinese league now? Nobody even talks about it. 

[r0cafella]

It's days like yesterday where FFP bites and the intense head scratching begins. What are they trying to achieve exactly? so much low hanging fruit left ignored. 

[Stifler]

15 hours ago, Exiled in Texas said:

Yes, just like the Chinese league a few years ago, overpaying for star names but still no TV audience. I really don’t understand their strategy or goals for the league. 

The Chinese league started to fall away because the Chinese government instructed all their business leaders to stop investing outside of China, and to stop investing in football to focus on growth in other areas. This is why clubs like Wolves have hit a wall, WBA, and Reading having trouble. I also think Southampton were hit a bit as well.

 

On top of this, you also had Covid which also forced the players and managers to go home.

 

The Chinese league, and the Saudi league are trying to do what the MLS did with Beckham. They are trying to bump it up. At first it will be big names players towards the end of their career, but soon enough they’ll be buying and creating those players that either start off in those leagues, or use it as a stepping stone onto the other leagues.

 

I get the point that the Saudi league have fucked up the broadcasting. They have went with a platform that is just a boxing platform in a lot of countries, instead of going down the Sky route like the MLS and even the Chinese league did.

[The Prophet]

19 hours ago, Armchair Pundit said:

So, Al Nassr are forking out £71m for Duran from Villa? Al Nassr, that's owned by PIF? Why are they handing money to Villa, possibly our main rivals currently in terms of level? I don't get it.

 

I think it's because fans view PIF the same as they would a company or a corporation.

 

They're a sovereign wealth fund who fund domestic and international projects (with the former taking priority).

 

Do the four Saudi clubs under ownership need a budget to raise the profile of the SPL? Done.

 

Do NUFC need cash to assist them become a more valuable asset? No problem.

 

I'd be surprised if there's that much joined up thinking going into it. Al Nassr will be given a budget and the club will do the rest. The same as NUFC. PIF are passive investors, while Eales, Mitchell, etc run the show.

[SUPERTOON]

4 hours ago, r0cafella said:

It's days like yesterday where FFP bites and the intense head scratching begins. What are they trying to achieve exactly? so much low hanging fruit left ignored. 

Aye, Howe has performed miracles and the 9 game winning run silenced a bit of the doubts. But it’s another window without strengthening, still no new commercial deals. All this whilst we are fighting on three fronts. 

[Ben]

2 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Aye, Howe has performed miracles and the 9 game winning run silenced a bit of the doubts. But it’s another window without strengthening, still no new commercial deals. All this whilst we are fighting on three fronts. 

 

Without sounding like Duggie Downer the season could go to fuck if we lose our next two games and it won't be Mitchell that's under pressure 

[The Prophet]

Appreciate everything Mandy and her fella did for the club. Without her there would be no takeover, no survival and no Champions League.

 

However, it does appear that our transfer business under their watch was completely unsustainable and left us in a bit of a mess. It seems it was time for the club to continue it's evolution.

 

 

Edited 19 hours ago by The Prophet

[kingxlnc]

12 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

Appreciate everything Mandy and her fella did for the club. Without her there would be no takeover, no survival and no Champions League.

 

However, it does appear that our transfer business under their watch was completely unsustainability and left us in a bit of a mess. It seems it was time for the club to continue it's evolution.

They defo got deals done tho and good ones

 

A bit of Freddie shepherd about them perhaps, to gamble the future on the now although it’s less with vanity in mind and more from a well intentioned place

[Stifler]

12 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

Appreciate everything Mandy and her fella did for the club. Without her there would be no takeover, no survival and no Champions League.

 

However, it does appear that our transfer business under their watch was completely unsustainability and left us in a bit of a mess. It seems it was time for the club to continue it's evolution.

If we never did it though, we would never have stayed up, and we wouldn’t have finished 4th.

[The Prophet]

58 minutes ago, Stifler said:

If we never did it though, we would never have stayed up, and we wouldn’t have finished 4th.

 

To be fair, that's literally what I said.

[JigsawGoesToPieces]

2 hours ago, The Prophet said:

Appreciate everything Mandy and her fella did for the club. Without her there would be no takeover, no survival and no Champions League.

 

However, it does appear that our transfer business under their watch was completely unsustainability and left us in a bit of a mess. It seems it was time for the club to continue it's evolution.

 

Yup and Amanda and Mehrdad fell on their sword because of last June's PSR shambles.

 

From reading about other problems Amanda has had outside of NUFC, it sounds like she's very scattergun in her approach to business, i'm not convinced she's actually that good as a businesswoman.

 

She's been taken to the cleaners twice in court in last few years by Barclays and the greek bloke and the barrasters have ridiculed her in court which will have tarnished her reputation.

 

She seems to be better as a conduit, using her contacts to get people into a room to do business.

 

[Stifler]

1 minute ago, JigsawGoesToPieces said:

Yup and Amanda and Mehrdad fell on their sword because of last June's PSR shambles.

 

From reading about other problems Amanda has had outside of NUFC, it sounds like she's very scattergun in her approach to business, i'm not convinced she's actually that good as a businesswoman.

 

She's been taken to the cleaners twice in court in last few years by Barclays and the greek bloke and the barrasters have ridiculed her in court which will have tarnished her reputation.

 

She seems to be better as a conduit, using her contacts to get people into a room to do business.

 

In all fairness, the judge ruled that the agreement with Barclays was valid, but rejected her claims on the realistic prospect of Barclays paying 1 person that much money. In reality the law should have been upheld better.

The Greek bloke wouldn’t have even been an issue then.

[HayDen Traces]

But without her it would be unlikely we forked out the fees for Isak, Gordon et al...

 

I still miss her and Mehrdad. I'd have loved for them to stay on the board and work with Mitchell and co.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

10 minutes ago, JigsawGoesToPieces said:

 

Yup and Amanda and Mehrdad fell on their sword because of last June's PSR shambles.

 

From reading about other problems Amanda has had outside of NUFC, it sounds like she's very scattergun in her approach to business, i'm not convinced she's actually that good as a businesswoman.

 

She's been taken to the cleaners twice in court in last few years by Barclays and the greek bloke and the barrasters have ridiculed her in court which will have tarnished her reputation.

 

She seems to be better as a conduit, using her contacts to get people into a room to do business.

 

I thought they had to go because they couldn’t match the investment levels of the other shareholders? 

[Jackie Broon]

3 hours ago, The Prophet said:

 

I think it's because fans view PIF the same as they would a company or a corporation.

 

They're a sovereign wealth fund who fund domestic and international projects (with the former taking priority).

 

Do the four Saudi clubs under ownership need a budget to raise the profile of the SPL? Done.

 

Do NUFC need cash to assist them become a more valuable asset? No problem.

 

I'd be surprised if there's that much joined up thinking going into it. Al Nassr will be given a budget and the club will do the rest. The same as NUFC. PIF are passive investors, while Eales, Mitchell, etc run the show.

 

That's clearly not the case from what we've heard and seen in the documentary, PIF are heavily involved and have final say on everything.

[The Prophet]

16 minutes ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

That's clearly not the case from what we've heard and seen in the documentary, PIF are heavily involved and have final say on everything.

 

They have final say on spending, etc and will influence the strategic vision of the club, but Eales runs the club day to day.

 

 

Edited 18 hours ago by The Prophet

[TRon]

23 hours ago, Miggys First Goal said:

And where is the Chinese league now? Nobody even talks about it. 

 

 

That's because once they stopped buying European players everyone in Europe lost interest. We have no idea if there's even much appetite for football in China, if there is, I would think their domestic league will probably do fine on it's own terms.

 

Saudi league is different because we know there is a massive market for football and they can probably throw money at it for long enough to grow the standard of their homegrown players and coaching to a point where it's self sufficient. It might not replace UEFA leagues for popularity, but it might grow it's own fanbase in a few years.

[Jackie Broon]

5 hours ago, The Prophet said:

 

They have final say on spending, etc and will influence the strategic vision of the club, but Eales runs the club day to day.

 

 

 

 

I was responding to you saying they are "passive investors". Of course the CEO runs the club day to day, but PIF having meetings to decide on transfer targets and negotiations, as was seen in the documentary, are not the actions of "passive investors".