PIF and RB Sports & Media

[JigsawGoesToPieces]

10 hours ago, LFEE said:

And we went on to win a trophy and qualify for the UCL. Eales presence in the transition period has hardly had a detrimental effect. 
 

The club hired two people at least off top of my head to grease the wheels of the stadium project and guessing training ground.

 

Would imagine when Eales leaves (next month?) someone will be in place.

 

Not a problem then but its about to be a big problem as we will soon have no CEO or Sporting Director.

 

We are 9 days shy of it being 9 months since he announced he was stepping down, im sure he could do without the stress with his health issues and it it wont help our future planning when the CEO and Sporting Director have a foot out the door.

 

All we can hope is that have already appointed and they are working their notice otherwise someone working at that level would probably need to give 4-6 months notice or someone like Brad Miller becomes Interim CEO

[The Prophet]

Eales will most likely stay in post until we appoint a new CEO. He'll leave once he's completed his hand over.

[PauloGeordio]

8 hours ago, The Prophet said:

Eales will most likely stay in post until we appoint a new CEO. He'll leave once he's completed his hand over.

That’s what he said he’d do all along (health permitting).

[Menace]

Eales and Mitchell were shit hires

[SUPERTOON]

9 hours ago, The Prophet said:

Eales will most likely stay in post until we appoint a new CEO. He'll leave once he's completed his hand over.

Staying forever then.

[TRon]

14 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

You think the money and close proximity is happenstance? It’s clear as day. 

 

I’m not concerned. I said PIF’s primary football focus is not Newcastle United.  It is their own league and the World Cup. So their funding FIFAs vanity projects and funding their own league with big names - even if they are from our rivals. 
 

PIF has the power to corrupt UEFA and circumvent rules. But they don’t want too. Thats fine. If a European football club was so crucial to their football efforts I think they just do the deal to buy Spurs.  

 

Not sure about that like. UEFA has the most powerful clubs in the world in it's portfolio. PIF couldn't even buy their way into the PL unhindered, let alone the rest of the big hitters in Europe. 

[The College Dropout]

15 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Not sure about that like. UEFA has the most powerful clubs in the world in it's portfolio. PIF couldn't even buy their way into the PL unhindered, let alone the rest of the big hitters in Europe. 

You say that but didn’t the literal Prime Minister of the country lean on the PL to make the sale go through? With the only known concession ask was that Saudi stop pirating a major PL service?

 

And imo - they did this over something that isn’t even their primary footballing priority. They have shown they can lean politically, buy local influence, invest in media etc.

 

In terms of hacks PIF can use Newcastle United to do their local investment and then just sell it to themselves. They’ve shown no desire in creative PSR behaviour. 
 

PSG are in bed with UEFA that way, which is why they’ve been allowed to do what they have - even in recent years.  The CL with PSG was one of their primary goals and they did everything possible to achieve it. Soft power, hard power everything.  
 

In many ways it’s positive for us. They’ve taken a measured approach. More aggression would’ve led to a Chelsea type chaos probably.  Not to the same degree but chasing names, embarrassing FFP moves, chopping and changing managers etc.  

[TRon]

24 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

You say that but didn’t the literal Prime Minister of the country lean on the PL to make the sale go through? With the only known concession ask was that Saudi stop pirating a major PL service?

 

And imo - they did this over something that isn’t even their primary footballing priority. They have shown they can lean politically, buy local influence, invest in media etc.

 

In terms of hacks PIF can use Newcastle United to do their local investment and then just sell it to themselves. They’ve shown no desire in creative PSR behaviour. 
 

PSG are in bed with UEFA that way, which is why they’ve been allowed to do what they have - even in recent years.  The CL with PSG was one of their primary goals and they did everything possible to achieve it. Soft power, hard power everything.  
 

In many ways it’s positive for us. They’ve taken a measured approach. More aggression would’ve led to a Chelsea type chaos probably.  Not to the same degree but chasing names, embarrassing FFP moves, chopping and changing managers etc.  

 

PSG were already one of the biggest clubs in the world, and I don't think they had the opposition at home that the cartel put up in the EPL. 

 

Just got to look at the legal hoops Man City have been put through to fight against the PL cartel to see it is a different kettle of fish here. 

 

You are right, there are hacks around it, just not sure Newcastle are the club which can push their luck like Chelsea can. 

[Dr Jinx]

Every club has that blueprint now that Chelsea have set out, i can only imagine that we're not going that route because of legal council we've had.

 

OR.. the owners are dead set on turning us into a force gradually and tiny step by tiny step.

 

We won't get that consistency until we start making the right appointments to support the manager.

[Stifler]

1 hour ago, TRon said:

PSG were already one of the biggest clubs in the world, and I don't think they had the opposition at home that the cartel put up in the EPL. 

They absolutely were not.

They had a couple of big name stars at intervals, but always sold them. They were never one of the biggest clubs in the world, they weren’t even in the top 2 biggest clubs in France.

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Stifler

[The College Dropout]

22 minutes ago, Dr Jinx said:

Every club has that blueprint now that Chelsea have set out, i can only imagine that we're not going that route because of legal council we've had.

 

OR.. the owners are dead set on turning us into a force gradually and tiny step by tiny step.

 

We won't get that consistency until we start making the right appointments to support the manager.

We have legal council that says we can’t copy perfectly compliant moves other clubs already do? That doesn’t make sense. Villa are about to do it too. 

 

1 hour ago, TRon said:

 

PSG were already one of the biggest clubs in the world, and I don't think they had the opposition at home that the cartel put up in the EPL. 

 

Just got to look at the legal hoops Man City have been put through to fight against the PL cartel to see it is a different kettle of fish here. 

 

You are right, there are hacks around it, just not sure Newcastle are the club which can push their luck like Chelsea can. 

Not true at all. PSG won 2 league titles prior to Qatar investment. Qualified for the CL 5 times. 
 

Prior to Qatar they were nowhere near the top 3 French football team and not one of the biggest in the word. 
 

Man City have been cheating  im talking about copying an established legal precedence. 
 

We were even last to do those dodgy transfers which is a big reason we got the worst deals.  We’ve only leveraged PIF Saudi clubs once for player sales.  We aren’t seeing the full force of PIF in action to succeed which is a choice.  Not the end of the world. They are still engaged and invested. things have gone well in the pitch so I can’t imagine they feel a massive need to pivot approach. Both City and PSG had cycles of failure before changing approach. And that was with fewer obstacles. 

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by The College Dropout

[The Prophet]

[loki679]

1 hour ago, The College Dropout said:

You say that but didn’t the literal Prime Minister of the country lean on the PL to make the sale go through? With the only known concession ask was that Saudi stop pirating a major PL service?

 

And imo - they did this over something that isn’t even their primary footballing priority. They have shown they can lean politically, buy local influence, invest in media etc.

 

In terms of hacks PIF can use Newcastle United to do their local investment and then just sell it to themselves. They’ve shown no desire in creative PSR behaviour. 
 

PSG are in bed with UEFA that way, which is why they’ve been allowed to do what they have - even in recent years.  The CL with PSG was one of their primary goals and they did everything possible to achieve it. Soft power, hard power everything.  
 

In many ways it’s positive for us. They’ve taken a measured approach. More aggression would’ve led to a Chelsea type chaos probably.  Not to the same degree but chasing names, embarrassing FFP moves, chopping and changing managers etc.  

 

Hard power is the military

 

Maybe I missed it, but I don't remember Qatar bombing UEFA HQ.

[TheBrownBottle]

1 hour ago, TRon said:

 

PSG were already one of the biggest clubs in the world, and I don't think they had the opposition at home that the cartel put up in the EPL. 

 

Just got to look at the legal hoops Man City have been put through to fight against the PL cartel to see it is a different kettle of fish here. 

 

You are right, there are hacks around it, just not sure Newcastle are the club which can push their luck like Chelsea can. 

PSG were bought for about half of what Ashley had paid for NUFC four years earlier, and were a midtable club for most of their short history before takeover.  They were never considered a big club in European terms, and never had OM or Lyon’s status in France.  They were bought to buy Platini’s support for the 2022 WC bid. 

[The College Dropout]

Hard power - I mean physical - buying influence.  They become a major partner to UEFA and potentially the PL and the dynamics change.  Champions League was sponsored by Gazprom for ages man. If a PIF company is in that position we’ll never get kicked out of the CL for non financial compliance if that’s a priority. 
 

Saudi leaned on Boris Johnson to get the sale done with a very fair concession. Saudi have clearly influenced FIFA. If they want to they can lean on UEFA too.  UEFA are easy to lean on too, their biggest risk remains a mega club owned breakaway league. Old money clubs are the main agitators of that. 

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by The College Dropout

[McCormick]

They already got the World Cup. Why waste more money and effort? That was always their priority with regards to football.

PIF isn’t the Royal family; it’s essentially a conglomerate of different organizations each needing to be successful in their own right while competing for funding from the same pot.

 

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by McCormick

[The College Dropout]

11 minutes ago, McCormick said:

They already got the World Cup. Why waste more money and effort? That was always their priority with regards to football.

PIF isn’t the Royal family; it’s essentially a conglomerate of different organizations each needing to be successful in their own right while competing for funding from the same pot.

 

 

 

 

I agree with this. I think the Saudi league is long term more important for them but thr World Cup is massive and gigantic worldwide statement. 
 

I made the point that NUFC are not their main footballing priority and some others have disagreed.  
 

Bankrolling the CWC and some of our ‘rivals’ and spending big on castaways from our rivals - serves bigger priorities. 
 

Where we stand in their footballing priorities will dictate how much non-direct money and effort they will invest in us. Multi club, fucking around with assets, shmoozing UEFA etc. is a lot of effort.  

[Pata]

8 hours ago, Menace said:

Eales and Mitchell were shit hires

 

Why was Eales a shit hire?

[Pata]

40 minutes ago, McCormick said:

They already got the World Cup. Why waste more money and effort? That was always their priority with regards to football.

PIF isn’t the Royal family; it’s essentially a conglomerate of different organizations each needing to be successful in their own right while competing for funding from the same pot.

 

 

 

 

 

Wouldn't surprise me if Saudi Arabia had an agreement with FIFA to help with the looming CWC if needed when they were given the WC.

[Menace]

Hiring Mitchell aka "jobs for the boys" without barely even telling Howe about it?

 

Letting Mitchell have a free roam and him even insinuating he can "sack Howe if he wished"

 

Posting cringy photos on twitter and pretending to be "one of the fans"

 

Running the club into a firesale of young talented players just so we don't get a points deduction?

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting some other stuff too

 

[r0cafella]

1 minute ago, Menace said:

Hiring Mitchell aka "jobs for the boys" without barely even telling Howe about it?

 

Letting Mitchell have a free roam and him even insinuating he can "sack Howe if he wished"

 

Posting cringy photos on twitter and pretending to be "one of the fans"

 

Running the club into a firesale of young talented players just so we don't get a points deduction?

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting some other stuff too

 

I hear your points but I think it's important to recognise that at any other club the sporting director is the authority on the football side with the power to dismiss the manager. 

 

Managers do not get get an input in who is hired for the sporting director role at any other club either mind. 

 

Obviously we've gone down the road of giving Eddie the keys which is understandable and some will say deserved but doing so has created dysfunction as well. 

[Menace]

I understand what you're saying, but you can't really go from the man who had free roam and basically become an overnight celebrity to some idiot who he hired slating him and saying "he can sack him if he wished"

 

The whole scenario was a shit show if we're being honest. 

[r0cafella]

1 minute ago, Menace said:

I understand what you're saying, but you can't really go from the man who had free roam and basically become an overnight celebrity to some idiot who he hired slating him and saying "he can sack him if he wished"

 

The whole scenario was a shit show if we're being honest. 

I don't think he said that did he? Obviously that's a rancid look for him if so. 

 

i do think an air of inevitably existed though, we put the cart before the horse and rightfully so, Bruce had to go and given the speed we move at can you imagine where we would have been if we would have hired a DOF before Eddie?

[The College Dropout]

29 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

I hear your points but I think it's important to recognise that at any other club the sporting director is the authority on the football side with the power to dismiss the manager. 

 

Managers do not get get an input in who is hired for the sporting director role at any other club either mind. 

 

Obviously we've gone down the road of giving Eddie the keys which is understandable and some will say deserved but doing so has created dysfunction as well. 

I'm sure it happens at City. I'm sure Monchi was hired at Villa because of Emery too. And obviously it happened at Liverpool too.

 

If the manager is THE man and the club want to build around that particular manager, he'll have input.

 

It's not entirely clear at our clubs who does what. Roman Era Chelsea - it was Roman's club. He made all the major decisions. Marina was his main advisor and seemed to run the club day-to-day. Petr Cech (was it?) and others seemed to have important roles but Roman made most of the major calls. It's a bit unclear with us - whose baby is it?

 

When Stavely and Mehrdad where here. It is obvious they ran the club and had the direct line to PIF who could be convinced to go bigger than initially planned. You had Reubens, Eales & Ashworth but S&M where the dominant figures. Ashworth seemingly was in charge of contract extension decisions and heavily involved in transfers. But we don't know the extent he influenced the budget. Indeed it seemed he had planned 2 FFP exit routes and when he left S&M closed one of them. I *think* Ashworth was key in signing Tino & Hall - we were linked with Robinson previously and in retrospect - that looks like a Howe #1 pick. I think Howe liked Hall & Tino but I doubt either was his #1 choice. We need someone that can challenge him and provide him with smarter alternatives.

 

No disrespect to Robinson, if his contract was up next week he would move to a top 8 club.

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by The College Dropout

[TheBrownBottle]

30 minutes ago, Menace said:

Hiring Mitchell aka "jobs for the boys" without barely even telling Howe about it?

 

Tbf he’s temporarily been replaced by Howe’s nephew - it doesn’t get more jobs for the boys than that