PIF and RB Sports & Media

[gjohnson]

3 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

To get to the top, in a far more favourable environment, Chelsea and City lied and cheated to get there. We won't even leverage "bendy" rules (so far).

Not really...they just werent shackled by rules that are in place now. City seem to be sticking to them now that they can with their infrastructure, but originally they were throwing roundnstupid money on players who didnt even know which club they were signing for (Robinho). Chelsea have clearly bent every rule going selling their own stuff to themselves, but have got away with it for now at least as not a single pl team has complained

[TRon]

1 minute ago, gjohnson said:

Not really...they just werent shackled by rules that are in place now. City seem to be sticking to them now that they can with their infrastructure, but originally they were throwing roundnstupid money on players who didnt even know which club they were signing for (Robinho). Chelsea have clearly bent every rule going selling their own stuff to themselves, but have got away with it for now at least as not a single pl team has complained

 

 

City were also able to happily spend money on top players in their 30's safe in the knowledge that their owners would bankroll it all. Winning was all that mattered, and I'd have happily seen our owners do the same thing if money was no object. 

[Famous Nick]

I really hope our new CEO will have his hand on the pulse closely on this whole FFP/PSR farce and once there is an outcome hopefully soon on the APT hearing City vs PL, where I find it impossible that it can go against City saying the current APT rules are null and void we need to go in and get some serious sponsorships from Saudi approved immediately. new CEO has to bring PIF into this conversation, and feed all the dirt from the APT case that we could see inn earlier case how the APT rules were changes by other clubs when we were taken over, what email went on between the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd to vote through new restrictions just in fear what Newcastle may or may not gonna do.

 

what was made very clear the whole APT system was a joke, PL board deciding on deals themselves, approving and not approving deals without any proper consideration, basically on the level oh you are not as big as Liverpool so you cannot get a sponsorship even half as high as them. disgusting...

 

you dont fucking dictate to huge companies with 10 or 100x more revenue than the 20 PL clubs overall evenue put together that whats the right amount to sponsor a club that you think will bring eough exposure for you.

 

its like Sportsdirect telling Adidas what deals he can do with JD sports. fuck off.

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, gjohnson said:

Not really...they just werent shackled by rules that are in place now. City seem to be sticking to them now that they can with their infrastructure, but originally they were throwing roundnstupid money on players who didnt even know which club they were signing for (Robinho). Chelsea have clearly bent every rule going selling their own stuff to themselves, but have got away with it for now at least as not a single pl team has complained

Point is - their owners stole and cheated despite the favourable conditions.  Dont make me bring the picture back 

[gjohnson]

17 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Point is - their owners stole and cheated despite the favourable conditions.  Dont make me bring the picture back 

Im not familair with the picture...my point is, that at the time of their respective takeovers they didnt break rules, and rules werent actively and quickly applied to stop them from spending whatever they wanted.

 

Theyve obviously both got away with some fairly dodgy shenanigans since they cemented themselves as part of the Sky 6

[gdm]

 

[Ben]

1 minute ago, gdm said:

 

 

Eh?

[Stifler]

Haha.

He does know that PIF fucking hate them because they opposed LIV Golf with a competing bid right?

[gbandit]

Eurgh, politics in football, the creep of it has developed into a sprint at this point 

[TheInfiniteOdyssey]

Absolute fucking joke mind if they buy Nunez for Al-Hilal.

[The Prophet]

PIF and FGS go way back. They're just putting two and two together.

[The College Dropout]

3 hours ago, gjohnson said:

Im not familair with the picture...my point is, that at the time of their respective takeovers they didnt break rules, and rules werent actively and quickly applied to stop them from spending whatever they wanted.

 

Theyve obviously both got away with some fairly dodgy shenanigans since they cemented themselves as part of the Sky 6

My point is City (115 charges, HELLO) and Chelsea https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea-fc-talks-avoid-points-deduction-transfer-payments-abramovich-b1205196.html both cheated  to get to the top or stay there. And it’s likely they did more things we don’t know about. 
 

City’s 115 charges relate to Mancini era before they were a cemented top side. 

 

we need to be aggressive if we are to catch thee types of teams in any way. 

[Wolfcastle]

We cant cheat or get to spend a fortune setting up a solid base like either of them before these rules. Catching them would take a decline on their part as well which is as legislated against as our growth is.

Man City spent the best part of £200m the window prior to Mancini in 2010 money, over £120m the year before that and that followed Shinawatra not exactly being frugal beforehand were starting from being bereft. If the investment we've had followed anything but Ashley it may well be different.

[gjohnson]

7 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

My point is City (115 charges, HELLO) and Chelsea https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea-fc-talks-avoid-points-deduction-transfer-payments-abramovich-b1205196.html both cheated  to get to the top or stay there. And it’s likely they did more things we don’t know about. 
 

City’s 115 charges relate to Mancini era before they were a cemented top side. 

 

we need to be aggressive if we are to catch thee types of teams in any way. 

Yes they have 115 charges...but they werent relevant to when they actually were first taken over...(Hughes/pellegrini) where they had free reign to spend whatever they wanted

[JT24]

Get a PIF official working at the club full time. 

[Miggys First Goal]

Just now, JT24 said:

Get a PIF official working at the club full time. 

Has the penny finally dropped for them?

[Emotic]

So did Yasir fly in last Monday to personally attend to matters or didn't he? Was a rumour after he played golf last weekend but there actually isn't any news. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Certainly sounds like this debacle has woken some people up. Losing a key asset to a direct rival tends to make people annoyed, especially if they’re being painted as the weak party. 
 

If you’re going to be owned by a brutal regime the least they can do is fuck some people up for us. 
 

Not literally Yasir, if you’re reading this. Nee death squads or anything. 

[OptimusSlime]

Hungover Sunday thoughts, and I hate to say this as someone who is from lives in and loves the city of Newcastle, Tyneside, Northumberland, the wider region - but Manchester in particular has come on to such an extent over the past decade.  I continually fear when we are up against a Manchester club for a player like Sesko.

 

Since the BBC moved to Salford the amount of development etc makes the place feel more like London than anywhere else in the UK.  Obviously still some areas struggling and all that, but the place feels less and less like a northern city (and pints are priced accordingly).  This could be a good or bad thing depending on perspective but the gap in employment opportunities between Newcastle and Manchester for the average person is only widening.

I think when people come to NUFC whether to raise a family (like Shelvey, Wilson, Bruno, Joelinton) or as younger lads as a couple (Tonali, Gordon) we can see whether from the UK or abroad players obviously love living here.  Unfortunately for outsiders the draw of the brighter lights of London and Manchester in particular will continue to be an off field factor against us.

 

I travel a lot for work and Manchester in particular feels at a scale different to even Leeds/Glasgow/Edinburgh which themselves are of a scale economically bigger than Newcastle.  For example - Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh all have multiple Gordon Ramsay restaurants whereas even a Hard Rock Cafe failed in Newcastle.  I’m not saying I want a Gordon Ramsay restaurant- just as an indication of economic strength of the city.

 

Putting morals to one side I was somewhat hopeful PIF would invest in the city/airport etc but that hasn’t really transpired to date.  The region desperately needs investment/jobs/wealth which becomes more apparent the more time you spend outside the NE.  I’m conflicted too about to what extent you would want gentrification/flash skyscrapers to the extent you have in Manchester/Salford, but NUFC and a more widely NE1 are going to continually going to lack that edge until or unless an external body like PIF decided to ride in on a white horse with a big stadium/redevelopment package.  The government isn’t ever going to help and local government is skint.

[Ben]

10 minutes ago, OptimusSlime said:

Hungover Sunday thoughts, and I hate to say this as someone who is from lives in and loves the city of Newcastle, Tyneside, Northumberland, the wider region - but Manchester in particular has come on to such an extent over the past decade.  I continually fear when we are up against a Manchester club for a player like Sesko.

 

Since the BBC moved to Salford the amount of development etc makes the place feel more like London than anywhere else in the UK.  Obviously still some areas struggling and all that, but the place feels less and less like a northern city (and pints are priced accordingly).  This could be a good or bad thing depending on perspective but the gap in employment opportunities between Newcastle and Manchester for the average person is only widening.

I think when people come to NUFC whether to raise a family (like Shelvey, Wilson, Bruno, Joelinton) or as younger lads as a couple (Tonali, Gordon) we can see whether from the UK or abroad players obviously love living here.  Unfortunately for outsiders the draw of the brighter lights of London and Manchester in particular will continue to be an off field factor against us.

 

I travel a lot for work and Manchester in particular feels at a scale different to even Leeds/Glasgow/Edinburgh which themselves are of a scale economically bigger than Newcastle.  For example - Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh all have multiple Gordon Ramsay restaurants whereas even a Hard Rock Cafe failed in Newcastle.  I’m not saying I want a Gordon Ramsay restaurant- just as an indication of economic strength of the city.

 

Putting morals to one side I was somewhat hopeful PIF would invest in the city/airport etc but that hasn’t really transpired to date.  The region desperately needs investment/jobs/wealth which becomes more apparent the more time you spend outside the NE.  I’m conflicted too about to what extent you would want gentrification/flash skyscrapers to the extent you have in Manchester/Salford, but NUFC and a more widely NE1 are going to continually going to lack that edge until or unless an external body like PIF decided to ride in on a white horse with a big stadium/redevelopment package.  The government isn’t ever going to help and local government is skint.

 

In that case Isak should till next season and go to Barcelona 

[OpenC]

I'm not sure how much I buy the location thing. I know what you're saying and I know you didn't want to use your general examples as specifics but I just don't see players refusing to sign for Newcastle because we don't have a high rise cityscape, a celebrity chef restaurant or the ability to sustain a hard rock cafe.

 

Manchester is better than it was but has for decades been, and remains today, unequivocally and demonstrably a worse place to live in almost every regard than London for people who are earning hundreds of thousands a month - but has attracted the best players in the world for those same decades, because the clubs are high profile and they pay well. See also Liverpool.

 

 

Edited August 3, 2025 by OpenC

[The College Dropout]

Location is an issue where all things are equal or close. 
 

But money is the biggest determinant within the same country. By far. 

[Izakaya]

Nah, if a high-rise cityscape and high end restaurants were a major factor in a player signing then Melbourne City FC would be the biggest club in the world. 

[Guest]

Players don’t give a shit imo. They are wealthy, they live in the best areas wherever they go. 

[Stifler]

I think for very wealthy people, location is as much of an issue anymore.

Shopping is done online, and even in Newcastle you can get designer clothes. Heck Tonali moved here from Milan and he has a supermodel girlfriend, and Almirón had a wife who was also a supermodel.

The Theatre Royal is part of the royal Shakespeare company etc.

There are some very nice places to live in Newcastle and the region as a whole etc.