PIF and RB Sports & Media

[The Prophet]

I don't think we need to "push the line" at this point in our progress. There's still ample opportunity to grow organically before we hit a ceiling.

 

As for the training ground, it's not really having a go at the owners to suggest it's s bit off that they wouldn't go all in for their preferred plot, for the second most important bit of infrastructure they'll build. Unless of course it's not as straightforward as that (most likely).

[The College Dropout]

10 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

We aren't pushing anything as far or as fast as we could be at least no in my opinion. 

 

The explanation given for those lack of sponsors were weak imo. I'm not the kind of person to just take what a suit says at face value. 

 

It's all good though, we can agree to differ on all of this, I just don't know whu some folks like to mock people who hold the owners to account for statements they made. That's all. 

Having Owners that say one thing but mean another is going to cause massive issues ongoing. The Isak situation can partly be contributed to it imo. And some of the frustration at the transfer policy.

[The Prophet]

As for the ten year ambition stuff, personally I'm not too fussed.

 

Fair enough if you want to hold the owners to that. They've put it out there, so it's on them to deliver.

 

For me though, if we're sat in ten years with a couple more trophies, a few more European adventures and a new stadium in the works, I won't be sat tutting that we haven't won the league yet.

[stozo]

The thing with the training ground land story is we have no idea actually what's gone on. It could be the landowner has hiked the price 10% and we're being funny about it or it could be they've hiked the price 50% and PIF have thought we're not going to let somebody rinse us for millions for no reason. It could also be that we are in tough negotiations for the land, and the club are tactically briefing that they are having to seek alternative locations. Will be loads that's gone on behind the scenes.

[The College Dropout]

Yasir said this year he wanted us to play regularly in the CL and challenge for trophoes as part of Project 2030. Significantly closing the revenue gap to the top 6.

 

If you can't take what your chairman says seriously - there's a major problem.

[manorpark]

11 hours ago, Wandy said:

 

Wonder if that was the soon to be available Longbenton land where HMRC currently are? I heard somewhere that the main reason HMRC are abandoning it is because the landlord was putting the "rent" up too much.

 

HMRC are moving into the City Centre because that is where they want all of their "Regional Centres" to be.

 

The Newcastle Regional Centre at BPV in North Newcastle was the only one that wasn't in a City Centre - from 2027 (and it is far and away their largest Regional Centre) Newcastle will be, at Pilgrim Quarter.

[The Prophet]

17 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Yasir said this year he wanted us to play regularly in the CL and challenge for trophoes as part of Project 2030. Significantly closing the revenue gap to the top 6.

 

If you can't take what your chairman says seriously - there's a major problem.

 

We seem to be well on the way with that.

[TRon]

36 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

We will never be number one without pushing the line as far as possible. Never understood why fans holding the owners to what they themselves said is such a sticking point for some

 

This is what I don't understand tbh. While I have generally been supportive of the owners - and still am - I don't see how we can become number one if we play by a rulebook which has been specifically designed to stop us becoming that. I mean it's actually referred to unofficially as the Newcastle Rule.  

 

We have built brilliantly since the owners took over, achieving CL football twice in three campaigns. But the loss of Isak, Anderson and Minteh when he had no financial reason to sell, shows the limitations of sticking to the rules. How do you build a side to get to the top when the cartel clubs can just keep taking your best players because we can't pay them enough?

 

I don't pretend to know the answers, but we aren't getting to number one if we have to keep selling our best players. 

[Hovagod]

19 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Yasir said this year he wanted us to play regularly in the CL and challenge for trophoes as part of Project 2030. Significantly closing the revenue gap to the top 6.

 

If you can't take what your chairman says seriously - there's a major problem.

We are playing in the Champions' League and won a trophy last year.

[Slim]

Could argue we could have pushed for the title if we kept Isak and got our other main targets.

 

 

[Keegans Export]

56 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

I don't think we need to "push the line" at this point in our progress. There's still ample opportunity to grow organically before we hit a ceiling.

 

As for the training ground, it's not really having a go at the owners to suggest it's s bit off that they wouldn't go all in for their preferred plot, for the second most important bit of infrastructure they'll build. Unless of course it's not as straightforward as that (most likely).

 

Growing "organically" isn't going to close the gap though - our rivals to be "number 1" aren't standing still.

 

From 21/22 to 23/24 our revenue grew £140m. Impressive obviously but in the same time frame Man City were +£102m and Arsenal were +£247m. Liverpool were only +£20m but even at the rate of £140m increase per year, we'd only catch up with their £600m+ turnover sometime in 2026/27. Let's see if our latest accounts show anything like a £140m jump.

 

The current ownership have achieved amazing things & if you'd offered me anything close to what we've had in the past few years back in 2021 (or any of the years prior tbf) I'd have snapped your hand off. But we aren't going to be number 1 by growing "organically" so we either need to reign in the ambition (which if that is now regular European football and competing for domestic cups then that's fine with me) or we need to change how we operate in terms of revenue generation.

[Lotus]

1 hour ago, STM said:

 

BuT wHERe iZ Da aMbiTiON?

 

They said they wanted to make us number 1. That means they should cheat and scheme and lie like other clubs and it also means slapping their money on the table, like a thick veiny cock.

Fail to see how working within the rules and regulations is lying and cheating. 
 

Think your issue is less about what we’re not doing and more about the people noticing.

[TRon]

4 minutes ago, Keegans Export said:

 

Growing "organically" isn't going to close the gap though - our rivals to be "number 1" aren't standing still.

 

From 21/22 to 23/24 our revenue grew £140m. Impressive obviously but in the same time frame Man City were +£102m and Arsenal were +£247m. Liverpool were only +£20m but even at the rate of £140m increase per year, we'd only catch up with their £600m+ turnover sometime in 2026/27. Let's see if our latest accounts show anything like a £140m jump.

 

The current ownership have achieved amazing things & if you'd offered me anything close to what we've had in the past few years back in 2021 (or any of the years prior tbf) I'd have snapped your hand off. But we aren't going to be number 1 by growing "organically" so we either need to reign in the ambition (which if that is now regular European football and competing for domestic cups then that's fine with me) or we need to change how we operate in terms of revenue generation.

 

 

Spot on. 

[STM]

5 minutes ago, Lotus said:

Fail to see how working within the rules and regulations is lying and cheating. 
 

Think your issue is less about what we’re not doing and more about the people noticing.

 

Some were asking us to be like Chelsea. Doing things which are within the rules but morally wrong.

[STM]

12 minutes ago, Keegans Export said:

 

Growing "organically" isn't going to close the gap though - our rivals to be "number 1" aren't standing still.

 

From 21/22 to 23/24 our revenue grew £140m. Impressive obviously but in the same time frame Man City were +£102m and Arsenal were +£247m. Liverpool were only +£20m but even at the rate of £140m increase per year, we'd only catch up with their £600m+ turnover sometime in 2026/27. Let's see if our latest accounts show anything like a £140m jump.

 

The current ownership have achieved amazing things & if you'd offered me anything close to what we've had in the past few years back in 2021 (or any of the years prior tbf) I'd have snapped your hand off. But we aren't going to be number 1 by growing "organically" so we either need to reign in the ambition (which if that is now regular European football and competing for domestic cups then that's fine with me) or we need to change how we operate in terms of revenue generation.

 

 

How is changing the way we operate going to close the gap? 

 

Isn't it that PSR is the actually reason and we are all frustrated and looking for someone to blame.

[Keegans Export]

16 minutes ago, STM said:

How is changing the way we operate going to close the gap? 

 

Isn't it that PSR is the actually reason and we are all frustrated and looking for someone to blame.

PSR is a massive stumbling block no doubt. But I've also not seen any evidence that we are doing everything within the current rules to maximise our income.

 

Could we spend take-the-piss level money on the women's team for example? Drop £20m on new players (consider the world record is <£2m), lock in promotion to the WSL at the first time of asking. With that level of investment we could reasonably value the team at something over Villa's £55m, sell 10-20% of it to ourselves like Chelsea/Villa have every time we need a boost? We could have done that last year and didn't. We could have done it this year and while we've invested in the women's team the performance at the weekend suggests that promotion is still far from a lock.

 

How much have we left on the table with various sponsorship opportunities? Presumably there's a plan there but even a few million here and there can allow us to invest further in the first team squad which = more success on the pitch = justifying higher value sponsorships within PSR. Every year we continue to drag our feet on the new training ground is robbing us of the opportunity to cash in on a "Your Business Name Here for £XXm" Training Complex. 

 

Just a couple of examples, I assume cleverer minds than mine can conjure up more creative ways to boost the top line.

[JT24]

I can’t imagine our majority owners are particularly keen to sprint towards the optics of the club selling their women’s team for minimal PSR gains. 

[TRon]

40 minutes ago, STM said:

 

Some were asking us to be like Chelsea. Doing things which are within the rules but morally wrong.

 

 

I can understand our reluctance to bend the rules given the rules were brought in to stop us buying our way to the top like everyone else has done. But I do think we should be complaining more loudly about stitch ups like the PL settlement with Man City re the APT loans. We should be complaining about having to sell assets like Minteh and Anderson when we have owners who could easily have put money into keeping them as an investment in our future. We should be joining hands with Villa and Forest if that's an option to present a united front and a public campaign. 

 

I don't know if there are rules preventing us from kicking up a stink, but even if we agreed to these rules, I don't see why we can't complain at the unfairness. 

[The Prophet]

1 hour ago, Keegans Export said:

 

Growing "organically" isn't going to close the gap though - our rivals to be "number 1" aren't standing still.

 

From 21/22 to 23/24 our revenue grew £140m. Impressive obviously but in the same time frame Man City were +£102m and Arsenal were +£247m. Liverpool were only +£20m but even at the rate of £140m increase per year, we'd only catch up with their £600m+ turnover sometime in 2026/27. Let's see if our latest accounts show anything like a £140m jump.

 

The current ownership have achieved amazing things & if you'd offered me anything close to what we've had in the past few years back in 2021 (or any of the years prior tbf) I'd have snapped your hand off. But we aren't going to be number 1 by growing "organically" so we either need to reign in the ambition (which if that is now regular European football and competing for domestic cups then that's fine with me) or we need to change how we operate in terms of revenue generation.

 

You make some fair points, but it's also a straw man.

 

I said we still have plenty of scope to grow organically before we start pushing any boundaries, not that we'd reach number one by doing so.

 

[TheBrownBottle]

3 hours ago, STM said:

 

We are pushing the line as far as possible and its been explained multiple times why the, "the number 1 in ten years" line is nonsense, unrealistic and almost certainly been revised since it was first said.

 

But where is the training ground sponsor, I hear you say? Thats been explained too.

 

Where is the training shirt sponsor? Thats been explained too.

It was said over a year after the APT rules were brought in.  They brought the criticism on themselves in that regard. 
 

None of these things have been explained. 

[gjohnson]

3 hours ago, Keegans Export said:

 

Growing "organically" isn't going to close the gap though - our rivals to be "number 1" aren't standing still.

 

From 21/22 to 23/24 our revenue grew £140m. Impressive obviously but in the same time frame Man City were +£102m and Arsenal were +£247m. Liverpool were only +£20m but even at the rate of £140m increase per year, we'd only catch up with their £600m+ turnover sometime in 2026/27. Let's see if our latest accounts show anything like a £140m jump.

 

The current ownership have achieved amazing things & if you'd offered me anything close to what we've had in the past few years back in 2021 (or any of the years prior tbf) I'd have snapped your hand off. But we aren't going to be number 1 by growing "organically" so we either need to reign in the ambition (which if that is now regular European football and competing for domestic cups then that's fine with me) or we need to change how we operate in terms of revenue generation.

Exactly...the Cartel also have 'organic' growth. Unless our growth is bigger than theirs (which the rules all but ban) theyre just going to get further ahead. Stuff organic...get the artificial fertilizer (Saudia, Sabic) on and deal with the pests (cartel/pl) with insecticide (lawyers)

 

 

Edited September 12, 2025 by gjohnson

[JT24]

https://archive.ph/ZOqU1
 

Martin Hardy showing some teeth…

[JT24]

4 minutes ago, JT24 said:

https://archive.ph/ZOqU1
 

Martin Hardy showing some teeth…

Quote

Those appointments by PIF are likely to be followed by an announcement in November or December about a new training ground. Two sites have been strongly linked so far, one near Newcastle International Airport and one around Gosforth Park, about five miles from the city centre, and at present home to two golf courses.

 

More than £20million has been spent on the existing training ground in Benton, to elevate it from being one of the worst facilities in the top two divisions under Ashley, but the next step, one Eddie Howe, his staff and the first-team players want, will be hugely progressive. Frustration has grown internally at a lack of development in the four years of PIF’s ownership.

If those inside the club are complaining about the lack of developments, can we do so now too?

[LFEE]

Just me who has a tear in the eye with that Staveley interview clip? 

[Andy]

7 minutes ago, LFEE said:

Just me who has a tear in the eye with that Staveley interview clip? 

 

Not quite that far for me, but it certainly emphasised what the club is currently lacking a bit in terms of connection between the ownership and the fans. 

 

Amazes me that some people still hold a grudge against her for the Anderson and Minteh thing, and that some people wouldn't have her back. She literally pulled our club out of the darkness.