Backroom & executive staff

[macphisto]

I wonder how much our stance is being driven by PIF in not wanting to pay compensation. Based on personal experience, the Saudi's may have a lot of money but they also like to  drive a hard bargain and to haggle in negotiations. 

 

I imagine in general, Saudi's must be used to companies chancing their luck when an initial offer is made before a more realistic compromise is found. I also used to wonder how much of a tradition it is in Bedouin culture to bargain before a deal is struck.

[rickyprickles]

Is it really news that no agreement has been reached? 

[Groundhog63]

31 minutes ago, macphisto said:

I wonder how much our stance is being driven by PIF in not wanting to pay compensation. Based on personal experience, the Saudi's may have a lot of money but they also like to  drive a hard bargain and to haggle in negotiations. 

 

I imagine in general, Saudi's must be used to companies chancing their luck when an initial offer is made before a more realistic compromise is found. I also used to wonder how much of a tradition it is in Bedouin culture to bargain before a deal is struck.

In MY, albeit limited, view of Saudi/Middle East business conduct it's all about the backhander. Not a la Will Smith. More FSA.

[James]

I think the issue is that Ashworth knows every single priority transfer target that Brighton has right now.

 

if Brighton know about a 20 year old Tunisian league player who has a minimum release clause of £820k who they’d expect to be worth £25m after three seasons of PL experience for example, then there is no realistic compensation figure that would persuade them to break Ashworth’s contract.

[LV]

Frustrating. But this can wait until November if it has to. There’s no way he won’t be doing some prep work while he’s waiting, it’s not like he’s under house arrest and all his comms monitored. 

[Gaztoon]

Just don't approach players of a certain age for the next window that he looked at for Brighton.

[macphisto]

55 minutes ago, Groundhog63 said:

In MY, albeit limited, view of Saudi/Middle East business conduct it's all about the backhander. Not a la Will Smith. More FSA.

There is that as well, I actually think these backhanders will be a way for us to get round 3rd party sponsorship. The backhander for PIF in business unrelated to football will be to sponsor Newcastle.

[Guest HTT II]

Of the few people I know who are originally from SA and others that are Arabic, business is often conducted with a hand shake and my word is my honour type thing. How that translates in the west with legalities and stuff is anyone’s guess… I do know this though, their culture, they go full in when it comes to a arrangements, especially in business.

[Theregulars]

39 minutes ago, James said:

I think the issue is that Ashworth knows every single priority transfer target that Brighton has right now.

 

if Brighton know about a 20 year old Tunisian league player who has a minimum release clause of £820k who they’d expect to be worth £25m after three seasons of PL experience for example, then there is no realistic compensation figure that would persuade them to break Ashworth’s contract.

I think this is persuasive, if that’s one of his perceived values then I guess the negotiations centre more on a provision blocking him from using knowledge acquired under their employment. When I moved law firms I had a 3 month gardening leave for that exact reason, so they could take first stab at the (very few) clients I had. 

[MagCA]

I don’t suppose Brighton signing Ashworth’s replacement ends his gardening leave? Lol

[macphisto]

On 30/03/2022 at 09:34, r0cafella said:

I’m actually surprised they haven’t just paid Brighton to get this done. I’m also surprised a CEO hasn’t been appointed yet too. 
 

Hopefully our owners didn’t get too much of an adrenaline rush during January and want another hit in the summer

I'm interested in seeing where the CEO fits into the club? Stavely and Ghodoussi  in their interview with Caulkin a few weeks back said the following "We want a CEO that can help us grow and put Newcastle on the global map. That doesn’t mean Mehrdad and I will step back because we won’t. We’ll just have more people to do the work.".

 

I wonder if it's as simple as Stavely and Ghodoussi having the CEO and Director of Football report to them in the following areas:

Ashworth= football side of the club

CEO=commercial side of the club

 

In a normal setup, I would have thought the Director of Football would report to the CEO. I suppose it might not be too dissimilar to Newcastle under Hall where he was fairly hands on and the Chief Executive was Freddie Fletcher. Only difference back then is we didn't have a Director of Football.

[Guest HTT II]

15 minutes ago, macphisto said:

I'm interested in seeing where the CEO fits into the club? Stavely and Ghodoussi  in their interview with Caulkin a few weeks back said the following "We want a CEO that can help us grow and put Newcastle on the global map. That doesn’t mean Mehrdad and I will step back because we won’t. We’ll just have more people to do the work.".

 

I wonder if it's as simple as Stavely and Ghodoussi having the CEO and Director of Football report to them in the following areas:

Ashworth= football side of the club

CEO=commercial side of the club

 

In a normal setup, I would have thought the Director of Football would report to the CEO. I suppose it might not be too dissimilar to Newcastle under Hall where he was fairly hands on and the Chief Executive was Freddie Fletcher. Only difference back then is we didn't have a Director of Football.

KK was the de facto DOF

[Fantail Breeze]

On 29/03/2022 at 22:28, Yorkie said:

No issue whatsoever with Howe et al leading the recruitment charge over the summer. 

 

Not sure I share your confidence with this. 

 

Would also be a bit of a shambles to go through another transfer window without the right people in jobs.

 

We’ve got the money to spend but as we saw and was reported in January it turned into a bit of a mess.

[The Prophet]

You'd imagine Ashworth will have input, even if on an informal level.

[Menace]

8 minutes ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

Not sure I share your confidence with this. 

 

Would also be a bit of a shambles to go through another transfer window without the right people in jobs.

 

We’ve got the money to spend but as we saw and was reported in January it turned into a bit of a mess.

 

  Alright then

[Jackie Broon]

48 minutes ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

Not sure I share your confidence with this. 

 

Would also be a bit of a shambles to go through another transfer window without the right people in jobs.

 

We’ve got the money to spend but as we saw and was reported in January it turned into a bit of a mess.

 

It'll be very different in the summer if we stay up, the January window was obviously made very difficult by our predicament at the time which made players unsure about joining and clubs wanting ridiculous money, or simply being unwilling to sell mid season. Other than Wood, the business we did was very good in incredibly difficult circumstances.

 

But I think the whole "we're happy for Eddie to take charge of our summer business" is probably in part just a bluff in our negotiations to get Ashworth out of his contract early.

[Matt]

1 hour ago, Fantail Breeze said:

Would also be a bit of a shambles to go through another transfer window without the right people in jobs.

 

The alternatives are to appoint someone else to arguably the most important role at the club, or to signal to the world the club will continue to pay whatever is asked of them, just as we go into a window. This is all a knock-on effect of the PL dragging out the process and we'll have to live with consequences one way or another.

 

It's looking likely that this summer will be one of further stabilisation, we're not going to be shooting for the moon just yet.

[Guest HTT II]

I get them not wanting to over pay for people, but this guy is a very important individual and who can transform our club, just pay to bring him in early. It’s Ashley like penny pinching.

[The Prophet]

17 minutes ago, HTT II said:

I get them not wanting to over pay for people, but this guy is a very important individual and who can transform our club, just pay to bring him in early. It’s Ashley like penny pinching.

 

I wouldn't go that far like. It's being reported that Brighton are asking for up to eight million.

[The Bonk]

12 minutes ago, HTT II said:

I get them not wanting to over pay for people, but this guy is a very important individual and who can transform our club, just pay to bring him in early. It’s Ashley like penny pinching.

 

I have a hunch that it's not entirely money related and more towards other constraints on player movement, scouting, or other operational duties, relationships that are typically attributed to his role. Then again, they could also want a king's ransom on top of items Brighton might deem intellectual property. 

[Matt]

His role at Brighton was focused on developing a supply chain of talent for the first team coach, not dropping in ready-baked players. It will also take time for him to build the youth and scouting networks and the people he wanted will also have notice periods to serve before they can join NUFC. We might not be fully aligned on those fronts until next summer.

[nbthree3]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10693705/Unpaid-sum-preventing-Ashworth-joining-Newcastle-resigning-Brighton-post.html

 

Brighton are demanding £5million from Newcastle to release Dan Ashworth from gardening leave.

Sportsmail can reveal the seven-figure sum that is preventing the 51-year-old from taking up his position as the club’s sporting director.

 

We understand there is frustration on Newcastle’s part that they have been unable to reach a compromise and install the man who will oversee the club’s restructuring.

However, the Saudi-backed owners - led in the UK by Amanda Staveley and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi - will not pay what they believe to be inflated prices, be that for players or staff. There is a precedent of Everton paying around £2m in compensation when director of football Steve Walsh joined from Leicester in 2016.

[wormy]

If this guy is as worthwhile to the club's future as the board seem to think then I'm surprised they're not paying it.

 

I get that it's extortion for someone in a role like this but if we've already proven we're prepared to get bent over in desperation for the likes of Chris Wood and that £5m is all that's standing between having a figurehead moving things forward this summer.. 

[DoricGinola]

23 minutes ago, nbthree3 said:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10693705/Unpaid-sum-preventing-Ashworth-joining-Newcastle-resigning-Brighton-post.html

 

Brighton are demanding £5million from Newcastle to release Dan Ashworth from gardening leave.

Sportsmail can reveal the seven-figure sum that is preventing the 51-year-old from taking up his position as the club’s sporting director.

 

We understand there is frustration on Newcastle’s part that they have been unable to reach a compromise and install the man who will oversee the club’s restructuring.

However, the Saudi-backed owners - led in the UK by Amanda Staveley and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi - will not pay what they believe to be inflated prices, be that for players or staff. There is a precedent of Everton paying around £2m in compensation when director of football Steve Walsh joined from Leicester in 2016.

I agree with this. We have to take a stand or we'll be forever taken advantage of.

[Thiago]

On 04/04/2022 at 12:33, Fantail Breeze said:

 

Not sure I share your confidence with this. 

 

Would also be a bit of a shambles to go through another transfer window without the right people in jobs.

 

We’ve got the money to spend but as we saw and was reported in January it turned into a bit of a mess.

Curious take.