He's not really milking us for money directly into his pocket, he's smarter than that. The advertising and merchandising hamstrings us though. The guy was rightly demonised by most fans a decade or so ago when he (after a decent start) lied to Keegan and forced him to quit (as was admitted and then ruled in a court), sold the naming rights to the ground, gave away millions of pounds worth of advertising for free (which is still the case), rerouting merchandising sales from the club through Sportsdirect to minimise how much comes to the club, and he mismanaged the club to get us relegated and then just everything he said about us for the past decade. That said... we are a very well run club now. We make good money each year (not many clubs can say that) despite him making no efforts to widen our income streams. Without much effort at all we should have been getting in more money in the way comparable clubs are. The advertising + merchandising will likely be £10m+ a season we're just not getting in, if we'd grown like teams around us we'd be more like £20m+ a season better off (just going off comparable accounts). If he stays - and I'm not distraught at the idea of him doing so - then we'd hopefully pay off the loan to him in the next 3/4 years (if we don't get relegated) and then we'd be in an even better position compared to others in the league. I'd argue that we're already actually financially one of the healthiest in the league, well top 10...
The question for me is - did Staveley try and line it up before having the buyers, and has THAT caused many of the issues? The PL tests, as has been pointed out, don't cover morality. They're about "are you or would you be considered a criminal in the UK, and do you actually have any money". The PIF I would imagine have batted off any accusations of criminality (the WHO report I also agree is yet another red herring), but the key issue of whether Staveley actually has the funding is probably harder to prove. Purely speculatively, but if you are Ashley asking to buy NUFC, and the PL say "have you got any money?", Ashley just shows his bank account. Staveley can't do that. She doesn't have the money. She needs someone else to say "I'm rich" and as the RB's only want 10% (allegedly) it doesn't matter if they're rich, it matters if the 80% shareholder is valid and rich enough. From the way she shaped her Man City deal, she lined it all up without a penny and it was only through a fortunate turn of events that Mansour decided to sportswash UAE and instantly bought the club outright. We aren't doing that. Purely questions, we'll never know the answers.
I would just take issue with a couple of points otherwise what you have said is accurate. We aren’t a very well run Club. If we were we would be maximising all income streams. We are a financially stable Club subject to the annual gamble with relegation. I would be distraught at him staying. I want a Club that tries to win things not just survive.
good point. Maybe all parties were hoping the PL got cancelled. And when it didn’t it delays things. Perhaps there’s a class which states the deal gets passed only when PL status is guaranteed.
tagging mods doesn’t work mate we get no notifications. What kind of mong queues in shot weather for **** clothes? Especially when you can buy online? so did you buy anything nice?
The only thing that contradicts this is George Caulkin saying the buyers were "answering questions on piracy" about two weeks ago. Basically, I wouldn't bother putting any kind of time limit on it, you'll just be let down. My final straw was 1st June. But there's little point thinking "oh, maybe it's PL safety" or "it's the publication of the WTO report". We have no idea; I'd just go with the suggestion that it's fairly complicated, there's discontent away from official channels (i.e. Arsenal aren't happy) and the PL are ultimately a pretty incompetent organisation.
Oh there's huge improvement needed as regards our seeming lethargy/ apathy towards income streams whereby we fall behind most of the league by a number of millions each year. All I mean is that we are turning over a healthy profit, we're talking many tens of millions each year. whilst i think most teams are seemingly spending beyond their means. In the long run we seem to have a sustainable model.
Global recession + Brexit = we need to drop our knickers and plead for business/ money everywhere - morals cost money we don't have
Every bit of information that comes out you could read it both ways.... 1) The British government are pleased to announce that they have no qualms about a Saudi takeover - Edging the Saudi takeover ever nearer. 2) The British government announce that they have no problems with a Saudi takeover - meaning they are covering their backs and holding their hands up saying to the Saudi's 'if it doesnt go through it is nowt to do with us, please send us more hospital gowns?!!'
However, I know that the government appear to come over as simple, the Saudis would see straight through option 2.
