Will be interesting to see who the Toon 'Tevez' signing will be (that IMHO is the statement of disruptive intent) .
The last few pages of this thread are beautiful. We are finally being talked about amongst the big boys, the more people hate us, the better we are doing.
Hate is a bit strong tbh. Probably an emotion reserved on here for Arsenal and Chelsea, West Ham at a stretch. I lived in Newcastle a few years back and some of my best mates are ST holders. I’m delighted for them that you’ve finally got rid of Ashley but I wouldn’t want the PIF anywhere near any PL club and I think it’s a real shame that one of the traditional giants of English football is now a vehicle for an oppressive regime. Obviously very few if any owners of major football clubs are squeaky clean but I’d rather have Levy, Lewis and ENIC, even given how they are as businesspeople and where they keep their money (let alone their running of the club) than what you have now. There are levels to this stuff. In a footballing sense I think you’ll build sensibly and steadily, which is the message I’m getting from watching Staveley and just what I think you’ll do out of practicality. It’s hard to buy big in January no matter how much cash you have. And you’ve got a massive squad overhaul on your hands which will take a season or two. I don’t doubt you’ll get there eventually though, unless the owners are complete clowns. There’s too much money involved. If I was a Newcastle fan I’d be sinking the cans tonight then waking up with a godawful hangover wondering what I really think about the club. It’s something we briefly encountered when the ESL stuff came up earlier this year and there are no easy answers. But I’m delighted Ashley is out of the PL because he’s a ****, so cheers to that.
At the moment mate I'm too excited to sleep, I'm buzzing at the what we could have in our futures tbh. It's easily the best day I've ever experienced following this club. When it comes to the Saudis, if the search function on this site worked, I think last season you'd find me personally making posts about how I wasn't happy with the Saudi regime taking over, for me, I was more afraid of the club losing its identity for this global brand ****e City and PSG have. But this season, I'm sorry I just couldn't take anymore of those ****ing ****s at the top of Newcastle, Ashley, Charnley and Bruce were an absolute cancer. I am positive if the bottom half of the prem wasn't so poor, Newcastle would have been down two seasons ago, we are dreadful. When Football is already dead for you, you start agreeing to anything. The statements, the positivity and the actual ambition is something I've never experienced in football, let alone at Newcastle. Slow and steady wins the race, first things first, Bruce has to go, a few sensible signings in Jan. I think we could survive with the current squad but a better manager, but I think a few signings to really lift everyone up would top off an already monumental season for us.
Thats fair enough mate. I think I’d be buzzing initially in your place too. Not gonna make any judgements as to your or any of the folk on your board’s stance on this because I don’t really venture off here, but popped onto the takeover thread just now and everyone’s clearly over the moon. Like I said, I can see why. Nearly a decade and a half of Ashley was miserable, even watching from afar, though he’s left you in a decent state financially I believe, in all fairness. I’m sure your owners will invest in the club and the city, which is great for Newcastle, just like City’s owners have done. But what you say about identity, that’s the big thing for me. Don’t know how I’d deal with if if I’m honest and I hope I never have to.
Identity for me, I'm expecting a badge change, stadium name change, training ground to be ripped up or just sold off for a new place. I wouldn't be surprised if in 15 years St James' is either gone completely or expanded beyond recognition. Thats the thing, in the modern game you need to do that to compete. Maybe we've sold our souls, but football has been soulless since Roman popped along.
Its been soulless in the large part for longer than that, really. But that’s what makes me sad that it’s Newcastle, of all teams, that it’s happening to. Because for me the club and city retained that soul and heart. The city lives and breathes the club. There’s not many atmospheres in a town, like Newcastle before a 3 o’clock kickoff. I’ve been there with my mates in the home end when I lived there and I’ve been away with Spurs as well. Being way up in the Leazes end, seeing the city peek out over the other stands, on a crisp spring day before the match, Local Hero comes on. It meant something to me, even though I’m not a Newcastle fan. I understand why Newcastle fans may have become numb to it by now but it would feel like such a loss if that feeling deserted the club completely.
I've often heard that the current FFP rules were not just designed to ensure what it says on the tin, but to stop any new clubs doing a Chelski / Citeh / PSG etc. Now lets see if it's true. And why it has been said. My feeling is that the following cunning logic will be used: UEFA: You can't spend that amount, it exceeds your income and is against FFP. Newcastle-Arabia: No it doesn't. UEFA: Oh OK then. Of course the written explanation may in fact be printed on large numbers of Euro notes. This is really a sad day for football, and you can be sure that football loving organisations such as Sky Sports and TalkShite will be right on top of it, bringing you the huge downside to all this. Except they won't, they'll just be wondering when they can start talking about the "Big 5".
I bear Newcastle and particularly their long suffering fans no ill will regarding these developments they have been held in a stranglehold by Ashley for far too long now and I too would be celebrating if I was them. I, like Keegan would have 'loved it' if they had won that title they were a fabulous team to watch when our own team was truly **** (far worse than we are now!!). But now to my main point - The number of articles written yesterday about Spurs and Arsenal looking over their shoulders and losing their place in the top 6, do any of these journalists actually follow the game? 7th & 8th we finished last season and showing no signs of that improving this year. The top 6 boat is sailing off into the distance and we are not strong enough swimmers to catch it up that's the reality and when Kane joins the toon in January with the promise of Sonny joining him in the summer then the boat will become interplanetary and we will be talking different universes.
I await with interest their lame excuse for getting round FFP. It would be a bit funny to hear objections from Chelski and Citeh that something improper is going on. Still love to hear the FA try to explain how the Saudi investment fund is different from the Saudi state. I was trying to think of words to describe what they've done but frankly there is nothing strong enough. Football is eating itself and the authorities don't care as long as more money comes in. This deal means that three teams (perhaps three of the top five soon) should not exist in their current form. That's quite a high proportion! Try to raise it with those that claim to want to discuss football and concerns are usually dismissed as 'sour grapes'. How long I can continue to tolerate this crap is another matter. I suspect not too long and wonder if any others are having the same thoughts.
Yeah I agree, I think there is far more competition at the top now compared to when Abramovich took over at Chelsea (when it was just Arsenal & Man Utd) and when Sheikh Mansour took over Man City (when it was mainly Chelsea & Man Utd). You've currently got 4 clubs who could all conceivably win the league (Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd & Liverpool), with the likes of Leicester trying to claw their way into the top-6 on a regular basis, alongside Spurs & Arsenal who are also fighting for a top-6 place. Then there's the likes of West Ham, Everton and Aston Villa who all have ambition trying to fight for a European spot, too. Newcastle will realistically get to where we expect them to be in the next 10 - 15 years, but there's still a gigantic bridge to gap in the meantime. It's not going to be anywhere near as smooth sailing as some may believe.
Also, one thing I am seeing a lot of is people saying Newcastle fans 'deserve success' which I don't agree with entirely. Don't get me wrong, I am happy for them that Mike Ashley has buggered off, but the idea that they now 'deserve' to be subsidised and owned by a oil state is flawed. There are tonnes and tonnes of football clubs who don't win anything, there is only a handful of trophies to compete for and there are plenty of fans who have endured some serious **** teams with crappy owners that have tried to run them into the ground. No fan 'deserves' or has a divine right to success (especially relatively instant success). That's entitlement.
This is spot on. That's unfortunately the reality of the Premier League - it was a closed shop in 1992 designed to make sure only United and Liverpool could win it. Jack Walker spent half his fortune winning it for Blackburn but those were the lengths you had to go to to compete. Football has never been perfect and was always money orientated but not to the extent as it is in the PL/CL era. Gone are the days where Norwich could dream of winning the league or Red Star Belgrade could dream of winning the CL. Behind it there has been a vacuum of success-barren clubs and an opportunity for wealthy owners to make a name for themselves by turning them into winning teams as well as forming more cordial relationships with the West.
I don't think the gap is anywhere near as big as some believe. Contrary to what people say Chelsea only had United and Arsenal to usurp (United were in decline anyway). City's took longer as they had to usurp 6 clubs (3 of which had generational teams). ENIC and FSG are holding Tottenham back, Arsenal are rebuilding and Pep is leaving City at the end of next season. Chelsea are also pretty much a cup team nowadays. The path for Newcastle might appear longer but it's definitely much smoother. This is part of Sky's brainwashing to be fair, they've always viewed Liverpool and Newcastle as having the best fans hence them dining off those two 4-3 games at Anfield for over two decades. Newcastle is a fantastic city with great fans but so are many others.
I'm with you vimhawk. It's a strange feeling. I have my ST and where others are packing it in and not renewing because of ENIC, I don't have that problem. I think they have done a decent job especially compared with others ( eg Ashley , Morris ). However, when filthy money teams play against us , I struggle to enjoy the game. When I look at the summer transfers of teams spending in the region of £100 million on a player, I wonder 'what is the point?' and I am wondering whether to just watch my local non-league team. ( where I'll get to see Kaziah Sterling play ).
