This is great entertainment during the international break tbf ... ... the more they protest the more people are laughing.
I don't even think it's that tbh. Streisand wanted to stop people talking about her and it backfired ... ... the Mags like nothing more than being talked about. They've just fallen into the trap of believing they can convince people they're right. In reality people are encouraging them in the same way they'd poke a madman with a stick ... ... absolutely ridiculous but funny at the same time and you know you'll always get a reaction.
I’m glad they’re our neighbours. Keeps us amused. I can envy the European football without once wishing I was in any way one of them. That be harder of you were Spurs v Arsenal or Everton v Liverpool. Be tough if your neighbours were a classy outfit oozing from professionalism and achieving high goals doing so. We don’t have to deal with that, so thanks to them for that.
I have taken the trouble to complain to The Telegraph about Edwards' remarks, as they were made with their mark in them. They are absolutely scandalous, suggesting a player was fixing games.
newcastle could and should have handled this entire situation far better, they had a player who had made it pretty clear that he wanted and expected a move which he claims was promised. at that point (early in the window) you name your price and start looking for replacement(s)...instead they played old billy big bollox and herded themselves into a corner, made other clubs feel wary with dealing with them, possibly lost a lot of 'the dressing room', opened themselves up to world ridicule and still ended up in exactly the same spot but minus a good few millions. ...and that is without going through the amount of players that turned them down, the constant stadium improvements/changes/moves etc. now i remember when we went up with PR and the 'ooh 6 easy points for us' started and i remember where we ended up those first two seasons and so do they, i wonder if they are worried that history repeats itself again, while we would genuinely be happy with a 17th place finish and grow from there... we really have nowt to lose while they (potentially) have a lot to lose.
You're right with all that mate, they had various ways to resolve the issue but got it all wrong and kept making it worse. Newcastle supporters want their club to be seen as a giant in the game and unstoppable because of their money ... ... but the money just isn't solving their endless issues. They're not an organised powerhouse with top executives, advisers, solicitors, etc so it all looks a bit chaotic. They don't play good football so the best players don't want to be there, there's no proper structure so transfers are always messy, the much promised training facilities are still nowhere near, the stadium is decaying and parts of it are really grim. The owners don't have a masterplan because they're used to money being the solution to everything, not the means to find solutions. The momentum will fade, partly because the owners aren't totally committed and partly because of geography. You can bribe players to go there but they'll only buy into the 'bunker mentality' for so long then want to go a club that looks and feels totally professional ... ... and that's what's happened with Isak imo, I honestly believe he'd have gone to Liverpool for less money if he'd had to. And it would absolutely kill the Mags if they thought that was true.
I laughed too much at this https://x.com/AndyPhillips1/status/1963241896081260741/photo/1 please log in to view this image
The Saudis have accidentally given football a masterclass in how not to deal with an unhappy player. They pretended to listen, verbally promised an improved contract. Isak believed them. They then brought in a DoF who said the opposite. Going back on a promise, verbal or otherwise is a betrayal. His teammates saw this and performances visibly dropped. So far, so bad. Then the owners decided to publically shame Isak by making out he had been tapped up and was greedy and shallow enough to suddenly jump ship. The mag faithful were unleashed on social media like a horde of angry hippos. Isak and his agent feared for their safety, but held their ground. Around this time, newspaper articles were particularly appalling. Some advocated keeping him locked in his contract until he gave in to the pressure. Given the Saudis bought the club to gloss over human rights abuses this was an incredibly badly advised approach.
Thing is, we didn’t put bids in for players we couldn’t afford or who we knew wouldn’t come … … our signings all look really pleased to be here, I’m amazed tbh.
He also "broke" the story that Isak wouldn't be sold. And the story that it would be £150m and not a penny less if he were He then proceeded to suggest that Isak had thrown games. Weird, arrogant joke figure. And, it should be said, reporting apart, he is really a very poor writer.
The Telegraph know he's a wind-up merchant but let him carry on. When he claimed an Adam Johnson goal celebration deliberately mocked the victims of MH17, the only action they took was to give him a week off and change his job description from Reporter to Writer. https://www.nufcblog.com/2015/10/27/telegraph-forced-to-issue-an-apology/
