Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

[Jimski]

There was that song by Alannah Myles about Black Velvet from a while back.

[elguapo4]

*Vomit*

https://twitter.com/nufctrust/status/1446155772388335625

Fuck me that's embarrassing.

[anton pulisov]

I find myself watching almost no Premier League football nowadays. Mostly because of this shit.

[Sunderporinostesta]

Unclear to me, though I don't think he at all plundered the club as some NUFC fans would have you think; his greatest benefit has been the copious amount of free advertising he got for Sports Direct*. The foolishness of Mike Ashley is his focus on penny-ante stufff: hugely reducing commercial revenue while funnelling a greater percentage of it directly to himself, all very short-sighted stuff. A bit more long-term thinking - a coherent senior management structure (in fact, a senior management structure extending beyond the former club secretary, promoted beyond his capabilities), some sort of plan, and yes, investing some money (in coaching, in youth development, in facilities, in coaching), and he should have been able to sell up for much more than 300m.

For what it's worth, I subscribe to the view that this wasn't his primary motivation to buy the club: he wanted a rich man's toy and only went for miserable austerity when it became rapidly apparent he didn't know what he was doing, and was hugely disliked.

_{* I will be absolutely delighted to see all that shite get torn down and thrown in a skip.}

Spot on.

[Sunderporinostesta]

Fuck me that's embarrassing.

Unfortunately their sane fans are vastly overshadowed by attention seeking loons. Sunderland’s the only place to avoid them up there when their in full flow and by Christ they will be for the foreseeable future. I’ve had a few texts from mags I’ve worked with in the past and their opinion is “they’ll still fuck it up”. Which were the very words of the City supporting feller I worked with at the time their manna from Mecca was announced.

[RobM]

Fuck me that's embarrassing.

Did they pay George Galloway to write that?

[Sits]

My son has supported NUFC since he was a young boy and Shearer was up front. This morning he’s ordered his first Borussia Dortmund shirt.

[Jimski]

Did they pay George Galloway to write that?

Hah, I had the same thought. It's very Gallloway meets Saddam Hussein.

[ad hoc]

Though to be fair, this has been one of Galloway's occasional stopped clock moments. I saw he tweeted a response to Alan Shearer's delight referencing Khashoggi

[elguapo4]

Anyone see the spokesman for the Newcastle Trust on Sky Sports last night? His response to Amnesty International was that people don't know about Saudi human rights abuses , so Amnesty aren't doing their job properly!!!

[Simon G]

I spat my tea out when I saw that.

[Snake Plissken]

Anyone see the spokesman for the Newcastle Trust on Sky Sports last night? His response to Amnesty International was that people don't know about Saudi human rights abuses , so Amnesty aren't doing their job properly!!!

There was a tweet from a NUFC fan giving qualified support for the takeover. In his bio it said he worked for Amnesty. I had to double check that it was real.

[Paul S]

I wonder what the new owners actually get out of this. Is it they genuinely think that Newcastle is a great investment and will bring them millions of pounds. Or are they buying respectability, in the same way Roman Abramovitch bought respectability by buying Chelsea.

[Jobi1]

It occurred to me to ask why the Big Shady Foreign Money (BSFM) isn't investing more in US sports. It seems like an NBA team or NFL team, even a shitty one, is a better place to park money than a team that may not make the champions league and might even be relegated. And as more and more of these clubs get bought by BSFM, it's harder and harder to be sure of making the CL. US teams don't get relegated. The only way they lose value is there is expansion, for which the existing owners are handsomely compensated.

Obviously, there'd be a massive hypocritical xenophobic backlash if the Saudis wanted to buy a US franchise. Is that what is keeping them away?

Would there possibly be some element that US authorities, financial/federal and/or sporting, would be less keen to authorise such an investment than their British counterparts?

(Genuine question - I have absolutely no idea)

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Note to Newcastle fans, whatever you do, don't call for the manager's head.

[ad hoc]

Barney Ronay's piece is pretty good (except it really makes me want to know more about the Icke - Saudi meeting of fuckedupness)

https://www.theguardian.com/football...droidApp_Other

It also answers your question Paul S

[torres]

That’s a good piece by Ronay. As noted above I’m pretty sure Newcastle could fuck this up completely, but then again I thought that about City.

[Jah Womble]

...Roman Abramovitch bought respectability by buying Chelsea.

News to me.

[JM Footzee]

As an aside, whenever I go to City I'm always puzzled that opposition fans don't weaponise the whole "owned by a repressive state" thing. I mean, it would be incredibly hypocritical given most fanbases would respond positively to oodles of state wealth, and distasteful to use the torture of real people for petty footballing reasons but... when has that stopped anyone?

It also might be your best (incredibly small) shot at ridding your opponents of such a rich owner too, if there's endless songs ringing out about the bosses being murderers. I can't imagine many would risk getting thrown out for the sake of starting a half-hearted chant though, and again, why risk the chance of getting a rich despot of your own?

[Kevin S]

Barney Ronay's piece is pretty good (except it really makes me want to know more about the Icke - Saudi meeting of fuckedupness)

https://www.theguardian.com/football...droidApp_Other

It also answers your question Paul S

He has a subsequent tweet as well for a TL;DR.

https://twitter.com/barneyronay/status/1446369130240749568?s=20

[Snake Plissken]

As an aside, whenever I go to City I'm always puzzled that opposition fans don't weaponise the whole "owned by a repressive state" thing. I mean, it would be incredibly hypocritical given most fanbases would respond positively to oodles of state wealth, and distasteful to use the torture of real people for petty footballing reasons but... when has that stopped anyone?

It also might be your best (incredibly small) shot at ridding your opponents of such a rich owner too, if there's endless songs ringing out about the bosses being murderers. I can't imagine many would risk getting thrown out for the sake of starting a half-hearted chant though, and again, why risk the chance of getting a rich despot of your own?

I'd imagine the PL would come down very hard on clubs which made such protests.

[E10 Rifle]

From a crowded field, I've found this the most nauseatingly wrongheaded comment of all

https://twitter.com/nickdemarco_/status/1446385337513750529

[Nesta]

Saudi Arabia very much the brand leaders of the Repressive absolute monarchy oil states, in a way that the UAE and Qatar can't match. Which might hinder any sportswashing efforts and stop their involvement from becoming normalised in the same way. I'd hope so, but who knows?

[JM Footzee]

I'd imagine the PL would come down very hard on clubs which made such protests.

If fans started display banners I imagine they would, but would they punish singing?

[DCI Harry Batt]

As an aside, whenever I go to City I'm always puzzled that opposition fans don't weaponise the whole "owned by a repressive state" thing. I mean, it would be incredibly hypocritical given most fanbases would respond positively to oodles of state wealth, and distasteful to use the torture of real people for petty footballing reasons but... when has that stopped anyone?

It also might be your best (incredibly small) shot at ridding your opponents of such a rich owner too, if there's endless songs ringing out about the bosses being murderers. I can't imagine many would risk getting thrown out for the sake of starting a half-hearted chant though, and again, why risk the chance of getting a rich despot of your own?

We went to their place for the playoff final. Made me feel sick, that huge obsequious "we love you Sheikh Mansour" banner that should have been torched first time it appeared.

No City fans there, obvs.