Match Day Thread Premier League, Cups & Euro Watch

To include us in the future top clubs is very positive. But there is the strong likelihood that unless FSG reverses their MO or Klopp carries on performing miracles for us, we’ll be left behind like the Spurs and Arsenals of this world. Ultimately money talks. There will be a top 3 of Newcastle, City and Chelsea (if Roman still finances the club at any cost).

 

Serious question. Can someone quote me a reply on this thread in the last 24 hours where a liverpool fan has been ‘crying’ about Newcastle being taken over?

Apparently all Liverpool fans are but hurt by it, maybe I’ve just missed those posts though

 

Dont worry about it. The haters gotta hate irrespective.

I see it as an easy chance to drop a few comments to fish and then laugh at it.

If there were any actual city fans that were not nasty twats on here I'd have dropped a few city and ****ed one liners.

The funny thing here is that all the oil money is going "up norf" so the london clubs should be well put out.

Cant believe gold and Sullivan were not in there hawking their west ham ****e to this lot when the deal was blocked.

Theres a nice bunch of newcastle lads on this site still that deserve to be able to go to a game and enjoy it.

What's lost in all of this oil doping etc is that the ordinary match going fans dont matter any more to them than there did to Ashley

 

Confirmed sold. How long before the manager changed? And is Mourinho sacked from Roma yet?

 

Why wouldn't I be positive about it. Given that the meagre investment in the team has shown that we're not only keeping up with the oil clubs but capable of out playing them and winning trophies as well.

We've found a way to win despite the lack of mega bucks transfer business. We've got a genius manager and a fantastic team with great youngsters coming through. We've never had massive investment in players like city and Chelsea have yet have won the highest prizes on offer. If money's the only factor and we've shown we can achieve without it, why do we need to worry about another oil club joining in?

Arsenal struggling to get the 'right' players; Spurs with their one step forward, two steps back approach and Everton, huge, huge spending to basically stand still and now these clubs have (potentially) another team fighting with them for a top 4/5/6 place.

 

The only reason Bruce was still in the job was that Ashley was too mean to pay his sacking fee. He thought he’d leave it to the new owners. I can see Mourinho suddenly acting weird at Roma, falling out with his best players and losing matches and dropping into the relegation zone. He could be the ideal manager for a club with unlimited funds.

 

They won’t have unlimited funds, and they can’t spend unlimited funds.

 

This may all be true. But ignores the fundamental point. Klopp is the miracle worker and the foundation of the whole edifice. Should he leave for whatever reason, it all falls down like a pack of cards. Youngsters can take you so far unless you’ve got a genius manager. Like I said earlier, ultimately money will talk. Like Barcelona has found out once they cannot afford top players they become a mid table team. We have had VVD and Allison at top prices but if a future Newcastle had gone for him, would we have got him if they were willing to give Southampton double the fee and pay him double the wages we offered?

 

You and I know that where there is a will there is a way.

 

We have shown that we can win 'one off' trophies but can we win regularly?

I don't want to be pessimistic but it remains to be seen if we can continue winning trophies regularly. The club have done a remarkable job to win the CL and PL, but the lack of spending since then means that we went from the best team in Europe (and by some gap) to just 'one of the best'. The issue for me is that we were levels above everyone at our peak but that gap with the rest has reduced significantly - not because other teams are spending but because WE failed to strengthen.

This FSG model works on being smart and shrewd but it relies heavily on over performance - on the players, Klopp, minimal injuries and almost near perfect recruitment. It's an incredibly high level to sustain with zero room for error.

 

You don’t get it, firstly they’ve made it clear from the off that they’re not intending lobbing the kitchen sink at it. The figure they’ve consistently quoted is £250m over 5 years. For context, our fella (& his mate) have lobbed £450m at it in 4 and achieved **** all. We’re now hamstrung by PL FFP.

The idea that Newcastle are suddenly going to buying the Worlds top players and paying the Worlds highest wages is for the birds. It’s a process, and there’s plenty they can get wrong along the way, especially with a group of investors who have zero experience of running a football club. The expectation level amongst plenty of their fans is utterly bonkers on SM.

 

And to give another example of how flimsy our hold on the top places is the Salah contract saga. The world and his wife can see that without Salah we are not remotely the same team. He constantly bails us out when we are under the cosh. Yet for understandable reasons the owners are refusing to give him a contract that compares with other premiership players of lesser ability or importance. E.g the likes of pogba, Fernandes Lukaku and many Chelsea players that do not even approach his talent and his importance to the team. They don’t want to give him equal money to VVD. If he leaves would anyone blame him?

 

I'm honestly not worried about the competitive side of things in this. I do, however, think it's a sad day for football in general that this sale has been allowed to go through. This regime should be nowhere near football. The football authorities and the government should be ashamed.

 

Yes we all know that these people follow the rules 100% and would never for one second think of pushing the boundaries. When they see that City of Abu Dhabi and PSG of the Qataris lording it over them , the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will just say “ Ah well, our club is being pissed over by the UAE and Qatar. We are also rans just avoiding relegation or mid table . That’s fine “.

 

They’ll bend the rules - same as we have, but it’s limited what they can do. Newcastle’s turnover (pre COVID) was £176m, Man City’s was £478m, as they’ve got CL football, league success money, sponsorships that reflect that etc. So your geopolitical dick waving argument is nonsense, as they can’t bridge a £300m difference in turnover without making the club successful. City had the advantage of being pre-FFP when they set out, so it was literally a case of throwing enough money at it until it gained the result. Newcastle can’t do that, the 3 year PL loss limit is £103m (excluding infrastructure investment) and there’ll be plenty prepared to point the finger if they do anything iffy, as has happened to us, with Villa and AN other club having reportedly complained about our stadium naming rights deal.

 

Im sure Newcastle’s sponsorship deals will increase massively now with no doubt some random Saudi company getting involved to help prop up their income.

 

Yeah, they’ll likely have a go at that one, but it’s limited stuff whilst they’re a club who’s struggling. I hope they make the same mistakes we did tbh, signing managers and players who didn’t particularly know or understand the club and it’s fanbase, going for names who instantly became over priced when we enquired and weren’t hungry enough when they arrived etc etc.

 

Klopp has a very good apprentice in Ljinders who I fully expect to take over - hopefully not for a long time yet - the updated version of the 'boot room' so no fall of the house of cards.

We all wanted more activity in the transfer window. We know Klopp has his targets and doesn't seem to have second choices. All we can do is trust he knows what he's doing, the evidence suggests he does. I don't think he would allow the team to stagnate. Also - there's nothing to say we won't spend big in the future for the right players. I'm trying to be as realistic as the situation deserves.

 

As you say it’s not an essay as just throwing 400m at the club and say go make us challengers.

You need the right manager. And signing the right players. You can’t do it overnight. You can’t sign the best players in Europe when your fighting relegation. You need to get a high profile player in to attract others but who is gonna be that first to join.

It’s why City and Hughes did an ok job I think in that they went and got proven prem players to help them move up and establish themselves as top half, then top 6 before getting in bigger players from abroad.

Certainly one to keep an eye on but can’t see Newcastle challenging for Cl football for next 4 or 5 years at least.

 

Perfect summation tbf.