The chasm between the supporters and the so called elite clubs ever increasing.
Newcastle United now owned by the PIF | PL receives "legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control NUFC" ;)
- Thread starter Damien
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That's true, especially the PL. No wonder Barca, Juve and Real want in on the deals.
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Can't believe I'm saying this, but Piers is right. The press wouldn't turn down a freebie, all expenses paid.
The media, Sky, these writers have normalised big spending and it's disgusting.
Well you shouldn't throw stones if you live in a glass House.
It's not quite the same. A journalist taking a stance, not going to Qatar, not covering the football, would be pretty much giving up his job. It's unrealistic and slightly unfair on the individual to take that hit just for doing their job.
Newcastle on the other hand are not compelled to sell to these people. Nor are the Premier League compelled to allow it. It's just pure greed.
As a side note what I'd like to see is journalists covering the footbal at Qatar but in equal measure writing columns about the overall picture, holding that regime to account.
By that logic virtually no one could criticise anything ever as most people live in glass houses of one form or another.
Yeh you’re right let’s all join hands and welcome the ongoing atrocities in the world, because after all no one is without guilt. I look forward to that approach bringing progress.
Sorry Steve, you can’t be throwing any stones now. Just accept that it’s perfectly fine to stone homosexuals and abuse Women, god don’t you understand tolerance…
Unless anybody here was part of the Iraq war decision making process there is no glass house.
It's extremely irritating the way the media has been blaming the Newcastle United fans, as if they have a choice in who owns their club, instead of (for instance) the Premier League or UK Government, both of which could actually implement measures to stop this sort of thing happening (51% fan ownership rules, more robust ownership measures, that sort of thing).
You do have two problems to address though. One is that the English model has been UNBELIEVABLY successful in catapulting the league to the top of the footballing pyramid, and is ostensibly now a superleague in all but name anyway. Germany is a model I love, and everyone lauds - but it's not been anyhwhere near as successful at selling itself, in part -because- of the same things that make their structure so admirable and great. And two is that it has been unbelievably -profitable- for the British Government as well as football as a whole in this country. As much as we complain about it, and rightly so - we're selling our souls to these clubs - there's no question that the money it generates does trickle down through the leagues, as we've seen with the major investment and thus interest and fan attendance in the Championship, and so on and so forth. So we're not likely to change anything, and maybe just have to accept it, or (like I feel sometimes like doing) give up on football entirely.
And Newcastle United fans shouldn't take the blame for feeling at worst mixed and at best joyous, especially after suffering under Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce, and don't deserve these bullshit hitpieces the Guardian etc are writing about them.
You do have two problems to address though. One is that the English model has been UNBELIEVABLY successful in catapulting the league to the top of the footballing pyramid, and is ostensibly now a superleague in all but name anyway. Germany is a model I love, and everyone lauds - but it's not been anyhwhere near as successful at selling itself, in part -because- of the same things that make their structure so admirable and great. And two is that it has been unbelievably -profitable- for the British Government as well as football as a whole in this country. As much as we complain about it, and rightly so - we're selling our souls to these clubs - there's no question that the money it generates does trickle down through the leagues, as we've seen with the major investment and thus interest and fan attendance in the Championship, and so on and so forth. So we're not likely to change anything, and maybe just have to accept it, or (like I feel sometimes like doing) give up on football entirely.
And Newcastle United fans shouldn't take the blame for feeling at worst mixed and at best joyous, especially after suffering under Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce, and don't deserve these bullshit hitpieces the Guardian etc are writing about them.
Well based on that logic we in should we have leaft Hitler to it.
You should check out the definition of the word "exponential"
I don't think you've really thought this through.
Well Newcastle will be there competing for the league in 2-3 years.
For us it means even more focus on youth (both bringing them through and buying youth talent like Amad or Pellistri and then either selling them for profit or they turn out good).
Because no way we will be outspending the oil clubs in a couple of years when someone like Grealish will move for twice the amount he moved recently.
For us it means even more focus on youth (both bringing them through and buying youth talent like Amad or Pellistri and then either selling them for profit or they turn out good).
Because no way we will be outspending the oil clubs in a couple of years when someone like Grealish will move for twice the amount he moved recently.
Its a very dumb tweet.
The journalists would have to follow the football, even if that means going to Qatar. They've made their stance on the situation pretty clear in not liking the decision to hold it there.
Yeah, they weren't really suffering were they though, they were exactly where they should be, lower to midtable with the odd relegation. One title challenge 25 years ago doesn't make them a big club.
Are they though? Or is it that they hit the jackpot with Klopp? After all that same brains trust and "transfer committee" who thought replacing Luis Suarez with Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli, and who multiple managers before Klopp had arrived were complaining precisely about, is still there. The difference is rather than having Rodgers to implement it, they have Klopp. They didn't plan for him to come in like City did with Pep, they took advantage of him becoming available just as there was a vacancy at their club.
A great manager covers so many ills and it's precisely why the job Ole has done here is very underrated.
On the law of averages, the more you spend eventually you will get it right and I'd much rather be in the shoes of a Utd fan in that regard, than a Liverpool fan's.
He's talking utter bollox as usual. Ignoring his desperation to always be a contrarian, what he's saying about journalists is nonsense. Why should they not go to the World Cup? It makes no sense. They're journalists - that's their job! Hopefully, they will go there and report on both the football and other issues off the field.
Not going would be worse
To me it's silly. Newcastle has hit the jackpot. It's absurd for a lot of newspapers and journalists to froth at the mouth as lots of them encouraged the illegal invasion of Iraq. An invasion that has destabilised the whole world.
No reason to blame the fans and to be honest it's hypocritical for fans of other clubs to blame them.
No reason to blame the fans and to be honest it's hypocritical for fans of other clubs to blame them.
Right about what? That journalists, who’s job it is to report on sports, will likely report on the biggest sporting event in the world?
They shouldn't be blamed for the takeover happening but they should take responsibility for their reactions which are very tasteless.
Just look at Utd fans when the attempted BSkyB takeover happened. That could and would have put us in an unassailable position in the league and would have given us the pick of anyone in Europe, but the fans saw past that and saw the damage it would have caused to the league as a whole.
I get that Ashley is a cnut and they wanted him gone, but you've got to have your dignity and morality. When the rumours of MBS wanting Utd were around the vast majority of the forum didn't want it to happen and preferred the status quo despite that being the Glazers who are slowly but surely dragging the club into purgatory.
I would have hoped the Geordies would have had similar sensibilities.
Good point. However, the only 'big' club available is Spurs, and they'll probably cost too much. Also the smaller London clubs (e.g. Palace) will require heavy stadium investment, and that may be a mission in London. Newcastle is the best available - solid stadium, loyal fans and a worldwide following at a relatively cheaper price.
Well yeah but you know what I mean
As soon as the PL and the useless FA approved Abramovich buyjng Chelsea, then they gave carte blanc to every dodgy regime in the world. The Thai that bought CITEH was a convicted felon and they still waved it through so Sheik Mansour and Abu Dhabi strolled in even though their human rights as just as bad as the Saudis. It’s laughable that anyone should mock the Toon fans that have endured 14 years of bugger all investment in players. At least the Glazers have coughed up for all the managers we’ve had. City fans are very quite of course ha ha. On the subject if money, the Saudi royal family are beyond worth, it’s the investment company that has £345billion to spend. As stated elsewhere, they are in it to make money, unlike Mansour who’s in it for sport washing.
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But long-term wise, doesn't a London club bring more prestige and money for the Saudi's?
Bruce out and a quality director in. Two good moves.
It is a difficult situation. All those who are upset with the takeover have made really good points on how morally wrong all this process was. But I also understands the guy's point of view, Blair won the elections in 2005 despite the fact he raged a war and was behind the death of hundreds of thousands based on a lie, he was cause of the suffering of an entire nation of 30m people together with his overlord Bush. Now I understand that people do not make these war decisions, but how can you go and revote for the same person after all of that?
That makes no sense. Definitely not what YOU thought it meant anyway.
If posters on here had said Guantanamo was justified (or if there was some way the Glazers fortune was linked to contracts to build it) and then had a go at this takeover, you'd maybe have a case. But no-one is.
As you like Grandma clichés, two wrongs don't make a right.
I never voted for Blair.
Is it ok if I have an opinion on the Newcastle takeover now?
But none of them want to sell. That's the problem. I would be delighted if Usmanov took us over years ago, but Kroenke got there first and he's been holding onto the club firmly ever since. There's a consortium including Qatar thinking of taking over, but they have almost no chance for as long as Arsenal keeps making money for Kroenke and his family and increasing value.
They should not be blamed, but also they should not be out there celebrating.
It's not my place to say how fans from any clubs should react but I know I would have stopped supporting Utd if the royal family of the KSA became the majority shareholder. That would have been the death of football for me
I agree yeah, it really started with Chelsea. That one opened the floodgates.
To be fair, all that investment has truly transformed the PL. It's a juggernaut in the football world - the wealthiest teams, the best teams, the best managers, and greatest popularity - which is only increasing. This is actually having a negative effect on the other leagues too, they simply cannot compete with the amount of cash the PL brings in which forces them to dig even deeper in loans.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus are all struggling. Bayern Munich has the advantage of always readily ripping away any useful assets from all the other Bundesliga contenders who have accepted them as flagship German team.
To put things into context, Bayern Munich who is a Bundesliga monopoly, and consistent Champions League representative in the latter stages, is level on terms with Arsenal in their operating income who had no CL football for nearly 5 years now. There are levels to this, and the PL is operating on a different level right now financially.
I am pretty sure that not everyone did vote for him
No jokes about heads replacing balls yet? 
you can only laugh when you see how many football fans are seemingly oblivious to the fact that the whole sport is centered around 4 or 5 clubs from the 3 richest countries and their major cities, so if you really want to challenge them and conquer Europe, there is only one path in current age. it's impossible to compete with them "the right way" when you're bottom of the food chain.
it's 2021. and we still have people talking about "soul". there are no words, really. I for one hope every major club will have billionare owner at some point as we're waaaay past the point of football having even a tiny resemblence of competition. it's economic war, nothing else, and you know what they say about war (and love)
Need a club/area so desperate for their input they'll not make any fuss.
Also there's very little pressure to succeed until it starts to happen due to such low standards for so many years.
Imagine if it was Arsenal - they'd need to be challenging within 3/4 years.
100% agreed
Correct. Their bending over and wild celebrations after the takeover has to be one the most absurd and downright humiliating things ever seen in a fan culture. No one has ever done it in a similar manner and only for the sake of future trophies/shiny players that may come their way with zero caring for anything else.
Should be rightly riduculed for that.
"We have our club back" chants with Saudi flags?* Show some dignity ffs.
*would say the same thing if it was an American flag instead before whataboutists jump in
Yea Scottish people don't have the same history as the English given that they were very close to wanting to be removed from the GB (similar for @Pogue Mahone who is Irish). I should apologize for equating you two with English people, for whom I still feel criticizing the Saudi regime, while not acknowledging the problems they have caused throughout the world.
Again, my point isn't that you can't criticize, but then don't act like your government is much better than them.