Newcastle United now owned by the PIF | PL receives "legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control NUFC" ;)

Which top players do we think will end up in Newcastle in the next year or so?

I think they may start targeting the likes of Lewandowski & Kroos, players nearing the end of their careers and wanting massive wages to bump them right up the league.
It’ll be a mix of that and they’ll price everyone out of some German and French talents.
 
Yeah and listen it's not something I want, but for us to compete with these we are somewhat snookered.
We can still compete, but the Glazers will have to be willing to do so.
 
My apathy towards football grows by the day. I used to soak up everything but that gradually reduced to only watching United. It’s just one big advert for gambling, Visit Dubai and shit watches. Needs to die and be remade.
I feel the same. If I live long enough, I see myself stopping to follow it in the next 3-4 years
 
How much would Newcastle need to spend to win the league? £500 million if they have decent luck in the market?

They need to replace literally everyone in the squad and the coaching staff.
More than a £1billion pounds. This is not gonna happen overnight, they need to buy 9-10 class players and keep investing to improve their squad.
 
£££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££ :nervous:
Stirling.....................Haaland...........................Mbappe
.............Pogba..............................Bellingham.............
...................................Rice............................................
Gaya........kouillibally...................Sule..............Trippier
...................................Oblak..........................................

I for one welcome our new footballing overlords and up the toon

All contracts probably available for the right bid within the next couple of years
 
Which top players do we think will end up in Newcastle in the next year or so?
I think they have to start with has-beens like Isco and Coutinho and maybe try to make some smart signings like Aarons plus look at talents in France, Germany and Portugal. But they need a DoF first and Man. City's academy director Wilcox is one of their candidates.
 
Agree. Far bigger club than city

absolute rubbish, until Keegan arrived they were a level below City in terms of winning things and attendance. For example in the 80's out average attendance was 5-10k above theirs even when we were in the same division. They only started getting bigger crowds when the Halls and Shepherd invested, but even then they weren't a bigger club than City.
 
It's a bit weird when journos and fans mention human rights etc. in Saudi Arabia. Look at behaviour of Neymar, David Villa or "Topher" and allegations against them? How many fans they lost? It's like nobody cares about actual human qualities in football so why suddenly should anyone care about Saudis? I don't get it.
 
It's a bit weird when journos and fans mention human rights etc. in Saudi Arabia. Look at behaviour of Neymar, David Villa or "Topher" and allegations against them? How many fans they lost? It's like nobody cares about actual human qualities in football so why suddenly should anyone care about Saudis? I don't get it.

Is Neymar's human rights wikipedia page this long?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia
 
Yeah, my point was more about how rich Kroenke is vs how he doesn't spend that much at Arsenal. But you're absolutely right

Fair enough mate, Kroenke is a businessman looking to make money that's why he's not ploughing hundreds of millions into Arsenal. Basically even as a billionaire he can't really afford to do that which is why it's a joke that nation states are allowed to own football clubs.
 
United aren't going to be bought for being a profitable business, the oil lot only care for exposure and there's nowt bigger than the PL.

Even the original sugar daddy Abramovich has made a profit on his investment. We live in an era where digital tokens with no real value are being traded for millions. You better believe football clubs with large fan bases, TV revenues and sponsorships are capable of being profitable investments even if the initial outlay is seemingly massive.
 
Yeah and listen it's not something I want, but for us to compete with these we are somewhat snookered.

Not really. Even with the Glazers leaching us we've still spent more than enough to be competitive as is. We just haven't spent it well enough. The competition will be harder but we're still an extremely wealthy football club.
 
No but if some of the most famous and popular footballers are possibly sexual predators and rapists when I see that as a big problem. They're idolized by millions of people, by children but suddenly it's like nobody cares.

Is it though or is that just a straw man argument you're making up?
 
At least his spell as Aston Villa manager ended with just a cabbage being thrown at him, could be something worse this time
 
No but if some of the most famous and popular footballers are possibly sexual predators and rapists when I see that as a big problem. They're idolized by millions of people, by children but suddenly it's like nobody cares.

Plenty of people care about this sort of thing. There was a fecking airplane flown over Old Trafford during his debut mentioning his alleged sex offence. Oppo fans mock it every game in song and he's never been found guilty of a thing.

What's happened to Mendy at Man City? Do you think "nobody cares"?

If we move to players who are actually guilty of dodgy stuff, they get pretty universally shamed and shunned.
 
If this goes through and Newcastle do end up winning a title I think I’ll be done with football tbh. It’s already nowhere the same this would just be the final nail in the coffin.
 
So which Newcastle people will they get involved in this to sell it to the fans? Shearer? Keegan? Gazza?

Sell what to the fans? The idea that an owner 10 times richer than City’s is coming to take over the club and launch them away from being owned by a bum who brings nothing but relegation battles into a new era of competing at the top of the table as the richest of the rich? Newcastle fans will be pinching themselves at the moment.
 
Goes to show why sportswashing is a thing. I'm already seeing Newcastle fans defend that Saudi lot on forums and social media. It's getting pretty pathetic already.

Seen similar, they have no shame.
 
Not really. Even with the Glazers leaching us we've still spent more than enough to be competitive as is. We just haven't spent it well enough. The competition will be harder but we're still an extremely wealthy football club.

The longer it goes on the more our global fan base will dwindle, the less we have to spend to even keep up. With more oil clubs there's more players and managers going to them so it will need a lot of luck to be able to compete even for a few years.

The other trouble for United is yes we've spent a billion and not come close to winning major trophy. The people that own City, Chelsea, PSG, and now Newcastle tend to hire the best people to run the club correctly. Even Jack Walker managed to win the league quickly yet our owners have done the worst job possible in spending a billion.
 
He's not the original sugar daddy in football (or even in the premier league) and he's not made a profit.

Forbes values Chelsea at 2b. Chelsea owes Roman 1.4b. That’s what we call a profitable investment.
 
This is going to end football for many people. And I would feel the same if, for instance, a Chinese backer now came in for Utd, with their human rights record.
 
Nah, people talk shit but this won't be "the end of football" for anyone.

It won't be the end, but it's certainly another blow. The dick measuring contest between PSG and City is bad enough, now we've got another player in the game and this one is in the same league.
 
I'm not going to get into an argument about real world investment versus what Forbes values something at. This isn't the thread for that.

How about real world examples then? Kroenke recently turned down a 2b offer for Arsenal. No way Chelsea go for less as they are worth significantly more.
 
We spend more than virtually everyone even PSG
Not really. Even with the Glazers leaching us we've still spent more than enough to be competitive as is. We just haven't spent it well enough. The competition will be harder but we're still an extremely wealthy football club.
Yeah I know we spend a lot, it just irks me that this great club have to function in spite of the owners taking money out instead of an owner pumping money into us like these other teams.

To me it doesn't matter if we spend as much or more than the others if could be spending a lot more. How much further along this rebuild would we be and how many trophies have we missed out on by not operating to our fullest potential like other clubs like Madrid, Barca, City, Chelsea, PSG.

In my opinion the dip after Sir Alex would have been a smaller than it has been.