Summer 2019 takeover saga

[Valentino's fast feet]

Talksport reporting that the bzg will look to get rid of Rafa and bring in Mourinho or Wenger. Probably, and hopefully, bollocks.

[UlversToon]

Talksport reporting that the bzg will look to get rid of Rafa and bring in Mourinho or Wenger. Probably, and hopefully, bollocks.

Certainly don't want Mourinho, he's never won a game at SJP!

[Blue & Maroon]

Reason they are called ****

[Don Sholeone]

Does anyone else think this is another Mike Ashley smokescreen?

Years of cynicism as a fan of this club have taught me to be wary of things like this. It would be just like Mike Ashley to drag this out so that Rafa's contract expires, and then he is snapped up elsewhere.... days before the deal to sell the club mysteriously collapses..... leaving us a few steps back needing a new manager as the transfer window is close to closing.

I'd love to see the club sold and us all move on from the MA era, but there is something about this that just doesnt seem right. The silence from the club is deafening.

Supporting this team is hard work even when news seems to be positive

Why do we always insist Mike Ashley only cares about money and is using the club as a vehicle for sports direct, yet then accuse him of wanting to sabotage the club in various ways to destroy it, in turn destroying the profile and the lucrative incomes of premier League football.

What next Mike Ashley is going to draw all his money out in bank notes to stack around St James and use it as kindling to burn the place to the ground?

[PTAO?]

Does anyone else think this is another Mike Ashley smokescreen?

Years of cynicism as a fan of this club have taught me to be wary of things like this. It would be just like Mike Ashley to drag this out so that Rafa's contract expires, and then he is snapped up elsewhere.... days before the deal to sell the club mysteriously collapses..... leaving us a few steps back needing a new manager as the transfer window is close to closing.

I'd love to see the club sold and us all move on from the MA era, but there is something about this that just doesnt seem right. The silence from the club is deafening.

Supporting this team is hard work even when news seems to be positive

100%

Ashley wants us to retain PL status with minimum investment. Rafa won't sign on to that, so this is just to distract the fans and protect the NUFC brand image. Same reason it happens every transfer window.

[Hjl]

Does anyone else think this is another Mike Ashley smokescreen?

Years of cynicism as a fan of this club have taught me to be wary of things like this. It would be just like Mike Ashley to drag this out so that Rafa's contract expires, and then he is snapped up elsewhere.... days before the deal to sell the club mysteriously collapses..... leaving us a few steps back needing a new manager as the transfer window is close to closing.

I'd love to see the club sold and us all move on from the MA era, but there is something about this that just doesnt seem right. The silence from the club is deafening.

Supporting this team is hard work even when news seems to be positive

Yes. We are just allowing ourselves to get excited anyway

[bodacious benny]

https://socceronsunday.com/article/ashl ... kh-khaled/

[Hjl]

https://socceronsunday.com/article/ashl ... kh-khaled/

You've got to be f***ing kidding me ...

[The Deluded Pablo Diego Jose Francisco]

https://socceronsunday.com/article/ashl ... kh-khaled/

You've got to be f***ing kidding me ...

You do know that its a joke article right?

[beatski]

someone didnt read the article

[Toondes]

[Micky Quim]

[bodacious benny]

https://socceronsunday.com/article/ashl ... kh-khaled/

You've got to be f***ing kidding me ...

[Hjl]

You've got to be f***ing kidding me ...

You do know that its a joke article right?

I read the title and then threw a tantrum....

[The Deluded Pablo Diego Jose Francisco]

If there's no updates this week then i call BS on the whole thing.

[MidlandMagpie]

Does anyone else think this is another Mike Ashley smokescreen?

Years of cynicism as a fan of this club have taught me to be wary of things like this. It would be just like Mike Ashley to drag this out so that Rafa's contract expires, and then he is snapped up elsewhere.... days before the deal to sell the club mysteriously collapses..... leaving us a few steps back needing a new manager as the transfer window is close to closing.

I'd love to see the club sold and us all move on from the MA era, but there is something about this that just doesnt seem right. The silence from the club is deafening.

Supporting this team is hard work even when news seems to be positive

Why do we always insist Mike Ashley only cares about money and is using the club as a vehicle for sports direct, yet then accuse him of wanting to sabotage the club in various ways to destroy it, in turn destroying the profile and the lucrative incomes of premier League football.

What next Mike Ashley is going to draw all his money out in bank notes to stack around St James and use it as kindling to burn the place to the ground?

I dont think hes wanting to sabotage or destroy the profile of the club. I think he wants premiership football at a minimum cost. He wont put big money up to compete for top 6, and if you arent going to do that, theres not much incentive for him to finish 9th over finishing 13th. He is a businessman and judging investment risk is what they do.

By contrast Rafa wants guarantees of decent money to spend and probably a pay rise himself.

Two conflicting ways of going forward, and its Ashley's club, but Ashley doesnt want to stand up and say that publically he doesnt want to pay what Rafa wants. He knows what we think of Rafa and he has learned in the past (renaming the ground) that it's easier not to directly upset the fans.

This supposed deal would be a convenient way of letting Rafa see out his contract. Rafa moves on, we are still a premiership club and he can get someone in to keep us up who will not dig his heels in for a good transfer fund.

I wish I wasnt so cynical but this club does that to you!

[Toondes]

If there's no updates this week then i call BS on the whole thing.

“Apparently” the paperwork was submitted to the premier league on Wed last week and it takes around two weeks. Im clinging on to that so expecting no news for a while .

[Remember Colo]

Why do we always insist Mike Ashley only cares about money and is using the club as a vehicle for sports direct, yet then accuse him of wanting to sabotage the club in various ways to destroy it, in turn destroying the profile and the lucrative incomes of premier League football.

What next Mike Ashley is going to draw all his money out in bank notes to stack around St James and use it as kindling to burn the place to the ground?

I dont think hes wanting to sabotage or destroy the profile of the club. I think he wants premiership football at a minimum cost. He wont put big money up to compete for top 6, and if you arent going to do that, theres not much incentive for him to finish 9th over finishing 13th. He is a businessman and judging investment risk is what they do.

By contrast Rafa wants guarantees of decent money to spend and probably a pay rise himself.

Two conflicting ways of going forward, and its Ashley's club, but Ashley doesnt want to stand up and say that publically he doesnt want to pay what Rafa wants. He knows what we think of Rafa and he has learned in the past (renaming the ground) that it's easier not to directly upset the fans.

This supposed deal would be a convenient way of letting Rafa see out his contract. Rafa moves on, we are still a premiership club and he can get someone in to keep us up who will not dig his heels in for a good transfer fund.

I wish I wasnt so cynical but this club does that to you!

Why does he care if a manager digs his heals in for a transfer fund? It's water off a duck's back. Rafa is his perfect manager - he can maintain PL status with minimum investment. Ashley doesn't care what fans think of him, how much negative press he receives from Rafa complaining publicly; none of that causes him any real problems. I'm sure Ashley wants to keep Rafa, he probably just doesn't want to provide the budget necessarily for Rafa to choose to resign.

I'd go a step farther and say that Ashley isn't going to fabricate news about a royal family to try and suppress fan blowback if Rafa leaves because no matter what fans will blame him, and he'd be an idiot to think he won't take the fall (and frankly as I said, I don't think he cares). Plus, you know, the reps of this super rich royal family member are out there talking it up themselves.

Am I confident this will go through? Of course not, there are so many ways this can break down. But I do think that Ashley would love to get shot of the club and get 350m back in his pocket that he can invest elsewhere.

[Don Sholeone]

If there's no updates this week then i call BS on the whole thing.

“Apparently” the paperwork was submitted to the premier league on Wed last week and it takes around two weeks. Im clinging on to that so expecting no news for a while .

I'm practically in the same boat, I don't expect or need to hear from the club or potential buyers until at least next Friday, if I hear nothing at all next week then I'll have some concerns, but all the official statements point to positives, we have had no official statements that points to a negative conclusion.

The only thing bugging me at the moment with this is the egotistical journos who think their word and their sources is gospel, the pure arrogance of them, I had a pop on twitter about chronicle pouring scorn on the club for "doing business in public" then days later they were moaning the club isn't communicating takeover information to them, they are just a bunch of arseholes claiming to be on the fans side, but all they are interested in is website traffic.

[Somebodys pinched my sombrero]

The deafening silence from the club is dreadful