Newcastle United 21-22: Bringing Liquified Coals to Newcastle

Mighty Joe Young

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Joe D Reid

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The rule is against entering into sponsorship agreements with entities owned or controlled by the club's ownership and applies to all teams (but only for 30 days). This is--genuinely, in light of the snark I'm about to deploy--a good rule. The Etihad sponsorship for City is byzantine and I can see the other clubs wanting to avoid going further down that road.

That said...

THE FUCKING STADIUM HAS BEEN NAMED AFTER THE PREVIOUS OWNER'S RELATED ENTITY FOR 10 YEARS. Ashley got however many millions of pounds of free advertising for SportsDirect out of NUFC and the club got, like, free shipping on their uniform orders out of it. I'm glad the news finally made it south of the Wall.
 

67YAZ

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Good on him to the full £7m buy out and ride off into retirement. He wasn’t a good manager for Newcastle, but he got a lot of invective targeted at him personally and a lot more that was misdirected ire at Ashley.

Doesn’t appear as if a director of footfall has been hired yet, but Luis Campos name is now being bandied about.
 

Dummy Hoy

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I continue to think a lot about this complex situation- I think Wednesday and Newcastle are very similar clubs and I question how I would handle something like this. I don't envy those of you that are having a moral dilemma; I'm exceedingly jealous of the folk that can skip right past the situation and can separate sport from life.
 

the1andonly3003

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Dummy Hoy

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I’m okay with it because I didn’t love his football (although we later had to watch Pulis, so that was worse) but let us not forget that Bruce chose to leave a job where he was held in high esteem by the fans.
 

Joe D Reid

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A really decent guy who was put in a series of impossible positions. As others have said, he got a lot of stick from fans who didn't understand just how badly the club writ large was being mismanaged. And you by and large didn't hear of chaos within the squad under him, which is notable given the history of chaos in the squad and the larger uncertainty within the club while he was here.

But also a tactically inept cabbage-head who couldn't elevate a squad at this level. A comfortable retirement is probably for the best all the way around.
 

the1andonly3003

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A really decent guy who was put in a series of impossible positions. As others have said, he got a lot of stick from fans who didn't understand just how badly the club writ large was being mismanaged. And you by and large didn't hear of chaos within the squad under him, which is notable given the history of chaos in the squad and the larger uncertainty within the club while he was here.

But also a tactically inept cabbage-head who couldn't elevate a squad at this level. A comfortable retirement is probably for the best all the way around.
He spent the most time at Hull, Sunderland and Newcastle. They weren't brim full of talent and two of those clubs haven't returned to the EPL. He might not be the Great Escape specialist like Big Sam, but getting Newcastle close to midtable with the likes of Jonjo Shelvy, Andy Carroll and the like isn't an easy task.
 

OCST

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I don’t know why but I have an irrational affection for Jonjo Shelvy. Just seems like a poor dumb fuck who nothing goes right for. A hostile, violence prone adult footy Caillou.
 

Mighty Joe Young

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It’s looking like it will be all out war inside the Premier League.

https://theathletic.com/2900252/2021/10/20/inside-incredible-premier-league-meeting-what-it-means-newcastle-beyond/?source=user_shared_article

The new Saudi regime sent the outgoing ceo to the meeting and threatened the rest of the league if they went ahead with the banning of sponsorships. The new lot couldn’t be bothered to even turn up. Not exactly into relationship building. It’s telling that most of the vitriol is coming from the likes of Palace , Burnley , Arsenal, Spurs and Aston Villa.
 

SoxFanInCali

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I don’t know why but I have an irrational affection for Jonjo Shelvy. Just seems like a poor dumb fuck who nothing goes right for. A hostile, violence prone adult footy Caillou.
I always have, as well, even though he never really did much for Liverpool. He's one of those players that's fun to watch in a neutral game because he's capable of keeping both sides in the match.
 

Zososoxfan

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It’s looking like it will be all out war inside the Premier League.

https://theathletic.com/2900252/2021/10/20/inside-incredible-premier-league-meeting-what-it-means-newcastle-beyond/?source=user_shared_article

The new Saudi regime sent the outgoing ceo to the meeting and threatened the rest of the league if they went ahead with the banning of sponsorships. The new lot couldn’t be bothered to even turn up. Not exactly into relationship building. It’s telling that most of the vitriol is coming from the likes of Palace , Burnley , Arsenal, Spurs and Aston Villa.
Can you expand on the bolded?
 

Mighty Joe Young

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From that article:

Several club executives, speaking anonymously to The Athletic, criticised Newcastle’s new owners — whether a representative of Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns 80 per cent of the club, or 10 per cent shareholders PCP Capital Partners and the Reuben brothers — for not attending the meeting and sending Charnley instead.
“They just didn’t turn up, except for Lee, who sat there and read a statement like he was at a German wedding,” a source said.
“Poor old Lee, put in an impossible position, like a puppet,” said another. “Absolutely unbelievable.”
There was disbelief that none of Newcastle’s new buyers were at the meeting, be it in person, like around 80 per cent of attendees, or via Zoom, and widespread sympathy for Charnley.
“We all like Lee,” a well-placed figure reflected. “He’s Mike Ashley’s man and sending your outgoing CEO to make legal threats to the rest of the league is not great.
“If I’d been advising Newcastle, I’d have told them, ‘Vote for this and then wait and see what comes back… make the rules evolve in a way you want further down the line, but don’t threaten people’.”
They (Newcastle’s new owners) just needed to turn up to the meeting, sit down and talk it through,” said another executive. “There was no need for all of this.”
Amanda Staveley Newcastle

Executives were surprised to see Newcastle’s new owners, including Amanda Staveley, were not at Monday’s meeting in London (Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)
Although Palace’s Parish led calls for the vote to be held, it is understood Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Aston Villa were also vehemently in favour of putting a temporary ban on related-party sponsorships in place.
“Everybody is so emotional about it,” an executive said. “(Alan Pace) at Burnley is up in arms. He’s so agitated it’s been allowed to happen.”
 

OCST

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grouping "the likes of Palace , Burnley , Arsenal, Spurs and Aston Villa" together seemed to be a snide commentary that two of the former Big Six had moved into more modest neighborhoods, and as such I was here for it.
 

67YAZ

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It’s notable that City kept their own counsel here and didn’t extended their geopolitical rivalry into the boardroom. Long term, the hyper-wealthy owners, the petro-states, and the pro-sports-teams-as-portfolio-investment owners can drag the EPL in their desired direction…if they work together and don’t act like complete dicks all the time: Project Big Picture, the Super League, this bullshit. Grow the cash flow and increase club values and the other owners will enthusiastically support looser rules.
 

Mighty Joe Young

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I find it rather bizarre that the existing clubs don’t have a say on who gets to join the league. If they did, then the takeover would never have happened. Now, they are using whatever power they have to limit the damage. Independent evaluation of the value of the third party sponsorship deals really are the crux of the matter. Just because cousin Billy Bob‘s airline sponsors your team at £20m a year doesn’t mean it’s actually worth that.

Oh … and the head chopping (which doesn‘t seem to have been much of an issue)
 

candylandriots

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With the caveat that the picture alone might not tell the whole story and I could also believe more explicitly racist things were being chanted, going after that banner under the guise of anti-racism seems very cheap and hollow.
Yeah, I think that's right. For anyone that didn't click through to the article, here is the Holmesdale Fanatics' comment on the sign (and controversy):
"To give the thumbs up to this deal at a time when the Premier League is promoting the women's game and inclusive initiatives such as rainbow armbands, shows the total hypocrisy at play and demonstrates the league's soulless agenda where profits trump all."
They're not wrong.
 

Zososoxfan

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Ashley ran the 4th most profitable club over the past decade!

The Extra Inch guys (Spurs pod) were talking about how bummed Levy/ENIC must be about this buyout because they're such a good commodity. This chart reflects that Levy is a damn good businessman.
 

candylandriots

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The Met police are supposedly looking into the matter of the sign

From the Guardian …

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/oct/23/callum-wilson-is-the-best-natural-finisher-ive-worked-with?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

That isn’t going to end well. Persecuting fans for stating the obvious is a very bad look.
I guess they had to look, but no charges to be filed. I’m clearly not as familiar with free speech laws in the UK (and I know that they are more restrictive), but prosecuting that sign would seem to make whatever situation the league may want to avoid about 100x worse. Glad this ends here, as nobody deserves legal jeopardy for something like that.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/oct/25/police-to-take-no-action-over-crystal-palace-fans-newcastle-banner?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
 

Joe D Reid

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I guess they had to look, but no charges to be filed. I’m clearly not as familiar with free speech laws in the UK (and I know that they are more restrictive), but prosecuting that sign would seem to make whatever situation the league may want to avoid about 100x worse. Glad this ends here, as nobody deserves legal jeopardy for something like that.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/oct/25/police-to-take-no-action-over-crystal-palace-fans-newcastle-banner?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Yeah, the Newcastle fans who have taken to wearing kaffiyehs in nominal support of the Saudis are way more racist than anything on that sign.
 

Blundatola

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I just don’t even know what to feel at this point. At times I find myself caught up in the fever of manager and transfer rumors, and the unbelievable dream of actually winning something. Other times, such as today, the rank hypocrisy of supporting Saudi owners I find abhorrent is at the forefront of my mind. The club have tweeted in support of Josh Cavallo and of course the replies are mostly Saudi accounts being homophobic. It’s entirely predictable and yet still disappointing.

I don’t even have a good reason for this weird 15-year obsession I’ve had with this soccer team, and yet I can’t seem to pull away.
 

Dummy Hoy

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I just don’t even know what to feel at this point. At times I find myself caught up in the fever of manager and transfer rumors, and the unbelievable dream of actually winning something. Other times, such as today, the rank hypocrisy of supporting Saudi owners I find abhorrent is at the forefront of my mind. The club have tweeted in support of Josh Cavallo and of course the replies are mostly Saudi accounts being homophobic. It’s entirely predictable and yet still disappointing.

I don’t even have a good reason for this weird 15-year obsession I’ve had with this soccer team, and yet I can’t seem to pull away.
This is where I feel bad for you guys…what a shit dilemma for you.
 

Joe D Reid

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I'll be interested to see whether Howe is treated as a placeholder until after this (or possibly next) season or if they are actually willing to give him a real chance to shape the squad. I think he is a good hire for where the club currently finds itself, as he had to make do with less at his last job as well. The Conte/Emery approach never quite made sense with the current squad, or even the one they might have after they buy a few folks in January. Conte would straight murder Shelvey in the middle of practice.

I don't envy Howe's position. This squad is not very talented, and managing the locker room in the wake of the takeover might be a challenge. Like, Jonjo might not be a rocket scientist, but somewhere deep in his amygdala he must sense that he's not the pivote of the future for this club. "Play hard so we can fire you all except maybe Allan" is a tough sell.
 

Mighty Joe Young

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The Liverpool Echo is dropping hints that LFC’s director of football Michael Edwards may be in line for the Magpies gig. Seems like he’s best buds with Howe , had a meeting last week and, fortuitously, is out of contract in the summer. That would be quite a coup to land Edwards.
 

67YAZ

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The Liverpool Echo is dropping hints that LFC’s director of football Michael Edwards may be in line for the Magpies gig. Seems like he’s best buds with Howe , had a meeting last week and, fortuitously, is out of contract in the summer. That would be quite a coup to land Edwards.
That would be interesting and scary, to give Edwards massive resources to work with. I’d had taken the suggestion that Edwards was looking for a role above sporting director. I wonder how they’d carve out the position for Edwards.
 

Blundatola

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What on Earth are you talking about? I’d love if our record matched our typical 5-4-1 formation. We’d be in 6th place!
 

Blundatola

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Well, he’s our only midfielder who can actually complete a forward pass, so it’s not too surprising despite Jonjo’s obvious limitations.
 

Blundatola

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It’s really hard to see how this team stays up at this point. There have been improvements for sure, but the same squad limitations continue to haunt us and I don’t see how they can be addressed in what’s left of the transfer window. We need two CB’s, 2 MF’s, a GK, and another ST. The spine of this team is just awful.

I saw someone on Twitter point out that, while Newcastle were promoted before Villa, Newcastle still have 7 players from the Championship squad, while Villa have none. The squad rot is noticeable, and there will difficulty moving a lot of players on. I mean, who wants to pay for the likes of Almiron and Lascelles?

I guess the good news is that improvements to the club are reportedly happening quickly behind the scenes. Really need that Director of Football to come in and start building an actual coherent squad ASAP. I suppose we’ll also have a couple of derbies to look forward to next season, assuming Sunderland don’t bottle it again.