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tmonkey

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  1. tmonkey

    Women's Football

    Women's football is a minority sport in most countries in the world, played mostly by tomboys and dykes even at a casual level. It should be treated as such.
  2. This makes no sense. Why would he sell a profit-making part of his empire to prop up the loss-making ones? Surely you do the opposite? OK, unless you're sure you're onto a long-term winner with the loss-making parts, but I don't think anyone (even Ashley) thinks that. He might hope it, but he can't believe it's a certainty. Profit from NUFC is much more likely. To sell that would be crazy, IMO. Never said he'd be selling NUFC to prop up the other businesses - the point was only that he's undoubtedly taken big hits to his personal wealth/net worth due to SD shares tanking over the past 5 years, the Debenhams administration where SD lost all its shareholding, and there's risks of further hits in the future (HoF landlords kicking up, SD executives leaving, maybe even Brexit, iirc SD reported that European sales were a big factor in their revenue growth). If NUFC gets relegated the value of the club, i.e. what someone is willing to pay for it, plummets from £350m to maybe £150m, which means Ashley loses out on a potential £200m if he had sold the club now. Ergo he might not fancy taking another gamble on NUFC remaining in the PL. I mean he might, if the takeover doesn't happen it'll be because he fancied the gamble, but it makes sense for him to be more open to selling than in prior years because of the hits he's taken elsewhere.
  3. Obviously the Ashley/KBA PR machine starting to crank up is really worrying and it makes sense that Ashley would be willing to gamble on survival on the cheap (or instant promotion if we go down) because he's a gambler and we're talking about a club that is generating at least £100m of excess cash per season if it can stay in the PL. Having said that, and I know I'm clutching at straws here, I still think there's a chance he wants to sell primarily because of the losses on Debenhams, HoF, the issues with SD shares dropping and key staff leaving, etc. The risk of NUFC getting relegated and staying in the Championship is a risk of losing at least £200m on his current valuation. Maybe in prior years he wouldn't be bothered, but if something is going to cause him to sell these high street failures of his will be it. Also, just recapping the "what we know" part in all of this: - Statement from BZG about agreeing terms with Ashley (supposedly confirmed by the club). - Statement from BZG that proof of funds were sent to Ashley's lawyers in April 2019 and that they are undergoing the PL fit and proper test. - BZG signing a deal to invest a couple of billion in infrastructure in an Indian state/region (i.e. they're loaded). - A company called Monochrome Acquisitions Ltd has been set up by BZG. - Lawyers used by BZG in the UK are ones who specialize in football club takeovers (Pinsent Masons). - Activity by Ashley to consolidate NUFC related companies/entities, which may or may not mean something. - SD advertising hoardings that were taken down afaik haven't been replaced. All of this gives me some confidence still that something might happen, providing Ashley is still a willing seller which of course is the sticking point. In terms of possible explanations for the recent reports, it's either desperate egotistical journalists shit stirring with the "no bids/proof of funds/exclusivity" articles because they're pissed about being in the dark like us common folk (and/or their anonymous club sources have no idea what's going on), in which case they may as well print whatever will get them hits or generate controversy. Or it's brinkmanship from Ashley who is trying to get the most that he can from BZG by having his media partners put out anonymised threats that he's willing to walk (setting the groundwork to let them know they'll take the blame through the media if the deal fails, or drumming up fake rival bidders) unless BZG agree to whatever it is that Ashley wants.
  4. "I don't think I've ever been a mouthpiece" Keith Downey, 2019. "I don't think I've ever molested a child" Jimmy Saville, 2011.
  5. If anything Charnley is probably shitting himself that he'll be out of a job if the takeover happens, and so is trying to stir things up by feeding anonymized statements that doubt BZG's credibility to his "journalist" contacts.
  6. Winner winner chicken dinner. Be glad to see the deadwood shipped out this summer.
  7. It could feasibly happen on the last day or two of the transfer window with a couple of massive Robinho @ Man City style marquee signings to carry the team to the next window where the we'll really unzip the fly and let rip. Man City got a manager. We don’t. No decent one will want to come and join this disaster now. I imagine they'd announce the new manager (Mourinho) at the same time as announcing completion of the takeover.
  8. Hard to predict an imbecile like Ashley though. He might want to delay confirming anything as much as possible - each day this stretches out the longer he can hold off on appointing a manager and more players are snapped up by other clubs. "It was frustrating for us not to be able to appoint a manager or proceed with the signings we were honestly going to make because of BZG's tyre kicking".
  9. It could feasibly happen on the last day or two of the transfer window with a couple of massive Robinho @ Man City style marquee signings to carry the team to the next window where the we'll really unzip the fly and let rip.
  10. I don't think there is a club in world football that set out to fail or reach bare minimum as we do. Ashley doesn't give two fucks if we get relegated as part of his model seems to be that we are in a position to spend to get back to where we are now which is just existing. What we all should do is abandon that fucking club, let it rot and go pack grass roots clubs and help them grow. Gateshead, Hebburn or Shields for me It's kind of a genius model if the only objective was to make Ashley richer in the short term. Cash wise, income in the PL will be around £200m per year (matchday, media, commercial, plus increased installments incoming from the likes of Mitro/Ayoze/etc). Our wage bill is cheap, running costs in total are probably around £90m per year (ignoring the non-cash theoretical accounting treatments like amortization and onerous contract write offs). Netting around £100m cash per year before any transfer expenditure. If we get relegated, it's not a big deal. Because we have a cheap squad whilst in the PL, the majority of players will be in that bracket of "too good for Championship, not good enough for PL", which means noone will want them and so we have a high chance of instant promotion. The remaining decent or good PL standard players are sold for large fees/profit. Parachute payments cover the wage bill. Cash wise we'd probably make a profit overall, turned into a massive loss through theoretical accounting treatments of course. All the while NUFC continues to act as an advertising vehicle for Sports Direct, and makes SD richer with the retail/merchandising deals. Basically it benefits him having us as a yo-yo club since we're a low risk, high reward cash cow (with a sensible gamble on instant promotion every time we go down), and that's why he's a reluctant seller.
  11. tmonkey

    Women's Football

    Who’s the poor sod who only counts as 0.7? Oscar Pistorius? Best to wear a bullet proof vest when you go to the bog later.
  12. £30m for Ayoze is a great deal if you consider how bad he's been for most of the past 5 years. £30m for the player Ayoze currently is, assuming he didn't hit another purple patch in the past 6 months and has genuinely improved, is an absolute steal for Leicester. The player he currently is is worth at least £50m imo, especially because he's already doing it in the PL and so there's far less of a risk that he can't adapt or only looked good in a weaker domestic league.
  13. Clutching at straws I know, but Ayoze was making noises a few months ago in the press about wanting a new challenge and having spent enough time here, so he's clearly been looking to leave for a while now. If it's the case that the player wants out, maybe BZG aren't fussed about keeping him against his wishes - majority of the fee will be received in installments anyway so it wouldn't be money pocketed by Ashley, he'll be replaced, nay upgraded on, with a Ronbinho style marquee signing, and the money coming in will ease some of the FFP regulations.
  14. Zaha is a beast in the PL. Fast, strong, great balance, dangerous on the counter, and in possession has a languid style where he always nicks the ball away at the last second. Type of player who can go both ways and leaves defenders guessing, so much so that often there's no way to stop him other than to foul him. Pain in the arse/thorn in your side type of player, and always seems to single handedly carry Palace's attack (even though they have good players like Townsend). Having said that, I'm not sure a move to a CL club (or hopeful, as Arsenal now are) is right for him. At Palace they just give him the ball and he kinda hogs it until he gets fouled, which a mid table PL squad is happy to do because he's carrying them. If he moves to a more pass-and-move orientated team I'm not sure how his style would fit. He might be better off as a big fish in a small pond.
  15. As sad as it is to see Rafa go, to be brutally honest (and to state the obvious) I think Rafa either staying or going was always irrelevant. The only thing that really matters is whether a takeover happens or not. If Rafa had stayed and there was no takeover it would just have been a stay of execution delaying the inevitable. It would buy us a few more years of "hope", hope that Rafa working miracles would eventually get the message through to Ashley, but if the past 3 years didn't soften Ashley's stance then another 3 years would most likely have done nothing - assuming Rafa would've taken another 3 years of constant lies and obfuscation during transfer windows. Some of us may have the idea that if Rafa could've just added a few more quality first teamers to a squad already more than the sum of its parts, then even under Ashley he could maybe turn NUFC into a dark horse for a top 6 spot, but under Mike Ashley this just wasn't going to happen. As soon as Ashley sees the team has no threat of relegation he'd see no point in buying any more first teamers, if anything we'd be more likely to sell star players to continue making him a nice profit in the transfer window. It could even be something that makes matters worse, i.e. an NUFC secure in the PL under Rafa, with no immediate risk of relegation, is an NUFC Ashley has no reason to sell. One of the big reasons he's supposedly willing to sell now is because he's unlikely to ever get more for the club and is quite likely to see the clubs value plummet with future relegations. If the takeover happens and the new owners are ambitious with the ability to invest in the squad and infrastructure, Rafa's importance to NUFC actually goes down a notch for me. Part of what made Rafa so special for us was that in addition to being a world class manager capable of organising a team like a proper manager should (unlike The King, Carver, McClaren, etc), he was also the only manager for unknown reasons (maybe family, maybe weariness of cutthroat CL elites) worth his salt willing to go near an Ashley owned NUFC. Noone with options would've touched NUFC with a barge pole with all the lies, backstabbing, and reckless decisions by an owner who simply doesn't care about the club, the fans or the city. He's the only manager who was willing to try to get the owner to see some sense, both through words and through leading by example, and did everything he could to get supporters back on side. If he didn't fancy taking NUFC on then we'd be stuck with utter dross in the dugout and would probably have never made it out of the Championship at the first time of asking. But the point is if Ashley is now out of the picture, all of those positives become irrelevant. We're not restricted to desperate PFMs, League One rejects and hoofball connoisseurs. Whilst Rafa is still a world class manager who would've been well placed to lead NUFC into a new era, he's not the only good manager in world football. There's plenty with good experience/CV's (some better than Rafa's) or potential who can organise a defense, spot real talent when they see it, get players to try, implement a style of play, etc etc, and I imagine those managers would want to be in the NUFC dugout if we're talking about rich owners wanting to transform NUFC. Maybe we can bring in a manager with a better CV (e.g. Jose), or someone more likely to work with flair players, less tactically rigid, etc etc. The options widen immensely.
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