Depends on the business model. West ham, like Newcastle is a 3-5 year project to get steady CL income. LFC, AFC and LCFC are much more of polished products. I wonder with LFC and AFC the only entities that could potentially make use of the brands positively would be the likes of Google, Facebook, Amazon or some such - someone looking for longer term investment and mutual advertisement/association rather than returns or being too hands on.
Too much looking into the tea leaves… .
p.s. I’m not sure the Saudis would have been allowed to buy LFC, MUFC, AFC and the like.
I don’t mind Newcastle at the moment but if fat Lampard or Mourinho get the managers job I will instantly hate them , hate both with a passion.
thats a fair point, the flipside is its just a dick measuring contest, so…
buying west ham…or yeovil town for that matter…probably makes more sense…but, Ch’yeah, they aint LFC…
to really boss the playground you’d have to buy LFC, MUFC, Real or Barca…maybe Bayern…maybe…
I have a feeling they’re definitely looking to divest. With the failure of ESL, it just means that their investment is iffy and quite dependent on results on the pitch which I sense they can’t stand from the business viewpoint.
It would be really sad if they left. Our backroom set up is really well-planned and well-oiled. See United for comparison.
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Thing is Dunk you can see Brighton take advantage but others can probably take the risk of leaving it til the summer for a player like Raphina it isn’t his last chance and potentially he has better opportunities.
Same with Phillips as well maybe Ward-Prowse but maybe he is fine at Soton. I think some have to realise they won’t be the ones to win the trophies and play in Europe. They are the stepping stones.
would u care if u’re going to b on 100+k/week?
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Former Newcastle defender Steven Taylor on BBC Radio 5 Live:
"The feel-good factor is back, but attracting the biggest names is going to be the hardest thing. How do you keep these top names happy? Not just that but the wives, girlfriends, families, kids.
"I’ve experienced that with Newcastle with some top, top players – they didn’t enjoy Newcastle. They were always flying down to London, flying abroad in Europe as much as possible, it’s trying to keep them happy.
"We had some really good players it’s just they didn’t settle in at Newcastle. You can go back to when Hugo Viana left Portugal and came to us as one of the top European players – nothing went well for him, he felt unsettled.
"The likes of Yohan Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa, these types of players I played with, were they happy at Newcastle?
"You always see examples of them flying away on their days off, out of Newcastle. Their wives weren’t particularly happy, there wasn’t a lot for them to do. That will be Newcastle’s next biggest thing – keeping the families happy.
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Is Taylor a local lad? I think he is, and if so, it’s not the most ringing endorsement of the area!
Depending on how far you want to commute, bigger places like Leeds and Manchester might come into play. Still nowhere near London though, in terms of bright lights, shopping, clubs, restaurants… but at least there’s some quality and variety there, for young multimillionaires, within a reasonable catchment.
It shouldn’t be difficult for the club to sort out though. Players train and work hard, go home, get your head down. See your family, play FIFA, whatever you do. Then on your day off fly down to London, or Barcelona or wherever, stay overnight, have a good night out, then back at it.
Edit: the other part missing is the sense of focus and sacrifice on the part of the player. If I was negotiating on behalf of Newcastle I wouldn’t want them to be monks, but if there was too much emphasis on lifestyle and enjoying their money, it would give me reason to look at other players who might be more focused on the actual football.
is newcastle really that bad as a city? I have been to the UK a number of times but only drove through Newcastle once on my way to Edinburgh…cannot comment…is it the usual complaint about an English city outside of London that does not have the glitteries and shiny stuff of the big cities or is Newcastle really really bad?
Newcastle is average. Not as good as Leeds or Manchester, Liverpool or Birmingham, and a big step below London.
But Newcastle has amenities, restaurants, shopping, stuff to do… to a point. For a young multimillionaire with piles of cash to burn, they might want more. Then of course there is the weather, at least for some.
But it has to be balance. I think it’s not a difficult problem to solve, for the right sort. If a player emphasizes the lifestyle too much, Id probably swerve at that point.
Ya you are right in many ways…to me as a footballer, you would be training most of the week anyway and should not be partying during the week if there are matches…and if there are free time for any reason, its easy to drive down to London or the bigger cities nearby like Manchester or Liverpool etc or even a plane to mainland Europe…its probably the families like the wives who will be complaining? Then maybe the wives should find some productive stuff to do rather than just spending their days shopping and having high tea then they would not mind not being in London…but I guess they won’t.
It does though, Raphina may use it as a stepping stone but him and Phillips will they be in a better position in Newcastle in say two years time as they are now. I would expect Raphina would be looking at a move forward and Phillips is the type a Spurs or Leicester would usually buy.
I have my doubts a PL will look and go well I might do nothing with my career but hey I might be richer than I already am, you get the type but you wouldn’t generally want them shaping a team that’s still going have a battle on their hands, Ward Prowse is probably the type they will get but I’d be looking at older players in this Dunk suits them as it’s his last chance at a pay day.
Saying that Coutinho or Bale are ripe for signing.
Thing is even I would sort of look at it and think Nah, you have to consider travel and transport links and all that kind of stuff especially if say like myself your partner is from Brazil or the like.
It’s not just is it a nice city. The thing people miss with Liverpool is it had some very nice areas on its doorstep and isn’t really that far from anywhere transport wise same goes for Leeds, im also surprised why no ones ever made a bid for Birmingham or Villa.
They bought Newcastle not out of the good of their heart they must consider Edinburgh in this and it’s links though the North Sea and it’s potential energy opportunities have been mentioned.
As for it will get warmer, yes but it’s also likely to get wetter and we are talking decades and probably not in the life time ownership of this club because if fossil fuels took a downturn they wouldn’t have money.
Sky are going OTT now. Really hope Spurs win
Am expecting Spurs to drop points today.
The hypocrisy of the Newcastle fans is astounding!
The plastic flags are out in force. They look like black bin liners.
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Yeah it’s why I’m not bothering.
Remember it is the same team that’s got 3 points.
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Spurs away kit today is reminding me of Milka Chocolates, Barney and Twinky Winky
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It’s that kind of coverage that makes dodgy regimes and billionaires go, ‘hmmm, yes. That’ ll do’. The cunts do exactly what these sort of owners want them to do. A self fulfilling prophecy, in essence.
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