On the bright side it reminds everyone of exactly what they are every time they wear it. They should make it their home kit as far as I’m concerned. Change their club name to Saudi PR Firm while they’re at it. Why pretend to be anything else.
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Considering their home kit is black and white bit of a shit design for an away kit.
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I’ve been thinking about this a lot with the fuss over the Saudi golf tour and what appears to be fairly robust but selective criticism. Norman personally is being ripped apart for fronting this, and as the figure head him being subject of the criticism makes sense. Phil has been ostracized less for wanting to play in it, but for the awful comments he made about the situation - yes they are an awful regime, but it’s good money. They are disgusting comments, but it’s really only saying the quiet part out loud. And now lots of the players are taking heat for wanting to go and take the money. But what about the European tour? To make itself more financially viable about half of their events are now played outside of Europe with the majority of those being played in oil rich gulf states, the majority of which are in Saudi. Why is it wrong for the players to want to go and play in a higher revenue tournament in Saudi but there is no criticms for them to play in a european tour event in Saudi, for less money while the tour gets rich off the oil money?
Not really a well examined thought, but it has struck me over the selectiveness of the crticism…this money is already out there with lots of people making themselves wealthier and more powerful by taking it, but we then seem to only react to certain subsets of situations where people take this money. I have friends who went on their honeymoon to Dubai because the level of luxury they got for their $ was way beyond anything they could have got anywhere else. Are they now barred from criticizing Newcastle because they’ve already personally benefited from attempts to wash the reputation of a despotic petrostate?
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Way I see this Golf tour is it needs the best players but the money available to them is already fantastic.
The Euro tour may struggle I think the PGA tour will see it off. There is going be nothing as prestigious as the four majors or even the Players. It could end up with a fair few average players mind.
There is a reason no one really notes about it starting until about March.
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Depends. At an exchange rate of almost R15 to the dollar you could probably get an obscene and comparable level of luxury for less here. In certain places.
my first thoughts as well
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Nothing to see here 
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Eddie Howe has no excuse really, he knows what he was doing joining that lot.
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Thinking about the Salah masks that our players have put on, would love to see 45,000 fans wearing a Khashoggi mask for the home game against Newcastle next season
As Klopp said about Chelsea, we can’t now 15 years later be up in arms about the CFC owner having strong ties to a totalitarian leader when we’ve been silent all this time, in the sense of not outwardly protesting it.
The Newcastle ownership is in its infancy. Now is the time to show we do not accept what the SA government does. Not decades down the line.
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Nothing to see here. Move along!
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Newcastle is getting Hugo Ekitike a fast scoring forward from Stade Reims for €36m plus €10m in easily achievable bonuses according to Frech and Dutch newspapers.
It’s a tough one, as I liked the look of Ekitike as a prospect, but we already have Carvalho and Gordon, plus more established forwards. Newcastle obviously have loads of money, but their recruitment also looks sensible so far. I used to quite like them, and think of the good games we had against Keegan’s side, but I know that my dislike for them is going to grow from this point on.
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Most people’s dislike for them grew the moment the Saudi takeover was completed.
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Yep, mine did too come to think of it. And now that I’m seeing their recruitment, it just keeps growing. My nightmare is Salah signs with them on a Bosman, for Mbappe type wages, to lead the first charge for them trying to become a European force.
I think SandCastle will target 7th/8th next season. That would be a huge progress in the context of their performances in recent years. But I don’t think they can become a force (top six) unless they get someone better than Howe. I have a feeling that Conte or Tuchel will be available for 23-24 and will end up there.
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Ignoring the dirtiness of it all, I’ve been impressed with their strategy. Having money without the status can lead to a disjointed project. Do you waste time trying to land high profile players who are too good to play for you? Do you actually land some and then get a player motivated by all the wrong things? There was a lesson to learn from City, and it wasnt to just spend lots of money on the best players, it was to be patient in building your squad up in a step wise fashion to get it to the point that the players you have the money to sign (Aguero) have a sporting reason to join the project. Some of these moves from newcastle look like they’ve taken that to heart.
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They will build on that, they will hope Howe is good enough to achieve a European place over the next 1-2 years.
I think they would be better building a set up with a young manager than burning themselves through managers, I still don’t rate Tuchel and I expect Conte is long term at Spurs or will go abroad.
Howe does have that knack of recovery mid season when they have a dip, some managers even some of the top ones struggle with that.
This season is going be a strange one, the more players who don’t go the better it is for those teams. I expect Leciester could surprise in that sense. I’m glad we have a fair few staying
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Totally agree. I’m really surprised (shocked) by their low-key, pragmatic approach. I think they have taken a lesson or two from splurges of Chelsea, Cheaty, and QSG and I feel the initial (sparring) backlash from the media and public also encouraged them to be more careful in their dealings.
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Another club for us all to hate, I don’t think Howe will be good enough to take them to the top.
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