Maybe it's just a simple 'running a football club is different to asset-stripping and streamlining oil refineries' thing. But whatever it is, seems pretty sad.
Tempting as it is to keep laughing at frustrated Man Utd fans, the appalling financial rape of the club by the Glaziers feels like it should be a crime.
Never mind all that, is Miss World still a thing?
Never mind all that, is Miss World still a thing?
If it's done by public vote, we could maybe help binners win?
the appalling financial rape of the club by the Glaziers feels like it should be a crime.
We’ve been asking the same question since the Glazers took over… how can what they’re doing possibly be legal?
Ironic that today we’re looking at a similar thing at Thanes Water, as the ‘owners’ continue to take literally billions out, while simultaneously loading the business with debt
Its going to get worse too as the enormous debt will shortly need refinancing and the interest rates will be far, far higher.
Ratcliffe said that the club has run out of money and he’s right. Manchester United, a club that didn’t have a penny of debt and was massively profitable when the Glazers took over, is virtually bankrupt with a billion in debt hung round its neck
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cvgprplz94yo
My freakin' eyes! Did Gerry Anderson design that?
Regeneration guff is coded way of saying we'd like a taxpayer handout to subsidise the glazers and jim the tax exile
I'm interested in knowing what that roof will be made from if it is meant to withstand Manchester weather year in, year out. If they actually build that, it will look like a dog's dinner within ten years.
More fantasy economics from Ratcliffe and friends. The Govt won't fund any of it so it won't happen in it's current form and he'll get all pissy and blame others for not playing his game with his rules. He's a strange bloke
Never going to happen.
God knows how many times we’ve heard all this ‘regeneration of Old Trafford’ bullshit over the last 20 years. Meanwhile the whole place is literally falling down, as away supporters never tire of reminding us
Just more pie in the sky nonsense
SQUIRREL!!!
I wonder if they just got AI to 'design' the new stadium for their PR hack?
Once they take down that safety netting there may be a nicely designed stadium lurking underneath. Bedouin design next to the Manchester Ship Canal, what a juxaposition, and not a particulary good one. Norm is off his head, is this a sales pitch to the middle east?
I know we’re a billion quid in debt and haemorrhaging money due to years of absolutely appalling mismanagement, but do you fancy lending us another 2 billion?
No… oh ok… well, we tried. We’ll just eventually get round to fixing the roof on the north stand and it’ll be reet. It’ll probably stay standing for a while yet. Probably…
Ground sharing with City or Everton might work whilst they repair the leaky roof.
My freakin' eyes! Did Gerry Anderson design that?
Maybe they'll rent it out to Saudi for their World Cup? Just get some sand and camels shipped in - nobody will know the difference.
Ground sharing with City or Everton might work whilst they repair the leaky roof.
That's an idea - rent out Goodison now it's surplus to requirements.
I do love billionaires & their no one is good enough attitude - ignoring the fact they got rich trampling on those people.
I guess the kitchen staff must've been pretty well paid if they can pay for this new stadium with the savings.
If nothing else they'll have the newest stadium in the Championship.
This does have the potential to see what happens when one of the biggest sides in the world are mismanged to oblivion.
I listened to the Ratcliffe interview with the BBC. It's gas-lighting central. Never mentions the Glazers and the money the club is doling out to them every season, which makes the whole financial side like a bucket with a hole in. Never explains how the relatively paltry savings made from staff cuts are going make a dent in the massive losses from the playing side of things. It's all suffer now for gruel tomorrow.
Presumably they'll sell the naming rights to the new stadium to some hideous petrochemical giant and use the future income to secure even more debts for the club 😐
My freakin' eyes! Did Gerry Anderson design that?
As a keen gardener, I applaud the idea of keeping the vegetable patch safe.
I only saw highlights of leg 1 but by all accounts PSG were streets ahead and only Alisson kept them out. Tonight - wow, their press and workrate, and then the ability to beat the press at the other end was amazing. It was more even and Liverpool had chances but PSG looked fully deserved winners over the two legs and the penalties were just different class, both the ones they scored and Donnarumma's saves.
I don't think anyone will fancy playing them in the rest of the competition.
Yep, looks like PSG finally moved away from the Harlem Globetrotting philosophy and built a team.
Agree, feels weird to root for them but they’re some team. Thought Liverpool were excellent second half tonight but just no way through, and in extra time they were done physically.
Random input but it seems 5Live Breakfast are doing an "inside Brentford " feature this morning. Just before 8 I caught a really interesting interview with their head of recruitment, might be of interest to anyone to hunt out on BBC Sounds
Well, it’s a shame Real are still in the Champions League because they must be favourites again. However, what odds would you have got for the last two English clubs left in being Arsenal & Villa?
I’m slightly off grid this week staying with my dad - no internet and terrestrial TV, but I did hear Reading beat Holyhead backed club Wrexham.
I’m slightly off grid this week staying with my dad - no internet and terrestrial TV, but I did hear Reading beat Holyhead backed club Wrexham.
You misheard at least one word in that sentence 😉
United are going to win the Europa League aren’t they, and sneak into the Champions League accordingly, and save themselves. They’ll get the money they need to buy players who’ll only play for CL clubs, and win the premier league in a couple of seasons time. Possibly.
Tuchel's first England squad is out - I didn't realise Jordan Henderson was still playing.
United are going to win the Europa League aren’t they, and sneak into the Champions League accordingly, and save themselves. They’ll get the money they need to buy players who’ll only play for CL clubs, and win the premier league in a couple of seasons time. Possibly.
I can’t see it myself, but I did allow myself to think last night, as we weren’t absolutely awful, ‘I wonder if we might just unbelievably fluke another trophy this season, like we did last season and the one before?’
Getting into the Champions League while finishing 14th would be quite something. Technically, Spurs could do the same. Though obviously it’s Spurs.
Spurs United final could be entertaining!
You’d be in serious trouble if you were sat in Row Z
You’d be in serious trouble if you were sat in Row Z
Is Bobby Zamora back?
That’s one of the all time great football chants!
That’s one of the all time great football chants!
It’s certainly one of my favourites, along with ‘Blame it on Traore’
I have to credit Citeh fans with one of the funniest. When Ferdinand got banned for missing his drugs test, one of the first games was a Manchester derby at Old Trafford. The away end were singing, to the tune of Duran Duran ‘his name is Rio and he’s sitting in the stands!’. You’ve got to take your hat off to that really
Your teeth are offside’ (chant about Luiz Suarez). That tickled my funny bone.
Brilliant! The scousers had Some good ones about their own players.
He’s big, he’s red, his feet stick out of bed,Peter Couch, Peter Crouch
Hes fast, he’s red, he talks like Father Ted, Robbie Keane, Robbie Keane,
I loved ours about our own favourite Scouser too:
Hes fat, he’s scouse, he’ll probably rob your house, Wayne Rooney, Wayne Rooney.
I love football chants! 😀
I PMSL at Jonjo Shelvey's - not heard often (as he was usually injured) but
He's coming for you
He's coming for you
Harry Potter
He's coming for you
There are some great football chants groups on social media. There's that great joke about US sports fans chanting "Defence! Defence!" and British fans going "I've got one about their centre backs recent conviction for speeding to the tune of Frere Jacques...on 3..."
My favourite, the John Terry and Wayne Bridge intrigue:
“Carefree wherever you may be, don’t leave your wife with John Te-rry,
It could be worse, if he was scouse, he’d shag your missus and rob your house”.
Well someone's got to bring this up and it's very much the mammoth in the room: why are Ant and Dec not standing together?
Newcastle have put a shift in for this first half, hope they can hang on, but I suspect their legs will fade as the game gets towards the 90.
I think they’ve done enough already. Liverpool look jaded.
Ooh Chiesa
Yep, good to get that monkey off their back in terms of the trophy drought. Pleased for Eddie Howe as well. Better team by a mile.
Up the fu***n Toon, been waiting nearly 40 years to see that!!!! Glad I had the sense to put a holiday in at work 2moro
Lovely to see, doesn't everyone have a soft spot for Newcastle? Except Sunderland supporters, obvs.
I think the soft spot for quite a few went when the Saudis bought them. And a soft spot is usually reserved for teams that are a bit shit.
My soft spot had a bit of a boost because I had money on Newcastle to win with Isak to score at 5/1
And now I’ve just watched something rarer than hens teeth… Rasmus Hojland just scored. For the first time in 20 games.
Not been able to write anything last night.
As i kid I had two obsessions - football and cowboys. There's an old photo of me somewhere in the family archives in a football shirt and a cowboy hat.
It was the first team I ever saw. My Grandad took me when I was single digit years old; it was my Mum's hometown as a Walker lass and we spent a lot of time up there as kids. I don't remember much of the game but the sounds, and the smells and the noise are ingrained. And the shouting, grown men all shouting in unison. Every weekend I would pester him to take me, if the team was away I'd pester him to take me to see the reserves. He would say that me and half the city would turn up to watch 11 tailor's dummies if they had black and white shirts on. In those days we had to drive or my Auntie would drop us off, and the walk from the car to the ground was intoxicating. The shirt in the photo above was black and white.
Later on as a student in Durham, it was under my own steam I could get up there to watch them almost every other week, grant permitting. Tube to St James's if I was late, or more likely a walk from the station. And even though they were fallow years, the team never lacked support. It might have been the kind of support that was euphemistically 'honest and unflinching', as a banner said 'We don't demand a team that wins, we demand a team that tries'. A team stacked full of players whose names I can't even remember now, and then some little gems. My Uni career overlapped by a year with a precocious barrel chested lad from Dunston who stood out, I still can't believe he didn't go on to be a superstar of the game.
My Mum wasn't really a football fan - she'd watch the games on TV and knew the big names but that was as far as it went, but she was immensely proud of her city and upbringing, even though she moved away while still in her teens. She was 13 when they last won a domestic trophy, 26 when they last won anything. Of course my Grandad is long gone, and Mum died a year and a half ago, so they can't see what yesterday meant to their city, or to the son and grandson of a family from Walker and Wallsend.
And thanks Amanda, even if the PIF sticks in the craw, for saving us from Cashley and believing in a manager that does things right. If you fancy getting back into club ownership, there's another sleeping giant (!) with easy access links to the M4 and Heathrow I can point you at.
Still some happy tears here 😉
I remember going into toon for the players bus parade after losing the league cup to Man City. What will the parade be like after winning?
Unbelievable. Absolutely marvellous stuff
That was a long wait to see something like that. After a lifetime of dreaming about what it would be like to finally win something now we know. I know it's just the Carabao cup and fans of other clubs used to winning stuff will sneer, but it's far more than that for us. A lifetime of disappointment, frustration and pessimism gone in 90 short minutes, and it's almost certainly just the start.
A win's a win. Reading won the Simod cup in 1988 against a then well fancied Luton.
Hopefully with the weight of this off their shoulders they’ll kick on and secure a champions league place too. That’d be quite a season - and could mean Isak etc stay.
I’ve never been much of a football fan, watched world up games but in more recent years I’ve watched a fair bit of football. My youngest daughter is big into sport, particularly cricket, so I have caught the bug too. Yesterday I wandered out with a few friends, we had a table booked in the pub to watch the game. The Toon were all over Liverpool, they wanted to win and win they did. Liverpool never really had a look in hardly any attempts at goal or only a few on target. The pub went absolutely wild when the final whilst blew, there was a buzz right through the pub and all through town. It was tremendous to see a tear achieve what they’ve wanted to do for 70 years.
and could mean Isak etc stay.
I think Isak will be here for one more season. He's young still and there's no rush to move to the likes of PSG or Barca. They'll have to massively boost his salary though and give him assurances that when he wants to go they won't stand in his way. Plus there's the rumoured 140M fee which will put off a lot of clubs (Arsenal can forget it!). Before yesterday I thought Bruno was a better bet to be off in the summer, but not now. He bleeds black and white and I doubt he wants to go anywhere.
I won't be surprised to see some changes in the summer though. Trippier*, Wilson, Longstaff and Schar will probably be going along with some of the other fringe players. Wouldn't be surprised if Gordon goes to Liverpool too. If we can hold on to the midfield and Isak and add some quality on the wings and defence we'll be very well setup to push on.
*Not so sure on Trippier after yesterday as he was back to his best. Doubt he'll want to play second fiddle to Tino though.
Wow. still coming to terms with that win.
I started supporting Newcastle when my Spurs supporting dad took me to Keegans first game as a player in 1982.
I'm 50 now, and have seen so much supporting this club. I Watched Gazza, Waddle, Beardsley play and leave. Stood on the Gallowgate with my mates, 50 p entry in the 80s. I Was at Keegans first game as manager, and saw some amazing away days all round the UK in the 90s. Season tickets, proetsts against owners, watched in disbelief as Tino scored 3 against Barca.
I've never seen us lift a cup... until yesterday, and i watched it with my lads. Unfortunately not my dad, who left us a few years after my first game.
I'm still in a state of shock.
My first visit to St James Park, I was 7 and went to watch the 1976 League Cup loser's take a lap of honour around the pitch.
When that Liverpool goal went in, I just thought "here we go again".
The Dan Burn story is brilliant, Jack Charlton was 30 when he got his England call up, look what he did!
I've been a newcastle fan for about 35 years now, i watched it on the sofa with my lad who's also a fan. From Essex originally, but chose newcastle as my team. My mums boyfriend at the time was a fan. I've only Bben to sjp once, but have watched them more in the away stands at spurs and the like.
I'm not really a crying guy, but will admit there were watery eye's yesterday after the whistle. I was shaking from bdb scored until the final whistle!
Still can't believe it!
Newcastle can play hard ball with Isak and Gordon now, they’re both on longer contracts now. Lots of talk about Liverpool and Isak, it’d be a huge fee of course which they can probably afford, having spent nothing aside from Chiesa for a few transfer windows. They were willing to pay £115m for Caiecedo in 2023 for example. I suspect they’d look to sell Diaz, too inconsistent, Nunez, and Jota, never fit. Still no sign of contracts being signed by Salah, Trent and VVD so that’s a chunk of wages saved too. Obviously they’ll need replaced though.
Dear god, this is absolutely bloody awful! They played an FA Cup quarter final a couple of days ago and these nobheads have been sat with their feet up and it’s us who look knackered!
I wonder if any United players are going to experiment with the novel concept of putting any pressure on any Forest players or, heaven forbid, maybe even think about putting a challenge in.
Why oh why do I keep putting myself through watching this shite?
Looks like Reading's 12 match unbeaten run has been brought to a crashing end by that tactical genius Steve Bruce.
Great to see Elanga, who we let go for next to nothing, hasn’t done much since, only to be replaced by the 85 million well spent on Antony who’s obviously gone on to be a world class player.
FFS!
Antony seems to be doing alright in la liga - four goals and four assists in 12 games. Elanga has been good since leaving as well. I think the only player shipped out who’s got worse may be Sancho, but rumour has it Chelsea will pay £5m not to sign him, so he’ll be back in the summer 😀
Rashford will be back too apparently. And Antony. So we’re lumbered with the same utter donkeys (Hojland, Zerkzee, Mount, etc, etc…) on utterly insane contracts and the only way to meet the financial fair play rules is to sell the few decent players we’ve got. Bruno won’t be here next season
We’ll be proper relegation fodder next season with a couple of pensioners in midfield, ‘strikers’ who couldn’t hit a cows arse with a banjo and the biggest wage bill in the league
Citeh at the weekend. I’m sure that’ll go well.
Burglar worrier Big Dunc was giving Carragher some pretty menacing stares as a pundit tonight.
We met Dunc twice this season when his Inverness side came to Annan. We beat them twice in the early season, he kept calm, spoke to fans afterwards, and we found out later he wasnt getting paid, and had previously opted to have his pay cut by half to try to keep his Club afloat. He’s a thoroughly decent guy.
The same goes for Neil Lennon, he was also at Annan a number of times, as his Son was on loan there. Very happy to chat to anyone before and after the games, actually asked us if we wanted a selfie with him. We didnt. If you believed media stories he goes round with the intention of killing babies and beating up anyone.
He’s a thoroughly decent guy.
Unless you're a policeman. Or a taxi driver. Or on crutches.
Plucky Ipswich Town are back on track to pull off a miracle. Possibly.
Someone noted the other night that if Duncan Fergerson says it’s a red card, then it’s definitely a red card.
I remember watching a montage of his challenges (a lot of which could technically be classed as assaults), all of which would have earned you a straight red in the modern game, but were deemed as fair game at the time
Oops. Double post
Everton look tired and disorganised today
Everton look tired and disorganised today
Plucky Ipswich Town are back on track to pull off a miracle. Possibly.
I mean, at one point today we were only 6 points from safety, but the team that has lost the most points from a winning position managed to end the day 12 points from safety.
Well that was the most spirit-crushingly dull Manchester derby I’ve ever watched. Nobody looked like they could be particularly arsed with it. Good luck to the MOTD editors trying to find the ‘highlights’ out of that
Another two points dropped by City, surely they can’t miss out on UCL when the top five get in?! But with Haaland out for a while it could happen. Unthinkable at the start of the season, and it might bring this thread’s title to reality.
They had no threat up front at all. What on earth has happened to Foden? As for us, we were totally toothless up front too. I just can’t comprehend why he keeps starting Hojland. He’s absolutely hopeless! He clearly saw Antony being referred to as the worst buy in premier league history and said ‘hold my beer’
Arsenal must be kicking themselves after just giving up on Saturday.
Liverpool look poor and could easily drop more points.