1.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 09:22:03
Cheers Ed001.

I guess we'll have a new rival in a couple of years then. I'm happy for Rafa though, as it'll mean he can finally try to do something with that squad. If they've any brains they'll just listen to Rafa and back him 100%.


2.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 09:36:10
Morning, cheers Ed. To be honest, I’ve wondered why no one with real financial clout has taken over Newcastle yet, or even one of the Birmingham clubs, especially Villa. Without meaning to come across as snobbish, is it anything to do with the cities themselves perhaps? Anyway, good luck to them. Maybe Rafa will get his war chest and his patience will be rewarded (with more than his bumper salary) .

Congratulations Villa. Seems strange to have had the premier league without them for the past couple of seasons. Liverpool, Everton, United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham. Used to be Aston Villa there too as Premier League ever-presents.

{Ed001's Note - Ashley scuppers deals. This announcement is about putting pressure on him to sell rather than saying it is done. So I wouldn't count Rafa's chickens yet.}


3.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 10:37:17
Thank very much Ed, hope you have a good day mate.

{Ed001's Note - you too mate.}


4.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 10:53:37
Fair play, newcastle deserve a decent team. Got to give them top marks for passion, even when they're in the championship. Another super rich rival though. Imo newcastle deserve it more than chelsea or man city.

With money and rafa and those fans, they could be really dangerous.
If rafa hadnt managed liverpool and won the champions league i would still love him. Fair play to a manager of his stature, sticking it out with newcastle. Getting relegated, getting promoted. No money to spend. Piss poor squad finishing mid table.


5.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 12:11:12
I'm not a big fan of Arab money in football but if there's a club that deserves it, its Newcastle. and if there's a manager that deserves it I cannot think of better than Rafa.

{Ed001's Note - do you know how bigoted that sounds?}


6.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 12:13:42
Read it somewhere that Bin Zayed group intend to invest heavily in club and City. Could be hugely exciting!
It’ll take a while for Mbappe to adjust to the weather in Newcastle.


7.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 12:35:36
Good one, TRK.


8.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 12:27:25
Edds is this guy City and PSG rich? I mean if this deal goes through do you see another City type take over, as in they have an unlimited amount of wealth that turns a mid table club into a power house? Either way it just makes the league more exciting, better players better level of football, and my pops is a Newcastle supporter and he has suffered long enough.

{Ed001's Note - yes he has a multi-billion pound investment vehicle. It might be difficult to go as far as City, as he might struggle to get to rebuild the area the way Manchester have allowed the area around City's ground to be redeveloped.}


9.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 12:29:50
I'm not being bigoted to point out the UAE and Saudi's dreadful human rights record and treatment of women. But that's not even the point. Surely the same family shouldn't be allowed to own two clubs in the same league, no?

{Ed001's Note - what the hell has Saudi got to do with it? As for the UAE there a larger percentage of women at the head of major corporations in the UAE than any other country. And for human rights, most of the stuff talked about in that respect is history, in which case the UK has a far worse historical record. Not sure how that means it is ok to pick on a whole group of people though. Unless you are a bigot, which is my point. In fact most of the human rights problems people talk about is in relation to individual companies, so it is like saying Mike Ashley has a terrible record for the way he treats his staff so let's say all Britain must be like that. Most of the rest is just pure ignorance and lies reported in papers and by those morons at 'Detained in Dubai' who swallow any old bull and regurgitate it as truth to try and get people off after breaking laws. In truth there is little real difference in freedom and human rights between Dubai and the UK, just different freedoms. For instance the UAE govt do not record every single phone call you make, unlike the British one, but they are much stricter on hate speech on social media.

Personally I would say the same family shouldn't be allowed to own 2 clubs at all, but how close a family do they have to be to be eligible or otherwise? Also some families are insanely competitive and so won't work together.}


10.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 12:38:40
Ed001, would you be surprised if the 'new owners' invest very heavily in the club?

{Ed001's Note - I would be more surprised if they bought it and didn't invest. It is the way they work out here in the UAE. They plan and invest for their grandchildren's future.}


11.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 13:04:20
Interesting perspective, Ed. I'm neither a bigot nor British. Individual companies? How about the imprisonment of Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum? And the Emirates' part in Yemen and now Libya? And I only mentioned Saudi because they're allies and Sheffield United will be in the Prem next season, nothing else. I don't care what colour people are or where they're from, I do care about the soft power money laundering that is rife throughout football now. I'd say the same about the plethora of clubs controlled by Russian and Chinese money.

{Ed001's Note - again individual instances, something I would not want to comment on because I don't know the circumstances and would prefer not to comment from ignorance based on speculation. What on earth has the Yemen situation got to do with it? You aren't saying get out the Western money because of what they have done to Iraq are you? There is no difference between what the UK, USA, China, Russia and of them does and did to any of these things. By the way the UAE is also allied with NATO, so why not include all NATO countries? Hell the UK set up the ruling families in Saud and the UAE so let's get the Brits out too. Money is dirty no matter where it comes from, better not to get involved in trying to claim one person's is worse than another, as none of it is truly clean. Everyone worshipped Steve Jobs, a man who made his billions knowingly out of child slave labour producing his products. Dirty money all of it, so why make sweeping statements about a group of people unless you are a bigot despite your claims?}


12.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 13:22:48
I don't know why, but when I read it in BBC I was kinda happy for Newcastle. I support Liverpool but somehow and strangely, I have some soft spots towards some other English clubs. One of them is Newcastle.


13.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 13:25:54
As a brit its pretty hard to talk about human rights and mistreatment. We built the wealth of this country by slaughtering millions, belittling cultures we didn't understand.

People seem to think the arab nations are miles behind the western culture. You realise they practised real medicine, built huge monuments and cities, wore perfume and discussed philosophy when the britons were still covering themselves in mud and wearing bones through their noses. Doing nothing much but running after dear.

As for two teams owned by the same family? Its a toy for the super rich isn't it, a premier league team. I remember being pretty competitive playing fussball with my brother. At least its money being pumped into the north and not london.


14.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 13:26:28
Nice insight there, Ed001.

In your view Ed, What are the major drawbacks (if any) of such take-overs? (like PSG inflated transfer market by purchase of Mbappe and Neymar) .

{Ed001's Note - in my opinion the biggest drawback is that they might want the European Super League and push for it, because they do not understand how important the domestic league is. They might only see the money and not realise that the money is so big because those teams are proving themselves to be the best in their domestic competitions first.}


15.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 13:43:55
Fair point Ed001, I guess great wealth by its very nature is amoral. If only saints were allowed to buy football clubs there wouldn't be much investment going around. Unless all clubs were owned by Switzerland! They're neutral and there isn't any corruption th. Oh, wait.

{Ed001's Note - exactly. It is just the way it is sadly. Unless clubs go back to being clubs, ie owned by the members (the fans), then we just have to accept that every owner is going to be the wrong kind of owner and have something shady in their past at the very least.}


16.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 13:57:06
Afternoon Ed001,

Cheers for the write up, always a pleasure to read on my lunch break.

Just a quick question. What's your opinion on the relegation promotion system used in some leagues like Scotland and Germany where the 3rd bottom team has a playoff against a team from the league below etc.

Do you think it's fair? What do you think the advantages and disadvantages are? Would you like to see it used in the Prem?

Cheers in advance, hope you're well.

{Ed001's Note - it is just a way of making more money with extra games. It is as fair as any other way of deciding it, but at least it gives the winner a boost in funds to give them a chance of improving the following season. If it means an extra match to watch at this time of the year I am all for it!}


17.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 14:00:21
I hate the thought of a european super league. We wouldn't get to play utd anymore!

Liverpool could move to, i dunno, lyon. To be closer to the action. Like how american football teams move cities don't they? Or is it baseball. In seriousness though. What about playing everton and newcastle? Games that for different reasons are special.

Sometimrs it seems a startling possibility and it freaks me out.

Maybe its progress. Im a multi culturalist.


18.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 14:10:38
I think if the Newcastle guy has a similar ethos to sheik mansour, Newcastle could be bigger than city, if like ed says he can do what he needs to be done. City have done well for the area and built a great training facility an dyoith programme. Plus Newcastle has as good a starting point with a decent sized ground which they regularly sell out. obviously it will take time, like city did, but if they keep Rafa for a bit and keep their expectations realistic they have a good chance.

On the note of FFP, am I right in thinking it’s done on two yearly books?

For example, can they spend huge for two years - whilst they are not in Europe - and say come 2021/ 22, be more conservative, and still be compliant with ffp?

{Ed001's Note - 3 isn't it?}


19.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 14:18:37
Think this is why Ed002 doesn’t like to talk about money. Only rarely do people without it know much about it.


20.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 14:22:02
Interesting thread this.
Thanks Ed001, the points you made may seem harsh but truth nonetheless.

{Ed001's Note - I don't mean to be harsh it is not meant to be anything like that, I just don't want to spend hours rewording it so it offends no one. I mean I have nothing against JM as a person or reason to be harsh with him, it is just difficult to talk about these kind of things in mere text. In person I could, for instance, put my arm around him or modulate my voice to show him I am not being harsh, but on a screen it is impossible to do stuff like that.}


21.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 14:34:30
Oh and again congrats to Union Berlin. They've a lovely little stadium and passionate fans, they'll make a nice addition to the Bundesliga.


22.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 14:51:31
My heart just did a little flutter at the thought of Ed001 putting his arm around me. :)

{Ed001's Note - hahaha is that with fear or loathing though?}


23.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 14:51:36
A very valid point in the world of social media Ed001. Very difficult to determine a person's mood or personality from text only.

{Ed001's Note - very true. It is such a difficult medium to work, that is why we still have classes dissecting literature arguing over its real meaning from works written hundreds of years ago. People often are coloured by their own perceptions or how their mood is at the time they are reading it, as much as by the words themselves.}


24.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 15:26:03
Hey Ed, give it a rest a minute. People will think you’ve come up with this all by yourself rather than copying from “Quote Yourself Clever” by Luca Minau.

{Ed001's Note - shhhhh or people might realise I actually ghostwrote that....}


25.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 15:27:37
Ed001,
My bad, I put it wrong.
I intended to write 'bitter' but mistakenly typed 'harsh'. Hence, the confusion. (I didn't mean that you were offensive or anything. Nothing at all in that regard. )
Actually, my text was directed towards the points you made about "dirty" money and human rights. And I am in total agreement with you there.

I, like others, really appreciate all of the good work and efforts that's been put in here.
Cheers!

{Ed001's Note - no offence was taken mate. I do find people often assume numerous things from my words alone. Especially if you are disagreeing with someone, and I have done it myself as well, we assume there is a tone there, which often isn't. So using a word like harsh or bitter makes no real difference, it is fine and thank you very much.}


26.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 16:32:05
Hi Ed01 - is this the same sheik who is rumoured to have offered £2 billion for LFC?

{Ed001's Note - yes. It never got that far though with regard to LFC, FSG did not want to sell.}


27.) 28 May 2019
28 May 2019 16:37:43
Reading someones words correctly is always troublesome, simply because context, tone of voice and bodylanguage are all missing.

{Ed001's Note - spot on.}


28.) 29 May 2019
29 May 2019 05:41:29
Hopefully the football financial bubble will soon go pop and teams will go back to being owned by ‘members/ fans’.
We’re customers these days as much as we are fans. Brand-loyal customers 🙁.


29.) 29 May 2019
29 May 2019 06:59:04
Ed001 - you said fsg did not want to sell. Do you mean at that time? At that price? Or do you mean they just didn't want to sell at all?

{Ed001's Note - things change, so anything like that will always be 'at that time'.}