Why Kenedy’s addition represents a forward step for Newcastle United

By Joe Donnohue 

 

Try before you buy. It’s a familiar concept and one which has most recently been adopted by Newcastle United. The loan signings of Martin Dúbravka and Kenedy in January of this year set the tone for the Magpies’ successful end-of-season charge into the top half of the Premier League table.

Competition for places was created in positions where Newcastle had lacked real Premier League quality. Consistent performances from the loanees were the bedrock to Newcastle’s upturn in form, something which had been missing from the likes of Christian Atsu, Jacob Murphy, Rob Elliot and Karl Darlow throughout the campaign.

The capture of Dúbravka earlier this summer was a signal that Newcastle’s intent was to strengthen, as is the case with every Premier League club, but familiar warning signs were afoot. The deal to bring the Slovakian international to St James’ Park on a permanent basis was a cheap one; a reported €2m loan fee followed by a €4m fee to sign the stopper outright.

Contrastingly, a deal to sign Kenedy would be altogether much more expensive. A 22-year-old Brazilian winger who had impressed during his short stint on Tyneside would not come cheap, if at all. Earlier rumours were purported to have said that some of Europe’s biggest clubs were monitoring Kenedy’s progress and situation with parent club Chelsea, leaving many Newcastle supporters resigned to the feeling that the silky Brazilian would not be returning to the North East any time soon.

Nevertheless, the left-sided winger – full name Robert Kenedy Nunes Nascimento, named after the famous U.S. President – has now rejoined the club, albeit on another loan deal. We are yet to find out concretely if an option-to-buy clause will be included or any obligatory future fees, but that would be crucial in securing a real talent and again show Newcastle’s intent to really compete, rather than idling by, securing safety from relegation but never threatening to challenge any further than 10th place.

Newcastle United are not known to have been particularly savvy in their loan dealings – the names Seydou Doumbia, Luuk de Jong and Facundo Ferreyra do little to set Black and White pulses racing – but the addition of Kenedy for the forthcoming season is one which certainly screams of intent. Newcastle, and most importantly Rafa Benítez, appear to not be content with rolling over and letting big clubs beat them to key targets, something which they could be accused of doing in the past.

There is no escaping the fact that United do not have the financial freedom to spend ridiculous sums of money in the transfer market. The now infamous, “I can not and will not” statement perhaps holds more weight than the publication of the club’s accounts when it comes to analysing how much will be spent in the transfer window.

Supporters of a realist disposition recognise that in the current climate, a deal to bring a promising young talent back to the club following an impressive few months is a step in the right direction. A small step, that much is true, but it is an indication that what goes on behind the scenes, despite a certain Spaniard having one hand tied behind his back, is shifting ever so slightly in favour of what is best for the club.

One thing must be made clear however, at no point does this suggest that a certain SportsDirect tycoon’s stance regarding the club’s spending has changed, nobody can know that apart from the notoriously tight-lipped man himself. What it does suggest though, is that by hook or by crook, Benítez is chipping away at the marble that is Newcastle United Football Club.

He may be armed with a rock-hammer rather than a chisel, but the permanent signing of Dúbravka, the re-signing of Kenedy and any other business – which looks likely with just one month remaining in the transfer window – indicates a step in the right direction towards Benítez’s vision for the club.

It may only be the club’s attitude towards loan signings, but beggars cannot be choosers and Newcastle United supporters know better than most, any forward step large or small is worth appreciating after a very sparse decade in that regard.

 

By Joe Donnohue 

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

361 thoughts on “Why Kenedy’s addition represents a forward step for Newcastle United

  1. I have seen a lot of journalists write that England just missed their best chance. Maybe, but the 2020 Euros are being played in 12 different big European cities. The England players are familiar with this through the Champions League, but as I said the main events semis/final are in England. That should theoretically give England a massive advantage. Even a bang average team like Russia got a boost from playing at home.

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  2. There’s a big rumour going round that we will loan Rondon for £4m.

    Are we really so poor we can only afford to loan Championship players?

    That wouls also be our max loans.

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  3. Don’t know for the life of me how a manager like Rafa put s up with jabba,loan deals where’s the money ffs

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  4. Stuart79:
    There’s a big rumour going round that we will loan Rondon for £4m.

    Are we really so poor we can only afford to loan Championship players?

    That wouls also be our max loans.

    Stu – just been reading it on Ollys article. So we will pay £4m to loan him now, then buy him for £15m next season … for a player that supposedly has a buy out clause of £16.5m to buy him now ?. If that’s true, that would be the maddest bit of business the club would have done to date I reckon.

    If we were to loan Rondon, that would be it for loans as well wouldn’t it?.

    I just can’t see WBA agreeing to that. Not this early in the window anyway – there’s still plenty of time for someone to pay the £16.5m – and they will want the money to push for promotion back to the PL.

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  5. Eric Sykes: Kimtoon: I know the WC just finished but football could be coming home for the 2020 Euros. It is a pan European tournament but the carrot is the semis and final are held at Wembley. There will be mayhem if England can somehow get there.

    Why do you think I posted the link 😉 # it’s coming home, well, if we qualify 🙄

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  6. Clubs a joke, what’s with all the loans ffs, how can we be so skint as to need to loan a bloody forward. Toon number nine has always been ours, it’s embarrassing, even Championship clubs own their number 9 outright. Or does Gayle stay and keep the number 9 .

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  7. Icedog:
    Don’t know for the life of me how a manager like Rafa put s up with jabba,loan deals where’s the money ffs

    Something proper fishy going on I reckon ice, never right us being this skint, doesn’t add up.

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  8. Sharpy
    If we agree to buy Rondon next year for £15m it would indeed be a mad bit of business.
    I am certain that his contract at West Brom ends in June next year.
    Absolutely crazy to pay £15m for a free agent and I am sure Ashley will not sanction the deal.

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  9. SSN reckon Ritchie in advanced stages in his move to Stoke – it could start to look a lot worse before it gets better – if it gets better.

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  10. I wonder if the Rondon loan is because he’s the player Rafa wants but Ashley won’t agree to spend £16.5m on a player his age – just a thought.

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  11. I’m going to bed, hopefully better day on Toon news tomorrow. If Ritchie leaves without a replacement we are mad.

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  12. kimtoon:
    I’m going to bed, hopefully better day on Toon news tomorrow. If Ritchie leaves without a replacement we are mad.

    Kim – you might need a handsome prince to come wake you up before you get better news from on the Toon ?

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  13. Has Teamtalk ever been right? A loan deal for Rondon who has 1 year left on his contract makes no sense for any party.

    He turns 29 in 2 months.

    Just because a player has a buyout clause doesn’t mean you have to pay it. You can offer less. It doesn’t seem like WBA are getting much interest and it doesn’t look like Rondon wants to play in The Championship.

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  14. Looking at the speculation about NUFC and relegated clubs:

    I don’t think WBA are in a position to dictate terms. Remember how shyte they were under Pulis and Pardew. They are not a gimme for promotion. They fired their Chairman and CEO for incompetence and their new manager, Darrren Moore, has like 6 games experience although he is a fan favourite. My guess is he is on a short leash after they kept Pulis and Pards too long. They are pretty much in disarray.

    Swans aren’t that far off. I think it could go either way. I don’t think they will do a Sunderland but they look a hell of a lot like the Wearsiders – fighting against relegation for a few years, chopping and changing Managers, new owners not interested in football, spending boatloads on mercenaries to try to stay up. I don’t think we are interested in Ayew.

    I think Stoke are most likely to succeed and have a huge asset to sell in Butland. They are probably serious about Ritchie.

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  15. I looked at the WBA squad and they have some decent players like Rondon, Chadly, Rodrequez and Livermore. Do you see any of them staying?

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  16. Eric Sykes:
    I looked at the WBA squad and they have some decent players like Rondon, Chadly, Rodrequez and Livermore. Do you see any of them staying?

    I don’t see any of those staying mate.

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  17. when are we going to spend some money on players??,maybe we should ask for goverment aid Rwanda have been given 1 bl in goverment aid and their leader has spent 25 mil of it on a football team,can he give us some 😈 😈 😈

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  18. icedog:
    talk of Mitro going on loan now to Turkey ffs

    If that’s the case, I still struggle to see the point of loaning Mitro out to loan Rondon in?!?!?!!.
    Keep the younger lad and coach him. Having watched him a few times at Fulham and again in the WC, I really can’t see why he could be coached to perform the role Rafa wants him to do.

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  19. This mooted loan deal to get Rondon just makes no sense whatever. I don’t believe it.
    I wish there was something about NUFC I could believe in!

    Sidekick – it was Ardiles that blooded all those kids 1990-91.

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  20. Georgio – Yeah you are right it wasn’t Arthur Cox that blooded all those kids but I think it might have been Jimmy Smith who gave them , or at least Clark and Watson, their debuts.
    I used to watch all of them playing at Wallsend Boys Club when they were playing in the under 10 league.

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  21. So Rafa confirms he’s working with chump change in the transfer market, as soon as the price goes high (and by that I bet he means £20m plus) we are out.

    How have we got no money to spend?.
    Is it coz we are already in debt to Ashley?
    Are other clubs richer than us, or are they just accruing the debt we are already in?.
    Are they more prepared to stretch themselves further than us?.

    I understand there has to be a balance. I know we aren’t in a position of Liverpool or City, able to spend a fortune – I’m not even looking to compete with WH. But we must have enough money to strengthen our squad.

    If we are not in that position, then I fail to see how Ashley can value us so highly when someone else comes in to buy him out.

    But I then also don’t understand why Rafa stuck round when WH showed interest in him earlier in the summer?

    I think it’s safe to say I’m at an absolute lost with it all.

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  22. What I also don’t get is this news came from a SSN interview with Rafa.
    Yet just last week SSN were saying that there were some exciting signings in the pipeline for us – just proves the journos know **** all until they have their interview with Rafa who bursts bubbles.
    Good that Rafa is speaking to Keith Downie of SSN as well, and not Lee Ryder of the local information centre ?

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  23. This is hillarious! Rafa now confirmed we have to sell to buy. ?

    All last summer we were told he we’d have to wait until next summer to start punching our weight. Now it appears we’ve gone backward… Not surprised.

    One thing I do think is that Jabba is trying to sell the club and he’s limiting spending.

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  24. Didn’t they extend the time to renew season tickets?
    Why do they think fans would want to invest their hard earn cash when the club is investing absolutely nothing?!?!?!!!
    At least they get something back for their investment!!

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  25. Sharpy
    I posted last night that we have already covered the cost of the players brought in so far with the sale of Merino.
    Any other incoming transfers will also be dependent on sales.
    Do you really think Ashley is going to end this window with a net spend greater than £0.

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  26. our club is a laughing stock,just wish the fans would stay away and get rid of thee fat slob out our club

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  27. I’d really like to know how we can’t compete with Brighton or Huddersfield or a good few other PL clubs. Nothing seems to make any kind of sense. What about the £40m tv money? And yet Rafa doesn’t seem at all upset by it. I’m furious.

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  28. I think the fact that Rafa is calm means he is managing expectations. He said we were close on a striker which is some good news. I think he is also saying that there really isn’t much point in selling Ritchie and Hayden when their replacements would be no better because of an inflated market. I think it would be epitomized by a Ritchie/Townsend trade.

    We would probably get 15 million for Ritchie and have to pay 20 million for Townsend. When you factor in Townend’s higher wages we would probably be down 10 million on the deal. This is totally hypothetical as Mr Roy says he wont sell.

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  29. Well that’s a very calm analysis of the situation Eric. It all seems pretty grim to me.

    Sidekick – you’re right it was Jim Smith that gave those two their debuts. Ossie with Makel, Howey, Thompson, Applebys, Elliot, Roche etc

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  30. What Rafa is saying publicly now is what he has been saying privately for the past 6 weeks. Journos we’re saying everything wasn’t hunky dorey yet supporters called them worse than ****. Still amazed many thought Ashley was trust worthy…

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  31. So what is the £125m tv money we are certain to get going on ? PL running cost around the £85m mark so that leaves approx £40m plus player sells of Merino £10m , Hayden reported £9m, Mitro say £20m , Ritchie say £10m and stragglers say total of £6m so around £95m for players then. That’s not counting Merch, ST, AND SPONSORSHIP cash ?
    If they are saying we are still playing catch up from championship season, I am not buying that for a moment. What about Hudders , Brighton, Wolves and Fulham ?
    This has a lot to do with mike trying to force Rafas hand as well .

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  32. Local journo’s need to earn their living , get a top accountant hired to delve into the clubs accounts to look for slight of hand. Who’s getting paid by club and for what ? and if anything is found call the club/mike out on it.

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  33. Oh and if Rafa is as Ryder said on plan c for third choice targets then don’t bother Rafa, stick with what we have. We have seen what 3rd choice players are Joselu anyone ?
    Mitro has to be better than a third choice frontman surely.

    It’s probably best if we do loan Mitro to a Turkish club thinking about it, when Rafa goes in may the new coach might fancy him 🙄

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  34. Ashley is playing with fire though. The value of his asset (NUFC) is nowhere near as high without Rafa as it is with Rafa. We definitely need to improve just to stand still, but if Ashley is going to use the PL money for a contingency fund in case of relegation rather than to make sure we are not relegated then he is a fool. For one, he will lose Rafa.

    Then, to prevent yo-yoing I think the parachute payments are much less for a 2nd relegation within a certain period. I think 3 years but I haven’t looked it up.

    We have to sell to get dross off the books, get rid of players Rafa doesn’t rate and free up salary space. But we are actually in pretty good shape financially now because the wage bill is not excessive. It is about 50% of turnover which is normal or better.

    It really would be stupid to have a net spend of zero with all of the risks involved. But, as we have seen, you have to spend on the right players.

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  35. Kimtoon: True Faith did an accounting analysis of the Championship season and backed out all of the legal accounting games that NUFC played to show a big loss and fool/give headlines to Ryder and Waugh. They figure that the real loss was about 20 million plus Fatty adding 15 million to the loan. They also said that Huddersfield, Brighton and others lost about 20 million in the same season.

    There is definitely spin going on in terms of saying how badly off we were. The only difference between us Brighton and Hudderfield was that we had higher wages when promoted. But we also had a better starting squad. They are spending without selling now so we can as well if we choose to.

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  36. Eric, am I right that if we bank that £125m tv money and don’t spend it or account for spending it, he will end up with a big tax bill ?

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  37. Talking of tax bills , what’s happening with HMRC investigation , it all went very quiet.

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  38. kimtoon:
    Eric, am I right that if we bank that £125m tv money and don’t spend it or account for spending it, he will end up with a big tax bill ?

    If it is the same as in the States you can carry forward losses to offset future profits. They showed 43 million losses in the last accounts so any profits made could be offset against that and if any loss remained it could be carried forward to this year. So I don’t see us owing taxes.

    I also think Ashley could pay off his loans to himself if there is cash on the books. This would lower profits and lower taxes.

    I am not an accountant but I do have a basic understanding of how corporate books works in the US.

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  39. Kimtoon: the more important thing to look at now is cash flow because losses can be brought forward (as they were) and you can do quite a lot to take the hit on the books and make it look worse than it was.

    We know we made about 125 million this year from TV and with gate receipts, sponsorship and other miscellaneous we know that about 160-170 will be coming in. If you assume wages of 90-100 million and other expenses of 25-30 million there should be a surplus of about 40 million. You don’t have to be an accountant to figure this one.

    You can spend that money on new players and their wages, put it in the bank as a contingency fund, or pay back Fatty on his loans. We have done all of these things in the past when we have had a cash surplus.

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  40. Reading between the lines of what Rafa is saying, they are not giving him access to the funds that NUFC is generating in the course of normal business and are banking it as a cushion. This is what they did the last time we were relegated. They took years to build up a cash cushion but then Carr, Charley and McClaren spent it all in the next relegation year.

    It works if we don’t get relegated but it is almost certain that Rafa will get fed up and walk.

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  41. There must be something a lot darker going on at the club. Nothing, absolutely nothing adds up or makes sense. We cannot be so broke we can only afford a loan of Rondon and nothing else.

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  42. This stuff is actually pretty easy to work out because most of the numbers are guaranteed.

    The PL payments, the sponsorship, the gate receipts are easy to figure out and 95% guaranteed.

    The underlying wage bill is also in the accounts so we know roughly what that is The other expenses also do not vary much from year to year and are also in the accounts.

    You subtract one from the other and that is what there is to spend, bank or pocket.

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  43. kimtoon:
    Talking of tax bills , what’s happening with HMRC investigation , it all went very quiet.

    Yes kim , it has been a long time since this investigation began. My guess is that HMRC have dropped it.

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  44. I wonder what the criteria actually are for a player purchase.
    1 there must be the money in the bank
    2 It must not take the squad wages above a threshold
    3 There must not be an excess of players for any given position. 5 goalkeepers anyone?
    there may be others. Some would suggest, must be under 26 years of age
    must cost less than 50p
    I wonder what they really are?

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  45. So apparently WBA are pissed off thg we have made a “cheeky” loan bid for Rondon. Essentially Jabba won’t let Rafa sign Rondon due to his age. Rafa has very little control in essence.

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  46. Stuart79:
    There’s a big rumour going round that we will loan Rondon for £4m.

    Are we really so poor we can only afford to loan Championship players?

    That wouls also be our max loans.

    No, we are poorer than this, because the championship club turned town our loan offer and said it is too “cheeky”.

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  47. Rafa should just walk out the sue the *******! What is the point to keep a broken contract? Silly!

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  48. Agree, Fun. I’m not sure what’s in it for Rafa to be honest. Just humiliation and a relegation scrap that we might not win this time?

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  49. Is it that we can’t or choose not to?

    As for Benitez it’s about presenting a face to the public. Like others I would be surprised if he’s here for 2019-20 season but till then he’ll suck if up and do the best he can within Ashley’s constraints.

    georgio:
    I’d really like to know how we can’t compete with Brighton or Huddersfield or a good few other PL clubs. Nothing seems to make any kind of sense. What about the £40m tv money? And yet Rafa doesn’t seem at all upset by it. I’m furious.

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  50. Stuart79:
    Agree, Fun. I’m not sure what’s in it for Rafa to be honest. Just humiliation and a relegation scrap that we might not win this time?

    Relegation is exactly what Ashley deserves. Too bad he is representing this club. Only relegation can get rid off this blood sucker. How ironically that Rafa stays for fans but what he is doing is for Ashley’s benefit only. Fans get no fun from all these struggling and humiliation!

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  51. In a football sense the club’s decisions are confusing.

    However Ashley hasn’t run it in a football sense or pretended to do in any meaningful way for most of his tenure.

    One thing maybe worth considering are Ashley’s motives in respect of nufc. They aren’t sporting success so its about him and the agenda seems to be minimum input to stay still year on year to use nufc as a tool to promote his tat. Once that has run it’s course he’ll let it wither ( while protecting his loan)or sell .. whichever is easiest for him

    I don’t believe he has an agenda to **** off nufc fans but I also don’t believe he’ll worry if the outcome of his agenda does **** fans off

    All of this then leads to the question why do so many nufc fans many of whom seem to feel similar to or more strongly than above continue to fund the ******* agenda by payong to attend, buying the merch or subscribing to his sponsors

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  52. I.really think jabba is forcing Rafa hand,he wants Rafa to pack in,no owner treats their manager like this more so a manager of Rafa standing

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  53. Said earlier finishing 10 was not a good thing under Ashley. He would think there is a big cushion to survive so all he’s thinking is to sell players to make some money.

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  54. Jabba will be holding back funds for when we are relegated.

    Jabba’s view seems to be why should he sanction big money signings for a manager who might not be here next season. Rafa is saying show me you are ambitious and I’ll sign. In my opinion, Rafa has proven himself over twenty years. Jabba has proven himself to be a completely and utterly untrustworthy owner.

    Only staying away will make him realise his advertising vehicle isn’t serving its purpose.

    The more supporters go and pay their money and sell out the more he thinks it’s acceptable what he is doing.

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